Namjoon was out of breath when he arrived back at his house, sweaty and looking over his shoulder – as if Yoongi was going to pull up at any moment and catch him.
He hurried inside, ignoring his parents' greetings as he raced past them to the hallway.
There was a string hanging from the ceiling that, when pulled, a wooden ladder would tumble down, leading to the attic.
He yanked on it, the bag held under his arm and he quickly climbed up into the small, hot loft.
He pulled the ladder up behind him, wanting privacy for whatever he was about to watch.
He set the bag down and took a moment to catch his breath, his heart racing from his run and also from nerves.
He couldn't believe he had just stolen tapes. First his teacher's pills and now this. He really wasn't a thief, but he would have a hard time trying to convince anyone of that right now.
He sighed, brushing his hair out of his face as he started digging around for the VHS.
It took a few minutes; it had been buried underneath some old photo albums and boxes of baby clothes Namjoon had obviously grown out of.
It took him even longer to brush the dust off and figure out how to work the damn thing, but eventually he slid the first tape, years three through five, into the player.
The TV showed static for a few moments, making Namjoon think he had set it up wrong, but the screen showed the first scene, and the boy's blood ran cold, instantly knowing what the tapes were.
"Oh my God."
He quickly yanked the cord out of the outlet and the TV went black.
Namjoon brought his hand to his mouth, trying not to vomit as his heart raced. He wanted to be as far away from these tapes as possible.
He grabbed his phone and quickly unlocked it. He dialed Taehyung, biting his nails nervously.
The phone went to voicemail and Namjoon hung up, scowling. "Damnit, Taehyung!"
He tried to think of what to do, but the image on the TV was burned into his brain and kept distracting him.
Finally, he ejected the tape and shoved it back into the bag, drawing the string tightly. He thundered back down the ladder and shot out of the house, taking off down the street back to Yoongi’s house.
He didn’t care if he was about to trigger Agust out; he was going to confront his teacher about why Yoongi was in possession of child pornography.