Red Perfect

NCity

3:15pm

"Where are we?" said Taemin. He pulled the silver truck up to the curb of the colorful store front, covered in graffiti and neons with words such as "game" and " smokes." Groups of young adults and teenagers stood at the front and above them was painted a huge sign; "NCity Arcade."

"Come help me out." Said Seulgi.
Taemin hopped out of the truck and helped Seulgi into her chair.

As the pair rolled up to the front, a smiley teen with dark hair ran to greet them.

"Yoooooooooo! Seulgi!" Said the boy.  He wore a mismatched track suit, and a gold chain about his neck.

"Hi Mark." She said looking up from her wheel chair.

"Daaaaammnnn, you look like shit!" Mark said, still giggling as a group of young boys followed behind him.

"Thanks Mark." Said Seulgi, "This is Taemin."
The two shook hands.

"Haha, nice, you guys looking for Taeyong?"
Said Mark.

"Yeah, is he here?"

Mark put his hands in his sweatshirt pocket, "Yeah follow me!"

The inside of the arcade smelled like mildew and weed, the ceiling seemed to be collapsing in on itself, but not a patron could be bothered. The array of games lit up the large room and filled it with a cacophony of gun fire and synth. The ultra violet lights and neon color scheme distracted the teens plenty, well, that and the various substances being sold.
The three of them walked to the back of the Arcade to a door labeled office, Mark opened it and let Seulgi and Taemin inside.

"Yo TY! Look who it is!"

The room was strangely lit with various neon lights as well as a warm desk lamp. The walls where covered in posters and advertisements of various movies and musicians. On the desk sat stacks of cash and a few lines of white powder.

Behind the desk sat a thin man with green hair. Diamonds hung from his ears, and his face rested in an intimidating glare.
Beside him stood a tall and athletic man in a suit, his face looked friendly but he expressed annoyance at the sight of Seulgi and Taemin's entering.

"Whose this guy?" said Seulgi, gesturing to the man in the suit.

"This is Jaehyun, he was just leaving." Taeyong gave a side look to the suited man.

"Tch." Said Jaehyun as he left the room.

"Friendly." said Seulgi.

"He's one of our new operators, it takes him a moment to warm up to you." Said Taeyong.
Jaehyun closed the door behind himself. Leaving Mark, Taeyong, Seulgi, and Taemin alone.

"What can I do for you, Seulgi?" asked Taeyong. He had folded his hands in front of his face, lifting an eyebrow as he spoke.

"What, not even a 'Hi, How are you?" said Seulgi.

"We both know you're not here to chat." Taeyong's face fell and his eyes became soft and empty.

"You heard about Irene, didn't you?"

Taeyong's eyes began to gloss, his shoulders falling.

"Yeah, I heard."

"You know we have to do something, right?"

Taeyong coughed, "Seulgi, look I know you loved Irene, I, loved Irene. She was like my sister, but what can we do. I have all these kids to think about."

Mark's eyes grew wide, " What happened to Irene?"

"That's exactly why we need do to do something!" Seulgi answered, ignoring Mark. "First RV, whose to say NCity won't be next? Think of all the kids you've got! Think of Irene."

Taeyong's eyes began to water, he turned to Mark who had only grown more confused, "T, what is she talking about, what's gonna happen to us?"

Taeyong sighed, more tears falling.

"I can't, Seulgi."

Seulgi stared at Taeyong a moment, realizing he needed more time.

"Fine! Call me when you're ready to get your head out of your ass!"

Seulgi turned and rolled quickly out of the office.

"Thankyou for your time." Said Taemin following closely behind.

There was a moment of prolonged silence in the office before Mark finally spoke.

"If somebody hurt Irene, we gotta do something TY."

Taeyong began organizing his desk and moving papers."We can't involve everyone, Mark. Think of Chenle and Jisung they're just babies."

"We don't have to involve everyone."

Taeyong froze.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we can keep the group small, Just us and whoever Seulgi and Tommy want to bring."

"So Tommy was his name..." Taeyong mused. "Ah, no it's too risky Mark. You're too young." He continued to shuffle papers and move stacks of cash.

"Hey! You said yourself I always perform perfect on the job!"

"What if you get hurt!" Taeyong sounded like a mother, but he loved Mark just like one.

"I won't TY!," Mark paused, his dark eyes becoming earnest. "But I really want to help Seulgi."

Taeyong stared at Mark a moment. Thinking.

"Run out and grab Seulgi." Said Taeyong.

Mark sprinted out of the room knocking over the coat rack as he left. When he got outside Taemin had just started the truck.

"Hey wait!"

Seulgi rolled down the back window.

"What Mark?" she said.

Out of breath Mark began, "Taeyong wants to see you."

"Change your mind?" said Seulgi as she rolled back into the office.

"I will help," Said Taeyong his eyes growing serious. "But I have a few conditions."

"Shoot." Said Seulgi.

"Out of all of Ncity, only Mark and I will be assisting you. I'm going to make a few calls, but you need to grab these two."

Taeyong handed Seulgi a file; inside were the mugshots of two high profile criminals.

"You are not to return here," Continued Taeyong, "I don't want to leave any ties to the boys back here in NCity. Do you have somewhere we can meet?"

"My warehouse." Said Taemin.

"Perfect. Anything else?"

"Yeah, who are these guys?" Said Seulgi talking about the criminals in the file.

"Ex- EXOS."

"EXOs?" said Seulgi.

Taeyong ignored her protest, "Word of advice, you're not gonna get the tech-one  until
you convince the librarian."

Taeyong stood up and grabbed his coat.

"I need to step out, Mark can help you the rest of the way." Taeyong turned to Taemin. "Nice to meet you, Tommy."

"...Tommy?"

"If you need to contact me, Mark has my information."

Taeyong shut the door behind himself
leaving the trio in the office.

"You guys ready to go?" said Mark with a smile.

Seulgi looked at Taemin and then at Mark.

"Let's go to the Library."

3:45pm