My eyes fluttered open and I blinked twice. I was sitting at the kitchen table with an empty plate of food and my cell phone ringing, vibrating loudly against the smooth tabletop.

(This is... Did I black out? If so, why am I sitting in the kitchen?? And.. I've eaten already?)

Yoosung's name flashed across the phone's screen and a picture of him in his gaming headset continued to show until I was finally out of my haze. I snatched the phone up and answered it quickly.

"Hello? MC? I was wondering if you'd eaten yet! I had some time between classes so I thought I'd call you. I... wanted to talk to you about something, actually..." Yoosung's voice rung out clearly over the line. "V set the party date... It's a bit sudden, don't you think? I mean, he's never around and suddenly, he just pops in and makes decisions for all of us..." the line went silent and I took the opportunity to cut in.

"Yoosung," I said, not knowing exactly what I wanted to ask first. My mind was a flurry of questions but I knew he'd only be able to help so much. "Do you know who Saeyoung is?" I asked.

"Sae...Young?" he repeated, sounding awfully confused. "No... who's that?" he asked.

The wheels in my mind were suddenly turning.

(When I woke up, Seven had no idea how I'd known his name or even about his brother... and he mentioned V as if he were still alive... and now Yoosung is doing it too? There's no way they would joke about this, right? Because V is...)

I felt a sharp pang in my heart, not an emotional pang either. My hands reflexively clenched at my chest as if trying to rip the organ out of me.

"Yoosung, where is V?!" I asked, my mind honing in on the man in question.

"V? I don't know.. He's always gone. But he came into the chat earlier and set the party date..." Yoosung replied, sounding a bit worried at this point. "MC, is everything okay?"

The pain in my chest started to simmer down but I felt an overwhelming sadness wash over me. "Yoosung," I said. "Is Seven married?" I asked slowly. I already knew what he would say but I needed to hear it out loud.

"Seven? Married?" he started to laugh. That was all I needed for the tears to spill over onto my cheeks and I bit my lip to hide the muffled cry that had built up in my throat. "Anyways, MC, I have to get back to class now. Good luck setting up for the party, okay? I'll look up some guests while I'm in class, hehe." With that, the call ended and the line went dead.

I sat at Rika's kitchen table, staring at the plate in front of me with my hand pressed to my mouth. I didn't know what was going on but I knew it wasn't good. It was as if time had thrown me backwards and everything that I'd built with the members of the RFA was now nothing but a ghost of a memory.

But one thing was certain and I clung to the idea of being able to save a life.

V was not dead.