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The computer systems student turns the corner, rapidly. He yanks a frayed navy hood up and over his head.

He's spent the last class hour skimming through news updates on the Pluto Rooms case whenever his professor isn't paying attention.

Countless headlines such as Millions Hacked in Love Game Over the Weekend, and Pluto Rooms About to Crash and Burn? have him smiling sinisterly. If only his mother and father were around to see how famous he's become overnight! This act of vengeance has placed him in the spotlight, and he never wants to let it go.

He wanders to the school cafeteria, searching for a quiet place to settle down and monitor his assets. If he really wants to get under the skin of Pluto Rooms' CEOs, he'll have a chance soon. He's been planning the barrage of a different server related to the matchmaking game, which will predominantly affect Sperosity's tech market.

As he goes to sit down at an empty red table, away from the other students, something flashes in the corner of his eye. It's a watch. Not just any watch, but a silver watch that glimmers in the early morning light falling through the campus windows. It blinds him briefly; he lifts a hand to block out the direct hit of rays.

"Need help cracking the code?" He hears vague chatter. "I know someone who could help. You know the girl who did that presentation...?"

He grimaces, lifting his hand. The owner of the watch is nowhere to be found. The person chatting sits at a nearby red table, speaking into their computer screen over video call. He can't make out the face of the owner.

It gets him thinking. He pages through more search results of Pluto Rooms news. He's about to quit his searching when a headline catches his eye.

"PLUTO ROOMS CEOS MISSING. SUSPECTED KIDNAPPING. IF YOU HAVE ANY INFORMATION..."

His eyes widen. Has someone beat him to the prize?

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.

.

"Damn. You smell good."

"Shut up. We have to look desperate and sad. This ransom video needs to be realistic."

Jimin squints into the obnoxiously bright fluorescent lights mutilating his pupils. "Help. Ah. I am sad and afraid. But this dude next to me smells like he ate candles for breakfast and passes a lot of scented gas. Cinnamon apple flavor or something. Why do you smell so good, Kook?"

"You two are disgusting." Naomi, sitting in the corner of the room staged for the kidnapping, crosses her arms.

"Must be the pheromones excreted in my sweat." Jungkook watches as a group of contractors shuffle past their spot in a tied up heap on a floor purposely made to look dingy and isolated. "I mean, we are tied up. Usually when I have the rope out we're doing...different things."

"Mmm." Jimin rubs his palms together, trying to erase the dirty thoughts flooding in his mind. "That's a lovely thought, but I don't need a boner captured on this ransom video. What will they think then? That we were kidnapped by some sex master who makes us fuck on camera?"

An intentionally loud grating sound captures their attention. 

Jungkook clears his throat, examining the source of the noise with barely concealed teenage embarrassment. Naomi releases a puff of air and grates her chair back into place.

"They're ready for you." Naomi gives them a stern look, which melts into inquisitiveness. "How can you two be so nonchalant about this? Your company's future is on the line."

"Because," Jimin surveys the room for the answer, "Of him."

Naomi follows his gaze to Lionel, who stands authoritatively by the door of the large room speaking to what appears to be a cameraman. In a matter of seconds, the cameraman calls over a few technicians who all wear the same, slate-colored outfit and tool belts. Lionel speaks with each of them in turn, meeting their gaze with composed gestures. Since meeting Lionel, Jungkook and Jimin have grown somewhat used to the stares that this little boy attracts from those who work with him. Their Pluto Rooms passe all agree that the child is some sort of prodigy...or the result of some mad neuroscience experiment supplanting Genghis Khan's brain inside an embryo's cranial cavity...

"All righty then!" Resounds within the room, sounding like ol raity ven to Jimin's ears. "Let us proceed with the taping. Jungkook and Jimin, attempt to feign trepidation or reveal some aspect of an agitated sympathetic nervous system." Lionel confronts Jimin. "You, the actor, should be marvelous at this role. It cannot be far from your initial negative feelings at the budding of this unfortunate event, correct?"

Jimin blinks. "Uh, yes."

"As expected." Lionel gingerly climbs a ladder at the far end of the room that gives him a high perspective over the set. "Hmm. Tech crew, please adjust the height of that light---yes, there. We don't want to look like we are filming a well-financed musical video. And fix the brown makeup on Jimin's left cheek. That is not blended proficiently and reflects a sort of intentional sporty look rather than a helpless one."

"Yes, sir."

"And." Lionel licks his lips. "Would someone see to a water for me?"

After all of the tasks are unfixed and depolished, Lionel cues the camera into action. He sips his water intensely, analyzing the scene as it unfolds in front of him. 

Jimin gives the camera a grave look, one he has practiced many times for his various roles in horror movies, chick flics, and daytime television series. Out of the corner of his eye, he can see Jungkook doing the same thing, pinching his brows together in a pantomime of fear.

Suddenly, a booming voice sounds from behind camera. Lionel auditioned the hired staff and chose the technician with the deepest vocal range to speak (as well as one who could voice act pretty well to disguise his real voice). Jungkook flinches even though they rehearsed this a few times already.

"LISTENERS, LOOK AT HOW PATHETIC THESE PLUTO ROOMS CEOS ARE!" 

Jimin notices Lionel's unmoving stare at their faces, searching for any discontinuity in their expressions. 

"THESE TWO ARE LOCATED IN PRIVATE LOCATION. NO AMOUNT OF TRACKING WILL BE ABLE TO FIND THEM, SO DO NOT TRY. IF ANY POLICE  FORCE OR PRIVATE INVESTIGATIVE GROUP TRIES TO LOCATE THEM, THEN LETHAL MEASURES WILL BE TAKEN. THESE CEOS WILL BE KILLED. OUR RULES ARE NONNEGOTIABLE."

Jungkook winces. Jimin wiggles in his constraints, rubbing against ground meant to look like cement. The fluorescent lights sting his eyes. 

"IF YOU WANT YOUR CEOS FREED, THEN THE SPEROSITY FOUNDATION MUST PAY US THE COMBINED NET WORTH OF THESE TWO CEOS."

Inside Jimin's mind, despite the circumstances: I am priceless, honey. Y'all can't buy this sweet ass.

"SINCE WE ARE THE HACKERS THAT BROKE INTO PLUTO ROOMS, WE WILL ALSO UNLOCK THE GAME AND GIVE BACK USER INFORMATION ONCE THIS MONEY IS PAID IN FULL TO US."

Lionel blinks. Jimin wonders if they're selling this performance.

"Please." Jungkook gets his cue from a tech and begins to beg. "Don't do this to the foundation. We'll pay you personally, just-"

"SHUT YOUR MOUTH OR WE'LL SHOOT!" 

Off camera, a tech cocks a fake gun next to the camera. The sound is uncannily familiar to Jimin, who has dealt with so many during film shootings. Despite being fake, it makes his blood freeze to ice. What if this was actually happening to Jungkook and I?

Jungkook nods weakly at the camera, widening his eyes for special effect. A nervous grimace flits across his lips. 

"YOU HAVE TWENTY FOUR HOURS TO NOTIFY US OF YOUR MOTIVE." The voice booms into the camera.

Jimin clutches Jungkook tighter. With each subsequent squeeze, he wills the hacker to come forward and make his move. No hacker enjoys when their limelight is stolen. Especially when is it done in such an elaborate, dramatic way as a kidnapping and ransom on live television.

As the red, blinking light on the camera in front of them shuts off, Jimin breaks into a smile. This will lead our culprit right to us...

/

/

AN/

Ummm..!!!

Hi everyone! It's izzy. Remember me? I like, write and stuff. I haven't been active in so long, due to huge life changes! But all of them have been for the better. Outside of WP I have been writing and researching a lot. 

I can't make promises on my writing schedule, but I have to admit that I really really miss writing these kinds of stories. This was a short chapter but I just needed to put something out! Bc I haven't in so so long. 

ALSO! Hi! How are you doing! Long time no see, lovely reader. I hope you haven't been stung by any cranky wasps recently. >:( (Just a couple days ago a mean one stung me on my kayak! Grrr!!!)

Okay peace out friends. Great to write to you all again :O

Izzy.