Jongho continued humming as he returned to his shared room with their gang.
"Update?" Yeosang asked as soon as the youngest closed the door.
"The sleeping ones are still sleeping, two of the others are meeting Joong hyung." Jongho replied, "One of them being the one you slammed onto the ground. Also, the remaining awoke one is called Jeongin, apparently. Do we need to check on them again?"
"Rather than check them up, we should clean up their room. I doubt it's in good condition." Seonghwa suggested, and earned a look of disdain from San, "We don't even know if they're allowed to stay."
"Who are those people, anyway?" Wooyoung voiced out his confusion, "Why are you so pressed in bringing them in?"
"We don't know if they saw us, and if they did, they probably won't let us go," Yeosang grunted.
"What if they aren't any dangerous people? Do we let them go?" Wooyoung asked again.
"That's up to Hongjoong hyung to decide." Jongho said.
~
Jeongin kept on walking back and forth nervously as soon as Chan and Minho had left. He didn't even notice himself keep on sighing.
"Who on earth - huh, where is this place?"
Jeongin turned to whoever woke up - of course, it's Seungmin. He was never a heavy sleeper.
"Simply speaking, we got...half-kidnapped?" Jeongin replied. To be completely honest, he wasn't really sure about what's going on either.
"And you decided to just walk around doing nothing?" Seungmin yawned and sat up. He didn't mean to blame Jeongin, but Jeongin must've misunderstood. He glared at the second youngest.
"Channie hyung and Minho hyung are seeing the leader already. There's nothing I can do for now."
All he got was a hum from Seungmin.
"Aren't you even the slighest bit nervous? What if that guy was mad at us and killed Channie hyung and Minho hyung-"
"No, not really. Chan is strong. And once Minho felt threatened he'd probably become more dangerous than we can ever imagine." Seungmin replied nonchalantly.
Jeongin was not convinced at all. "What's more, there's another person carrying Hyunjin the whole time, nearly sprinting, went up the stairs and didn't even sweat a bit."
"That's just one person."
"There's also another who used some tricks to lock Chan onto the ground in the first place."
"Wow," Seungmin looked excited for some reason, "Can I use that on Changbin hyung?"
"If you wanna get killed by Minho, sure you can," Jeongin replied impatiently, "Plus that's not the point."
Seungmin huffed in annoyance, before looking around the room for once. "Is that so. But after everything you said, I still don't get the feeling that we're hostages. We're not injured, half of us are still asleep soundly, this room is enormous..."
"Because we're not."
The door was already open to reveal Chan and Minho who just came back. "We've made a deal. Oh, and you're awake, Seungmin"
"What deal? With the demon?"
"Is Jeongin okay?" Chan looked at Seungmin with a concerned face after hearing the ridiculous question from the youngest of the bunch, but Seungmin just shook his head calmly, "Nah, his usual self."
"That guy's surprisingly nice." Minho ignored the exchange between Chan and Seungmin, "And all he did was telling us why they ended up here and asked if we want to go with them on a quest. A quest to create a utopia, he said."
The others fall silent.
"We know that it doesn't exist, don't we?" Seungmin asked quietly. "That's why we settled down near the abandoned pier, where no one bothers us and we support our own lives in peace."
"That is exactly what they were trying to do." Chan explained. "We were already living in our own utopia, but they were trying to have slightly more people, and we would be living in an actual tiny town and not in some ragged old tent."
"But it's cozy enough," Jeongin mumbled. "Why did you agree? I thought we were satisfied already."
"I don't know how exactly I can word this..." Chan scratched his hair, "Like, sure, our current lives are what we have desired all along...but it's not enough. What we are doing is achievable at home, even, if not for the authorities back in the capital, but this guy - this team - they are actually trying to build up a functioning society, abeit a very tiny one. The spirit is really dazzling. To me, at least."
"Plus, you really need to see their leader in person." Minho added, "He has this aura of natural leadership. He has to be different from authorities."
The other three still seemed to be a bit skeptical about the situation, but they finally came to the consense that they should stay and observe the situation. If anything happens, they can just escape.
They've done this so many times already.
"Wait, we should fetch out stuff back first." Seungmin suddenly voiced, "A lot of things are still in the tent."
"I want to get that tent back too." Jeongin nodded, "Memories."
"Shit, I don't know where to find any of them-"
The door opened to reveal the first guy they met, who Minho and Chan already learned from Hongjoong, named Yeosang.
He had a staring contest with the awoke four for a few seconds before speaking, "What are you guys doing?"
"We should ask you. What are you doing here?" Minho asked. "Yeosang, right?"
Yeosang looked genuinely surprised before regaining his usual composure, "Hongjoong told you a lot, it seems like. And, he just told me that you will be staying, so I was just coming to ask if any three of you'd like to come with me, because I still need to get supplies and I suppose you'd like to clear that tent."
"Yes, we do want to get back our things."
"I also suck with handling too many people so just get at most three of you here." Yeosang said.
"Seungmin, are you awake enough to come out?" Minho turned to him, "Innie would be the safest here with the others, although they're asleep."
"I gotchu."
"So, you three?" Yeosang confirmed, and Chan nodded, "There's one problem though. The closest store which sells food is already inside the capital, and we...are kinda fugitives."
Yeosang again looked genuinely surprised, and it took a him a few seconds to register the information, "You mean, you were wanted?"
"Kinda. It's not like we did anything dangerous, though, it's just...the authorities."
"...If Hongjoong hyung trusts you, I will also trust you for now, but you better explain that tomorrow." Yeosang said before ativating his walkie-talkie again, "Jongho, we may or may not need some fighting on the way. You need to come again."
