"Ya, Lee Hongbin, what was ___'s room number again?" N mumbled while staring at the ceiling, playing with his hair.

"Why are you so forgetful? I told you tenth times already that it's 1104. Seriously, I think your brain is getting slower day by day…" The younger one rolled his eyes, hugging the pillow thrown at him while leaning his back on the bed's headboard.

"Does that mean her room is on the 11th floor?" Hyuk asked without even moving his eyes from the TV, completely immersed with a group of girls in miniskirts dancing ily in a music show.

"Damn Han Sanghyuk… Do you really need to say it out loud? That beast named Kim Ravi might hear you and it will bring danger to ___ if that jerk kidnapped her tonight…" The eldest sat up on the bed, later fixing his position to rest himself on Leo's lap.

"Oops, I forgot that beasts have ears…" Hyuk remarked before Ravi slung an arm to him with a playful smirk set on his face.

"Thanks, buddy. Your information helps me a lot."

"Don't you dare, Kim Ravi."

A pillow was thrown to Ravi's direction, but the latter was quick enough to dodge Hongbin's attack, making the light object landed on the carpeted floor.

The boys were all gathered in Ken and Ravi's room, waiting for you to join their company. Leo was busy playing with his iPod with N resting comfortably on his lap. Hongbin and Ken were on the other bed, sprawled lazily while Hyuk and Ravi were checking out a bunch of girl group's on TV.

"I’ll go pick her up…" Ken suddenly rose from the bed before walking to the standing mirror, fixing his slightly ruffled hair.

"Chill, bro. She’ll be here soon, anyway…" Ravi eyed him but the latter just gave him a smirk, seeing his brother's reflection on the mirror.

"I miss her so badly. That's why I can't stay chill…" Ken said calmly as he walked out, leaving the boys with a slam on the door.

"Someone's overreacting…" Hyuk sarcastically remarked, only to receive a hit right on his head with a pillow from behind.

"Put yourself in his shoes. I’m sure you won’t be less overreacting than him.” Hongbin shook his head.

"He hasn’t seen her for nearly 8 hours. It's enough to kill his sanity." The eldest chimed and Hyuk just sighed.

"Okay, okay, my fault. Are you guys happy bullying the youngest?" Hyuk sneered with eyes still focused on the TV flat screen, earning himself a loud laugh from Ravi.

"Whoa… I thought someone said there’s no such things like “oldest” and “youngest” here as he couldn’t even remember how old he is...” Ravi teased Hyuk even more, later returned with a loud groan which the elders found so cute that they laughed.

The elevator produced a ding soon after and Ken finally took his steps outside. Shoving his hands into his baggy pants pocket, he ventured through the long corridor covered in Irish green wallpaper. He eventually spotted the door with ‘1104’ carved on a bronze plate, and after ironically failed to recognize the bell right next to the handle, the pointy-nosed boy gently knocked on the wooden door.

"Princess! It’s me, Ken!"

Hearing no response from the other side of the door, Ken furrowed his eyebrows. His knocks became even louder as he shouted your roommate's name this time. "Sujin…?”

After a couple of hard knockings and names calling, the door finally swung opened, showing a sleepy Sujin.

"Yes…?" She rubbed her sleepy eyes which later turned into a rather shocked ones, "K-Ken??! W-what are you doing here?!"

"Umm… Sorry to disturb you… Is ___ inside?” He awkwardly asked, slightly peeking through the narrow gap.

"N-no…" Sujin blinked confusedly, "She already went to your room maybe… Err... about 15 minutes ago…?" She answered after paying the perched wall clock a glance.

“W-what? But she’s not there yet-- and I didn’t see her on my way here…!”

Sujin frowned, scratching her arms. “But I’m not lying… She told me herself that she was going to your room…”

Without any reason, Ken felt a knot tightened inside his heart. If you had left 15 minutes ago, then why hadn’t you show up yet? It would only take 2 minutes in total to reach his room from yours, so where did you go?

“O-okay, then. I will tell the others to look for her… y-you can go back to sleep now… See you!”

With that, he speedily stormed back to the elevator, intending to tell the boys what just happened.

"What are the schedules for tomorrow?" Hongbin turned his head to Hyuk and the latter just shrugged his shoulders.

"Meolla… I heard we’re heading to Teddy Bear Museum after breakfast…" Hyuk said while busily switching the TV's channel.

"Are we elementary students or what? Teddy Bear Museum? Really? Seriously, even an afternoon nap sounds way better to me.” Ravi scratched his nose before falling backwards, resting his back on the comfy bed.

"You sleepyhead, don't you want to see how ___ reacts when she sees those plushies? If it were me, I wouldn’t want to miss her squeals and cute giggles."

N's comment successfully made Ravi sat up straight again, "Sometimes that old brain of yours really gives useful suggestions…"

"Say that again and I'm sure it won’t be the pillow flying this time but this…" N had his one hand on the desk lamp, threatening Ravi but the latter just chuckled.

"Try me… I’d like to know who ___ would stand for when you hurt me…"

N was about to talk back to the blue-haired boy when suddenly the door suddenly blasted open.

"G-guys!!"

The boys' eyes were widened upon hearing a loud shout, later directed to Ken who was panting hard and dampened in sweat right in front of them, he just stood still by the door, with a panic expression all over his sculptured face.

"Goddamn it, Ken! What the hell was that for!" Ravi complained as he rubbed his chest, trying to calm his heart down.

"What's going on?" Hongbin stood up from the bed, approaching Ken with both eyebrows knitted together.

"___! S-she’s… she’s missing!!" The pointy-nosed boy yelled, resulting in the rest of the boys to gawk in surprise.

"WHAT!??"

"Ya. Is that supposed to be a joke? Because it’s not funny at all." Hyuk furiously glared at Ken, not wanting to believe what he just said.

The only worst thing that could happen in this supposed-to-be heavenly trip, was Ken going rampage with his trigger somehow . But having the ‘potential criminal’ right before their own eyes, stuttering like an idiot while showing the least signs that he’d break someone neck in the next second, the boys had no reason to even break a sweat.

"Tell us what happened." N demanded, leaving Ken spilled everything that Sujin told her.

"W-what!? What do you mean she had left her room 15 minutes ago? Then… where in the world is she now?" Ravi quickly rose from the bed with both hands balled into fists, feeling all nervous and worried.

They boys were all dead worried, scared that something bad happened to their most important one. Still, they tried their best to keep their heads cool.

“Maybe she’s in another room? You know, paying someone in our class a visit?” Hyuk speculated, only to receive a groan from Ravi.

“No way, man… I know she’s not like that. I mean, she knows we called her, I don’t think she’d ditch us and have a chitchat with someone else.”

Hongbin reached for his phone on the night desk, dialing your number. The boys’ attention turned to him but he later shook his head, telling the rest of his brothers that the call was left unanswered. That instance, N stepped off from the bed and grabbed his cardigan, threading his way to leave the not-so-cheerful-anymore room.

“Hongbin, you keep calling her until she picks up. I will try looking for her at the lobby…” His eyes darted at the others as his hands were busy tying up his shoelaces. “You guys better move your asses and look for her too. Call me when you find her… or in case something happened.”

The boys nodded and rushed themselves to grab their jackets before following N to storm out from room.

“I will start with the beach. Who knows… maybe boredom suddenly hits and she ends up strolling around the shore.”

With that, Hyuk ran passed his brothers, dragging his feet toward the elevator. While Hongbin decided to go for the rooftop and Leo decided to give the small garden behind the hotel a check.

“Ken… Try to look anywhere, make sure not to miss the narrowest crack, alright? I’ll try checking the restaurants below. B-but, just… just don’t go outside, you hear me?” Ravi tapped Ken’s shoulder and the latter nodded, later ran to the opposite direction of Ravi’s.

The six voodoo boys then sprinted all over the hotel’s area, looking for you. Worries slowly ate them away as random thoughts began to swim inside their mind. What if someone kidnapped you? Or worse, hurt you? What if you suddenly felt sick and fainted?

They didn’t even give a damn when they got their shirts dampened with their own sweat or when their legs started to feel numb a few exhausting minutes of running. What mattered to them were you being all healthy and safe. Because all that they wished for right now was to see their favorite girl showing their favorite smile again.

After nearly 15 minutes of running, Ken eventually stopped to catch his breaths. He had his hands rested on his knees, eyes closed upon feeling the piling fatigue.

Princess… where the hell are you?!

He had swept the entire 15th floor, even down to the first. And now he was panting right inside the elevator, filling his dried lungs with airs while staring at the round buttons on the left side.

Which floor I should go now? I’ve literally been on every floor, but she’s nowhere to be seen! Damn!

Just when he was about to stomp his feet to the marbled surface, a familiar song echoed inside the small square space, his phone was ringing and he didn’t waste a second to pick the incoming call up, “Y-yes… N? H-how is it? D-did you find her?!”

“No… I tried asking some people at the lobby, but it’s negative. How about you?” The eldest shook his head, as if the younger one could actually see his desperate face.

“Well… Same here too.” Ken ran his palm to rub his pale face. “I’ve tried checking her room again, but, she’s not there… Hongbin said she’s still not picking her phone either.”

Ken heard a hitched groan before the oldest eventually continued, “This has become a rather serious matter… Let’s just go back to your room for now and give the police a call… I’ll tell the others to head back too.”

Ken agreed and later hung off. Pressing the button with a silver five carved on it, he waited for the steel door to open. He leaned his back on the cold wall, feeling how his soul strangely felt out just from not having you by his side.

Where in the world are you… princess? I hope you are fine…

The familiar ding noise registered his ears; for no one knew how many times; and Ken lazily stepped out from the elevator. Walking back to his room in heavy steps, he was close from making a turn at the corridor when he suddenly remembered that there was this one place that he and probably the others hadn’t checked on yet.

The indoor swimming pool.

A frown instantly crawled to his face as he turned his body around. He brought his feet toward the end of the opposite corridor, later made them stop and stood three meters away from a big double door attached to the firm wall with his heart thumping beyond hard.

Could she really be there…?

Gulping nervously, Ken took another step closer before going all petrified right in front of the door again, battling with himself. Although his mind had repeatedly reminded him that he should never, in any possible way, step his feet inside, his heart had long got itself claimed by you that it couldn’t risk losing your life just because it lacked the nerve to fight its biggest fear.

Eottokaji!? Aishhh… I’ll just leave this to the others--

Before he could smash his thumb against the green symbol flashed on his phone screen, with N’s number shown right beside it, the door in front of him suddenly blasted open. Ken instantly jumped back in surprise, lifting his head up. Only to be greeted with a strange-looking man dressed in all black. The man later jerked his chin up too, resulting in Ken’s eyes briefly meeting with his.

It was just a single glance, yet Ken could feel his body instantly went rigid, totally limp, as if he was being sloshed with a bucket of cold water. Forget about blinking, for a second there, he even forgot how to properly breathe. A devilish smirk was what he later caught on the man’s pale complexion before he indifferently turned away, increasing the distance between him and Ken when he finally stepped into the elevator.

Seconds passed but Ken could feel his heart still beating incoherently like it was going to burst out from his chest. With both eyes beamed widely, his body started trembling. 

Oh no--!!

Ken felt his throat went dry as he anxiously whirled his head around, searching for the mysterious man. But nothing entered his vision, not even his shadow.

“… This can’t be happening…” Ken tightened the grip on his phone before clutching his chest with the other hand, feeling how loud the thumps that his heart were making right now.

A faint scream suddenly pierced his ears and Ken’s heart was now in the verge of stop working. Worse, he recognized whose agonizing scream it was. He remembered that voice way too well. It was the voice that he wished to hear until the very last of his day, the voice that never failed to make him smile even though his day had taken turn for the worst.

It was your voice.

Princess--!!!

Grabbing the iron knobs, Ken was about to push the towering doors open, but his self-conscious held him back, reminding him for the last time that time had presented himself a curse. A curse that forbade him to see whatever was behind the door. A curse that would probably never leave his already miserable life.

Ken’s breath grew even heavier when he heard another pleading cry from inside. He could hear a barely audible “help me” from the other side of the door and he had been feeling this urge to storm inside. But he knew he couldn’t.

Shoving his worries aside, he tightened his grab on the door’s knobs, intending to finally bust them open and save you. But what if his trigger got ? What if everyone found out that he wasn’t completely human? What if their biggest secret was accidentally revealed?

Ken grunted loudly while smacking the doors hard, didn’t even spare a second to care if it would leave bluish mark on his palm later on. He slowly leaned on the wall next to the doors, still panting hard. His whole body didn’t show any signs of stop trembling when he speedily dialed N’s number on his phone.

Another faint cry penetrated the wall and it nearly made him went insane. Horrible images of you drowning in the pool, or worse, lying breathlessly on your own puddle of blood ran inside his terrified brain.

“F-…!”

Ken cursed loudly as he walked back and forth in panic, waiting for N to pick the call up. He could feel the last bit of his sanity was close from flying away when he heard a loud splashing, finally convinced him that you were doubtlessly drowning.

“ANSWER ME, N! --!” It wasn’t even in his nature to curse so vulgarly. But this time, Ken simply couldn’t hold himself back any longer.

“--!” Ken was about to throw his phone to the ground when he finally heard a soft ‘yoboseyo’.

“N!! FINALLY!!”

Ken quickly thanked whatever holy up there that the oldest finally picked his call up. “Where the hell are you!? Come to 5th floor! Tell the others to come to the indoor swimming pool!! NOW!!!”

Ken frantically spoke but N didn’t seem to buy anything the younger one just spouted out, “W-what? Swimming pool— wae?”

“PRINCESS IS INSIDE AND SHE NEEDS HELP! I CAN’T GO IN! PPALI!!” Ken finally exploded, later hit his thumb onto the red beeping sign on the screen, abruptly ending the call.

Shoving his phone into his pocket, Ken dropped his body to the ground, feeling all limp. He grabbed his hair and in frustration while eyeing the door. Your panicked screams were still there, and he wouldn’t lie that he wanted to jump to you right now. But that would be far from possible.

-- what should I do?! I can’t get inside!

It was long past bedtime and the corridor was practically empty, hoping a passerby to show up would definitely out of question. Squatting down, Ken could only cringe when your screams became the only thing that his ears could hear. He clutched his chest tight, trying his best to endure the pain as he felt his heart being pierced by hundreds of spears.

“Where the are they now!?” Ken groaned before pushing himself up again. His got his eyes moved around like a pendulum, shifted between the sturdy-looking door and the silent corridor.

As if being so helplessly unable to save his beloved one wasn’t enough to torture him, what happened next was probably the scariest thing that ever happened to Ken’s not so short life. Even scarier than his days on the nightmarish hell hole.

As Ken could no longer hear your heartbreaking screams.

“N-no… Could it be— Princess… N-no!”

He took a last glance at the corridor, still seeing nothing. With eyes focused on the doors, Ken knew that he had lost his last chance to make a decision. He could no longer have the liberty of waiting the others to arrive, saving the day for him. Because it was simply now or never.

You heard someone called for your name loudly, but your eyes were tightly shut and you felt like something stuck on your throat, hindering you from releasing even the faintest moan. The next thing you knew, a pair of hands grabbed your wrists and slowly pulled your body up.

The soft hands finally brought you to the surface again, later dropped your body to the cold floor. You were dying to see who your savior was, but with water pooled inside your lungs, you were barely alive to even move a finger. In fact, you could hardly tell if you were indeed alive. As you couldn’t even feel your heart beating.

Feeling drops of cold water on your cheeks, probably dripping from your savior’s wet hair, heavy breathing was the next thing that welcome your ears when you felt him grabbed your shoulders firmly. The hands slowly moved to your neck, yet you didn’t even wonder why, as you reckoned that he was probably just going to pump the water out from your body.

But no.

Your savior didn’t do that.

Instead of hearing him whispering reassuring words like ‘you’re going to be okay’ or ‘I’ll save you’, what slipped out from your savior’s lips was shockingly horrible. A series of ‘go die’ and ‘I’ll kill you’ were repeated before your very own face. What was grimmer, you recognized that voice. It was the voice that usually greeted you in a cheerful tone every morning. The very same voice with the one you often heard beautifully echoed inside your house whenever its owner was belting out his favorite tune.

But now the voice had changed into an ominous one. It had become eerily cold and menacingly evil. You prayed to God that you were wrong, denying the obvious truth. But the second those hands stopped on your neck, now gripping on it tightly, you had no choice but to believe.

To believe that Ken had turned into a voodoo doll.

With body sprawled so motionlessly, you couldn’t even dream of fighting him back. You were already dying and now someone was trying to make you feel even worse than that.

This is it… He is going to kill me…

The suffocating feeling returned as you heard your savior groaned above you, hissing in anger. Considering how you were simply too weak to even squirm, all you had to do now was to surrender and let him end your misery in his very own way. No matter how painful it would be.

He had all ten of his fingers wrapped solidly around your slim neck. It seemed that he was planning to choke you to death. Personally, you didn’t think that this was a bad idea to die. Besides, you knew that he didn’t do this because he hated you. Ken was possessed. And for that, you were more than ready to face your end. Yet the bitter truth that you wouldn’t be able to see his smile again broke your heart. It pained you how you were so going to miss his Roman statue-like face.

It hurt you how you would never see the boys again.

Without you realizing, a single teardrop escaped from the corner of your eyes. Your body might have long gone limp, but your heart was still pretty much alive inside. You could imagine how his crying face would miserably look as he begged you and everyone to forgive him for everything that he had done to you. Even when all of you knew he would never be at fault in this one.

“Go… Die…” He muttered again, followed with a deep scary groan.

As if a hammer just rammed against your skull, an incredibly stinging pain erupted inside your head as the strangling became even more intense. If only you weren’t in such state, you would surely have screamed your lungs out. But then again, you could only lie there helplessly, like a soulless porcelain doll.

The pain became even more unbearable as Ken slowly rose up and put all his weight onto the grip on your neck. Up to this point, your brain was just a few seconds away from stop working, lacking the oxygen needed. You could no longer think and had long stop wondering where the others were right now and why they didn’t come to save you. Being a step away from death, you slowly counted down the last seconds of your existence in this world.

3 seconds…

2 seconds…

1 second…

“___!!!”

A loud shriek suddenly penetrated your ears, resurrecting what was left of your consciousness. You could hear another cry echoed, followed with thundering panicked footsteps.

They are here… They finally came… to save me…

Soon, you felt the weight on your neck disappeared, along with a warm sensation of the neon lamps flashed to your face, telling you that your savior was no longer hovering above. Catching several loud groans and rustling sounds, you figured that the boys were struggling to fight the other Ken. You had no idea if everyone was there, but you were sure you heard an angry cursing that sounded like Ravi’s, and a hitched moan that was pretty much came out from Hongbin, probably from Ken hurting him.

“___!!!”

You felt your body being lifted up all of sudden, later placed on someone’s lap. And judging from how his hands were badly trembling, he was clearly afraid of losing you. His voice cracked as he pleaded you to open your eyes again, begging you to look at his shining brown orbs that always had you melted under his gaze.

“P-please… ___…” He whimpered in panic upon witnessing how your pinkish lip had turned dark blue, with your pale skin looked even terribly paler than usual. Warmness greeted you when he brought you into his embrace, hugging you so tightly as if you were the most precious thing he ever had in this world.

The crying became even clearer and your heart simply couldn’t take it anymore. If there was one thing you could wish for, it was to open your eyes then tell him that you were alright.

No, N… Don’t cry…

The eldest kept crying desperately, still hugging you so tightly that you believed it would leave marks tomorrow. He rocked your body up and down, whispering your names between his hitched sobbing.

“We need to shove something into his mouth!!” Ravi grunted as he tried to keep Ken locked in his arms. Ken’s loud screams were blasting through the whole place, sending more thrilling vibes to your spine.

“Ughh— we can’t let anyone see this! Aish!” Hongbin groused, also had his arms securely wrapped around his older brother.

“--!” Ravi winced when Ken elbowed him right on his left rib, good thing he was strong enough to hold the pain back.

“N!! Help me hold him for a second!” Ravi shouted and the eldest turned his head in an instance. “We need to cover his screams!”

“B-but—!” N let his eyes wandered back and forth from you to Ravi. He didn’t want to let you go. Not when his girl was still fighting to stay alive. But after hearing another shout from Ravi, he unwillingly returned your frozen body to the floor.

He whispered something like ‘I’ll be back’ to your ears before he stormed to Ravi, too bad you could barely catch that.

N now had both of Ken’s arms from Ravi, while Hongbin was trying his best to not let his legs slip away. Surprisingly, Ravi speedily took his shirt off, making him topless for the second time today, later shoving the cloth into Ken’s gaped mouth and finally muffled his growls. The beast kept squirming, trying to get itself freed, but the boys wouldn’t even think of letting him go, not even when they were totally drained.

Among the other six, Ken was, indeed, technically the weakest, Meaning, his voodoo doll state would be far way easier to deal with than Leo or Ravi’s. Yet it didn’t mean that the boys could let their guards down either. As a few bluish bruises would still sound better than the whole hotel figuring out that six of their guests weren’t as human as they looked like.

Ravi took Ken’s arms away from N while mouthing a ‘thank you’, leaving the oldest nodded. Soon, the three of them caught a sequence of hasty steps from outside, and later found Leo by the doorframe. He sprinted with all of his might from the back garden to this place. Only to witness how terrible his younger brother had become.

He was on his way to Ken when his eyes spotted a petrified figure on the edge of the pool. And the second he figured whose body it was, Leo could feel his whole world shattered into pieces.

“No…” Leo breathed as he ran to your direction. He wondered why no one was by your side, and the moment he cradled your body, the coldness emitted from your bluish skin was enough to convince him that you were far from alive.

“Let’s bring him back to the room first…” Ravi commanded and Hongbin nodded in agreement. N followed right behind them, more than assured that you were beyond safe with Leo beside you.

“___…” 

Another voice entered your ears, and it sounded even softer than the last one. You recognized its owner almost immediately, and you reckoned how this was actually the first time for him to call for your name in such a miserably sorrowful tone like this. You didn’t even have the heart to imagine how his face looked like right now. Worse, your consciousness began to drift away, making it even harder for you to be aware of your surroundings. Slowly, you felt drowsiness took over everything, forcing you to sleep. Yet you failed to notice if this slumber would last forever.

Leo gently brushed strands of wet hair off from your face before he grabbed your cold hands and rubbed them with his.

“You will be fine… I won’t let you die…”

“Careful…” N prevented Ravi’s from knocking against the wall, all because Ken kept writhing in their grasp.

“We really need to come up with a good explanation for this… you know, in case a hotel staff shows up.” Hongbin glanced at the surveillance camera at the ceiling before stared back at the oldest.

“A topless man coming out from the swimming pool doesn’t sound so weird, but a squirming man with a shirt shoved into his mouth? Not to mention how he’s technically covered with scars and looked like someone who just took a blood bath…” Ravi sheepishly added, commenting on Ken’s rather horrid voodoo doll state.

“Just leave it to me. I got a few nice excuses right here.” N pointed at his head with a smirk. They soon reached Ken’s room and the eldest swiftly unlocked the door, later motioned both Ravi and Hongbin to get inside.

“Guys!”

N turned his head and saw the youngest ran closer. His dampened red hair along with drops of sweat on his face gave the eldest enough proof that the boy had been running in full speed, all the way from the beach.

“W-what happened?!” Hyuk questioned worriedly, his expression tensed up when he caught Ken trapped among his brothers.

“I don’t have time to explain.” The eldest marched inside the room as well, leaving the youngest blinked at him in confusion. “But now that you’re here, I need you to help Ravi and Hongbin to take care of Ken. You know the drill. Just tie him down to his bed.”

N was about to leave the room when Hyuk suddenly shouted at him. “B-but—w-wait!”

His shaking hands firmly gripped at the eldest’s, “W-where is ___?! Is… is she alright…?”

N knew what those stare Hyuk had been showing him meant. How those dark orbs reflected th