14 — COMMON FOLK

tainted memories, bitter times.

—

seungyoun has arranged plans to meet up with eunsang's sister today.

and it would be a lie to say that he excluded himself from worrying, for what may be troubling him is indeed the truth. . . that'll unfold once he catches up with this old friend of his that he does not remember.

he doesn't remember living with the lees, and neither does eunsang. the adults who helped him escape from the grip of his ignorant father now hates him to bits. what are the odds, when he eventually stumbled upon ground zero?

the sister is the key. eunhee, the girl with the past still binding her.

so without telling the other boys just like how he usually does (wooseok and seungwoo are particularly busy with their jobs anyway, not to mention daniel who has a whole company to take care of) he made his way to xigma a little bit late in the afternoon. he was walking towards the cafeteria when suddenly he captures the sight of the girl. he waves. "eunhee-"

he stops when he realizes that there's a figure behind her whom she is talking to, and from her expressions suggest that it isn't a very pleasant conversation. when he steps forward to take a closer look, he by then notices that this figure is indeed familiar to him. it's the reluctant miss lee, their mother.

why is she always here to ruin everything? seungyoun sighs. i don't mind her disliking me, but if she taunts me once again saying that i'm the 'ruthless son of an arrogant business man who fired my husband' i will not hesitate to strangle her.

so rather than having to quarrel with her again, seungyoun decided to wait in a safe place to make sure she doesn't notice his appearance. he hides behind a wall, with his head peeking from the side to look out for possible changes.

"what are you doing?"

a voice tramples him from behind. he swiftly turns around. his eyes widen. "... junho?"

just like how the other boys have described him, this 'entirely brainwashed' junho indefinitely looks ... different. rebellious, as he would describe it. he had his hair slicked back with blonde streaks, his uniform's unbuttoned, and his gaze is sharp enough to get yourself a papercut.

the boy looks at him, enthralled. "hm... you know me. interesting."

and you don't know that i know you? seungyoun couldn't help but feel notoriously glad. the mimicry isn't as smart as he thought, after all.

"and now you're suspiciously watching over lee eunhee, the twelfth grader.." junho skims at the scene, nodding at himself. "aka lee eunsang's sister. a student who just transferred this year, which is the year that you graduated." he looks at him again. "that's strange, you're not supposed to know her."

but then again, the mimicry keeps a lot of important data, just like what the boy had just stated. seungyoun tries his best to ditch the question. "that's none of your business."

"anything related to eunsang is surely part of my business, seungyoun-ssi."junho says with not even a hint of hesitation.

seungyoun scoffs. "that's ridiculous."

"well, what can i say? i may have developed a little crush for him.." he says in a playful tone. "he was actually quite an interesting folk to get to know, i wished i had known him longer.."

"was?" seungyoun now has fully turned to him "he's not dead, you know."

"is he, really?" junho blinks his eyes in revelation. "well, that unfortunate. ah, seungyoun-ssi, i don't want to be the one to break it to you..."

seungyoun couldn't tell if he is joking or if he's genuinely caught off by his statement, because again, he is talking to the humane part of artificial intelligence, and because of that he wasn't able to read the boy's mind because in fact he has no 'mind', only one of a computer's. he has never felt this clueless of a person, that when he excludes his first encounter with eunsang.

junho laughs, notices that he's the only one laughing, then stops rapidly. "that was meant to be a joke."

"then why are you the only one laughing?" seungyoun points out uninterestedly.

"ah, you're no fun." junho groans as he steps further from the latter, eventually giving up. "you're no fun, i'm now leaving. you know what's more fun to do? pissing dongpyo off. yeah, i think that'll lift up my mood. bye, seungyoun-ssi."

and just like that, he left. just by a few minutes encounter, seungyoun now understands why the other boys are so annoyed by this new figure. junho, the poise and softspoken boy, had turn into this arrogant nutjob no one wants to befriend with. if truly artificial intelligence could create the world's most disliked individual, this junho is probably going to be its debut version.

he sighs disappointedly. his bad mood has somehow shifted however when he suddenly feels a tap on his back. "oppa!"

seungyoun turns around to see eunhee, the first reason as to why he went there in the first place. "hey, there you are. i wanted to wait until you're dismissed by your mom."

"why didn't you tell me you've been here the whole time? you should've signaled me a message! you can read from my thoughts that i've been wanting to escape from my mother's banters the whole time, right? you should've encouraged me to leave!"

"i purposely did not read your mind," seungyoun reveals silently. "honestly, i tend not to read anyone's mind unless i'm forced to. i guess i am kin to respect their privacy."

"wait, you can filter thoughts now?" eunhee looks at him in surprise.

"... i've been able to do it for quite long?"

"wow, it's really been that long since i last saw you, then." she smiles. "then we have a lot to catch up. here, let me find us a spare classroom to talk-"

"i was thinking of leaving."

the girl stops. ".. leave?"

"let's talk elsewhere.. somewhere outside school." seungyoun wanted to get rid of the possibilities of meeting up with the other boys, as he considered this as a pretty personal matter. "of course, if it's okay with you."

"ah, well it's fine. i'm fine, let's go out," she says hesitantly. "but.."

"but?"

"i've never exactly... bailed out of school. hehe." she mumbles in embarrassment. "not that i don't want to, it's just.. i never had the courage to do it."

seungyoun laughs. "you're just exactly like your brother."

-

hyeongjun's bowl is left untouched, the milk sour cold.

his mother looks at him hastily as the boy continues to stare off the distance, looking extremely disoriented. "hyeongjun-ah,"

and just like as if his nervous system has been drastically switched on again, hyeongjun snaps out of his moment of silence. "yeah?"

"is something bothering you, dear?" his mother asks him in concern. "my, you barely even eat your breakfast. what's the matter?"

"uh, nothing.."

from the looks of it it's obvious that the kid is nonetheless a horrible liar. not only that, he's horrible at everything deem as unethical, for it is not a part of his nature to act 'not nice'. like for example, what he's going to do later in the afternoon: the plan to crash junho's propaganda parade with his hyungs – planned without the permission of the older hyungs in charge.

after the 'falling out of a 4 story building' fiasco that happened to his best friend minhee, he plans never to disobey his fellow hyungs again, because he didn't want to disappoint them as much he had done when that incident happened. but what did he end up doing roughly a month later? he's volunteering himself again to some sort of a reckless plan that could risk the trust of his hyungs, alongside daniel. though he knows he's doing this for a good cause, to find out about what happened to eunsang, to junho himself, he can't help but feel bad.

hyeongjun glances at his mother. "actually mom, i do have a question."

his mother turns around, immediately all-ears. "ask away, darling."

"actually, uh... i'm asking this for a friend. yes, a friend. he's currently troubled by this occurring case of his and he wants an advice." and yet terrible liar hyeongjun strikes again.

"okay, what did your friend ask?"

"what do you feel about doing something bad.. but for a good cause?" the boy asks reluctantly. "how do you feel about committing crimes, betray loved ones, just so you could protect them? protect the loved ones whom had lost their trust to you because of what you did?"

"you ask for my opinion?" mrs song didn't expect the child of hers to be asking such deep question.

hyeongjun nods. "my friend, asked for the advice. would you do it, though? would you commit the crimes?"

"to protect the people i love?" she nods eagerly. "man, i'd do anything. good or bad. i'd even walk through hell if i had to. all if it guarantees the happiness and the safety of ones i hold dear," she puts her hand on hyeongjun's shoulder, "i'd do it with no hesitation."

hyeongjun stares at her in awe, and then he smiles. "that's why i'm so proud of having you as my mother."

"and just as how i'm twice as proud of having you as my son," she kisses his forehead gently. "now hurry up and finish your breakfast, i have to leave work a little earlier than usual. some important guests are going to visit the office today and i don't have much time to prepare."

hyeongjun nods as he takes a spoonful of cereal into his mouth, carelessly ignoring the fact that he has no idea of the 'crimes' his mother did to protect him.

meanwhile, the couple of mischief yohan and dongpyo have coordinated the procedure of entering imnet's premises during the 'snu medical school free course' without being noticed, with dohyon being the mastermind behind it all because he's the one who makes sure the plan stays relatively realistic and doable.

"dohyon stays as the guy in the chair, minhee will check out the scene from above," yohan explains it precisely. "hyeongjun will take care of the places other than where the course takes place so he could venture and explore new things, whereas you and me will sneak into that 'educative' class that sounds so boring and uninteresting that i might die in the hands of overachieving virgins."

"hey, i think i'll genuinely find the lecture interesting." dongpyo says in defense.

"yeah, because you're one of them," yohan scowls. "how are you going to get in anyway? obviously i'll make use of my invisibility powers, but how about you?"

"you seemingly sound like you forget that i'm alsosuper? just like the rest of you?" dongpyo fumes.

yohan's eyes brighten. "ah yes! the authentic donald trump toothbrush. you wanna jump into my pocket and see how it goes?"

"shut it." dongpyo mutters in dislike. "or i'll shove the pencil up into your as-"

"dongpyo-yah!"

dongpyo turns around to see his classmate guanlin heading towards him. yohan quickly leaves the scene before dongpyo expresses more of his anger. dongpyo looks at the tall guy warily. "what do you want?"

"what time are you leaving for junho's course today?"

"uh... i'm not going?"

"that's ridiculous. you're son dongpyo! a total slut for snu, there's no obvious reason for you not to go!"

"other than the fact that i hate cha junho to pieces..?"

"ah man, i was hoping you'd come." guanlin sighs in disappointment. "my mom registered me into the course without my consent and now i'm forced to come because they'll be checking your absence! my mom is going to kill me if she discovers that i don't come."

dongpyo rolls his eyes. "well guanlin, i think that's more of a 'you' problem-"

he stops in the middle, a lightbulb appearing on top of his head.

"wait, guanlin, i think i've changed my mind about not going." dongpyo says out of the blue.

"well that's unfortunate, because the registration has closed yesterday-"

"would you mind if i go there in your behalf?" he suggests. "you don't have to come, i'll just claim that i'm you and they won't suspect a thing."

guanlin stares at him in confusion. "that's.. stupid, but not entirely a bad idea. deal."

dongpyo smiles in achievement. "great!"

"i'd lend you my school uniform with my nametag on it, but.. uh.. i'm like this?" he raises his hand on top of his head, "and then you're like... this?" he lowers his hand precisely around dongpyo's height, seemingly to explain the situation.

"is it really that hard for you to say that i'm short?"

"sorry, i thought the s word offends short people," guanlin mumbles.

"anyway, you don't have to think about anything else, just don't come. i'll take care of everything later, including showing off to your mother that you indeed had come."

"this is great, thank you so much, dongpyo-yah, really." guanlin pats the smaller boy's back as he walks back to the classroom.

dongpyo grins at him. "no, thank you, lai guanlin."

—

nothing much happened in this specific chapter but as it's the first chap i've after roughly two months i think my writing skills are now quite rusty HAHA :(

i've announced this not too long ago but im gonna mention it again: as you can see i've changed the cover for this series, yay! the cover for this book in particular however is going to change regularly, it depends on which boy will be having a huge part at the time being:) so from here you've probably had guessed who'll get some extra screentime...

i also want to mention that although i will start to upload regularly again, it'll probably won't be as frequent as i did in the past. every week i'll post 1-2 chapters with length longer than my older chaps, so i hope y'all fine with that system!

so anyway, thanks for reading all my shenanigans— i wanna point that i'm so proud of nct 127 (aka the group that inspired the titles of these books) because they peaked at no 3 on melon and they get 2 #1 on other music charts😭😭 i'm so proud

150 votes for next chapter~

- yuehwa