TARGET

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As soon as he stepped foot outside the workspace, the fragrance of rice, kimchi, and meat wafted through the corridors of the basement- gracing Minghao's nostrils with an aroma that heightened his senses and awoke him from his somewhat still drowsy state.

15th Circle arrival in 32:68:05:23

That number was ingrained into Minghao's memory, without the effort of course. It came with his gift that he could remember things well.

The upcoming nature of the 15th circle's arrival made Minghao anxious, they needed to recruit and fast. He wasn't assigned anything specific today, Minghao was thinking to start recruiting today. He could stop at that street corner downtown where the homeless kids hung-

"Hey, Minghao are you gonna stand there looking dumb or come get some food." No one other but Soonyoung remarked, breaking his train of thoughts.

"Sorry, you scared I would take your job?" Minghao rolled his eyes, walked into the kitchen, and spooned some rice into a small ceramic plate, using metal chopsticks he found in the utensils drawer to pick up some meat and kimchi- ignoring Soonyoung that was pouting and sulking, mumbling about how Minghao was always mean.

It was still pretty dark, street light spilled in through the few windows lining the top of the walls, the sun peaking through slightly above the horizon line that was decorated with buildings and city life.

Minghao curled at the end of the couch in the living room and ate his meal along with a cup of water, Joshua soon joining him on the other end of the couch.

"I'm heading to Jongno today, apparently they found this one kid with a Stargift that could conceive anything he touches and make them invisible, but I don't know the rest of the situation." Joshua mindlessly poked at his rice, talking to no one in particular but Minghao was the only one there- so Minghao took that as Joshua engaging conversation with him.

Downing another spoonful of rice, he observed Joshua's features. His full, brown eyebrows drawn together as if he a bit perplexed, his full pink lips drawn into a line and his eyes wandered around the dancing patterns of the carpet.

"Why do you seem bothered by this?" Minghao asked.

Joshua sighed averting his eyes from the ground, "We can't continue on like this," He faced Minghao, "I think you know that by now."

Minghao pursed his lips. Of course, he knew what he was talking about. Ursula Minor was quite notorious locally, and the police would regard them as rebels hiding behind their seemingly good-natured facade. They weren't exactly liked. Even though it shouldn't matter since they weren't doing their job to make friends, it made it hard to recruit when they were constantly getting thrown under the bus with every good deed they did.

"I'm going around again today, looking for recruits," Minghao said, yet sounding slightly dejected. Joshua nodded out of acknowledgment.

"Why don't we go together, we can do both but let's stop by Jongno first."

The gale howled as it wove itself around the shivering pedestrians, namely Minghao and Joshua, who stuffed their hands into their pockets and tread forward.

It was a few blocks and took about a 10-minute walk, but they made it at the cozy corner cafe on Jongno street. The cafe was practically empty and the infant sun reflected some of its early tangerine hues on the window panes of the story, pooling into the store with rustic furniture and homey touches.

Joshua opened the door and let both of them in. Aside from you average early bird millennial or two, it was empty, and an uninterested barista lounged near the cashier on her cellular device.

The two lacked a plan, so they decided to order some coffee and think over that at a back table in the cafe. Sitting down after placing their order, the two resided in a remote corner of the cafe (but given the deserted-ness of the cafe, it could've been any other corner).

"So I'll do a 5-minute freeze then you head to the backroom, gloves on, and use the flash drive to get the footage from the security camera's somewhere in the backroom."

Minghao grumbled, "You can't do more than 5 minutes?"

"Didn't get enough sleep last night, plus what about later?" Joshua shrugged wiping his palms on his pants, getting ready to do his thing. He looked at Minghao to notify him that he would be starting, and with a nod from the latter, he put his head down so he didn't look weird closing his eyes for a prolonged period of time.

As he closed his eyes, he let the ambiance of early city life fade around him, drifting along the lines of full consciousness and not- to deepen his meditative state. He communicated his wishes to his Stargift, getting the feeling of cold water being poured over him in a signal of affirmation. He laid there for a few minutes with his head down before he felt the hairs on his arms raise and familiar pull at the bottom of his stomach, signifying him that he was ready-

He got up from his spot, and walked to the middle of the room, grateful that no one was paying attention to him besides Minghao. Joshua opened his eyes and Minghao saw that familiar electric blue color his irises would turn during the process, Minghao lifted his legs off the ground and sat Indian style in the wooden cafe chair, seeing that- Joshua crouched down to the ground.

He placed the 10 tips of his fingers on the ground and closed his eyes, letting his concentrated energy seep into the ground of the cafe-

"Hey what are you doing sir-" The barista finally noticed, but by then it was too late, Joshua was deep in his concentration and it was going to happen-

He felt the world slow around him

"Sir-" The barista's voice was lower and slowed down like an old record, her movements slowed to her alarm-

Almost there...

The electrifying feeling sent chills down Joshua's back- pouring out his power into the Earth and allowing his gift to take the rungs, setting the scaffolds with his meditation earlier-

The cafe's air became slightly heavier, signifying that the process was done.

Opening his eyes to check if he was done, he was.

The barista and the by-standing customer were frozen in time and Minghao was sitting in his seat grinning.