Mastermind 013.

A little surprised, Soyeon almost shook her head. But then again, this might be the chance for her to learn the one or other thing about pianos. So instead of shaking her head, the girl nodded and got up, walking towards the piano and letting herself down next to him.

At this image, her friends would probably have squealed and giggled like little girls, but to her there was nothing giggle-worthy about the situation. They had to spend a lot of time together and the better they would get along during this time – the better.

Now seated, Soyeon looked at the piano. It was beautiful – just as beautiful as it sounded. It almost seemed ironic to her that such a pretty instrument could sound so terrible when played wrong.

Her right hand hovered over the keys for a moment, before she slowly let her index finger lower onto one of the keys to form a sound.

A smile appeared on her lips for a moment, before she turned to face him and tilted her head to one side, in a questioning way.

“That’s the lower E.” Taekwoon said, a smile still lingering by his lips—he had been watching her, of course. It was the child-like curiosity that had drawn him in, the way she hesitated for a moment before pressing the key.

“Do you draw at all?” He asked, gently and carefully fixing the posture of her hand on the keys. “I found that playing piano is very much like drawing... like when you press the pen too hard, the paper gets torn, and when you press too soft the color doesn’t show... but everything is relative. You’re as free as you’re chained. Every rule can be broken.” Once done, he placed his hand just by her side - exactly an octave higher.

“Follow me,” he started, pressing a few keys in succession slowly. “...and feel free to improvise.”

His face was probably just inches from her when he managed to snake an arm over hers - taking the left-hand keys at the same time.

Serene. Focused. Passive.

It’s the dead, emotionless piano that poured out the emotions.

Soyeon was completely immersed into the song. That was until that one note hit her ears, that didn’t fit right in – even if she hadn’t heard the song before. It was barely noticeable, but for her trained ears, it was certainly there, though had she been lost in thought, she might not have noticed after all.

Slowly, she opened her eyes and just a little later, the male asked her a question. The girl shook her head and a glimpse of sadness showed in her eyes. She’d wanted to learn how to play long ago, but as much as she loved the piano – or maybe because of that specific reason – she’d rather listen others play than to learn it herself. Even if it seemed very calming.

She would’ve liked for him to play more, but it seemed as though he might not continue. “Too bad.” The girl thought – he played well.

Having forgotten about her question, a little smile appeared on Soyeon’s lips and with one of her hands she motioned for him to please - though that might’ve gotten lost in translation – continue playing.

Gotten lost in translation, actually, was a perfect phrase to describe—because if even words can be misinterpreted, wouldn’t silence be way more easy to mistake? Taekwoon was admittedly a reader of people, and he didn’t fail to catch the sadness in the way her expression went... but then he had to give her silence a second thought the moment she extended her hand.

A questioning look, two blinks, three seconds of complete, undisturbed silence, followed by a soft press of four notes by his left hand. 

“...Do you want me to teach you?” He asked, and for once, a rarely seen curiosity - even by his peers - seeped into his tone. “Instead of that... come here. We might be able to do something to while the time away.”

And with that said, he shifted aside to make space for her by his left side.

Even though she’d thought the sofa would be fine, after reading a little while lying on his bed, she couldn’t help falling asleep. Soyeon had felt a little uncomfortable at first, seeing she was in another person’s bed, but while being asleep, no such feelings were left.

When she woke up after only a few hours, her hair was a little messy and her face felt puffy - nothing out of the usual. Properly waking up took a few moments, but then she straightened her clothes. It wasn’t like in many books she’d read - she was fully aware of where she was and not confused about it whatsoever.

After combing through her hair with her fingers, she decided she should take a shower. But where was it?

Soyeon yawned heartily and walked through the door that led into the living room. But before she could try to get the male’s attention, she was lulled in by the sound of a piano. Quietly - so he wouldn’t stop playing - she walked towards the couch and let herself down softly.

He played well and even though she didn’t know it before, she came to like the melody that filled the room.

Playing piano is like executing a complicated plan—one wrong press and it’s ruined. Somewhere along it, Taekwoon wondered if the team assigned to escort Soyeon’s mother actually managed; perhaps it was pride, but then again he had always felt uneasy about the things he couldn’t lay a hand on.

May she be safe—

Just then, his finger landed on a wrong key that would otherwise went unnoticed due to the complicated nature of the song itself, had one never heard it. Even so, his finger had stayed on that high G note, eyes only opening after it; it’s only then that he noticed the presence of the female inside the room. A blunder on his part, this was, but there would be less than a 1 percent chance of anyone entering his unit without him knowing about it. The only possibility, if one wished to break in and kidnap whoever he was in charge of protecting, was to plant a bomb and destroy the whole building.

Not a plausible idea, of course. Unless some of those so-called mutants actually managed to use their ‘special ability’ to break in.

He looked up at her, and gave a fleeting smile.

Soyeon watched the male read over her schedule and take a photo. While doing so, she wondered if there was anything else he needed to know. But except for university, studying and reading in her leisure time, there wasn’t much she did.

“Practice!”

Right, there was still her martial arts training! The female was about to gain his attention to let him know that she would like to continue her regular training, when he spoke before she had the chance to.

In understanding, the girl nodded. It didn’t really bother her personally – after all it was for her own safety – but she had a feeling that her friends would tease her about it and that made her sigh. The mere imagination of it felt exhausting.

Upon seeing his smile, Soyeon calmed down a little – and noticed, that she hadn’t completely been before. After all this was someone else’s home and the thought to impose, didn’t leave her completely cold either, even if she usually seemed – and was – somewhat of a neutral faced person..

Again, Soyeon nodded, signalling an “Okay.”. She took out her phone and added his ID, deciding to ask about practice later – through an IM – as she felt a little exhausted from the eventful day. And as nice as he was, he was still a stranger and only doing his job after all – he probably wouldn’t mind some time for himself either.

That settles it.

Some time later, exhaling a sigh - not that he’s tired or anything, though, it’s just that the whole thing was exhausting mentally since it would be the first time he’d brought a girl inside - Taekwoon found himself rising from the couch and heading towards the piano. It was quite rare that he’d have to resort to it just to unwind and nothing else, but as much as he would want to, he couldn’t sleep. Call it a sense of duty, perhaps, but that’s just how he was.

It didn’t even take two minutes for a calm (a bit sentimental, though) melody to fill the soundproofed unit, fast fingers deftly dancing on the black and white keys to fill in the background music, which was playing from the speakers—Vanros Kloud, although leaning onto New Age, was one of his favorite composers. The song was Wings of Piano; for him, it trains focus and calmness at the same time, and mostly accuracy.

After all, he often play blind, just like how he did it then.

Eyes closed, serene expression, a certain confidence.

Soyeon nodded at his question – though she would’ve been fine with his couch. Sofas had something nice to them – often times the girl would make herself comfortable on the one in her room, covering herself up halfway, with a nice book in hand, classical music playing in the background and a cup of tea or occasionally coffee on the couch table. This had something so calming to it that sometimes the female woke up the next day, without having had a nightmare. And that was more than welcomed.

Yet, she followed him into his bedroom. Even though the colours were still primarily cold, it had something way more comfortable to it. Putting it simply: it was a pretty room.

But Soyeon couldn’t shake off the feeling of guilt. Of course it was his job that he probably chose himself and possibly liked, but she felt bad that he would have to adjust to her lifestyle. Furthermore, she couldn’t talk, which made the situation more difficult as well – more for him than for her, as she was used to it. In that moment she decided that she could  sneakily fall asleep on the couch by “accident”.

As she was still looking at the pretty room, the girl turned around when she heard his voice. Showing that she understood, Soyeon nodded. As she remembered something, the girl made an “Ah!”-like expression and searched through her handbag. She took out a rather thick organiser – that looked cuter than one might expect of her – and quickly browsed through it until the female found the page she’d searched for.

She didn’t have a full daily schedule, but she did have one for her classes at myre and that is what she showed him; holding the planner out to him, with both hands.

In this moment, she noticed, that she didn’t even know if it would be okay for her, to still attend university for the time being. Would it be fine as long as he was with her or would it simply be too dangerous?

Studying people was his thing, and in that moment Taekwoon found himself unconsciously studying the female. For one to carry a thick organizer in a handbag, she was rather methodical, it seemed, even if her choice of the cover showed that she was rather young at heart... or at least that’s how his first impression went.

Looking at her schedule, however, the male skimmed through it quickly before taking out his phone to take a picture of it. Precautions never hurts, and he liked to be organized even through the mess. Of course, he was notified beforehand that the younger female still attended classes - and upon a swift background check just hours before they met, he’d confirmed where the female was studying, and in which major.

Interesting one, the medical field. Had he not like IT a tad bit too much, he might have tried that.

“Okay,” he said after sliding the phone smoothly back into his pocket, nodding to show that he’s done with the schedules. “We can do this. I might have to act your boyfriend for the time being so it wouldn’t be suspicious if someone suddenly escorts you in and out of classes.”

Throughout the rest of the drive, Soyeon stayed lost in her thoughts. She watched the scenery they were passing by; the people on hoverboards and the buildings. Yet, an unwelcomed thought crept into her mind.

North Seoul was so much different from her home: South Seoul. Her past there was complicated and painful and her past in North Seoul was rather negative as well. Even her present wasn’t too rosy and yet the girl couldn’t complain.

Both in a materialistic and a non-materialistic way, she had more than most ever would. Their place was fancy, there were those she was dear to and that were dear to her and she could get all the education she wanted.

Of course this also had negative sides: like now where her life was in possible danger. But she still didn’t want to complain.

Only when they arrived, the girl was ripped out of her thoughts.

With a nod of her head, she thanked him and stepped in. She couldn’t say it was like she expected - since she didn’t really gave it any though and thus didn’t have an expectation - but the place suited him. It wasn’t sterile but had something “chic“ to it.

Soyeon shook her head upon hearing his words. A bit of a mess always made a house, flat or such seem warmer.

Questioningly, she lifted the bags in her hands and tilted the head to her right.

And just like that, he understood.

“Your would-be room, right?” The male agent let himself ask, though at that point he was 95% sure that it was exactly what she meant. “Unfortunately, we’ll have to share mine, but don’t worry. I’ll be sleeping on the couch, or I’ll just use the bed whenever you aren’t sleeping. Come.”

After all, he would be playing the bodyguard anyway - which means he would have to adjust his bodily hour to suit hers… which further means staying awake when she’s asleep.

Nothing he can’t do, of course.

Soyeon showed a little smile and nodded, showing that she’d listened to his words and did the fitting sign language for “thank you”, hoping he knew what it meant. Again the girl nodded. She couldn’t reply in her usual way – through sending messages – as he was driving and she didn’t want to distract him, even if he was probably able to do both at the same time, considering his job.

Earnestly, she didn’t look forward to being stuck with another person for the whole day and whole night. But the girl knew it was neccessary and that there was nothing she could do about it. It was probably as much of an inconvenience for him as it would be for her.

Surprised Soyeon’s head tilted up upon hearing his choice of song. Classical music was her favourite and she hadn’t expected to hear it. A small smile formed on her lips and she looked out of the car’s window.

To most, this silence - not counting the music - would’ve been awkward, but to the girl it felt natural and was welcomed. It wasn’t that she didn’t like conversations, but being lost in thought felt nice every now and then. Even more so after the threat arrived and the day got hectic.

Apparently, mere 8 hours did not suffice for him to master the art of sign language (he might have memorised all the basic if given 24 hours, but the order, sadly, had been imposed upon him in too short of a time span). Taekwoon did catch her nod and sign when he was watching her through the rearview mirror, but he didn’t know what it meant - thankfully, though, having an always-online system means the world is in your hand... or in your mind. 

Having to leave her home for a while wasn’t anything new. Since her adoptive mother had quite the important job at the government – she wasn’t a public, political figure, but still somewhat known to the public – she was easily the target of whatever group’s attacks. Often times, the security people were only in or around her home, or she had to stay in a hotel that was protected.

But apparently this situation was a “little” more critical than usual. She had to stay at the agent’s this time, which surprised her a little, but she’d stopped to question these situations a long time ago.

With a small smile on her face, Soyeon waved towards her mom, before turning around. She carried two bags with her, while one was for necessities the other – smaller – bag was filled with books.

The girl looked over her shoulder and saw her mom walk the way opposite of her, though the girl knew, she was headed for a similarly black car with darkly tinted windows. This wasn’t anything new to her either. The person – clad in a black suit – who walked next to her opened the car’s door and disappeared after closing it again, probably getting into another black car.

A younger man was sitting in the front seat – the person she would stay with for a little while. “Good afternoon.” is what most would at least have said in her situation, but as she couldn’t talk, she simply bowed her head as a greeting.

Had it not been for the fact that the said adoptive mother has been the one who had guided him through becoming a field agent in the first place, Jung Taekwoon knew he would never have gotten into this mess.

Then again, he couldn’t complain. J has been very kind to him even as a superior, and sometimes he even saw her as a mother in the workplace... and plus, even though he was supposedly on a vacation leave, field agents never really does have one anyway. So there he was, sitting as still as a statue on the driver’s seat, hands on the wheel—not even a glance towards the other car, which he knew would head to the nearest safe house possible, effectively leaving him with her only child to take care of.

A special request, she says, and he couldn’t say no.

The car door opened and closed, and he spared a glance towards the younger girl—meeting her eyes for a fragment of a second, and nodded in response.

She’s special, he’d known—Jung Soyeon doesn’t speak, and fortunately for him, he’d rather have a silent companion than a super noisy one. Silence was his best companion.

“I’m Jung Taekwoon, and you’ll be under my protection starting today for as long as your mother sees fit. You can also refer to me as Leo if that’s easier for you to remember,” he said, giving her a small smile before turning back to face the wheel and started the car engine. “I am under direct orders to protect you 24/7 from the dangers that might be present during the next few days, so I shall first apologize beforehand if things gets inconvenient for you due to my presence.”

With a heavy sigh and a disgruntled expression on his face, Wenhan took another look at his watch. It was around the right time that he needed to get into action. Tomorrow was a big day for him, a meeting with government officials with his parents, though his duties now couldn’t be looked down upon. He knew that there were probably others that could look over the city at this time of night, but leaving it to other people never seemed right. With another sigh he made his way up to the top of his building, his rucksack over his shoulder.

Setting up his sniping position never took a long amount of time, if anything it got shorter the more times he did the mundane task. A quick look through the scope notified him of nothing peculiar, in fact it seemed a little too quiet for the night. Perhaps that was a good thing.

It never stayed quiet though, this is something he quickly learned. It was never just someone walking around late at night, it was always a member of a gang. Taking a look through his scope he notified the presence of the other, it seemed to match to motif of a gang he had grew to know quite well, even if they didn’t know anything about him. Taking a shot now would probably be the best option, who knew what exactly the other came here for, Wenhan sure as hell didn’t really want to find out.

As Wenhan was lining up a shot, the other seemed to pull out some sort of communication device before sprinting off in the opposite direction he was facing. Quickly taking a shot he grimaced, missing by mere centimeters, something which didn’t happen quite often. Usually that would be the end of it, but this time his pride got the better of him. Chasing the other seemed to be the best call of action, hopefully he would be able to catch him.

From what he could notice the other seemed to run southbound towards the middle of the North section of Neo Seoul. He knew his area quite well, so locating him wouldn’t be too big of an issue.

It was if by chance that some time later he had found the other yet again, outside of what seemed to be an apartment complex, though he wasn’t too sure. This wasn’t a place he was that knowledgeable in. For all he knew it could be the head of operations for his gang, something which he would be extremely happy about. For know, waiting might of been the safest possible action, maybe if he stayed out of sight he could perhaps learn more about where the other was going.

It’s honestly funny how much damage a mere memory chip can do. In a digital era where human lives depends on numbers (because really, whatever data is made by zeros and ones), sometimes Jung Taekwoon has to wonder whether humans do control the data they were creating... or were they being controlled by it instead?

His room was only dimly lit by then, bluish lights colored the white walls with an eerie mood. It helped him think; a total silence surrounded him as he stared at the three-dimensional hologram image. It would be cryptic to the public eyes, of course; simply getting the chip wouldn’t grant you its secrets, as what he’d learned through his past dealings with drug smugglers and the likes. Most often, chances are they’re smarter than you think... or even smarter than you.

Now if this thing falls into its intended recipient, more people would be hurt, more people would die—and it now became his job to protect the ignorant from the fate that awaits them. No matter if doing it in itself would endanger his own life.

Taekwoon took a deep breath as he ejected the chip from the reader, effectively throwing the room into an almost pitch-black darkness—but it was also then that he heard a clicking noise coming from the front door of his apartment unit, and soundlessly, he inserted it back into its container before placing the container back in a safe, which was cleverly hidden in a space under the floor. His gunblade was, regretfully, laying on the living room table... which would require him about five seconds to get at the fastest, and if someone was really breaking into his unit, he hadn’t that much time.

But it’s his best bet.

“Sir, you have an intruder—” the female voice coming from a nearby speaker began, which then he effectively silenced with a soft “Shush, Zeal, I know. Hold him up as best as you can.” as he glanced at the small monitor that showed the said intruder trying to break through the lock of his unit.

Programs helps people, but only that much.

“Off.”

* ☇ . [ WELCOME TO NEO SEOUL, JUNG TAEKWOON, AKA [ LEO ]. A TWENTY-FIVE YEAR OLD HUMAN WITH A GUNBLADE, THEY RESIDE IN MID NORTH SEOUL. ]

CRUX.NET UPDATES:

@zealeous013 ■ 3 mins ago — Hovercar racing sounds like fun. Wondering if I’ll ever get to try it.

@zealeous013 ■ 1 min ago — On second thought… let me get the car first.