Juu 十

"Please be done by 12pm. I'll come and pick you guys up later." The manager dropped the 3 NCT members off at the company, leaving them 2 hours at the studio. The boys said their thanks and waved their manager goodbye.

"2 hours. That should be enough time right?" Doyoung asked, concerned whether the time was sufficient for them or not.

"Let's pray he didn't hid it too well." Johnny replied.

Timeskip

"ITS BEEN 30 MINUTES WHERE THE HELL DID HE HID IT?" Doyoung flailed his arms in frustration and plopped down on one of the chairs.

"Screw him for being so good at playing hide and seek, he even hides things well." Johnny let out a big sigh and sat down beside Doyoung.

"Come on guys, we can't give up now. We're getting closer." Yuta said as he continued searching for the lead.

"How exactly are we getting closer? We don't even know what we are searching for. Is it a file or a thumb-drive or something exactly different?" Doyoung groaned as he scrolled through the numerous files on the desktop.

"Doyoung try searching for files that may look like nothing so no one suspects it to contain some top secret stuff." Johnny said as he watched the younger browsed through the sea of files on the computer screen.

"What?" Doyoung turned his chair around and raised his left eyebrow at the older.

"You know, search for files that maybe looks personal or too innocent. Like for example, I would call a file KCON but hide some explicit contents in there. People won't probe when the surface is not interesting." Johnny explained and both Doyoung and Yuta looked at him in shock.

"What?? W-wait..its not like its a real example! What the hell guys?" Johnny pouted and laid back on the arm rest.

"Relax, we're just messing with you." Doyoung turned his chair around and did what the older suggested. He browsed through the files again and searched for the exact description. After a few minutes or so, he thinks that he may have hound something.

"AHA! Hyungs looks!" Doyoung screamed. Both of the older members scurried to his sides and waited for the younger's exdplanation.

"Ruby? Like the gem?" Johnny asked.

"No you idiot, its the name of his dog. Don't you remember?" Yuta said as he looked at Johnny with a stoic face.

"I'm opening it." Doyoung informed his members. The two boys stopped bickering and changed their attention to the screen.

Like Johnny said, instead of filling with Ruby's photos there were multiples of voice memos and pictures that had no title. Doyoung scrolled down the items and saw the timelime of the uploads.

"July 2018. Strange, isn't the oldest voice diaries on his phone December 2018?" Doyoung pointed out .

"It is but maybe he didn't have time to save those recordings on the computer." Johnny suggested.

"That could be the case. Let's just open it and find out for ourselves." Doyoung replied.

"Wait, before we do that, let me lock the door. And I want each of you to open your voice recordings app just in case." Yuta insisted. The two boys did not hesitate and followed what the other said. As soon as everything was in place, Doyoung started the audio.

"Hey me! The time now is 9:32AM and its a beautiful Tuesday morning. But unfortunately, its July 1st. Yes, its your birthday and you're 24 now. Eww old. Anyways, I expected to spend my birthday alone like I've been doing diligently all these years but today was different. I woke up to a pleasant English breakfast on bed and a bouquet of flowers tied gracefully with a white ribbon - my favourite colour. The breakfast was amazingly delicious and It touched me. I then went down to the living room with the bouquet in hand and was greeted by a chorus of wishes. The living room was decorated with balloons and banners, Kun was positioned at the piano and the members was led by Taeil hyung to sing the birthday song. Honestly I was so touched and grateful I actually cried HAHA. After the shocking events, I realised that I wasn't alone anymore and I had to start appreciating these people even more. Seriously, thank you guys. This was the best birthday I've ever had in my life. I couldn't say this then but thank you, I love you and I hope we can be by each other's side till the end."

"I remember that day. Well duh, that's because I planned that surprise." Doyoung stated, sporting a proud smirk on his face.

"It was the first time I saw him that happy. When he cried, he just looked so vulnerable I wanted to hug him." Yuta confessed.

"That's gay bro." Johnny teased.

"Like you and Ten?" Yuta cocked his eyebrow at the older and saw the latter's expression turn to stone. The two older but immature boys started to bicker again until Doyoung had to get in between.

"Hyungs seriously that's enough! We don't have much time and so far we have only listened to one of the recording." Doyoung said the facts and both Yuta and Johnny obeyed the younger.

"Look, there's another recording uploaded on the same day, but its a different timing. Let's just listen to it for now." Doyoung glanced at the foreign members and waited for their approval. When both returned him a nod, he pressed the play button.

" *sob* *sob* The time now is 11:07PM on my birthday. I-I don't k-know w-what happened but...I-I I think I w-was raped...b-by my own C-CEO....."

"What the actual fuck?!" Yuta mouthed as he caught eye contact with Johnny. Johnny gestured him to calm down and to continue listening to the tape.

".....I re-remembered that w-we were at the party v-venue c-celebrating my birthday. There were a lot of people there, c-colleagues, seniors, and even e-executives. I can't drink so I k-knew not to take a-any and for the whole party I was sober. B-but somehow I w-woke up in a p-place I've never been to before, with no clothes on my body. *sniffles* When I woke up at that place, my back hurted tremendously and it was difficult for me to sit up or even to stand. The worst thing is that the pain came specifically from my b-butthole. It feels like it was torn open by force. Even while I'm walking n-now it hurts. I can't believe this is happening to me.....I've done nothing wrong but be a victim my whole life. Why does all bad things happen to me? *sob* *sob* "

"This is disgusting! And on his birthday?! What kind of person does that?!!" Doyoung jumped out of his chair and clenched his fists.

"Not a person, he's the ultimate devil." Johnny said with anger in his eyes. Unlike Doyoung, he was much more calmer at expressing his anger and disgust, he knew that throwing a tantrum won't undo the past.

"This is heartbreaking. For him to be a victim right under our noses. Its all my fault, I shouldn't have been wasted. I should have been by his side." Yuta sank into his palms and ran his fingers through his hair violently.

"Its not your fault Yuta, its ours. We all didn't stay with him that day when its his birthday and the monster caught him." Johnny said.

"I know we're all angry but let's all calm down. How are we going to review the other recordings if we're too emotional? We will never make it through. Try to contain your anger cause we still need to find out if this is the definite and only reason of him committing the attempted suicide. Everyone understand?" He continued.

"Yes.....yes hyung.."

"Great, Doyoung please play the next recording."

The three boys spent their next hour reviewing all of Taeyong's recordings and they were more than furious than delighted by the time they finished listening to all 12 recordings. They definitely knew now, the reason why Taeyong brought himself to give away his own life. And its all because of the devil that they're working for.

// I realised this chapter are mostly dialogues lol. thank you for the continuous support my lovely readers!! please feel free to leave comments if you have any questions or feedbacks regarding this book. love you guys so much, xoxo.