AUCTIONED | ATEEZ seongjoong

+ first encounter +

he sat there in the middle of the room. he can't see anything; they've blindfolded him.

who kidnapped him? where is he? when did he get there? why is he there? what are they going to do to him? how will he escape?

he doesn't know. all he knew is that he had to escape. how does he know? well, it could be his birthday and his friends are throwing him a surprise party and they might be surrounding him with gifts right now.

but with his hands tied behind his back, it probably isn't. and his birthday is still 4 months away.

suddenly, he felt hands grabbing both his arms and pulling him up to his feet. he gasps but did not try to resist. he has no idea who he is dealing with.

"just shut up and do as i say if you don't wanna get hurt." a muffled voice said, probably covered by a mask to hide his identity.

he nodded frantically; he didn't want to risk it. he didn't even hit the average height of a male.

he followed wherever the hands were dragging him to and tried to figure out what was around him. judging by the loud echo, he is probably walking down a very long and small hallway.

"m-may i ask where i am? and h-how did i get here?"

no reply. he let out a breath he was holding in. well, at least he tried.

after what felt like an eternity of walking, they slowed down and stopped. a pair of hands abruptly pushed him down which caused him to kneel on the floor.

"i'll remove your blindfold, but don't even try looking at us or you know what would happen." another set of voice spoke.

he quickly nodded with his head bowed down, showing he won't even dare to try. he heard someone walking away while another was untying his blindfold.

as he felt the blindfold slide off his eyes, he opened slightly and looked at what was ahead of him.

it was dark and red. and all around him was almost pitch black, with only a bit of light from somewhere above him.

"a curtain?" he whispered softly, trying to figure out where was he. was he in front of a stage?

sudenly, the curtain opened from the bottom and parted ways and that was when he realised, he isn't in front of a stage.

he is on a stage.

what?

he squinted as his eyes adjusted to the light as the curtains open wider. when his eyes finally adjusted to the light, shock just isn't the only word to express how he was feeling. he was confused, scared and helpless.

right in front of him were rows and rows of people in masks that covered the top half of their faces.

he quickly scanned around him. he was in a theatre, a very large one. and near the edge of the stage metres away from him, was someone standing on the podium in a blue suit, facing the audience. or at least he thought they were audiences at first.

"now for the last male, starting at $30,000."

murmurs start to come from the crowd, some are probably booing.

"now, now. do not get too worked up. it was hard to get him, alright. i know he looks small and all, but look at him," the speaker paused for a moment and gestured towards hongjoong. a guy in full black walked up the stage towards him, suddenly pulling him to stand up.

"what are you-" before he could finish his sentence, his shirt was ripped off him. in fact, it wasn't even his shirt to begin with. the white thin shirt that was on him got torn and now he is half-naked.