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The streets were quiet. The only sounds you could hear were the buzzing of street lights and the rustling of leaves. Perhaps the occasional car passing by, but gone in a second with no others in its way.
Jinu walked to one of the few stores still open at this time, dawning a simple hoodie and similar looking sweatpants, on his way to the 24 hour convenience store hidden from the main street with only half of its sign still glowing, making the name of the store a mess of random letters.
As he stepped in, the door made a buzzer sound, alerting the cashier slumped over the table. They jolted up, before noticing Jinu and slumping back down again. It’s his fault for coming so late at night, honestly.
He made his way around the store, grabbing some soda he knows Romance enjoys and a bag of chips his team members will definitely be fighting over later.
Rounding back to the counter, he finally saw what he’d even come here for. The reason he had to be extra inconspicuous, going out at 3am, making sure no one saw him, not even his own bandmates.
Right there on the counter, in a fancy little box, were Huntrix photocards. The ones they’d released for their newest single, Golden.
He was really, truly lucky this place was so hidden, or else they’d be gone before he could even blink.
Now, the question became.. how many packs should he take?
The reasonable, rational part of him said to only take a few, to leave some for other diehard fans, to be the bigger person.
The demon in his head told him to take the entire box.
And well, Jinu is a good person. Or, atleast, he tries to be. He knows when to give and when to take. He understands that these cards are rare, hard to find, and the wise choice would be to grab one or two packs.
So, he does. He takes just one pack.
…But what if he doesn’t get the cards he wanted?
No. He should stop at one. If he isn’t happy with the results, he can come back tomorrow.
…But what if someone else finds out about this place? What if they take the whole box with them before he could buy another one?
..He takes another pack.
Then, another.
And a few more, just in case.
By this point, he’s been standing at the counter for at least 5 minutes now, grabbing more and more packs as time passes by. The cashier isn’t even trying to hide their glare anymore, begging him internally to quick up and get the hell out.
He finally ends the poor cashier’s suffering, deciding (in a moment of weakness) to just grab the entire box.
The worker’s quick to ring him up, already falling asleep by the time he gives the money.
He leaves as fast as he can, slightly ashamed of the amount of packs he bought, and practically sprints back to the studio they’re staying at.
It’s a lot easier to make it back when there’s no one around to get in his way, or worse, recognize him.
As he reached his destination, the second part of his mission started. This part was absolutely the hardest, and he had to make sure he made no mistakes.
He had to make it to his room without being caught by any of his team members.
Easier said than done.
And well, if it were any normal person, they would surely be asleep right by now.
But he knew his group. He knew they were anything but normal. He knew they could stay up the entire night if they wanted to. He knew they loved to stay up the entire night simply because they can.
Although, he hadn’t heard anything so far. Usually, if one of the boys were awake, there would be some noise, whether it be light music playing or footsteps, there would be something to let him know if they were awake.
But tonight, there was nothing. Just complete silence.
He prayed that he had just gotten very, very lucky tonight, and all the boys had gone to sleep already.
But of course, when do things ever go his way?
When he opened the door, the first thing he noticed was that it was dark. Really dark. Pitch black, even.
Which was, admittedly, quite worrying.
He prayed harder.
Does he open the lights and risk being caught? Or does he try to find his way to his room without being able to see literally anything?
Technically, if they were all in their rooms, he had nothing to worry about. Not like they’d be able to see him turn them on.
So, with that thought in mind, he steeled his nerves as clicked the lightswitch on.
Light spilled across the room, illuminating every surface, allowing him to finally see the room again.
More importantly, allowing him to see four familiar faces strewn about over the couch, all staring directly at him.
Well, fuck.
Romance spoke up first. “Hey, Jinu. Glad to see you back already.” He had a stupid smirk on his face, knowing damn well he had caught him red-handed.
Damn it. Maybe he can play it off. Hopefully.
“Hello, Romance. And the rest of you,” He replied, trying to keep his voice as casual as possible. “What are you all doing laying around in the dark?”
“Don’t try to make this about us.” Baby spoke up. “What were you doing out so late, huh?”
“I was just doing some shopping. Got hungry.” He held up the plastic bag he was holding, making sure to angle it so none of the cards were showing.
“At 3 in the morning? Yeah, no. That’s not like you at all.” He paused, for just a moment.
“Well-”
Baby cut him off. “Nope. I’m not gonna play this game this late at night. Quick, Abby, get him!”
What?
He blinked and suddenly Abby was lunging off the couch and hurling straight towards him. He barely had a second to react before Abby was tackling him to the floor, making him drop the bag instantly.
He heard the footsteps of the other members as they hurried over to him.
Baby squatted in front of him, giving him a lazy grin as he high-fived Abby.
Seriously, what is wrong with these guys?
Romance and Mystery made their way to the bag, it’s content surprisingly still safely tucked inside.
Romance stuck his hand in first, grabbing the first thing he touched, which just so happened to be the can of soda.
“Oh, shit. I’m taking this Jinu, thanks!”
Whatever. It was meant for him anyway.
Abby seemed to have noticed the bag of chips, as he pulled it out with a cheer. “I call dibs on the chips!”
“Hey! I want some too!” Baby reached for the chips, and the two of them started to get into some weird kind of dance in a fight for the chips.
God, he could feel the headache incoming.
So far though, none of them had seen the photocards, so maybe, just maybe, he’d be able to get away without them noticing-
“Are these… Huntrix photocards?”
The room fell silent.
Goddamnit. Fuck you, Mystery.
What the hell was he supposed to do now?
Romance darted over to the bag, grabbing and dumping everything onto the floor.
Fuck you too, Romance. That was expensive.
“Holy shit. It is. Why the hell are you buying these?”
He could feel the stares they were giving him, but he had no energy to say anything. All he did was lie face first on the floor and regret every decision he’s ever made.
“Not gonna say anything? He’s definitely guilty.” He heard Baby say, having moved from wherever he was with Abby to right next to him.
“Were you so desperate to see your girlfriend that you bought their photocards?” Abby said, with a stupid laugh that made Jinu want to punch him.
“She’s not my girlfriend! Stop saying that!”
“Oh, so now you wanna talk huh?”
“Shut up, Romance!”
“Can we open the cards?”
All eyes turned to Mystery. Again.
“Well, I don’t see why not. They’re already bought, anyway.”
Seriously, Romance. Shut up.
“I see a problem! They’re my cards!”
His protests did nothing as they all huddled together to watch Mystery open the pack.
He’ll definitely be upping the hours this week.
Even with his internal hatred, Jinu too joined to watch.
They all waited in anticipation as Mystery opened the pack, and started to reveal the cards.
The first card was of Mira. The photo was taken from a high up angle, wearing her signature outfit for the “Golden” release. She’s doing a peace sign, keeping her hand on her cheek. With the way she's angled her hand, you get a clear view of her nails. She isn’t even smiling, yet he could clearly picture fans going crazy over this card.
“The quality is really good.” Mystery observed, lightly swiping his thumb over the card.
“Lemme see!” Abby snatched the card from Mystery, not letting him say a single word as he stole it from his hands. He wasn’t even looking at the quality of the card, just staring at Mira. Damn hypocrite.
Mystery sighed before pulling out another card, this time it being Rumi. The angle was similar to Mira’s card, just more to the side. She looked to be wearing a plain white hoodie, but it was hard to make out with the way she was posed. Her hand was in the shape of a heart, pressed up against her cheek. She looked really, really cute.
“Just give that one to Jinu already. He’s been ogling at it the whole time.” Romance nudged Mystery, making his voice sound as bored as possible.
“I was not!”
“Here, Jinu.”
God give him strength.
How is he supposed to deal with these people everyday?
Still, he was slightly (just slightly!) grateful that they gave it to him. The card looked way better up close, and Mystery wasn’t lying about the quality. It’s obvious they put a lot of effort into these.
He placed it down gently on the floor, far enough away that it hopefully wouldn’t be crushed by any of them. Had he been alone, he would’ve asked the tiger or bird to keep it safe, but of course, his teammates can’t help being nosy.
He turned back to the unboxing session, noticing a Zoey card placed suspiciously close to Mystery on the floor. And they say I’m the only one crushing on a Huntrix member.
Actually, he just realized it, but Mystery wasn't opening the cards anymore.
Thats when he noticed. Baby was the one opening the packs now.
Oh god. Who let him do that?
He wasn’t even interested in the cards. Just took one look and tossed them to the side. All the while Romance and Mystery jumped around him, trying to catch the cards flying about. Someone seriously needs to take the pack away from Baby.
Looking around, all the members were busy. Abby was still admiring that card (how long is he going to stare at it?) while Romance and Mystery were hopping around like frogs.
Fine. He’ll do it himself then.
“Baby, give me the pack.”
“Hm? Why should I? You guys are way too slow.”
“And you’re way too fast! Look at Romance and Mystery, they’re practically flying trying to catch the cards!”
“Not my problem.”
“Just give it to me-”
He stretched his arm out to grab it, but Baby pulled away, scrunching his face at him.
Oh, this little-
He kept trying to take the cards, but everytime he got close, Baby would manage to slip his hand away.
Okay, fine. If he wants to be difficult, so can I.
“Ow ow ow! Stop pulling my hair!”
“Give me the pack then!”
“Why do you want it so bad?!”
“Because I paid for it, obviously!”
“Ugh, fine, fine, take it! And stop tugging my hair!” Baby almost whined, shoving the pack in Jinu’s hands.
Finally, he got the pack. That really shouldn’t have been so difficult.
He got up and dusted his clothes off, grabbing the plastic bag and picking up all the fallen packs. They better be worth all this struggle.
He was about to head back to his room, till he felt something grab onto his wrist.
“Where do you think you’re going, huh?” Romance said, holding onto his wrist even tighter.
“Back to my room. Where I should’ve been this whole time, if you guys hadn’t bothered me!”
“And let you open all those cards yourself? No way!” Romance stood up, still holding onto his wrist like a lifeline. “Open them here, with us!”
“What? Why should I?” He squinted his eyes at him. “I bought them for myself, remember.”
Mystery suddenly spoke up, somehow moving beside him without him even noticing. “You can’t let us only open one pack. Especially when you have, like, 20 more.”
“You didn’t even let us have a full pack, just half of one.” Baby shouted from the back.
What’s he complaining about? He doesn’t even want the cards!
He lurched forward slightly as he felt Abby sling an arm around his shoulder. “Come on, Jinu,” He could hear the irritating smile in his voice. “Won’t you share a bit with your group members, especially with how well we did on the “Soda Pop” promo?”
He watched how they all looked at him with expectant eyes.
He really wasn’t getting out of this one, huh.
“Fine.” Cheers resounded in his ears, coming from all 4 Saja Boys.
“But, you better not bend or rip any of them, or you have to pay me back the entire pack.”
“Yeah, yeah, we get it.” Romance waved him off calmly, already staring at the plastic bag holding the rest of the packs.
He sat down on the couch, with the rest huddling around and started to open the packs one by one.
And finally, after around 3 hours, they managed to get through all the packs and distribute them to everyone's liking. Mostly.
Abby and Romance had split up the Mira cards as evenly as they could (albeit they were still fighting over a few cards), Mystery had gotten the Zoey cards, and he had gotten the Rumi cards.
Baby, on the other hand, had a small pile of cards himself. They were all group cards with 2 or 3 members that they apparently were getting “too annoying over” and took it instead. He’s pretty sure he also took some Zoey cards when Mystery wasn’t looking.
All in all, the mission was pretty successful. Even if things went very off plan. He managed to get the cards he wanted, and the rest of the group is happy aswell.
He promptly ignored Baby muttering something about them not understanding what rival group means.