flutedrum | woosan ✓

29

The atmosphere in the room was thick with tension. Their manager stormed into the dorm, seething with barely contained fury. His glare burned into each of them, daring them to speak up, to make the first move. But nobody did. They were too scared to say anything, too scared to even breathe.

"Sit down!" he barked, pointing at the couch, and they obeyed immediately. Wooyoung, Seonghwa, Jongho, Mingi—they all sat in a tight line, nerves on edge. None of them knew what was coming next, but they had a sinking feeling it wasn't going to be good.

The manager stood before them, his chest heaving as he tried to keep his voice steady, but the rage was palpable. "Do you think this is a joke?" he spat. "Do you think exposing this company, your own company, will somehow make you look better? Do you think ruining us is going to make you stars?"

Each word was like a bullet, piercing through the silence. They exchanged glances, confused and terrified. None of them had done anything—they didn't even know what he was talking about. But they didn't dare speak up. Not yet.

"Answer me!" he roared, slamming his fist into the wall beside him. The sudden impact made all of them jump in their seats, hearts pounding in fear. His eyes darted between them, wild with suspicion. "Which one of you leaked the damn messages? Huh? Which one of you idiots thought you could outsmart me?"

Still, no one said a word. The silence only seemed to fuel his anger.

He stepped closer to Wooyoung, looming over him. "Was it you?" His voice was quieter now, almost a whisper, but it was more menacing than any scream. Wooyoung could feel his hands trembling, but he shook his head.

"Or maybe it was you, Seonghwa." The manager turned, his gaze locking onto Seonghwa, who was trying desperately to keep his composure. Seonghwa looked straight ahead, not daring to make eye contact.

In a sudden, sharp motion, the manager lunged forward and snatched Wooyoung's phone off the table. Wooyoung's heart dropped as he watched him scroll through his DMs, frantically swiping through each message.

"Let's see who's been talking to who," the manager muttered, almost to himself, as he continued to rifle through their phones. "You think you can hide things from me?"

The others watched in horror, their breaths caught in their throats as he moved from one phone to the next, checking Mingi's, then Jongho's. Seonghwa's phone came last. Nothing. He found nothing. No incriminating messages, no evidence of leaks, no proof of betrayal.

But that didn't calm him down. Not even close.

"LIARS!" he screamed, throwing Seonghwa's phone across the room, where it smashed into the wall and shattered into pieces. They flinched, fear gripping them tighter. He wasn't just angry now—he was unhinged.

"You think you're smarter than me?" he raged, picking up the nearest object—a lamp—and throwing it to the ground, where it exploded into shards of glass. They cowered as he began tearing apart the room, knocking over chairs, pulling down shelves. Anything he could get his hands on, he destroyed.

His eyes were wild, crazed, as he grabbed the edge of the coffee table and flipped it over, the sound of splintering wood filling the air. It wasn't enough. He was still looking for someone to blame, still searching for a target.

"You want to ruin this company?" he snarled, his voice trembling with rage as he got closer and closer to them, fists clenched. "You want to throw everything away? I'll make sure you never work again. I'll make sure no one even remembers your names."

Wooyoung's chest tightened as his mind raced, heart pounding in fear. None of them knew how to stop him. They could barely process what was happening. Each crash, each scream only sent them further into shock.

But then—there was a knock at the door. It was sharp and sudden, cutting through the chaos like a knife.

The manager froze mid-rant, his head snapping toward the door. His wild eyes were still full of fury, but he hesitated. Another knock came, this time louder, more urgent.

"Who the hell is it?" the manager hissed, storming over and yanking the door open.

A staff member stood there, wide-eyed and holding a phone. His hand shook as he extended the device toward the manager. "You need to see this," the staff member stammered, his voice barely audible over the tense silence.

The manager snatched the phone from the staff member's hand, his face still contorted with rage. His eyes flickered across the screen as he read the new article. Slowly, the fury in his expression faltered, replaced by something else. Confusion? Shock? It was hard to tell, but whatever it was, it was enough to stop him in his tracks.

The room was so quiet now, it was suffocating. No one moved. Wooyoung, Seonghwa, Jongho, and Mingi watched the manager's face, their hearts still racing, unsure of what would happen next.

"What is this..." the manager muttered under his breath, scrolling through the article. His hands trembled slightly as he continued to read, eyes widening with every word. "This can't be..."

The staff member, still standing at the door, took a hesitant step forward. "They're saying it's...it's all been exposed. The drug deals, the money laundering, the cover-ups...everything. We're done for."

The manager's face went pale, the realization hitting him like a freight train. His hands clenched around the phone, his knuckles white. He blinked rapidly, as if trying to process the sheer weight of what he was reading. "How...how did they get this?" His voice cracked, the panic creeping into his tone.

Wooyoung exchanged a glance with Jongho, then with Seonghwa. The pieces of the puzzle were starting to fall into place, and the tension in the room shifted from fear to a strange mix of anticipation and curiosity.

"They must've hacked into the company's system," Jongho murmured quietly, piecing it together. "That's how they got this information. The messages, the records...all of it."

The manager's jaw clenched. He slammed the phone onto the counter, hard enough to crack the screen. "This... this is impossible! This can't be happening! Do you have any idea what this will do to us?" His voice was desperate now, no longer full of rage but something close to fear.

No one answered. The boys stayed silent, watching him unravel.

As the manager paced back and forth, muttering under his breath, the air in the room felt heavier. It wasn't just anger anymore—it was the crushing weight of realization. His threats, his violent outburst, all of it had been for nothing. The truth was out, and there was no hiding from it now.

Seonghwa, always the calmest under pressure, finally spoke up, his voice steady but cold. "Maybe you should be asking yourself who's really responsible for all of this."

The manager stopped in his tracks, glaring at Seonghwa with wild eyes. But Seonghwa didn't flinch. He just stood there, arms crossed, looking at the man with a mix of pity and disdain. "You've been blaming us this whole time. But maybe it's time you take a hard look at your own actions."

The manager opened his mouth to retort, but before he could say anything, another notification pinged on his phone. Another article. More damning evidence.

He didn't even have to read it this time. The horrified look on his face said it all.