NEO CULTURE TECHNOLOGY
MAD CITY BASE
1:54 PM, SATURDAY

3RD PERSONS VIEW。

"Uhh, right." Keiko nodded and eyed the tray before suspiciously looking back at the guy next to her, "This ain't poisoned or anything?"

Kun chuckled softly, "Why would we poison you?"

"I don't know," Keiko shrugged and picked up the bowl, "cause you want to kill me?" she mumbled out and sniffed the soup.

"Stop sniffing the soup."

Keiko snapped a glare towards him, "I'm checking if there are any drugs or whatsoever." she reasoned and put down the bowl.

Kun stifled a laugh, "You look cute doing that, but no. I told you! We're not going to poison you, kill you, or whatever."

"Right." she nodded her head, "Not that I care if I die anyways."

She then handed him over the tray, "I'm not eating."

"Why not?" Kun frowned, taking the tray from her. "I cooked that."

Keiko looks at him surprised, "You did?" and he nodded. "For you, specially. Since we already had lunch awhile ago."

She pressed her lips into a thin line, eyeing the tray she let out a sigh, "Okay, I'll eat it."

The boy smiled and handed her back the tray. She hesitated, "Only because you made it for me."

Tasting the soup, it was the best soup she had in her whole life, a bit exaggerated but it did taste so good in her opinion. "This tastes good!" she complimented and scooped a spoonful of rice.

"Glad you seem to like it." Kun chuckled and watched her eat happily. He then stood up, "I'll head out now. Also, I know you untied your ankles."

Keiko shrugged, "Thought you wouldn't notice."

Kun patted the top of her head making her hiss, "Don't touch me."

Kun rolled his eyes, "Once you're done eating, press that button." he points towards the green button at the top edge of the headboard.

"What does that do?"

"Just signals us that you need something. Someone will pick you up and escort you around, see ya!" Kun waves at her before walking off with a warm smile.

As soon as Kun left, Keiko sighed and finished her meal. She placed the tray on the bedside table and stood up, "Jeez, at least he was nice... Taeil was I guess okay too..." she uttered and reached to press the green button, as she did a signal went throughout the whole building.

. . .

. . f o u r t e e n . . m i n u t e s . . e a r l i e r . .

"How'd it go?" Doyoung questioned Taeil as the boy walked into the lounge. Taeil shrugged, "Kinda pissed her off... I guess."

"Who's going to escort her?" Youngho tilted his head, shuffling the cards he had in his grasp.

"Sicheng will." Lucas answered, pointing towards the Chinese boy next to him. Sicheng hummed in response, "How is she like though?"

"Hmm, a brat." Xiaojun clicked his tongue, a bit annoyed.

Sicheng laughed it off, "Probably to you."

Hendery winced, "Not really." he shook his head and pointed at his now bandaged arm, "Guess who did this."

"She did?" Doyoung's eyes widened, "I thought you were attacked or something..."

Hendery faked a smile, "Yeah, unfortunately not."

They continued to talk about her, trying to get familiar with how she acts. A few minutes passed and the signal went off as Kun walked into the lounge. Sicheng stood up to stretch his limbs, "I guess that's my cue."

"Good luck." Xiaojun mumbled to his fellow member.

Sicheng walked down the empty hallways, making his way towards her room which was at the end of theirs. He gently knocked on the door before twisting the knob and opening it, "Hello.." he uttered as he entered the room.

Keiko blinked and stared up at him, "Hi...?" she tilted her head.

"What are we going to do again?" Keiko questioned as they left her room.

"I'm going to tour you around."

"Sounds cool, I guess." she shrugged and followed him. "But aren't you going to untie my... wrists?" she turned to him, a bit hopeful that he would untie her wrists.

Sicheng chuckled, "I'd love to, but I can't. Who knows what you would do– heck you shot a bullet at Hendery."

Keiko scoffed lightly, "I couldn't just let him take me."

"Sucks to be you." Sicheng sniggered.

"Right now we're at the living quarters. Not everyone has came back from their mission, so we'll visit the ones present for now."

The two turned a corner, walking into some bridge intersection. "We'll visit the younger ones first!"

"How old?" she tilts her head, trying to add a bit of enthusiasm to her voice.

"One to three years younger than you," he replied.

Her lips went slightly agape upon his answer. What are kids doing at a Mafia? Rolling her eyes, she shook away the thought, I shouldn't judge them.

"This is their side of the building, the hackers section." he walked towards the black door, knocking on it. Keiko flinched as she heard a few screams coming from the other side of the door in which Sicheng just laughed at. A few seconds and it went dead silent until someone cooed, "Come in."

Sicheng placed his hand on her shoulder as he pushed the door open, also pushing her forward. Keiko scanned the room.

It was lit up with neon lights around the ceiling. It was fairly huge as there were couches placed on the sides, a mini-fridge at the side; filled with all sorts of energy drinks. A table also filled with snacks was present as a huge circular table laid at the middle. There were exactly six desks separated by white dividers.

Each desk had at least three to four computer screens. At far right of the room, there was a long table that seemed a programmed hologram technology table. There was also a projector hanging from the ceiling as it pointed at one of the empty walls.

"Okay, now this is cool." Keiko jabbered, eyes looking here and there.

"Hey, babe." the girl snapped her head to one of the desks, only to find a familiar looking boy leaning back on his office chair.

Her left eye twitch, "Aren't you the one who broke into Hansuke's house?"

"Well, yeah," he bobbed his head cutely, "Sorry about that, Cherrie. I'm Lee Donghyuck, by the way."

Keiko felt her stomach churn at the use of her nickname. She shook that aside and averted her gaze onto someone else.

She watched as the boy stared at his computer screen like it was the most interesting thing he ever saw. Sicheng followed her line of sight, "That's Lee Jeno. He's one of the three main hackers in NCT. He's also the bookkeeper."

"And that playful guy you talked to, he's our spy. He loves to trick people, so be careful around him, he's such a prankster." Sicheng chuckled and pointed at the two other boys.

"That blonde boy is–"

"Huang Renjun. I know, I met him." Keiko cut him off, "The boy beside him is Zhong Chenle." a scoff left her lips, "I definitely know him."

Chenle clasped his hands together, "Glad you remember us, Cerise!" a wide grin on his lips as he stood up, a gun in his hand, "We're glad to have you here!"

Keiko sent him a fake smile before looking away, "Oh, it's ice cream buddy." she uttered as her eyes landed on the blue haired boy. "Guess you dyed your hair blue now?

Jaemin smiled at her sweetly, looking away from his computer, "Yeah, wanna have ice cream with me again?"

"Sure... I guess." Keiko mumbled and rubbed her nape slowly.

A whine left Donghyuck's lips, "I'm so jealous! How come he gets a date with you?"

Jaemin raised a brow, a smirk creeping up his face, "Sucks to be you."

Donghyuck glared at the blue haired boy, "Fuck off."

Sicheng laughed awkwardly, "We're gonna go now, see y'all later at the bar." he then pulled Keiko out the room as Donghyuck's complaints grew louder.

"Chenle's another main hacker by the way, he's a jackpot. A rich boy who follows his father's footsteps; another skilled gunman." Sicheng pointed out as they skidded down the hallway, "Renjun... he's a bit mean at first, bur he's one of the best assassins."

Keiko nodded her head in acknowledgement, "How about Jaemin?"

"Jaemin," he hums, "he specializes in combat. He's a clingy boy, to be honest."

"Yeah, seems like it." she chuckled when she remembered how Jaemin clung onto her when they first met.

"Who am I going to meet next?"

"Well, since Renjun is home, I'm guessing others are, too. So we'll probably head to the garage."

Keiko let out a sigh, this is gonna be a long ass day.

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