[TW: abuse]
"..." Haneul stopped by the end of the dark hallway. Compared to the rest of the venue, this place was dead silent and no one was around, well, unless they had some business to be here and in that case, it was easy to tell. She turned around, now looking back down the corridor, "You can come out now, teacher."
"Looks like the princess is still as observant as ever, what a surprise," a harsh clap paired with hard footsteps sounded as the researcher emerged from the dark, "I would've guess after what you did you wouldn't want to face your past."
"You're the one that doesn't want to face the past."
"Ha! You little brat--"
"That's enough."
They both paused as another voice spoke. A man in black stood by a door, his face expressionless despite his warning tone. The researcher stared at him quietly then walked to his side.
"I apologise for my employee's rudeness," the man extended his hand towards her, "I'm Han Sangwon. You must be miss Mun?"
"What do you want?"
"Don't be so alarmed, we simply wanted to get your attention."
"There are easier ways to do that without putting my employees in danger."
"Again, you have my sincerest apologies. Now with all that aside, would you care to spare a few minutes to listen to what I have to say?"
"Ha, no thank you. You don't get a pass for almost killing someone with a simple apology."
"Well, what I have to tell you is something more than beneficial to yourself."
"That may work on someone like him," she nodded at the researcher, "but I'm not that naïve. I hope you have a bad rest of your evening." She mockingly smiled as she turned away.
"It's regarding --"
The silence enclosed them once again as she stopped. A feeling so overwhelming that it made her want to throw up came over her. The curse of the past had caught up.
Huh? Walking back around the venue to kill time, Kei stopped as a notification came from his phone. But the strange thing was he always had it on silent. The only way some thing like this could happen was if someone had deliberately messed with his phone. When he pulled it out of his pocket, an unfamiliar app was open with a tracker that showed he was in the same building as a target, though it didn't specify who the target was. Kei furrowed his brows as a call by Mii came through.
"What?" He answered bluntly.
"We lost Haneul."
"What? What do you mean you lost her?"
"I can't get her phone signal or anything anywhere."
"... Is what's on my screen where her phone was last pinned?"
"Yes, but we don't know if she's even still in the building. Yuu will work the top floor down, we need you and Hyunwoo to do the bottom two. Lu will check the other places she's likely to be at."
With that, Mii hung up. Kei bit his lips and turned back to where Hyunwoo was, but he was already gone. Anxious, he quickly messaged him and received his prize in return. Haneul's exact location. At least from what she had sent Hyunwoo.
When he slammed the door open to the room that hid just out of sight on the second floor, Kei felt his head start to spin as he made eye contact with the man in a lab coat. In that split second, it was like all the years he had spent trying to forget everything was just a delusional act. Contrary to what he wanted to believe and to what he wanted her to believe, Kei couldn't handle the core of his trauma.
The man who was slouched over with boredom suddenly lit up as he saw the red hair. His guinea pig had came back home willingly. The researcher took a step forward but couldn't go on as an external force stopped him. His eyes turned to the girl sat on the couch and frowned. Her light brown eyes that had a dim glow in them faded as he backed up.
Haneul turned back to the man who was sat in front of her that Kei didn't even notice was staring him down.
"You can see my concern here right, mister Han?"
"..." The man stared at her silently. He tilted his chin down before giving a small nod. "Very well. But do keep our proposal in mind."
He stood up from his seat as the researcher followed closely behind. Kei kept his eyes on the ground as they passed him, unable to move until he couldn't hear them anymore.
"Kei..." Haneul stood up slowly.
He looked at her horrified. His mouth agape like he was looking at a completely different person. "What is wrong with you?"
"I... I needed to confirm something."
"What? What did you need to confirm? That he was still alive? Was Kang Seojun almost getting killed by him not enough proof for you? Was that... fucking chemical he made from..."
"That's not it!" She yelled. Haneul took a deep breath then walked towards him, shock spreading on her face as Kei took a step back, refusing contact between them. "You..."
He scoffed, "I shouldn't have believed it when you said you would save me." His face that usually kept it's composure weakened it's defence, this time it was honest, anyone can see the look that said the safety nets were shaking and his world was falling apart.
She looked away and sat back down, her back facing him so she couldn't see his hurt expression. "Sit down. I'll explain everything if you let me."
-
Sat in the seminar room, Seojun felt a weird sense of discomfort like he was being pushed into an unfamiliar environment, despite the fact this wasn't a foreign place and he had spent hours there before, it seemed like the life he was so used to had started to look weird.
"You are aware I will have to report this to your parents, right, Seojun?" His tutor glanced at him worriedly.
Seojun nodded. She sighed as he handed her the application form back, now all filled out and signed. Seojun felt a pitiful gaze from her before she turned to her computer to enter in the final details. As much as she tried to hide it, it was obvious what she was thinking; what a wasted potential. He didn't understand why. His application didn't mean he wasn't coming back, he just needed time to figure things out, what was wrong with that?
It's not like I'm giving up on everything.
Hyunwoo stood outside waiting for him with his face in his phone. Scrolling through social media, he would open his messaging app every now and then to check the message history under 'Jiwoo', sighing internally each time. He knew it was useless because he had practically never received a response, but just on the off chance he did, he had to see it as soon as he could.
"Oh," he looked up as the door opened, "all done?"
"Mhm," Seojun pressed his lips together, forcibly forming a smile.
Hyunwoo stopped himself as he swung his arm over Seojun, he stopped in motion for a second before lowering it and putting his hands in his pocket to stop himself from trying to touch him. "What do you want to eat?"
"Soup dumplings," Seojun replied without thinking.
"Let's go then, I know a good place nearby."
Hyunwoo looked back at him as he stopped unexpectedly and tilted his head. "What's wrong?"
"Ah..." Seojun blinked dumbfoundedly as if he didn't think Hyunwoo would agree then chuckled. "Nothing. I was just thinking about something."
Maybe I made the right decision.
"Kang Seojun?"
Having barely taken a few steps, a voice called out from behind them, making the two turn their heads simultaneously. Seojun's iris expanded as he recognised the man; even without Hyunwoo using capillary perception, he could see the apparent blood rush to Seojun's cheeks. His brows furrowed as Seojun replied in a gentle tone.
"Hyung."
The guy walked up to them, a smile on his face that battled with his weak and tired eyes. "I thought it was you. I heard you took a semester off."
"Yeah, I wanted a little break."
"I'm glad…" he seemed more relieved as he heard the reason. "Don't push yourself too hard."
"Of course, when did you come back?"
"A week ago, the anxiety was starting to eat at me." He forced a small laugh. Noticing the questioning look from Hyunwoo, he quickly excused himself. "I need to get going but it's good to see you. Stay healthy."
Being dropped off after spending half the day with Hyunwoo, Seojun felt surprisingly childish when he wished their time together wouldn't end so soon. But he didn't say anything. On the off chance more people were home than he had anticipated and to avoid being seen by Jia again, he had Hyunwoo park somewhere else despite however much the other had insisted on dropping him all the way home. But once he had reached the gate, he regretted it. There was no escape now. Seojun's hands hesitated as he stared at the car parked in front of the house before pushing it open.
They're back.
His parents that usually weren't home during the day were waiting inside. He knew his tutor would contact them about his year off but not this soon, he thought he at least had a bit of time to prepare himself before facing the consequences. Seojun took a deep breath before entering the house.
His father that had stood by the doorway immediately grabbed him by his hair and dragged him to the other end of the house. At this point he was used to it, his legs automatically followed as they headed to the study, stopping as the hand finally shook him off.
He jolted as a glass vase was thrown on the ground, the sound of it shattering into pieces pierced through his ears that had to endure more auditory torture as all the awards and trophies on the shelves came crashing down. Once the final award broke, his father turned to him. Seojun didn't dare raise his eyes to meet the angered man. He kept quiet, hoping he could just disappear right there and then. But that was wishful thinking. He felt himself struggle against being pulled to the desk sat on the end of the room, before he knew it, his vision had turned hazy as his eyes just about missed the sharp wooden edge and his head smashed against it. Kang Seojun felt an agonising pain spreading from the side of his head as he collapsed on the ground.
It... hurts.
…I want to...
Hearing a loud thud, Jia quickly looked up from her book and slowly took her headphones off. As the sound of stomping faded away and disappeared after the front door slammed shut, she quickly got up and left her room.
Jia carefully tiptoed to the end of the hallway and froze as she saw the sight in the study. Her body trembled, her eyes unable to look away no matter how much she wanted them to. Kang Jia gritted her teeth and mustered all her strength before her legs could go completely numb and rushed towards Seojun. She knelt down besides him but realised she was helpless when she saw the amount of blood on the floor. Jia felt as if she was the child who couldn't do anything but watch as pieces of her brother were torn away again.
"No no… please, Oppa, wake up, you're just playing right?" Her eyes shook as she felt her heart speed up. "Please... please.." Kang Jia clasped her hands together and squeezed her eye shut, praying to any god out there that would listen to her to save Seojun.