Supernerd! MARK

29 | leen van der Mark

With Mark refusing to go to sleep despite his injury, the two of us find ourselves in the kitchen, where I had fixed him up a bowl of yesterday's chicken soup as that is all I embarrassingly have on hand.

"This is so good," he says with his mouth full, and while usually I would call him out for being so disgusting, today I barely even notice it as I continue to gaze into space blankly, to which he eventually notices.

Mark swallows another spoonful. "What?"

My eyes widen, not realising that I had been staring at him like a creep. "Sorry." I shake my head, averting his gaze. "It's just... aren't you gonna tell me what happened?" I dare to ask.

Mark lets go of his spoon, the silverware clinking against the ceramic bowl. "I... got stabbed. Obviously," he chuckles awkwardly. "On the bright side, though, I finally managed to locate their storage unit, at the same cargo port. They have people guarding the place all over so it was difficult to go down without a fight."

A gasp escapes my lips. "Really? That's good, right? You can finally hand the case off to the police."

"No, not yet. This whole drug ring... it's bigger than just Neo Seoul, Yena." Mark holds my gaze. "The reason why it's impossible to find their factory is because... they don't even manufacture their drugs here."

My brows furrow at the new information. "What?"

Mark nods, sighing as he leans back. "We were right to believe that the guy I saw with Lee Taeyong the other day was some sort of partner. Except, he isn't just any guy. He's the leader of Neo Osaka— Nakamoto Yuta."

"So we were right. They do work in units," I murmur. "Was he the one who stabbed you?"

"No." Mark shakes his head. "One of his minions did. They spoke in Japanese, but Tulip managed to pick it up and translated for me."

"Tulip...?" I tilt my head at the unfamiliar feminine name, and for a moment I fear that this might be the girl Mark has a crush on— until I realise that it's an absolutely unhinged thing to think about especially after what had just unfolded in the past hour.

I think I might be going insane.

"Oh, the built-in system in my suit. She's kind of like Siri," he says casually, going back to his soup.

"Uhuh," I mumble, not knowing whether the fact that Mark has a gendered name for his robot is cute or just plain weird. Though, I have to admit that I am slightly relieved. "So, what now? Couldn't you just hand this off to the SPD so they could work together with the Japanese police?"

"I... don't know. It's too risky, isn't it? We managed to locate Nakamoto Yuta through Haechan. Me going straight to the police would only get him into trouble."

As much as I hate how deeply involved he is with this investigation, I know that he's right.

I sigh, knowing that there's no use trying to change his mind. After all, the last time I did that, things didn't really end up well between us.

"Now that both Neo Seoul and Neo Osaka know that I'm hot on their tails, you're gonna have to be extra careful. They don't know what I look like, but they know you, Yena."

His reminder only causes anxiety to seep through my bones once more. I've been extra cautious recently— only being out at night when really needed. I've been taking up the morning shifts at Moon's, which unfortunately also meant having lesser shifts since the only time I can work is when I don't have classes on that day. When I'm not at work, I'm at school, and when I'm not at school, I'm at home. The only time I'm ever really out at night is when I'm with Mark and Haechan, and they'd usually force me into a disguise anyway.