Chapter Text
It’s six months after her disappearance when Yoosung finds himself in the dusty confines of her apartment yet again. He comes here at least once every week, sometimes more often if he’s having a particularly bad day. There’s something about the beige walls covered with an eclectic collection of colorful decorations that makes him feel more at ease and closer to the vibrant, loving personality that had shone through his life and made him feel like he could do anything. It had seemed like the sun itself kissed her hair in reverence whenever she walked outside, and her smile outshone the beauty of the world around her. Dropping his keys in the small bowl by the door, he slides out of his shoes and turns to walk down the hallway to her study, the one place that still feels like she might return at any moment. The vase in the middle of the desk she used to work at has some lilies that are wilting, and he plucks them out to replace them with the new ones he brought with him. Next to the vase is a picture of an enchantingly beautiful woman with long, wavy blonde hair and large green eyes, grinning at the camera brightly while holding a light brown puppy against her cheek. Picking it up, he runs one finger across the glass, smiling sadly.
God, he misses her.
He’d only met Rika when he was sixteen, but his cousin had quickly changed his life in more ways than he could count. She had made him stronger and more confident in his decisions, pushing him with her gentle kindness to go to school for something he wanted to do rather than what their family wanted him to do. His parents were both teachers and had encouraged him most of his life to follow them, but when he’d showed interest in the veterinary field, they’d tried to deflect him to medicine. Still, Rika had been supportive of his dream, noting his natural talent with taking care of animals of any kind. He felt drawn to them, in a way; from the smallest bug to the largest animal he saw at the zoo, there was always an invisible thread connecting him to them. It was impossible to tell exactly what that connection was, mostly because he was never allowed to interact with any for a long period of time. The most time he spent around any animal was Rika’s dog Sally, but even that wasn’t for long as she died shortly after he met her.
Rika was devastated, blaming herself; that only solidified his desire to be a vet. If he had been one at the time, surely he could’ve saved her… and maybe Rika in the process.
Setting the picture down, he winces at the loud noise the frame makes as it slams against the wood. Oops. He’s letting himself get worked up about it again, a course of action that doesn’t really help anyone. Allowing anger and despair to rule over him while he’s searching for clues to help him find her only drives him into tears when he can’t find anything in the first few minutes; he’s gone down this road too often in the past months. So instead he plants both of his palms on the cool surface of the desk, focusing on his breathing to try to center himself. Maybe something good has been coming from the therapy appointments his parents insist he goes to; even if it doesn’t seem to be helping him gain motivation to go to class more consistently.
In, out. Inhale while counting to five, hold for three, release on five. Repeat. Calm down.
Running a shaking hand through his blond hair, he lets out a loud sigh before plopping down into the chair in front of her desk, pulling the stack of papers to him once again. It feels like he’s gone through these a million times by now, but he must continue; there has to be some clues about what happened to her in here somewhere. People don’t just disappear without cause; certainly not people as happy and amazing as Rika, anyway. She must’ve met someone or somehow became caught up in a bad deal with her charity work, and he’s determined to find out where it went wrong.
He’s shuffling through the papers again when one falls to the floor, the small draft from the ceiling fan carrying it under the desk. Blinking at it blankly, he pushes back the chair and bends down, trying to grasp it between his outstretched hands. Dang, just a bit out of reach. The chair emits a soft squeal when he drops off of it to the floor, his knees slamming into the ground harder than he expected. Letting out a soft groan at the dull throbbing, he crawls under the desk and manages to snatch the paper from where it lays half-hidden under the drawer. He backs up, almost out from under it when something glints off to the side and he jumps, slamming his head on the wood.
“Wha?” he murmurs, gingerly rubbing the back of his head as he peeks at where the glimmer of light had came from. There’s something there, and he reaches out tentative fingers to rub what appears to be a small keyhole tucked away at the back of the bottom drawer. Eyebrows drawn, he pushes himself out and sits up on his knees, pulling out the tray that holds an array of pens and other things found in an office, including a set of keys. Grabbing them, he shoves it closed and squints at the different shapes of metal in front of him, carefully going through them until he finds one that he doesn’t recognize. Scrunching his mouth to the side, he dips back under the desk and crawls over to where the lock is, sliding in the key slowly. There’s a satisfying click and he anxiously tugs at the corners of the barely-there lines, managing to coax out the hidden drawer in time.
Inside is a binder, well-used and filled with all sorts of things; business cards, flyers, pamphlets, a planner. Jackpot, Yoosung thinks as he elbows the drawer closed, dropping to his stomach to start looking through it there. Flipping through the pages of the planner first, a thrill of excitement shoots through him at how every day contains a schedule, written in her precise and delicate handwriting. This is exactly what he’s been looking for.
Some pictures are placed carefully between pages, and he allows himself a minute to stop and look at them, eyebrows shooting up at this look into a part of her life he’s never seen before; there’s one with her presenting a bouquet of roses to a rather handsome man - he wracks his brain for why this particular guy looks familiar, but he can’t come up with an answer so he moves on - that appears to be outside of a theater. The next one shows her next to a pair of redheads - twins, possibly? - with that radiant smile he misses so much shining through. Then comes a group shot with many people he doesn’t know, but there are two familiar faces among the crowd: Rika and V.
A scowl creeps across Yoosung’s face as he stares down at the blue-haired man; he’s been avoiding V on purpose lately, convinced that the older man knows more about Rika’s disappearance than he’s letting on. They used to be really close, and deep down Yoosung hopes they will retain that, but for now… for now he’s letting himself be angry.
Shaking his head, he moves on through the planner, stopping at the week Rika disappeared. Most of the days are filled with things he associates with her; meeting with the heads of companies who are interested in her helping them throw a party for charity, gathering guests, volunteering nearly every day somewhere. Her nights seemed to revolve primarily around V, which is not so much of a surprise, but there was a night later in the week she’d attended something else. He taps his finger lightly on the pencil on the page that lists the letters “RSSA” boldly, an event listed to take place from 6-9 pm. There is no location written down, unlike everything else he’s seen. Frowning, he decides to flip through some of the papers that are shoved in folders in the binder.
But first he needs to move; the floor is harsh and unforgiving under him, causing his elbows to start aching. Shutting the book gingerly, he scoots out quickly, unable to contain his excitement over the possibility of finally getting some answers. The chair is halfway across the room by now, having rolled there when he carelessly kicked it after laying down on the floor. Placing the planner on the desk, he stretches his arms above his head for a moment before retrieving it, moving it back to where it should be and sitting down.
The outside of each folder is marked with a number and they’re all in chronological order. It takes a bit of searching for him to find, but on the inside cover of the planner there’s a list that states what number belongs to what event. Yoosung is pleased to see that the RSSA is listed as number seven and it doesn’t take him long to locate the red folder containing the relevant documents. It’s a little disappointing to him that it’s nearly empty, but there’s a list of names with a few crossed off and some letters scribbled next them as well as a list addressed to someone called “Luciel.” He tries to make sense of the random letters first; Rika is at the top of the list, so he ponders those next to her name first: AFY. A… fantastic… youth? Always follow you? Shaking his head, he looks down at the next person: Jaehee, SLK. Nothing comes to mind for those either. Moving on, he looks over the list addressed to Luciel. It seems like she was writing down things that needed to be fixed or improved, most of them foreign to him. One thing catches his eye, though:
11: Please make sure the app is no longer available on the app store.
His heart skips a beat; an app? Could this be something relevant? Hastily he pulls out his phone, unlocking it and opening the app store immediately. Thumb hovering over the search button, he realizes he doesn’t know what he’s looking for. Furrowing his eyebrows in thought, he slowly types in the letters ‘RSSA’ and hits enter, hoping against hope that it will be easy to find.
Bingo.
There it is, an app titled “For the RSSA members” and with a description that only says “You know who u are.” He downloads it without hesitation, drumming his fingers against the desk in rhythm to one of his favorite songs. It doesn’t take very long and he immediately opens it, holding his breath in anticipation. It asks him to log in via a scan of his thumb (odd, but okay) and he searches the screen to find an option to register. Upon the discovery there is none, he shrugs and pushes his thumb into the screen, blinking in surprise when it successfully moves on to the next stage, asking him to set up a username and choose his race.
Except the choices for race are quite different than what he’s used to.
Banshee, fairy, ghost? What is this, a game? Scrolling through the different options provided, he quirks an eyebrow before deciding to just go with it - after all, maybe Rika was into some sort of Dark Places and Large Lizards thing. If that’s all this is, he’ll be disappointed, but maybe… maybe he’ll have found something to take his mind off of her. After looking through the list again, he ends up choosing to be a vampire - not something he’d normally choose, but until he knows more of what this is about, he’s just going to roll with it.
There’s a screen talking about secrecy and not revealing the existence of this app to “The Humans,” and then he’s dropped into a chat room.
ZEN: The director wants to schedule our showings over the full moon…
ZEN: I need to figure out a good excuse to get him to change it.
707: lolol
707: This is why u shouldn’t be an actor~
707: Too much danger~
Jaehee Kang: It would be terrible to deprive the world of Zen’s talent.
ZEN: I agree.
ZEN: My talent, my beauty… I need to share this with everyone!
Jumin Han: Luciel is correct. It is not safe for you to have such a public job.
ZEN: Who asked you?
Yoosung★: Hi?
707: !!!!
707: A wild Yoosung has appeared!
ZEN: What is a Yoosung;;;
Jaehee Kang: I was not aware we had any new members?
707: Ooooh! A vampire.
707: Welcome, fellow creature of the night.
Jumin Han: Another vampire. Wonderful. As if you and your brother are not enough for us to handle.
707: Hey.
707: We are nothing if not awesome~
Yoosung★: Uhhh. So is this like… a role-playing game or something?
There’s a burst of random chatter at his question, primarily from the one called 707 spamming the room with shocked emojis and keysmashes. Yoosung makes a face at the screen, sitting back in the chair and scratching his head. If this is a game, it’s certainly a weird one; the other people here seemed to be more or less idly chatting until he spoke up. Well, since he’s here, he may as well ask the question that brought him here.
Yoosung★: Sorry if I upset anyone T_T
Yoosung★: That wasn’t my intention.
Jumin Han: Luciel, do you have anything on the new person yet?
707: lolol of course lolol
707: Just who do you think you’re talking to?
707: I’ve got his information right here!
Yoosung★: M-my information? ;;;
Yoosung★: W-what do you mean?
707: Oooooh, he’s cute.
707: And harmless.
707: Not a vampire, as far as I can tell.
Yoosung★: …
707: Oh… no, he’s definitely not a vampire.
ZEN: Thank god... but cute, huh? ;)
Yoosung★: ?? Are you talking irl? Because of course I’m not actually a vampire… vampires aren’t real…
A few moments go by without any response; he can see the other members typing, but then they stop, either deleting the messages before they send or changing their mind. He shifts in the chair slightly, a feeling of unease growing within him at how the conversation has proceeded thus far. Did 707 really look him up? How? And… did he really think he’s cute?
Yoosung★: Um, sorry. I seem to be making a lot of mistakes, I’m new to this;;;
Yoosung★: I’m a quick learner if you guys want to teach me the rules later, but for now…
Yoosung★: I wanted to ask if any of you knew Rika?
More silence, except this time it doesn’t appear that anyone is even trying to answer him. Frustrated, he clicks his tongue once before typing out another message.
Yoosung★: She’s my cousin, and she’s missing… and I found a reference to this app in her binder… I’m just trying to find her, please. T_T
Jumin Han: Luciel?
707: What he says is true… he is her cousin. He’s also at her apartment right now.
Jaehee Kang: So he’s her cousin… but doesn’t know about the RSSA. Is he human?
707: He wouldn’t have been let in here if he were completely human, but he’s definitely part human.
ZEN: Rika was fae, right?
ZEN: So is he…?
Yoosung★: You guys aren’t making any sense T_T
Yoosung★: I-if you can’t take my question seriously, then there’s no reason for me to be here.
Yoosung★: This was a mistake, I’m sorry.
Logging out of the app quickly, he sniffs and brushes the back of his hand against his eyes; when had they filled with tears? No matter, he needs to keep looking through the binder and planner to see what else he can find. Obviously the RSSA isn’t going to be any help, since they’re too caught up in their game to even bother trying to be useful. He shoves the two lists back into the folder roughly, not caring that one rips partially by catching on the pocket. What’s it matter when he doesn’t plan to ever use them again?
The next few hours go by faster than he thinks, and when he looks at his phone after he finishes scouring the rest of the binder, he’s shocked to see it’s nearly midnight. Jamming his palms into his eyes, he rubs at them to try to help wake himself up. The search turned up nothing new; the only thing he noticed is that the RSSA was a recurring theme in Rika’s life. There was an event- probably a meeting- scheduled monthly, always on the third Thursday of the month and as far as he could tell, Rika always attended. But it didn’t end there.
There were little boxes marked off several times a week that indicated some time scheduled to do something with them, but it’s one of the few things she doesn’t specify about, leaving him in the dark. Yet one thing was obvious; she was very involved in the RSSA. The occurrences start to taper off in the immediate months leading up to her disappearance, and he doesn’t know if that’s important or not but right now it’s the only thing he finds that changes.
He sighs and flips to the current month to check if the mysterious meeting was still scheduled, and yes, there it is, on the third Thursday, just like usual. Maybe he’ll have better luck if he actually attends a meeting versus messing around in an app. The only problem is the location…
There’s someone who can help him with that, though. Picking up his phone, his fingers fly across the screen as he selects a number he hasn’t called in a while, staring at the packed bookcase along the wall as he waits for an answer. It’s late, too late to call someone normally, but tonight he doesn’t care if he wakes him up. Tonight he will get an answer from him, even if it’s only this one.
When the ringing stops and a sleepy voice answers, he leans forward, resting his elbows on the desk. “Hello, V. I have a question for you.”