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Just as Clarity contemplated on what to do, a light breeze poured into the room.
Both Clarity and Taehyung turned their heads towards the balcony. A small figure sat on the railings, his outline glowing under the moonlight.
It was "Yeontan"!
"Congratulations for breaking past the loop." Although his mouth did not move, both Clarity and Taehyung could hear the sonorous voice in their mind.
As he spoke, "Yeontan" casually lifted his paw, swiping sideways the empty space in front of him.
Everything in the room instantly distorted in response to his motion, and within seconds, the room had returned to its original state.
Clarity stated wide-eyed at the spotless apartment, then casted her gaze on the spot beside the couch. Laying soundless beside the furniture, the blood soaked notebook slowly rose into the air, dispersing like particles carried by the silent breeze.
"What's going to happen to them?" Taehyung held a stoic expression, not too fazed by the magic unfolding before his eyes.
His gaze steered towards the unconscious Lune Kim and the girl behind the counter.
"Nothing. They shall wake up with no recollections of tonight, withholding only the memories up until the moment of the ritual." Licking his paw, "Yeontan" sat steadily on the metal railing.
"...I see." His voice softened. "It's for the best."
Clarity agreed with a faint nod.
Another breeze swept past them, lifting a piece of paper into the air. It was the last page of the notebook, the one that Lune Kim had ripped out. The blank page was the key to the transmigration ritual's success, but after the rest of the notebook disappeared, it became nothing more than a blank sheet of paper.
The paper fluttered past Clarity and Taehyung, landing in front of the being by the balcony. "Yeontan"'s dark orbs peered towards the paper, inciting a strange glow from it.
First, the page grew thicker in width, transforming into the thickness of an electronic tablet. Thin lines soon divided into numerous smaller layers, and before they knew it, the single blank page had once again formed a complete notebook.
With a tilt of his head, "Yeontan" made the notebook fly towards Clarity's direction, landing securely on her palm. The book cover, facing up, had four large words printed on the surface.
TO BE HIS POSSESSION.
Clarity's heart jolted at the familiar title. She instinctively glanced towards Taehyung, who shared her bewildered reaction.
"A souvenir," "Yeontan" said amusingly before adding, "Don't worry. It's just the normal fanfiction. Print edition, too."
"..."
Exchanging a glance at the dog's teasing attitude, Clarity and Taehyung simultaneously sharing the thought of pushing him down the balcony.
The only difference was that while the former simply considered the possibility, the latter was already lunging towards the railings.
"Yeontan" visibly stiffened as he sensed a menacing aura ooze out of the black haired man as he closed the distance between them at an inhumane speed.
As he was about to reach for the dog, however, Taehyung suddenly felt something tug at his consciousness as his movements halted.
His surroundings growing hazy, the man subconsciously stepped back to steady himself.
"Taehyung!" Clarity cried as she rushed forth.
She glared towards the railings, thinking that it was the dog who did this. However, her eyes widened after seeing that "Yeontan" was growing translucent.
"It looks like gate is going to close." The small puppy nodded to himself, then lifted his head. "He is going to return to where he belongs. After all, his soul was not supposed to be here. Hm, yes... I suppose I should get going too."
"Wait!" Clarity said quickly as she grabbed a random piece of paper on the table and started scribbling down some notes.
The last thing she wanted was for the real Taehyung to wake up, only to find himself in an unknown apartment with two unconscious girls and the police.
After noting down the relevant information for the police, she helped Taehyung onto his feet as the two exited Lune Kim's apartment. Before she closed the door, Clarity remembered to slip her concert ticket that she had decided to give to Lune Kim beside the notes on the table.
To avoid Taehyung being under the cameras, they exited through the back doors, the same place where they had entered.
Outside once again, Clarity lifted her head towards the night sky, only to realize that there was an additional shadow that overlapped the full moon. Unlikely its usual silver brilliance, the moon was veiled in a reddish glow.
Without further ado, Clarity turned towards "Yeontan," whose presence grew fainter by the second.
"Send me back to that world too," she said, looking towards Taehyung as she took his hand into hers.
"Yeontan" contemplated a few seconds. "You don't belong in that world."
"I don't belong here, either."
"If you forcibly go back, you'll lose contact with this world completely. Your physical body would be gone, indicating a permanent severance with this world."
Clarity was unfazed at his words as she nodded, her eyes glowing with resolve. "My place is not here."
"Clarity..." Despite Taehyung's weakened state, he gave her hands a firm squeeze.
Round eyes shifting between the two, "Yeontan" remained silent for another second before letting out a slow exhale.
"Is this your final answer?" he asked.
"Yes," Clarity answered.
"Then wake up."
Immediately following "Yeontan"'s statement, a blinding tunnel of light enveloped them.
With a smile, Clarity accepted her blurring vision as she stole a final glance at the black haired man beside her, taking in his reassuring smile.
Fingers intertwined, the two faded into the light.
✿✿✿
When Clarity opened her eyes, she knew she was back.
Staring blankly at the hospital ceiling, her vision took a few seconds to adjust to the brightness of the room. Synthesized beeps rang in her ears. They belonged to the medical machine beside her bed.
From the peripheral of her vision, she saw Jungkook, Jimin and Yinn gaping. Jungkook, in particular, was in the middle of peeling an apple into the shape of bunnies as he held the handle of the fruit knife, dumbfounded.
Before Jungkook could say anything, he was pushed aside by the older member who rushed forth, his shocked expression filling Clarity's field of view.
"You're awake!" Jimin exclaimed.
"Miss Clarity!" Yinn's voice echoed in the background, immediately followed by the sound of clattering against the ground.
Clarity didn't have to look to know that Jungkook had dropped the knife.
"I, I'll go call the doctor!" The youngest's voice boomed as he dashed out the door, flinging it open behind him.
While Jungkook was out in the corridors, Jimin and Yinn quickly sat beside Clarity's ward bed as they gazed at her with emotional eyes.
It was then that Clarity realized that there was something off about them.
Jimin's silver hair was no longer silver, but brushed back in a ombré brown. On the side of his face, which seemed a bit slimmer, was a highlight strand of blonde. He was dressed in a simple black suit, which seemed too formal for Jimin's usual sense of fashion.
Yinn Naron, on the other hand, had her hair tied up in a high ponytail. The uniformed bangs that used to frame her face grew longer, falling loose against her cheeks as side bangs. She was in a light pink blouse, making her seem more like a background office worker rather than the previous female protagonist.
She wanted to ask them why the drastic change in appearance, but she realized that she could barely move a muscle, let alone activate her vocal chords. It felt as though someone had piled a box of clothes on her chest, making it hard to breath normally.
"We knew you would wake up," Yinn said with a sniffle. "We never lost hope!"
If she could move her facial features right now, Clarity would be frowning immensely at their dramatic response. Instead, she narrowed her eyes to express her confusion.
Jimin, noticing her puzzlement, glanced around nervously. Eventually, he dropped his hands to the side, and Clarity's pupils shrunk at his next words.
"Miss Clarity." He swallowed, hesitation tugging by his throat as he forced himself to continue. "You've been asleep for half an year."
✿✿✿
In less than an hour after Clarity's awakening, she was surrounded by the members of Bangtan.
It took her the longest time to wrap her head around the fact that she had fell into a coma for over six months. After all, she and Taehyung have only spent less than three days in her original world.
Since the last transmigration from the Auction Day, I knew that there was a time disruption between the two worlds, but to think it would be this severe...
After she calmed down from the shock, Clarity had Namjoon and the others update her on everything that happened during her coma, starting from the confrontation with Senyu.
According to Hoseok and Yoongi, they had noticed the arrival of the other members while flying around on the helicopter, which was why the latter had told Taehyung to jump down the tower. Thanks to Seokjin's preplanned reinforcements, Clarity and Taehyung ended up falling onto an enormous rescue mattress that Namjoon had set up after calculating the progression of the situation.
"One's brave enough to tell you to jump, and the other's crazy enough to follow his advice," Seokjin sighed, shoving his glasses down his chest pocket as his eyes swept from Suga to Clarity. "You really lucked out. Although you and Taehyung suffered injuries and fainted on the spot, it was thanks to Namjoon that the two of you were even able to come out of this alive."
He seemed to be growing out his hair, for it was now covering the back of his neck in a mullet-like manner. Leaning by the walls beside Seokjin, Yoongi scoffed as he strolled by the windows.
At the two men's reactions, Namjoon shook his head as he continued his explanation.
"Thanks to Miss Yinn's information regarding the drug transaction, Senyu got investigated soon after. The business company gone bankrupt and the mafia sectors were forced to disband after their CEO got captured by the police."
"That reminds me—the old man acted odd. After the building exploded, he fainted on the spot immediately and when he woke up, the man seemed to have forgotten everything. He denied everything that happened for the past months." Yoongi tapped his chin lightly, pursing his lips in annoyance. "If I didn't witness that shit myself, I might have even believed his lie."
Taking in his descriptions, Clarity soon reached an preliminary conclusion on what had happened.
Since she and Taehyung managed to end the transmigration loop, that meant the Lune Kim who had transmigrated to this world was forcibly chased out of Bang Si-Hyuk's body by the closing gates.
On the other hand, Clarity was able to return here partly due to the powers of "Yeontan," but also because the existence of the Secretary in this world had been a placeholder for transmigrators in the first place.
She let out an awkward laugh, only to wince at the pain that scratched at her throat.
"Actually..." she said with her raspy voice, turning towards the confused Yoongi. "The CEO's telling the truth."
She caught the members up with everything that she and Taehyung experienced in the other world, including the ritual, the transmigration loop, and the meeting with "Yeontan." Needless to say, the entire group was flabbergasted during the entirety of her explanation.
A long silence followed her finished recount. Amidst the gaping faces, Hoseok was the first to speak up.
"Wait, so Taehyung transmigrated with you? He managed to visit your world?" He blinked, eyes wide like a squirrel.
"...That's not fair." Jimin pouted. "I also want to visit Miss Clarity's world."
"Easy. I'll talk to the dog, Yeontan—was that his name? Hm, doesn't matter. I'll talk to him and we can go on a company trip. After all, no one can resist my charisma, even if he's a dog—I mean, higher being." Seokjin nodded to himself. "A transmigration company trip. Hm, sounds good."
Clarity was about to call the man out on his usual bullshit, but she realized that she kind of missed Seokjin's nonsensical deadpans. Sighing with a smile, she decided to let it go this time.
She then perked up as a thought occurred to her.
"Is Taehyung's room nearby?" she asked before mumbling to herself. "He probably can't visit me right now, so could you tell him that I'll go bother him instead once I could stand? The man must be bored out of his mind."
Unlike her, Taehyung wasn't one to stay in one spot. This had been the case even back at the Bangtan mansion. Whenever she worked on her documents as the secretary of Bangtan Co, the man would always linger in her room, instigating small, random acts to draw her attention.
With a helpless smile, she looked down at her current state. Even with light injuries, her muscles had shrivelled from being asleep for so long, so she imagined it to be even worse for Taehyung, who had taken a bullet to the arm and suffered from blood loss. She planned to visit him once she could walk.
As well as tease him on his restricted freedom.
Clarity added the last part inwardly and nodded to herself. Indulged in her future plans, she failed to notice that the group had collectively tensed at her question.
They glanced left and right at each other, but none of them said a word. The one that broke that silence was Bangtan's strategist.
"...Miss Clarity," Namjoon spoke cautiously, as thought every word was dragged out with great contemplation.
"Taehyung did not wake up."
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next update: wednesday
lori ✿