𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐫𝐭 𝐎𝐟 𝐁𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐚𝐥 - 𝐒𝐤𝐳/ 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐧𝐠

-Schizophrenic-

Sometimes Minho would see things. Dark, twisted things that appeared in his dreams. Childhood ghosts taunted him and the hallucinations he would have made his life hell.

Minho sat in his small apartment. He had so much money yet he lived in such a tiny space. With a lit cigarette in one hand and a glass of whiskey and ice in the other, Minho started drifting off to sleep. His eyes were heavy and he was drained. Sleep and darkness welcomed him with open arms.

Orange engulfed the room. Smoke and huge burning flames were everywhere, Minho shot up out of his chair. It must have been the cigarette he was smoking, he had left it to burn. He coughed as he inhaled the thick smoke. He covered his mouth with his arm and squinted through the fire to find his way out. Out of the corner of his eye was a black shadow. It was a person who had their hand out, signaling Minho to take it and he did. The shadow dragged him to the fire escape.  Coughing and choking, Minho practically threw himself down the stairs. He landed on the ground and tried to compose himself. The shadow was stood by his side watching him. Minho stood up and went to pull the figure's hood down.

Another nightmare. For weeks Minho had been having the same traumatizing dream. His apartment would be on fire and someone wearing a hood would save him. It made no sense. Downing the rest of his whiskey, Minho stood up and walked to his bathroom where he kept most of his pills and alcohol. He pulled out some painkillers and swallowed them without hesitation. He placed his hands on his sink and looked up into the mirror. His eyes were ringed with dark circles from sleepless nights. His hair was a mess and his skin was pale. When he looked in the mirror, he didn't see the fearless leader that everybody else saw. He saw a weak, useless man. Scars lingered all over his body from the past. He thought scars were a sign of weakness, which is why he despised them. He despised himself.

Minho was in a dark place. Mentally, emotionally and physically. Every single day the past haunted him. He blamed himself for that night. Deep down he knew that there was nothing he could have done to stop Jisung from betraying him. That was the worst part. Knowing that he was helpless. The men had beaten him and tortured him for days on end. He screamed out for help that never came. He was all alone. And now three years later he was still alone. He had levanter but that wasn't enough he needed something, someone more.

Minho took one last look in the mirror before walking away and sitting back in his chair. His phone was buzzing. Minho sighed and rubbed his eyes before picking up the phone. "Hello?" He said. "Did I wake you up?" Felix said. Minho sighed. "No you didn't but what do you want?" He could hear Hyunjin yelling in the background. "We think we have a lead". There was silence for a few seconds. "I'm on my way over" The call ended. Minho picked up his keys and jacket before heading out.

"You look like shit," Chan said as Minho stepped out of the car. Rolling his eyes Minho replied. "Thanks, I know". The two walked side by side into the main house. It was where the gang stayed and it was huge. Underground basements filled with drugs, cash, and weapons. Tons of bedrooms and random rooms that hadn't yet been filled. The gang was gathered in the main living room. "So what did you find out?" Minho said. Jeongin pulled out a high-tech laptop. "This is the CCTV footage from the night Hyunjin's house burnt down," He said. The screen showed black and white tape recordings from the night of the Incident. "The footage was tampered with but we still managed to gather what was left of it," Seungmin said. Minho leaned in to look at the laptop closely. Jeongin pointed to the screen "This image shows two people running into the woods behind his house after the fire had started". Minho watched the screen as he saw exactly was Jeongin had just described. "Hyunjin and Changbin went to search the woods earlier today and found a small cabin that had a bunch of gasoline and other shit in," Chan said.

"It was empty when we got there but they couldn't have been gone for that long as there were sets of footprints through the woods," Hyunjin said. Minho nodded. "We sent people to follow the tracks and right now we are just waiting for some intel," Felix said. Just as Felix had finished speaking, Chan's phone started ringing. He left the room to answer the call and came back in a few minutes later. "We got them".