Red.

Woohyun’s eyes went wide at the sight in front of him.

Everything was red.

With his shaking hand he reached to the figure lying in front of him.

Not breathing.

His breath hitched in his throat the moment he touched Sunggyu’s cold skin.

Lifeless.

.

.

            “How could this be..? To think that they’re still really young…”

Woohyun gazed at his surrounding blankly. People were mourning from the loss of their friends and family. His throat was sore from all the screaming and crying. His tears were pretty much dry by now. He lost his friends, his closest friends.

All of them.

He hugged his knees as people dressed in all black approached him one by one, holding his hands while they whispered comforting words.

He didn’t need any of it.

Woohyun felt tired. He had enough with people telling him that he would be able to move on. He didn’t want to. He wasn’t ready to leave yet. And he didn’t want to accept the fact that his friends left him all alone now.

            “Woohyun…”

Woohyun looked up to see Dongwoo’s mother kneeling in front of him. Tears were still running down her face, and yet her lips formed a small smile. Woohyun’s heart broke from seeing the sight.

            “Woohyun… He’s gone…” She fluttered her eyes closed as more tears gathered.

            “I’m sorry…” Woohyun muttered in a hoarse voice. The woman shook her head and pulled the young man into a tight hug.

            “He’s gone, Woohyun-ah… They’re gone…” She whispered as she rubbed Woohyun’s back in a comforting manner.

            “I’m sorry.” He choked.

            “Don’t be sorry, son… They’re now in a much better place… They will be all right.”

Woohyun stayed silent, not wanting to think of the fact that his friends left for good.

            “And even though it hurts, we have to learn to accept the truth,” she muttered. “We have to move on…”

Woohyun closed his eyes. He didn’t need to hear that. He didn’t want to hear any of it.

He’s left alone.

.

.

Woohyun stared at the wall across him. He had returned to his apartment, their apartment to be exact. They used to complain a lot about the place being too stuffy for the seven of them. But now, the place seemed to be so empty for Woohyun.

‘No Sungyeol and Hoya bickering… No Dongwoo laughing the world off…’ Woohyun thought.

He casted his eyes at his shared room with Sunggyu. Woohyun bit his lips at the thought of the small-eyed man. His Sunggyu.

“You said you would never leave me…” Woohyun muttered to no one in particular.

He didn’t want to accept it. He didn’t want to believe it. His friends died in front of him. In a brutal manner too. Woohyun covered his face with both hands, not wanting to show his sad existence to the world.

            “The world had too many people…”

Woohyun slowly raised his head at the outlandish murmuring sound. The voice was strangely familiar, and yet he couldn’t exactly put a finger on it.

            “Erasing them didn’t do much difference though...”

Woohyun narrowed his eyes once they landed on a darker shade across the room. He stood on his knees and went closer to examine the area as curiosity took over him.

            “Only six… I need more…”

            “Then why didn’t you kill me too?” Woohyun asked a bit loudly.

His eyes went wide as the shadow inched away from him towards the area in the other side, bringing the darkness with it. Woohyun thought he was imagining things when he saw a menacing smile gracing the shadowy figure’s feature.

            “Why? Do you hate your life?” The figure asked. Woohyun frowned.

            “Now that I’m all alone I don’t think I like my life that much,” Woohyun muttered. The figure shuffled closer towards the young man.

            “You’re not exactly alone, though. There are millions of people out there.”

Woohyun chuckled, silently questioning his sanity. He was talking to a shadow, and the shadow actually responded to him. The death of his friends apparently affected him that much.

            “Then why did you kill them instead?”

            “If you’re the one who died then wouldn’t Sunggyu ask the same thing?”

            “Then why didn’t you take me too?!”

Woohyun panted from his outburst. He became too emotional with his own vivid imagination. He let out a small chuckle before it grew into an empty laugh.

            “Man, I must be insane now…” Woohyun shook his head. The figure inched closer until it stood right in front of him.

            “You won’t believe what I’m saying, but I’m the ruler of the death,” the figure smiled. Woohyun froze in his spot.

            “Ruler… of the death..?”

            “Those six people I took with me, they’re receiving their overdue punishment.”

            “Punishment..? Wait, what are you—“

            “Your friends, excluding Kim Sunggyu, they’re supposed to be dead since years ago. Even far before you met them, they’re not supposed to be alive.”

            “D-dead..?” Woohyun’s eyes grew wide in fear.

            “And Kim Sunggyu, he’s supposed die three months ago. At least that’s what’s written in my book,” the figure murmured.

Woohyun couldn’t take any of the nonsense anymore. He stood on his ground, glaring at the shadowy figure. The figure smirked in response.

            “But somehow, the unexpected meeting with you changed the history. They lived, for a few years longer. And when I was going to take them again, something happened,” the figure said. “You extended their time.”

            "W-what are you talking about..?" Woohyun's felt himself shaking with fear and anger at the shadowy figure loaming in front of him. Despite the fact that the figure's appearance was completely covered with darkness, Woohyun still managed to sense the smirk in their words.

            "I'm merely doing my job, Nam Woohyun. Those six, the people that you addressed as friends, they're not supposed to be alive since years ago. But your interference made my job even harder to do."

Breath hitched in his throat. The time when all weird things started to happen, three years ago.

The car accident.

Woohyun's eyes went wide in realization. A year ago.

The fire.

Woohyun brought his hand to cover his mouth as he leaned to the wall behind him. Six months ago.

The fight.

And Woohyun felt the world collapsing around him. He slid down to the floor as tears started to cascade down his cheeks.

            "What's wrong, Woohyunnie?" The voice came out in a teasing manner. Woohyun shook his head, unable to think of any coherent words to blurt out.

‘So it was your job all this time…’ Woohyun thought.

            "But it's kind of a pity, don't you think?" The shadowy figure loamed around, inching closer to the sobbing guy.

            "D-don't come closer..."

            "To think that your friends actually sacrificed their lives for you..."

            "I-I said don't come here..."

            "And yet here you are still alive."

            "I SAID STOP!"

            "You are the one to blame."

Silence met his words. The figure noticed Woohyun staring at him with wide eyes, the sobbing died down into simply tears running down his cheeks. 

            "Because you're the one who started it after all," the figure smiled menacingly at the sight of broken Woohyun, pressing himself against the wall as if he could disappear through it.

Woohyun bit his lips. Never in his life he felt as scared. Never in his life he felt so wronged.

And to think that he's the one responsible for his friends death.

His lover's death.

A muffled cry came out of his mouth as his lover's face once again crossed his mind.

The figure leaned closer to Woohyun, forcing the vulnerable-looking guy to look at him. Woohyun closed his eyes, anticipating the figure to finish him this time. But instead, he felt a hand caressing his cheek. Woohyun blinked his eyes open slowly, finding himself facing the shadowy figure in such close proximity.

            "But... Since you've taken my interest... How about I give you a deal..?"

Woohyun blinked away the tears in his eyes.

            "A... A deal..?"

            "I'll give you a chance to change things. I'll let you have your friends alive."

Woohyun looked up at the figure with disbelief written all over his face. "You... You're just messing around with me..."

            "Am not. I will send you to the past, and you'll have to do anything you can do to pay off your friends’ life. Depends on what you do, your friends' future might come out differently."

            "And in exchange of that..?"

The figure forced Woohyun to stand up and pressed the shaking guy to the wall.

            "You'll have to do the job all alone," the figure smirked once again. "For any blood and tears you shed, I do not take any responsibility upon that."

            "T-Then..?"

            "And I don't take responsibility upon your life."

Woohyun froze in his place.

            “Y-you mean… There are chances that I might die in the process..?”

            “Exactly.”

Woohyun looked away from the shadowy figure to his hands. Heart beating wildly against his chest as he felt blood rushing to his head.

He was the one responsible for it.

He was the one who killed them.

And he's ready to die.

            “Ooh, this is interesting. You’re willing to risk your life for your friends?”

            “You’re the one who said that I’m responsible for their deaths,” Woohyun said.

The figure smiled seeing the determination in Woohyun’s eyes. This is going to be exciting.

            “All right. Do entertain me then.”

And then everything went black.

.

.

Woohyun’s head shot up at the sound of bell buzzing loudly. People around him started screaming and stood up from their seats. Then he heard someone slamming the table repeatedly, trying to calm them down.

            “Class, be quiet! Make two lines consist of boys and girls, and you can leave the room calmly.”

Woohyun’s eyes went wide the moment he recognized his surrounding.

            “Nam, get going!” The teacher barked at him.

He’s back to his high school years.

.

.

The field filled with hundred of students murmuring creating a compilation of bundled up words mess. Teachers standing in front, counting whether they have the complete number of students or if they miss any. Woohyun decided to stay back as he studied the atmosphere around him.

‘If I’m not mistaken… Some of us attended the same school…’ Woohyun thought as he glanced at one figure to another, trying to find someone he might recognize.

His thought was soon broken by a loud commotion next to him.

            “Yah, watch it goddammit!” A boy, quite large for his age, barked at another student. Woohyun peeked to see another boy on the ground holding his stomach with a pained expression.

            “I-I’m sorry… It’s just…” The boy muttered. Woohyun’s ears perked up once he recognized the voice.

            “Yah, Jang Dongwoo! You dare to talk back to me?!” The large boy raised his fist. Dongwoo brought his hands up to protect his head and shut his eyes waiting for the pain to come.

But nothing happened.

Dongwoo cracked his eyes open to see Woohyun standing in front of him, holding the larger boy’s hand.

            “Who are you..?” The large boy glared at the sudden appearance of Woohyun. Woohyun merely smirked at him.

            “The name’s Nam. Nam Woohyun,” Woohyun smiled up at the boy. “And I’m a close friend of this guy here,” he pointed at Dongwoo.

Dongwoo blinked his now wide eyes in confusion, but Woohyun simply smiled at him in return.

            “Now… If any of you dare to bully him again… I’ll make sure that I’m going to rearrange that face of yours,” Woohyun threatened through his gritted teeth.

The large boy retracted his hand and called for his group to leave Woohyun and Dongwoo. Once they’re far from them, Woohyun turned to Dongwoo with a wide smile.

            “Hey,” Woohyun grinned, pulling the other boy to his feet. Dongwoo stumbled to Woohyun for a moment before he gained his balance.

            “Thank you,” Dongwoo said with a sheepish smile.

            “Anytime… Dongwoo, right?” Woohyun extended his hand with a wide smile. “I don’t know if you heard it right, but anyway my name is Woohyun.”

Dongwoo smiled as wide and shook Woohyun’s hand, “nice to meet you!”

Woohyun felt a jolt and he felt something pricking his fingers. He tried his best not to pull his hand. The moment Dongwoo released his hand Woohyun touched his right hand with another and massaged the fingers lightly.

            ‘What was that…?’ Woohyun thought. But the thing that bothered him the most was the voice ringing inside his head.

‘I’m disgusting and nobody wants me.’