Euthymia

Flower High

Minseok and Jongin suggest they split up. Not to cover more ground or waste less time scouring the city, although they're foolish enough to believe Kyungsoo will fall for their excuses.

No, they suggest splitting up because any dead weight will hold them back and this is already an inconvenience for them. Kyungsoo understands he's not really meant to be useful.

They send him off by himself while they buddy up as an alpha pair and go looking in places around Itaewon that seem promising. Kyungsoo is instructed to head back to Gangnam and look there. They're convinced Winter hasn't left her territory yet, but just to be sure. This is all a precaution. Remember you play an important role.

So Kyungsoo ditches the drive-by car and takes a taxi back to Gangnam, back to Suho's disappointment and alpha scrutiny. Surely a successful hit on The Henhouse would score him camaraderie points with the pack, but then Minseok will probably complain he drove away too soon and they'll have something new to roll their eyes at.

But if he can catch Winter. If he can put a stop to her assassination plot and rescue the prince of Gangnam. If he can restore order to the helter-skelter of Gangnam's crumbling empire. Then maybe they'll see. What he can do, what he can offer, what he can handle without any alphas. Maybe they'll see him. Not as a beta, but as the man who restored Gangnam to all of its opulent glory. The man who restored Gangman to diamonds, high heels, velvet suits, pearl necklaces, top shelf wine, cufflinks, champagne towers.

He sits in the back of the smelly Itaewon taxi, stiff on the edge of the mysteriously stained seats, his forehead against the window and excited thoughts in his brain. Sideways roofs and claustrophobic streets entertain him temporarily through rain fog and droplet tributaries on the window, at least until he gets back to Gangnam. He can't leave the filth of Itaewon soon enough. It's been a headache staying here.

They're almost out of the territory, almost to shimmering Gangnam and lovely fragrances, but the taxi pulls to an abrupt stop, thrusting Kyungsoo forward. He looks ahead, a pain in his neck, and sees a pedestrian flailing her arms in front of the vehicle to will it to a stop. The driver curses.

The pedestrian doesn't waste a second; when the vehicle stops, she's in the backseat, fumbling with her giant umbrella and tilting her head to let water run off of her cloche hat. Kyungsoo pushes himself to the farthest end of the car, pinned against the window as her umbrella nearly impales his eye.

"Gangnam, please."

"That's convenient. We're already heading that way."

The drive continues, but Kyungsoo no longer has the solitude to daydream. The taxi is small with very little room in the back, so their shoulders brush together with every shake of the car. The woman hasn't quite settled herself in yet, still patting herself dry, still trying to determine where her umbrella will fit. She finally lays it across her lap, the pointed tip facing Kyungsoo.

"Are you from Gangnam?" She doesn't look at him when she asks, instead tidying her hat in the rearview mirror.

"Yes."

"May I ask where you're coming from?"

He fights the urge to roll his eyes. This trip was so peaceful before. "Itaewon."

"What's a Gangnam fellow like you doing in Itaewon? I hear the packs don't get along very well."

"I never said I was involved in any packs."

"Still, the feud runs deep in these parts. Anybody out of place might get caught in the middle of it. You know how many stabbings occur on the streets of Itaewon every night? It's not a place to let your guard down."