"Yeosang stop hitting him with your skateboard- no San, stop checking out your reflection every second or so, you're already looking good! Wooyoung please tell me you know how to use the camera or else we're going to have to change the fake photographer- Mingi where are- oh thank god you're here, now where's our youngest- oh there he is- is that a freaking watermelon? Right, right, Seonghwa stop saying that gun is your baby- Yunho stop poking your eye and try to wear those contact lens right- oh dear what are we-"

Hongjoong is looking stressed out as he directs everyone from the side to prepare for the mission, but it's looking more like a bunch of preschool kids getting too excited on their first day of school. He's not taking care of himself anymore as he's running around trying to get things in order, the glasses he has on sliding further down on the bridge of his nose until it's not sitting on the same level as his eyes. He pushes them up with his shoulder, his hands wheeling out the rack of clothes they're going to don on for the evening, courtesy of Yeosang's fashion evaluation. He takes out a red velvet suit and pulls Yunho, holding the clothes against him.

"Stop trying to wear the contact lenses, Yunho! Have someone else put them on for you, now go and change, we don't have much time." He practically shoves him into the changing room before pulling out a matching long-sleeved red satin dress, putting in more care as he gives them to Byul. "Yeosang rented this dress especially for you, and it wasn't that nice on our wallets, so please take care of this and don't rip anything."

"I won't promise anything," she says sneakily before disappearing into the changing room, and shouts from behind the curtain, "What if we have to escape and I'm left with no choice but to tear the lower part of the dress to run?"

Hongjoong massages the bridge of his nose as he closes his eyes. "Now we'll have to make sure that doesn't happen. If not, we have to pay the whole price of the dress and we're going to have to cut down on our food budget."

"No," Jongho exclaims from behind his own curtain. "Not the food budget."

"Got it," Byul replies. "No ripping the dress, or food budget gets cut."

The rest of them wait for the main players to emerge from behind the curtains, their hearts beating fast as they anticipate the transformation of the three. Three chairs are all ready for them to do their makeup and put on more accessories to put more weight on their disguises. Yeosang is the most anxious as this is his speciality; he has been dressing them up for as long as he can remember. If their disguises don't work, it could bring down the whole mission, so the burden is definitely heavy on him.

Yunho and Jongho step out of their dressing rooms first, wearing suits that are curated exactly as what the personas they're taking would wear. Careful observations have been made to ensure that this is as close as they can get to the real person, hoping that an inconsistency in their fashion presentation won't be the reason the mission will turn into a failure.

According to Yeosang's study, Sir Edin's style is garish, as he'd like to tell everyone he's the richest of the richest. Necklaces and rings are his favourites, the encrusted jewellery reaching more than a thousand chromas. On the other hand, the much older Min Gunhoo has no regards in fashion, wearing only what he knows as branded items, but not caring whether one thing matches the other or not. As long as the items are expensive and have a name, he will put them on his body. These are all the best Yeosang can get from his research, and they are, by the end of the day, banking on the fact that none of them actually knows how the other is in real life.

There is a moment of anticipation for Byul to come out of her dressing room. According to her, whatever Madam Tang's fashion sense is, is what she never wears simply because she can't afford it. She's scared that she won't be able to exude the taste of 'expensiveness' because she doesn't know how it's supposed to taste like.

There's a yelp full of anguish from inside Byul's dressing room followed by the sound of her tripping over something. She pulls the curtain apart, revealing her dressed-up self, but her appearance is not the same as what they expect her to show.

"Is there a problem?" Jongho takes in her appearance first as he presses his lips flat, trying to stop himself from bursting in laughter.

"Oh there are a lot of problems," she pants as she straightens up herself, lifting up the hem of her gown so that they can see her feet that's hidden underneath the flowy waves of the oversized dress.

"Kang Yeosang," Hongjoong growls, frowning as he looks at the hacker, "you rented the wrong size."

"Anna gave me the wrong size even when I told her exact measurements," Yeosang groans, already whipping out his handphone to dial the said seamstress. "She always gives the best prices but she can be really forgetful sometimes."

Byul is looking too funny as her small frame is covered by the oversized dress, the hem way past her ankles and gathering at her feet. The V-neckline dives too deep, causing her to put a careful hand over her chest, pretending that she's comfortable with her current condition. Her clothes are flabby and she looks like a child playing dress up with their parents' clothes.

Yeosang puts the phone on loudspeaker, inviting the rest to listen on to his conversation with Anna. It's the first time Byul gets to hear her voice because Yeosang is the only person who deals with her most the time. The voice that comes through the speakers is honeyed, which seems to stretch as it goes through their ears.

"Yeosang baby, why are you calling me? Do you miss me already?" Anna purrs.

Wooyoung takes the opportunity to imitate her voice, scrunching up his face as his body moves with every imitation.

"Anna Yoo, you're on loud speaker," Yeosang says flatly.

"Ah, really?" The lilt of her voice makes Byul imagine a seamstress prancing around her workstation, holding on to different fabrics and letting herself get tangled among the textiles. "How are the rest of you handsome boys?"

"We're doing great, thanks for asking," San replies, smirking as he acknowledges the label.

"Anyway," Yeosang presses on, "you gave me the wrong size for the red satin dress."

"Oh dear," she gasps, the sound of something crashing to the floor consecutively following suit. "What did you say? I couldn't hear you because oh gosh- I just knocked down some rolls of textiles to the floor and now I have to roll them back. Can you be a darling and repeat them?" There is a small scream from her and Yeosang reacts but relaxes as she clarifies, "Phew I thought that was a cockroach but turns out it was just one of my leftover scraps. You were saying, baby?"

Wooyoung snorts as the word 'baby' comes out of her mouth, and Yeosang feels his cheeks getting red.

"Baby, why won't you answer her?" San wiggles his eyebrows as he nudges Yeosang.

"Can you stop calling me that? You're making my hairs stand on end," he grumbles. "I told you the red satin dress was the wrong size. I gave you the exact measurements for her body yet it's not even the right length."

"Her body?" she squeals. "Okay, let me tell you something. To be honest-" another crash comes through the speakers, "damn me and my clumsy self- anyway, I lost the measurements that you gave me and I knew you're going to get angry at me if I told you so I just took up the measurements that I already have for every one of you. I remembered you saying something vaguely about Yunho so I used his measurements."

Yeosang sighs and screams silently before composing himself and saying, "Anna, what makes you think that the dress is for Yunho? I told you it's for Yunho's partner."

"Ah, really?" She sounds so carefree that Byul decides that this Anna Yoo is quickly becoming her favourite. "Well, how should I know? You boys always surprise me with your weird requests so I won't ever question it if Yunho ever comes out with a dress and a wig. He would look gorgeous anyway."

"Thanks for the compliment," Yunho butts in.

"Anna, Anna!" Yeosang shouts into the receiver, already too distressed that he's starting to consider having Yunho coming in as Madam Tang. "That's not the point. Look, I'll send over the measurements again and can you please scour through your pandora box and see if you can come up with a similar dress with the measurements? Anything is fine as long as it looks expensive. We need it by this evening."

There's a pause before she squeaks, "Are you coming over, then?"

"Yes I am, to pick up the dress. It better be ready when I come over," he decides.

"Anything for you darling," she says in a singsong voice before abruptly ending the call.

"Anna-" His only reply is the tone indicating that the line has been cut off.

"Baby," Wooyoung coos, swinging onto Yeosang's arm and holding him while batting his eyelashes. "Gosh she's not being so subtle that you're her favourite team member yet you're so cold towards her. Give her a chance, Kang Yeosang."

"Shut up, Wooyoung. Our relationship is purely business and I'm only keeping her around because even though she's the clumsiest person in the whole world she knows how to keep secrets and she sews really fast. She's the only clothes supplier that we need."

"Do you have a lot of others who know what you do?" Byul asks, pulling the curtain of the dressing room behind her so she can change out of the wrong-sized dress. It takes her a few tries to walk into the space without tripping over the excess cloth, and her voice resonates in the small room. "She sounds like a fun person to be around."

"She is a fun person to be around," Mingi offers. "We found her shop tucked at the end of an old building right here in Light district during that time we were just starting to navigate our new lives. She couldn't get any customers so we made a deal with her. She might be really clumsy but her handiwork is really meticulous and pretty. We didn't need to find anyone else anymore." As Byul steps out of the dressing room, he continues, "There are a number of people that we can trust. For example..."

"The doctor who runs a secret clinic- or hospital, whatever you prefer to call it. He does a living by helping gang members or anyone who won't want their identities to be exposed," Seonghwa helps to answer.

"Oh yeah, Dr. Kei. He's nice in giving us treatments but his lame jokes can be the reason for your death. If you don't want him to slice you up with his scalpel I suggest you laugh anyway; it's much safer than making someone who literally has your lives in their hands sad because you don't laugh at their jokes. There's this really cool grandpa whom we call Ram; he used to be the leader of a gang and he supplies us with our weapons. Also a few other suppliers we found on the dark web."

"Thanks to Mingi, although some of them can be really scary," Seonghwa shivers with a moue of disdain evident.

"Yeah, you're one to talk," Yunho mumbles as he sits on the reclining chair, ready to be made up by any one of them. He closes his eyes. "Before we get on this mission Byul needs to know who you actually are, or else she's going to run away when she finds out too late."

"Ah, this brought me back to the first day I found out about Seonghwa's past and why he was accepted to become a trainee; I had to sleep with my eyes wide open because I was scared of him killing me when I'm in dreamland," Wooyoung says. "Not to mention that we were in the same Aeon and we had to share a room. God knows how much I almost peed my pants whenever he came near me."

"You need to be prepared to hear who Seonghwa really is, Byul. What do you think of Seonghwa?" Yeosang asks.

Seonghwa holds a judging face towards the rest of them. "Really? Walking down memory lane so you can make Byul scared of me? Oh come on, we're already fond of each other. It was all in the past; I'm a different person now."

"You bought an anatomy book just to see which body parts are most fatal when shot."

"That's different. That's me being dedicated to my job as a sniper," Seonghwa says proudly. He rolls out the accessories that he's going to help to put on Yunho. He wiggles his fingers as he looks at the sketches of each individual Yeosang pasted on the board, deciding at the moment which necklaces, rings, bracelets and earrings would go on Yunho. He lifts up one diamond-encrusted necklace, puts it against the light to see it glinting before uttering, "I'll tell my story if Ms. Han is interested in listening to it, and that you must promise me you won't ever judge me for it."

"Of course I'd love to," Byul reaches a resolve, sitting to the chair next to Yunho. "I promise you, nothing can ever surprise me anymore at this point."

Jongho jumps into the seat on the other side of Yunho, looking like an excited bunny as he brings his chair closer. The rest subconsciously gather around, making Yunho and Seonghwa the focal point.

"Okay, so I was born at Desire district to a Mrs. Park-"

"Not that part!" Mingi whines. "The juicy part."

"Sunfish, shut up before I make that juice out of your brain."

"Oh dear he's already showing his true colours," San mumbles.

"Anyway," Seonghwa continues. "As I was saying, I was born on the 3rd of April, 1993 at Desire district. I had an older brother who was the complete opposite of me, and my father ran away the moment I was born. I used to be a really scrawny kid who always blamed himself as the reason my father ran away." He says it so casually that it sounds like he's talking about someone else. "But," he smiles, "I met Akira when both of us were 13, so she changed the way I think about myself."

"See, I told you their story is so much more romantic than any dramas out there," Yeosang remarks to Byul, before animatedly hitting the oldest's back and exclaiming, "And, and? Tell her how you met Akira."

"Be patient," he chastises, picking out a pair of earrings that he finds suitable for Yunho and helping him to wear it. "So, the first time I met her was when she hit my head with a brick because she thought I was a creep stalking her, in which," he quickly adds, "I am absolutely not. It was a misunderstanding."

"I don't even blame Akira for thinking that way," Hongjoong says. "You do look like one."

"That wasn't even the most bizarre part of their lives," Wooyoung laments, already looking to tell them what he knows, but Seonghwa puts up a palm and stops him from talking.

"She bashed me in the head with a brick but I survived, thankfully... somehow. When I tell you that girl is really feisty," he expresses, "but that's why I love her. She's so fierce she makes my heart beat quick."

Wooyoung and San coo at this, but Seonghwa waves them away with a shy smile on his face.

"After she bashed my head she visited me at the hospital every day until I healed because she felt guilty for doing that to someone as innocent as me," he emphasizes, twirling around the bracelet in his hand then clasping it around Yunho's wrist. "We kind of lost contact for a few months after that because well, life got in the way. So I was just hanging out with my gang one day-"

"Wait hold up," Byul blinks and puts up a hand. "A gang? As in your gang of friends?"

"Ehhh not that kind of gang," Mingi wiggles his eyebrows. "A criminal gang, the real deal. I don't know if you've ever heard it, but Seonghwa was a part of the Medusa gang. They do all kinds of bad things from beating up people to stealing, you name it."

"No way," she replies, incredulous. "You were a part of the Medusa gang?"

"You know about it?" Yunho asks, opening his eyes as she sounded so familiar with the name of the gang. "None of us have ever heard of it before, except for San-" San does a little wave, "-because he too, was from Desire district."

"Ah, not really. I guess it was just some rumours I heard from neighbouring districts; all I heard was that the whole gang went missing one day and no one knew what actually happened to them. They used to be the most popular gang in Desire, weren't they?"

"They weren't rumours, they were true," Jongho finally says as he keeps on watching from the side. "All of them did go missing."

Seonghwa calmly picks up multiple rings next, putting them on Yunho's fingers before relaying, "I was a wild child, I admit. I wasn't a good child to my mother, and I never stopped thinking about what I should have done for her when she was still alive." He rests a hand on the back of the reclining chair. "As I was saying, I was hanging out with my gang when she appeared at our spot, and our leader introduced her as a new member. Can you imagine my shock when I saw her again after all those months with a bruised fist and face after beating up half of the guys in my gang who were more than twice our age?"

"They are a wild couple," San comments. "Extremely wild."

"That was where I started to get really close to her, because we all did this stupid stuff together while we're in the gang. We were the youngest in the gang and I grew up with her. We weren't exactly obedient children," he winces, "she always goes against Emira and I always go against my brother. Well, things happened, we grew up... and I got separated from her because I got taken away to become a trainee when I was 17. After I got released, I came looking for her and that's how we're here. That's it, my life story." He clucks his tongue.

"Park Seonghwa, you're leaving out the most important part of the story," Hongjoong protests. "Are you still trying to maintain your image with Byul? Come on, you didn't even tell her why you got picked up as a trainee by the KTC."

"Oh for the love of steak, can you stop complaining?" He hits the heel of his hand on Hongjoong's head and the latter whimpers. He sighs, "Fine. During our years in the gang, both Akira and I always followed whatever they did because one, we were stupid and two, we dedicated our lives to the gang anyway. Only one day, they decided to become assholes and did stuff that we absolutely didn't agree on. When we confronted them they told us that we needed to go through every single one of them to change their minds. So we- ah, I'm done with your accessories, Yunho. Just some touch up on your face and you have to wear those lenses, then you're done."

"Stop interrupting your own story," Yeosang says. "Finish it!"

The oldest leans against the chair Yunho is on, crossing his arms. They anticipate his continuation, including Byul who is starting to understand why Akira told her that Seonghwa also knows the meaning of the sword and flowers tattoo on her back.

"Since they said we had to go through each one of them to change their minds, we did. That was the reason KTC picked me up, because apparently news travel fast even though the facility is basically hidden away on an island. They have eyes everywhere, looking to recruit trainees whom they deem 'skilled'." He puts up quotation marks.

Byul takes a while to process his explanation, and San must have noticed this because he offers a clearer one.

"The existence of the entire gang was wiped out. The Medusa gang did go missing; missing from this world. Han Byul, you're looking at one of the reasons the gang has ceased to exist. When I said they're a wild couple, I really meant it. Seonghwa and Akira took out the whole gang on their own, leaving only two of the members alive; both of them."

---

[A/N: As I'm now entering the final weeks of my semester; I have to meet a lot of deadlines and I have to sit for a lot of tests, I might not be able to write as frequently and my updates might come at a slower rate. This will continue until the end of December, so I would like to apologize first >< I will try to write when I have time, but I can't promise anything because this semester is really important to me.

To anyone reading this, thank you from the bottom of my heart and I hope that you have/had/are having a good day. All of you are angels honestly I'm so glad I get to meet a lot of amazing atinys <3]