defunct callsigns (xiumin/chen) [2/2]

[seafogs]

← [1/2]

Minseok doesn't realize he's yelling at the top of his lungs until Baekhyun forgoes the age difference and tells him to lower his fucking voice.

"Attracting attention is probably the last thing on your fucking list," Baekhyun has managed to drag Minseok in one of the rooms the disk jockey has never entered, "Then again, you don't even care about that right now, do you?"

Minseok’s mind is a mess; it’s only been a few weeks since Junmyeon had initially informed Minseok about Jongdae’s arrival and for some reason he’s already found a connection with his intern. He can be annoying at times; however, Minseok can see a spark in Jongdae’s eyes that could only mean he’s interested in staying. Probably ever since he’s been given a second lease on his life after roaming the Zones alone, unsure of where to go and what life has left for him.

Baekhyun’s soft laughter pulls Minseok out of his deep thoughts, “You have no idea, don’t you, hyung?” His eyes have formed into crescents and dimples are visibly showing on his cheeks, “Jongdae and I had a deal a few days after he first arrived.”

“A deal? He’s never told me this,” Minseok says, his eyebrows furrowed.

"It's not what you think," Baekhyun waves his hands, dismissing any wrong notion Minseok might be having from this. It's bad enough that Jongdae's wanted for treason against BL/IND, what's the worst that could happen?

"He wanted to do my errands in exchange for food," Baekhyun's eyes seem like his pleading, but his actions are normal. It makes Minseok think how desperate Jongdae could have been to getting himself enough chances to help others and get connections. On the other hand, there's an unfamiliar sensation within him that feels like he's in pain, but he just won't seem to recognize it. "Hyung, he seemed desperate in doing things for you."

The words take Minseok by surprise; it causes him to unknowingly point at himself in hesitation, "Me?" His voice is too soft for both of them to hear. "Of all people, why me?"

Baekhyun stays silent for a while, letting the thoughts simmer within Minseok like a pot of water being brought to a boil. A myriad of question surround his head, accompanied by all the chances Minseok and Jongdae had been together in the same room, with plenty of chances to talk. He begins to feel regret as soon as he remembers how many times Jongdae has wanted to become closer to the disk jockey; and yet he always succeeded at pushing him away. Minseok always thought he'd fare better alone. Jongdae thought it otherwise, now that he's working with him.

For food, Minseok thinks. Come to think of it, he's never helped his poor intern out in getting food for himself; telling him about their stocked food didn't necessarily helped - it probably only made Jongdae crave more. He's barely even considered helping Jongdae warm up to his surroundings before treating him coldly. For others it could seem Minseok would be hiding behind his professionalism, however, to Jongdae, it only makes him look insensitive and weak.

Minseok looks up at Baekhyun, the latter still silent, waiting for Minseok to come to his senses. "Have you thought about it, hyung? He's given you plenty of chances, none of which you took the bait on."

He feels as if the pot of water's slowly being agitated; a foreign object or just a phenomenon to introduce a change of state. Either way, it makes him panic. His heart races, his eyes are wider than ever before. Eventually it makes Minseok run out of the room they're both hiding in and before he knows it he's running down the hallway in search for Jongdae.

He doesn't know what has pushed him into acting like this, however the more Minseok thinks about the impending threat to Jongdae's life that is BL/IND, there nothing else to think about.

Besides Junmyeon, only Minseok knows who Jongdae really is and what he has done; unless he's told anyone else.

Junmyeon.

A sudden idea makes Minseok stop in his tracks. He's a few steps away from his shared radio booth with Jongdae, but his feet have somehow frozen in place.

Ever since this notice came in, I heard nothing from Junmyeon. He never called me up to his office to forewarn me himself, Minseok thinks.

Could it be? Could it be the very person who had sent Jongdae over be the very cause of all this mess?

"Hyung!" Baekhyun yells from behind him, Minseok impulsively runs to the direction of the station manager's office, "Where are you going?"

Baekhyun barely gets an answer when the person he's talking to suddenly runs off and leaves Jongdae alone in the radio booth.

Minseok is partly thankful that Junmyeon finds no use for secretaries because they're a lame excuse to have other people doing the work for him; it only makes the trip to the station manager's office an effortless one.

He suspects Junmyeon isn’t around by the time he doesn’t see something illuminating underneath the door as his footsteps draw him nearer to his office.

Getting in his office was too simple a task; it takes a few minutes for Minseok to stay inside the room and pretend no one else is there and his purpose isn’t to snoop around and find something that could expose Junmyeon. However, Minseok only manages to find an unlabelled folder in the middle of Junmyeon’s (usually clean) desk. It can’t be as easy as this, Minseok thinks. Surely his suspicions can’t be confirmed merely from the contents of the folder; he hasn’t even opened them yet.

There are footsteps nearing the office when Minseok is hastily looking around the office, unsure of where to hide himself.

The door opens as soon as Minseok hides behind Junmyeon’s desk, “Minseok, are you in here?” Minseok automatically suspects Baekhyun coming in through the doorway, but the voice immediately tells him it’s someone else.

Minseok comes up from hiding behind the table, one of his hands hiding the folder behind him, “Jongdae, you’re not supposed to be here!”

Jongdae approaches Minseok and quickly pulls him out the room, “What the fuck? Baekhyun’s been telling me you’ve been acting all weird, what’s wrong with you?”

The disk jockey holds out the folder before him, “I wish I could explain, but I have no idea either.”

Baekhyun, Jongdae and Minseok decide to survey the folder’s contents together. Besides, they’re the only ones who are fully aware what has been going on these past few days. Junmyeon’s unaccounted disappearance also leaves everyone at a standstill, unsure of where his alliances belong, at this point.

The folder’s contents are of no use, mostly papers on deals and agreements made with local Killjoy-owned territories that have come for assistance and support. No details on which that would have been deemed incriminating for Junmyeon’s reputation.

“Maybe he went out to sort things with BL/IND,” Baekhyun says, his eyes busy reading the past anonymous tips Minseok has read on-air, “How are you even so sure he’s the one behind this?”

Minseok scratches his forehead, his fingers unconsciously slowly grazing a rough scar near his left eyebrow, “He would have told me about the Corporation’s ‘special inspection’ before the notice had been sent in. For all we know, he could have even prevented it from happening.”

Jongdae watches the two staff bicker over the multitude of possibilities, none of which they’ll be able to confirm; not while Junmyeon remains missing. It is only when he starts taking note of Baekhyun’s slim fingers and slightly downcast kohl-lined eyes, as well as the taut muscles that run along his arms, hidden by the sleeves of his shirt. The scar that runs along Minseok’s eyes also makes him wonder what he did to get them. As the voices around him become softer, the more he imagines the rest of Minseok’s body underneath his clothes; seemingly ignorant about the issue at hand.

As they fall into discussion deep in the night, Jongdae is already half-asleep on the table when Minseok wakes him up. Jongdae’s surprised the room has become much lighter ever since Baekhyun left the two of them together.

“I told Baekhyun we had more things to do before calling it a night,” Minseok says, his hand resting comfortably between Jongdae’s shoulders, “Although I guess we’ve probably done a lot already,” he says, surveying the mess they made with the files he found in Junmyeon’s office.

Jongdae yawns as Minseok takes a seat beside him, “I noticed you were taking a good look at my scar,” he points at the patch of skin just above his eyebrows. “Do you want to know how I got it?”

The intern replies with a soft yawn as Minseok begins his story, “I was a Killjoy before I became a disk jockey, you know.”

"Living in the desert was a dream, and also a nightmare. Unspeakable things roam around that even the naked eye fails to notice. I lived under the alias Bulletproof Venom. My group and I always did the usual stuff Killjoys do best: wreak havoc. Around that time, Dr. Death Defying was a well-known name in the Zones. He often preached about overpowering the Corporation and taking down the Exterminators. His name had implied that he overcame death; but when death overcame him, we were all stuck."

“Kyungsoo was with me, he was very popular due to the fact that he saved plenty of Killjoys, most of whom back then had lost their hope to live; most of their necessities stripped away bare by the Corporation. None of this had ever reached the radio station because no one had the guts to walk over, unless they wanted to risk their lives to report such inconceivable nonsense.”

“The only reason why BL/IND stopped tracking us both was because Kyungsoo got caught after one of those whom he saved sold him off, in exchange for immunity. It wasn’t a nice thing to hear at all. Somehow Kyungsoo managed to escape when everyone else thought he had died in their hands; that’s why whenever you ask anyone about Kyungsoo, they’re immediately crestfallen. They looked up to him as a real hero among the Killjoys and those who worked behind the scenes in the rebellion against the Corporation. Kyungsoo would never be able to understand the great relief it is to have had a large number of people supporting his cause, only to have ended in a failure.”

Truth be told, he hadn’t expected himself to reveal himself to Jongdae as easily as he is doing right now. As far as he knows, he’s always maintained a professional relationship with him; one that would always exist between an employee and an intern. In fact, the words had been spilling out of his mouth endlessly before he could even stop himself. It’s too late to take them back now; might as well show Jongdae who he really is instead of leaving him clueless.

“I was scouted as a replacement for Dr. Death Defying after his defeat against death, an ironic yet iconic battle. That was when Kyungsoo and I had separated courses; him to a life of hiding under a false pretence, and there’s me, hidden behind the airwaves, only to be a known voice to all the Killjoys out there today.”

Jongdae had his head perched up on one arm while listening, all while connecting the dots with the people he’s met. It’s no surprise Kyungsoo had acted so aggressively with him before when he had carelessly intruded on the former Killjoy’s tarnished past. Everyone else believes Kyungsoo died in the hands of the Corporation, while Minseok (and most probably Junmyeon) knows the truth. There could be a possibility that today’s generation of Killjoys could be fighting for the justice that Kyungsoo ultimately deserves; Jongdae wonders how he’d feel when he realizes his false pretence has been made into a premise for waging a war against the Corporation.

“You still haven’t told me where you got that scar,” Jongdae says drearily, his eyelids close to dropping but manages to maintain eye-contact with Minseok; the latter seated quietly, as if reminiscing his troubled past.

Jongdae’s voice snaps Minseok’s mind out of its reverie as he immediately grazes it with his fingers, the memories held along the ridges and rough patches of the scar. “Oh right,” Minseok whispers, his eyes looking over at the clear desert view before the station building, “I’ll save that story for another time,” he says, gathering his things into a small, organized pile. “Can’t you continue the story? It was going along so well,” Jongdae says, nearly whining, “It’s late and no one’s going to bother us anyways.”

Minseok has managed to haul all his belongings in his arms as Jongdae remains in his spot. The latter yells towards the disk jockey as soon as he walks away, “I’ve always wanted to be a Killjoy, you know! You’re lucky you had that one chance.”

It takes a while before Jongdae hears an unexpected reply from Minseok from across the room, “You’ll get your chance soon, I reckon.” With the mess Jongdae’s going to get into a few days from now, he needs to get used to the mindset, Minseok thinks.

He’s running, in the middle of the desert, but his destination remains unknown. From behind him, someone yells out “Run!!” at him frantically. He keeps running, unsure if his footsteps are tricking him or whether it’s a trick of the mind. The desert before him is barren and he has no idea where he’s running to. Suddenly, he feels an immediate surge of pain at his back, near his tailbone. Before he knows it, he’s held down, arms pulled against his body and he’s groaning in pain. He tries to ask for help but his voice leaves him as soon as he gets the will to call out to the empty land before him.

“You’ve been quite the slippery catch, you know? Take him away before he gets loose.”

The voice persistently reverberates in his head. He tries to match the voice to a face but nothing comes up. The minute he’s being pulled away, however, the dream ends abruptly.

Jongdae wakes up with a jolt. “It’s always the same dream,” he whispers. His breathing is labored when he notices his shirt is covered in sweat. Much to his disappointment, the view outside remains dark; his watch tells him it’s only been a few hours passed since he’s slept.

He surveys the surroundings of the room, everything else remains the same except he’s never noticed Minseok seated on the corner of the room, his head propped on one of the many boxes that keep the room crowded. His breathing remains slow, Jongdae feels calmer the more he watches Minseok sleeping; free from all the stress that keeps him on top of his game most of the time.

He thinks it’d be rude to disturb Minseok especially since the disk-jockey does more work than the intern does, even though Minseok could always let him do the dirty work - it’s just that he never lets him, that’s all. As Jongdae slowly slips out of the unused storage area, he finds himself back in their shared radio booth, his eyes searching for something to read to pass the time.

His memories fall back to when he had first arrived at the radio station. It was the first time Baekhyun had introduced him to Minseok - the seemingly professional disk-jockey he never imagined to be attractive and - probably, the only person who could save him, if the chance arises.

Their desks are all but cluttered at the moment. Jongdae tries his best not to ruin his hard work as he slowly looks through cabinets and stacks of folders to find the very thing that he had his eyes on ever since Minseok shared classified information with him. The very same folder Minseok stole from Junmyeon’s office while their station manager went out without any information of his whereabouts.

Jongdae makes a mental note of returning the folder at the very same place he’s found it as soon as his eyes come across a discolored file with a large CLASSIFIED stamped on the cover. He brushes through it quickly and stops just as his eyes glances over a familiar letterhead.

“It can’t be,” Jongdae whispers to himself. He feels his hands trembling just as he finishes reading through the contents of the letter.

When Minseok wakes up feeling twice as tired as before he slept, he groggily meanders through the room Jongdae sleeps in, only to find the latter wide awake and reading through a file he’s very sure he’s seen before.

“Where’d you get that,” Minseok says; his eyes squinting to see through blur and eye dust. Meanwhile, Jongdae, seated on the arm rest of the couch, looks over to Minseok with melancholic eyes that show no sign of fatigue, “You knew all this and yet never bothered to tell me?”

It would be around this time when Minseok finally realizes what Jongdae had read while he was asleep last night. His mind turns into a state of rapid panic when he can’t seem to think of any damage control to the current situation. Probably it is just someone else trying to tell him this was bound to happen and he just has to accept whatever comes after.

“I was meaning to tell you this,” Minseok says, struggling with the eye-contact from his fear of Jongdae losing his trust in him and ends up focusing his eyes on the dusty window panes behind Jongdae. A myriad of words swarm inside Minseok’s head and it’s a ramble to find the perfect words to calm Jongdae down and reassure him that he has a plan.

Somewhere in his head, there’s a plan.

Minseok’s sure he has a plan that eventually leads to getting their lives spared in the end.

Sort of.

“When were you planning to tell me?” Jongdae shakes the papers he’s been holding on too tightly for several hours. “If you were going to do so just now,” he says, walking towards Minseok on the other side of the room as he shoves the file at the disk jockey’s chest, “then great, because we’re fucking screwed.”

He’s right. Minseok thinks.

Just as Jongdae was about to leave their room to eat breakfast and seek distance as much as possible from Minseok for the entire day, the latter stops him in his tracks, “I didn’t want you to know the whole story behind this too early since I was afraid you’d lose faith in me and leave without knowing what my plan was.”

Minseok felt as if his words rushed out like a waterfall from his mouth. He feels he might have talked a little too quick for Jongdae to even comprehend all in one take. However, the intern stops and takes a good look at Minseok. He’s truly never seen the disk jockey so stricken with fear for once ever since they’ve started working together. In fact, in all of the stories he’s heard from Minseok, he’s never thought about his state of mind as soon as it enters the realm of fear.

Jongdae has his eyebrows raised while Minseok sighs in relief, “You actually have a plan.” He heads for the cafeteria with Minseok rushing to catch up behind him, “What else have you kept from me?” Jongdae yells. The hallways are dead empty as the remainder of the staff are still catching up on their sleep, but Minseok is close to stretching out his arms just to steer Jongdae away from where everyone can hear him clearly.

“Are you fucking serious?!” Minseok whispers through gritted teeth, “I’m sorry for not telling you this sooner, but if you really want to live,” he has his arms outstretched before him and after much progression, he finally has Jongdae’s shirt crumpled within his grasp, “you might want to detract attention from yourself.”

As soon as they reach the cafeteria and both are falling in line for their food, Minseok releases his hold on Jongdae’s shirt. “If you want me to forgive you,” Jongdae subtly says, the two of them are oddly hunched beside each other whilst walking sideways towards the servers who are rationing the food for the staff. “You’re going to have to let me go on-air.”

“What does getting on-air have to do with getting you safe, anyways?” Minseok says, he’s eyeing the pale-faced server in front of him as he listlessly hands over his tray and allows food to slosh over the segmented parts.

Jongdae leaves the line as soon as half of his tray gets filled out. The minute Minseok steps out of the line, he looks around at the bustling cafeteria, careful of anyone who might notice them. The two eventually brisk walk back to the control room where they can talk about their plan without anyone else eavesdropping on their conversation.

Minseok closes the door on the both of them when Jongdae has his hands on the microphone that’s usually on the disk jockey’s side of the control booth, “Isn’t this the whole reason why you have me as your intern? To teach me how to be as good as you are?”

The disk jockey stays silent, heavily interested in what Jongdae has to say. The large digital clock on the wall reads 8:45 PM. They have fifteen minutes before they have to return on-air again to report on the latest news and safe zones for Killjoys to stay in for the night. It’s always dangerous for them to keep moving around, let alone staying in one place for the night.

“If you insist,” Minseok replies with a sigh, “you know where the anonymous tips are. You have fifteen minutes to prepare your script before we go on air.”

Jongdae ends up not wasting a single minute with the draft he works on. His mind slowly goes back to that one time he and a selected few of his co-workers tried listening to one of Minseok’s radio announcements during their break. The crude comments the others interjected every time the disk jockey talked used to make him laugh. Now it makes him think they were all insensitive and simply rude.

As soon as the clock struck nine, Jongdae has managed to psyche himself out. After countless deep breaths from him and Minseok, the latter turns on the ON-AIR switch and Jongdae’s voice simmers down into a deep and smooth tone - one of which Minseok has never encountered from the intern before.

”Look alive, Killjoys,” Jongdae’s voice could practically caress the microphone if it were a living thing. As of this time, there are no known Exterminators around the areas of Zones Four and Six. Those who need a place to stay for the night, head to those zones as soon as possible.

Despite Jongdae’s first time talking live on-air, he’s doing a pretty good job, Minseok thinks. No longer the guy who asked too many questions when he first asked Jongdae to sort out all the anonymous tips that came in everyday from who-knows-where. Probably ever since he’s learned how to gain connections from the staff and fairly earn his share of food as well as working on Baekhyun’s errands had changed him, somehow. Behind it all, Minseok becomes euphoric at the idea of taking someone like Jongdae under his wing. It was a risk he originally didn’t want to accept from Junmyeon. Then again, it eventually became something he doubts he’ll ever regret taking.

It’s strangely beautiful how someone’s personality can change so much as if they’ve roamed through the desert their whole life, only to emerge unscathed. However, they’ve become someone else in the process.

Minseok and Jongdae cannot help but stay awake the night before the inspection. The former has never experienced the feeling of fear running through his veins accompanied by adrenaline, the latter only knows fear because he’s being sought out. While they’re in such a critical situation, he cannot help but shut himself out from everyone else except Minseok.

The time reads 4:32 AM. The desert barely showing any sign of letting up, but it seems the best time for the two of them to leave for good. Minseok senses the unfamiliarity within himself as soon as he realizes he’s turning his back to the very job that has kept him alive to the present day. At the same time, he’s thankful for the countless Killjoys and civilians out there he was able to help out, or save their lives, even. That and so many other things he can’t possibly think of at the moment are just some of the reasons why he stays true to his decision to leave with Jongdae.

Minseok looks over to Jongdae, the latter not worried about his belongings because he clearly remembers coming in without much anyways, “Ready?”

Jongdae doesn’t look at Minseok, but instead looks over to the radio control panel. Minseok has covered it with a thin cloth that keeps it protected against dust and unauthorized staff from probing the controls. For a second it makes him think about the impact he’s made to Minseok - not only on his life, but also to his career. “I should be the one asking you that, hyung. Are you ready to leave?”

Had Minseok been in the same mindset wherein he insisted he worked alone, he would have never been able to walk at least ten feet away from the building thinking he was leaving for good. Now, he can. He’s just unsure whether he can bring himself to do it, anyways.

By sunrise, the two would have gone past the abandoned warehouse and are well on their way towards Kyungsoo’s place. All while barely succeeding at sneaking past every Draculoid and Exterminator they almost run into in the middle of the desert. Minseok feels rejuvenated at the thrill he hasn’t been exposed to in years; he instantly forgets all the stress he used to feel all while cooped up in the radio station’s control room.

“Isn’t it thrilling? Sneaking past all these Draculoids without being noticed,” Minseok whispers as he and Jongdae are crouched behind a large stack of boxes, most - if not all, abandoned in the middle of the desert.

“Damn it, hyung. I swear,” Jongdae says in between exasperations, “you sound like those documentaries that talk about animals hunting down their prey in such exhausting detail. We all know how they end.”

For once, Minseok lets out a laugh. Jongdae immediately notices how Minseok’s dimples become so prominent when against the bright desert sunlight, “You’re probably right; I just miss the thrill of getting around these guys, you know?”

Jongdae knows. He understands perfectly what Minseok meant.

Later that morning, the entire radio station is at a standstill. BLI/ND’s inspection of the pirate radio station eventually pushes though. Coincidentally, it is the same morning Junmyeon comes in for work, much to everyone’s surprise. Even though radio staff members have been informed beforehand, it still comes as a shock to all that the Corporation would even have the slightest interest in the radio station’s upkeep.

“Everyone, there’s no need to panic,” Junmyeon’s familiar voice drifts through the corridors as people are torn between confusion and bewilderment at the sight before them. He leads the large team of Exterminators, some of which are alternating between the rooms and going through an intensive search. Staff members slowly peer out of the doors only to find it being pulled against them as the Exterminators storm through, tossing and turning tables and important file cabinets. “This is merely standard procedure; please try not to interrupt them.”

By the time Junmyeon and the large team of Exterminators reach the radio control room where Minseok and Jongdae have been assigned to, the room they ended up entering is empty. The control panels have been covered in a thin cloth, now accompanied by a film of dust on the surface. The tables are clean and files have been returned to their proper storage boxes. It was an occurrence none of them were expecting.

“You said they’d be here,” a stern voice cuts out the silence from within the team. The rest of the Exterminators are all too busy looking for the source of the voice, but Junmyeon knew exactly who had the guts to react violently in times like these.

“Zitao,” Junmyeon calmly responds despite the situation he finds himself in, “relax. This only proves how they’re guilty. Minseok’s gone back to his roots, and by taking the fugitive with him, it only tells us how there won’t be that many places for them to hide.”

As the Exterminators carelessly browse through Minseok’s personal files, Junmyeon easily spots one that sticks out like a sore thumb. A file haphazardly labelled CLASSIFIED that he’s quite sure he’s seen somewhere before.

In an instant, he doesn’t have the look through the contents to know what Minseok and Jongdae have seen for themselves. At the same time, at the back of Junmyeon’s mind, he knows he’s several levels of fucked at this point and he’s never getting out of this situation alive.

Minseok’s lucky they manage to find their way to Kyungsoo’s house way before nightfall. He remembers reoccurring nightmares during his childhood about the Draculoids that have killed his family and abandoned him to suffer, all while he was sound asleep. It was that very event that frequently reminded him that no matter how much he gets used to the desert, he will never understand the horrors that lurk within.

“Kyungsoo, thank you for allowing us to stay here for the time being,” Jongdae says shyly, Minseok on the other hand couldn’t help but extend a warm hug to an old time friend of his.

“Hearing Junmyeon siding with the Corporation behind our back was horrible,” Kyungsoo says, all while serving them large warm plates filled with food. “Eat up, please. You two must be tired from the long journey.”

“The other night,” Minseok says softly. The view from his seat that faces the window remains dark, almost black from the lack of light. No matter what the time, it all seems the same for the both of them anyways. “I heard you sighing softly in your sleep.”

Jongdae stops, holding his spoon in mid-air, his mouth filled with day-old rice. “Please tell me it was nothing incriminating.”

The other sputters from Jongdae’s reaction and immediately tries to collect himself. “No, but you mentioned something about a reoccurring dream.”

“It happened back when I was so young I was barely conscious of my actions then,” Jongdae wistfully says, his eyes focused on a fixed spot on the window.

My parents were working for BLI/ND even way before they knew each other. Somehow, they became close friends and eventually a couple after the Exterminators insisted there should be a change in the departments. A few years after I was born, though, the Corporation never supported my parents in terms of easing the workload. In turn, I was being neglected even without realizing it. Eventually, my parents went against the Corporation, but they were killed just for doing so. I was told my parents became a frequent reminder of what would happen if people rose up against them. In the end, the people who worked for them - including myself - have been silenced.

A while after my parents died, I tried running away on my own. I had no idea what dangers the desert posed, so I ran without thinking about looking back. I can hear people yelling at me to run with panicked voices, and the harder I tried to run, the more I felt as if I couldn’t get far. After which, a familiar voice catches up to me and soon someone has me on the sand before I could react to what was going on. He mentioned how I was a ‘slippery catch’ and before I knew it, I was being pulled away.

“I always thought I could get away from that nightmare, most especially now that I have successfully managed to run away from the Corporation,” Jongdae whispers to himself as Minseok silently watches his every move. From the way his eyelashes softly move as Jongdae blinks his eyes, to the way he slides his hand against his arm in an awkward motion. The more Minseok watches his actions and understands the way he thinks, the more he feels compelled to be responsible for his life.

“Have you ever thought about who the person was behind the voice you kept hearing?” Minseok continues to eat slowly, his eyes focused on Jongdae in case he doesn’t say anything and would probably insist something in his actions instead.

It takes a while for Jongdae to think. The name is just on the tip of his tongue as his instincts forcibly push him to say the name - yell it out, even. However, something tells him he shouldn’t. He has his suspicions, some which might get them in a worse situation than this. Then again, what’s the worst that could happen?

Jongdae ends up not answering Minseok’s question. Instead, he scoots closer to the disk jockey and runs his fingers through the scar that runs along his eye. “Tell me the secret behind those anonymous tips,” Jongdae says softly. Minseok shivers slightly from the contact and immediately understands why the intern would choose to remain mum about the issue at hand. Perhaps, to spare everyone else he knows the shame.

The Killjoys I used to work alongside with. They were the ones who thought about sending in those anonymous tips. We all had our own specialties back when we were together, fighting against the Corporation as well as the evils of Battery City and beyond. Somehow they knew the ins and outs of the Corporation’s factory; probably they even had connections with the people who worked there in secret. That was how they were all so accurate with the time and days whenever the Corporation had to send out pills into the city. There would be lookouts placed in random parts of each Zone and they would all keep track and synchronize their movements. They acted too quickly they were perceived as hallucinations, even.

In essence, I guess they wanted to do this out of gratitude for the services I voluntarily give back to the rest of the Killjoys and not just them. Ultimately, it is they who remind me that I’ll always be a Killjoy no matter which path I choose to take.

EPILOGUE

Static erupts from the decrepit radio that remains hidden behind dirty pieces of cloth. An unfamiliar voice makes its way through the airwaves.

This is 109 FM, WKIL. There have been many abrupt changes to the station brought by the Corporation’s surprise inspection. Resident disk jockey and former renowned Killjoy, Bulletproof Venom - Kim Minseok, was last seen with wanted fugitive, Kim Jongdae - who has been rumored to be going under the alias Porcelain Dragonfly.

Meanwhile, Kim Junmyeon has been stripped of his position. No one is aware of his current whereabouts, although he is being presumed as dead. Reports from multiple credible sources say that the Station Manager had planned this all along. He was initially aware of Kim Jongdae to be a threat to the Corporation and allowed him to escape. He used this to his opportunity and took on the role of manager and employed Jongdae in as Minseok’s intern.

Essentially, his plot demonstrated his act to tarnish the radio station’s reputation by showing how they would encourage harboring vigilantes from the Corporation. Then again, it eventually backfired when both employees fled from the Corporation’s watch. Both men’s whereabouts are still unknown. One thing’s for sure, however. They’re in the arms of the desert; no one can take them back now.

WKIL’s final broadcast ends here.