Ever since the Hansol and Seokmin became cellmates, Seungcheol had been helping Hansol with his verbal communication skills. In a way, it was sort of like speech therapy.
Seungcheol would bring in a random prisoner, giving certain instructions to Hansol on what to say during their brief conversation. For the first few months, it was a short introduction of his name and his age. As the months wore on, his instructions became more and more complex. He'd introduce himself, but also add other words, like complimenting the person's hair or telling a funny story about his life when he lived in the district.
After almost a year of Seungcheol's unofficial speech therapy, Hansol was pretty much all good to go. With the help of his cellmate's encouragement and the classified DPO guard, his anxiety disorder became something Hansol barely had to worry about.
Seokmin also helped him discover another way of relieving any of his anxiety he had when he spoke. The older introduced him to something called rapping, a way of using your voice to create a rhythmic pattern with words.
"I'm not the best at it," Seokmin shrugged, "But I think you'd be good at it!"
"I'm not so sure," Hansol mumbled, fiddling with his fingers.
"Don't be shy," Seokmin smirked, "Give it a try! I'll give you a beat."
Hesitantly, Hansol stood up from where he and Seokmin were sitting, walking a few feet away to face the older. Seokmin began to clap his hands at a certain tempo, making Hansol naturally sway his body to the beat. As he got into the rhythm, he tried to come up with words to say, words that could express his emotions about how he was feeling and about his situation. He took a deep breath and let his voice out.
"Trauma got me bad bad
Locked up when I was young
Basically had no friends
Boxed in boxed in my own world.
Stuck in my fantasy like,
Dreamin it to be real life.
The time I'm waiting without thinking
But I found out now I realize.
I'll just be left alone like this
I don't know what to do except for this
I don't wanna be alone
No, I hate to be forgotten,
Imma sing this song
Is anybody listening?"
He was left out of breath, finishing his short but heart-felt rap. It was spontaneously made, but somehow he felt his eyes water when he was finished. Seokmin was almost as baffled as he was, shocked that he had just made up that rap in less than a minute.
"I told you!" Seokmin cheered, his smile beaming with pride. "You're a natural!"
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{ D - 151 }
It was a normal day in Cell No. 13. Hansol was taking a nap on his bed but was woken up by the sound of Seokmin singing vibrantly at the top of his lungs. The boy let out a quiet groan before rolling to his side to watch his cellmate sing into his toothbrush like it was a microphone.
A small smile grew on Hansol's lips as he watched Seokmin dance around their cell as an imaginary song played in the older's head. Once Seokmin noticed he woke up Hansol, he immediately stopped singing and skipped over to greet his friend.
"Good Morning, fellow cellmate!" He grinned, "Did you like your wake up call?"
"No," Hansol lied, rolling to his other side so that his back was facing Seokmin, making the older pout.
"Awww why?" Seokmin whined, clutching onto Hansol's shoulder and shaking it back and forth.
"It was too loud," Hansol sighed, smirking from underneath his blanket, "And I was trying to sleep."
"Are you still tired?" Seokmin asked in disbelief.
Hansol only nodded before turning back towards Seokmin once more, getting a good look at the singing criminal.
Only a year had passed, but Seokmin seemed to mature a lot more. His face was more chiseled and defined; his arms were a lot more muscular. Since he grew a little over the past year, his white attire seemed to be a bit small on him now. Meanwhile, Hansol thought that he himself looked no different. His brown hair had grown a little longer than when he first came in. His pants became a little short, above his ankle. However, he still felt small and fragile, weak and helpless. Hansol envied Seokmin for being so outgoing and upbeat despite being in confinement.
"It's already morning, and Seungcheol's coming with First Meal," Seokmin said, playfully rocking Hansol's body back and forth. "Hurry up and get ready! You might not get anything while you're asleep."
"Just wake me up when he's here," Hansol grumbled, pushing off Seokmin's hands.
"Hansollll!!!" Seokmin whined.
"Seokmin stop—" Hansol's grumbling was interrupted by the sound of the entrance being opened, causing the two boys to turn towards the glass wall.
They were expecting Seungcheol to walk in, but instead, an unfamiliar man entered into their cell. He was tall, with straight black hair, droopy cat-like eyes, and lips that curled into a friendly smile. He held a thick stack of papers in his hands, clutching onto them as he walked closer to where the two boys were.
"Hansol and Seokmin?" he asked.
The two prisoners looked at one another perplexed before nodding at the same time, causing the instructor's smile to grow wider.
"Nice to meet you two," he bowed. "My name is Jisoo. I'm an instructor in District 17."
Seokmin and Hansol bowed in return, exchanging confused looks with each other in the process. Jisoo looked down at the papers and began to flip through, stealing a few glances at the glass wall as he skimmed through the stack.
"So you won't really need to bring anything from here," he began to explain, "All of your necessities have been prepared in your guys dorm rooms. You'll also still be roommates, which seems pretty convenient. You two seem to get along well so—"
"I'm sorry," Seokmin interrupted, causing the instructor to look up from the stack of papers. "What exactly are you saying right now? I don't think we understand..."
"Oh!" Jisoo chuckled. "I forgot the most important part."
He placed the papers back in order, flipping back to the very first page of the huge stack. He looked up at them, the big grin on his face confusing the prisoners even more.
"You guys are being released from prison," Jisoo stated confidently. "You get to live in the district again!"
Seokmin's eyes widened, while Hansol only stared at the instructor with disbelief.
"So you're saying," Seokmin began, "We're... leaving this place?"
"Yes," Jisoo responded.
Seokmin's expression slowly grew more and more excited. He began to jump up and down, shaking Hansol's body uncontrollably. However the younger boy wasn't too ecstatic about the news. He was actually quite apprehensive towards being released. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to do well if he went back out there, surrounded by thousands of people, constantly communicating with them. The mere thought of actually having to talk to a bunch of strangers made him anxious.
"But there's a twist," Jisoo spoke up, interrupting Hansol's thoughts.
The instructor glanced over at the glass window, staring only at his reflection. However, by the looks of it, Jisoo wasn't exactly looking at his reflection, but instead, he seemed like he was trying to look beyond the mirror-wall.
"This stuff I'm about to tell you is too-secret," he said, turning back towards the two boys.
His expression grew serious as he began to uselessly flip through the paper stack again.
"You see, I'm not releasing you just so you can go back into society like normal," Jisoo stated.
"You're not?" Seokmin asked.
"No," Jisoo responded, "I'm recruiting you."
"Recruiting?"
The instructor nodded, a sly grin growing on his face.
"I've been making up a team of all sorts of people from the District," he explained, "We're all working together to prepare for an escape."
Seokmin and Hansol looked at each other, both shocked.
"I want you two to be apart of it," Jisoo offered, "It'll be a tough mission, but just imagine the endless possibilities outside this District. Anything can happen in the outside world."
Jisoo turned towards Seokmin, eyes growing desperate.
"Seokmin, I know the reason why you were brought here. Just think about what you could do beyond the walls of this District. There are no limits in music out there. Music is celebrated and cherished out there; it's embraced by so many people."
Seokmin didn't say anything back. He was contemplating Jisoo's words with an unreadable expression. Jisoo looked over at Hansol, making eye contact with the younger.
"And Hansol," he said in a gentle but helpless-sounding voice, "The reason why you were imprisoned was just downright cruel. You deserve a chance. You deserve to get the help you want. And that's something the world beyond can give you."
He walked over to them, holding out a hand.
"What do you guys say? Are you in?"
There was nothing but silence at first. Seokmin and Hansol were still thinking about whether or not they would join in on the plan. They new it would be challenging, but was it worth the sacrifice? In this cell, they were locked up and hidden away from the people within their community. However, they were comfortable and at ease. They were familiar with their surroundings and the people that lived and worked on this underground floor. Was escaping this place worth sacrificing all they knew?
Seokmin was the first to reach out and grip onto Jisoo's hand, immediately being pulled up to his feet by the instructor. A hesitant smile grew on his face, but he made up his mind in those few seconds of silence that he would be a part of the escape. There was no turning back now.
"We do have a lot of freedom in here, you know," He said, "I can sing in here as much as I want without getting beaten up by some weird middle aged dude. However, I think I'd like that freedom outside of a prison."
The instructor chuckled, making Seokmin's smile more reassured and relaxed. The two looked over at Hansol, who was still sitting on the bed, not really sure about what decision he was about to make. Maybe he shouldn't go back. Maybe he should stay here, where he knew everyone and was familiar with everything around him. That's what the District wanted anyway. Sure, he had been receiving help from Seungcheol already, but that wasn't enough. The world still wasn't safe out there, not for him at least.
"Someone you know is going on our team," Jisoo spoke up, interrupting Hansol's nervous thoughts once again, "Someone very familiar."
Jisoo reached out his hand for Hansol to take, giving the boy a gentle, reassuring smile.
"Wouldn't it be nice to see them again?"
Hansol gulped doen any fear he had inside him and slowly reached out his hand. Hesitantly, he gripped onto Jisoo's hand, allowing the instructor to pull him up to his feet. He gave the older a subtle nod.
"I'll join," he managed to speak up, earning a wide grin from the other two in the cell.
"Great," Jisoo chuckled, "now let's get out of here. We have a escape mission that awaits us."
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A/N: yes, hansol's rap is from trauma😌 i just edited some of the lines a little bit to fit the story. anyways stream left and right for clear skin <3