33. No One is Safe
NO ONE IS SAFE
SANG-HOON — NEW YORK
Woo was still talking about pizza, somehow finding enough energy after a full concert to bounce on the balls of his feet while Min-kyu laughed at him. Tae looked exhausted but calmer than he had before the show. Even Haneul’s shoulders had loosened a little.
Jin walked beside me, close enough that our hands nearly brushed. He looked drained, sweat-damp at the temples, makeup beginning to fade under the harsh garage lighting, but there was a lightness in his expression I hadn’t seen all day. Madison Square Garden. We had done it.
Aidan moved ahead of us, scanning automatically, Liam and Jason flanking the group with the rest of security positioned around us.
The sound grew louder, a swell of noise that didn’t belong underground. It was high-pitched, chaotic, unmistakable.
Screaming. Not one or two voices. Dozens, then hundreds.
“What the hell?” Liam muttered.
I turned to see fans pouring down the access ramp, mostly teenage girls and young women, some crying, some waving signs, others with their phones raised so high their arms shook.
“Jin-ah! Min-kyu! Tae! Haneul!”
“Woo, I love you!”
“Jin-ah!”
“We love you!”
“Oh my god, he’s here!”
Not all of them were calling for Jin. That should have made it feel less dangerous somehow.
It didn’t.
Everything happened at once. Aidan grabbed Jin’s arm and shoved him toward the nearest SUV.
Liam and the other security officers surged forward to form a barrier, but the crowd hit them with sheer momentum, a human wave driven by adrenaline and obsession and whatever information had brought them here at exactly the wrong moment.
Someone slammed into my shoulder hard enough to spin me sideways.
A girl with tears streaming down her face pushed between me and Jin, reaching for him with both hands. “I just want to touch him!”
Another grabbed at Woo, who recoiled with a startled cry as Min-kyu yanked him backward.
Phones flashed in my face. Someone caught the sleeve of my jacket and nearly tore it off. I fought my way back toward Jin, but there were too many bodies between us now, too many hands, too much screaming.
Jin had made it almost to the SUV when the crowd closed around him.
For one sick second I lost sight of him completely.
Then I saw the top of his head, Aidan still trying to force a path, Jin’s face pale and shocked as hands reached from every direction.
I shoved forward, but someone slammed into me hard from the side, sending me stumbling into a knot of screaming girls with phones in their hands and tears streaming down their faces.
“I just want a picture!”
“Please!”
“Jin-ah!”
By the time I regained my footing, Aidan had reached the SUV. He practically threw Jin inside, and the rear door slammed shut.
For one dizzy second, relief punched through me so hard my knees nearly gave out. Then the crowd surged again.
Woo looked terrified, pressed against Min-kyu. Tae had both hands up trying to keep fans from grabbing at him. Haneul’s face had gone blank in that way it did when he was overwhelmed. Jason loaded them all into the second SUV.
Someone shoved me from behind and I stumbled.
Liam grabbed my arm. “Move!”
There was no time to argue. He dragged me backward as the crush shifted, Jason shouting orders in Korean and English while the remaining security fought to keep the others together.
Liam hauled open the rear door of the third SUV and practically threw me inside along with Mina, Wan-suk and Du-ri. The door slammed and for all too long we sat there like goldfish in a bowl, fans frantically circling around us searching for Pryzm.
Bodies pressed against the windows, phones flashing, faces distorted by glass and desperation. A girl pounded on the door beside me, sobbing and laughing at the same time.
Another shoved in beside her, then another. The vehicle rocked slightly as someone hit the hood. One of the makeup girls was crying, and a stage hand comforted her.
Outside, security and arena staff were finally pushing the crowd back enough to create a narrow corridor. Then the SUV lurched forward. I knew Jin was probably fine. Knew Aidan wouldn’t let anything happen to him.
But knowing and believing were not the same thing. I looked out the window and saw the two Starhouse security guards left behind, still holding the crowd back.
We all reconvened in the same meeting room where we’d had breakfast. Eun-ji had brought in a medic to check everyone over, cleaning scratches and dispensing aspirin.
Then Liam, Aidan and Jason addressed us all. “There is no chance that many fans found the loading dock by accident,” Liam said.
Jason clenched his fist. “The exit route was restricted.”
“Who had access?” Aidan asked.
“Security. Management. Drivers. Limited venue personnel.”
The silence that followed felt heavier than anything that had happened in the garage.
Then Jin looked down at his phone, and went still. He turned the screen so that Aidan, Liam and I could view it. Four words, all in English.
NO ONE IS SAFE.