Drip. Drip. Drip.

A soothing rhythm to the ears, echoing in the moon-lit night.

A blonde young man blinked his eyes open, the sound of liquid coming in contact with the cold, hard floor ten times louder amidst the silence. He sat upright in one swift motion, looking at his bedside clock.

12.05AM.

Rising from his position, he headed to the living room where the lights were still on.

“Not asleep?” The blonde asked in a low voice, alerting the other five guys who were all immersed in their own businesses.

He seemingly had some authority over the five as they all stood in attention, dropping their things on hand. The blonde waved off their disciplined postures, smiling softly as if encouraging them to tell him about their activities.

“Feeling a little active.” A man with a comparatively smaller stature to the rest spoke up brightly. “The night always brings me new energy.”

“Watching reruns.” The tallest of them all spoke up, hand instinctively reaching for the back of his neck while his look-alike snickered. The rest tried muffling their laughs to no avail. “Hey! I missed the drama ‘cause I had to go get groceries for you guys, okay!”

“I was searching up new songs.” The look-alike reported after gathering himself. “Classy, new songs. Not sappy, cheesy ones.”

“…”

“Minwoo?”

The said man turned to the blonde as he heard his name and shrugged slightly. “Reading a book Hyunseong-hyung told me to.”

Upon hearing his name, Hyunseong nodded gravely. “The recent murders are occurring too suspiciously. I thought it’s best if we started some research.”

“You think so too?” The blonde sighed, heading towards the sofa for a seat. “One just occurred at least four minutes ago.”

The five widened their eyes and hurriedly followed the blonde towards the sofa, each finding their own seat.

“I heard the same sound I have been hearing these few days. The same sound of blood dripping.”

“Maybe it’s a leaking tap?” The one with the smaller stature grinned, hurriedly hiding the smile when he got deadpanned looks. “Sorry.”

“Jeongmin-hyung, seriously.” 

“Shut up, Youngmin. At least I don’t watch drama reruns.”

“Drama reruns!” The look-alike snickered once more, while said Youngmin threw a sofa cushion at-

“YAH! Jo Kwangmin!”

“Guys.” Minwoo sighed, eyeing the blonde who looked slightly amused. “Donghyun-hyung, have you checked this new one out?”

“I’m heading out soon, but I don’t want to get there before the police.” Donghyun replied calmly, clasping his hands together. “There’s definitely something fishy about these murders though. There is always blood dripping. They could create a blood pool and not drip, but these cases always make sure there’s that eerie dripping sound.”

Hyunseong nodded, rethinking Donghyun’s words. “We sure don’t want to meet the police again. They just don’t trust us detectives.”

“So what did you ask Minwoo to research for you?”

“Uh.” Hyunseong fidgeted slightly. “Um…”

“Little Red Riding Hood.” Minwoo coughed.

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHHA.” Youngmin laughed loudly, pointing at Minwoo while clutching his stomach.

“At least he didn’t willingly watch-”

“Shut up!” Youngmin reached for the next available sofa cushion to attack his evil twin with.

“I can explain!” Hyunseong defensively raised his arms, continuing despite Donghyun visibly trying to suppress his laughter. “It’s ‘cause there was this red cape left at the scene of the first suspicious murder.”

Donghyun straightened, looking at the man for confirmation. “Why wasn’t it reported?”

“It wasn’t AT the scene as it was so much AROUND the scene.” Jeongmin piped up, supporting his head with his hand. “He dragged me around the city within 500m radius of the scene and we found a certain red cape with a slight blood stain still fresh. We didn’t take it though, thinking maybe the police will find it and do their thing with it but OBVIOUSLY the state police doesn’t go around the city within 500m radius of each murder scene for clues. I think state cleaners picked up the cape and threw it away already.”

“After that, I tried the same tactic for the other murders but couldn’t find any new clues.” Hyunseong explained, ignoring Jeongmin’s subtle complain. “The newspapers’ reports on these murders had unusual comments though.”

“On supernatural occurrences, estimated time of murders and frequency. Too magical to be true.” Minwoo finished off, raising the “Little Red Riding Hood” book borrowed from the state library. “Which led to this.”

“And did you get anything from there?” Donghyun smiled softly, eyeing the time and estimating the length of time the police will need at the murder scene.

“This book is like some novel adaptation of the fairytale, so I’m still on the front few chapters where they introduce how the wolf acquires human-like intellect. I can speed up if you want.” Minwoo offered, the subtle submission towards the blonde evident to everyone present.

“Please do so.” Donghyun nodded, standing up while reaching out to ruffle Minwoo’s hair. “I’m heading out now, so continue doing your things and you guys don’t have to wait up for me.”

“Yes.” A chorused reply, while Minwoo headed for the door with Donghyun.

“Come back safely, hyung.” Minwoo smiled, closing the door after the blonde.

“And the moon reflected the sun, like shadows to humans. It reveals the darker sides of people they didn’t know exist.”

-

Donghyun watched from the shadows, confirming the departure of the state police’s car before entering the moonlight. He heard someone’s feet shuffle, head turning towards the general direction and only managing to catch a glimpse of-

Red.

‘Hyunseong may be right one this’, Donghyun thought to himself. The person was definitely moving further since seeing him, and Donghyun knew he had been careless.

At least they both know of each other’s presence now.

Heading towards the murder scene where the blood now dripped once in a while, he stepped closer cautiously, avoiding the danger tapes around the scene. He stared at the blood pool for a while, and then reached unconsciously towards it with his finger. The wet feeling sent chills down his spine, but he continued to examine his finger, now stained with a crimson red hue. Bringing his finger closer to his nose for a whiff, the strong coppery smell invaded his senses for a moment, and he almost stumbled from his crouched down position.

Donghyun stood up once again, seeing his shadow casted on the red pool. Turning back, he watched the moon and wondered what Hyunseong read in the newspapers.

The moon wasn’t full yet, still waxing.

Donghyun stared at the moon again, blinking away his sudden giddiness. The moon should be full tomorrow night, he thought to himself, and decided he needed to discuss Hyunseong’s thoughts as soon as he got back.

“Well then, time to grab the newspapers.”

-

“I said not to wait up.” Donghyun mumbled despite not looking, knowing the presence of a certain young male. “It’s 3.30am, you should be sleeping.”

“I was just reading.” Minwoo replied quietly, making his way towards Donghyun. “Would you like some coffee?”

“No, I’m heading to bed.” Donghyun shook his head, raising his hand to ruffle the younger male’s hair affectionately when he stopped himself short. “Sorry, my hands are dirty. Thanks for waiting anyway.”

Minwoo froze, eyes widened at the lingering scent of blood from Donghyun’s finger.

“No…no problem.”

“They say there’s always a reason why some people are good and others are bad. They say it’s not a choice, but a consequence. Consequence of a trigger unknown to people themselves.”

-

They may have known each other for years, but it was still the first time they were living together. Youngmin got up the earliest (though 11 o’clock in the morning wasn’t really all that early), ready to celebrate their tenth day of staying together because of the recent murder series.

Going about his daily routine, he decided to prepare a bit of breakfast and morning coffee for the rest, believing there would be another meeting to discuss whatever Donghyun saw in the early hours of the day. He had went to sleep the earliest, right after his rerun had ended, so he had no idea when the blonde came back home.

“Minwoo would know.” Youngmin commented to himself, hearing his twin fumble out of bed in the most “classy” way possible. “There he goes again, rolling out of bed.”

“I heard you.” Kwangmin replied lowly, stretching slightly. “Are there eggs? ‘Cause I like eggs.”

“There will be eggs if you go wash up and come help me.” Youngmin stood akimbo, pushing his twin towards the bathroom. “I’m not your mom, I’m your brother, so you better come help me after you’re done.”

“Ugh.”

“What’s my pair of lovely twins arguing about in the morning?” Jeongmin yawned, dragging his feet towards the smell of breakfast. He tried looking over Youngmin’s shoulder, before straightening his back and tip-toeing for a better view. “Aish, this tall kid.”

“Just a simple breakfast. Coffee with milk and two spoon of sugar?” Youngmin confirmed with the older man, smiling a greeting.

“Yeah. Wait, two and a half spoon. I need more sugar…” Jeongmin yawned. “The day always leave me so tired.”

“Mm. Kwangmin’s gonna take a while in the toilet so you might want to use the other one.”

“Gotcha~!”

Hyunseong arrived in the kitchen with bed hair at 11.30am, where the twins were making a slightly more elaborate breakfast than Youngmin had planned because Jeongmin was giving out orders. “What’s for breakfast?”

“Edible food.” Jeongmin laughed. “Made by the twins and directed by yours truly.”

Kwangmin rolled his eyes, taking a bite of the cheese sausage he was preparing. “I’m going to eat your breakfast!”

“NOOOOOO!” Jeongmin called out dramatically, hand reaching for the pan. His shorter hands definitely couldn’t outreach Kwangmin’s, which only made the scene look comical.

“Anyway, you guys might want to keep it down. If you wake Minwoo then it’s going to be messy.” Hyunseong laughed, heading toward the bathroom to refresh himself.

“That maknae, seriously.” Jeongmin shook his head. “So cute and so endearing, but so b*tchy in the morning.”

“Especially if you manage to wake Donghyun-hyung up too.” Kwangmin added. “Was Minwoo still awake when hyung got back? I went to bed after downloading my songs.”

“I don’t know, I followed you because I had nothing better to do, remember?” Jeongmin shrugged, pointing in the direction of the bathroom. “Ask that man, he was with Minwoo.”

“He was up until 2 in the morning at least. I went to bed after organising the articles.” Hyunseong came back with slightly wet hair, reaching for the book he made with articles pasted in chronological order. “Place breakfast onto plates and leave them first. I’ll brief you guys on what we have currently.”

“Yes, hyung!” The twins chorused, Kwangmin then reaching for a new cup to make Hyunseong his coffee.

-

Donghyun winced, estimating the time to be-

12.00PM.

The harsh afternoon sun was blocked from view by heavy, black curtains, but still had its effect on him. He tried to ignore the pain as he opened his eyes wide, heading towards the younger male that was still in slumber.

More accurately, some kind of nightmare.

“Minwoo-ya.” Donghyun called softly, hands holding down the struggling body. “Minwoo-ya, wake up.”

Minwoo twisted his body sharply, wincing as he tried to open his eyes.

“…hyung…”

“What was it?”

“I don’t know, it hurts.” Minwoo hissed, grabbing his head. He unconsciously leaned towards Donghyun, while the older cradled the younger male’s head, trying but not knowing what could help Minwoo feel better. “Sorry…”

“You don’t even know what you’re apologising for.” Donghyun shook his head, smiling softly despite the throbbing pain in his own head. “Is it better?”

“I think so.” Minwoo sighed, then standing up, albeit a little unsteadily. “It will get better…I think.”

“Mm.”

The pair then headed out of their room, noticing the other four in some kind of discussion. Minwoo headed straight for the further bathroom so Donghyun could access the one closer to the kitchen, while the blonde greeted the crowd. “Morning.”

“Hey, hyung!” Youngmin chirped, ready to make coffee. “Just coffee?”

“Yeah, two cups please.” Donghyun nodded. “What’s up here?”

“I wanted everyone to be in the know, and after you’re done washing up we can discuss what you saw last night.” Hyunseong smiled, proudly showing his self-made book.

“He’s being very adamant on supernatural causes though.” Jeongmin gave an uninterested look. “It’s not like we’re in a fantasy world but he keeps going on and on about it. What does Little Red Riding Hood even have anything to do with-”

“Mm, not so fast, Jeongmin.” Donghyun cut the younger man off. “We’ll talk later, sorry.”

“Nah, it’s okay.” Jeongmin shrugged it off. “Kwangmin-ah, reheat breakfast please! I’m really hungry now.”

“Sheesh, you should learn to do things yourself.” Kwangmin shook his head, raising from his seat anyway.

The youngest of them all then dragged his feet towards the kitchen, collapsing on his seat.

“Long night?” Hyunseong asked, messing the bed hair Minwoo had.

“No, just woke up in a bad way.” Minwoo pouted slightly, thanking Youngmin for the coffee (that was supposed to be for Donghyun). He downed the whole cup despite the temperature of the coffee, regretting slightly when his stomach had this burning sensation. “A bad headache.”

“…” Youngmin looked at the empty cup and headed for the coffee maker again.

“Anything cool from the book?” Jeongmin laughed, disbelieving tone causing Hyunseong to make a face.

Minwoo shrugged, then making his way to the book and back while Donghyun headed towards the breakfast table.

“Well then, let’s all grab a bite before we start.” Donghyun smiled, thanking the twins for the breakfast. Youngmin smiled proudly, placing the second cup of coffee down for Donghyun again, while Kwangmin served reheated breakfast to everyone.

“So I was saying-” Jeongmin started, mouth full of food as he gobbled up breakfast messily. “-there’s no reason we should be turning to childish fairytales.”

“I personally think that it’s a plausible thought.” Donghyun replied, a stark contrast to Jeongmin as he used fork and knife to slice his egg into bite-size pieces. He chewed slowly then continuing as the rest waited for him to finish his opinion. “I saw someone at the scene today. I didn’t really see the person, but there was a red cloth definitely as the person ran away.”

“It doesn’t mean it has to be the fairytale.” Kwangmin piped in, adding salt and pepper to his scrambled eggs.

“Yes, but it might mean the person was taking references from the book.” Hyunseong pushed his idea forward, ready to relaunch his explanations with the articles that he had done about half an hour ago.

“What kind of references could be taken?” Youngmin interjected, looking at Minwoo who was quietly munching.

“…” Minwoo swallowed down his food, slightly wiping his mouth with a napkin. “Parodying the book. Many serial killers mimic scenes from various books because it gives them a sense of pride in creating artistic value in real life. To be wearing a red cape is to flaunt the inspiration. Someone is challenging us.”

“Challenging us?” Donghyun turned to Minwoo. “Us?”

Minwoo visibly lost confidence at this question. “…I just thought it was weird…But she may be watching us.”

“She?” Everyone inched closer, suddenly alarmed at Minwoo’s words.

“I went to the state library then like Hyunseong-hyung asked. This book was almost waiting for me, left on the best-seller racks right when I entered. I tried to borrow it but it wasn’t registered in the library, so I headed to the Customer Service counter where they recognised the sticker but couldn’t find it in their database. Someone was commenting on how they saw an oddly-dressed lady left the book there, but couldn’t remember what was so weird about her dressing except that she was in red.” Minwoo recounted.

“And you only tell about it now?” Hyunseong said in a slight accusing tone, to which Donghyun gave a look. The younger male apologised softly, then urging the maknae on. “Why did you keep it to yourself?”

“I didn’t think much of it, like maybe the library was just experiencing problems because they said they were going to do a clean-up early this year.” Minwoo sighed. “They let me borrow it all the same so I thought whatever.”

“But there must be something about it that led you to the conclusion that she’s watching us.” Kwangmin frowned, pointing out where he found faults in Minwoo’s words.

“It wasn’t obvious at the start. There were faded pencil markings and I thought it must be because kids doodle on these books, but I’m at the tenth chapter and all the pencil markings are starting to appear more and more, unerased.” Minwoo opened the book to the page where he had placed a bookmark in.

There was a handwritten paragraph at the end of the chapter where there was still some space:

“Six of them, all young and wild. They were waiting for the moment the moon basks in its full glory, even if they don’t know it. That night will come, and when it hits them, it will hit them hard. Especially, the one…”

Jeongmin trailed off, unable to read the erased portion. “What’s this?”

“I can’t read it either.” Minwoo shrugged.

“Leave it to me.” Youngmin held out his hand, asking for the book as he reached for his pencil. Shading the book lightly as the words were all written barely leaving marks, he dropped his pencil when the answer appeared.

Kwangmin poked his head to see, blinking. “It says, ‘Especially, the one reading this.’”

Minwoo widened his eyes, body trembling violently as the words replayed in his head.

“Doesn’t this depend on who reads it?” Jeongmin tried to comfort Minwoo. “I can read it from now on, don’t worry too much.”

“But there’s six of us too.” Hyunseong disregard the fear, only interested in solving the mystery. “There’s that ‘moon basks in its full glory’, what does that mean?”

“The moon.” Donghyun paused, straightening. “The moon. It’s full moon tonight.”

Minwoo winced, hands reaching for his head as his headache returned.

“Is she really watching us?” Youngmin bit his lower lip, feeling the chills even though he only read one sentence from the book a while ago. It must be even scarier for Minwoo who had been reading it for a few days straight.

Donghyun cradled Minwoo’s head once more and whispered softly, soothing the younger’s nerves. “It’s all right. We’re with you. I’m with you.”

“We don’t know much, but we need to watch out for tonight.” Kwangmin concluded. “Let’s grab some rest. Minwoo needs it.”

“As the afternoon sun shines the brightest, the midnight moon also gives birth to energy from within.”

-

Donghyun flinched, gathering the other five at 6 o’clock in the evening. The sun was setting, and Jeongmin was bouncing up and down more than usual.

“As Kwangmin said, we need to watch out. I want you guys to patrol the city starting now.” Donghyun said, eyeing Minwoo who still barely has any colour on his face.

“Are we expecting a murder tonight?” Youngmin questioned.

“Yes. And if the story means anything, we need to be more cautious about midnight and ourselves than anything else. Between now and midnight, call me if you see any suspicious person.” Donghyun continued.

“Ourselves?” Kwangmin repeated, unable to comprehend.

“We may be in danger. I don’t know what kind, but let’s just be careful. I’m hoping every one of you can travel alone, but I’m going to stay with Minwoo.” Donghyun stated, the said person looking visibly relieved.

“Gotcha~!” Jeongmin sang.

“I have some ideas on where the murder might take place.” Hyunseong offered, hurriedly mapping where previous murders had taken place and hence the probability of the location of the next. He handed out the same map to the rest (thanks to the local post office) and stated his claim on the location with the highest probability. “I’m here at midnight!”

“Thanks.” Donghyun smiled slightly, nodding. “Remember to be careful. Please head off to your respective locations now and contact me.”

The four then hurried off, while Donghyun took a seat next to Minwoo who was doing some last minute reading. He was freaked out by the paragraph earlier in the day, but the less he read means the bigger trouble it might be for them. This was the clue left by that woman, this was all they had.

“Come on, Minwoo.” Donghyun gently took the book away from Minwoo, placing it down. “Let’s go.”

Minwoo nodded unconsciously, eyes lingering on the book.

“The more sensitive one is to the sun, the more sensitive he is to the moon.”

-

Jeongmin couldn’t keep still, his position from the roof of a residential building allowing him to see Youngmin and Hyunseong who are in his vicinity. He could see the full moon peeking out from the clouds, and turned to his watch for the time.

11.45PM.

They had been out for quite a while, Jeongmin thought to himself. He would usually be tired by now since he had been going around the city for at least five hours, but he sure feels abnormally active.

He frowned, focusing on Hyunseong’s position from his area when he thought he saw something appear.

Reaching for his phone, he decided to call Donghyun as the blonde had ordered.

“Yes?” Donghyun picked up in no time.

“Hyung, I think I saw something. I’m not sure, but there was just that image of somebody appearing near Hyunseong-hyung. That’s all, you can maybe wait for Hyunseong-hyung’s call.” Jeongmin stated lightly, pouting slightly when he no longer see any images around Hyunseong.

“Sure, thanks Jeongmin.”  Donghyun thanked the younger, then ending the call.

Donghyun turned to Minwoo at his side, informing the younger about the situation.

“Mm.” Minwoo nodded. “Hyunseong-hyung’s usually quite accurate with the algorithms he has for determining positions when given enough preceding cases.”

“You okay?” Donghyun asked again, answer clear on Minwoo’s brighter expression.

“Yeah, I’m slowly gaining strength. Maybe I’m just more of a night person.” Minwoo smiled cutely, taking note of the time. “Four minutes to midnight.”

“Any time now.”

Away from the duo was Hyunseong standing alone with eyes closed. He listened to the silent night, hand slowly reaching for his phone.

There was light footsteps, and he turned a half round in a blink of an eye.

“You.” Hyunseong kept his eyes on the figure before him, hand reaching for his phone. He cursed himself for not putting Donghyun on speed dial, and tried to key Donghyun’s number blindly.

“I’d like it better if you could call me Little Red Riding Hood.” The figure smirked, a calm lady’s voice emerging from the person hidden behind the red hood.

“What are you after?” Hyunseong squinted, the moon casting a shadow of the red hood and causing the lady’s face to be hidden even more.

“Nothing much really. To me, life is but a game.” She spoke with a snicker, but with a certain elegance. “I was looking for fun, but I might as well look for scapegoats as well.”

“Scapegoats?” Hyunseong frowned, managing to press the call button.

“Or should I say…” The lady paused, looking at a faraway clock tower as the clock striked twelve. “Scapewolves.”

“They awaken to red, with irrational rage.”

-

Donghyun backed away, ringing phone forgotten.

Minwoo was changing before him with sharp teeth growing. The younger was screaming, grabbing his head in agony and in so, so much pain.

He paused, himself unsure of what was happening to the younger. He caught a glimpse of red, and turned to where he saw it only to feel his head hurt.

He yelled, feeling the need to take out his anger on someone when he saw the younger male in anguish. Controlling himself, he fought his instincts to attack the younger and instead turn the younger to comfort him even if only slightly.

Minwoo couldn’t contain his illogical resentment towards the man before him, instead pouncing onto the older man and throwing heavy punches towards the other. He sank his teeth into the shoulder of Donghyun, enough to draw blood, and felt even more riled up at the sight of the blood.

Donghyun winced, himself only half-sane. He could feel strength in him building up for a powerful blow towards the younger man, but also trying to resist to ensure he doesn’t regret this. Pushing Minwoo off him, he stumbled and decided he needed to get away from Minwoo.

Rolling down the stairs of the two-storey building, he couldn’t feel the pain as his head hit concrete ground, only concerned about getting up and out of the way. A parked car reflected the light from the moon, and Donghyun paused at his own reflection.

His eyes…one of his eyes wasn’t its natural colour.

He looked at his own sharp teeth, and blinked. He didn’t understand what was going on. He tried to reason in his head amidst the throbbing pain, and then heard Minwoo’s cry again.

“I need to get away.”

-

Youngmin struggled, clenching his jaws and regretting when he felt his sharper teeth hurt himself. He wasn’t sure what happened, except that he saw this suspicious red cape and was about to call Donghyun when he felt his head hurt. Then his teeth suddenly felt sharper. He needed to find the rest and ask what was going on. Reaching for his map and fighting the thought to tear it up, he decided to head for Kwangmin who was pretty nearby.

“Kwangmin-ah!” Youngmin mustered his voice, hearing a body stumble. Hurrying towards the noise, he saw his twin jerking his body around in visible pain. “What’s with you?!”

“Hurts…” Kwangmin mumbled, turning to Youngmin and feeling a bit better at the sight of his twin. His twin wasn’t as happy to see him though.

“You…” Youngmin backed away, trying to collect himself. “What’s with your eyes?”

“What’s with my eyes?” Kwangmin repeated, unable to fully comprehend what he was talking about. “This hurts like hell.”

“You’re…Kwangmin, right?” Youngmin confirmed, unable to decide if Kwangmin was dangerous.

“I think you’d know that better than anyone else.” Kwangmin replied dryly.

“Your eyes are freaking blue, okay! You would question if I’m your twin if you saw me like this too!” Youngmin defended himself, looking around for a reflective surface when he saw a café with glass windows. “There, go see your reflection there.”

Kwangmin nodded slightly, hand reaching out for Youngmin as the older of the two helped him up. They headed to the glass window together and Kwangmin blinked at his own reflection.

“I look pretty cool.” Kwangmin shrugged.

“Seriously.” Youngmin punched Kwangmin’s shoulder, and blinked when Kwangmin almost flew.

“That hurts, you jerk!”

“I’m not usually this strong.” Youngmin blinked, apologising softly. “Anyway, let’s look for the rest. Maybe they have answers.”

“Where are they?” Kwangmin agreed, following Youngmin towards their next location.

“I know Jeongmin-hyung should be around here somewhere. Up till midnight I could see him bounce.” Youngmin mumbled. “Oh, did your head hurt?”

“Yeah, I saw that Red Riding Hood person and then suddenly I just felt like crap.”

“That’s the murderer!” Youngmin shouted, before covering his mouth. “But why do our head hurts when we see her?”

“ARGHHH!” A familiar voice screamed out, and the pair of twins hurried towards the source.

Jeongmin was thrashing about, throwing whatever he could see and leaving a trail of wreck behind him.

“Crap. Something’s wrong.” Youngmin backed away, while Kwangmin stopped Youngmin.

“Hey, if we don’t do something about it, who will? We are the only ones who understand why Jeongmin has teeth like yours.”

Youngmin reached for his teeth and sighed. “Fine, fine. Though I don’t think we really understand why.”

“Whatever.” Kwangmin shook his head, devising a plan with his twin to hold the older man down from his rampage. “On the count of three.”

“One, two-”

“HYUNG!” The twins chorused, each holding onto one of Jeongmin’s arm. Jeongmin groaned loudly, fighting the grip and growling fiercely at Youngmin. He turned towards Kwangmin and was about to growl once more when he whimpered, visibly backing down at the intensity of the bright blue eyes.

“I think you scared him.” Youngmin blew out air from his mouth, still holding down Jeongmin in case he acted up again.

“Jeongmin-hyung, can you hear my voice?” Kwangmin spoke calmly, watching Jeongmin scrunch up his face in distress. “Hyung!”

“Ah, hurts like hell.” Jeongmin muttered, limbs falling limp to his side. Kwangmin loosened his grip and nudged for his twin to do the same. “Where the hell am I?”

“You saw red, your head hurts like hell and you don’t remember what happen.” Youngmin recounted on Jeongmin’s behalf, checking the older man’s expression for confirmation. “I’m a genius!”

“Just someone who has experienced it as well.” Kwangmin rolled his eyes. “Anyway, hyung, if we are of any evidence, we need to hurry and find the other three. They may be wrecking more havoc in the city than we realise.”

“What are we?” Jeongmin blinked, barely finding his words as he stared at Kwangmin’s eyes.

“We need to find our resident bookworm for answers.” Youngmin sighed, ears picking up some noise. “For the time being, Hyunseong-hyung may be needing some help.”

“I think it’s gonna be tough.” Kwangmin shook his head, redevising a plan with an extra pair of hands to spare.

Hyunseong was taken down with a bit of a struggle, but the oldest of the four managed to find his sanity nevertheless.

“Did I do that…?” Hyunseong blinked at the trail of mess behind him, and turned to the three for answers. “I did?!”

“What happened to you?”

“I thought I saw someone appear in front of you before midnight!” Jeongmin pointed at Hyunseong, remembering the incident and how he reported to Donghyun.

“Yes, Little Red Riding Hood, she says.” Hyunseong clutched his head, sighing. “Said about making us scapegoats, and then she revealed an unconscious child in her arms and killed him before me. Then I cannot remember anything but that my head hurts like hell and somehow I got here.”

“She’s a psycho.” Youngmin shuddered.

“Guys…” A familiar low voice broke their train of thoughts, and everyone turned to the blonde.

They all unconsciously backed away, watching the mismatched eyes of Donghyun stare into their souls.

“…hyung?”

“Are you guys okay?” Donghyun winced with every step, watching Hyunseong and Kwangmin’s bright blue eyes.

“Yeah, but you…” Jeongmin was the first to try to help Donghyun with his steps.

“I was resisting it.” Donghyun hissed, thanking Jeongmin.

“Wait.” Kwangmin widened his eyes. “’That night will come, and when it hits them, it will hit them hard. Especially, the one reading this.’. Hyung, where’s Minwoo?”

“I left him.” Donghyun sighed, showing his open wound. “I couldn’t get through to him and if I stayed with him any longer, I might fight him too.”

“This is bad.” Hyunseong shook his head. “The murder took place. We need to find Minwoo quick or he becomes Red Riding Hood’s scapegoat.”

“It did?” Donghyun growled, his left eye flashing between bright blue and its natural colour. “Hell, the police have left their headquarters.”

“How do you know?” Youngmin turned to Donghyun, suddenly realising that Donghyun has been knowing things abnormally. Like how there was the dripping of blood even though the murder scene was definitely not within range of their living quarters.

“I hear them.” Donghyun groaned. “Minwoo said the more sensitive one is to the sun, the more sensitive one will be to the moon. We both experienced a bad headache this morning, so I’m thinking we both have it the worst. I’m only okay because I managed to stop myself seeing what it did to Minwoo. Youngmin, you wake up early, don’t you?”

“Yeah…?”

“Go with Kwangmin and stop Minwoo. You guys will have less of the symptoms because of your decreased sensitivity towards the day.”

“Yes, hyung.” The twins chorused.

“Listen, be extra careful. Stay with him until sunrise and don’t let him see any red. That means, don’t let him bite you either.” Donghyun warned, thanking Hyunseong for trying to help him become more comfortable. “Minwoo’s on the move, five blocks down. The police are in the opposite direction. Hurry now.”

“Okay!”

-

A streak of orange starts to appear in the sky, taking over the glow from the full moon. The lady in the red cape appeared before the blonde, chuckling.

“You think you’re so smart.” She spoke quietly, watching Jeongmin and Hyunseong react to the colour of her cape, both growling despite the rising sun.

Donghyun held both of them back with his arms, his left eye flashing between bright blue and its natural colour even more vigorously now.

“What did you do to us?”

“Does it really matter? You broke the curse.” The lady finished off simply. “I was looking forward to what that kid could do because he was such a good specimen, such a night owl. But you went around ruining my plans even though you were such a good specimen yourself.”

“Who are you?”

“Didn’t you yourself examine the murder scenes?” She smirked. “Wasn’t there something about the blood that made you question if they were even murder cases?”

“Hyung!”

“Well then, here’s to never seeing you again.” The clothed figure brought up her red cape to her face, and let it drop. Only her red cape was left, while her body disappeared into thin air.

“What the hell was that?” Kwangmin blinked, arriving before his twin, who had an unconscious Minwoo in tow.

Donghyun looked up as the sun filled the sky with bright orange. He couldn’t remember when he started disliking the morning light, but could suddenly feel that preference fade.

Hyunseong and Jeongmin no longer growled, themselves left confused by their actions.

“The sun never felt better, huh?” Youngmin smiled, nudging the male on his back awake. “You should be fine now.”

Donghyun watched the glass window from across the street, their eyes and teeth all returning to their original form as the city woke up to a brand new morning. Minwoo stirred, his face showing the same innocent expression Donghyun remembered him wearing ten days ago.

-

“We still don’t know what happened to us. Hey, Minwoo, what’s the conclusion?” Kwangmin asked as they packed their bags, ready to leave their temporary living quarters now that the case was swept under the rugs.

Donghyun had reported the murder cases to be elaborate pranks, blood being mixed with red dye and rusted metal. Corpses were unidentified bodies with no origin, and on closer inspection were only synthetic bodies. To save the reputation of the state police, the case was conveniently forgotten.

Minwoo turned to the last page of the book, reading the handwritten words.

“To be curious, is to search for answers endlessly. Those who look forward for these answers and never turn back will lose their way, and lose their sight. You reading this, will definitely be cursed.

You will be saved only if you are blessed with someone who knows their roots. Someone who can find themselves amidst their search for answers, someone who knows the way back to their truest forms. Someone who knows resistance, someone who can lead you back into the light.

May you treasure your renewed life a man’s wisdom gave you.”

“I’m not really sure.” Minwoo scratched his head. “I think it means, thank your parents.”

“Seriously?” Jeongmin laughed, dragging his luggage out of the room.

“Anyway, the story ended with the wolf learning the ways of humans as he experience life, and that Little Red Riding Hood was the bad person spreading rumours of the wolf being bad when she was the one doing the bad deeds. The wolf managed to realise he wasn’t the one causing trouble in the village although he thought his animal instincts did it all. With a new outlook in life, the wolf now lives in the village, happily ever after. The end.” Minwoo summarised, closing the book and stretching. He saw Donghyun helping carry his own luggage out, and hurried towards the older man. “I can do it myself, hyung. Thanks!”

“Mm.” Donghyun nodded and was about to head back into the room for his own luggage when Minwoo stopped him. “Hm?”

“What’s with that wound on your shoulder?” Minwoo blinked, the wound  on Donghyun that was visible due to Donghyun’s loose T-shirt.

The other four turned to the two and then each other.

Did Minwoo not have any recollections at all?

“It’s nothing.” Donghyun smiled, eyeing the rest as if to tell them to never tell Minwoo about the incident. He ruffled Minwoo’s hair and made a mess of it, smiling affectionately. “Nothing at all.”

-

“Oh, so Little Red Riding Hood was a Witch.” Youngmin stated boredly, taking the book from Minwoo that day they left the living quarters.

Kwangmin paused. “Do you know what you just said?”

“Hm? What?” Youngmin looked at his twin with a blank expression.

Kwangmin thought back to that day when the figure just disappeared.

“We met a real-life Witch.”

-

The end is so anticlimatic but who cares HAHAHAHAHAH.
It was going to be more nonsensical but I managed to tie up loose ends so I'm happy :D!