He frowned when he saw the contact on his phone.

Hm.

That was odd.

He picked up his phone and answered the call.

Ijin almost never contacted him first. The kid was just terrible when it came to the phone. Whether it be texts or phone calls, it usually took a little bit for Ijin to answer back.

So it was a little bit weird that Ijin was calling him.

"Hello?"

"Uh, Major Kang?"

That was most definitely not Ijin.

"Dayeon?" he would be lying if he said that he didn't get worried when he realized it was Ijin's sister that was calling him instead of Ijin himself," Is something wrong?"

"Oh no sir! Everything's ok!"

The panic ebbed away.

He slumped back into his chair, taking up a relaxed position as he asked, "Oh that's a relief. Then how may I help you?"

There was a pause and the sound of paper flipping before she spoke again," Er. Well. Grandfather and I were wondering if we could ask for a favor."

"Of course," he answered without hesitation," How can I help?"

He heard a man's voice in the background, but he could tell that it wasn't Ijin either," Ijin is getting his wisdom teeth removed on the 17th. Is there any chance you could help Ijin into his room? We don't know how the anesthesia will affect him but…"

Ah.

He knew where this was going.

His mother did the same thing after all.

"He's really big and you don't know if you can support him?"

Her voice was breathless," Yeah. We're not strong enough to help him move if he ends up needing it."

He glanced up when he heard his office door open, and motioned for his squad member to wait," I understand," He started to flip through his agenda, finding the calendar portion of it," the 17th at what time?"

"At 10 am," She listed off the address that he wrote down. It was silent for a little bit before she added," Thank you, sir. We really appreciate your help."

He waved his hand flippantly as if she was there to see it," Its no trouble. I'll see you and Ijin on the 17th then?"

There was a loud gasp that almost startled him.

His squad member was looking at him like he had dropkicked his first-born child before he scrambled off the couch to fling his office door open.

"KANG IS GOING TO SEE IJIN! WITHOUT US!"

That moron!

He covered his phone with his hand.

"Its not like that you idiot!"

It was too late.

He could already hear his men's 'what the hell's' and curses ringing from around the general area as they processed the news.

Ugh. It was already too late.

Running a hand down his face, he put his phone back up to his ear.

"Sorry about that," he grumbled into the phone.

He heard a giggle and then," Its okay. I-uh-I didn't know Ijin was so popular."

He grinned," Ijin is like our little brother. Where is he by the way?"

"Oh he's asleep. The allergy medicine always makes him drowsy."

He had to resist the urge to snort.

How did Ijin have allergies in Korea but not in Grian?

Ijin and his quirks.

The sound of rambunctious men approaching his office caught his attention.

He sighed heavily.

"Well if that's all you need. I'm afraid I have to go and handle the fallout of that shout you heard earlier."

There was another giggle," Thank you sir. Have a nice night."

The footsteps were getting closer.

"Like wise, give the others my regards."

And with another agreement, she ended the call.

Then his door slammed open.

He sighed heavily once again.

Great.

The 17th came around.

And Kang found himself bringing Han-Gyeol with him because he owed the man a favor.

Much to the frustration of the other men.

He was pretty sure he owed all of them a favor since they have saved each other's lives more than once.

But that was neither here nor there.

They had small talk with their Grandfather and Dayeon as they waited for Ijin to come out.

And oh boy was he gone.

Ijin was barely staying awake as they moved him to the entrance, Han-Gyeol bringing up the car as Kang and Dayeon helped Ijin out of the wheelchair and into the car.

With Han-Gyeol in the driver's seat, and their grandfather in the passenger seat. The drugged and puffy cheeked Ijin sat in between Kang and Dayeon. Kang having his arm wrapped around Ijins shoulder to pull him into his side.

Ijins head kept on lolling forward and backward, forcing Kang to make Ijin lean his head back onto his arm so he could stay still.

Now there was an aspect about Ijin that he forgot about, that they all forgot about from time to time.

As quiet and polite as Ijin was.

They forgot that Ijin grew up around grown men. Grown men that did not give a single shit about children and had a warped moral compass.

It was quite a surprise when they found out that Ijin had an impressive vocabulary when it came to raunchy jokes and creative curse words/statements. Which in hindsight, was not that big of a surprise as he did grow up around all types of questionable people.

Ijin groaned as they went over the speedbumps for their apartment parking lot," m' hea' hur's." his words came out half slurred, and half muffed from the cotton that was in his mouth.

He was really out of it if he was admitting that something hurt.

Kang patted his shoulder in a supportive way," I know buddy. We'll get you some ice right now.

He groaned again when Kang helped him out of his seatbelt.

The moment Dayeon and their grandfather got out of the car, Ijin muttered out," 'eels li'e so'eone s'uc' a ffffuc'in'" that was a word he couldn't understand," in'o m' ear."

He blinked in surprise.

Han-Gyeol turned around in his seat to look at them.

"fffffuc' yewwwwww."

They kept on staring at him.

If his mouth didn't look so full of cotton, and if he didn't have the gauze wrapped around his head with padding on his cheeks. His glare would have looked more intimidating.

"Uh," Kang said lamely, genuinely surprised by the words that were coming out of the teenager's mouth.

He exchanged looks with Han-Gyeol, who looked just as surprised by Ijin's words,"…we better get him into bed…"

Kang couldn't help but agree.

Ijin was surprisingly sassy when he was all drugged up on whatever they gave him for his surgery.

After a few, slurred "Get your bitch-ass hands off me" from Ijin, along with a few choice words, they finally got Ijin settled into his bed, where Dayeon had rearranged his pillows and plushies to help prop him up.

Ijin muttered out a few words in Gratian, that Kang had long learned to be curse words, as they helped settled him into bed. He almost looked adorable, with the blanket pulled up to his chest and his cheeks stuffed full of cotton.

Thankfully, as soon as his head hit the pillow, he fell asleep almost immediately, snoring in a way that was almost obnoxious considering that Ijin usually didn't make a peep when he slept. (That would sound creepy if they hadn't shared a room with the kid).

Han-Gyeol took out his phone.

"I gotta document this."

Ijin had long realized that it sure was nice having accessibility to healthcare and the resulting painkillers.

His mouth didn't hurt nearly as much as it should with the painkillers they prescribed to him.

He sipped at his milk idly as the others talked around him. He still wasn't allowed to eat solids and he forgot to pack something so milk it was.

His attention was caught by the sudden vibration of his phone. Still sipping at his milk, he turned on his phone and rose an eyebrow when he saw that he had been added to a new group chat.

Hm.

Well, Major Kang was in there.

So chances were rather high that all of the other phone numbers were probably Ji-Hoon and the other men.

His eyebrows rose when he saw Major Kang send a picture, and then a video.

He didn't remember the picture. It was Han-Gyeol and Major Kang, leaning backward to take a selfie with him in the background.

Considering the fact that his face was wrapped up and his cheeks were bulging, he was pretty sure it was taken after he got home from the dental surgery.

Clicking on the video, he rose the volume until he was able to hear what Kang and Han-Gyeol were saying.

There was a snicker," Hey. Ijin," that was Major Kang's voice coming from behind the camera," what did you say?"

His swollen face was the main focus of the video, he could hear Han-Gyeol laughing somewhere off-screen," Yeah what did you say?"

"Touc' m' one moah 'ime'," Ijin cringed. His words were coming out heavily slurred and were almost undecipherable," 'm shovin' m' foo' up yer dic'hole."

He choked on his milk.

"Ijin!" Hyeokjin almost shrieked at the milk attack," Dude!"

"S-sorry!" he choked out between coughs, trying to recompose himself. His skin was burning as he buried his face in his hands. His phone was still furiously vibrating on the tabletop.

He could feel everyone's eyes on him,"…did they record you after the surgery?"

Seokju's assumption was correct, and he had to lean away to make sure that Hyeokjin and Jaehyung couldn't get his phone so they could look at the video themselves.

-Old Man Major: Boy was Ijin out of it!
-XXX-XXXX: what did he say?
-XXX-XXXX: Oh I'm dying ?
-XXX-XXXX: LMAOOOOOOOOOOOO
-XXX-XXXX: Why you gotta do him like that? ? ﾟﾘﾂ
-XXX-XXXX: Our boy has a mouth on him!
-Ijin: Why have you done this?
-XXX-XXXX: THEY TAUGHT HIM VINES!
-XXX-XXXX: They have done gods work
-XXX-XXXX: I don't know what's funnier. The video or the fact that Ijin knows what vines are now.

He scowled, which only made the others try even harder to snatch his phone away.

-Old Man Major: Hey Ijin.
-Ijin: What?
-Old Man Major: Told you I would make you eat those words.
Loser :)
-Ijin: :(