𝐝𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞. bg af

one.

he can hear yelling coming from the building, he's trying to stand and help but an unfamiliar voice stops him, telling him he'll bleed out if he doesn't get it wrapped right now.

he's trying to focus on the shaky hands wrapping the knife wound.

he hears cries of help, desperation, all calling out for him.

"daeil! daeil!"

"daeil." he hears l.jun whisper to him harshly, trying to get his attention. he looks at his surroundings to two new faces sat in front of him. he looks the both of them over and his eyes land on the one to the right, a tired expression on his face.

he remembers sun sliding a picture over to him, telling him about past affiliations. everything damon needed to know to make him just a little wary.

seeing him in front of him so suddenly isn't what he needed, especially not after only having a few hours of sleep the entire week.

"it's you." damon said quietly, under his breath. oliver looks up from his phone when their leader's first words were a little odd.

the two stare at each other for a while longer before alastair's voice cuts in.

"are we missing something here?" he asks. looking from his leader to the newcomer. "is something going on between you guys?" damon stares a while longer before finally looking away.

"nothing, just a misunderstanding." he says, fingers tapping quietly on the table. ming looks over at oliver from where he was leaning against a wall, suspicious. oliver shrugged and went back to his phone.

"daeil knows something we don't." oliver said, knowing their leader too well. damon glared at oliver.

"and if i do know something it's none of your business," damon sighed. "and when'd they get here?"

"couple of minutes ago." ming said. "they went to unpack and came back here to introduce themselves, sun left a while ago too, said we needed to get to know each other." damon nodded and focused his attention back to the two.

he let himself take a look at the boy next to the other male, a bright smile on his face.

"it's nice to meet you both," l.jun said, breaking the silence. "i'm huojun and he's daeil. i'm sure he's grateful you decided to agree to being here." l.jun looked at everyone else, wanting them to at least introduce themselves.

"and you are?" l.jun asked the two when no one offered. the bright boy spoke immediately, excitement in his voice.

"valentin! though eden is okay too. it's really difficult to pronounce my name for some people and they usually say valentine instead of—" eden felt yoko tap his thigh, signaling that the younger was starting to ramble, he looked down shyly. "sorry about that." he mumbled softly.

"i'm kazuo," was all he said with a nod. "nice to meet you too." eden looked at the three other members curiously before making eye contact with one of them.

"what's your name?" he asked ming. his body now turned to the youngest member. ming just stared at eden then back to l.jun, a look on the older's face. he knew he wanted him to answer.

"xuyuan, but ming is fine." he said hesitantly. he hoped that would make eden choose his next target but instead the light in his eyes brightened.

"everyone usually calls me ming too!" the younger ming listened uncomfortably, looking to alastair for help. he could've just cut eden off with an 'i don't care' but the way l.jun smiled fondly at him for not snapping was enough to listen for a while.

"i can't believe you and huojun are also chinese, and some of you are foreigners too! our company doesn't really like non-korean trainees and idols and would usually—" yoko clears his throat loudly, cutting eden off who had just noticed his slip up. ming sighed in relief.

"and would usually?" oliver asked, remembering to do a thorough check on the company once they were able to leave. eden shook his head.

"nothing." alastair and oliver looked at each other but decided against pressuring the young male to speak. alastair chose it was a good time to introduce himself, the shift in the atmosphere obvious.

"well my name's alastair," he pointed to the last member. "and he's jiwoo. he's very nice, i'm sure he'd love to talk to you." oliver stared at him, head still faced down to his phone.

"yeah, i sure will." he said sarcastically, not once taking his eyes off of alastair's, a look on his face that meant he was dead later. another uncomfortable wave of silence washed over the room and ming thought it was pointless to stay.

"i'm going to my room." ming mumbled, pushing off the wall and heading back to his shared bedroom before l.jun could call out for him.

"well it was nice meeting you both, i hope we can get along fine." alastair said and stood from his seat, oliver doing the same. they raced to their room but oliver had closed and locked the door before the younger could get inside. alastair dragged himself to ming's room.

once the doors had all been shut, damon finally decided to say something more to the two new members.

"i'll put aside you being an ex-gang member," he said lowly. "but just swear that you're not going to do anything to us." yoko nodded.

"wasn't planning on doing anything." before he could take eden and himself to their shared room, l.jun asked them one more question.

"then how would you feel about joining us?" yoko stared at him, confused.

"and why should i?" he asked.

"yeah why should he?" damon added. l.jun pinched his arm, signaling for him to stop talking.

"we aren't who you think we are," l.jun said. "we help people. not in the best way possible, but it's the most efficient way, the fastest way. i don't remember lagoon doing anything for the sake of people." yoko froze at his old gang's name.

"being part of lagoon was a one time thing, i've changed." he said, hands shaking. he tries not to remember families he'd take from, the people he used to kill. he feels eden grasp his hand tightly to comfort him.

"and we don't kill the innocent," damon cut in before l.jun could say anything. "if you ever want to join us, just come talk to the both of us." the leader had felt that maybe they could use the extra help, and this might show how trustworthy yoko really was. one more recruit wouldn't hurt anyone.

yoko was at a loss for words, not able to say anything.

"he'll think about it," eden said softly. "but please don't force him to do anything he doesn't want to do." eden helps yoko to his feet and they leave to their room, passing oliver who had been listening to them.

"you should stay a hacker," damon said out loud, startling oliver. "you're not the best at keeping low." oliver rolled his eyes.

"but i got all the information i needed." and with that, he retreats back to his room.

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is it okay? hh, it's 1196 words of pure bullshit—

sorry this took so long, i'll work on the second chapter right awaY.

but thank you for waiting so patiently! i'll do a better job the next chapter 💜