REPLICA (BOOK 2)

Trapped

"Where are we going?" San asked, following Jisung around the construction site.

"To the backyard." He replied. "I just need to see something."

The place was crawling with Serpent Corps men. They had to be careful if they wanted to stay out of sight.

"Is this a fucking maze?"

"Insane, I know."

The pair walked through the tall, sculpted shrubs with no sense of direction. But once they reached their destination, they would know instantly.

"So what are we looking for exactly? I thought we were going to see if anyone from Cyber was here."

"We're putting a pause on that for now. This is more important."

"What could possibly be more important?"

"Why did I think you were the quiet one?"

"Because Wooyoung takes up all my talking time."

"Great." Jisung sighed.

Finally, they reached a dead end with three gravestones lined up. The point wasn't to grieve and pay a nice visit, it was to see if they were still definitely buried.

"What are we doing over here?"

"Start digging."

"With my hands?"

"Do you have a better idea?"

"Jisung, that's insane. Why are we digging up dead bodies right now?"

"Fine, we'll leave Rellik be. I doubt anyone would need to resurrect a dog. But Hongjoong and Minho, definitely."

San whined, then got on his knees and started scooping up dirt with his bare hands.

They knew they needed to work fast so they tried to move as quickly as possible. Sweat poured down their faces as they developed their own groove. But no matter what, they couldn't stop.

"Jisung." San reached a closed casket after what felt like hours. "Do you wanna help me or keep digging on your side?"

"I gotta keep going." His voice was scratched and strained from the lack of hydration. The sun was setting, which meant they were there for a lot longer than anticipated.

San nodded, uncovering the rest of the casket. Now that he had a moment to breathe, he felt more exhausted than ever. Opening it was a task because of how tightly it'd been sealed, but he needed to use what little strength he had left.

"Oh god." He cringed and looked away, relieved but also grossed out by the dead corpse. "That's one."

Jisung gasped, not expecting to find a skull. "I should've known."

"What?"

"Seonghwa had the respect to bury him, but not do it properly."

His reaction made San question his friend. Minho was rarely brought up nowadays, but when he was, it was never a positive. Although Hongjoong turned out to be pure evil in the end, at least there were good memories to look back on at some point.

But Jisung always stayed quiet. No one really knew what happened between him and Minho. No one wanted to ask, and he wasn't going to talk about it if there was a chance he'd upset someone. Because the reality was that they truly did love each other.

"You okay?" San asked, noticing he was deep in thought.

"Yeah, I'm..." His voice trailed off at the sound something being sprayed into the bushes, "okay."

"What the hell was that?" San felt his chest tighten, but it wasn't something that pained him physically. Suddenly, he was afraid. "Wooyoung?" He could've sworn he was with Jisung the entire time. "Wooyoung? What are you doing here?"

"You disgust me." He replied, wrapping his hand around San's neck and squeezing tightly. "I wish I never married you. Do you know how psychotic it is to propose to someone after only a few months of dating? Now I'm stuck with you."

"What?" The only person San had ever been vulnerable with was his husband. No one had ever seen him upset or hurt. But this was like a stab to the chest. "Why would you say that?"

At first, Jisung stared at him in confusion. He wasn't sure what was happening. Then all of a sudden, he disappeared. He was completely alone.

"Jisung, help."

"Huh?" He looked around, unsure where the voice was coming from.

"Down here."

When he looked down, it was Minho with pale skin and blood shot eyes. Half of his face was still covered by dirt so Jisung was eager to dig him out.

"Minho?"

"Why'd you do this to me?" When Minho sat up, Jisung gasped at the sight. Maggots were crawling out of the hole in the center of his forehead. This was because of him. "I thought you loved me, I don't understand."

"You broke your promise. Do you have any idea how much that hurt me? To wake up and find out you killed my entire team. Then to see what you did to Felix - I could never forgive that."

"He was trying to take you away from me!"

"Why didn't you wake me up the whole time?" Jisung shouted, overwhelmed by the conversation he never thought he'd be able to have. "If you loved me so much, why did you keep me as your experiment?"

"Because I was scared! After all that work, what if you didn't come back to me?"

"I would've." Jisung whispered, confessing to his darkest secret.

If Minho was brought back, and he was given a second chance, he would've betrayed everyone all over again.

"You made me realize how amazing life could be, but you took it away from me. You took everything away, how could you?"

"I'm sorry." He stressed.

"Doesn't it kill you that Seonghwa and Hongjoong get a second chance and we don't?"

"It does."

"You get to see Hongjoong with a brand new brain and he's suddenly this saint. You wish that happened to me too, don't you?"

"I do." Minho reached up and wiped Jisung's tears. He didn't even realize he was crying. "I still love you. After everything you did, I still do."

San and Jisung were stuck in their own worlds. Their biggest fears and secrets were tearing them apart and nothing could stop it.

"If you really think you heard something, that should've done the trick." Taehyung nodded, speaking to Jun. "Take Hoshi with you and see if there's anyone in the maze. And whatever you do, don't take your god damn mask off."

Who would've thought the fear toxin sold to them by Minho would've come in handy a couple years later?