Hakyeon ran his fingers through his hair for the millionth time. "He sounded terrible," he said. "He really needs help but where do we look?" He looked around as the five of them walked together. It was already dark, and they were all worried about Taekwoon being alone and helpless at this time.

Wonsik held his hand up. A look of deep concentration crossed his face as he stopped walking. "Hey," he finally said. "Do you hear that?"

No one realized what he was talking about, but once Wonsik started walking again, they followed, knowing they could trust his judgment.

They were forever glad that they did.

Wonsik ended up leading them to the back of the arcade across the street. It was an odd place to go at a time like this, but it would kind of lead them to the answers they needed.

"Wow, Dohoon," Wonsik said to the boy sitting with his two friends. "You seem extra happy today." Wonsik scoffed. "I guess I would be too if I vandalized your locker."

Dohoon smirked as he stood up. In Jun and Donghyuk stood up as well, getting closer to the five friends. "And what's that supposed to mean?" He innocently asked.

"We don't have time for your games," Wonsik angrily replied. "Where's Taekwoon?"

Dohoon shrugged. "Why would I ever know where Taekwoon is?" he asked.

Hakyeon sighed. "Stop playing games with us!" he yelled. "We just need to know where you last saw him."

"And why do you assume I would know?" Dohoon asked. 

"So you're saying In Jun would know?" Jaehwan asked, glancing at the person in question.

In Jun scoffed. "What makes you so sure?"

"Maybe we'll just ask your of a girlfriend," Hyuk said.

Dohoon scoffed. "We don't have time for this," he said.

"Neither do we!" Hakyeon replied. "Just tell us where he is!"

"I think I like seeing you like this," Dohoon said. "You're so desperate it's pathetic."

Wonsik had enough already. He grabbed Dohoon by the collar. Wonsik could smell the alcohol on the other boy now. "Talk. Now," he demanded.

Dohoon smiled. "He's dead," he finally said. He watched in satisfaction as Wonsik's expression had become even angrier.

Wonsik shoved him away. "This is a waste of time," he muttered.

"Let's just keep looking," Hongbin suggested. 

The four of them made their way to the sidewalk again. 

A man was running towards their direction, not even paying attention to where he was going before he ran into Hyuk, dropping a leather wallet.

"Hey!" Hakyeon yelled at the man before inspecting Hyuk for any injuries. "Watch where you're going next time."

"Where did you get this?" Hongbin asked the man after picking the wallet up from the ground. He had a scared expression on his face, which worried his friends even more.

The man shrugged. It was obvious how poor he was. His clothes were a bit tattered and he smelt horrible. "Some kid," he answered.

"Hakyeon," Jaehwan said after taking the wallet from Hongbin, seeing the stuff inside. "This is Taekwoon's."

Hakyeon's eyes widened before turning to the man again. "Where did you get this?" he asked, repeating Hongbin's question.

The man pointed to a general direction behind him. "Behind the grafitti wall. Some kid was unconscious."

"And your first instinct is to take his wallet instead of calling for help?" Wonsik asked in disbelief.

"I thought he was dead," the man replied, as if that would justify his actions.

Wonsik rolled his eyes. "Let's go you guys," he commanded. 

Everybody found themselves once again following Wonsik; the man was left alone in the sidewalk. The boys ran to the grafitti wall. They knew exactly where it was, since Wonsik would occasionally drag them there.

"Oh my gosh," Hakyeon gasped as they all came to a stop.

It was a dark, but thanks to the streetlights, they could immediately tell whose pale body they were staring at; the body laying helplessly on the ground. 

The five boys rushed over to their unconscious friend.

"Taekwoon-ah!" Hakyeon yelled. They all rushed over, getting on their knees and surrounding him. "Taekwoon," Hakyeon called as he started shaking him.

"He's all wet," Hyuk said. "What did they do to him?" He could smell the thick scent of alcohol, they all could. But Hyuk, as well as the rest of them, were just hoping that it wasn't what they thought.

"I don't know," Hakyeon answered before he continued his attempts to wake up Taekwoon. Jaehwan joined in, trying to get Taekwoon to respond to them somehow.

"I think he's waking up," Wonsik said, causing everyone to freeze.

There was a soft moan as Taekwoon's body started moving. His eyes started fluttering as continuous moans of pain escaped his lips. Taekwoon could feel his body starting to shake again, and he was using all his will power to not vomit again.

"Taekwoon," Hakyeon said softly. "It's okay."

Taekwoon looked at Hakyeon with half lidded eyes.

"Hyung," Hongbin said to Taekwoon. "How do feel right now?" he asked. The fact that Taekwoon had yet to say anything to them was scaring him.

Taekwoon swallowed thickly. "He's...he's gone?" 

Hakyeon nodded. "Yeah, Taekwoon," he answered. "He's gone. It's just us." Hakyeon didn't even have to question who 'he' was. 

Taekwoon started pushing himself off the ground, starting to sit up, but Hakyeon ended up catching Taekwoon in his arms after the hurt boy faltered.

"Maybe you should go to the hospital," Hakyeon suggested.

Taekwoon started anxiously shaking his head. "No," he begged. "No hospital." He gripped at Hakyeon's sweater. "I just want to go home."

"Okay," Wonsik said, noticing Taekwoon's sudden panic. "It's okay. We'll take you home." He looked to Hakyeon. "Put him on my back." There was no way any of them expected Taekwoon to be able to walk himself home. He could hardly pick himself up.

Hakyeon nodded, relieved that Taekwoon didn't try to argue with that suggestion. He helped place Taekwoon on Wonsik's back before everyone stood up from the ground.

"Thank you," Taekwoon muttered, his eyes closing slightly as he felt Wonsik beginning to walk.

They all remembered how to get to Taekwoon's house, which was a good thing, because Taekwoon had eventually fallen asleep again in such a short time. They all walked in silence, which was a rare occurance for these boys. But no one could figure out what to say. They were all upset as to what happened to Taekwoon, and they felt guilty that they couldn't protect him. They were also angry, wondering how far Dohoon would take his games to.

But they all could figure out one thing.

The next time someone hurts Taekwoon, the five of them won't be so nice.

Eventually, they brought Taekwoon to his home, having taken his key from his pocket in order to get into the house. They brought him into what they safely assumed was his bedroom, noticing his open textbooks on the desk.

Wonsik gently placed Taekwoon on the bed.

"We should get him cleaned up," Hakyeon said, looking to the sleeping Taekwoon, trying to figure out what to do.

"I'll go see if I can find the bathroom and see what he has," Hyuk said, taking his leave before searching for the said room.

"I wish his dad was home at least," Hongbin said. "He would probably know what to do."

Jaehwan sighed. "Does his dad even know what Taekwoon goes through?" he asked. "If he did, wouldn't he have taken some kind of action right now?"

"What if Taekwoon is hiding everything?" Wonsik asked. "He's not exactly the type of person that speaks up."

"And he has no mother," Hakyeon said sadly as he glanced to Taekwoon again. "Even if his dad couldn't do anything, his mother would step in, right?" Hakyeon sighed. He couldn't imagine going a day without his mother, and here Taekwoon had been doing it for eight years.

"Let's stay with him until his dad gets back," Hyuk suggested as he walked into the room, having heard their conversation as he was returning. He handed a wet cloth and an empty bucket to Hakyeon. "That way, even if Mr. Jung didn't know about all of this, we could tell him...more preferably when Taekwoon's awake though."

No one said anything, but Hyuk knew that the older ones agreed with him.

Hakyeon placed the bucket on the floor beside the bed before he started cleaning Taekwoon's face of any dirt and alcohol. Taekwoon's condition was scaring him, seeing as how the boy had yet to wake up again.

"Dohoon really needs to cut this out," Hongbin sa