Menagerie

Numbers

Kyungsoo heaved a sigh as he pulled his cloak over his head, frowning when he heard footsteps following him. He just wanted some alone time, but that seemed to be impossible here.

“Hyung! Where are you going?” Kai’s voice said behind him. He picked up his pace and lowered his head further, wanting to escape the other. Despite his speed, Jongin caught up to him in no time. “Hyung, what’s wrong?” The younger asked, slinging an arm across his shoulders and leaning into him.

“Nothing.” Kyungsoo mumbled, leaning into the touch.

“If you say so.” Jongin replied, not pushing the matter if the elder didn’t want to talk about it. The two walked in silence until Kyungsoo finally spoke.

“When do you think it will be my turn?” He asked, not looking anywhere other than the floor.

“For what?” Kai asked, frowning slightly, but before Kyungsoo could answer, a voice over interrupted them.

“Could D.O from EXO k please report to the white room.” The voice over said, causing both boys to tense.

“Well…”

“Good luck Hyung.” Kai said, his voice relaxed.

Kyungsoo nodded stiffly before making his way to the room.

“Hello D.O.” A woman said as he walked inside. The projection of the video on the wall smiled kindly, too kindly considering the circumstances, and only made him feel even more uncomfortable. He had to kill someone? Again? He'd practically just done it, and never had expected to be called back again. Why? Was he too good at it? Too bad at it? Kyungsoo just didn't know.

He hummed in response to the woman before taking his seat on the white chair in the center. The woman sighed at the lack of response but didn’t force a greeting.

“I assume you know the reason you’re here.” The women said, smiling slightly. D.O nodded his head and glanced round the room nervously.

“Good. Saves me having to explain. You are to kill L.Joe of Teen Top.” She said, showing the idol a picture of a young boy with dark hair and a visible piercing in his ear. He seemed to be stood in front of a train track looking into the distance. Kyungsoo allowed his eyes to take in any distinctive features and memorize his face before he nodded.

“Okay.” He mumbled, standing up and heading to the door.

“Good luck D.O.” The woman said before disappearing, leaving only a blank screen.

Kyungsoo sighed and pushed open the door; he found himself on a stairway and frowned. Where should he go from here? The sun had set and now, all was dark outside. The only light Kyungsoo could see was coming from the bottom of the stairs, of which Kyungsoo could only imagine to be a subway.

As if to answer his thoughts, the sound of someone running was heard. Feet thudding against the concrete ground.

Someone was down there.

He squinted slightly, moving down a few steps to try and get a better look at the person, but from the far distance all he could see was a black figure and a scarf that blew in the wind. Kyungsoo carefully stepped down the stair way and walked hesitantly towards the figure who was now hunched over, his hands on his knees, trying to calm his breathing.

“Are you okay?” Kyungsoo asked, putting on fake kindness. He couldn't really care about anyone he met here. Not when he had been here before to kill one of their friends. Any one of them could be next. The boy whipped around to face him, his eyes wide in shock.

“Y...You?" L.Joe's eyes widened upon recognizing him as the man who had approached Changjo.

Was he going to kill him too?

“I’m looking for an L.joe?” D.O asked, shrugging of the question.

“Why?” He asked, squinting suspiciously. Wouldn't he just have killed him by now, or did he really not know who he was? D.O sighed and glanced around him.

“Listen, I don’t have time for you to act like you have no idea who I am talking about. Either tell me who this L.Joe person is, or…”

“I’m L.joe.” The boy interrupted, taking Kyungsoo of guard. Kyungsoo frowned to himself, how did he not recognize him?

“Well… umm...”

“You’ve been sent to kill me haven’t you?” L.joe asked, looking at the ground and shifting his feet nervously. There really was nothing he could do now. He was done for. He knew his time would come soon, after all, most people were going to have to die. D.O’s usually large eyes widened further.

“Urmm…”

“It’s okay, I didn’t think it would be long till it was my turn.” L.joe mumbled, looking up again. Kyungsoo fidgeted slightly, looking into the tunnel behind L.Joe as a train's engine sounded in the distance. He glanced around him again, the train track wasn’t too far, and they’d make it before the train came.

“Shall we walk?” He asked, smiling slightly. L.joe looked shocked, but nodded his head anyway. The two walked in towards the track slowly.

“Don’t you find it weird?” L.joe asked, scuffing the toe of his shoe along the ground.

“Find what weird?” D.O asked, glancing behind him.

“Well, you have to kill me soon. Yet you just asked me to walk with you.” L.joe stated, shaking his head. In all honesty, if he were to have to kill someone, he'd want to be nice to them beforehand first. Maybe that way they would understand and forgive him for it. Yet L.Joe was clearly oblivious to Kyungsoo’s intentions. This made the small man feel even worse that he already did.

“Not really.” He lied, making sure to keep a close eye on the train he could hear slowly approaching.

Before long, they had reached the edge of the train track, standing still as Kyungsoo rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet.

“I'm meant to be chasing a girl.” L.joe said, smiling slightly. D.O dared himself to glance at him one last time, the glow from the bright lighting illuminated his face beautifully, his ear rings catching the light slightly as his eyes sparkled.

The noise of the train got louder as it came closer to them, now or never.

With a hard push to his back, Kyungsoo sent L.joe falling forewords, tripping over the edge of the platform as he stumbled, and falling down onto the track.

Just as the train sped by.

He slowly turned away and walked away, his shoulders slumped and the heavy guilt almost eating away at his insides as he entered his own music video and straight into a pair of arms.

"It's so horrible." He groaned. Clutching onto the person he had just run into. 

"I know." The man replied, and just from the soft, silky smooth tone of his voice he could tell it was Yixing.

"They're keeping us here like lab rats. Running experiments on us like this. It's awful! We're not animals!" Kyungsoo ranted, still a little in shock from having to kill someone else.

"You're right. We're human. We have rights. They can't just keep us here in this menagerie."


Bye Bye L.Joe! :3 <3

/Welp/ First kpop bias is dead OTL

​Happy birthday to: E.Den and Suga (nearly all caught up now!! xD)

And the teaser ^^

Wow that one's a little bright! orz

Like this story? Give it an Upvote!
Thank you!

Comments

You must be logged in to comment
kwanqminnie
#1
Chapter 32: This was just... I can't even. IT WAS AMAZING. The plot was so unique and everything was really well-written. It really made me sad near the end though, but I guess it's a good thing because I may or may not have maniacally laughed at the earlier deaths (sorry TOP :3). But one thing is just lingering in my mind having finished this: what was the point of the experiment in the first place? Either you never mentioned it or I just accidentally skimmed through or completely skipped a part. I don't need an answer, but I'm just curious, because the whole idea of those programme things kind of freak me out. Like, what if that happened in real lif? Ooh! I also really like how you made Kris and Luhan the two who woke up and the effects of the programme as an "excuse" for them to leave in the future. Very clever ;) overall, I really, really loved this and this comment is WAYYY longer than it should've been. Can't wait to check out your other works!
MikuJae #2
Chapter 32: OMG I read everything in one evening. But that was just... the foreword and the trailer were hell of amazing and I just HAD to read it. And well, it was interesting though I didn't think they'd really die... but I still cried a few times, lol. But some deaths just broke my heart, like ricky's and hunhan <//3
night_club
#3
Chapter 31: Wow. This was. Wow.
sabonkey213 #4
Chapter 31: Ooooh wow this was crazy good!!!
BUT IVE SAT HERE FOR LIKE THE PAST FEW MINUTES AND I CANT WORK OUT THE NUMBERS
BigBangAngel
#5
Chapter 30: gahhhhhhhhhh
read this all in one day.....
*mind explodes*
this is sooooooo good
sabonkey213 #6
Chapter 29: Noooo not Seungri!!!!! That was gruesome :""""(
I don't have a clue about what will happen next...
Finalists?? New opponents??? Deadly battle???
Sounds great ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
sabonkey213 #7
Chapter 28: Omg i can't believe it's the final chapter next :o
it's been such a good read!!
I JUST HOPE KEY MANAGES TO CRACK THE CODE!!!!
onewraim #8
Chapter 8: No no not Taeminne
onewraim #9
Chapter 7: I hate this chapter u killed jinki