Prologue I
Bravest [discontinued]“BTOB’s Showtime, take one!” the PD shouts. The set operators turn on giant fans and dump out bags of cherry blossoms. BTOB falls into position, prepared to shoot a drama parody.
“Why…?” Seo Eunkwang takes a staggering step forward, eyes pained. “Ilsun, why?”
Jung Ilhoon tosses back his fake hair. “I told you already, I love someone else.” He pauses, pity evident in his gaze. “Please, if you’ve ever loved me, go find your own happiness.”
He turns and walks away briskly, taking the arm of Lim Hyunsik, who waits some distance away. Behind them, Eunkwang falls to the ground, tears dripping onto the ground. After a while, someone places a hand on his back.
“Didn’t you hear her?” Lee Minhyuk asks softly. “She’s gone. Find someone else, someone who will truly make you happy. What about Yook Sungsuk? She’s liked you for a while, and from what I understand, she’s a very nice girl.”
Eunkwang does not move from his position, only shaking his head and squeezing his eyes tighter. “There is no one else, Yook Sungsuk least of all."
There is a brief pause as Minhyuk suppresses a sigh and looks up at the sky, cherry blossoms falling around him. “Cut! That was good!”
Eunkwang pops up, laughing. “That was so embarrassing,” he complains, taking the bottle of water that Shin Peniel hands him.
“You’re embarrassed!” Ilhoon yells, tearing off his wig. “I had to pretend to like Hyunsik-hyung!”
“Yah, Jung Ilhoon!” Hyunsik chases Ilhoon far offset, into a field of grass. The rest of the group rolls their eyes and follow. Behind them, the manager, worried, calls after them, "Be careful! There's supposed to be a storm soon."
Of course, no one hears him, and the wind picks up, tearing his words away.
“Okay, okay, we get it, you’re breaking up now, right?” Lee Changsub jokes, stepping between the two. Ilhoon takes the chance to hide behind Peniel and Sungjae, who was the mentioned Yook Sungsuk.
“Ah, Changsub’s so nice,” Minhyuk comments to Eunkwang as Ilhoon cackles about Hyunsik having wrinkles. Above, the sky darkens rapidly, and ominous thunderheads roll in.
Eunkwang and Hyunsik both open their mouths to reply, but a bolt of lightning strikes the ground, right between the group. A responding rumble from the earth topples everyone, and the group flies apart.
“, what the was that?” Peniel mutters in English, panicked, gripping Sungjae’s arm tightly. “Is Zeus mad or something?”
“Peniel, here!” Changsub grabs Peniel, also dragging Sungjae along, and runs. Ilhoon, who is an independent woman, part III, chases after them to join his groupmates.
“Eunkwangie!” Minhyuk yells urgently to his disoriented friend. “You have to jump over the crack! I’ll be here, just do it!”
Eunkwang eyes the ever-growing gap between him and his group and hesitates. Minhyuk’s tears are about to fall. “COME ON!”
In the end, under the threat of dying alone and possibly never seeing the others again, Eunkwang jumps, missing Minhyuk by a foot of distance. Hyunsik ends up being the one to drag him to safety.
“Stay with us,” Minhyuk murmurs, seizing Eunkwang in a choking hug. “We can’t lose you, please…”
All the while, the ground is tearing itself into pieces. Trees are toppling and, in the distance, buildings are collapsing. Changsub looks at his only two hyungs in slight annoyance.
“Guys,” he reminds, a little frustrated. “We have to get to higher ground if we don’t want to die.”
Too late. A sharp cracking sound reverberates through the air, and BTOB is suddenly standing on an isolated piece of land, too far away from any others.
“Well, , this is ing great,” Changsub curses. Sungjae fists the hem of his shirt anxiously.
“Hyung, what’s going to happen to us?” he whimpers. He never gets an answer, because Changsub has grabbed him in a suffocating hug. Around them, Minhyuk and Peniel are the same, and Hyunsik has Ilhoon. Only Eunkwang is alone, standing straight, arms by his side, looking up at the clear blue sky as if praying silently.
He has never looked so tall.
Such a heroic end to this group that just barely managed to make it big.
With a final shudder, the platform, BTOB’s only link to life, breaks, sending all seven into the center of the earth, surely a free ticket to Hell.
I edited the first chapter, according to a request that the earthquake came too suddenly. I agreed, and hopefully this makes it less sudden. Also, did anyone get the obvious miss A reference? XD
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