Taehyung pulled the drawers out and rummaged through his shirts, then found a hand-lettering note that was crumpled. He scanned the words from left to right and opened his phone to scroll the texts, which were starting to match.
“They’re all in English,” he said.
“Here, it’s in Korean,” Jimin pointed his finger at the bottom of the paper.
“I know and this could mean one thing,” Taehyung clicked on the app that tracks his friend’s number. “Since she has the same course of responding, I could guess that she might be Hyun Aera.”
“Your virtual friend from the PUBG game?” Jimin repeated blankly and became perplexed. “What if it’s not her?”
“We are just going to see for ourselves. Look at the GPS. She’s here in Seoul and the best way is to inform Bryan and the others about it. We also have to let our members know,” Taehyung noted and continued on. “This could be our fortuity to speak to her.”
“For certain,” Jimin floundered a grin, then peered back at the yearbook pensively.
He was indeed in discordance between his thoughts and feelings of meeting their former friend and classmate. And to his own doubt, he doesn’t perceive himself as bartered yet. The nerves were beginning to run all over his body in which he had no idea why they would be. A sneak of solicitous glance towards Taehyung had him keen-eyed about his demeanor, but he does not want to infer.
Hours later of occupying in compiling the documents, a tall male figure was sitting placidly in his chair after giving his CEO the updates about their schedule and the concert dates.
“Our latest songs; Butter and Permission To Dance, will be performed on our next show in Los Angeles as our final number,” he stated.
“Good choice. I’ve been wanting to ask you how the members are doing. Any news from them?” Mr. Si-hyuk folded his hands on his desk.
“The hyungs are fine, but Jimin, Taehyung, and Jungkook are still on some rut.”
“They always have, eh? Tell me… What seems to be pestering their little brains?”
“Oh, you know. Their pretentious, dead friend,” the man answered nonchalantly.
“Ah, Miss Valerie Nown,” Mr. Si-hyuk began to realize with a nod and lightly flouted. “Yes… She has been in the public eye for a while now, even though her demise became so illustrious. I’m more than pleased that she got disposed of in just a lickety-split. That young lady, she’s one heck of a hindrance…”
“Don’t you worry about her. She won’t be destroying your plans anymore, sir,” he assured.
“Correction. It’s ‘ours,’” Mr. Si-hyuk said.
“Hmm. Pardon?”
“Boy, your loyalty and dedication has remained equitable to me and this company,” he grabbed one of the papers from his folder and handed it to him in a slide motion forward. “How about we make it official? We hold daily meetings every other night.”
“I would be happy to,” the man said, grinning and signed his name below. Then, he stood up and followed him through the murky room full of lighted candles, surrounding the mask-hooded individuals in a circle. “Wow… It feels like my first time experiencing it as a rookie.”
“Hmm, but this is on a distinctive level. You can join them once their spell is complete. It’s the only way to have an apotheosis of the music you’re working on. Best of luck,” Mr. Si-hyuk said, twinkling his eyes in and clapping him on the back before leaving as soon as the door closed behind him.
On the other hand, the man peered at the others, who were humming and meditating in unison, which he gaped his mouth in fascination.
“Just like what Aleister Crowley said, ‘Do what thou wilt,’” his lips curled into a depraved smirk that soon became a malicious laughter echoing throughout the night.
…
The chandelier was luminescing with light bulbs in the living room and the rest of the BTS members were laid back on the couch. They were fiddling with their thumbs, whereas some of them were pacing in uneasiness and crossed their arms as they leaned against the wall. As for Bryan, his fingers were typing hastily on the keyboard with his mouse, scrolling the pages on the screen.
“The real Hyun Aera spoke to you? How did you guys manage to convince her?” Hoseok raised his eyebrows surprisingly.
“We’ve interrogated her whether she’s the one from Busan High or not,” Ava said.
“Was she?” He asked.
“No, but she was very open and honest about it,” Sally noted.
“Good thing she wasn’t gauche,” Jin said.
“Did you find out why she blocked you off of her contacts?” Yoongi asked.
“I’m sure there’s a reason,” Namjoon guessed.
“What if there’s not? Okay, what if we just drifted apart like it happens with everybody? I just want to know her recent status. I don’t mean to sound petty, but someone like Aera is hardly intangible…” Sally said dismally.
“I used to have a friend like that back in my hometown. His name is Gi-Yeol and he was very into hiking. We went camping in the summer of 2013, then after that, we stopped talking,” Jungkook recalled as he crossed his arms behind the back of his head and continued on nonchalantly. “All I can think of is ‘why,’ so I kind of wonder if my friendship with him has to do with my debut. I think he felt awkward seeing me become an idol. I even tried inviting him to hangout with the seven of us and he just declined my offer.”
“Oh. He must’ve been feeling pesky that he’s not like one of you guys,” Ava stated.
“Does it matter? He shouldn't have left because he was still my friend,” Jungkook muttered in disgruntlement.
“You’ll get used to it,” Hoseok formed his lips into a thin line and heard Bryan pressing the keys to scan the system.
“This should do it,” he said, staring at the loading page steadily. The sound of the progress bar had already ticked as a sign of task completion.
“Access Granted,” an automated female voice said monotonously as the words were flashing in neon green.
“Oooh! You got it?” Ava beamed with her hands clapping in elation.
“With this facial recognition system, it can verify the features of the person, so this will take thirty seconds,” Bryan described briefly.
“Goodie. I really hope this could be our solution,” Sally said aspiringly.
“We will and now that you guys are here, I consider that we should all make an unbreakable promise. I’m not saying this is going to be easy, but this will be worth it. Losing our best friend may be a one-time thing, however, losing another may not happen again,” Bryan said and asked in solicit. “We are not asking for so much from you guys, so will you be able to join in partaking on this quest?”
“I’m more willing to do so,” Hoseok smiled and raised his hand up.
“Me too,” Yoongi agreed and held his girlfriend’s hand endearingly, which made her blush.
“Who doesn’t? Though, I don’t want to risk my handsome face,” Jin said rhetorically with a shrug.
“I doubt that,” Yoongi snorted out a laugh, which made his hyung gazed at him dully.
“As long as we stay together, then why not?” Jungkook noted.
“This other Hyun Aera… She must be an altruistic person, right?” Namjoon guessed.
“That’s what I’d like to know,” Ava peered at her best friend obscurely.
“Yes, she is and I wished I could’ve known her more than I imagined. She is very passionate about the arts and music, just like you guys. She didn’t want to go into the medical field because that’s not her interest and couldn’t understand science,” Sally bit her lip consciously.
“I don’t see it as unrealistic. This is your friend that we’re talking about,” Taehyung said.
“We’re in, right Jimin-ah?” Jungkook asserted, while his hyung nodded still.
“Awesome, awesome!” Bryan said repeatedly as he was snapping his fingers.
“Who could she be? Why would she hide everything about herself?” Jimin thought in puzzlement.
“I checked these handwriting by Hyun Aera and Valerie’s text messages. There’s no mistake that they’re exactly the same, but with different types of wording and small spelling mistakes,” Taehyung explained as he pointed his finger back and forth towards the images.
“How can you be so sure that your theory is correct?” Bryan questioned.
“Well, this could validate her whole existence…” he concluded firmly, making the others puzzled. 247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi5Tchqpvrk
