What Lies Beneath ✅

Peal 20

[Geonhak]

I woke up then noticed we were no longer in the house, but in a bubble traveling somewhere. Mr. Lee was now traveling with us. We landed in front of city that seemed empty. Houses and buildings were badly damaged.

"What happened here...?" Youngjo asked worriedly.

A loud noise came from deeper within the city. We ran towards it then hid ourselves to see what we were dealing with.

"Great, we stumbled upon a rampaging succel..." Keonhee hissed quietly.

"I'll take care of it." Dongju said as he started to move.

I held him back and sat him down.

"Are you dumb or are you Dumb? Taking on a rampaging succel by yourself?" I hissed.

"Geon's right. You don't know if she's self aware or not. She could be pretending to act crazy." Hwanwoong added on.

Soon the house we hid behind was destroyed and revealed us. We scattered and only looked back after we felt we had ran far enough. I looked on in horror as she held Dongju by his neck with her tail.

"I have to help him." I thought, but was stopped by Seoho.

"You're no match for her, especially with your current state." he said with a sigh.

"So you expect me to just standby and watch as she kills my friend?" I asked seriously.

"That's not-" Seoho started, but I had already taken off.

"Oh? So you want to be the first to die? Very well." she said in her distorted voice.

I created an ice wall as she sent rocks towards me. The wall broke within seconds and hit me dead on. It hurt like hell, but I wasn't going to give up until Dongju was released.

"Oh? You can still move? Perfect. I'll use you for target practice." she said then laughed.

She kept me on the defensive and made it impossible to approach her. I misstepped and she took that chance to trap me underneath a large rock.

"Ha! Game over." she said with the biggest smirk ever.

I looked over at Dongju who looked close to passing out or worse. I couldn't stand it. I let out a yell and tried to free myself. I noticed everything had gone dark and quiet, so I looked around. Several dark holes floated in the air around her. She leaned close to one and instantly vanished inside of it. They all disappeared, but not before returning Dongju. The rock had also disappeared, giving me the freedom to check on him.

We all checked on Dongju, making sure he got all the oxygen he needed.

"Where did those holes come from...?" Youngjo finally asked.

"I was wondering too." Keonhee said while fanning Dongju.

I had wanted to know as well. We looked at Seoho who was lost in thought.

"Mr. Lee, do you know?" Hwanwoong asked.

"Keonhee." Seoho said while looking at him.

Keonhee then dragged Hwanwoong and Youngjo away from us. Dongju had regained most of his color.

"This is serious. Dongju, you're going to have to be on guard more than ever." Seoho said with hints of worry in his tone.

"Why?" he asked, not knowing what the problem could be.

"It's Geonhak. He's..."

ㅂㅂㅂㅂ

They both stared at me with interest. I felt as if I'd end up being their next science experiment.

"I can't believe it...You really are special. Now I see why you're always being attacked." Dongju said with widened eyes.

"I honestly thought they were crazy. I guess they weren't after all." I said as I looked at my hands.

Dongju held my hands then smiled. I happily smiled back, but worried on the inside about everyone's safety. They'd all get caught up in the fight over me. I didn't want that. I already put them in enough danger.

"I'll protect you, Geonhak. I'll always try and find you." said Dongju with an obvious blush on his face.

It made him cuter. I cupped his face then cooed at how adorable he looked. The ground started to shake and soon things were being lifted into the air. I was hardly given time to react before I was sent up into the air as well.

"Dongju!" I yelled out, hoping he'd hear me.

His body didn't move an inch. I looked around and saw the others had been lifted as well. How could I get to Dongju like this? I tried air swimming, but it proved to have no effect.

"Dongju, please! Snap out of it!" I pleaded with him.

I looked at Seoho who had his eyes closed. Was he unable to do anything?

"Seoho...you've helped him before, right?" I asked.

"I did?" he replied in confusion.

"Seoho, now isn't the time to play dumb! We could all be in danger!" I shouted before looking back at Dongju.

"Why would I joke around at a time like this?" he shouted back before clutching his head.

Was he really being honest? I stared at Dongju and wondered if he lied to me. A thought suddenly came to me and I decided to try it out. I closed my eyes and focused my attention on reaching Dongju. I felt myself falling at rapid speed, but managed to keep my concentration. I opened my eyes then slowly approached Dongju.

"Ju..." I called out before shaking him.

His words replayed in my mind and I suddenly felt embarrassed. "Did he really want me to...?" I cupped his face then hesitated. Why was I nervous? Was I afraid it wouldn't work? That he'd get mad? It never crossed my mind that maybe, just maybe, I'd actually enjoy it. I took a deep breath then pressed my lips to his.

Everything started to fall and Dongju had started to frantically look around.

"What happened? Why does it look like this?" Dongju asked with concern.

"You did this." I replied with a sigh.

He lowered his head then suddenly took off.

"Dongju, come back here!" I yelled as I got up to chase him.

I was suddenly pressed to the ground with incredible force. I tried to crawl after him, but he had already gotten too far ahead.