Supernerd! MARK

30 | finally there

After all, he's the person that even got us into this mess in the first place.

"Yena doesn't know anything, but notice how she's not as nosey as you, Cherry?" At this point, the four of us are standing by the side of the hallway, Haechan leaning against the wall next to him. "I've just been helping my brother out with his investigation. He doesn't like to admit it, but I'm the best hacker he knows."

"I thought you said he wasn't your brother," I mumble, and Haechan glares at me.

"Priorities, Yena!" He groans before turning to Chaerin. "That's it, okay? I had no idea the drug had reached our campus, though. Anyway, this isn't even important! Is no one gonna bring up how Mark and Yena are literally holding hands right now?"

"Dude, no one cares about Mark and Yena! Especially not when you literally just exposed yourself as some illegal government hacker! Who even are you?!" She snaps, and while Haechan's statement did make me flush momentarily, I'm relieved that Chaerin doesn't dwell on it.

"Why the hell would I tell you that? You don't even know the basic things about me! What's my favourite flower?"

"Sunflower!" She yells back, and the two escalate into yet another pointless argument.

I groan, Mark letting out a deep sigh.

"Let's just go. They wouldn't notice that we're gone until they're done, anyways," Mark murmurs, and I waste no time in agreeing with him.

🕸️

"Does Haechan's brother know about your identity?" I ask Mark as we sit side by side at his usual place atop the hill.

"Nope. Doyoung hyung goes to him for help sometimes when the resources in the SPD just aren't cutting it, so most of the time he just disregards Haechan's doings as him being curious, that's all." Mark leans back on his palms, keeping his gaze trained on the city lights below us. "It just gets on his nerves when Haechan ends up being a step ahead of him without bothering to inform him."

"But I mean, wouldn't it raise suspicion now that he knows we know about Nakamoto Yuta? And about Chaerin, too. What are you gonna do about that?" I insist on asking.

"Which is why I can't go to the police with the information I have about Neo Osaka. They'd only put two and two together, and they'd find out who I really am. As for Chaerin... I don't know. You know I think we should just tell her, right?"

As much as Mark tells me that it's okay, I, for some reason, am adamant on keeping his secret. It's not like I don't trust Chaerin, of course— I just know letting another person in on the secret would only be risky, what more with Neo Seoul hot on our tails.

"What are you gonna do now? You can't take down a drug house if they don't have a drug house."

"There's a window for when they would bring in the next shipment of Gold Dust. I just need to figure out their schedule— though with Nakamoto Yuta now in Seoul, I'm not sure if I already missed it. Only then would I be able to lead the police to their storage unit, catch Nakamoto Yuta red-handed, and let them deal with the factory in Osaka."

I nod, agreeing with his plan for the first time.

"You know we still have Lee Taeyong's number, right? We could use that to our advantage," I remind him. "Look, before you get mad, just hear me out, alright? I could pretend to want to buy the drugs from him, and that could lead him to the cargo port if he doesn't have any on hand. And if he just so happens to run out of stock, at least we could have a gauge on when the next shipment would be due," I propose.