𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐀𝐑𝐌𝐄𝐃 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐂𝐄𝐒

11; 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠𝙬𝙖𝙨𝙝

"dk killed the bouncers and he is currently laughing maniacally beside the pole. oh—woah, he's pole dancing!" jeonghan says in amazement, watching seokmin on the stage from his seat. he seems to be the only 'customer' who's not fazed by the sudden attack from seokmin.

"what did you do to our bouncers?" seems like the manager finally came out. he pulls seokmin down the stage, who did not like that action from the manager at all. you do not stop seokmin rudely like that. "how did you get these katanas in my pub?!"

"more like stripping club." seungcheol emerged from beside joshua, coming into view. "those bouncers are a part of the black lizard thing, anyway, i—"

"OKAY! I'M GOING IN BITCHES!" minghao walks in and sets the whole pub on fire. jihoon hurriedly enters, muttering curses under his breath as he made the members and the innocent customers float. "ALRIGHT TELL THE FIREFIGHTERS TO COME!"

"minghao, you killed them."

"yeah, i know, jun. call me the8 when we're at work. god, how many times do i have to remind you of that?"

"until he gets old."

"you're old, s coups."

"so are you, jeonghan."

"joshuji he's bullying me!"

"you bully me too."

"okay, i should've just turned them into potatoes."

"turn minghao into a potato, mingyu."

"seokmin too!"

"i told you to use the codenames!"

"goddamn you!"

"shut the fuck up!" jihoon finally says, and everyone shuts their mouth. "let's go home."

home. jihoon gets reminded when he told the previously nine-member seventeen that hecdidn't want family nor a home. hipocrisy if you look at it now, but maybe in a good way. of course, in a good way.

"okay," joshua replies. he walks out of the burning pub with jeonghan, directly walking to his car. "what are we gonna do next? there are a couple of other ca—"

"i, uh, have something to confess." junhui spoke, slipping his hands on his motorbike's handles. he revs the motorbike for a few seconds, before speaking again. "soonyoung went back to japan. miyagi, i think? that was what he told me about a year ago."

"you think he'll accept our offer?" seungcheol closes his car door, waiting for seokmin to get in the passenger seat. when seokmin is in view, seungcheol adds: "he might not like the idea of going back to korea. not just because of our argument, but..."

jihoon sighed, knowing that their leader was pertaining to their breakup and issues. what seungcheol said was true, though, and he can't argue. soonyoung might not want to go back to seventeen because of where jihoon's relationship with soonyoung left off. because of jihoon. "we'll persuade him eventually."

"so, we're going to japan?" mingyu asked, getting in minghao's car. "for god's sake, choose an airline that won't forget your baggages."

"who said we're booking a flight?" jeonghan chortled, as if mingyu's words were a joke. "HEUSC, is jet 0415 ready for flight?" they did not know joshua had entrusted HEUSC to jeonghan as well, so this question from jeonghan directed to HEUSC earned him gasps and exclaimation.

oh, by the way, seungcheol remembers that joshua had once planned on giving HEUSC to wonwoo if he gets the raven-haired boy for the exchange gift agenda.

"goddamnit junhui, you sure that it's here?!"

"why ask me?! it's joshua who traced the specific location!"

"if we went to japan all for nothing i—"

"shh!" joshua sushed the seven other men he chose to accompany himself with. the door opens. it was definitely not soonyoung. black curly hair on soonyoung? uh-uh. that guy can't last a day with curly hair, let alone uncolored hair. just by looking at this guy's hair, it's definitely not soonyoung.

"u-uh, m-moshi moshi... ano... soonyoung.." seungcheol smiled awkwardly at the tall, black-haired person looming over the eight men of seventeen.

"i can speak english." the tall, black haired man smiled a little, while the eight men standing on the porch sighed in relief. sure, not all of them could speak english, but all of them could understand the language. "come in."

"take off your shoes. now! now!"

"don't shout!"

"i was whisper shouting!"

"shh, shut the fu—"

"uh, hello, did we enter the right household?" joshua asked sweetly, ignoring his embarrassing crackhead workmates slash friends. "we were looking for soonyoung."

"i'm soonyoung's cousin, akaashi kotarou," the black haired man, now with a name, motions for joshua and the other members to sit on the couch. "he uses the name akaashi hoshino here."

soonyoung never told me that he was really japanese. jihoon pouts a little.

"w-where is he?" seungcheol took his turn. "it's for like.. work? we're from s-seventeen... guest house! yeah, we run a guest house."

kotarou laughs, his golden eyes glimmered while doing so. this reminded jihoon of soonyoung; whenever the cat-eyed man laughs, his eyes disappear completely.

"i know about the supernatural world." kotarou crosses his legs. "hoshino came back here for about a year ago, he found out that his mom was sick. she eventually died, and upon her death, our grandmother had a heart attack. our grandmother is still in the hospital, me and hoshino take turns in looking over her when we don't have work.

"hoshino is working as an office clerk. i'm a professional volleyball player—think of how much time we can devote to our grandmother. so little. we also have to pay the debt that hoshino's mother passed on, since she loaned a few billion for her weekly mah-jong at the casino."

soonyoung's life did not turn out just good, unlike the ten members. vernon and seungkwan with their hotels, mingyu with his magazine press, seungcheol playing detective games, minghao just messing with underground fights, jihoon playing around with beats, seokmin enjoying the spotlight, joshua and jeonghan fooling people, junhui planning perfect weddings. to the other members, seventeen's fall were opportunities or just nothing—they can find another job anyway.

but soonyoung? he was good at being a seventeen member, being the defender of the innocent; maybe even a hero. the financial support, the moral support of his friends, his home—it was all gone after a mutual decision, the decision to end seventeen.

losing all that leaves a pact on his mental health. can he even have the energy to be happy, do what he loves—when he lost all that, plus his mother and the debt?

"where is he right now?" jeonghan asked, with this korean accent. "can we talk to him?"

"i'll ring his phone." kotarou fishes out his phone and dials soonyoung's number. kotarou's phone rings, but so does another phone in another room. kotarou enters the room where the ringing came from—and immediately calls the eight other men.

"oh my god." seokmin, being the first to enter the room, almost stumbled back in shock. the scene was not obscure at all, peaceful and neat—but there is something that horrified them.