Dazzling Light | ATEEZ

Tension

Yeosang noticed Seonghwa had been gone for more than a minute and decided to check on him, allowing Hongjoong to continue playing on his own. He thought Seonghwa was tired so he went to rest in his room, or he got hungry and fixed himself something to eat. When he reaches the kitchen, he was momentarily stunned when he sees Seonghwa sobbing quietly on the floor, trying to pick his phone up with shaky hands.

His shock lasted for about a millisecond before he was rushing towards the blonde and gathering him into his arms. Yeosang checked him for any signs of injuries and when he finds none, he focuses on calming Seonghwa down.

Yeeun's voice is screaming through the phone's loudspeaker, asking them what's going on. Yeosang picks the phone up and brings it to Seonghwa's ear, but the blonde couldn't form words, so he does the talking.

"Y-Yeeun-sunbae? This is Yeosang. S-Seonghwa isn't well well right now... I'll call you back when he's okay... okay?" Yeosang hates how unsure he sounded.

Hongjoong finally noticed their absence and walked into the kitchen, but the small man froze in place, which isn't something Yeosang expected him to do. Being a Polaris worker, he thought Hongjoong would know what do to in situations like this, but alas, he's just as useless as Bora and Yubin said.

"Y-Yeosang? Are your parents in the house? What's happening to Hwa? Is he having a panic attack?" Yeeun bombards him with questions.

Yeosang looks down at Seonghwa. Though the blonde's breathing is a little irregular, he's not hyperventilating, but he's shaking like a leaf and tears are streaming down his cheeks. "I'm not sure if he's having a panic attack, but we don't have a competent adult in the house right now."

He glares at Hongjoong again, but the small man is still staring at them dumbly. With how incompetent he is at his job, Yeosang wonders why he even gets paid. Perhaps Bora didn't have the heart to kick him out of the dorm after he aged out of the foster care system and only hired him out of pity.

"I can contact Polaris if you want. I have their calling card with me." Yeeun asked.

Seonghwa's sobs have dwindled into little whimpers and he's resting his head in the crook of Yeosang's neck. It seems he's calming down on his own. "I think I can handle it. Thanks."

Yeeun breathes a sigh of relief. "Yeah, he's not crying anymore. T-Tell him to message me when he's better, okay?" she says before ending the call.

The younger boy pockets the blonde's phone and looks at Hongjoong one last time. It's as if the small man is lagging in real life and is still processing what's going on. He decides to take matters into his own hands, literally.

"Hey, Hwa. Look at me." Yeosang cups the blonde's cheeks and coaxes him into making eye contact.

Seonghwa's blue eyes are glassy with tears, his bottom lip is quivering as he tries to say something. Yeosang's heart breaks at the sight. He wipes the blonde's tears with his thumbs, but they keep pouring.

Looking directly into Seonghwa's eyes, Yeosang can make out a faint silver halo around his pupil... and suddenly, he was entering the Dreamworld.

It's as if he was submerged inside an icy pool while being stabbed with jagged icicles as he descends, and when he hits the bottom, it breaks under him and he's sucked into a dizzying whirlpool leading to a dimension beyond what is known to man.

~
In the Dreamworld

Yeosang finds himself in an endless white desert basked in perpetual darkness, lit only by the stars above and a faintly glowing tree in the far distance. Harsh winds blow sand all over but they seem to part before him... revealing a blonde boy, completely nude, sitting on the sand, facing away from him.