***Please forgive all and any spelling and grammar mistakes. This chapter has not been deeply edited***

"The short term pain of accepting the truth is much better than the long term pain of believing an illusion."

Chapter Eight

Unknown Location, 8:16 pm

January 3

Pain.

The only thing Yesung can register as he groggily comes to. His head is the main culprit for the almost agonizing feeling across his entire skull, the pounding headache making it hard for Yesung to even take in his surroudings. His eyes are squinted because of the blinding light above him and it takes almost two minutes for his eyes to finally adjust, but his surroundings don't register in his mind at all. Where the hell am I?

Yesung can kind of remember the events of yesterday. Was it yesterday? Yesung doesn't even know how long he's been at that place. With having been by no windows and zero access to any kind of phone or clock, he's completely in the dark. He can only assume, but having been asleep for a majority of his 'stay' at this dreaded place, its too hard to tell.

Thinking only makes his headache worsen, and the best he can do to help lessen the pain is shut his eyes tight and bring a hand to rest gently against his forehead. But his hand never makes it to his head, and Yesung can't think clearly enough in that moment to come up with a reasonable solution why. He tries again to bring his hand to his head, but it's stopped once more by some force holding it back. Opening his eyes back up to see what's happening, Yesung has to painfully manuver his head up to get a decent look at his arm that is resting above his head, and the first thing he registers as it comes into view is the shiny pair of cuffs locked tightly around his wrist. The other end is locked around one of the many bars of the bed's headboard he's laying on. It's only at that moment that Yesung realizes he's lying on a bed inside of a room he does not recognize.

.

Hopelessly he tries tugging at the metal cuffs again but they don't come close to budging. He looks down at his other hand and realizes that only his right arm is restrained, something that confuses Yesung, but it reassures him enough knowing he's not completely at another's mercy. Still stuck, but he has a opportunity to make a move.

Yesung almost laughs out loud at the thought. Fight back? Ha, do I actually think I'll stand a chance??

Yesung does enjoy bringing himself down and making himself feel so helpless, but he knows deep down that he wouldn't stand a chance against any of those men. Seungmin, Beomgyu, and even Daejung. All three men a threat to Yesung's safety, and the singer doesn't want to take anymore chances and put his health in harms way more than he already has. His face hurts from the beating he got from Seungmin, and he can guess the headache he has is from the fall he took. The spot of impact is still raw at the back of his head, but thankfully the bleeding from all the wounds has since stopped. One less thing to worry about; now all he has to do is make sure he behaves himself for the time being.

A thought that really annoys him, just the thought of Seungmin's snarky grin staring down at him irks him to his core, but he has to control his emotions to avoid anymore unnecessary pain. He's already been through more than enough, and Yesung doesn't want to see what else Seungmin or the others have up their sleeves.

Finally deciding to look around at his new surroudings, Yesung sees he's inside a pretty basic bedroom: one twin bed he's currently laying on, a tall dresser directly across from the bed, and two doorways leading to what Yesung can only assume as a bathroom and the way out. He takes in both doors with temptation behind his eyes, but a quick glance back at his restrained arm sends any thoughts of escape out of his head. His head and face hurt, and Yesung would much rather stay lying on a semi-comfortable bed instead of getting himself beaten for trying to get away.

So that's where he stays for the next hour? Two hours? He can barely tell how long he has just been lying there, but Yesung knows it been awhile. There's not even a clock in the room anywhere for Yesung's benefit, so he's left at the complete mercy of fate. Whether he's stuck waiting another few hours for somebody to eventually show up or left alone with nothing but the silence that fills the room, that's just something Yesung will figure out if anybody ever shows up.

He goes another 10 minutes? 30 minutes? Just staring at the blank wall in front of him, his eyes getting drawn to the abstract details carved into the wallpapers as they follow the intricate lines and shapes. But the wallpaper can only entertain him so long, and he soon finds himself slowly drifting off into another sleep. The headache's pain begins to subside as sleep starts taking over, but the sudden sound of keys gingling and a lock being undone quickly draws him out of his slumber. His eyes open wide as he carefully sits up, doing his best to get around the handcuffs. The door opens and Seungmin's tall form appears in the doorway right as Yesung gets himself into a sitting position on the bed, pressed hard up against the headboard.

"Glad to see you're awake Yesung. You took quite the nap. Almost thought you wouldn't wake up."

Yesung remains silent as Seungmin approaches the bed. He pushes himself even further into the metal headboard and Yesung can feel the bars digging painfully into his back, but at the moment all he cares about is avoiding Seungmin the most he can. Said man takes quick notices of this behavior from the singer as he takes a careful seat on a small fold up stool he brought in with him, the object placed at the head of the bed, about a few feet away from the bed itself. He leaves the gap on purpose, not wanting to frighten Yesung any further with his presence, but he makes sure to sit tall and in a confident position as to keep the message known that he is the one inside that room in charge.

"How's your head?" A simple question, but it's enough to make Yesung scoff lightly into his chest. How's your head? The person that gave Yesung that injury is the very same man seemingly acting like he cares all of a sudden, and Yesung can't believe his ears. The lingering thought of what he just told himself earlier, to behave himself, pops back up into his thoughts and that's enough to keep his mouth shut, but he still allows for himself to let out his emotions in his head. 

Don't irritate him, you know what'll happen.

"Look, I understand the silent treatment. The two of us got off on the wrong foot yesterday, but I don't want you to fear me whenever you see me. That was never my intentions, and I want this hostility to go away. My anger... it got the best of me in that moment and I snapped. Control has never been a strong suit of mine, but I want to make amends now."

"Amends? With you? You ing kidnapped me, took me from my dorm and brought me to this place and beat me til I was bleeding. I haven't gotten any answers about why I'm here or who you all really are, so I don't think you'll be geting any forgiveness from me anytime soon." Dammit Yesung.

He knows he could have said what he just did much calmer and much nicer, but when he finally looked up to speak and saw Seungmin's same eyes from the beating, same look on his face from their first encoutner at the dorm, any reasoning left his mind completely. He keeps his eyes locked on Seungmin's unmoving form expecting the other to lunge at him any second to give the singer his third beating, but Seungmin stays still, almost frozen atop that small stool.

It's only when Yesung catches a brief look of remorse pass over the man's face that his body instinctively relaxs some, shoulders becoming less tensed up and upper body not so stiff against the headboard. His eyes never leave Seungmin's, however, the two orbs locked on him as if he is a bomb about to explode. Yesung surely thought he was, but then Seungmin finally speaks.

"I get the anger and resentment. I'm not asking for forgiveness for my actions right this moment, but I hope you'll soon see that that was not who I am."

Seungmin shifts his body into a new, more relaxed position as he continues talking.

"As for your questions about this place and who we all are, I want to answer them. It's a sensitive topic to discuss, the other especially don't enjoy it being brought up, but I feel that it's the only way to get you to cooperate better."

Yesung doesn't dare speak in that moment as he hears Seungmin says he's going to finally explain why he was taken. At such a crucial moment, he doesn't want to jeopardize it by speaking.

"The three of us work for an... organization. An underground organization, not many know about it. We work for money, just like anybody else with a job does, but our method of getting the money are more extreme. People with the right connections send requests in to the boss to get somebody killed, go missing, tortured... anything somebody wants we do. The boss determines who goes, how many, and how long we have to complete the job. Finishing ensures a generous pay split between all who were hired, but failure is death. Sounds fairly simple when put like that, but things can go south very quickly with this type of profession-"

Seungmin pauses after those words, eyes downcast to the floor as he continues talking.

"-A lot have died during these jobs, or gotten hurt beyond repair, and everybody who works here is dealing with something in their lives. Debt, family trouble, whatever it is, people come here to get quick cash to fix these problems. But many don't understand what they're getting into."

Yesung's mind is spinning with questions and seeing an opening once Seungmin stops speaking and doesn't show any signs of continuing at that moment, he takes it.

"Why are you here then. And why did I get brought into this? Who hired you to kidnap me?"

"I'm here because I am, and that's that. You on the other hand, you were requested by an unknown customer. Even if I did know anything about who wanted you kidnapped, it's against my rules to say it. All we were told was that this person wanted an idol from SM kidnapped, and it was through my boss' digging that you were picked as the victim. It was pure chance that you were chosen, but all I did was follow my orders."

Yesung's mind full of questions only worsens with this new information. Somebody wanted an SM idol kidnapped? Who could've done this, somebody in a rival agency? Somebody within SM? The thought of somebody trusted to work at SM working against the company for however long is too much for Yesung's clouded and overloaded brain to think about. This opens up a whole new world of lies and deception within his life and SM's future, but none of that is what's bothering Yesung the most. Why was he chosen, out of all the idols in SM, to be taken?

"What was so special about me then? Why did your boss choose me?" Both simple questions, but to leave Seungmin perplexed. The older man moves his head up to look at Yesung, and the singer can see the obvious answer of 'I dont know' written across his face.

"Honestly, I have no idea. Like I said it was pure chance, there were a number of others he could've chosen. Some might have even been easier to capture than you. Really makes me wonder now, what is so special about you?"

"Nothing. I sing, I dance, and that's it."

"Exactly..."

Yesung eyes Seungmin warily. The behavior the man just had moments ago is gone, replaced with the arrogant and curt man he dealt with yesterday. He can't grasp what this man is trying to get at, because just as quickly as that side of the man came, it disappeared and replaced once again by the more calm man he's been with so far.

"Somebody will be bringing you in some food shortly. Not sure what, but pretty sure it'll be takeout." Seungmin speaks as he rises and folds up the small stool. Tucking the little metal chair underneath his bicep, Seungmin turns to leave the small bedroom but is stopped by Yesung's raised voice.

"Wait, we're not done here. You haven't answered all my questions-" Seungmin's attention is caught and he stops to turn back just slightly, his face just barely visible to Yesung. "-What's going to happen now?"

Seungmin takes a moment before answering the singer's questions, his face blank as he stares at one of the stark white walls in thought.

"...I don't know...not yet. The customer made sure to list in their request that they didn't care what happened with you once we had you, so the boss left it to the three of us to decide. Each with very different ideas and fantasies, so its become hard to decide. As of now, you're simply our prisoner. But we still have plenty of time, so don't fret too much over it. We'll all find out soon enough."

Seungmin leaves it at that as he swiftly closes the gap between him and the door, leaving the small bedroom as he makes sure to lock the door behind him. Yesung hears the loud clicks of two locks after Seungmin is gone, which disminishes any lasting hope of Yesung somehow getting out of the room. Seungmin's words linger in Yesung's ear- 'different ideas and fantasies', 'our prisoner', 'didn't care what happened to you'- and it again becomes too much to handle at once. Just trying to think of somebody that would do such a horrible thing and put another's life in danger, Yesung can't even imagine.

But he's now living proof of what some dispicable people in this world are willing to do, whether it be for money, power, status- and now Yesung is suffering. Suffering an unknown fate and now forced to sit around a wait to hear what'll happen to him. Will he be killed? Tortured? Left to rot and die? 

His thoughts drift over to his family, his friends, all of s. He imagines their smiling faces and pictures the countless times he went home to visit his parents or went out to dinner with his friends and members. One memory in particular resurfaces: the night after the group's first ever big win at an award show. He sees the various members sprawled out across their old dorm's kitchen: Leeteuk and Kyuhyun standing behind the counter adding their finishing touches to the grand meal they prepared for their win, Eunhyuk alongwith Donghae and Ryeowook sitting at the table messing around and playing random games to pass the time before dinner, Heechul with Shindong watching a show on their small TV, and Siwon sat next to Yesung as the two make bets on who they think will end up losing the current game among the trio. It's one of the best memories he has of the group; that was such an impactful day for all of their careers and it kept that fire lit inside all of them as they grew even more excited for their futures. That dinner was a celebration of a triumph, one none of them ever thought they would reach.

Yesung doesn't even realize tears began to fall until he feel the warm, salty liquid hit his mouth and slowly seep between his lips. He can't understand the amount of crying that has come from him those past few days; the singer has never been a big cryer. Sure their are occassional slip ups, but Yesung has always tried to keep his emotions to himself.

But it was the memory of s, a once happy and enjoyable time to think about, now turned sad and laced with grief. The thought of s walking into their dorm and seeing the mess that Seungmin and Yesung caused, their reactions to discovering that no matter how hard they look or how many times they call for the singer to come out, Yesung is nowhere to be found. Leeteuk, the last person he talked to before the attack, allowing himself to become consumed with guilt for Yesung's kidnapping. s, all of them getting set off at the smallest things and allowing their emotions to get the better of them, creating tension among the group. His parents, receiving that dreaded phonecall that something has happened to their son.

Yesung does nothing to stop the tears from flowing once more. All of this new information he learned, his haunting thoughts and overwhelmed emotions getting the best of him, and Yesung just wants anything but to sit there any longer and let his thoughts take him over. The warm tears stream down his face and make their way down along his cheeks, to his chin, and past down to his neck. Yesung's breathing is fast and heart thumping quickly in his chest, but all he can do to try and calm them is manuver himself into a laying postion. Curled up into himself, Yesung goes to pull his thin t-shirt up to wipe his tears but is once again reminded of where he is when his arm is stopped by the cuffs. 

The arm falls right back down onto the bed, any care for wiping away his tears now gone, and Yesung lays still, the only signs of life coming from his continuous sniffling, the trembling that has now taken over his body, and the fast rises and falls of his chest. The position is uncomfortable, his headache is only getting worse, and he knows he should be focusing on watching for anybody else to enter his room, but he just can't bother. The thought of s is too strong and he's already been sweep in too deep, so Yesung is left a crying mess. Confused, scared, and completely alone to deal with these raging emotions.

No friends, no family, and no members for comfort or reassurance. Yesung's body continues to tremble where he lays, and he doesn't think he's ever felt so cold in his entire life.

~

yay, i'm back(enter celebratory fireworks here)! It's been a while, almost two years -yikes- but I'm in a okay place right now. Life always has to get in the way of what I enjoy, but a lot of my time away was just me learning to appreciate life and learn to love myself. Two very hard things to do, and I'm not even close to being there yet, but I'm in a much healthier state of mind.

Two updates back to back is not something that's going to happen a lot, but I pounded this one out to try and make up for my absence. It's not as long as previous chapters, but I'm satisfied nonetheless. I wanted to get another Yesung chapter out before I continue with the members/police side of this story, so I hope you enjoyed. I hope I can get the next chapter out soon, but seeing as I want it to be on the longer side please don't get hopes high for another update very soon. Give me a week or two and I'll have it out. And I promise I won't disappear again.

Thank you for reading and supporting my story!