Pointed Stars

Title: Pointed Stars
Pairings: Jaeho, Yoosu
Rating: R
Warnings: Violence
Genre: Mystery/Suspense/Romance
A/N:I don't own the boys.
Summary: Jaejoong is captured by a renowened serial killer, and the other boys in DBSK are anxious. As Jaejoong is tortured and detectives try to race against the clock to find him, the four who are left decide they must take the case into their own hands to save the member they love.

Chapter 1: No Footsteps

The News anchor droned on through the television screen as Jaejoong snuggled in his blanket on the worn black couch. It was a freezing January night outside the Dong Bang Shin Ki household.
Snow blanketed the streets of Seoul and its suburbs, beautiful as long as they weren't being covered with its icy touch.

Jaejoong was alone in the cozy one story house just outside of the bustling city. Yunho and Yoochun had both gone out to eat dinner with friends while Junsu and Changmin had left to see family visiting the city.

The young man decided he had nothing better to do on this rare evening off, so he stayed at home to clean and relax. There were frequent, annoying taps against the window, most likely caused by the snow and wind, Jaejoong had thought.

The News was reporting a recent pattern of murders, each done more gruesomely then the last. Jaejoong cringed just listening, pulling a disgusted face as they posted a picture of the main suspect for the killings. A serial killer, as each victim had similarities that were noticeable. The victims all had dark hair, and a history of adoption and multiple siblings.

The suspect was thin, tall, and lanky. His face would’ve been handsome if it wasn’t so gaunt and sallow. Pale face framed by light chestnut brown hair. His eyes were cold and emotionless, yet could easily be mistaken as gentle from the color of his hazel eyes.

Jaejoong was getting freaked out. Quickly getting up, he made his way to the kitchen where the phone lay in the dim room. He wasn’t going to take one minute more alone, even if he had to drag Yunho and his precious ‘brothers’ from hell itself.

Before he reached the kitchen, another tap on the window distracted him. Looking towards the sliding glass doors leading to their backyard, Jaejoong froze at the sight. A man stood there, bundled up in a black parka, cold hazel eyes staring him down.

Jaejoong hastily reached into his jeans pocket to get his mobile to call 911. He had no time or luxury to go to the kitchen for the phone.

Taking another look at the window, Jaejoong dropped his phone. There were no footsteps in the snow.

It was a reflection in the window

Yunho and Yoochun entered the dark house, efficiently full with food and drink. While Yoochun switched on the lights, Yunho immediately called out for his lover.

“Jaejoong, we’re home!”

No answer. Yunho looked at Yoochun, who shrugged.

“Must be asleep.” Yoochun commented.

“You know that’s unlike him,” Yunho said. “He usually waits up for us. He hardly sleeps anyway with all the composing he does.”

Yoochun had to admit that it was a bit off. Both men quickly headed to the kitchen and living room where they received their answer.

Blood was spattered all over the floors and walls, a nearby table with several photographs had been knocked over, the glass from the picture frames littering the hard wood floor.

Covered in thick, red blood was a photograph of the five boys smiling in Paris, nothing but care and affection alight in their eyes as they grasped each other by the shoulders.

“Jaejoong!” Yunho screamed.

No more then and hour later, the four worried boys were standing in the hallway as police and forensics filed in. They marked the entire household a crime scene, inspecting every inch for evidence. The case was currently labeled a kidnapping, as there wasn’t enough evidence to call it a murder. Yet.

“I know this is an emotional event for you boys,” Officer Jeong said, studying the boys carefully. “But we need as much help as possible from you to figure out what happened to Kim-sshi.”

The four men nodded their heads in understanding, looking up at the tall officer with a mix of gratefulness and resentment.

Jeong inwardly sighed, used to this wary behavior. Jeong knew they knew without having to tell them that the four were aware they were not only witnesses and victims in a sense, but suspects.

All of this and add the emotional stress of losing a loved one, and being so famous the public is bound to know somehow, just contributed to the pressure placed upon the idol group, and the investigation bureau.

“Now,” Jeong began, pulling out a tape recorder and turning it on. “Where was the last time each of you saw the victim?”

“Around 1 O’clock this afternoon,” Junsu began, his voice quavering. “I went out for a day with the family.”

“Also around 1 O’clock to visit family.” Changmin said, voice only slightly steadier.

Jeong nodded the turned to Yunho and Yoochun.

Glancing at a heartbroken and panic stricken Yunho, Yoochun took the initiative to answer for the both of them.

“Yunho hyung and I went out to dinner with friends. We left, with Jaejoong hyung here, around 5:15,”

“That’s a bit early for dinner,” Jeong remarked nonchalantly, but Yoochun caught the suspicious undertone.

“It’s a bit of a commute from this part of the suburbs to the restaurant in Seoul.” Yoochun said sharply.

Junsu placed a gentle, shaking hand on Yoochun's shoulder. Yunho tugged on the younger man’s sleeve.

“That’s enough, Yoochun,” Yunho said quietly.

Yoochun let down his guard slightly for Yunho’s sake.

Jeong knew this calm, no matter how icy it was, wasn’t going to last long. He had to hit hard and deep, he had no time for bruised egos or hurt feelings.

“Now, this may seem abrupt, but did any of you have a particularly deep relationship with your kidnapped member?” Jeong asked.

“What do you mean?” Changmin asked, his voice hard.

“Like lovers. Usually it’s jilted or obsessed lovers who have the capability to do this.” Jeong said plainly.

There was a stony silence, until it was broken by an angry Yoochun. He swung a punch at Officer Jeong, stopping short when Junsu and Changmin grabbed him by the shoulders.

“How dare you?” Yoochun spat.

Jeong grimaced but stepped forward, believing his question had just been answered.

“I am Jaejoong’s lover,” a voice said.

Jeong turned around to see Yunho staring into his eyes. Yunho’s dark brown orbs were dull and lifeless, but held a sense of honesty. Jeong wasn’t taking chances though.

“How do I know you’re not covering for one of your members?” Jeong asked.

“Because Yoochun and Junsu are together, and Changmin is as straight as they come,” Yunho said quietly but clearly.

Junsu looked at Yunho, his expression filled with agony.

“Yunho hyung…”

“Promise me this information won’t be leaked out,” Yunho said fiercely, stepping up to Jeong both at a similar height. “If this gets out, they face discrimination and prejudice, we all do. Promise me.”

Officer Jeong had to admit that it all made sense. Yunho, although younger then Jeong by at least ten years, was certainly protective and that was both admirable and intimidating.

“I couldn’t release this information even if I wanted to Jung Yunho-sshi. But for what it’s worth I promise to tell no one has who has no business knowing.” Jeong swore.

Yunho eyed his carefully then walked a few steps back to his members, taking his turn to calm Yoochun down. After a few more minutes, Jeong resumed questioning the boys. About Jaejoong’s behavior, daily routine, family, and if he was suicidal.

“Hell. No.” Yunho had said.

“Finally, was there anyone who had a grudge against the victim?” Jeong asked.

The men looked at each other and shook their heads.

“Only anti-fans, and I guess some people could get the wrong impression that he’s arrogant when you first meet him,” Junsu replied. “But no one could hate Jaejoong hyung when you get to know him. He’s to warm of a person.”

Jeong just nodded and turned the recorder off.

“I see. Thank you for your time. Forensics will have to keep the house a crime scene for the time being, do you have a place to stay where we can contact you?”

“We have a dorm in Sandong of Seoul, near Super Junior’s dorms, that we rent out when we can’t stay here,” Yunho supplied, giving Officer Jeong their numbers and address.

“Ok. We will do our best to find the victim,” Jeong promised, turning around to walk out.

“Brother.”

Jeong turned around to see the youngest member Changmin staring at him, his eyes full of frustrated tears.

“This whole time you’ve been referring to Jaejoong hyung as the ‘victim’ or ‘member’. We’re not members, we’re brothers. We’re human beings to.”

With that Changmin turned around to cry in Yunho’s embrace.

~*

Jaejoong’s head throbbed terribly. He moaned, slowly opening his eyes. When he did he cried out and shut them again. The artificial light was too bright. He felt cold.

Jaejoong blinked and turned his head, opening his eyes again. He then saw the various scalpels, knives, needles, and drugs lying upon a gurney beside him. He noticed why he was cold as he was stark naked, except for a pair of boxers. He was strapped by his hands, feet, and waist to a cold, metal table. His head felt matted and sticky.

As his mind registered the recent events, it was then he realized that his head was covered in blood.

Panicking, Jaejoong struggled against his bonds, afraid of this place, this prison. Jaejoong knew what would happen to him if he stayed here. He would die. A horrible, slow, gruesome death that was torture itself to think about.

It was as he struggled, he glimpsed the other side of him. The wall was covered in photographs, pictures of men and women with there backs burned in a pattern of a four-pointed star. There were other photos, of terrified faces, mutilated bodies, and crying victims as they died.

Under the pictures were small jars, filled with a dark crimson substance. They were neatly labeled under names, as Jaejoong read them involuntarily.

‘Ki-Sung, Jiheon, Minbo, Jun, Jaewook…’

Jaejoong turned his head and vomited, then began to cry and wail. He prayed for some good person to hear him. Anybody would do.

“Yunho!” he sobbed. “Changmin, Junsu, Yoochun, please anybody.”

As he wept, a lanky figure sat in the dark corner, no light shining upon him. The lighting was staged so he could see Jaejoong clearly, and it was a sight of beauty. His panic, his tears, even his now sick covered face delighted the man.

He almost enjoyed the psychological torture as much as the physical torture.

Almost.

The man gave a twisted smile as he raised a camera and snapped a few pictures.

Jaejoong had tired himself out. As he had struggled for more then an hour against the adjustable metal cuffs on his limbs, trapping him to the cold silver table, his half-naked body weakened. His voice was now nearly gone from all of his screaming, and the bright lights in the room were blinding him.

He closed his eyes to shield them from the light, but also to shy away from the horrible pictures. The grotesque mementos and keepsakes kept neat and organized next to him made him sick. The shiny, clean, and sharp instruments on his other side scared him. On either side of him was a lose-lose situation, and the confirmation that he would die.

After he was mercilessly tortured.

“Open your eyes for me,” a soft voice said.

Jaejoong screwed his eyes more tightly shut, trying to block out the overly friendly voice.

Suddenly a sharp edge was pressed against the top edge of his right ear. Jaejoong flinched as a cold pain hit the spot, and a warm liquid trickled down behind his ear.

“Open your eyes, or I’ll be forced to cut off your ear sooner then I would like.” The voice commanded, the gentle intonation never leaving his tone.

Jaejoong decided he would like to keep his ear and stay away from physical pain as long as possible, so obediently opened his eyes.

Jaejoong found himself staring into the grinning face of the man from the TV screen, and the reflection in his glass doors. Jaejoong’s mind raced as he looked into the emotionless hazel eyes. Jaejoong was sure though that this disturbed man, who he knew was a serial killer, must have easily fooled many people by being seemingly gentle.

Most sociopaths were good at that.

The man’s gaunt face was almost like a skeleton, it radiated delight like that of a boy on his birthday. He had just received the best present he could get, too.

“Who are you?” Jaejoong choked.

The pale man’s grin grew impossibly wider.

“Name’s are for some reason important for you people who are about to die, but that’s okay, makes you a bit easier to tame,” the man replied. “I’m Yi-Sung to you.”

“The Four-Star murderer to everyone else…” Jaejoong wheezed.

“That’s right dear,” Yi-Sung purred, stroking Jaejoong’s cheek with the flat end of the scalpel. “And you’re about to be branded.”

~*

Officer Jeong chewed his bottom lip as he listened to the tape recording for the thirteenth time. He kept trying to hear some clue, a hint that one of the members of Dong Bang Shin Ki were apart of Kim Jaejoong’s appearance.

Nothing came to him though, because the young men were not only too damn honest, they were too distraught and frightened for Jaejoong. Unless they were also amazing actors or well-hidden sociopaths, there was no way they had anything to do with the victim’s kidnapping.

Jeong growled, slamming the tape recorder down onto his desk. He was frustrated with absolutely no leads on the case. Not only that, but he had to deal with the media sometime soon. Lee Soo-man had been able to buy some time by giving the boys there annual ten day holiday a bit early. It was close enough though not to arouse suspicion, and gave them some time to think of a story.

Running his fingers through his thinning hair, Jeong took in a deep breath and thought. He had interviewed the boys three days ago, and the day before had interviewed more close friends such as Hyun-Joong from SS501, T.O.P from Big Bang, and Taegoon but as well as Jaejoong’s family.

The entire family had been distraught when informed, and several had been angry when he interviewed them as suspects. He thought he had it bad with his two older sisters, but how could this kid deal with eight?

In the end though, all had lead to dead ends. Forensics had figured that Jaejoong had struggled with his attacker, who came from behind. He had most likely given Jaejoong a superficial wound across the head. They had been hoping that any of the blood on the photographs or floors would be the attackers, but unfortunately all came up as Jaejoong’s.

So the police still had the house under their control, while the boys stayed in a dorm in Sandong where Jeong could reach them. He had no information for the group, and he was aware of how anxious they were getting every time he called. Yunho, who had done his best to be polite, was gradually getting more frustrated. Yoochun was rude with every call, as he had no patience for the officer.

Changmin and Junsu had just sounded lifeless. There was no energy in there voices, no happiness or sadness. They had resigned themselves to wait as walking boys in a coma.

“Officer Jeong!”

Jeong was interrupted from his musings by a police cadet, holding a manila envelope.

“Sir, this was left at the front of the station and addressed to you.” The cadet said, handing Jeong the envelope.

Jeong took it gingerly, looking at it carefully. Retrieving a letter opener from the drawer in his desk, he slowly opened the top. Then, pouring out the contents on his desk, Jeong’s eyes widened in shock.

They were photos of a young man, his once beautiful face ruined by his terrified expression. They were photos of him strapped to a metal table, half-naked and screaming. One was of a scalpel slowly slicing a side of his cheek, another of him vomiting on himself and onto the floor.

With the photos were a letter and a glass slide, a drop of blood framed between the clear rectangular plates. The letter simply read in tidy scrawl,

‘Test it. It’s his. You’ll get more soon enough.’

Jeong knew who this person was. He knew that room all to well. He had seen these photos before. They were a signature of his work; the blood slides a dead giveaway. The victim was Jaejoong, and if Jeong didn’t act soon, there was no way Jaejoong would ever make it out of this situation alive.

And there would be very little recognizable body to bury too.

~*

Changmin placed the phone back in it’s holder in the dorm, his face pale and distraught. His eyes could no longer form tears as he had thoroughly dehydrated himself by sobbing and refusing to drink for the past few days.

“Any news?” Junsu asked dully.

Changmin turned to face his brothers and the three immediately shot up from their sitting positions on the couch.

“Changmin, what’s wrong? Are you okay?” Yoochun asked hurriedly as they rushed to the youngest side.

Changmin didn’t answer, but instead refused to look in Yunho’s eyes. Yunho took his two hands and gently but firmly took hold of his youngest brother’s face and made him look into his eyes.

“What happened to Jaejoong?” Yunho asked softly.

Changmin hesitated, not wanting to tell Yunho the truth. This would break him; he just knew Yunho couldn’t handle this information. He was barely hanging on himself since more then anything Changmin wanted to break down and cry. For a second he pondered an alternative way out.

There had been a time Changmin had said that if Jaejoong was not part of the group he would rip up his contract and become a high school student. Now if Jaejoong could not be apart of his life, he would have to rip it up and become a lost man.

Yunho would no doubt make himself a dead one.

“Jaejoong hyung was… kidnapped by the Four-star serial killer, the one in the news lately,” Changmin said, voice quavering. “He sent them his first signature marks, photos of Jaejoong hyung being tortured. We don’t have long until the next step.”

There was a stony silence as Yunho’s grip on Changmin’s face slackened then his hands fell away.

“No,” he whispered, clutching his face. “No! Minnie-ah, this must be a mistake!”

Tears filled Changmin’s eyes as Yunho pleaded with him, his strong persona falling apart in front of him. Changmin could not take his older brother’s look as he first denied the foreboding torture and death of his lover.

“He isn’t dead yet, hyung!” Yoochun said, grabbing Yunho’s shoulder.

“H-hyung, we still have time! The police can find him on time!” Junsu quipped in, yet his voice betrayed his own doubt.

“What have they done so far? I’ve been patient, but I’m done being patient, especially now that my love is in the hands of a deranged serial killer!” Yunho yelled, his eyes wide and deranged.

“You’ve seen the news, no one has been able o catch him or save any of the victims! They all turn up mutilated and dead! And who will kill him? A crazy bastard who probably ran over kittens heads with a lawn mower when he was 5!”

Junsu looked sick, and proved to be so when he rushed to the kitchen to return his small lunch into the sink. Yoochun rushed after him, quick to soothe him as his boyfriend sobbed and hacked. Changmin grabbed hold of Yunho’s waist and said,

“Hyung, stop. We can’t fall apart like this! Don’t do this,” Changmin stared into Yunho’s heartbroken face. “We can get him back, and when we do, let’s quit show business, okay? We’ll live in a different house, by the sea like Jaejoong wanted. We’ll be happy there.”

Changmin cried again in Yunho’s embrace as he continued,

“We can have a peaceful life. Sing when we want too, relax and be normal. We can travel to all sorts of places, and then settle down. You guys can adopt kids, and I’ll find a nice country girl. If that doesn’t work, I’ll just live with you. Please Yunho hyung.”

Yu ho stroked Changmin’s hair, trying to comfort him as well as himself. Yoochun and Junsu reentered the room and joined the two.

Then suddenly Yunho’s head shot up and he looked at Changmin with a new light in his eyes.

“We can get him back… Minnie-ah! We can get him back ourselves!” Yunho exclaimed.

“What?” Junsu asked.

“We can find him ourselves. We know Jaejoong best, we can’t just sit and wait for the police to find Jaejoong’s body,” Yunho explained.

“You’re crazy! Hyung it’s dangerous and what can we do?” Yoochun asked.

“We are the ones who know Jaejoong, we have connections. If we research this right, we could save him,” Yunho said desperately, looking at his brothers then focusing his gaze on Changmin, his only hope to make this plan work. “And then we can live in that house by the sea.”

The three of them looked at each other, their eyes retrieving and holding a small glimmer of hope.

“Alright, hyung.”

~*

Jaejoong’s eyes widened as the man Yi-Sung began to release him from the table.

“Are you letting me go?” Jaejoong asked weakly.

Yi-Sung laughed and Jaejoong’s heart sank.

“Aren’t you cute?” Yi-Sung chuckled. “You’re definitely one of my favorite play things.”

Holding a gun from his waistband to Jaejoong’s head, he smiled and said,

“Now, please stand over there in the corner before I blow your brains out.”

Jaejoong hastily made his way to the corner. He watched as then Yi-Sung brought out a squirt-bottle of oil and spread it quickly in a four-stared pattern on the metal table. Then he got out a box of rock salt and placed it on the oil design.

He then beckoned Jaejoong back over to him. Grabbing Jaejoong’s wrist he squeezed tightly and Jaejoong winced.

“Time to be branded.” Yi-Sung said.

He took a water proof blanket from the side and wrapped around Jaejoong’s body, then took an ice-cold pale of water and dumped it on his head. He then ripped off the blanket as Jaejoong coughed and spluttered.

With that he brought out a lighter and lit the oil up and with a great strength, used his skinny hands to push Jaejoong back on the now burning table.

Jaejoong screamed as the fire burned his back. The heat was scalding his soft skin, and he felt the tissue burn and tear. He could smell his own burning flesh, making him gag as his body burned. The salt from the table tore easily into his flesh, pressing into the wound and assign to the burning sensation.

Jaejoong could hardly be thankful that at least his face, covered in water, was spared. He could only hope he would bleed out or that his blood would evaporate enough so he would die. Dying was better then this or anything else that could be awaiting him.

He felt a pair of hands lift him from the flames, and he continued to scream. Soon another cold, burning substance was splashed onto his back. The strong stench of alcohol reached his nose and Jaejoong wanted to die.

Unfortunately he didn’t come close as he collapsed; caught in the skinny arms that was his executioner. Yet in his pain and delusion, Jaejoong couldn’t help but think of his little brothers. Of his lover, with strong arms that he had long identified with as safe, with his lips that he had always sought for comfort, and his voice he had depended on for companionship.

But now he only had the touch and voice that meant his gruesome death. As he lay in the cold thin arms of Yi-Sung, he felt his blood pool around him and stain the man’s clothes. The man was wiping the blood onto himself in joyous triumph that would’ve made Jaejoong sick if he had the strength.

“Yunho…”

Officer Jeong stared at the party of four standing stubbornly in front of his desk. They had been there for about twenty minutes, having a silent argument with Jeong. They had come to see the forensic evidence, and Jeong had firmly said no.
Yet there they still stood, waiting for the stern officer to give in. Their fierce gazes intimidated Jeong slightly; their unwillingness to give in was a powerful crash of emotion that would’ve cracked any new man or woman on the force.

Jeong was no green thumb though. After years of witnessing the worst and most disgusting aspect of human nature, he hardly felt anything anymore. He felt next to nothing when he would see the battered body of an innocent housewife or the terrified expression of a child.

That detached feeling, to a degree, scared him.

“I told you ‘no’ already so there’s no use standing here,” Jeong said firmly, stacking a set of files in his hands. “I’m not allowed to give evidence out to civilians.”

Like he suspected, Yoochun was the first to crack as he snapped,

“We’re not civilians, we’re his family.”

“Family or no family,” Jeong shot back, “You’re not blood related to no can do.”

“What about me?” Yunho asked. “I’m his lover; don’t I get any say in this?”

Jeong studied Yunho’s desperate face then sighed.

“If you were his spouse, it’d be a different story,” Jeong replied. “But the Republic of Korea doesn’t recognize homosexual unions so I still couldn’t help you.”

There was a silence and then Junsu spoke up,

“They can get married in Canada.”

“What?” Changmin asked, looking bewildered as he turned to stare at Junsu.

“Homosexuals can get married in Canada.” Junsu clarified.

He quickly blushed as the group stared at him. His eyes flickering towards Yoochun, he bowed his head and mumbled his apologies for being so random at an inappropriate time.

Although taken aback, Officer Jeong was also slightly moved by Junsu’s statement. The man hardly felt much anymore.

Jeong placed a case file on his desk then stood up.

“I’m going to the restroom,” he said, eyeing the boys. “Like I said, I can’t tell you anything.”

With that Jeong walked away and Changmin sighed.

“What do we do now?”

“Minnie-ah,”

Changmin looked and his jaw dropped as he saw the first grin on Yunho’s face in awhile. It was small, and by no means happy, but it was a good sign.

Changmin looked to Yunho’s hands and clutched in them was the manila case file from Jeong’s desk.

“It read ‘Kim Jaejoong’.

“He couldn’t tell us anything.” Yunho said.

~*

Jaejoong once again woke up on the metal table, but this time he lay on his stomach. His back still stung painfully, his back bare to the cold temperature of the room.

He heard a click and faintly saw a flash from the corner of his eye. Craning his head and twisting his neck as gently as possible to avoid pulling the skin on his back, he glimpsed Yi-Sung with a Polaroid camera.

He was taking pictures of his back, and by the photographs on the wall, Jaejoong’s fuzzy head lamely deduced that he had been branded with the same four-pointed star as the other victims had.

“You’re finally awake,” Yi-Sung said, putting down his camera and grinning. “That’s good to see.”

Jaejoong could faintly see his own crusted blood on Yi-Sung’s face and felt violated and sick.

“I was afraid you had died for a second, and I would’ve been so disappointed if you had died before we got to the real fun.” Yi-Sung commented, coming closer and closer until he was in front of Jaejoong’s face.

Jaejoong didn’t know where it came from, but a sudden strength in his voice that seemed to be borrowed from Yunho came out of him.

“You think torturing human beings are fun, you sick bastard?!”

Yi-Sung’s bright face never faltered as he roughly grabbed Jaejoong’s hair and pulled his head up to make them stare in each other’s eyes. Jaejoong screamed as the scabbing tissue on his back stretched, his nerves protesting in pain. He faintly felt a rip in his wound under his right shoulder blade, the warm trickle of blood creating a tingle on his skin as it hit the cold air of his prison.

“Some people like to tell me that,” Yi-Sung admitted. “When they have the strength to talk back. If I’m not in a good mood I cut out their tongues.”

Jaejoong’s eyes widened, the flicker of courage he possessed dying in his heart.

“You’re lucky I’m in a good mood today,” Yi-Sung chirped, gently placing Jaejoong’s head upon the table. “I can’t physically hurt you today anyway, you’d die too quickly and that’s never fun.”

There was the word ‘fun’ again, Jaejoong thought as he watched Yi-Sung out of his glazed brown eyes. Why was torturing people a game to him? Why was a human being like this? How could anyone have a passion for murder, as if the act itself was like making love to one’s beloved?

If murder was Yi-Sung’s version of sex, then the corpses must be Yi-Sung’s idea of lovers too.

Jaejoong shuddered at the mere thought. Clenching his eyes shut to avoid his executioner’s lusty yet dead gaze, and from the next wave of pain that hit his back from the involuntary movement.

After a few minutes he felt two fingers pry his eyelids open. Jaejoong saw a plate of rice, kimchi, and bulgogi sitting in front of his face. As if his body just woke up from a nap and realized its own hunger, his stomach growled. Jaejoong began to salivate, but quickly put his guard up as Yi-Sung offered him a piece of meat with his chopsticks.

“How do I know it isn’t poisoned?” Jaejoong croaked.

Yi-Sung just shook his head and clucked his tongue.

“Silly, did I not just tell you that it would be no fun to kill you so soon? I have to keep you healthy so the torture is entertaining. Look.”

With that Yi-Sung popped the piece of grilled meat into his mouth.

“See? Isn’t deadly. Food isn’t a favorite weapon of mine.”

Jaejoong knew that this psycho was telling the truth. No matter how strange the logic was, to the killer it made sense, and so if it made sense to him, it made perfect sense to the victim.

Jaejoong opened his mouth and Yi-Sung beamed as he popped a clump of rice in it.

As Jaejoong chewed, the shock hit him that he wasn’t going to receive a peaceful death. He was going to suffer until the very end.

Jaejoong began to sob as he continued to be fed by his murderer, chewing and swallowing through his tears. He wished the food had been poisoned.

~*

“This is sick,” Yoochun said as he browsed through the pictures spread out on the dining room table.

“This guy definitely ran over kitties heads as a child,”

“Yoochun!” Junsu exclaimed, hitting him on the arm, flickering his gaze towards Yunho.

“The man said it himself.” Yoochun fired back, not bothering to hide his stare at Yunho.

Yunho said nothing as he ran his eyes over the photographs, studying Jaejoong’s terrified expression. Fingering one of the photos, Jaejoong’s minimized cheek under Yunho’s large forefinger. Yunho could not help the burning in his eyes.

We’ll get you back, Jaejoong, I promise, he thought.

Soon snapped back to reality by Changmin’s voice, he heard him say,

“What’s so disgusting is that the cinematography is so good. It’s like the guy stages everything to get the perfect shot for his own documentary.”

“More like a horror film.” Junsu commented.

Their words registered something in Yunho’s brain, and soon something clicked.

“If this guy is so good at photography,” Yunho muttered, looking at the professional photos. “He must have gone to school for it, or at least a hobby. Junsu, who are the suspects and what are their majors at school?”

Junsu quickly fumbled for the suspect list and documents. Grabbing them quickly, he scanned them and shuffled through them.

“Out of the fifteen suspects,” Junsu began.

“Fifteen?!” Changmin cried.

“Yes, Minnie-ah, fifteen. Out of the fifteen suspects three are photography majors or minors,”

“That narrows it down.” Yunho said.

“But hyung, this room he’s trapped in is so clean and organized like a doctor’s ER or a crime lab,” Yoochun pointed out, drawing attention to the scalpels and cleanliness. “Junsu, check any major’s linked with those professions.”

Junsu shuffled through the papers again and winced.

“There are two majoring in forensic science,” Junsu started.

“That’s not so bad,” Changmin said.

“Then there are five who majored or are majoring in doctoral fields.”

“Shit.”

“So that leaves us ten suspects,” Yoochun said.

“We can’t rule out everyone though,” Yunho pointed out. “This bastard is really smart to not get caught so far; he might’ve thought ahead and never majored in that stuff.”

“He would have to have some education on it, there’s no way he could be so clean and untraceable if he didn’t.” Yoochun argued.

As they discussed the possibilities, there was a knock on the door.

“I’ll get it!” Changmin called, yet he was sure the three men weren’t paying much attention to him as they were too heated in discussion.

As he reached the small dorm door, he grabbed the metal handle, but before he pulled he looked on the monitor to see the outside. No one was there, just a box left on the doorstep.

Changmin opened the door slowly, peaking his head out and looking both ways down the hall, as if he was about to cross a busy street. Finding no one he quickly retrieved the package and headed back inside.

As the door clicked behind him, a note lay on top of the brown package. Opening the letter, Changmin read the note and soon dropped it in shock.

‘I see you’ve joined the game. I don’t mind. I’ll play with you and the police, it should be fun. Let’s see if you’ll be the first to stop me. I doubt it.

P.S. I have a present for you.

P.S.S. Your friend was right.’

Thinking that there would be another manila envelope with photos of Jaejoong, Changmin hastily began ripping off the duck tape to the brown package. He didn’t register the strange odor emitting from the box as he opened it, until he saw what was inside.

There was a manila envelope, but lying on top of the envelope was a decaying, mutilated kitten with no head.

Changmin began to gag at the sight, the rotting flesh smell hitting his nose and blocking his senses. His gagging by no means muffled his terrified scream.

The heavy pounding of footsteps of men overpowered Changmin’s already overtaken senses and vomited onto the floor just as his brothers rushed into the entryway.

They covered their noses as the smell of decay and vomit hit them. Yunho, while covering the lower half of his face with his t-shirt, rushed to Changmin’s side and ushered him to the side, practically carrying him.

Yoochun and Junsu approached the box and both gagged at the sight. Junsu busied himself with picking up the fallen note, thankfully not covered in vomit, while Yoochun was left to retrieve the envelope under the decapitated kitten.

As Yoochun did his best to evade the body and grab an envelope by one of it’s corners, he vaguely noticed the feline was probably white once… before it had been brutally mowed over, it’s fur stained red then decaying to nothing but disgusting tissue and rotting flesh.

He grabbed the corner and swiftly, firmly lifted it up, unceremoniously flipping the corpse over with a sickening flop and crunch.

The envelope was covered in sticky insides and stringy fur and muscle. Yoochun held his breath as he and Junsu rushed back to the dining room table. Yoochun briefly caught a glimpse of Changmin sitting on Yunho’s lap in a chair. Yunho was stroking his hair, whispering and singing lullabies as Changmin sobbed and hiccupped into Yunho’s shoulder.

It was quite a fatherly motion, and Yoochun would’ve taken more time to appreciate it if he wasn’t in more of a hurry to get the disgusting envelope out of his hands.

Dumping its untarnished contents on the table he rushed to the kitchen, stuffed it in the trash, scrubbed his hands raw under hot water then returned to the table.

The three there were pale, staring at the new photos before them. They were of a burning Jaejoong, a screaming Jaejoong, a scarred Jaejoong…

“Oh my god.” Yoochun gasped.

“Junsu looked up into his lover’s face, his eyes wide and afraid. The note he had picked up was crushed in his hand.

“He’s watching us.”

Jaejoong had been strapped to the table for two days. Two days since he first regained consciousness after his branding that is. He wasn’t sure how long it had been since he’d been kidnapped though.
He had tried in vain to search for windows, clocks, or a hole in the ceiling. Any essence of time would do, but not even Yi-Sung wore a watch. The loss of time was maddening, and Jaejoong was sure he would go insane before he died.

He was still flat on his stomach, constantly awake and never really sleeping. Sometimes he would doze off when he daydreamed about Yunho and his three precious brothers. Yet even those warm thoughts couldn’t keep him asleep for long. His scarring wound would suddenly ache, his scarcely covered body would get the chills, and every time he opened his eyes he would see death, all neatly organized in rows. Scalpels, drills, matches, photographs, and containers of blood.

Everything reminded him on his encroaching torture. He had begun to stop wishing for a rescue, and instead would pray to a god he had never believed in before to kill him quickly. Yet God did not answer him, and he wondered how Yunho, Yoochun, and Junsu could believe in such a thing. A loving, merciful god? At lest Changmin’s Buddha and karma made a bit more sense,

Not much though.

Jaejoong stared blankly in front of him, his chin having gone numb from resting against the hard metal so long. His eyes narrowed at the brick wall in front of him. The white, artificial light beat down on his bare back and shined on his dark hair. He wriggled a bit to get more comfortable but winced when he felt the long, four-pointed star scab stretch.

Rolling his eyes up in frustration, Jaejoong’s eyes were blinded by the white light.

“Funny,” he snarled, his throat being pressed on as he stretched it against the table. “Is this some sick sign that at least I have heaven? I don’t fucking care, because there’s no way there’s a god. Why would a god get a kick out of this? Is this some great piece of entertainment for you? Well guess what, I don’t fucking care anymore! I don’t care about god or some higher power! Because you’re all just sadistic assholes anyway,”

Jaejoong yelled at the ceiling, yelled at fate, karma, faith, and god. He knew death was coming, he could only hope he would be numb by then.

Giving one last final glare at the lights and ceiling, he lowered his head in defeat. His bangs covered his eyes as he sniffed,

“And you can tell Buddha to shove it.”

~*

With a mighty plop, the four men dropped the box with the cat carcass on Officer Jeong’s desk. The boys were wearing rubber gloves and surgical masks, topped off with their regular civilian wear, sunglasses and hats.

Nothing would seem too abnormal to anyone unless they got close and noticed the gloves, and the fact that the boys were wearing the masks not so they wouldn’t be recognized, but so they could avoid throwing back up the limited contents of their stomachs.

Officer Jeong grimaced as he opened up the contents of the box. Inside were the cat and the note they received.

“Can you dust this for fingerprints or get a DNA sample?” Yunho asked, his voice slightly muffled.

“We can try,” Jeong said, calling over an inferior officer to take the box away. “Did you receive anything else?”

Before anyone could answer, Yunho quickly replied,

“No.”

The other three avoided looking at Yunho, understanding his motive.

Jeong sighed in relief.

“We received a similar package, except with more photographic evidence, sans a dead animal,” Jeong then looked pointedly at the group. “I told you nothing, and will give you nothing further.”

Changmin shrugged and said cheekily,

“Whatever could you mean sir?”

Officer Jeong snorted but took that as a confirmation that they would keep their mouths shut.

“Now, there is a more pressing matter at hand,” Jeong said.

The men leaned in closely, intent on listening to the stern man.

“I don’t want any of you involved anymore. This note is a threat and tomorrow I’m sending police officers to collect you from your house and take you to a safe place and guard you until this ordeal is over.”

The calm and silence was broken as the men began to protest.

“You can’t do that!” Junsu exclaimed.

“You have no right!” Yoochun snarled, curling his hands into fists.

“I can, I do, and I will,” Jeong snapped. “I’m doing this for your safety until this situation is over.”

“You mean until he’s dead.”

All heads turned to the quiet voice of Yunho, his eyes blazing; tears of frustration forming.

“You’re going to wait until the man I love is dead for our own safety?”

Officer Jeong shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

“One dead body is better then five.”

“You don’t get it,” Yunho hissed. “With one of us gone, we can’t function. We’re a whole, destined to function and stay together. Why do none of you people understand that?!”

Yunho was yelling now, his voice louder, his stance more furious. Out of no where though, Changmin wrapped his strong arms around Yunho’s waist before he snapped and regretted it.

Changmin was younger but stronger and began to forcefully pull Yunho away. He gave the other two a meaningful look that screamed ‘don’t speak’.

“We’ll do as you say.” Changmin said firmly, bowing his head and dragging Yunho out before he could do anything, Yoochun and Junsu right behind them.

~*

“What are you thinking?” Yunho asked Changmin, still fuming as they entered their dorm.

“Hyung, if we told him any different he’d send the police over today and we can’t risk it,” Changmin replied.

Junsu looked puzzled, raising a quizzical eyebrow.

“What do you mean, Minnie-ah?”

Changmin grinned mischievously at his older brothers. Yunho’s eyes widened and Yoochun smirked.

“You sneaky brat.” Yoochun said.

Changmin grinned wider and said,

“Pack your bags with what you need and get the evidence. We’re getting out of here.”

~*

“What’s wrong, Jaejoong-ah?” Yi-Sung purred, tracing one long finger down Jaejoong’s face.

Jaejoong weakly tied to twist his head away, get his cold, clammy finger off his face. He felt violated whenever he touched him, as if he had been contaminated with whatever sickness Yi-Sung possessed.

“Come, dear, look at me,” Yi-Sung persisted, grabbing Jaejoong’s chin in a vice grip between his fingers.

“You should be happy; I’m not going to physically hurt you today,”

Jaejoong eyed Yi-Sung, distrusting.

“Physical hurt doesn’t mean you won’t be able to hurt me still,” Jaejoong hissed.

Yi-Sung gave a toothy grin, his dead hazel eyes locking onto Jaejoong’s face. The skin near the murderer’s eyes crinkled, and Jaejoong hated it as he wished instead he could see the way Changmin’s own warm brown orbs mismatched when he smiled.

“Aren’t you a cynical one Jaejoong-ah?” Yi-Sung commented.

“Don’t attach an ‘ah’ to my name, I’m older then you,” Jaejoong spat, his anger exploding.

“Yes, but I’m your superior seeing as I’m the one doing the killing. And you’re so adorable,”

“Please just stay away from me.”

“You know that’s a fruitless request.”

Jaejoong shut his eyes as Yi-Sung approached him. He felt his hands move to unlock his cuffs on his wrists and ankles. Then Yi-Sung took about four medium sized plasters and gently applied them to Jaejoong’s wound.

“I don’t need you to bleed out right now, so flip over slowly.” Yi-Sung commanded.

Jaejoong opened his eyes, and just to spite his captor, he flipped over and landed with a harsh bang on his back. He felt scabs rip and pain begin to sear from beneath his shoulder blades to the bottom of his spine. A brief flash of annoyance flickered on Yi-Sung’s face, and then it passed.

Yi-Sung reapplied the cuffs to Jaejoong, the pulled over a metal contraption. He set up a hose to a bucket of water, and then hung the end of the hose at the end of a metal pole downwards. Reaching under the table with his foot, he pushed a lever that Jaejoong had been unaware of that lifted the table so that Jaejoong would’ve been standing if he had been on his feet.

“Have you ever heard of the Chinese water torture method?” Yi-Sung asked.

Jaejoong said nothing, but his eyes widened in horror.

Yi-Sung turned on the water dripper, and the cold water began to fall on Jaejoong’s head.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

“Soon,” Yi-Sung whispered, leaning against Jaejoong’s ear. “You’ll feel like you’re drowning, and no one can save you.”

Jaejoong clenched his teeth.

“Think I don’t know that?” Jaejoong snapped.

“But people will try. Four boys in particular will certainly try,” Yi-Sung said, his face malicious.

Jaejoong snapped his head over, the cold water beading down his face.

“What?”

“It’ll be so much fun to play with them; I wonder how I should take them down? Oldest to youngest? Or the other way around? Messing with that little boy in the group would be quite entertaining…”

“Don’t you dare touch them any of them or I swear I’ll…”

“Kill me?” Yi-Sung laughed. “I believe that’s my job Jaejoong-ah. And none of those four will be spared. Oh they might live,”

Yi-Sung came close and whispered lustily in Jaejoong’s ear. “But I promise you they’ll be so broken I won’t have to do the job.”

With that Yi-Sung calmly walked to his dark corner and plopped down in his chair, retrieving his camera.

Jaejoong once again began to sniff, his eyes blurring as water streamed slowly through his hair and across his face.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

They had only packed the necessities into rucksacks. A few pairs of clothes, money, snacks, water, blankets, and a few toiletries. Last but not least they grabbed the evidence and were ready to leave. Yunho had looked into the dark room he normally shared with Jaejoong. Its empty pace was something he hated to see, but he was going out so it could be filled again.
He had contemplated taking his beloved stuffed Bambi doll, but had quickly dismissed it. Yet when they had left in the middle of the night and had hopped onto a bus heading towards the other end of town, he had regretted it. The Bambi was like a security blanket to him, something that he could always hold onto for comfort.

After nearly two hours of silence on the same bus, they got off at the end of the route. They checked into an all night karaoke bar, and rented out a karaoke room long enough to get some sleep until morning. As they entered the karaoke room and locked the door, Yoochun immediately flopped on the couch. In a matter of minutes he was conked out.

Junsu stroked Yoochun’s head and hummed a slow song under his breath for a while, watching Yoochun sleep. Soon enough Junsu had taken out a blanket and covered both him and Yoochun, squeezing himself close enough to him so they could share the warmth.

Both Yunho and Changmin then took up spaces on the floor, faintly hearing obnoxious music from the neighboring rooms. After lying there for a while, one big blue woolen blanket covering the both of them, Changmin asked,

“Can we really get him back?”

Yunho shifted uncomfortably, unsure of how to respond. Yunho wanted to believe, so desperately believe, that they would find Jaejoong and they could go back to the way things were.

Yunho already knew that even if they did rescue Jaejoong, he would be scarred for life. Both physically and mentally. So many things could happen that would destroy Jaejoong. Yunho didn’t know how they would be able to handle that.

“I want to tell you we can, Changmin,” Yunho said. “I want to tell you we can,”

“But you can’t, because you’d be lying to me right?”

“Yes I would. And that’s unfair to you,”

“But what if he dies, Yunho hyung? I don’t think I could live with myself. I don’t think I could live with that,”

“Do you think I could either? If Jaejoong died, I’d want to shoot myself in the head!”

Yunho immediately wished he could take his words back as Changmin’s face registered a horrible expression of shock and hurt. As if he had just been abandoned. Yunho had always done his best never to hurt the youngest boy’s feelings. Although he was the most mature, he was also still a sensitive boy who cried easily when he felt like he had been reprimanded or did something horribly wrong.

“Minnie-ah, I didn’t mean that,” Yunho soothed, taking the now trembling Changmin in his arms.

“Yes you did,” Changmin mumbled, burrowing his face in Yunho’s chest. “Yes you did, I know you would do it,”

“Minnie-ah, please understand me,” Yunho sighed.

“You can’t leave me,” Changmin muttered.

“What?”

“You can’t leave me, or I swear Yunho hyung, I’ll so something horrible,”

“Don’t you dare think of doing stuff like that,”

“Hypocrite,”

“I’m serious Changmin,”

“And I’m serious too,” Changmin looked up into Yunho’s face, his eyes hard. “If you put a bullet through your head, I’ll just be following my leader’s example,”

Those words felt like a mighty stab in Yunho’s heart. It was a low shot, but Yunho knew why Changmin used it. He wasn’t surprised. He was trying to make Yunho afraid, and it was having an effect on him. Yunho already felt responsible for one member, he didn’t want to feel the guilt over another.

“Besides,” Changmin said, a desperate look in his eyes. “You can’t leave Bambi! She’s your daughter!”

“With that Changmin leaned over and used his long fingers to pull over his rucksack. He rummaged within its depths to pull out Yunho’s Bambi. Changmin handed Yunho the small deer and Yunho received it gingerly.

Yunho stared at the small stuffed animal like it was the most rare treasure in the world.

“I noticed you left her back at the house, and you two are like…well, me and food.”

Yunho said nothing, just stared at the fuzzy creature. Suddenly he had Changmin in a powerful embrace with Bambi stuck in between them. Changmin grunted as the sudden force of the hug knocked the breath out of him.

“I don’t know what to do, Changmin,” Yunho sobbed. “I don’t know what to do.”

Changmin held his older brother tight as their leader finally let himself break down.

~*

“Missing?! How can they missing?!” Lee Soo-man exclaimed.

Officer Jeong winced; fighting the temptation to rub his ears from all the yelling that was being aimed at him.

“It’s just as I said. The apartment was empty, and it looks like they left of their own accord as personal items and necessities were missing,” Jeong explained.

“Oh no, oh no. This can’t happen! Their ten-day vacation is over in a day! I have schedules already out for them!”

“What would you do about Jaejoong?”

“Family emergency. It’s the only thing fans are most likely to stay away from and respect,”

For some reason, and sadly enough, Officer Jeong doubted that all fans would give any privacy to the family. Even if that was the case. The SM president was certainly taking this hard; Jeong himself was taking it hard.

Not at the fact that they had ran off though, but because he had been stupid enough to think they wouldn’t try anything. It was a major blow to his ego, and he did not need this downer right now.

No, he now needed to gauge this situation as best he could. He needed to familiarize himself with the boys, and that means getting to know them more then they know themselves.

“Who are the people they trust the most? People they would’ve gone to for help?” Jeong asked.

“They’re particularly close to the boys of Super Junior. They were all trainees together,” Soo-man answered, then raised an eyebrow suspiciously. “Why?”

“Have you told them the real circumstances of Kim Jaejoong-ssi’s disappearance?”

“No.”

“I’m afraid I’ll have to tell them. Questioning them might be the only way I can find the others.”

~*

Jaejoong was shivering and shouting.

“I’m drowning, I’m drowning! I can’t swim! Somebody save me, I’m drowning!”

Yi-Sung’s camera flash kept going off, his chuckling never truly ceasing.

“Ah, Jaejoong this is priceless,” Yi-Sung giggled. “Most people would be able to resist a bit loner, but the fact you actually can’t swim heightens the tension and mental breakdown. I love it!”

“I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe!” Jaejoong whimpered.

He was drowning in the water, it was strangling him. Its icy grip was choking the life out of him. He wanted to swim up, but he couldn’t, something was locking him in place. He couldn’t swim! Why wasn’t someone saving him?

“Jaejoong hyung! Jaejoong hyung!”

Jaejoong thought he was hearing things. He must be hallucinating.

“Jaejoong hyung!”

Changmin? Junsu?

“Jaejoong!”

Yoochun?

“Jaejoong-ah? Jaejoong-ah, look at this!”

Yunho?!

Jaejoong knew he was hallucinating. The four people he loved most were in front of him, playing in the water. But they didn’t seem to notice him drowning. They were smiling, playing in the sea as they kept calling out for him.

“Jaejoong! Come here, Jaejoong!”

The image popped as Yi-Sung spoke, his voice dashing away the image of the four. Instead he was left with the drowning sensation without the small comfort their faces presented him. Yet at the same time, it had scared him how they never noticed he was dying.

“Your little friends are on the run,”

“What?”

“They are quite the clever ones, I’ll give them that. But I must start taking care of them, like I’m taking care of you,”

Jaejoong’s mind barely registered Yi-Sung’s meaning as it still struggled with his drowning fantasy. He managed to choke out a desperate,

“No!”

Yi-Sung simply waved his hand in dismissal.

“You know that isn’t an option.”

~*

The night at the karaoke place was over, and after getting five hours of sleep; the boys had woken up and decided to walk towards a nearby University where one of the suspects lived on campus.

“We should try to interview as many as possible,” Yoochun had said. “We need to gather as much information as possible, preferably without getting caught by the police.”

They had then shoved on their beanies all the way to their ears, not bothering to change into fresh clothes. They put on sunglasses and surgical masks as well as their heavy winter coats and after grabbing their rucksacks, headed towards the university.

Changmin was tagging along behind the other three, trying to go at a bit of a slower pace. His long legs could easily give him the advantage, but he decided to let the others take the lead this time.

As Changmin briskly walked behind them, the cold wind whipping at his face they ended up passing by man bundled up in a huge black parka. He had what looked like a Jack-in-the-box settled on the table in front of him. A sign below it read that every person could get a crank on the box and the one who gets the Jack to come out gets a cash prize.

Changmin didn’t think that would be a bad idea. They needed as much money as possible to get around since Yoochun and Yunho had already correctly predicted that their personal and work bank accounts had been frozen.

Innocently he approached the box and gave it a crank.

It was then Junsu turned around and yelled out in a panic,

“Changmin!”

“You won he prize.” The man said before he scurried away.

A knife had sprung forth from the box and stabbed Changmin.

Changmin stumbled backwards in shock, lifting a shaking hand to the upper part of the left side of his chest. The small yet deadly pocketknife was buried to the hilt in his flesh, blood steadily staining his shirt and oozing out of his chest. In too much pain to make noise Changmin, with the little sense he had left, tried to cover the wound with his hand and stumble back towards his band mates.
Junsu was the first to get to him as he had witnessed the attack and quickly grabbed hold of Changmin’s left shoulder. Changmin moaned in pain as it stretched the skin near his wound. Junsu murmured his apologies and quickly went to Changmin’s other side to support him.

“Changmin, are you okay? Oh my god, Changmin,” Junsu muttered, frantic, his eyes wide with fright.

Yunho and Yoochun were by their side in seconds and Yoochun gasped. Yunho quickly, thinking of nothing else, took the end of his shirt and ripped the hem. He swiftly applied it around the wound to stop the blood flow a bit. Yoochun took Changmin’s other side, grabbing him by the waist.

“We have to get him to a hospital,” Yoochun said frantically. “He’ll bleed out at this rate!”

Yunho was about ready to comply, his face contorting in fear, as more and more blood seemed to spread on Changmin’s shirt. The people around them didn’t seem to notice the four scared men that much as all were blocking the bleeding boy from the public’s eye.

“No,” Changmin said weakly.

“Changmin, we need to get you to a hospital!” Junsu exclaimed.

“We need to find Jaejoong hyung,” Changmin mumbled weakly. “He must be in more pain then I am. It didn’t get my heart; I’ll be fine with first aid I’m sure. If we go to a hospital we’ll have to submit out names and the police will find us,”

Changmin looked up pleadingly into Yunho’s eyes. He was the only one desperate and crazy enough to comply with Changmin’s request. Changmin would make a bet on his life for this half crazy man, because he knew the only way to make him normal again was to save Jaejoong,

Yunho hesitated, but as Changmin continued to stare and look at him with pained eyes, Yunho gave in. With great authority he said,

“Sneak him under the clothed table the attacker left. We can treat him quickly under there and try and find some evidence,”

“Hyung!” Yoochun exclaimed incredulously, but Yunho silenced him with a look.

“He’s still bleeding, we might as well treat him now,” Yunho explained.

Yoochun glared at Yunho but he and Junsu obeyed, carefully sneaking Changmin over to the table and crawling under it. It was a tight fit, but the tablecloth hid them well enough so no one in the busy streets of Seoul would find it suspicious.

Yunho then rushed to a nearby convenience store and bought a first aid kit and extra alcohol and bandages. He was about to buy them when Yunho noticed the pocketknives on sale. He approached them and fingered one of the more trustworthy ones, inspecting its sharpness, how deadly it could be. Thinking to the sight of Changmin in pain, what Jaejoong must be going through, and what could happen to his other precious brothers Yunho did not hesitate.

“Ahjussi, how much is this knife?”

~*

The member’s of Super Junior sat in a cold stone silence, all thirteen having been gathered into one dorm. Henry and Zhoumi were also there, sitting on the side next to Hangeng and Siwon.

“Please tell me this is a really bad joke,” Leeteuk muttered. “Jaejoong was kidnapped by a serial killer?”

“That’s why we couldn’t visit him in the hospital, he wasn’t there to begin with,” Yesung commented.

“Jaejoong hyung could die,” Ryeowook sobbed, pitting his face into his slender hands and crying.

“They all could die,” Kyuhyun said.

Everyone looked towards Kyuhyun in shock as Kyuhyun looked up to Officer Jeong’s stern face. Kyuhyun was frustrated beyond belief. His friends were out there somewhere, trying to find Jaejoong and putting there own lives in danger.

“They’re challenging that psycho on their own. He’ll kill them for the fun of it.” Kyuhyun continued.

“What can we do to help?” Kangin asked.

“Report to me if they ever contact you. If they come to you for help, call me so I can transport them to a safe place. We don’t need more dead people,” Officer Jeong said.

“That’d be like betraying them though,” Donghae muttered.

“You’d be saving their lives,”

“But what about Jaejoong’s?”

Officer Jeong did not answer. Instead he just bowed to the men in the room and began his retreat. As he approached the door he knew he had won some of them over, but he knew another half would never consider complying with his wishes.

“Remember, report to me if they say anything!” Jeong called behind him as he left and shut the door.

Sungmin sighed and leaned back into the black couch.

“What do we do?” he moaned.

“Exactly what he told us to,” Leeteuk said. “We report anything and everything to him,”

Kibum’s head shot up to look at Leeteuk’s stone hard face. All eyes were on him as Leeteuk’s once gentle demeanor seemed to wash away in this time of crisis.

“Hyung,” Kibum said. “That’d be betraying them. They’re only trying to save Jaejoong,”

“I know that, and I care about Jaejoong as much as anyone else here, but I rather have just one of them dead instead of all five.”

“You know as well as I do that the other four would never forgive us! They love each other to much to let one of their own go, they’d never speak to us again!” Kibum exclaimed.

“Maybe that’s okay,” Siwon said, looking up at Kibum in defeat. “I rather them hate me for the rest of my life then feel guilty over not stopping there deaths. It’s all in God’s hands now.”

There was another heavy silence, tension rising in the crowded room. Heechul soon spoke up,

“You still believe in God at a time like this Siwon?”

~*

The water continued to drip on Jaejoong’s head and down his face. He was numb now; the choking feeling in his throat so persistent that it was if he had never breathed air in his life. He was a fish underwater, a fish that couldn’t breathe.

Yi-Sung watched Jaejoong’s mental and physical states deteriorate with great pleasure. The man was shaking with fever, covered in sweat and cold water. The only times Jaejoong had been set free from his torture were at four hour interviews when Yi-Sung would lead his to a sterile bathroom with only a toilet and sink. As much as Yi-Sung loved torture, he preferred the only thing his floor to be dirtied with to be blood.

Yi-Sung dragged a chair over to the shivering man, turned it so the front faced him, then spread his legs and sat across it. Jaejoong barely looked at him, but that was okay. He knew Jaejoong had no choice but to listen.

“You must wonder why I go after and kill your type,” Yi-Sung said. “People from adopted families with dark hair and what not,”

Jaejoong’s head lifted slightly, his face barely showing any recognition.

“To start off this story, you must understand that I was adopted into a large family. My real mother had died giving birth to me and my father left soon after. I grew up in a orphanage until I was five,”

“They were a loving family. The only one who seemed to dislike me was the second youngest next to me, my sister Seo-Young. She saw the real me, and I can’t blame her for disliking me. I hated that family, no matter how loving. It’s because they were loving, so if I could love at all the one I would’ve loved was Seo-Young,”

“I killed my first animal not to long after. It was a fluffy white cat that had been wandering around. I caught it, buried it up to its neck in the ground then ran over it with a lawn mower. You should’ve seen the way the remains flew everywhere, it was spectacular!”

“Of course I had no intentions of letting my parents know, so I would stash it away underground in a box where my little collection grew. I’d act all nice and sweet with my parents, be the perfect son they wanted me to be. I obeyed my older sibling. All six of them. Four girls and two boys. Then I’d go out at night with a small shovel and flashlight and just marvel at my kill for hours, trying to think of new ways to destroy them and preserve the bodies,”

“Eventually I decided it’d be fun to send pieces of them to their previous owners. Then I thought of sending the pictures of them dying to them even before that. That’s how I took up photography, you see a pattern here?”

“Unfortunately not all good things could last. Seo-Young followed me one time to the forest just in time to see me kill a squirrel. She screamed, saying how she knew I was evil and that she’d tell mom and all of this other crap. I didn’t really want to, I liked Seo-Young for being able to see the real me, but I couldn’t let her blow my cover. She was my first human victim. I don’t think the police have found her body yet even today,”

Yi-Sung paused to laugh cruelly, all the while watching in delight as Jaejoong’s eyes grew wider and wider and his face looked sicker and sicker.

“I had to kill the rest of them of course after that. I did it n their sleep, no time to enjoy it I’m afraid. I had to stage it to look like a robbery. So after I killed each one of them I took a few things and buried deep within the ground near Seo-Young’s body. Then I cleaned everything up. I wasn’t stupid. I used bleach and rags to wipe my fingerprints, my clothes, and the blood off my hands. I then quickly grabbed a phone, changed into pajamas and climbed into a closet. I called the police to report that my family had been killed, I was crying when they found me hiding in the closet. I swear I could’ve been an actor if I wanted to,”

Yi-Sung leaned the chair forward, the back legs lifting off the floor as his face inched closer and closer to Jaejoong’s. Yi-Sung lifted a palm to feel his forehead, and then wiped the sweat away.

“There you have it. I’m sure you were curious as to why I chose you. Besides, I love destroying families. And not just the one’s by name. That was just half the cake my dear, I love destroying your little boy love family to,”

It was then that Yi-Sung reached into his pocket and pulled out a picture of the petrified face of Changmin as the knife from the jack-in-the-box stabbed him. Jaejoong made a small cry, his voice weak. His eyes registered his little Changmin and he began to struggle weakly against his bonds.

“No! Minnie-ah!” he whimpered.

“Don’t worry,” Yi-Sung commented. “He’s still alive. I already told you I wouldn’t have to really kill them. They’ll probably do the jobs themselves when this is all over. But,”

At this point Yi-Sung pulled out a pocketknife identical to the one embedded in Changmin’s chest. Jaejoong shrank away in fear, but he knew it would be no help to him.

“Now, would you like to feel the pain your precious Minnie-ah went through?”

~*

Yunho commanded Junsu to straddle Changmin under the table.

“Grab the knife and brace yourself so you can pull it out, it’s in there deep,” Yunho said.

He then proceeded to open Changmin’s mouth then Yunho stuffed his own fist into the youngest mouth.

“It’s going to hurt Minnie-ah, and I need you to do your best not to scream,” Yunho soothed. “Can you do that for me?”

Changmin nodded his head weakly, tears forming in the base of his eyes. Yoochun smoothed Changmin’s hair before firmly grabbing his face to help brace him as Junsu straddled Changmin and grabbed hold of the knife’s hilt. Counting down from three, Junsu then gave a mighty pull.

Changmin thrashed his body, as the pain took over his senses, biting down hard on Yunho’s fist. He tried to bang his head against the concrete, but Yoochun wouldn’t let him, having now wrapped both of his arms around Changmin’s head. After another hard tug from Junsu the knife was out and the pain only started to drizzle away.

Yunho kept his now red and swollen fist in Changmin’s mouth as he quickly opened the bottle of alcohol and poured a fair amount on the wound. Changmin began to thrash again as the burning sensation from the alcohol stung and set in. Junsu held him down, tears in his eyes as Changmin writhed in pain.

Yunho flinched as Changmin bit hard into his knuckles but made sure not to make a sound. Yoochun had quickly used one hand to rip Changmin’s shirt all the way open and press a cloth on the wound to halt the blood flow. When Changmin’s body motions settled down, Yunho finally took his now bleeding hand out of Changmin’s mouth. He sat back and watched as Junsu and Yoochun bandaged Changmin’s wound, then moved on to sterilizing and bandaging his hand.

“We won’t be able to really move him,” Yoochun said when he finished bandaging up Yunho’s hand. “How are we going to get to the suspects house now?”

“I’ll carry him,” Yunho said, his face set in determination.

“Not with that hand you won’t,” Junsu said. “There’s no way you could carry him.”

“I’m the strongest out the three of us,” Yunho insisted. “I’ll carry him, it’s not far. Besides, it’s my fault he got hurt.”

“You're not to blame,” Yoochun said.

There was a moment of silence as the three were set in a staring match, Changmin’s labored breathing the only sound as he lulled into a sleep.

“Okay,” Yoochun sighed. “But when it comes to stairs you give him to me.”

Yunho nodded then quickly pulled out one of the shirts from his rucksack and gently lifted Changmin up. With the others help he slid it on the unconscious boy. All three carefully dragged Changmin out from under the table and lifted him into Yunho’s arms like a baby. It wasn’t wise to give him a piggyback since that would put to much pressure on the wound.

Yunho began walking with Yoochun behind him. Junsu hesitated for a second before grabbing the suspicious Jack-in-the-box from off the table, closing the lid and running after them.

So this is what it felt like to die slowly, painfully, yet altogether as a man now devoid of emotion. Jaejoong believed even fear had left him; nothing could surprise him anymore from this monster, surely. He was still half-naked, strapped to the table. The freezing water still dripped steadily on his head, his fever raged, and now a pocket knife was buried to the hilt in the exact spot Changmin had been stabbed in his chest.
Blood dripped from the wound slowly, mingling with the water trickling down his torso. It had been a few hours since he had been stabbed, and the blood was starting to coagulate and form a scab around the wound. The only reason he wasn’t bleeding out was because of the knife itself, and if it was pulled out a whole new wave of pain would hit him, and he wasn’t wager to experience it. Besides, he preferred to die soon. The more his heart would beat, the blood it would pump and eventually leak out of the wound. Maybe he would be lucky.

Then again, he hadn’t been lucky so far.

Yet when he thought about it, maybe he deserved this fate. It must be karma of some kind. Maybe he wasn’t good enough of a brother, a son, a friend, or a lover. He must’ve done something to deserve this, but then again, does anyone really deserve this?

He dared not shift a muscle or the scar on his back would stretch and hurt, the wound in his chest would flex, the scab where he had been hit on the head would throb, or the small scar on his cheek would sting slightly. No matter what he did he was in pain. His heart hurt to, whenever he thought about the members. His little Changmin, stabbed near the heart, Junsu being so afraid, Yoochun becoming frustrated, and Yunho trying to bare everything on his shoulders.

Jaejoong couldn’t make many tears anymore; it was if he had run out. But his eyes would sting and his chest would heave as he thought about them. The boys he cared about and loved, the man who was the love of his life. More then anything he wanted to hold all of them, tell them they were safe, that he wouldn’t let anything happen to them.

He wanted to feel Yunho’s warm morning kisses and his strong arms around his waist. He wanted to hear him say ‘I love you’ a thousand more times, a million more times before he died. Jaejoong wanted their dream to be realized, to sing as long as they could, then move away and live a quiet, uneventful, peaceful life in a small town.

A house by the sea where Jaejoong could learn how to swim and watch the waves crash against the sand in the pale gray of morning with Yunho was all Jaejoong had wanted. He wanted to watch Changmin shed his maturity for an hour and play in the sand and build sand castles. He wanted to chuckle over Yoochun and Junsu who would be leaving hand in hand to go grocery shopping, bickering but smiling the whole way down the homely dirt road with weeds and small white flowers poking out.

It would be a shelter for them, somewhere they could belong. Yet that small, humble dream shattered into a million glass pieces that cut his fingers when he tried to pick them up. The dream would cut his fingers and they would bleed, staining the glass with his moving dream in it’s reflection as he tried in vain to put the pieces back together.

Yi-Sung had been the one to destroy his dream and make it so unrecognizable, so dangerously unlikely that Jaejoong had given up on it now. In his heart he just held onto the four smallest pieces in his hand that contained the faces of the boys he loved so much and let his fingers and heart bleed.

~*

It was all of a sudden when Sungmin had started screaming at the front door. Leeteuk had shoved his way through the crowd of boys, who had decided to all commute in the small dorm until their five or possibly just four friends were found, and made his way over to a now shaking Sungmin. He held three photos in his hand, each one becoming more frightening then the other. Leeteuk ripped the photos out of Sungmin’s hands, who now covered his face with his hands and began to cry.

Kyuhyun and Kangin both hastily claimed spots and peered over Leeteuk’s shoulder. Kyuhyun’s eyes widened immediately and he stepped back in shock as he whispered,

“Changmin…”

Kangin winced.

“And poor Jaejoong,” he muttered.

The three pictures were of Changmin having been stabbed his face in shock, the knife protruding from his chest. The next was of a now unconscious Changmin in Yunho’s arms, one of the leader’s hands was bandaged they noticed, carrying him as he, Yoochun, and Junsu ran in the busy streets of Seoul. The next one made Leeteuk’s stomach turn.

It was Jaejoong, strapped to a metal table that was upright, wet with water and blood, half-naked, his eyes wide and bloodshot. Leeteuk wouldn’t be surprised if he were delirious by now. He held back the tears forming in his eyes and pulled out his cell phone.

“What are you doing?” Donghae asked dully, his eyes void as he stared at the pictures.

“I’m calling Officer Jeong,” Leeteuk said firmly.

“That’s a good idea.” Siwon murmured.

“It’s a horrible idea,” Kibum said fiercely. “We don’t need this killer and the police after him. If anything, it would lead him to them faster!”

Leeteuk looked Kibum straight in the face, his eyes blazing as he clenched the cell phone tightly in his hands, his knuckles turning white.

“I’m doing this to protect them, I don’t need any friends of mine dead!” he exclaimed.

With that Leeteuk dialed the number quickly and put the phone to his ear. He knew some of his members were looking at him like a traitor, others with approval. Leeteuk didn’t care about either of them. He was going to do what he thought was right.

“Officer Jeong? We have some information.”

~*

After climbing the last bit of stairs to the student dorms, Yunho reached out his hands to Yoochun, who now held Changmin, anxiously.

“You can give him back to me now,” Yunho said.

Yoochun shook his head and Junsu sighed.

“Yunho, stop over-exerting yourself,” Junsu chided.

“I’m not! I can carry him!” Yunho exclaimed.

“We need you to help interview the suspect,” Yoochun said. “You’re the one with the strongest tie to Jaejoong. If you can emit any guilt at all from anyone for information, that’ll be good for us.”

Junsu nodded furiously, taking sides with Yoochun.

“Besides, this person is working on a degree in forensics science and a Pre-med degree, she’s not only a likely suspect, if she can she can give Changmin proper treatment.” Junsu added.

Yunho had to admit that both men had valid points. He sighed in defeat and turned to the door in resignation.

“What’s the suspect’s name?” Yunho asked.

“Lee Jin.” Yoochun supplied.

Yunho knocked on the shabby metal door, calling out,

“Hello? Is this the house of Lee Jin-ssi?”

There was a shuffle of feet on the other side of the door, a metallic sound of a chain being pulled and the obnoxious click of the lock. So beaten door opened to reveal a woman with shortly cropped hair, brown-green eyes hidden behind black-framed glasses.

“May I help you?” she asked hesitantly.

“Hi, my friend fainted on the just outside and this was the closest dorm, could you help us?” Yunho lied, feigning a pleasant smile.

The girl didn’t seem to recognize the famous Yunho with his beanie and surgical mask, so she stared at him like he was stupid.

“On the third floor?” she asked incredulously.

“We live on the fourth, but he fainted on those flight of stairs, so this was closest,” Yunho said smoothly.

The girl nodded slowly, taking this in. There were a few tense moments were Yunho thought she would refuse to let them enter but she eventually stepped back and opened the door wide to let them in.

“Thank you so much!” Yunho said cheerfully, striding into the dorm quickly with Yoochun and Junsu following quickly behind him, heaving Changmin along with them.

When the door shut, Yunho maneuvered his way behind the girl, and unnoticed by her, locked the door behind him, muffling the sound by standing right up against the metal bolt.

“You’re Lee Jin-ssi aren’t you?” Yunho asked.

The girl, now identified as Jin, nodded.

“That’s good then,”

With that Yunho removed his surgical mask and the girl got a good look at his face. By the widening of her eyes Yunho knew she recognized him. She made a mad dash for the door, but Yunho grabbed her roughly by the shoulders and pulled her back.

“Not the best way to introduce yourself,” he growled.

“Yunho hyung! Look at this!” Junsu called from the living room.

Yunho dragged the struggling girl towards the voices but stopped dead at what he saw. All over the wall were pictures of Jaejoong, some were posters and some were much more personal. Jaejoong at the airport, in a store, heading into the sauna, and in the sauna. Yunho’s hands clenched around Jin’s arms tightly and she yelped.

“That hurts!” she cried.

“That hurts, does it?” Yunho yelled. “What about Jaejoong? How much do you think he hurts? How much you’re hurting him?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I would think you’d know what I’m talking about,”

“I really don’t! Look, maybe I’m a bit of a fan…”

“A bit? How about being very sickly obsessed?”

“I understand that, but I would never hurt him!”

“Yunho hyung,” Yoochun said, placing the unconscious Changmin on the short black couch nearby and approaching him. “Calm down. I know it seems unfair, but in cases someone is innocent until proven guilty. This could just be a coincidence,”

“Coincidence my ass,” Yunho snarled.

“Here, hyung,” Junsu called. “Let’s see if she recognizes this,”

The boys and frightened girl looked towards Junsu as he pulled the black jack-in-the-box that had been the trap and weapon to stab Changmin.

“That’s mine!” she said unwittingly.

Yunho was about to make another violent advance on her but stopped short when she suddenly said

“Where’d you find it? I’ve been missing it for a month!”

“Missing?” Yoochun asked.

Jin nodded, wriggling her arm out of Yunho’s slackened grip and rubbing the red mark that was appearing.

“Yes. I’ve had that since I was five. A gift from my grandparents,”

“Did you let anyone borrow it?” Junsu asked.

Yunho shot him a look.

“How do you know we can trust her?” Yunho asked harshly.

Junsu looked at Yunho pleadingly.

“You of all people should know,” he replied. “You have a little sister. You can tell when she lies or not can’t you?”

Junsu was right, and although Yunho wanted to tell him not to compare her to his little sister that he loved so much, he had a point. He had let a girl who had tried to kill him off once because she had been near the same age as his baby-faced sister. When he looked into this young girl’s eyes, that image arose into his head and he immediately felt guilty for his way of treating her.

But he had no time to apologize; he had to be tough and strict if he wanted to get anywhere close to finding Jaejoong.

“I see your point,” Yunho said coldly. Jin-ssi, your toy was used as a mechanism to stab Changmin over there,”

Jin’s eyes widened and she turned to stare at the weak Changmin, but her attention was stolen again as Yunho’s stern voice commanded her attention.

“If you are really not the one who did this, then tell us now if anyone else has been near enough to steal it,”

Jin’s brows furrowed together as she thought about it. After a moment a light bulb seemed to go off in her head as she raised a finger in realization.

“I hardly let anyone in here except my lab partner for projects, he’s the only one who could’ve done it!” she exclaimed.

“What’s his name?” Yoochun asked urgently.
“Hong Joon-ssi,” she said. “I know he’ll do odd jobs for money, but I didn’t think he’d do something like that.”

Junsu immediately pulled out the suspect list and rifled through the names. After shuffling through a few papers he found the file he was looking for.

“He’s in here hyung,” Junsu exclaimed. “And only two floors above us!”

“Finally some progress,” Yunho muttered. “Let’s go!”

Yunho was ready to move but he soon thought of something and turned towards Jin.

“Don’t tell anyone we were here, and if I were you, I wouldn’t leave this dorm for awhile and lock all the doors and entryways. And please,” Yunho then paused to eye the photos on the wall of his lover. “Take those down.”

Jin nodded somewhat fearfully as Yunho then made another advance to the door. Junsu was close behind him, and Yoochun was about to pick up Changmin when Jin suddenly called,

“Wait a second!”

The men looked at her and she fidgeted under their gaze.

“Let me fix up Changmin-ssi’s wound properly,” she said. “It should be stitched up. I know how to do that much.”

The men found no reason to not oblige.

~*

“Your boys are quite clever,” Yi-Sung said, staring at the shivering Jaejoong as he tried in vain to stay still. “I must say they’re quite smarter then I thought.”

He made a sudden move as if to pat Jaejoong’s chest reassuringly, but his hand pounded roughly on the knife in Jaejoong’s chest. Jaejoong cried out in pain, as the blades edges jerked in his flesh, the feeling spreading like tendrils up his chest and shoulders.

“Which one should I try to deter next though,” Yi-Sung pondered, pacing back and forth in front of the gasping Jaejoong. “Yunho will be last, we always save the best for last. But should it be dandy Yoochun, or the cute little Junsu?”

“Leave them alone,” Jaejoong gasped out desperately, trying to fight back the pain and, for once since his arrival, the oncoming sense of unconsciousness. “I beg you, just leave them be.”

“I’ve told you so many times how that’s just simply not an option,” Yi-Sung sighed. “But it looks like you’ll never stop asking. No matter how much I tell you I simply won’t listen to your request,”

“You don’t even go after their type,” Jaejoong tried. “Why must you attack them then?”

“Simple,” Yi-Sung said with a smile. “Because they’re your type, and you love them. If you haven’t realized it yet, I like destroying the things you love.”

With those words, the already broken pieces of Jaejoong’s dreams, of his future, broke into even smaller and finer shards of glass. Even the pieces he held so desperately onto in his hand inside himself were beginning to slip.

The trio of men advanced up the stairs, having left Changmin to the treatment of Jin. Their steps echoed as they ascended, pounding on concrete, the sounds bouncing off the hard walls. This place possibly housed a murderer, a man who was torturing Jaejoong and had stabbed Changmin. The concrete walls seemed to close in on the boys, narrowing as they forced them to walk up the stairs to their fate.
If they were lucky enough to come face to face with fate so soon. Yunho’s breathing became heavier, more desperate when he thought of facing this man. Could he hold on to rational thought long enough to find out where Jaejoong was before he killed the man? Was it even the same man who had Jaejoong? Either way, if it was one or two men, he would kill them for hurting his members. For killing their innocence.

When they approached the door of Hong Joon, before knocking Yunho turned to Junsu and asked,

“Could you recognize him? The man who stabbed Changmin?”

Junsu looked his leader dead in the face, his eyes uncharacteristically cold. He clutched the jack-in-the-box he had taken, the weapon of choice, to his chest. His knuckles turned white and his face flushed from anger and anticipation.

“I could never forget it, he stabbed… he hurt…,” Junsu tried to continue, but found that his throat had tightened and wouldn’t let him.

Yoochun rubbed Junsu’s back with his hand, than turned to Yunho. His face was hard as he nodded for Yunho to knock. Yunho turned and let his fist collide with the door several times, each time harder then the other. The door shook under the power of his fists, and did not cease until the sound of the locks sliding and clicking echoed in his ears.

The door opened to reveal a stocky man, dark hair covering his eyes. His smirk, however, was glaringly obvious and made Yunho furious, feeling a sudden urge to punch him. When Junsu’s exclamation of confirmation reached his ears, he did not hold back his fists from colliding with the man’s face.

He barely noticed the blood staining his knuckles as he pounded them into this man’s face, it was no concern to him. The fear and loathing had built up for too long in his heart and was released through his fists. He was not stopped by Junsu and Yoochun; Yunho even thought he heard Yoochun say dully,

“Don’t kill the bastard yet,”

Yunho took this as his cue to wrap his hands around Joon’s throat and lift him so their noses were almost touching. Joon’s smirk was still shakily in place, and it unnerved Yunho.

“Stop smirking you bastard,” Yunho growled. “And tell me where Jaejoong is!”

~*

Officer Jeong was looking over the evidence at the Super Junior dorm, studying every last detail of the pictures. Dusting for fingerprints, constantly on the phone with investigators to check out locations Jaejoong could be from his setting. Suspects were going under back round checks for the umpteenth time. The stress was building and it was becoming stifling in the small kitchen where he poured over the evidence on the round table. The body heat of over fifteen people was a pot of boiling stress and frustration within the household.

“Can some of you please leave?” Jeong growled as he felt the anxious stares as well as hostile glares from the bubblegum stars. “It’s a bit too crowded in here for me to work properly.”

“Go to your office then,” Heechul muttered. “It’s not like we want to see you here.”

“Heechul!” Leeteuk exclaimed softly, but Heechul turned away from him and walked to the door.

“Anyone coming with me?” he called over his shoulder as he began shoving his shoes onto his feet.

Kyuhyun quickly made his way over to his hyung, as well as Yesung, Ryeowook, Donghae, and Eunhyuk. Kibum began to move towards him but Leeteuk had quickly grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back.

“I know what you want to do,” Leeteuk whispered fiercely. “I’m sorry; I can’t let you do it.”

Kibum shrugged out of Leeteuk’s grasp and made another step towards the door, but Siwon blocked him. The man’s face was stern, and Kibum thought he only saw a flicker of remorse. Siwon was then joined by a torn Hangeng, and Kibum knew he couldn’t get out of there without being severely beaten to a pulp if necessary. He made brief eye contact with Kyuhyun, shooting him a meaningful look.

Kyuhyun nodded as he exited the dormitory last, his eyes never leaving Kibum’s even as he closed the door.

~*

“I’m only the middle man,” Joon said, blinking blood out of his eyes.

His voice was whispery and strained because of Yunho’s hold on his neck. This did not seem to bother him though, as he continued to give a twisted smile through the blood and pain. His teeth were now stained crimson, a deadly beast that had enjoyed a rather meaty meal.

“I don’t know where your precious girly man is, I was just paid to hurt your baby. Not that he had to pay me for a good excuse to stab someone, but a little help with tuition doesn’t hurt,” Joon continued casually, as if stabbing people was his dream and he wanted to be a murderer when he grew up.

Yunho let another fist fly and land on Joon’s nose. There was a crack that would make a regular man squirm. The men here though were one’s bent on revenge and a violent psycho. That sound would never be new to them again, neither would it be uncomfortable. They had seen and heard it enough times now. In a way, it was tragic.

“You are either lying or just as stupid as this man thought you are,” Yunho growled. “You’ll tell me what you know, before I ruin all chances you have at an education,”

This was the first thing that seemed to illicit a fearful response. Joon’s eyes nearly bugged out of his sockets, and he raised his thin fists to try and grasp at Yunho’s collar weakly.

“What?” he croaked.

Bingo, Yoochun thought, this bastard doesn’t care what he does as long as he doesn’t get caught.

“Well aren’t you a little coward,” Yoochun sneered, taking a step forward to tower over Joon. “We’ll give you exactly two days to make a run for it before we tell the police what you did. We’re more then adequate witnesses and have an injured Changmin to prove it,”

“No, you can’t! My life will be ruined! No!” Joon pleaded, but his now terrified gaze was met with merciless stares.

“It’s either hard time now,” Junsu pointed out. “Or we give you two full days to escape. That’s more then you deserve and you know it,”

“So spill your guts or I’ll be more then glad to do it for you,” Yunho threatened.

Joon hesitated for only a split second before letting his mouth run wild.

“Look, it’s just some guy who shows up in my forensics class. Don’t know his name but I know he’s not registered for the class, but it’s so big that he can just show up and no one notices,”

“How the hell did a slime ball like you notice then?” Yoochun snapped.

“”I’m a top student in that class, plus the professor’s assistant. All I know that he told me was that he’s photography major,”

“Now you’re making sense,” Junsu put in. “What else?”

“He came up to me one day, sneaked up to me during a dissection lab. We were working on human bodies,” Joon’s face took on a sickening, joyful look as he mentioned the dissection, his eyes glazing over. “He said he recognized the passion I had to slice into living flesh; he understood that feeling of emptiness if I wasn’t cutting something open,”

“You’re disgusting,” Yunho snarled, “Get to the point!”

“That is the point,” Joon said. “You need to spot someone like that. He recruited me like this, telling me to be creative as long as I lure in and hurt Changmin and I did! Stealing the toy from my lab partner and then attaching the knife to where the clown is supposed to be was all of my genius,”

“Not very genius if you got caught,”

“You think?”

“Now tell me what you can about this guy, do you know where he lives?”

“No, but he took me to his photo dark room once. He owns a room just for that in an apartment complex not far off campus near the police station,”

“No wonder the police haven’t caught him yet,” Junsu exclaimed. “He can watch their every move from there!”

Yunho studied Joon bleeding in front of him. He narrowed his eyes in suspicion and asked,

“Is that all you know?”

Joon nodded in consent furiously.

“I swear that’s it!”

Yunho slowly got off of Joon, but before the man could slink back into his dorm, he grabbed him by his forearm and whispered,

“Just as we said we will give you two days to pack your things and get out of here before we report you. If you tell anyone we were here, we will report you sooner, and both of our parties will be in danger. Don’t doubt that your employer won’t stab you in the back,”

“Here,” Junsu said, discreetly wiping the jack-in-the-box clean on his jacket before giving it to Joon. “This is the weapon you used right? You’re sure?”

“As well as this knife?” Yoochun added, also pulling out the knife, the blade still crusted in Changmin’s dried blood, wiping the handle and handing it to Joon as well.

Joon received both of them, at first studying them carefully. Then another smile, a flash of recognition and, the trio were appalled to see, affection. Joon nodded confirmation, almost reluctant to give the weapons back. He stared at them longingly as Yoochun took them, having hastily shoved on gloves while the maniac wasn’t looking.

“Now start packing,” Yunho growled. “I never want to see you again, so you better get the hell out of Korea, because trust me, if the police don’t find you I will.”

~*

“Hyung, where are we going?” Eunhyuk panted as he ran after Heechul.

The normally eccentric man was acting strange, and strange for Heechul was never a good strange. At first the rapper had brushed it off as sorrow and anger. It was only natural Heechul would react this was when their friends, one being Heechul’s best friend, were missing and being hunted by a serial killer.

Yet now Heechul was pushing the boundaries of mourning to obsessed as he continued to stride with his long legs down the Seoul city streets. He didn’t wait for his younger members; in fact it was as if they didn’t exist. To Heechul at that moment no one existed but him and five lost souls and another man, no, monster that had no soul in the world.

The constant images that plagued his mind, some reality and some dark fantasy, of Jaejoong being tortured, Changmin stabbed, and other countless horrors done to the other members haunted him. He could not let this continue; he could not sit in that dorm and allow his friends to go unaided. He would help them, even if he died in the end. Even if all five of the people he was trying to help died in the end.

At least Heechul would have no regrets, He wouldn’t ever wonder ‘what if’… He would know what he had done, and he would know the outcome. Just like he liked it.

“Kyuhyun,” Heechul muttered, but Kyuhyun heard him and looked up at him with his dark eyes. He was the only who could keep up with Heechul.

“Yes, hyung?” he replied casually.

“You’re besties with Changmin right? You’re both little smartasses,”

“That’s right,”

Heechul felt a breakthrough. He was getting a hell of a lot further then that Jeong cop, or whatever.

“You know him best, what would he do after getting stabbed? You know him like I know Yunho, and Yunho would do anything for Changmin. Now what would Changmin do?”

Kyuhyun raised his head to the sky, the bitter cold wind blustering against his face as he huddled against the cold. He let his mind wander through space, trying to connect with Changmin. He searched for the boy with the sharp tongue yet sensitive eyes, and tried to grasp at straws. His knowledge of Changmin wasn’t enough; he needed Changmin to understand Changmin.

Kyuhyun being Changmin’s best friend though, he already had Changmin. Changmin had given him a piece of himself to Kyuhyun the second he had chosen Kyuhyun as his special friend. After letting himself find that piece of the man within himself, Kyuhyun answered,

“He’d never go to a hospital. They’d continue for Jaejoong hyung’s sake. But if they had to go somewhere to rest and calm Changmin,” Kyuhyun opened his eyes and looked Heechul dead on. “I know where he’d be.”

“Let’s go then,”

Heechul and Kyuhyun, startled, spun around to see Donghae behind them. Ryeowook, Eunhyuk and Yesung were both firmly by his side.

“We can’t do much,” Donghae continued. “But we need to try.”

“How will we get near them?” Yesung pondered. “They won’t let us come near them if they didn’t come to us for help in the first place.”

Heechul thought about this possibility before snapping his fingers in confidence.

“I know exactly what to do.”

~*

Jaejoong came in and out of consciousness, his eyesight blurring. The pain wouldn’t leave him be. It wouldn’t let him sleep, it wouldn’t let him wake, it wouldn’t let him think, and it wouldn’t let him die.

Not that he wasn’t dead already. He figured if he had lost the will to live, then he might as well not be truly alive. There was joy in living, and there was no joy here, in this hell. Of all the hell’s he had to end up in, why this one? What did he do wrong? Was he that horrible of a person? Or was he just not good enough for this world?

Then why is Yi-Sung still alive? Jaejoong thought. Do you really need to kill to survive?

Is that how the world really is, survival of the fittest? A dog eats dog world?

If that was true, Jaejoong wished he could have found out sooner.

From beneath hooded eyes Jaejoong could barely make out the camera flashes from the dark corner, and then the approaching shadow.

“You could’ve told me sooner,” Jaejoong whimpered. “Is that too much to ask?”

~*

Yunho was once again cradling Changmin in his arms, covered with a black wool blanket given to them by Jin before they had left.

“I stitched him up and cleaned the area,” she had said before they left. “You must make sure he doesn’t strain himself or he’ll pop his stitches. Change the bandages every few hours and clean it gently with alcohol and make sure he drinks plenty of fluids to help recover blood loss. That’s all I can fix, the rest is up to him.”

They knew what ‘the rest’ was. Whether Changmin had the will to keep going was up to him, whether he could overcome the trauma was up to him. The three men however, as they glanced from time to time at their youngest, thought it unfair that so many of these things had to be up to him. He shouldn’t have to fight for his life or mental state, but now he had no choice. Yunho blamed himself.

“Maybe its best,” Yunho choked. He swallowed, then continued, “That I do this alone,”

Yoochun and Junsu barely glanced at their leader, but instead looked at each other, exchanging silent thoughts then responded together,

“No.”

Yunho needed no explanations, as it had all been said before during dark nights huddled on beds together, in random hallways across the world, everyday of every second of their lives since they had all met each other. Yunho knew, because it was them. The five of them always knew.

The leader bowed his head as he tenderly hugged Changmin to his chest in the cold, and he felt the young boy unconsciously grasp at his chest. Yunho let silent tears fall at the silent message.

Jaejoong, he thought. You still remember don’t you? That all of us, that the five of us despite our differences have one thing in common with each other. That each of us to the other, feel the same.

“Thank you and I love you.”