Long Journey || ATEEZ

A Familiar Face

"Hyungnim," San said coming up to Hongjoong after dinner the next night. "So umm, I— heard from Seonghwa-hyung that you already know I've got a part-time job and all that – but anyway, there's these four other guys who are the same age as me who work there – and they're all really nice people, and I really like them. So I was thinking – could they join our crew? I talked to them about it and they seemed really enthusiastic about it."

"Oh, of course!" Hongjoong replied, breaking out into a friendly smile.

"Aw, really? That's great!" San smiled. He pulled Hongjoong into a hug. "I'll bring them over after work tomorrow so you can meet them!"

And so the next day, after San had finished his Saturday shift, they closed up shop early once again, and headed out over to San's home. San hadn't realised at first, since he had been hungry and spent ages wandering round and round town so many times looking for a good part-time job, but The Witch's Remedy Kitchen was quite far away from his apartment home.

Around five minutes into their quest homewards, San got a text from Seonghwa-hyung that told him that the two other demons were currently out in the market.

San made sure to inform his friends that they were changing directions, and continued to lead the party, the four behind them conversing amongst themselves.

After a while, as the sun beat down on them and Wooyoung's complaints about the heat and the sweat drenching his shirt grew louder and louder, San finally caught a wave of Dark Energy presence that was familiar and comforting. Already relaxing slightly, and as Wooyoung asked for the fiftieth time if they were nearly there, he turned to his friends with a bright smile.

"Yep!" he said cheerfully. "I can sense Hongjoongie-hyung and Seonghwa-hyung up ahead!"

Seonghwa.

Mingi still couldn't shake off that uneasy feeling of familiarity that that name had with him whenever it was mentioned. At first, he had assumed it was another of the same name from his high school days, but upon relaying this idea to Yunho, all he had received was a puzzled response of having never heard the name. He shivered involuntarily, but tried to push the unease down. No point in worrying nor concerning himself over an unsolvable problem.

Just then, San spotted the familiar figures of his two hyungs, standing quite close by, actually, and jumped up and down in greeting as he waved enthusiastically and beckoned his friends to follow.

"There they are—Hyung! Hongjoongie-hyung! Seonghwa-hyung! Hi – I've brought my friends over!" San yelled happily, and rushed over, the other four teens following suit.

Mingi came to a halt as he stared at the taller of the two – a rather solemn-looking, ash-grey haired individual with amber eyes and sharp features.

And then, finally, it clicked; the reason why the name of this individual had rung out a familiar tune with the little fairy finally wormed its way to him, and his mouth dropped open almost comically in horror and shock.

"Wait...that's...!" he stuttered, before taking refuge at his safe place – which, incidentally, happened to be behind Yunho. His fingers gripped Yunho's arm tightly, trembling, as he screwed his eyes shut.

"Are you okay?" Wooyoung asked as Yunho tried to twist awkwardly to face his friend.

Mingi shook his head violently.

"Why? What's wrong?" San asked, approaching. His face was coated in clueless puzzlement. "Do you know Seonghwa-hyung?"

"Y-yes..." Mingi whimpered. "He was—he was in this gang I used to work in..."