Chapter 59- Lost Memories

“Jeon Wonwoo? Where’s Jeon Wonwoo? Shouldn’t he be back by now…?” Mr Kim called out, mumbling the last part to himself. It was their third lesson of the day, and Wonwoo was still nowhere to be seen. None of his friends, classmates nor schoolmates knew where he went. His friends texted him, asking about his whereabouts. But no one received a single reply. Until Jun’s phone vibrated.

From: Panda Jeon

Hey dude. I won’t be coming in for classes 2day.

Don’t bother looking for me. :)

Jun’s brows drew together. Something about Wonwoo’s message…the way the text was typed. It wasn’t Wonwoo’s typical style. And the emoji. Wonwoo would never use such an emoji for messages like these. Heck Jun was even surprised he received a reply. Wonwoo would definitely never ever reply any of his friends during one of his ‘Missing In Action’ acts. That’s because Wonwoo knew that if he replied, it would draw more concern from his friends.

To: Fairy Hoon

Yo.

Something’s up with Won.

Code Red.

Code Red is something between Soonyoung, Jihoon and Jun. It meant that Wonwoo was in some sort of deep trouble, and they had to gather together and come up with some emergency plan. It was a serious matter. They wouldn’t use code red, unless they were sure that the situation went way out of hand. And Jun knew, Wonwoo was in deep, deep trouble. He heard about the locker situation, and the announcement was another clue. The text he just received just confirmed all his suspicions.

“S-sir? I need to use the washroom.” Jun lied, raising his hand. Thankfully, Mr Kim bought his story and let the boy out. Jun dashed out of the classroom, to the abandoned clubroom where meetings for code red were held. Shortly after he got there, Soonyoung and Jihoon followed in.

“W-what happened?! CODE RED?” Jihoon exclaimed as he panted. Soonyoung was also panting, as he stood in front of Jun.

“Look at this text message. This isn’t Wonwoo’s normal style of texting. And you guys should know. He never texts us when he goes missing. Something isn’t right. This isn’t Wonwoo!” Jun explained, as he showed the text message to Jihoon and Soonyoung. The three boys started analysing the situation, trying to think of the possible events that could have happen.

“Y-you don’t think…he’s done something foolish do you?” Soonyoung asked the other two.

“W-what do you mean foolish?! Soonyoung I need you to explain!” Jihoon exclaimed, as he paced around the clubroom.

“I mean…someone did all those to his locker and stuff…and he got called to the office…which means he got into some kind of disciplinary trouble again. And the stress from midterms. Plus he didn’t seem to take the breakup very well…you don’t think…he ended his own life…do you?” Soonyoung asked, as he took pauses between his sentences.

“. HE BETTER NOT.” Jihoon shouted before he ran out of the clubroom, ruffling his hair. He was feeling so frustrated. How could he not notice the immense stress Wonwoo had been facing lately. And he even cracked a joke about it this morning. The trio agreed to look around the school, to see if they could find Wonwoo anywhere, and to contact each other via their phones.

“Please…Won…please…Be safe…” Jihoon mumbled to himself as he looked around the laboratories, inside the library and even the washrooms. But there was no traces of Wonwoo anywhere. Oh! The roof! Please. Wonwoo if you’re there. Please don’t do anything silly! Please! Jihoon prayed internally as he climbed up the stairs. As he opened the door, his eyes scanned the roof, and he was half relieved that Wonwoo was not there. The other half of him was worried. If not the roof, where else could Wonwoo go?! Pacing around the roof, Jihoon’s eyes soon stopped on a brick, lying on the ground. He squat down next to it, and his eyes widened upon seeing traces of blood.

“S-Soonyoung! Roof! Roof! Now!” Jihoon hollered over the phone, as he stared at the brick. He wasn’t sure whose blood it was on the brick, but if it belonged to Wonwoo……

“W-what happened?! Where is Wonwoo?” Soonyoung asked as soon as he arrived on the roof with Jun.

“I-I don’t know…but I saw this brick…with blood…you don’t think…Wonwoo…” Jihoon didn’t complete his sentence, as he fell onto the ground.

“N-no way…but who?” Jun asked, as the three of them sat on the concrete, deep in concentration. Jihoon’s phone started vibrating continuously, and the owner took a look. Seungcheol.

“Yah! Where did you guys go? It’s lunchtime…but only Seokmin and Mingyu are here with me.” Seungcheol asked over the phone. Silence. Jihoon couldn’t speak a single word.

“Yah! Lee Jihoon! What happened?!” Seungcheol asked again, this time, his tone was stricter. He knew something was up.

“W-Won…he’s missing…” Soonyoung said as he snatched the phone from Jihoon. The shorter seemed to be in some kind of trance, just staring at the brick.

“What?! Where are you guys? I’m coming!” Seungcheol stood up and the other two looked at him, eyes full of concern.

“Hyung! Where are you going? Aren’t the other hyungs coming?” Seokmin asked. Mingyu had a bad feeling. He felt his stomach flipping. Something better not have happened to Wonwoo. He couldn’t live without the older.  

“W-Wonwoo is m-missing again…” Seungcheol said, before he dashed out of the clubroom, heading to where the trio were. Mingyu’s eyes widened before he ran after Seungcheol along with Seokmin. His instincts were right…There was no way they could just sit there and wait. Wonwoo was a precious hyung to Seokmin, and definitely the most important person to Mingyu.

“W-what h-happened?!” Seungcheol asked as soon as he got up on the roof, crashing by the three.

“W-where is h-he?” Mingyu asked, scanning the roof.

“W-we think…s-someone may have h-hurt him…” Soonyoung stuttered, pointing to the brick.

“We searched the entire school…but he’s nowhere…” Jun sighed. They were clearly frustrated. Where else could Wonwoo be?

“I’m not saying that they had something to do with this…but I saw Nayeon and a guy walking from the isolated building, Wing B…did you guys check there? They looked pretty suspicious…” Seungcheol asked.

“. WE DIDN’T.” Jihoon shouted before he took off. The others widened their eyes. Never have they ever seen Jihoon react this fast, what’s more run. They all ran after him, making a loud ruckus. They were all shouting for him to be careful and to slow down. But one person outbeat Jihoon’s running with his long legs. Mingyu. Mingyu ran into the isolated building, as he peeked into every single room, hoping to spot a sign of the skinny boy.

“Let’s split up. Someone follow Mingyu!” Jun instructed. The group spilt up with Seokmin following Mingyu. The 3 pairs of boys were running in different directions, all with one objective in mind. To find Wonwoo. And hopefully the boy is doing fine, in one complete piece. They all knew they had to think positively, but they couldn’t help but to think. What if Wonwoo was injured? Or wo