Note - This story is a work of fiction. Though there are certain characters who are people with real lives, they have no relation to this story at all. Also, there are situations in certain places in Hongdae, South Korea that have a possibility of not being real. Because I haven't experienced living there, I don't have an accurate depiction of those areas or what actually happens there. Other than that, everything else in this story simply came from what's called "my imagination".
Full Summary - Byun Baekhyun is an average person attending Hongik University with a major in Fine Arts. Life was pretty normal for Baekhyun until he finds a rather large ruby gemstone on the grounds of Wau Park. Bedazzled by the stone, he takes it home to keep it safe and planned on returning the stone to its owner. Little does he know that the ruby he brought home was from another world called, Exodus. A world filled with magic and advancements greater than Earth and where people are immortal. Kyungsoo and his friends of Exodus originally brought the stone to South Korea to learn more about the "other world". When Kyungsoo and his friends meet Baekhyun, the nine face a man of great evil who threatens to destroy the world of Exodus and bring chaos into Earth with dark magic. Will they be able to stop him is the question here.
one;
HONGDAE - 10 : 45 PM, Wednesday
Baekhyun wanders away from the streets of Hongdae, alone, isolating himself from the stress of his studies at Hongik and the loud noises from clubs. Learning about drawing and painting supplies isn't too interesting when you're focused on just drawing with a pencil and painting with brushes and paint or whatever you have. But, he thinks it's better than being forced to attend Seoul National University and studying medicine. Soon, Baekhyun finds himself at Wau Park and sits on a nearby bench. There's not much to this boy's appearance: dark brown hair and eyes, milky skin, not short but not tall in height, lean and healthy, and has a liking for dark-colored and/or plain clothes. He looks up to the starry sky, admiring their twinkle when all of a sudden, something on the ground catches his eye.
Its color is red and gleams just bright enough on the ground for Baekhyun to notice. He walks to it and crouches down for a closer look - it's a ruby. His dark brown eyes widen as he thinks, "What's something like this doing here?" His eyes wander around the park to see if anyone else is here beside him - he's the only one. Baekhyun picks up the gemstone, taking in its details. Its shape is rather large with uneven sides- about the size of his own hand - which really makes him question how anyone could simply drop and forget or ignore. It has many facets, both small and large, and it needed some polishing despite being seen from about five feet away. "It would be weird to leave something like this here . . . I should it bring it home and try to look for the owner tomorrow," Baekhyun thinks. And so, Baekhyun walks back to a small apartment he rented and leaves the gemstone on his desk.
The moment Baekhyun falls into his bed, his eyes shut and his breathing slows down to show he has fallen into a deep slumber. You may think he lives his life greatly in his own way seeing him as he is at a well-known university or just around the streets, but it's been a bit hard. During his senior year of high school, he sent applications for Kyung Hee University, Daegu University, Chungnam National University, Kyungpook National University, Hongik, of course, and Seoul National University. He mentioned his appreciation for the fine arts to his parents. Though his father was pretty supportive, his mother wasn't. Baekhyun's mother has thoughts involving "Ifs" a lot. What if a career in the fine arts doesn't work out? What if nothing good came out in majoring in fine arts? are to name a few. The list goes on. So, his mother suggested, as she is one, the career of a doctor and majoring in health science. It wasn't of his interest at all, really. Because of this, their relationship has been a bit rocky. His thoughts are turbulent and filled with worry about whether or not his mother will be proud and grow to appreciate his practice and passion.
EXODUS - 7 : 45 AM, Wednesday
Kyungsoo stands in front of the Hong planetarium, waiting for his six friends. "Kyungsoo, ah!" calls out a voice. Kyungsoo immediately recognizes it as Jun-Myeon's and turns around waving "hi". "Where are the others?" he asks Jun-Myeon. "Chanyeol and Yixing are still at the music workshop, Minseok and Jong-In are finishing up at the restaurant, and Jongdae and Sehun are on their way from the bakery with food," answers Jun-Myeon, "Good thing they're bringing food, I'm hungry." "Me too," Kyungsoo adds on. "Ahhh, we're here!" shouts Jongdae, running to them. "We brought sandwiches and cake!" cheers Sehun, holding two bags, also running.
Jun-Myeon and Kyungsoo laugh when the two others reach them and start panting. "You just ran off leaving me to hold the bags," sighs Sehun, a little tired but otherwise, kind of playful. "Aish, stop complaining, I'll do it next time," shushes Jongdae. A car honks and all four of the boys look over at the car to see Yixing driving and Chanyeol, along with Minseok and Jong-In, with their heads out the window, waving "hi". Yixing stops the car and they all get out.
"Finally, we're all here," smiles Kyungsoo, "Wait, before we go inside and look at the stars, let's eat." They all sit down on a nearby table and eat the sandwiches and cakes from Jongdae and Sehun. "Sehun, did you make the cakes or sandwiches?" asks Minseok, his mouth full. "We both snuck them from Ms. Junghwa," Jongdae smirks then laughs, "We're probably going to have to do cleaning duty for the rest of the month." When they all finished eating, Kyungsoo led them into the planetarium.
"We're gonna see the stars from Hongdae again, right?" asks Chanyeol, excited. Kyungsoo nods then reply, "I checked the weather over there, the night's supposed to be clear with no clouds." All of them were interested in the world beyond their dimensions. The other world just happens to be showing South Korea.
All of the boys head to the center of the planetarium and wait for Kyungsoo's magic, literally. Kyungsoo takes a deep breath and places his hand above the sun sewn on the carpet. Slowly, a gemstone of many facets the color of red rises from the ground - a ruby - and soon falls in his hands. The other six look at the gemstone in awe, clearly amazed. Kyungsoo taps on a facet of the stone and immediately it gleams way up high into the place's domed, crystal ceiling making red light twinkle everywhere. All of the boys look up, anticipating. "This is it," Jong-In beams, very ecstatic.
The redness of the stone's gleam fades away and shows . . . a plain, white ceiling. "Huh, what's this?" asks Chanyeol, confused. With the stone in his hands, Kyungsoo turns the stone to the right, trying to see where the other ruby is. It's a wooden closet and lamp. He positions the stone back to where it originally was and sees a window with the moon and very small stars twinkling. "Oh, I see the stars! But they're very tiny," Yixing exclaims. "Where is this, Kyungsoo?" asks Minseok. A closet, a lamp, and a window . . . these things were seen in a home. His dark brown eyes widen as he slowly speaks, "A room of a home."
All the boys' jaws drop. "What?" "How?" "When?" they all ask. Kyungsoo sighs and thinks, "I should've been more careful when I put the stone on the ground." "Wait, if this stone is in a home right now and it's nighttime in Hongdae, am I right *Kyungsoo nods*, that must mean someone could be in the room," says Jun-Myeon. "Kyungsoo, try turning the stone to the left of the room," says Jongdae. Kyungsoo's fingers move the ruby to its left - Jun-Myeon was right, someone is in the room. And that person happens to be sleeping. "How'd this happen?" questions Sehun, confused, "Didn't you hide the stone really well?" Embarrassed but then disappointed in himself, Kyungsoo replies, "I was in a rush, nighttime was the only time where I wouldn't get caught for doing dimensional magic - Mr. Lee doesn't let me practice until I've had more experience - and where I was alone. That day, it was morning or noon in Hongdae, and there were people in the area, so I had to be invisible.
"I placed the stone in a hole between two pavement stones on the ground. I was going to put a spell to change its appearance for it to look like a part of the pavement, but I heard my mom's footsteps coming to my room, so I placed a temporary appearance spell and pretended to sleep in bed when she came in. The temporary spell only lasted five days. I guess today was the last. I'm sorry, you guys." They all smile sympathetically and Jun-Myeon comforts Kyungsoo, saying, "It's okay, your mom's timing was bad." Now, all seven of the boys look up and witness a young man sleeping in his bed, all thinking nothing.
"Do you think he's the one that took the stone?" asks Minseok. "It's pretty obvious he did it," says Chanyeol. "Kyungsoo, are you gonna go over there and get it back?" asks Jong-In. "Yeah, I plan on to, sometime tonight," answers Kyungsoo. "You better be careful and not let anyone catch you," worries Sehun. Kyungsoo nods to say, "I will." then he says, "I'm really sorry, guys." "Don't worry about it, you're fine," assures Jongdae then he adds, "We should probably leave the guy over there, it's pretty creepy to watch anyone when they're sleeping."
They all slightly laugh, causing the mood to lighten up a bit and watch Kyungsoo's index finger slide down from the tip of the stone to its middle. The stone dims its gleam and comes to a stop, leaving it lifeless in Kyungsoo's hands. He places his right hand over the sewn sun and lets the ruby float gently into the ground, hidden from everyone else of Exodus. From afar, the boys hear the ring of the school's bell. "Race you guys to homeroom!" laughs Jongdae, running towards the planetarium door. Soon, they all dash away after Jongdae, smiling.
HONGDAE - 6: 59 AM, Thursday
Turbulent thoughts lead to turbulent dream, or at least that's what Baekhyun's heard before. In most occasions, when he sleeps, Baekhyun dreams vividly but usually forgets it the next day. However, the most recent dream he's had is one he'll never forget:
He was standing in the middle of a street of a city he doesn't know. It was a havoc where he was. Fire was burning skyscrapers, local buildings had been broken in, leaving glass shards all over the ground, and dark storm clouds filled the sky and poured rain drops that splashed strongly against the ground. All around him, there were dead men and women and children with faces dirty from ash. The most significant sight, however, was a man standing about ten feet away, walking closer and closer to him.
When the man was right in front of Baekhyun, he smirked at him with arrogant eyes then sneered, "It's all over. You've lost . . . game over." The man then points behind Baekhyun. Baekhyun turns around only to see eight young men on the ground. They were heavily bruised and had cuts on their faces and bodies; they lied on the ground unconscious. Who those men were, Baekhyun didn't know, but, instinctively, he fell on his knees in shock. The man behind him pushed Baekhyun down to the ground and laughed loudly and evilly. And that was it.
Baekhyun wakes up, sitting upright, panting. He places his hand on his heart, feeling its fast rate. Baekhyun looks over at his desk to look for the stone. And there it was, shining brightly under the light of the morning sun. "What time is it..." he questions himself and looks at his digital alarm - 6:59 AM ...wait for it... *beep beep beep beep* rings his alarm. Baekhyun turns it off and yawns while stretching his arms. He gets out of bed and walks to his desk to pick up the ruby. "I'll clean it after I shower," he thinks and walks off to the bathroom.
After having taken a very cold shower - he forgot to pay the water bill - Baekhyun walks to his desk with a small cloth and a little bowl of warm water. Carefully, he rubs the gemstone and holds it just above his table. He wipes off all the dust on the facets and edges of the gemstone, each wipe making the stone gleam brighter than the last one. When Baekhyun has finished wiping off every speck of dust on every facet of the stone, he holds it right in front of the window where the sun's light always shines into his house. The moment the sun touched the ruby, red light twinkled everywhere. Baekhyun sighs, admiring its beauty. He checks the time: 8:00 AM. Class doesn't start until 9:00 AM.
For about ten minutes, Baekhyun looked at the gemstone twinkling under the sun. As he looks through the ruby, he notices a very thin engraving on, what he's guessing, the front side of the stone. Baekhyun flips the stone to its front side and looks at it closer than ever. "They're letters! And they spell a word…" he thinks. Baekhyun slides a drawer from his desk and grabs a notepad and pen. "E...X...O...D...U...S," he murmurs while jotting down the letters at the same time, "Exodus."
Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed it :)