Yay, a quick update this time (kinda ...). ;)

Thank you all for reading and commenting! It's not the last chapter yet!

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The madman chuckles again. I wonder if he is aware that the police are closing in on him ... well, I guess he knows it ... which makes the situation even more dangerous. He’s got nothing to lose anymore. He’ll face life sentence no matter what he does on top of what he has done so far.

“I’M NOT A MANIC LIKE MY STUPID WIFE,” he says, “I DON’T SPEND ALL MY TIME WORSHIPPING RAGDOLLS AND QUEERS. BUT I LIKE MY SHARE OF BOOTY-WIGGLING GIRL-GROUPS.” He laughs and there is certainly some desperation in it, too.

“I WISH I HAD THE TIME TO MAKE YOU DRESS UP NICELY BUT YOU’RE NOT AS CUTE AS YOUR LITTLE BOYFRIEND ANYWAY. SO SHOW ME HOW MUCH OF A GIRL YOU ARE, , AND I MIGHT HOLD BACK THE BOMBS FOR A MINUTE OR TWO!”

It strikes me how similar the guy’s attitude towards us is to General Yoon’s. We’re trash to them, emasculated wimps. Although it shouldn’t affect me, it hurts, especially right now with Kibum so grimly fighting for his and our Maknae’s life.

“BRING IT ON”, our lead-dancer shouts, accepting the challenge and ignoring the humiliation.

The track starts and it’s one of the classics for comedy of the gender-crossing variety: Brown Eyed Girls’s “Abracadabra”. I guess everybody on the plaza knows that this is no challenge at all for Kibum, although the bomber might not.

I’ve seen Key dance to girl-group songs unnumbered times. He’s a genius in catching the choreographies and memorizing after only watching once. But more than that he doesn’t just make fun of the sometimes ridiculous dances, he performs them almost casually adding a personal touch and giving them life.

But that might not be what the bomber wants. Humiliated by his wife’s crush on a pretty young man he might be after something else to not only physically but even more mentally torture his rival or, as it is, the man standing in for him.

Kibum dances stone-faced to the graphic choreography: no comment from the bomber but apparently no further explosion either.

“Good job, Bummie”, Jjong at my side hisses through clenched teeth, “keep going.”

Buying time again ... I’m amazed by the mental strength Kibum shows. We all know he is hard to break but this has been going on for hours already.

“What’s taking them so long?” Minho asks, “they should have found the guy in the meantime.”

But I guess it’s not that easy and he will probably have taken precautions, maybe even installed traps or explosives that take a while to disarm to get to him.

The next track is Apink’s first hit “Hush”. I don’t even recall the song very well not to mention any choreography. But Kibum doesn’t hesitate.

The bomber plays a variety of tracks without any breaks and our lead-dancer toughs through even hardcore embarrassment like "Wiggle Wiggle" and "Touch my Body" not missing a beat.

“I DON’T LIKE IT!”

The music suddenly ends. “YOU BETTER PUT SOME MORE EFFORT INTO PLEASING YOUR AUDIENCE. IT’S NO FUN AT ALL!” the bomber shouts over the speakers.

Kibum stops frustrated, pausing with his hands on his hips, catching his breath.

“SO WHAT NOW?” he shouts looking directly into the camera.

When there is no reply he turns to Taemin who is on his hands and knees struggling to get up. I wonder why he doesn’t just rest since Kibum took over anyway. They talk but Key has turned the headset-microphone down so we can’t overhear. He grabs our Maknae and helps him onto his feet.

Taemin still wobbly leans on Kibums shoulder. I think he's crying ... then suddenly there is another explosion, no it’s two or three at the same time. One must be near the platform. A blast of rubble and splintering wood hits them and pushes them to their knees on the edge of the center-stage.

Everyone in the plaza screams in unison.

“They’re hurt”, Minho shouts. “Taemin is bleeding.”

He is right. Taemin’s shoulder has been grazed by a big chunk of the stage. The gash looks ugly even from afar but it’s impossible to tell if it’s dangerous. And I cannot see if Kibum is hurt as well.

But the worst thing is that one of the bombs went off in the already weakened scaffolding over the ruins of the main stage and the supporting steel-beam is tilting further to the side.

Kibum is turning his head and it feels almost like an outdrawn slow-motion shot. While the beam is bending sideways he grabs Taemin’s nape of the neck with a slender hand and pulls him close.

I only half register that Minho wrestles Jjong to his knees when the beam finally breaks and the roof comes down over our boys.

... I cannot be sure but I believe I hear a whispered “sarang hae” over the speakers, the headset-microphone maybe catching last words of comfort from the older for the younger. Then the screen flickers and goes dark.