The basement room was quiet in a way that felt wrong.
Not peaceful-never that-but hollow, as if the silence itself was waiting to be broken.
Hyunseong sat curled against the cold wall, knees drawn up to his chest, his wrists aching where rough hands had grabbed him hours earlier. Time had lost its meaning. The light overhead flickered irregularly, long enough between pulses that the shadows seemed to creep closer every time the bulb dimmed.
The door creaked open with a sound the boy had learned to fear more than silence.
He jerked upright immediately.
For a split second, his eyes searched the doorway automatically-expecting her, expecting the woman who had always been there when the door opened.
But she wasn't there.
Every time the door opened, a small, fragile part of him clung to the idea that Soul would be there again, that she would be brought back, that everything would return to the narrow, painful normal they had left behind in that room.
But only one man stepped inside.
Hyunseong's breath caught.
The man didn't look at him right away. He closed the door slowly, deliberately, the heavy metal echoing through the space like a final sentence being spoken out loud. The sound made Hyunseong flinch, his small body shrinking back instinctively.
"N-Noona...?" he whispered, his voice barely audible.
The man ignored him.
Hyunseong swallowed hard, panic flooding his chest all at once. His hands began to tremble as he pushed himself up on the thin mattress, eyes darting behind the man again, searching the hallway, the darkness beyond the door.
"Noona?" His voice cracked this time. Louder. Desperate. "Where is she? Where did you take her?"
Still no answer.
The man finally turned toward him then-and smiled.
It wasn't a wide smile. It was thin, sharp, detached. The kind that didn't belong on a human face.
Hyunseong's heart slammed violently against his ribs.
"Where is she?" he repeated, tears already blurring his vision. "Please-please, she's hurt, she-she needs me-"
"Quiet," the man said flatly.
Fear surged like ice water through the boy's veins.
"No-no, please," Hyunseong sobbed, tears spilling freely now. "Did you hurt her? Please, please, I'll be quiet, I promise-just tell me where she is-"
The man moved suddenly crossing the room in three long strides.
Hyunseong screamed.
The sound ripped out of him before he could stop it, raw and terrified as rough hands seized his arms, fingers digging mercilessly around his bruised arm, fingers digging into tender skin that was already aching from days of rough handling.
He kicked and thrashed, small body straining uselessly against adult strength.
"Let go of me!" he cried, kicking weakly, his body far too small to resist. "Let me go! I want my noona!"
"Enough," the man snarled, wrenching Hyunseong's wrists together and binding them tightly. The rope bit into his skin, making him gasp. "You make too much noise."
