"Hyung."
Chan felt Jeongin shaking him with small but powerful pushes. The sky was still dark. He looked at the glowing arms of the watch. 2am in the morning.
"What's the matter...?"
"Someone's outside our tent."
He motioned Jeongin to remain silent, only to hear a groan from beside him.
"...Cover up Hyunjin's mouth, thanks." He whispered.
He heard Jeongin shuffling to Hyunjin's place and clamped the sleep-talker's mouth.
This time, he didn't hear anything.
"I'm going to take a look. Stay here."
"Be careful." Jeongin whispered back.
Chan crawled outside and remained crouched. He didn't see or hear anything.
It's probably Jeongin's imagination, he thought.
Just when he was about to return to the tent, someone tripped him over and locked him on the ground by grabbing his neck, swift but smooth and quiet moves.
"Keep your voice low and we'll talk." The owner of the voice is just as quiet.
"Who are you?"
"...You can refer us to pirates if you want." He replied.
Chan mentally cursed. It's their fault for settling down near the abandoned pier.
"'Us'? So there's more of you?"
"I'd say the same to you."
Chan hissed. He knew about the others in the tent.
"We won't hurt you or your companions if you come with me peacefully."
"Says the one who is locking me on the ground."
"You're not hurt. Stop complaining."
"I want you to tell me why you'd like us to come first."
"We will explain to you once you come with us."
This guy is hard to break, Chan thought.
"How would I know you wouldn't kill us the instant we stepped onto your ground?"
He can hear the intruder's annoyed sigh.
"If you see their real personalities you would wonder how are they even able to hurt a fly. Just come."
The intruder yanked Chan up without any warning and said, "You are going to tell your companions to come nicely, or then your fear will come true. Got it?"
"Can you at least not pulling my hair? I don't want to scare the only awake one here."
The intruder remained still for a while before slowly letting go.
"You make one funny move, people will find all of your bodies here."
No one's ever gonna come here, Chan thought, but he didn't speak that out loud.
Instead, he calmly crawled back in the tent, seeing that Minho is also awake for some reason.
"What happened?" He asked, "I heard some...aggressive hissing."
"We need to follow a suspicious guy. It's not like we have a choice."
"Are we gonna die?" The youngest asked nervously.
"Probably not." Chan shrugged, "But we need to carry the rest of them."
"3 people can't carry 5." Minho said. "Even if you're strong enough to carry two, you still need one more person up."
"We're making that guy outside help us." Chan huffed.
~
"...Do I look like I can carry a person?"
"But you managed to lock me on the ground." Chan reasoned.
"I picked the moment when you let your guard down. It's easier than you thought." The intruder said, taking something out of his pocket, "Now shut up."
A beep.
"Jongho, get your ass here at once."
"What position are you in to order me?"
"Fine, I will tell Hongjoong hyung or Seonghwa hyung what happened and they will order you to do it."
"Yes, yes, yes, I will come here, you baby."
The intruder didn't intend to talk to Chan and his friends at all, and the ten of them remained silent until footsteps arrived 5 minutes later.
"Why do you need me here?"
The first intruder pointed to Hyunjin, who was still sleeping on the ground. "Pick him up."
The second intruder, apparently named Jongho, groaned while throwing Hyunjin onto his own back, "You really need to train more, hyung."
"I use my brain, thanks." He retorted, then turned back to Chan, "Now come."
It took another 5 minutes for the rest to see a large ship - almost like a cruise ship, but most of the lights were turned off.
"Up," The unnamed intruder urged them in, "Jongho, bring them to Hongjoong hyung."
"Fine." Jongho agreed unwillingly, "Follow me. I don't want to knock out all of you."
