t/w: physical abuse

~°~

"THERE YOU TWO ARE! COME ON! FOLLOW ME TO THE LIVING ROOM! Yura found something about Ari." Hyunjin shouted, looking at Felix and Jisung with a relieved expression

Felix glanced at Jisung, the duo's faces overrun with happiness as they ran to the living room, Felix jumping over the couch, claiming the spot next to Yura.

"So. What....did....you....find?" Felix asked, breathless from running.

"You remember that image that came on when we inserted the pen drive? Well, there was a message hidden in the bottom right corner of it. And that says, 'it's a lie'. So unnie basically wanted us to find it, but I'm guessing she was worried that someone else might find this, so she probably made sure that this is what would play when the pen drive was inserted. So all we have found right now, is hope." Yura said, zooming in on the image displayed on her laptop.

"oh." Felix mumbled, a bit disappointed. He didn't really know what he expected Yura to find, but he definitely knew that it was definitely not this.

He wanted to get back to Areum, every moment without her made him feel like his guts were being ripped out. It hurt, not being able to see her beautiful face, not being able to hear her melodious voice. She completed him, and right now, he felt incomplete.

But he couldn't just sit around, moping about it, he needed to do something. Keeping that thought in mind, he got up and walked up to Chan, who was rubbing his forehead as he typed on his phone, standing by the kitchen island.

"Hyung?" Felix asked, his voice timid. Chan raised his head, pouting a bit, his eyes darting around the room before they finally stopped on Felix.

"Yes?" Chan replied, his eyes crinkling as he smiled at Felix, putting aside his phone. He kept his elbows on the table, resting his head in his palms. Felix immediately relaxed it a bit, looking at Chan's relaxed and calm face. To Felix, Chan was very different from the scary mafia boss than the former had imagined him to be. Chan was actually seemed friendly, and kind.

"What are we doing to find Areum?" Felix asked, seeming a bit unsure of himself.

"Oh yeah, about that, I've sent out word to the other mafias, and I think there'll be a meeting of us, BTS, and NCT soon." Chan replied, smiling brightly at him.

"What can I do to help?" Felix asked.

"I don't really know. I think I'll ask Jisung to test you, to see what all you can do. I think you'll make a good spy, so I'll tell Minho to test you for that. After that, we'll see what happens."

"oh." Felix mumbled, disappointed once more. He really thought he could be of help.

"Hey don't worry. All of this takes time, and you just joined. You'll take a bit of time training, and then we'll send you out on your first mission. Okay?" Chan asked, sensing Felix's disappointment.

"hmm." Felix hummed in reply.

"Oi Felix!" Hyunjin called as he made his way to Felix. "I'm bored, and when I'm bored, I go shoplifting. Wanna join?"

"I don't really know" Felix mumbled uncertainly, not liking what this was leading to.

"I'm not asking." Hyunjin deadpanned and grabbed Felix's arm, dragging him out the house.
Everyone in the house was left in laughter, watching the display that Hyunjin had put up.

~°~

In a cabin deep inside the woods, inside its secret basement, cut off from the world, lay Areum. Her body was littered with bruises, aching every time she moved. Her lip was bust, and she had a two inch long horizontal cut, encrusted with blood, under her right eye, courtesy of her first day in hell.

After passing out under the bridge, she remembered waking up in complete and total darkness. She had felt two men carrying her, and tried to wiggle out of their grasp. But it was no use. They tied her hands behind her back, and gagged her upon realizing she was awake. The two men then dragged her into this windowless room, and then one man (the same man whom she first met under the bridge, and due to the way he had behaved, she named him madman for as long she didn't know her name) had followed them in. He bore a wicked expression on his face, a mad fantasy filling his eyes.

As soon as the men set Areum down, he walked up to her and pulled out a small pocket knife and drew a deep line under her eye. As much as it hurt, Areum dared not shout. She couldn't show weakness here. He retracted his hand, and punched her. He punched her so hard, her lip started to bleed.

He smirked at her, and then left her, the two men following him, leaving her alone in the dark room.

That was her first day in this place. In hell. And compared to the other days she spent here, that one was best.

The two men would come in every day, and beat her mercilessly, while shouting questions that she didn't know the answers to.

And Areum never cried. She never shouted from the pain. And worst of all, she never fought back. And she hated herself for that. But how could she even fight? As much as she hated to admit it, she was weak. She couldn't even fight back, or even use her brain properly.

The times when she would faint from exhaustion were the only times she felt at peace. For her dreams would take her far away, back into the arms of Felix, and surrounded by her gang mates.

The Madman only came in once, the first day. He never came back after that. Areum wanted to see him again, for she wanted to ask him the meaning of this. She wanted to know why she was kept here, and not killed already.

The only thing keeping her from not succumbing to her injuries was the feeling of hope, that somewhere out there, Stray Kidz would be searching for her. Now that she was here, she regretted everything she might have ever done. She regretted not telling the others about the case she was working on soon enough, she regretted not telling Felix about Stray Kidz soon enough. She wondered what he might think of her now. If he still loved her as he did before. If he was heartbroken, knowing that she hid something from him. If he even noticed that she was missing. And if he did notice that, did he move on, or is he still trying to search for her?

She wanted answers, answers that she couldn't get sitting in this place.

Suddenly, the door to this miserable room opened. Light crept into the room, Areum hissed from just looking at the light, her eyes used to the comfort of the darkness. A figure came and stood at the door, walking in as he closed the door behind him. The Madman, as Areum had named him, walked in.
"You." Areum whispered, her eyes narrowing down in anger at the very sight of him, her voice muffled from the gag.
"Me." He spoke, his voice oozing with authority as he bent down to her level. He moved dangerously close to her face as he removed the gag and looked at her, smirking wickedly.

"Why am I still here? Why have you not killed me yet?" She asked, getting straight to the point. Her voice was hoarse, and weak, but still, it was dripping with venom.
"Because watching you suffer is more fun than getting rid of you altogether." He smirked, moving away from her. "Do you need water?" he asked, his tone getting kinder. His face bore a worried expression.
"No" Areum quickly replied. As much as she needed water, she couldn't trust him.

"No? Well that's a shame. I brought along water with me, felt as though you'd want it." He said, pulling out a small bottle of water from his jacket's pocket.

"You were wrong. You can go now." She fake smiled. She really couldn't bear to see him.
His expression changed. It dropped. And somehow, he looked amused. "I would leave, but, you see, I brought this water specially for you. I don't want it to go to waste." He simply replied, bending down to her level once more. He grabbed Areum's face and squeezed her mouth open. He opened the bottle of water and poured it down her throat, the cold water freezing her on the inside. He let go of her, and smirked as she started choking. He pushed her, and she fell face first on the cold, hard, ground. "Are you okay?" He asked, his voice sounding nasty. He hit her back repeatedly, and once he finally stopped, he pulled her back up and held her face again, smirking wickedly as he asked, "Are you better now?"

Areum squirmed in his grip, her eyes stinging with unshed tears. "Aw? Do you want to cry?" He mocked. Areum avoided his gaze.
"LOOK AT ME WHEN I AM TALKING TO YOU" he thundered. Areum winced, his loud voice scaring her more than she would've liked. He smirked at her, satisfied with her reaction, and let go of her, watching her as she dropped to the floor.

He turned to leave the room when Areum whispered, "Wait." Her voice was barely audible, yet he still heard her. He stopped in his steps, and turned to look at her with an impatient face, his long bangs hovering just inches away from his eyes as he angled his face downwards, looking at Areum expectantly.

"Who are you?" She asked, her voice raspy, but not covering the curiosity that she held, or her eagerness to know the answer. He smirked at her, amused at the question as he stood up straight, and walked towards the door. He opened it, leaving it ajar as he turned around and looked at Areum one last time.

"You sure would like to know that, wouldn't you? Well, it's just too bad love, knowing who I am won't be much to use to you." He spoke. "And my name is only known on a need-to-know basis." He added in a darker tone, walking out the door as it closed behind him. Leaving Areum alone in the dark, windowless room once more.

~°~

HEYY

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY

I'M OFFICIALLY FOURTEEN

I WANT BIRTHDAY WISHES AND VOTES FROM ALL OF Y'ALL READERS

this is a very poor attempt at promoting my latest fic, but i'm stupid and i'll still do that so here ya go
do read my latest fic, Killer's Instinct, cuz i'm exploring a new style of writing with this fic, and i've only done the foreward of it till now, cuz i wanna see if ppl r gonna wanna read it, so if u do read it, tell me if u like it in the comments of that fic.

thankyou people

Cora :)