𝐂𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐬 || 𝙽𝙲𝚃 𝙼𝙰𝙵𝙸𝙰 || 𝚃𝙰𝙴𝚈𝙾𝙽𝙶

Chapter 45

Over the course of the next couple of days, things ran quietly at the headquarters. The Kkangpae were taking time to recover from the events that had taken place, slowly getting back to their daily routines as they waited for Johnny to gain consciousness. It seemed that all their prayers were going unanswered as the man's condition remained unvarying.

Other than the ones in the room when Hendery received the message, only Doyoung was aware of the situation with Ten and Lucas. They had decided that the lesser people knew, the better. While Jisung and Jia were steadily making their place in the family, the ambience of their home was still gloomy.

"Half an hour, please?"

"No, I'm sorry."

"Why not? You let Winwin gē and Jaehyun Hyung go." Chenle whined, upset that he had been refused to go see Johnny ever since he was forced to come back that day. "Is it because Haechan Hyung won't go? I'll take him with me."

"Haechan can't bear to look at Johnny in this state, I don't want you to either. Besides, you know the age limit for stakeout missions. You don't check out."

"It's a stupid rule if you ask me, maybe you can change it?"

The man chuckled at the sweet puppy eyes the boy was giving him. Chenle was persistent and compelling, it was difficult for anyone to deny him anything. But he had no choice in the matter, it was not safe to let any of the kids out of sight at the moment. Everyone including Jungwoo had been asked to stay home for the time being.

"Thanks for the suggestion, but I'd much rather wait for you to come of age. You'll get to learn all this in time, for now I just want you kids to focus on studies. Have you decided what you wanna get into yet?"

"You were being serious about that? I thought Bà just wanted me to learn how to handle the Zhong empire from you,
didn't think I had to get a degree."

"You don't have to get a degree, but it's a luxury you're being allowed. Most of our members have competed their education, you know? It's a great guise for our public image. Jeno was almost done with his studies when he had to come back, Sungchan is still doing medicine, and I'm gonna talk to Jisung about it too once this all dies down."

"You'll pay for Jisung too?"

"Why not? He's family now." He smiled at the boy, comforting him. He was glad that his new friend was getting the same treatment in the family as he was, Jisung and Chenle were slowly growing to be inseparable. "So forget all this for now, think about what you want to do. It's what Johnny wants too."

Taeyong bit his tongue, realising that he had circled the conversation back to the topic he was trying to avert. But it seemed that this was what convinced Chenle, he wanted to do anything he could for Johnny. And it was reassuring to hear their leader speak of the man in present tense.

"Okay Hyung, I'll think about it and let you know."

"Good, and no more begging anyone else okay?" The boy grinned before leaving the room. Taeyong was sat in the conference hall for his work as the mess he created in his office had still not been taken care of. Mostly due to him not wanting to give anyone explanations. They had more important matters to attend.

Taeyong's mind floated onto the members who had led the Amsaldan mission, realising that he had not seen a single one of them since that night. He had anticipated Haechan and Yuna's reaction to the intense task. However, he had not expected Jaemin to be as affected.

"Can I come in?"

"Yes of course, please sit down." It was his youngest brother who had received such a warm welcome from the leader. Ever since their return from the Manor, the duo barely  had any time to see each other. "Something on your mind?"