Fireworks | ATEEZ story

05 - San

The place around the hideout was very similar to where we used to stay. If I had not faced the strange creatures, I would not have believed all the sayings about the different dimensions and the Cromer.

Fortunately, we escaped the hideout safely, and thanks to being familiar with the surrounings, we were able to find our way halfway down in the dark.

Visible spaces were similar to the reality we knew but were also slightly different. Under the cliff where Woo Young saved our Bobo in the past, there used to be a valley and a gigantic rock on top but here, no sounds of water flowing could be heard nor could the gigantic rock be seen. Same, yet strangely different.

By the time I was immersed in such thoughts, I could hear the members laughing. The members, who had been taking a break for a while, were playing with each other, relieved that the Cromer was safe. What Hong Joong had thrown out the window was a piece of glass similar to the Cromer, not the real Cromer.Choi San from Namhae, a boy who moved nations often, now moved the fifth time. He couldn't make any friends during those time periods, but now, he was stuck with the pair of friends last place he lived, that broke the cycle.

He dreamt something weird weeks ago about his alter ego warning him about the New World. The "New World" he heard of wasn't of concern to him nor did he believe it anyway. Night after night, he dreamt of the same face again.

San thought he was having hallucinations, he revolted, even reacted violently whenever his own AE spoke to him, because nothing made sense.

But after seeing his second family after a three year break, he truly believed it this time.

There was no denying it was them. He even wanted to scream out and just hug all of them all at once, but this wasn't a dream where he could do anything he wanted.

Choi San's kind father passed away from stress. So as an adult, he had to take care of himself and Bobo, but it wasn't enough. He doesn't have any family left, so he fell into the depths of despair. A full grown adult with no friends, family nor money, he truly believed he was at the brink of death.

An idea planted into his head, he began acting differently. Thanks to that simple inception, he believed he's gone mad.

His AE, training him every night until the deadline of the crescent moon. Then, twenty-nine days from now, they would all move to the New World in order to 'save' it. Turns out, they were pirates in another life, Choi San truly believed he's gone mad.

San always believed when he was young that he would have a permanent home someday. Judging from now, he was incredibly wrong again.Waking up in a dream within a dream, Choi San's eyes fluttered open once more to be greeted by an unfamiliar environment.

He initially thought that he would wake up in his room again, but soon realized that the place he was suddenly put in became familiar to San, yet something was off.

Same yet different, San thought.

He must be dreaming, so he brought out his totem to confirm. Indeed, he wasn't dreaming at all, but how did he get here?