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Unlike them, the bus arrives on time and it rests in the parking lot of their hotel in all its 14-ton glory, like a sleeping elephant glistening in the early morning sun. In front of it, countless black suitcases and bulky travel bags pile up into a tiny mountain, with numerous staff members chucking them into the large luggage compartment.
It's a beautiful day, almost too beautiful to be spent on the road, Jaeyun thinks, but management had decided the most cost-efficient way to travel across Germany was to take the six hour bus ride, and so they had to make due.
The boys, all sporting various shades of dark circles and one or the other still munching on his breakfast sandwich, line up in the shady spot at the hotel entrance. It is only 10 am, but even now the air is already pleasantly warm and dry, the sun softly tickling in their tired faces and Yungyu silently prays for the bus to have air conditioning.
In the meantime, Jaeyun is walking up and down in front of them like a newly appointed drill sergeant, going through his mental checklist for one final time.
"Does everyone have their passport?" He directs at the group and receives a few unenthusiastic nods in return.
"Myungho?" He probes, after a moment of silence goes by.
The eldest member in question pats himself down until he seems to have found what he's looking for and triumphantly pulls a little booklet out of his pocket.
Jaeyun nods solemnly.
"Okay, now any questions we need to clarify before we leave?"
Almost immediately Minho raises his hand.
"Yes?"
"Why do we have a bus?"
"Because we all need to fit in there." Jaeyun gestures around himself. "The eight of us, our luggage, equipment, and the staff, of course."
"Technically we are the staff." Haemin helpfully chimes in and Jaeyun can't hold back the sigh that escapes him.
"We are the talent." Minho corrects him.
"Talent." Seungheon echoes with a snicker.
"Well, I don't know what you are." Counters Minho. "But I am talent."
"Save the snarky remarks for when we're on the road." Jaeyun cuts the conversation short before it can spiral any further and herds everyone toward the bus.
It is indeed climatised, and as they step inside, they are greeted not only by the soft mechanical hum of the air conditioner but also by a pleasantly cool breeze. Yungyu immediately lets himself fall onto the entire back row and hides his face in his hands.
"Wake me up when we're there."
"Absolutely not." Seungheon grabs his leg and attempts to pull him off the seats, and as soon as he finds himself moderately successful, he promptly lies down on top of the other.
Jaeyun turns back to the rest of the group.
"You two and you two." He points. "You sit together. Stay with your seatpartners."
"Why?" Haemin wants to know just as Kyungmin pulls him along towards one of the many middle rows.
"We're in a confined area." Argues Yoonsung even before their leader can open his mouth.
"You never know." Jaeyun mumbles.
When everyone, though reluctantly, starts to mobilize and take their respective seats, Jaeyun tenderly shoves Myungho, who is still standing in the aisle, into a window seat before sinking down next to him.
"I no speak English." A gruff voice rings out from the front of the bus and the driver casts a pleading glance at Jaeyun.
Minho had taken the very front seat right next to him, together with a rather less enthusiastic Yoonsung, and had apparently already started introducing himself as the group‘s chronic yapper.
"No worries." He now smiles. "I'm not too great at it either."
The bus driver doesn’t seem too pleased with this, but Jaeyun decides to leave the poor man to his fate for the time being and when he turns back, Myungho is already looking at him expectantly.
"I have taken three sleeping pills." The oldest member announces without missing a beat.
Jaeyun blinks slowly. "Should I be concerned? Is this a cry for help?"
In response, Myungho only rolls his eyes.
"I barely got any sleep last night. Apparently, the hotel not having a sufficient wifi connection is a pressing issue that needs to be resolved at 2 am."
He casts a meaningful sideways glance at Yungyu, who is blissfully unaware and fascinatedly looking out the window even though they haven't even left yet.
"So I don't want to be woken up unless someone is either dead or actively dying." Myungho concludes and Jaeyun nods.
"And what are you going to do if they're already dead?" Minho halts his ongoing monologue to tease him, granting the driver the opportunity to finally start the vehicle, and the bus sets into motion.
Myungho narrows his eyes. "Well, don't wake me if it's about Minho."
With that, he pulls a fluffy black sleeping mask over his eyes and leans back in his seat.
The gentle swaying of the bus as it pulls into the street lets Jaeyun grow drowsy as well, and before he knows it, his eyes are pulling themselves shut. For another few minutes, he takes in the electric rumbling, Minho's ceaseless chatter ringing over from his front right and Myungho's soft and rhythmic breathing to his left.
He jolts awake just as the doors slide open with a hiss.
Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Jaeyun looks around. Myungho is still in deep slumber, the others, however, are already grouping up in the aisle.
The bus driver grunts something at him and Jaeyun flinches.
"Andrzej says we're taking a short break." Minho interprets flawlessly.
"Where are we?"
"Germany." Haemin chimes in. "Your name is Moon Jaeyun and it's the 21st century."
"Haha, very funny." Jaeyun cocks his head. "This might be a good opportunity to stretch our legs for a bit."
"What about him?" Yoonsung points at the still motionless Myungho.
"I don't think anyone will steal him."
"Wouldn't be too sure." Seungheon notes. "There's a lot of weirdos out there."
"You have to stay here with him." Haemin decides. "Stay with your seatmate."
"I can't believe you're using my own words against me." Mumbles Jaeyun.
"I'm fighting fire with fire."
"Fine." Says Jaeyun. "Fine. Do what you want. You have fifteen minutes."
He stands, gesturing for the rest to move forwards.
"But what if I have to pee?" Kyungmin asks.
This makes Yungyu halt on his way through the door.
"How long does it take for you to pee, bro?"
Kyungmin opens his mouth but Jaeyun is faster.
"Don't answer that." He sighs. "Just do whatever you have to do and then come straight back here."
Jaeyun does end up leaving the bus, mainly because Minho seems to prefer to spend the break with his newfound friend, who happily shares his lunch with him. Myungho, though incapacitated, is left in good hands, Jaeyun decides.
The small rest stop is practically overflowing with various tour groups, and when the pushing and shoving becomes too much to handle, Jaeyun decides he'd rather take his chances under the clear sky. Outside in the parking lot, Seungheon and Yungyu are busy doing stretches and have attracted a small crowd of curious onlookers.
Just as Jaeyun checks the time on his phone and is about to call out to them, Yoonsung appears with a suspicious brown bag.
"I bought food."
The crowd disperses as the youngest members take a heightened interest in what their leader is up to, and jog over.
"What is it?" Seungheon nervously eyes the package in Yoonsung's hands.
"Food."
"Right."
"Everyone." Jaeyun claps his hands. "Back on the bus. We're leaving in two minutes."
Jaeyun does a headcount because he is a responsible leader, thank you very much.
When he concludes there are, in fact, eight people on the bus, apart from the numerous staff members lounging around, he plops down in his seat. Myungho is still out cold and Jaeyun very carefully extends a hand to make sure he is still breathing.
He is and Jaeyun lets out a sigh of relief.
The peace doesn't last long.
There's an odor, he realises, not too overbearing but pungent enough to be uncomfortable. He doesn't need to ask where it's coming from.
"It smells like a rat died in here." Yungyu complains from the far back row.
In response, Yoonsung only scoffs. "That is a German delicacy!"
"I sincerely doubt that."
It has only been another few kilometres down the road, but when Yoonsung suddenly unpacks a few hard-boiled eggs, even Jaeyun reaches his breaking point.
"Please!" Seungheon begs. "Can we at least open the windows or something?"
The driver mumbles something that Jaeyun now recognizes as Polish.
"No open windows!" Minho yells back.
"This is how I die." Seungheon whimpers softly.
"Can't we just stop somewhere and throw it out?" Asks Haemin.
"Excuse me?" Yoonsung quips back in protest. "I paid good money for that."
Haemin shrugs. "We can also throw you out."
But as Jaeyun looks over at Haemin, who sits alone in the middle row, back against the window and feet stretched over the other seat, something dawns on him.
"Do you know where Kyungmin is?"
Haemin grins. "Does anyone ever know where Kyungmin is?"
At that, Jaeyun can't help but roll his eyes and he looks over at Minho.
"Have you seen Kyungmin?" He asks, seemingly interrupting a rather hectic game of twenty questions, and the driver even shoots him an annoyed glance.
Minho blinks. "Today or in general?"
"I- what?" Jaeyun rolls his eyes. "Yoonsung, did you see Kyungmin?"
"I'm eating." The other responds, which is apparently his way of saying 'don't bother me'.
"Have you guys seen Kyungmin?" Jaeyun yells at the youngest at the far back and a few staff members turn their heads.
"What?" Seungheon shouts back.
"We don't know where Kyungmin is."
"What?"
"KYUNGMIN!" He screams.
"What?"
"Can you please say anything else?"
"Sorry." Seungheon then says as he plugs something from his ear. "I had my AirPods in."
"I'm going to lose my mind."
Now Yungyu looks up from his phone.
"Who lost something? Myungho?"
"We lost Kyungmin." Jaeyun says. "Collectively."
"I didn't lose anything." Yoonsung corrects him. "I always know exactly where you guys are."
Haemin's eyes go wide. "You chipped us?!"
He nervously runs his hands down his upper body.
"Relax. I just downloaded a parental supervision app on your phones. I can only see your location. And your battery and …some of your browsing history."
"I'm sorry, what?" Jaeyun now cuts in. "What does that mean?"
But Yoonsung doesn't answer.
"Yoonsung. What does that mean."
This time, he receives a pained smile in response.
"You don't want to know."
"Well, in any way, Kyungmin has to be somewhere on the bus." Jaeyun decides. "I counted eight people."
"Have you ever looked into dyscalculia?" Minho suggests, innocently batting his eyelashes.
Jaeyun's eyes narrow. "If we didn't have to stay buckled in, I'd come over there and-"
Then the realization hits him.
"The driver." Jaeyun mumbles very very quietly. "I counted the driver."
"So Kyungmin is not on the bus." Minho concludes helpfully. "Then where is he?"
"Can you check?" Jaeyun prompts Yoonsung, who looks up from the colourful egg he is currently peeling.
"Nope." He swallows slowly. "My phone is dead."
And this is when the panic sets in.
"Guys." Jaeyun says, voice quivering. "Is this situation severe enough to wake Myungho?"
"When are we ever in a situation that isn't severe?" Seungheon, who has now paused the music for good and looks over at them in heightened interest, wants to know.
That's a good enough reasoning for Jaeyun and he starts, at first slowly, then more and more frantically, to shake Myungho awake.
"Is he dead?" Asks Haemin, seemingly in an attempt to stress Jaeyun out even further.
"We can't lose two members in one day." Yungyu comments. "That's a new low, even for us."
But then, Myungho grumbles something inaudible.
"You need to wake up." Jaeyun pleads, and he is well aware of how desperate he sounds. "It's Kyungmin."
"Is he dead or dying?" Myungho's voice is hoarse, and his words come out slurred, but at the very least he is semi-conscious.
"...not yet?"
Now Myungho is fully awake and he rips the sleeping mask from his face. His eyes dart around the bus, from one member to another, until they settle on Jaeyun's face.
"Where is he?"
Silence. For the first time in what feels like hours, even Minho and the bus driver grow eerily quiet.
"Jaeyun. Where is Kyungmin?"
"I'm just saying he noticed a lot faster than you did." Minho says.
It takes mere milliseconds for Myungho to grasp the implications.
"You lost Kyungmin?!"
"If we're being fair he probably got lost himself." Haemin replies soberly.
"You." Myungho points. "Where is he?"
"How should I know?"
"Well, where have you last seen him?"
"At the rest stop."
"When we were stopping?" Jaeyun questions.
"No, while we were driving off."
"WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY ANYTHING?!"
"You didn't ask."
Jaeyun wants to scream.
"Isn't it weird to any of you that Kyungmin hasn't even called?" Yungyu pipes up. "I feel like he'd have at least a tad of survival instinct."
"Oh, that's because his phone is here." Haemin raises the device as he's speaking.
"WHAT?!"
"We left him." Jaeyun sobs. "Alone. In a foreign country. ALONE."
Yoonsung nods. "I think you already said that."
"Without a phone." Jaeyun continues. "At some random gas station. All alone."
"We get it, he‘s alone."
Seungheon sighs. "Grown man by the way."
"Acting like you'd survive five minutes without your phone." Haemin counters.
"Guys, can we focus on getting Kyungmin back please?" Jaeyun pleads. "Can't we like… turn back or something?"
"On the highway?!" Minho's eyes go wide. "Andrzej believes in road traffic regulations."
"What is this awful chirping?" Myungho interrupts them with a pained groan. "Is nobody else bothered by this?"
Jaeyun had actually tuned out the soft whistling a long time ago, but now that the other had mentioned it, he’s suddenly becoming aware of it again.
"Oh, sorry." Yungyu mumbles. "This random number keeps calling me."
"And you didn't answer?"
Yungyu raises one eyebrow. "I don't talk to scammers. Do you?"
"Give it here."
Just as Jaeyun holds the device in his hands, another call comes in and he answers on the first ring.
"Hello?"
"I think I'm on the wrong bus."
"Kyungmin?!"
"Yes."
Jaeyun breathes a sigh of relief.
"Where in the world are you?"
"Germany."
"Can you be any more precise with that?"
"Um… a bus."
"Put him on speaker." Myungho urges and Jaeyun complies.
"I think it parked in the same spot after you guys left."
"And it took you this long to figure out it's the wrong one?"
"Did you miss the part where you guys left me?"
"He does have a point." Jaeyun reluctantly admits. "This time might be on us."
"Who is that in the background?" Yungyu whispers.
"Oh, that's Hildegard." Kyungmin's voice crackles over the phone. "It's prosecco hour."
"Did you get on a party bus?"
"For old people, maybe. I think it's a tour group." An old man's voice hums in the background. "I have to hang up now. Jens wants to call his grandchildren."
A beat of silence.
"We're on the way to Cologne, though."
"Amazing." Jaeyun mumbles. "We'll pick you up there."
"No need to hurry." He can clearly hear Kyungmin's smile over the phone. "There's still a few prosecco hours until then."