House Of Cards || NCT Mafia

Chapter two : A lie that is half-truth is the darkest of all

"How did it go?" asked the young boy without even waiting for his seven older brothers to take a seat on the couch.

"Did you get it? Did you fight? Oh my god, are you hurt?"

"Jisung-ah, let the guys breathe, will you?" said an older boy, putting a hand on the youngest's shoulder, with an affectionate eye smile.

"It went well, perfect, even, and yes, no and no." calmly answered Taeyong while getting himself a glass of scotch.

"So it's good ? We finally have it?" asked the boy, his hand falling from Jisung's shoulder.

"Yes, Jeno, we have the documents."

"Then let's celebrate!", cheerfully said Jisung, a big smile on his face.

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At the same time, in a different part of town, a young woman was trying her best to put some supplies on the higher shelf of the alley.

"There, let me help you", said her boss, while reaching the top without a problem, after seeing the girl struggle.

"Thank you" she said with a bow.

"I'm gonna have to leave early, can you keep the store for me ? Jaemin called me saying he would probably take his shift a little late tonight"

"No problem", she answered with a sweet smile.

"Thank you" said her boss. The man took his coat and headed to the door before turning back : "Oh, and Iseul-ah, be careful while going home, it can get dangerous for a young girl to walk in the streets by night."

With those words, he left, leaving the girl alone in the rather small shop. Iseul didn't mind, though. Actually, she was rather happy to stay a bit longer at the shop. It's not like she had a better place to go to anyways. Besides, the shop was like a second home to her, she has been working there for 4 years now, and grew accustomed to it.

Staying there during night time didn't bother her either, as it was much calmer than during daytime. She could work on her homework better here than at home, where the sound of her parents yelling at each other nonstop made it quite hard for her to concentrate.

She got her books and notes from her bag and started working on her essay that was due in a few days. Iseul was in the middle of it when the headlines on the small TV caught her attention. She quickly got the remote and turned up the volume so she could hear what the journalist was saying.

"Breaking news, we are currently in front of the Kang and Co. building, or what is actually left of it. As you can see behind me, the building is now burnt down to the ground and almost nothing is left of it. The firefighters were unfortunately too late and could only save a few documents, but the majority of it has been destroyed by the flames. Luckily, there are no victims, as no one seemed to be in the building when the tragedy took place. The police will now investigate to determine whether or not, this was an accident or a criminal act..."

Iseul turned down the volume until the voice of the journalist became a whisper and let down her pen. That was her father's company on TV. That was her father's life-work that just burnt down in flames. Thank god he wasn't in the building at that time. She quickly grabbed her phone to call him, but was interrupted by the sound of the bell above the door, signaling that someone just walked in.

"Hi, Iseul-ah." said Jaemin with a sweet smile as he walked in her direction. The young man frowned when he noticed that the girl in front of him didn't return his greeting.

"Are you alright?"

Iseul snapped back to reality and nodded quickly.

"Hello Jaemin, I'm sorry, I have to go", Iseul stuffed her school stuff in her bag, and grabbed her jacket.

"Hey", Jaemin quickly grasped her wrist before she could leave and let it go once she turned her head towards him, a questioning look on her face.

"Are you mad at me because I'm late and you had to stay longer...?" he asked with concerned eyes. "I'm sorry, I...huh...had to get back something from someone" he half lied. "It won't happen again."

He couldn't possibly explain to her that he was late because he had to sneak into one of the building of the biggest company of the country to get a thumb drive and then burn the whole thing up as a warning to its boss. But he didn't really want to lie to his friend either, so he...deformed the truth...? Surely that didn't count as lying...right?

If Iseul had been in her right mind, she would have made Jaemin notice that it was already the fourth time this month that he was late, and that he always came up with lame excuses, but she was way too out of it to tell him.

"What? No, I just remembered I had something to do. I really gotta go, see you in school tomorrow!"

And just like that, she left, running back to her house, not caring about the wind blowing on her face.

Jaemin sighed while taking off his jacket. Iseul and him had been friends for a few months now. They met a few years ago, though, as they had been in the same class for a while now, but had never talked to each other until Jaemin took the job in the shop where Iseul worked at. They were not very close, but Jaemin didn't like it when people were mad at him, that's why it was so important to him to make sure Iseul wasn't upset.

As he took his seat behind the cash register, he noticed the TV screen which showed what was left of the building that he and the others destroyed just a couple hours earlier. They were seven on the mission, divided in three groups of two plus Taeil ; Taeyong and Mark, Doyoung and Haechan, and lastly, Jaehyun and him.

The rest of the group stayed at the base, bringing more people on the field would have only drawn attention to them. They were 21 in total, split in different crews they called "units", but really, they were just one big family.

Right after getting back to the base they all called "home", Jaemin had run to his room to get changed and take his shift. No one knew why he decided to get a job, because he clearly didn't need one. They had enough money to buy whatever they wanted, so none of them actually needed to work. A few of the oldest did have a job, but it was in order to either help their less legal work as NCT, or as a cover for the money income the family had.

It's all just reasonable though : how would they explain all the money they had, the nice cars, or even the house, if half of them were still students, and the other unemployed ? They needed cover.

But Jaemin, as a student, didn't have to work, so they were all quite surprised when he told his brothers that he got a job in a small shop. At first, they kept teasing him about it, but after a while, they let it go, and it became normal to them to see Jaemin in a rush after a mission to get to his shift on time.

To be honest, Jaemin didn't really know himself why he suddenly decided it would be a good idea for him to get a job. Maybe, deep down, he just wanted to pretend that he was a normal teenager. That he was like everybody else, even just for the time of a shift.

Jaemin shook his head, as if he was trying to get rid of those thoughts, and started his job, smiling to himself.