POISONED YOUTH: TWISTED

CHAPTER 34

The room had been unusually quiet until the sound of a hand striking the desk shattered the silence. The leader had finally lost his patience, his palms pressed firmly against the polished surface as he glared at the six men standing before him. The sudden movement made several of them flinch, though none dared meet his eyes for too long. Whatever information they had gathered, it clearly wasn't enough to satisfy him, and the frustration written across his face made that painfully obvious.

"Don't you have anything better to do?" he snapped, his voice echoing through the room. "Who even recruited that stupid trash? Or appointed him for the mission in the first place?"

The underboss, seemingly unaffected by the outburst, sighed and calmly placed a red folder on the desk. He opened it and pushed the contents toward the leader, his expression far more composed than the man across from him.

"These are all the details we got from our schoolboy here."

At once, everyone's attention shifted toward the youngest member of the group, who was leaning lazily against the wall with a lollipop resting between his lips. He looked completely unbothered by the tension in the room, casually meeting their stares as though none of this concerned him.

"What?" he asked with a shrug. "I got everything you needed."

A few of the men exchanged glances before the tallest among them stepped forward, a faint smirk appearing on his face as he placed his iPad on the desk. His usual deep, raspy voice carried an unusual confidence as he spoke.

"It looks like Woojin didn't fail at all."

The leader's expression shifted almost immediately. The anger that had been written all over his face slowly disappeared, replaced by a playful grin as he leaned closer to the screen.

The file wasn't a written report.

It was an ongoing audio recording.

And whatever had been captured in it was enough to make the room suddenly feel much more interesting.

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By the following afternoon, the gloomy atmosphere of the previous days seemed like a distant memory for Yeoreum. She happily made her way down the neighborhood street, almost skipping as the sunlight warmed her skin. The breeze was chilly against her cheeks, but instead of bothering her, it somehow made her feel even more refreshed. After everything that had happened lately, she was more than happy to have something as simple as a day out with her friends.

She had already informed both Yoonoh and Haechan that she would be meeting Yeji and Naih at a newly opened café in the neighboring city. The place was owned by Yeji's soulmate, Junkyu, along with some of his friends, and Yeji had been talking about it enough that Yeoreum had eventually agreed to come.

The bus ride took only about twenty-five minutes, and before she knew it, Yeoreum was stepping off at her stop with her phone in hand. With a little help from Maps, she found the café without much trouble, though the loud music coming from inside reached her before she even reached the entrance.

She paused outside for a moment, looking up at the sign before smiling to herself.

TREASURE