It was hot. The sun burned Jongwoon's bare skin, but there was nothing he could really do about it, aside from slowing his pace when he walked in a shadow of an object that temporarily blocked the sun from him. His hands were tightly knotted behind his back and he was being pushed forth by a guard.

"Enjoy the son while you still can, lad," the guard behind him said, as he noticed Jongwoon's attempts to hide from the sun wherever he could. Jongwoon was quite sure the man, who couldn't be much older than himself, was smirking even though he couldn't see his face.

Another push in his back ushered him to stop slowing his pace and to keep walking.

His legs didn't want to keep moving, though. The muscles burned in protest as Jongwoon continued to walk; cramps occasionally hitting him hard but he ignored it for as well as he could.

Suddenly, loud noises distracted him temporarily from the sun and the pain felt in his legs. The further he walked, the louder the noises became. It didn't take long for him to understand he was hearing people. People talking and chatting with family, acquaintances, and friends; maybe even to people they had never seen before.

The words they spoke couldn't be distinguished, but Jongwoon could pretty much guess what they were talking about.

As he was pushed hard once again, he walked up the wooden slope that lay in front of him. As he did, people came in view and they all silenced for a short moment before they started laughing, talking even louder than before and pointing at him as they did.

He felt ridiculed, and that's probably how it all was intended to be.

His feet felt heavier with each step he took towards the rope he had so dreadfully feared for the past couple of days. His cramps tried their best to stop him from moving forward, but Jongwoon himself knew in his heart that it was too late. There was no turning back nor could he be saved any longer.

He was soon stopped in his tracks and turned towards the crowd against his will. A rope was placed around his neck as the King's loud laughter could be heard above everyone else's, before he wholeheartedly pronounced that it was 'party time'.

Music started playing loudly as the hatch below his feet opened. The rope tightened around his neck within a second and he struggled, only to make the rope tighten even more. His breath was taken from him and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't refill his lungs with air, and it terrified him.

It frightened him more than you could imagine.

He couldn't breathe.

He was going to die.

He was dying.

Jongwoon's eyes burst open as he hurriedly sat up straight in his bed, gasping for air that somehow entered his lungs with no effort. He still panicked and looked around him frightened, before realizing it had just been a dream. A nightmare. A horrid nightmare.

He could still breathe, he wasn't dying nor was he about to.

Sweat dripped down his forehead and Jongwoon couldn't help but frown at himself. He wasn't the scared type, neither had he ever had nightmares before - including the times when he was only a child. What was wrong with him?

Tiredly, he dragged himself out of bed and made way towards the bathroom to get rid of all the sweat he had practically been bathing in due to his nightmare.

'Did I scream?' Jongwoon mildly wondered, while taking a comforting shower. 

People with nightmares always screamed if he was to believe the stories he had heard. If anyone had heard him scream, he would be too embarrassed to ever look them in the eyes again.

Then again, if he has screamed, wouldn't anyone have awakened him to help him stop suffering? They probably would have, so Jongwoon didn't have anything to worry about. His reputation was fine, he concluded.

After semi-drying himself with a towel and getting dressed hastily, he walked out of the bedroom only to walk into an empty living room. 

He could only guess where everyone had gone to.

Jungsu talked. He talked a lot. Kyuhyun was amazed that anyone was able to talk as much as Jungsu did.

Aside from explaining their upcoming mission, which was to get food towards the orphanage not too far from their hideout, he also talked about all kinds of unrelated things.

He talked about a man named Changmin, about the man's youth, about his own youth, about cooking and about Heechul, who had then rather harshly punched the man on his upper arm and told him to stop talking nonsense because he had more things to do than listening to Jungsu rambling on and on about nothing.

Jungsu, who hadn't understood any of the rather obvious sighing and face-palming hints of some other members sitting around the table before, finally noticed he was dragging the meeting and went back on subject. 

They were about to wrap everything up when the door opened and Jongwoon came in silently. He went to stand in the corner and eyed everyone without any expression on his face, but the aura that came from the man, made Kyuhyun feel more than uncomfortable.

And he noticed he wasn't the only one who felt that way. Some members fidgeted awkwardly on their seat, others watched everywhere but at Jongwoon, and even Jungsu had a hard time staying focused on his now useful story.

"Everyone understands what to do?" Jungsu asked eventually, to make sure the plan would go as planned and no mistakes would be made. He got some nods and endorsing sounds from the team in reply and he smiled. "Very well, we'll get to it at 7 AM tomorrow, then."

Everyone stood up and left the room, while Jongwoon walked towards Jungsu who was on the complete opposite from where he had been standing. On his way there, Heechul grabbed his hand and squeezed it lightly as a way to tell him he was happy to see him there - after all that had happened, it still felt like a miracle to see him alive and well - before he left the room as well.

"Did you sleep well?" Jungsu asked, not looking up as he shoved some papers together that had been spread in front of him. It contained some information that was needed for their upcoming mission.

"Fine," Jongwoon replied curtly, as he went to stand next to Jungsu. "Why didn't you wake me?"

Jungsu could hear the slight offend in Jongwoon's voice; the man had never missed a meeting before, aside from the one they had had when he was about to face his death. Jungsu didn't regret his decision about letting him sleep this one out, though.

"We are doing our 'Orphanage mission',