Taekwoon rolled over in a bed that wasn’t his, to check his phone for what felt like the thousandth time. Pictures of Jaehwan covered the walls, his scent in every nook and cranny, but Jaehwan was nowhere to be found. Three days…three gruesomely long days had passed since anyone has seen or heard from Jaehwan. The first day was filled with several unanswered calls and unreturned messages. Day two, Leo began a search.

“It’s been 24 hours now…” Taekwoon announced to Hakyeon, who was pacing back and forth across his front porch. “We need to call the cops. We’re in good jurisdiction to do so.”

Hakyeon stopped in his tracks and turned to face Taekwoon with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “There’s no need to call the cops kid. Jaehwan is fine. I’m pretty sure he’ll be here any minute now.”

“I still think we should do something,” Taekwoon said completely ignoring N’s words. “We can’t just sit here and do nothing.”

“Fine,” Hakyeon complied, “If it makes you feel better we’ll search for him together. I’ll call Wonshik and the others and we’ll all head out.”

And so they did. Taekwoon was determined to find Jaehwan. If he had to go through the entire Korean peninsula to do so, that’s exactly what he intended to do.  Taekwoon and the others spent the whole day searching for Jaehwan, until they all fell victim to exhaustion. Leo once again tried to get the cops involved but N was strongly against it, and after the constant protest from a stubborn Taekwoon, N snapped. He yelled at Taekwoon saying that the cops were useless and would only make things worse.  Frustrated by the idea of being helpless, Taekwoon broke down. He hated himself for letting his emotions get the best of him, but what was he to do when the one person who made him feel like no one ever could was gone. He then felt himself in the embrace of Hakyeon, who tried his best to soothe the weeping man.

Hakyeon ended the search. He brought Taekwoon back to his place and offered him Jaewhan’s room. For one Hakyeon had no idea where Taekwoon lived but he also thought it would somehow help Taekwoon if he was where Jaehwan would go first when he returned.

Taekwoon dialed Jaehwan’s number. He prayed that this call would be the one Jaehwan finally answered. He hoped to hear his voice, to hear him say that everything was ok and that he’d be home any minute.

“I’m sorry but the number you have dialed could not be reached…” Taekwoon sighed heavily. He brewed with anger from being meet with the same automated voice he heard over and over again the pass three days. He hopped out of Jaehwan’s bed and stormed to N’s room banging as hard as he could on the door. The door creaked open and a groggy Hakyeon poked his head out with sand shut eyes.

“What?” he groaned.

“I’m calling the cops.” Leo said bluntly.

“You can’t…” N replied, stepping out his room and into the hall with Taekwoon. He rubbed his eyes and finally opened them to make eye contact with the man in front of him.

“It’s been three days!” Taekwoon yelled.

“I know but—“

“No buts Hakyeon…I’m calling the cops.” Leo reached for his phone but before he could dial anything Hakyeon grabbed him by the wrist.

“Wait…” Hakyeon breathed, “There’s a reason why you can’t call the cops.”

“What do you mean?” Leo asked, his anger being subdued by curiosity.

“I’m saying do you honestly think that we’d go three days without calling the cops about our missing friend if there wasn’t a damn good reason?”

Leo looked at Hakyeon in confusion. He didn’t know much about them so how would he know that, however the tone of N’s voice and the look in his eyes Taekwoon was inclined to believe him.

“Okay…I’m listening.”

N released his grip on Taekwoon’s arm while extending his free hand in front of him. “Hand me your phone first,”

“No.” Taekwoon replied as he distanced himself from Hakyeon.

N sighed. “Do you want to know why or not?” 

Taekwoon looked between N and his phone uneasily. “Fine,” he said after a minute or two of silence. He handed his phone to N before crossing his arms. “Now tell me what I want to know.”

“Ok…” N exhaled. “So Ken and I…Jaehwan and the others…by others I mean Sanghyuk, Wonshik, and Binnie…we…”

Taekwoon raised a brow, “You what?”

“You see that’s what I’m having trouble explaining…”

“Look,” Taekwoon sighed, “If you’re not going to tell me just give me my phone back so I can call for actual help.”

N shook his head, “No, I’m going to tell you.” He sighed and gestured towards a photo on the wall. “You see that photo…notice how there’s six of us and you’ve only met five.”

Taekwoon looked at the group photo on the wall. Everyone wore bright smiles. He noticed Jaehwan right away he wasn’t the blond haired guy he met at the zoo. He was thinner with jet black hair. Besides him was a smaller baby faced Hyuk, and next to him was Ravi, Hongbin, N, and someone he didn’t recognize. Taekwoon had to admit that this guy was a bit charming, even in the photo he alluded charisma. He just had this presence you couldn’t deny.

“Who is he?” he asked.

“Suho,” N smiled. “Has Ken ever mentioned him?”

“No, I don’t remember ever hearing that name.”

“Understandable,” N nodded. “Two years ago he was killed…”

Taekwoon lowered his head, “I’m sorry…”

“It’s okay,” N replied.

“Do you mind if I asked how it happened?”

“No at all, I was going to tell you anyways…” N said before taking a deep breath. “You see the six of us are…different. For a while we used that difference to make a difference, to keep people safe, to do things that went beyond the capabilities of others and the law, but for good. Two years ago we faced something…well someone who was different like us, but he was far from good and by the end of the night we lost a friend…a brother.”

“I don’t understand…I mean I understand that Suho was killed by some guy, but what do you mean by different? How was he different? How are you guys different? Was Suho killed because he was different? Is Jaehwan going to be killed because he’s different too?”

“Whoa,” N blinked rapidly, “Slowdown…one question at a time please.”

Taekwoon sighed, “How are you guys different?”

“I think its best if I just show you,” N said as he reached out a hand towards Taekwoon. “Take my hand.”

Taekwoon took N hands in his, unsure of where any of this was going.

“Just as a warning you may feel a bit nauseous. Hyuk threw up the first time I did this with him.”

“What do you-“

Before he could even finish his sentence in a blink of an eye they were no longer in the hallway of N’s place but in the middle of a college dorm room.

“What the just happened?!” Leo yelled with wide eyes.

“We just teleported.” N smirked.

“We…we did… what?!” Leo breathed as he paced back and forth across the room. “I…I can’t breathe. Where’s the bathroom?”

N pointed in the direction of the restroom and watched as Taekwoon rushed inside it with a hand over his mouth. When he heard the sound of heavy gagging and water splashing, N smiled to himself. “Why do they always throw up?”