#jisooadv

He doesn’t know how long he’s been in that bar, staring at his emptying and refilling glass. It’s been long enough for him to be fairly intoxicated, though, he knows that much. It’s pathetic, to literally try and drink his sorrows away. Hari had left the day before. And the nightmares had come back without her to protect him against it. It felt worse than before, though he was sure it was only because he had been sleeping nightmare free for weeks. It was fine. Really. She was free to do whatever she wanted to do. After all, they were both just testing the waters, and seeing whether this would amount to anything concrete. 

He supposes he should’ve just kept their relationship at just friends. After all, he had neglected to account for the fact that if they broke up, which they now had, that he would lose his shield against the monsters in his unconscious. No, he wasn’t going to put himself through nightmares again. He needed to ease himself back into that madness. So he left the foundation, looking to waste a large enough chunk of time that he would be able to just go back to the foundation in the morning. He’d be lacking sleep, but that wasn’t nearly as bad as having to be completely helpless to his nightmares. 

He downs his drink and watches as the bartender fills the glass with amber liquid again. Everything is starting to feel fuzzy, and Jin Goo pulls his phone out of his pocket. He scrolls through his messages to find Hari’s name. Perhaps he should have deleted her number from his phone before going out. But no, he had reasoned earlier that if she needed his help with anything, he wasn’t about to be a jackass and ignore her. He taps his thumb against the screen, unknowingly having pressed the contact below Hari’s name. His fingers proceed to tap a short message to ‘Hari’, pressing the wrong keys every so often as his fingers become rather inaccurate. 

[text → Jisoo] where are you? would youu be so kind as t join me at the bar

He didn’t go out in the daytime, not usually. Most of his outings to the city were done at night, where there were shadows to hide in, and where he could more easily blend in. But there were the odd times where he went outside while the sun was still out, times when his sanity demanded it. Though the grounds of the Daybreak Foundation were large, the knowledge that he was to stay inside to be safe, made it feel as though he was in a cage, and it could get unbelievably suffocating. 

He left the foundation through one of the smaller exits; there was no use in drawing attention to himself when regular people were already curious enough about the secrets this facility held. He walked in a familiar direction, taking turns here and there without much conscious thought, and ending up in the cafe he frequented the few times he went out in the daytime. 

It was nice and quiet in the cafe, and apart from a few people entering and leaving the place, it was pretty peaceful and uneventful. Cafes had always held a sort of charm to him. Jin Goo saw a sort of peace within the ambiance of the muffled bustling of a coffee shop. 

But all good things came to an end, he knew this better than most. So after an appropriate amount of time had passed by, he got up and left the small cafe. He was feeling much less bothered, having had a feel of normality in the world outside the foundation, but not by any means sated. 

Every second he spent outside the foundation was a risk, one that might lead to his capture or his death or even worse, the revelation to the military of what really was going on within the foundation. So he shoved his hands into the pockets of his jacket and walked down the street, trying to attract as little attention to himself as possible. 

@jisooadv @advjingoo 

Alright, so he shouldn’t actually be here (but really, isn’t that how most his stories start?)

Jisoo had specifically told him, on multiple occasions, not to get involved with her cases. She had repeated it time after time, after time, until Minho had gotten so fed up with it that he had stopped nagging her about it. See, the thing here was that the elder had access to an infinite amount of useful files. Information that could definitely be of use to him—and yet she chose not to share it with him. There had been only a handful of situations in which Jisoo had actually given away a couple of tips; but that was all. And, she had stressed, she would never help him again if he did not stick to her rules. A fair enough offer, one would say. Minho did not think so. Sure, he respected her wishes and had refrained himself from disobeying her, but he would have liked to think of his current situation as one that had left him (and his curiosity) no other choice.

For weeks on end, Jisoo’s behaviour had seemed rather off. Nothing too extreme, but to someone that always had to pay special attention to people’s mannerisms, it had been quite obvious. Perhaps tailing her wasn’t the best way to solve this mystery, but Minho was positive that it was the only way to properly figure out the truth. Each and every time he had tried to bring the topic up, Jisoo would avoid it. Shrug it off. His attempts at trying to get her to speak had been fruitless, and that had given him all the more reason to personally find out whatever the hell was going on. If she did not speak, it had to be important—and if it were important, he simply had to know.

That is exactly what has brought him to the restaurant that very moment. Unrecognisable. He had morphed into the first insignificant person that had come to mind. Oh, eavesdropping had become so easy with his ability. It was wrong to be using it on his friend, and he knew for a fact that Jisoo was going to kick his ass if she found out.. but how would she ever know?

(Because morphed or not, he’d always give in to his stupid, reckless impulses.)

By now, Minho should definitely know better but to give in to his own thoughtless plans. Sure, he had come up with a couple of plans that reeked of a genius mastermind—but those were the ones he had thought through thoroughly. This one? Not so much. And so, it doesn’t take very long for him to find himself in yet another tricky situation.

Nice.

‘I can help out.’ He’s approached the pair without even thinking his words through, forgetting about at least one minor little detail. A background story. ‘I accidentally overheard you talking..’ Lie. ‘..and I can guarantee you that I have the perfect ability—capability. I meant capability, to help you out. All I need is some details, and I’ll work out a plan.’

(And this, dear Minho, is why your grandfather has always insisted to think before you act.

[txt -> troublemaker] ….

[txt -> troublemaker] Apologies. It seemed I had forgotten that your clothes don’t morph with you. I originally thought it would help to avoid leaving fingerprints (yours and the target’s) all over the place - and give me more paperwork in the process, you rascal.

[txt -> troublemaker] But you’re right. That was a bit thoughtless of me.

[txt -> troublemaker] I…. hoped you enjoyed the rest of your gifts though.

[txt -> troublemaker] Don’t get me wrong. I was not terribly concerned about your well-being. I merely wanted… to lighten my work load.

[txt -> troublemaker] But yes. Merry Christmas to you too, Minho.

1 hour later.

[txt -> troublemaker] Have you eaten? I may have some leftovers that I don’t know what to do with.

( text: jimom ) Me? A rascal? How could you hurt my feelings like this? ㅠㅠ

( text: jimom )  Never said I didn’t enjoy them, they’re just not very practical!

( text: jimom )  Hey, it’s okay to be worried about me. Your life would be very boring without me, after all. ㅋㅋㅋ

( text: jimom )  Maybe you should worry a bit more about yourself, though.

( ..... )

( text: jimom )  What if I have? Am I not eligible for the food anymore? 

( text: jimom )  Ah, I’m so hungry... I think I will die if I don’t eat soon. ㅠㅠ

( text: jimom )  ㅠㅠ ㅠㅠ ㅠㅠ ㅠㅠ

“Not you too,” Kibum complained, his mouth once more full of cookie making it sound more like ‘nof woo two’. “My metabolism is very fast thank you very much. You should really get that stick outta your ass and try one.” He ducked as Jisoo threw a magazine at his head with great accuracy and force cackling gleefully. “You sure you don’t want one, nuna? It might sweeten you up a bi—”

KA-DUNK. 

@jisooadv

One would think that news of their mother’s death would come as a shock to them, and the rest of the day—month, or even year to most—would be filled with grief upon remembrance of fond childhood memories. But Jennie was neither shocked nor miserable. That’s not to say that she felt nothing upon hearing the news; in fact, she had been swept up in a flurry of different emotions.

First comes joy. As someone who’s blamed her mother for basically every bad thing to ever occur in her life, and has thus dedicated her life to making her mother feel as empty as she truly is inside, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the smile on her lips only grew wider as she read of the death of her mother on the news.

Then comes irritation. Because of her mother’s death, her pool of potential gamers have suddenly become limited, more so than they already were due to the precautions her mother was forced to adopt upon realising that her daughter would kill every man and woman she ever befriended, platonically or otherwise. At the start, Jennie had initially reserved her games for the men that her mother was romantically involved with, but with old age and the curse that Jennie’s put on her mother, men visiting Mrs Kim’s household has gotten significantly less, so Jennie’s had to tweak her rules a little. Now, she doesn’t even have that. It’s annoying, because what started out as a game to make the rest of her mother’s short life miserable soon became Jennie’s secret obsession, so now with the objective of the games basically completed, Jennie fears she’ll have no valid reason to continue hosting it.

But no matter, she’ll find a way to overcome the issue, as she always does. Besides, the matter should be put aside—at least for today—because of her well-founded excitement. Because there’s only one other person who hates her mother just as much as Jennie does. Coincidentally, Jennie likes to think that she killed off all the men in her mother’s life and saved the biggest kill—that being her mother—just for said person, as a token of her appreciation.

That person was her very own half-sister, Kim Jisoo.

The very sister who doted on her, along with her dad, and gave her a childhood worth remembering. The only person alive who a person like Jennie could ever truly love. And the only person who voluntarily abandoned Jennie when she needed Jisoo the most.

(No matter, Jennie loves Jisoo too much to hold a grudge.)

Shortly after the death of the mother, Jennie had been working days and nights trying to look for her sister through hacked police cameras around Incheon. And when she had finally found her sister, she studied the latter’s routine to a T, because their meeting had to be perfect. And from what Jennie could see, Jisoo’s routine often involves her walking through this specific road at approximately 10am every day.

So there Jennie is, at 9.55am, standing in the middle of said route. She stares impatiently at the watch on her wrist—she wore one just for today—and grits her teeth in annoyance every time she looks up to see that her sister has not yet arrived. Jennie’s watched many movies, and found it extremely cool when villains would show up unexpectedly in a hero’s path to say, “surprise,” so since she had enough information, she had decided to mimic the scenes she deemed cool.

(But no one ever broadcasts what the villains were doing the minutes and seconds before said ‘cool’ scene, so Jennie’s had to wait and, in the meantime, do exactly nothing.)

@jisooadv

Joy smiles and waves from her little stage, tucking all her bloodlust in. She refuses to let anyone get distracted when she’s singing; it’s just rude, isn’t it? It’s got an upbeat swing, and she likes the way her dress shimmers and sways under the blue lighting when she does little dances. Everyone should be watching her.

They do, all the way until the song is over and even then. She likes the attention they give, especially the rather large group occupying half the bar.  They’re all soldiers from the looks of it; or at least, she thinks they are, what with their uniform buzz cuts and somewhat fit physique. Cute, if you like that sort of thing, and Joy definitely does. She winks at one of them, giggling when he turns red but attempts to wink back, getting noticed by his other friends.

They’re rowdier than most patrons, and Joy instinctively lets her thoughts drop back into bloodlust. Imagine the fight they could get in, trained fists and uncalculated strength behind punches. She’d promised Jisoo to hold back, but when will they ever come back. Besides, she won’t do anything drastic, just a little nudge and she’s sure they’ll do most of it. It’s barely been a few minutes since she’d reached out little tendrils of her aura to tickle at their aggression and already they’ve started to shove at each other. She was right.

jinyoung glances up at the building before him – it was rundown, yes, but haunted? far from it. all the building needed was a serious paint job and a bit of renovation. but jinyoung’s job was to make his clients believe that he had expelled whatever “ghosts” they thought were haunting the building and he had to stop himself from grinning because he could already smell the money that he was going to receive for doing absolutely nothing.

“yeah,” he says slowly, turning to his clients with an ominous expression, “this building is definitely haunted. i’d say that it’s a class b disaster – really bad. i would need at least an hour to clear the whole place.” to be honest, he didn’t even know what a class b disaster was but it sounded scary and his clients seemed to buy into it.

he glances around – for a place that has such a creepy looking building, the street was surprisingly quite populated. jinyoung noticed that the small grouping consisting of him, the owners of the building and a few other relevant shareholders had already garnered quite a bit of attention from a few passersby. they were, after all, kind of blocking the pedestrian pathway. feeling uncomfortable, jinyoung decides to quickly chase his clients away so that he can “get down to business” and get his money. maybe he will finally be able to pay for his water and electricity bills after today.