Don't Come Inside • Jungkook

xxv.

Jungkook stumbled down the street, keeping his head down low so he could only see the sidewalk ahead of his shoes. His resolve had been strong at first, but it weakened each time someone bumped into him, each time someone shouted nearby, each time he thought he felt someone looking at him.

Logically, he knew she couldn't be out here - time-wise, it would have been impossible for her to travel there in the amount of time since he'd last seen her - but it still felt like a possibility. Logical constraints didn't seem to apply to her. Like every TV villain, she seemed all-powerful and all-knowing.

He was scared. He didn't think she would hurt him, but he was scared of her. She'd almost taken him back then. He wondered for a moment if she would have brought him to her apartment and locked him up in the basement like the others.

A strangled cry crept out of his throat at the thought.

He shook his head, sweeping the thought away. He needed to find public transportation. A bus or a train, anything that was headed west. He'd have to figure out the rest from there.

He brought his head up to cross the street, but he stopped in his tracks, the people behind him bumping into him and cursing him out before passing around him like water around a stone, but stone that he was, he didn't move.

The advertisement board across the street.

BTS COMEBACK COUNTDOWN

A poster to the right.

BTS TICKETS NEAR YOU: BUY TODAY

And another one.

PRE-ORDER YOUR BTS ALBUM

And another, and another, and another - the whole street, the whole intersection, plastered with pictures of their faces, with their names, about everything from the upcoming comeback to their last album to merchandise to commercials they'd filmed. He began to pick out one of their recent songs drifting away on the night air from a nearby store. Everywhere he looked, everything he heard - reminders, signs, omens-

The nearby song ended, replaced by a new channel theme and then a female voice. "Welcome back to Channel 5 news. In the entertainment world, BigHit idol group BTS has gone silent just before what may be their biggest comeback yet," introduced the woman, and Jungkook's eyes swam around the street before locating the source of the audio - an electronics store window lined with televisions, all of them tuned in to the same channel. His eyes fixed on the screen as his body slowly followed until he was standing just in front of the window. "We've spoken with fans and inside sources, and here's what they have to say."

The woman paused for dramatic effect while the screen split, and a young girl, her face blurred but her voice still indicative of her gender, began speaking. "I've been a BigHit trainee for two years now, and I've only met BTS once or twice in passing so I don't know them that well, but I usually see them practicing. Ever since two months ago, though, something changed in their schedules. I thought they were taking a break, only when they came back, I didn't see Jeon Jungkook - the youngest member - practicing with them."

The newswoman looked into the camera. "Fans confirm that Jeon Jungkook has not been spotted on the BigHit premises for several weeks now at the very least. What's even more curious is that fans haven't spotted any of BTS for almost a full week now. What are your thoughts on that?" she said, looking over to her right, where the camera panned to reveal another anchor.

"It's all staged suspense," the anchor - this one male - said, giving the camera an eye roll. "Their comeback is just around the corner. No doubt they're rehearsing nonstop in an undisclosed location. They might even be preparing something special for their first comeback stage. Whatever they're doing, privacy is at an all-time high, and in my opinion, we're going to see this secrecy ploy drive up sales. Don't get me wrong here - I think it's smart business. For the entertainment industry, you can't afford to be predictable. And after all, when you're number one like they are and have been for the past few years, the only one you can beat is yourself. If any one of their comebacks doesn't produce better results than all the previous ones, I guarantee you that'll mark the beginning of their decline and we'll see some fresh faces to replace their recent popularity monopoly."

The two anchors chatted back and forth for a few more minutes on the comeback, what fans were expecting, who had produced the music, and other small details. But Jungkook just stared at the televisions.

They thought it was a publicity stunt.

They'd all gone missing, and their company was spinning it as publicity.

Jungkook backed away from the televisions, the woman's eyes bearing into him, every screen staring at him. He backed into someone but didn't apologize, his gaze still fixed on her eyes, and for a second, he saw Yoongi's face staring at him, his eyes glaring at Jungkook, but then it was her again, staring at him, judging him, blaming him, mocking him-

He stumbled away, trying to turn back to the street, wanting to cross the intersection, wanting to escape her penetrating gaze, but again, he was surrounded, suffocated by them, all of them staring at him from their posters and ads and commercials, all of them watching him.

The billboard directly ahead of him, a picture of himself, and as he stared, horrified at his own image, the lips seemed to twist, curling into a familiar smile, lipstick smeared along the edges. He saw Jimin's hair clot with blood, his warm brown eyes growing bloodshot. Hoseok's smile turning into a scream, and beside him, Taehyung's face deflating as his skull was crushed in.

All of them, staring at him, blaming him-

He staggered back, feeling so heavy, so cold, and even when he held up his hands over his eyes, he could still see them, watching him, accusing him-

He turned and ran.