soundtrack: "hero" (halloween version) by monsta x

“Hey. Hello.”

    My eyes snap back to Jungkook. “Sorry, what?”

    “Do you want to join us?” he repeats.

    “Uh, sorry.” I swallow. “I don’t feel too well. I’m going to go to the bathroom.”

    Jungkook shrugs. “Fine by me.” I see him make his way to another pretty girl the next moment.

    Quickly, as fast as my feet can carry me, I head to the bar at the back of the club, so that I have a prime view of Namjoon’s booth. My heart is beating so quickly I feel like I am about to collapse at any moment. , , . Was that note legit? Everything is matching up.

    Okay. It’s okay, Hyo. If anything happens, you’ll be able to see it from here. I check my phone. 9:50 PM.

Namjoon takes a shot of tequila with his buddies. Jimin says something and the whole table bursts into laughter.

9:54 PM.

“Anything to drink?” the bartender asks me. I remember Joonmyeon’s words: Their bartender is a god.

I wonder if Joon is here right now.

9:57 PM.

And then I see it.

A man is standing in the shadows behind a wall divider, hidden from everyone else’s view. His face is covered by a gruesome green Frankenstein mask. I watch as he reaches into his bulky trench coat, withdraws a gun, and-

Without even stopping to react to the situation, I lunge out of my seat and head towards him. No one- not even him- sees me as I place the webbing between my thumb and index finger on his windpipe, wrap my fingers around the back of his neck, and use my thumb to press his windpipe into my hand. He chokes, his limbs convulsing, his body fighting for air. Within four seconds he has collapsed onto the group.

Adrenaline pumps through my veins as I stare down at his unmoving body. It has been years since I have done that.

And despite myself, I cannot help but feel a surge of satisfaction.

God, I missed this.

I yank the man’s gun from his grip and stow it in my bag. This guy looks like a trained professional; a mercenary sent to do someone’s bidding. A peek under his mask reveals an old, wrinkled face. There is absolutely no way he is a college student. So who was that note intended for-

A gasp causes me to jerk my head up.

A petite, beautiful girl wearing a leotard and cat mask is gaping down at me in horror. I can feel her gaze trail over the gun in my hand and the unconscious man in front of me. My eyes widen as opens, about to emit a bloodcurdling shriek-

I dive towards the red fire alarm on the wall and pull down the lever.

I don’t stop to survey the damage. Instead, I race out the emergency exit, the wail of sirens ringing in my ears, droplets of water raining down on me. My entire body is trembling; the only thing keeping me going right now is fear, fear that that girl recognized me, fear that the person who tried to kill Namjoon and Jimin will try to kill me, fear that holy , it’s happening, it’s all happening again.

“Hey, where were you in English today? Are you okay?”

“I’m a little sick,” I whisper, clutching my phone. “Sorry, Joonmyeon. I forgot to tell you.”

“Oh, god. I’ll come over after class with some Tylenol.”

“Bring me some cookies too, please."

“Of course.”

I sigh. “Well, I’m just going to go back to sleep. Try not to miss me too much.”

“That’ll be easy,” he jokes. “See you.”

I collapse back onto my bed. My mind has been in a state of turmoil since last night. It’s the talk of campus: someone ruined the Halloween party at Tiesto last night by pulling the fire alarm. When the cops went to check the footage, it had been completely wiped. Truly a spooky mystery.

I suppose the cameras had been taken care by the man who had been sent to kill Namjoon and Jimin. So thanks for that, buddy.

The door opens. My roommate, Kim Sora, struts in, her hair an absolute mess and last night’s eyeliner smeared around her lids. She takes one look at me and scoffs.

“You look like ,” she says.

“What are you doing here? I thought you’d be staying over at Jaeho’s.”

“Jaeho?” She wrinkles her nose. “Oh. Yeah. We broke up, like, ages ago.”

“Then where the hell have you been for the past three nights?”

“Different night, different boy.”

I shake my head. Kim Sora is one of the most attractive, coveted girls on campus. When we were assigned to be roommates this year, I was a little worried she would bring in guys every day, but I rarely even see her. She’s always partying, or at one of her boyfriends’ houses, or black-out-drunk in a bathroom somewhere. I used to worry about her. But she never picked up my calls, and always ended up back home perfectly fine. So I stopped.

“So how was your Halloween?” I ask.

“ing great. Get this.” Sora turns to me. “I saw the who pulled the fire alarm.”

I stiffen.

“No one believed me, of course.” She rolls her eyes. “But I swear I started doing acid after I left the club. Is it really that hard to believe that a ty cat took down this big guy, pulled the alarm, and then ran away?”

My legs involuntarily collapse and I fall on my bed. “Big guy? I didn’t see that in the police report.”

“He was there, I swear! Well- he disappeared in the morning- but I saw him!”

I swallow nervously. “Uh, I see.”

“Oh, jesus.” Sora clutches her stomach. “I think I’m going to be sick.” She beelines towards our bathroom and I wince. . I hope she cleans up after herself. I go back to burrowing myself in my blankets. Why? Why did I get involved in this? Was it on purpose? Was I destined to be back into this world of violence once again?

I should let the police handle this.

But they probably don’t even know about the attempted murders.

This is an awful dilemma. My mind jumps to Joonmyeon for the millionth time. My number one priority is keeping him safe. He can never find out about this.

Suddenly, I become aware of how quiet it is.

It's a little too quiet.

“Sora? You okay?” I call.

No answer.

My eyes widen. I slowly stand up, grab the Russell Canadian Belt Knife I always keep in my dresser, step towards the bathroom. After Sora does not respond to my knocks, I pull the door open.

Sora is standing over the trashcan, a pair of black cat ears in her hands.

My stomach plummets.

“Well, well, well.” She looks at me, an amused expression on her face. “Any idea whose these are?”

It feels like there is an enormous lump in my throat. “I- no. What are those?”

“Oh, please.” Sora crosses her arms. “You know exactly what I’m talking about. A cute little kitty cat pulled the fire alarm last night at Tiesto- after taking down a dude twice her size. You wouldn’t happen to know who she was, right?”

Busted. I bury my head in my hands. “Oh my god, Sora. Look, I promise, it wasn’t for a stupid prank or anything, I swear.”

“Don’t worry, I think it’s hilarious.” Sora appraises me from top to bottom. “Park Hyolin, distinguished honor student, vice president of our class, dressing up and busting balls? Where did you learn to fight like that? Is it because you were bored? Or were you just trying to start something?”

“No, I would never-,”

“Is it Joonmyeon? Were you mad at him or something?” Sora smirks when she sees my stunned expression. “So that’s it. Jesus, Hyo. If you wanted to vent, I could’ve taken you out drinking. Besides, if you really wanted Joonmyeon, you could’ve-,”

I stand up, stick my face in hers. “Someone was about to get shot,” I hiss.

Sora freezes.

I talk low and fast. “I’m not going to give you the details, because frankly, it doesn’t concern you. You don’t want it to concern you. So just pretend like you never saw anything last night. Capische?”

Sora is completely, utterly stunned. She is gaping at me like she has never seen me before. After a few moments of astonished silence, she whispers, “Who are you?”

“Your roommate,” I snap, and storm out the door.

And that is that. News about Tiesto dies down. Joonmyeon comes to my room a few hours later with a pile of chocolate chip cookies and we binge on Chinese takeout while watching Deadpool. I ace my Calc test a few days later. Joonmyeon and I prank Baekhyun by replacing his shaving cream with Reddi Whip. The student council plans a college tour for interested high schoolers. Everything has settled back into its usual routine. A month passes. The danger of returning to my old life has disappeared.

Sometimes I watch Namjoon and Jimin when they are going about their daily lives, cackling over some joke or drinking beers at a party, and I wonder why someone wanted them dead. They’re just your typical attractive, popular kids who go out a lot and party. I mean, yeah, I’ve heard the rumors about them. There’s no doubt that the two of them are a little sketchy; tales of debauchery about them and their friends abound in the University gossip mill. Did they get mixed up in drug dealing or something?

I don’t know and I don’t care. They’re not my problem anymore.

The only thing that has changed is Sora’s attitude towards me. She is totally freaked out by me. Every time she sees me, she runs away. It’s like she’s afraid of being alone with me. I rarely see her in our dorm.

Fine by me. I don’t want to see her, either. Whenever I see her, I am reminded of Halloween night.

“Sorry I had to cancel,” Joonmyeon apologizes over the phone. “I was looking forward to marathoning The Office. But I can’t get out of this stupid family dinner.”

“Yikes.” I lay on my bed, twiddling my legs in the air. “Have fun with Momma and Poppa Kim.”

“And Uncle Kim, and Auntie Kim, and Cousins Kim, and the billion other stuck up relatives I have. Oh, I’ll bring you back some dessert from the place we’re going to.”

“Ooh, where’s that?”

“Some fancy Italian restaurant. Do you want tiramisu or cannoli?”

“Why not both?”

“If the fam sees me carrying that much sugar out of there, they might call off the arranged marriage.”

“What?”

“Kidding!”

“Jesus, Joonmyeon. Ugh. Okay, well have fun.”

“Alright, bye.”

Looks like I’ll have to watch Michael Scott’s antics on my own. I curl up with a bag of chocolate covered cranberries, giggling as I speed through Season 1. I’m looking forward to having a nice, boring, stupid life. It’ll be so peaceful and nice.

As if on cue, my cell phone rings.

Groaning, I reach over my bed and pick it up. Kim Sora, the screen reads.

“What the ?” I mutter. “Hello?”

“Hyo? Is that you? Oh my god, oh my god, Hyo.”

I sit up, my eyes wide in alarm. “Sora? Are you okay?”

“Hyo, oh my god, help. I- I’m going to die. They’re going to kill me.”

“Sora. Calm down. Tell me where the hell you are and what’s going on.”

“I- I tried to buy coke, but the dealer started asking for more money, and I ran away but they’re looking for me and I don’t know what to do-,”

“.” I shoot up, heading to my closet. “Where are you? Who’s with you?”

“I’m by myself, at the Hyundai Mipo dockyards.”

. By herself? Is she an absolute idiot. “I’ll be there,” I tell her tersely, and hang up.

I open my closet doors, dig through the sundry of items, pull on a pair of black spandex pants and a large cap and a black face mask. My feeling of resignation heightens as I grab a knife and stow it in my coat.

I knew things would never really get back to normal. I was hoping I would never have to do this again.

Yet here I am.

A/N: teehee.... hyolin is Hella Sketchy and hiding something :^) s/o to alcAiNothing, ShinyaMinazuki, Liajiya for guessing who KNJ and PJ were. yall will see what's up with hyolin/lia soon :^)

THANK YOU TO hyesei for making this SPECTACULAR poster!!! It is actually perfect like I am so dead holy crap, i love you so much. also, s/o to classifiedlocation and kxngyu on tumblr for making my night ;) 

And honestly, thank you to ALL of you for suopporting this story :')) like literally I can't describe the feeling of happiness and gratitude in my HEART after i scrolled through the comments, just reading everything :')) AHHHH