A Race to New World // ATEEZ Dystopia AU

22 | Jongho

GHSA, South Korean Headquarters

My mind swam. My vision faded in and out, dark edges closing in and blurring everything. The shapes floated ahead of me. They seemed to be talking, but their voices sounded so distant.

"...know this guy? Do you think he..."

"Let's..."

"...you can? The computer looks... though."

Someone met my eyes - or at least, that was what I thought. His face got closer to mine, but I still couldn't make out the features.

"...okay?" He was calling my name, reaching out to me.

But before I could touch him, my world tilted downwards. I was falling.

"Hey! ...help!"

A sharp sting of pain traveled down from my shoulder when it came into contact with something. Then my whole body hit something hard and everything went black.

"...ho. Jongho, are you awake?"

The next thing I knew, there was a cold sensation on my forehead. It took a lot more effort than I had remembered to pry open my eyelids, and when I could see again I almost flinched at the face hovering inches above me.

Yeosang leaned back and sighed, a smile tugging on his lips. "Finally. You've been out for almost two hours! It's already midnight."

I lifted my arm, wanting to reach up to my face, but even that was difficult - my limbs felt so heavy. I finally grazed the cold thing that rested on my forehead when Yeosang scooted over to stop me.

"No. You're still burning hot from the fever. Do you feel cold?"

I stared at his worried expression, and I suddenly felt scared and panicky. I wanted to sit up but my body went weak all over and I dropped back down to the hard floor, my head cushioned by a rough lump. A backpack, I supposed.

"W-what--" I started, only to stop when my throat burned just as much as my skin did. It was as if I hadn't drunk for days.

Yeosang went from crouching to sitting cross-legged next to me. "Whoa, okay. Lay still. I didn't expect you to forget everything - here." He opened a water bottle but pulled back when I reached for it. "Let me."

I didn't have the energy to resist when he brought the bottle to my lips, letting the sweet liquid flow down my throat and spill over the corners of my lips.

"Take it slow," he kept saying as I gulped down half the bottle.

When I finished, he dabbed my mouth and cheeks dry with his sleeve.

"We're in the lobby now - you collapsed back in the office, and Seonghwa-hyung and I dragged you down. He said he can't be sure, but you most likely fainted because of stress, fatigue, loss of blood, lack of sleep, being undernourished, and the fact that you hit your head when Yunho pushed you in the bank." He spoke so quickly that I could barely keep up - maybe that was his point. "Oh, and now you have a fever, so that's probably why you were out for so long. Don't worry, Seonghwa-hyung patched up your shoulder and other wounds. You hungry?"

My stomach answered for me, the soft growl echoing in the empty lobby. Having rehydrated, I already felt so much better, so I sat up and leaned against the wall near an elevator.

"Thanks," I muttered at the pack of nuts Yeosang passed me. "Where are the others?"

"Upstairs, looking around the office for anything left." He paused abruptly, and I raised an eyebrow at him, waiting for him to elaborate. He seemed to struggle a bit before finally continuing. "Turns out Wooyoung knows a thing or two about computers, so together with my help, we hacked into that leader's computer in the office. It looked something out of a sci-fi movie but turns out the operating system is still—"