43 — UNSPOKEN CONNECTION

the pieces are (kind of) coming together.

—

"i don't care about what you think, all i care about is cha junho!"

eunsang feels like the people he needed the most never appears in the right time, and the person he's referring to now is nam dohyon. he could barely hear what daniel's saying, let alone the anonymous voice in the phone call. he tries to pair up the words he vaguely catches simultaneously as he gathers new words.

"i'm suspecting you? yah, seulgi-noona! i'm only asking you here because you helped me the last time!" his voice arises, making it easier for eunsang to capture. "yes, this is merely just a question, i'm not asking you to interfere or anything."

daniel's face dims. ".. so you haven't heard about it? not even once? noona, please.." he sighs. "alright, alright. but promise me to tell me once you know something, okay? his name is cha junho, and i have a feeling your people would prolly have a soft spot for him, he's cool."

noona, eunsang tries to filter out the chances of who that might be. it seems like it could be anyone.

"okay, okay, i won't bother you anymore. buy you lunch?" daniel laughs. "you expect so much from me, noona. sure, i'll come by to your office this afternoon." he scrunches his forehead. "no? why? the people in your office hates me? haha, i think hate's an understatement." his face that was previously brightened by lighthearted giddiness now turns into a frown. "it won't be long, i'll go there just for a short inspection, you don't have to be there with me— miss kang. miss kang!"

daniel's phone call drastically ended, but that was the moment eunsang was fueled with anxiousness yet also a tint of anticipation. miss kang.. that's it. that's the woman. without even thinking twice eunsang jumps in front of daniel, grabbing his hand tightly. "miss kang!"

daniel was genuinely surprised by his presence. "what?"

"woman, late-twenties, slanted eyes, brown hair, strange looking bangs miss kang?" eunsang tries to describe the woman he's been seeing in his visions, the same woman who was also responsible for yohan's three days of interrogation.

hopelessly thinking that daniel would probably see him as a mad man, he wasn't expecting him to nod so vigorously, so thankfully he did. daniel holds eunsang's hand that was gripping on his other arm. "yes, that's it. kang seulgi."

"she has junho."

that single sentence was enough to make daniel snap out of his comfort zone. he now has both of his hands on eunsang's shoulders, gripping him tightly. "you sure about this?"

"yes, i saw her! she's the one who handled yohan too!"

"that, woman— UGH!" he pushes eunsang to the wall and quickly sprints towards the exit, leaving eunsang alone so suddenly.

"daniel-ssi!" eunsang calls him out and tries to keep up with him, but it seems like what he said to the latter had hit him so hard, daniel looks as if his whole life depends on it. when he reaches the exit, daniel was already in his car, driving away from the school as fast as lightning. there was no use of calling him anymore; daniel was too occupied by the new information he has retrieved to the point he didn't bother to listen to anything else.

eunsang sighs. the good news is he finally gotten a link to the woman he saw in his visions, yet he doesn't know if he was supposed to trust this link of his or not. throughout the few days daniel has been anything but trustworthy, however he did look very anxious the moment eunsang told him about junho's correlation with miss kang. perhaps he's trying to protect junho from her?

the way he reacted so instantly made eunsang realize that daniel's definitely more involved then he think he is. who's side he's really in.. that's the real question.

not sure of what to do anymore, eunsang decided to climb up the stairs to the fourth floor to inform what happened to the others. he was in his third step when suddenly he hears someone calling him from behind. "eunsang-ah!"

eunsang turns around, surprised to see the sight of minhee running towards him. "minhee-yah, why are you still here? i thought you're already upstairs with the other boys."

he scoffs. "do you really think i'll be able to wake up that early?"

"... you got a point."

minhee ruffles eunsang's red hair. "what's wrong? you look like you just encountered a ghost."

eunsang shrugs. maybe he did. the little encounter he had with daniel was so short yet impactful to the point he wasn't sure if it did really happen or not. "come on, let's go up."

"wait eunsang-ah," minhee grabs his hand.

"hm?"

"can you please summon yohan-hyung?"

immediately aware of what minhee's up to, eunsang shoves his hands away and proceeds to climb up the stairs. minhee groans. "come on, eunsang-ah! i'll pay you!"

"i'm not letting you get a free teleportation lift where as i'm the one stuck with the stairs."

"it's not my fault your powers have strange terms and conditions!"

"why don't you fly your way up instead?"

minhee scoffs. "i can't even manage to float a single one of my limbs."

following the failed attempt of minhee asking for eunsang to summon yohan, the two boys end up climbing the stairs together until the fourth floor. the moment they reach the hall, all the chairs were already filled by students from all three batches. minhee raises an eyebrow. "where are the others?"

"i don't know but we're probably very, very late. let's go to the backstage."

they quickly made their way towards the backstage, hoping to see a bunch of familiar faces when they get there.

"eunsang-ah, where have you been?" seungyoun pulls him over for a side hug. "you too, minhee-yah. well, i kinda expected you to come late but there was a small voice in my head hoping that you finally get in track of your time—"

"no time for these useless chats, we're in crisis for god's sake." wooseok appears out of the blue. "i can't believe this asshole's bailing out all of the sudden."

"who?" minhee asks.

"kang daniel! i woke up at 5am this morning to prepare the venue of his lecture, his class, and he didn't even bother to come in time!" wooseok growls angrily. "i think he ought to know that i don't necessarily like him."

"well for the record, i don't think he likes any of us either." seungyoun whistles. "so him slacking off.. i'm not surprised."

eunsang raises his voice. "hyung, daniel left the building not so long ago. he ran off after i told him about miss kang.."

seungyoun pushes eunsang in surprise. "you TOLD him about the woman? what were you thinking?!"

"he was talking to some sort of a miss kang, i immediately suspected that he was talking to her." eunsang explains shortly. "then i told him the characteristics of this miss kang who's holding junho in capture, and he said that's the exact same description of how the miss kang he's talking about looks like! he immediately ran off without me being able to say anything else!"

"there's a bunch of female women in korea with the surname kang, dumbo. he might've had faked it when he said she matches your description." wooseok scoffs.

"but why would he, though?" minhee adds some sense to the conversation. "i mean, i don't see in what motive would he lie, if it really is the same miss kang then it means he's anxious of her too, and that means he's also in our side."

"just because he's not in miss kang's side, that doesn't mean he's in ours." seungyoun points out. "but minhee's right, there's no reason for him to lie, though he does it quite regularly. this is something big, because now we know daniel's the key to us finding junho."

"what's with the gossip circle here, where's daniel?" seungwoo appears from one end of the stage alongside with dongwook. "eunsang, minhee, you're finally here."

"hyung, we can't hold the lecture today." wooseok informs him shortly.

dongwook raises his eyebrow. "why not?"

"daniel-ssi has an important errand to do, it was a drastic call."

seungyoun looks like he's unsure, but the words slip out of his mouth anyway. "it's about junho." the other boys were surprised to hear him expose it out of the blue, including eunsang, but he knows for sure seungyoun has a reason behind it — maybe something related to dongwook's thoughts — so eunsang decides to let it slide.

"junho?" dongwook looks patronized. "why didn't he say anything about it to me?"

"he looks awfully in hurry, perhaps that's why." eunsang answers.

they did not expect dongwook to have such an impulsive reaction. he shakes his head. "alright, change of plans. you three, get up there."

wooseok pauses. "you mean us?"

"yeah, you. you didn't get the chance to say anything the last time you were on top of that stage, right?" dongwook gazes at wooseok, a little desperation appear in his eyes. "now you can get a second chance. please do me a favor and cover for daniel, will you?"

wooseok was the most hesitant because he did not want any correlation with daniel, but seungyoun and seungwoo helped him get through his strong disagreement. the trio once again march on top of the stage, but now in a completely different atmosphere than how they were before.

dongwook turns to minhee and eunsang. "now you can go back to your class, let them handle it."

"and what will you do, sir?" minhee asks out of the blue.

dongwook pauses. "don't worry about me, just go."

eunsang and minhee decide to sit somewhere close to the backstage, gazing at their hyungs who were talking useless stuff out of impromptu from afar. eunsang feels terribly useless at this situation, because there was nothing that he could do other than to wait. he can't believe he was recklessly hoping that daniel can just get back to school soon, bringing a perfectly safe junho with him..

—

stream chen's new song, 'shall we'💖

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