love you so bad (discontinued) | vsoo

03 | square one

Only a minute had passed since Jisoo took her position behind a wall and she already wanted to destroy the noisily ticking clock hung above the hallway. She was waiting for the target to return to his dressing room, nervously fidgeting with her large tear-shaped earrings and VIP badge in anticipation. She could hear faint laughter, presumably the bandmates of her target in their dressing room.

If only they knew that their group was about to be torn apart.

In the distance, Jisoo heard the soft taps of someone's dress shoes. Taking a deep breath, the agent stepped out of her hiding spot.

It was game time.

The female immediately twisted her expression into faux confusion laced with worry as she blindly walked, pretending to look at the different room plaques as the male approached closer.

"Hey, are you okay?" she heard the target, no, Taehyung call out to her.

Jisoo was momentarily stunned. His voice was unexpectedly deep.

"Yeah aha," she awkwardly chuckled, "I'm sorry, I'm just a bit... a lot... lost."

She wish she could dedicate her nervousness to great improvisation skills, but the pounding in her ears proved her otherwise. She looked up from her fake search to meet Taehyung's eyes only to regret it afterwards. Of course, he had to be handsome, even more so than the pictures she examined continuously when she prepared for the mission.

"Where are you looking for? I can probably help you find it since I've already been here a couple times for rehearsals!"

Even though he had to prepare for his performance, he had offered his help to a total stranger who could very well not be allowed backstage, even flashing her a radiant smile that would otherwise put his photos that the agency acquired to shame.

Jisoo could feel her heart swell— that smile wasn't going to last.

The agent scrambled for a response, stupidly forgetting to plan a destination beforehand. Her unusual pre-mission nerves prevented her from being able to think clearly, and subsequently prevented her from fabricating a backstory.

"Oh, uh, the restroom?"

Jisoo mentally cursed at herself. None of her previous missions involved social interaction, much less relationship building. President Yang wasn't any help either, only giving her a run-down of the mission with the specific task of "enticing" the target. He put a lot of trust in her beauty alone, and here Jisoo was clueless as to what to say.

"The restrooms, really?" Taehyung asked as the corners of his lips started rising.

Unexpectedly, the latter let out a laugh at Jisoo's demise. Not just a mere chuckle, but a whole full-bodied laugh. Jisoo blushed angrily— what was so funny? Here she was, a coldhearted assassin, getting laughed at by her own target. She changed her mind, she was ready to kill him just to wipe that smirk off his face.

"Why are you laughing?" Jisoo bit her tongue to resist bitterly swearing at the amused male.

She made a mental note to tell the president to solely place her in missions with little to no social interaction. She didn't know how much of this she could take.

"The bathrooms are on the complete opposite side of the venue. Didn't you pay attention to the signs?" Taehyung continued laughing as he pointed to the very end of the extended hallway, where a large sign distantly informed passerby to continue left for a bathroom.

"Oh, thanks... I must have missed it the first time." Jisoo never felt more humiliated in her life.

"No problem. Make sure you always look for signs," he replied, the bright playful smile never leaving his lips.

With a final chuckle, Taehyung politely continued past Jisoo to reunite with his bandmates and the female retracted into pure panic, instantly forgetting about her anger from being laughed at.

It wasn't supposed to end like this. Sure, she would see him again once the concert started, but there was no guarantee that he would even acknowledge her amidst his hundreds of fans.

She had failed to create a bond, he didn't even bat an eye at her so called beauty, he never asked for her name or anything about her presence backstage. He only knew her as the girl who managed to get lost on her way to the bathroom despite multiple signs to guide her. The mission profile that Jisoo continuously studied was useless.

Rosé's words were a lie. He didn't lose the battle. He never even entered.

As she heard the door of Taehyung's shared dressing room creak open, Jisoo's thoughts flashed back to the president's words.

"Entice him. Catch his attention. Wrap him around your finger. Anything to attract him."

And Jisoo, she wasn't the type to give up so easily. Thus, the female did the first thing her panicked mind thought of. She mentally apologized to the agency's stylists before collapsing, her body landing on the cold marble floor with a hard thud.