DOLLHOUSE (YOONMIN)

Chapter 3

"Jimin! I swear to god! What if we get kidnapped? Look, I'm not trying to scare you or us, but there's a possibility something like it will happen! We've been walking here for hours and yet we haven't found the "Dollhouse" that urban legends says there is!" says Hoseok, frustrated as they had been walking for about just an hour away from where they booked to stay the night. Well, they intended to stay at Gyeonggi-do for three days but after Jimin asks for let's say Yoongi's permission, out of respect of letting him know where he will be, the older suddenly ordered him to be away only for one day and night. He didn't tell him the reason why for this decision however Jimin didn't argue and just thought that probably the older has something planned for himself and wouldn't want to leave the house without anyone to look after it.

"Hobi hyung! We've been over this for the past ten minutes! I told you we will not take that long. It's not like it'll be night soon. It's just 11 am in the morning! Please, allow me to find some useful information for my article that my boss had agreed of me doing which he also has hopes of me doing it right this time, alright so please, will you?" exclaimed Jimin, emphasizing his last sentence to get across his friend's mind.

Hoseok sighs and tapped his friend's shoulder in understanding. He might just be exaggerating because of how silent but heavy the forest that they ended up with gives him. Maybe, he is just the type of person who grew up in a city and things like this which one could only experience in places like province made him felt weird.

"But do you really think its true?" he asks, while walking alongside the younger whose trying to be optimistic and will somehow magically end them infront of the infamous urban legend.

"I don't know but it doesn't hurt to try. I mean, someone had been there already. I mean, almost."

It was already lunch time when they decided to leave the forest and head to a small restaurant which serves locals and less of tourist. All eyes immediately landed on them the moment they stepped in.

The two looked at each other and shrugged at the same time, ignoring the weird gazes they're getting.

"Let me guess, either one of you or both of you are a Journalist, am I right?" asks the old lady wearing a comfy but thick clothing as she handed them a hard like folder containing the menu they have for that day.

Hoseok's eyes widen in suprise and smiled at the old lady with his infamous ray of sun smile.

"Woah! How did you know?"

However the old lady seemed unbothered by it and poured their small empty glass of warm water.

"Well, you're not the first one to come and have a look of our place, only to look for a certain house - the Dollhouse, am I right? Isn't that why you're?"

Jimin could only nod in response.

The old lady sighs, "This is tiring, really, especially at my age but, whatever you originally planned of doing here, forget it. There are already people like you who is eager to prove of something, to someone, but ended up missing and never found by their loved ones. I'm telling you this because I don't want another family going here hoping that they'll find what they have lost. That house is haunted, no. It's cursed for the love of satan."

Jimin sighs as soon as the old lady left with their orders. He looks at Hoseok whose already looking at him with meaningful eyes.

"So, are you still going to proceed? I mean, you could just asks the locals here like that old lady who just blabbered about the Dollhouse, however it seems that they're not fond of it." says Hoseok, breaking the tension.

"Yeah, I guess so. Hopefully, our boss wouldn't be arranging a meeting for the two of us only to fire me because of how much of a failure I am." says Jimin with glossy eyes and a broken smile.

They were about to go back, trying to look for anything that may resemble or someone that could also share them insights of the Dollhouse like the old lady did earlier however for whatever reason, the clouds suddenly turned gray, almost had everyone thinking that there's an incoming storm that could have been in the news.

With a groan, Jimin went back to their inn with his friend secretly thanking whoever that helped him not go somewhere that might be more creepy and scary than the forest earlier.

And the rain finally started to pour outside like the roofs could had a hole any second in it. Bored, the two friends decided to busy themselves. With Hoseok reading an article that could give him inspiraton of what to write next and Jimin trying to write a draft about his chosen article and making it interesting having only few information on his head.

Hours passed and the rain finally stopped after it did made the two dozy enough to sleep until its dark outside.

Jimin's eyes shot open when he heard a nostalgic tune from afar. He sat on the bed and looked at Hoseok for a minute before deciding to stand and walk towards the closed window to open it.

A cold breeze immediately hugged his skin like human and for Jimin, it's quite calming especially that he can also smell the after-rain scent that lingers the quiet town.

He looked up to stargaze but what caught his attention was the smiling-like position of the crescent moon. It somehow reminded him of an anime that he watched way back. He smiled to himself and fished his phone from his pants pocket to try to capture the beauty of the moon however, what his eyes could see couldn't compare to the quality of the photo that he had just taken. And that's when he noticed the time. It was already about to go midnight and yet. . .

Where's that tune coming from? he thought to himself.

Jimin being the intrigued he was and the opposite of Hoseok, took his silk big ass scarf and wore it like a jacket before quietly walked out of their inn. As he walks he sighs remembering that he did not receive any texts from anyone especially from a particular person. It's not that he's hoping but he just wants to know how it feels like when someone is worried of you especially coming from the person you loved - your husband.

He kept walking and walking, having no sense of direction at all. He just let his feet bring him to a place it likes and that happens to be from where the nostalgic tune is coming from.

The tune finally got louder, letting him know that it'll just be around the corner, forgetting that he is now entering the same forest they were earlier. How could he noticed that when he is so distracted with the tune still playing in the background and the teracotta leaves of trees that seems to glow in the dark but what caught more of his attention was. . .

. . . the fact that he is now standing infront of the infamous, Dollhouse.