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eternallytxt · 3 months ago

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RED LISTED || Chapter 1

Author: Eros

Warnings and themes: futuristic au, dystopian au, non-idol au, asshole!Johnny, female reader, blood, violence, cussing, some suggestive themes, angst, some fluff, featuring some other idols.

Words: 3500

Summary: In high-tech dystopian SoKo, the right to trial by court is obsolete. Instead, criminals are marked as Red-Listed in society. When your mother frames you for murder and you become Red-Listed, you're forced to live life on the streets and desperately evade law enforcement. In a turn of events, you meet Johnny, another framed criminal, and leader of a group of rebels fighting to get justice. Along with Johnny's seemingly cold and unempathetic exterior, he appears to hold secrets about your past. Will you be able to become closer to the temperamental leader, or will you be thrown back into the unforgiving city with no hope of clearing your name?

Playlist: Cyberpunk - ATEEZ, I Really Want to Stay at Your House - Rosa Walton, Villain - TRENDZ, GODS - NewJeans, Runaway (U&I) - Galantis, Odd Eye - Dreamcatcher, Ash - SEVENTEEN, Sayonara Wild Heart - Daniel Olsén

Author Note: Hi everyone. It's been years since I posted the teaser to Red Listed. I've decided that I want to try focusing on my creative writing more recently, so I've been going back through my old WIPs and working on them when I can.

I would also like to warn you that the updates will NOT BE SCHEDULED.

I hope you guys like Red Listed!

At this rate, you were going to be caught. You weren’t very athletic at all, and despite the adrenaline keeping your boots slapping the pavement, your lungs and muscles were screaming for mercy. It didn’t help that the wounds from the LAW officers’ light phasers were throbbing and making spots dance in your vision. You skidded around a corner, nearly colliding with a group of businessmen. The light bullets whizzing past your head were coming too close, and you instinctively duck your head as you barrel on through the mass of people.

It was times like this that you cursed your mother for what you had become. You had a normal life. You were a college student. The only things you had to worry about were catching the bullet trains and making sure your assignments were completed on time. When you walked into your house after class and saw that puddle of blood on the floor of your living room, none of that mattered anymore. Not when you screamed over your sister’s lifeless body. Not when your mom came in shortly after and accused you of taking a sibling squabble too far. None of it mattered when your mom pressed the emergency button and you took off running into the streets of Neo Chicago. All you had to worry about, now, was staying in the shadows and evading the LAW. 3 months later, It was working out fantastic.

The chase had led you to the west side of the city, and as you looked around, you noticed that upper-class civilians and familiar skyscrapers had dwindled. Scary-looking criminals in all black, half of them with the signature “RED-LISTED” lettering floating above their heads, peered at you from the sidewalks. They were probably pissed you brought the cops into their neighborhood. Just great, you thought. If you’re lucky enough to escape the officers hot on your trail, you’ll still need to worry about the criminals coming after you.

You rounded another corner, pumping your legs in hopes of giving you a headway from your pursuers so you could duck into an alley. And it worked. A look over your shoulder revealed only loiterers. You let out a short breathy ha! and faced forward. Your glee didn’t last for long.

Too quick to process, a hand grabbed the back of your shirt and yanked you into a dark alley. Before you could let out a scream, a hand slapped over your mouth and an arm went around your waist, pulling your back into a hard body.

“Shh. Be quiet or they’ll hear you.” a male voice whispered in your ear. You felt a click and something sharp pierce your neck. The alley was immediately swallowed by darkness, the red glow from your “RED-LISTED” sign disappearing.

You couldn’t move. The tight hand over your mouth prevented that. All you could do was listen to the blood rushing through your ears and your thoughts racing. You were going to be killed, or even worse. You were sure of that. One of the criminals you saw earlier had you in a tight hold, and you were too weak to fight back.

“Stop struggling,” the voice hissed in your ear again.

On one hand, you could stop struggling and let this unknown assailant drag you away and have his way with you. On the other, you could try to break free, only to run right into the LAW’s hands. After weighing your options, you stopped struggling and relaxed into the guy’s hold. You would let this guy keep you, but as soon as the officers were out of sight, you would break free and escape.

Multiple rapid footsteps echoed in from the street, paired with yelling and radio beeps. You watched in disbelief as the officers ran past the alley opening, their footsteps fading out. After a moment, a sigh of relief escaped your mouth, misting your assailant’s hand. You managed to escape again, but how long would that last you?

“Be quiet. I’m going to see if they’re gone.” The hands never left your body, and you were dragged to the mouth of the alley. The assailant peered his head around the corner and looked down the street. From the minimal lighting, you could only see his side profile for a brief minute. A murmur of, “Good. They’re gone,” escaped his lips, and the tight hold on you was released.

You didn’t even hesitate before attempting to book it down the alley. Savior be damned. You only were able to make it a few steps before two arms wrapped tightly around your middle, a cry of pain leaving your lips and he pressed into the wound on your hip.

“Will you shut the fuck up! I’m trying to help!” You struggled desperately, only stopping when his hold tightened. Tears pricked your eyes, and only the sound of the two of you panting could be heard bouncing off the brick walls.

“Don’t run off.” his warning made you shiver, and you were soon let go. You dropped, wincing when your knees collided with the hard concrete. “Jesus. You’re insane, you know that?” A small light surrounded you, and you slowly brought your head up, only for your eyes to finally meet with your crouched assailant.

From what you could see, he was fairly attractive. He was young, probably not much older than you, with medium-length, chestnut-brown fringe laying over his eyes. Plump lips sat in an annoyed scowl on his tanned face, glowing from the small light. He held a small, electro-lighter in his gloved fist, his cold sharp eyes narrowed at your figure.

“I was trying to get you from the cops and this is how you thank me? Running off and beating the shit out of me?” His voice was no longer in a whisper, but now an aggravated shout. You panted in response, unable to escape the tightness in your lungs and the pain from your injuries, which had now tripled.

“How was…I supposed to know…trying to help me?” This man had the audacity to call you insane when only moments ago, he had grabbed you like one of his kidnapping victims. How the hell were you supposed to react? The unknown man sighed and stood up, taking you aback at how tall he was.

“What did you expect me to do? Walk out and be like ‘Hey, come here! Let me rescue you!’? Be pissed at me all you want, but I saved your ass. If it wasn’t for me, you would’ve been a bloody imprint on the road.” You tried to push yourself up but only managed to irritate your wounds further, making you collapse on your side. The man quickly dropped down beside you, pulling your arms from your abdomen and spitting out a “Shit.” All you could do was whimper pathetically, squeezing your eyelids shut when black spots danced in your vision. “Your wounds are severe. We need to get you help or you aren’t going to make it.” you cried out again when you felt arms slide under you and jerk you upwards, cradling you into his chest. As he took off down the alley, your vision went in and out of focus. You were only vaguely aware of the man’s hushed whispers. “You’re going to be fine. Don’t fall asleep. Don’t fall asleep.” Your eyes shut despite his pleas, the echo of his footsteps and words fading with your consciousness.

You were only able to get bits and pieces of the world outside of your unconscious state as you faded in and out. At one point, you thought maybe you were in a hospital. A harsh light penetrated through your eyelids, and a lot of muffled voices surrounded you, though you couldn’t make out what they were saying. The pain had gotten so immense at some point that you couldn’t feel anything anymore. You were probably dying. You hoped that it would just be done and over with soon.

When you fully came to, you couldn’t open your eyes. Your entire body felt heavy like only your gravitational pull had been kicked up. You simply lay there, taking in your sensory-deprived state. The steady beeping of a heart monitor filled the room as your hearing returned to you.

When you mustered the strength to peel open your eyelids, you expected to be greeted by some sort of hospital room. Instead of white walls and a holo-flower vase by your bedside, grey, cinderblock walls surrounded you. The room was relatively dark, too. Probably due to the lack of the window. Despite this, It kind of looked like a normal room in a small clinic. Were you in some sort of basement? I guess that guy sold me for parts.

There wasn’t a soul around. Nothing but an empty chair in the corner of the room. Sitting and listening for a moment revealed the only sounds being the quiet beeping of the monitor to your left and your own heartbeat. No muffled voices outside the door, no steady hum of a security system keeping you locked in the room. Maybe you could escape. You looked at the IV tubes sticking out from your left arm and began yanking them out. You winced at the sting and waited for a moment for any sort of alarm to go off. Nothing.

You hopped off the bed. It was now you noticed you were no longer wearing the torn and bloody clothes you last remember wearing. Instead, you were dressed in a nude-colored monochrome set, a sort of high-neck sports bra-like top that had a zipper in the middle, and skin-tight shorts that ended mid-thigh. The lack of covering allowed you to see the bandages that wrapped around your midriff and upper arms. Your feet were bare, allowing the coolness of the concrete beneath you to seep in.

You only made it a couple of steps toward the door before a voice resounded behind you, making you jump.

“You still need rest.” You wheeled around, to find a woman standing in the middle of the room. She seemed around your age, perhaps younger, with a pretty, slender face. Her skin was like porcelain, adding to her doll-like appearance. Light brown eyes stared back at you.

What the hell? You were sure that no one was in the room besides you. The only door out was the one you had just tried to escape from, so where–

“Please come back to the bed. In the meantime, I will alert Yuta, the doctor, that you are awake,” the woman spoke again. It was now that you noticed a slightly electronic lilt to her voice. Ah, she was an AI Holo. A very…interesting one, you might add. Most of the ones you've had the rare pleasure of seeing certainly weren’t as pretty looking as her. They definitely didn’t wear fashionable clothes, either.

You remembered what she had said about “alerting” someone named Yuta, and you slightly panicked. “No! No, no, don’t do that,” you stepped towards her waving your hands. “I just…uhm…” The AI pursed her lips and said “You must have your vitals checked. Please have a seat. I have already alerted Yuta.”

Shit. Why the hell did this have to be difficult? Also, what kind of black market organ thieves have a Holo AI? As far as you saw it, you currently have two options.

The first was to take off running out the door. However, that had a ton of risk. You had no clue what lay beyond that door. For all you knew, the entire crew of criminals could be out there, gathered around some bucket full of organs they stole off of other people (you have to admit, your overly active imagination was a tad dramatic). The Holo AI said it alerted someone, and that person was most definitely on their way. They could spot you and chase after you. You were certainly in no condition to be running like a crazy person through a crime den.

The other option was to simply agree to the AI’s wishes and play along. To your annoyance, this was the option you would have to go with. Besides, you already feel the pain beginning to come back. With a hesitant side-eye towards the AI, you slowly climbed back into the bed.

“Can I ask who you are? Or where I am?” She seemed to straighten at this, and you could almost see her programmed script running through her head.

“I am WINTER. I am an AI Holo developed to assist with any task instructed to me. Currently, you are in the clinic room of the base.”

“Base? What base?” Before Winter could answer you, the door was thrust open, and in stepped a man who looked the farthest thing from a doctor. The man was clad in an all-black ensemble of jeans and a short-sleeved button-up with the top two buttons undone, allowing a sneak peek of tattoos on his neck and chest. More ink covered his arms, and if you had to guess, his entire body. Dark brown hair was pulled back into a loose bun to reveal a face with strong features.

“That’s enough, Winter. You can go back to Ricky now,” The man spoke with a smirk and a shooing gesture toward the AI. Winter’s short, silver bob shimmered in the light as she bowed toward who you assumed was Yuta. She then turned toward you. “It was a pleasure to meet you,” she said, and with that, dissipated.

There was a moment of silence as you actively avoided looking at Yuta, though you could feel his eyes on you. You wondered what he was waiting for. You didn’t necessarily get evil, organ-stealer vibes from the guy, but you were obviously hesitant nonetheless.

You heard a sigh and he approached you, pulling out a tablet and tapping away. “So…You tried to make a break for it, huh?” You frowned. That damn snitch of an AI.

Yuta chuckled a bit at your expression. “What? You thought she wouldn’t tell me? Don’t worry, we aren’t trying to hurt you.” He swiped up on his tablet and a hologram of information appeared in the air between you two, your personal information.

“F/N L/N. 23 years old, Junior at SMCU, no body modifications. Currently at large for the murder of her younger sister,” He looked at you with an eyebrow cocked. You glared heavily at the man. How the hell did he have all of this info? You were starting to wonder if you were instead in a government prison. How else would he have all of your info?

“So what? You work for the LAW or something? Are you gonna kill me,” you bit. You were really starting to get fed up with all of this. The running, the judgemental glares, being treated like a criminal. All you did wrong was not escape from your mother's clutches. If you’d just cut her off the second you went to school, none of this would be happening.

Yuta smirked, a look that made you feel like a mouse caught by the cat. “Not at all, sweetheart. We’re all just like you.” The projection disappeared with a beep, and Yuta pocketed the tablet, finally settling his arms in a crossed position.

“So how did a smart little SMCU student end up becoming a cold-blooded killer?”

“I didn’t do shit.”

“Relax, it was a joke. Of course, you didn’t. That’s why you’re here, isn’t it?” Yuta smiled with his teeth this time, a more gentle expression than what he had previously shown you. You were honestly a little taken aback. He had one of those smiles that, if you had seen under any other circumstance, would’ve made your heart skip a beat.

“Where exactly is here?” Yuta now strolled over to your left side and began to fiddle with the monitors. There were a few minutes of silence as he pressed a couple of buttons on the machine. He tsked when he saw the IV tubes dangling. You watched as he dug a packaged IV needle out of a drawer nearby.

“You’re in our little hideout. Hold still for a second.” You winced as he inserted the IV needle in the top of your hand, taping it off and gesturing for you to lay back down in the bed.

“We’re a group of false and small-time criminals, all of us considered rejects by the so-called ‘perfect’ society. Ex-cops, mercenaries, hackers, wrongly accused, you name it.”

He shined a small light in both of your eyes, then gave a satisfied hum. The tablet was pulled out once more and he tapped away.

“You were unfairly Red-Listed, correct?” Yuta glanced up at you and you nodded. “Then you’re just like us.”

You blinked back at him and he laughed a little, his pretty teeth making a reappearance. “Johnny brought you in here because he wants you to join us.”

Johnny. That was the first you heard that name. You could probably assume that he was the one that you had met. The asshole that yanked you around and make the whole kidnapping experience so… kidnap-ey. But, he was admittedly the one that also brought you to a doctor. Regardless of whether that doctor was legitimate or not.

“Hold on. I never agreed to join…whatever you guys are doing–”

“We’re trying to take down SoKo,” Yuta said. You laughed. When he didn’t laugh back and instead just stared at you with a steady expression, you stopped.

“Oh my god, you’re serious. Yeah, absolutely not. Do you think I’m insane?”

Yuta leaned back a little, hands going in his back pockets and a small smile appearing on his face. “Why is it so crazy? I mean, when has SoKo ever been a good thing? Well, besides for the big wigs making the fat stacks.”

You waved your hand, forgetting there was a needle in it which tugged a little and made you flinch. “No, I’m not talking about that. Of course SoKo is awful. Power to you guys who wanna take over the government and whatnot. I’m talking about me. I’m a normal freaking person. Not some,” you wracked your brain, “mercenary or whatever else you said.”

“You’re Red-Listed, right?”

“Well, yeah, but–”

“Then you’re one of us.”

You paused, your mouth opening and closing like a fish. “...But why me?”

Yuta shrugged at this. “Johnny wanted you here. What Johnny says kinda just goes.”

You took some time to process his words. A little crime syndicate, basically. That’s who had “captured” you. Though, from the sounds, and, so far, looks of it, they weren’t as big of a threat as you had initially imagined. That, and you were technically also a criminal.

Still, you weren’t planning on joining some little gang. You just figured you would be living the rest of your most-wanted-list life on the streets alone, scavenging for scraps of food, outrunning LAW officers, sleeping in boxes in alleys while the rain poured on you.

Wow. Sounds like a bright future for you.

But then again, what the hell could you offer to some little gang? You were just a (former) normal college student! You’ve never dabbled in anything even remotely crime-related. Why did “Johnny”, whoever this guy was, want you in their little group?

Yuta could practically see the steam coming out of your ears as your brain worked in over-drive processing all the new information. He chuckled a little.

“Look, no one is forcing you to stay here. If you want, as soon as you’ve recovered, feel free to leave. I could always just…Look the other way.” He winked at me, then fiddled with the machine again. A teal liquid began to flow down the tube and into my hand. “I’m gonna give you some sleep juice. It’ll make the pain go away.”

“Honestly, though, Johnny’s gonna be pissed if we wasted our meds on you and you just dip. Again, no pressure.” Yuta smirked. You wanted to hit him, but damn, the medicine works quick. You could already feel your body getting heavy.

“It kinda sounds like you aren’t giving me a choice,” you muttered back instead. “I didn’t say anything like that, Y/N,” Yuta replied to that.

You really wanted to ask more questions. You wanted to ask more about their group, dig around, and try to figure out exactly why you were wanted. You definitely wanted to ask to talk to Jonas, who was most likely the leader. The medicine was beginning to make it hard to think, though.

“I need more information. I’m not gonna join some anti-government rebel group just because I'm homeless and being hunted down.” Your head felt like it was floating, and your eyelids were beginning to droop. “But…I guess I don’t have any other options…”

Yuta smiled at you. It was the last thing you saw as you finally let your eyes close.

“Welcome to Kwangya.”

masterlist || Chapter 2 >>

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