"Go pick up the talcum powder..." " You have an hour before we continue the show without you..."
You mumbled under your breathe; your steps lightly yet quickly tapping on the cement floor as you walked towards your nearest shop. You received various stares considering you were still in your costume but at this point it was to be expected. The circus was in town after all...
Stopping you in your mental rant was a phone suspiciously on the floor. It looked fine; new in fact, which made the whole ordeal even stranger.
You picked up the phone and found yourself texting this 'Unknown' character. Of course skepticism coursed through veins as this peculiar, seemingly good-natured guy strived to find the owner of the cellular device.
He seemed very determined to find said individual... I mean a single show without the accordion playing clown could've gone just fine, right? You thought to yourself it was all for the greater good anyway; plus, you only have such little and precious time in Korea... And you never really explore and see the places where you perform. Ah... to hell with it.
Logging off of the chat you followed the direction he linked to; to your pleasant surprise it wasn't that far away. Well... You were already a good half hour late. Misses Clement was most likely to kill you if you returned and she probably already sent out Jack or maybe one of the acrobats to retrieve the powder themselves.
It was pretty fun following along; it felt like an innocent treasure hunt. That was until Unknown had asked you to go in the apartment. You're definitely not from these parts but you're sure breaking and entering is frowned upon on an international scale. Then again, he does know the passcode so he must know the person who resides here. If confronted by authorities you can just pull out this conversation and explain your reasoning, that, along with the fact that you have legal documents stating that you can't be incarcerated while touring (unless it was a serious felony). So after contemplating your options you decide to wing it once again.
The apartment seemed a bit messy but it made you think about what it would be like to live a sedentary life. Part of you was glad since existence seemed quite boring without flashing lights, the roar of the crowd and surprises in every corner. But there was this teeny part of you that was ordinary and longed for domestic life.
Yeah right...
Thoughts of heading back crossed your mind but exploring through the phone options you see you can chat with more people, they most likely know the owner. Well, let's hope they do and you can head back to the tents before they make the curtain calls.
[Y/N] has entered the chatroom.
No one seemed to notice for about a few minutes, but when they did. Gosh, it was chaos. How were you supposed to know this was exclusive? Whatever this was you had to just... ease your way into the casual conversation.
[Y/N] : Hello...
Yoosung : Gahhhh it's talking!
So much for the calm and casual approach... This whole ordeal of a third party joining into their private messaging app seemed to be blown out of proportion. Well, once they knew you broke into someone's apartment they had a valid reason to get you possibly in hot water; and hot means boiling in Clement's book, in addition this Jumin Han guy seemed serious and ready to take measures. You couldn't risk getting in that kind of trouble so you decided to take the defensive approach.
[Y/N] : Reveal yourselves first. I'm the most confused one here ...
Jumin Han : How fierce.
ZEN : Are you a woman?
707 : Zen be more serious, plz?
707 : And wait a sec on the woman thing.
707 : Looking it up.
Thank goodness! He'd run a search, find your information, see you're in a traveling circus, THEN search up said traveling circus, see you have a show to perform in an hour and after all of that let you go on your handy dandy way. Although you wanted him to run a search, a side of you appreciated this Jaehee Kang person for respecting boundaries and seemingly being the only reasonable and stable person in this chat.
Despite slightly awkward predicament you found yourself in, seeing all these people easily introduce themselves calmed you down significantly. And wow, Zen's hella narcissistic.
... And allergic to cats... Wait how did this conversation turn from interrogating a possible criminal to felines? You had to admit though, that was an adorable cat. And 707 getting his ass exposed was worth gold.
WaiT.
You can't get too comfortable yet. Just stand your ground 'till it's a thousand percent sure these people are gonna let you hand the phone to the owner and leave.
Great. Now their asking how you got there and honestly you just already wanted to drop this subject and run back to camp to save yourself from Misses Clement's strange yet cruel punishments.
[Y/N] : I am flustered too. I was connected to a stranger through a messenger app and he sent me a link to the address.
Jumin Han : Chatting with strangers...
Jumin Han : How naive.
"Well smart guy, what the hell am I doing right now?" You mumbled to yourself. If you knew these people better you would type it down but you just had to play it safe for the time being.
Wow. Okay. All of these strangers are on your case right now for chatting with a stranger. d. But yet again, you won't say a word. You'll just answer their questions and leave.
[Y/N] : The username was 'Unknown'. And the record was deleted.
Jumin Han : Does the username not exist? Why is it unknown;?
707 : I made it impossible to log in without setting a username.
707 : Nothing's in the log...
Yoosung : What's a log? Is it a job titles for online games?
Jumin Han : Tree trunk
[Y/N] : I'm dead ︎ ︎ ︎
You couldn't help yourself okay? That joke was actually pretty funny. It may not be gut wrenchingly funny but he still deserved some credit for that one.
Yoosung : What?! Are u ok ?
Yoosung : !
ZEN : English please.
[Y/N] : What?
Yoosung : What do you mean you're dead?!
707 : Yoosung, that just means that something was so funny she died laughing.
707 : She's not actually dead.
Yoosung : What was supposed to be funny?
ZEN : I don't get it either.
[Y/N] : Jumin's joke was funny lol.
ZEN : You think that trust fund jerk's """jokes""" are funny?!
[Y/N] : That's kinda rude but yeah. I laughed.
Jumin Han : That wasn't intended to be comedic but It's refreshing to find someone who finds me humorous.
Jaehee Kang : Moving along. It refers topast records;;
ZEN : Tsk Tsk everyone's so dumb
Once again, the conversation veered away from the subject matter and desperation began welling up as the clocked ticked. These people get distracted so easily. No wonder someone had enough time to fully hack into the program going unnoticed. You explained how you found the app leading to a strange man called V?
Today was definitely one of the weirder days of your life. They went on to explain about who's Rika, what this organization does and other details despite you stating your disinterest. You knew you should just walk out but first off: this seemed very important to the people in this organization, and considering what this organization stands for, these people were good and didn't really deserve to be shut off in such a harsh manner. Secondly: Missing a show and maybe kneeling on some frozen peas as punishments isn't that bad; this was just starting to get interesting with all of this, 'she chose you,' talk.
Everything was going smoothly until they started genuinely considering adding you as a member. A member. Nononononononono. You had a life and this whole RFA thing was not in it.
Jumin Han : [Y/N], Will you join RFA?
[Y/N] : Oh my god...
Yoosung : I know! You must be at a loss of words! I was the same way when I got invited!
Jaehee Kang : We don't really have much time it's a simple question. So please proceed with a valid answer.
[Y/N] : Here's the deal guys;;;
707 : I know the deal [Y/N] but you have two months in Korea. That's enough to throw a party even if it's RFA's last one.
707 : plus;; I can't have you leaving that apartment till I find this hacker and determine if it's a threat.
[Y/N] : WHAT?! I have a life! A career! MY CAREER IS MY LIFE!
707 : [Y/N], Chill.
707 : I looked into your contract and it states that if any member of you're... Workplace... Is absent or goes missing with no justification the unit is to standstill until said member is found or you exceed your absence for a 6 month period.
707 : This association would never force you to lose your profession.
707 : But me as a person wants to make sure you're safe and stay in that apartment. If by a month the Unknown individual doesn't reappear or is caught you can continue as if nothing occurred.
Okay... He seemed to make an incredibly valid point. The mechanics in your head where turning, coming up with an excuse to use on Misses Clement when inevitably confronted about your disappearance. Although she may not be too happy with the fact that you broke in to someone's apartment you can just come up with a small white lie to cover yourself up.
[Y/N] : I can't believe I'm saying this but okay. I'll join the RFA. And you bet your behinds this isn't gonna be a party. This is gonna such a big charity bash it'll leave the Circus de soliel running for their money.
Yoosung : Wow! So admirable!
ZEN : Have you ever even gone to a bash?
Yoosung : Isn't it the same thing as a party?
Jumin Han : I may have not fully comprehended what our new member just announced but I like the way she said it.
Jaehee Kang : I'm just glad she thought it through;;; although I'm still skeptical about this.
707 : I already logged in your information. This is a verbal contract so you can't change your mind now that you accepted the invitation.
[Y/N] : I understand; but our contract does feature the previously stated conditions right?
707 : ofc
707 : Now I gotta peace out.
707 : Welcome to RFA [Y/N]
707 has left the chatroom
Re-reading that last text to yourself over and over one thing rang in your mind as loud as a siren,
"Shit."