18
18 — EARNING MY TRUST
daniel's appearance had blessed them, yet it broke them apart the same time.
—
wooseok stares at the high ceiling, his glare sharp enough to cause a hailstorm.
"it's been extremely quiet lately." he murmurs.
"i thought you'd be happy with the silence," seungwoo says with a sly smile as he rinses the several potatoes he just bought in the supermarket. "there's no one to bother you."
"hyung, why haven't we met up with the kids again?"
"because i'm busy keeping up with med school, you're busy with your job, the kids are busy with school." seungwoo answers with a sigh. "plus seungyoun is busy running off like a person with no responsibilities alongside daniel."
feeling extremely disoriented, wooseok grabs his phone and called a number. "yohan's not answering."
"he's probably busy."
he switches to another number. "hyeongjun, too."
"the kid's runs here and there, he might not notice."
"dongpyo and dohyon aren't answering either."
"are you sure they're not answering? you made that conclusion up real fast without even pausing for a second. did you really call them?"
"i classify 'not answering after 3 rings' as a dismissed call, at least for a call from me, they usually answer it in a heartbeat." wooseok winces. "minhee's not answering— he's always on his phone! fuck, i almost called junho, stupid me."
"wooseok, calm down—"
"seungyoun! he's not answering his phone, aren't you supposed to be concerned at this point?!" wooseok grumbles as he takes a seat on the sofa and pulls himself a pillow to hurdle.
"wooseok-ah, you're overreacting. please, just calm down." seungwoo places the potatoes in the sink and heads towards him, placing his hand on his back. "are those kids you teach getting into your nerves? you don't seem to be at a stable state at the moment. you want me to make chamomile tea for you?"
wooseok stares at the ground for a few moments before raising his head up, glancing at seungwoo. "hyung,"
"hm?"
"can you please do me a favor?"
"what is it?"
he scrunches his nose, supposedly 'cutely'. "call kang daniel and ask him what's going on..?"
seungwoo couldn't help but strike a laugh. "kang daniel,"
"mmm-mmm!"
"why don't you try calling him yourself?"
"i don't want to sound desperate."
"but you are desperate."
"yeah, but you know i hate his guts!" he yells bitterly like a mad five year old, crossing both of his arms vulnerably.
"i remembered you said, i quote, 'i don't hate kang daniel, i just hate that he always tries to hurt seungyoun'. am i correct?"
"yeah, but now i hate him!"
"and why is that?"
"because he's now always with seungyoun!—" wooseok pauses abruptly. "and that means i have to do the dishes because seungyoun comes home late all the time! i hate it!"
seungwoo chuckles. "for the record, wooseok-ah, the reason why he's barely home is because he volunteers to take care of eunsang, not daniel." he casually takes out his phone. "but as you kept begging me like a boy asking for candy, i let myself grant that one wish of yours, just this once, though." he dials kang daniel's number.
it reaches his voicemail. there's no answer.
"so? did he answer?"
seungwoo shakes his head, now feeling a little dislikable churn in his stomach. "who's the last one to call? hangyul?"
"yeah, try calling him." wooseok replies shortly, now a little too desperate. "if he doesn't pick up, that means we're doomed. hangyul always picks up our calls, he's the best from the group when it comes to loyalty."
seungwoo takes a deep breath and clicks on hangyul's number. they wait.
the first ring..
the second..
third..
wooseok shakes his head a little too vigorously. "no, impossible, he's not picking up—"
"seungwoo-hyung?" hangyul's voice sounds airy and disoriented.
"hangyul-ah! where are you?!" seungwoo asks him in concern. "and why does it sound like you're running, are you okay?"
"hyung, i can't answer you now, i'm sorry—"
"LEE HANGYUL!" wooseok cries out his name through the speakers a little too suddenly. "TELL ME WHAT YOU'RE DOING THIS INSTANCE!"
"wooseok-hyung, i can't." hangyul answers again, now out of breath. "i'm gonna call you again later, but not now. i'm really, really sorry, hyung."
"HANGYUL—"
the call ends from the other line.
a change of expression appears on seungwoo's face. wooseok knows that is not a good sign.
"wooseok-ah, grab the keys." seungwoo says sternly. "we're going to the school. now."
—
"hyung! dohyon-ah, you're here!"
minhee jumps off the building easily, using the high trashbins as stepping stones. he sprints towards the brothers, feeling a gust of relief replenishing him. "i've been waiting for you! i haven't heard anything from the other boys ever since!"
"how long has it been?" hangyul asks. dohyon seems to be too ashamed of himself to even speak.
"more or less an hour." minhee answers quickly. "i'm starting to get worried now, hyung! what possibly could they be doing there?! the set up a machine on top of it for a reason!"
"we still don't know, minhee-yah. all we need to know now is how to help them get out." hangyul clenches his fists. "minhee, dohyon, take cover. tell me if you see anybody come near. stay away from any falling obstacles."
dohyon shakes his head, disagreeing. "no, hyung. we're not gonna do that again."
"yet i'm cleaning up your mess again, dohyon-ah." he snaps. "we don't have any much other choice. move."
hangyul positions both of his legs slightly bent over, his feet glued tightly to the ground. and just with such a simple gesture the earth begins to shake, sending rapid movements everywhere all over the place. minhee and dohyon stares at hangyul in fear, both out of words.
"hangyul, what are you doing?!"
minhee turns around to see seungyoun hastily heading towards them, followed by daniel and eunsang's sister. dohyon raises his hand up. "stop right there, don't get closer!"
"tell hangyul to stop now!" seungyoun recklessly heads towards them without minding the consequences, but was blocked by both minhee and dohyon. "what are you guys doing?!"
"wait, hyung..." hangyul has both his eyes glued towards the building's exit, desperately finding the boys who are trapped in there and hoping that they all return safe. just a little more longer..
he stops once he sees the tall figure of lai guanlin lurking behind the swarm of labcoated scientists. "dongpyo!"
dongpyo turns to him and wave. he grabs jaemin's arm and drags the boy along with him without giving him any pre-context. hyeongjun zaps beside him, with both of his eyes swollen after an immense amount of crying. hangyul was just more or less relieved than mad to see them all safe.
seungyoun's face however shows a whole different emotion. he strikes all of them a look of dissatisfaction. "kim yohan, i told you to trust me—"
"what's the meaning of all this?"
another voice startles them from behind. seungwoo and wooseok. the gaze in seungwoo's face is none that they've ever seen — an emotion they never thought they'd experience from him ever before. the look on seungwoo's face just made wooseok's cold glare appear harmless.
no records found regarding him being outraged.
"someone dares to explain to me what the fuck is going on in here?!" seungwoo's voice gets louder than ever, an obvious contrast from his usual soft voice. "hm? anyone?! yohan-ah, don't be such a coward! show yourself!"
yohan appears from the shadows, obeying his command. dongpyo holds unto hyeongjun as the fear pierces into his skin. he never expects to see the breaking point of his dear idol.
"hyung." wooseok puts his hand on seungwoo's shoulder that just simply looks like it has increased by temperature into a boiling 100 degrees celcius. "we should discuss this somewhere private. there's too many people in here."
seungwoo dislikes the fact that he's getting interrupted, but he nods. "for goodness's sake, let's just go to seungyoun's."
—
a car ride with the hyung never felt this nervewrecking.
when they all reached their destination, each coming from their different routes of transportations, the tension has yet to decrease. jaemin and eunhee just stayed together awkwardly, unaware of what's actually going on. wooseok's doing his best trying to tame seungwoo's anger, though he himself is feeling the most of it too. seungyoun barely even said anything throughout the whole thing.
they reach the house's living room, still in bad relations. seungwoo crosses his arms as he rests his back on a wall. "daniel-ssi, jaemin-ssi and eunhee-ssi, you are welcomed to wait on the second floor, there are plenty of things that could keep you occupied as you wait. we'll call you back when we're done."
seungyoun scowls. "are we really excluding them—"
"we'll be waiting for you." daniel does what he's told without settling off with another argument as he drags both of the high schoolers with him.
"this is a discussion made for the 11— no, 10— ... 9 of us, in this room." seungwoo breathes heavily, controlling his overwhelming anger. "fuck, we're down to nine. did you guys even notice?"
with the absence of eunsang and junho, they could definitely feel the difference. "i lost the two of you. and today, i almost lost another three of you. 5 out of 11, almost half of the team. seriously, do you guys even think before doing anything? is this the best that you can even do?"
the rest stay quiet. wooseok stares from afar, observing everyone's expressions quietly.
"i can't lose another life. please, please i beg you. you might happily turn in yourself to save others, but have you ever considered my feelings at stake, too? i gathered you all here so that i could protect you." his voice breaks. "what is it that i've done wrong? am i too selfish? am i too blunt? what should i do to have you not do anything?" seungwoo turns around, his emotions slowly eating him up. "fuck. i can't do this. i need some fresh air."
he leaves the room without saying anything else, going out to the terrace. seungyoun gets up from his seat. "i'll go and calm him down."
wooseok stops him. "no, you're not going anywhere."
seungyoun looks slightly offended. "have you forgotten that i'm supposedly the peacemaker here?"
"he doesn't want to see you."
"i haven't done anything!"
"yeah, that's the point. you haven't done anything." wooseok points out. "should i be concerned that you keep running off with daniel doing god knows what? where have you been these days?"
hangyul raises his hand to ask permission. "i'll go calm seungwoo-hyung down."
"yeah, you go." wooseok says, approving him. "you're the only sane person in this group anyway."
the dongsaengs look at each other, feeling the extreme shade thrown at them. yohan stares down his feet, embracing the regret that had entirely sucked the life out of him.
"you've changed from being the most trustworthy person in the group into becoming the most secretive out of us all in just a matter of days— did you realize that, seungyoun-ah?" wooseok spits out fearlessly without sparing seungyoun's feelings. "kim yohan is stupid to do things out of spite, but it isn't entirely his fault either. he has a good point for not trusting you."
seungyoun disgruntles. "it's not my fault that i know all of your secrets, but i don't find it fair that i'm not allowed to have some for myself."
"well, i'm not one for peaceful confrontations— and this is such an awkward thing for me to be doing — but i really suggest the both of you to engage in a deep talk." he says, glancing at both yohan and seungyoun. "please, just put an end of this. whatever beef you have against each other, solve it. i hate seeing the two people i despise the most hate each other."
seungyoun crosses his arms. "no need for an apology. the boy still hates my guts."
yohan turns to him, without looking any less judgmental than he was the last time he had a quarrel with seungyoun. "hyung. no matter how stupid i was, i would gladly say that i do not regret anything i did earlier today."
"you don't?"
he nods. "I don't think that we'll be able to solve anything if i did listen to your instruction to stay clueless and quiet. i still believe that there are ways that i could dig into myself, even without your protection. if i did listen to you, i wouldn't have gotten this." he grabs the usb carved in the shape of a snake's head, embroidered with the name 'imnet'.
wooseok blinks a few times. "... and what is that supposed to be?"
yohan lowkey smiles, hard not to express a proud face. "a gift from the lights."
seungyoun starts at the usb blankly. "that's eunsang."
dongpyo squirms. "eunsang turned into a snake?"
-
i didnt execute this chapter as well as i planned it out in my head:/ but it's ok i guess
Excluding your opinions of them as real people in real life, who's your favorite 'character' in this book? (it could be an x1 member or someone else) i'm really curious whose interpretation captured your heart the most :D
my favorite 'character' in this book is actually wooseok, i really enjoy writing his parts. he's both cold and warm, subtly kind and virtuous. i always wanted to expose more of his character development trope but i haven't been able to bc the story has always been focused on eunsang, junho, and seungyoun (with a tint of yohan and dongpyo,) but idk, perhaps i'll include him more in the next chapters?? idk, i don't want to appear like i show too much favoritism HAHAHA
130 votes for next chapter~
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