𝗦𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗡𝗚𝗘𝗥𝗦 𝗦𝗧𝗨𝗖𝗞↷엔하이픈 (en-)

𝘅𝗶𝗶 : 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗳𝗰𝗮𝘀𝗲

The boys had immediately run down the stairs at the sudden noise made by Jake and when they arrived, they saw the older one hugging the unconscious boy's body.

'J-Jake, what happened, what's wrong with Sunoo !?' Jay questioned whole hurriedly running down the stairs.

'W-why is there blood on the floor, Jake ?' Heeseung, the eldest, followed.

'H-h-hyung, when I-I came down to check on S-Sunoo, I saw him unconscious on the floor, his hand covered in scars.' Jake's feeble voice explained. 'B-bring my bag ! Hurry ! We need to treat him !'

Jungwon immediately ran upstairs and hurriedly came back with the bag of Jake.

'Sunoo hyung !' Ni-ki exclaimed, extremely scared and ran down and crouched and say on the floor and supported his hyung on his lap. 'Aah, i shouldn't have left you alone last night, it's all my fault'

'shift your hand a bit, Ni-ki, I need to see the scars' Jake requested and he looked at the wound, rubbing some ointment on a ball of cotton on Sunoo's hand, which had quite a few scratches from which the excretion of blood was much.

Sunghoon brought down a bottle of water and sat on the couch and sprinkled some on Sunoo's face, and the younger one slowly pinched his nose and opened his weak eyes.

He immediately was about to sit up but was pulled down by Ni-ki and Jake who were treating his wound.

'Sunoo, are you okay?' Jay worriedly questioned.

'Y-yes hyung, a bit.' his weak voice replied.

'yah, Sunoo hyung, how did this happen ?'

'I don't know Jungwon, I kept hearing strange noises last night and then I felt something behind me but when I turned around, everything went black.'

'Hyung, I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have left you, I'm really sorry.' Ni-ki said, his head hung low.

'Ni-ki, no, it's not your fault.' Sunoo weakly smiled at the boy and sat up with the help of Sunghoon and Jake. He rested his back against Sunghoon who was sitting on the couch.

'Sunoo, does it sting ?' Heeseung worriedly asked.

'not much, hyung.'

'It won't get infected, don't worry, I bandaged it well so that it won't be prone to the outside air.' Jake assured.

'ah, as expected, our genius Jake hyung.' Sunoo chuckled, trying to remove the heavy atmosphere.

The group then heard sobs and Jay who was alarmed frantically looked around but then realized it was Ni-ki.

The boy hung his head low, and sobbed quietly. 'hyung, I'm sorry, i really am. Only if I had stayed with you, this wouldn't have happened...Only if I had...'

'Ni-ki' Sunoo tried to approach Ni-ki with the support of Sunghoon. His hand reached out the boy's face and caressed it, 'no, Ni-ki, it's not your fault, it's okay, look, I'm fine now.'

'guys, I'll be fine, but hey, i swear that briefcase was definitely giving me some frustration' Sunoo said, trying to divert the topic and understanding it quickly, Heeseung joined, 'oh, did any help ?'

'no hyung, i tried a lot but it still didn't help.'

'don't worry, I'll try it out now, Sunoo' Jay assured the younger one.

*

3 hours. It has been exactly three hours since the 7 of them were collected around the briefcase, each suggesting patterns and Jay working them out.

'okay, i might actually try to break this thing now' Sunghoon frustratingly exclaimed.

'whoever owned this was an absolute idiot !'

'we agree'

'and if I meet that person, i might smash their head.'

'agreed again'

'guys what if we try our birthday dates on it ?'

'we agre-wait what?'

'i said, we should try our birthday dates on it' Sunoo suggested.

'seriously Sunoo ? That's the dumbest thing you've said.' Heeseung replied.

But then seeing Sunoo sulk, Jay quickly turned back to the lock and put, '2406, didn't work'

'jake's, 1511, nope'

'try mine, 1510'

'didn't work'

'hyung, try 0912' Sunoo said.

'whose is it ?' Jay quickly while pressing the numbers.

There was a faint click.

Opened.

The rest sat still, surprised by the click.

'it's mine' Ni-ki quietly confessed making everyone face him. 'the birth date, it's mine.'

Not wanting to waste anymore time, Jay quickly took out the lock and opened the metal latch.

'uh, a rusted paper and a broken computer system ?'

'what the hell is this ?!' Sunghoon rummaged through wires and the computer system. The hope of something useful being the briefcase was gone.

'does anyone know how to set this thing up?'

'i think u can do it' Jay pointed at Jungwon. 'You keep on rummaging with the computer in school'

'that doesn't possibly mean I can set up such an old computer' Jungwon replied but then seeing the hopeful eyes, he said, 'b-but i can try.'

'you can try fixing it up in the library, the old computer in there is useless anyways' Sunoo suggested.

'but what about the paper, guys ?' Heeseung asked.

"The hybrid is the cause of it all,
Stay away and you're safe
Be here and you suffer
The device will have the key
To the Cupid's door."

'uh, am I the only one who didn't understand a thing from this writing ?' Heeseung nervously laughed.

'no hyung, neither did I understand it.' Ni-ki confessed.

'bet i should have taken literature in school' Jay sighed.

______________________

Author's note : hey, so I actually hinted my age once or maybe twice in one of the previous chapters and even mentioned my birthdate. Well, some are curious about my age, so yeah, best of luck for finding it. (nah, you don't really need to find it)

Merry Christmas everyone ! 💞