{August 14th, Seoul, South Korea}
{8월 14일, 서울, 대한민국}


"Are you sure? The chances of that are practically one in a million!"

"I'm sure, there's no doubt about him... He has the same name, looks the same, thinks the same, plays the same instrument, he even has the thing which I told her to give to him if she ever saw him..."

"He's right, I saw it as well."

"Does he himself remember anything about it? Did she tell him anything?"

"I don't really think that's possible... But he did give some of us strange looks. I just don't think we should be reckless about this..."

"How does this even happen? First the beanpole kid moves in randomly, and now him?!"

"They have names, you know..."

"Well, I'm sorry for not getting to know them before leaving."

"You'd better be..."

"Why do you care so much anyway?"

"..."

"Hey, just wondering. If she found him and gave it to him, then where is she now?"

"..."

"..."

"...I don't know. Maybe... she ran out of places to run. Maybe... they caught her."

---~***~---

"AhMa! What's that you're holding?" The little boy inquired as he bounced through the door for a hug before going to sleep. He was seven years old, and his mother was sitting in her rocking chair by the window, absently toying with an unfamiliar object.

"Henry?" The young woman said in surprise. She was beautiful, one would confidently tell you. Having wavy brown hair, smiling eyes, an adorably short frame, and the overall appearance of a young girl (though once she joked to the boy that she was much, much older than that), it was strange, even then, to wonder how she married the child's ogre of a father. Today though, there were slight dark creases under her eyes, and there was no more laughing. Sometimes she would appear that way for a reason, unknown to everyone. Whenever he asked her, she would only shake her head and tell him that one day he would understand.

"Ah, come here. I must explain something to you, okay?" He crept closer and she lifted him up to sit on her lap. "You see this?" She held out the object to the boy, laid flat on her palm. Now he could see that it was a simple dark brown loop of cord, long enough to fit around her neck easily. Hanging on it was a strange bead, like a teardrop but not exactly right. Maybe a closer fit would be the shape of a comma. It was white, with a single black dot in the centre.

"What is it for?" he wondered, reaching out a finger to touch it. The bead was impossibly hard, smooth and cool. One edge felt noticeably different from the rest of it - the edge which curved quickly and sharply in opposite directions like the waves of the sea, reaching towards the full moon with long white fingers. It was somehow sharper and ever-so-slightly rougher, as if it had been separated forcefully from another object; it was almost like something was meant to fit there in that swaying, dipping curve.

"Henry... this is for you." The woman lifted the cord over his head, letting the pendant rest there. It was too long, but he would grow into the correct size over time, surely. "Promise me something, all right?" She held him by the shoulders.

"Yes, AhMa." He was scared now. To hear such a foreboding tone in her voice that had never been there before.... why couldn't he shake the feeling that something terrible was going to happen?

"Don't ever tell anyone about this. Okay? Hide it as best you can, and if someone sees what you're wearing, never tell them that I gave it to you. I cannot stress the importance of this."

"Even AhBa?"

"Yes. Even AhBa. Remember Henry… I will always love you." She embraced him tightly.

Henry was confused. What was so important about this trinket? Why was her voice so scary? He wished to ask her a thousand questions, but she hushed him before he could get a word out. "Now go to bed, okay?"

All he could say was "Yes, AhMa." He ran out the door, as bouncy as usual, stopping at the door. "Good night."

"Good night, Henry." A bittersweet, wistful smile curved her lips as she stared out the window.

That was the last time he ever saw her. Henry was left clutching a trinket that he did not understand, and wondering what he did wrong.

It would only be much, much later that he realized the true importance of the pendant hanging around his neck, and just what kind of dangers awaited him ahead.

---~***~---

I was jolted awake abruptly to pale light filtering through the blinds in the window. I was covered in a sheen of sweat from the dream that I had had, and that really didn't feel too comfortable with my pyjamas, the cool air and warm blankets. Glancing at my watch which I guess Sungmin had placed on a nightstand for me, I saw that it was only five-thirty in the morning.

Most of the pain, including that headache, had somehow dissolved overnight, which was quite pleasant, but odd. I wasn't a person to know much about medicine, but I was at least certain that injuries did not go away overnight. Unless I just couldn't feel it because someone had pumped me full of painkillers. I don't know, since I've heard from several people that there isn't much of a difference between regular Henry and high-on-painkillers Henry.

Curiously, I quietly (or in an attempt to be quiet) pulled back a section of the blinds to see the outside world. The rain had stopped, but the ground still appeared to be wet because I could see the silvery-blue sky reflected on a flat building roof not too far away. Seoul was bustling with people going about their daily business, despite it being an unearthly hour to be awake.

Why was I awake again?

Oh yes. I wanted to use the washroom.

I slowly got out of bed and padded outside of my room to look for the washroom. It was cold and dark in the hallway.

Why couldn't I hear anything? There were no sounds of people sleeping. No snoring, no beds creaking, no mumbling or sleeptalking. Where had everyone gone?

A strange odour hung in the air. I crinkled my nose in confusion as I fumbled my way through the dimness of the hallway. It was metallic, but clearly distinct from the smell of metal.

I could feel the little hairs on the back of my neck rising as I washed my hands. Something was wrong. Very, very wrong. All fourteen of the other guys were gone, there was a metallic smell outside that definitely had no place being there, something was just wrong...

The sound of the apartment door opening nearly made me jump out of my skin. Hands still dripping, I poked my head around the door of the washroom. "Who are you?" I asked timidly at the silhouetted figure.

"...Kid? What are you doing up so early?" I breathed out a sigh of relief. It was the guy working in the military. What was his name again? Kangin?

"Taking a leak, of course."

"Go back to bed! It's not a good time for you to be up."

"Why? Got a problem?"

"Yes." He glared at me. The tone of his voice indicated that he was not kidding around.

Apparently my brain decided to short-circuit itself at that moment, because I stubbornly stood my ground. "I'll get up whenever I want to."

"Look, kid. Right now is kind of an important time, and I can't have you getting in the way. I don't want to, but if I need to, I can drag you out. Do I need to?"

"Um... yeah." This was a terribly unwise decision, as I would soon find out. Of course, I just had to ignore the fact that Kangin was taller, not to mention stronger and probably had a good fifteen pounds on me as well. I wouldn't be able to put up a fight against him, since I was little but a scrawny seventeen-year-old.

"Fine." And sure enough, he did exactly as he said. He took me by the arm and half-carried, half-dragged me back to the room. "Quiet!" he hissed when I opened my mouth again.

After he left, I sat back in my bed, fidgeting for a few minutes until I got bored of that. I let my head fall back and hit the pillow as I daydreamed, staring at the ceiling.

Right before I fell asleep again, I realized that I knew exactly what that smell was.

It was blood.

---~***~---

When I awoke again, the light coming through the blinds was much brighter, giving away the time of day. I heard breathing from the bed beside me, revealing the presence of a familiar, tall-as-a-beanpole young man sleeping there. I smirked. He never had been one to get up early.

"Yo. Mimi-ge." I poked him hard in the side. "Rise and shiiiiine." He snorted something incomprehensible and rolled over. "Wake up!" I started to shake him.

"Go away, Mochi. It's too early." Still half-asleep, he flopped over on his stomach, hiding his face in the pillows.

"It's like ten o'clock! Don't tell me that's too early. And you can't get rid of me." I laughed evilly. Oh, I was going to have fun.

The passage of about five minutes found me sitting on Zhou Mi, making myself as heavy as possible to cause him as much pain as I could.

"Mochi! Get the hell off me!" Fully awake now, he struggled to get me off. "I hate you." He then enveloped me in a huge hug. "It's so good to see you again!"

"Uh... yeah, you too."

"You're okay, aren't you? I'm so sorry that I couldn't pick you up that day." A concerned look crossed his face.

"I'm fine now. No need to worry, Mimi." I patted his back to reassure him.

"Yes... but... I don't know. I still feel really guilty."

"Hey, you two! Coming for breakfast?" I heard one of the guys interrupt us from outside.

"Oh yeah! I'm starving!" I yelled back. I started to hop awkwardly over all the pillows I had hit Mimi with, stubbing my toe and letting out a loud "Ow!" in the process.

He then stopped me, saying, "Uh, Mochi?"

"Yes?"

"Maybe get dressed?"

I looked down to see that I was still in my rumpled pyjamas. "Oh," I smiled sheepishly. "Right."

A few minutes later, I was sitting at the table, with a bowl of rice and some soup in front of me. Most of the guys that I had met yesterday were also there, some were in front of the TV, and conspicuously the mean guy -Kyuhyun?- was also missing.

The guys seemed to be engaging in some sort of argument, because their Korean was almost rapid-fire, and I could barely understand a word of it. I ate as quickly as possible.

A knock on the door cut off the talking. "Henry? Could you get that?" Ryeowook asked me, but I was barely paying attention. "Henry? Henry, are you listening?"

"Huh? What?" I returned to Earth. "Sorry about that." I rose from the table, and the blathering resumed.

I opened the door to a young woman, who looked a few years older than me. She was quite tall, being only just a little under my height, and had shoulder-length, untidy brown hair. "Oh, I haven't seen you around here before," she said, surprised.

"I don't seem to know you, either." I laughed awkwardly.

"In that case, I'm Sooyoung." She bowed to me in the usual Korean way, and I bowed back. "Could you give this to Sungmin?" She held out a small package wrapped in paper. I took it, feeling that it was warm. Probably some sort of food.

"Okay, sure."

"Thanks."

"Hey, Sungmin!" I called back when the door shut. "A girl brought you some food."

"Really?" He asked, raising his eyebrows. "I'm going to guess that was Sooyoung."

"That's what she told me. Are you two, like, boyfriend and girlfriend or something?" The question popped out before I could stop it.

"What? No." He replied, perfectly calmly. "Sooyoung lives on our floor with seven other friends of hers... we've known them for a long time."

"Really?!"

"Yep... you didn't know that?" Sungmin unwrapped the package to reveal some bread, with egg and vegetables inside. "I don't know whether I trust her cooking enough to eat this, but I'll have to thank her later." He joked.

After I finished eating, I quickly brushed my teeth and set about making my bed properly. It took far too long for me to pick up all the pillows, and I was continually losing my very short-lived concertration. Just as I was finished, Mimi came in.

"Mochi, I want to go out and shop later. Do you want to come with me?" He asked, smiling.

"Really? Sure! And I'll finally get to see Seoul!"

Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry for the very long wait xD

It's pretty much just like... "Okay, so screw hiatus. I'll update what I want, when I want" xD