Clinically Insane ✰ Bang Chan Centric

13

EARLY UPDATE LET'S GOOOOOOOO!

Chan hesitantly takes a little of each dish he cooked earlier. He picks at his food, eating agonizingly slow. Jeongin stares at him with a mix of amazement and disgust. He can't believe how long it is taking Chan to eat his food when he ate his own in mere seconds, as if he were inhaling it.

Chan looks around the room as he eats and sees that the security cameras that should be all around are conveniently missing. When Chan finally finishes his food, Jisung takes his plate from him before he can even set his fork down and enters the kitchen again with everyone else's empty plates. He comes back after a few minutes and throws something at Minho. It's small and similar in size to a miniature candy bar. It's a lighter, isn't it?

Chan pats his pockets and feels his own lighter, and after the morning he's had, he feels like a smoke break is long overdue. He stands up, and suddenly it is like the room has frozen. Conversations and laughter that had previously filled the room stopped immediately as they all turned to look at him and analyze his next moves.

His eyes drift over to the small hallway that leads to the exit. He bows his head to avoid the awkwardness before heading to the exit, but unfortunately, his path is blocked by Changbin.

"Leaving already?"

Chan turns and finds Changbin staring at him with wide, unblinking eyes.

"Is it something we said?" he asks sweetly, then immediately snarls. "Or is it just you? Always running when things get a bit too real for you, huh?"

Chan freezes.

Changbin grins, sudden and bright like a flicked-on light. "Relax, Doc! I'm just messing with you."

He slaps Chan's shoulder a little too hard and glances down at his hand that's holding a box of cigarettes. "Go ahead, light up. Blow some smoke. See if it makes this place any less of a nightmare."

Hyunjin appears beside Changbin and lets his arm rest on the older's shoulder before leaning on it. "If we let him leave, he can tell anyone he wants that we have a way to open the doors. It's too dangerous."

Felix has a smile as he skips to Hyunjin's side, pecking his cheek before fixing his gaze on his fellow Aussie. He giggles softly, "I agree with Jinnie! He can't leave, I've always told you all that eight is fate!"

"You say that about everyone you develop a little fixation on, yet look at where they've all ended up," Seungmin speaks up from behind Chan, looking at his nails as if the whole situation disinterests him.

Chan looks around him and sees that while he was focused on the three before him, the other 4 have blocked off any chance of him leaving by forming a circle around him. "You'll have to let me leave eventually."

Minho steps forward cockily and tilts his head in a taunting challenge. "Do we? We can leave whenever we want, and we have the skills to do so undetected. This place is run down compared to other facilities we have been to. It'd be easy for us to walk out and never look back."

Chan meets the leader's eyes boldly. "Then why haven't you?

He glances at Seungmin as he continues. "You tell me that you have been tortured here, and it is obvious that you've also been neglected. Why didn't you just go? Why endure this pain if you had all the power and resources to escape?"

They remain silent and stare at him like unblinking statues.

"Was it a tactical move to stay locked away until the world's attention was somewhere else and you were almost forgotten? Out of sight, out of mind." Chan pries, throwing caution to the wind. "Or maybe it's possible that deep down, you all thought you deserved this punishment."