It wasn’t a riddle. The answer was obviously Woozi.

Seungcheol knew what NU’EST was trying to do. They were blackmailing him. Either he admits the full, detailed truth about the comeback song Armor, or they would release something from his past, a “flashback,” as they had called it in their unnecessarily cryptic rhyme. Admitting the full truth about the comeback song would draw the public to NU’EST’s side. If the public knew what Pledis had been planning to do with Armor, they would surely feel some sort of sympathy for NU’EST. That’s what NU’EST is doing now– trying to get sympathy.

NU'EST had a lot on Seungcheol, and whatever it is they decided to release would engulf him and therefore all of Seventeen in scandal. s. He thought he could trust them before. He thought those secrets were safe with them, but no; there they were, taking his career and dangling it in front of his eyes, ready to trample on it with one wrong word.

When Seungcheol first read the “riddle,” his first reaction was actually relief. He was relieved that it was easy to figure out; it wasn’t too complicated like it was in all those movies. He didn’t know why he expected otherwise from a group of boys his age, boys that he identified as idiots.

If it were up to him, Seungcheol would do anything in his power to avoid the so-called flashbacks, even if it meant letting NU’EST have the song. But it wasn’t up to him in the end. The decision belonged to the company. The CEO had approached him a few hours after the riddle was posted.

“What does NU’EST have on you?” the CEO asked.

It wasn’t exactly easy to admit it the dark secrets of his past to the boss, but he knew he had to in order to get the boss to agree to publicly releasing the details that NU’EST was requesting.

When the boss heard, Seungcheol could see that his eyes were twitching in utter irritation. Seventeen would surely be ruined if that got out, and if Seventeen is ruined, this guy’s company and career would fall into the dumps. The boss had to concede to NU'EST's demands and tell the public the truth.

The boss decided to hold back on posting the answer to the riddle until the following day. He wanted to see if they could find and capture NU’EST before NU’EST did anything rash and destroyed everything he had been working for his whole life.

NU’EST, however, was nowhere to be found. Police had apparently contacted all the members’ parents, friends, family, and Japanese staff members. All of the members’ social media accounts were inactive. They would not respond to any texts or emails or anything. It’s as if they had vanished.

The police had even tried to track the proxy with which Minhyun had posted the riddle, but they had apparently used software that blocks that ability. They have it all planned out so well. It was unnerving.

This whole ordeal quickly became a trending story not only in Korea, but all around the world. “A Korean boy band disappears, leaving a cryptic riddle threatening brother boy band,” read the headline of the New York Times. The story was spreading quickly all over social media.

The view count for NU’EST’s debut MV, Face, suddenly skyrocketed. In less than 24 hours, the view count increased by 50 million. NU’EST’s songs were now rising in the music charts, Face being number one on Melon, Olleh, Naver and Inztiz. Action number one on Genie, and Good Bye Bye number one on Cyworld and Mnet. Face also became the third most downloaded song on iTunes around the world for that day. It was crazy how much their prospects changed in only one day.

Seungcheol thought it was not fair though. Why are they getting all of this attention all of the sudden? They’re heralding the end of their hoobaes for crying out loud; they should not be trending everywhere around the world. They should be punished, not rewarded.

Still though, even though their music suddenly got more exposure, Korean netizens tore the band apart. To Korean netizens, they were criminals that needed to be found and jailed for online harassment. People were taking Seventeen’s side, theoretically, but NU’EST’s music was what was trending. It made Seungcheol angry.

Almost everyone now knew NU’EST’s names, in Korean and internationally. Aron, the English speaker of that group. Minhyun, the poet of that group that came up with these smart riddles. Ren, the beautiful one of that group. JR, the badass rapper and leader of that group. Baekho, the hot muscular unique one of that group. Seventeen, however, people only know “S.Coups” and only because his name was in the riddle. And Seventeen’s MV view count only rose about 4 million views that day. No one cared about the victims; they were more interested in the villains.

Seungcheol hated social media.

He tried to write out the response to the riddle himself. He tried to make it rhyme like Minhyun had, just to show NU’EST that he could be witty and clever too. Perhaps people around the world would start thinking that Seventeen is just as cool as NU’EST seems to be...

He spent a lot of time trying to get at least two lines in, but it sounded awkward. He failed miserably, and so decided he would just write it out the way normal people would write it. He was not as eloquent as Minhyun; he certainly was not as good with words. Seungcheol remembered that Minhyun was the type that read novels and poetry in his free time; small wonder he was able to wow people with his ability to write riddles.

-

Seungcheol was trying to write lyrics to one of the tracks in their comeback album that may or may not be in January (uncertain now that NU’EST seemed to be winning whatever this battle was).

He was sitting on the floor in the Pledis building working. Most of the members had gone home to sleep, but Seungcheol had decided to stay longer and perhaps even stay overnight. He needed to finish writing this track, but words were just not coming to him.

“Need any help?” asked a familiar voice from behind him.

Seungcheol brusquely turned to see Minhyun standing tall over him. The rapper’s heart stopped within his chest. How did Minhyun get into the building? He was sure that Pledis had made sure to place extra security there, in case any members of NU’EST enter and carry out their threats.

Minhyun had this spark to his eyes that Seungcheol did not recognize, a spark that usually connoted a bloodthirsty desire for retribution. It scared the out of Seungcheol.

That was not the only think different about Minhyun. He was also paler than usual, and dirtier. He reeked of sweat, and his face had dark dusty spots all over it. His hair was also quite the mess. Minhyun was a clean and neat freak; this was not like him at all.

There was also the fact his white shirt was stained with blood, but Seungcheol’s immediate response to that was denial.

Minhyun slumped down on the floor beside him, and glanced at the laptop screen Seungcheol had in front of him.

“The rhythm is off,” Minhyun told Seungcheol as he read the lyrics, “also, ‘eyes’ does not rhyme with ‘says.’ It’s not even close. A better word might be ‘implies,’ though that would mean you need to omit an extra syllable in that line.”

Seungcheol was too much in shock to process Minhyun’s literary advice.

“Anyways, Wonwoo didn’t struggle much. Hopefully you won’t either…”

Seungcheol quickly stood from the floor and back away from Minhyun. “What the did you do to Wonwoo?” he stuttered.

It was then that Seungcheol noticed a chainsaw in Minhyun’s hand. It was dripping of blood. Minhyun raised it. “Sorry I didn’t give you chance to say goodbye,” Minhyun said calmly, as if what he saw was the most normal thing in the world.

“What the hell!?” Seungcheol screamed, “what the hell?!”

“Yeah, sorry about the mess in the coffee room,” Minhyun responded.

“No,” Seungcheol shook his head, unable to process what Minhyun was saying, “you killed him?” His voice cracked. He felt like everything in his life was leading up to this moment. He could feel the end of his life looming over him.

“Yeah, him and Mingyu. They were together in the coffee room.”

“You’re not serious,” Seungcheol denied, but his eyes were welling with tears as he considered the possibility.

“Ren’s taking care of Junghan, Joshua and Seokmin. Aron’s doing Seungkwan, Hoshi and Vernon. Baekho wanted to do Woozi, Jun and Minghao. JR’s too chicken to kill anyone, and he said we should spare Dino. So hey, at least one group member would stay alive to tell the tale of Seventeen. Don’t worry, we’re not completely wiping out your legacy.”

“You psychos,” Seungcheol uttered, his eyes wide at the trauma he was currently experiencing.

Minhyun wiped Wonwoo and Mingyu’s blood from the chainsaw with his shirt. Next thing Seungcheol knew, Minhyun had pinned him against the wall, with the chainsaw against his neck.

“That will teach you never to insult NU’EST again, you ,” Minhyun whispered into Seungcheol’s ear, pushing the blade against his old friend’s neck.

With a jolt, Seungcheol abruptly found himself in his mattress. He was out of breath, and his heart was beating way too fast for it to be healthy. He was confused for a moment as to where he was, and why he was there.

“Hyung, what’s wrong?” Mingyu, who had been sleeping beside him asked.

“Oh, thank God,” Seungcheol said, putting his hand on his raging heart. He never thought he would be so glad to see Mingyu again.

“What?”

“Nothing, it was just a nightmare,” Seungcheol said as he rubbed his head. He gulped in the saliva that had been forming in his mouth when he forgot to breathe.

“Go to sleep, hyung,” Mingyu groaned tiredly, and went back to sleep again.

Seungcheol could not sleep. He could not shake off fear of a NU’EST member lurking about in the shadows with a bloodstained chainsaw. He couldn’t sleep a wink that night. He was too busy checking every closet, every dark corner, and every cupboard just to make sure that he would not find anyone there. He locked the door twice over and closed all of the windows.

They’ll never be able to come in now, Seungcheol thought, as he curled up in a dark corner and waited for the morning to come.

A/N: @pledis give NU’EST a comeback so they don't go crazy pls and thank u