My little Youngjae

Somewhere

Daehyun woke up early the next morning.
It was a bright day, based on the courtesy the windows gave him to see and he dearly hoped it'd stay that way because with everything packed in his head, he was only capable of contemplating two possibilities; whether it was going to get dark or really dark.

He had a recorder and his camera, fully charged in his backpack. He knew they probably won't be of use yet but it was better safe than sorry. He surely didn't want to regret anything.

He figured he'd wait 'til his mom would at least wake up but resorted to leaving a note instead, promising not to stay out too late.

Speeding down the neighborhood was alright with him, but the click clack from the recorder and camera from his bag made him anxious so he settled on brisk walking.

What better way to start a lovely day that's probably going to rot halfway, than exercising, right?

After countless swift steps, he managed to situate himself in front of the place of suspicion from yesterday. His eyes really hadn't deceived him. It was actually there.

When he started to venture further, he found there was a trail of trampled grass that failed to grow. It was very thin, and the other plants surrounding it were tall so it made sense why no one had ever found this place. Or why no one had ever thought of looking here.

Now, he's aware this trail could possibly lead him to Malaysia or somewhere, Mars perhaps. Maybe Antartica? And give him absolutely no clue about Youngjae's disappearance. But so far, it was the only thing he had. After all those years of sitting down, moping and doing no sort of anything about it, he'd learned to value even the most trivial possibilities of a clue.

Risk procures reward, right?
He just had to be brave and willed enough to see which overrides the other.

He treaded through the path, his fists clasping the backpack straps very securely. Some minutes had past and by then, he already had no idea where he was. It was still plants. So much of them and there was no way of telling he was going anywhere because they all looked the same.

After what felt like days of walking and wondering when the cake of plants he dove into would end, he finally arrived at an open field.
It was obvious not many people had been here. With it's undeniably remote location and the limited ways to actually get here, it wasn't a surprise.

His legs were killing him and the fact that it was already noon was too.
Scruitinizing the field for a bit, he laid eyes on a big oak tree and decided a little break wouldn't hurt.

He placed his backpack against the lower part of the bark and layed his body comfortably against it. It was then that he realized just how tired he was. It wasn't the most pleasing feeling, but somehow that lit just a pinch of glee in him, because if he felt like that, then it meant he was doing something. He was actually doing something about the subject that had tugged on him more than history class ever did.

Closing his eyes, he let the beautiful breeze consume him and turned off any sort of fidget.
It was so peaceful here. No body else was around, no sense of disturbance what so ever, and the shade of the oak tree granted him the perfect temperature-- for a moment, before a sudden unbelievable coldness wrapped around his body. It was so weird, it felt like little hands were coiling around his neck and something was on his torso. His cheek suddenly felt grazed, but when he opened his eyes there was nothing there. Still, Daehyun refused to move. His muscles had just began to loosen up the tension, he wasn't going to throw that away just because he felt cold. He resorted to thinking it'd eventually go away. Maybe it was some sort of brain mechanism he had missed on listening about in science class. Probably.

"Youngjae-ah, were you lost here? Did Mickey summon you in this barren field?" He playfully talked to himself, chuckling a bit. It was ridiculous but it kept him entertained. Despite that though, the words were empty, and the laugh was too. They were just the ghosts of the thoughts he had when he was eight.

Daehyun sighed and looked up to the thick jungle of branches and leaves above him. By the looks of it, the tree had gotten plenty of nutrition and was of old age. There was also some sort of red object peeking out and possibly stuck between branches. He hovered over the fact that it could be a clue but random objects peeking out of trees hardly screamed any significance regarding Youngjae. And besides, Youngjae was too short to reach that height. If someone had to place that there, then it definitely would've been an adult.

Daehyun's eyes widened.

Maybe it was a clue after all.

Standing up, every ounce of cold from before had vanished.
It pleased him well that he was right about that.

He started climbing the bark, and once again hoped there was no squirrel near by. Luckily for him, there weren't any this time and he had safely settled on a strong and sturdy branch near his targeted mysterious object.
Once it was in arm's reach, he quickly grabbed it and carefully climbed back down.

It had seemed to be a red ball, the color had faded a bit but it was clearly once red at some point. It had some sort of maze inside it.
The kind of maze he'd made when he was back in 9th grade for a probability project. It made for an attractive toy and any kid would probably be interested in it. He knew he was.

He kept it in his backpack and declared break time was over. He needed to get going if he actually wanted to get somewhere.

Inspecting the place more, he found the trail from before didn't stop from where he decided to. It let itself through the field of rather tall grass, although looking quite faded. Following it, he eventually led himself into a hatch in the ground.

Now this- this was getting him somewhere.

An underground.