M a y b e  I  c a n ' t  t o u c h  t h e  s k y

He never thought the usual soldier march in the morning will bother him this much.

“Check all supplies! We will be departing in thirty-minutes!”

Clicking his tongue in annoyance, he leaned on the floor’s railing as he stared down where the rest of the soldiers were in ruckus for a training trip—which he knows it’s actually a hunt in disguise.

Being the commando for so long has its perks—he knows in every training trip, there’s always a hidden agenda set up by the upper hands for them. The last time he went on it they were secretly recruiting (scratch that, kidnapping) more trainees to be experimented on. And now with the current situation, he knows their trying to find the rest of the boys with the trip.

“Aren’t you going?”

He didn’t even have to turn to know who was approaching him, “I’m in a lockdown,”

“Why?” his silver hair swished as he leaned to see the crowd downstairs, “Did they know… that you have your memories back?”

“No, but I’ve been rebelling,” Seokjin sighed, “Not a good move, I know, but each training I always feel like I have to. Thus the lockdown,”

Taeyong frowned, “Is that why you always have bruises in the end of your training?”

He nodded, “Why are you here anyway? Aren’t trainees banned from roaming freely?”

“I’m one of the top graders,” he gulped guiltily, “I’ve been granted a free pass around the facility a week ago so they said I can learn about the system too,”

Seokjin chuckled on it. He never had felt the trainee life because right after his memories was altered, they made him the command candidate right away, despite having a lot of trainees and soldiers prepared for it.  

Suddenly the area rumbled from the sound of the speakers, “Kim Seokjin, the CEO wants to meet you in his room in five minutes,”

The older sighed, turning slightly to the silver-haired boy beside him, “I better prepare for the worst,”

He nodded at him, “Good luck,”

Seokjin smiled, “I wish I have it,”

Hoseok grew very cautious.

He knows that someone—or a group of people is watching them. He can just feel the sharp gaze every time he was nonchalantly doing his activity, just when the six of them was thankful that no one in their neighborhood seems to saw the broadcast—nor realize that the group of boys in the ad was them.

He was on grocery duty today and the air was extremely tense, even though the market was bustling with people doing the same thing as him. Loud chatters were heard as bids was thrown back and forth, mostly seniors asking for a cheaper price on the meat products. It wasn’t pretty sunny but it isn’t cloudy either—a weather too good for anything to happen.

“Okay,” he took a deep breath. His doesn’t have anything more to search in his shopping list and he already gotten everything that he wants too, “You can do this. Just ignore them like you usually do,”

The maroon-haired stepped out of the market, still alert on his surroundings. As he finally feels like the stare was gone, suddenly a hand patted his shoulder.

And embarrassingly, he shrieked. Loudly.

“YAH!” he jumped, making the person who patted him slightly shocked too, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING!”

“Calm down,” the person’s hair was blond, and his face was kind of familiar, “I just want to ask you something,”

Hoseok was nervous. What was he going to ask him, with all the broadcast commotion around them?

“W-what,” he breathed carefully, “What is it?”

The person tilter his head a little, “Do you… not recognize me?”

This made Hoseok furrowed his eyebrows, “Wh-why should I recognize you?”

He looked taken aback a little before returning his composure, and nodding slightly, “Ah, I forgot about the lock that Big Hit does to you. Sorry,”

“You—you know about the lock?” Hoseok was surprised, “You know Big Hit?!”

“Of course,” he smiled slightly to him, “After all, we’re the same victims of this harsh fate,”

The maroon-haired squinted his eyes at him, “Wait… were you… in the games before?”

He kept his smile, “I’m Suho. Well, my name’s Joonmyeon now, though,”

It took some time for Hoseok to finally realize what is currently happening. As something clicked in his mind, he gasped loudly, “You’re from EXO!”

“Oh?” Joonmyeon brightens up a little, “You do remember!”

“Yes, yes!” he nodded frantically, “How—how come you’re alive?”

“We just kinda survived,” he shrugged, “You remember what happened?”

“It’s fuzzy but I do know some incident happened, even though I’m not sure,” Hoseok smiled sheepishly, “Wait—there’s the others?!”

Joonmyeon nodded, “Some, though. I heard VIXX and Seventeen also survived, but I only know where VIXX is,”

“VIXX?” his breath hitched, “You mean—you mean Ravi… and the others… they’re alive too?”

The other nodded and Hoseok tried so much to suppress his smile, “So we’re not alone…,”

“You’re never alone,” Joonmyeon gave him an assuring smile, “We’re all in this together,”

He smiled back at him but suddenly a thought came into his mind and he stepped back from the other, “Wait… you… did you saw… the broadcast?”

“Sadly, I do. But don’t worry. I have no intention to return you in. No matter how much the reward is, I won’t betray my companions,”

“Holy god,” Hoseok placed a hand on his chest, his heart, “I almost had a heart attack. But does this mean the twelve of you are residing here?”

“Correction, it’s eight. And yes, our mansion is a few blocks away from yours,”

“E-eight…?”

Joonmyeon closed his eyes, “Some of us didn’t make it. We’re trying to keep Tao alive… but I think we’re going to be down to seven soon…,”

Hoseok’s throat grew dry at the news. It’s scary that the people that he had been knowing was confirmed deceased. It was much better when he didn’t know if anyone was alive beside the seven of them, but now seeing that someone survived and currently mourning over their member… It made him guilty.

“Don’t say that!” he exclaimed, “You guys have Lay in your team right? He can heal him!”

But the other only shook his head, “Lay didn’t make it. And Kris. So was Chen,”

The maroon-haired bit his lower lip. Then he realizes something.

“What about… Chanyeol?” he asked carefully, “He—he was my teammate,”

Joonmyeon only shook his head sadly.

*******

“So he didn’t survive,” Yoongi scoffed, “Serves him right for being an ,”

Hoseok grimaced on how cold the older towards the said EXO member, but Namjoon quickly assured him, “Don’t worry. Even though Yoongi-hyung looks like he hated him with all of his guts, they actually get along well when not in the arena. Hyung is just being his denial self,”

“I see,” he nodded, “But I still can’t believe it—they said VIXX is still alive… Ravi…,”

“After we’re done with all of this, I promise you,” Namjoon gave him a small smile, “We’ll find everyone and make sure they live peacefully,”

He returned him a small pursed up smile, then turned to Taehyung, the only one who isn’t raving about the fact that they’re not the only one alive, “Taehyung, you know, Joonmyeon said Baekhyun said hi,”

The salmon-haired snapped from his daze and blinked his eyes, “Baekhyun-hyung?”

“Yeah, you remember him right?”

He nodded slowly, “Is he… still…?”

Hoseok gave him a small smile, “Yes, he is,”

Taehyung’s eyes glimmered, lips stretched to the corners of his face, “Really?! I can see him?!”

“They currently prefer to live under the shadows first. We don’t want them to get involved with us either,” the answer made Taehyung’s smile falter, “But one day, we’ll be able to see th