“Oh yeah. Well, he can catch up with us when he’s done.”
“You babies shouldn’t be here. I was just telling you the situation, you didn’t need to join in.”
“Shut up, Jungwoo. We can help Ari escape, too. We’re more qualified since we didn’t betray him like you did.”
“I didn’tbetray—”
“Et tu, Jungwoo?”
“Yeah, spoken like a true traitor.”
“But for real,” said Jesse, “no fighting! Hyung, it’s better if we all go. More of us for them to worry about.”
It’s better if we all go. A crazy thought slotted itself into the half-formed plan coming together in Eunjae’s head.
In the stairwell, Nick shouted down at them from the fifth floor landing. He’d taken the stairs from the start, as was his habit most mornings. He was on his way to meet Kazu at the gym on the ground floor when Jungwoo’s texts popped up. “Brisbane? Has Yoon lost his shit completely?”
“Ari really pissed him off. Never thought I’d see the day.”
“Like we’d ever let them take hyung back to his horrible parents,” Jesse huffed, taking the concrete steps by twos like a lunatic.
Kei had made a very good point when he brought up the intense endurance contest that was their four-song marathon at the Golden Disc awards last December. What ordinary cardio workout could compare with singing and dancing for fifteen minutes straight, all kitted out in leather pants and full makeup? Running from a bunch of company goons was nothing.
Yes, this was the easy part. It would only get worse from here. And yet, Eunjae wasn’t half as worried as he probably should be. Perhaps the fear would hit him later, all at once like a slap to the face. But for now, his brothers were here. How could anything seem insurmountable for long? They had a knack for making him feel that way.
Apollo was magic, too.
Kazu met them in the empty courtyard. Together, they dashed for the back gate and split up, reconvening at a hole-in-the-wall noodle place down the block. At a signal from Nick, who had called ahead, the owner shunted them inside. Drapes were yanked shut and face masks passed around. This wasn’t her first time colluding with them.
“The goddamn wind sprints are finally paying off,” rasped Max. He sagged against Eunjae, downing a glass of water provided by their kindly collaborator. She even brought some towels to mop up the sweat they’d worked up on the way there.
“Ajumma,” Nick hollered into the back room, “I think you need a new Hermès scarf to go with that apron. I’ve got you.”
“You’re too much, Nicky!”
“What’s the plan?” Kazu demanded. He pointed to a tower faced in mirrored glass. It loomed on the skyline, the top just barely visible through a gap in the flowered curtains. “I can get a helicopter to the roof of that hotel over there, but I need to call for it right now if you want it to be waiting for you when you get there.”
Jesse gawked at him. “That’s one ofyourhotels? I thought it was a Hilton!”
“You can get me a helicopter?”
“My aunt decided to invest in a company that does helicopter tours of Seoul.”
“Gross! How do I always forget that Kazu’s from some millionaire family in Tokyo?” groaned Max.
“It’s because Grandpa Zuzu acts like spending money is the same as bleeding actual blood. Like one pint of blood for every hundred won.”
“Yeah, hyung doesn’t act like a normal filthy rich chaebol man at all. Well, except for the clothes, I guess.”
Kei threw his hands up in the air. “What clothes? Do you ever see him wearing the expensive clothes? We’re all just lucky we caught him before he ripped off his shirt at the gym this morning.”
“YA! I’d have clothes to wear if some of you could quit robbing my closet! And there’s nothing wrong with being frugal!”
Kazu’s roaring scattered his critics to the four winds. He turned to Eunjae again, steam still pouring out of both ears. “So? How are you getting out of here? The helicopter can get you wherever you want to go in the city, and Emerald will have a hard time chasing you that way. Seoul’s huge. It’s easy enough to disappear for a day or two once they’ve lost your trail, so long as you don’t go out much. Personally, I’d leave the country again. They’d hate that.”
“Don’t let them win, my son,” said Nick, making a mess of Eunjae’s hair. “Leader-nim said to tell you the same thing.”
“Actually,” Jungwoo corrected him, “the text saysWe’re winners in this family so get up and start winning before you embarrass me, with five exclamation points.”
