Squeezing eleven people into one elevator was quite a challenge—and all because Jeonghan, Jun, and Seungkwan refused to wait for the next ride up. S.Coups made sure to climb on last, so he wasn't crushed at the back. Timing each full breath allowed him to keep his anxiety in control.

Ding! The SEVENTEEN members spilled into the adjoining corridor, amidst an ice maker and a vending machine.

Wonwoo folded his arms across his chest and rested his back against the wall. "I'm trying to think of the reason that put us in this situation in the first place, but nothing's coming to me. If anyone has anything to add, it'd be a great help."

Hoshi rummaged through his pockets for some loose change, fishing out three five hundred won coins and inserting them into a slot in the soft drink vending machine. A glass coke bottle dropped into the compartment behind the "push" flap. Hoshi reached in and grabbed his prize; then he twisted off the cap, took a sip, and spit it right back out.

"Aw, Jisoos, that's nasty." 

Joshua turned around.

"It's all stale..." Soonyoung smacked his lips together and swallowed a few times, trying to rid his mouth of the revolting taste.

Seungkwan steered them all back on track. "What happened the day before everyone disappeared?"

Wonwoo tried to remember but couldn't. "My memory's a little hazy. I don't recall... much of anything, to be honest."

"I need paper," Woozi announced. "Let's head back to the lobby. The rooms are too small for us to all crowd inside. Nine was pushing it. Eleven won't even fit through the door."

Once downstairs, Jihoon drew out a timeline, the first dot marking the "start of time" when the city was deserted. "Now to estimate how many days have passed since then."

"No need," Vernon said. "I've been marking them down on a spare calendar. It's a few years old, but it serves the purpose just fine."

"That'll be a big help," Woozi agreed. "Will you bring it down here?"

"Sure thing." Four minutes passed. Vernon came out of the stairwell a little less enthusiastically than he had going in. "Yeah, so... apparently I stopped counting the days when I injured my shoulder. So... all I have marked so far is November 6th—the day time stopped—and November 14th, which I assume is today. But I'm not entirely sure. It was just a guess."

"Then we'll trust you."

Minghao looked down at his feet, and Jun picked up on his change in body language almost immediately. "We forgot to celebrate Little8's birthday."

The8 shrugged it off. "It's okay, really. What's one birthday in the scheme of things? There's always next year."

"I don't understand," DK said insensitively. "When was there time?"

Jeonghan elbowed him in the ribs. "Don't be mean."

"I'm not trying to be...?"

"So, anyways," Woozi snapped impatiently, "can we please discuss the time... wait a minute. Something's coming back to me." He snapped his fingers repeatedly to jog his memory. "I think I've got it! If we truly want to solve the problem, we need to return to the one place that can reunite us."

Hoshi frowned slightly. Jihoon, you're talking in riddles again.

Joshua took the bait. "And that place is...?"

"Wait, wait... it's coming to me." Woozi scrunched his eyes closed and willed the evasive image to stick in his mind. "The dorm... and the practice room!"

Eleven boys exchanged glances, for, in that moment, they felt they had a sense of direction, a chance at salvaging a friendship from the flaming wreckage, with the underlying hope that all the answers they've been seeking might be found there.

~.~.~

With one foot out the door, Jeonghan stopped, his face contemplative, his leg hovering over the ground. "Does anyone even remember how to get there? 'Cause I sure don't."

S.Coups pushed him through the opening. "Of course I remember. I've spent more time there than all of you."

Jeonghan waited while the others trickled outside; he seemed troubled. "Why can't I remember? The dorm is like my home away from home. I should know the way by heart."

"It's most likely an effect of extreme duress," said Woozi, the psychiatrist. "Since time stopped, none of us have been the same. We've all changed, adapted to survive. It's human instinct. It's in our blood, written in the blueprints of our DNA. Though, whether or not we should be ashamed of it, that I cannot tell you—"

"Thanks for the history lesson, Woozi," Jeonghan rudely interrupted.

"Actually, it was more Charles Darwin and his theory of Natural Selection—"

"That's great. Go on, S.Coups. It's your turn to talk."

"We can't walk to the dorm. It's too far away. By foot, it would take at least two hours to complete the journey, and we simply don't have that kind of time to lose."

"I truly doubt the buses are running," Hoshi said in jest, "so, what are our alternatives?"

"Well, you could shut up, for one." Wonwoo slugged Soonyoung in the shoulder and watched him closely for a reaction. Hoshi wasn't in the mood, so pushed his "friend's" hand away in disgust, clearly unamused.

"Doesn't Jeonghan have a driver's license?" The8 posed. Everyone turned to look at Jeonghan.

"What are you looking at me for? My nerves are so bad that I can barely convince myself to climb out of bed each morning. And you expect me to get behind the wheel? I don't think so."

S.Coups patted Jeonghan on the shoulder. "Don't worry—it was a useless suggestion anyway"—The8 pouted—"for only one of us possesses a driver's license, and what size car will fit all eleven of us?"

Hoshi counted on his fingers and did the math in his head. "If we can find a minivan, we'll be golden! Jeonghan will drive, S.Coups will sit in the passenger's seat, Joshua on his lap, four will sit in the back, and two in the trunk."

"You miscounted. That's only nine."

"No, I didn't. We'll tie Seungkwan to the roof and hang Woozi from the rearview mirror like an ornament—"

"Short jokes? Really? That's it—" Woozi rifled through the contents of his wallet, and eventually pulled out a miniature photo of an acoustic guitar—the same instrument that was taken away as punishment for "disorderly conduct" in the practice room and later for "unnecessary violence." Soonyoung got the point and bolted for his life. But Woozi wasn't about to let him get away that easily. All in the matter of five seconds, he had slipped the photo back in its pocket, scrunched up his wallet, and chucked it at Hoshi, who was attempting to escape, unscathed, through the gate. With near perfect aim, the wallet collided with the back of Soonyoung's head, and he faceplanted. Jihoon didn't point and laugh; he rushed over to see if Hoshi was okay.

"Hey, you all right? I'm sorry... I beaned you pretty good, didn't I? Heh heh..."

Hesitantly, Hoshi sat up and rubbed the back of his sore skull. He wasn't hurt as much as he was embarrassed, as Woozi could tell by the soft pink blush on his cheeks. "You make a better baseball player than you do a producer."

"Normally, I'd say, 'do you want to die?!' But today, you've been through enough. And I might even deserve that one." He shrugged. "You never know."

"Mingyu used to talk about you a lot. I never believed him."

"How about now?"

"His complaints were premature."

Woozi laughed. "If he was here today, and I pulled out my wallet like I just did, how do you think he would have reacted?"

"Oh, that's an easy one: he would have flat-out fainted."

Woozi offered Soonyoung a hand and pulled him to his feet. Then he timidly brushed some of the dirt from Hoshi's pants. "If walking isn't an option, why don't we ride bicycles?"

"Where are we going to find eleven bicycles?" Wonwoo critiqued.

"Then why are you complaining? Jeonghan can't drive, Mingyu's not here, there's no bicycle shop—so, let's just walk there."

"We'll do what we have to do," S.Coups said. "It may be a long way away, but something's calling us there, and I have a feeling we won't regret this trip once it's over. Let's get started."

Along the way, memories struck Woozi's mind like pebbles skimming over a river's surface. Instead of impassively following the others, Jihoon stopped on the sidewalk at the top of a wide staircase leading down into the flickering darkness. "Do you guys trust me?"

Some of them answered straight away: "Of course." Others had reservations about Woozi's judgement.

"Let's travel along the subway tracks. It's a direct route—it'll save us at least a half hour."

"Isn't that dangerous?" Jun hinted at the fact that he'd rather take to the streets than be closed in underground... in the dark.

Woozi was already planning everything out in his head. "We'll need a flashlight, for sure. But that's only so we don't trip. We're the only ones alive in a twenty-first century abandoned city. The only ones we have to be afraid of are ourselves."

Jun held in a sigh. "My point exactly..."

"I'm not going down there." DK was a coward, and he wasn't embarrassed to say it, either.

Seungkwan was on DK's side. "Neither am I." They both expected Hoshi to join in and protest, but Soonyoung's eyes were on Woozi, not them, his intention to shield Jihoon from the outside world.

"I think we should split up," DK said.

What's happened to us? Woozi thought they were better than this.

Maybe he was wrong.