31 — WHO IS HE?

junho's definitely not pumped.

—

"his name is kang daniel."

junho gets up from his seat, his jaw clenching hard. eunsang automatically grabs his arm without thinking, pulling him over. "junho-yah," he murmurs.

"woah calm down kid," seungwoo utters as he leans over the table.

"eunsang," wooseok calls him.

eunsang shifts his attention to wooseok who had his eyes over junho's left hand. eunsang looks down. sparks of electricity appear from his skin, igniting brightly. surprised by the sight, eunsang grabs him tighter purposively to calm him down. "junho, let's just sit back and talk about it, okay?"

"how am i supposed to sit down when he's literally standing there?" junho snaps.

"why are you like this? control your emotions, you're not one to snap just like that."

"he's looking at me, he.. he knows me. i'm sure of it."

eunsang turns to the man and indeed from the looks of it he's directly staring at junho. "he's probably startled because of your sudden hassle. come on, we should go somewhere quieter. we don't want to cause a scene." eunsang eyes seungwoo, giving him the look.

seungwoo immediately understands. "alright, let's go. seungyoun, come with me."

"me? oh, okay." seungyoun stands up without hesitation, avoiding making eye contact with junho.

"yeah, you. and wooseok," seungwoo turns to the boy. "stay."

wooseok shrugs, he rests his arms around minhee and hyeongjun. "it's not like i'm interested of coming anyway."

so the four boys leave the venue, heading towards a much more secure place to discuss. eunsang avoids his mother's gaze as he quickly gets away, holding junho's arm by his hand. seungwoo puts his hand on junho's shoulder as an attempt to calm him down, as junho's fiery eyes wouldn't let daniel off sight. they escort the boy quietly to the edge of the room, and not a moment after that junho immediately spits his emotions.

"do you guys not trust me? is it really because i'm so vulnerable, immature of my thoughts that you don't find my opinion relevant?"

"cha junho, we believe you." seungwoo assures him. "there's no reason for us to neglect you. you're just not in a stable state at the moment, your opinions are none or less, biased."

"and think of it this way, junho-yah." eunsang looks at him warmly. "you weren't exactly in a stable state either when you let's us say, saw him before you collapsed. how are you sure he's the person you saw? or did you even see a person at all?"

junho frowns. "the thing is, he is the clearest image of what i remember during my lightning fiasco. him. not me electrocuting a guy twice my height, not me staring into the void with my eyes glowing just like eunsang's description, it is him that i remember. and it's ironic because, again, what's so special about him? why did he leave a great impact in my thoughts?" junho shakes his head. "you might think i'm crazy.. but i'm sure of it."

"i know how it feels kid, to desperately know something but you can't do anything because you have nothing to back up your speculation." seungyoun mutters as he glances at seungwoo. "that is literally what i experienced five days ago when i first got here."

seungwoo shoots him a look. "stop victimizing yourself, i was quite supportive of the eunsang case."

"yeah, but you did see me as mad, right?"

"i see you and wooseok as mad individuals all my life, it'll be a surprise if i don't."

"so what should we do now?" eunsang asks the both of them, his hand still holding unto junho's.

"nothing." seungwoo answers. "alright, before you get mad at me, this isn't personal. i'm not doing this because i don't believe you."

junho sneers. seungyoun takes control of the conversation. "nothing, because none of us knows what to do, kiddo. we gotta make sure of the situation first, because this ain't another eunsang we'll be facing. it's a wholeass man with an established name."

"he's my father's boss," eunsang adds.

"this is more of a safety issue, because we clearly don't know who are we facing with," seungwoo continues on. "so it's probably best for us to watch over him first before we strike a move. that's the best for him, hangyul dohyon, and for us too."

"it's the boring way, but at least it works." seungyoun says playfully.

junho groans. it really seems like he doesn't have a choice. he nods half heartedly. "alright. but if he does anything fishy,"

"which i really hope he doesn't—"

"i won't hesitate to strike a move." junho finishes his sentence, then he walks away from them back to his seat without bringing eunsang with him.

eunsang eyes at the boy from afar, looking at him in concern. "what's wrong with him? he's never this feisty about anything before."

"i really think something damaged his nerves, perhaps the overwhelming electricity," seungwoo says. "he's letting off the i'm hyper and i don't know what to do vibes like hyeongjun when he pushed minhee off the building, don't you think?"

"well if that's the case i don't know why junho's recovery's taking so long. it's been three days." eunsang sighs.

"he's.. confused. and he's under pressure." seungyoun explains. "you gotta keep an eye on him, he's not in a good state."

"you should go calm him down, he'll prolly listen to you."

eunsang nods and then makes his exit, leaving the two hyungs behind. after he leaves, seungwoo gives seungyoun a strange look. "hey, are you okay?"

"what do you mean?"

"you're extremely composed. i thought you'll be in junho's side throughout the whole thing, that's why i called you in so that at least the boy gets personal support from you." seungwoo points out. "you're more of a liberal type, you march towards the people you think are wrong because you believe they're wrong, and there's nothing else in the world that can stop you from believing so. so what makes this different, then?"

seungyoun pauses. "well, for your information, junho doesn't seem like himself today."

"and so i have noticed."

"i'm serious, he's not like himself himself. it's like one of his strings snapped and he's trying so hard to gather what's left of him. it's like he's lost his way, like.. he's just in deep confusion."

"are you trying to imply something?" seungwoo proposes. "should i warn eunsang?"

"no, no.. it's probably nothing." seungyoun says, though more of an assurance to himself. "it's probably just me overreacting."

a short pause.

"you don't believe him, do you?"

"i can't say that i do." seungyoun sighs, his eyes shift towards daniel who looks like he was having a engaging chat with dongwook. "just like what the boy said, he is fishy. and yes, he knows junho. knows him quite well." his gaze shifts at seungwoo. "he knows all of us. subtle, but noticeable."

"all of us?"

seungyoun nods. "i do believe he's way more involved than we think. he has his eyes over us, that's why we got to be careful— this isn't someone that we should treat lightly."

seungwoo sighs. "why can't we go through life without being watched by everyone..?"

seungyoun shifts his eyes to daniel, staring at him intently. the guy knows something about seungyoun that seungyoun doesn't know himself. the look on his eyes, his coordinated movements, something about this kang daniel leaves some sort of a melancholic feeling, though his intentions are left certain and genuine.

but what are his intentions? that is the important question that needs to be answered— one that has also been haunting junho for quite a while now.

"stay put, junho-yah." eunsang says as he pats him on the shoulder. "because if we're planning to watch over him, might as well do it in disguise."

when they reach the table, eunsang's mother isn't there and because of that he's quite relieved. dohyon now sits on his mother's chair as a replacement, probably because he was tired of standing all the time. hangyul on the other hand escapes to the edge of the room with yohan. the other boys are busy with their own activities; wooseok and eunsang's same-age friends probably went out for fresh air whereas seungyoun and seungwoo are yet to be seen. eunsang sits next to dohyon with junho occupying the other chair beside him.

dohyon whistles. "what have you been doing?"

"i've been—" eunsang pauses, then shoots him a look.

"what?"

"don't act stupid, you can hear everything i say."

dohyon chuckles. "okay, probably not you in particular as your power works against me, but yes.. i've been eavesdropping." he turns to junho. "and just for the record, daniel-hyung's a nice guy. he's here because we're close relatives."

junho furrows his eyebrows. "you're relatives with a young, rich chaebol?"

"i might be an orphan but i'm not hopeless," dohyon snaps. "his mom is my mother's sister, she died a few years ago. he's practically the dude who's been taking care of me and hangyul-hyung for these past couple of years."

"well, he doesn't sound that bad." eunsang mumbles.

junho hitches a breath. "that doesn't mean we shouldn't be cautious of him. i stand with my speculations! the guy's not as innocent as you think he is."

dohyon scoffs. "look who's talking."

"excuse me?"

"i think your selfish ass needs to be reminded that if it wasn't for you, we'll be able to investigate this whole thing properly." he snaps. "because your horrible sense of controlling yourself, you had to injure the culprit that badly."

"it was an act of defense,"

"no, that was being stupid." he shoots him a glare. "rather than blaming other people who i actually care of, why don't you try to contemplate yourself? it's not like you've been a hundred percent innocent throughout the whole thing."

"i —"

"you're just blaming daniel-hyung so that you'd find redemption for yourself," dohyon points out. "but you're terribly wrong. there's nothing that could change what you did, and i will never forgive you for that."

dohyon leaves the both of them before junho could reply. junho sparks in anger, his jaw clenching tightly. his left hand starts twitching again; a clear noticeable spark enthralls against his skin.

"left hand." eunsang murmurs.

"i know."

"don't let me shut it off for you again."

eunsang isn't accustomed with junho's sensitive temper, because he always found the kid as an emotionless robot who doesn't need much to release his distress.

it seems like the electricity has left a flaw in his code.

the sparks are getting bigger, the boy clenches his left hand into a fist. "junho—"

"eunsang-ah, i want to leave." junho says tensely, his lifeless eyes gazing to the ground with no direction.

"we can go outside, get some fresh air—"

"i wanna go home." junho seems sure of his decision. he holds unto eunsang's hand tightly, electricity making a subtle appearance as he did so.

eunsang sighs before nodding. "alright. i'll take you home—"

"ah, there you are!" a voice startles the both of them. eunsang and junho glances for the whereabouts of the voice, and they were quite surprised to see it belongs to their principal, dongwook. automatically they bow to show their respect. "where are the others? there were a whole lot of you just now."

"they're scattered all over the place, would you like me to call them sir?" junho's voice is now suddenly composed, eunsang was quite astonished by how he's able to get himself together so quickly.

"ah there's no need," dongwook smiles warmly. "anyway, because you're here, i would like to introduce you to someone, a very special person who is kind enough to fund our precious school."

"ah, then we must feel so honored," eunsang says with a small bow.

"he's no older than you boys, so i'm sure you'll get along." he turns around with a sense of excitement arising. "daniel-ssi, come here."

—

it feels so weird writing daniel's name here dhjsjsn flashback to me regularly writing 'you again' damn that was quite an interesting period of time

200 votes for next chap~