‘Dreamscape? The place where you mentioned that the other Taekwoon found a way to get into and connects us all while we’re asleep?’ Hongbin asked.

‘Yes.’ Soo-ah replied.

‘But how? How will be able to go there and bring Hakyeon-hyung back?’

‘More like, is it even possible…’ Jaehwan asked.

‘Entering Dreamscape isn’t typically a difficult thing to do. We all sleep and we all dream. But being able to consciously take control of that dream and entering someone else’s dream is the hard part.’ She began to explain.

‘Then, how?’

‘I told you all that the six of you were once descendant the most mighty Gods didn’t I? And the fact that you have all met time after time even through many reincarnations. This is what we call fate. Through the string of fate, you are all connected to Hakyeon’s life one way or another. This fate is what will allow us to connect you into Hakyeon’s Dreamscape.’

‘But you said we don’t have powers anymore as Gods. Plus, even if we did get inside Hakyeon-hyung’s dreams, how can we guarantee that we’ll bring him back?’ Wonshik commented.

‘That will be up to you boys to persuade him and convince Hakyeon to return to reality.’

‘Us?’

‘Yes. Let me ask you one thing, do you all want to bring Cha Hakyeon back?’

‘Of course!’ Hyuk shouted confidently while the other members nodded in agreement.

Soo-ah goes to explain her method of helping the boys bring back their beloved leader through Dreamscape. It wasn’t exactly a method of the Gods or use of any Godly powers but after her life as a doctor, she came upon a study of sleep therapy and hypnosis. As long as she can get them to fall asleep in the same room as Hakyeon, Soo-ah will then provide a red string that was given to her from the Heavens in order to connect the six of them together.

‘What’s wrong?’ Hongbin noticed a strange look on Wonshik’s face during their discussion.

‘You mentioned the six of us together…’ Wonshik looked at Soo-ah.

‘Yes, I did.’

‘So does that mean we have to somehow get together with that Hakyeon-hyung as well?’ Wonshik was talking about the Dark Hakyeon.

‘Mhmm.’

‘How? There’s no way he’d let us even get near him without trying to kill us all!’ Hongbin worries.

‘We need to catch him off his guard as he falls alsleep. Once he does sleep, I’ll make sure he doesn’t wake up for awhile which will allow you boys to enter his dreams successfully.’ She said.

‘That Hakyeon-hyung is paranoid. Even a leaf falling down from the vase would wake him up.’ Jaehwan scratched his head.

‘Leave it to me.’ Taekwoon suddenly said.

‘What are you planning to do?’ Wonshik asked.

‘He will only allow me to get near him right? I just need him to let his guard down and comfortable enough to fall asleep next to me.’

‘Can you really do that?’

‘It doesn’t hurt to try.’

‘Hmm. That is indeed a good idea.’ Soo-ah agreed with Taekwoon’s plans. ‘But there is also something I must warn you all about.’

‘What is it?’

‘How much do you really love Cha Hakyeon?’ She suddenly asked.

‘What? Do you really have to ask us that? A lot of course!’ Hyuk said.

‘Really?’ She questioned again.

‘What are you trying to imply here?’ Wonshik asked her back.

‘Was there not even a moment of doubt that you hated having Hakyeon in the group? Or in your life? Did you never even think of once that Hakyeon was a burden and that you wished he would just disappear?’

The members gulped and fell into silence.

‘Being able to take control of your mind during Dreamscape means being able to control your feelings and your heart. Even a single negative thought of hoping Hakyeon would disappear or hatred would cause chaos in his dreams. Not only will you be putting his life in danger, but yours as well. This is why I must warn you all, are you really sure that you are all confident enough to successfully bring back Hakyeon from his slumbers without a single ounce of hatred for him?’

The silence confirmed Soo-ah’s suspicions of the members’ care and love for their leader. Though it was obvious that the members cared a lot and cherish Hakyeon, she can tell that the boys were uncertained at times when it comes to caring for the oldest. She had watched the group of boys for a long time and she could tell that unless the boys were a hundred percent determined in rescuing Hakyeon back, the mission into entering Dreamscape would be suicidal.

‘I understand.’ She said.

The members looked at her questionably. Soo-ah got up from her seat.

‘I will give you all one week. You will leave your current schedules behind and return home. Once you have returned home, your assignment is to reflect upon your feelings for Hakyeon. Not just as a leader of VIXX but as your friend and as your family. Unless you are positive about how you feel for Hakyeon, I cannot have you entering his dreams and putting him in danger. That, I cannot allow. One week.’ She repeated. ‘After the week is over, you will come back here and tell me your answer.

Soo-ah left the members to think for themselves. They were all silent and could not even look at the other members in the eyes as they silently reflected on themselves. They felt a bit of guilt within their hearts.

Did they not have a single moment in time where they doubted their care and love for Hakyeon?

~

As Soo-ah had instructed, the five members went back to their respective homes in order to search for an answer.

‘Mom! Dad! I’m home!’ Jaehwan shouted as he opened his front door.

‘Jaehwan-ah! Welcome back honey.’ Jaehwan’s mother was as bright as always as she rushed to give him a big warm hug.

‘We could have picked you up from the bus stop you know.’ Jaehwan’s father came to greet his youngest son.

‘No, it’s okay. Thanks though.’ Jaehwan gave his beloved parents a big hug. It’s been awhile since he went back home especially because his schedule has been so packed lately to the point where even a phone call was almost impossible.

‘How’s work?’ His mother asked Jaehwan as she brought him some of his favorite snacks onto the table.

‘Nothing in particular.’ Jaehwan answered and started to munch on his snacks. He was starving after a long ride.

‘I’m amazed though that your CEO would suddenly give you a break. I thought you were all really busy.’ His father commented.

‘Mhmm. It’s just a week though. But gosh, it’s good to be back home!’ Jaehwan smiled.

Jaehwan has always been the brightest and most cheerful member of his family. He wasn’t just a cute main vocal of VIXX but also the youngest son in his family along with two older brothers. His entire family was very supportive in Jaehwan’s pursue to being a singer and knew very well how much Jaehwan loved to sing. Even when he was young, he had won several singing competitions and was interested in writing songs. As he entered his own room after a long time, he saw that his trophies were still kept in a clean and organized way. His mother must have constantly gone to his room to tidy it up for him.

Jaehwan flopped onto his bed after returning home and curled into his bedsheets. Though he was glad to be home and seeing his parents so healthy, he didn’t forget the one goal he had.

‘Hyung…’ Jaehwan called out to Hakyeon’s name and started to remember the past, the days he spend with Hakyeon.

When Soo-ah suddenly asked about whether Jaehwan loved Hakyeon or not, he for sure thought he did and that there shouldn’t be any doubts in his feelings for the oldest. But then, it struck him when he remembered that there were indeed times where he didn’t really like Hakyeon.

Especially Hakyeon’s nagging and strict teaching.

Jaehwan was never a dancing expert and in fact, he was the one member of VIXX who needed the most improvement on dancing. He almost couldn’t make it into the group because his weakness was dance itself. He always goofed around during the most serious situations because he couldn't stand being in a tense atmosphere.

‘Lee Jaehwan!’ Hakyeon once shouted at him angrily. ‘Stop fooling around and get back to practice!’

Jaehwan always screws up their choreography during their practice and even sometimes during live performances. He was like the black hole of dancing in the group because it just wasn’t his specialty unlike Hakyeon or even Wonshik.

He got frustrated after the many times Hakyeon would be too strict on him and never seemed to understand that dancing just wasn’t Jaehwan’s interest.

‘I’m not good at it! I’m not you! Stop forcing me!’ Jaehwan finally talked back to Hakyeon for the first time that day.

The leader was shocked but also very angry at the younger.

Usually, Jaehwan was very close with Hakyeon. The two of them, despite being a part of the older members of the group were still children at heart. They joked and played with the youngers all the time. Jaehwan really loved Hakyeon a lot because the leader would be the one that always responded well to Jaehwan’s jokes and fun personality. But when it came to dance routines however, Jaehwan’s constant mistakes angered Hakyeon a lot. Jaehwan on the other hand, was also irritated that Hakyeon couldn’t understand how hard it was for him to learn dance routines as fast as Hakyeon could.

That day, they had a huge argument and neither of them were willing to give in to apologize. So, they didn’t talk for awhile.

During their rehearsals, the two of them would deliberately ignore one another but eventually, Jaehwan felt guilty and lonely. Hakyeon was no longer there to cling onto him or pester him. Strangely enough, Jaehwan also missed the fact that Hakyeon wasn’t there to scold him during his very obvious mistakes during practice.

What am I? A masochist? Jaehwan sighed and sadly chuckled to himself.

Jaehwan knew clearly where he made mistakes but after their fight, Hakyeon no longer looked his way and that made Jaehwan really sad. He wanted to reconcile with Hakyeon and return things to how they were before. But it wasn’t an easy task to apologize to Hakyeon empty handed. Hakyeon doesn’t get mad at people often and when he does, he’s a difficult one to handle. So, Jaehwan was determined to prove to Hakyeon that he could do anything if he really tried.

It’s not like Jaehwan really wanted to fight with the leader but he was just short-tempered despite his cute and aloof outer appearance.

He snuck into the dance studio late at night when there was no one around and started to practice on his own for awhile. He wanted to surprise Hakyeon that he was really good at dancing and trying his best to not make anymore mistakes.

‘Please! You have to help me!’ Jaehwan eventually pleaded the three younger members to help him during his late night practices as well. He was desperate to make up with Hakyeon and the younger members were more than happy to help.

The members all kept it a secret from Hakyeon while they helped Jaehwan improve his dancing night after night. But of course, they were no experts in dancing nor were they exceptionally great teachers like their leader.

Even after several nights after hard practice, Jaehwan was still forgetting dance steps and messing up during rehearsals. He was feeling inferior with his inability to learn to dance and was feeling useless…

‘And you call yourself an idol Lee Jaehwan?’ Jaehwan sighed to himself as he flopped onto the studio late one night and buried his head between his knees.

Just as he was feeling tired and frustrated with himself, the studio door opened. He thought it might be one of the younger members checking up on his practice again.

‘I’m tired. You don’t need to help me tonight.’ Jaehwan said in a dejected tone.

‘Not even with my help?’

Suddenly, Jaehwan recognized that voice and jolted up to see who it was. It was Hakyeon.

‘Hyung!’

‘You got caught red-handed Lee Jaehwan.’ Hakyeon said with his hands on his hips catching the younger sneaking out at night.

Jaehwan thought he was about to be scolded by his leader for sneaking out.

‘I’m sorry hyung.’ Jaehwan apologized and looked really sad.

‘…’

Jaehwan couldn’t bear to see what kind of expression Hakyeon had at the moment but he was ready for a big scolding. Then, Hakyeon approached him and patted him on his head. Treating Jaehwan like a child.

‘Wonshikkie told me you’ve been practicing hard every night with Hongbin and Hyuk as well. I knew it was strange that every single one of you would disappear at night. Why didn’t you ask me to help you instead?’ Hakyeon asked.

‘But… aren’t you angry with me?’ Jaehwan almost wanted to cry just seeing Hakyeon’s face and getting to talk to the older after a long time.

‘I was at first. But that’s because I care for you. I want to show the world that Lee Jaehwan isn’t only good at singing but also great at dancing too!’

‘Really?’ Jaehwan sniffed a bit while trying to hold back his tears.

‘Mhmm. Gosh, you don’t even know how mad I get when I read those comments where people talk bad about your dancing skills! They don’t even know what you’re capable of and how hard you try. I’m sure they’re not even anywhere near as great of a singer as you are!’ Hakyeon sulked.

‘Then, you’re really not mad at me?’

‘No. I am.’

Jaehwan gulped.

‘But I was mad because you wanted to give up. I know you’re great at anything as long as you try but you were giving up on yourself without even trying. That’s the only reason why I was mad.’ Hakyeon ruffled through Jaehwan’s hair. ‘But, it seems like you haven’t given up after all.’

‘I haven’t!’ Jaehwan exclaimed.

‘I know.’ Hakyeon smiled at Jaehwan after such a long time. ‘If you didn’t care to improve, you wouldn’t have secretly dragger our younger members to help you practice every single night would you?’

Jaehwan nodded frantically in agreement.

‘Hyung.’ Jaehwan said.

‘Hmm?’

‘Can you… help me practice?’

‘Of course!’

* * * * * * A/N * * * * * *

HaKen anyone?