Encounter in the Unexpected Abyss | Choi Seungcheol

two.

~ Andi's POV ~

I was at one of the desks in the library of our University as I listened to music, the intro of Same dream, same mind, same night, softly started playing on my earphones.

I was in the process of finalizing my last agenda of the day – his poster.

Until a cold hand tapped my shoulder.

I was surprised, to say the least, but when I saw who it was, my rising heart calmed a bit. It was my best friend, Cathy.

"What are you still doing here? Didn't your class end 3 hours ago?" She said with a curious look until her eyes focused on my laptop screen.

With a raised eyebrow and a deep sigh, she spoke again "Really, Andi? You're still working on that? It's been 10 months since the incident. Even the media stopped reporting about it."

I sigh, "Look, even though the media stopped talking about the issue, it doesn't mean they stopped trying to look for him altogether. It could have been the request of his company, maybe even his members or his family. The media isn't everything, you know?" I reasoned out.

She rolled her eyes and whispered, "At this point, you should shift to become an investigator or a goddamn police."

I decided to not respond and continue with my poster, until she spoke again, "Do you not have requirements to work on? Why do you have so much time to work on that?"

I looked at her with a raised eyebrow, "Did you forget? I'm leaving tomorrow."

She looked at me with wide eyes, "What? Your immersion is tomorrow already? How long will you be gone again?"

"It's for 3 months," I said quietly.

She pouted, "3 months? You're going to leave me all alone for 3 months?"

I looked at her sadly, "3 months will go by quickly and next thing you know, I'll be back so you can annoy me again," I said jokingly. 

She pouted even more. Until she was somehow distracted by the poster I was making again, "So that's why you have the time to work on that."

She continued, "I don't think I've met someone as dedicated as you are. You know Andi, I really do hope you get to meet him in this lifetime at least once. He's lucky to have a fan like you. What's his name again?"

"Choi Seungcheol," I answered.

There were many things wrong with Cathy's statement that I chose not to dwell on but for the sake of it, I can point out a few.

The dedication Choi Seungcheol has for his members and fans exceeds any of my attempts at creating and publishing these posters.

I would love to meet him in this lifetime but at the same time, I could easily accept the fact that I won't.

Any fan would be lucky to have him as an idol.

Above everything, the only thing that matters is Seungcheol's safety and happiness. As long as he was found, then nothing else would matter. As long as he lives a good life. 

CONTEXT

~ Andi's POV ~

For context, I am Andi Mendoza, a fan of the famous band, Seventeen. Similar to most, I received comfort from the group and nearly everything was almost perfect until it wasn't.

Ever since the gruesome car accident 10 months ago, with 7 of the members suffering from minor injuries while 5 were left unharmed — things have been different.

Why? Well, because their final member?

No one knows where he is.

As you might have guessed, the final member was none other than their general leader,

Scoups.

No one knows where Scoups was.

As disclosed to the fans, they were on their way to one of their schedules until a roaring truck crashed into 2 of the cars, sending one of the vans flying to the cliff of a bridge.

Miraculously, they were able to save everyone from the van except for one person.

Because the moment a head count was done, the authorities noticed that one person was missing.

But the weird thing was, there were no traces of him – as if he had perished from the world.

I refused to believe it though.

I know somewhere out there, Scoups was alive and safe.

Somewhere out there, Scoups was enjoying meat.

So for the past 10 months, I have been creating poster after posters about Scoups' disappearance.

Even when the media stopped providing updates, it felt necessary to keep doing something.

It was the least I could do for my comfort person, after all.

I sigh as I look at the poster one last time, hoping that this would be the last time I'd have to make one.

I was back in my dorm after the conversation with Cathy. I needed to fix my stuff for my 3-month Anthropological Immersion Work tomorrow. 3 months. This meant that I would have to stop publishing "Missing" posters for 3 months. I sigh.

I just hope that once I get back, I will be welcomed with positive news. That was all I wanted.