Convictions of the Past

"I didn't think he'd ask this soon about the missions! " Taeil wondered as he plopped down on one of the pillows on Jaewoo's bed.

"We should have gotten out before he asked" Christian struggled for a comfortable position beside his best friend.

"What are you guys talking about ? " Jaewoo was drying his wet hair, the scent of fresh mint with a hint of Jasmine filling the room.

"Hyung knows we were the one's doing his missions. " Jaewoo paused for a minute hearing the words..

"What? Did our company tell him?" He was surprised that their hyung had got to know something he wasn't supposed to even have an idea of.

"Nah. Not them. I am sure of that. But I'm surprised, that he guessed it correctly . . we even tapped into his Pager... " Christian wondered.

"Hyung must have passed through the cover we put on his Pager, that's the only possible way" Jaewoo shrugged.

"Yah, it was Ry hyung who put up the cover. It's impossible he'd have known his Pager was tapped.

I mean even if he had a low rank it's not possible he'd not get any missions at all for two whole months. He should have guessed using that. " Christian's eyebrows furrowed, seemingly worried.

"I still don't know why he refuses to rank up, or hesitates to pull together. We could have all been in the same rank... " This was something Jaewoo could never wrap his head around, why would the eldest refuse to rank up for so long?

It really was something the three never understood. Had his skills been too weak, he wouldn't have been allowed in the industry, let alone their team.

They knew he loved preaching peace which was an irony in itself.

They almost had doubts, was he really as bad as his so called stats?

* * *

"These are the files. "

Cyril handed over the files to their boss, the CEO, explaining the situation despite having given a brief earlier, as this time the other members too began quipping in their opinions. " Other than that, he is fine.. "

All the man did was nod, sitting behind his glass table while the clock on right wall ticked off each second that passed.

Through out the conversation, it was his members speaking. Seojin hadn't said a word, sitting at his seat, hands folded, observing their boss while intently hearing everything his members had to say.

"I'd like to speak with him alone for a moment. "

The CEO was authoritative as he spoke, his elbows resting on the table's glass surface..

They all walked out, leaving the two alone.

"They said the operation caused you to have a personality alteration? "

He asked, more of a statement than a question.

'Pretty imaginative I must say. . ."

"True it seems so that I have. "

Seojin answered, hands now above his crossed knees, nonchalant

"At least that's what I have summed up in the past few days. Even if not to my face, I have heard them talk about it. They say I used be like that and like this,

that I never did this, or did that, behaved this way or that and so on...."

"Then what do you think? Are you any different?

Seojin's expression didn't flinch like the CEO had expected.

"I don't know, as long as I can remember I have always been like this. I heard my subconscious erased it in order to defend myself or something. So I'm not interested in returning back to how ever I was if it went so far. " Seojin shrugged as he thought of how he had heard the members' conversation last night.

He had been out for getting water when he saw all six of his team sitting at the dining table, talking. He could clearly hear what they were all saying.

About the changes that had come in his behavior. The things he were doing differently, how the whole room redecorating was surprising and so much more minor details he hadn't realized his members were noticing..

And he had just stood there, listening to whatever the other members were saying. Making him realize more and more on how different he had supposedly become from the past.

But when he woke up the this morning, it seemed that all that he had heard in night didn't seem to matter as much.

It just felt like that. As if someone was desperately warning him to not ponder upon it too much, to push off that topic. And he had decided to take that warning.

The other leaned back in his chair.

Alexis Oh, tall, blonde hair , a young, good looking face despite being in his forties and a personality that is charmingly witty, positive. A man known to the public as the pleasant, successful CEO of Heaven's Empire Entertainment. A music and creative management label that has managed over many successful artists in both the film and music industry.

But the people do not know of this man's connections to the nation's dark side. Both the public and his artists are unaware of the fact that this successful CEO and business man first debuted not with in the music industry but rather in the underworld with a group of deviously talented agents under the alliance.

Other than having an unknown level of social networking and negotiating skills, he was ruthless, and unsympathetically cold. His ever observant eyes were just another cherry on the cake.

It would have been a lie if he said he hadn't noticed the slight changes in hiss agent's behavior here and there like how instead of sitting timidly like he had done in the past ten years, here he was, leaning back comfortably, legs crossed and arms folded.

They maybe small, but none of these differences escaped Oh's eyes.

"But Seojin, what if your members want you back to how you were?" Alexis was now pacing around, looking at his decorated shelves while the latter was still facing the now empty table.

'I'd like to believe they'd ask of no such thing. I'd rather work on the present than bringing up something this trivial.

"Hmm. . . . "

Before the man could finish his words, Seojin instinctively swung his chair, instantly, to the left, twisting his body along with it before balancing his position as he sensed something from the back. Despite the lack of change on his face, Seojin's breathing was labored due to the sudden action he had performed, his eyes travelling to the wall behind the CEO's table.

He had been right. There, stuck on the wall was a small silver knife, thin and sharp, gleaming viciously under the light. Had he not dodged in time, instead of the wall, the knife would have been stuck in his neck instead.

Seojin turned around to look at the man who had thrown it.

Alexis was smiling, satisfied, closing shelf from where he had picked the knife.

".....memories. I was worried about your memories Seojin. . ."

Seojin walked over to behind the table, plucking the knife off from the wall. "You don't have to worry about that. . . Even my subconscious failed to erase those . Though I'd have preferred if I could forget those."

"It seems so. And that's a good thing, I mean -"

Alexis, asked the other to sit opposite him on the office's couch.

"How many have they used my name for? "

Seojin interrupted, walking over to the couch, the knife still in his hand. He wanted to know how many times had his members taken missions in his name.

"Cutting right to the point, are we?" Alexis paused ,

"21 A ranked ones in a mere two months. it was refreshing to see so man cleared missions under your name after what idiocy you had been doing in the past ten years."

"You knew the alliance was being deliberate! Otherwise I'm never assigned so much at all! Let alone A ranked ones. "

"Right.... Why? Because you always hesitate. You always waste time instead of just completing missions. And don't you come at me with that philosophical nonsense you always say.

A man who doesn't question his orders is not human? What bullshit is that?"

Alexis cool façade faded, revealing the frustration behind it.

"You can't leave. You know that. "

"How is that related to the alliance manipulating my absence and making my team work under my name? They already have enough on their plate

Why are you even allowing it? "

Seojin could still feel his blood boil.

He very well knew of the alliance's negative feelings towards him. He didn't have the same ranking as that of his other members and neither the background. They had been looking for opportunities to dispose him. He stayed lowest ranked for the past ten years, but it seemed that didn't work enough. All six of his members were already in the top 20 of the S Class while he was still the only D Class agent under Alexis Oh, not even in the top rank of the lowest class in the entire alliance

He knew had he not been made a part of his team, the alliance would have already disposed him.

"The distance is too much for me tooo take care of this..."

Seojin didn't seem to notice Alexis smirking at his words.

'Time to corner the mouse'