Hakyeon is very familiar with the usual scene of this place.

He’s been here so many times that he has already lost count. His dream.

And this time, he doesn’t want to go back to the other world. Back to reality…

After watching the video clip of the Chained Up incident, he no longer wants to return because he’s afraid, afraid of hurting the people whom he loves the most.

Hakyeon have always thought it was strange as to why no one would really tell him the truth about what happened last year. Each time he asked the staffs or any of the members, they would simply tell him, Hakyeon that he had fainted from fatigue like before. But Hakyeon knew that wasn’t the case.

Yet what could he have done when he can’t even remember anything about what happened?

He doesn’t even remember setting foot on the set of the shattered mirrors that scattered across the set. All he remembers was that he had once fallen asleep while waiting for his turn to film and by the time he woke up, he was already in the hospital.

Everything was too strange yet he had no answers as to why.

But that video clip that was sent to him by an anonymous person, who saw the truth, told the boy what happened. Hakyeon couldn’t bear to face s again after finding out what he did.

‘It’s been awhile,’ the voice greeted him in the dream again.

Hakyeon looked at the man that always appear within his dreams, Taekwoon’s doppelganger.

He looked too much like Taekwoon, that Hakyeon could not face the man. Hakyeon tried to avoid the man’s gaze and ignore him but was suddenly pulled in for an embrace.

‘It’s okay, Hakyeon-ah. You can stay here instead of going back. I’m here with you.’ He comforted the poor leader.

‘But what if I end up hurting you too?’ Hakyeon cries.

‘You won’t. You can’t.’

~

Taekwoon and the other members stepped away from their suddenly violent leader. They were all scared of this Hakyeon.

‘Is this really Hakyeon-hyung?’ Hyuk shivered.

‘He isn’t. The real Hakyeon would not hurt us no matter what we did.’ Jaehwan said.

Taekwoon couldn’t agree more.

No matter how much they pushed or teased their leader, the oldest would never hurt any of the members or anyone in particular.

‘Did you not hear me Jung Taekwoon? Get away from them!’ Hakyeon demanded.

‘No.’ Taekwoon refused, which only made this Hakyeon even more furious.

‘Is this really the other personality?’ Hongbin couldn’t believe his friend and oldest hyung have become so frightening and scary.

‘I don’t know but we need to stop him and try to bring the real Hakyeon-hyung back. It’s already been days…’ Wonshik told the members. They can’t afford for this Hakyeon to continue with his act for too long. The members are afraid that the real Hakyeon would never return if they don’t do something fast, especially since they've almost lost the original once before.

The members signalled one another and approached Hakyeon with caution.

‘Get away from me!!’ Hakyeon screamed and trying to fight off the approaching members.

‘Hold his other arms.’ Taekwoon instructed the younger members and each one of them grabbed Hakyeon with all their might.

Wonshik took Hakyeon’s wrist and bounded them behind his back with his belt as he tried to prevent the violent leader from struggling.

‘Let go of me Kim Wonshik!’ Hakyeon roared. ‘You’ll regret this!!’

The fuss and screaming eventually alarmed their two managers and they came in to witness the members all holding down the leader together.

‘What’s going on?!’ One of them asked.

‘It’s Hakyeon-hyung! He’s acting violent again. Help us hyung!’ Jaehwan pleaded.

The managers realized what was going on and as one of them went to aid the other members, the shorter manager went to call for an ambulance.

Even with all of them holding this Hakyeon back, they were obviously having a difficult time.

‘Dammit, how is he so strong?’ Hongbin questions.

‘I don’t know but we need to stop him until the ambulance or the police gets here.’ Hyuk cried. It was heart breaking for the members to have to use such force against their leader. They didn’t want to hurt Hakyeon but they had to do anything to defend themselves and protect the real Cha Hakyeon.

It was painful for Taekwoon to see his lifelong friend in such a predicament. It reminded them of the horror they went through last year…

That Day...

‘HAKYEON-AH! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!’

All the members heard the music director panic and the staffs on the set frozen as they watched the leader covering the set with his own blood.

When the members arrived to witness the commotion, they too did not know how to react. Hakyeon was kneeling and scraping his own flesh and skin with the scattered cracks of the mirrors.

Taekwoon went to stop Hakyeon but they realized that no matter how much they cried and pleaded, their leader could not hear them. But as soon as Hakyeon heard Taekwoon’s voice, he responded. They thought their leader had finally returned but they were wrong…

‘Taekwoonie?’ Hakyeon called his lifelong friend’s name.

‘Huh?’ Taekwoon immediately noticed a strange tone in his friend’s voice. Calling him by such a child-like nickname and familiarity. Hakyeon haven’t referred to Taekwoon’s name as Taekwoonie in such a long time that he didn’t know how to respond. ‘Uh, Hakyeon-ah… are you okay?’

Hakyeon kneeled at his spot and looked up at Taekwoon but his eyes looked so lifeless.

‘Taekwoon-hyung! Your hands!’ Jaehwan saw that Taekwoon’s hands were bleeding just as much as their leader’s.

‘We need to get you two first-aid right away.’ Hyuk panicked and took Taekwoon’s hands to examine.

Just as Hyuk touched Taekwoon’s hands, however, Hakyeon smacked the younger’s hands away…

‘GET AWAY FROM HIM!’ Hakyeon suddenly yelled at the maknae causing the younger to jolt.

‘Huh? What…’ Hyuk was stunned by the leader’s loud voice but so was everyone on set. The entire room was filled with tension.

Is the members of VIXX having a fight? They gossiped and murmured. But that wasn’t the case…

‘But hyung! Taekwoon-hyung is hurt! You both need to get bandaged right away.’ Hyuk tried to remain calm but his heart was still beating from fear especially with the leader’s change in attitude towards him. Hakyeon have always only pampered Hyuk but never once yelled at him.

‘I said! Get away from him!’ Hakyeon pushed Hyuk and the rest of the members aside and separating them from his lifelong friend with all his might. ‘It’s not fair! You guys are always all over Taekwoon! He’s mine you hear me?!! Get away from what is mine!’

‘Hakyeon-ah… what are you talking about?’ Taekwoon looked at Hakyeon who seemed so foreign and frightening to him at the same time.

But just before he could make sense of this strangely behaved Hakyeon in front of him, the leader took a piece of the mirror shard within his hands.

‘Hakyeon-ah!’ Taekwoon shouted as he could see the shard digging deeper into Hakyeon’s palms. But before he could take hold of Hakyeon, the leader started to rush towards the maknae with the sharp object.

Trying to harm the younger.

‘Hyuk! Watch out!’ Wonshik warned.

Hyuk was terrified. He stumbled and frozen onto the ground, not knowing what to do about the killing intent that was coming from the leader.

Everyone throughout the set immediately rushed towards the VIXX members to stop the violence from getting out of hand. They tried to protect the youngest boy and holding onto the oldest member from the act of violence and possibly… murder.

It took them a long and hard struggle until Hakyeon lost his strength and eventually fainted on the set.

Though their CEO was able to hush everyone that had witnessed the scene that day, the police and the hospital had to take other extreme measures in order to observe the sudden changes in Hakyeon’s behavior.

They thought that once Hakyeon had woken up, everything would eventually return to normal… but they were wrong.

Hakyeon was like a completely different person and the members had to see their beloved leader become strapped tightly onto the hospital bed and locked up in a small room.

The members didn’t know what to do except watch as they feared, cried and anxious as to what is to come if the real Cha Hakyeon does not return.

‘He could be suffering from a dissociative identity disorder. A violent personality must have been created from all the stress he was dealing with. Do you guys know what could have happened to cause Cha Hakyeon to become this way?’ The doctor asked.

The members shook their heads.

To be honest, none of them knows what was going with their leader lately as the oldest would always be busy with his own schedules and rarely seen in the dorms.

‘We don’t see hyung around anymore and he doesn’t really talk to us either. He’s always tired because of his schedule.’ Jaehwan told the doctor.

‘That could be my fault. Hakyeon came to me personally once asking for me to set him up with a few individual jobs.’ Their CEO Sejun told them.

‘Hyung did?’

‘He said… he wanted to get away from you guys.’

‘What?!’ The members were all shocked.

‘I couldn’t really ask why and I really should have… but when he came to ask me for the jobs, he just looked so lost and dejected. I couldn’t open my mouth to ask why.’ Sejun felt guilty that if only he didn’t leave the leader the way he did, all of this could have been prevented. ‘It’s my fault, I’m really sorry.’

‘No. It isn’t.’ Taekwoon finally spoke out.

‘What do you mean Taekwoon-ah?’

‘Hakyeon probably came to you for other jobs because he couldn’t stand the sight of me. I rejected him.’ Taekwoon revealed to them.

‘Rejected him?’

‘He’s confessed to me several times in the past and I pushed him away. I told him I didn’t see him as more than anything but another member of VIXX and that… his feelings and affections were… disgusting.’ Taekwoon looked away from the gaze of other members, he felt guilty for the horrible things he said to his lifelong friend and also as one of the oldest members of VIXX. He was supposed to be a role model for the younger members but his words and actions said otherwise.

‘How could you hyung?!’ Hongbin shouted at him angrily. ‘We know Hakyeon-hyung is a bit pushy and clingy at times, but even if you can’t accept his feelings, you shouldn’t have said those things to him!’

‘I know! I know that.. but.. I wasn’t thinking and before I realized it, it was already too late! Even I have a lot to think about okay?!’ Taekwoon’s tears began to fall as he collapsed onto the ground.

‘Hyung…’ Jaehwan saw the dejected and guilty expression on Taekwoon’s face.

‘I tried my best to change as well okay? Ever since he first fainted, I really thought I would lose him for real. I pushed him so many times in the pass already that I was having a hard time trying to close the distance between me and him again…’

The younger members fell silence as they could only watch Taekwoon fall into despair.

They knew well of Taekwoon’s personality when it comes to approaching people and how different he is compared to their leader. They understood that not everyone was as comfortable with being affectionate or cling onto others like Jaehwan or Hakyeon did.

Even Taekwoon had his limits.

‘As for now, we will keep him here at the hospital for further treatment and observation. We will assign the VIP sector and stop anybody from the outside from finding out. But we can’t hide this away from the public forever. After Hakyeon has calmed down a bit more, I suggest you boys all sit together and have a talk with him in order to lesson the boy’s stress. Okay?’ The doctor instructed them.

The boys all nodded obediently and for the following week, they could only watch the actions and behavior of Hakyeon’s new persona.

~

This Cha Hakyeon was different from the original.

Although he is very child-like and affectionate, it was only towards Taekwoon. He was clingy whenever Taekwoon came to visit him at the hospital.

However, this Hakyeon was also violent and threw tantrums whenever another member came by or sees that they’re near Taekwoon.

‘Get away from him!!’ Hakyeon would scream and frail, trying to fight anyone who approached his lifelong friend.

Eventually, the other members could only watch from afar and hoped that Taekwoon could help in bringing the original Cha Hakyeon back.

Though the doctors have all said that Hakyeon was possibly suffering from a case of DID, they found it rather strange that there was almost no signs of the original persona even existing in the first place. It was as if they were already too late and that the new Hakyeon had completely taken over.

It wasn’t later on that the original Hakyeon had miraculously woke up and things returned to the way they were before.

The members as well as the company lied to their leader that he had fainted from fatigue and just recently woke up but in reality, the members had watched painfully and helplessly at the actions of the new Hakyeon for over a week before the original one had awaken.

Just as they thought everything was back to normal and the horror would not repeat itself again... they were once again at the hospital.

And watching helplessly as the doctors and police strap their leader onto the bed and locking him away from the world.