Facade - BTS Superhero AU

Chapter 1 - Black Rabbit

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEE-

   "Oh, for the love of God, shut up already!"

   Seongmin slammed her hand onto her alarm clock again. She'd already woken up, gotten ready for the day, and was about to walk out the door, but her apparently broken alarm clock refused to stop it's shrill wake up call, as if shouting a constant reminder that the day had begun.

   Seongmin had tried turning it off several times already, as well as throwing a pillow over it, but now, running late and with no other ideas, she unplugged it and rushed out the door, grabbing her book bag as she dashed away.

   Despite the distance, a few decent miles from her house, she decided to run to work that day, knowing that at this hour the traffic by car would only make her later. Sighing, she began to jog, pacing herself so she wouldn't end up winded after mile one.

   Halfway to her office building, Seongmin realised her mistake. She'd failed to consider the fact that others had had the same thought as her that morning, so the foot traffic was almost as bad as the lazy river of honking cars on the road. Forced to slow down, she sighed, knowing she was going to be late yet again.

   It's not my fault, she kept telling herself. Somehow, Seongmin always, always ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time. When she was ten, she'd managed to get herself caught by the foot on a tree branch while escaping from a group of school bullies, and had dangled there for over an hour before her teacher had found her. Another time, when she was twelve, she'd ended up with three broken ribs when her aunt's horse had kicked her, after being spooked by a stray cat dashing away in front of it. As Seongmin got older, things like this kept happening, until she was almost convinced she was cursed.

   Now, caught in the midst of a slow, unhurried tide of people, running late for work and with no alternative routes except the occasional sketchy alleyway, Seongmin cursed internally, realising it had happened again.

   Looking at her watch, she had less than twenty minutes to go about two more miles. The sketchy alleyways were beginning to sound like a good idea. Seongmin's didn't want to have to sneak in to her desk via fire escape again to avoid being noticed by her cranky boss (long story).

   She spotted one up ahead, between an old theatre and a barbershop. She began to edge her way through the crowd towards the side of the walkway, deciding that the alleyway was the best shortcut she could ask for. When she got to the opening between buildings, she squeezed out of the crowd, ignoring a few grumbling old ladies pushing around shopping carts, and made her way into the deserted alley.

   "Ick," she started out loud as a black rat rushed across the cement ground ahead of her. Shuddering, Seongmin kept walking, her footsteps making ominous clicking sounds that echoed through the unnaturally quiet alleyway. For all the sounds of the streets not too far away, the space between buildings was almost too silent. It was giving Seongmin the creeps.

   That was before she realised she wasn't alone.

   Seongmin changed her gait, speeding up to both not be late for work and to get out of the creepy alley as fast as possible, and that was when she heard different footsteps behind her.

   Turning around to be sure she wasn't imagining things, she took one look and began to jog away as fast as she could without breaking into a full sprint.

   The man behind her, in a black hoodie and what looked suspiciously like a gun in his hand, began to jog as well, gaining on Seongmin. He was wearing a mask over his face that revealed only his dark eyes, silver hair falling from under his hood. Her suspicions that she was being followed were confirmed as she rushed down another alley, the man turning and following her.