Refuge Area | Seventeen

1.

Alessia stood at the camera's blind spot of her university, trying her best to not be caught by anyone. It was dead in the cold chilly night in late October. She stood there waiting for her best friend, Lucila. In literal words, Lucila had told her, ❝ I'll be there at 2:45 am. I promise! ❞ And it was nice at 3.05 am already. Lucila wasn't picking up her phone either which was adding fuel to Alessia's anger.

Then comes the major question that arose, why were they planning to sneak out that late in the night? and most importantly, why not together? Well, Alessia is an Accounting major student whereas Lucila is a Physics major student. Both have got different rooms in different buildings but the university is the one huge building with eight floors, the top floor being the most suspicious, The Refuge Area.

Alessia eagerly tapped her feet the sound being inaudible. She was worried that Lucila wouldn't be joining in anymore. Right when Alessia was about to turn around and leave, a loud thud was heard. She quickly turned around to find the light brown ground which was earlier full of dust, now filled up with the dark red color mixing with it. The body had fallen from the eighth floor, the refuge area, painting the entire ground red.

' This is fucking crazy ' Alessia thought to herself as she hissed lightly, closing her eyes not being able to watch the scene unfold in front of her eyes. The smell of the blood made her feel nauseous. She was so immersed in shock, that she was about to scream but before that a hand wrapped around her waist while the other covered her mouth with a cloth, instantly shutting her mouth and finally making her pass out too. Alessia fell into the guy's muscular arms.

❝ What? I told you not to drug anyone innocent, Mingyu! ❞ The leader asked, he was the person all twelve of them considered as an elder brother and they all flinched at his tone. They knew they were in huge trouble because of Mingyu so they glared at him instead. ❝ Seungcheol I had no option! She would've screamed if I didn't do that. I'm an apparent stranger to her! She would've cried for help and then woken everyone up. ❞  Seungcheol heaved a loud sigh making everyone look at him.  ❝ How long till she wakes up? ❞ Another one asked as Mingyu displayed 4 on his fingers indicating that she would take approximately four hours to get back to being conscious. The eldest motioned Mingyu to come to his cabin Mingyu took a deep breath, scared about whatever was going to unfold for him. The other 11 gave him pity glances before walking back to doing their work.

❝ What were you doing there? ❞ Seungcheol questioned Mingyu as he reached his cabin since Seungcheol was curious how he got a girl back at their hidden place. ❝  She surely looks like a university student.❞ He said glancing at her sleeping posture before turning to Mingyu. ❝ Well, I wasn't planning to do anything, cut that I don't even know her. She happened to witness the crime taking place and it wasn't safe to leave her alone at 3 am while that killer was on the round so I had to get her to a safer place.❞ Mingyu paused glancing at the scary face ahead of him as he continued. ❝ Well, I've got some news too. The killer who pushed the body from the university's top floor is the killer of our parents too, I mean if not him then he was aware of what happened because of their small mistake. He's been living and teaching at this university, undercover but he's on a mission here too. Some secret mission that I'm not aware of. ❞ 

Mingyu stopped for a moment to grasp some air in before saying the next sentence which left Seungcheol shocked. ❝ You too had your eyes on this university, didn't you? Why are you acting like this then? Just because you're the eldest doesn't mean this revenge is all from you, we all need it badly too. We all pledged about it too. Relax up a bit alright? This is everyone's battle and not just yours. ❞ Mingyu then left the room in silence except for the leader's thoughts.

Choi Seungcheol, the eldest of them all has been taking care of the twelve of them more than he took care of his own. He is 20 now soon to be 21, and no more a child, rather he has never been one since he turned 14. More like he couldn't ever be one because the circumstances didn't support him. He was responsible for taking care of them all even while their parents left for the trip together, and he never backed out of things so he wouldn't on this either. 

Suddenly, an idea struck his brain as he clapped his hands " That sounds like a great plan!" He said to himself before making his way to the living room where he was thankful to have found all the members discussing the unconscious girl. ❝ Guys.❞ His one word drew everyone's attention and in an instant, it was pin-drop silence. ❝ We have 3 hours before she wakes up again. And I've got a great plan now. ❞

Seungcheol discussed his plan with them and they didn't look very convinced with the plan but no one dared to go against his words. It's not like he was partial when it came to loving them all, they were all like brothers to him by now. Staying together since birth earlier because of family and now even without family, they become each other's safe place. ❝  We are only getting closer to success guys. And y'all do trust me, right? I wouldn't ever think of doing anything dangerous for any of you so trust me on this one last thing too alright? We all will get admission in Accounting major. ❞ He paused to glance across their faces before sighing. He knew they weren't gonna accept it before he gave them an exact reasoning behind it.

❝ After researching about it a lot, it turns out Mingyu's description is quite right. The killer of our parents is teaching undercover, on some secret mission, and is killing people for his benefit. One of them was witnessed by that girl. And that there's a high possibility it's from the accounting department so we have to do this guys! We are close to our goals, trust me once I get my hand on his- ❞ Another one who wore specs cut him off, ❝  Once we get our hands on him, he ain't surviving at all. ❞ Seungcheol nodded looking at him before continuing. ❝  I've had everything under control. We're sending the girl away rather she'll be gone already and you all are getting admission to university starting tomorrow so don't be late for your first day. ❞ He sighed as he got nostalgic for a while recalling how they all couldn't manage to go to university for further studies after school because they were short of money. He tried to educate them till the end of school, but after that, he wasn't able to and he to date felt guilty about it.

❝ Cheol. ❞ A voice called out to him softly when he realized he had gotten zoned out in the middle and all of his brothers were looking at him concerned. The blonde-haired one got up and he patted his back, ❝ I know you're feeling guilty again but please don't. Rather, it's all of us who feel more guilty that we couldn't even finish school because of how much we used to work on part-time jobs to be able to pay all our school fees.❞ He said as the other also nodded and smiled at Seungcheol. ❝ We are proud to have you, seriously.❞ Another one with a bright aura said as he hugged Seungcheol and the remaining ones followed too. ❝ We are finally close to success.❞ 

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Author's Note:

There goes everyone's favorite story. I finally found time to upload this because I saw the amount of people coming and texting me about it on Instagram. I had to start it sooner or later. Continue to support this one please, thank you <3 I love to read comments so don't forget to do that along with liking the chapter <33 I will let y'all know my posting schedule soon as well don't worry. Thank you and I love you all <3