𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐀𝐑𝐌𝐄𝐃 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐂𝐄𝐒

3; 𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙨𝙞𝙫𝙚

mingyu walks inside minghao's apartment, quite surprised at what he's seeing. expensive appliances, sophisticated furniture—it all meant that minghao was well off, even if he's not earning as much as he was in seventeen.

"sit down, show me the thing about wonwoo and hawaii." minghao says, jabbing the couch, motioning mingyu to sit.

"we could've talked about this on the phone.. but okay," mingyu sat on the couch, placing down his folder, immediately taking the index card and the piece of paper where he deciphered the code sent to him. "the sender used caesar's box, which i remember clearly because wonwoo taught it to me one morning. and it says hawaii. is this a joke?"

"caesar's box is a pretty common code, and morse as well. someone might've just fooled around and sent you this." minghao placed his index and thumb on his chin, thinking. "do you know who the sender is?"

"kim hyun."

"oh, that rookie actor?" minghao made a face of disgust, taking the index card in his hands. "as much as i know, he's a commoner. i've stalked him once. great ass."

"minghao!" mingyu exclaimed, alarmed at this information. minghao shrugs. "but anyway, what should i do about it? should i just disparage whatever this hawaii thing is?"

"no, i actually think you should go to hawaii." minghao answers, surprising mingyu. minghao still had hope for wonwoo, mayhaps? "remember the last piece of information we got before we dismantled? someone booked a flight to the west, with excess money. they found a small blob of blood on his shoes, and it was confirmed that it was wonwoo's, but we did noth— whatever, maybe that's what we need, the hint we were looking for. i think we should check it out. no harm, right? you have an ability."

mingyu perked up, reminding minghao of a puppy. minghao giggled quietly. "really?! will you go with me?" mingyu slouched back down when minghao shook his head.

"mingyu, look at me." minghao fixated his eyes on mingyu, who eyed him up and down. full of bruises, wounds, bandages around his arms and some on his torso, peeking out on the neckline of minghao's shirt. "i'm always busy. i'm a kickboxer. i have shows here and there, i have training everyday."

"but, minghao.."

"you can do it yourself, mingyu." minghao said, patting the taller's shoulder. mingyu sighs and nods, gathering his things. "it's your time to shine."

minghao accompanied mingyu on the way out of his apartment building hospitably. one last goodbye, and mingyu was off to make decisions for himself. he decides to get back to his office, in case everything was on fire by now.

"should i go, or should i not?" mingyu asks himself, biting his lip as he skips steps on the sidewalk.

mingyu loved wonwoo and the rest of seventeen, he really did. minhye was gone. his parents were gone. all he had left was seventeen, and for seventeen to break apart? it broke mingyu in pieces. nobody can ever pick him up and fix him, other than himself. and starting all over again, alone, with a broken heart? it's hard. close to impossible.

believing the message in the index card and finding wonwoo will bring seventeen back together, and mingyu can be in the protective arms of his family, and watch over them as well.

but then, mingyu kinda wished wonwoo was dead.

mingyu wished that everything written on the index card was a joke. maybe it was the fate of thirteen people that used to reside in a building named 'seventeen guest house'. going solo and pursuing their real dreams, making use of their other potentials. getting far away from the crazy and dangerous world of supernatural beings like themselves.

maybe it was time to move on and just accept wonwoo's death.

"agh! i'm bad at math, i can't do this caesar's box thing. why are you so fast when you get the square root?!"

"i was also having a hard time studying math at first. i thought i'll never be able to do it, but at some point, i was able to do algebra arithmetics after several attempts."

"that's amazing! but... i'm too busy to study math, hehe. what's the answer to this code?"

"it's 'cheer up, kim mingyu.'"

"cheer up? why?!"

"because your sister just left you."

"oh, wonwoo! thank you. very much. i appreciate it."

who comforted mingyu when wonwoo died? like when minhye passed, wonwoo was there, trying his best to convey his empathy, showing off his understanding nature to mingyu. somehow, even though the orphan was not good at emotions, mingyu felt better.

when wonwoo was gone, mingyu felt longing for the orphan. there was nobody to meet downstairs when he was about to cook breakfast, nobody to stop an argument with facts, nobody to teach him random things like caesar's box, nobody to comfort him while he is in grief.

where did it go wrong? was it any of the members' fault that wonwoo died? fuck, who would be careless in seventeen? all of the members are meticulous and keen. plus, they're ability users—even if they were careless, they would be able to do something when a problem arises. then, why did wonwoo die?!

"so much for seungkwan's ability." mingyu chuckled stolidly. "he said we'd find the culprit. where is the culprit now? where is seventeen now? where is he now? fuckass."

mingyu bit his tongue. as much as he hated false hope, he despised being too harsh to other people who could have done better than mingyu.

yachi calls. "mingyu-sunbae, i was mistaken."

mingyu's eyebrows furrow, phone still pressed to his ear. "about what? is there a goddamn typo or grammar error again?!"

"n-no," yachi muttered, almost instantaneously. "i interviewed the wrong person. it wasn't kim hyun."

"what?! don't you know what kim hyun looks like?!"

"n-no, i'm s-sorry!" yachi said, and mingyu could imagine the young lady bowing to nobody while on the phone with her boss. mingyu sighs.

"reschedule an interview again, with the real kim hyun. who did you interview anyway?! if it's honestly a random person taking advantage of you, i'd hunt them down!"

"i will, as soon as p-possible!" yachi blushed, but his boss was unable to see that. "mtv informed me earlier that i interviewed a stylist, his name is kim minseok."

"kim minseok... hey, yachi, you're the editor of hallyu monthly while i'm gone, i'll send everyone a text to verify. gotta go. do your best." mingyu hung up. he was still frozen in place, eyes wide, mouth agape and phone still in his hand.

"then that means... the index card.... shit, shit. seungkwan's ability is working." mingyu remembers calling seungkwan a flunk, and makes a mental note to apologize for that later. now, he needed to find out about wonwoo. "minseok has information—but whatever! i can't waste time!"

mingyu immediately goes to the web to book a flight to hawaii. if he's lucky, he might catch wonwoo in hawaii.