Omelas ~ BTS AU [✓]

|| Chapter 17 ||

3 days later

They were bored, exhausted, and hungry. So far they had found nothing and they were all about ready to drop to the ground and say "nope, I'm out." But that wouldn't solve anything, so they had to keep going.

The conversations went dead long ago, no matter how much they tried to keep them going. They were all just miserable.

Amidst the silence, it was consistently Hoseok who tried to make lighthearted comments about the situation to keep the mood up, even though no one replied half the time.

"Hey, let's play I spy! I spy something beginning with t." He blurted out.

"Is it tree?" Jimin asked wearily.

"Yes! Okay, another one. I spy something beginning with g."

"Grass?" Taehyung replied. Even he didn't have the energy to put some enthusiasm into his voice.

"Yeah! Okay, I--"

"Hoseok. No more i spy." Namjoon pleaded. The boy complied, and shut up for no more than 5 minutes before piping up again.

"Hey, don't you think it's sunny today? Considering how early in the year it is the weather is really good!"

...

"Have you seen how many animals there are out here? I've counted 6 squirrels so far!"

...

"Hey you know what's funny? Back in Omelas one time--"

"Oh my god will you SHUT UP?" Jin snapped, glaring back at the boy. "No one wants to hear your stupid stories, so just be quiet, alright?"

For once, Hoseok hung his head and kept quiet for the remainder of their journey. It was uncomfortably quiet.

The next time they took a break, Taehyung was the one to notice a wooden sign peaking out from beneath a bush. He speed-walked over and shoved the cluster leaves to side, immediately letting out a gasp.

"Guys!"

Everyone eagerly ran over to read the sign, which read "Asphodel" with an arrow pointing north.

With newfound energy they all sprinted in the direction of the sign, and after they reached the top of the gradually ascending hill, they all looked down. What they saw was a medium sized, fairly well maintained town.

There were some steps carved into the side of the hill which they walked down, and after crossing a small meadow they eventually reached the edge of the town. Looking around in awe, they couldn't help but notice how rustic yet oddly modern it was. All the buildings were made from wood but the way that different colours of wood were used to make intricate patterns in some of the buildings gave them a fresh feel.

"Where...should we go?" Namjoon asked, for once genuinely a bit overwhelmed.

"I guess we should wander around and see what's here? And get some food because I'm starving!" Jin complained.

"Do they even use the same money as we do here?"

"Well from what I've heard they speak the same language as us...let's try it."

After a nervous interaction with a very confused shopkeeper, they found out that they did indeed use the same currency as back in Omelas. They bought some fruit and ate as they continued to walk around the town, mostly taking in the way everything worked there.

Whilst Yoongi didn't say it outright, he gently encouraged the others to go into every building which they passed. If there was even a slight chance that Minhyuk was there, he couldn't ignore it. He couldn't ignore MJ's pleading eyes.