I'm slightly worried about uploading this chapter, I've had it done for a few days but I've been putting it off... but I suppose I don't really have a choice.

Warning: This chapter deals with a major character death and is, like the next few chapters will be, is extremely sad. I'm very sorry.

 

January 4th 2015

The group was tired.

Tired of schedules, tired of drama, tired of stress… just tired. All 11 of them had the feeling of dread buried deep in their guts, nerves slithering around their chests, tightening around their hearts.

Hanni had been baking practically nonstop in the kitchen all day, snapping at anyone who dared to enter his sacred place. Their fridge was full of Gyeongju bread and Kkultarae, various Tteok and Chapssaltteok, he’d made pies and cakes which were littered all over the counters, several plates of flavoured tarts sitting on top of the microwave. He knew there was no way they’d be able to eat all the sweet treats he had made before they went stale, but part of Hanni didn’t want them to be eaten, just making and baking all the treats was soothing and comforting to him.

Ae-Cha had spent most of the day locked in the girls’ room, blasting her rock music at the highest volume while screaming along to the words. Everyone else could only hope that she hadn’t begun trashing the place in her terrible mood.

Cho was sat at the table with Sherlock, Watson curled up sleeping on her lap. Her tiny hands clutched onto Sherlock’s larger ones as they talked under their breath, gazes serious and words hushed. They gave each other small smiles every now and again, but no-one had dared to interrupt them to see if anything was wrong.

Jin had been on the phone with his estranged father all morning. He’d gotten an angry phone call at 7am, demanding that the young Chinese boy visit him when he can. For anyone else, that would have been normal, a father asking to see their only son who had lived in a different country for so long, but not for Jin. His father hadn’t wanted to speak with him in years, and when he did, it was never for anything good.

Hope was curled up on the couch, silent all day. He hadn’t even tried to talk to anyone, he hadn’t eaten anything yet either. After his early morning shower, Hope had just thrown himself onto their large couch, wrapped a fluffy blanket around himself and stayed there, staring blankly ahead of him for the entire day.

Vann had been fussing over everyone, bags set deep below his eyes. He was exhausted, that much was obvious, and it wasn’t likely he’d slept at all the night previous. He was following people around, constantly making sure they’re alright, watching over them, asking if he could do anything to help. Everyone felt awful and no-one knew why, it was upsetting them all.

Myung had been sat at the opposite end of the table from Cho and Sherlock all day, various pieces of paper scattered around him. Some of the paper had information such as schedules and appearances printed on it, while others appeared to be bills of some sort. Some had lyrics, others had sheet music. None of them really knew what Myung was doing, but he appeared to be so focused on the work that no-one really wanted to bother him anyway.

Marco was another member who had hardly left the bedroom. The candy floss haired man had snuck out of his room at 10, going straight into the kitchen(Ignoring Hanni as he was yelled at to ‘get the hell out of my kitchen!’) and shovelling a few spoonfuls of rice into his mouth before he crept off back to his room, mumbling to himself every now and again. No-one had felt like checking up on him.

Yuuki had spent most of the day in the bathroom, experimenting with new makeup techniques. Out of everyone, he appeared to be the least affected by the current stresses of the idol lifestyle, his personality hadn’t changed, he was just being the same old Kim Jae-hwa that he’d always been. However, there was hesitance in his actions, he struggled through the simplest of tasks with a fake smile on his face.

Yue still didn’t know where she fit in with the group. She was the youngest by far, there being 3 years between herself and the previous maknae, Ae-Cha. Cho and Vann had been lovely and supportive to her, but they were still their own people, unable to be with her constantly. They had their friend and usual groups within Acid Teochii, and Yue didn’t expect them to drop that for a new girl that they hardly knew. Yue knew that Ae-Cha was probably the member who hated her the most, for reasons that she herself probably didn’t know, but Marco was definitely a close second. It wasn’t so much that he appeared to hate her as it was the fact he seemed to be pretending that she just didn’t exist. If she spoke to him, he appeared to look right through her, he’d barged into her ‘accidentally’ several times, and he often refused to even acknowledge she existed. Cho had told her that he and Hyo had been very close, so she understood his actions, but it didn’t make it any less painful.

Which is why she was so happy that she still had Sun-EE and Cloud-EE from Symphon-EE to talk to. They’d been texting her on and off for the past few days since she had moved in to the dorm, making sure she was alright and coping well enough. Yue couldn’t replace the twins for the world, she felt honoured that they were looking out for her even when they didn’t really have to. The text she received at 5:39pm on January 4th from Sun-EE was just a classic example of it, she just wished it had never arrived.

From: Min-Sun
To: Qiuyue
Message: Is it true? Are you alright?

Yue frowned as she read the text, scrolling through their previous conversation to see what exactly had prompted such a message. Seeing nothing that could warrant such a text, she sent him a confused reply.

From: Qiuyue
To: Min-Sun
Message: What do you mean? Is what true?

It took only a few minutes before she received the dreaded reply.

From: Min-Sun
To: Qiuyue
Message: You don’t know? I’m so sorry, turn to the news. I’m sorry.

Yue’s heart had begun to speed in her chest as she jumped to her feet, hurrying over to where Vann was flicking through the channels on their tv, having run out of people to coddle into submission.

“Yue?” He asked, frowning a little at how pale she’d gotten and how her hands shook.

She her phone into his hands, watching as he read the texts.

“Alright,” he replied, typing in the numbers on the remote control and watching as the television switched to the news channel.

‘-ody has been found at an apartment building in Beijing.” The news reporter said while standing in front of a sectioned off apartment building, police swarming the area inside the bright yellow tape. “The body was discovered at 2pm this afternoon by the landlord who had been called due to some residents reporting that they had not seen anyone leave the apartment nor move around inside in several days. The body is believed to be Lee Hyo, the former lead dancer of the Korean Pop group, Acid Teochii, who left the group and broke his contract a few months ago. Netizen’s reactions to Hyo’s departure were extreme, and doctor reports have stated that Hyo was being treated for extreme depression.”

The entire room was silent. Ae-Cha had left her bedroom and was standing in the doorway, stark still and silent, Hope had sit up a little and Hanni had finally left the kitchen, holding onto a pie with white knuckles. The tension in the room was thick, thick enough to be cut with a knife. No-one appeared to be breathing.

“Coroner and police reports state that the former idol’s death isn’t being treated as suspicious, and appears to be accidental. Some Chinese news reports are stating that the idol died from alcohol poisoning, whereas others are reporting it as suicide. For all we kn-”  Vann turned the television off, cutting the news reporter’s story in half.

For several long minutes, no-one said a word, before Marco gave a small, broken sob and rushed over to the coat rack, pulling at his jacket until he pulled out his mobile phone. Tears streamed down the man’s face as the other 10 members watched, eyes wide and shocked, while Marco scrolled through his contacts, calling the familiar number.

“Come on, Hyo, please,” Marco hiccupped, pressing the phone to his ear. “Please pick up, come on, you’ve been ignoring my calls and my texts since you left but this isn’t funny anymore.” Vann slowly rose to his feet, approaching Marco.

“Come on, Marco, he’s not answering…” Vann tried, reaching out to take the phone.

“He will answer, he will!” Marco insisted, stepping back. “He’s my best friend! He wouldn’t just leave me.”

“Hyunki-hyung…” Myung tried, getting up himself. Tears were trailing down the leader’s face, his hands shaking madly despite his attempts to steady them. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry hyung,” Myung babbled, wiping his face desperately.

It was then that Marco’s phone began to ring. The three members surrounding the device quickly looked down at the ID, their hearts stopping in their chest.

Hyo

Marco scrambled, quickly answering the call and placing the mobile to his ear, laughing slightly through his tears. “Hyo! You answered, you’re okay!”

The only response Marco got was hiccupping breathing as the person on the other end of the call struggled to gather their words.

“Hyunki,” A female voice replied, broken but still recognisable as Mrs Lee, Hyo’s mother. “I’m so sorry.”

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R.I.P Lee Hyo

I'm really sorry, but Hyo has been planned to die for a long time, before I even started posting these chapters online... The next few chapters are going to be really sad (I already have up to chapter 25 written and I plan to do more today), so I apologise profusely for it

But never fear, this story is nowhere near done! I checked my totals last night, and on Microsoft Word, this story, including the chapters I haven't posted up yet, is a whopping 53,000 words spanning over 116 pages... I began writing this story because I was bored, and I originally made the group for a joke.

See you around guys, again, I'm very sorry.

See Shynamite's chapter of Symphon-EE based of this chapter here
See XenexianAG's chapter of Constellation based of this chapter here