Prologue

 

It was quite unnerving to unlock your smartphone, a device so treasured no one else could touch but you and see that someone had tampered with it in the most unexpected way. At the moment, Seung-Youn was completely taken aback by the apps that were installed in his smartphone; the change from all the fun music-related apps that he had downloaded since receiving the mobile device for his last birthday to the strange ones currently in it had happened over night, without him doing anything for this to happen; there hadn't been any notifications or pop up messages prompting the young rapper to accept or decline the download.

 

Virus. Malware.

 

Were the two options that his mind was entertaining as the possible culprit for the change in apps, but the problem with the both of them was that he hadn't opened any strange e-mail, he hadn't clicked any links or banners and he wasn't the sort to visit websites of dubious reputation either. It was quite a mystery what he had on his hands but he didn't know what to do to get it solved. It was a Saturday morning and the place where he'd gotten the phone didn't open on the weekends, which meant that he'd be stuck with his questions and doubts for the whole of the weekend, and with Monday and Tuesday being holidays, it was going to take a while for the matter to be resolved.

 

"Hmmm..."

 

Was the only thing that came out of his mouth upon checking his old smartphone; it was very eerie to realize that only his new smartphone had the unknown apps installed; his old phone still had the apps that he remember downloading, none if which  had any remotely sounding magical names.

 

[ txt msg @monkeycho ]>>> @spunkyJaeho: Hyung, I have a bit of a predicament...

[ txt msg @monkeycho ]>>> @spunkyJaeho: What would you do if you found odd apps installed on your phone? ( confused emoji ).

 

The boy hesitated for a moment, not too sure that he wanted to involve anybody, but needing help to figure out what may have happened and maybe see if anyone else had been the victim of this. He didn't remember reading anything about such apps and he didn't remember hearing any of his friends talk about any new games or apps with such names as "quib online", "lumos", "owl mail" or "floo network". In a way it was fascinating, feeling curiosity poking at his sides to give at least one of these apps a tap to see what they did, but it was just as unnerving to think that by giving in he could damage his precious smartphone beyond repair. Madtown's "new world" sounded briefly; Jaeho had texted him back.

 

[ txt msg @spunkyjaeho ]>>> @monkeycho: I'd check it out of course!!!

[ txt msg @spunkyjaeho ]>>> @monkeycho: What kind of apps are these???

 

"Ah, don't tempt me, hyung..."

 

He hit his head a couple of times with a fisted hand, biting his lower lip as he battled to keep temptation at bay. There was an understanding in his mind, a logical one in his opinion, that the only way to know what these apps were and see if they were somehow related was to tap on each and every one of them, that was the easiest and quickest way to solve the matter, but once again the dread of having a virus run rampant in the phone's OS made him feel very uneasy; of course he could always get a new one if this one got ed but the "irresponsible" tag was one that he didn't want to be associated with; he'd taken good care of his old phone, so ing up the new one when it wasn't even a year old didn't suit him too well and there was always that small chance that his manager would refuse him the permission to buy a new one.

 

[ txt msg @monkeycho ]>>> @spunkyJaeho: Hyung, what if I have a virus installed...?

 

Jaeho's reply was immediate.

 

[ txt msg @spunkyjaeho ]>>> @monkeycho: Were you checking out on your phone, maknae??? ( shocked emoji ).

 

Seung-Youn's cheeks were burning and he was glad to be away from all the other Uniq members, otherwise they would be having a field trip day with his reaction and Yibo, the boy knew, would have snatched his phone away by now. Accidentally, the Uniq rapper tapped the "lumos" square when he nearly dropped his phone and, at once, a very bright light came from it.

 

"Holy !"

 

The nineteen year old let go of the smartphone, doing nothing to stop it from landing on the nearby couch, feeling both fright and revolt. Feeling increasingly confused, Seung-Youn took to his phone, texting the maknae of Madtown with a bit more urgency than before even if the light on the other smartphone had finally gone out on its own.

 

[ txt msg @Monkeycho]>>> @SpunkyJaeho: Hyung, can you come to my dorm?

[ txt msg @Monkeycho]>>> @SpunkyJaeho: I’m sort of having an emergency right now…

 

There was a very distinct and very clear “Hoot, hoot” coming from the neglected phone on the couch and upon closer inspection, the teenager could see a small red bubble with a white number one in the middle, going around the “owl mail” icon; there was something waiting to be checked on that app, whatever it was, but the boy wasn’t so sure that he wanted to open it without witnesses who could back him up if his parents and the police needed to be called.

 

“I’ll wait for hyung to come here first...If he gets here…”

 

There was a bit of shakiness in his voice, the tell tale sign that he was more nervous than he wanted to admit, an uncharacteristic trait in him, but that couldn’t be helped since it derived from the dread of losing all the songs that he had been working on in the last two or three days and which he didn’t have saved on his older smartphone and which he had planned on putting together later that afternoon. He opened kakaotalk on his old phone when waiting for Jaeho’s reply proved to be too much to handle. He went through the names; only three of his contacts, Jong-Jin, Jun and T.O.P had made any updates since the previous afternoon.

 

Choswag805>>> Choiii_TTTop: Hyung, are you around?

 

Five seconds, Seven seconds. Eleven seconds. Half a minute. One whole minute. No reply. He tried with The J next.

 

Choswag805>>> Wjongjin: Er, I know I have been misbehaving a little but… Can I come to your place?

Just in case he didn’t get any replies from the moody model, he tried with Jun.

 

Choswag805>>>Leesj0725: Hyung, are you home?

 

Waiting was driving him insane but he didn’t know where anyone was and going to the park to play ball or do tricks with his skateboard weren’t things he wanted to do. He was about to put a cushion over his face to scream like a butthurt banshee when a sound notification alerted him to a Kakaotalk reply.

 

[ Kakaotalk reply] Leesj0725: Hey firecracker, what’s booming?

[ Kakaotalk reply ] No, I’m at the vampire lair, he, he, he.

[ Kakaotalk reply] Why, is something the matter?

[ Kakaotalk reply ] The old man cannot reply to you right now, he’s bathing the dog.

[ Kakaotalk reply ] ( Dog emoji )

 

It was incredible how much relief could a single reply bring when you were under such stress, but that was exactly what he felt after seeing the ulzzang’s replies on Kakaotalk. He wasted no time in answering back, because he needed the company to help him think of the best course of action for his little dilemma.

 

[Kakaotalk reply ] Choswag805: Can I go there?

[Kakaotalk reply ] Sort of…

[Kakaotalk reply ] I think my phone may have a virus…

[Kakaotalk reply ] And I need help with that…

[Kakaotalk reply ] Do you think that I could go stay with you hyungs?

 

The rapper was certain that the Tomonari model would likely say yes even without bothering to ask the older ulzzang if it was alright for him to visit. As he gave the other male the time to reply, Seung-Youn busied himself with gathering all the things he would need to take with him for a sleepover so he could put them in his Spongebob backpack, including the neglected smartphone that waited to be picked up on the same spot on the couch.

 

[Kakaotalk reply ] Leesj0725: A virus?

[Kakaotalk reply ] Were you checking out on your phone, kid?

[Kakaotalk reply ] The old man is in a good mood today so it’s safe to come over.

[Kakaotalk reply ] And don’t worry about food or snacks, there’s plenty left from J’s party last night; his old fart friends were here.

 

Hey!

 

It was inevitable to exclaim so loudly and in protest to the question that his friend had made; he wondered what sort of concept did his friends have of him if the first thing they thought when talking about a virus was that he had watched ; so far, two of them seemed to think that he was some hungry teen who couldn’t get away from , which wasn’t even the case, so he asked himself who else might share Jun and Jaeho’s views of him. He set his thoughts aside so he could do the things that needed to be done before leaving. When he checked that all the lights were off and the stove wasn’t being used, the rapper picked up his keys from the bowl on the coffee table and walked to the door, putting his shoes on before leaving his dorm.