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sp3arb-fxlix · 6 years

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A Glitch In Time

Group: Stray kids.

Genre: Angst.

Chapter: 01| Denial.

Word Count: 1184 .

Description: Seungmin – and his friends – used to investigate Gonjiam psychiatric hospital, that was until one day Jeongin brought up the idea of visiting Gonjiam. He and Jeongin had a massive falling-out – “I never want to see you again, hyung, YOU HEAR ME, NEVER!” – their fight caused Jeongin to leave to the group without a waning, never to be heard from again. Now, eight months later, Seungmin receives sign to re-open the Gonjiam investigation – at least that’s what the other boys believe – he just feels uneasy.

A/n: written by Meri ( @sp3arb ), and Roxanne ( @lxx-fxlix ).

Seungmin didn’t believe in the supernatural, he never had. Sure, he would listen to the podcast of an Australian girl about the supernatural, mostly because his friends seemed to enjoy it - or maybe it was because he hoped the podcast would fill his mind with nonsense funnier than his chemistry homework.

Seungmin was home alone, both his parents working the graveyard shift at the hospital, listening to the live podcast of the Australian girl on YouTube, waiting for his friends to blow up their group-chat. It was around 10 o’clock in the evening in Seoul, all the guys in his friendship group, Stray Kids, that lived in South Korea would be listening to the live podcast. He wasn’t sure if two of his friends, who at the moment were visiting their families in Australia, would be listening to the podcast as well, but knowing them, they probably would. Seungmin, definitely, wanted to chat with the others, but at the same time, he just wanted to turn off his computer - forget about the supernatural stories the Australian girl had been talking about.

In the live podcast jasmine, the girl who hosted the podcast, talked about a regular listener, Hathai, who “supposedly” gathered evidence of recent supernatural activity in a Thai lemon foods factory. Jasmine promised to upload a montage of the “supposedly” gathered evidence on her YouTube channel, while adding: “Don’t be afraid to leave me a comment under that video telling me, your favourite host, your opinion about the gathered evidence”. At the end of the first segment, Jasmine talked about her upcoming trip to Thailand to investigate the supernatural activity in the lemon foods factory herself.

His stomach growled furiously, reminding him he needed to eat. Seungmin got up from the chair he was seated at, he decided it was better to get himself something to eat than to listen to a segment about the “supposedly” haunted lemon foods factory where he didn’t really care about. Seungmin opened the bedroom door, ready to leave the room when he suddenly felt a rush of cold air hit his body. He shuttered, Seungmin felt the hairs on his arms stand up as an uneasy feeling ran through his body. Seungmin reminded himself to take a deep breath, “Get yourself together, man, there’s nothing to be uneasy about”.

The uneasy feeling Seungmin felt running through his body worsened when, out of the blue, his computer crashed. Seungmin instantly turned around to look at his computer screen, Jasmine’s face glitched, a dark red light flickering in the background. He heard a demonic voice repeating the same word - “Gonjiam, Gonjiam, Gonjiam” - getting a little slower every-time until it stopped completely, only the sound of radio static remained.

Seungmin gulped, he, as fast as his legs can carry him, ran back to his desk to turn off the computer. The moment Seungmin reached the desk, the computer went back to normal. Jasmine’s soothing voice replaced the disturbing sound of radio static, like had nothing happened.

“Jeongin, you there?” he asked, looking into the dark hallway. It wasn’t like Jeongin would be there - Seungmin knew he wouldn’t be there - not after what happened between them. Seungmin didn’t know why he asked for Jeongin, he knew the younger boy wouldn’t want visit him anymore. he wasn’t surprised by his reaction though, in the past Jeongin had once left Busan to visit him without telling anyone, and quietly sneaked into his house to scare him.

In the heat of the moment, Seungmin hoped Jeongin – or even his older sister, Sooyoung, for that matter – would appear from the dark hallway to scare him. Seungmin knew it couldn’t be his sister either, Sooyoung had told him she would be staying the night at a friend’s house. He took a deep breath, trying to get rid of the uneasy feeling running through his body.

Seungmin’s stomach growled once again, the growling sound reminded him of what he was trying to do before his computer crashed, Seungmin was going to get himself something to eat. He decided that the only way to get rid of the uneasy feeling running through his body was to walk to the kitchen to get himself something to eat, “You can do this, Seungmin, even if you have to turn on every goddamn light in this house, just take another deep breath, and walk downstairs.”

Seungmin reluctantly made his way down to the kitchen, he tried to ignore the fast beating of his heart – emphasis on tried- or the fact that he difficulty breathing. He carried his phone like a touch, illuminating his way from switch to switch. Seungmin felt stupid for acting the way he did, he wanted nothing more than to give himself a slap in the face – Seungmin had to admit, he couldn’t change the way he acted, even if he tried. There was one switch Seungmin would like to find, and turn off – that being the switch for his “emotions, and/or, feelings”.

He opened the cabinet door, hastily grabbing a bag of cheese flavoured crisps. Seungmin, on his way back upstairs, wanted nothing more than return to his bedroom as soon as possible, he didn’t even bother to turn off the lights – Seungmin knew, for sure, his parents would lecture him about it in the morning, but, at the moment, he didn’t care. Back in his bedroom, the live podcast still played on his computer screen, he ignored it. Seungmin turned off his computer – he had enough of the supernatural today, he really had – he laid down on his bed opening the bag of cheese flavoured crisps.

“Eating crisps in bed is a pain in the ass - you always tell Jisung not to eat crisps in bed when you visit – but, I guess, you have an excuse for today.” Seungmin told himself, mentally making a note to change the bed sheets in the morning. He had to admit he couldn’t get rid the uneasy feeling running through his body, he was scared. Seungmin wanted to engulf himself in the warmth of his blanket, forget about what happened. Like a young child, he wished his blanket could protect him from all evil like a magical shield.

The sound of his ringtone – “Wow (woo, oh wow), she’s hot (hot, hot, she’s fine)” – echoed against the plain white walls of his bedroom, Seungmin knew, the moment he heard his ringtone, it was the kakaotalk group-chat – probably to discuss the live podcast. Seungmin placed the bag of cheese flavoured crisps on his nightstand, he would eat more later. He clicked on the notification – group-chat; 스트레이 키즈 (2 new messages) – waiting for the kakaotalk group-chat to open.

group-chat; 스트레이 키즈

Hwang Hyunjin (Kid-Hyun-Model-Jin): Did you guys hear the last segment? Jasmine was talking about Gonjiam psychiatric hospital.

Hwang Hyunjin (Kid-Hyun-Model-Jin): Why did she have to mention Gonjiam of all places?

Seungmin sighed after reading the messages Hyunjin had sent – “Why, Hyunjin, why?” – talking about Gonjiam psychiatric hospital would obviously lead to talking about Jeongin, and talking about Jeongin would lead them to talking about the massive falling-out they had with Jeongin because of him. At the movement, Seungmin hated Jasmine – even if she was one of the things their friendship group bonded over - for bringing up Gonjiam.

Bang Chan (Our-Dad-CB97): Yeah…

Bang Chan (Our-Dad-CB97): To be honest with you, I’ve been wondering about our unfinished Gonjiam investigation, we haven’t talked about it since Jeongin left.

Bang Chan (Our-Dad-CB97): What do you guys think? Should we re-open our investigation?

Han Jisung (Doraemon-J.one): I’m alright with whatever, honestly, all is fine with me.

Seo Changbin (SpearB-loves-dark): We shouldn’t, hyung, look where it got us the last time!

Seo Changbin (SpearB-loves-dark): We investigated everything – and when I say everything, I mean everything – all we found out was that the owner closed Gonjiam because he didn’t have to funds to keep it open.

Lee Minho (They-Don’t-Call-Minhoe-For-Nothing): I agree with Jisung – which, to be honest, is a wonder - all is fine with me, as long we eat somewhere nice first!

Kim Woojin (Our-Mother-Bear-Woojin): I’m alright with the “eat somewhere nice” part, Chan, but I’m not so sure about the rest, I’m sorry.

Lee Felix (Meme-Boy-Felix): …

Seungmin closed the kakaotalk app – he didn’t want to read more about the Gonjiam investigation – the other boys in the group-chat were probably waiting for him to respond, but to be honest, he couldn’t care less. He placed his phone on the nightstand – he would respond to them later – when Seungmin looked up he noticed that his computer wasn’t turn off, the computer screen illuminating light onto his desk. Hadn’t he turned it off before?

The sound of his ringtone – “Freely, let it go tonight. Freely, forget everything tonight” – echoed against the plain white walls of his bedroom, Seungmin noticed it wasn’t the ringtone he set for the kakaotalk group-chat – he would have pretended he was asleep if it was. He clicked on the notification – private message; Hwang Hyunjin (2 new messages) – waiting for the private kakaotalk chat to open. Seungmin used to talk a lot with Hyunjin – before Jeongin left – they enjoyed playing online games together.

Private message; Hyunjin -> Seungmin

Hwang Hyunjin (Kid-Hyun-Model-Jin): Hey, min-min!

Hwang Hyunjin (Kid-Hyun-Model-Jin): Aren’t you going to talk in the group-chat today?

Kim Seungmin (The-Sunshine-Snail-Seungmin): I wasn’t, jin-jin, I don’t want to tell them I’m not going – or that I don’t want to talk about Jeongin.

Kim Seungmin (The-Sunshine-Snail-Seungmin): Not to mention, that I had a spooky experience while listening to the Jasmine’s live podcast.

Hwang Hyunjin (Kid-Hyun-Model-Jin): What happened? What spooky experience?

Kim Seungmin (The-Sunshine-Snail-Seungmin): I think my compute has a virus – not that I can be sure - my computer, out of the blue, crashed while I was listening to the live podcast.

Kim Seungmin (The-Sunshine-Snail-Seungmin): I heard a demonic voice repeating the same word, getting a little slower every-time until it stopped completely. Jasmine’s face glitched, AND TO BE HONEST WITH YOU, SHE LOOKED FUCKING TERRIFYING!

Hwang Hyunjin (Kid-Hyun-Model-Jin): Don’t let Changbin hear you, ha-ha, I think the only reason he watches Jasmine’s podcast is because he thinks she’s pretty!

Hwang Hyunjin (Kid-Hyun-Model-Jin): What did the voice say? And when did it happen?

Kim Seungmin (The-Sunshine-Snail-Seungmin): The demonic voice kept repeating “Gonjian” – it legit freaked me out - it happened while she was taking about her upcoming trip to Thailand.

Kim Seungmin (The-Sunshine-Snail-Seungmin): After it happened, I turned off my computer – I mean, who wouldn’t in that situation?!

Hwang Hyunjin (Kid-Hyun-Model-Jin): I HAVE TO TELL FELIX!

Hwang Hyunjin (Kid-Hyun-Model-Jin): THIS SOUNDS LIKE A SIGN TO RE-OPEN THE INVESTAGATION, DON’T YOU THINK, MIN-MIN?

Kim Seungmin (The-Sunshine-Snail-Seungmin): WHAT? NO, IT ISN’T.

Kim Seungmin (The-Sunshine-Snail-Seungmin): DON’T YOU DARE TELL FELIX, JIN-JIN!

Seungmin sighed – “He wasn’t going to listen to him, was he?” – he know Hyunjin wouldn’t read his last messages. He would bet his life – yes, Seungmin would bet his life- that Hyunjin would jumped at the chance to tell Felix, which, unfortunately, would lead to Felix telling Jisung. It didn’t take long for the sound of his ringtone – “Wow (woo, oh wow), she’s hot (hot, hot, she’s fine)” – to echo against the plain white walls of his bedroom once more.

group-chat; 스트레이 키즈

Lee Felix (Meme-Boy-Felix): I wasn’t going to agree with Chan, but…

Lee Minho (They-Don’t-Call-Minhoe-For-Nothing): But what, Felix ?

Han Jisung (Doraemon-J.one): GUYS, WE HAVE TO RE-OPEN THE GANJIAM INVESTAGATION, SEUNGMIN HAS RECEIVED A SIGN.

Han Jisung (Doraemon-J.one): FELIX JUST TOLD ME, WHO HEARD IT FROM HYUNJIN.

Kim Seungmin (The-Sunshine-Snail-Seungmin): Guys, it wasn’t a sign – I refuse to believe in those kind of things.

Bang Chan (Our-Dad-CB97): What are they talking about, Seungmin? Please, explain it to us.

Seungmin refused to believe it was a sign – signs didn’t exist, not in the real world – he, from the bottom of his heart, wanted to believe it was a virus, that could explain the glitching. He left the warm comfort of his bed – he needed to turn off his computer – Seungmin tried to use the mouse, but it didn’t respond. A rush of cold air hit his body – he shuttered once more – Seungmin swore he could see his breath condensate in the air.

His computer screen started to glitch, a dark red light flickering in the background. He heard a familiar voice repeating his name - “Seungmin, Seungmin, Seungmin” – a thousand skype notification started to appear on the screen. The font used in the notifications had a strange mixture of symbols, the Latin alphabet, and hangul – impossible for Seungmin to decipher.

It couldn’t be a virus – not when that voice kept repeating his name – he wanted to believe it, but he couldn’t, not anymore. Seungmin jumped up from the chair he was seated at – he needed to get away, away from that computer – he quickly grabbed his phone while rushing out of the house. He was going to stay the night at Hyunjin’s – he couldn’t stay in that house, not when he was home by himself– Seungmin know Hyunjin wouldn’t mind.

Was it really a sign - like the others believed? Or was his mind playing tricks on him?

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