Prologue
Deep River
His lungs ached from the constant breathing, chest suffocating from Seoul's humid winter air, skin and brows soaked in sweat. Tired, tired. A loud bang--a bullet--shot past him and he could have sworn he felt it singe the flesh of his ear and it jumpstarted him back to awareness. Keep running. He had a fifty-percent chance of surviving. A fifty-percent chance of dying.
With eyes wide open, Seungho stared into the impenetrable darkness and scurried down a steep slope. Who would want him dead? A sick fan? A psychopath? Or a contract killer? His heart was a machine gun caught in his throat and it threatened to break his ribs, but his mind was somewhere else. Why this? Why now? The more he tried to understand, the less he understood.
"I can't do this anymore," he finally croaked, running through the woods as fast as he could. His body was ready to give out. His voice betrayed fear and exhaustion and he wasn't ready to die. "Help..."
His feet took him farther down the slope, relentlessly trampling down the path and closer to an untraveled road. Further and further down now. He tripped over a large branch, rolled down the last part of the slope and landed on top of the smooth asphalt. An anguished cry left his raw throat as he came to a stop.
Silence.
On his back, he was completely out of breath. Tormented. Sharp pain flooded every inch of his body when the road grated against his skin. His arms weren't spared the damage. But was he safe? Was the stranger going to rush down the path and shoot at him again? Or has the whole thing finally come to an end?
He blinked between the blond hair that hung over his eyes and shakily propped himself up over the jagged surface. It took too long before he was able to focus on the area, before he finally got up from the snowy street and realized where he was. It was familiar. Gasping, he slowly forced himself up onto quaking legs and held onto the left side of his ribs. There was no time to take care of his wounds. He had to seek shelter and he knew that their rehearsal room was nearby.
But the injuries, they've started spinning in his head as he walked down the road. He was an idiot for not treating them but he knew he didn't have a choice. He was the hard-working leader of this band, the eldest, the one everyone trusted in. He couldn't afford any absence or injuries.
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