Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

BREAKING NEWS: PRESIDENT SHIN’S PRESIDENTIAL SECRETARY CHOI WONGIL RESIGNED AFTER CORRUPTION SCANDAL, NIS INTELLIGENCE TEAM LEADER RYU GUNWOO SET TO TAKE OVER

Staring at the bolded headline flashed on Kim Youngjoo’s phone screen, or at least what he had glimpsed of it before the screen was promptly shoved into his face, Gunwoo could feel the eyes of everyone in the office shift towards him. These bastards, they weren’t getting paid to sit around and listen to office gossip. He would take note of this event when payday came… except he’d be slaving away at the President’s office by then. Damn it, they were lucky this time. Internally heaving a deep breath, he desperately prayed for whatever was left of his sanity and social battery that was currently depleting rapidly. 

“Gunwoo, please don’t leave us!” Youngjoo cried as she clung on to her boss, already dreading the days without the puppy-like man sitting at his desk, blessing the office with his silent charms. Gunwoo’s deadpan expression only seemed to become even more done if that was possible. “Working here is way better than working for the president! Plus, you won’t get to eat Mrs Kim’s hotteok ever again if you leave!”

…She had a great point. In the face of Mrs Kim’s sugary sweet hotteoks, diabetes didn’t matter anymore. He was only going to live once and hopefully not for too long. The hotteok Gunwoo religiously bought daily from a small eatery near the office was what fuelled him to live another day. Without it, where would his motivation to wake up in the morning come from? Chief Youngrin even told him to be ‘mentally prepared’ to take over the mantle of the Presidential Secretary. Shit. Now that he thought about it, maybe agreeing to this wasn’t the best idea…

“Will you really be transferring?”

“Who will take over your post?”

“You have to send us the juicy stuff about the president!”

The work day had literally just started and Gunwoo was so not paid enough to deal with this shit.

“It’s working hours. Any questions, ask me during lunch.” Never would be preferred. The ebony-haired male shot out the words in the most authoritative, non-done-with-the-whole-world voice he could muster. 

Maybe he could ask Mrs Kim to teach him how to cook hotteoks her way. But reflecting on the desolate room he called his kitchen and his abysmal motivation levels, that solution didn’t seem as appealing anymore. Meeting the teary eyes of Kim Youngjoo, Gunwoo realised that with zero context of the situation, this would probably look like a breakup. 

Oh that thought did wonders for his spiralling mind.

His existential crisis would never be solved when he was being mobbed like this. Looking stubbornly away from any inquisitive eyes, the raven-haired male swiftly deflected the barrage of questions, entered his office and slammed the door shut. 

It was going to be a long last day at work.

✩—t—e—s—t—a—r—✩

Staring into blank space wasn’t something Gunwoo could typically afford with cases being fired at them left, right and centre but as the sun outside the office painted the sky with orange and yellow hues, he found that he was able to afford this little luxury. All his tasks had been delegated to his team members, the new department head was decided already and technically he didn’t have much to do. He’d only come as it was office custom to physically bid farewell to a team one worked with and not disappear off the grid without a peep. 

Today was his last as a NIS officer but it wasn’t something really worth celebrating. Did he feel sad to leave the place he’d been working since practically forever? The job paid the bills sufficiently, office politics were still as toxic and annoying as usual but hey, they’d accepted him with his lacklustre CV so that was worth thanking. He’d only applied since his classmates mentioned in passing that with the way he dissected the world, he was totally NIS material. His wallet was grateful that NIS thought so as well.

Time flew by. Gunwoo couldn’t decide whether that was good or bad but eventually the wall clock in his office showed him 6pm had finally fallen upon him. His belongings in the office were scarce unlike his colleagues that had pictures of family members (or in Yeongjoo’s case, pictures of the idols she ‘stanned’) or little mementos (case in point again: Yeongjoo’s numerous dolls of idols that took up almost half her desk). As an orphan, he had no family to speak of and he didn’t understand the appeal of putting pictures of other people that seemed to be staring into your soul as you worked. Simple solution: have no pictures on his desk (besides, his 3 laptops and sky-high stacks of paperwork took up all the space anyway). 

He begrudgingly agreed to attend a farewell dinner by his team in his name but before they could hit the bar, he had to return his NIS card or he’d be on the Most Wanted list. 

Making his way to the admin office on the third floor, Gunwoo couldn’t help but feel the electrician in the lift with him was really suspicious. The building indeed had faulty air conditioning (that was the first electrical appliance everyone would notice breaking down) but that was in the conference room on the seventh floor. Yet, the electrician hadn’t made any effort to press the button to go to any other floor so that meant he intended to go to the third floor with Gunwoo. However, the third floor was occupied by the admin staff and IT department, absolutely no faulty electrical stuff that warranted the electrician’s attention.

The point that nagged him the most however was the fact the electrician looked familiar to him - and that was bad because he didn’t know any electricians, but recognised a ton of criminals. He had this ability to recognise people from any view after meeting them once. While it had scared many of his colleagues as he ‘popped out of nowhere, and how did you know that it was me?’, it also came in handy when identifying suspects on the run. 

The cap that the electrician wore hid most of his face, so no use trying to get a facial rec. His eyes swiftly scanned the man until they landed on his left hand. There were two things wrong with what he was seeing. One, the electrician’s hand was so smooth and callus-free that it looked like it bathed in skincare products everyday. Two, the ring on his index finger was a limited-edition ring worn by 30 people in the entire world but only one Korean male possessed it - the President’s ex-secretary, Choi Wongil, who had pictures plastered everywhere in Korea at the moment. Who knew Minso’s obsession with luxury goods would help this way?

> Intruder, Choi Wongil, going to third floor. Gunwoo quickly texted to his team’s group chat. It was read by all his teammates practically immediately (as expected from the best NIS team) and a text from his Chief Youngrin flew into his unread messages. 

> Do not engage, we sent agents of our own to apprehend him there. Just enjoy your last few breaths of NIS air.

> 👍

“DIE, PARK MOONDAE!”

Who the heck-

And the next thing Gunwoo saw was a shiny blade aimed right at his face.

Ah, I think that’s me.

✩—t—e—s—t—a—r—✩

Gunwoo wasn't a team leader for nothing. His fitness level may not have been at a beastial level like some of his teammates but his will to save his poor life to live another day and eat hotteoks outshone everything else. Quite sadly, it wasn’t the first time a knife wanted to have a date with his face so his muscle memory took over and he narrowly dodged the blade. 

Choi Wongil was sure persistent in ensuring the fatal blind date succeeded and lunged at the Gunwoo again. This time, Gunwoo, with little room to move in the enclosed lift, held up the closest item within reach in front of his face - his plastic NIS card. 

CRACK! The knife was aimed with so much force that a very audible crack from the sacrificial plastic card pierced Gunwoo’s ears - like how the blade pierced his card. The sharp edge of the knife now peeked out from the card, still stubbornly aimed downwards at Gunwoo’s face. Willing all of his strength into his stick arms, he repelled the force of the knife with equal amounts of obstinance. His place of death was not going to be the damn lift of his soon-to-be ex-workplace. 

Card, please don’t break on me.

“PUT THE BLADE DOWN!” A voice shouted. Wongil, unlike Gunwoo, seemed to have been so engrossed in trying to stab Gunwoo that he had completely missed the lift doors opening at the third floor with two NIS agents waiting there. 

A junior he recognised as Kwon Heeseung immediately dashed into the lift and disarmed Wongil before swiftly tackling him to the ground. He flashed Gunwoo a grin and then slapped handcuffs on the intruder.

“Team Leader Ryu, are you okay?” Another junior, Ha Iljoon, helped Gunwoo from the floor and out of the lift. The man in question nodded and thanked him before solemnly presenting the whole reason he had taken the lift to the approaching administration officers.

“I can’t return the card, sorry,” Gunwoo passed his broken NIS card to the outstretched hands of the head of the admin office. 

“None of that nonsense when you’ve just been attacked! Is he injured, officer? We should have medical supplies in the office,” The elderly Ms Ahn berated Gunwoo before turning to Iljoon.

Just as Gunwoo was going to open his mouth, Ms Ahn beat him to it.

“You just sit down and tell the young man where you’re hurt. No ‘it doesn’t hurt much’ nonsense from you again, Gunwoo. Now, what do you need, officer?” 

Ah, Ms Ahn will never stop the grandmother I didn’t know I needed.

As the administrative officers were fussing over Gunwoo, Choi Wongil’s was being dragged out of the lift by Heeseung. His hands were cuffed but it seemed that his mouth was the one that needed cuffing instead.

“HAHAHA YOU’RE JUST THEIR TYPE MOONDAE!”

If that person is me, firstly, you’re blind. You were literally stabbing my name card with such vigour just now. Secondly, whoever they are, they have pretty low standards then. 

“WHY ARE YOU ARRESTING ME? I WAS TRYING TO SAVE YOU!”

Then move Mrs Kim’s hotteoks to Yongsan, not practise your knife skills on me.

“HAHAHA, YOU’LL JUST DIE LIKE ME THEN!”

I’m a law-abiding citizen, so no luck with that-

TIC! TIC! TIC!

Loud and high-pitched beeps suddenly sounded in the empty corridor. As they got faster and faster, Gunwoo zeroed in on the source of the ominous sound and shouted out his final command as Team Leader Ryu.

“MOVE AWAY FROM CHOI WONGIL!”

Chapter Text

BREAKING NEWS: EX-PRESIDENTIAL SECRETARY CHOI WONGIL FOUND DEAD IN NIS BUILDING. INVESTIGATIONS UNDERGOING TO DETERMINE CAUSE OF DEATH AND REASON HE WAS PRESENT.

“Cause of death… that doesn’t need much explanation, right, Gunwoo-ssi?” The man sitting opposite Gunwoo smiled, looking at the new Presidential Secretary as if Gunwoo was a butterfly he had trapped in a glass jar.

“I can’t comment on that, Mr President,” Gunwoo stiffly replied. Even though it was the President asking, NIS wanted the details to be confidential, so he couldn’t and wouldn’t share anything with his new all-powerful boss. NIS pride. And no, he was not squirming on his seat, just extremely weirded out by President Shin’s… eccentricity. He needed to know how much the people who had been waxing poetry about the President’s ‘easygoing and friendly nature’ were paid because the real President was nothing like that. Propaganda, ew. What happened to the promised transparency in his term?

Shin Jaehyeon honestly looked more attractive than some of the K-pop idols out there to the point he’s been asked if he plans to join the industry in interviews. He simply laughed them off, saying he’s more suited to work in an office job. Gunwoo would be the judge of that, but he currently thought that Shin Jaehyeon was a big creep, maybe bordering on pervert.

“I imagine there’s only so many ways to kill a person such that they explode. Then again, I’m not an expert on this so I thought to seek your professional opinion, Gunwoo-ssi.” Tsk, Presidents and their ability to know more about certain things than they should know. Gunwoo was very tempted to jump out of the moving car to get away from the smiling bastard. Ah, resignation letter, his fair weather friend, where was it when he needed it?

“…No comment.” And that effectively doused the embers of conversation between President and Presidential Secretary with Jaehyeon looking at the interview questions for the interview they were currently on the way for while Gunwoo’s eyes refused to leave the screen of his tablet lest he get roped into another unsettling conversation. While Gunwoo had gotten tricked to be Shin Jaehyeon’s secretary, he would still fulfill his duties to him as expected (totally not because the pay was loads more than his previous job-). However, since ‘making conversation with the President’ wasn’t in his contract, then he didn’t have any obligation to do that.

In the company of silence, Gunwoo couldn’t help but think about Choi Wongil’s last words before he, well, exploded. The first most confusing thing - why did he call him ‘Park Moondae’? No one in his family had Park as their surname and he’s pretty sure he didn’t have a split personality or anything. Also, he never personally knew Choi Wongil and even if he did, he wouldn’t give a fake name to him. That was beyond his pay grade. Did the guy confuse him or someone else? He would have liked to believe that but the way his eyes steeled on him and the way he said his name with such certainty said otherwise. Maybe Choi Wongil was just extremely delusional.

What did he mean about him being ‘their type’? Who was ‘their’ and what ‘type’? In the romantic sense? Ew. He was pretty sure no sane person in the world would ever look at him with heart eyes like in the comics. People like idols and the weirdly hot President existed, so if anyone felt he was ‘their type’ in the romantic sense, then they were truly insane. Plus, he wasn’t looking for any romantic relationship, definitely not now, maybe even forever. He didn’t have the energy to understand the ramblings of a most likely deluded man.

Then, why did Choi Wongil say he would die like him? Gunwoo was extremely adverse to the feeling of anyone touching him, so he could confirm no one had the opportunity to slice him open and put a chip that detonated remotely in him. Unless someone predicted what item he got from the convenience store everyday and put a microscopic chip in his food (cuz he’s pretty positive he didn’t offend Mrs Kim in any way and she didn’t want him dead), then yes he would be at risk of dying the same grotesque way Choi Wongil did. 

Maybe the dude was really just sick in the head. Did being a Presidential Secretary cause him to be like that? All the more Gunwoo should have never fallen for Chief Youngrin’s tempting words. Damn it, that lady surely knew how to manipulate his love for money.

“Do you know why Chief Youngrin pushed for you to be my Presidential Secretary?” Shin Jaehyeon suddenly broke the silence, a smile on his stupidly handsome face that held back more than he knew. Did he just read his damn mind or something? Gunwoo’s energy was draining faster than water leaking from a faulty tap. 

“…I don’t.” Surely this reply will get him to shut up? Maybe even get him fired? That would be a dream come true.

“Well, that’s because I told everyone that I only wanted you, Ryu Gunwoo, to be my Presidential Secretary. No one else. That’s also why you’ll find that your salary is almost twice that of the average Presidential Secretary’s salary.” The smile on the President’s face now seemed more creepy to the frozen Gunwoo.

What the hell? Did the goddamn President of South Korea just admit he was essentially obsessed with him? Gunwoo really didn’t know whether to take that as a compliment or be scared out of his wits. It wasn’t like he graduated with First Class Honours from a SKY university or was exceptional in work. He had always happily been that average guy who didn’t do more than required and took his salary home safe. Why was Shin Jaehyeon willing to take such drastic measures to bring him to his side? And why was the rest of the government so willing to listen?

“Your flustered expression is really entertaining,” Shin Jaehyeon continued to smile unnervingly. “I’m glad you agreed to be my Presidential Secretary. I expect great things from you.”

Oh shit. South Korea made a terrible decision to give this perverted guy power for five years.

✩—t—e—s—t—a—r—✩

“We’re here, President Shin,” A low voice spoke as the car door on Shin Jaehyeon’s side opened. Beyond the car door, a young male with dark purple hair stood politely, stepping aside for the President to step outside the car. Shin Jaehyeon smiled at the male in the black and white suit and swiftly exited the vehicle. 

Gunwoo quietly slipped out of the car with his employer, turning his head to face the male in the suit. These suited people were part of the Presidential Security Service more commonly known by its abbreviation of PSS - essentially bodyguards of the President, other high-ranking politicians and all their families. These were truly the fit people like Gunwoo’s ex-team members, and he only had respect for their dedication to keep in shape. As for him… well, he did hit the gym occasionally - if occasionally meant once in a month. 

This PSS agent looked fairly young and yet he looked sadly similar to Gunwoo - both had very prominent eye bags. He sympathetically patted the agent on the back in his mind. Sure, he had a neutral expression that gangsters on the TV would make, but hey, those were only gangsters with good working conditions. Overtime, mountains of work, questionable colleagues? Gunwoo had been through all of that and could see that poor agent did too. Didn’t matter that he looked like a thug, all humans - gangsters and civil servants - that were work slaves could get along very well. 

“I look forward to working with you, Secretary Ryu.” The dark-purple haired male spoke, eyes staring straight at Gunwoo. After sitting in the car with the weird ass President for so long, all the other weird people seemed normal in Gunwoo’s eyes. He could clearly sense the man’s sincerity (which he greatly appreciated) but could he maybe lay off the intense staring for one second? 

I don’t look very good, if anything he looks much better than me. People are crazy over that ‘bad boy’ look nowadays.

“Likewise…,” Gunwoo lowered his eye to the name tag clipped on the PSS agent’s blazer. “Agent Kim.”

Wait, a Kim with dark-purple hair, kinda looks like a gangster and has terrible social skills? Is he…?

“Secretary Ryu? I need the documents with you.” His boss’ voice rang out, and his words were his orders.

Nodding to the PSS agent, Gunwoo caught up to the President. In the corner of his eye, he saw a young male with red hair dash out from the vehicle and greet Agent Kim with a hard slap to the back and boisterous laughter. The dark purple haired male scowled and shot out a few words back to the redhead. Were the two friends? Well, good looking people were friends with other good looking people. But Gunwoo wondered what his job was since he wasn’t in a formal suit and pants like Agent Kim. For now, his curiosity went on the backburner - he had a pay check to work for first.

✩—t—e—s—t—a—r—✩

“Is Shin Jaehyeon… a K-pop idol? This is really popular question for our President! President Shin, would you like to answer this one?”

“Sure. I’m flattered that you think I’m attractive enough  to be a K-pop idol, but unfortunately, no I’m not one. I am the President of South Korea.”

As Gunwoo soon learnt, the bubbly redhead smiling brightly at the camera as he sat next to the President was Cha Eugene, Shin Jaehyeon’s translator. Gunwoo didn’t get the chance to talk with the smiley redhead yet, but right off the bat, his energetic personality was the complete opposite of his own. Hopefully the two of them still wouldn’t clash though, he needed friends, even acquaintances would be great, in the office so he could escape from the President if needed. 

The reason why Shin Jaehyeon had his translator on the interview with him was because it was conducted by an American company WIRED so the language medium of the interview was English. From his looks, anyone could tell Eugene wasn’t fully Korean, but apart from some grammar mistakes here and there, his Korean wasn’t too bad. As Gunwoo had picked up from the filming crew’s gossiping whispers, Cha Eugene was a Korean-American and it wasn’t his first appearance as Shin Jaehyeon’s translator. Huh, maybe that’s why he looked pretty handsome too… DNA mattered.

He would imagine Shin Jaehyeon could somewhat speak English (seeing as he went through the Korean education system) but it wouldn’t be anywhere as near as Eugene’s level since he lived in America for a big chunk of his life. Therefore, since Eugene was fluent in English and Shin Jaehyeon didn’t want to risk his reputation, the two sat together and answered the internet’s most asked questions. If the question was simple enough, Jaehyeon would answer it himself. Otherwise, Eugene said the question in English, asked Jaehyeon in Korean, Jaehyeon replied in Korean and lastly, Eugene would translate the answer for the camera.

Sitting on a chair in the studio, Gunwoo watched as the film crew fawned over the two people in front of the camera. If people didn’t know any better, there was a high chance they would, understandably, think those two were idols. The cold, handsome President and cute, boyish translator would surely cause viewership to rise exponentially. He could count on the editing team to use their faces as clickbait material. Suckers for pretty faces would then surely watch the video when it came out, Korean or not. Besides, people around the world who loved K-pop and K-dramas but didn’t know an ounce of Korean were probably 80% there for the face. Pretty privileges indeed.

“Does Shin Jaehyeon… care about corruption? Let me ask the President about this… Regarding corruption in the government, President Shin and his colleagues have been very serious in this regard. As you would have seen in their recent sweep of government officials, they found several people who were misusing their power and thus asked them to step down. Individuals like Kang Jaemin…”

Kang Jaemin… Male, has a wife with 2 children, born 16th September 1980, lives at Saebyeok Apartments in Gwanak-gu, Unit #05-01- 

Wait, why the absolute heck do I know that?

Gunwoo broke his chain of thoughts abruptly, shocked and confused at the foreign information that flowed through his mind. Almost immediately, brows knitted, he tried to go back to that flow of information but to no avail. 

At Eugene’s mention of ‘Kang Jaemin’, a stream of information suddenly rushed into his brain, as if it had naturally been there all long. However, Gunwoo was never one who really cared about the private lives of public figures (it was above his pay grade-) and so never went out of his way to search and remember such, honestly useless, things. He crossed his heart that he was not a sasaeng nor was he too unhappy with the government’s policies. So, why did he know so much about ‘Kang Jaemin’?

Right, why did he know that man was… a… politician? Wait, what was with this information block? 

Kang Jaemin… Kang Jaemin... 

Stays in?… I can’t remember.

Married?… I can’t remember. 

Position?… I can’t remember. 

Wait, who even is Kang Jaemin?

While he wasn’t that interested in politics, he definitely could kind of picture the faces of ministers and pair those with their names. It was within his pay grade to not be a frog in a well. Yet, no matter how much he scoured for any memory of this mystery ‘Kang Jaemin’ in his mind, it was as if the man never existed in the first place in his memory. But he literally just internally vomited out a bunch of his information just seconds ago and for Shin Jaehyeon to mention the man in his corruption probe, that person had to be an important politician. How come he suddenly couldn’t remember him?

Maybe he had one too few cups of coffee. Or maybe being in the vicinity of the strange President messed up his brain circuitry. Ah, it definitely had to be the latter, he really really shouldn’t have signed his life away for a higher salary. With a frown on his face, Gunwoo opened his phone and searched ‘Kang Jaemin politics’ in the search browser and a sea of articles appeared. Eyeballing the headlines, it seemed that Kang Jaemin was the Mayor of Seoul - quite a major position in the government - but was caught for bribery and misappropriation of public funds, and hence forced to resign from his position. 

Huh, such people don’t deserve their positions. At least the weird dude is doing something useful.

“Does Shin Jaehyeon… have a lover?” Eugene laughed at the question while Gunwoo couldn’t help but cringe at the question. Was this what people were searching for about the idol-looking President? What, they were feeling guilty about making self-insert fanfictions or something? It was true that Shin Jaehyeon was an oddball as he was a President who was not married but it wasn’t like ‘being married’ was a criterion to run for the position. Rumours were that he was gay but he never gave a definitive answer, so no one truly knew why he remained single. 

Upon hearing the question, the shitty President slightly turned his head to wink at him. Gunwoo’s blood pressure went up. Oh no, that was bad. Just how much damage control did he have to do after this?

“I can answer this, Eugene.”

“Oh, sure! Take it away, President Shin!”

“I am not dating, nor do I have a lover. However, I do think my new Presidential Secretary, Ryu Gunwoo, is rather cute.” 

Oh. My. God. 

Chapter Text

BREAKING NEWS: SOUTH KOREA’S FIRST ‘FIRST GENTLEMAN’? PRESIDENT SHIN SAYS NEW PRESIDENTIAL SECRETARY RYU GUNWOO IS ‘CUTE’ IN INTERVIEW, STIRRING SPECULATIONS ON HIS SEXUAL ORIENTATION.

Fantastic. 

This is so beyond my pay grade and it’s only the first day of work. I want to kill myself.

The most probable explanation for why news of Shin Jaehyeon’s ridiculous answer already reached the online tabloids within minutes of him spouting that bullshit probably meant there was someone sending the news outlets information in their midst. Ugh, he felt bad for that idiot’s PR team. In the still relatively conservative country, that was not a great piece of news to diffuse. That’s why he never wanted to go into public relations, it was essentially cleaning after your employer’s messes - especially if you had a troublesome employer like Shin Jaehyeon. Ew.

And the fact that the perverted President just had to drag his name into this shit show was just great. Gunwoo could forget living his average life with his name blasted on the internet by the damn President of South Korea. Could he file this as harassment? Or maybe he could claim psychological distress from this and milk more money from Shin Jaehyeon. Yes, that was an incredible idea.

By the time the netizens were freaking out over whether they potentially had a chance (or not) with the insanely hot President, the chaotic interview had already ended. Oblivious to all the shit he stirred, Shin Jaehyeon was happily making small talk with the film crew while Gunwoo glared daggers at him as he walked in his direction. He had the burning urge to slap some common sense into the stupid President but didn’t want to be the front covers on the newspapers for abusing his employer. Later on, he would be sure to free up some time in his schedule to give him a big fat piece of his mind. 

“President Shin. We need to go. Now.” Gunwoo whispered (more like hissed) to the black-haired President. Hearing his words, the President flashed him a small grin before turning to smile apologetically at the horde of people crowding around him. 

“Sorry, I have to cut our conversation off here. I need to rush off with my cute secretary here.” 

I swear to god, this bastard-

However, before he could cuss the shit out of his employer, the smiling President had already walked away from the crowd, leaving Gunwoo stranded in the sea of people. Grinding his teeth, Gunwoo pushed past the people and tried to close the ever widening gap between him and the President. Ugh, why did his employer have such long limbs? 

“President Shin, are you aware of the news going on now?” Gunwoo asked when he finally caught up to the smug President. 

“Hmm… I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean. What news could possibly be spreading?” 

Wipe that smirk off your face, you obviously know, you asshole. When I get my hands on you…

“Your comment about your new Presidential Secretary being cute has been leaked and is trending across the entire country now, sir.” He spelt out the situation through gritted teeth, pointedly putting in the utmost effort to not mention his name.

“Isn’t my new Presidential Secretary you, Ryu Gunwoo-ssi?” A mock confused expression descended on Shin Jaehyeon’s face.

Gunwoo only gave a ‘you-think-I-don’t-know-that-shit’ look to the President.

“You’re too embarrassed to say that you are cute, how cute! See, that’s why my comment stands.” The President giggled like a teenager sharing gossip with their friends.

Turning off my brain in 3… 2… 1… Ryu Gunwoo has officially logged off. Forever. Bye.

“Don’t worry, dearest Secretary Ryu. I only hire the best PR officers. My reputation and your sanity will be fine.”

My sincere condolences to this jerk’s PR team. We can all go on strike together.

In the face of Gunwoo’s frustrated silence, Shin Jaehyeon was thoroughly enjoying tormenting his new secretary who had the most amusing reactions when his phone buzzed. Taking a quick glance at the notification that popped up on his screen, his face instantly lost all mirth present moments prior.

“Gunwoo-ssi, go to the second-last car. Tell Sejin I want to see him in my car. Now.” Jaehyeon suddenly ordered, his face darkening rapidly by the second.

Gunwoo was taken aback by the President’s abrupt change in attitude. What had prompted that? He was quite sure the bastard hadn’t suddenly felt threatened or regretful of his scandalous comment in the interview, since he was so carefree when Gunwoo confronted him about it. Was it that notification on his phone? Just what sort of content did that have to contain to make the enigmatic President do a 180° turn in his demeanour? 

“Yes, sir.” Gunwoo quickly replied, heading to the designated car. The President’s entourage had quite a few cars. Seeing it on TV and in person was vastly different. The presence of the PSS agents in addition to the row of cars fitted with bulletproof doors and windows was like a moving impenetrable fortress - all for the sake of protecting the President.

“This is Secretary Ryu. President Shin asked for Sejin.” Gunwoo’s knuckles rapped on the tinted windows. After a few moments of inaction from the car (and his ears only hearing the booming of his heart), the car door opened and out came a smiling male with dark brown hair.

“President Shin indeed has an eye for people, you’re really quite cute, Secretary Ryu! I’m Lee Sejin, the Chief of Staff, but just call me Keun Sejin. See you later!” 

Keun? Meaning big? That isn't a surname, is it?

Even if Gunwoo wanted to ask, Keun (?) Sejin had already dashed off to Shin Jaehyeon's car, and was nowhere in sight. However, he was now stuck in a limbo. Was he supposed to go to his boss’ car too or not? Surely he wasn't expected to take public transport back right?

“Hi Gunwoo-hyung!” A familiar cheerful voice spoke, bringing Gunwoo back to reality and the realisation that the car door the dark-brown haired male opened was still left open, allowing Gunwoo to see the interior of the car. 

Similar to the President’s car, the seat configuration at the back was such that there were two long cushions that faced each other, allowing at most 6 people to stare at each other along the journey, if they squeezed. Unsurprisingly, Cha Eugene was happily waving at Gunwoo from his seat on the right of the cushion facing the direction the car moved. The purple-haired PSS Agent Kim was seated next to the chatty translator, giving Gunwoo a silent nod from his seat. The occupant on the cushion opposite Eugene and Agent Kim and seated closer to the car door on the left side of the car was a male with light-brown hair who seemed a little shocked at his presence. 

“The cars are moving already, hyung! Come sit next to Ahyeon-hyung! Quickly!” Eugene spoke hurriedly, gesturing to the empty seat next to the light-brown haired male, most likely where Sejin was sitting before the President called for him. Glancing at the wheels of the cars in front that were just starting to turn, Gunwoo unhesitatingly took up Eugene’s suggestion and hopped into the empty seat, closing the car door behind him.

✩—t—e—s—t—a—r—✩

“Hi Gunwoo-hyung! How’s your new job? If President Shin bullies you, just let us know, we’ll tell him off for you! Be prepared for lots of overtime though. Oh, we can give you the food recommendations near the office too! There’s a place with really good-” 

“Stupid Eugene! Secretary Ryu doesn’t even know your name yet! And don’t just go calling people hyung! It’s disrespectful!” Agent Kim smacked Eugene, annoyance and exasperated plastered all over his face.

“That hurts Raebin! I was just excited to meet Gunwoo-hyung. He is cute like what President Shin said…” Eugene pouted, and suddenly he switched to a language Gunwoo understood fairly well, English. Perhaps he felt more comfortable expressing himself in English, and that was understandable since he grew up there. But to be called ‘cute’ in more than one language within the span of an hour had Gunwoo want to bury himself in the ground and never come back out. Embarrassment aside, his heart took in the image of the sulking and regretful Eugene who looked like a remorseful cat and its stone-cold walls waved slightly.

“Thanks, Eugene. You’re quite good-looking yourself. Looking forward to working with you.” Gunwoo stuck a hand out towards the dejected cat and Eugene almost immediately perked up.

“You understand English?” Met with Eugene’s hopeful eyes, Gunwoo’s ice-cold heart knew it was fighting a losing battle.

“I do. You can talk to me in English if it’s more comfortable for you. I don’t mind it.” If a stranger saw Eugene’s reaction with no context, they would probably think Eugene confessed to Gunwoo and Gunwoo accepted it (which did not happen okay. Just because people were handsome didn't mean Gunwoo had to date them.)

“Woah, you’re so cool Gunwoo-hyung! Oh, can I call you hyung? Sorry, I didn’t mean to be disrespectful, you’re just really nice so it slipped out by mistake.”

“It’s fine. I don’t mind it.” Gunwoo, who was never too particular about titles, respect and the like, shrugged, fighting down a small smile from forming. It wasn’t because someone so genuinely called him ‘nice’ for like the first time in his life, totally not.

“Yay! Can’t wait to work with you, Gunwoo-hyung!” Eugene cheered, violently shaking Gunwoo’s outstretched hand. In the face of Eugene’s infectious bubbly energy, Gunwoo couldn’t help but abandon his aloof image (his teammates at NIS dubbed it the ‘tibetan fox look’) for a while.

“Wow, your smile is very pretty, Gunwoo-hyung!” Eugene grinned, his switch to Korean catching the attention of Raebin next to him. Eugene probably had some difficulties expressing himself to Raebin since he’s more comfortable with English and yet, they were still close friends. That’s nice. 

Wait, did he just talk about my smile?

Caught off-guard by the switch in language, Gunwoo belatedly realised his facial muscles were indeed forming a tiny smile on his face. Instantly schooling his face back to its impassive expression, he tried to save his reputation but based on Eugene’s ecstatic grin, the damage had already been done.

That asshole can’t ask his PR team to save my reputation, can he?

“Let me introduce everyone to you! This is Raebin. He’s a bit stupid but he’s a very caring friend.” Eugene smiled, hooking his arm around the PSS agent next to him.

“You’re the stupid one, Eugene!” Raebin struggled against Eugene’s hold, eventually managing to get free of him and land a hit on the redhead. The self-satisfied smile on Raebin’s face and whining from Eugene brewed a poisonous concoction of laughter in Gunwoo’s heart.

“Sorry about Eugene, he acts like this when he’s excited.” Raebin apologised, ignoring Eugene’s insults towards him. “Pleased to meet you again, sunbae-nim.”

“Nice to see you here too, Raebin.” Gunwoo replied cordially, masking the joy simmering in his heart. The last time he saw Raebin was, what, at least 6 years ago? He didn’t think life would bring them together at the President’s office of all places. Unexpected but not unwelcome. Although it was sad Raebin still looked like he needed a good 40-hour nap, it was nice seeing that determined hoobae doing well. What Gunwoo couldn’t wrap his head around though, was why Raebin, who loved producing songs, had ended joining the PSS? Well, he’d ask him when they were free later.

“Sunbae-nim??? Raebin-ah, have you been possessed?” Eugene spluttered, reaching across his seat to smother his friend’s forehead with his hand while shooting Raebin a bewildered look. “This is the most informal you’ve ever called someone! Do you know Gunwoo-hyung or something?”

“Stop embarrassing us!” Raebin scowled as he pushed Eugene away, face turning slightly red. “And yes, I do know Gunwoo-hyungnim! He’s my sunbae and we were in the same band.”

“Band? Oh, when you were in university?” Eugene’s mind seemed to be conjuring up some fantastical image and Gunwoo sure as hell didn’t need his imagination to go wild. His stone-cold reputation was already in shambles, it didn’t need to break into smithereens yet.

“Yes, I was a vocalist in Raebin’s band, only for a few performances though. The main vocalist got into an accident.” Gunwoo answered, and it was true. He was honoured that Raebin still thought of him as an actual part of the band, if anything he was more like a relief vocalist for those few days. Besides, his singing ability wasn’t that good, Raebin literally recruited him from a bench in the campus for goodness sake. 

The stint with Raebin’s band was brief as he was expected to start working at NIS in the next month after his first performance so he had no time or energy to perform with Raebin. Despite the fleeting time with that sleep-deprived hoobae back then, Gunwoo thought the whole thing was quite fun and was happy he made a friend of sorts.

“Don’t sell yourself short, hyungnim. Your vocals and teamwork skills are amazing.” Raebin said, a tiny grin forming on his face. “It was an honour to work alongside you.”

“Thanks. It was fun performing with you too, Raebin.” Gunwoo replied, memories of that time flooding into his head. Singing in front of a wild crowd was a once in a lifetime experience he was glad to have gone through. 

“Ohhhh, so you were that sunbae Raebin told me about. You know Raebin told me he really liked-”

Raebin’s face looked like it caught fire at that moment.

“Cha Eugene!” 

✩—t—e—s—t—a—r—✩

While the two friends were bickering from their seats in the cars, a hand shyly tapped his shoulder.

“You u-used to sing, Se-Secretary Ryu? That’s c-cool!” A timid voice snapped Gunwoo away from the, albeit childish, war of words unfolding in front of him. 

Taking a good look at who tapped his shoulder, Gunwoo made eye contact with an angel with light brown hair. Being with the crazy President for too long definitely messed up his brain. The man had light brown hair and an ethereal face. He swore even his light brown eyes were twinkling despite the tint of the car windows. Who were these idols and why were they all so near him?

Another handsome guy? This feels like a plot from a romance story. Not that I would want to be in one. Too troublesome and not in my pay grade.

“Thanks. I wouldn’t have explored it without Raebin’s offer. Also, you can just call me Gunwoo, I don’t really care for titles.” Gunwoo curtly replied. If he was stunned by this man’s beauty (and all the other people before), was he gay? It’s not his fault there were no handsome people in his previous team. No wait, his back account could not afford having a lover of any gender. No venturing there.

“Okay! I’m Seon Ahyeon, P-President Shin’s social media m-manager. Nice to work w-with you, Gunwoo!” Ahyeon beamed and Gunwoo was considering buying sunglasses to wear to work. There was no way his eyes could handle working with such blinding people every day. It was a blessing and a curse. 

Gunwoo remembered Shin Jaehyeon’s posts on his social media. One look at it and he (now) knew the President couldn’t have done it himself. That insane person wouldn’t have spent his time thoughtfully crafting the posts, and even if he did, they would have made the cringiest influencers look like god-tier celebrities. The pictures in Shin Jaehyeon’s official account were quite professional and the captions were witty and memorable. This was the man behind that? Truly impressive.

Gunwoo also wondered why Ahyeon was stuttering. Was he nervous? Maybe he looked like a zombie that had all its energy sucked out of it. Wow, that Shin Jaehyeon was even destroying his potential relationships with his colleagues. Or maybe it was a reason that ran deeper than that… Whatever it was, it wasn’t his place to ask now. Maybe later when they were closer. 

Oh wait, that reminded him, the President? That insufferable bastard Shin Jaehyeon who was on the verge of making headlines because he may or may not be gay, or bi instead? The same guy who  just called another guy to go to his car? Alone? Does he plan on making his approval ratings the lowest in South Korean history? That damn asshole. 

I should stop thinking about him. He won’t compensate me if I get wrinkles because of him.

“I’ve seen your social media posts, they’re all well done.” Gunwoo replied, half to avoid going down the stress-inducing train of thought about the President, half because Ahyeon’s posts were really good. Shin Jaehyeon did indeed hire only the best PR people.

“R-Really? Thanks!” Now Ahyeon could basically become the new source of solar power in the country. The sun just became jobless. 

After that, with everyone acquainted with the new hire (and after Eugene and Raebin stopped fighting), they all started discussing work. Matters like the President’s idiosyncrasies, work environment and some other colleagues in the office Gunwoo had yet to meet. That was because the stupid President met him at the door of the Ministry of National Defence (his office was in that building, in Yongsan, away from Mrs Kim’s hotteoks-), and then proceeded to promptly kidnap him there and then to bring him to the interview. Another colleague of his (he had yet to meet, no thanks to someone) had the misfortune of witnessing the kidnapping, and was thus tasked to whisk Gunwoo’s box of items out of his hands and into the office. His cardboard box got to feel the air conditioning of the office earlier than him. The audacity.

See, thinking about the President only brought him pain. Think positive thoughts, Gunwoo, positive thoughts.

“G-Gunwoo, do you want some g-gummies? T-They’ll c-cheer you up.” Ahyeon asked, reaching into his pocket and revealing an unopened pack of gummy bears. If anyone saw saliva drooling from Gunwoo’s mouth, that was the doing of the sunlight and nothing else. 

The sight of the sweets immediately reminded Gunwoo of Mrs Kim’s sweet hotteoks. The heavenly taste of brown sugar syrup flooded back into his mouth - as if reminding him of how delicious the delicacy was. He really needed a sugar hit now.

Thanking Ahyeon for the packet of sugary goodness, Gunwoo ripped open the plastic that was keeping him away from the multi coloured bears and popped one into his mouth. If it weren’t for the fact he was (kind of) at work, he would have contentedly melted into a puddle of sugary goo.

“Ahyeon-hyung shared his gummies! I want some too!” Eugene made puppy eyes at the flustered Ahyeon, probably surprised by Eugene suddenly sticking his hands out towards him. It didn’t last long though, as Ahyeon reached into his pocket again, swiftly pulling out another pack of gummies for an elated Eugene. He also offered another packet to Raebin who bowed a whole 90° before accepting it with two hands, as if Ahyeon were giving him his family heirloom. 

“Mmm, they taste so nice! Thanks, Ahyeon-hyung!” Wow, there were two suns in this one car. How was Gunwoo withstanding the combined force of their brightness without any sun protection? Well, at least their looks were doing wonders to his heart that was in turmoil. Free therapy from his handsome colleagues’ healing looks - Gunwoo thought it was a steal. Bad boss but good colleagues? Maybe he could survive the job longer than he thought.

“Don’t worry about the i-interview, Gunwoo. Sejin-hyung’s good at h-handling this kind of thing, so it’ll die down s-soon.” Aheyon smiled as Gunwoo munched on his gummies. 

Well, that just sounds like Shin Jaehyeon keeps making messes and this Sejin is proficient at cleaning them up. Is he a toddler that needs a nanny or something? Wait, Sejin, isn’t he the guy who got called out? Keun Sejin?

Remembering the man with dark-brown hair he was currently stealing the seat of, his weird name popped into Gunwoo’s mind again. Oh, that guy was quite handsome too and very tall too - probably the tallest person he’d seen today. Was it a secret requirement to look like an idol to work in the Presidential office? That definitely went against fair employment guidelines though. But if Gunwoo just took a look around, he would think he was in an idol show or something. What other reason could explain why all the hot people were working in the Presidential Office?

It’s probably not. I wouldn’t have gotten in if that was the case. 

“The man President Shin asked for was Secretary Lee Sejin-ssi, not Manager Bae Sejin-ssi whom Manager Ahyeon-ssi was referring to.” Raebin said, as if he could read Gunwoo’s mind. “Secretary Lee Sejin-ssi is the Chief of Staff while Manager Bae Sejin-ssi is President Shin’s PR Manager. He and Manager Ahyeon-ssi are colleagues.” 

Oh, so there are two Sejins in the Presidential office, that clears things up a lot.

“I see, thanks Raebin.” Gunwoo nodded his head in understanding. The one whose seat Gunwoo was currently stealing was his secretary colleague who ranked higher than him. The one back at the workplace was the Sejin most likely currently on clean-up duty. Both sounded like they were put through the grind like him, and frankly all the rest of the staff. They were all going to trauma bond very well.

“S-sorry for the con-confusion, Gunwoo.” Ahyeon apologised. “I-If you don’t mind, I can sh-show you around the office to make up for it!”

“It’s fine, but the office tour would be nice, thanks.” Gunwoo replied, noting that Ahyeon wasn’t frowning anymore. There was no need for him to feel bad, it wasn’t that big of an issue anyway. 

“I wanna show Gunwoo-hyung around too! And look, we’re almost at the office!” Eugene exclaimed, looking out of the window. Gunwoo peered through the tinted windows, and indeed, the towering white building of the Ministry of National Defence was just coming up. 

“I can introduce Gunwoo-hyungnim to the PSS agents.” Raebin added. Has he mentioned his colleagues were angels? Gunwoo accepted all their offers in a heartbeat. 

“Huh? What’s that black thing over there?” Eugene asked, finger on the glass window, pointing at something in the distance. His question had all 4 males in the car turning their heads to see what the redhead was referring to. 

When Gunwoo saw the ‘black thing’, his stress levels peaked to sky high levels.

No way, the…

“Call emergency services.” Raebin immediately ordered, picking up his walkie talkie and sharing a few hushed words with whoever was at the receiver.

“Wait, why?” Gunwoo didn’t know whether the redhead was oblivious or in denial. 

Ahyeon was the one who finally addressed the elephant in the car as he took out his mobile phone.

“T-That’s smoke. There’s a f-fire and that building is b-burning.”

Chapter Text

BREAKING NEWS: SAEBYEOK APARTMENT IN SEOUL ENGULFED IN FLAMES. AT LEAST 5 FATALITIES REPORTED, INCLUDING FORMER MAYOR OF SEOUL KANG JAEMIN. INVESTIGATIONS UNDERWAY TO DETERMINE CAUSE OF THE FIRE.

“Cheers to our new cute secretary, Ryu Gunwoo!” The Chief of Staff Lee Sejin cheered, holding his glass high up in the air with a massive grin plastered on his face. 

“CHEERS!” The rest of the Presidential office followed suit, raising their glasses high and replying with an uncharacteristic enthusiasm - probably brought on by the alcohol, or more likely the fact they were all off that very horrendous day of work. People downed bottles as if it was ambrosia, their faces flushing a concerning shade of red even before the food arrived. His table, however, seemed to be the exception to the rule. Ahyeon, Lee Sejin and himself were only on their first glass, while Eugene and Raebin (he was off duty that evening) sat opposite the trio with glasses of soda, as per Raebin’s explicit instructions.

Does that crazy Shin Jaehyeon run a circus or some shit?

Talking about work, the office tour that day was more akin to touring through a graveyard with Ahyeon and Eugene pointing out the different tombstones with varying degrees of death. Some were still pushing on, typing furiously on their computers and talking on the phone in a way that betrayed their corpse-like appearance. Some already had their souls leave them in agony, and so their bodies were trudging around the break room. Some, however, had succumbed to the grim reaper and straight out collapsed on their desks. Gunwoo seriously contemplated calling an ambulance (or maybe the morgue, he should probably consider the unions too).

With Shin Jaehyeon’s trending comment starring him as the protagonist, Gunwoo had mentally prepared himself to be Presidential office enemy number 2 (after the President himself obviously). Luckily, no one held any sort of hatred towards him, but instead solemnly patted his back and offered tired words of encouragement. They were all seasoned soldiers fighting on the frontlines of the battle of dealing and solving the President’s shit. No one was angry at him, rather they sympathised and shared their own battle stories.

That turned upside down when he met the ‘Sejin-hyung’ Ahyeon mentioned in the car.

For any South Korean, when they hear the name ‘Sejin’, they would probably first think of the famous child actor Lee Sejin. He was so well known to the point that Gunwoo who couldn’t care less about celebrities knew him too. When Gunwoo was in university, there was news that Lee Sejin had changed his surname and quit the industry. Swamped with school, Gunwoo hadn’t paid much attention to it, but it looked like that wasn’t just tabloid gossip as the person sitting on the desk of the Manager of the President’s PR team was none other than the famed Lee Sejin - who now went by Bae Sejin.

Noticing people standing by his desk, Bae Sejin looked away from his laptop and Gunwoo was hit with a wave of beauty from the former actor. Although he left the industry, his attractiveness had obviously stayed with him. Really, why was everyone here so handsome?

“Yes, I was an actor. Yes, I changed my surname. Now is a bad time to give autographs, ask another time.” He curtly said, not even sparing the group of them another glance as he went back to his laptop.

Someone woke up on the wrong side of bed today. Actually, it’s most likely that President’s fault. Who wouldn’t be grumpy working under him?

“Sejin-hyung, t-that’s not what-”

“I’m not your fan and don’t need any autographs.” Gunwoo replied back with equal curt. He really wasn’t interested in getting an autograph from an actor he didn’t particularly like or who wasn’t very popular at the moment. Just because he was new so he assumed he wanted an autograph? Well, he could understand fame’s lingering after effects but it wasn’t like every single South Korean was his fan. 

Momentary shock flickered on the former actor’s face before a neutral expression took over.

“You’re the new secretary, Ryu Gunwoo-ssi, right?” Bae Sejin asked, extending a hand towards Gunwoo.

“Just Gunwoo is fine.” Gunwoo waited a few seconds before shaking his hand (it was so smooth, what skincare routine did he do?). He totally did not revel in the few awkward seconds of the other man’s hand just dangling mid-air. No, he was not petty, whatever do you mean?

“I’m the PR Manager, Bae Sejin. Sorry about that.” 

“It’s no problem.” Was Sejin’s face flushing red an acting tactic to gain sympathy from him? Using his face against him was not fair and Gunwoo would not fall for such lowly tactics.

After that awkward conversation with Bae Sejin, Ahyeon introduced Gunwoo to the other members of the PR team. They were all quite nice people, still bothering to make small talk with him despite the looming crisis over their heads. Not wanting to hinder the team from cleaning up Shin Jaehyeon’s mess (that was the socially acceptable reason, totally wasn’t because his social battery was dangerously low), Gunwoo was going to leave the office as quickly as possible when Bae Sejin called out to him.

“That bastard pulls this kind of rubbish all the time. We’ll handle it.” Bae Sejin looked resolutely at Gunwoo, as if waiting for him to rebuke. But Gunwoo’s ability to socialise was going to plummet to zero any minute then and who was he to not trust the former actor to charm his way out of this situation?

“Sure, thanks.” Gunwoo replied, and that was the last of the PR Manager he’d seen for the day. Even now at his welcoming party that had turned into a whole office drink-till-you-drop session, Bae Sejin was nowhere to be seen though the other members of the PR team were gulping down alcohol at one table. 

Well, that wasn't any of his business, Gunwoo surmised as he nursed his glass. Even if he liked parties, the sheer amount of work Shin Jaehyeon dumped on the PR team when he mindlessly said those words would have imprisoned him at the office. Seeing as how the rest of his team was here drinking away, maybe he was one of those few good bosses that actually did their work and didn’t dump them on their subordinates. Huh, he wasn’t too bad then, maybe he just caught Bae Sejin at a bad time.

“Oooh, has Gunwoogunwoo fallen for the star of the PR team?” Lee Sejin’s big mouth opened and as usual, rubbish spewed out from it. That astute bastard and his weirdly sharp observations, would it kill him to not use it on him for one moment? “No way, I’m the more handsome Sejin, right Gunwoogunwoo? You like me more, right?”

Like you more, my ass. 

Gunwoo’s efforts to avoid acknowledging the giant gummy bear of the office failed miserably as the man in question stubbornly shoved his face right in front of his own. The (admittedly dazzling) shit-eating grin spreading out on the attractive face made Gunwoo want to do nothing more than to punch the daylights out of the man. However, Lee Sejin had again timed everything perfectly and knew Gunwoo had to give him the answer he wanted. Refusing to acknowledge him, Gunwoo kept his eyes on the liquid sloshing around in his cup and reflected on his most bothersome colleague.

✩—t—e—s—t—a—r—✩

Gunwoo had been entertaining the thought of violence since he had officially met the other secretary. It was at the tail end of the office tour, Eugene had left early as he had work to do so it was just him and Ahyeon left. Their conversation had taken a turn such that they were discussing their ages, and surprisingly, the two of them were the same age. 

He looks like a fairy and I look like a zombie. We’re the same age? Really?

Then an unwanted someone suddenly inserted themselves into the conversation.

“Wow, I’m the same age too!” An ecstatic voice exclaimed just as an arm looped around Gunwoo’s shoulders. 

No one asked. Stop touching me, you-

“S-Sejin!” Ahyeon greeted the human octopus and Gunwoo admired his saint-like patience. From the corner of his eye, Gunwoo saw that Ahyeon was experiencing the treatment as him, and so the two of them were awkwardly squashed against the newcomer. Ugh, Gunwoo could feel the eyes of the office gravitating towards them. He didn’t want to be the hot topic in office gossip in less than an hour of even stepping into the god forsaken place!

“Hi Ahyeon! And hello to the new cutie of the office! I’m Lee Sejin, the Chief of Staff, in case you’ve forgotten, and I’ll be working with you! Can I call you Gunwoogunwoo?” Gunwoo could feel a migraine setting in as he looked at the familiar dark-brown haired man. One look at the bright, calculated smile on his handsome face and Gunwoo knew this was a man who always got things done his way. He couldn’t care less about Lee Sejin’s hidden agendas when he ambushed him in front of the whole office like this, but he was sure it wasn’t as trivial as asking to use a nickname for someone he just met. 

Whatever, I’m not paid enough for this. 

“Nice! Can I call you Ahyeonahyeon too?” Lee Sejin took his silence as consent and turned his attention to the light-brown haired fairy. Ahyeon stammered out a “y-y-yes” and Lee Sejin immediately declared the three of them to be best friends. Gunwoo was like a leaf that had no energy to fight the motion of the wave that was Lee Sejin, giving up his phone number to the man and then finding himself getting added to a chat called ‘Same Age Chatroom’ with the three of them inside. 

Time to mute another chat.

“Now we can chat here! I’ll save Gunwoo as Gunwoogunwoo and change Ahyeon to- Gunwoogunwoo, are you really going to save me as ‘Chief of Staff, dash, Lee Sejin’? Not even ‘Keun Sejin’? You saved Ahyeonahyeon as ‘Ahyeon’ though!” Lee Sejin must have taken a peek at Gunwoo’s screen and started kicking up a big fuss. Did he think complaining loudly in front of a crowd would make Gunwoo waver? Then he was gravely mistaken.

You’re lucky I’m not blocking your annoying ass.

“Yes.” Gunwoo deadpanned, unapologetically pressing the ‘save’ button right in front of Lee Sejin’s eyes, allowing the 5-word-long contact name to stare back at the perpetrator. If he had a problem with it, too bad.

Mirth swirled in Lee Sejin’s dark-brown irises.

“Hahaha, Gunwoogunwoo is super cute! Do you mind if I steal him, Ahyeonahyeon? I need to get him settled in our office.” Gunwoo wanted to sink into the floor and never resurface. What brought on this passive-aggressiveness? Ahyeon had been nothing but a forgiving angel that went along with Lee Sejin’s bullshit. Also, this vague wording and weird emphasis made it sound like a line a male lead would tell another male lead in romance novels when they fight over the main character. No, there is no ‘our’ office, only the Presidential Secretary office where the two of them would be working in since they were both Presidential Secretaries. Saying it like that was just inviting misunderstandings.

You’re the Chief of Staff, choose your words better, Lee Sejin! 

It seemed that Ahyeon interpreted the words wrongly as he started looking like a dejected deer that couldn’t eat its favourite berries as they were growing on a tree on the other side of the fast-moving river that didn’t have a bridge. 

Oh no, this was going terribly. Going with Lee Sejin was the last thing Gunwoo wanted but he indeed was his fellow secretary, so the one to ease him into the role would be that clown. However, he couldn’t stand him pulling rank to scare Ahyeon away. Despite the short time Gunwoo had spent with the social media manager, a flare of protectiveness awoke in him when the light-brown haired man was treated like that. Who wouldn’t like (read: fall for) Ahyeon with his ethereal beauty, pleasant demeanour and caring personality? 

Looking at Ahyeon’s pitiful look and the smirk on Lee Sejin’s face, Gunwoo knew he was going to do something he was totally going to regret but he threw caution out the window. With him around, there was no way that devil-in-disguise could demoralise the pushover angel.

“We can have lunch together later, Ahyeon.” Ah, there went his one hour of alone time. Oh well, at least he would have someone who wasn't interested in sending him to a psychiatrist to eat with. Plus, he could bank in that handsome-face healing therapy within the hour. Very efficient use of time.

”Sure!” The fluorescent lights in the office seemed insignificantly dim when compared to Ahyeon’s glowing face.

“Planning lunch without me? So mean, Gunwoogunwoo! Can I join?” And of course Lee Sejin wanted to stick his nose into other people’s business. Didn’t he have better things to do? Looking at Ahyeon, the other man offered a nod so Gunwoo could only acquiesce.

“Fine.” 

“Yay! Lunch date with Gunwoogunwoo! And Ahyeonahyeon too!” Lee Sejin hummed a happy tune and left contentedly while practically dragging Gunwoo along. Managing to quickly wave to Ahyeon, Gunwoo let himself go wherever this taller man had in mind - he could blame everything on him anyways. 

I just got myself dragged into a troublesome clique, didn’t I? And it’s all because of this dude. Man, I really want to quit my job.

Birds of a feather indeed flock together. It was as if Shin Jaehyeon and Lee Sejin ganged up on Gunwoo to give him high blood pressure ASAP. With such similar qualities, it was no wonder Lee Sejin was Shin Jaehyeon’s aide.

The Chief of Staff went by another name: Chief Presidential Secretary. That’s why Lee Sejin was also considered a secretary and was Gunwoo’s direct superior. The position was one of the highest in the Presidential office and the President, upon starting their term in office, usually appointed their Chief of Staff first. They weren’t just any other secretary, the Chief of Staff was the President’s closest confidant - political geniuses in their own right. Several Chief of Staff had gone on to take the top job afterwards too. 

Well, if he just played Lee Sejin’s game for now, he probably would go easy on him when he ascended to greater heights in the future. Besides, Gunwoo would have plenty of blackmail on him by then, so he could use it to force better working conditions for him. 

Sounds fantastic.

✩—t—e—s—t—a—r—✩

“Not true! Gunwoo-hyung thinks I’m cuter. Right, hyung?” Eugene immediately rebuked Lee Sejin’s words, standing up from his seat across the table to push his pouting face right in front of Gunwoo too. At that point, the three of them were particularly breathing in the same oxygen and judging by Gunwoo’s murderous glare flashing between the two of them, only one of them was going to make it out uninjured.

“Cha Eugene! Stop disturbing Gunwoo-hyungnim!” Gunwoo was immensely grateful to Raebin - one of the few people trying to prevent his descent into madness - as he pulled the whining redhead back by his shirt, lecturing him sternly once his butt hit the chair. Lee Sejin chuckled at the sight and took the chance to sit down properly on his seat, slipping away and looking as if he never instigated the entire thing. Gunwoo was so going to sock him when he had the chance.

Of all people to be the Chief of Staff, does it have to be him?

“Hey, am I seeing things or…”

“No, it’s really him!”

“What? He's never come for one of our dinners before though?”

“I mean, he’s the Prime Minister. He can do whatever he wants, mostly.”

Hearing the sudden whispers from his colleagues, Gunwoo looked up from his glass and turned to face the way everyone else’s eyes were looking at.

Oh shit. 

“It’s the Prime Minister, Ryu Chungwoo-ssi, with Bae Sejin!” 

I hoped the cat would stay in the bag for longer. Of all times to crawl out, it just had to now, huh? I hate my life.

Entering the private bar, the pair were a sight for sore eyes. Who would have guessed a child actor and national archer would become coworkers in the government? They looked like they belonged on the red carpet instead. If Bae Sejin was a scholar god, Ryu Chungwoo would be a martial god and both would be equally breathtaking. Taking in the former actor’s fierce yet delicate beauty together with the former archer’s imposing figure, a singular thought rose in Gunwoo’s mind. 

Why are all good looking people in politics? No, that’s not the point, it’s too late to run now, isn’t it? 

The whispers grew louder as the pair made a beeline for one particular table and obviously Lady Luck had abandoned Gunwoo and decided watching his misery would be more fun as a looming presence made itself well-known behind him.

“Gunwoo-ya,” A voice he would usually look forward to hearing, but not today, spoke. Hearing the teasing edge of that voice, Gunwoo could picture the mischievous smile on the Prime Minister’s face. “Someone is texting you, though it looks more like spam.”

Huh? 

Distracted by the chatter of his colleagues, and then Lee Sejin’s shenanigans, Gunwoo didn’t see the text notifications lighting up on his phone’s screen. However, glancing down at them, he quickly agreed with the Prime Minister’s comments. 

🫐🍒🍈🍊🍍🍋 (5)

> 🍒: 🍋 fBWkMcVnSGn

> 🍈: YfSNnCmUYvAqQNyfxMnWNqsLbJIaY

> 🍍: hiOUmVvjsWwcu

> 🍊: CBwFqUXjEwPIUcxOjYiWPc

> 🍊: 🫐 fUFmAVSBYwRwW

These texts are gibberish alright. I don’t recognise these numbers, who are these fruits? Have I been added to a scam group or something? But it seems too deliberate to just be spam…

“Wow, Gunwoogunwoo’s so popular!” A voice that made his ears bleed spoke. “How do you know our Prime Minister?” 

The dark-blue haired Prime Minister must have had lingering competitiveness from his archery days flowing in him as he rested a hand on Gunwoo’s shoulder and looked at Lee Sejin with a strained smile that (poorly) hid his frustration. 

I don’t even know why you two are having this spontaneous dick measuring contest but please stop for my sanity-

“Gunwoo-ya is my precious cousin.” The dreaded words easily flowed out of the Prime Minister’s mouth as the culprit looked at Gunwoo expectantly.

I’m going to hit you with your bow, Ryu Chungwoo.

Chapter Text

BREAKING NEWS: WHO IS THE NEW ‘CUTE’ PRESIDENTIAL SECRETARY RYU GUNWOO? WE DIVE INTO HIS FAMILY, NIS CAREER AND ICONIC FIRST DAY AS PRESIDENT SHIN’S SECRETARY.

“Just kill me.” 

“Don’t say such things, Gunwoo-ya.” The third-most annoying voice in his life did nothing to help his worsening sanity. 

Was it stated in his contract that he would turn into an overnight celebrity on his first freaking day of work? No. 

Was it stated in his contract that his superiors would be insufferable pieces of shit? No. 

Was it stated in his contract that he would be moderately well-off after a few years of working? Yes.  

So, for the zeroes in his bank account, he would try to hold on and get through this hell (but honestly, the pay seemed less and less appealing as the hours ticked by, oh why did he change jobs?). 

Contemplating life decisions in Ryu Chungwoo’s car, Gunwoo reluctantly acknowledged his cousin’s usefulness that morning as he prepared to head for his second day at the Presidential Office. Secretarial duties were new to him - arranging Shin Jaehyeon’s schedule, proofreading documents and speeches, firing email after email - but nothing unmanageable. He’d done tasks like this back at NIS, so it was no biggie.

That horde of people, microphones and cameras though - completely out of his depth.

He had zero idea he was newsworthy material but it was seven in the morning and with no shits to give, he was seriously just going to jump from the window when a man in a black suit showed up. 

“Please come with me, Gunwoo-hyungnim.” His reliable hoobae stretched a hand towards Gunwoo who stood frozen behind his door, using his body to block the reporters. Never had he been so relieved to see a person in his life. Although the feeling of being saved like a damsel in distress prodded at the back of his head, Gunwoo imagined being hit with microphones and big ass cameras wasn’t the most pleasant experience, so he immediately grabbed onto Raebin’s hand and made a mad dash for the sleek black car parked behind the building.

“Are you okay?” Gunwoo asked the PSS agent as soon as the car sped off.

“I’m okay, thank you for your concern, hyungnim.” Raebin slightly bowed seated opposite Gunwoo, next to the man with the ‘worst-cousin-ever’ award.

“Your amazing cousin saved you from the media, where’s my thanks, Gunwoo-ya?” Ryu Chungwoo pouted on his seat, but the act wasn’t fooling the stone-hearted Gunwoo. As the adage went, once bitten twice shy.

At the receiving end of Gunwoo’s death glare, the Prime Minister put his hands up laughing.

“I’m sorry about last night, but Secretary Lee was acting weird around you. So as your reliable older cousin, I had to protect you!” 

“Protect me, my foot. I bet you’d been itching to say that once you knew I started working in the Presidential Office.” Gunwoo scoffed. Ryu Chungwoo may be well-known across the country for his gentlemanly-ness, but as someone who grew up with the athlete, he was cognizant that his elder cousin was hiding some parts of his personality - one of that being that he was way too protective over his poor cousin, Ryu Gunwoo. 

“You got me there, Gunwoo-ya.” Chungwoo replied unfazedly. “But who wouldn’t want everyone to know they have such an adorable and smart cousin?”

”Me.” Gunwoo deadpanned.

“You’ve always the exception to the rule.” Chungwoo chuckled. “But that’s why I love you!”

“Can you not?” Gunwoo growled, he could probably count on Raebin turning a blind eye to him punching his kinda powerful cousin in the face, right?

“Okay, okay, sorry, Gunwoo-ya.” Gunwoo was probably one of the few who could get the Prime Minister to apologise. “By the way, Raebin attended the same university as you. Do you two happen to know each other?”

Oh no. He forgot about Chungwoo’s good memory of super minor things. Why was his cousin out to embarrass him, knowingly and unknowingly?

“We do!” Raebin’s excited reply solidified Gunwoo’s soon-to-come shame. “Gunwoo-hyungnim was the vocalist for my band before he joined NIS. His vocals were fantastic, and he helped come up with valuable inspiration for my songs!”

There was no stopping the knowing and mischievous gleam in Chungwoo’s eyes.

“Oh, so the band you joined was Raebin’s one? What a coincidence!” Chungwoo exclaimed. “It was great that I lost that competition then!”

That damn blabbermouth-

“Competition? What do you mean, Prime Minister Ryu?” Raebin asked the dreaded question.

RIP myself.

“Ah well, a few years ago, Gunwoo-ya told me a band wanted him as their vocalist but he wasn’t confident in his singing. But I know my cousin has the voice of an angel so I challenged him to a karaoke competition - if scored higher than me, then he would join. In  the end, the machine rated his voice higher and so he joined. Good thing I lost, right?”

“Yes! Um, no, I mean, my condolences for your loss, but Gunwoo-hyungnim joining my band was extremely helpful and he brought the band to new heights. You see, when he joined he…” And there his hoobae went praising his supposed victories and his cousin getting more and more blackmail material as he went along too happily. 

I’m getting more convinced the Presidential Office is the Embarrass-Gunwoo Club.

Pretending as if he wasn’t the protagonist of Raebin and Chungwoo’s conversation, Gunwoo fixed his gaze on the streets of Seoul the car whizzed by, letting his mind drift. 

Unsurprisingly, the first thing that came to mind was the most disturbing thing from yesterday - the fruit texts. He wasn’t a stranger to cults or codes, both he had dealt with before at the NIS. The problem was that he was directly involved this time. Like most South Koreans, he was extremely wary of cults and he didn’t think he would be stupid enough to join one. 

The overly random texts from yesterday, however, suggested that they were definitely coded texts and so, he’d either joined a cult or criminal organisation - and at this point he woukd rather it be the former. Now, here came the major problem, why did he have zero memory about him signing his life away to some mysterious faith or crime group? It wasn’t in his personality to join a group (social life? is that edible?) and don’t even get him started on the dangers of such an organisation. As a former part of the NIS, he could confirm you did not want to be on the side getting hunted down. He would like to believe he would be more rational than to happily open the door for danger to enter his home too. Maybe he just added randomly like how people find themselves in spam groups, just that this group was more hardcore.

The texts also worried him to no end. In his days at NIS, he had seen plenty of codes and stayed awake for nights trying to decode some, so he would consider himself somewhat proficient in breaking codes, and so he immediately got cracking late last night after the party. Examining the texts, he guessed this was most likely a Vigenere cipher. It was a Caesar cipher with a keyword, which made it harder but certainly not impossible to solve. Did these people know they were texting a (now former) NIS agent? Please, decoding it would be a piece of cake.

By the code length per person, he was certain the message wasn’t in Korean as it was too short to be so. English was the most widely spoken language so he bet on that and started typing out his decryption code. Fifteen minutes of furious keyboard clacking later, he got the original, decoded text and he was having second thoughts about decoding the message in the first place. 

🫐🍒🍈🍊🍍🍋 (5)

> 🍒: 🍋 where are you

> 🍈: plan failed someone else entered 

> 🍍: you betrayed us

> 🍊: the mistake was your fault 

> 🍊: 🫐 wants to see you

Applying contextual reading, whoever the lemon was was in deep trouble. The other fruits were absolutely angry at it. Maybe it sprayed lemon juice in their eyes. On a more serious note, his NIS brain was screaming at him that this was the red flag of red flags. A ‘plan’ could mean many things, from making dinner to blowing up the country and people didn’t plan their meals in code. 

Being a trouble magnet was an occupational hazard as he was certainly in the minds of many criminals as they were sharpening their knives, and it looked like he hadn’t lost his magnetism yet. He could only pray this wouldn’t interfere too much in him getting his big bucks from the President. Ignorance is bliss, as they all say, but now that he kinda got himself involved, what would be the best action to take? 

Using his NIS connections and filing a case was the best way to take himself out of the equation. However, he didn’t have much to go on. Those were the only texts from the fruits and so he didn’t have anything else to decode and find clues from. The numbers attached to each fruit emoji were not South Korean numbers and he would have been able to track the owners if he were still in NIS. He didn’t delete the numbers though, maybe he could get Chief Youngrin to investigate them as a favour but that was a problem for another day. He was acting on speculation and not clear hard facts. Adding on false cases to the NIS workload was not something he wanted to be remembered for and so he decided to act on it later.

Looking back on all this, he realised he really should have just left the group the moment he received those suspicious messages - that was the most rational thing to do - but something in him told him to stay. It was hard to explain but it was like he felt a responsibility over the fruits. Justice, a lofty ideal and hard to achieve, but who was Gunwoo if not someone who loved to attempt the impossible (with the right compensation, of course)? With all his previous cases closed or passed to other NIS agents, he had no more connection to the underbelly of the South Korean society but looks like his ability to attract criminals was still at 100%. Now that it came to this, if staying with the fruits meant that another hazard to society was eliminated then he would do so. Besides he wasn’t a helpless person, keeping himself safe and running away were his specialties. 

Hopefully, it wouldn’t result in that though (cough, famous last words, cough).

✩—t—e—s—t—a—r—✩

Barely dodging Ryu Chungwoo’s attempt to publicly shame him again (death by getting his cheeks pinched was not how Gunwoo wanted to go), Gunwoo exchanged quick goodbyes with Raebin and made his way to start his second day at work. 

He expected Lee Sejin to give him an hour-long briefing of the do’s-and-don'ts with the psychotic President but weirdly, there were just two lines Gunwoo needed to know.

“He’s pretty chill, if he needs you, then he’ll call you, not 24/7 unless the country’s in a crisis. Oh, but you need to buy him a Large Irish Coffee from this cafe and give it to him at 8.55am sharp in his office or he’ll be super cranky for the rest of the day.”

A caffeine addict and alcoholic as the Head of the Government, just the combination we need to not plunge the country into crisis.

Luckily for Gunwoo, his cousin and hoobae’s timely pickup allowed him a few minutes to purchase the liquid abomination and stand outside Shin Jaehyeon’s office with a few seconds to spare. Bubbling with enthusiasm to meet his demented boss, Gunwoo knocked politely on the door a few times before stepping in.

Never knew he was so popular this early in the morning.

Shin Jaehyeon’s office was surprisingly simple for a President. Apart from the standard wallpapers and facilities, the man didn’t add any trinkets of his own. His desk loomed opposite from the door with the bulletproof glass just behind it. In front of it were two comfy-looking sofas and a long low table between the two, separating them like a river running through land. All in all, it was minimalistic and not too shabby.

When Gunwoo entered the office, he shouldn’t have been so surprised to see four other people were on the sofas, seemingly deep in conversation with the President. He’d forgotten that after assuming the role of Presidential Secretary he had teleported behind the silver screen - all the influential figures that appeared on television he now saw in the flesh with an unnerving frequency. That morning, Gunwoo had the (un)fortune of having the pillars of South Korea all lay eyes on him as he stood at the doorway of Shin Jaehyeon’s office.  

On the left sat Jin Chaeyul - heir to the nation’s largest electronics firm - and Oh Yooshin, a Deputy Prosecutor who gained fame in recent years for his work in high-profile cases. The stoic Police Commissioner General, Jung Woodan, looked at Gunwoo uninterestedly from the right sofa while the controversial diplomat Choi Taejun took one look at him, scoffed and looked at his phone. 

Ouch? But, what is with this high-profile meeting? Jin Chaeyul is known to be a supporter of Shin Jaehyeon, sure. But why is he and other random high-ranking public officials here before Shin Jaehyeon even starts work? 

“Oh, Secretary Ryu, is it? You’re so cute!” Jin Chaeyul exclaimed from his seat on the left. 

I swear people need to stop this-

“You’re making him uncomfortable.” Shin Jaehyeon spoke from his desk, facing Gunwoo with a smile too happy for such early hours of the day. “Is that my coffee, Gunwoo-ssi?”

“Yes, sir.” He replied apathetically, consciously avoiding all eye contact with the four other people in the office. Shin Jaehyeon behind his desk, 4 others on the sofas, the morning sunlight streaming in through the windows. This is the first time Gunwoo’s seen all these people together, but why did it feel so… familiar?

His subconscious tried to push out a scene but he couldn’t clearly see it. All he could grasp were 5 blurry figures, a similarly minimalistic yet high-class office and the thing that left the strongest impression- the looks in their eyes. 

I’ve seen this before. Was the message his brain was trying to send him, and by all accounts it was impossible. Never could have witnessed such a thing, never, but…

He’d heard of deja vu before, heard the wistful feelings artists portrayed in their works. They made it sound so happy yet heartbreaking but standing before the 5 men in the President’s office he felt none of that - he only felt fear.

“You’ve arrived on time too. Keep this up, Gunwoo-ssi.” Shin Jaehyeon’s words filled the silence in the office, and prompted Gunwoo to move from his spot by the door, gingerly placing the coffee on the desk. 

“Thank you, sir.” Gunwoo bowed slightly to the President, wanting to leave the gradually suffocating office, push the weird feelings out of his mind and make his way to start his day at work when his boss spoke up.

”Ah, no need to go, Gunwoo-ssi. Follow me and Woodan to the meeting about the Saebyeok Apartments fire. Your NIS colleagues will be there too.” 

Like boss, like employee. Gunwoo thought as he saw the same calculation in Shin Jaehyeon’s smile as he did in Lee Sejin’s one as he silently nodded at the President’s words. Who was he to act out in front of so many influential people who the President cared for enough to have a meeting with that was not listed in his schedule? 

If he thought NIS politics was bad, the Presidential Office politics was hell.

✩—t—e—s—t—a—r—✩

“Wow, everyone’s looking at us!” Eugene exclaimed to his 4 other friends as they sat down on a table in the cafeteria in the Presidential Office for lunch. 

“It must be because of our famous Gunwoogunwoo! An article about him got published but it got taken down quite quickly. I wonder why…” Keun Sejin mused as he sent a teasing smile at Gunwoo’s direction. Not wanting to be caught up in the smiling gummy bear’s shenanigans, Gunwoo opted to silently fume as he maintained a neutral expression on his face. 

But I already know who was behind that. He sighed internally as the memory of his overprotective cousin making a trip to Bae Sejin’s desk rocked the headlines of the office while Gunwoo caught the words ‘Gunwoo’, ‘article’, ‘remove’ from Chungwoo's conversation with the PR Manager. It didn’t take much to put two and two together.

“Gunwoo, you were the one who stopped the train bombing in Seoul? Your hacking skills were pivo-pivotal in the case!” Ahyeon praised from the seat beside him. 

“Thanks. The other side had a newbie hacker so it didn’t take long to find the source.”  A small smile lit up Gunwoo’s face as he recalled the digital chase he had with one of the terrorists that eventually led him to find the group’s database with everything they needed to know about them. 

“Still that’s super cool, Gunwoo-hyung!” Eugene beamed as he wolfed down his meal. 

“Yup, our Gunwoogunwoo is awesome! Not only is he cute, but he’s also good with computers!” Keun Sejin gushed like a parent trying to marry their child off. 

This annoying ass.

After the praise-gunwoo session, the four of them had their lunch in relative peace - with as much peace being with the two extroverts, Eugene and Keun Sejin, brought about. Just as the four of them were going to head back to work, the tallest one decided to spring a piece of catastrophic news.

“Oh right, Gunwoogunwoo, you need to pack your bags.” The Chief of Staff spoke as if commenting about the weather.

“…Did something happen?” Gunwoo hesitantly asked. He wasn’t getting fired, was he? No, his big bucks, he hadn’t even earned one month of it yet! Was it because his looks didn’t measure up to all the beauties in the office? He was going to sue this place for discrimination if it came to that.

“Hahaha, why so serious? We’re just going on a trip to Singapore!” Was this what the government used taxpayers’ money for? Vacations overseas? Why didn’t NIS have that for him?

“It’s a diplomatic trip for three days and we’re leaving in a week’s time!” Eugene cheered. “I’m going because I need to translate for President Shin but I can’t wait to eat the food there! I heard it’s good.”

That’s it? Lee Sejin really needs to word his sentences properly. 

“While we’re th-there, we’ll be f-filming some publicity videos too!” Ahyeon added on. “Everyone who's going w-will be in the videos!”

Wait, I did not sign up for this publicity video thing-

“Great! I can add on another dance video for the channel! You all want to join?” Lee Sejin asked but Gunwoo could tell he was not going to accept ‘no’ as an answer.

“Sure! We can dance together again, Keun Sejin-hyung!” Eugene quickly agreed.

“I-I don’t mind. We can do dance cha-challenges? They’re quite popular.” Ahyeon chimed in, his face glowing in excitement. 

“Can I opt out?” Gunwoo asked.

“No.” Was the collective answer the other three males promptly gave him. 

Someone save his inflexible ass.