Lost and Found

49: Conduct Zero

Living away from their partners was hard. If one thought the lives of Xiumin, Luhan, Lay, Baekhyun, Tao, and Kai remained peaceful after their public reveals, they were certainly wrong. In fact, their lives outside work became more chaotic the moment they were revealed to the public.

⸞⸟⸞⸟⸞⸟⸞⸟⸞⸟⸞⸟⸞⸟⸞⸟⸞⸟⸞⸟⸞⸟⸞⸟⸞

In the days that followed Kai's press conference, he was indeed the center of attention. It was all right at first but things escalated as the days went by.

Kai was in his favorite bookstore named Universe just scanning for some books he might be interested in. Everything seemed normal at first; Kai was just passing from aisle to aisle scanning the shelves for a book that would capture his attention. All of a sudden, Kai had this uncomfortable feeling that someone was staring at him. He looked around, trying to find the source of the distressing feeling but found no one.

So, Kai just went on with his book hunting. However, the normality did not last long. Everything took a nose dive when Kai pulled a book from the shelves and found a camera staring right at his face.

"Uhm, excuse me? What is this about?" Kai went to the adjacent aisle and found a videographer and a lady on the side.

"Hello, Your Excellence. I am from ThisPatch Tabloid. Would you mind participating in a short interview?" the lady approached Kai.

"No, sorry. I am busy right now. Maybe next time. Try scheduling with the Executive Secretary," Kai politely declined.

However, the tabloid did not stop there. While Kai declined their interview, they sneakily followed Kai around the bookstore. Kai was bothered by this as he wanted a peaceful time for himself.

"Do you mind? Please respect my privacy," Kai told the tabloid people and left the bookstore.

The next day, Kai could not believe that rumors were being circulated by the tabloid on their SNS account that he was looking at erotic novels in the bookstore. On the brighter side, no citizen believed the tabloid's claims as a few people who were there and even the bookstore's management came to Kai's defense.

⸞⸟⸞⸟⸞⸟⸞⸟⸞⸟⸞⸟⸞⸟⸞⸟⸞⸟⸞⸟⸞⸟⸞⸟⸞

Baekhyun was in a gaming store. He was looking for new game releases as he liked to play video games in his spare time. The store's staff were assisting him with anything he inquired but another group of people suddenly barged in.

"Good morning, everyone. This is ThisPatch Tabloid. Here, you see the guardian legend of light shopping for violent video games. Is His Excellence in support of violence?" the lady began talking all of a sudden and tried to put Baekhyun in the frame for the camera.

"Uhm, excuse me? Can you please stop that? I did not agree with any of this," Baekhyun requested.

"Is there anything you would say about supporting violence, Your Excellence?" the lady still went on with her unwarranted interview.

Seeing the distress in Baekhyun, the store's staff requested the security to escort the tabloid out of the store. For the rest of his time inside the store, peace was restored for Baekhyun.

After browsing at the gaming store, Baekhyun thought it would be nice to watch a movie. As he was standing on the wall where the movies being showed were displayed on the wall, Baekhyun was ambushed once more.

"And here we have the guardian legend of light planning to watch a film. As you can see, the movie options are about civil wars, speedy car chases without regard to the law, a psychopath's killing spree, and the life of a doll," the lady started once more. "Do you have anything to say about your violent or sexist tendencies, Your Excellence?"