일흔 둘
Taehyung's PoV;
Shivering and shaking like a leaf in the icy night winds, I crossed my arms as I held my own warmth. I was unsure if I was shivering because I was freezing or if I was scared: Jeongguk's hoodie, which hung loosely on my frame, not doing much to stop me getting hypothermia.
Inky black blanketed the atmosphere, glittering and glimmering white spots starring the sky. The moon was clouded over by snags of dark grey cotton, parts of it managing to fight their way through the disguise.
A shitty streetlight flickered yellow and orange, not providing much light and occasionally turning off every so often. Graffiti licked its way up the metal, curling around and up the bulb, where some green filtered the light, meaning that it gave off slightly blueish glares.
Old bouquets of flowers mixed in with fresh, all laying on the deceased's places of wellbeing. Tall gravestones contrasted with short, narrow conflicting with wide and fancy contradicting with bleak.
Ten and Taeyong had dragged me to a graveyard, and we'd been here for the past fifteen minutes: myself watching the two as they dug up a grave. I just prayed for two things: that it didn't rain and that they'd picked Jay's 'grave'.
A brass noise sounded as the tip of the shovel tapped against an object, the duo nodding at each other.
Ten pulled on some rubber gloves, the smacking sound stinging my ears. Ironically, it reminded me of hospitals - medical staff preparing to save lives.
My hand shook, the flashlight's ambience stirring the luminosity, watching as they began to fiddle with the coffin. With a small struggle, they managed to lift the lid of the box.
Ten gestured for the flashlight with a flick of his fingers. He took the tool from me, swinging it over the corpse's face. Immediately, they shook their head and Taeyong puffed his left cheek out.
"That's not Jay Park." Taeyong announced.
Ten took pictures of proof, treating the place like a crime scene. Except, instead of a high-class camera, he was using an iPhone, which went blurry as soon as he zoomed in. He murmured small notes to himself, comparing the eye shape to Jay and looking for scarring. He checked over the corpse's eyebrow, pressing with the pad of his thumb (grimacing at dead skin), and when I asked him what he was doing - he was touching a dead body - he replied, 'looking for a piercing. Him and Jeongguk got it matching, but both of them accidentally ripped it out.'
"So, what does this mean?" I asked, "maybe we have the wrong grave. Fuck, maybe we're in the wrong graveyard?"
Ten clicked his tongue, dark turquoise strands falling over his eyes as he inspected the body, checking pockets and patting down the sleeves. Somehow, he reminded me of a policeman readying a criminal for arrest. However, he was somebody who actually fought against the law and he was readying a corpse for identification. He found a wallet, opening it up and searching.
He muttered something about his legs hurting whilst flicking through all the possessions.
"This credit card isn't Jay's, or his fake one." He said, "this money is Vietnamese currency. Jay never once visited Vietnam. This-"
"What's that?" Taeyong interrupted, sea-green eyes caught on something that poked out of the wall pocket.
Ten hummed, pulling out the note carefully. His rings gleamed under the flashlight, the diamonds sparkling.
"Boss sent me on a mission. I had to play dead. If the person reading this is not Jeongguk, please don't tell him. Get in touch with my Boss. If this is Jeongguk, I'm so, so fucking sorry." Ten read out, "that's Jay's writing."
"How can you tell?" I asked, teeth clattering from my body temperature slowly dropping.
"The spelling mistakes and grammatical issues are Jay's common ones. Jeongguk's name has a bunny sketched behind it, which is what he called him. Also, I recognise his writing from the birthday cards that Jeongguk kept." Ten recited, white-blue eyes scanning each line on the note.
"He's not dead, is he?" I asked, more like a statement rather than a question as it began to doom upon me.
"Fuck." Ten sighed, "Jeongguk was that upset and he must've not noticed that the guy in the coffin had no wounds on his head. Jay was supposedly 'shot in the head' yet the man had nothing. At all."
"Plus, Jeongguk is slightly dim and I guess he supposed that makeup could've covered a wound." Taeyong murmured, fingers rubbing his temples as he took a seat on the marshy ground.
"So, who's the guy in the coffin?" I squeaked, eyes finally having just landed on the dead man.
"Dunno. Knowing Jay, probably a newbie who fucked up." Ten shrugged, pushing the lid back on.
He and Taeyong lazily kicked dirt over the bed, picking a few daisies from the ground to chuck over the grave.
"What now?" I asked.
"Like the note said, we interrogate Boss." Ten said.
"No, we ask Boss." Taeyong laughed, "don't interrogate him, he'll tell Jeon."