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The 24-pack Soju box landed on the table with a thump, its bottles clattering against each other like bowling pins.
Jungkook stepped back with a satisfied expression, rotating his wrists to relieve the tension from carrying the box.
"It's here!" Jimin swerved into the room at the youngest's voice, but there was someone who was even faster than him.
"Fuck yeah." Yoongi's voice was in a rare state of excitement as he reached for a bottle of the alcohol, twisting it open in an instant. "Nothing is better than soju on a Friday evening."
"Fuck yeah!" Jungkook echoed the older man's words with sparkling eyes.
Standing by the wall were Clarity and Yinn, hesitantly glancing towards the two members with apprehension.
"Was this really okay?" Yinn was looking at the scene before them with uneasiness, while Clarity just sighed.
The living room was louder than usual, with everyone here for the dinner party, except Seokjin and Taehyung.
According to Hoseok, it was a "belated welcome dinner" for Clarity and Yinn, the two new members of the household.
Yoongi had agreed with the proposal, stating that it was necessary to relax every once in a while, especially with a big mission approaching.
Clarity had a feel that he just wanted to drink alcohol, but decided not to say anything.
It was then she heard the front door to the Bangtan mansion swung open, revealing none other than the two absentees for the party.
"Oh, you're here!" Hoseok poked his head from the kitchen. "How did things go with the mole?"
"She spilled everything, of course." Taehyung's expression was stoic was usual as he hung their coats in the closet, while Seokjin shrugged with nonchalance.
"Housekeeper Lee was very cooperative. We were able to obtain quite valuable information from her."
From what Tara Lee had told them, Senyu was indeed planning to hold a transaction with Orin at the banquet. This meant that all they had to do was record the event as it happens, and Senyu was going to be done for. A smirk was on the eldest's face as he strolled over to the kitchen area.
Using Tara's phone, Taehyung had sent information to Senyu regarding a fake banquet blueprint with altered locations. They planned to trick Senyu into holding the transaction in the room with hidden surveillance. Senyu's people would choose the room they thought would be the safest, when in reality, they would be playing right into Seokjin's plan.
'So where's Tara Lee now?" Jimin asked casually, and everyone turned towards Seokjin as he responded.
"No matter." The black haired man was smiling. "You won't be seeing her anymore, anyway."
"..."
Nobody said anything else after hearing the eldest's scary words.
Thinking back to the novel, Clarity especially, felt more relieved than ever to be on the same side as Kim Seokjin.
Shuddering, the short-haired girl was about to go help Hoseok out in the kitchen when she felt a tug on her wrist.
Taehyung was looking at her with a gaze that was saying he wanted to talk to her alone. Nodding slightly, Clarity felt his long fingers interlock with hers as the man led her past the rowdy living room to the balcony at the end of the hallway.
With only the two of them in the outside space, Taehyung gently caressed her cheek with his hand, a tinge of hesitancy in his voice as he started to speak.
"Do you have to go? To the banquet?"
A light breeze brushed between them at that moment, its gentleness giving off an air of melancholy that matched the discomposure on his face. Clarity's eyes softened after seeing the raven haired man looking at her in desperation, as if she was a feather that would fly away with the slightest movement.
"I am not doubting your abilties, I know you're strong. But I am still worried." Taehyung's voice shook a bit. He held a strand of Clarity's hair that was flying in the breeze, tucking it behind her ears. "I don't want you to get hurt."
Clarity couldn't but wonder after seeing the intense emotions surging behind Taehyung's calm eyes.
How much did someone have to go through for them to make an expression like this?
She did not know what he had experienced throughout his life, and perhaps she would never find out everything. Despite all the unknowns, however, there was one certainty in her heart.
Raising her arms, Clarity pulled the raven-haired man into a warm embrace. Although he was a head taller than she was and had a much stronger physique, at that moment, he seemed like a fragile child as he buried his face in her neck.
"I will not get hurt." Her words, brimming with clarity, were gently spoken one by one as Clarity's arms around him tightened. "I will not go anywhere, either. I will stay with you. With all the members. We'll be together during the banquet, and we'll be together for all the days after that, too."
She took a small step back, lightly wiping off the single teardrop that was sliding down Taehyung's left cheek like a trail of diamonds.
"We will all live happily."
Something flashed in Taehyung's eyes at that moment, and he looked like a small child taking his first step. "Can we reall-"
"We can." Clarity smiled, answering him without hesitation. "You, me, everyone in Bangtan Co. We can do it if we're together."
Word by word. Sentence by sentence. Clarity was sure of it.
Slowly but surely, they would write up their own stories.
"...Okay," Taehyung said as he brushed his bangs aside. Under the translucent moonlight, his smile was comparable to the brightest star in the universe. "Let's do that."
"Yah, Namjoon told me to get you two because the party is starting-" Yoongi stopped mid sentence as he took in the atmosphere between the two, a frown slowly emerging on his face. "...Why is it always me?"
At the light-haired man's annoyed expression, Taehyung and Clarity exchanged a meaningful smile. The former lightly patted Yoongi's shoulders with a meaningful nod while the latter gave him a salute before strolling towards the kitchen.
"...Should I just move out?" Yoongi sighed.
"What took you two so long?" Jimin offered Clarity the Soju bottle in his hand as he toss another one to Taehyung, who caught it with one hand. "We almost started without you!"
Everyone was already seated by the table, with the two remaining seats for Clarity and Taehyung. Yoongi moved up behind her, dropping himself onto the chair with a plop as he cracked open another bottle of soju.
"Let's do a collective cheers!" Hoseok suggested, "what should we dedicate this to?"
"Cheers to Kim Seokjin's existence!" Seokjin commented as he raised his glass.
"Alright, everyone. Cheers to screwing Senyu over!" Ignoring the eldest's comments, Namjoon lifted his glass, and everyone followed his actions.
As the short-haired girl was moving the glass towards her mouth, a thought suddenly occurred in her head.
She had travelled in this world in October, two months before the new year where she would turn twenty years old. Technically, it was only legal to drink alcohol in Korea after the New Years. But again, more than three months had passed since her arrival in this world, so even if it wasn't the New Years, there was nothing wrong in saying that she was twenty, right?
"Don't tell me you've never tried alcohol before?" Jimin arched an eyebrow after seeing her hesitancy.
"Miss Clarity is surprisingly innocent," Hoseok chimed in, smiling brightly.
Feeling provoked by the two's exaggerated reactions, Clarity grabbed the bottle from his hand. With a huff, she attempted to pop open the cap, only to find it too tight. With an amused expression, Jimin watched as she helplessly tried to twist the bottle open, only to resign at the end and take the bottle that Taehyung had already opened.
"What are you smiling at?" Shooting a dirty glance towards Jimin's direction, she brought the soju to her lips, taking a huge gulp of it only to grimace at its strong flavour.
"Y-yah, slow down..." She could hear Seokjin's shocked voice as she swallowed the drink, feeling it slide down her throat.
Her tongue was burning, and it felt like a fire was starting her stomach. Ignoring the burning sensation in her insides, she managed to muster a smug smile after seeing the shock on the members' faces.
"See? I can drink."
"Clarity, I don't think you should force yourself if you've never drank before..." Taehyung was eyeing her uneasily as he watched the short-haired girl's face slowly deepened by a whole shade of pink.
"Do not worry! I think I have a good alcohol tolerance," Clarity replied, gleefully patting him on the head, ruffling his hair.
"Don't forget your words, Miss Clarity." Jimin smirked as he filled a row of shot glasses with soju. He turned to the members, gesturing to the rows of drinks with both hands. "It's been a while since I've drank like this. How about a competition?"
"Here he goes again." Namjoon sighed.
"Let's get it." Jungkook was cracking his knuckles like he was going into a fight. "Jimin-ssi. You may be older than me, but I won't go easy on you."
"Yah, kids. Don't break anything," Yoongi lazily warned before taking another bottle on the table.
"Worry not. My tolerance is quite high." A mischievous glint was visible in his eyes as Jimin ran a hand through his silver hair. "I'll make it so all of you can't even walk straight after this."
✿✿✿
An hour later, the silver-haired man could be seen rolling off the leather couch.
"Miss Naron. Yinn Naron. Can you hear meeeeee?" Slouched over the furniture, Jimin downed another shot of Soju as he dazedly glanced towards the brown-haired girl on the other side of the table.
"Y-yes?!" Yinn flinched at the man's calling.
She had not been allowed to drink alcohol during this dinner party since she was only turning nineteen this year. As a result, poor Yinn was able to witness the group's entire transformation from civilized individuals to a chaotic mess.
"Heraclitus had once said that the only constant in life is change." At some point, Namjoon had pulled over a whiteboard as he started to scribble down the Greek philosopher's cosmological theories. "Heraclitus was fed up with humanity, so he started to live in isolation in the mountains, eating grass and pretending to be a cow."
"Miss Naron." His sudden queue caused the brown haired girl to jolt in surprise. "Why do you think he did that?"
Before Yinn could answer, however, she was interrupted by Hoseok's loud laugh.
"Y-Yoongi's really curled up like a cat!" The man was pointing towards the counter with one hand while clenching his stomach with the other, shaking uncontrollably from laughter.
Looking towards his direction, Yinn could see the light-haired man sleeping on the counter with a blanket over his body, while Jungkook—cheeks puffed and hair a mess—giggled as he tickled Yoongi's nose with a feather.
"Bullshit!" Yoongi's sudden outburst almost made her trip on air. With eyes still closed, he then returned to sleep as if nothing happened.
"Language!" Hoseok's laughter could be heard all the way from the couch.
"English!" Jungkook answered with pride.
"Ah. They've really all lost it."
Yinn turned her head after hearing a calm voice that stuck out amidst the chaos. Seokjin was swirling a glass of wine in his hand, elegantly wafting the aroma before taking a small sip of the drink. The brown haired girl subconsciously let out a relieved sigh after learning that there was one rational mind in the house besides her own.
At least that was what she had thought—until the man started to speak.
"Miss Clarity, when did your hair grow so fast?"
"..."
Her eyes widened as Seokjin downed the wine in one gulp, smacked the glass on the table, and started making his way towards her.
"Mister Kim, I-" Before she could finish, he had shut her up by pressing his index finger on her lips. With a puzzled expression, Seokjin eyed her up and down before sliding a portion of her silky brown hair between his fingers, examining it as if he had never seen hair in his life.
"I'm not Clarity, Mister Kim. I'm Yi-"
"Shhhh." His unfocused gaze fell on her and Yinn immediately froze on the spot.
Baffled by the situation, the brown haired girl casted a desperate glance towards Taehyung, the only other sober person in the room, in hopes for he would know what to do. However, she soon realized that she was all on her own.
It was because the raven-haired man was in even worse of a situation that she was.
"Taehyungieeeeeeee!" Dragging out his name a song, Clarity had fastened herself on Taehyung's back like a sloth, grinning as she pressed her lips to his right cheek in a sloppy kiss. "Why are you so cute? You're like a puppy! A super cute puppy!"
"Clarity, you're drunk." Taehyung sighed before repositioning the girl on his back so she wasn't slipping off.
"I'm not drunk. I'm Clarity!" She replied, her uneven breathing brushing past the side of his jaw.
Yinn could see the raven-haired man subconsciously gulp at the action and had to hold back a sigh herself.
It was going to be a long night.
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part two of drunk bangtan on friday! stay tuned for more hehe
lori ✿