Humans are born with a thirst for knowledge as through curiosity we grow. We evolve. A momentary force that leads one to take action, to risk the safety that one could have been given. At an early age, it's easier for our curiosity to make us sway out of our comfort zones but there comes a time that one gets to realize the dangers that surround them.
Being mature means being able to make a call of judgment and step into situations not out of ignorance or because of the force of your own feelings, but because you have rationally concluded that what you were about to do, was what you would not come to regret no matter what.
Yet no matter how much a human grows to be wise, we remain ignorant of the present. We could study the past and memorise and learn. We could even predict the future and make assumptions about it with the knowledge of the past. Yet we live in the now, and that moment is one blind spot in our existential journey. For none can know the present beforehand and some truly come to realize it after it has passed.
All our teaching comes from the past. Experiences, tales, experiments. One has lived so another could learn one day how living is, yet none will ever live their present the same way. We all experience things differently and feel things in different depths. We are not the same and that is our biggest perk as it is our biggest barrier.
No matter how much one warns you, no matter how many stories you hear, how many people you see getting broken and how many facts and truths you are exposed to when your day comes to face a situation you were familiar with in theory, the experience of the now will prove to you, how much you know nothing.
There's nothing that can prepare you for your present. There's nothing that can warn you for the now comes fast and passes as fast. Whatever you are to live, you are bound to live it in utter blindness.
And that fact alone is what sometimes paralyzes people. The unknown can surely be more fearful than hundreds of scary tales you could have heard of. Everything is possible but you will never know which option is waiting for you.
Being aware however of your blindness and ignorance can certainly awaken your instincts while your being is falling prisoner of the claws of dread. The fog of fear had rested like a thin veil before your orbs, as you were standing in front of the small gate.
Your eyes were fixated on the small label above the doorbell, which had written the name of the owner. "Kim EunSoo" It looked like you had travelled to the past for nothing seemed to have changed at this man's house. Even the street light close by was flickering in the same annoying manner.
"Make sure to not touch anything. We don't need unnecessary fingerprints around." P3 secured his gloves as he spoke a bit louder than usual for the rain was pouring like crazy.
"You have Jin on the phone throughout all our time here" He placed his palm on the handle while he was looking at you." And you, keep that umbrella low as we walk to his main door and make sure you remain by the doorstep. We need someone outside in case of an emergency." He instructed DongMin and he hurried to lower the umbrella at the front for that was the only umbrella you had and was sheltering you three for the moment.
You followed Jimin as he opened the gate and walked to the property, while you retrieved your phone from your pocket and called Jin, him picking up immediately.
"We are here. Is InSu ready?" You whispered on the line and Jin looked over at the younger stranger with whom he had passed his whole day.
"He had already cleared the security camera by his door. Working on his alarm system right now." Jin responded just as you three had reached his doorstep.
P3 opened his fingers in a restless manner once his feet had halted by the door, giving you the instant impression that he was not fond of waiting much.
"Done!" InSu uttered and Jin immediately relayed the news in your ear but you hesitated briefly to speak of them for you knew that there was nothing that would keep this from happening if you were to do it.
It was a silly little delay but it was one that your anxious brain needed, in order to consciously shake a bit of your fear.
"The door is unlocked," Jin added as he heard nothing after his previous words, and this time you relayed the information and P3 didn't hesitate at all to place his hand on that handle and push the door slightly open.
The darkness that was coming from that little crack, had you momentarily holding your breath while your palms started feeling incredibly sweaty.
"No matter what, look after yourselves. Don't become an obstacle. "P3 uttered right before he pushed the door fully and entered inside, without a split of hesitation, while you tried to follow him but you couldn't help but throw a look at DongMin, before doing so.
You didn't know why, but your gut feeling was not particularly pleased with the situation you were in but maybe what was making you so nervous and frightful was not the risk of the crime that you were committing but it was him. When you had gone to that director's house with Jimin and had messed with him, you had not felt alert for there was a part of you that considered Jimin reliable and in control.
However, this time Jimin was not in his body and P3 was someone you knew of as one that seeks violence for pleasure. How could one get to a resolution if he is to be blinded by his thirst in the process? He was just so unpredictable and one you knew way too little to be following him in such troubles. He could leave both your and DongMin to go down the drain if he wanted for he had no care for either of you.
He was not Jimin and that was something you couldn't allow yourself to forget as you walked further into the house, being able to see better as a light seemed to be shining from afar, into some other room.
P3 had halted himself right by the doorstep of the room where the light was coming from and you carefully approached him, making sure you follow his posture so none of your shadows could fall into sight.
He looked your way once your back was one with the wall behind you and he placed his index finger on his lips, signalling you to keep quiet.
"Trying to rob my house was sure a bad decision." The voice of the old man echoed in the silence immediately after, making your eyes grow wise but P3 just signalled you with his hand to keep it calm for apparently, this was something he was expecting.
"I am not here to rob you of anything. I have plenty already after all." P3 spoke out loud while he used his leg to quickly push the slightly open door, to open fully and allow more light to break on the corridor you were in.
"He knows. What if he has called the police?"You grabbed into his hand in distress as you whispered in his ear your worries and he gave you a quick smile before he leaned onto your ear and replied.
"He is an ex-NIS worker, it was expected for him to realise someone is trying to break in from the moment we cut the security system. Worry not for certainly he is prideful enough to think that he can handle us alone."
"Why would someone that is not a thief, try to break into my house?" Mr Kim's voice roamed again along with a sharp sound that reminded you of someone loading a gun.
"Stay put, leave it to me." P3 brought his hand to the back of your neck and left a soft caress there while he spoke and then turned around and confidently stepped into the light, making himself visible to the man that was standing with his gun already aiming towards the door frame of his living room.
P3 didn't feel any surprise by the sight of the armed old man but Mr Kim appeared visibly shaken by the revelation of his presence. The shock that had overtaken him, made the old man seem as pale as a ghost but P3 didn't hesitate to use to his advantage the emotional state of the man, without questioning the reason behind it much.
Swiftly he made his way to him and in a blink of an eye, he had gotten his hands on the gun the old man was holding and had now directed it, towards his forehead.
"Your abilities must have grown rusty with time, Mr Kim. I was expecting a bit more of a fight." P3 tagged a thin smile on his lips briefly as he maintained eye contact with the frozen elder that was looking at him with wide eyes.
"Park-Park Jimin-" Mr Kim uttered his name as his mind had yet to process that a celebrity was standing before him and was aiming his gun at him at that.
"I will leave you an autograph by the end of our partnership if you obey well." P3 pulled the gun away and secured it behind his back, tagging it on his belt and taking two step distance from the man as precautions.
"What-What are you doing here? -Did you, Did you come because of your father-?" The man uttered words that instantly made P3's playfulness wash away and his hand reflexively reached the neck of the man and placed him in a tight hold.
You couldn't help but peek by the doorframe at that moment, for Mr Kim's mention of Jimin's father had pushed your curiosity instantly and had made you too eager to have sight of the situation.
"I might have not come here to take anything from you but I won't hesitate to take your life if you don't watch that little tongue of yours." P3's eyes were piercing the frightened orbs of Mr Kim who nobbed slightly, in an attempt to calm the waters with this actor that apparently had not come all this way to his house, to have a polite chat with him.
"I am sorry...tell me what you need." Mr Kim managed to speak some words under his tight grip and P3 let go of him, observing the vicious way the older started coughing, showcasing his bad state of health.
"Age sure was not soft on you. For your good, however, I hope your memory had remained firm." P3 didn't seem to pity his condition at all as he grabbed the man by the collar of his shirt while he was still coughing and started dragging him towards his couch, where he shoved him without an ounce of sympathy.
You, on the other hand, had started to feel incredibly worried about the condition of Mr Kim for he continued coughing and gasping for air even after he reached his couch.
"My medicine. I need my medicine." The man uttered as he gestured towards the shelf of his table before he brought himself to reach for it himself, but once his hand was on the handle, P3 placed his foot right above it.
"Don't do anything funny." He told him and the man retrieved his hand while still coughing, allowing space for P3 to open it himself and retrieve from it whatever medicine came to sight and toss it all on the couch, for the man to choose himself the one he needed.
He watched Mr Kim inhale some of his medicine in a desperate manner, with trembling hands and half-closed eyes. A sight that would tag on anyone's heartstrings but not on P3's. On the contrary, his expressionless face broke to a slight delight upon witnessing Mr Kim's pathetic suffering.
"How about we get to the main point now? Or do you plan on trying to appeal to my none existing emotions a bit more?" P3's words made Mr Kim stare at him in disbelief briefly but it didn't take long for him to understand and accept his heartless treatment. For he had lived enough to realize his mistakes and become knowledgeable of his sins. He had lived enough to repent for his actions as well as grow wise enough to know the punishments he would deserve.
"What is it that you want?"
P3 smiled at his question and reached his hand to get a hold of the man's neck again, but this time in a very light soft way, that almost looked like a caress. Strangely enough, the light touch had enabled a blogger doze of horror to invade the feelings of the older than his previous vicious grip. This delicate one, made him feel as if he had a snake resting on his skin, awaiting to end him at any given moment.
"I want an entry to the saferoom archive of interrogations." P3 let him know and Mr Kim kept looking into his eyes.
"You mean to say interrogations of national traitors." Mr Kim didn't know how he had allowed those words to escape his lips while he knew that the only reason someone like him would be asking for such a thing, was because he was in search of his father's interrogation.
P3's slight body movements came to an instant halt as the word 'traitor' entered his ears but it took only a breath of time for his rage to take control and make him act. In a blink of an eye, he turned his head and took sight of a decorative metallic object that had a pointy top and he grabbed hold of it in an instant, and shove it on the thigh of the older without mercy.
The scream of pain the older left, made you take some steps further inside that room out of worry and fright but your steps froze upon taking a better view of Jimin's face.
P3 had been a very playful identity so far in your eyes. Even when he was to speak of controversial things or do harmful things, his face always displayed excitement and pleasure that contrasted his actions. Yet right at that very moment, he appeared to be a distortion of rage.
"Come on Mr Kim...You should know better than to trigger people like me." He appeared to snap back on his playfulness instantly though, showcasing zero care about the blood that was dripping on the floor, as it had stained a big part of the pants of Mr Kim.
"The archive saferoom was moved some years ago. A worker in charge of it had moved it to his house." Mr Kim started spilling as he was holding tight the place around his wound, in an attempt to soothe the pain and contain some of his bleedings.
"A main worker entrusted with such an archive?"
"It was a duty given to him by the minister of defence. Wan Shin."
Mr Kim replied as he greeted his teeth in pain and huffed some breaths in his suffering moment while your mind instantly clicked upon hearing the mentioning of the Minister's name for you had heard it before and it was not on the news on TV.
Where did I hear his name...he was mentioned about something...what was it...DongMin was talking about it...what was it?!
You struggled inwardly as the memory seemed to frustratingly be somewhere near but still, you were unable to retrieve it.
"He is the only one with access to it now besides the Minister. The security system opens with a blood sample scan. That's all I know. I swear...Please let me call an ambulance." P3 nonchalantly walked away from him and approached the wireless phone he found in the room, only to throw it to him on the couch before he turned around and started walking towards you.
"Move it, we are leaving." He told you before grabbing you by your arm, leaving you unable to say anything but steal a glance or two towards the poor elderly.
"Hey, we can't just leave. What if he calls the police on us?"
"He won't."
"How can you be so sure?"
"Trust me."
You reached the door while his replies were still unsatisfactory to you but he didn't seem to care to reassure you in any way.
"Umbrella." He urged DongMin once you stepped outside and he hurried to cover you from the raindrops while maintaining the umbrella lower at the front as he was instructed.
"We finished so quickly?" DongMin uttered his confusion as he gave a glance at you in the midst of following the hurried steps of Jimin.
" I guess...We didn't even get a name though-" You halted your tongue along with your steps as your mind finally made you the honour to work properly and your frustration.
You had heard the name of the Minister of defence before as he was the one that supposedly had sold his house to Jungkook's manager. You all had been talking about it after Jin had run that check-up on him, in the wonder of why a simple entertainment manager was a holder of so much wealth.
"Gosh...Mr DuHo is a secret NIS worker?!" You allowed your shocking realisation to roll off your tongue, making DongMin and P3's steps come to an instant halt. The first turned to look at you with wide open while P3 just slightly gave you a nod in order to confirm your conclusion.
That, however, sent you into a new chaotic ordeal for if Jungkook's manager was really a secret agent, then you were the one that had roamed around his house without his knowledge. Not to mention that you might also be the one that had knowledge of where was the safe room that had the archives.
The entry was somewhere within that strange empty room you had found yourself in. The archive of what P3 needed was in that room whose window you had once stood outside of.
That window that Jimin had once saved you from was gonna be your next target.
---To be continued...