DRAMA CLUB | hyunin ✔

.41

jeongin watched seungmin pour coffee on his mug with the attention of someone waiting to be hit by a truck.

some of it spilled on a paper nearby. it seemed like an important document, but seungmin either didn't see it or gave it no mind: just carefully put the kettle on the desk and curled his hand on the mug.

felix was not far from them, typing away on the computer and looking more and more like an underpaid 40-something single father working on a joyless office job.

his attention shifted back to seungmin, right when the other took a sip of the coffee. he didn't pull a disgusted face at the bitter taste, and jeongin mentally put him on the list of toughest people he knew. he himself couldn't manage to drink that shit even with creamer.

seungmin lowered the mug and his hand was slightly shaking. the caffeine had hit him, apparently.

he nudged his round-framed glasses back up to the curve of his nose, and looked straight at jeongin. the boy couldn't help but flinch.

"you said he was at your house?" seungmin encouraged him to continue.

jeongin gulped, "yes."

seungmin slapped his hand on the desk, more coffee spilled out of the cup.

"that's suspicious," seungmin declared.

jeongin was quick to explain, "well, he is kind of tutoring me... and we're the main cast for the play and..."

"that just proves that he can and will infiltrate in the victim's life if it's necessary!" seungmin interrupted, "he can and will friend the victim just so he can get his trust, and, on the first opportunity, chhh!" seungmin slid his finger against his throat, face dead serious.

jeongin shook his head, "i don't think he's acting friendly, i..."

"...and he can, and he will, become close to you, your friends, and your family. that way no one can suspect him when you're gone!" seungmin kept on.

jeongin frowned.

"aren't you chan's personal staff assistant? like, at the play? i thought you were close!"

seungmin adjusted his glasses, straightening his posture and placing a leg on a nearby chair. he rested an elbow on his knee, leaning forward. felix sighed.

"i've been watching him closely for about a year now," seungmin began, "lurking, just waiting for him to do the next sick thing. i'll bring him to justice."

jeongin raised an eyebrow at that. he was still not completely convinced. seungmin just implied he was waiting for chan to do some shitty stuff. meaning that he hadn't found anything yet.

"how are you so sure chan's a criminal, then?"

felix stopped typing. from the corner of his eye, jeongin could see felix widen his eyes, gaze ping-ponging between him and seungmin.

seungmin placed his leg back to the ground, his face solemn. jeongin watched completely focused as he slowly walked to the window and had his face illuminated by the early morning sunlight. he took a sip of the coffee. jeongin stared at the mug. i <3 true crime stared back at him from seungmin's cup.

with a sharp movement of his neck, seungmin's face turned back to him. jeongin startled, surprised.

"because i was almost one of his victims," seungmin confided him, voice nonchalant and sober. if only there was a slight tremble on his tone, which jeongin suspected was from all that caffeine. "the same things he's doing to you, jeongin, he did to me."

---

sanity had mildly returned to everyone when jeongin walked through the doors of the auditorium.

after listening to seungmin's passionate speech of vengeance against bang chan, jeongin felt drained, and there was not even an ounce of motivation in his body for today's rehearsal.

but he had to talk to seungkwan.

after chan threw both his and hyunjin's scripts on jeongin's floor and squeezed hyunjin's wrist to numbness, he stormed out of the room, grabbing his backpack and the wrong script off the floor.

jeongin had on his hand the edited script chan left in his room, ready to ask seungkwan some questions.

if chan was really who seungmin claimed he was, then this was just a trap. maybe chan had noticed the 4-year long crush jeongin had on him, and decided to take advantage of that to plot jeongin's murder, but then all this drama with hyunjin happened and he thought he liked hyunjin now (which wasn't... true. right?) and schemed all of this to snatch his affection back to him.

which... god, it would be the perfect plan. that script was a lot. the bed scene suddenly became not very family friendly and, with the way jeongin's heart was fragile, jeongin wouldn't put it past himself to not instantly beg chan to marry him after one single take on the scene. he was touch starved, dammit!

then jeongin could already see what would happen next: seungkwan would furrow his brows, confused with the alleged "editing" on his play, which would morph into a thirty-minute lecture about how offended he was about someone challenging his playwriting skills, even if the original play hadn't technically been written by him, seungkwan just adapted it. and then jeongin would know that chan was—

"yeah, we changed it," seungkwan confirmed. he was chewing on some salted peanuts while scribbling something on a notebook.

when he looked up and saw disbelief painted on jeongin's face, he sighed and explained, "you see, it's supposed to be a love triangle, or, uh" he hesitated, then put a hand full of salt on his face. he grimaced, "i don't really know what's really supposed to be. but, look, we just made some adjustments so the story is more interesting. don't you want it to be insteresting?"

jeongin braced himself. "i suppose so."

"great! alright, i'm sorry for making all this stuff last minute, i'm just trying to do what's best and—" seungkwan paused mid-sentence as his vision zoomed into something behind jeongin.

he turned to see what it was.

someone had entered the auditorium — someone new. jeongin had never seen him in the school before, and he was absolutely sure of that because, with that face, jeongin would never forget such a person even if he'd hit his head and gotten amnesia.

with bleached blond hair, stylish clothes and an elegant posture, the boy walked up to them, the whole auditorium silent as if in shock. soonyoung, walking right behind him, had an apologetic look on his face.

from behind him, jeongin heard seungkwan let out a distasteful hiss, "yoon jeonghan."

the boy grinned at them.