The Hostages

Doyoung entered the room carefully. He’d been to the CEO’s office before, but this time felt different. There were already several people there, sitting around the room. He spotted Winwin and sat beside him. “What’s going on?” he whispered. Winwin shrugged. “I don’t know. Did you get a text from Heejin too?”

“Yeah, he just said to come up here and wait.” Doyoung leaned forward. “Something must be wrong,” he murmured. “They wouldn’t just call us with no explanation if everything was fine.”

The door opened again and Krystal and Joy walked in, whispering to each other. “Why are they here?” Doyoung wondered, watching them sit down on the other side of the room. He scanned the other faces. “Baekhyun, Minho, Luna, Jaehyun, Xiumin, Seulgi, Tiffany… this doesn’t make any sense.”

“Maybe they just want to talk to several groups at once,” Winwin reasoned, watching Kai and Yeri enter the room. “Stop worrying.”

The room continued to fill, each new arrival just as puzzled as Doyoung. They sat together mostly by group, talking quietly as they waited.

Finally the CEO walked in and they all stood respectfully. He was followed by a trail of managers and the leaders of the present groups - Onew, Suho, Victoria, Taeyong and Irene. All of them were pale and looked worried. “Where’s Taeyeon?” Winwin wondered aloud.

The CEO stood in front of his desk as the leaders joined their groups. The Girls’ Generation members exchanged a look.

“Thank you all for coming so promptly,” the CEO said. “You’re all probably wondering why you’ve been summoned here.”

“Sir, is something wrong?” Baekhyun asked.

“I’m afraid so,” he replied. Everyone tensed as they waited for him to continue. “Last night, several of our artists did not make it back after the awards show. They are not with their families or friends and haven’t been seen since last night. I’m sorry to say that they are now officially missing.”

Everyone started talking over each other and the CEO raised his hands. “Sir, which people are missing?” Taeil asked.

“Wendy, Amber, Chanyeol, D.O, Taeyeon, Mark, Jeno and Taemin,” the CEO said tiredly. The room dissolved into chaos, shock and panic running through the idols like a current. “Are we sure they’re missing?” Kai asked desperately. “Maybe they just went to a different party.”

“What if someone took them?” Luna said. “What if they’re dead?”

“Please!” the CEO called, raising his hands again. “Let’s not make any wild guesses. As of right now, they’re only missing, which could mean any number of things. But in order to locate them we need your full cooperation. The police will be coming by soon to start asking you questions. Please stay here until they are finished. They need all the information they can get to try and locate them.”

An aide ran up and whispered in the CEO’s ear. He frowned and shook his head. “No, not until I’ve seen-”

The TV behind him came to life and a picture flickered onto the screen. It was a table in the middle of a dark room. It was covered with random items all lined up in a neat row. Chen shot out of his chair. “Those are Chanyeol’s shoes!” he shouted. “He was wearing them last night!”

“And Amber’s hat!” Krystal said, pointing.

“These are their things!” Sunny cried. “They have been kidnapped!”

“What does it say along the bottom?” Yuta asked, squinting at the screen. Doyoung got up and ran over to the screen. “It says: ‘What do you call a bird without wings?’”

“What does that even mean?” Haechan exclaimed.

“They’ve been kidnapped by a psychopath!” Jonghyun screeched. Everyone started shouting over each other and the CEO waved his arms rapidly. “Everyone calm down!” he yelled. “Please, don’t panic!”

No one listened this time and he sighed. Doyoung stood frozen by the TV, staring at Jeno’s wallet and Mark’s ring laying side by side on the table. This isn’t happening, he told himself. This can’t be happening.


******


Taeyeon shivered. “When did it get so cold in here?” she wondered, rubbing her bare arms.

“Forget that, I want to know why that man took our stuff,” Taemin interrupted. “Everything he took was so random.”

“Yeah, I kind of wish he’d picked something besides my shoes,” Chanyeol said, looking down at his sock feet. “This floor is freezing.”

Wendy blew on her hands. “Maybe they’re like trophies or something,” she guessed.

“Wait, I saw something like this on TV once,” Jeno remembered. “This gang leader kidnapped this woman and took a picture of her bracelet to send to her boyfriend.”

“So it was a threat,” Mark concluded. “Maybe he wants something.”

“Or maybe he's just psychotic,” Amber snapped. She trembled violently. “It's so cold,” she whispered, leaning back against the wall.

“Come here,” Taeyeon said, wrapping her arms around her. “I'm sure it'll warm up soon.”

D.O looked up at the ray of sunshine on the ceiling. “It's the middle of the day,” he murmured. “How is it so cold in here?” His breath started coming out in clouds and he rubbed his hands together, trying to get the blood flowing.

Hours passed and while the sun climbed the room only got colder. Eventually they were forced to huddle together in a corner, fighting to stay warm.

“Th-this doesn't m-make sense,” Taemin whispered. “I can't f-feel my feet.”

“Are we going to die?” Wendy wondered aloud. Chanyeol pulled his jacket around her a little tighter. “No one's dying,” he said soothingly, though D.O noticed the blue tinge around his lips. They watched the sunlight gradually fade, then disappear altogether as night approached.

“If it gets any colder, we're going to fall asleep and never wake up,” Mark said quietly.

“Then w-we can't f-fall asleep,” Taeyeon said determinedly. “Everyone try to think of hot things.”

“Hot tubs,” Amber whispered.

“Seaweed soup,” Taemin said.

“Fireplaces,” Chanyeol murmured, his eyelids drooping. Wendy shook him and he sat up straighter. “I'm awake,” he assured them.

The door rattled and they all jumped. A man came in and, after a moment of consideration, grabbed D.O by the arm and hauled him to his feet.

“Where are you taking him?” Mark demanded, struggling to his feet. The man ignored him and took D.O out of the cell, locking the door behind him.

D.O squinted as the man took him through a dark passageway, keeping a tight grip on his arm. It started to get warmer as they walked and he felt his mind start to clear.

They came to a black door and the man stopped, jerking his head as if to command D.O to enter. D.O opened the door cautiously and walked through it.

It was a small room painted entirely black. The floor was a jarring black and white check, the white tiles gleaming under the flourescent lights hanging from the ceiling. A man sat at a table in the middle of the room, a chessboard in front of him. He gestured for D.O to sit across from him. He too was all in black, even with a hood and leather gloves. If he hadn't moved D.O might not have noticed him against the black walls. D.O sat carefully, the chair scraping against the floor loudly. He looked his opponent in the eye and felt a pang of unease streak through him. The man had no face, just an undefined black covering. D.O looked at the board in an effort to compose himself. It was a classic chess set-up, white versus black.

“Welcome,” a voice boomed. D.O nearly leapt out of his chair, his heart pounding furiously. The man in black hadn’t moved, and D.O couldn’t tell if he was the one who had spoken. “Do you play?”

There must be a set of speakers somewhere, D.O thought, looking around the room. Whoever’s talking isn’t in here.

“Do you play?” the voice repeated. The man waved at the board, as if to reiterate the question. D.O looked at the board, then back at the man. He seemed to be awaiting an answer, so D.O nodded.

“If you win, your friends will be warm tonight. If you lose, well…”

He’s threatening us, D.O realized. “I understand,” he replied. He looked down at the board and moved a pawn out into the open. “Game on,” he muttered.

Notes