Acceleration [Book 1]

42: Unhinged Captors

⊱⋅ ─ 42: UNHINGED CAPTORS

Chan woke up in a jolt, his hair soaked in his sweat, a soft yet cold breeze licked against his bare skin. He looked around, for a face, any familiarity at all to bring him to his sanity, but all he saw was pure darkness.

The last things he remembered were the image of his brothers being taken away by imposters, the cries and screams of the women that were with them and... Felix.

"Felix!" He called, only to hear his voice echo and fade into the darkness. He tried to move in the dark, then he heard it chime - chains - and felt its coldness against his bare skin, he was tied up in chains.

"Felix!" Screamed Chan against his burning throat, only to hear someone sniggering somewhere inside the dark place, his laughs only echoing and ringing in Chan's ears.

The pale lad's eyes had finally adjusted to the darkness, as he frantically looked around, he found Jungwoo at one side, holding a butterfly knife, seemingly playing with it as he stared at Chan, still laughing.

"You're finally awake," Jungwoo's eyes lit up in devious delight, stepping closer to Chan, the knife still in his hand, "so unfair, I was betting with myself that if you're still asleep in the next five minutes, I would have killed you."

"Why the fuck are you here?" Snarled Chan at the latter, only getting a smirk in return.

"Why, Taeyong wanted to enjoy the fun with more people," Jungwoo explained, slowly circling around Chan, "thus, my presence."

"Where are the others?" Queried Chan, later on swallowing the lump in his throat, nausea hitting his system quick.

"I don't know where, exactly, but you have to be more specific," Jungwoo now stood before Chan, the knife now hidden away and Jungwoo's hands tucked into his coat's pockets, "if you want to know where your beloved brothers are, they're somewhere here." Jungwoo finally answered.

"Somewhere here?" Chan raised a brow at Jungwoo, his headache only got worse when he did this, the cold didn't help his situation, his fingers and toes were growing numb in this temperature.

"Yes, Felix's family is under good care, while Felix," Jungwoo paused, long - longer than he intended, "well, let's say that Taeyong is taking his time with that... What should I even call him?" Jungwoo hummed as he sat comfortably on the chair right before Chan, "Ah! Right, diamond in the rough."

"What else does Taeyong want from Felix aside from revenge from me?" Chan asked, seeing white smoke coming from his mouth due to the cold.

"That, I can't confirm," Jungwoo replied, eyes trained on his own nails, then his eyes fixated on Chan, a smirk broke onto the serious line on his face, "but I know it will surely break you and your pathetic troupe of criminals to bits."

"What are you going to do with us?" Chan asked, wishing he had enough strength to break free off of the chains, even though he knew that it would be very much impossible if he had full strength.

"I'm glad you asked," Jungwoo proudly grinned and stood on his feet, "Taeyong is holding a long term event in celebration of his winning the presidential election."

Chan was stunned, as if he felt a million flaming arrows pierce his body, as if cold water was poured over him, the hardest slap into reality and the largest and most difficult pill to swallow.

Taeyong won?

"Yes," Jungwoo perked up, as if he read Chan's mind, the latter could read Chan like an open book while he was weak and at the brink of death, "you heard that right, and so, in return, his first project is an entertainment hall, and you're the main event." Jungwoo enthusiastically explained as if it was the greatest thing ever created in the world.