House Of Cards || NCT Mafia

Chapter eighty-eight : Not everything is as it seems

Iseul ran to him, crouching down so she could be on the same level as him. Jeno looked at her with wide eyes, observing her face.

"You're alright," he whispered, relieved.

"You're not," she replied with a worried frown. The first thing she noticed on his face were the traces of blood, and the skin around his eyes that slowly started to turn a blue color.

Iseul softly put her hand on his face, tracing the wounds with gentleness, scared to hurt the boy even more.

Jeno nearly closed his eyes under her touch, almost as light as a feather.

"I'm fine," he spoke with a hoarse voice. "Now," he added. She didn't seem to hear him, too focused on his bruised face.

"What the hell has he done to you?" her voice broke.

"Oh, he just gave me a warm welcome," Jeno chuckled, almost chocking.

Iseul's eyes darkened, expressing her anger. She clenched her fists, and furrowed her eyebrows.

"Iseul?" a voice asked behind her.

Her father was standing in the doorframe, hand on the doorknob. "Stay away from this criminal, honey."

Jeno looked at her expectantly, even though he didn't really know what he was hoping she'd do. Did he want her to set him free? Did he want her to kick her father's ass? Yes, he did. He wanted to prove to that bastard that his sweet little girl was a badass, and that everything Jeno had told him was true. He wanted Iseul to prove her father wrong.

But what she replied was far from what he wanted her to say.

"I was looking for him," she replied, and for a second, Jeno thought she'd take his defense. But his satisfaction was cut short when she kept speaking. "I wanted to make him pay for everything they did."

Her voice was so stable and her face so serious that Jeno's heart skipped a beat. He got scared for a second, but he had faith in her. She was just acting, right?

Iseul's father smiled, and looked at Jeno's face. "From what I see you did pretty well," he said with a pride smile that made Iseul want to throw up.

"Come," he gestured for her to follow him. "We have to talk you and I."

Iseul shot Jeno one last look and got up to leave the room. It took her all her will to keep walking and not look back, leaving Jeno alone in this dark cell. Every part of her wanting to run back to him, free him and escape this place, but she couldn't. And so she left, not turning back.

Her father led her to his office, another part of the house she was usually forbidden to go into.

"Take a seat," he offered as he sat behind the desk.

Iseul felt a weird feeling in her stomach, and she came to realize that she actually preferred to be in Taeyong's office rather than in her father's.

What Kang didn't notice, however, were the phones on the right side of his desk, almost right in front of his daughter, who, unlike him, saw the devices right away.

She recognized them both. It was hers and Jeno's. She had now proof that her father was the one behind all of it. How else would he be in possession of her phone when she left it in Taeyong's office? Because of him, the leader had almost lost the little trust he was starting to give Iseul, and she'd never forgive her father for it.

How stupid could Kang be, leaving the phones right here, in such an obvious place?

What they didn't know was that Taeil, in his own office, surrounded by computers, remembered every members' phone was equipped with a tracing device as well as a microphone. Which meant that Taeil could do what he did best: hack into Jeno's phone to know where it was and connect his computers to the phone's microphone. He thanked his previous self for inventing a specific app that could be used as a bug. What a genius idea to wiretap their phones.

It took him three minutes to finally be able to connect his own phone to Jeno's, and as soon as he heard the voice of Iseul, he knew it had worked, and he clapped for himself.

"Taeyong," he called through the earpiece. "I'm in."

"In what?" Taeyong's voice replied.

"In Jeno's phone. I tapped all your phones a while ago, I'm sending the audio to yours so you can listen and see for yourself," Taeil informed as he tapped on his keyboard.

"What's going on?" Renjun asked as he passed by Taeil's room and saw how frantic the older male seemed to be.

Taeil vaguely replied that he could listen to what Jeno's phone was picking up, and Renjun ran as fast as he could back to the living room, where the other members of WayV and Dream were still waiting.

"Guys, come quick!" He pressed. "We can listen to what's going on at Kang's house!"

It didn't take long for them to get up and run to Taeil's room, which was soon so crowded that they could barely breathe. The room had clearly been not designed to welcome that many people.

"What are they saying?" Chenle asked, jumping up and down.

"If you shut up, maybe we could actual hear," Renjun mumbled.

They all kept their mouths shut, and listened carefully, and 127's car also came to a stop when Taeyong put his phone on speaker so they could hear.

"What did you want to talk about?"

Iseul's voice resonated both in Taeil's room where the members were walking on each other's feet, and in Yuta's car.

"What happened with NCT? What did they tell you?" Kang's voice was less calm than what he intended it to be, and Iseul noticed it right away, understanding her father was dead serious about it.

"They tried to tell me you were a monster," she chose her words carefully, completely oblivious to the fact that NCT's members were literally listening to her conversation. "But I didn't believe them, of course. They're criminals, a mafia. They thought I was on their side, I didn't have a choice," her voice became weak.

She mentally thanked her mother for forcing her to take acting classes back in middle school, because they clearly paid off now.

"I tried to be as persuasive as I could, or else they would have treated me like a prisoner."

Her father's face relaxed at her words, which contrasted with Taeyong's who became red with rage. His jaw was clenched and his knuckles were turning white on his phone that he was gripping hard.

"Oh, my poor daughter," Kang spoke. "You did well."

Iseul let out a small sigh, relieved that her father believed her lies. What she didn't know, however, was that Taeyong did too, and he was close to losing it.

"But your good work isn't complete yet."

The girl felt her blood pulse through her veins. What was her father talking about?

"What do you mean?"

"I'm gonna need you to give me everything you have on them. Every single information. Can you do that?"

His slightly raised an eyebrow as he stared at his daughter, and Iseul understood that it wasn't just a simple question. Kang was testing her. She had to play the act until the end. She needed to persuade him she was against NCT. For their own safety and hers.

"Yes," she replied, her voice faking determination.

Kang smiled, but inside Yuta's car, Taeyong had smashed his phone against the window.

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Where are you guys from? I was wondering because I'd like to know your time zones, maybe my 'posting schedule' isn't the best for you guys...? What do you think?