Deep End | Hyunlix

39

The briefing room was silent, the air thick with unspoken tension. Felix sat stiffly in his chair, his hands clasped together, knuckles white from the pressure. His heartbeat thundered in his ears, but outwardly, he maintained his usual cool exterior. Across the room, Seungmin stood at the front, his sharp eyes scanning the data displayed on the large screen. The map flickered, movement patterns traced in red and blue, a web of locations and timestamps.

"We ran through the comms and financial logs we confiscated from the warehouse," Seungmin began, his voice calm, methodical, far too composed for the bombshell he was about to drop. "One of the more recent transactions flagged a name we've been tracking for months." He swiped at the screen, and a name popped up in bold letters.

Seo Changbin.

A heavy silence settled over the room.

Seungmin adjusted his glasses, continuing as if he wasn't about to send Felix's world into a tailspin. "Based on this, Changbin was in Incheon three nights ago. He had a private meeting that lasted about two hours. The details are murky, but we know for a fact he was there."

Felix could feel the blood drain from his face. He swallowed thickly, keeping his expression carefully neutral. Three nights ago. Incheon. That was the night I was with Hyunjin.

I.N. who was sitting at the far end of the table, subtly flicked his gaze toward Felix. The unspoken tension between them was palpable. He was the only one who knew exactly where Felix had been that night—and who he had been with. His fingers drummed quietly against the table, a silent question in the movement.

Did you know about this?

Felix forced himself to take a deep breath, forcing the panic crawling up his throat back down. "Do we know who he met with?" he asked, his voice steady. He was proud that it didn't waver, even as his pulse pounded against his ribs.

Seungmin shook his head. "Not yet. We're still piecing together surveillance footage, but Changbin was careful. No direct financial trails linking to the meeting spot, no recorded calls during that timeframe. He was off the grid."

Chan, who had been listening intently, leaned forward, his eyes narrowing. "That's too much of a coincidence," he muttered. "Changbin being in Incheon off grid is suspicious. What was he doing there? How is it connected to the Snake Eye's movements?"

Felix's stomach twisted into a knot. Hyunjin. Hyunjin had been in Incheon that night, too.

And now, Changbin, one of the Snake Eye Gang's top lieutenants, had been there at the same time.

Felix could barely breathe past the weight of it.Had Hyunjin known? Had he planned it? Was I just a distraction?

The doubt Felix had been struggling with for days curled its insidious claws deeper into his mind, his worst fears beginning to take shape. Had Hyunjin played him? Had he known exactly who Felix was that whole time, had he used him to throw him off track, to keep him tangled in something personal so he wouldn't see the bigger picture?

Felix tried to fight it, tried to hold onto what he thought he knew about Hyunjin. The vulnerable man he'd spent the night with. The raw emotions poured into the paintings at HH Art. The way Hyunjin had looked at him when he confronted him at the gallery, angry, hurt, betrayed. That hadn't been an act. Had it?

Chan was still talking, still analyzing, but Felix wasn't listening anymore. His world had narrowed down to the suffocating realization that his doubts weren't just paranoia anymore.

I.N. cleared his throat, cutting through Felix's spiraling thoughts. "We need to be careful," he said, his voice deliberately casual. But Felix knew him well enough to hear the unspoken warning beneath the words. "We don't want to make assumptions until we have something concrete."

It was a lifeline. A way to defuse the growing tension in the room before someone, before Chan, noticed that Felix was barely keeping it together.

Chan exhaled, nodding. "Agreed. We follow the leads, see where they take us. If Changbin is expanding operations, we'll find out how. If there's a connection to the Snake Eyes, we'll uncover it." He turned to Felix. "Who do you want on this?"

Felix looked around, "I.N, Dig through every piece of data we have, check the timelines, and see if anything overlaps. If Changbin was meeting with a contact in Incheon, I want to know who."

I.N forced a nod, his eyes still lingering with questions.

Seungmin moved on to another point, discussing intercepted messages from the Snake Eye Clan, but Felix barely heard him. His mind was spinning, his control slipping by the second.

The second the meeting ended, he bolted from his seat, striding down the hallway with no real destination, just a desperate need to breathe, to think. He hadn't even made it ten feet before I.N. fell into step beside him.

"You're freaking out," I.N. said bluntly.

Felix clenched his jaw. "I'm fine."

I.N. scoffed. "You're not fine. I saw your face in there, hyung. If Changbin had been anywhere else in the country that night, you wouldn't have batted an eye. But Incheon?" He shot Felix a look. "You're panicking. And I know why."

Felix stopped walking, rubbing a hand down his face. The hallway was empty, but he still lowered his voice. "You think I don't know how this looks?" he whispered harshly. "That night... I should have been working this case. Instead, I was with Hyunjin. And now Changbin..." He exhaled sharply. "I don't know what to think."

I.N. studied him for a moment. "Do you think Hyunjin set you up?"

Felix swallowed. "I don't want to believe that."

"But?"

"But I also can't ignore the fact that I was in Incheon, with him, while one of the most dangerous men we're tracking was also there." His voice was tight, like he was forcing the words out against his will. "What if it wasn't a coincidence?"

I.N. leaned against the wall, crossing his arms. "Do you trust him?"

Felix opened his mouth. Closed it. Did I?

The silence stretched between them before I.N. sighed. "Look. I don't have the answers. But I know you. You wouldn't be this messed up over it if you didn't think, at least somewhere deep down, that Hyunjin is more than just a suspect to you."

Felix clenched his jaw, his fists tightening at his sides. "That's the problem."

I.N. nodded slowly. "Then you need to decide, before this all catches up to you. Is he the enemy?"

Felix looked away, his throat tight. Or is he something else entirely?

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