Oddinary? - A Stray Kids Story

Chapter 3: Red

 Before the sun was even up, Felix suddenly jolted awake. He looked around the room he was in. He bunked with Jeongin last night and fell asleep quite quickly. He laid down and tried to fall asleep again but his body didn't cooperate with him. As he sat up again, Felix noticed that Jeongin was still asleep so he quietly put on some slippers and tiptoed out to the living room. He'd brought one of his books with him and sat down to read it. He switched on one of the living room lights so he could see the words on the book. He spent a good hour reading and eventually tiptoed back to his bed in Jeongin's room and drifted off to sleep. A couple hours later, Felix woke up and checked the clock. It read 6:49 am. He got up and entered the kitchen to start making breakfast. He opened the fridge and cabinets to check what they had in stock, which was quite a lot. Felix quickly decided on what to make and started getting ready to cook.

A couple minutes later, Jeongin woke up from his peaceful sleep and tossed the blanket off his body. He noticed that the bed that Felix was sleeping on was empty of the blonde. Jeongin got up and exited his room only to be met with the smell of cooking meat. He followed the smell to the kitchen and spotted Felix cooking something on the stove. The blonde noticed Jeongin and smiled.

"Good morning, Innie. How was your sleep?"

"It was good. What are you making, hyung?" Jeongin asked, sitting on the couch.

"Pork belly and ramyeon. What would you like for breakfast?"

"I'd like the same as you."

"Another serving of ramyeon coming right up!" Felix ducked behind the counter to take another packet of ramyeon.

One by one the other members woke up and entered the living room. Minho helped Felix to make breakfast and they ate in a cheery atmosphere. After breakfast, Han led Felix to a room where a bunch of different weapons, specifically guns.

"These guns have the technology needed to kill the sound monsters. I created them with Minho hyung and we've been tweaking them to make them more effective." Han explained. "You can take any of them except for the ones on that table over there. Those are the other members' guns that they already chose." Felix spotted one that felt like it was calling him. He approached it, Han a few steps behind him. Felix felt a warm sensation spreading through his fingers as he held the gun.

"What made you choose that gun, Felix?" Han asked out of curiosity.

"I felt like it was calling me. Why did you ask?"

"That's one of the most powerful guns we have, but it's hard for any of us to hit a target with it. It requires a stable hand and good accuracy to handle that gun. Are you sure you can handle it? I'm not saying you're not capable of handling it but-"

"I understand what you mean, Hannie, don't worry. I think I'll do fine with it." Felix reassured him.

"Alright.. just be careful later. You'll join me, Minho hyung and Seungmin and we'll see how good you are with the gun." Han told him. The door creaked open and the two turned to see Minho poke his head in the room.

"We'll be heading out in a few minutes, get ready." He said before leaving and closing the door. Han handed Felix a pair of headphones and explained that they had special technology that blocks out the sound monsters' deafening screams.

A couple minutes later, the two left the shop with Minho and Seungmin after bidding the others goodbye and a lecture from Chan. They got in Minho's car and he started driving. After a good few minutes he stopped in front of a warehouse and killed the engine. The others took this as the signal to get out and put on their headphones. When they all had their headphones on, they approached the warehouse door, which Minho kicked open. They charged in and started shooting. Felix found it quite easy to use the gun and found himself shooting any sound monsters he saw. He ran around the warehouse, shooting sound monsters left and right. It was like something in his head was telling him to just shoot. Minho, Han and Seungmin were impressed by how good Felix was with the gun.

"Are you sure you didn't change anything on that gun, Han?" Seungmin asked as he lowered his gun for a moment.

"I swear, I didn't touch it since Innie returned it to me saying that he couldn't work with it." Han replied, who had stopped shooting to take a breath. Minho joined them as Felix seemed to be able to handle them like a pro.

"No one's been able to handle that gun properly except for Chan hyung, and even he had a difficult time with it." Minho reminded the two.

"Felix did say the gun felt like it was calling him earlier when I showed him the selection." Han remembered. Seungmin just brushed it off and started shooting again.

After a few minutes of shooting, Felix started getting tired. He ran all around the warehouse, shooting in every possible direction and killed a lot of sound monsters. He felt horrible inside. He felt horrible that his friends were dealing with these sound monsters for five years while he was cooped up in his apartment, doing nothing but fighting with his own thoughts. He was useless over the past five years and he was determined to make up for his absence, even if it meant driving his body to the breaking point. Felix didn't stop to take a break from shooting in the warehouse, even if his legs were starting to ache. He was slowly driven insane with every negative thought.

Only helping them after five years?

You're such a coward!

Useless.

Worthless.

Crybaby!

Why bother now? You couldn't help them for five years, so why bother helping them now?

They're better off without you.

All Felix could see was red. He shot in every possible direction, killing any sound monsters in his sight. He wasn't worthless. He wasn't useless. He wasn't cowardly. He could hear his friends' shouts of worry but Felix continued shooting until there was barely any left. By the time he killed the last sound monster, his legs were sore, his head was spinning and he himself was on the verge of collapsing. Before he completely collapsed though, Minho had managed to catch him and helped him to stand up straight.

"Are you okay, Lixie?" Han asked worriedly as he and Seungmin approached them.

"I'm fine, Hannie. Did we miss any sound monsters?"

"I don't think so, you cleared the warehouse clean of them." Seungmin replied.

"Let's go back home, you need to rest." Minho said, helping Felix walk to the warehouse door, Han and Seungmin in tow. As soon as Felix sat down in the car, he was knocked out cold.

"Lix? Felix?"

"He just passed out from exhaustion, Hannie." Seungmin reassured him. "He'll be fine later, he just needs some rest." As Minho started up the engine, he smiled.

"I must say, he did very well against the sound monsters despite the fact that it's his first time fighting any. He's quite a natural."

The three discussed Felix's incredible performance in the warehouse on the way home and concluded to let him keep the gun. He proved that he could handle the gun just fine, after all. Minho, however, noticed that something changed in Felix when he was fighting the sound monsters. He was worried about the younger. Very worried, actually. He knew Felix was the type to blame himself for anything bad that happened to those around him, even if it wasn't his fault. He knew Felix blamed himself for their disappearance five years ago, even though there was no way it was his fault whatsoever. He prayed that Felix was not suffering under some unknown side effects of the gun.