Hachi 八

| YUTA POV |

"Taeyong-ah, its been exactly a month since that incident and you're still here, laying lifelessly. It's been tough without you, really. The group's losing hope and we keep getting distracted during schedules. Everyone is not the same anymore.

Lucas and Chenle are less loud while Haechan's pranks decreased as time passes. Honestly it's quite a good thing but its uncomfortable not waking up to chaos every morning. Ten...ten, he's not passionate in dancing anymore. He said that dancing without his dance partner doesn't bring him the same joy it did when you were here. Doyoung is much more quieter but him and Kun helps me to manage the boys whenever they can. Jaehyun's distancing himself from us, as he was second to most affected by it. First was, well....me.

After given the temporary leader position, i've realised how hard it was for you to carry such burden on your own shoulders. I'm sorry that i didn't realise sooner and i really regret not paying more attention to you.

Till this day, i still ask myself, 'What brought Taeyong to do this to himself?'. Everyday, i try to find clues that might link to your attempt but nothing's surfaced. Taeyong-ah, why didn't you come to us? Why didn't you come to...me? I told you that you were not alone anymore and to come to me whenever you're in need. I'm sorry that this had happened to you. I should have been there earlier at the first place."

A tear fell as i reported to Taeyong on the morning of a gloomy day. I clenched his hands as i pray that somehow, he hears whatever i said and hopefully wakes up. It's been a month since he fell into a coma, after the traumatic incident. I still remember that day clearly as i saw his body lying on the cold bathroom floor, with blood all over. It's a memory i can't forget and will not forget.

Every single day, i never fail to visit Taeyong at the hospital to give him my daily reports. The time wasn't always the same because of schedules. No matter how pack my schedules is, i definitely try to squeeze in a time where i could rush to the hospital. I often visit alone but sometimes, the members will come along.

I look over the side table and saw many gifts from visitors that came the day before. Only friends and authorised parties were allowed to visit him so i am grateful that he's receiving love and support from everyone. Fans are not allowed to enter his room but there are a lot of walls comemorated to him in the company building and also all over Seoul, specifically at some of his favourite spots. Fans left get well soon wishes, gifts and sometimes even pray together for a miracle. The kpop community united because of his downfall.

I looked at the time and realised that I had to be back at the company to practice. Like always, I glanced at Taeyong one last time and kissed his bare forehead. I gathered my things and walked out the room. I took out a brown notebook that is like my diary recently and I wrote down my observation of him today. I've been doing this ever since he was admitted, in hopes of finding progress to his awakening. I've also been trying to find clues that may lead to his purpose of ending his own life. I don't know much about his past but all I knew was that he was abandoned since he was young and that he grew up alone in Seoul.

The police have searched through his phone and laptops but they were nothing that could lead us to the cause. I never knew Taeyong had a diary, much more, an audible diary. I guess, there's a lot that I don't know about him and that's my fault. I should have approached him and know something was not right. However, i'm not giving up now, i'll flip his whole room if I have to, which I partially did and got scolded at by Taeil hyung. Anyways, i'll try again when i'm done with everything later.

Later at SM

"Yuta! You're late, again." Jeongsuk, our supervisor said as I entered the room.

"And you're here, again." I mocked.

"Yuta, come on, you can't do this everyday." Jeongsuk sighed.

"Why not? Its not like I was late on purpose, I went to visit our leader on their behalf." I looked over at the guys who lowered their gazes in guilt.

"Yuta.." Johnny warned.

"Alright fine, i'm sorry."

"So? Why are you here?" I asked the supervisor a little rudely.

"I am here because we won't let you guys mope around like this all day, forever. We have a business to run and idols to save. The higher ups, wants to give you guys a comeback." Jeongsuk replied with a serious tone.

"Comeback? For real now? Without Taeyong??"

"Impossble.no way....not without taeyong hyung.." Murmurs were heard all around the room.

"Which unit?" Taeil hyung asked.

"127 and Dream." Jeongsuk answered.

"No offence sir, but I understand you're concern over our career but a 127 comeback without Taeyong seems unachievable. He's our leader, the pillar of our group. Most of the fans are his and I just cant seem to dwell on that idea that a comeback for our unit will be successful. I don't object Dream but I think giving U a comeback with a new line up will be better. It will make a great difference to perform without Taeyong and people will start to compare." Johnny who was sitting previously was now on his feet expressing his disapproval of the decision.

"So you're saying you guys are basically nothing without Taeyong? If that's the case Johnny, then we shouldn't have placed him in a group with a bunch of untalented boys. We should have given him a solo debut If that's what you like. Is that what you're saying?"

"No, of course not! I don't mean it like that." Johnny objected.

"I know Johnny. Look, we're giving you guys a comeback so that your fans will be assured of the group's future. And look at the bright side, once he wakes up, he will have a stable group to get back to. I bet he wont be happy to see you guys not living out your dreams because of him. Its time for you guys to shine." The supervisor walked past Johnny and gave him a pat on the shoulder.

"You guys will have to attend a listening session later with the recording team. You'll vote on your title track and work on the album as soon as possible. Those who are not involved, well work harder." The supervisor finished his sentence as he walked out the room arrogantly.

"I don't like this."

"Neither do I Yuta."

The mood during the rest of the practice was down but I was happy with our title track that we have chosen. To our surprise, one of the songs were written and composed  by Taeyong and everyone immediately grew attached to it. With an overwhelming vote of 8 to 1, "City 127" holds the place as the title track for our upcoming album. I'm glad the directors shortlisted our leader's song as an option for the main track. Back to the present, I lay myself down on the cold hard floor of the practice room as I plug one of my earphones in my ear. I scrolled through the identical iPhone that belonged to our leader and searched for clues.

I listened to Taeyong's diaries over and over again until I finally caught something similar on two of them. The older recording was dated to be on the 20th of December, year 2018. The recent one was a month ago, the day it all happened, 6th of January 2019. On both of the recordings, I realised that there were holes in it. Like a part of the audio were cut off or tampered with. And when the audio continued, it seemed unnatural like his conversation was interrupted in the middle. Unsure, I asked Johnny who was next in charge and Doyoung who was a little bit closer to Taeyong than anyone else to check.

"Johnny, Doyoung! Come here for a bit." The two boys stopped dancing and jogged towards me.

"What's wrong?" Johnny asked.

"Nothing's wrong, I think."

"I need you guys to listen to these. So I know you guys are told that the police have found nothing in his recorded diaries but I think that is what they claimed to be. These recordings are so weird it feels incomplete." I gave them one side of the earphone each and played the recordings back to back. I waited eagerly for their remarks.

"So? Isn't it weird?" I asked the two boys who was exchanging glances to each other.

"It kinda looks like a part of it was edited out but it could have been himself who deleted the part out."  Johnny opiniated.

"But why would he edit it out if its only for him to hear? I mean he wouldn't have to worry for being embarrassed about his diary entries when its meant only for himself to hear. There's no point for him to do so." I clarified.

"Well if what Yuta hyung said is right, then someone must have really edited that part out which could include the reason he attempted to take his own life." Doyoung reasoned out.

"But how are we going to recover the audio?" Johnny prompted as he shifted in his sitting position.

"We can try looking in his laptop."

"The police took it too didn't they? If that's the case then there would be nothing in there also." Doyoung said as he furrowed his eyebrows into a frown.

"His ipad?"

"That too."

"Wait, so far where have they searched?" Doyoung asked as he desperately try to figure out the next place to raid.

"Dorms and his apartment." Johnny answered.

"We should go to the studio-" Doyoung suggested but was cut off by a frustrated Japanese man.

"Why would we go to the studio which is shared among many people, its not like he will keep something personal ther-OH WAIT."

"Exactly. No one would want to store something personal in the studio unless if its something that's meant to be hidden and undiscovered." Doyoung has a proud smirk on his face and his arms were folded over his chest.

"DOYOUNG! That's why you're the smartest man!" I slapped his back which made him groan in pain.

"So when are we raiding it?" I asked, handing over the plan making to Doyoung who surprisingly was in on it.

"We can't go now as the managers will notice that we're gone and the studio is probably occupied. We'll have to book a slot in advance and most preferable on our free day." Doyoung strategized as quietly as possible, in hopes that none of the managers are eavesdropping.

"What's our reason though? It not like any of us write or composes." Johnny who I thought was much more smarter than myself asked.

"Bitch, does the sign says 'restricted to composers and writers only' ? It does not so we're fine. We could just say we're practising for our recording session or if you're really that afraid we could bring Mark." Doyoung sassed as he low-key judged Johnny.

"Then we're all set. Tomorrow's a free day so Johnny go tell the manager to book us a slot." I instructed the taller boy as he got up obediently.

"Fine." He rolled his eyes at us and walked away.

Taeyong-ah, we're finally going to find out what really happened to you. Please, hold on a bit longer.

// OMG GUYS I LIKE WHERE THIS BOOK IS GOING!! I kinda got chills while writing this HAHA anyway's long chapter so have fun reading! xoxo