"He's fake."
The crickets chirps marked their traditional waver into the night, whereas the night seized to exist without it. There were no stars to gaze to, only a blended figure of tall trees that deepened the black of the sky. Byungjoo could not erase Taeyang's notions from his mind. It angered him how he claimed to know someone so well before having met them. His words didn't add up: Xero had a reason to be mute. Xero was kind. Xero was caring.

Byungjoo lost his energy to make any sense out of anyone as he reached Xero's home: it was as if he kept walking through these portals where people would only test his ability to think. As if almost nothing was real at all. It was just a game.

　 　"Just tell me." Byungjoo insisted, slamming his shaky palms onto the counters surface just inches away from Taeyang who was stationed on the opposite side that very next day. "Tell me what you know about Xero. Cause I'm done with all of these games."

There was a fear in the elders eyes, but a fear Byungjoo couldn't entirely understand; it was if he wasn't intimidated by him, but rather Xero.

Taeyang tripped over his words in an utter so small, the animals with the strongest ears could not comprehend from only an inch away. He coughed, then rolled his eyes, squinting as he tried to literate his memory into words. "I... I don't know... I can't remember... All I remember is that I was afraid of him..."
"When was this?"
Taeyang looked back to the other. "In prison."
Byungjoo was taken back that Taeyang had gotten himself into such trouble, but he could tell he didn't care. "What happened in prison?"
"I... I can't remember..."
"No you remember something... Tell me what you see..! I know you see something in that dang head of yours!"
"Uhm... I just... I remember him in our unit and... And... And we were all afraid of him... That mute guy... Right... Him..." Taeyang went dead silent, staring into the air, then back to Byungjoo with a blank expression.
"What are you trying to say..." His voice went soft.
The elder continued, vividly remembering everything. "Xero..."
"Yes Xero."
"If the boys didn't know him, they weren't afraid of him... But if the boys did know him, they were terrified of him."
"Taeyang, your not making any sense to me..!"
"In prison, your life is in danger every second. You have to have a fear in your image to get leverage. Carry your weight around the prison... And whoever held the most fear in the general, the more powerful you were. And Xero was that guy, but only to the people that knew him. The top dog thought he was the but the second you interact with that mute guy, you understand what real fear is."
Byungjoo took in every word, determining whether to believe in Taeyang or not.
The elder continued. "I was in his unit, and I remained in his unit longer than any of the others... I thought I could carry my own weight but he... He... He manipulated me... He took me in the palms of his hands and... Crushed me... He made me feel sorry for him... But he made me do terrible things... And I watched him do terrible things... And-"
"What are these terrible things..!?"
Taeyang stopped. "I... I can't remember..."