hydra | svt

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE.

wonwoo

the applause rocks the dressing room as the first night of the show comes to a close. shouts of 'encore!' swirl with chants of mingyu's name and i can almost see the smug yet satisfied grin on his face.

it takes the actor all but ten minutes to rush into his dressing room, locking the door behind him immediately. jun is slowly gaining consciousness and hansol looks worse for wear, but insists that he can at least support himself and talk in whispered tones; it relieves me that we all made it out alive, but more questions than answers have risen in my mind. however, i could save the research for later as my priority is explaining everything to jun and mingyu.

"hello stranger," mingyu says jokingly enough but i know it's a reminder that i had met him only days ago, even if we were friendly with each other. he kneels beside jun, who's being nursed by minghao and pity waters in his eyes; my admiration for him deepens as i realise he doesn't know who jun is or why we had to save him.

"i know you have a lot of questions," i begin quietly. my voice commands the attention of everyone in the room and they all turn to me, save for jun who's breathing is shallow but regular. "but let me explain what i know first."

i launch into the tale of our real identities, sparing no details of my mission so far: i explain what we're up against and my gestures grow more furious the deeper i delve. the whole time mingyu, and even hansol and minghao, simply stare vacantly as they take in the flood of information sweeping towards them. after i get them up to date, i wait nervously for someone to speak up.

mingyu's signature toothy smirk is replaced with a stoic line as he laces his fingers together in deep thought: he's having a hard time coming to grips with his new reality and part of me wants him to ask for more information so i know he's doesn't think it's all a joke.

"okay," he finally breathes. he looks up from his nail-beds to meet my anxious gaze. "can you just explain the mission again?"

"an evil force call plaga is planning to take over both the magic and non-magic universe, eventually destroying the non-magic universe to let magic-users rule entirely. we've been chosen to stop this from happening by gathering intel in the non-magic universe. whenever i restore your memory, our powers will return to us tenfold so we have a chance of stopping it."

"have a chance? so it's not certain?" he asks again, anger clipping the ends of his words.

"sorry, but nothing is certain. we have a much larger chance of winning though. so far, i thought it would only be plaga we had to face but a society...or council of some sort...called the electos decem have been haunting us and i think hecate was the first of the ten." i examine the keychain in my hand under the dim yellow lights, the branded X laughing at me. quickly, i shove it into my pocket.

"i'm not sure where my head is at right now," mingyu announces, trying to stay diplomatic. "but my concern right now is your friend - or our friend? - i don't know." his hand scratches the back of his neck sheepishly and it's kind of endearing.

"yes, junhui," minghao whispers with a sigh, tipping another mouthful of water past the chinese boy's chapped lips.

during our conversation, it seems that jun had gradually roused and his eyes cracked open a fraction before he let out a deafening groan of pain.

"jun!" minghao lights up in an instant, eyes misting as he holds himself back and gives jun the room he needs to come to.

"huh? where am i? and why does my whole body feel like it's made out of rock?" his voice is hoarse and he hacks dryly. minghao pushes more water into his mouth and he gulps it down.