Like all things equally life-changing and traumatizing, it comes without a warning.

After testing several seemingly harmless missiles, North Korea grows quiet, like a tantrum-ridden child settling down for a nap, and the world seems to relax a little bit. No one is convinced that the North Koreans can do any actual harm, not with their current weapons display, and it’s been going on for years, this empty arrogance. It has always been a fact of life that, if anything, North Korea should be pitied rather than feared. And so life goes on as per normal.

And then, two days before Hyesung’s 38th birthday, multiple large explosions occur simultaneously all over Seoul: in Seoul National University, in Jamsil, Gwanghwamun Square, Itaewon. Flames burst forth like chrysanthemums against the backdrop of a starless autumn sky, surrounded by the low groaning sound of buildings crumbling and the metal screeching of subways caving in. The shrieking of sirens becomes its first battle cry.
 

24h 20m

Hyesung’s first thought is of s. He’s convinced at least one of them could be dead or very badly hurt. Between the six of them, all their activities and individual schedules, any of them could have been at the attack sites. He tries to remember where each of them could be but draws a blank. Why does he never pay attention to those things? All he knows is they’re all supposed to be in Seoul. His hands shake as he fumbles with his phone. He tries Junjin first, but Choongjae doesn’t answer and Hyesung feels as if his heart would stop. He calls each of them in turn, whoever comes next on the list: Andy, Dongwan, Minwoo, Eric. Only Eric picks up the phone, but the line is bad and he can barely understand what Eric is saying.

“Hyesungie…bomb…stay…” and then the line goes dead.


23h 42m

He leaves messages for Eric, in case the louch could play them back.

“Where the are you?!” he shouts, although he’s not angry at all. Bile is rising in his throat and tears are welling in his eyes. “Where the are you and are you alive and I swear to God if you are I will kill you because none of them are answering and what kind of a leader are you when you can’t even make sure your members are okay—”

Voicemail cuts him off as another low boom is heard from somewhere northeast of the Han. The glass windows in his apartment rattle like bones.


22h 31m

The government shuts down all phone lines to prevent internal communications among any living Enemies that are still in the city. Hyesung is on the verge of a panic attack and the only way he can keep himself together is to rush upstairs to Eric’s apartment where he lets himself in through the passcode all of them have known since their trainee days. The apartment is dark and empty; Eric must have been out. Nevertheless, Hyesung sits in the corner with his eyes closed and his palms over his ears. Somehow, he’s able to breathe in this darkness a little better.


21h 17m

He goes back downstairs and sits in his living room with all the lights on. Dread is clawing through his stomach and twice he rushes to the bathroom to heave. Beyond his window, the city glows with distant firelight.


18h 54m

Somebody pounds on his door at 4 AM and Hyesung nearly jumps out of his skin. When he flings it open, he isn’t even able to get two words in when three pairs of arms envelop him in a bone-crushing hug. He raises his fist to punch Eric’s stupid, tear-stained, soot-covered face but finds himself crying instead, thankful for his arrival and grateful he at least brought with him Andy and Dongwan. Both men smother him in kisses on each side, their cheeks wet and warm, and oh my ing God is that blood?

“It’s just a scratch,” Dongwan says, touching the cut above his left eye. Apart from that, half his face is scraped, as though he had rubbed his head against sandpaper on purpose. Hyesung’s knees feel weak. “Shrapnel.”

Andy fortunately looks better off, but there are several small cuts on his face and neck. He clings onto Hyesung as though he’s a lifeline, and Eric seizes this moment of weakness to pull him close to kiss him on the temple.

“s!” Hyesung hisses, but lacks the strength to push any of them back.

“Thank God,” Eric says. “Thank God.”


17h 9m

They wait in Eric’s apartment. Hyesung scribbles a note for Minwoo and Junjin in case they come to his flat first and posts it on the door. Once upstairs, Eric cranks up the heat, makes them spiked hot chocolate, and busies himself by checking his stash of emergency supplies. When nervous, Dongwan talks twice as fast and he rattles on and on as Hyesung helps clean the fast-bleeding wound above his eye. He and Andy had been having dinner at Yeouido with Ho Dong hyung when the bombings started. They had invited Eric earlier to join, which is how they had come back together.

“Yah, you didn’t even think of inviting me?” He blames his inability to act appropriately to the shock still in his system, and besides, sarcasm is easier to spit out. “Some friend you are, Kim Dongwan.”

Dongwan gives him a weak smile, somehow still managing to look handsome despite looking like half-eaten roadkill. “Sorry. We knew you had a photoshoot tomorrow…”

Likely cancelled now. Photoshoots, recordings, script readings…what does it matter? Half the city had been razed. Will they even still be here tomorrow?

“Junjin…he was in Incheon, filming. We were speaking to him before…before it started. Minwoo hyung…” Each missing member’s name feels like a stake being driven through Hyesung’s heart, “…we don’t know where he is. I think he was at the studio but they’ve blocked the roads. We sent them messages but we never heard back…” Andy trails off. Dongwan fidgets, hands gripping the edges of the bathtub so tightly his knuckles turn white.

Hyesung tries not to have another panic attack.


16h 32m

Another loud explosion. Nearer now, and it makes the building’s foundations shake. Pieces of plaster fall from the ceiling and speckle their hair and clothes. Andy curls up into a ball, trembling. Dongwan closes his eyes and bows his head, lips moving at a frantic pace that to Hyesung looks something like a prayer. Eric paces the floor while looking enraged, never taking his eyes off the front door for more than three seconds.

“Choongjae was in Incheon and Minwoo was in Mapo,” he confirms Andy’s earlier statement, because of all people, he would know. Eric knows the whereabouts of each member whether they like it or not. “I told them to come. They would’ve been far away from the bombings. They’re all right…”

His voice cracks a little at that but Hyesung pretends not to have heard.


16h 9m

The dawn comes, and with it a semblance of hope that maybe everything was all just a terrible dream.

The dawn comes, and with it, Lee Minwoo, who stumbles into Eric’s apartment, dirt-streaked and nearly frozen, his face wet with tears. He collapses in sobs in front of them, tells them there’s been another bombing in Jongno and his whole family is gone. Eric holds him as he cries, pets his hair and whispers into his ear, then takes him aside to give him something strong to help him sleep. A mirror (and Eric’s nose) nearly breaks in the process and it takes at least Hyesung and Dongwan to calm him. When he screams, Hyesung feels like he’s being ripped in two. They clear the living room of all furniture and settle him on the carpet, and Minwoo falls asleep nestled between the four of them, holding onto Andy’s hand.


12h 26m

Hyesung is convinced Junjin is dead. He excuses himself from the group and goes to the bathroom to have a panic attack. Andy follows him and holds him until he’s able to breathe again.


11h 10m

It’s been quiet for the past few hours now and so Eric turns on the TV so they can have the slightest clue as to what’s going on. Images of the North Korean flag immediately bombard the screen. Disgusted and furious beyond belief, Hyesung resolves to sit in the hallway to wait for Junjin. Waiting and hoping seems the better choice than wanting to kick the TV in with his foot, and he figures he can’t give up on Choongjae so easily. After a beat, Dongwan stands from his spot and waits with him. When Dongwan pulls him down so Hyesung can rest his head on his lap, he doesn’t refuse.


10h 41m

Somebody is trying to enter the apartment but keeps getting the passcode wrong. There’s indecipherable shouting on the other side, and the sound of a fist banging on the metal. Hyesung doesn’t hesitate in throwing it open, personal safety be damned, and he almost falls to his knees when he sees Junjin there, eyes wide and bloodshot, looking half-crazed with his shirt stained with blood and grime, as though he’s crawled all the way from Incheon on his stomach. He collapses against Hyesung, heaving with sobs and babbling half-formed sentences. He smells of soot and the sharp tang of gunpowder, of ashes and death.

“Hyung,” he says, the only word Hyesung can fully understand. “Hyung. Hyung. Hyung.”


10h 12m

After Eric gives everyone a set of clean clothes and the chance to wash up, they find themselves back in the living room. He pulls the shades down so the apartment is dark and silent, with the TV as the only light. Hyesung is nestled between Junjin and Andy. He falls asleep to both clutching his hands.


6h 25m

He dreams of bombs destroying everything he knows. He dreams of renegade planes shooting down people on the ground. He dreams of the Han River running red with blood.


3h 14m

Junjin wakes up with a full-blown panic attack, gasping loud enough for them to think he’s physically choking on something, and it takes all five of them to calm him with their collective embrace. Even Minwoo gets up and pulls himself together enough to console the second youngest, wiping Junjin’s face with a damp washcloth while rubbing his back in broad . Dongwan hums and Andy his hands, saying, “We’re in Eric hyung’s house. Jinnie, can you hear us? We’re with the hyungs. We’re with all the hyungs.”

“Jin-ah,” Eric says, voice soft as though talking to a rabid dog. He’s nearly pulled all of Junjin onto his lap, and although the younger man is taller and is strong enough to knock at least three of them out while using half his energy, Eric manages to reduce Junjin into something similar to a child, rocking him slowly and carefully, timing the movements with labored breaths.

“It’s all good, Jin-ah.” Eric repeats. “We’re here. It’s all good. It’s all good. It’s all good.”


1h 39m

“Is this real?” Hyesung hears Dongwan mutter. He’s not gone back to sleep but has stayed glued to the TV, listening to its low drone. The screen flashes images of the Blue House, of the President being taken underground for safety, of alarms being raised. “How is this real?”

Hyesung shuts his eyes and forces himself to fall back asleep.


7m

Someone is shaking him awake. All the members except him are sitting up, crowding around the TV. Most of them are shouting, although Hyesung can barely understand why. Then he sees: the Blue House has been bombed.


0m

War is declared.

tbc