A Race to New World // ATEEZ Dystopia AU

20 | Mingi

Seoul, South Korea

I realized how bad of an idea it was to take my own life.

I realized that when the cracks appeared on the ceiling directly above my head and started spreading down to the walls around me.

I realized I still wanted to live.

So when Yunho collapsed into a coughing fit next to me, I was pulled back to reality. I felt like I truly saw him for the first time after he and Seonghwa had stopped me from hurting myself back by my collapsed home.

I saw him now, as the person who saved me. As a person who risked his life. And now he was struggling with the dust and allergens that were floating around his, choking and wheezing and barely breathing.

"Move!"

Someone shoved me from behind, and I turned around to see Seonghwa literally dragging Hongjoong away from a pile of debris at the back of the vault. I wasn't paying attention to anything that was going on around me. What happened? Where are San and Wooyoung? I wanted to ask, but there was no time.

"We have to get out of the building," Yeosang shouted, already a distance ahead of everyone else. He was pointing at the stairwell behind him, which we had used to come down to the basement level just now.

"Hyung," I heard Jongho say to Yunho, who was now in front of me, still coughing into his mask and the back of his hand. "Let me carry you."

All Yunho could do was shake his head as he pushed past his brother and followed Yeosang down the hallway towards the fire door. I looked back one last time into the vault for any signs of San or Wooyoung before running ahead with the group.

We stopped in front of the door, which rattled under Yeosang's desperate pushes.

"It won't open!"

"What!" Jongho shouldered past the others to the front and kicked the door, his obscenities filling the air.

I snapped my head left and right, eyes darting between Jongho and the long hallway behind us. Logic told me that turning around and going for the stairwell at the other end of the hallway would give us a better chance of surviving. I was just about to share that with the group when I caught something in the corner of my eye.

It was all animal instinct when my arm shot out for Jongho and I yanked him away just as a piece of the ceiling fell and blocked our path to the fire door, right at the spot where Jongho was standing a second ago.

"Ah!"

I let go immediately, thinking that I had hurt him, but his freed hand immediately went for his other shoulder, which was partly exposed under his torn clothes and quickly blooming red with blood.

Seonghwa was tugging my arm, pulling me back. "Come on! The ceiling's gonna collapse on us soon!"

Yet all I could see at the moment was Jongho trying to get Yunho to hurry up. Yunho, who was leaning against the wall, clawing at his chest and throat, most likely having trouble breathing because of shock and the fact that he had already overexerted himself even before we arrived at the bank.

Because of me.

I shrugged Seonghwa off and hurried to Jongho's side, my back to Yunho.

"I'll carry you," I said. Jongho stared at me like I was crazy, and Yunho's fits stopped for a second before continuing again. "There's no time, just get on!"

They didn't need a second reminder from me. Jongho used his uninjured hand to aid Yunho, who had wrapped his arms around my neck but was having a bit of a hard time climbing onto my back.