Mastermind I Nyongtory

Chapter 11

In the end they agreed to divide the roles, after all what was important right now was to contact Seungri in whatever way possible and it didn't make any sense if all of them stuck together during whatever they did. They quickly discussed possible ways to find the youngest and eventually decided that Youngbae would drive to the gym Seungri often worked out at and if he wasn't there would go to Aori Ramen to ask for any hints. Jiyong, being the one closest to Seungri was supposed to go to his apartment and try to keep calling him since he was most likely the one whose calls would be answered by the maknae if said one decided to answer at all. He also said he would call the other's parents and sister to ask if they had any clue.

And lastly, Seunghyun and Daesung were in charge of calling possible close friends.

The two of them had stayed in one of the conference rooms of the YG company building to have some peace while going through the many contacts Seungri had, or rather the contacts they knew Seungri had. They didn't know all three thousand something people, obviously.

At this point they were at it for over half an hour and they were sure that Seungri either made sure to not tell a single soul about his current mischiefs or that he purposely told his friends not to tell the Bigbang members about his whereabouts because apparently none of them knew anything.

„You know" Daesung began as he ended another call for the nth time. „I feel really bad for thinking this but couldn't it be that Seungri wanted to leave Bigbang anyways? Like, maybe he just used this as another excuse to finally go through with it since he didn't really have a legitimate reason before." He peered up at the oldest of the group with the slightest guilt in his expression from what he was saying. „He never seemed happy with the band, don't you think?"

Seunghyun stared out of the window behind the singer as he leant his head, that began to become heavy, on his hand. He would've never thought that one day the maknae would really do this and he would've thought even less that it would feel like this much of a loss. Maybe 'loss' was the wrong word, but he didn't know how to describe it. He grew so incredibly fond of the younger through all the years, how could he just suddenly not be a part of his life anymore?

„When Hyunsuk said he left the band, that was my exact first thought as well."

Daesung looked surprised at his hyung's confession, he had felt so guilty for his thoughts because they sounded like he was blaming Seungri, but hearing Seunghyun's words consoled him the tiniest bit.

„And it took me a moment to be convinced otherwise, but I also realized that in the end I was wrong. If there is one thing I've learnt over the years it's that Seungri gave up a lot for the band. Not just that but he also took and accepted one blow after the other for our sake as if it was nothing, which he didn't have to. I also believe that the band never truly made him happy but I don't think he would've wanted to leave, because even if he did he would've loved his fans too much. He goes to such an extent to make our fans happy, all the work he does behind the scenes, before, while and after concerts, do you think he would just leave that all voluntarily? Because I don't."

This was probably the most serious Daesung had seen his friend in a long time. And he agreed with what the other had just said. Perhaps what Daesung said about Seungri not being happy was partly true but to be honest he too knew how much Seungri cared and sacrificed for the fans and for the band.

„You are right, so it really was because of us after all." The singer concluded sadly as he looked down at the switched off phone in his hands.

„But doesn't this show you why he left?" Seunghyun asked, equally upset, a little sad smile on his face. „If the first thing we thought when we heard that he left was that it was his own fault?"

And that unexpectedly hurt. It was the painful truth Daesung didn't want to hear but he knew that it wasn't just him that blamed Seungri at first, Seunghyun as well as probably Youngbae had done the same, which didn't make it any better at all. The only person that blamed only himself was Jiyong, of that Daesung was sure. The leader would always protect his little maknae, he would do literally everything for the younger, especially now Jiyong was probably beating himself up over what had happened. He would never be able to forgive himself.

„But I never was angry at Seungri for not being in the same place as us." Daesung added. „He was always treated differently from us, even I, who hasn't had the best treatment either, have to admit that he had it way worse, if anything it's a surprise he didn't leave earlier. But it's sad that we lost the carefree and happy boy Seungri used to be when he joined us, he changed so much. He matured so quickly."

„He had to, otherwise he wouldn't have survived the bullshit he was faced with. I would bet my entire fortune that at least eighty percent of what we saw of him the last five years were a facade."

There was nothing the younger could add. He had never really talked about Seungri before like this but now that he did... to him, the maknae appeared in a different light and all Daesung could think was 'Why didn't I protect him?'. They were supposed to be like brothers, especially with them both being treated unfairly more often than not, yet he was one of the reasons the maknae had suffered to the point he thought it would hurt less to leave.

„We should continue..." He said, picking up his phone again to search for the next contact. „I have to apologize."

„We all have to."