𝘞𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨: 𝘈𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘦, 𝘝𝘪𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦, 𝘐𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘓𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘶𝘢𝘨𝘦

⊱ ────── {.⋅ Third POV ⋅.} ───── ⊰

"G-Guys... I-I'm s-sorry... I'm being a-abused...."

Hyuk's head was pounding from the alcohol he was forced to ingest. Despite that, even the alcohol couldn't help him digest the sentence that came from the crying Xen. Between each breath came a gasp for air, his lips trembled as he tried to surface the words he had been meaning to say. His face was as red as a tomato, but mostly from the cold atmosphere outside.

The members surrounded him, trying to comfort him in any way they could. First and foremost, they needed to figure out what had happened prior to Xen returning home. Everyone fired questions at him hoping to get a response, all it did though was overwhelm him.

"I-I can't t-tell you who i-it is-" He stammered, trying to not to give away too much detail as to what happened.

The members all had mixed emotions: some were worried, whereas others were pissed off at the secrecy. One person in particular was Yang Hyuk. Although the victim and the idol didn't know each other 'Pre-OX', he still hated secrets between him and the other members. He had always strived to be the one the members could find solace in.

"Lee Jinwoo!" He finally spoke up. All ten other members went silent at his sudden reaction. "You better tell us who it is, or else we can't help," Hyuk tried to reason.

An audible breath was taken by Xen before he came to his senses. "I-It was... the woman..."

The dorms fell silent. No further questions were asked about who the suspect was. That's all the members needed to know. Jaehan coughed loudly, which distracted the members from wandering further into their thoughts and memories. All eyes were awkwardly on Jaehan now. A hesitant demeanor is all he could display before he was saved by Taedong's comment.

"Did the manager hurt you, too?" The twenty-five year old inquired. This question left everyone feeling uneasily. Not because of the thought, but because it had already been true for everyone.

Hwichan's voice, which had been lost in the crowd, finally resurfaced in time to pitch his curiosity. "Can we clear something up?" He asked without asking. "Have we all been going through this with the three of them? The manager, his wife, and the CEO's BS?"

Everyone fell unnaturally silent. This left a half-confirmation of his question. However, the silence caused friction in Hwichan's mind, and urged him to speak up again. "Yah! Come on, we all have, haven't we?"

Finally, a reaction was provoked from everyone. Nodding their heads, the members officially clarified, later looking down on the ground to avoid each other's gaze. The embarrassment and knowledge of such events was like nothing they had ever experienced.

"Guys. We need to do something. I've seen the way the manager and CEO talks to everyone here. We all know the crap Seonghee has been doing to us. I've seen you guys... during practice... it's obvious. It's happened to all of us," Sebin made an effort to reason with everyone.

There was a brief moment of silence. Then one bold voice announced from the corner, "We should sue," This left the rest of the members shocked. Not once had our ever-so-quiet Jehyun ever said something so bravely with so much seriousness and confidence before. They could all tell, he was being dead serious.

A huff escaped Junghoon. "All in favor say 'For X',"

"C'mon Junghoon. That's not fair to use our fans as a decision breaker." Kevin retorted passively.

Yet another wave of silence passed. Breaking the silence, an unknown voice spoke.

"For X," He said. Everyone turned to see who it was. It was Jaehan, the leader of the 10 boys. Once he made this move, the others gathered the courage to chime in. It went on until every member made the agreement.

"For Baby," Yechan spoke. "This is for 우리 포엑이 (Our Po-aegi/ For Baby)."

Jaehan was grateful. This meant no more beatings, curse words, anxiety attacks, or getting touched in ways he did not feel comfortable. The only people he was ever able to trust were his members and that's it. Even the staff caused him to raise his guard when he was around them. At least after the first incident of Kang Seonghee sneaking into their practice room and secretly filming them.

They were all thankful that this would be the last few days they'd have to put up with the abuse BS before leaving Spire. Just a little bit longer until their first whole album 'Store Written In Music' comes out, then they could leave as if they had never joined.

It's easier said than done, though.

⊱ ────── {.⋅ Hyuk POV ⋅.} ───── ⊰

My foot hurts. So did my thighs, but I didn't say anything about it. I just figured it'd go away on its own. My elbow is itchy too, which is rare, but I didn't scratch it. I'm scared that if I do, then the viewers on the V-Live will think I'm weird. I'm kind of just chilling with Hwichan. We just finished filming our rock cover of Play Dumb. Yup, our title track for our new whole album- which didn't fit my aesthetic, but I still like it. It's been months since our conversation about suing Spire. It's been about a month since 'Story Written In Music' was finally released to the public, yet they want us to start working on our next EP as soon as possible.

Pathetic, ain't it?

As these thoughts occurred in my mind, I shot Hwichan a look that suggested we should end the live. For the first time, he understood my weird expressions, and proceeded to say goodbye to everyone. He stood up and waved to the camera. He even threw in a little aegyo to make it seem cute as if I didn't just death-stare him five seconds ago. Once that was done, he went over to get the camera. I waved bye one last time, thanked For X, then continued once again into my thoughts.

I find it quite fascinating. I can see the whole neighborhood from where I'm sitting. It's the God-Knows-What floor of some building in Seoul. I don't know how I got here, I just followed Hwichan. It's not too high up, maybe 5-6 stories high. I mean the window, not the building. No, the building is like 20 stories tall. It's the Hyuk of all buildings, and we're on Hwichan level right now.

I externally smiled. Hahaha-

Okay, that wasn't funny. Sorry, God, for being mean to my friend.

It's not like he can hear me tho-

"Hyuk," Oh damn. Maybe he can. "Are you okay? You've been zoned out for a solid five minutes now," Hwichan looked at me. The sunlight hit him perfectly from where I was sitting on the ground across from the window. Damn, he's angelic in this lighting. Never noticed how good looking of a dude he is until now.

"What happened to suing? We talked about it but barely brought it up ever again," I asked him as I scratched my elbow. What? Can you blame me? It's not like For X could see us now.

"Oh..." He sounded a little disappointed. "So that's what's been on your mind? Hmm... I don't know. I thought we agreed too some time after 'Story Written In Music'?" He crossed-questioned me. I don't know why he's asking me of all people. If anything, we should be asking Junghoon. It was his idea, not mine.

Then again, we did all agree, so in a way it's our idea.

"No clue. Should we ask Junghoon?"

"Nah, I'd leave it be until someone brings it up again. We probably should though, if... no one brings it up..."

I don't even have the slightest idea as to why he sounded so unsure at the end of his sentence. Either way, the apprehensive answer made me feel insecure. It feels like I need confirmation now. I slid my phone out of my pocket. From there, I clicked on Junghoon's contact and texted him.

-Junghoon-

Me: Hyunnngggg

Hoonie: Hmm?

Me: Are we suing????

Hoonie: ....

Hoonie: I'm calling you, hold on

He wasn't calling me. Not for another five minutes after that. Once he did, I picked up. A sweet smile crossed my face as I answered. It's Junghoon Hyung, we all love him. It's hard not to smile when you hear his voice.

"Yobuseyo-"

"Hyuk-ah!" He sounded slightly annoyed. That's when the realization hit. He's mad at me because we aren't supposed to talk about the situation over text. The company tends to take our phones, so if we talk about this, they'll go through everything and see it.

"Ohhhhh," I voiced dramatically, stretching the sound so he could tell I had just realized my mistake. "Mah bad.... hahaha," the awkward laugh at the end didn't help my case.

"Yah! Yang Hyuk! Aish- how could you be so-" he growled angrily, but in a friendly-ish kind of way.

"No no no, Hyung! I'll delete it, hold on!" I said as I clicked on the messages, deleting them from the interface of my phone.

"Listen, if you're calling about the whole suing thing," Yes, I am. I even said that. "Then all I can say is we've agreed to do it soon. Remember that Love Me Like English version we recorded?"

"The one that we debated not to put on the album?" I further questioned.

Hwichan looked at me. "I thought we didn't put it on there because Jaehan screwed it up?"

I hissed at him, telling him non-verbally that he shouldn't say stuff like that. We all knew that it wasn't Jaehan's fault. Still, Hwichan laughed. Mostly from my reaction rather than anything else. The lack of response to Junghoon must've made him curious because seconds later he tried to get my attention.

"Hyuk? Is Hwichan there?" Junghoon asked over the phone.

I responded. "Yes, why?"

"Because I need you both to hear this. We're going to file a lawsuit. We just have to wait until the English version of Love Me Like is out. That's what got us into this mess anyways, didn't it? You heard the stuff Jaehan told us..."

I nodded, although Junghoon couldn't see. The thought crossed my mind to put the call on speaker so Hwichan could talk too. It wasn't before because I had my headset volume jacked up all the way. I have no idea why though.

I did as I thought, providing my Hyung the opportunity to speak with 'Hyung Number Nine' as I liked to call him. Only behind his back, of course. He'd feel insignificant if I ever dared to say that to his face.

"Junghoon-ah," Hwichan called. I had almost forgotten Hwichan was older than us both.

"Yes, Hyung?" That sounded weird coming from Junghoon, although he's always been such a polite guy.

"Where are you guys right now?"

"On the roof,"

"What?"

"We're on the roof filming a TikTok. Taedong, Kevin, and Yechan Hyung. I'm just watching. Yechan and I were gonna-"

"Besides the point," Hwichan caught off this younger member. "What about-"

Interrupting our conversation, the sound of someone crying broke out on the other side of the call. Both Hwichan and I exchanged confused glances towards each other. The uncertainty of who it was became later revealed when one of the members- who I believe to be Kevin- went up to the crying person, calling their name as he (I think?) hugged him. I couldn't tell, the reception was starting to glitch out. Also, I don't have eyes in Junghoon's phone.

"Hangyeom! What's wrong?" He asked in a concerned voice.

"K-Kang S-Seonghee that SON OF A BASTARD!" He screamed, weeping heavily.

"What did she do?" Asked Taedong. Assuming they all moved closer to him, both Hwichan and I listened attentively.

"Sh-She..." He wasn't able to get the words out. I could tell, he was choking up every sentence. After a few seconds, he probably whispered something to one of the members because a loud, audible gasp came from nowhere.

Junghoon's voice deepened. "I'm gonna kill her,"

"What? What happened? Junghoon, talk to us, what's going on?" I demanded clarification and a proper explanation. I changed my mind seconds later.

"You know what? Screw it, I'm on my way," I stated firmly. No one was going to change my mind. That whore has already done and said unspeakable things to me and my members. This time, she's crossed the line.

"No, Hyuk! We've got this-"

"Where are the others?"

"They're in the practice ro-"

I hung up hastily, making sure to waste no time. I'm the 'muscle man' of the group. If they can't stand up and get people to back off on their own, I'm supposed to be there.

Yet I've already failed them.

⊱ ────── {.⋅ εїз ⋅.} ───── ⊰

I sprinted up to the rooftop, leaving Hwichan in my dust. Though I felt bad, dealing with this was much more important. The door swung open with a loud 'bang' and I strutted out. That strut turned into a sprint by the time I reached Hangyeom. Getting bad didn't take long, only 8 minutes and some spare change.

Hangyeom looked pale, the rest of the members frightened as they stared in my direction. Something about this gave me a weird feeling. As if they weren't looking at me. As if they witnessed murder.

I hesitated. "W-What...?"

Slowly, I turned around to see what they were looking at. Sure enough, it was as bad as I had thought. Everyone was wide-eyed in shock at the scene going on behind me. I froze as my eyes witnessed something I wished I had never seen.

The manager stood behind me, angered. His hands were in fists, and his jaw was clenched. On the floor by his feet lay one of the members. Fear sparked in my eyes as Jaehan groaned in pain. This time it had gone too far.

Chills ran down my spine. My heart skipped a beat.

Blood trickled onto the floor.

⊱ ────── {.⋅ εїз ⋅.} ───── ⊰

𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮! 𝐈 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬!

𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 𝟐𝟑𝟔𝟎 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝