WHO ARE YOU?|ATEEZ FANFIC (In Editing Progress)

Chapter 27|Me, myself and I|Dazzling light

Sighing, Yunho stood in front of the entrance door of a small shop, right on the corner of the intersection where he and his friends had split up. It was a music store, specializing in stringed instruments, as he could tell from all the guitars in the shop window. The lights inside were off, and the sign on the door was turned so that it read 'Closed' from outside the shop. The shop was closed. Yunho hesitated and considered. Could he just go in anyway? He unfolded the letter in his hand to double-check that he was in the right place.

"Go to the guitar shop at the intersection on the outskirts of town." He read the first part of his task quietly and then looked around. He was standing in front of a shop for stringed instruments in general, not specifically for guitars, but he couldn't find another shop of this kind in the immediate vicinity, and he had seen on the city map in the warehouse that he was at the right intersection. This was the right place for him.  Pondering, he turned back to the shop and took a few steps closer. With his hands against the glass to block the sun and get rid of the reflection, he leaned closer, trying to see inside, but it was too dark, and all he could see were the shadows of shelves and walls lined with guitars, mounted on racks all the way up to the ceiling. Frustrated, Yunho sighed and took a step back.

"Then I'll add 'burglar' to the list of things this place makes me," he muttered, taking a step back from the door. He considered the best way to go about it. It was a door that was 80 percent window, with a wooden frame and a gold metal handle. Opening the door without necessarily shattering the glass might be difficult.  To be absolutely sure that breaking down the door was even necessary, he first grabbed the doorknob and gently pushed it down, but again, as expected, the door stuck in the doorframe, and Yunho sighed in frustration.

"Fine, then, like this." He took a deep breath and hunched his shoulders, grabbed the doorknob, and gathered all his strength for a moment before throwing himself with all his weight against the wooden frame of the door, hearing the door lock break loudly from the pressure. The door swung open, and Yunho stumbled after it, barely catching himself before he fell to the floor in the shop, gasping.

"Ouch..." he mumbled, rubbing his shoulder with a pout. That hurt. He'd probably have had an easier time with Jongho or Hongjoong.  Jongho had simply smashed the window without giving much thought to the fact that the shop owner might come back at some point and not only find the window broken on the floor, but would also have to replace it. Hongjoong had simply picked the lock for him, just like he had done with the captain's cabin door lock in the illusion. Yunho still didn't understand how he had done it, but now it was too late anyway. The door was open, the lock was broken. Taking a deep breath, Yunho looked around the dark shop and it took him a moment to see anything. "Isn't there a light here?" he grumbled. How was he supposed to find anything in this darkness? He looked around, first looking for a light switch to shed some light into the shop. After a few minutes of blindly searching, he finally found a small lamp by the cash register and turned it on. The area of the store immediately lit up, and Yunho could see much more. Now that he could see, he turned around and took a rough look at the store. It wasn't particularly large, but with the number of guitars he saw, it might take a while to complete his task. He had to find a very specific guitar with Yunho's last name engraved on it. That's all he knew. He didn't know what kind of guitar it was—electric, acoustic, or acoustic—or any other type Yunho couldn't even think of off the top of his head. He didn't know the color or the condition of the guitar.  There were clearly two sections to this store. On one side of the store, the fresh varnish of the new guitars gleamed in the warm light of the desk lamp, while at the very back, a large sign read 'Second-hand,' where some guitars looked more like they belonged in a dump than in a reputable shop. Frustrated, Yunho ran his hand through his black hair.

"Needle in a haystack..." he muttered, shaking his head.

"Easy peasy." With that, he walked away from the brightly lit reception desk and began his search for his guitar. He already knew it would take quite a while in this store. There were so many guitars here, even though the store was too small and without any clue as to what exactly he was looking for, he already knew he would spend at least two or three hours here. Maybe even more. He started near the reception desk. He took every single guitar he could find and searched the entire instrument by its last name.  He searched the guitar's neck, the body, the headstock, and the corresponding tuning pegs. He even shone his desk lamp inside the guitars, but found nothing. By the time he held the last guitar in his hand on the reception side of the store, an hour had certainly passed. He shone the light on it and searched intently, albeit with considerable frustration, for the inscription, but he couldn't find his last name on this guitar either. Sighing, he put the guitar back where he had found it and turned to the rest of the store.