Thank you for subscribing, still reading and commenting :) . Somehow the story develops differently from what I planned but I guess that's okay.

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Kibum is eerily silent when he lays Taemin gently down on the stage and the music stops. Then he turns towards the camera. He is very calm. Pale, hollow-cheeked and drenched in sweat he looks almost like one of those traumatized child-soldiers you always come across on anti-war posters. Holding his headset-microphone close to his mouth he huskily asks:

“Is this what you wanted?”

The whole plaza is hushed. Everybody is staring at the screen. I believe I hear faint sobbing in the crowd.

No answer.

Kibum’s head whips around again towards the left side of the stands and we can only guess that another bomb went off inside the stadium.

Turning back to the camera he asks again:

“Is THIS what you wanted?”

Still no reaction but no new music-track either.

“IS THIS WHAT YOU ING WANTED?” now he’s screaming. “DID YOU WANT TO TORTURE HIM? HUMILIATE HIM? DO YOU REALLY WANT TO KILL HIM NOW?”

He spits the words into the microphone so vigorously it makes the speakers on the outside of the stadium hiss with reverberation.

Another explosion, this time audible even for us. Jjong grips my arm painfully but I don’t even look at him because on the screen we see the scaffolding over the main stage in the back slowly tilting to the right, towards the already weakened beam.

“That’s it”, Moon shouts and grabs his walkie-talkie: “All units abandon ... repeat ... ABANDON NOW.”

“But ...” He cuts me short before I can protest.

“I’ll get them.”

“But ...” I try again, urgently needing to know how ... but Minho holds me and yeah, there is no time.

All eyes are still glued to the screen where we now see Kibum kneeling next to our Maknae who still appears unconscious.

Moons squad comes running from the stadium so this really is it?

“I’LL GIVE YOU ONE MORE CHANCE,” the bomber’s voice finally shouts. “ONE MORE CHANCE TO SAVE EVERYBODY.”

“Save who?” Song who is standing beside me asks nobody in particular, “there’s nobody left except for the boys and Moon. The evacuation has been completed twenty minutes ago already.”

There is a commotion among the police who secure the our makeshift stage.

“No, Ma’am, no, you can’t go there”, one of the guys keeps repeating and when I look there is a young woman determinedly fighting her way towards us. When see recognizes me she shouts:

“Please, Mr. Lee, let me talk to him.”

Does she really believe that I’m in charge?

Officer Song beckons the woman over to him and she gladly takes his hand to climb the stage.

“Please”, she repeats panting, “let me talk to the man. He’s my husband.”

We’re dumbfounded.

“You mean the bomber is your husband?” Song asks just to make sure.

“Yes ...” the woman confirms but before she can explain anything her husband’s voice over the speakers announces again:

“I’LL GIVE YOU ONE MORE CHANCE ...”

“Does this transmit in there?” the woman hastily asks while already taking the microphone we used for communicating with Kibum.

“Wait ...” Song tells her but she already calls:

“Yeobo, it’s me. Can you hear me?”

The bomber falls silent.

“Yeobo”, she tries again. I see people pointing at her from the plaza, “please, talk to me.”

Kibum is looking around, puzzled.

“I’M NOT DONE YET!” the bomber shouts, “WHY DID YOU COME HERE? GO AWAY, GO HOME.”

“Please”, the women keeps pleading.

But the guy is angry now.

Another explosion. I wonder how much more it takes until the building collapses. We can see Moon inside now hurrying towards the center-stage where Taemin is still on the floor although not unconscious anymore. Kibum is softly talking to him but has the microphone turned away so we can’t overhear.

The bomb-squad leader joins them on the stage. He immediately grabs one of Taemin’s feet and examines the shoe. I guess there are further explosions going on but they seem to be minor since Moon doesn’t even react. Only Kibum keeps looking around still holding Taemin who is now sitting up.

“WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?” the madman’s voice can be heard. “LEAVE THOSE SHOES ALONE OR YOU’LL BRING DOWN THE ROOF!”

I wonder why he’s saying this, since he already told us before and well, isn’t that what he wants anyway? Then it strikes me ...

“Could he be bluffing about the shoes?” I ask Song but also addressing the wife.

Song throws me a surprised look.

“Well we dismissed General Yoon’s suggestion about that, didn’t we?” he replies.

“No, I mean ... yes ..., “ I’m stammering again, “but that was just about the connection between Taemin dancing and the explosions. What if he lied about the shoes triggering a signal? What if he triggers the bombs himself depending on his ... degree of satisfaction with the performance?”

“What shoes?” the wife asks, “what is he doing?”

She looks terrified and it dawns on me that we don’t have any information from her yet and she probably doesn’t really know what’s going on either.

“He made Taemin dance to all kinds of tracks triggering explosions everytime he messed up”, Minho explains.

“What brought you here?” Song asks her.

The woman’s eyes dart around between us and the screen.

“What?” she asks back helplessly and then adds “I’ve seen it on KBS, I know, it’s him, he locked me in at home, didn’t want me to go to the concert. He is out of his mind.”

“Because you wanted to go to our concert?” I want to know.

“Because I love Taemin”, she says.