He woke up as soon as he heard the bathroom door open. Even though he was expecting them to bring breakfast, he jumped up as quickly as possible. He realized his headache was gone. Probably, he was out of the woods. Jiyong didn't move so quickly, though. He grunted and looked up to Jiho from the floor. His bruised and sleepy face gave him a unusual rough look.
Jiho's attention was drawn back towards the door, when two men entered, both dressed in functional, worn-out clothes. As before, one pointed a gun at them.
Jiho immediately realized they weren't here to bring them food.
Instead, the unarmed man, the stronger of the two, grabbed him gruffly by his upper-arm and lugged him out of the room. The other guy only brandished his gun. Jiho didn't resist, he just managed to exchange a look with Jiyong over his shoulder to make sure the armed guy would leave him alone.
Jiyong looked scared, and when the bathroom door closed between them, Jiho felt all alone again. Fear rose up from his stomach and lingered in his throat, making it hard to breathe and difficult not to choke at it. What were they up to?
They guided him through the cellar, which basically was only a hallway from their prison. He was pushed up some stairs. They didn't stop on the ground floor but made for the second floor instead. Just like Jiyong had told him.
The kidnappers remained silent the whole time, apart from a “Don't drag your feet, just move your , idiot!” when Jiho hesitated on the ground floor.
Maybe three minutes after leaving Jiyong, Jiho was pushed into a chair which looked and felt like it would collapse any minute in a dusty room, empty except for a camera, a table covered with maps of south-eastern asia and another masked man.
He was standing behind the camera in front of a window and was the slenderest of them. The camera was nothing fancy, something you would use for recording your holiday with. Jiho couldn't see outside the window – only a big chimney towered into his sight. So this seemed to be the same room they put Jiyong in yesterday.
The bulky figure of one of the kidnappers barred his view.
Jiho swallowed and looked up to him. He could only see his eyes, the rest of the kidnapper's head was covered in a black mask.
“Soooo...”, the man said, his voice sounding muffled behind the cloth. “You caused us a lot of trouble, dip. You know, we needed to figure out who you were first, before we could calculate how much we wanted for you.” With these words, he shoved a cardboard sign into Jiho's hands.
Jiho couldn't help but look surprised. This sounded indeed like they took him by mistake.
“Your dressing room was supposed to be GD's.”, they man continued. “They changed it just before you guys arrived at the location. We had already started the operation when we found out.“
 Jiho heard the fourth man enter behind him.
“Yeah, but relax, brother.“ Jiho listened up. “I got G-Dragon in the end, as my boss hadn't deleted my password for the computers yet.“
“Shut up!“, the man in front of Jiho hissed, his eyes burning with anger and he quickly gave Jiho a look.
“Very unfortunate for you, Zico.“ The guy with the gun spoke for the first time. “If you hadn't been there, we wouldn't have taken you. We were only after GD at first.”
Jiho's heart sank with annoyance. So he was here basically because of an unlucky coincidence? The urge to kick something rose inside him and he clenched his teeth.
The man seemed to grin at him. “Tough for you, good for us!”
The guy with the gun grabbed Jiho's hair from behind and pulled sharply until he moaned in pain.
“Don't think we'll go easy on you, just because you're our guest 'by accident'! We can hurt you as bad as-” He was interrupted by the guy behind the camera.
“Leave him be Hyung! You don't want to harm his head again, do you? You already almost knocked him out when we took him! He's worth nothing if we cause serious damage on him! Idiot! He still needs to recover.”
Jiho sighed in relief when the strain on his head was released. He didn't want to, but felt gratitude for the slender guy who had prepared the camera.
Finally, someone with some sense...
However, his feelings of thankfulness were destroyed quickly when the guy added: “You can still break his legs or ribs if you need to, Hyung. Zico won't be going anywhere soon anyways.”
Jiho stared at them in shock, while all four of them burst into laughter.
His body felt numb.
When they payed more attention to the camera than him, his thoughts started cycling.
Jiyong and him, they were barely toys, completely at the mercy of four crooks. Crooks with a good plan. He wondered if they intended on leaving the country as soon as they got their money. These guys weren't criminal rookies, they knew what they were doing. And they seemed to be related... the two older guys were brothers, and the slender guy and the aggressive one with the gun...
Jiyong and him could look for a chance to escape, but there were scarcely any. Not as long as they were locked in that cellar.
Jiho jumped a little when they suddenly pulled him up again, interrupting his thoughts. Seemingly they were already done with the pictures. Surprisingly quick, but he would be the last to complain about this.
The younger kidnappers brought him back, almost pushed him back down the stairs and ordered him to go faster all the time. When they reached the first floor, Jiho briefly wondered whether he could just storm down the dark and dusty hallway. He couldn't see far, as the windows were blocked. Since his arms weren't bound, he could've given it a try if his guards had been unarmed.
Moments later, they pushed him into the bathroom and Jiho made for the door Jiyong was behind, but they held him back.
“You won't go back in there!” With these words, the small kidnapper opened the third door to the bathroom, which had been locked until now. Hesitating, Jiho went inside the room behind it.
They're separating us now?
He received a painful stab in the back with the barrel, someone switched on the light, then the door was locked behind him.
“You're allowed to shower in the evening!”, one of them bellowed through the door, then they were gone.

His new prison was smaller than the other one and the ceiling was lower. There was no sink in it, and with a shiver Jiho realized that he would die of thirst so easily if their kidnappers decided to flee from this place or if they forgot him. He paced the room, but there was nothing – nothing but a few dead spiders. Concrete walls, concrete floor and ceiling with a flickering lamp.
The door was as solid as the other ones. He pressed his ear to it and tried to hear anything.
Silence.
Only his own breath.
It was unnerving.
He started beating the door.
“Hyung, can you hear me? Jiyong! Please answer!”
He waited. Shivers ran down his spine as nothing happened. He could feel the empty room behind him and throbbed the door until his fists hurt.
“Jiyong!”, he screamed on top of his lungs. “Please! I'll go crazy inside here alone!”
He stopped, catching his breath and rubbing his hands.
A distant pounding grabbed his attention and he stared at the door, really hard, as if his gaze could pierce it. Yeah, there also was a faint voice. From across the bathroom.
Jiyong was answering, calling his name! Asking whether Jiho was alright and where he was.
Jiho dropped to the floor in relief. The sound of another human being beyond that bathroom reassured him enough to regain his composure.
He shouted back that he was in the next room and okay.
Maybe he wasn't able to talk to Jiyong. Maybe he wouldn't see him again, at least not that soon. But knowing that he was there and able to hear Jiho was enough. He sighed and calmed down a bit.
Some time later, someone entered the bathroom and unlocked Jiyong's door, before leaving again, locking the bathroom behind them.
Jiho listened closely. Had they brought some food to Jiyong? He felt he was hungry and wondered if he would receive any food today – he still hadn't had breakfast.
A few moments later, he heard reluctant steps inside the bathroom. Then a faint knocking on his door.
“Jiho?” It was Jiyong. “Are you okay? What did they want?” Jiyong tried to open the door, but it was still locked.
“I'm fine!”, Jiho replied through the door, on his knees, facing the door's surface. “They brought me up to the second floor to take my photo. They finished very quickly, actually. I think they know what they're doing. And I found out that they're related. And I saw some maps on a table. I think they're planning how to get away after this.”
Jiho realized that he hadn't paid attention to what amount of money they actually wanted for him. But it actually didn't matter, did it?
“So you're unhurt?”, Jiyong sounded relieved. “Is there another door inside your room? Did they tell you anything?”
“Here's nothing – there isn't even any water! And they told me they were only after you at first. They took me by accident, because they mistook my dressing room for yours after the organizer changed the rooms last-minute!”
New despair rose inside Jiho. They could've both evaded the kidnapping – just if one of them had decided to visit a bandmember or go to the toilet... Or if the organizer had changed the schedule of the gigs...
“They didn't beat me because of my concussion, but they said they would break my legs or similar.”, he added reluctantly. “I think they're dangerous, we must be careful.” His voice died off, the last sentence had been unnecessary. As if Jiyong didn't know that himself.
After a short pause, the only answer Jiho got was: “Make sure to drink plenty of water when they let you into the bathroom!”
Jiho nodded in agreement even though Jiyong couln't see him.

It became a very long day without any food or drink. Communication with Jiyong was also impossible as soon as the older had been locked up again, as they could only scream against locked doors to hear each other. So Jiho spent the constricting hours alternating between sitting, dozing, talking to himself and making up conversations in his mind to pretend not being alone. He paced the room or did push-ups when the panic came back. He didn't really get why a simple, empty room unsettled him so much, but he guessed it was because this wasn't some random cellar but his prison in a frigging kidnapping.
Finally, the noise of the bathroom doors announced someone coming in and Jiho tensed up. When he heard them open Jiyong's door first, but locking it again after a few seconds, he calmed down a bit – probably they wouldn't have to skip lunch, too.
He was right: A small tray was pushed into his prison, with the usual bowl of rice and the broth on it. He couldn't even take a glimpse on the kidnappers bringing him food, they were gone so fast. But they didn't lock his door again, so he guessed it was his turn to use the bathroom.
After eating as fast as possible, he jumped up to take a quick shower.
The bathroom was still as creepy as before, even though he hadn't used it much until now due to his concussion earlier. Some dirty cloth had been dumped onto one of the sinks next to the showers. He picked it up gingerly.
“Is this supposed to be a towel?”, he asked nobody in particular before deciding to go check on Jiyong first.
He seemed okay as far Jiho could tell through a closed door. When he asked about how his bruises were doing, the older said they weren't any better yet.
“Yeah, it'll probably take some time until you're as handsome as before, Hyung.”, Jiho said teasingly.
He couldn't see Jiyong's expression, but when he got a “Stop calling me Hyung, Jiho!” for an answer, it sounded a bit more cheerful than before.
Jiho realized that as soon as he could leave his room, walk into the bathroom and talk to Jiyong, his gloomy state of mind was gone.
He took a quick shower, shuddering under the cold water and wondering whether showering was even worth the time, since there was no soap available and the so called 'towel' didn't make him feel cleaner than before. He just finished redressing when he heard footsteps coming closer. He didn't fancy being shooed around again, so he quickly went into his room and closed the door behind him just when the bathroom door opened. Someone opened his door a tiny bit, then closed and locked it without taking the tray with them.
Strange. Normally they would just storm inside and do what they needed to do, wouldn't they? Maybe only one person had been sent to lock them back in?
Jiho eyed the door – one person only? Interesting.