Ricky's missing. Gyuvins a mess. Zhanghao is crying. Hanbin is panicking. Jiwoong is acting different. Matthew is distraught. Yujin is scared. Taerae is nervous. Gunwook is afraid.
Someone here is responsible for Ricky's disappearance.
When all the boys were together it was comforting. They were practically family. The nine of them had met at a Korean barbecue place for dinner. They were celebrating getting through the hard week of exams and tests.
None of them were drinking. It was just them and the barbecue. The spirits were high, or at least that's what it seemed on the outside.
They ended their get-together late at night, 12:45 to be specific. Ricky insisted on walking home as it was only a five-minute walk while everyone went so separate ways. Some of them were gonna bus, some of them were gonna drive home but they all left alone.
Ricky's choice of walking home was one he would regret forever. Maybe if he had waited for a ride he'd still be here today.
"Fuck.." Ricky mumbled digging his head into his scarf. The night was cold. The streets were silent. Too silent.
This weird atmosphere made ricky quicken his pace. He just wanted to be in the warmth of his apartment again.
The sound of a car coming up was the only noise that filled the street. Ricky didn't pay attention to the car as he was more worried about getting frostbite but as the car got closer it slowed down.
"What the fuck-"
Ricky was pulled into the car and would not be seen again.
Or would he?
9:03 am
Kim Jiwoong. An actor who was trying it make it big. He was fresh out of art school and only had small roles in movies.
He had to work part-time at a convenience store as his roles didn't pay much. He was scheduled for the morning shift and was getting ready for work.
He turned the television on for some background noise as he got ready.
On a normal day, he wouldn't pay attention to what the news anchor was saying but one word caught his attention.
"Shen Ricky"
He finished putting his shirt on and walked closer to the TV.
"Breaking news! Nineteen-year-old Shen ricky had gone missing. Security footage shows a black car pulling up and taking the man on 18th Avenue. If you any information about this please call-"
"Ricky's missing? Serves him right.." Jiwoong mumbled.
Jiwoong wasn't taking this seriously. He thought this was some sort of prank but as he checked his phone and found tweets and texts about ricky he knew this was real.
All though from the outside the boys seemed happy together, everyone has flaws. Things were slowly cracking underneath the surface.
Incoming call from Gyuvin
Jiwoong hit the accept button and was immediately bombarded with gyuvins screaming.
"Jiwoong! Why won't anyone answer my calls? Where the fuck is ricky? Is he missing? That can't be right. Please tell me this is some sick joke!" Gyuvin sobbed.
"I don't know man... I just saw the news but I don't think it's real."
Gyuvin had to take a moment to process jiwoongs words. Before gyuvin could blow up at him jiwoong kept going.
"I don't know if I can truly believe he's missing. Like we all were together yesterday and now he's gone? Seems...off."
Gyuvin let out a choke. "Ricky..."
"I've got to go to work but let me know if there are any updates alright?" jiwoong said as he hung up to the phone.
Jiwoong used to be very close to ricky. Very close actually. The two used to have flings with each other here and there. They grew apart after a fight but still stayed friends.
"Jesus Christ ricky.." Jiwoong mumbled as if ricky could somehow hear him.
He closed the door to his apartment and headed to the filming site.
Gyuvin on the other hand wasn't taking the news very well. He assumed his other friends were just sleeping but how could they when their friend was missing?
Gyuvin was truly a mess.
Tears came out of his eyes nonstop like a waterfall. He brought his knees close and buried his head deep into them.
"Only if you walked home with him maybe this wouldn't have happened!" He thought to himself.
Gyuvin had a big crush on ricky for a bit of time now. He'd never confessed his feelings to ricky, scared that he would ruin what they had. So the fact that the love of his life was missing and potentially dead was ringing all the alarms in Gyuvin's head.
Gyuvin was doing everything to find out more information. He was searching for ricky's name on every possible platform for some news. Before he called Jiwoong, a detective called him asking for him to come down to the station for questioning.
Gyuvin felt his heart hurt at the fact ricky was in danger. It didn't help that Jiwoong was acting weird too. Why wasn't jiwoong taking this seriously?
Gyuvin's crying was paused by his phone ringing again.
This time it was Zhanghao calling him back.
"What the fuck did I just see on the news gyuvin!" Zhanghao said also crying.
Gyuvin sniffled before responding. He knew Zhanghao might be the most affected by the news and he needed to be there for him.
"It's true hyung. He's gone. I'm so sorry. I knew I should've walked home with him." Gyuvin replied.
Zhanghao couldn't even form words anymore. Tears just kept flowing down and he was also trying to breathe for air. Zhanghao was hyperventilating.
"We will find him right hao? He's okay right?" Gyuvin felt the tears coming down again.
Zhanghao barely managed to say anything but he pulled words together.
"Ricky..how..we were just fine yesterday! I was supposed to protect him. I promised to look after him and I failed."
"Hyung Im sure he's okay. He needs to be okay. I'll come over later and we can head down to the station later okay?"
Zhanghao managed to let out an "okay" and with that gyuvin hung up the phone.
Gyuvin felt like he was in one of those true crime videos.
Gyuvin was trying to think of any possibilities on who was responsible for ricky's kidnapping. He immediately ruled out any one of them because they would never, right? They were a happy family, right?
12:03 pm
Gyuvin headed to Zhanghao apartment and found Zhanghao still crying and a very panicked hanbin.
Although Hanbin was trying to comfort Hao, you could tell he was very panicked.
Gyuvin had his problems too. For three hours he tried his best to get up and get ready but he couldn't find the motivation to do so. At least he managed to put on a somewhat matching outfit. Gyuvin remembered how much ricky was obsessed with his outfits.
Gyuvin's hair was messy, his eyes were red and his face was puffy.
"Ready to go?" Gyuvin asked.
Hanbin sighed as he pulled Zhanghao up. "I guess so.."
The three of them were in the car with gyuvin driving, hanbin in the passenger seat and Zhanghao was lying down in the back.
"What even happened last night? I thought we all made it home fine! Maybe it isn't safe for us to be alone anymore? I really hope he's alright!" Hanbin was basically rapping at this point. The words came out so fast that even gyuvin couldn't understand.
"I don't even know...I miss him so much. I'm so worried." Gyuvin said focusing on the road.
"Jesus" Hanbin sighed. "Did you talk to anyone else yet? How are they taking the news?"
Gyuvin pulled into the parking lot. "No. Jiwoong was the only one to pick up the call but I think he's in denial. He didn't really have much of a reaction honestly. And well you see how zhanghaos taking it."
They both looked back to see Zhanghao holding a cat plush ever so tightly.
"Hao, let's go." Hanbin softly said.
The three of them walked into the station and weren't expecting to see their friends.
Matthew and Gunwook were sitting down next to each other clearly shaken up. Matthew was resting his head against gunwooks shoulder.
"Matthew? Gunwook?" Hanbin said surprised.
They rushed to embrace them into a hug. They only saw each other last night but with the chaos of events, it felt like months.
"What are you doing here?" Gyuvin asked.
"What do you mean?" Matthew replied, "We texted and called Zhanghao!"
They all took a look at Zhanghao who was still crying into the cat plush.
"Oh.." Gunwook said.
"I just can't believe this is all happening! Taerae, yujin and jiwoong are coming down later to be questioned but who would do this to ricky?"
No one had an answer and they all took a seat waiting for their turn.
Gunwook sunk into his seat. If he knew last night would be the last time to ricky he would've apologized. He would've said sorry for their past.
Gunwook had gotten a girlfriend a couple of months ago. She was pretty, intelligent and extroverted. Gunwook brought her to one of their dinners one time and he couldn't help but notice the fact that she kept flirting with ricky.
After dinner, when they got home, gunwook called ricky.
Gunwook was really upset and even though he knew ricky didn't pay any attention to her and ignored it, he still was mad.
He said some hurtful stuff to ricky and broke up with the girl. Eventually, gunwook ended up apologizing but those words stuck to ricky forever and their relationship wasn't the same.
He wished he could've apologized again.
The officer came up to the group and brought each of them into an interrogation room.
Things were starting to escalate once they learned about ricky's relationship with each of the boys.
There was no more hiding, no more ignoring the past. It would all come to light eventually. Who's the liar?
uh oh 😟 let me know your theories!