uuuh, forgot again to say thank you! I'm really glad you keep me going. Your comments show me that some of you are enjoying this and that's just great! :)

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For a second we’re all dumbfounded. Then Kibum storms around the corner.

Jjong shouts against the booming music: “WAIT, for s sake!”

But our Kibum doesn’t listen anymore. Taemin looks at me wild eyed for confirmation or advice, I don’t know which, and when I don’t react immediately he runs after his Hyung.

“Damn it, TAEM!” Jonghyun yells agitated and makes a move to follow but grimaces in agony when taking the first step. I manage to hold him up but he curses with frustration.

Minho is in no condition to follow either; he’s as white as a ghost and looks about to faint; the concussion taking its toll.  And I’m stuck with Jjongie who by now can hardly stand on his own not to mention walk or run. But he lets go of me to lean against a stack of crates and tells me: “Go, go, go ... don’t let them do anything stupid.”

The girl has got up in the meantime. She must be about 16 and although she’s still shaken she resolutely wipes her eyes, comes over, and lays her arm around Jonghyun to support him.

“I’ll take care of them”, she shouts to me snuffling like a child which makes Jjong and Minho almost smile and I guess that’s good enough for me so I go after Taemin und Kibum while “Sherlock” keeps blaring out of invisible speakers.

The corridor of crates takes another turn before I reach the exact place we’ve seen in the video-message. My heart skips a beat: Yoogeun is still tied to the chair but he’s not alone. There are five people around him wearing black hoodies and Korean dance-masks. At least three of them are sporting knives and short swords. One of them stands behind the chair and is holding a blade to the child’s throat. Yoogeun’s eyes are almost too big for his little face and the tape over his mouth forces him to breathe labored through his nose that I now remember was always slightly blocked. He is scared to death.

Kibum and Taemin have stopped short of the group: Taemin his arms halfway raised in a defensive stance, Kibum bristling with anger, fists clenched and ready to go off any second.

I move over to them carefully grabbing Kibum’s arm to hold him back just in case. He doesn’t look at me but relaxes a little bit.

One of the guys turns off the music. Another one takes a step forward and says:

“Where are the other two?”

It’s a woman, a girl ... I don’t know, but it’s definitely not a man. And looking more closely I guess the others are girls too although the lose hoodies don’t reveal much of their build. But it would make sense considering what the girl in the box said. Are these the “friends” she was talking about or has her video reached even more people through social media channels? And what kind of people are these? Are they really capable of hurting Yoogeun or is this still some sick game?

“We’re here”, Minho says weakly behind us. I turn my head. Supported by the girl both Jjong and Minho just come hobbling around the corner.

“SHINee don’t look shiny at all today”, the leading woman sneers.

“Stop the crap right now”, Kibum snarls then turns to me, “give me the money.”

I reach into my jacket and pass it to him. He takes the envelope and tosses it over to the woman.

“There”, he says, “now let him go. This has already gone way too far and I’m losing my patience.”

It’s weird to see Kibum as our spokesman. Usually it would be Jjong or maybe me since I’m the leader. Even Minho is more likely to step forward and talk than Kibum although the latter isn’t shy to speak his opinion either. But right now he’s undeniably in charge and although they wear masks I’ve got the impression that at least two of the kidnappers are intimidated by Kibum’s anger.

But the leader appears unimpressed.

“Aaaah, Bummie, you’re always the funny one, aren’t you? Do you really think we got through all this trouble for THAT cheap?”

“So what do you want?” He asks not showing any reaction towards the inappropriate use of his pet name that apart from his family only Jjong and I call him occasionally. 

“What we want? We want a private stage! We want SHINee to dance and sing just for us. You’re gonna make it a special performance for your most devoted fans. Who else would risk everything to meet you? Who would go that far?”

She laughs again. She must be mad, literally insane. Even our worst manic fans wouldn’t involve a child and definitely not Yoogeun in anything like this. It’s brutal and wrong and just totally crazy. This woman is disturbed.

“You’re not a fan if you kidnap a child”, I say, “this is insane. Let him go immediately.” And Taemin adds:

“He can’t breathe properly. Take down the tape.”

I’m surprised that he noticed. Taemin usually isn’t very perceptive but he obviously notices what really matters.

The girl with the knife against Yoogeun’s throat looks at the leader but then just rips the strip of duct-tape off on her own account. She is probably not as bad as we think.

Yoogeun gasps for air starting to hiccup while crying and sniffling and seriously panicked.

I want to rush over to hug him and tell him it’s gonna be okay but right now his life is still at risk.

“Yoogeun”, Minho says coming forward and leaning on Kibum, “don’t worry, we’ll get you out.”

The boy nods silently, tears still rolling down his cheeks.

“I hope you’re all wearing the shirts”, the mad-woman says ignoring this, “take off the jackets and get ready to perform!”

She motions to the other masked girls and two of them hastily bring forward five microphones and on another sign hand one of them to each of us. We take them stupefied.

When we don’t react the woman shoves the girl with the knife to the side ... and pulls a gun from her belt.

I can hear Jjong gasp behind me as she puts the gun to Yoogeuns head.

"STOP IT", I hear myself shouting. "Stop this, stop right now." I try to calm myself and say: "Look, we're in no condition for this. Jonghyun can hardly walk and Minho is hurt too ..."

Before I can say any more Kibum drops his coat and kicks it aside.

“You want a show?” he asks grimly, “okay, I'll give you a show.”

Taemin throws him a glance then tosses his jacket to the side with a totally un-Taeminish smirk and says:

"yeah, you can have your show."