Crescent // ATEEZ ✔

34 [meeting]

The youngest stands in front of the projector, wearing a headband with rabbit ears and striped pajamas, looking like he's ready to do a show-and-tell at a sleepover. The audience in front of him are all dressed in sleeping attires, the atmosphere feeling less like a postmortem meeting for the missions they were entrusted with, but more of a sleepover with snacks and sodas on the side.

This time Yeosang is in charge of the overall presentation, being the person responsible to compile all the details of their requesters, missions and rewards. Some of them felt that it was unnecessary but Hongjoong insisted that these kinds of meetings are important, so they must come no matter if they're wearing their pajamas.

As long as they're there. And not sleeping.

Before Jongho, Seonghwa and Yunho had presented the mission they worked on together, with Yeosang simultaneously guiding them and Hongjoong on a separate mission. Seonghwa and Yunho were tasked to go through a similar pursuit Jongho, San and Wooyoung - the differences are that there are multiple casualties caused by Seonghwa's rifle and instead of diving into an aquarium Yunho was darting through the halls of an abandoned school.

"So," Jongho bellows, ultimately shaking Wooyoung who looks like he's about to drift off to sleep. He smirks when he sees that he manages to startle the older and continues, "I was paired up with Sunfish and Corgi for this mission, but Shiber came to help me when there appeared to be an emergency at the aquarium."

"Please explain that," Hongjoong consults the details of the mission he had to carry out on the papers in front of him. "I was informed that Sunfish had to send in a Code 3, and that wasn't good." His voice turns stern, just like it always does when he gets into leader-mode. It's one of those times they know not to mess around with him, although he's only carrying out his rightful duty as the leader. Sometimes, even Seonghwa, who's older than him, dare not cross him when he's deep into this character.

Jongho gestures for Yeosang to change the slide, and now the screen is filled with the face of the person San had seen stashed in between the fake rocks. The youngest holds his elbow with his right hand as he splays out the palm of his left to point towards the image.

"This person known as Mantis is known to be from another team of excavators hired by the sibling of our requester. It further confirms our suspicions that the three siblings have hired their own teams to scavenge the treasure box from the aquarium, believed to be a precious family heirloom that their father had released to them in a race against time and each other. The middle son, Song Jaeim chose ATEEZ to carry out the job for him, and thanks to Shiber, we had managed to deliver the object safely through the locker at Station 11 of Utopia subway line, bringing an end to the race. 500 grand have been deposited into our account, and our client is happy. No casualties, no bullets fired by Corgi. I hope."

"Good summary of the mission," Hongjoong laces his fingers together as he places his elbows on the meeting table. "Now proceed to troubleshooting."

"Code 3 was sent by Corgi because both him and Sunfish could not receive a response from me past the time I was supposed to report back, even when the signal of my earpiece was strong. No cameras were available at the area of the tank, so Sunfish could not go through the cameras to find out what had happened. What happened was," he pauses, giving time to himself to breathe in, "by the time I arrived there, Mantis was already at the edge of the tank, ready to dive in. A thing to note is that they don't seem like a professional team because he didn't find the need to wear proper attire for diving, or maybe he's just that good in holding his breath. I pulled him back and we got involved in a scuffle. I believed that's when my earpiece came off, causing me to unable to communicate with Sunfish or Corgi. After knocking him out and putting him away, I decided that I couldn't waste anymore time so instead of looking for the earpiece I changed to the diving attire and jumped in instantly."