— it isn't the only evil
around here.

OCTOBER 21:
MIN YOONGI

==

"oh good, you brought them—put the bags on the counter, dear."

with a puffed, lazy exhale, yoongi drops the paper bags filled with groceries—jae assigned the whole group to trivial chores like this, supposed to keep their minds off of things for a bit—and turns to the elder standing near the sink. "couldn't use those coupons you gave me, store wouldn't take 'em. sorry about that."

"why is that?"

"said the sale expired yesterday."

"what a shame," jae sighs, washing her hands. "they were a promising deal."

yoongi cracks a smile. "my wounds are doing great, by the way. your treatment worked like magic, i swear."

"is that so?" jae turns around, her eyes crinkling warmly. "i wouldn't call it magic. i've just been at my job for decades now. but i'm glad you're feeling better, yoongi."

"think i'll be able to fight abraxas head on now?"

"you're pushing it." yoongi laughs at this. "but you'll fix some of the evils of this world, yoongi. i can feel it."

those words sound nice to his ears.

==

over the years, yoongi has learned many things from expressions: like how they can tell years of stories, or split seconds of emotions, or a facade hiding something internally breaking them.

two days ago, when jae's door opened to reveal a woman dressed head to toe in shock, kim eunji's expression was quite possibly the most heartbreaking thing yoongi has ever seen.

it was confusion, at first. seeing your son after four years is sure to instill that. but when mrs. kim stepped into the flat—tentatively, shakingly, with slow steps—, when her lips parted, when her eyes widened, when her breath hitched in her throat at the sight of a smiling, breathing kim taehyung: she broke. her eyes bore rivers, slipping down the sides of her face. her eyes shed her pain, every year of it, every single moment of mourning for a false event. and when her shaking hands went up to cup the cheeks of her beloved son, of a boy struggling to keep in his tears, she whispered,

"i never stopped missing you, little taehyungie."

and taehyung broke, too.

it was impossible to bat an eye, be immune to his emotions, the "strong one". yoongi couldn't stop the wetness of his cheeks. jimin couldn't stop the heaving of his shoulders when mrs. kim pulled him into a tight embrace, sobbing the words "thank you" over and over again. jeongguk, hoseok, namjoon, and seokjin couldn't control the quiver of their breaths.

and jae couldn't control her silent sobs as she held onto a trembling mrs. kim: two mothers of the same boy, two mothers with the same utter distraught, two mothers finally able to be with the other.

yoongi decided he has never felt so frail as he did that moment.

==

"fuck," jae comes by and smacks the back of taehyung's head, "ow—i mean crap, the others are stuck in traffic downtown. namjoon just called me. apparently the shopping outlet is super backed up today. him and hoseok were able to meet up with seokjin and jimin, but some event has them in traffic now."

"i should have thought about that," says jae, shaking her head. "how long will it be?"

"one or two hours, maybe?"

"i told hoseok not let the others go late," sighs mrs. kim from the couch, and yoongi turns to face her. the overwhelm on her face is still clearly evident, but she's making steps to normalize her situation: and that is admirable, to say the least. compared to yoongi and the group, she's dealing with the stress and shock extremely well. of course, he can still hear the late night, hushed conversations between her and taehyung sometimes: and if it's a particularly tough revelation, a few muffled sobs. "we'll have to postpone dinner, then."

"they'll get hungry though, won't they?"

"maybe they can pick something quick up on the road," offers jeongguk, crouched lazily on the sofa. his errands were simple household chores, done with the help of taehyung. he looks exhausted, which isn't out of the norm, but the energy in his eyes is anything but diminished. it's the look taehyung has on right now (and yoongi hates to think it, but it's also the look abraxas had with its physical form).

"yes, that will work," jae nods. "it'll be a while before i get started, though. you boys might get hungry. why don't you go grab some donuts or coffee for a bit? there's a shop not too far from here."

"i'm not sure—" taehyung starts, but mrs. kim shushes him with a wave of her hand.

"go on, love, you need the break. i've hogged you all to myself this past week. and you boys look exhausted—some caffeine would do you good."

"catch a taxi," calls jae as the three of them walk to the door. she tosses a few folded bills of cash to jeongguk. "stay safe, boys!"

she won't realize the irony behind those words until several hours later.

==

yoongi isn't used to these types of "runs", he soon realizes, as he sits in the backseat of the cab with a happily humming taehyung. whatever number of friends he had before meeting the others made contact with him maybe once or twice a month, and most of the time it was only for a scarce few hours. being able to be with people he can actually be himself around, can actually understand, is nicer than he had realized. yoongi clears his throat and distracts himself by looking out the window, slightly embarrassed.

"so," jeongguk says, turning around from the front seat as the driver continues straight up the road. "i've actually got a confession. i'm not a coffee type of guy."

"you're shitting me."

"nope! i've mostly survived on energy drinks in college, which is kind of bad now that i think about it. but whatever." jeongguk cracks a devilish smile. "but i'm always up for donuts."

"you're missing out on culture, jeon jeongguk," taehyung protests. "but whatever, it's an acquired taste, blah blah. you do you, i guess."

after a bit more mindless banter, the coffee shop appears around the corner and the taxi stops (a bit harshly, might yoongi add, but he's not one to complain). it's a petite thing, with a swiveling glass door and a warm atmosphere. jeongguk crinkles his nose beside him in response to the smell of ground coffee.

"yeah, i'm just getting donuts."

"fucking prick."

placing their orders with a rather energetic, clumsy barista—yohan, he thinks, is what the nametag said—, yoongi grabs the table header and heads towards a window booth. the place is relatively empty in contrast to the bustling streets in downtown. "grab my drink when he calls it," taehyung tells them, stepping out from the booth. "i'm gonna go to the bathroom real quick."

"alright." jeongguk turns to face yoongi when he's gone, raking a hand through the front tuft of his hair. "do you think we're considered parts of the society now, hyung?"

"us?" yoongi takes a second to ponder the question. "well, i'm guessing so. there aren't any...regulations on joining it, are there?"

"that's what i think, too. i want to say that it's cool being a part of it, but...it's more fucked up, if i'm gonna be honest. y'know? most of the members have been through so much psychological shit, if you think about it."

"yeah, i know what you mean. but it's better than dealing with this stuff alone."

"you're right." jeongguk releases a long sigh. "god, this whole 'other world' talk really has me messed up."

"reminds you of what wonchol said, huh?"

"yeah, exactly. and that gets me still so confused. how does he even know this stuff? does that mean he's a witness or something? and the police haven't even found him yet—"

the barista calls out their orders loudly from the counter, cutting jeongguk off, and the latter chuckles. he comes back to the table with two drinks and a donut in his arms ("black coffee? seriously? how do you even ingest that?").

"hasn't taehyung been in the bathroom for a while?" yoongi suddenly remembers, taking a sip of his drink. "maybe we should go check up on him."

"he's a twenty-year-old guy, he should be good." jeongguk pauses, realization flickering over his face (with their situations, it's never bad to be too careful). "but yeah, i'll go check."

a few minutes pass as yoongi sits alone in the booth, now halfway through his coffee. damn, it's been way too long since i've had a good drink like this. his eyes lazily scan the customers of the shop, past the rich old couple in the corner and the group of young teenagers in ragged jeans. after a prolonged bit of pointless staring, he darts his eyes to the hallway leading to the bathroom.

it's been at least ten minutes in total, now.

yoongi bites his lip. he should go check up on them; there's got to be something wrong. maybe taehyung's vomiting again. it makes sense, since it's been quite a while since the last time he did so (iseul suggested the reason being that almost all of taehyung's memories are back). ditching his coffee on the table, yoongi makes a beeline towards the bathrooms, past the staff rooms and kitchen and fire exit.

he pushes the door open only to be met with empty stalls.

yoongi squints. "taehyung," he calls out, tentatively. "jeongguk. c'mon, one of you speak up. the hell's going on?" silence. he seems to be alone in here.

but he isn't. he realizes this when he turns around and is met with a face full of chloroform.

the figure behind him adorns a black face mask; it's frustratingly hard to tell his facial features, but the steely gray, emotionless eyes sparks a sudden connection in yoongi's near memory. his limbs grow limp, the urge to fight back gone before it even arrived, and a dull thump resounds in his ears as he collapses to the floor.

the last thing yoongi hears before everything turns black is, "it's a shame. jeongguk didn't put up a fight like last time, either."

==

hi hello i seem to be a slut for cliffhangers
wh0s the masked guy?!!! >:00 i bet it's already obvious lol
have a day as lovely as you & im sorry for this late-ish update!!