Thank you for all the love! XD

Chanwoo snaps his eyes open at the sudden halt of the bus, it almost sends him flying forward hitting the front seat face first. Looking around frantically, luckily it’s just a dog suddenly coming out of nowhere onto the road. Thankfully the bus driver doesn’t hit it. Sighing in relief, the bus starts to move again. All the people inside rest assured in their seats, knowing everything is under control.

He couldn’t make himself fall asleep again. Maybe some sightseeing through the window can ease his mind. He let the scenery of Busan passing through his vision, the bus going even farther away from the city. He has long forgotten how many hours he has spent in the bus, distancing himself away from the hustle and bustle of Seoul; away from his current life as Jung Chanwoo of iKON.

His phone is long forgotten. For the first time ever, during travelling—or more like a runaway, he doesn’t hold his phone in his hands occupying his mind with all sorts of games.

Exactly at 12 PM, just after 118km away from Seoul he has turned off his phone. The amount of calls and messages he received hours before that is not counted. He opts not to, refuses to mess up his already disheveled mind. It’s 2:46 PM at the moment and he doesn’t even know where the hell is he or how much farther away he is from Seoul. But as far as possible is what he wishes for, he couldn’t hold it up anymore; the pent up frustration suppressed and kept inside of him for so long is slowly gnawing his rational conscience at the back of mind and heart. He couldn’t keep up anymore to ….. anything. It’s no longer in his game and he plans to have a break from it; from everything and everyone. He wants to be free.

Thus he runs away, not wanting to let s worried but at the same hoping for his absence to at least give some clue to them at how Chanwoo has been standing at the edge after all of these times. He just wants everything to stop for a moment, but unfortunately a ‘stop’ doesn’t exist in idol life’s dictionary. Like a bullet train, with its speed increasing and exceeding the limit, they are unstoppable. Chanwoo hates that part the most to be honest with. For once, he wants to breathe.

He falls asleep again, and when he’s awake, the bus is reaching towards one point. Looking over the window, the estranged scenery is getting much foreign in his eyes. He has no idea where is he at the moment. The bus comes to a stop. Chanwoo is left with no choice but to get down from it. As he reaches the platform, he is grateful that the place isn’t much crowded. He can hide here calmly without being spotted by anyone. Walking towards the station’s exit, he sees a sign with big word that said ‘Jeollanam-do Station’. So he’s at Jeollanam-do huh? Chanwoo can’t help but to smirk sickly despite the unpleasant churn in his stomach. He is definitely so far away from Seoul. It would take 1 whole day or maybe 2 if anyone looks for him, well he knows there will be. The managers won’t let him getting off the hook just like that by having a solo vacation but he can’t help to feel pity for them to look for him around 300km away from Seoul.

He doesn’t know if Jeollanam-do has any beach but as he walks around aimlessly looking for a local stall to fill his stomach, he sets his eyes on a park. There is a beautiful yet simply plain lake there, but the environment; the peace, is what makes it irresistibly tempting in Chanwoo’s eyes. He could use some quietness in a while. After eating some ramens, he walks to the park. Like the town itself, there isn’t much people around thus he is gaining the serenity of peace he has always wanting. Looking over the broad blue sky above his eyes from the grass he’s sitting, he starts to count the clouds drifting away. Birds chirping and the children’s laughter as they are playing along with each other not far from where he is sitting releases his pent up stress.

At last, he found peace. No matter how temporarily it is, he wishes to hold on to it.

Once again, he doesn’t realize when he has fallen asleep. Looking over his wristwatch, it’s already 5 PM. Wow, he has been sleeping for a damn 2 hours right where he is lying down on the grass. He would be lucky not to catch a cold. Sitting up as he stretches his sore limbs, he feels his stomach churning yet again in hunger. ping his backpack, he takes out a wrapped up rice balls he has took this morning from the fridge. When the taste of the rice touches his taste buds, Chanwoo moans in pleasure. Yunhyeong’s cooking is definitely an A class, despite just being a simple homemade food.

Yunhyeong hyung, the thought alone makes his heart beats furiously and body shivers. Is everyone doing alright? Are they worry about him? Are they mad? Well, Hanbin and Jinhwan might be because the leader surely is pissed Chanwoo missed out the practices and radio broadcasts for the day while Jinhwan is probably just angry because he goes out without telling anyone. The older is rather furious if any of the members go out without noticing anybody. Reason is because he’s afraid if they got kidnapped or mobbed by ruthless crazy fans. Or, he might just be pissed off at how irresponsible Chanwoo is for running away in the middle of schedules. Although it’s just a radio broadcast that can be changed the schedule, it is very not matured of him to commit this action.

But like the feeling he has been keeping inside for these few weeks; he ain’t care no more. And that is in fact quite troubling, he knows it.

He misses his mother, badly. But he’s too afraid to turn on his phone. So he walks down the street to the public phone. Luckily he still has some coins to make a call. He dials up his mother’s phone number and waits for the ringing to stop. When it does, his mother’s soothing voice is the first thing greeting his ear making the unwanted burns at the back of his eyes freely intensifying.

“Hello?”

“Mom? It’s me, Chanwoo.”

His mother is surprised with his sudden call of course, using an unknown number. “Chanwoo? Why didn’t you call me with your number?” He smiles softly hearing the confusion in his mother’s voice. The sound calms him down, yet he couldn’t stop the tears from flowing. “My phone is out of battery.” He lied.

“Oh really? Why didn’t you charge them up, dear. Aigoo, you must have been playing games all day long until you didn’t realize it.”

“Hehe, sorry mom.” He makes sure the sobs won’t get in the way to the speaker. He doesn’t want his mother to know he’s crying.

“By the way, your manager called me up this afternoon. Why would he?” His ears perked up hearing that. Of course, he thoughts. They are already searching for him.

“I’m just out to buy some food but I forgot to tell him.” Another lies, he feels bad but it’s for the better.

“Really? You should really stop playing games. Is everything alright? I don’t know why but I’m worried for you. Yet I’m always worried hehehehe.” By the time he hears it, he kno