“Morning, Luhan. Did you sleep alright?”

“I don’t really feel inclined to answer that positively since I was woken up by the rain.”

“I know, I’m sorry. I would’ve woken you up, but I was sleeping too.” Luhan wasn’t really sure how Yixing was smiling, since they’d both just a moment before been jerked out of their sleep by the cool water pouring down on them. Actually, how Yixing ever smiled in this place was something of a mystery, really. Maybe it had to do with the fact that he was already halfway through his time here. It was the last day of the month, and he’d been caught on the first. Only one month left of suffering.

Luhan wasn’t really as optimistic. He was neither eager nor ready to die in a month or any time before he could retire. Only two weeks into his own stay in Hell, he was still trying to figure out how to cope. Still scared and sort of in denial, but he could feel himself growing weaker with each passing day and that definitely didn’t slip his attention, nor did it make things better. It was kind of a good thing that he had Yixing, who was some sort of neutral positive.

And Sehun. Something about Sehun was… Luhan wasn’t even sure. He was like a match lit in another room in a dark house, some very distant sign of hope. Luhan didn’t even know what was happening with him and Chanyeol and Minseok now, if anything. Since the first and last time they’d spoke, Sehun hadn’t come back to say anything more. Every time he passed Luhan’s section, though, Sehun’s eyes seemed to be drawn Luhan’s way, like he was checking to make sure the prisoner was still there. So maybe there was a plan in the works. Maybe. Luhan didn’t want to get his hopes too high.

A few days passed, which was measured by waterfalls and rice balls, and Luhan figured his match had burned down because Sehun still hadn’t come by, nor was he really looking for Luhan anymore. They must have given up, realizing it was too risky to come for Luhan, which Luhan understood. It wasn’t fair for all of them to lose their lives for his sake. (He still had at least been hoping to get some sort of goodbye from Minseok.)

All signs of hope seeming to be gone, Luhan began to try and focus on accepting his fate. He didn’t get anywhere far in it, though, because the very day after he resigned himself to it, Sehun finally gave him something to go off of – a message. When he had walked past Luhan the first time in the morning, he had subtly thrown a crumpled ball of paper his way, though it had actually landed on Yixing, who had been sleeping. It woke the Chinese boy up and he unfolded the paper, staring at it in confusion. After a moment, he tapped Luhan’s shoulder.

“Can you read this?” Luhan, who had been too out of it to see what Sehun had done, glanced back at Yixing, and took the page from his hand. Immediately, he recognized the familiar Hangeul formation of his own name at the top of the page. Judging by the appearance, it was a picture of a hand-written note. And that handwriting was all-too-familiar to Luhan.

A message from Minseok.

“Luhan – I’m sorry I haven’t done more to try and help you. I’ve felt so lost lately. But I realize I have to take this into my own hands. Don’t worry, okay? I’m going to save you no matter what I have to do. I love you. -” Luhan’s heart stuttered, but he told himself not to overreact. “You’re my best friend, and you’re supposed to be my new roommate. That can’t happen if you’re going to stay in China. I’ll make sure you’re back home soon. – Love, your 包子”

He smiled at how Minseok had written baozi in Chinese. But he was a bit worried about Minseok doing whatever he had to do, “no matter what” to save Luhan. He didn’t want Minseok to break the law (well, more than he had to), and more importantly he didn’t want Minseok getting himself killed.

Beneath Minseok’s message was another, shorter and scribbled. “Your friend sent me this – ㅅ” Luhan assumed the “ㅅ” was short for “Sehun”.

Luhan couldn’t help feeling a bubble of happiness. Minseok wasn’t giving up on him yet. Maybe he shouldn’t hope so much, but even so, it was nice that Minseok was out there, still wanting to save him. It was nice to think he mattered enough to Minseok, even if before that might not have felt like enough. Now, if Luhan got out with his life, he would appreciate everything about Minseok and not complain about one thing.

The following day, however, he was given a little (a lot) more worrying news. Sehun went by Luhan, pretending to be singing, actually saying, “Your crazy friend knocked out Chanyeol’s boyfriend and has gone off the radar.” Luhan’s heart plummeted, and he asked what Sehun meant, but Sehun just sang back, “That’s all I know…”

Hearing Sehun’s message, Luhan started feeling hot all over, as though the temperature in the camp had suddenly spiked a hundred degrees. His skin burned and his insides felt like a ridiculously tangled pair of headphones in the worst way. He had to lie down, fanning himself and shedding his sweater. Yixing asked him if he was alright, and what Sehun had said, but Luhan’s ears were ringing and he was feeling nauseous, giving no reply.

Suddenly, he didn’t want Minseok trying to rescue him.

“

Jongin had asked Kyungsoo out on Friday night. On Saturday, he worked, and when his shift ended he never came home. Kyungsoo waited for him, but after an hour of not showing, he sent him a quick message asking if he was okay, worried that something bad might have happened to him. A moment later, he received a response, just two words. I’m fine. He didn’t come home that night.

The next day, Kyungsoo had to work, and he knew he’d be working the same time as Jongin. Last week, one of their co-workers had called in to ask for some time off, since his best friend had been caught as a Category and he was unable to function well enough to come into work. Since their boss was so sympathetic, he allowed the guy as much time as he needed, which meant everyone else was taking extra shifts now to cover the guy. Personally, Kyungsoo didn’t think it was a good enough excuse to take off work, but he wasn’t the boss so what he thought didn’t matter. He didn’t much appreciate having to take all the extra work, though.

Kyungsoo arrived at work five minutes early, as usual, before the start of his noon-to-four shift. Jongin was supposed to be in at noon, too, but noon passed, and then it was ten after, quarter after, and then twenty minutes past noon and Jongin still wasn’t there. Normally, this would have annoyed Kyungsoo, because he hated tardiness passionately and there was only one other person there with him at the busiest time of day, but today he was just worried about whether the boy was okay or not. For the second time that weekend, he texted Jongin, this time asking where he was, but today he received no reply. Instead, a few minutes later, Jongin showed up in the store, backpack in tow, ignoring the older. Kyungsoo couldn’t help glancing at the clock out of habit to see how late he was today – twenty-eight minutes.

It was immediately obvious that Jongin was high. He didn’t say anything, but his actions seemed slurred and his pupils were constricted, and Kyungsoo figured he would just leave the younger alone as long as Jongin did the same. Which Jongin did. As if the past few weeks had never happened, Jongin was completely refusing to acknowledge Kyungsoo, like they’d become enemies again because Kyungsoo had rejected him. Kyungsoo found this entirely unfair, but he had no idea what he was supposed to do about it.

Their entire shift together was unbearably tense; however, despite that Kyungsoo still went up to Jongin at the end of it.

“I’ll give you a ride home,” Kyungsoo offered. But Jongin shook his head.

“I’ll pass,” he mumbled.

“Jongin-”

“I wasn’t gonna go to your place, anyway.”

“Well, too bad.”

Jongin had learned that Kyungsoo was a very stubborn fighter, and what he said was usually what went. Instead of fighting further, he just shrugged. “Fine,” he grumbled. “Let me go get my bag.” He disappeared into the back room to grab his backpack, leaving Kyungsoo to wait for him.

Except, Kyungsoo was waiting too long. A minute passed, and he yelled at Jongin to hurry up. Another, and he wondered if the boy was shooting up or something. He went into the back to check on the younger, but found the room empty, with neither Jongin nor his bag in it.

He should’ve known.

It was too late to go out the back door and try to follow after him, so instead Kyungsoo just left, going to his car and texting the younger, but he was ignored. For a while Kyungsoo just sat in the car and contemplated what he should do, if he should try to go to Jongin’s friend’s place or something, but then he just ended up going home. If Jongin was going to avoid him, fine.

On the second night in a row, Jongin didn’t show up again. Kyungsoo decided that whatever arrangement they had had was now over. On the third night, very late, there was a knock on his door, and he actually wondered who it was because the door wasn’t locked and Jongin never bothered knocking anyway. But when he answered it, it was indeed Jongin, and he told Kyungsoo not to ask anything of him, that he just wanted to sleep and promised he wouldn’t bother Kyungsoo. When Kyungsoo let him in, Jongin handed him several fifty-thousand won bills, which Kyungsoo took questioningly. It was five-hundred-thousand won, a month’s worth of salary, or a month’s worth of rent. Apparently, Jongin was paying him, since he’d been here more than a month now.

They didn’t say anything else to each other, going to bed separately. When Kyungsoo got up in the morning, he made them breakfast and Jongin thanked him, leaving afterwards. The boy didn’t have to work today, so he was just getting away from Kyungsoo.

The next couple days passed in the same manner, and Kyungsoo started to sink in misery. He knew what he’d done wrong, but he couldn’t do anything to change it. Kyungsoo didn’t want to go on a date with Jongin. He didn’t want to date, or go on dates, or be in a relationship. At the same time, though, he could feel himself falling into his old habits, fighting guilt that made him feel depressed, blaming himself for everything, while at the same time being angry at Jongin for making him suffer through all this. Finally, nearly a week after Jongin had asked him to go out, Kyungsoo confronted him.

Jongin had just walked in the door when Kyungsoo told him they needed to talk. He led Jongin over to the couch and they sat there, staring at one another for a minute until Kyungsoo spoke again.

“Listen, Jongin. I can’t – I’m not going to apologize for what happened last week, but at least let me explain.”

“Explain what?” Jongin asked him, looking irritated. “I already know. Your kind doesn’t date my kind. End of story.”

“That’s not it at all!” Kyungsoo snapped. “Quit your little pity parade, it’s not about you.” Jongin rolled his eyes, moving to stand, but Kyungsoo grabbed his arm and yanked him back down. “You listen to me,” he ordered. “You can leave when I’m done, but you listen until then, understand?” The younger just scowled, but didn’t try to leave again.

“I’m not good with relationships,” Kyungsoo began. “My last one was really ty from start to finish, and I don’t want to do it again. And anyway, I’m not someone you would want to date. I was a crappy boyfriend before, and I… I’m not good at dating.” He knew this very well, because in his last relationship he was told on a regular basis how he was terrible and didn’t know what he was doing and he was a waste of space, no matter how hard he tried to be better. (And besides, his father would never, ever approve of him being with Jongin; even being his friend would be pushing it. His father had made it clear that after his last relationship, Kyungsoo had greatly disappointed him and his ex would have made a better child than him. Kyungsoo couldn’t exactly come back from that with Jongin.)

Jongin still looked unhappy, but he asked, “What about relationships aren’t you good at? I mean, other than your general negative attitude towards people and your extreme sense of superiority.”

Kyungsoo glared. “Don’t think you know anything about me. It was for the exact opposite reasons that we broke up, thank you.” Because Kyungsoo was too clingy, too loving and did too much to take care of her, to make her happy and adore her, and everything he did was just ruining her. He was annoying and a letdown with everything he did. And yeah, he had no idea how to make people happy and not disappoint them and not make them feel like they were being ruined by him, so he didn’t do well with relationships.

“What, because you were too nice?” Jongin laughed. Kyungsoo just continued to glare. “Believe me, that would be a great change. I wouldn’t stop liking someone for that.”

“It wasn’t just that,” Kyungsoo said, annoyed. “I’m just not the dating type, okay? So that’s why.”

“Whatever,” Jongin shrugged, and Kyungsoo didn’t appreciate how moody he was being. “I never should’ve bothered to ask. I figured you were actually nice and stuff, since you seemed that way lately, but obviously you wouldn’t waste any more of your time on me than you already are. I’m sure this whole going-out-of-your-way-for-me thing just to keep me presentable at work or whatever is hard enough on you.”

“Look, I’m freaking trying here, okay?” Kyungsoo snapped. “I’m sorry I upset you last week, so I’m trying to make things better! You could at least pretend to appreciate it.”

“Do you have anything else to say, or can I go now?”

Kyungsoo’s jaw went slack and he lost all his fight in him. Jongin couldn’t care less. “Just ing go, then,” Kyungsoo muttered, and Jongin got up, taking his leave without another word. He was out of the place in a minute, and Kyungsoo collapsed, punching the cushions beneath him in frustration.

He spent the rest of the night on the couch, hating himself and Jongin. Even after apologizing – which he hadn’t ever planned or meant to do – Jongin had just dismissed his attempt to fix things like it was meaningless to him. As if Kyungsoo was worthless to Jongin if he wouldn’t date him. But no matter how angry Jongin got, it wouldn’t change Kyungsoo’s feelings – or lack of feelings – towards him, which apparently equated to the two having no relationship whatsoever anymore. Whatever. Kyungsoo was making that seem like a bad thing.

Again, Jongin didn’t come home for a day, then two. Saturday night he came in late, knocking as he had days earlier, but Kyungsoo didn’t answer the door this time, just calling for him to come in. He was already in bed by this point, and didn’t care to get up. However, a minute later, the familiar sour scent was infiltrating his room and airways, and Jongin had curled under the bed sheets. His arms went around Kyungsoo’s waist and Kyungsoo tensed, but Jongin just held close to him and didn’t speak. Though extremely confused, Kyungsoo didn’t say anything either, because he was a bit speechless and also tired. Things could be explained in the morning.

Except that, in the morning, Jongin wasn’t there anymore, and Kyungsoo wasn’t sure if he ever had been, or if it was all just something he’d conjured in his sleepy imagination.

“

Within the first couple days in November, Baekhyun fell sick with some sort of cold. He already had a lot of stress in his life, and that likely wasn’t helping at all. When Sehun had called Chanyeol a couple days before, Baekhyun had been at work, and Sehun had said there was nothing he could do for them. Chanyeol wasn’t that surprised, but after hanging up he quickly became aware of the fact that he would have to break the news to Baekhyun at least about Sehun having to back out on them.

And indeed, by the time Baekhyun’s shift ended and he came to Minseok’s apartment, Chanyeol was feeling pretty nervous. Worse, Baekhyun seemed to be in a good mood. He called out a cheerful hello when he entered the place, quickly peeking his head in Minseok’s bedroom doorway to check on the older before hurrying to the couch where Chanyeol awaited. Baekhyun draped himself over him, hands quick to find his hair as were his lips to find Chanyeol’s mouth. Unable to resist, Chanyeol took hold of the smaller’s hips, letting Baekhyun kiss him until he was breathless.

“Hello, my love,” Baekhyun sighed finally. Chanyeol hummed. “How was your day?”

“Okay,” Chanyeol replied, and he decided he would wait until after dinner to tell Baekhyun about Sehun. However, dinner came too fast, and Chanyeol continued procrastinated it until it was nearing time for bed and he still hadn’t said a word, so finally he just told Baekhyun before he could talk himself out of it again.

As expected, Baekhyun didn’t take it well. Chanyeol didn’t have to say much, but they both knew that Sehun can’t help translated to Luhan dies. And when Baekhyun called out Minseok to talk to him, and Chanyeol had to sit there solemnly as Baekhyun broke the news and Minseok looked ready to fall apart. It was surprising that he didn’t.

“There has to be something,” he mumbled. That explained why he was keeping it together; he was in denial.

“Don’t do that to yourself, Minseok,” Chanyeol told him gently as he could. It was frustrating for him just to watch Minseok deflect the news like they were going to find some other way, but Chanyeol knew that – especially now – he really couldn’t be harsh towards the older. (Though his patience was tested when Minseok looked up at him doubtfully.) “If anyone could get him, it was Sehun, and Sehun can’t, so… I’m sorry, but there’s nothing else to do now.”

Baekhyun wrapped his arms around the older as Minseok shook his head. “I’m really sorry, Seok-hyung. I don’t even know how hard this is for you, but it’s terrible for me.” Baekhyun’s words were so genuine; Chanyeol could tell he was trying not to cry. He wished he could be more sympathetic himself. Maybe he would have been if he were closer to Luhan, but Chanyeol had a feeling it was just in his nature to remain neutral. Or maybe his training – as Baekhyun often accused – made him this way. He wasn’t sure. “If there was something I could do, I would, hyung, but – I can’t help. I’m sorry.”

There wasn’t much more to be said, but Minseok remained refusing to believe and Baekhyun continued to comfort him, while Chanyeol occasionally put in words of reason as to why they couldn’t do anything else. They had tried everything they could think of and met all dead ends. It was sad, but that was it, unless they wanted to get killed, which Minseok likely didn’t want. It was no good if he and Luhan died.

Eventually they all went to bed, having not made much progress in changing Minseok’s mind and giving up for the night. Chanyeol cuddled up close behind Baekhyun, knowing he was upset, and gently rubbing the boy’s tense back and kissing his shoulders.

“I love you, Baek,” he murmured, wrapping his arms around his waist. Baekhyun took his hand, weaving their fingers together and squeezing. “I’m sorry about today.” And he was sorry, for Minseok’s sake, and Luhan’s, and even Baekhyun’s because Baekhyun’s heart was so caring and of course it was breaking him. Chanyeol didn’t want any of them to have to be hurting, but he knew the limits of this situation, and knew they’d been reached.

“I know,” Baekhyun whispered. Chanyeol kissed him once more, waiting for Baekhyun to say anything else, but he didn’t, opting to just go to sleep and not think anymore tonight.

A couple of days later was when Baekhyun started feeling sick. The first day he tried going to work, and was sent home halfway through his shift because he was admittedly pretty gross and shouldn’t be around people and food the way he was. So he went to Minseok’s and asked the older if he wanted him to go to his own apartment. Minseok had shrugged and pointed out that he had already been contagious, and it was a bit late to prevent things from spreading now. Thus, Baekhyun ended up lying on the couch, Minseok tending to him.

“Do you want to take some medication?” Minseok asked the younger, who was quite noticeably pale and reluctant to move. He held up two different bottles to show Baekhyun. “I have these, if you want one.”

Baekhyun squinted at the bottles, and pointed at one. “Definitely not that one. I take that and it puts me out for hours. I’ll take it before bed or something if I need it.” Minseok nodded, returning the unwanted bottle to the bathroom and grabbing a spoon from his kitchen. He went back to Baekhyun and fed him a spoonful of medicine to hold him over the next few hours.

“I’ll make dinner before Chanyeol gets home,” Minseok told him quietly, and Baekhyun felt guilty for making the older work for him. Hopefully it would only be a twenty-four hour cold, and by tomorrow or the next day Baekhyun would be better.

However, Minseok had other ideas.

“

Minseok wasn’t as quick to throw in the towel as Baekhyun or Chanyeol, or that Sehun guy, when it came to Luhan. Honestly, he wasn’t that surprised that Sehun stopped helping after just a few days, and it was understandable. He was jeopardizing his job and life, after all, for some guy who was a practical stranger to him. Perhaps Minseok might have expected a bit more of Baekhyun and Chanyeol, but he supposed there was only so much they could do, or were willing to do. It wasn’t their best friend. So it was up to Minseok to keep trying even if they wouldn’t. Surely, if he could think of a way, they would help him.

His friends weren’t wrong about there not being options for him, but that didn’t mean Minseok didn’t try coming up with something. Giving up on Luhan was less of an option than not trying something else. If anything, he at least wanted to go to China, but Baekhyun and Chanyeol didn’t leave him alone often, only on the odd times they were both working at the same time. Since Baekhyun tried to have his schedule shaped around Chanyeol’s, so someone could always be home with Minseok, Minseok wasn’t left to himself very much. He knew he could just ask if he could go to China, but they would obviously say no. Not that he needed their permission, but they would try to stop him.

Baekhyun falling ill seemed like a huge downer initially to Minseok. It meant that Baekhyun would be around all the time for at least two days, and he would be sick, whining, needing care. Minseok knew how sick-Baekhyun was; very over-dramatic, to say the least. But then Minseok struck some great fortune when Baekhyun told him about a certain medicine that he was in possession of that, apparently, could knock the younger out for a long time. Long enough, Minseok imagined, for him to be on a plane to China before anyone could realize what was going on.

And suddenly, Minseok had a plan.

In a few short hours, he had it all thought out. Unfortunately, Chanyeol wasn’t working the following day, so Minseok just had to hope that Baekhyun’s cold would hold over to the day after. His luck seemed to hold out though, because the next morning Baekhyun was throwing up and saying he felt like this was more than just a cold, and it might be a few days before he was better. That same morning, he bought a ticket for a flight the next day to China. In other circumstances, he knew that would be very unlikely to happen, but these days people weren’t travelling very often. Especially not to China, where there were rumours of suspicious activity occurring (which hadn’t really begun to come out until around the time Luhan had left, otherwise Minseok never would have let the boy go in the first place).

Originally, Minseok had planned to get up in the middle of the night, steal Chanyeol’s phone, and find that Sehun kid’s number. However, things were made simple for him when Chanyeol left his phone on Minseok’s bedside table, and Minseok was able to quickly copy the number onto his own phone. He would need it for later.

Finally, the day of Minseok’s great plan came. It was nearly spoiled when Chanyeol said something about maybe I should stay home with you to Baekhyun, and Minseok had to reassure them both that he would be able to take care of Baekhyun just fine on his own. Chanyeol did end up leaving, and then Minseok got to work.

He made Baekhyun breakfast while the younger lay on the couch and complained about how he could hardly taste anything anyway (which wasn’t a bad thing from Minseok’s perspective). As this happened, Minseok took out the bottle of medicine that Baekhyun had warned him against a couple days earlier from where he had hidden it amongst his coffee mugs. In a moment, he had poured a reasonable amount – not enough to hurt Baekhyun or anything, but enough to keep him out of it for a while – into a glass of grape juice and stirred it. Then the bottle was back in hiding and Minseok was bringing out the glass and two slices of toast to the younger, apologizing internally as Baekhyun took a sip and made a face. But he just said something about how even when I do taste things, they taste weird, and Minseok felt guilty but relieved his plan was working so easily.

Within half an hour, Baekhyun started grumbling about feeling tired. “I don’t know what’s up with this cold,” he said, giving a yawn. “I didn’t sleep that great last night, but I just suddenly started feeling sleepy…”

Minseok patted his head. “Sorry, Baek,” was all he said.

“Sorry,” Baekhyun echoed. “I shouldn’t be complaining so much. I’m sure you feel worse than me.”

“No, don’t worry about it,” Minseok told him. It must have been because he was sick, but Minseok was surprised Baekhyun hadn’t noticed his change in attitude. Even Minseok himself knew he was being different, although he’d sort of grown this determination ever since they had stopped helping him to save Luhan, so maybe they were still blaming it on his denial (aka, being overly optimistic like all hope wasn’t lost; it wasn’t, after all). “Worry when you get better.”

“I will,” Baekhyun said as he tried to stifle another yawn. Minseok flicked on the TV for Baekhyun to watch, glancing at the time. He needed to be at the airport in less than three hours, his plane leaving in five. He was definitely cutting time short here. But it was alright, because in another twenty minutes, Baekhyun had fallen asleep, and Minseok was flying into action.

First, he had to write a note to give to Luhan. Well, he’d send it to Sehun to give to Luhan. That didn’t take long; just a few lines to reassure Luhan that he wasn’t giving up on him, and then he took a photo of it. Then he was sending it to Sehun’s number, saying that he was Chanyeol’s friend and could he please give Luhan his message. It would be nine in the morning in Beijing; Minseok had to hope that Sehun hadn’t gone to work yet, and also that he would relay his message. But a few minutes after his text was sent, Minseok received a reply – just one word, Fine. That was enough for him.

With that done, he called himself a taxi and was at the airport an hour later, still three hours to go until his plane departed. He got through everything quickly, and then was left to just wait. And what a nerve-wracking wait it was. Every second he was expecting Baekhyun or Chanyeol to burst in out of nowhere and drag him back home, but his phone never even went off, and he guessed it wouldn’t for a while. Chanyeol wouldn’t be home until after four, and Baekhyun hopefully wouldn’t be waking up before Minseok got on the plane. But paranoia always ignored reasoning, and it took over him regardless.

Despite how slowly the time ticked by, eventually his plane arrived and he was able to board, and he had to refrain from running because he felt like too much time had already passed and Baekhyun had to be awake, someone had to have figured it out and was coming for him. No one did, and he turned off his phone as soon as he was on the plane, so he wouldn’t know for the next couple hours what his friends were doing.

It felt like another age for the plane to reach Beijing, but the moment it did Minseok forgot all about the previous hours of the day and was immediately focused on what was ahead. From the airport, he went to Luhan’s parent’s house, even though he knew Luhan, or anyone else, wouldn’t be there. Minseok just felt like he had to go. And even though the moment he arrived, he knew he shouldn’t go any further, he still went up to the door. The place was so eerily peaceful, the way a graveyard was, but something made Minseok press onwards, and he found the door wasn’t locked so he let himself in.

If he’d been expecting a murder scene, he didn’t find it in the least. There wasn’t any sign that anyone had ever died there; it didn’t even look like anyone had ever lived there. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. From the moment he walked in, he saw photographs on the wall, of family, he guessed. No pictures of Luhan, but Minseok wasn’t too surprised by that anyway. There were still shoes at the doorway, coats hanging on hooks. He pressed in further, into an open living room and kitchen area, and there were books on a bookshelf, dishes in cupboards, even some in the sink. But it seemed off. Everything was too clean and too sudden. Like the people who had been here had no warning and just disappeared.

Which was exactly what had happened. And then the mess had been cleaned up, as if no one had been killed in this place.

Minseok felt sick. He’d only been inside for a minute or less, but he needed to leave. There were too many things wrong with this place, too many lies thickening the air and pushing him to get away as quick as his feet would take him. He was wrong to have come here, and he shouldn’t have, because he hadn’t needed to and he should have realized it would be this way.

Not wasting any more time, Minseok headed back out for the door, wanting nothing more to do with the house that had once been someone’s home; his best friend’s home. His fingers were slipping around the door handle when he paused for a moment, a frown creasing his forehead because he thought he’d seen something. And not just any something – something familiar. In a home he’d never been in, never really even seen pictures of, owned by people he’d never met, familiarity was not something Minseok expected.

Sure, it was possible he was wrong or he was just imagining things, but he glanced back anyway at all the coat hooks he had just passed. Yes, that was definitely something familiar. Luhan’s jacket was hanging up amongst a couple others, his light rain jacket he’d worn the day he had left, the last time Minseok had seen him, disappearing in the crowd of the airport nearly three weeks ago. Minseok moved back to it, running his fingers over the sleeve cautiously, like it might vaporize. When it didn’t, he lifted it off of its hook, pulling it down and holding it to his chest. He was sure it would still smell like Luhan if he tested it, but he wasn’t sure if he wanted to find out just yet. It was already taking all of his efforts to keep himself on his feet.

Removing the jacket exposed another item which too was immediately recognizable – Luhan’s backpack. Minseok inhaled sharply, slightly disbelieving that it would actually be there, that the government officials wouldn’t have disposed of it. Then again, why would they bother to go through that extra effort? They had left all the rest of the belongings of the house. Minseok grabbed the bag too, and then dropped to the floor, ping it to see all its contents. There wasn’t much; a change of clothing and some other essentials – and Luhan’s wallet. Flipping it open, Minseok found a small amount of Chinese currency, a couple of cards, and then various forms of identification from Luhan’s birth certificate to his health card and even his SIN number. Under his wallet was his passport, everything safe and sound and, most importantly, there. No one had gotten their hands on these things, then.

That was a good thing, of course. Luhan was going to need all these things when he returned to Korea.

Minseok didn’t find Luhan’s phone in the backpack, but he guessed that was to be expected; when he had called Minseok, his phone had likely been confiscated and destroyed. But that was okay; they could buy a new phone later.

Speaking of phones… Minseok bit his lip as he reached into his pocket for his own phone, realizing that it was still on airplane mode. It was nearly five in Korea now, and if Baekhyun still hadn’t woken up by now, Chanyeol was going to be back regardless. How long would it take for them to figure out Minseok was missing? No more than two minutes from the time Chanyeol passed through his door. The younger would wake up Baekhyun, who would go to check on Minseok only to find he wasn’t there. And from there, they could put the pieces together. Maybe it would be better for Minseok not to turn his phone back on for a while. He re-pocketed it, guilt bubbling.

Having recovered Luhan’s things – not that it had ever been his plan nor had it even crossed his mind – Minseok shoved his far smaller bag into Luhan’s backpack and took his leave from the house. For the next night or so – however long this was going to take – he would need somewhere to stay, opting for a cheap motel of any kind. (To be honest, this whole trip wasn’t exactly financially supported; his plane ticket had cost a fair bit of money, and he wasn’t going to be able to just dish that out again. Perhaps when he had Luhan back, the younger would be able to access his parent’s money. It wasn’t fair for Minseok to ask, but they weren’t exactly going to be using it.)

He quickly located an inexpensive place with very small rooms, but he didn’t need much space anyway. A sleeping area and bathroom was more than enough. Dropping off Luhan’s things in the room, he grabbed his own wallet as well as the money from Luhan’s (he knew Luhan wouldn’t mind) and headed out, planning on finding the camp. The previous night he had searched the location on the internet, and in relevance to Luhan’s house it was pretty far, but Minseok couldn’t remember exactly where it was. And he was still too much of a coward to turn his phone back on to find out. Instead, he just left the motel to go find some place to eat and think everything over.

As he left, the motel owner called after him, “Be back by ten, to be safe.” At least, that was the idea, Minseok was pretty sure. His Chinese skills weren’t that great, even though Luhan taught him all the time.

He wondered what happened in the city after ten. It would probably be better not to find out.

“

The moment Chanyeol walked into Minseok’s apartment, he knew something was off. It was obvious, given away by the painful sound of crying that he recognized to be Baekhyun’s. Slipping off his shoes, Chanyeol hurried into Minseok’s bedroom where the noise was coming from, catching sight of his boyfriend kneeling beside the bed and howling hopelessly.

“Baek,” Chanyeol said immediately, crossing towards him and leaning down beside him. Baekhyun looked up at him with puffy, tear-filled eyes and sobbed harder. Instinctively, Chanyeol sat and pulled the smaller close to him, hushing him softly. “It’s alright. Tell me what happened…”

“He’s gone,” Baekhyun wailed, pressing his forehead to the younger’s chest and shuddering. Chanyeol’s eyes shot to Minseok’s empty bed. “I just – woke up. He – he – I d-don’t know, but he left!”

He could only mean Minseok, but Chanyeol refused to panic. There were lots of places Minseok could be, he told himself rationally.

“Do you know when he left?” Chanyeol asked him lightly. “Maybe he went for a walk.”

“N-no,” Baekhyun choked, shaking his head. He pulled back, sniffling and wiping at his eyes uselessly. “It – he planned it.” Chanyeol’s thumbs rubbed along his cheekbones, trying to help clear the tears away as they continued to come out. “He put me – to sleep, and probably left h-hours ago. I told him that stuff-” He cut himself off with a loud cry, hiding his face in Chanyeol’s shirt again. “I told him it knocks me out for hours…”

It was hard to keep up with Baekhyun when he was like this, so Chanyeol tried to stay focused on calming the older down instead so he could explain things properly. Also, if Minseok was gone, they needed to contact him and found out where he was. There was a sinking feeling in Chanyeol’s chest that he already knew where Minseok was intending to go. Where else? Only one thing ever crossed the boy’s mind these days.

“It’s alright,” Chanyeol repeated, whether it was true or not. “We’ll call him and get him home again, don’t worry Baek…”

They would get Minseok back. If it wasn’t too late.

A/n: Look who finally updated! Sorry I've been gone so long, I haven't been very well lately. Still, I'm trying to write when I feel up for it, which resulted in this chapter being written over the past few days (woo~). For those of you who don't know, I took myself off of the internet (mostly just being Twitter and Tumblr; I still check AFF and a couple other safe places regularly) and I don't really know when I'll be coming back, but I'm still writing when I can.

Anyway, this is unedited, don't mind me. Let me know what you thought of this chapter uwu