Burn

2

Hoseok woke up in a dimly lit room, hands tied behind his back. He got up on wobbly legs. In front of him was a camera, the red light blinking. Hoseok glanced around the room, finding it bare except a mattress and an empty bookshelf. There was a window too, but Hoseok didn't get a good look at it when the door suddenly burst open.

In came the bearded man from before's goons, wearing all black and had masks covering their faces. That could only mean trouble, and Hoseok was right as they started manhandling him. One of the men forced him to his knees by kicking the back of his legs. He bit back a groan as his knees hit the wooden floor. He tried fighting back, but he was pushed to the ground.

When he tried getting up he was kicked in the stomach, making the brunette groan and wish he could wrap his arms around his stomach. The guys laughing at him made Hoseok try to fight back again. A hit to the head made him dizzy and stumble, not being able to get away from the hand that grabbed him. He was shoved to his knees again, hands in his shoulders keeping him down.

"This one's a fighter," One of the men commented. "Should we do something about that before the video?"

"Yeah," The other man said, his voice laced with amusement. "Some encouragement might do him good."

Hoseok didn't know what they meant by encouragement but he knew he didn't like it. He was proven right by his shirt sleeve getting rolled up before something sharp pricked his shoulder. Hoseok yelped and tried to get away but he the hold he was in didn't budge. After a few seconds the needle was gone, Hoseok's shoulder throbbing in pain. Soon he began to get dizzy and had a fluttering feeling appear in his chest.

"There you go," One of the men said, though his voice was garbled in Hoseok's ears. "That wasn't so bad was it?"

Hoseok tried to reply, to curse at the man but he couldn't. It was as if his mouth was stuffed with cotton. He heard the two men laugh, sounding far away and in his head at the same time. He wanted to cover his ears from all the loud sounds but since his hands were still tied he couldn't. Man One pulled him up his hair while Man Two shoved a rag in his mouth.

It tasted dusty and gross on his tongue so he tried to spit it out. That only resulted in a slap to the face and the rag being tied around his head. Hoseok groaned and slumped forward as Man One let go of his hair. The brunette looked up through blurry eyes, noticing that the camera was pointed at him. There were several shuttering sounds before a high pitched beep sounded out from the camera.

"This is what happens when you mess with one of our own," Man One began speaking, kicking Hoseok's back to make him collapse on the floor. "Take this as a warning."

What happened next was anyone's guess. Man Two walked into view and took Hoseok by his hair. He threw Hoseok around like a ragdoll, the idol groaning every time he hit the wooden floor. When Hoseok tried defending himself by kicking the man's legs, that's when it got worse. The man straddled him and began punching him.

He punched him for what seemed like hours. When he was finally done, Hoseok couldn't move. His vision was blurry as tears rolled down his cheeks. Something else rolled down his cheeks too but he didn't want to think about what it was. Man Two got up and wiped his face, sticky with sweat.

"You got all that right?" Man Two asked with a breathless chuckle.

"I might have to cut it shorter," Man One said, looking at the camera. "You really did a number on him didn't ya?"

"The guy's a good punching bag," Man Two replied, causing both the men to laugh. "Might not be able to to the interrogation though, but Bossman seems like he's got his hands full already."