Seonghwa wraps a scarf around his neck, bopping along to the song on the radio as he waits for Byul and Yeosang to emerge from the ground. The ground seems to rumble for a moment as the opening is revealed, with a slightly confused Byul following Yeosang.

She, yet again, is wearing borrowed clothes from him, which look baggy as it doesn't exactly fit her. He has more clothes than he actually needs, that even if they were to create another closet for her from his clothes, his wardrobe would still be full to the brim. He buys his clothes impulsively, and as he had claimed to the rest of the boys, it's 'retail therapy'.

Since they are planning to go out, Byul has dressed less like her and more like one of them; she has fitted a cap on, slid on a hoodie and a pair of faded loose jeans, which needs a belt to hold it in place. Yeosang is wearing the same thing as her, but he forgoes the cap and instead pulls up his hood. They had to go out through the headquarters because she needed to avoid the cameras in the cafe at all cost.

This left them no choice but to take the long and slithering way out, which involved Yeosang calmly guiding her through the maze of their headquarters, while Byul couldn't hide her astonishment as they delved further. Along the way, they didn't bump into San, whom she didn't know whether he's still inside or has went out through where they are now. Something feels unsettling as she kept on remembering the look he gave her before he disappeared behind the washing machine.

From their small adventure through the hallways of their headquarters, she also apparently learned that Yeosang's codename happened to be 'Statue' and he begrudgingly said that it was all because of Wooyoung. As they stepped into the garage where their vehicles are kept, she didn't stay so subtle when she let her jaw drop open from the range of cars, vans and bikes - which are all, apparently, from high-end brands. All of them don't go below 100,000 chromas.

"Huh, one of the cars is missing. Was it San?" Yeosang had mused to himself when they passed the row of vehicles. He didn't seem too concerned about it, as if it was just a passing thought.

She had stared longer at the empty spot, her mind racing with what could have happened back at her flat yesterday. Did they open the box? If they had found out about the contents, they shouldn't be writing a 'sorry for doubting you' note, and instead it should be the other way round. It also didn't match with the fact that the box looked exactly the same as it was as she last remembered it, the duct tape hastily spun around, attaching the lid to the body. She had shaken the contents and noted that there was still something inside. Unless they replaced it, knowing that she wouldn't check it straight away.

"Hurry up, Byul!" Yeosang shouted back at her, waiting as a silhouette at the entrance of the garage.

She skittered towards him, tucking the cap close to her face to make sure she's disguising herself as meticulously as possible. As... if going out just two days after her supposed 'death' was ever a good idea. Then again, she doesn't know what a 'good idea' to this group of men is, because she is convinced that they collectively share one brain cell, while Hwayoung seems to have more brain cells than them combined.

Yeosang gets on the vehicle on the passenger seat beside Seonghwa, while she slumps back into the leather seat behind them. Seonghwa locks the door, guides the car to emerge from the forest and cruises along the highway, leaving their district behind.

She can't help but notice how he's smiling all the way to the tattoo parlor, while Yeosang is simply busy looking at his phone. When he catches her eyes in the rearview mirror, the eldest smiles broadly. It's probably her exaggerating since she has only known him for two days - and that doesn't even mean she knows him - but his eyes are sparkling. Like Yeosang had said; it's the tattoo parlor, but is it the what or the who that is making him exhilarated?

"Are you... perhaps going to get another tattoo too?" she decides to break the silence a little bit too late as he pulls up in a parking spot. Apparently it's one that's quite far from the parlor because most of them are occupied. "Am I just an excuse for you to come here; is that why you seem so excited?"

He pulls up the handbrake, looks into the rearview mirror to catch her eyes again before shrugging, "Maybe, if I feel like getting one." He doesn't answer the second part of her question as he unbuckles his seat belt and alights the vehicle, gesturing for his passengers to follow, almost looking impatient that they aren't already out.

"I told you that you'll see why," Yeosang turns to look at her as he unbuckles the seat belt. "Might want to tone down your shock when you see it though."

"How shocked will I be?"

"Depends on what perception you have of Seonghwa."

Both of them get out of the car at the same time, putting down their feet on the grounds of Treasure district. Like its name suggests the district is a treasured area, put side by side with Utopia district as the district with a high economic growth, where most businesses are focused at and flourish, and where a big part of the residents live in a fast pace. Treasure district is a huge chunk of land, where most are developed and the rest are waiting to be.

They arrive in front of the tattoo parlor with a sign that's written in the letters of a foreign language that she's not fluent in, and she can't even begin to guess the name of the shop. Seonghwa pushes the door with his shoulder, eliciting the sound of a small bell. He holds the door open for both of them.

"Welcome- oh it's you," a woman in her late 20s and sleeves full of flower tattoos greet them. Her tone is neutral; neither happy nor upset. Byul isn't sure what she's supposed to feel with her tone. "Looks like you brought Yeosang and..." she lifts up her perfectly-shaped eyebrow.

"Emira, this is Han Byul. Han Byul, this is Emira."

Emira looks at her up and down, scanning her from her head to toe with a look of approval before cocking her head. "Didn't know you recruit girls into your team too. She's pretty." Her eyes rest longer on Byul's chest as a slight smirk creeps up on her face and Byul feels her face getting hotter. "And has a nice body too."

Yeosang angles his body so that she's covered from Emira's scrutiny, chiding, "Emira, you don't simply make comments about someone's body the first moment you meet them. Stop it, you're making her feel uncomfortable."

She puts up her hands in defense. "Sorry, I just think she's pretty. Han Byul, eh? Even her name is pretty. I'm Emira Hwang," she extends her hand. "Co-owner of the tattoo parlor, one of the artists."

"Right, right," Seonghwa titters. "Is she not here?"

Emira scowls before retracting her hand and rolling her eyes. "Of course you came here to look for her, eh? I mean, who am I?" she puts her tattooed arm against her forehead.

Seonghwa and Yeosang smile at her antics, but Byul remains expressionless, still not being able to guess what their relationships are, or why Seonghwa was so excited to come here. From their conversation, it seems like he wants to see another girl, and not this Emira.

"She's at the back, as always, reading a book when there are no customers. That damn nerd, makes me wonder how I'm related to her at all." she says, but endearingly. She looks back to the doorless entrance at the back lined with beaded curtains. "Akira, your annoying boyfriend and his friends are here!"

A woman who looks to be about the same age as Seonghwa and younger than Emira steps out of the darkness, parting the beaded curtain with her arm. Her arm is inked like Emira, but instead of flowers along the length of her right arm, the motif of a dragon is inked, its tail coiling around her wrist and ending at the back of her palm. As opposed to her right arm, her left is free of any ink. A faded scar runs from the left side of her forehead to her cheek, which shows a small dimple as her mouth tugs at the sight of the guests at their tattoo parlor. She lets her curls loose, which reaches her sternum as she leans forward to try and get a close look. She licks her pierced lower lip once.

"Akira!" Seonghwa squeals, startling Byul the most, while Yeosang and Emira remain relatively unfazed. "I missed you so much I thought I could die." He practically runs to her and pulls her into a bear hug, squeezing her so tight until she can't breathe. He lifts up the embarrassed Akira, even more so as she looks at the others staring at them like they're clowns in a circus.

"Stop it you idiot, you're embarrassing me!" Akira smacks the back of his head, ultimately causing him to let go, and she slaps his stomach until he reels backward. "What do you think you're doing, barging in like you own this place? Have some manners you creep."

"Why are you calling me a creep? I just said I missed you so much I thought I could die," he whines. He tries to pull her into a hug again but she pushes him away with a disgusted face.

Byul's jaw drops further after witnessing the change in Seonghwa's personality. In her mind she had branded Seonghwa as the no-nonsense kind of guy, not someone who she would see acting like a child. If Yeosang had told her to prepare for something she wouldn't expect, this was definitely not it.

"Told you to tone down your shock," Yeosang reminds her while nudging her shoulder.

Byul snaps her jaw shut quickly, to which Emira notices and offers, "Must be a shock to you seeing Park Seonghwa acting like that eh? How long have you been with the team, Han Byul? Bet you Seonghwa never let this side of him show in front of the others, but look at him acting like a child when he's with my sister." She leans forward, propping up her elbows on the counter and resting her chin on her palms. "They seem like fire and water but they can't live without each other."

"So they're together?" Byul asks to Yeosang. "That was why he's so excited to come here? To see her?" She creases her forehead, a bit unsettled with the point if it's true. She knows that these 8 men can't be in relationships; that's the rule of their world.

Yeosang looks over to them, to which Seonghwa is still attempting to tackle Akira into a hug that she keeps on refusing. "It's complicated if I may say. They're not together..." he muses, "but at the same time they're made for each other. But why do you sound a little bit upset?" He gasps before lowering down his voice to make sure Emira doesn't hear a single word. "Do you perhaps... like Seonghwa?"

"What? No!" she shoots back, offended. "I was just wondering, that's all. And surprised to see him so... childish."

Yeosang puts an arm around her shoulders, pointing towards the two lovebirds who are still fighting with each other, directing her gaze towards them. "I'm glad that you don't feel that way because you're going to end up being disappointed. For as long as I've known him, he never had his eyes on any other girl other than Akira. No matter how many times they were separated from each other, she's still the only girl he would look at." When she squirms, he quickly adds, "You think that sounds cheesy? Wait till you hear the rest of their story; theirs go a long way back. Their story puts every romantic drama to shame."

"It's true," Emira joins them. "Makes you wonder where your significant other is your whole life. Nearing 30 and I still can't find mine."

"Interesting, very. And I mean it," she absent-mindedly says as they watch Akira smacking Seonghwa's head yet again, but this time with the book she's been reading at the back. "Won't he lose his memories if she keeps doing that?"

"Oh, don't worry. That's just how my sister shows her affection towards Seonghwa. Years of that but Mr. Park is still sane. Well, if that's what you consider sane."

"I told you to stop doing that in front of everyone!" Akira shrieks, her hand threatening to hit him again.

"Then fine, I'll do that when it's only the two of us, but give me a hug!" he shakes his shoulders, lips pushed into a pout. His voice is made to sound cute that the three of them automatically put their hands to their own chests, almost gagging.

"Does he... do that every time they meet?" Byul asks again, hand still on her chest. "I kind of pity the girl."

Yeosang chuckles and shakes his head. "He doesn't always do that, but he goes crazy when they don't meet each other for a long time. He just likes her... a lot. Oh, looks like she relented."

Glancing at the three spectators with an apologizing look for having to witness the abomination, she extends her tattooed arm and pulls Seonghwa close to her, wrapping him in a one-armed embrace. He snuggles into her neck, his body giddy as he wraps both his arms around her waist. Tapping her right palm on his back, she lets him have a moment before she slams her knee onto the side of his leg as a cue for him to let go.

Seonghwa jumps around, holding on to his leg that had been attacked silently. He clears his throat as the pain subsides and he straightens his body, his expression changing as if he had not just acted like a four-year-old child. With a deeper voice, the oldest claims, "We came here because Byul wanted to get a tattoo."

Emira deadpans, "Sure." She sweeps her hand to Byul and utters, "Byul, if you're being forced into getting a tattoo and Mr. Park looked extremely excited when he mentioned about this tattoo parlor, blink twice to ask for help."

Reflexively Byul blinks twice and Seonghwa looks like he had been told that his favourite steak isn't available anymore until the end of the world.

"Ms. Han I thought you agreed to this."

"I mean you did somewhat corner her into agreeing," Yeosang defends her.

"It was a reflex I swear," Byul utters, not specifying whether she's referring to her agreeing to go to the tattoo parlor or her blinking twice.

Seonghwa pouts but Akira quickly pinches his lips to make sure that he emits no sound.

She smiles at Byul, her hands still keeping Seonghwa's mouth shut. She uses her left arm to attempt an awkward wave, "You're a new recruit of the team? Is Seonghwa giving a hard time to you?"

"No, no," she refutes, again not specifying which question she's answering. Both sisters seem to have the idea that she's the newest recruit of the team and both men do not offer anything to say otherwise, so she's guessing that she has to play along. "Well, you can say that I am, I... guess."

"What's your Aeon?" she asks casually, finally releasing her clamp on Seonghwa's lips.

Byul catches herself trying to answer; but stops due to two things. One, if she answers that she doesn't have an Aeon and that she's not part of the team, that means blowing the cover Yeosang and Seonghwa had put on for her. Two, if she says she's whatever Aeon there is, Yeosang and Seonghwa would find out that she knows about their world more than they think she does.

The word 'Aeon' means nothing to common people, but to people like them it holds a meaning; a meaning that can make or break a team.

Either way, her answer might blow her cover.

She looks from one person to the other, her heart beating wildly in her chest as their stares remain on her, anticipating her answer. She feels Yeosang nudging her subtly, but she can't catch the clue on what she's supposed to answer.

She opens her mouth to answer, her mind completely dissociated from whatever's going to come out.

---

[A/N:

1. Yes, Emira and Akira are characters from Ishihara; I just thought it would be fun to add them to this story. So elfinlia1661 I think you can continue to write this story since you seem to be able to guess the plot already 😂😂😂

2. Chromas is the currency used in this story, jsyk.

3. The song 'Star 1117' that they released made me cry ugly tears.

4. When Seonghwa said that he grew out his hair so he could cover his eyes and not look at his reflection, I cried alone at 2 in the morning because my heart hurt to know that he felt that way. I know how it feels to hate your own self, to hate your own skin. I hope that he realizes that he is loved, all of them are loved, and that they deserve all the love they are getting.

5. I love all of you.

6. What am I doing here, when I have three tests this week that I'm supposed to study for?

7. All of you are precious uwu]