𝗦𝗪𝗜𝗧𝗖𝗛-𝗠𝗔𝗧𝗘.

𝗢𝗡𝗘: the flood of blood.

𝖢𝖧𝖠𝖯𝖳𝖤𝖱 𝖮𝖭𝖤:
' the flood of blood. '

• • • •

     Takzua, Injeong. A former district of glory and wealth due to its industrialisation in the late 1920s which brought the country of Injeong to it's now prosperous self. Indeed, it was a place of where miracles where born, a place brimming with exquisite obscurities that twisted minds in such intricate ways.

     Now, it was a place of lesser miraculousness. The former tales of wealth had soon worn off on the district as it faced more contemporary challenges such as overpopulation and threats of corruption to power. Such problems seemed to have drained the poor district out of its luck, leaving it with very few things to cherish in the bleak future that was induced by society.

"Wake up, Reporter Lee." Opening his jaded eyes, he quickly familiarised his surroundings. It was April 16th, precisely 8:15pm. It was a miserable day to say the least. Torrential rain poured through the streets, encapsulating them in a sheen of dampness which seemed to have been drawn further to the citzens of Takzua.

Minho had three main goals for today. Three monotonous yet inevitable chores he had to follow in order to continue the cycle of his life.

    1. Finish the long working day he had left.
    2. Buy groceries from the interminable list
    that grew larger by the minute.
    3. Submit his documents before Seyeon did.

"Sunbae, why do you have to always be in competition with Seyeon? Why can't you just get along like normal collegues do? It's causing you to stay up so late and fall asleep while you're working." An angered yet enervated voice approached the brunette and, despite his tone being the most unrecognisable, he most certainly knew who it was.

Seungmin.

"There's only one place for the promotion and only one person who deserves it, me." Chuckling, Minho gently slapped the back of the auburn haired, earning a soft wince from Seungmin. Minho was always the competitive kind, attempting to reach the highest in anything possible and out of all people, Seungmin would know it best.

      "At this point, you might as well attempt to go for the CEO's position." Mumbling it to himself, Seungmin sighed as he watched the brunette scribble down a few more notes, his handwriting in likeness to one of a frenetic child attempting to write an essay in a record time as he continued his scrutiny of his surroundings.

"He sure is one devoted news reporter." A jovial voice spoke to the left of Seungmin. Sure enough, it was Chan or in Seungmin's eyes, Chris, the man who saves him from losing majority of his sanity. Despite the amount of overwhelming annoyance pretty much everyone gave him, he always remained composed - probably due to the fact he was their team manager after all.

"Sunbae, are you ready to go up with Hyunjin for the news report?" Someone called out, most likely Jisung whose voice almost acted like an alert to the brunette as he quickly stood up from his seat underneath the awning of his favourite coffee shop and ran into the ambush of rain. To his surprise, he hadn't sneezed yet. Until he thought about it and the sneezes promptly arrived.

Quickly adjusting his hood of his plastic raincoat, he ran to stand alongside his co-reporter, Hwang Hyunjin. In society's eyes, he was the man that brought the sector of journalism to life, notorious for his extreme passion for his job (which could be debated as a façade in some people's eyes) and of course, the reason why people turned on their televisions at eight o'clock to watch the news.

     But in Minho's eyes, he was just an average man he'd work with everyday in order to get his wage.

    "Minho sunbae- you might have- to do this report alone- or with Seyeon-" Sneezes breaking his sentence, Hyunjin spoke, his voice clearly worsening by the minute. Despite Minho's preference for a partner, he quickly shook his head. Never would he want to be partnered with Seyeon, the lady most infamous for her competitiveness in the workplace and Minho's biggest opposition in getting a promotion.

"Minho, I think it would be better off for you to work with Seyeon." Chan spoke with a sense of authority in his voice, large enough for his statement not to be questioned further. Almost mirroring Minho's anger, raindrops smacked the plastic raincoats that they all wore.

A sigh escaped his throat as he watched his colleague walk towards him, an awkward tension floating between them. "Don't ruin this for me, Lee Minho." Seyeon deadpanned, a bitter smile on her face as she gently brushed the dust off his shoulder.

"We're going live in 3,2,1." The cameraman stated as he shifted the camera, the rest of the staff running in order to hide themselves out of the frame. Gulping, Minho stared at the camera. In his mind, he wished that this would finish quickly. That after this, he could go back home, relax with his cats, eating the brownies that were given to him at Lixism Café.

"Reporting from Takzua, Reporters Lee Minho and Park Seyeon have live updates on the torrential rain that has been flooding the city recently."

"Ah yes, Reporter Lee here. Currently, there's a flood of water that has been pouring into the city of Takzua, forcing people to leave their home, business to shut, and a surge of traffic as people attempt to flee the city in safety."

"In hope for aiding the citizens of Takzua, the Government have decided to-" Cut off from her sentence, she felt a sharp pain in her back. So did Minho. A dreaded feeling consumed them both.

A gunshot.

Hoping to view the assailant, Minho turned in the direction of the shot as he fell towards the ground. But all that could be viewed were people crowding over them. Swarming them as they drowned in the flood of blood.

"Breaking News: Two reporters in Takzua have been shot dead during a report."

• • • •

welcome to switch-mate redone version! thank you to all the people who have been putting this book into their reading list, i really appreciate it :) this isn't my best work but i thought i should publish at least something :,)) anyways thank you for reading, stay safe, and have a good day/night wherever you are!

━ @/ᴍɪɴᴀ