Chapter 75: Phantom II

I’d been sitting right by the door when whoever it was locked it, but I didn’t turn around in time to see who it was. I fumbled my way back to my chair and stubbed my toe on the table on my way. I winced as I bent down to rub it, and in the process, hit my head on the table.

“Aisshiii,” I exclaimed, rubbing my head.

Why am I so unlucky today? And whose bright idea was this to lock me up in here? Are the boys playing a practical joke on me?

“Skye,” I called out, just to make sure if he was hiding somewhere.

I got no reply. I leaned back in the chair and rubbed the spot on the head that I’d injured. This was definitely going to leave a bruise. I closed my eyes and groaned. I didn’t dare move again, not even to turn on the lights, in case I ran into something else. Then I remembered my mobile phone. I should call someone to come unlock me. The oddest thing was that you’re supposed to be able to unlock and lock the door from the inside, but somehow, that person had rendered the lock inside useless.

I dug through my bag and found my phone, flipped it open and dialed Jae Joong’s number.

“Yoboseyo,” Jun Su said.

“Jun Su,” I exclaimed. “Where’s Jae Joong?”

“He’s recording. What’s up, Sierra?”

“Someone locked me in the studio,” I said.

“Someone locked in you in the studio?” he repeated after me, then I heard a soft scuffle.

“Sierra,” Yun Ho said. He must’ve heard what Jun Su just said.

“Yun Ho.”

“Are you alright?”

“I’m fine. Someone locked me in the studio. Can you guys come get me out?”

“We’ll be there in a minute. Stay put. Arm yourself or something, in case some psycho’s running around,” he said, and he hung up.

I flipped my phone shut and felt around the room to find something that resembled a weapon. I found nothing, so I just stayed where I was, and waited for them to come for me.

“Sierra,” I heard Yun Ho call out a few minutes later.

“I’m here,” I replied as I crawled to the door.

“Someone’s padlocked the door from the outside,” he said.

“What?”

“I’m gonna get something to break it,” he said to me. “Jun Su’s here. Don’t worry. You talk to him.”

“Araso,” I replied.

“Jun Su, watch the door,” I heard him say to Jun Su before walking off.

“Sierra,” Jun Su called out to me. “Are you alright?”

“I hit my head,” I giggled.

“What? How?”

“Long story,” I said.

“Why were you alone in the room anyway?”

“I came for my recording session, and I found everyone gone.”

“That’s odd. Where did they go?”

“You tell me.”

“It’s almost 3pm. They should’ve been back by now if they went for lunch.”

“I know. That’s why it’s so weird.”

“Let me call Shoei,” Jun Su said, and there was a moment of silence and he took out his phone to call Shoei. “Shoei,” I heard Jun Su say. “Where are you guys? The studio downstairs? Then why didn’t you guys leave a note for Sierra or something? You did? No… there’s no note on the door. Sierra’s locked inside the studio. How would I know? Some phycho I guess. Yun Ho hyung’s gone to get something to break the padlock. Yea I know… this is crazy. You’re coming up? Okay. See ya.”

“What did Shoei say?”

“He said that they left a note on the door, did you see it?”

“Nope.”

“Maybe it flew off, let me look around.”

“Did you find it?” I asked him awhile later.

“Yea,” he said. “It’s crumpled up somewhere by the bin.”

“Who would do that?”

“There really must be a psycho somewhere here in SM.”

“Stop saying ‘psycho’, Jun Su. You’re freaking me out,” I said.

“Okay… don’t freak,” he laughed. “By the way… Shoei said they went to the studio downstairs because they had technical problems here this morning.”

“I see.”

“Yep… he’s on his way up.”

“Okay… where’s Jae Joong?” I asked.

“He’s recording. We left the studio without telling him what’s going on.”

“Good. Otherwise he’d be too worried to continue working.”

“Hyung!” Jun Su exclaimed, and I assumed that Yun Ho was back.

“Stand back, Sierra,” Yun Ho said, and I moved back about 6 feet away from the door.

I heard loud banging on the door and the clanging of metal, then the door opened, and I could see Yun Ho standing in the doorway, panting. Jun Su walked in and reached out his hand to turn on the lights.

“Aaah!!” he yelped and that was when we realized that there were no switches.

“What the…” Yun Ho said as he came to look at the wires sticking out the wall where the switches were.

“Are you alright, Jun Su,” I asked him.

“Yea… burnt my finger, but I’m fine.”

“Didn’t you notice the switches, Sierra? And the padlock on the door outside?”

“I saw the padlock, and I thought they’d put it there because the lock didn’t work. But I didn’t notice the switches cos the lights were on when I walked in.”

“Let’s get out of here,” Yun Ho said as he grabbed me by the arm.

“Wait,” I said and I turned around to pick up my bag.

“Nuna!” Shoei yelled as he ran down the corridor, just as the 3 of us walked out of the room. “What happened?”

“I don’t know. Someone locked me in the studio, and literally threw away the keys.”

“Why would anyone do that?”

“Because he has some mental illness?” Jun Su offered.

“Very funny, Jun Su,” Yun Ho said.

Yun Ho’s face had been grim ever since we left the room. I guess he was still exhausted from running around trying to free me just now.

“Komawo,” I said softly to Yun Ho.

“You don’t need to say that,” he said. “Not to me.”

“Still, komawo,” I smiled as I touched his arm lightly.

“Where are we going now?” Jun Su asked.

“We’re going to the Security Department. I want them to check who has been on this floor in the past hour.”

“Maybe Sierra doesn’t need to go,” Jun Su said. “I’ll take her to our studio.”

“I’ll go with Yun Ho hyung,” Shoei said. “I’m interested to know which sick person did this.”

“Okay,” Yun Ho said. “You go with Jun Su,” he told me, and I nodded obediently.

It felt as if Yun Ho was going to war, and when he was like that, you wouldn’t want to disagree with him.

We walked into TVXQ’s studio a few minutes later, and Jae Joong was sitting in the control room talking to Chang Min and Yoo Chun.

“Where did you and Yun Ho go?” he asked as soon as Jun Su walked in, then his eyes widened when he saw me following Jun Su in. “Sierra, why are you here?”

“Some psycho locked her up in the studio,” Jun Su explained.

“Were you alone?” he said as he looked at me, I nodded.

“Can someone get me a first aid kit?” Jun Su whined.

“What’s wrong?” Yoo Chun asked.

“I burnt my finger,” he said.

“Hold on,” Chang Min said as he got up to get the kit.

“Are you okay, Jun Su?” I asked him.

“Let me see,” Jae Joong said as he grabbed Jun Su’s hand to take a look. “It’s just a little red. Put some antiseptic cream on it.”

“Yea,” Jun Su said as he pulled his hand away. “I’ll be fine. You should check Sierra. She could have had a concussion.”

“What?” Jae Joong said as he looked at me.

I pointed to the bump on my head and smiled wryly.

“I hit my head while fumbling through the dark,” I said as he pushed my hair away to look at the injury.

“It’s bruised,” he said as he touched it lightly.

“Yea… I hit my head pretty hard,” I laughed.

“Why would someone lock you up?” Yoo Chun asked.

“You’re asking me?” I giggled.

“I’m gonna find that person, and I’m gonna…” Jae Joong growled.

“Calm down,” I said as I put a hand on his chest. “Yun Ho’s already worked up. I need you to be calm in case he goes nuts.”

“How can I be calm when there’s someone out to hurt you?”

“Yea…” Jun Su said. “Imagine if you tried to turn on the lights like I did. You would’ve hurt yourself badly. I only got burnt cos I pulled away just as I saw it… I was like almost touching it, but my reflex was a little too slow as I pulled away, that’s how I got burnt. If you were fumbling around in the dark, you could’ve been electrocuted to death.”

“Thank god you’re alright,” Jae Joong said as he put his arm around me and kissed the top of my head.

“First aid kit coming through!” Chang Min yelled as he placed the kit on the table in front of Jun Su.

“Let me find the cream for you,” I said and I opened the kit and rummaged through kit.

When I found it, I unscrewed the cap and squeezed out some of the antiseptic cream to apply onto Jun Su’s outstretched hand.

“I feel so loved now,” Jun Su laughed as I put a band-aid on his finger.

“Don’t get used to it,” Jae Joong warned him.

“I could if I wanted to,” Jun Su said cheekily.

“Dream on,” Jae Joong laughed as he put his hands on my shoulder. “Your turn now,” he said as he examined the bump on my head again.

“Looks nasty,” Chang Min said as he peered at me over Jae Joong’s shoulders.

“And I have an album launch in 2 weeks,” I said.

“It’ll be gone by then,” Jae Joong said as he lightly rubbed some cream on my bruise.

“Is Yun Ho hyung coming back?” Chang Min asked.

“They went to the Security Department to see if they can get footage of the culprit.”

“Let’s hope he finds the culprit. It’s creepy to know that there as weirdos running around in our building,” Yoo Chun said.

“I still can’t imagine who would want to hurt Sierra,” Jun Su said.

“Yea… it’s sick. I though that the days of the anti-fans were over. I guess not,” Yoo Chun said.

“You think it’s the work of anti-fans?” Chang Min asked him.

“Who else?” Yoo Chun said, and all of us just shook our heads and shrugged.

“We got him!” Shoei said as he and Yun Ho walked through the door.

“Who is it?” Jae Joong asked.

“Some guy,” Yun Ho said. “Some guy we don’t know.”

“A guy?” Jun Su exclaimed. “I’d expect an anti-fan to be a girl, didn’t think it could be a guy.”

“Well, it’s a guy,” Yun Ho said. “And he may not be an anti-fan, we don’t know for sure. They’ve alerted the police and they’ll be here to pick up the video for investigation.”

“Good,” Jae Joong said. “I want that guy to be caught and punished.”

“Same here,” Yun Ho sighed, and there was a moment of silence.

“Hey guys…” Yoo Chun said.

“What?” Yun Ho said as we all looked at Yoo Chun.

“I was just thinking. He could be an anti-fan.”

“Why would a guy be Sierra’s anti-fan?” Chang Min said.

“He could be gay,” Yoo Chun offered, and the entire room just stared at him, speechless.