“Are you crazy?!” 

Chan was startled awake to the sound of someone yelling from another room.

Panicked, he quickly tried to move and felt restraints on his arms and legs. He was tied to a chair; the cable tie around his wrists were still there, but there were new ties that were shackling his limbs. 

Chan sighed. He must have fallen asleep in the captive’s car with all the rocking from the driving and the darkness from being blindfolded. Now he was in an unfamiliar location. It smelled different than anywhere he had previously been, and felt more damp. 

“Why did you kidnap him??” The voice continued to yell. “That’s literally illegal, Byeongkwan!”

“Shh! Don’t use my name” the voice, supposedly Byeongkwan, answered. “He might be awake.”

“It doesn’t matter if he’s awake or not, we need to send him back immediately.” The other voice declared.

“No, we can’t!” Byeongkwan sounded almost whiny. “I went through all this trouble to get him, we can’t just send him back.”

The other man sighed. “We are sending him back. Now! ...I am astounded that you actually managed to kidnap him.”

“Obviously I would succeed.” Byeongkwan bragged, “I learned from the best private investigator in town.”

“Oh you shut up. I never taught you anything willingly.” 

Chan felt a pair of hands reach behind his head and loosen the knot on the blindfold. 

“What are you doing?! We can’t show him our faces.” Byeongkwan yelled in surprise.

“It’s too late, Byeongkwan. It’s not like we would ever get away with something like this.”

The blindfold fell away from his face and Chan blinked a few times as he adjusted to the light. Before him was two guys- one with blue hair and a very worried look on a very handsome face, while the other was blonde with sharp cat-like eyes and was smirking. 

“He’s awake already.” The blonde spoke, and Chan recognized his voice as the “Byeongkwan” mentioned prior.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt?” The blue-haired man spoke softly. 

Chan opened his mouth to answer, but he couldn’t find the words.

After a few moments of silence, the other spoke again, "Look, I'm sorry, really, but we will send you back immediately no harm done. Could you please not say a word about us to the police?”

“Jun, you’re crazy. There is no way he’s going to agree to that.” Byeongkwan chimed in. 

Jun heaved a deep sigh and glared at Byeongkwan. “I am doing the best I can to resolve your stupid actions that could land us in jail. Could you spare me the sass?”

Byeongkwan shrugged.

Jun turned his attention back to the dumbfounded Chan. “hey, please, I promise we won’t do anything further, just please help me out here. I’ll pay you compensation and send you back now, I promise.”

Chan cleared his throat. He looked around nervously and spoke quietly “Um… could you please… not send me back just yet?” 

Before he knew it, Chan was seated at a wooden dinner table. He rubbed his sore limbs where they were previously bound. He looked up. There were three guys sitting with him; Byeongkwan, Jun and another raven-haired stranger. 

“This is Byeongkwan,” Jun pointed to the blonde Chan had identified earlier.

“This is Sehyoon” Jun pointed to the third person, “and I’m Jun. We live here.”

“...I-I’m Chan.” Chan stuttered, nervous. He could tell everyone was around his age, but he had never spoken to anyone his age. “I am honored to meet you.”

Byeongkwan tried to stifle his laughter but failed. “Honored? He’s very polite with his kidnappers.” 

Chan was flustered and felt his cheeks heat up in embarrassment.

“Stop it.” Jun scolded, “He’s just unsure what to do. Anyone would be like that in his situation.” 

“Anyone in his situation would be trying to escape.” Byeongkwan fired back. 

“...I bet he’s hungry.” Sehyoon spoke up, and everyone looked at Chan.

“Well it’s true that he hasn’t had anything to eat since this morning.” Jun said, getting up to make a phone call.

Chan blushed; he didn’t realize he was so hungry until someone else had pointed it out. It had been a hectic time, and eating was the last thing on his mind. 

Jun returned to the table shortly. “I asked Donghun to pick up some food on his way back, maybe he can help me get through this.” Jun sighed, rubbing his temples. 

“S-Sorry.” Chan blurted out, “I know I’m being unreasonable, but I really don’t want to go home just yet.” 

He had finally broken out of his repetitive daily life, and he wasn’t about to give up this chance so quickly.

“It’s not your fault you’re stuck here…” Jun coughed, “Actually it is, but it’s not like you chose to be here to begin with. Just hang tight okay? We’ll figure something out.”

Everyone’s attention turned to the door when they heard it unlock and swing open.

“I brought some food from the stall downstairs.” The new stranger took off his shoes and walked inside. 

“Wha- who is he?” the silver-haired stranger looked at Chan, appalled. “He looks like some rich kid… is he some debt collector? Sehyoon I told you not to do anything dumb…”

Sehyoon shook his head. “I didn’t sign up for any loans, Donghun. Me and Byeongkwan kidnapped him.”

Donghun laughed nervously. “...T-that’s some sort of joke, right? That’s not very funny.”

Byeongkwan shook his head, “No joke, hyung. We kidnapped the rich kid.” 

Donghun looked at Jun and saw his pleading expression. “No wonder Jun sounded so freaked out on the phone.” he sighed to himself.

Donghun walked over to the table and set down the food. He reached out his hand to Chan, “I’m Donghun and I apologize for the discourtesy my friends have shown you. What’s your name?”

Chan stood up and formally returned his handshake. “Kang Yuchan. You can call me Chan.”

Donghun raised his eyebrows. “Okay, Chan, what are you doing here?”

“I was kidnapped.” 

“Okay... what for?” Donghun asked, looking around for an answer. 

“Well,” Byeongkwan piped in, "You know how your business isn’t going well? I thought we could use him.”

“Who told you that my business wasn’t going well?” Donghun frowned.

“Sorry, Donghun, I told him.” Sehyoon raised his hand. 

“Oh come on!” Byeongkwan shouted excitedly, “this dude is like a wealth magnet, it would be a waste not to use him. Plus, he doesn’t want to leave.”

Chan furrowed his eyebrows. He had never been disrespected or called “this dude” before. He knew it was rude, but it didn’t feel as offensive as he’s been raised to think. 

Donghun started to unpack the food. “Byeongkwan, Sehyoon, you can’t just use people! I thought you knew better than that. Plus it’s dumb and dangerous to go around forcing things on people.”

“I know, I know.” Byeongkwan brushed it off, “But it worked and now we are here.”

Donghun sighed, setting a takeout container of tteokbokki in front of Chan. 

“And you,” Donghun spoke to Chan. “Why don’t you want to leave?”

Chan looked curiously at the food in front of him. He pointed to the container. “What is this?”

“What is what?” Byeongkwan asked curiously. “Are you seriously asking what tteokbokki is?”

Chan nodded. 

“I’ve never had it before.” he replied straightforwardly. 

Byeongkwan reached into the bag Donghun brought back and took out another takeout box. “Okay, but you can’t tell me you’ve never had fried chicken before.” Byeongkwan opened the box in front of Chan.

“Sorry, I know what that is but I’ve never had it.” Chan admitted.

“No way!” Byeongkwan was shocked. 

Byeongkwan thought for a moment and nodded. “Now I understand. I think I get the gist of why you don’t wanna go home yet.”

Byeongkwan smiled. “How about this, as long as you stay here, I’ll take you outside to have some fun and experience some new things. In return, you will help Donghun with his business.”

Chan looked excited and nodded fervently. “We have a deal.”