NEO CULTURE TECHNOLOGY
MAD CITY BASE
8:47 PM, SUNDAY

3RD PERSONS VIEW。

Sounds of constant loud banging on the wall made Jeno shift in his seat a lot. Peering over the dividers to see Donghyuck nonstop punching the wall in anger and as much as he wanted to stop him, he knew it was best to let him go for a few minutes.

"Hyung–"

"He's so stupid! Such a dick- argh!" Donghyuck sighed heavily and threw more hard punches into the wall.

Jaws and fists clenched tightly as he continued to ram his punches into the wall, the pain surging throughout his body didn't even matter one bit. The skin around his knuckles began to tear off again, the stinging feeling every time he took a hit was somehow pleasurable.

Renjun walked into the unit, shaking his head as the first thing to greet him was the sight of Donghyuck bursting out his anger onto the wall. "How long has he been doing this?"

Chenle glanced down his watch, "Over twenty minutes now."

Jeno huffed and stood up, not being able to take it any longer. He grabbed Donghyuck's shoulder and yanked him away from the wall, gasping at the sight of blood patterned on the wall. Hissing loudly, he scanned the latter's hands, seeing them charred and twitching. Seeing the blood slowly seep out from where his skinned ripped open made him glare at Donghyuck.

"What the hell? I thought you already cured your former bruises, but here I am finding out you made them worse?!" Jeno exclaimed, the anger building up in him. Renjun pursed his lips and approached the two, "Jeno–"

"Stop hurting yourself, Hyuck. I don't know what you gain from it– but you seriously need to stop it." Jeno said sternly, looking at Donghyuck directly in the eyes.

Donghyuck pressed his lips together, his swollen hands balled into a fist as he looked down. "But I deserve it."

"No! You don't– just because you told Keiko the mission was easy and she ended up getting shot doesn't mean you need to hurt yourself, just because you weren't able to take back on Daniel for hurting Keiko doesn't mean you should hurt yourself!"

Donghyuck pushed past through Jeno, "I sincerely like Keiko- okay? I- I just... I want to make her feel she's safe here, even if she doesn't trust us, or me." he said in a gruff tone before leaving their unit office. As he rushed out, he managed to run into Jaemin who gave him a sympathetic look.

He averted his gaze away hastily before scurrying off to his room. Jaemin walked into the office unit, finding everyone fallen silent from what had just happened. He scratched the back of his ear habitually, feeling his earrings for a bit. "Well, we have a meeting in thirty, so I suggest to prepare the documents."

"What have you gotten so far?" Jaemin pointed at Jisung who began rummaging through his stuff.

"Since Daniel knows a shit ton about computers as we do, we weren't really able to get a lot but I managed... and I got copies of his emails, the ones including Taeyong-hyung's dad." Jisung stated and pushed the file towards Jaemin and Renjun, "Thanks to the new tracker Chenle made and you implemented on Daniel, we'll be able to follow his movements."

"Good, 'cause we need to keep an eye on him. Who knows what he's up to. After confronting him, it seems like he has a secured alliance with Taehui." Jaemin nodded and took a seat on his own chair.

"Secured...alliance...? Hmm..." Jeno murmured before shrugging off the thought bothering him.

. . .

"Dude- I'm not going to let you drink," Lucas said and yanked the liquor bottle away from Donghyuck's grasp. Some of the boys have gathered in their own private bar – Neo Zone.

"Well, getting drunk is better than hurting my self, isn't it?"

Lucas rolled his eyes, shaking his head before placing the liquor bottle far from his reach, "Yeah, as much as that sounds better, I'm still not letting you drink."

Mark, who sat beside Donghyuck, nestled his chin on the palm of his hand, eyeing the younger boy beside him, "Yeah, stop abusing your body, Hyuck. Nothing's your fault."

His eyes flickered down onto the boy's bruised knuckles and winced upon seeing how had they looked. "You seriously need to visit Taeil-hyung."

"He's gonna kill me once he sees this."

"More like, I have to treat them first then kill you." Donghyuck flinched at the voice, turning back to see the redhead standing beside him with an unimpressed look, holding a medical kit in his grasp.

"I don't get why you like her, Hyuck," Hendery stated, fiddling with the cue stick as he waited for Xiaojun to take his turn. "I mean- I get that she looks hot some times, but like why?"

"Right, Dejun?"

The said boy recoiled, eyes growing wide, "What?"

"You don't like Keiko too, right?"

Xiaojun rolled his eyes, focusing back onto the pool table, "No comment."

Hendery sneered before shaking his head, "But as I was saying, getting Keiko to like you back is hard– impossible even."

Jungwoo chuckled, "Impossible? Now that sounds fun."

"Keiko isn't a game you can play on when you're bored, Jungwoo-hyung. Don't even think about it." Mark stated sternly, a hand outstretched to rub Donghyuck's back comfortingly as he laid his head down onto the bar counter as Taeil treated his wounds carefully.

Jungwoo shrugged, a sly grin creeping up his lips, "I didn't say anything."

"We've been together as executives for years, I know what you have on mind when it comes to these." Mark rolled his eyes before nodding at Lucas.

Lucas prepared him a drink promptly as he silently heeded to his member's conversation. He wasn't really one of the guys who have interacted with Keiko that much to know what she was like, but based on their constant stories about her, he knew he'd love to be her hype friend. Sliding the cocktail glass towards Mark, he grinned up and asked, "Does Keiko like dogs?"

"Wha- what... why?"

"Hmm, maybe Bella could cheer her up once she wakes up?" Lucas suggested, "Well, if she prefers cats then I'll ask Ten-hyung instead, but she'll like Bella too, right?"

Taeil nodded, "That's actually a great idea." he shortly agreed before closing the medical kit, "There- make sure to visit the clinic every day, and please stop hurting yourself."

"Can't promise you that." Donghyuck said nonchalantly but quickly followed it by saying, "But I'll try!" after noticing Taeil's stern look.

"Wanna play another round?" Hendery questioned Xiaojun.

"Nah, I'm good." the latter shook his head, sending his friend a faint smile.

"Just one more round—"

A sound went off and it signaled them that they should get to the meeting room now. Xiaojun jabbed a thumb towards the door, "Look at that, time for the meeting." he said before walking off, letting out a relieved sigh, glad that the alarm went off at the right timing.

Hendery scrunched his nose, watching Xiaojun go farther away, "I really don't get why they like her."

—

lmao i saw this tweet and laughed at how accurate hyuck is w/keiko on this one

the fact that he gets flattered when a girl scolds him is just 👀
and also...

i mean... keiko does have braces 😳