-Daehyun’s POV-

Yongguk stormed out of my room slamming the door shut behind him. I huffed completely flustered. I paced the room. It wasn’t my fault. It wasn’t. I shook my head. My heart ached. We had just had another major argument, and Yongguk was more furious than ever. I’ve never seen him that angry before, and his anger was directed at me! I bawled up my fist doing my best to hold back any trace of tears. I was conflicted. He didn’t understand. He wouldn’t understand!

“Don’t stress over it too much.” Himchan said entering my room. We had never argued this violently before. No it wasn’t an argument…it was a fight. He blamed me for Junhong’s disappearance, and it hurt.

Himchan closed the door and walked over to me. He patted my shoulder gently. I wasn’t in a good state. I felt like breaking down. I even began to tremble as Yongguk’s harsh words replayed in my head. How can I trust someone who’s always blinded by their past?! They’ll only cause trouble and destruction. This is all your fault! “…H-He doesn’t…trust me.” I said in a shaky tone, my eyes began to burn and get watery, I couldn’t fight it anymore. “He trusts you Daehyun said softly.” I shook my head. “No, no he doesn’t he even said it himself…he said it himself.” I sniffled. Himchan sighed and wrapped his arms around my shoulders. “He doesn’t mean it Dae. He’s just worried about Junhong. He can’t think straight right now. It’s not your fault. Heh. He even blamed me.” Himchan chuckled at the last part he said.

“He has no right to blame you…” I said through my teeth. “He’s blaming everyone, including himself.” Himchan said soothingly. “Not Junhong. He’s not blaming him…Junhong should have done what he was told. None of this would’ve happened.” I mumbled angrily.

“But if you were Junhong, wouldn’t you have done the same thing?” Himchan questioned removing his arm. I didn’t respond. He was right, as usual.

“I still don’t trust him though, because of what he is, he may seem nice, sweet, innocent looking on the outside and may seem amazingly smart…but he’s just like the rest of them.” I said tightening my fist. “You’re thinking about that Youngjae kid.” Himchan frowned.

The water in my eyes got heavy and began to drip down my cheek. I was an emotional wreck. “You and Yongguk are both losing your senses.” Himchan sighed shaking his head. I hugged him and began to cry. I don’t know what I was feeling but it was too much and too frustrating. “Thank you Channie for being here.” I sniffled through my tears. I need him right now, someone to talk to.

-Jongup’s POV-

“That wasn’t necessary!” I said chasing after the angry Yongguk. “You don’t understand! Because you don’t care!” Yongguk burst angrily. All of the servants avoided him in fear, trying not to get in his way. I kept following him until we were out of the castle. “Where are you going?” I asked him. “I’m not telling you! You not carer!” He yelled still not bothering to look back. “Seriously? You sound foolish!” I laughed. He stopped walking and fiercely turned around. He grabbed me by the collar of my shirt and lifted me up. I knew what I did was probably stupid but I had to stop him somehow.

“You’re really gonna fight me here? Now? Where no one can stop you?” I smirked. He breathed hard and glared at me deep in my eyes, it was actually quite frightening, but I wasn’t scared of him. “Okay…let’s begin.” I said. Instead he just let go of me. He looked away shamefully. “I heard everything. Himchan and I heard you two fighting.” I said getting straight to business.

“Do you know what you said was low and hurtful to him? That was stupid of you. He did nothing to you!” I spat. My goal wasn’t to scold him but rather make him feel guilty. “Is there something that Daehyun did that I don’t know about? Huh? I want to know. Tell me about it.” I challenged. No response. “Com’on Guk. Spill the beans. What did he do?” I went on. Still nothing.

“I want to know! Is Daehyun that bad you can’t tell me? He must be an evil person. That’s why he does the ra-,” “Stop! Don’t talk about Daehyun like that! He did nothing wrong!” Yongguk shouted cutting me off. I smirked. “He’s a good person!” Yongguk burst inmy face. “Then stop yelling geez.” I complained. Yongguk shook his head in annoyance. “You’re something else Moon Jongup.” He said. “You really hurt Daehyun.” I said ignoring his comment.

“I was just…he…Junhong…well…” Yongguk stumbled on his words with guilt. “Don’t get me wrong. I care about Junhong. He’s an interesting person. But you’re gonna let some kid who you’ve only known for a few years get between you and your own best friend who you’ve known forever?” I questioned. “You even blamed him for it. You told him that you couldn’t trust him. Like what the heck is that?” I added. “I-I wasn’t thinking. I didn’t mean anything I said back there. I-I’m sorry.” He said shanmefully, now that he was thinking about it. “Tch…sorry my . Don’t say sorry to me. Tell Daehyun that. It’ll take more than some meesly ‘I’m sorry I was just angry, I couldn’t think,’ .” I said in disgust.

Yongguk shook his head in disbelief as he actually thought more about it. “Did I really do that?” Yongguk looked at me just now realizing everything. I smirked. “Did you Bang Yongguk?” I responded. He quickly went back to glaring at me and walked right past me back into the castle. “Well, my work here is done. I did pretty good.” I said complimenting myself.

-Himchan’s POV-

I comforted Daehyun as he cried. It made me sad to see him like this, he never cries. He was really hurting right now. I sighed to myself, I wish Yongguk would understand. Just then the door burst open. “Really Jongup? You seriously-,” “I’m sorry.” The person interrupted me, it wasn’t Jongup. I looked up to see that it was Yongguk of course. I let go of Daehyun and left a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry!” Yongguk shouted. “Yongguk!” I hissed at him. He walked towards us and pushed me aside. I know he did not just push me.

Before I could go back and push him back, Jongup stopped me by putting his hand on my shoulder. “Tsk Tsk Tsk.” He said shaking his head. “What?!” I snapped annoyed. “I expected better from you Kim Himchan. I know you were about to go and push him back. That wouldn’t have been very smart, don’t you think?” he said. I just scoffed and turned my attention back to the other two.

Yongguk placed both of his hands on either of Daehyun’s shoulders. Daehyun hung his head down not bothering to look up at him. “Daehyun…I am so sorry for what I said to you. I didn’t mean any of it. I was just…I couldn’t think. I do trust you and it’s not your fault. I-I didn’t mean anything I said to earlier.” Yongguk apologized sincerely.

I raised an eyebrow to see how Daehyun would respond. Yongguk really isn’t one to apologize so sincerely like that, because he usually doesn’t do stuff to hurt people. “How did Yongguk change his mind so fast?” I whispered to Jongup knowing that he was the cause of it. “I made reason with him. Duh.” Jongup smiled. I just looked at him. “You made him feel guilty didn’t you?” I said suspiciously.

“Why not?” he smiled sweetly. “You just don’t do that.” I said shaking my head. “Well it worked.” He said. “But it’s not going to work all the time.” I pointed out. “Your method isn’t gonna work all the time either.” He retorted. “Well it does.” I said sending him back a sweet smile. He only scoffed.

Daehyun looked back up at Yongguk. “It’s fine…I was being unnecessary too.” He said quietly. Yongguk pulled him into a hug. “I’m sorry for making you cry.” He said.

I clapped happily at the scene. “Yay!” I cheered. “Ugh…” Jongup groaned in disgust. I turned and gave him an irritated stare. “What’s wrong with you?” I said bluntly.

“We are so boring.” Jongup sighed. “What? We’re not boring!” I spat. “You’re right. You guys are boring. Junhong and I are the only interesting ones.” He said picking at his fingernails. “”What?! What are you saying?” I snapped. There was something seriously wrong with this guy. “Don’t you see? Look at how fast Daehyun and Yongguk made up. They were fighting for like an hour and 30 seconds later they make up. On top of that Yongguk and Daehyun are the most stubborn people I know. Huh! Nothing interesting ever happens between us, except for Junhong disappearing.” Jongup explained.

I couldn’t believe him. What the heck was going on in that boy’s mind? Was he even human? How could he say that?! Out of anger I grabbed his collar with both of my hands and started shaking him vigorously. “Are you kidding me?! What the heck is wrong with you?! Do you really want all of our friendships to break a part? For your little entertainment?!” I yelled.

“Channie.” I heard Yongguk sigh. I stopped shaking Jongup and turned to the elder. “What?” I asked impatiently. “Channie…Just leave Jongup alone, you know that nothing is going to ever get through to him.” Yongguk shook his head. I turned back at Jongup who was now smirking. I let go of him giving him a little shove, but he barely budged. I crossed my arms, why do I even bother with this kid.

Daehyun whispered something in Yongguk’s ear. A small smile appeared on his face and he lightly nodded. “I don’t think they’ll accept it though.” Yongguk said aloud. “Accept what?” I asked suspiciously. Daehyun shrugged, “Yeah I guess you’re right. Jongup probably wouldn’t accept such a challenge.” Daehyun agreed. “What challenge?” Jongup questioned suddenly interested. “Himchan wouldn’t be able to endure it either.” Yongguk added. “Yah! What are you talking about?” I demanded, not liking being out of the loop. “Ah~…It’s nothing. You two wouldn’t be able to handle it. So why bother telling you?” Daehyun said plainly.

“Yah! I can take anything! I am Moon Jongup! No challenge is too much for me!” Jongup declared pridefully. I rolled my eyes. A slight smile appeared on Daehyun’s face. “I can endure anything.” I told them leaning back against the wall. Yongguk smiled and looked at Daehyun, the two then turned their attention back to us. “Alright then…follow me.” Daehyun instructed walking past us.

We followed him out of his bedroom into another room at the end of the long corridor. It was a fairly large room. Everything was set up nicely. There was a king sized bed with unlit candels. The room smelt really nice…it was a twilight scent. There were no windows however. “Hm…this looks pretty comforting.” Jongup noted aloud as we entered the room.

“What room is this?” I asked. I’ve never noticed it before. Yongguk and Daehyun stayed by the door. “It’s a very special room.” Daehyun remarked. I turned back and gave them a suspicious look. “You guys accepted the challenge right?” Daehyun confirmed. “Of course.”

“Of course.”

“Hell yeah!”

“You’re challenge is to…spend one night together in this room.” Daehyun smirked. “Bwoh?!” I exclaimed. “H-Huh?” Jongup said trying to process the situation. “N-No! You can’t do this!” I exclaimed. “What’s done is done…” Daehyun laughed creepily closing the door, which was followed by a click.

I quickly ran to the door trying to open it. But It wouldn’t budge…it was locked! “Jung Daehyun! Bang Yongguk! You guys better let me out right now! Or you’ll regret it!” I kept yelling banging on the door. But no one came to my rescue.

“There’s no point.” Jongup finally spoke. I turned to see that he was lying on the bed with his shirt off. He looked at me and smiled, “they aren’t gonna let you out. So you might as well and go along with it. Make the best out of the situation. Endure it…like you said. Remember?” I turned backed towards the door and weakly hit it with my fist. I needed to get out of here before I commit murder.

“Why Daehyun~? Why would you do this to me? After what I’ve done for you. Wae?!” I whined. “I’m really not that bad.” Jongup remarked. I huffed and marched over to the opposite side of the bed. “Get up.” I told him. He looked at me a bit surprised. “Wae?!” He protested. “Move!” I demanded.

“Aish! Fine. What are you gonna do anyway?” he grumbled getting out of the bed. I then got on top of the bed and took up as much space as possible. “Yah! What are you doing?” He spat. “What do you think I’m doing? Huh?” I replied getting comfortable. “Ayye! You’re so cold. Where am I gonna sleep?” He pouted. “I don’t know…on the floor…” I said indifferently. “But I’ll get sick. Don’t you care?” He asked.

“Nope.”

“But I thought you cared about all of us?”

“I do.” I closed my eyes.

He stopped arguing and muttered something under his breath…then it went silent. Suddenly something heavy came on top of me. I quickly opened my eyes. It was Jongup! No it wasn’t just Jongup. It was shirtless Jongup! Daehyun! If I make it out of here I am going to kill you right after I kill Jongup!!

-Daehyun’s POV-

“How do you think Himchan is holding out?” Yongguk asked. We sat on my bed and talked. I was glad that we were able to make up this quickly. I wouldn’t want to lose a friend like him….especially Yongguk. He’s like my older brother. He was always there and I’d hate to lose him to anyone. I felt kind of embarrassed that I cried. I hated crying in front of people, and I never wanted to cry in front of him, because he didn’t cry, he never cried. He’s always calm…well most of the time.

“I don’t know. He’s probably plotting to kill Jongup then me.” I said. Yongguk laughed at this, but he nodded.

“Hey um…Daehyun.” He began. “Yeah?” I replied. The aura was now becoming awkward. “Um I’m still really sorry for what I did.” He apologized again. “It’s fine, really. You were just worried.” I said. “But I know you don’t care too much for Junhong and I put you through that.” Yongguk sighed shamefully. “I forgive you geez.” I smiled, playfully punching his arm. “Thank you.” He said quietly, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

“Why are you thanking me?” I asked not expecting that from him at all. “Because I know you don’t forgive people, especially that easily.” He admitted. “Well you’re not the type to apologize either.” I pointed out. He gave a small laugh. “Alright we should get some shut eye so that we’re prepared for whatever Himchan has prepared for us.” He said. I nodded and the two of us slipped under the covers and went to sleep.

-

I got up extra early the next morning before everyone else. I called all of the guards in for a meeting. “This is an urgent matter.” I began, slowly pacing the guard headquarters. “One of my friends, Choi Junhong, has gone missing somewhere in the village. All of you know what he looks like, so keep an eye out for him. He isn’t hard to miss he’s really tall. When you see him bring him back immediately.” I ordered using my professional voice.

“Um…Your majesty. Can’t we just raid the homes to find him?” One of the younger guards spoke up. I honestly was thinking about doing that but I knew Yongguk would not like that at all. “No.” I spat. The guard fell to hi =s knees. “Please forgive me your highness for que-,” “Get up.” I interrupted him, I didn’t want to hear that bull.

The young guard quickly stumbled to his feet and bowed. “Don’t harm him. He isn’t in any trouble. We’re just worried about what may happen to him. Find him soon! And make sure absolutely nothing happens to him or else all of you will be punished.” I said sternly. “Yes sir.” They saluted and went to their duty.

-Youngjae’s POV-

I woke up in the middle of the night to Zelo who was shaking rapidly clutching the blanket. “Zelo.” I said quietly. No response. He was still asleep but he was jolting, twisting and turning. He was having a nightmare.