TW: This chapter contains scenes of violence! Wait for an other chapter without trigger warning if you are a too young or sensitive reader but please don't be hateful towards the author because you have now been warned!

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"Guys, bring him here!" Heungmin shouted.

Joonwoo picked up his book to continue reading as if he wasn't interested in what was to come while Jaekyeon and Dongmin each grabbed Seokjin by an arm and dragged him by force to Heungmin.

Seeing that he was taking him towards the fireplace and that Heungmin was holding a poker with a red hot tip in his hand, Seokjin's heart raced and terror gripped him.

"No, no, no please don't do that!" he screamed, panicked as he struggled energetically to escape the grip of the two boys who held him.

"Ah, you see you know how to beg," Jihoon mocked, grabbing his right leg firmly to let Dongmin lift the bottom of his pants while Jaekyon held him tightly, pinning him with one arm under each armpit.

"No, not the leg, he needs it to play football and make the team win," Heungmin replied. "But since as he is not a goalkeeper, he doesn't need his arm."

Understanding what that meant Jihoon let go of his leg and lifted the sleeve of Seokjin's right arm. Seokjin tried to pull his arm away but Dongmin tightened his grip around it and he couldn't do anything when his skin was exposed.

"Let me go, please!" Seokjin shouted again in vain.

"Wait, Heungmin," Raenjun interjected getting everyone's attention, including Seokjin's teary eyes. He had just gotten up and was approaching the group of boys, a brush covered in black paint in his right hand. "He is a work of art, I don't want a common burn mark on him."

Realizing that Raenjun was interfering with Heungmin's plan, Seokjin exclaimed gratefully:

"Thank you, thank you very much!"

"You're welcome," Raenjun said. He stretched out his arm and drew a number 7 on Seokjin's forearm with his brush in black ink, to Seokjin's surprise. 

"Why did you do that ?" he asked, puzzled.

"I drew you the seven because it is the number of stars that form our constellation that you must serve. Seven is a perfect number in art, so it won't ruin your beauty. Now Heungmin, you can follow the trace of my drawing, it should be within the reach of someone who only knows how to play with their feet I think," he added with a haughty air towards the footballer.

"We'll see," Heungmin chuckled.

" What?! No!" Seokjin exclaimed, realizing that Raenjun had simply traced the contours of the burn that Heungmin had in store for him and squirming harder.

Heungmin then approached him, his poker in his hand, a smile full of madness drawn on his face.

"Hold him tight," he ordered the boys holding Seokjin. "I'll do it now."

"Please captain, don't do this!! I'll do whatever you want, I'll never make mistakes on the field again!!" Seokjin begged, sobbing uncontrollably, almost feeling the heat of the burning poker on his arm.

"Anything I want?" Heungmin asked thoughtfully.

"Yes, anything!" Seokjin hurriedly shouted, terrified and clinging to the hope of escaping unscathed.

"Unfortunately for you, I can have everything I want and right now, what I want is to hurt you. I want you to suffer and feel the shame of having joined such a prestigious school who struts as if he were our equal when you are nothing, a scoundrel just good at playing football."

Appalled by Heungmin's cruel words, Seokjin's sobs turned into moans of fear accompanied by uncontrolled pleas that the others ignored.

"He's going to scream loudly, shouldn't we gag him?" Jihoon asked.

"No need, the door muffles what's going on here, no one will hear it from downstairs," Joonwoo replied from where he was, without turning towards the others.

Satisfied, Jihoon grabbed Seokjin's wrist to force him to extend his arm further and present it on a platter to Heungmin. The llatter passed his tongue over his lips as if to concentrate and announced:

"Once you have this mark, you will definitely belong to the Midnight Club, aren't we honoring you too much, Jin?"

"No, I don't want to, no..." Seokjin sobbed in a voice that broke, pulling on his arm.

Heungmin just smiled mockingly.

Then gently, too gently, almost delicately, he placed the hot poker on Seokjin's forearm at the exact spot where Raenjun had drawn the vertical bar of 7. 

Seokjin screamed, struggled and almost passed out from the pain.

Unfortunately he remained conscious, even when the poker was removed and then applied a second time to his skin horizontally to finish clumsily drawing the 7. And when Heungmin finally removed the poker, the pain did not go away with it. His long cry of pain turned into a breathless moan of pure agony.

"Oops, I overstepped," Heungmin remarked detachedly to Raenjun who seemed very displeased.

"You you definitely have no delicacy," the artist murmured while observing Seokjin's failed tattoo. 

When the Jaekyun and Jihoon released him, Seokjin, still screaming and panting loudly, fell to his knees, clutching his raw arm sporting a painful red burn mark in the shape of a seven. His face, bathed in tears, did not dare to turn towards his torturers and his body trembled with fear because Heungmin still held the poker raised in his direction in his right hand. With his left hand, he lifted Seokjin's chin.

"Has anyone ever made you suffer like this?"

Luckily for Seokjin and his ironclad honesty, at that moment the pain was so intense that he forgot the pain Taehyung inflicted when he stabbed him. So he hastened to shake his head and groan:

"N-no, no, never please, don't make me suffer like that again, please..."

Satisfied, Heungmin threw the poker onto the andirons in front of the fireplace and rubbed his hands to wipe away the soot that had settled there. Seeing that it didn't go away, he wiped his hands directly on Seokjin's clothes, who backed away but let it happen.

"Good, you finally realized that you should be afraid of us."

The other boys exchanged mocking glances.

"My turn to play," Joonwoo announced , closing his book and joining them. "Seokjin?"

"Y-yes?" Seokjin stammered, looking up at him with a tearful and frightened look.

"Go sit in front of the piano."

Refusing to ask him why and only too happy to be able to get away from the group of boys who had tortured him, Seokjin, still holding his injured arm, quickly got up and went to sit on the stool in front of the piano.

"Do you know how to play Moonlight Sonata?" Joonwoo asked him.

"B-Beethoven's music?" Seokjin wanted to assure himself.

"Yes," Joonwoo agreed. "It's the song we play every time the Midnight Club gets together. Do you know how to play it or is it beyond the knowledge of someone like you?"

"Y-yes, I-I know how to play it, I learned how to play it at the Kim's house," explained Seokjin who was relieved to master this song without a music sheet. However, with an injured arm, he was afraid he wouldn't be able to do it that night.

"I want you to play it," Joonwoo told him. "Don't stop and start again from the beginning until I tell you to stop. Guys, go sit down and enjoy the concert," he ordered the others, showing that he was the most powerful of the six and could give them orders.

Seokjin flinched as he realized that one of these monsters was missing since there were supposed to be seven of them. But he didn't have time to think about it.

"Play now!" Joonwoo ordered him. "And if I hear a wrong note, watch out."

With fear knotting his stomach, Seokjin began to play. 

He played to perfection but tears of pain flowed without him being able to stop them because each movement of his right arm caused him immeasurable pain. His tears made the piano keys slippery and threatened to make him hit a wrong note at any moment.

It was one of the musics that Taehyung had taught him to play before the start of the school year and therefore one of the ones he mastered best. He had always loved it, finding it particularly beautiful to play, and if Mrs. Kim had allowed it, he would have liked to play it at night, when the moon was full and high in the dark sky.

But now that he finally had the opportunity to play it at night, on the top floor of his dormitory and surrounded by boys who wanted him harm, he would find it sinister, a harbinger of danger.

While he was playing, Raenjun had started a new portrait of him, this time with a pained expression on his face, the same expression he had worn when his arm was burned. As he drew, to the rhythm of the music played by Seokjin, he murmured:"Beautiful... really beautiful..." without anyone knowing if he was talking about the music, his painting, or Seokjin himself.

When Seokjin had played the same piece five times in a row in almost total respectful silence, as if these rich heirs had too much respect for the classical music of the great artists of this world to spoil this artistic treasure, Seokjin felt his arms begin to tire and he hoped Joonwoo would let him stop soon.

"I have a question for you," Joonwoo said dreamily, as if the music transported him.

"W-which?" Seokjin asked while trying to concentrate on not making any mistakes as he played the same music for the sixth time.

"I would like to know what you thought of me before tonight."

"Pfff, you know that very well, you just want to hear him flatter you!" Heungmin chuckled, taunting his best friend..

Joonwoo smiled.

"Maybe. Come on Seokjin, tell me everything and don't stop playing. Declaim my princely portrait to me like a poem to the sound of Beethoven."

Seokjin swallowed.

"I... I thought you were a very kind person, always ready to help those in need."

"What else?"

"I found our president charismatic, full of confidence and with good character, but also..."

He bit his lip in frustration.

"I found you the most handsome of all the high school students and I thought your beautiful face was that of a good person..."

"Ah, that's really the picture of a perfect prince that you're painting there, Seokjin."

"I... I liked you," Seokjin admitted sheepishly. He didn't know what led him to like such a hateful person. It seemed to follow him again and again: was he doomed to attach himself to people who wanted to hurt him? Was Yoongi right to want to show him how loneliness was the solution to all suffering?

He looked up from his piano for a few moments bravely, continuing to play without looking at his fingers to look at Joonwoo's face and understand what had deceived him so much. There was a sincerity and strangely familiar kindness in the boy's eyes that seemed endearing to him. They were still there but were now mingled with painful malice. 

"I know you liked me," Joonwoo admitted with a charming smile. "You can still like me you know. If you stay a good boy to me, I'll give you what you want."

Seokjin felt humiliated upon hearing this. He knew that Joonwoo wanted to take advantage of him but at the same time, he understood that he had no choice but to be docile if he wanted to be able to ease his torture especially knowing that Joonwoo could stop others from hurting him. So, against his will, he stammered:

"I- I'll be a good boy, I'll obey you, I will do whatever you want."

Satisfied, Joonwoo stood up and patted his head like he would a puppy to reward him for his loyalty.

"I believe you Seokjin." 

"Are you really going to let yourself be fooled by his sweet words, Joonwoo? He's flattering you and tell you what you want to hear so you don't hit him, that's for sure!" Jihoon chuckled.

"No, you don't know Seokjin's legendary sincerity," Heugmin replied. "If he says Joonwoo is prettier than me, I have to accept that idea."

"Half the school is prettier than you," Joonwoo replied, making the other boys laugh.

In the middle of this conversation, Seokjin was having more and more trouble concentrating.

"I have an idea: since Seokjin is so honest, let's play truth or dare with him!" Jaekyeon exclaimed.

"Great idea," Dongmin agreed, always ready to laugh at Seokjin's misfortune.

Frightened that someone might extract information from him or punish him if he refused to speak, Seokjin's movements became less precise and what was supposed to happen happened. A deep sound split the air and everyone turned to him and he felt a bead of sweat running down his temple, aware of what he had just done.

"Looks like you hit a wrong note," Joonwoo pointed out, suddenly grabbing Seokjin's right arm at the exact spot of his burn.

Seokjin cried out in pain as he stopped playing on a low note that echoed loudly throughout the room.

"I-I'm sorry, I won't do it again, so don't hurt me..."

"Stand up," Joonwoo ordered without letting go.

Seokjin immediately stood up and felt the sweat of fever running down his face as he fought against the pain and found it increasingly difficult to concentrate on what was happening around him.

"I'll give you the chance to escape this night, since it's your first," Joonwoo told him in a falsely nice tone.

"Eh?" Seokjin said, taken aback.

"Hey Joon, you know he's fast, right?" Heungmin said, somewhat taken aback by his friend's proposition to their victim.

Joonwoo smiled amusedly.

"Yes, I know. The reverse wouldn't be funny."

He was full of confidence and Seokjin suddenly realized that Joonwoo was tall and his long legs probably made him fast. He had been wrong to consider him simply an intellectual when he was built like an athlete.

Seeing that Seokjin was examining him from head to toe, Joonwoo leaned towards him and whispered:

"Let's see which one of us is faster, the footballer with short legs and weak lungs or me. But if you lose, no matter what Heungmin says, I'll let Jaekyeon break your leg."

Shivering in horror at this threat, Seokjin turned to the  only first year boy in the small group named Jaekyeon who gave him a predatory smile, as if he was happy to have been designated for this mission.

He thanked the heavens that Heungmin refused to injure his leg before. He had to run fast. Really fast. He had spent time working on his running and endurance and knew he could run fast, especially at such a critical time in his life.

He would run to his room where he would be safe with Yoongi and Taehyung. There, he would tell them what had happened to him and then together, they would go to Director Kang and do everything to have these crazy students expelled from this establishment.

"Run, Seokjin," Joonwoo ordered  in a soft voice before shouting : "... RUN!"

So Seokjin took off running, starting faster than he had ever done before, feeling like he was risking his life if he got caught, which he might. Despite an unexpected speed, Joonwoo was fortunately slower because he was less trained than him and Seokjin was quickly aware of this and full of regained confidence.

He reached the door in no time, put his hand on the doorknob and pulled. The door did not open.

"You have to pull harder Jin!" Heungmin shouted at him with amusement while Jaekyeon, Dongmin and Jihoon burst into mocking laughter seeing Joonwoo move closer to Seokjin and slow down, seeing that he was stuck.

The door was indeed so heavy that Seokjin had thought it was locked. This time he used both hands to pull but as he contracted, his burned arm hurt. It didn't matter, he had to get out.

When, finally, the door moved enough for him to infiltrate through the gap before Joonwoo arrived on him, he considered himself saved because once on the stairs, nothing could stop him.

But from outside someone started pushing the door and Seokjin found himself stuck, convinced that the seventh member of the group had finally arrived, that Joonwoo knew he was waiting for him behind the door and that was why it had amused him so much to play tag like that.

But when Seokjin finally discovered the identity of the newcomer, he instantly froze. Then, relieved, he exclaimed:

"Please! Please help me !"