POISONED YOUTH: TWISTED

CHAPTER 42

The three of them remained in the old headquarters for a while longer, letting the familiar place pull them back into memories they had long buried. It was strange being there again after so many years. The walls looked almost the same, the rooms still carried the traces of the people who once called the place home, and yet everything felt different now that they had grown older and their lives had taken them in separate directions.

For Haechan, the headquarters was a reminder of the boy he used to be before the gang became his entire world.

He followed Taeyong deeper into the building with Mark and Yoonoh beside him, unsure whether coming here would actually help, but knowing they had already come too far to turn back now.

"Come in," Taeyong invited, pushing open the door to his old office.

The three gladly followed him inside.

The leader's office had somehow remained surprisingly neat. The shelves were still lined with files, the cabinets were arranged almost exactly as Haechan remembered them, and the desk stood in the center of the room as though Taeyong had only stepped away from it yesterday. Even after years of being abandoned, the room still carried the quiet authority of its former owner.

"Say, Yong, do you live here?" Yoonoh asked as he looked around, his eyes traveling across the organized shelves and untouched furniture.

"I don't know... am I?" Taeyong grinned before dropping himself into the swivel chair and spinning around once. A quiet laugh escaped him as he looked around the room. "Ah, I missed this."

"Are you coming back?" Haechan asked.

Taeyong only hummed in response before turning his chair toward him. "Why? Do you want me to?"

"That would be awesome!" Mark immediately beamed, already looking around the room with renewed excitement. "Imagine their reactions when they find out that the great king of all time, Lee Taeyong, is coming back."

Taeyong laughed under his breath. "NCT retired for a reason, boys. That's why we formulated Dream as an independent group, right?"

Mark's expression immediately fell into a pout, but his mood changed just as quickly when he noticed one of the drawers labeled with the name IKON.

His eyes widened.

"Permission to open?"

"Go on."

Mark didn't need to be told twice. He pulled the drawer open and immediately found a thick stack of folders and loose papers. His excitement disappeared as soon as he realized how much information was inside, but he still gathered everything carefully, hugged the pile against his chest, and carried it over to Taeyong's desk before placing it down.

The playful atmosphere from earlier slowly disappeared. The moment the files landed on the desk, all four of them understood why they had come back to this place in the first place. Whatever they found inside could change everything they thought they knew about IKON and the reason they had been targeting them.

"Alright, I'm not reading that," Haechan said as he dropped into the chair in front of the desk, staring at the mountain of paperwork with absolutely no enthusiasm.