Chapter Text
Am I fucked? Yeah probably, this doesn’t seem like a joke anymore. Minseok sighed and bit into the gag placed between his teeth as he struggled again, trying his very best to get out of those stupid restraints he had been forced into. The last thing he remembered before he passed out and came to was telling the members he was going to whoop their ass after he got chosen as the member to get something from the convenience store across the street and then running out before he felt himself being pulled into one of the alleyways, thrown on the ground and wrestled for a good few mins before everything went black.
He thought it was a joke, even when he woke up in this strange dark room that smells like stale storeroom and dust bothering his nose. Even when he felt like he was going to cry from confusion and frustration of not being able to get up and run away. This must be a joke, he kept thinking. Maybe it was wooje revenging on him after he stole his food the other day before he started stream. Or maybe it was just oner wanting to laugh athis stupid frightened face and they were actually in some hidden room in the facility. Or maybe it was gumayusi’s way of punishing him after their little fight the other day over games and their relationship (something minseok prefer not to think about at the moment). But he knew none of them would go this far. None of them would punch him on the head and stomach and just leave him on a dirty floor. Alone. In the dark.
“Fuck.” Minseok gritted through his teeth. Means he was probably kidnapped. Ransom? Obsessed stalker? Who knows. Panic bubbled up within him now and then which he tried to keep at bay but the longer he struggled, the more tears started welling up in his eyes. Then the door creaked open.
.
.
.
.
“Yah, don’t you think he’s been gone for too long? It’s already been like 45 mins.” Wooje yelled from his streaming room.
“Who dyu think you’re yelling ‘yah’ to you brat,” Hyeonjun retorted but nonetheless turned to look at the clock, then the main door while Minhyung got up to look at the windows facing the convenience store. Wooje was probably right. It usually doesnt take this long to get food from convenience store. At most 15 minutes considering the store is just right in front of their building. The trio already had some suspicions when the latter didnt come back within those 15 minutes but they thought he probably was trolling them for being picked as the loser, or that he met a lucky fan on the street and was giving some fan service. But as the minutes ticked by, minhyung got increasingly worried, so did the other two who asked now and then for the smaller man’s presence only to discover the boy hasn’t arrived back yet. Minhyung, from the aftermath of their childish argument in their dorm apartment the other day, has been engaged in a mild silent war with the other too that was just getting better since they exchanged some words earlier tht day and promised to talk it out after the streams. Speaking of which, he smiled at his stream, not wanting to alarm the watchers with wooje’s words but silently opened up Minseok’s stream from his phone to check if the other had sneaked back without giving them notice so he can have all the food to himself. The broadcast room was empty, with the viewership slowly dwindling as some fans commented and asked where the support had gone to for so long. Minhyung raised an eyebrow and politely excused himself from his stream. He watched the chat for a little bit out of frame, noting that some of keria’s watchers had entered his stream and were asking if he knew where his support was. Minhyung sighed and made his way to the other two rooms, peeking in briefly before walking down to the manager’s room.
“Becker hyung, have u seen minseok come back?”
The manager, who had been lightly napping, opened his eyes and shook his head. “I didn’t see him come back and i didn’t hear the door open or anything either. Why?”
“Oh nothing i guess. He just left about 45 mins ago to the convenience store but hasn’t come back yet. I know i shouldn’t be worried but Minseokie’s not irresponsible to be gone so long during stream. “
The manager sat up straighter and stretched as he stood up. “Has he ended stream? It’s already past 3 hours.”
“No he left the stream open. I just checked a few minutes ago.”
The manager raised his eyebrows and nodded as he walked forward. Both of them looked at each other solemnly. They didnt want to admit it, but something probably felt amiss.
“Let’s wait 15 more minutes ok? If hes not back past the hour mark, we’ll end streams and go look for him.”
Minhyung nodded and headed back, passing on the message to the other two. He prayed hard in his mind that the boy was playing some elaborate prank or somehow got lost in his own neighbourhood. But the 15 minutes flew by and past an hour, minseok’s whereabouts were still unknown. Minhyung tried to look normal on stream but couldnt hide his worry.
“Sorry guys, just felt really tired all of a sudden afterwards. I’m going to end today now, thanks so much for joining me tonight.” and with that, he snapped his screen shut and made his way to the minseok’s room. The manager was already there, turning off the stream.
“What did u tell them?” Minhyung asked as they headed down the hallway, grabbing their jackets.
“Stomach problems. Always works. And there weren’t many viewers left anyways.”
Minhyung nodded before they were joined by hyeonjun and wooje. They mildly joked around, unserious as they were, trying to lighten the mood and situation but anyone could tell they felt uncomfortable as well. Minhyung tried to give calls to minseok’s phone a few times since it wasn’t in the streaming room but it all ended with going to voicecall, that’s weird too. Minyhyung thought maybe it was just minseok ignoring him so he got the others to call, even the managers and the coaches, but none of them could get through. Now that’s certainly alarming. Minseok never somehow missed calls especially from the managers or in fact, disappear from the stream for more than a few minutes.
“Hyung, im worried.” Wooje suddenly said after the group broke up to find minseok in the neighbourhood.
Minhyung didn't reply but nodded. He patted Wooje on the back, sensing their maknae was feeling slightly on edge with how serious his hyungs were becoming.
“Me too. Where could this idiot have gone to? I swear if he’s at some bar or something, he’s going to get it from all of us.” Hyeonjun huffed as they shuffled to the convenience store.
“Minseok’s isn’t someone like that, you know that.” Minhyung replied, sounding a little harder that he wanted to be which prompted a quick apology from the other.
They entered the store and asked the worker there if they had seen minseok, along with a description and photo.
“No i didn’t see him come through. U can ask the other person before me as well, he wasn’t here.”
The three thanked the store clerk and left, standing outside the convenience store dumbly.
“What the fuck is going on right now?” Hyeonjun asked. The gravity of the situation suddenly felt a little serious now. Minseok hadn’t even gone into the convenience store. Then where the hell is he?
As they waited nervously outside the building, constantly calling minseok’s handphone which only gave way into voicemail, the manager’s team came back. Minhyung quickly counted the number of people. No short bobbing figure, no minseok. Shit.
“No one saw him around either, hes not in restaurants or stores. We’ll request for cctv footage around this area so just sit tight alright.”
The trio nodded and were ushered back into the building where they huddled together. Another voice interrupted them.
“What’s going on/? Someone fill me in right now.”
Sanghyeok. The trio almost cried from seeing their reliable older brother walking towards them, still in his puffer jacket after coming back from a long schedule before. Hyeonjun took the liberty of telling him what happened and Sanghyeok sat silently through it. They thought he’d give words of comfort or perhaps that everything was going to be ok, but the elder himself didn’t look too sure about what to think of this situation.
Right now it has already been over 2 hours since minseok was last seen. 2 hours of unaccountability. That's a long time for something serious to happen.
“My most optimistic thought I can give you right now is that he probably injured himself somewhere out there… but that doesn't explain why no one can find him for so long…” Sanghyeok trailed off. It wasn’t common to see him lose composure and this in turn, made the younger three felt even more panicked. But the older one calmed them immediately. “For now, all we can do is keep calling him.”
Everyone nodded and took their phones out. Minhyung was about to call minseok again when a message suddenly popped into this phone from… minseok
“He just texted me.” he said, but there was no relief or in fact any emotions in his voice. He stared wide eyed at his phone while the other 3 stared at his reaction. Something was wrong with that reaction thats for sure.
“What did he say? Is he ok?”
“I-i dont-”
Hyeonjun clicked his tongue and wrestled the phone out of Minhyung’s hands, the bigger males eyes still fixated on his empty hands now, breathing getting heavier and heavier. Sangheok and wooje huddled around hyeonjun who tapped back into the chat room and also froze.
“Wooje.” Sangkyeok spoke, voice stoic but quavered. “Call the manager right now. Tell him it’s an emergency.”
Staring right back at them through the phone is a picture of minseok on his knees in a dimly lit room, blood running down the side of this forehead, eyes unfocused and wet hair plastered to his forehead, his head held back painfully by a masked figure with a knife in his hands.