motel | jjk

day five, one am.

miyeon

it had been only a few hours ever since my argument with jungkook. he had packed his bags soon after, and within an hour or so he was out of the door, his car nowhere to be seen in the parking lot.

a part of me sighed in relief, because for some reason i still felt that he had to be involved in something shady after what i had seen.

however, i couldn't help but miss him. or the idea of him, anyway.

i had gotten used to seeing him around, to listening to his voice, to feeling his presence around the motel. i hadn't known him for long, and yet i had still managed to connect with him unlike i had ever done with anyone before.

it was a scary thing to miss someone you barely knew.

on the other hand, everything was back to the boring usual. random clients coming and going, motel chores, and long hours of utmost boredom. awful, to say the least.

if i was being honest, i was almost about to fall asleep in my night shift. i had already dusted off the counter, the coffee table, and wiped the windows clean, and so that left me with nothing to do until a new client came in or someone needed something.

turning on the tv, as usual, i sat down on the couch and stretched my arms up, feeling my shoulders tired from the wearing day. not that i had done anything too tiring, but it had still been emotionally exhausting.

every single moment since jungkook had arrived had been almost like riding a rollercoaster. everything was fast-paced, terrifying, and yet filled with this adrenaline like feeling that made me want more. and i did want to know more about him, to know more of what had happened to him that had left him so messed up. 

there was no use in rethinking about this, since it was clear that i would probably never see him again. and it shouldn't bother me as much as it did, but then again i couldn't help it.

surfing through the channels, i finally settled on a random movie. however, it didn't take long for the movie to be replaced with a large "breaking news" sign that instantly sparked my interest.

sitting up straight, i watched with curious eyes as the TV host of the local news channel started speaking.

"good evening to anyone possibly watching this, we have received information about a terrible crime committed in the Busan area," he began, clearing his throat as he read from the pages in front of him. 

"our reporters are currently at the house of famous billionaire gan jaeho, who has been found dead after his house was broken into by the killer. several guards had been hired to protect mr. jaeho recently, yet they were unable to stop whoever carried out such a heinous crime. we will now hear from one of his guards, a man who managed to catch a glimpse of the criminal."

the image switched from the reporter to an image of a huge mansion, zooming into a man in a security guard uniform, several news reporters standing in front of him.

"the man injected me with some sort of tranquilizer, however, it didn't full effect because i had been taking medication to keep me awake during my night shifts," the guard began. 

"so while i was paralized from the waist down, i could still somewhat move my arms and see everything. and i know i saw a young man, slim and tall, possibly around his twenties," the guard then ran his hand over his face.  "i wasn't able to save mr. jaeho, but i shot the man as he escaped, in hopes i could detain him. he's wounded and dangerous, so everyone should watch out for a man like this."

the emission then returned to the host, showing a picture of the deceased billionaire as the man continued. "the case is now being investigated by the police, and it could possibly be related to three other murders which have happened in the area in the past few days."

biting my lip, i braced myself slightly. i hadn't realized that such things had happened in the past few days, and it was scary to think that a murderer was on the run in that very moment. i found myself thinking how i used to believe that busan was a safe place, free of crimes as terrible as murder, and especially a potential serial killer. but i was wrong.

and as i looked at the picture of the man on the screen, my eyes squinted slightly.

i could swear i had seen his face before.

shaking the thoughts from my head, and in an attempt to clear my mind off things, i decided to stand up and go to the kitchen to get some coffee to get me through my night shift.

turning on the coffee machine, i waited for it to heat up, deciding on taking the trash outside while i waited. picking it up, i exited through the kitchen's back door and headed to the trash bins that we kept outside.

i almost didn't notice it as i took off the lid of the trash bin. however, as i bent down to pick up the trash and put it inside, i noticed the pieces of plastic which belonged to the pinboard jungkook used to have in his room. just when i thought i could stop thinking about him.

but then it hit me.

the reason i thought i had seen the face of that man before was because i indeed had. 

and it was one of the pictures hanging off of this same pinboard.

and as i came to that cold realization, my heart speeding up to what felt like two hundred beats per second, my eyes were blinded by the headlights of a car pulling up into the park.

a red car.

jungkook.

my first instinct was to run. to get inside the motel as fast as i could, lock every single door and window, and call the police. 

but as i saw him walking out of the car, or yet, nearly falling off of it, holding on to his side, my heart stopped.

i could see the red liquid oozing off of him, tinting his shirt and sticking it to his body.

"miyeon," he spoke, his voice barely over a whisper. "help me."