"so please, tell me it's alright. in this uneasy mist. tell me it's just a moment. so please, if this is my way, hold my hand tight so we won't wander for much longer" - MIST
~⧖~
"hey.."
"sir..."
"we need to talk to you."
seonghwa is nudged awake by what appears to be a pair of police officers. he slowly sits up to take in his surroundings. all the other members were scattered around the room sleeping on whatever surface they found suitable the night before.
"we have some questions for you if you feel you can answer them,"
"umm yeah, sure i guess?"
"ok so first, what is your relationship with kim hongjoong?" the one officer asks while the other pulls out a notepad.
"he's my friend and coworker.." seonghwa hesitates, still half asleep.
the officer with the notepad glances at seonghwa's hand before going back to writing. confused by this seonghwa goes to look at his hand only then realizing that he must have grabbed hongjoong's hand while he was sleeping. he releases his grasp and faces the officers again.
"do you know where he was two nights ago?"
"he was in his studio the last we heard from him, he's always there unless he leaves for coffee and more inspiration."
"do you know of any bad relationships he's had with anyone in the past; angry girlfriend? coworker? school acquaintance? anything?"
hwa shakes his head, "no.. he's one of the nicest people you'd ever meet i don't know of anyone that would have it out for him."
"are you sure? this attack seemed very motivated, maybe an old family member or-"
"look, i don't know why you're asking me this. i don't even know what happened to him. can you answer some of my questions first please," seonghwa cut off the officer and pleaded.
"listen, we can't give you much information since you're not family an-"
"then why are you asking me questions about his life?" hwa stands up, "what exactly happened to him, hmm? is there still someone on the loose looking to complete their job or what becau-"
"hey, hey, calm down," yunho interjects. seonghwa's rising tone woke him from his couch spot behind the oldest. "what's all of this about?"
"we're here to ask some questions about the victim since he's still unconscious but it appears no family is here at the moment so we'll just come back later."
seonghwa was not having this at all.
"wait, so you're really not going to tell us anything after you basically just confirmed that someone is actively looking for hongjoong?!"
"sir, we really ca-"
"is everything alright in here?" mr. kim says, making his way from the doorway to the two idols.
"are you family of kim hongjoong?" the officer says pointedly
"yes, i'm his father, is there anything i can help you with?"
"we're here to ask you some questions about your son. did he have any poor relationships with anyone in the past?"
"well i'm sure if you asked seonghwa, which it looks like you did, then you would know that he has not. also, can you now disclose anything you know about what happened to my son in that warehouse?"
the officer takes a second before reluctantly giving the rundown of everything he knew.
"as far as we know this was a planned attack, your son was found by some teens unresponsive with a weak pulse in a warehouse down the street from his place of work. we have one suspect, not in custody, but if we're right this attack on your son was a part of a list of revenge murder attempts."
"how did you come to that conclusion?" mr. kim asks with genuine concern.
"he was found wearing a chained mask and hat which we assume was put on him by the suspect."
yunho and seonghwa turn to each other
"chained mask and hat..." they whisper in unison.
"is there something you boys are not telling us?" the notepad officer cuts in.
yunho turns back to the pair. "w-well we're idols and those pieces of clothing play a big role in our wardrobe.. whoever the suspect is must really do their homework or actually did have relations with hongjoong-hyung."
notepad officer taps the back of the other officer's arm, "that follows the pattern,"
"what pattern?" asked seonghwa, still upset at the lack of information being shared with them.
the officers stare at each other debating on which of them should explain. with hesitation the main officer spoke up. "we have reason to believe that this attack is linked with the serial killer trickster and their recent revenge killings."
the room went silent. hongjoong's heart monitor that was previously keeping perfect time sped up a little causing the five men to turn to him.
"a-anyways we should be going now. thank you men for your time." said the main officer while ushering his partner out of the room.
"i guess we should wake everyone else up and catch them up to speed." said yunho walking back to the couch that still held a sleeping mingi.
seonghwa went to wake woosan and jongsang who were curled up on the remaining chairs across the room and surprisingly did not stir throughout the entire ordeal.
...
"did he wake up?" questioned san while rubbing his eyes.
"no, but we were woken up by some officers who i would've lunged at if hongjoong's dad didn't walk in."
"yeah we wouldn't want that to make a sub-headline along with however we release this situation to the press." yunho added
"wait did you get any more information from the officers?!" wooyoung interjected
"as much as we could pry out of them."
they all stare at yunho expectantly.
"care to share with the class?" yeosang says gesturing to the other members.
yunho explains what just transpired between them and the two officers along with the little information they gained from the back and forth, if you could even call it that. the others stared at each other in shock when he explained the part of this all being a planned attack by a serial killer. san is the first to speak,
"wait, so the guy who did this is still out there?"
"from what we know yes," yunho answered, "let's just go down to the canteen for now to settle our minds."
everyone slowly nodded in agreement while filing out of the room, seonghwa stayed behind.
"hey, are you sure you don't want to join us?"
"yeah, thank you yunho-yah but i'll stay here."
"ok..." yunho glances back at seonghwa before leaving the room to find the others.
seonghwa lets out a breath he didn't know he was holding and turns to hongjoong. he takes a seat next to the bed and began to examine the man laid out in front of him. the color in joong's face isn't as bright as it usually is, small patches of dried blood littered his arms and neck. seonghwa laced his fingers into hongjoong's right hand, turning his arm over to check for any marks. satisfied with the untouched skin, hwa reaches his other hand to check joong's left arm finding one of the cuts presumably left by the attacker. he ran his thumb over it carefully-
"hey,"
seonghwa jumps back with a loud gasp, detangling himself from hongjoong's arms.
"shit, sorry!" beomjoong jumped back a little, almost dropping the small flower arrangement from his grasp, "didn't mean to scare you. has he woken up yet?"
seonghwa stands up to greet him, "beomjoong-hyung, sorry i wasn't expecting you, uhh no he hasn't woken up yet." he fiddles with the ring on his left hand. the matching pair of the one he gave hongjoong on his birthday.
"yeah i figured, i passed the others in the lobby so they filled me in... hey, are you ok?" beomjoong says, stepping closer to him.
"yeah wh-"
he feels something wet hit his hand, he started crying when he was checking hongjoong's arms without realizing it. beomjoong pulled him into a hug, getting emotional along with the idol.
hongjoong's heart monitor fills the silence accompanied by seonghwa's sniffles
"i-i should be the one comforting you, he's your brother after all."
"you're just as close if not closer to him than me so it checks out." he replies
hwa let out a choked laugh.
"but really, how are you and the guys doing?"
"i think we're all kinda in a state of shock but other t-than that we're ok.."
beomjoong pats seonghwa's back and pulls away. "that's good.. sorry again for interrupting umm.."
"no- no it's fine. you didn't interrupt. anything.."
they both idle in silence. seonghwa can't help his gaze drifting back to the resting body laid next to them.
"beomjoong-hyung!"
~⧖~
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a/n: i am so sorry y'all i had this chapter done MONTHS ago and just never posted it. also within the year of me not updating i graduated and MET ATEEZ???? i won't unpack that bc that would be another 1k words but anyways i hope to started updating this every other month now that i have a working laptop.. no promises though