"Hyung, did the doctor rule anything out?"
It was around dinner time, two days after Yoongi had been attacked, and none of the members had dared to ask the question. They had been very careful around Yoongi, because he had seen a little off after the attack. A little more agitated than usual, a little clumsier, seemingly distracted, disappearing to his room more often. Surely, getting mugged would do something like that to you.
But they were getting curious, some of them even a little impatient. Yoongi could talk about the doctor's appointment, right? It wasn't as if something bad had happened during the appointment, right? Only after.
So Taehyung finally dared to ask the question while Jin and Jimin were preparing dinner in the kitchen, Jungkook was taking a shower, and Hoseok and Namjoon were sitting with them in the living room.
The 94' liners both turned their heads to look at Taehyung and Yoongi after hearing the question. Yoongi looked at Taehyung, not saying anything at first. Taehyung started to feel a little uncomfortable by Yoongi's gaze, so he cleared his throat.
"I mean, did the appointment go well? Do you have to go back there?"
Yoongi let out a soft chuckle. "No, I won't have to go back."
"So it went well, then," Namjoon said, joining the conversation.
Yoongi looked at Namjoon and nodded. "I'm not crazy."
"So you don't have schizophrenia or anything hallucination-related?" Hoseok asked, raising an eyebrow doubtfully. He didn't seem to believe it.
Yoongi scrunched his nose a little as he looked at Hoseok. He didn't even have to pretend to be annoyed by the younger. "No, I told you a demon was haunting my ass. You didn't listen. Now I have proof, but you still don't believe me, huh? Let's see when that comes back biting you in the butt."
"Hyung..." Hoseok said, sounding offended. His raised eyebrows had turned into a frown and he looked at Namjoon and Taehyung, who both seemed surprised by what Yoongi said.
"That wasn't nice," Namjoon said.
Yoongi shrugged. "Should've had my back, now it's too late."
With that, he got up from the couch and walked away.
"Wait, hyung, what do you mean?!" Taehyung called out after him, following Yoongi into the hallway.
"Taehyung-ah, just leave it!" Namjoon yelled back, but the younger didn't listen and disappeared from the living room.
Namjoon sighed, exhausted with the way Yoongi had been talking to them for the past two days. He was easily angered and continuously talked to the members as if he didn't care one bit about them. That is, the older members. He seemed to be able to tolerate the maknae line.
As Taehyung followed after Yoongi, Jungkook walked into the hallway, lazily drying his hair with a towel. He'd been in his room after taking a shower but wondered what was going on after hearing Taehyung yell.
"What's wrong?" Jungkook asked when Yoongi walked past him with Taehyung following mere seconds after that.
"They don't believe I don't have any kind of disorder." Yoongi snorted. "Told them that would come back biting them in the butt."
Taehyung grabbed Yoongi by the arm, successfully stopping him in the middle of the hallway. "Hyung, what do you mean by that? You're angry with them, I get that, but Jimin and I believe you. And Jungkookie, you do too, right? After I told you what happened?"
Jungkook looked a little hesitant to mingle in the conversation, but he nodded. "If Taehyungie-hyung saw what you saw, it can't possibly be a disorder. It...it has to be real..."
Taehyung nodded, before turning to Yoongi again. "See? We're not all against you. Please don't be so angry with everyone all the time. We'll get you through this, we just shouldn't be leaving you alone because...because you know what happens then."
Yoongi chuckled with no emotion. "Well, it hasn't happened in days, so I think I'm safe to retreat to my room now. Thank you for your concern."
"Hyung, please stop acting like that," Jungkook said softly. He didn't like saying stuff like that. Having to say it at all sucked, but having to say it to Yoongi was worse.
Yoongi raised an eyebrow, opening his mouth to say something, but Jungkook beat him to it.
"I'm serious, hyung. You...you act like you don't care about anything anymore...not about our schedule, not about being nice, not about us. It's not fair to us, especially not Taehyungie-hyung and Jimin-hyung. They have been there for you the entire time this demon thing has been going on. Even if the other members, even if I wasn't there for you...they were. You should at least be nice to them."
Taehyung looked from Jungkook to Yoongi. He was glad that Jungkook told Yoongi how he felt, but he was unsure how their hyung was going to react to it.
Surprisingly, Yoongi smiled.
Now that was odd, but Taehyung and Jungkook didn't seem to think about it much.
"You're right, Jungkook-ah. You three have been there for me, you believe in what I've been seeing. I should be thanking you instead of pushing you away."
Taehyung was surprised to hear those words coming from Yoongi. He admitted to pushing them away, woah. Taehyung blinked and let out a soft but relieved sigh. Jungkook smiled and patted Yoongi on the shoulder.
"Thanks for understanding, hyung. Do you want one of us to chill in your room?"
Yoongi shook his head. "I'm good. I think I'm going to bed early."
"No dinner?" Taehyung asked, a little concerned as he looked Yoongi in the eyes. Yoongi hadn't been eating well the past two days. And not even just eating very little; Taehyung couldn't remember having seen Yoongi eat at all.
Yoongi shook his head again. "I'm not very hungry. See you guys tomorrow."
With that, Taehyung and Jungkook were left standing in the hallway as Yoongi walked into his room.
Jungkook looked at Taehyung. "He's making you worried too, isn't he?" he said, to which Taehyung nodded.
"If only he would talk to us some more..."
Jungkook grimaced and walked with Taehyung back to the living room. The four other members had been waiting for them so they could start dinner, so the two youngest hurried to the table.
"Sorry for the wait," Taehyung said.
"Aigoo, no worries Taehyungie~," Jimin said, smiling his characteristic closed-eyed smile. "We haven't been waiting for long."
"Isn't Yoongi coming too?" Jin asked, looking from Taehyung to Jungkook and then to the hallway.
Jungkook shook his head, hands already busy putting some food on everyone's plates. "He's not hungry, he said he wanted to go to bed early."
"I hope he'll have his appetite back soon," Namjoon said with a grimace.
"Could've cooked for six," Jin grumbled.
Jimin rolled his eyes at that, but Jungkook just grinned. "Ahh, we don't need Yoongi-hyung to finish all this food. The six of us will do!"
Sure enough, not much later all their plates had been emptied and all that Jin and Jimin had cooked had been finished. Taehyung and Hoseok cleaned the table and did the dishes, while the other four plopped down on the couches in the living room.
"Anyone mind if I put on the news?" Namjoon asked.
Three heads shook simultaneously, so Namjoon grabbed the remote and turned on the television. As Namjoon was zapping to one of the news channels, Jimin's eyes caught onto something.
"Wait, go back one channel, what was that?" he asked curiously, leaning forward until he was on the edge of the couch.
Namjoon raised an eyebrow shortly, but did as Jimin had requested and went back to one of the channels he had already passed.
"There!" Jimin said, pointing at the screen.
Jin and Jungkook had gotten curious as well, so the two of them looked up from their phones and followed Jimin's pointed finger to the screen. There was a female newsreader on the screen, along with a picture of another woman, who had apparently gone missing.
"Don't you guys recognize her?" Jimin asked, looking at the three boys on the couch, who seemed to be confused as to why Jimin had wanted to stop at this channel.
"I don't really remember meeting her..." Jungkook mumbled.
Jin shook his head. "Me neither...but she does look familiar."
Namjoon's eyes widened. "Oh my god, that's the medic from two days ago that tended to Yoongi-hyung."
"Right!" Jimin exclaimed, half-falling half-jumping off the couch. "And she's missing! That's...that's awful...do you think the police will want to hear from us?"
Jin raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
Jimin pointed at the television again. "She's been missing for two days. What if Yoongi-hyung was the last one to see her? They'll want to hear a statement."
Namjoon nodded. "I'd think so too...but they haven't contacted us yet." He then 'oh!'-ed when his phone dinged and he looked at the message he got. "That's...a coincidence. PD-nim sent me a message about this."
"Woah." Jungkook mumbled in awe at the coincidence.
"What did he say?" Jimin asked.
Namjoon was still reading the message with a serious frown on his face. "He says that they've already talked to the police for us. Since there were staff members around and there are cameras in the lounging rooms, the six of us are cleared."
"But Yoongi isn't?" Jin asked.
Namjoon shook his head as he put away his phone again. "He'll have to go to the police station. It's weird...but the cameras don't show the medic leaving the examination room. She goes in with Yoongi-hyung, but only hyung comes out. But they didn't find a body after searching the room...not even after searching the entire building..."
Jimin let out a humourless laugh. "That- that's impossible, right? If she never left the room...she should still be in there. Right?"
Namjoon shrugged. "I have no idea, I haven't watched enough detective series for this."
"Well, at least we know hyung has nothing to do with it," Jungkook said.
Namjoon and Jin snorted at the same time.
"Yeah, he couldn't possibly have anything to do with that," Jin said.
"Besides, we were with him almost the whole time after that. He never went back to the room, so how would he have done it anyway?" Namjoon added.
Jimin laughed again. "Yeah, impossible."
---------
The next day went as usual. Their morning was filled with photoshoots, while the afternoon was filled with more dance practices. The only thing that was out of the ordinary was that Yoongi wasn't participating in the shoots – it was really quite difficult to hide all the bruises he still had with make-up – and he had to leave to the police station somewhere around noon.
Namjoon had insisted that he would come along, so after a long argument with Yoongi – and the rest of the members joining in on Namjoon's side – he and Yoongi were in a car to the police station.
"Have you ever had to do this before?" Namjoon asked, breaking the silence that had fallen in the car right after the two of them had stepped inside.
Yoongi eyed him through the corner of his eye but looked back outside the window almost right after. "I've been at the police station before. But never for someone going missing...this is a first."
"I've never even been to a police station before," Namjoon said with a soft laugh. "But we won't be there for long. They only want to hear your statement about your short time with the medic. It was what, five minutes? A little more?"
"Yeah, not much to tell," Yoongi replied absentmindedly.
Namjoon could see that he still wasn't feeling great, so he let his hyung be. They continued the ride in silence until they got to the police station, walking inside along with the driver and the staff member that had been sitting in the passenger's seat.
Namjoon was very curious once they walked inside, eyes darting all around him. Yoongi, on the other hand, looked very apathetic.
They signed in at the front desk and soon enough an officer walked in to bring Yoongi in for questioning.
"Can't I come along?" Namjoon asked, looking rather reluctant to leave Yoongi on his own. Well, technically not on his own, because he would be with the officer, but Namjoon still felt uncomfortable with it.
"Sorry, sir. We need to question Yoongi-ssi alone. It will be over soon, though, so please wait here." The officer told Namjoon, who felt a little relieved that the officer emphasized again that it would only be a short questioning and thereby insinuated that Yoongi wasn't in any trouble.
Yoongi walked after the officer as he was led to a small room further inside the police station. There was a table, two chairs, nothing more. That's a questioning room, alright.
"Take a seat," The officer said with a polite smile. He didn't look at all like Yoongi had expected. He had a friendly face, probably hadn't hit thirty yet, and his hair had either been dyed blue at some point, or he had dyed only the tips.
"I'm officer Baek. I'm going to ask you a few questions about Im Seojin, the medic that tended to you on...Monday, was it?"
"Tuesday." Yoongi corrected, knowing by the look in the officer's eyes that it was a good thing he answered that correctly.
"Right, my bad. Tuesday afternoon, you had a medical check by miss Im. Can I ask what happened that you needed a medic?" the officer asked.
Yoongi was almost sure that the officer knew the answer already, but he didn't voice his thoughts. He grimaced – almost a little too exaggeratedly – and looked away. "Someone attacked me and I got mugged. I couldn't walk properly, so they called in a medic."
"I'm sorry to hear that. You do seem better now, you didn't break anything, I hope?"
Yoongi felt irritation bubbling under his skin with the way the police officer was speaking, but he held it in and shook his head. "No, no fractions, just bruises. They're healing well."
The officer wrote this down on the notepad he had brought before looking back at Yoongi.
"So, could you tell me how the examination went? Since the room you were brought to was basically a doctor's office, there were no cameras or anything for privacy, so we'd like to hear from you what happened once you and miss Im were alone."
Oh, how Yoongi had to suppress the grin that threatened to form on his face. His time alone with miss Im had been fast, but rather fun.
"Miss Im checked my bruises and confirmed that I hadn't broken anything. Then she gave me a bottle of painkillers I could take if the pain got too bad. After that, she told me I could go home." Yoongi told the officer, being careful not to sound too monotone or studied.
"How long would you say it took for you to get back to your friends?" the officer asked, still writing on his notepad and therefore not looking at Yoongi.
Yoongi let out a humming sound in thought. "Perhaps...five minutes? Maybe ten? It wasn't long, at least. My friends were surprised by how quick I got back."
The officer nodded. "Right, the footage we have shows it took six and a half minutes for you to walk out of the room."
Yoongi tilted his head. "If you knew that already, why did you ask?"
Officer Baek looked at Yoongi. "To see whether or not you remember everything well enough. If your memory wasn't as good, your statement wouldn't be as useful for this case."
Yoongi knew that that sounded reasonable, logical even, but he also knew that the officer had a second reason for asking. To see if you're lying.
"Was there anything about miss Im's behaviour that seemed odd to you?" the officer asked him. "Did she seem nervous, scared, angry maybe? Anything out of the ordinary?"
Oh, she definitely looked scared, Yoongi thought, grinning widely in his mind. On the outside, though, he put on a thoughtful look before shaking his head. "Not that I remember. She was very kind, like most medics, that's all I can think of."
"And you don't remember her following you out of the room? She stayed behind?"
"Yes, I walked back on my own."
"You said you couldn't walk properly?" the officer asked with a raised eyebrow.
Yoongi laughed. "Yeah, well, I didn't say walking back on my own went well. It hurt like hell to use my legs. Still does."
Officer Baek grimaced. "Alright. Well, that was it. I have no further questions. I'll walk you back to the front desk where your friend is waiting."
Yoongi was glad the questioning was over. Not because it had taken a long time or anything, but it had become harder and harder not to give in to...his urges, so to say. Being alone in a room with an officer like that...oh, how he had had to restrain himself.
"How did it go?" Namjoon asked once they were back in the car, headed to the BigHit building for their dance practices.
"Went well, but I was no help to the case, probably. I might've been the last one to have seen her, but I have no idea where she went."
"She apparently never left the room...so it's like she disappeared into thin air." Namjoon sighed. "It's a mystery for sure. I hope they'll find her. For now, are you feeling alright? Think you can handle a dance practice?"
Yoongi sighed – once again, perhaps a little too exaggerated – and looked down. "My legs are really killing me, man. I don't think I'll be much use. Perhaps we should do this comeback without me."
Namjoon looked extremely sad because of that. He pouted and his eyes were all big, probably debating whether or not he should beg Yoongi to fight through it or to give in and accept that it was probably better for his friend to rest.
"I'm serious, Namjoon-ah, I don't think I will be able to dance with you guys."
"Maybe we can think of some choreo changes?" Namjoon suggested with hope in his eyes. "Maybe we can give you a position where you don't have to dance as much. We'll switch you and Taehyungie for the intro song a-and we could...eh...switch you with me for the title song! That could work!"
Yoongi smiled sadly. "I mean, we can try, but don't get your hopes up, Joon. It's only been two days..."
Namjoon sighed. "You're right...you need to rest...and the comeback is in three days...it's not going to work out, is it?"
"I'm afraid not. But at least it doesn't happen often that I don't join the comeback season. The fans will understand."
Namjoon frowned. "Well, last comeback you weren't there most of the part, remember?"
Yoongi couldn't remember.
"With your shoulder, and all? You weren't allowed to dance for weeks. Maybe it was months, even?"
Yoongi quickly nodded. "A-Ahh, yeah, you're right. Yeah. Was that last comeback? Wow, time flies. I forgot. Well, I hope the fans will understand a second time."
"They will, they always do," Namjoon said, though he looked at Yoongi with an unreadable expression.
They drove to the BigHit building, where Namjoon and the staff member got out of the car and Yoongi stayed seated.
"Call us if anything's wrong," Namjoon said seriously. "Anything, hyung."
Yoongi nodded and motioned for Namjoon to get going. "Yeah, yeah, now go keep those idiots in check, they've been without a leader for hours now."
Namjoon snorted. "As if I can keep them in check. Anyway, have a good rest hyung, I'll see you in the evening."
With that, Namjoon closed the door and walked into the building. The driver started the car again and drove Yoongi home.
Once he was inside their house, he checked all the rooms to see if indeed all the members were at the dance practice. They were, because the entire house was empty. Yoongi could finally let out the grin that had been right at the surface. He walked into the kitchen and put some food in a small container and filled a bottle of water.
Then, without needing a single means of transportation, he was back in the tunnel. He didn't need transportation; he could appear in any place at any time, as long as he had been there before.
And he definitely had been in this tunnel before.
He whistled absentmindedly as he walked down the tunnel. He reached the light switch and flicked it on, the tunnel immediately enveloped in a greenish light. Walking further, he grinned in satisfaction when he saw his captive still right where he had left him; tied to a pole with his arms behind his back.
"Oh, Yoooongi~ guess who came back for a visit~."
Yoongi, the real Yoongi, had his head hung low. It wasn't really clear if he'd been asleep or just exhausted, but when he pulled his head up with difficulty, it showed that he had little energy left in his body.
"I'm sorry I had to leave you for two whole days, my sweet Yoongi, but I couldn't find the right time to leave," The fake Yoongi, the demon, said.
Yoongi mumbled something, but it was hardly audible. His voice was hoarse, and with the little energy he had, he couldn't get the volume up. To add to that, he was shaking. It wasn't freezing in the tunnel, but cold enough to be uncomfortable and cause him to shiver almost uncontrollably.
"Ah, did you say something?" the demon chuckled mockingly. "My, my, you must've been screaming for help, hm? Oh, sweet Yoongi, no one will hear you down here. No one comes here anymore. It's a lovely, forgotten tunnel, where no one will come to save you."
"L-Leave..."
The demon chuckled when he finally heard what Yoongi was trying to say. "Leave? Me or you? You're not leaving anytime soon, sweetheart. And me? Do you want me to leave already? I'd thought you would like this," he said, holding up the container of food.
Yoongi hadn't even noticed the food, let alone the water bottle in the demon's other hand, but when he did his eyes widened and a look of desperation settled on his face. Having had no food or water in two days...or more?...would do that to you.
"Please..." he managed to bring out, weakly pulling at his restraints as he tried to move closer to the demon.
Now that was a first. The demon grinned and walked closer to Yoongi, crouching down to his level once he stood right in front of the tied-up idol.
"That's a good boy, sweet Yoongi. Asking nicely for food," The demon said patronizingly, patting Yoongi's head. He opened the container and started handing Yoongi bits and bits of food, being careful not to go too fast or give him too large pieces. It was confusing to Yoongi – why would the demon want to be careful with him? – but the demon had a good reason. He didn't want to damage his new body any further.
"How sweetly will you beg for water, hm? Go on, go on, you want water too, don't you?"
Yoongi looked up at the demon with a glare on his face. He didn't have much fight in him, but at least he could look at the demon with his killing stare.
"Hmm, that won't do, you still have that defiance in you, Yoongi. I thought I took care of that?"
Yoongi kept glaring. He hated this. He absolutely loathed the demon and he wished for the creature to explode into a thousand pieces. He'd already begged for the food, did he seriously have to beg for water now too?
"C'mon Yoongi, I thought you were being good~." The demon said with an evil glint in his eyes. Yoongi's eyes.
"F-Fuck you." Yoongi cursed, stuttering due to his shivering.
The evil glint turned vicious and the patting on his head turned into a painful grip on his hair.
"I hope you don't think I'll let that one go." the demon hissed. "You have to behave if you don't want to get hurt."
Yoongi gritted his teeth due to the pain in his head, but other than that he didn't move. He had his eyes closed and breathed hard.
"Why don't...don't you just...kill me?" he asked through laboured breaths.
The demon pouted – Yoongi's face...that was Yoongi's face! – and he shook his head. "No, Yoongi, no. I'm not killing you. Why would I do that? I need you, after all."
"You've...got..." Yoongi croaked out, needing a deep breath before continuing, "got what you n-needed."
The demon chuckled. "I've got your body, yes. But it isn't forever. Oh no, the effects will wear off, my sweet Yoongi, and I will have to come back for another little piece of your soul."
Yoongi hadn't understood it at first. What had happened the other day? It had felt like his heart had been ripped from his chest, but he had still been alive. Now, however, he started to put the pieces together.
Whatever the demon had done to look like him, it wasn't permanent after all.
He needed something from Yoongi to keep up the appearance, and...and apparently, it was a piece of his soul? Yoongi shivered at the idea. Would his soul vanish if the demon took pieces from it too often? Would a soul replenish? He had no idea how this worked, which made it all the more terrifying.
"Ahh, you are beginning to understand. Good. Now, about that begging..." the demon smirked, and Yoongi was quick to comply now that his hair was in a tight grip and he feared the demon would rip his soul out.
"Please," he said softly, his dry throat hurting while speaking the word.
The demon laughed, making Yoongi flinch. "Not what I meant, my sweet Yoongi. It's too late for that now. It's time for punishment. After that, you'll get your water, don't worry. I won't let you die from thirst."
Yoongi immediately struggled in the demon's grip.
"No, no please I—"
"Too late~." The demon sing-songed.