𝐞-𝐛𝐨𝐲. ↬ k. taehyung

-. .xxxiv.

"He sure knows how to find the creepiest places around here, huh?" Hoseok murmured as they pulled up beside the weathered building of an old school. The courtyard had become a wasteland for nature, grass, and weeds already bouncing from the crumbled concrete, "What did Yoonmin say to you?"

"He swore way more than a police officer should," Jungkook grumbled from the back seat, looking down at the phone, lip curled in moderate offense, "But he's really against this idea. He may have even threatened arrest, I can't be sure, he was speaking really fast."

"Well, I can agree with him on one thing," Hoseok twisted to look back at the younger man, "I still think you should have stayed at the hospital."

"No way," Jungkook argued, "How was I supposed to stay in a bed idly as my best friend is putting his life in danger? No. I might not be able to do much, but being able to do something is better than doing nothing."

Hoseok couldn't argue with the logic he also believed in. Doing something is better than doing nothing, and that was exactly what brought the three men, bruised and beaten, to a school that been without life for years, because even if they weren't in the greatest of shape, even if the odds had been stacked against them in the past, doing something was better than nothing.

"There's no point wasting time," Taehyung muttered as he unclipped his seatbelt, twisting his shoulders enough that he could hand Jungkook a bulky black handheld transmitter that they picked up from the nearest hardware store, "Just stay here, okay? We'll call you on this is we're in hot water, but if something happens, one of us needs to be alive still."

"Can you, for like two minutes, not be dramatic," Jungkook laughed, though it came out forced and dragged out, his smile not reaching his eyes, "I'll stay put, but if five minutes pass without either of you checking in, I'm coming in myself."

Nodding mutely, Taehyung offered his best friend one last smile before climbing out the car, Hoseok shortly followed in suit. Perhaps it was the chill of the breeze, or maybe the brush of nostalgia that trickled down his spine and made him shiver, but he wanted to be anywhere else. The school that stood in front of him, a building unlike the one he attended all those years ago, was one of the last places we went before Yoongi took him. He could almost see himself and his friends heading out of the school gate with little fear of the world. 

Oh, how times have changed.

Pursing his lips, he kept moving forward, swallowing  the cotton ball that was wedged in his throat. Hoseok stayed one step behind, eyes wide as he glanced around the courtyard, inwardly comparing the dispondent building with something that only felt fitting for a K-Drama he had seen on TV. He didn't think creepy abandoned buildings like this really existed. 

Not to their surprise, the front doors were unlocked. They wondered briefly if it was the work of Yoongi or perhaps someone from before, but it didn't matter. The glass crunched beneath their shoes, making Hoseok cringe with the sound, stepping closer towards Taehyung unconsciously. 

"Where would he be keeping her?"Hoseok whispered, his voice shaking with the nerves he was trying so hard to ignore.

"I don't know," Taehyung replied, his brows furrowing thoughtfully, so far all of Yoongi's moves have been motivated by his sister, it would be strange for him to break the streak now, "Jaehee's old home room might be a good place to start, but I don't know if I remember the way... I think it's on the third floor."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Hoseok asked rhetorically, heading towards the shaded stairwell. 

The third floor faired no better than the one they were just on. Most of the windows that showed the classrooms had been smashed, spraypaint tagged the walls in various intangible symbols and phrases, although neither of them paid mind to their surroundings, instead they continued through the hallway, only stopping once they reached a classroom with the windows still in tact and the door closed, vieling what was inside.

"On the count of three, we go in, okay?" Taehyung mouthed, his voice barely an octave above a whisper, his eyes watching Hoseok's expression carefully, waiting for him to nod, "Three... two... one!"

With that, Taehyung rammed his shoulder into the door, busting it open as the two charged in, ready for a fight, only to be met with nothing but a classroom cluttered with desks and chairs. A long pause fell between the two of them. This was definitely Jaehee's homeroom, right?

"Is everything okay?" A voice broke through the tension from the intercom still clutched between Taehyung's fingers.

"You're sure this is the right room?" Hoseok asked, knitting his brows together.

"Yeah, this was definitely it..." Taehyung's voice faded, losing focus as he headed back towards the threshold, "Maybe he's trying to confuse us?"

"Why would he do that?" Hoseok cocked his head, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

"Because this is his game," The younger man ran a hand through his hair with a deep exhale, "Of course he's not going to make it easy."

Hoseok felt his blood began to boil, his fists clenching tightly beside him as he scoffed loudly, "Easy?" He repeated incredulously, his voice reverberating off the the empty walls, "Nothing about this has been easy! I was baited, manipulated, tortured and now I'm about to lose my best friend to a fucking lunatic! This isn't a game, Taehyung! You all keep calling it that, but it's not, people have lost their lives, real people! Soojin could very well be one of them, and yet you're all still treating it like you're playing a game of fucking Cluedo!" His voice broke towards the end as his eyes began to sing, "No matter what happens, even if we get Soojin back and Yoongi is arrested, there's no coming back from this. There's no closing the board and going back to our lives, and I'm done letting him treat us this, treating us like we're pawns." Looking up to try and blink away any tears before they had the chance to fall, Hoseok cleared his throat, "So I don't care where he's hiding, I will turn every damn classroom upside down until we find him."

"Ah well," A soft voice spoke from behind the two of them, and they froze, "It's a good thing you don't have to look too far then."