I hate you – were the first words Kyungsoo had ever said to Jongin, his small hands balled into fists as he fumed with anger before purposely bumping into the younger boy when he walked out of the music room. They were just in second grade back then. Anybody would find it extra hilarious but Kyungsoo was taller than Jongin that time and Jongin was no liar, the elder’s reaction almost made him tear up.

“You told him he at singing though.” It was Sehun, Jongin’s pseudo-best friend. Another boy from the same kindergarten that had always somehow found amusement in harassing others. “That was extremely rude, even for a seven-year-old.”

“I agree.” Byun Baekhyun – obnoxious extraordinaire – a used-to-be snotty boy that randomly found his way up the ranks and became the leader of their team. “Especially when he’s won several trophies when we were little. He’s beaten me like five times after that too.”

Jongin glared the two men across him, feet dangling off the table he was sitting on. He couldn’t even recall how they started talking about something that happened almost two decades ago.

“That’s how you used to talk to me.” Jongin eyed Sehun. The other boy just shrugged. “You were an . I thought that was how other kids made friends.”

Baekhyun let out a laugh. “Wrong. Sehun is still an .”

An empty can of cola flew across the room, hitting Baekhyun on the back of his head. “Excuse you two. I’m right here.” Sehun shoved a handful of cheese popcorn in his mouth. “Also not my fault you’re easily influenced Jongin and it’s hilarious when you cry. Have you seen his face hyung?” The boy asked their leader. “He’d have snot running down his nostrils.”

“Yup. When Kyungsoo yelled at him that one time that one time back in second grade. Disgustingly hilarious.” The elder threw the can back at Sehun, missing the taller boy by almost a whole meter.

Jongin just huffed. He really didn’t know why he was still sticking around Sehun and Baekhyun. All they did when they were not on a mission was make fun of his miseries. Sometimes he would think about requesting to get transferred to a different squad for the sake of his mental and emotional health.

The door across the room swung open.

“You guys need to tone down the teasing. Jongin may decide to leave you guys one day. You’ll never know when he’ll get tired of you.” It was Luhan – pretty and Chinese – from the intelligence department. Jongin only got to see him once in a while but he already liked the guy a lot more than Sehun and Baekhyun. The Chinese was a little timid but nice. Jongin didn’t get to experience nice very often.

Luhan smiled at him. “Thanks, Jongin.”

Jongin would blush, really, if he didn’t feel two sets of eyes watching him. He didn’t need to hand his two colleague more ammunition to use against him.

“We’re the ones that should be complaining.” It was Baekhyun, who quickly went back to playing overwatch. “You’re not the one who gets to listen to him pine and cry over Kyungsoo every single hour of the day.”

A cough was heard behind Luhan.

“What did I tell you about reading minds at work, Luhan? Also, Baekhyun, stop playing your video games at work. And Sehun, I don’t appreciate the whole sandstorm thing this morning. It took me fifteen minutes just to get in the parking lot.” It was Kris – a also Chinese and tall, too tall and was supposedly their highest-ranking officer but nobody really took him seriously.

“What?” The taller Chinese even added when he got a glare as a reply from Luhan and complete nonchalance from Baekhyun and Sehun. “We are here on an emergency. We don’t have time to play around.”

Everybody went silent As soon as the word emergency left Kris’ lips. Being a dream walker was not exactly as thrilling as people made it seem to be. Especially if you were stationed in Seoul where nobody sleeps enough to even dream. All the assignments they had been getting were saving children from their childhood nightmares and keeping drunks from wandering too far in their sleep.

“Is this legit this time though?” Sehun piped in, opening his fourth can of soda that day. “Because last time you called something an emergency, you were just stuck in random kid’s dream realm. For a dragon, you’re pretty at flying around dream realms.”

Kris huffed. “That was an overexaggeration on my part.”

“ANYWAY.” Luhan placed a crystal ball on the table where Jongin was comfortably lounging on. “Let’s not get too distracted.” The crystal lit up, amethyst glow reflecting from Luhan’s doe eyes. “One of our comrades is in trouble.”

Baekhyun left his computer, video game still on going and completely ignored, and walked towards the glowing crystal. His brows knotted as his own eyes glowed, almost matching the amethyst the crystal was emitting.

“No..” was the only word Baekhyun muttered. It made Jongin’s skin crawl.

“What is it?” Jongin didn’t even notice Sehun walk towards them. “What’s going on?”

“One of ours is trapped in his own dream realm.” Kris muttered almost inaudibly. “He got into an accident and had fallen into a coma for over twenty-four hours now and Luhan can’t enter his dream realm at all.”

The light from the crystal slowly faded, as the light in Baekhyun’s eyes. “I can’t locate him either.” Their leader let out an exasperated sigh. “I flooded Luhan’s vision with my light but I can’t seem to reach him. What level is he in right now?”

“Seven. Most likely.” Kris answered. “Maybe even higher. The accident happened when he was in between level five and six.”

“Anything over level six is Limbo, Kris.” Jongin inquired, worry lacing his voice. “Even I have not tried walking that far. And I’m supposed to be the one with the second-best grasp at spatial alteration. I can literally skip realm levels by teleporting through them. The only person I know that can go further than level six is…” He trailed as realization started cavorting in mind. It made his head spin and his heart hurt. “Who is it?”

“Jong-“

“W-Who is it?” He inquired again, just to be safe. Perhaps he was wrong. “Is it Kyu-“

Please let me be wrong. He pleaded.

“It’s Kyungsoo.”