“Who are you?” Boss spoke to the intruder, his knife slicing the air in front of JR’s neck.

“I’m Aron,” Aron said.

“Who’s Erin?” Boss whispered to himself, eyes narrowing further as he wracked his brain. “How many member did Fresh South have?”

Behind Aron, a pile of dogs was busy fighting over a sizeable plate of pig skin. The American rapper carried multiple cardboard boxes in his arms. He opened one.

“I’m Aron, the aegyo-king!”

Boss stepped closer to the boy, away from the other members. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Aron threw a hard, brown object. It smacked dead center into Boss’s face and exploded into ovum-y white and yolky yellow goo.

“I have the most egg, yo!”

A barrage of eggs came down on Boss who stumbled backwards to the edge of the pool. As the bombardment continued, he slipped in the growing slime puddle and fell hard on his back, blinded by the egg on his face. He knife dropped into the water.

“Run!” Minhyun shouted.

All of them bailed except for JR who took position in front of Boss, legs wide apart, arms extended. “For Love and Justice, the pretty sailor suited soldier Junior Royal! In the name of the moon I will punish you!”

Ren rushed back, grabbed JR’s collar and ignored the desperate chocking noises while he dragged the leader along.

~~~

Jun leapt with grace from the metal wall and joined the other boys in relative freedom. “Everyone is out. I’m the taillight.”

“Headcount,” Woozi shouted over the celebratory cheers. “Hold still.”

He shone across the present boys. Performance unit – check. Vocal unit – check.

The composer clapped his greasy, blackened hands. “Let’s go. See if we can find a way out of this dusty basement. Don’t make too much noise, we’re not out yet.”

“Should we split up,” Hoshi said “We can cover more ground and we’ll probably be less noisy.”

“Guys?” Dino said as he pointed his light cone to a wall. “This sign says exit.”

Joshua shed a tear, glistening in reflected light. “I would like to quote a US president on the meaning of freedom.”

“Do it,” Woozi said. “We’re all ears.”

“I…don’t know any quotes.”

“How anticlimactic,” Jeonghan said with a sigh. He walked up to the door next to the exit label and tried to open it. “Locked. Somebody needs to ram it open. Who has broad shoulders?”

Hoshi grumbled. “We don’t have a Mingyu with us.”

“Fine,” Woozi said, “Let’s split up and find a ways to get this open. Performance unit, west. Vocal unit, east. Hoshi and I, south. Dokyeom, don’t trip over stuff. Joshua, see if you can remember a couple quotes. Go!”

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Hey, author here. I have a confession. This whole story exists only so I could make you read that one egg pun. I’m so sorry. (You better appreciate it.) Thrilling conclusion to follow.