Life is C between B and D [A Hyungwonho/2won Story] *Editing in progress*

Chapter 22: First Encounter

He didn't know.

How exactly he ended up being surrounded by them.

And by them, he meant those children.

There were 12 of them, from different ages starting from about 4 to 10. They seemed to be complete strangers to each other as no one appeared to come from the same family. 

Anyway, who would let their children in a place like this? 

They were all spread out in the room, in different positions; some were lying down, others were crouched in a corner and there was even one who was standing up, facing the wall. 

They seemed to belong to another world. 

However, there was one thing he could tell that they all had in common; one major point.

They all looked dead.

He got closer to a little girl with curly hair and squatted down to have a better view of her face. Her eyes were void of all emotion, even the glimmer of life seemed to have disappeared. Her mouth was slightly open as if she badly wanted to let out a cry, but her body wouldn't respond to her command.

It was the same for all of them. 

None had reacted when he had arrived and even now, none of them was moving. They looked like broken dolls; as if a piece of themselves had died from the inside. 

They were lost, he knew it. Beyond saying. 

They could never be repaired, and they would never be able to come back.

These poor broken dolls.

In fact, he didn't care. 

At all.

Why would he? It didn't concern him. He was there only for one reason.

It was to find him.

It's been days since he had started tracking him down. He had felt his presence around, somewhere nearby. He was surprised, at first, when his feet brought him to the amusement park.

He never would have thought of Hoseok as someone who would enjoy going to this kind of place.

Something about that felt wrong.

He had decided to go look for him, but he was being careful not to be careless. He could not risk being exposed. Going out normally would be too dangerous. 

They could be there too.

He had his watch, but since he was still recovering from his injuries, he couldn't activate the invisibility mode. 

He had made sure beforehand to cover his face with a mouth mask and his head with a cap and his hood, so cameras would not be able to identify him.

He was aware that his only option would be to go by the cleaning staff circuit situated under the amusement park. He knew it all by heart; he had memorized the whole map of the city, the subways and foundations of each public infrastructure. 

He needed to. 

He couldn't allow himself to repeat the same mistake as before since it almost costed him his life. 

He had to know every exit and every secret passage. It was primordial for his survival.

He couldn't trust anyone. People around, they could all be his enemies. 

Actually, they were; all of them.

Except for him.

Why the hell did I let my guard down and took pity on him the other day?