Warnings for this part: language, mentions of blood and violence

Minhyuk’s POV

I stood in the doorway of the living room and stared at the mess in front of me. The furniture was everywhere it shouldn’t have been and it poked me in the wrong places. It irritated me.

“_____!” I angrily called the human’s name.

She is dead when I find her.

I dropped the stupid stuff I had carried there all the way from her place and walked to the door of my room. My eyes were ready to glare the hell out of that nuisance but I was let down when she wasn’t in the room. Though a little surprised, I didn’t think much of it. She was just hiding elsewhere.

I headed towards the next room and opened the door, ready to impale her with my icy glare. Much to my disappointment, she wasn’t in that room either. I was starting to get frustrated and as I approached the next door, I was preparing to yell the living out of her.

“I know you-“ I stopped mid-sentence when the third room was empty too.

Now I picked up my space and looked through the remaining rooms a lot quicker. After every opened door that led to an empty room, I grew more anxious.

After checking all the bed rooms I checked the bathroom that I discovered was empty too.

“,” I hissed.

She had either ran away or someone had kidnapped her.

Who would even want to kidnap someone like her? She’s a pain in the .

On the other hand, the fact that the apartment was a mess didn’t support my theory of her running away.

I heard the door open and walked in to the hallway only find the guys there. Their expressions were weird so I furrowed my eyebrows a little more than they already were.

“What’s with the faces?” I asked coldly.

They all eyed me and Kihyun just walked past me with an annoyed face while mumbling to himself. I ignored him since that’s how he often was, and looked at the rest.

“I wonder how you’re going to get yourself out of this mess,” Hyungwon said while passing by.

“You mean _____?” I asked nonchalantly and turned around to look at him.

He stopped and turned his head to give me a glare. “What else would I be talking about?”

I ignored his annoyance, not giving it much thought.

She ran away, what’s the big deal?

“How do you all know about it though?” I asked and turned back around right in time to see the remaining guys walk past me.

Hyunwoo was the only one who cared about my question enough to stop and turn.

“Did you run into her?”

He frowned. “Run into? What do you think?”

I shrugged, not understanding why everyone was so pissed off. It wasn’t like their lives were at risk. After all, the only one who was going to die if that human got herself killed, was me.

“We were informed,” he said, frustrated.

“Yeah? By who?”

“A member of the X Clan,” he spat.

I frowned. “What do they have to do with this?”

Hyunwoo looked slightly surprised and he just stared at me quietly for a bit. “You don’t know?”

“Know what?”

There was a brief silence. “The clan has her,” he said, making me feel weirdly annoyed.

“Cut the bull,” I said, sure that he was joking. “Why would they want her? She’s a pain in the .”

“They are keeping her hostage,” he continued with a serious tone. “They’re hoping we treasure her, or should I say you, enough to exchange her for Yuna.”

I could hear my own heartbeat. I felt weird, somewhat dizzy. My view was slightly blurry and it was almost like I was dreaming.

“You should really be scared for your life now,” Changkyun stopped next to Hyunwoo.

Slowly the rest gathered there too while I was trying to gather my thoughts.

“Yeah, I think we all should start praying for my life…” I mumbled.

“It’s not like you’ll die for sure,” Jooheon stated and I looked at him. “You’ll just have to run away from the higher-ups. Easy.”

I gave a dry laugh. “Yeah. Except that stupid punishment isn’t the only worrisome factor here.”

Their faces immediately turned confused.

“What does that mean?” Kihyun asked with a confused frown.

I guess it’s time.

I looked at the five in front of me. After glancing at everyone’s faces I let out a sigh and breathed in. “There’s no reason for me to live without her,” letting the words slip out of my mouth made me both annoyed and relieved.

I hadn’t told the others, excluding Hoseok. I had been ashamed.
The silence was suffocating. The stares they were giving me were making me feel like I was being impaled by icy blades.

“Her smile. It’s… enchanting…” I got lost in my thoughts against my will.

And when she’s sad I feel like I should protect her…

Her smile really made my day. There was something very special about it, it was almost like a small sun in my dark life. When she was sad, I felt bad. It hadn’t been exactly easy to accept that she was my soft spot, my weakness. I hated her but deep inside I also… I guess… cared about her.

“_____?” Kihyun’s voice was only a soft sigh and I looked at him, already knowing how terrible I was going to feel when seeing his gaze. “That human is your weakness? A ing human?!”

I had never seen him so upset. But I guess it was to be expected. His past with humans was more than enough to explain his never-ending hatred for the species.

“Do you think I like it?” I asked him, getting annoyed. “Hoseok’s efforts were the only thing that kept me alive after I found out.”
After I had finally figured it out after six years of following around the obnoxious being that was her, I had seriously considered jumping off the nearest bridge. Nothing made me feel sicker than the thought of her being my only source of real happiness. Hoseok’s continuous efforts to keep me living had paid off as I eventually came to terms with the fact that I would have to go to her if I wanted to be happy.

No one seemed to know what to say. They were deep in thought with the exception of Kihyun who was already on his way out of the apartment. I wasn’t going to stop him and try to explain to him. I didn’t have to. It’s not like I had the right to choose who makes me happy.

“Knowing that girl, she’s already dead,” Changkyun ended the silence that had already gone on for minutes. “She can’t shut up.”

“She might still be alive,” Jooheon mumbled. “Maybe we have a chance.”

“You’re pretty cool about this,” I pointed out. “Seems like it only bothers Kihyun.”

“No, I’m bothered by it,” Jooheon said. “But it isn’t my business who makes you happy. I guess I care about you more than I hate humans.”

I felt somewhat touched by his words and grinned a little.

“I think we should think of a plan,” Hyungwon spoke up and earned nods of agreement from the rest. “Preferably one that doesn’t require us to hand Yuna over to the clan.”

Meanwhile…

The smell wasn’t what drove you crazy, no, it was the darkness. Not being able to see because of the cloth wrapped around your head made you more anxious than the weird old smell in the space, probably room, you were in.

You had no idea how long you had been conscious but it had felt like a forever. It seemed like no one was in the room with you as there had been no reaction when you had started screaming and trying to break free from the - probably - chair you had been tied to.

It’s not like this is some movie…

You were anxious, annoyed and terrified, all at the same time. The very high possibility of Minhyuk and the others not coming to get you was the reason you were anxious. What made you most annnoyed was the fact that you had no idea where you were. And those two combined were the reason you were terrified. There was no guarantee of you ever going back home and you didn’t know if you could save yourself by running away. For the time being you had no other option than wait.

The fact that the situation seemed so surreal that it made you question if it was even happening, was making you frustrated.

Am I even alive anymore? Is this just some really weird dream? Is this all a hidden camera prank? Maybe it has been like that from the beginning? Maybe this is all just a prank, maybe everything is actually fine?

The sound of footsteps made you stiffen. Your heartbeat became faster and you held your breath to listen.

“Is she conscious?” a woman’s cold voice asked.

It sounded like it came from outside the room you were in.

“No one has cared to check on her,” a man’s voice responded without much emotion.

Seems like they don’t really enjoy my presence… Not that it surprises me.

You gulped right before you heard a door being opened. You were like a statue: lifeless. You didn’t dare to even breathe.

“Time to wake up Sleeping Beauty,” the woman’s voice from earlier spat and you wondered if it would be for th