"You don't need to help me with anything." Ara bit out, and Jungsu bit the corner of his mouth as she looked at him with blazing eyes, similar to the fire he had spun moments earlier.
"I'm simply here to keep an eye on you." Placing two fingers on his shoulder, she pushed back, and Jungsu allowed himself to be pushed backwards.
"I don't trust you one bit. You try anything funny, and I'll be there at your back." Jungsu tilted his head as the thought of it didn't sound as bad as it should have.
Shaking his head, he furrowed his brows down at her.
"My hands are truly clean now Investigator. I wish to live a simple life-"
She started laughing in front of him, causing Jungsu to clench his jaw in irritation as she flashed her pearly white teeth. Walking forward, he slowly backed her up against the wall, and she abruptly stopped laughing.
Reaching down, he pulled up his shirt from one end and watched as a curious flush made its way to her pale cheeks.
Her eyes darted down as she asked in a hard tone, "What are you doing?"
Then he saw her eyes focus on the large scar near his hip, one of the larger ones they had left behind.
Dropping his shirt, he said with an empty look on his face, "I don't wish to return there Ms. Ara, trust me. I have no loyalty to them. Not now, or ever."
Ara simply searched his face in silence.
"Then what," she said breaking the silence, "are you doing here? You could have chosen anywhere else to settle. Why would you come here?"
"I have something I'm looking for." He said quietly. "I'm still looking."
Ara shook her head at his vague words and pushed away from him.
"This is what you must have told the officers. You must have charmed them somehow." She breathed in frustration.
"Charm?" Jungsu rose a brow at her thoughts and huffed out a laugh. "You think this is charming?"
Ara glared at him with a ferocity that had him pause in his words and close his mouth.
"Stop twisting my words." She seethed, and Jungsu wondered for a moment where the nervous woman had gone.
His eyes turned cold as he said, "I've given you the names, haven't I, Ms. Ara? I've given you very valuable information." He sighed as he ran a hand through his hair.
"I'm even doing this damn show-"
Seeing her face form a sneer he said louder this time, slowly emphasizing, "Not of my own choice. How about you ask your co-workers as to why I'm here?"
She merely stared back at him through narrowed eyes.
"How old are you?" He asked randomly, curious about her.
"None of your concern." She said smoothly.
"Twenty-eight?" He asked.
Her face morphed into outrage as she said, "Hey! I'll have you know I'm only twenty-three!"
Jungsu nodded his head. "So you're twenty-three. You're my nuna." He hummed in thought as Ara froze at having been tricked by him.
"This was fun Investigator Ara." Jungsu leaned in to whisper into her ear. "I hope to see you soon."
Snatching her necklace from her neck, he turned away, leaving her staring after him in shock. Jungsu worked his jaw as he felt a newfound ache on his face. He'd never smiled so much as he did then.
Jungsu found his way back to the panicked staff who asked him where he had been. Jungsu simply shrugged and told them he was watching a performance. As they started heading back, he felt inside his pocket for the silver chain he'd taken.
_____________
They were now filming the fourth episode of the show.
Jungsu was crouched behind a tree as he held silent for a moment, hearing the approaching footsteps. He silently stepped around the tree as Yeong-cheol stepped around the other side to check for Jungsu. Then, Jungsu silently stepped behind him and brought his gun to his back, shooting him cleanly.
Yeong-cheol fell forward, yelling in pain as his back was painted in red.
Looking behind him, Yeong-cheol pouted as he was now out of the game.
"How did you do that, huh? Where were you even hiding?" Yeong-cheol grumbled.
Jungsu simply shrugged at that, walking away from Yeong-cheol and towards his team.
The whistle blew, indicating the game was over.
Of course, Jungsu's team had won by Jungsu simply being Jungsu. He had felt a thrill in the feel of a gun in his hands, though a paintball gun. He could shoot without actually hurting someone, nobody was dead, and Jungsu was simply having fun.
Though, Yeong-cheol with tears in his eyes would disagree that Jungsu hadn't hurt anyone.
As they changed out of their paintball gear and back into their regular clothes, Jungsu donned a half-sleeve white flowy shirt, along with navy blue trousers. They were told that they could do anything for the day, yet when he spotted Seung-gyu, then Yeong-cheol, and then Dong-ha moving slowly towards the staff, he knew something was up.
As Jungsu lay down on a chair near the pool, he held up a book he had requested from the staff and started reading from where he had left off a year ago. He still remembered the chapter and what had happened before.
As he flipped through the pages, he drowned out the noises behind him, falling deeper into the story of the novel. The book, To Kill a Mockingbird, was a classic story that reminded him of his short trip to America. He could still see the inequalities in race there from the effects of redlining in certain neighbourhoods he had frequented. It had not been a pleasant trip, America, it was outright ugly in places of inequality. Nor had the people particularly liked an Asian boy roaming around their neighbourhood. Still he was able to get by with the american accent he had easily forced, though at times, he would slip up with his british accent in certain words. They left him alone most times, and he had been able to accomplish what he had been assigned to. Sometimes,
Jungsu wondered if he was truly doing all these missions for North Korea, or perhaps if there were other actors involved. The only other actors involved that he knew of, were the Russians and Italians. But that was because he had been directly under their care with them knowing what he was capable of. He had even stayed long enough under the Italian mafia in his teen years to be branded by them. Though Jungsu kept that hidden away with waterproof foundation, the only makeup he continuously needed.
As he flipped another page, he felt Seung-gyu coming up from behind him.
"Jungsu you know english?" Seung-gyu asked in surprise, sitting down beside him.
"I can understand it." Jungsu responded.
Seung-gyu eyed the title of the book and very slowly pronounced in broken english, "To... Keel a Mockingburd."
"Ya, how the hell are you even reading that whole book?" Seung-gyu grabbed the book from him before he could protest and scanned his eyes over the page Jungsu was reading.
He blinked hard a couple times, and others gathered around over his shoulder to sneak a glance at what he was reading.
A couple of them shook their heads, while others attempted to read it, but came out holding their heads in confusion.
"Can you even understand what it's saying Jungsu?" Dong-ha snickered. "Or are you simply using it to look cool."
Jungsu frowned as he pinched his lips together.
"There's nothing cool about this book, Hyung. It's about a lawyer trying to defend a man who is accused of sexually assaulting a woman, despite there being a lack of evidence to suggest so. Yet he's accused simply because of the colour of his skin."
There was silence in the villa as the staff didn't know what to say or do as they observed the tense moment.
Glancing around, Jungsu raised his brows, realizing he had said something unpleasant.
"I'm sorry if I said something I wasn't supposed to." He bowed his head, then went right back to reading.
After a moment or two, people walked away trying to converse with each other to cover up the silence.
As Jungsu continued flipping through the pages, Dong-ha was devising a plan to humiliate Jungsu. The staff had told Dong-ha, Seung-gyu, and Yeong-cheol to somehow get a contestant to take off an article of clothing. If they won, they would be given better rooms along with a potential day out, depending on how entertaining the staff thought their act was. Though, it was cruel of the staff to have not given them better rooms in the first place.
Dong-ha had happened to overhear from Yuri that Jungsu was afraid of water. Dong-ha smirked as he thought of the look on Jungsu's face when he froze up underwater. Dong-ha honestly hoped he would just drown.
As Dong-ha discussed the plan with Seung-gyu and Yeong-cheol, Jungsu felt his neck burn as he felt their stares. Jungsu knew they were up to something, he just didn't know what.
As they sneakily approached Jungsu, though Jungsu was completely aware of it, they let out a battle cry as they all grabbed onto his arms and legs and tried to lift him up. Jungsu easily disengaged and sat back down on the chair, leaving everyone stunned as they looked over to see what had just happened, finding a bizarre scenario. The three of them simply stood there looking unsure and confused, while Jungsu continued his reading.
They tried again, lifting Jungsu up, only for all of them to end up on the floor somehow.
"What the hell are you?!" Seung-gyu yelled in frusteration.
Na-yeon, being curious and naturally seeking drama, decided to help the guys in whatever it was they were trying to accomplish. As they lifted Jungsu up for again, Na-yeon also grabbed onto Jungsu, hugging him from behind. This time Jungsu hesitated, as he didn't know how good it would look on TV if he made an actress fall. The next thing he knew, he would be receiving death threats.
Thus, Jungsu let them carry him away, but seeing as they were headed to the pool, Jungsu spoke up.
"Hey, what-"
Before Jungsu could complete his sentence, they'd already thrown him into the pool. Jungsu, watching as Dong-ha, Seung-gyu, Yeong-cheol, and Na-yeon stood there grinning, closed his eyes in acceptance.
He felt the water rush around him, the change in gravity, and the silence of it all putting him into a state akin to meditation. He was simply floating for a moment, and then he felt the hands that clawed at his skin, and the hands at his face, urging him to open his eyes. But he refused. He kept them closed, swimming until he felt the edge of the pool and then surfaced. Quickly swinging himself out of the water, he started walking away when hands started grabbing him.
"Jungsu! At least take your shirt off before you go in, you're gonna get the floors wet!" Yeong-cheol chuckled.
Meanwhile, Jungsu simply narrowed his eyes and kept walking, leaving a trail of water on the floor. However, before he could enter, Yeong-cheol and Seung-gyu moved to block the door back to the villa.
Jungsu glared at them, sleeking his hair back and away from his face as his shirt was now both plastered to his skin, and a little see through.
As nearly everyone had their eyes darting from Jungsu's face to his stomach, the cameraman zoomed in to capture the moment in HD.
It moved down his brows to his tall nose, trailing down his neck to finally end at his stomach. The image seemed to glisten and the cameraman blinked his eyes at the shining sight.
Jungsu blew out a breath as his eyes turned cold, causing both Yeong-cheol and Seung-gyu to take a step backward. Jungsu pushed past them into the villa, not caring if he was leaving behind a wet trail for the staff to clean. They had caused the problem, so now they could fix it.
Jungsu stayed inside his room for the rest of the day, only coming down for dinner and doing nothing else other than shooting glares at the staff.
They too kept their heads down, realizing that they didn't want to upset Jungsu any more for fear they would be on the receiving end of his wrath. Though they weren't quite sure why Jungsu was so mad, perhaps he simply didn't like water much. Or maybe he was just shy?
Even the cast sat there wondering what had caused Jungsu to be so upset. Only Dong-ha looked to be happy at the moment, as he relished the discomfort he had caused Jungsu.
Meanwhile, Jungsu was simply glad he'd taken the cameras out of the pool and that there were no other cameras underwater. Otherwise, they would've seen the panic and fear on his face.