consequences of memories

58

Third Person's POV

The Guardians met at the park like they talked about, The Boyz and ATEEZ were still nowhere to be found. It has been confirmed that Itaewon was never held hostage which leads to one conclusion, Sunwoo may or may not have lied about that. They searched the whole place but still, there were no traces of their missing members.

Chan, the Captain, tried to keep everything under control. He dispatched some members to be left in Itaewon to patrol the area, a safety precaution just in case things gets messy.

The closest thing they have to finding The Boyz and ATEEZ is the letter IZ*ONE got and oh and right... Dami's clue.

Dami's clue... What could it possibly be? If you think about it, the clue can literally be anything but it came in the form of a letter. Similar to what Yuri found in the hoodie the anonymous girl with the tattoo left.

The IZ*ONE member unknowingly gave each other a look as they were having a hard time understanding everything. The paper Dami's holding was really identical to card they got but when they read the content, both had different ones. And to them, it came out as a greeting from the Crimsons— a grand entrance. You can call it negativity to the highest but upon seeing it gave the Guardians a bad impression, it felt like a warning. A terrible terrible foreshadowing of a dangerous war. Some predicted that the third war will be the war that will end it all, so it's either they end the Crimsons for good or the Crimsons will end them before that. It's either the Crimsons will face their end or the Guardians will. No matter what happens, one has to go and both can't be saved. 

And because of how everything turned out, maybe, Soojin was right about everything. Maybe, the war is really coming. And Yeh Shuhua totally had a point back in the headquarters when she argued with Chan. The situation was fucked up, heck, they wanted to quit due to fear but it won't change anything. Every action they'd make from this point on, leads to the same lone path: the third war. This was bound to happen anyway, they just didn't expect it to come so fast.

Given that the letters are the only thing they have on hand to track down the missing Vigilante Guardian members, they examined it. Almost a hundred times but still, they have nothing. It was if they're inside a maze with no way out.

It was a code. Both had a bar code on the bottom right but whenever it's scanned, nothing shows up.

The first letter, the one IZ*ONE found reads

“Greeting, Vigilante Guardians. How did you like my surprise? Do you know where you are? Knowing the myth behind this place will help you.”

They hate to admit it but they are stuck and the Crimson got them good this time. It hurts their ego so much. Frustrated, Seungmin kicked the nearest tree, "I've done deductions but nothing works. I've tried using the bar code but it isn't working. I've tried decoding it but the only thing I got was randoms numbers and letters! The clue from the letters are so vague! What does this place even mean to this context?!"

"Yah, Seungmin-ah, trees have lives, you know?" Yeonjun pretends to scold Seungmin but in reality, he's just teasing his friend. Heq wanted to lighten up the mood because Yeonjun knew his friend was frustrated. They all were. Seungmin was right, no matter what they do, the clues still doesn't add up.

Seungmin felt slightly embarrassed, so he gave everyone a peace sign before quietly going back to his so called 'deductions'

Even in times like this, the Guardians still found ways to smile. And together, they ought to end the Crimsons for good but how?

“But wait, isn't this place where the Mirror girl myth happened?” It was Saerom. The pretty girl with the pretty voice. Everyone turned to Saerom's direction, some got what the girl was talking about but most of them didn't.