Our Summer || NCT DREAM

Chapter 2. Vanished

Minhyung had vanished.

Relentlessly, I thought of where Minhyung could possibly be at this time.

I didn't want to assume that he just vanished into thin air.

But it was already 6 in the evening, the once bright skies turning a dark orange as the sun slowly set.

Soon, darkness will take over.

And he still hadn't shown up anywhere.

I didn't know Minhyung enough to know where he hangs out often. Only Haechan has that knowledge.

But even with that, we had no luck of finding him.

The both of us had gone to three of the places Minhyung frequents, two cafés and the local library downtown.

Still no luck.

"Come on, Haechan. I really think we should file a missing person case now." I urged, that feeling of unease never leaving me.

We were walking down the streets of the city, a little far from our neighborhood.

Haechan was slightly worried now than earlier, but he wouldn't show it.

I guess it was to make me feel better. We wouldn't really find Minhyung if the both of us were panicking.

"But what about his family? What are we gonna tell the police?" He asked, genuine concern in his voice. "If we go to the police, they'd just tell us to call his family. But they're not answering us either."

I've thought about that too.

The fact that his family was missing too didn't help at all.

We didn't know where they are, or how to reach them.

"I don't know, Haechan," I told him, my eyes frantically looking around as we walked. "I really don't know."

I hadn't noticed that we walked into an unfamiliar part of the streets.

It seemed that we were still in the city, but I didn't know which part of it.

The street lights were on, there were a few people walking around. Some stores were open.

It looked normal.

But something felt different here.

When I stopped walking, Haechan halted too.

"Do you know this place?"

Haechan looked around for a bit, but then said, "no, I haven't been here before."

I looked around again. Suddenly, I spotted an old bookstore across the street.

It looked very old. Vintage, even.

The city had always been modern, even more modern than the 21st century.

People called it futuristic. And perhaps it is, because hundreds of years had passed since the recorded modernization of the world.