Wanted ||| Ateez

2

May sighed as she flipped through the folders in front of her while waiting for her plane to take off. Alice Johnson, reporter and translator. Newly hired translator for a group named Ateez.

She scoffed, not believing she was flying around the world to translate for some boy band as her cover, especially because one of them was her target.

This is the last thing she wanted to be doing right now. She actually thought she might get a little time off after her last mission.

What was I thinking? She let her face fall into her hand and groaned.

When the pilot announced they would be taking off soon, she settled into her seat and continued to study the group, hoping to memorize at least their names and faces before landing. They all look the same to me. Too pretty, too much makeup, ugh. They are probably all gay too. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but if they try to give me a makeover or anything like that I might lose it.

When she had stared at the picture so long the faces started to blur together, she gave up and tried to get some sleep, thankful for her first-class seating. She laid her seat back and pulled out a blanket, hoping to get some rest.

She didn't, of course. She never really slept anymore. But she felt a little recharged just by closing her eyes for a bit.

There was a car waiting for her at the pickup area. Wow, he was thorough this time. As they drove to her location, she couldn't help but notice how beautiful South Korea was. The architecture was much different than what she was used to, but even as they drove, she memorized the route back to the airport.

That was part of her training. Pick up every detail possible. Find the fastest escape route. Never get lost.

She pursed her lips when they pulled up in front of a building with a large 'KQ Entertainment' sign on it. Great. My new home for God knows how long.

May took a deep breath and let herself fall into the character of an enthusiastic reporter who was thrilled to bits to be here. She plastered a wide smile on her face and added a pair of large black glasses, hoping it would 'add to the look'.

She was greeted by the group's manager who led her inside. "The boys are rehearsing right now, so I'll show you to your room and then I'll introduce you. We are all very excited you are here. The boys are still rookies, so we really hope you doing a 'Day in the life of Ateez' article, book, whatever you decide to do, will really help spread their name around. We are also working on a world tour, so the fact that you speak so many languages is a great bonus! The better you get to know the boys, the better you will sync with them during the shows."

Oh my god, stop talking. I really don't care. "Thank you so much for this opportunity! I hope I don't let you down!" May said brightly in Korean. She bowed politely when he showed her to her room and stepped inside.

"I'll give you a few minutes. Meet me at the end of the hall."

"Ok!" This is going to be a looooooong mission. She slapped her hand to her face and then ran it through her hair. She had dyed it black so she didn't stand out too much while she was here. Her extremely pale skin would do that for her already, and the black hair didn't really help with that contrast.

Sighing, she quickly braided her hair to get it out of her face, tucked her suitcase under the bed and made sure the secret compartment in it was locked, then went to meet the manager.

He continued to ramble on about all the performances coming up in Korea. She made sure to write it all down, for her own information, but to also stay in character.

As they got closer to the studio, she could hear the pounding music through the walls. There were also some loud calls, in time with the beats, along the lines of 'yeah' and 'ha'.

May fought back a groan.

When they walked into the room, all eight members were staring at themselves in the mirror as they rehearsed. They were smiling and encouraging each other through a set of moves that May had to admit looked impressive.

They waited for the song to finish and for the boys to grab towels or fans to cool off.

"Boys! I'd like to introduce you to Alice. She is the reporter and translator I told you about a few days ago."

The boys smiled, bowed at the same time, and said "Welcome!" All in unison.

May twisted her face into what she hoped was a smile while cringing on the inside. "Thank you for letting me intrude on your privacy, I look forward to working with you and getting to know you better!" She bowed in return. "Do you mind if I observe for a little bit?"

"Not at all," One member said. May took note of the mullet and after thinking hard for a moment, realized it must be the leader. Shit, what was his name... Hon... Hongjoong? I think that's it.

"Thank you so much." She bowed again and made her way to a corner as the manager left the room. Pulling her knees up to use them to write on, she opened her journal and started writing what she saw. To keep up her cover, she went on some schpeel about how amazing they are at dancing and how dedicated they are.

Bullshit. Bullshit. Blah, blah, blah. I can't believe people actually get paid to spew crap like this. She had to work really hard not to roll her eyes while watching them when they worked on their facial expressions.

The winks were so exaggerated she wanted to gag. Although he had to admit that when the taller, platinum blonde one bit his lip it was pretty sexy.

Psssh. Sexy. Who are you kidding? You have a job to do. And yet she still found herself writing a note about her thought.

Overall she had to admit it looked like they love what they do. Even when exhausted, they still had smiles on their faces and always said they needed to do better.

One of them walked up to her and smiled while running his hand through his black and red hair. "We are going to go get cleaned up and then probably order some dinner. Would you like to join us?"

Those dimples... STOP IT. "Yes, that would be great."

"You're Korean is excellent," the platinum blonde said, joining them. "How long have you studied it for?"

"Oh I don't know, for as long as I can remember." May closed her notebook and stood, pursing her lips a little.

"And I understand you speak several other languages as well?" He tilted his head slightly, looking genuinely interested.

"Yes, I speak German, Russian, Spanish, Japanese, English of course, and I've dabbled in a few others."

She saw all of their eyes widen in surprise, some of them even 'ah'd'.

"It's not that impressive," She muttered under her breath, feeling a little shy suddenly.

"Yes it is, we are having a hard enough time learning English. Some of us can speak a little Chinese and Japanese, but that's it." Hongjoong said, looking at the others.

"Well, they do say English is the hardest language to learn." She sent them a reassuring smile and walked out of the room.

While the boys cleaned up, she took advantage of her time alone to explore the house a little, taking mental note of every nook and cranny. She also did her best to sketch the basic layout of the house in the back of her notebook.

This place is huge... but that should help me for when I need to do my investigating. I just want to get this over with as soon as possible.