❝ where did mister go? ❞
" he never existed, " jaemin replied bitterly, catching renjun off-guard. mark eyed jeno, whilst jisung stared at donghyuck.
donghyuck; he was quiet, in his own world.
" hyung? " jisung called out, nudging him a little in the elbow. he looked up at him.
" is something wrong? "
" why would anything be wrong? " donghyuck furrowed his eyebrows, a little confused at his question.
" no, it's just that... you're not talking much... i was— "
donghyuck threw a spoonful of rice in jisung's direction, a ghost of a smile on his lips as he said, " shut up. "
jisung grinned, wincing a little when it hit his eye, but threw a spoonful back at him. mark smiled at the scene, and jeno finally laughed for the first time in a while.
everything was returning back to normal. jisung, donghyuck, jeno, everything...except for one. and right after lunch, mark called him out to his room.
jaemin.
" yes, hyung? " he started, when mark shut the door. he inhaled deeply afterwards, before eyeing jaemin.
" how did you know about mister? "
" i'm not stupid, you know, " he replied jokingly, faking a cough when mark's gaze intensified. " sorry. "
" i saw you and jeno together all the time, at night, and i got curious. you always go to the room at the very end where we found the chewing gum, so i've went there recently wondering what was so interesting about the room. then one day, near midnight or so, i overheard mister talking to jisung... "
mark's ears perked up at the mention of jisung.
" ...something about killing you. i heard some weird noises after that, like some machine sounds, and then, jisung walked out. he looked dead, hyung, it was so scary. and i swear he like, saw me for a second, his eyes were looking right in me. "
jaemin shivered at the memory. it was complete darkness in the orphanage, but somehow jisung's eyes that night seemed even darker.
" after jisung walked away, i peeked into the room, because the door wasn't closed, so— i looked in and mister was gone, " he grabbed mark by the sleeve. " he. was. gone, hyung. gone! "
mark recalled the incident nine years ago, when the exact thing happened to him. it was strange how it only seemed to remember that one day of his childhood. he nodded.
" then, i walked in, since it was empty, and saw his computer. the screen was lit and there was this document thing open, about spells and stuff. but he disguised everything as chewing gum... there was this prototype, blueprint and everything. but then i saw this black stick thing on the table, it looked like a pistol without the handle part, so i took it before you like, died... "
mark clenched his teeth when jaemin's eyes shifted away and cleared his throat a little.
" but won't you get arrested for murder? "
jaemin looked back at mark. " you won't get arrested for shooting something that's already dead, hyung. "
" ...r-right. "
