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III

ENTRY 4.III: HOSEOK
January 5, 2008: 16:53
"Ruyoung-ah, come on, hurry up!"
"Alright, alright, hold on! Let me just finish this last bit of my desk real quick!"

Hoseok and Ruyoung were the last two kids left in their classroom at that point. There were still some kids outside in the hallways that had also ended up staying late for cleanup just as they did, but most of these kids had finished and were either waiting for friends or were just about to head out. The two boys were one of the only ones left there still cleaning up. Hoseok was desperate to get home as his mother always expected him back by 5:15 and knew that she would worry a whole lot if he ended up being late. Not too long after his beckoning though, Ruyoung finally exited the classroom, shutting the door behind him.

They left the building and crossed through the gates with haste, walking quickly so that Hoseok would be able to get home on time. At the pace they were going, it looked as if they were going to successfully save Hoseok from getting in trouble.

Both Hoseok and Ruyoung always enjoyed the walk home, no matter if they were in a rush or not. It was a chance for them to take in what was around them before they had to spend their hours at home studying and doing chores. The winter breeze was calm, and the sun warmed their frigid figures. The cloudless sky shined a bright blue, saturating the frozen grass and asphalt with warmth and light and almost making it seem like it wasn't the beginning of January. The route that they took home every day had always comforted them, bringing the both them immediately out of any bad mood that they may have been in.

For some reason though, today felt different to Hoseok. He was quite sure at first that it was because of their unusually fast pace, but as they got farther and farther along their route, he was starting to feel like it was because of something completely different. There was something inside of him that was telling him that something was wrong, and he had no idea how or why he knew this. Suddenly, he was on high alert as they continued walking, looking around him and Ruyoung constantly just to make sure that everything was safe. Everything looked safe to him for most of the time, but this feeling still continued to surround him, giving him an aching suspicion that something bad was about to happen.

Then, he felt it.

Hoseok felt eyes lock onto him and Ruyoung as he heard footsteps behind them echoing in his ears. Peeking out of the corner of his eye without turning his head to a store beside them, he managed to spot a hooded figure in the reflection of the window.

This was the bad thing.

His mind screamed that to him as he quickly realized that they were being followed by a stranger that looked as if their intention was to hurt them. Hoseok quickly grabbed onto Ruyoung's wrist and pulled him off of their route, veering right into a narrow and unfamiliar street surrounded by houses.

"Hey! What are you doi—"

Hoseok, with a stern gaze, jerked his eyes behind him and then right back at Ruyoung to answer his question. When Ruyoung realized what was going on, his own expression had shifted suddenly from puzzled to terrified.

The hooded figure was still following them even after they changed routes. Why was this person following them? Neither Ruyoung or Hoseok could tell who they were. What did they want with them?

They both broke out into a sprint at the same time, running for their lives more literally than they expected. As they did so, Hoseok—who had now significantly tightened his grip on Ruyoung's wrist—turned abruptly into an even narrower strip in between a column of houses. Even that didn't lose the stranger. They'd been sprinting with them, and their hood had fallen off in the process. A man was chasing them, they knew that now, and he had an extremely disturbing lustful gaze in his eyes. He didn't look to be getting tired at all. Instead, he was getting closer after every second Hoseok and Ruyoung spent trying to get away. They were ones that were tired. The man was almost within arms' length of them.