It's a lot easier to walk around aimlessly when you're in a strange land. There's no path or habitual routine your mind wanders on. There's a space that you get only in an unfamiliar place.

But is it really an unfamiliar land? It's where his parents were born. His supposed uncles are here. He has blood-related family here. He knows the language. He now has friends here.

And yet he doesn't have anything. He was denied everything.

"This way..." Taeyong wordlessly follows Jaehyun when he turns around the curb and they enter a convenience store. Sitting in a 7-Eleven while Jaehyun gets two cups of ramen cooking isn't what melodramatic protagonists do. But what can he do? He's literally lost.

Jaehyun found him minutes after he stumbled barefeet out of that house, handed him his shoes he forgot and led the way while giving him space, but still making sure he doesn't do something stupid like jump into incoming traffic.

"Which one do you like?" Jaehyun holds up two drinks, strawberry and peach. If he was in the mood, he'd pick peach because Jaehyun's existence makes you crave it. But he's out of it so he shrugs. "We should take strawberry. We can only have it when Jaemin isn't around or he acts like we're poisoning his food." Jaehyun puts two cans of strawberry soda near him and fetches the cooked ramen. "Let's go outside." Again, Jaehyun leads them somewhere and Taeyong blindly follows.

Not very leader-like for someone voted leader barely an hour ago. He'll not voice it out loud though. It's not his priority right now.

They enter an empty park and settle on a bench. Jaehyun puts the steaming cups between them and Taeyong does the same with the drinks. "I couldn't find the forks. You up for chopsticks training now?" Taeyong takes the pair wrapped in a paper packet but makes no move to open it.

Yesterday he found it ironic that Johnny and Mark, two non-native Koreans like him were giving him reassurances when he couldn't figure out how to hold chopsticks. Now he's angry at the two people, who couldn't lose their chopsticks habit till Taeyong was 10, decided he would never use them. They decided a lot on behalf of him and it's unfair.

He doesn't care about the why. Protect him? They could do that without hiding everything from him. He would not be undoing their efforts to hide him with his social media fame if he knew their reason. Then again it all boils down to why.

"Jaehyun..."

"hmm?"

"Did you hear?"

"I'm sorry... I just came looking for you and heard Changmin-ssi. I don't know why I hid...but that thing in the taxi... are your parents really..."

Taeyong hiccups, finally admitting the truth. "Yeah... it's them... I've never seen their younger pictures, they said it got destroyed when they moved to France, but I know it's them... They... barely aged... remember that thing at the grocery store I told you about? I heard that person mention Shinki or something to Papa. It sounded like TVXQ's full name."

"Dong Bang Shin Ki. It's how it's said in Korea. In Japan it's Tohoshinki. TVXQ is the Chinese name."

"Dammit Jaehyun, Papa has T-V-in-X-Q tattooed on his back! How did I miss that? And... and he has the same tattoo as Yoochun-ssi... and he has Junsu-ssi's name...but he got Micky and Max at the same time too. What are there more secret members of a secret boyband?"

"Stage names..." Jaehyun says with a hint of admiration, "Uknow Yunho, Youngwoong Jaejoong, Micky Yoochun, Xiah Junsu and Choikang Changmin. Youngwoong is Hero and Choikang is Max."

"I'm starting to think you know my parents better than me."

"Maybe... you and I weren't born yet. We'd only get to know this from our parents. My mother was... is a die-hard Cassie. Mother-son bonding time was binging on DBSK videos all day and that's how I fell in love with them. But when the same company behind DBSK scouted me at school, mom was in a dilemma. On one hand it was a dream come true to have her son close to her idols, on the other hand I'd be close to an entity she came to hate."

"Huh? She loves and hates TVXQ?"

"She hates SM. Just because they recognize our talent, see our potential, and put fame and riches at our feet doesn't make them holy. It's the dark side of our industry. Kids are tools to profit out of. We make the sacrifices, they make the money. And once we don't make enough money, they don't give us work. You know how lucky we are right now? The contracts used to be ruthless. Many artists barely escaped them. We're blessed that our seniors made contracts more artist-friendly." Jaehyun looks around though the park is definitely empty. Leaning closer, he whispers, "I heard my parents talking the night before I moved to the trainee residence. They were writing a list of instructions for me. Call, not text, them every hour no matter what. Be traceable to them. Tell them about the slightest thing that makes me uncomfortable. DO NOT sign anything without them present. That was all uppercase and underlined. It was not just about getting exploited. They were afraid someone would hurt me. They...They say the Chairman of SM is dangerous. She had the same conspiracy theories Ten hyung has. Some of the staff are... kind of mean to him because of it...but they can't do worse because he's a huge asset already. They see him as someone who will make a lot of money for the company. Ten Hyung knows that and uses it to his advantage but he is always on guard...I am too after the kind of things I heard. Like they thought the Chairman killed your parents."

Taeyong's blood runs cold. He knows it's illogical. His parents are alive. But were they threatened with life?

"That's not all. Kim Junsu and Park Yoochun came out with their relationship though their contracts said artists under the same management can't date each other, whether they're in the same group or not. The remaining three members tried to put public pressure on the company to get them to release them from their contracts. But... the Chairman lost it. They said it was a DUI, the car rammed into the wall of a school. The same school Changmin-ssi's niece goes to. People think he was going to hurt their family to threaten them. But the accident did a lot of damage. Only people at Changmin-ssi's level really know. He's been out of the public eye but some years ago, a nurse who apparently took care of him posted online that the Chairman blabbers about revenge on Dong Bang Shin Ki."

"You... you don't think... that's why... they called me here... do you?" Jaehyun doesn't answer. It's too frightening to think a kid like him walked right into a trap. "Hyung... you should call them..." He should, shouldn't he? At least for answers. Or to tell them he's alive and safe for now.

He doesn't believe in the trope that some things are best talked about in person. He thinks you should talk when you want to talk. And he wants the truth. If there are consequences for leaving his parents' nest, so be it. But he will not remain an oblivious, gullble kid.

"C-Can I have my phone please?" "

You can use mine..."

"No... I'm not hiding anymore...it's too late for that..."

Jaehyun can't argue with that. So he pulls out the phone he's been carrying around in his pocket because Taeyong would hyperventilate only looking at it. Taeyong takes out Jaehyun's phone but his hands are trembling violently during the exchange.

Suddenly his hands are engulfed in another warm pair and freed from both phones. "How about a text for now? I'll do it." Taeyong lets Jaehyun turn on the phone. Jaehyun does him a favour and clears all the notifications first so he doesn't see them. Neither does he comment on only three numbers in it.

He does notice Jaehyun pause at the picture on his home screen. The one of him and his parents on his first birthday. Jaehyun now properly confirmed that his parents are indeed the missing veteran idols.

Taeyong can't help the slight blush when Jaehyun types and saves his number, complete with too many peach emojis, and giving his phone a ring. He takes a long swig of the soda while saving Taeyong's number on his phone.

Taeyong picks up one of the cooling ramen cups, not wanting to see what Jaehyun is typing in his Papa's messaging window. He drinks the soggy noodles and lukewarm soup before tossing the cup in the adjacent trash can. Then he chooses to sip at the soda more leisurely. Or at least as leisurely as it can get when a slow eerie feeling crawls up his skin.

He may have joked about murderers and psychopaths too soon because he swears he heard a branch crunching under a foot. He's seen the movies. He knows what's happening.

"Oh, he replied pretty quickl-!" Jaehyun was about to same something but Taeyong is grabbing his soda and flinging it at a shadow before pulling Jaehyun in the direction they came from.

"The hell!" Jaehyun curses when he sees the creep running after them and pulls Taeyong to the main street.

~~~

They're back home. But it doesn't feel like it. It's more like a nightmare they're getting closer to.

"This is it!" Jaejoong's brother-in-law states. Seohyun glances at the address and points at a certain building before the four of them step out of the car.

Jaejoong's grateful that his sisters and their spouses dropped everything to help them. Gave them an earful for not telling them their nephew has been missing for more than a day but he expected it. He also expected them to be mad at him for leaving or at least rebuke him for not seeing their parents one last time or letting them see Tyne in person. It's for those reasons that Yunho couldn't bring himself to contact his sister ever and is too afraid to find out how his parents are doing. Apparently Jaejoong's family has kept them in the loop but Yunho wants to avoid a confrontation that Jaejoong fully expected with his family.

Instead his sisters and brothers-in-law set camp at the police station when the French authorities get them involved. They drop their children in the care of their teenage niece and drive to the addresses they traced the last known locations Taeyong's phone was on at.

A restaurant in Incheon and a park where Taeyong messaged Jaejoong from a few hours ago turn up nothing. When Seohyun and her husband pick them up at the airport, they have an address from Miyoung who got it when Seoul Metro Police tracked Taeyong's phone too. They were told the brand new apartment complex is housing a bunch of idols and SM rented a school's auditorium 10 minutes away for them which verifies what the French inspector said about the SM scouting.

It's a miracle that they've kept a straight face throughout the stares and whispers, especially when the good people at immigration needed to quadruple check their French passports with their Korean names and distinguishable faces either to confirm they're not frauds masquerading under the identities of supposedly dead people or to be sure they're not the only ones seeing two ghosts. Seohyun's husband, a no-nonsense attorney pointed out that the families of Kim Jaejoong and Jung Yunho didn't pursue a legally dead status because they always knew where they were. They dare not pry when his glare killed any intention to do so. Thanks to them vouching for their credibility, they finally left the dreary room.

They drove them here, to an area they're no stranger too. When they pass the building where Jaejoong bought his first apartment, Yunho tugged against his hand to look away. They can't go down that rabbit hole right now.

But it's early enough for when people start their daily routine. Those setting up their stores for the day did a double take. Passers-by slowed down and gawked. If anyone is old enough to recognize them they're going to cry ghosts. If they really recognize them that is. Yunho can joke that Jaejoong is a vampire who hasn't aged a day since 25 as much as he wants. People can yell that two ghosts have descended upon Seoul as loudly as they want. He doesn't care. He just wants his baby.

The beat cops in that area meet them outside the building. For a second they seem terrified till Seohyun's husband stands in front of them and does the talking. It takes a minute for him to frown deeply. "They found the apartment numbers and... Changmin's in this building. He signed the lease for the apartments the idols are living in."

There's many emotions crossing Jaejoong and Yunho's face but they ignore their trepidations for the bigger priority. "Is he here?" Yunho asks, suddenly finding his native language an accented oddity.

"We saw Shim Changmin and enter the building's west entrance an hour ago. No one's left since. But sir, we must warn you. The idols here are minors. We cannot put them in a confrontational situation."

Suddenly Yunho and Jaejoong feel a matching condescension towards the policeman. Idol-trainees who are minors is a concept they know better than them. No one even asked about those kids anyway.

"Changmin," was Yunho's icy command and they gulp through their nods. Seohyun says she'll wait by the car when Miyoung calls while the trio follow the two cops into the building. They ride the elevator to the 11th floor, being informed that the trainees are on the 10th before the doors open to chaos.

"For 's sake Sunny! I don't care what he wants! I don't want to see him! He's your family, your problem! We have our family to worry about!"

"He's still so loud..." Jaejoong whispers, walking to that ajar door on auto. Yunho shoots the others a look and the three of them stay by the door, within earshot.

Yunho and Jaejoong hear more voices now, feeling lead settle in their feet.

"Two kids are missing Sunny! I know my priorities!"

" off Yoochun! Junho and Appa can keep the kids safe. This is not the time for you to be questioning their abilities when you haven't done ."

"Have you considered the possibility everyone in our family is in danger too!"

"He ran away! He wasn't abducted! Stop assuming the wo-" Junsu's voice chokes to a halt when he appears in front of the hallway.

No one moves, frozen in disbelief. As seconds pass, Junsu's breathing gets erratic and noisier.

"What's wrong? Is it Tae-" Yunho and Jaejoong finally move, if only to tilt their heads to see Yoochun drop his inhaler on the floor. But he has no problem coming out of the shock. "CHANGMIN! CHA-"

"WHAT!" A furious Changmin appears from the kitchen, snarling at Yoochun before turning to where they're looking. And time stops. Changmin's knees buckle so his hands drop the phone on the floor and grab the table in front to steady himself.

"Hyung..." There's a whimper much closer to them and their attention is on Junsu long enough to catch him falling into Jaejoong and Yunho's arm. They collapse on the floor