The members of Seventeen had just finished performing their song “Oh! My” at an awards show. It was all exciting. All thirteen members of the group feeling they had done a good job. The atmosphere as they entered their dressing room was very energetic. They all celebrated the good performance as they changed back into the suits they would wear for the rest of the awards show. It was so chaotic and it was just one big frenzy of people trying to quickly finish getting ready, they almost didn’t notice when their manager walked into the dressing room.

“Okay guys!” He called out. “That was a great performance, but you all need to get back out to your seats.”

The manager counted heads as the members started to go through the door. Confusion running through him as he only counted twelve. There was no one else in the room except a few staffs cleaning up. So how had he come up short? Maybe he had missed one, after all there were a lot of them and one could have slipped by unnoticed. He walked to the area he was supposed to be sitting, looking over to the idol section. However, he couldn’t see the group. He figured it would all be fine. Surely the others would notice if a person wasn’t there, right?

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The awards show was finished. Once again, all the members went to the dressing room. Waiting for the crowds of fans to clear out so they could exit without too much worry. 

The boys were all exhausted, but that didn’t stop the energy of happiness that was still flooding through the room. As they talk excitedly about the events that had occurred during the award show, Jeonghan looked around the room, just observing all the boys, and trying not to fall asleep. It was now that he noticed something strange.

“Guys, where is Jihoon?” He asked the other members, who all seemed to freeze at his words. They looked at each other for a moment before reacting. 

“Is he out in the hall?” Soonyoung asked, as he got up himself to check. After looking outside the room, he turned to the others and shook his head. Everyone’s concern rising.

The manager entered the room, instantly aware of the tense atmosphere. When he became aware of what everyone was upset about, he became very serious. “I’m sorry to tell you this now that it’s later, but after your performance when I did the headcount as you all left the room, I only counted twelve. I thought maybe one of you had slipped by unnoticed.”

“And you’re just telling us this now?!” Seungcheol asked in disbelief. “If you suspected anyone was missing why not say anything?” The leader tried to calm himself for the sake of the others, but it dawned on him that he hadn’t even bothered to really look at s since the night began. Now, he felt as if he were paying for it.

“Hyung?” Mingyu asked the leader, “What should we do?”

Seungcheol took a deep breath before collecting his emotions. He then turned very serious. “We need to look for him. He may be in the building, maybe he just got lost. This is a big arena.”

“Hyung, what if he’s not in the building?” A worried Seungkwan spoke up. “If we haven’t seen him since we performed, how would he be in the building?”

“Let’s not focus on that right now. I know we’re all worried, but we can’t lose our heads.” Seungcheol then motioned for all the members to split up in groups of two and search the building for their missing member.

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After an hour of searching, the last group returned to the dressing room without having any luck. It was now more than ever that panic was starting to set in the room. As the members looked at each other with concern, all of them were also kicking themselves for not noticing Jihoon wasn’t there for the longest time. How do they just lose a member?

Seungcheol was on the verge of losing his mind. Seokmin, Seungkwan, and Seungcheol himself had all already shed a few tears of worry over the situation. Everyone overheard as the manager was on the phone with the police. Once their manager was off he relayed what the police had said to them.

“The man said that they have sent search teams out. They said for now we need to get you guys back to your dorm. If they hear anything they’ll let us know immediately. Also if we hear anything we need to relay the news to them.”

The members all nodded in understanding as they stood up to collect their belongings. Myungho and Jun also collecting the items that belonged to Jihoon. They headed to the vans in silence. None of them wanting to think about what could’ve happened to their producer. 

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As they walked into the dorm, the members split off to do their own things, showers, changing clothes and such. All of them hoping Jihoon would walk through the front door, fine as ever. All of them knowing it was unlikely. 

Seungcheol sat with Jeonghan on the couch looking at his laptop. Jisoo was laying on the floor, looking at his phone. All of them trying to distract themselves, for a few moments at least, from the worry that was eating away at them. Jisoo had even admitted he was feeling nauseous from how much worrying he was doing. Nothing would really be able to ease the worrying except for finding Jihoon safe and sound.

It was a ping came through on Seungcheol’s computer that got the attention of all of them. Seungcheol had received an air dropped message with an address, a picture of Jihoon tied up, worry in his eyes as he stared right into the camera. There was also a bruise forming on his left cheek, showing someone had hit him extremely hard. A few moments after the picture appeared, a message and an address came through. ‘If you want your friend back I want the two other unit leaders to meet me tomorrow night. DO NOT bring the police or anyone else. If you do he will die.’ 

Seungcheol looked on in horror at the picture and message, speechlessness overtaking him, unable to answer the other two about what had come through. Jeonghan took the laptop, turning pale as he looked at the photo, and an unreadable face taking over his expression as he read the message aloud.

“Seungcheol, tell me you aren’t actually going to go!” Jisoo questioned the leader. “We need to tell the police.”

“But the note said not to involve the police.” Jeonghan retorted. “Do you see the bruise on his cheek, he’s showing he’s willing to be violent! We don’t want to get Jihoon killed!”

The two looked towards the leader, trying to make out his expression.

“‘Cheol,” Jeonghan spoke softly, “What are you thinking? If you and Soonyoung go that could be bad, but if you don’t go that could be worse.”

“I don’t know about what Soonyoung wants to do, I know we still need to talk to the others.” Seungcheol quietly considered, out loud. “However, I think I, at least, need to go. If what the kidnapper said is true, then there is a bigger threat of something bad happening if we don’t go.”

“He didn’t even demand anything though!” Jisoo said loudly. “This could be a trap to try and get you too. Then he could make an even bigger demand.”

The other members had all been slowly gravitating towards the living room as the argument had started happening. Everyone wanting to know what was happening.

“What’s happening?” Hansol asked what everyone who had slowly entered was thinking. “Did you get information on Jihoon-hyung?”

Seungcheol, Jeonghan, and Jisoo looked at each other. Seungcheol sighed and addressed the members. “Jihoon, as we thought, has been kidnapped.”

The other members gasped. Mixtures of concern, and terror filled all of them as they were shown the picture of their producer. 

“The kidnapper sent a message through my laptop.” Seungcheol made known to the others. “He sent a message as well saying he wants Soonyoung and I to meet him at the address he sent as well. He told us if we tell the police, or if we bring anyone else with us, he would kill Jihoon.”

“Why you and I though?” Soonyoung asked him.

“Because we’re the unit leaders. Since he already has Jihoon, I guess he wants to complete the leader line.”

“Which is another reason it’s risky for you to go.” Jisoo pointed out. “If all three of you are caught, we won’t have any of our designated leaders.”

“But it sounds like it’s too risky not to go to the meeting.” Soonyoung sighed.

All of the members sat in silence for a moment thinking over what to do. Everyone knew what Seungcheol and Soonyoung were going to end up doing, but they all still felt uneasy about what was going to happen.

Jun spoke up, thinking of an idea. “What if the rest of us stayed just a couple blocks away, and if we feel you two have been gone for too long we’ll come for you?” 

Jeonghan shook his head. "The kidnapper said in his message that they'd kill Jihoon if they brought anyone else."

"But hyung," Mingyu started, "If the rest of us are several blocks away, the man would never even know we were there."

"Although, what if the kidnapper is watching us?" Seungkwan asked with concern, making all the other members begin to wonder as well.