Find You [Monsta X AU]

ii.

Jooheon kept up polite conversation with the locksmith while Hyunwoo tapped his foot, arms crossed against his chest. Even though they'd managed to wait a whole day, the past fifteen minutes had seemed to drag on for hours.

Finally, he heard the smooth sound of the knob turning and the door popping open.

"Stay here," Hyunwoo instructed as he slipped past the locksmith and through the door. As expected, he was met with stairs heading down, and he flipped the light switch on his left before progressing down into the basement. To his right and under the stairs was an unfinished section of the basement, just bare cement and equipment for the house's water heater, plumbing, and electricity. But ahead of him was another door. He twisted the knob but was met with resistance once more.

He cursed and headed back up the stairs. "Did he make a key for the lock to this door?" he asked, and Jooheon went over to the locksmith to check and returned to Hyunwoo with a shiny new key. "Here," he said, frowning as Hyunwoo turned back to the door. "What's in there?"

"Another door," Hyunwoo grumbled before heading back down, this time followed by Jooheon's footsteps.

"That decides it, it's gotta be gold, right?" Jooheon asked as Hyunwoo inserted the newly-created key into the lock, feeling it slide in smoothly. "Or maybe famous paintings? Or-"

The door opened to a sight neither of them expected.

"Go upstairs," Hyunwoo said softly, eyes still ahead of him. "Send the locksmith back, tell him we're done here."

"Okay," Jooheon agreed in an equally quiet tone before turning and heading back up the stairs.

"Hey," Hyunwoo whispered, crouching slightly so he didn't seem as intimidating. "Hey, kiddo? Can you hear me?"

The room on the other side of the door was ten by twelve at most. A closet lined the wall to Hyunwoo's left, directly opposite a bed. Directly adjacent to the closet was a door that stood slightly ajar through which Hyunwoo could just make out the edge of a sink, presumably a small bathroom. Against the far wall was a small desk that just barely fit beside the bed. The walls were painted a pale blue, but there was little other color in the space save a few bright pieces of child's art pinned to the wall.

The boy sitting behind the desk on the opposite side of the room didn't even look up. His back was to Hyunwoo so it was difficult to approximate his age, but if Hyunwoo had to guess, he'd say right around thirteen.

"Hey, buddy?" Hyunwoo asked, taking a few cautious steps closer. He didn't want to scare the poor kid, but there was no way he could just leave him here. Fuck, he'd been locked in for a day and a half now – did he have access to food and water? He could get water from the sink, Hyunwoo reasoned, but what about food? Why couldn't the locksmith have come in yesterday?

It was only when Hyunwoo tapped the kid's shoulder that he startled, flinching so violently that he almost fell out of his seat. Hyunwoo immediately took several steps back, crouching down in front of the young boy.

"Hi, my name is Officer Son," Hyunwoo said slowly, palms facing the boy to show that he meant no harm. But the boy stared at him with wide, scared eyes that were dense with confusion. It was as though he couldn't understand a word Hyunwoo was saying.

"Can you tell me your name?" Hyunwoo asked, but the boy just stared at him.

"How long have you been in here?" he tried, receiving the same blank stare.

"Fuck," he mumbled, standing up just as Jooheon entered the room. The boy shrunk down, eyeing the two of them and pressing himself closer to the corner of the room.