The Jung siblings sigh. "I was worried something like this would happen," the eldest Jung says, running her fingers through her hair.
Hoseok nods. "I've been worried since they announced the whole event," he admits. "I mean really, Taehyungie has no family, Jin-hyung is gone and Jiminie's father is an asshole who just got taken away." He fidgets with his hands. "I hope this doesn't affect Jimin."
His sister seems to agree with him, nodding her head, but staring at something else. Hoseok raises a brow and follows her line of vision, sees that she's staring at General Min on the other side of the room chatting with some soldiers.
As soon as the soldiers leave, Dawon is grabbing Hoseok by the wrist and pulling him. "Come on," his sister says as they walk in the direction for the general.
Yoongi blinks when he sees them. He glances around as if seeing that they're really coming his way. There's no one else around that corner of the room but him.
"General Min," Dawon greets him as she stops in front of him. There's a bit of a confused silent pause before she pinches Hoseok on a butt cheek and hisses at him to greet the general.
"Hi," is all Hoseok says.
The general couldn't seem more confused. "Hi," he says back slowly, eyes going from one Jung sibling to the other. Hoseok takes note that like everyone else in the room, the general is wearing a hanbok. It makes him look smaller, younger. The word 'cute' comes to Hoseok's mind. "Do you two need something?"
Hoseok turns to his sister. Did they need something?
"Yes," Dawon says. "About that whole scene just now," she gestures with her hands to where the whole issue with Jimin and his dad had taken place, "It's not going to ruin our Jiminie's chances of staying here in the competition, right?"
The general points with a finger in the other direction. "You see that guy over there? Yeah, that's the king. He's kind of the one in charge of who stays and who goes." He drops his hand. "Not me."
"I know," Dawon huffs, "but you're his friend, right? Can't you ask?"
Yoongi sighs. "Dawon-ssi—"
"Call me Noona."
The general doesn't skip a beat. "Dawon-noona. See, I could go ask. Thing is, I don't want to. Honestly, I'm waiting for this competition to just end. It's stressing me out and I have more important things to do than to ask about something that you'll find out about as soon as the king makes a decision about it."
Daeon is persistant. "Please?" she begs, pouting her lips. "I'd owe you one."
Hoseok doesn't miss the way that Yoongi's eyes meet his when he says, "You're brother over there owes me like four." He pauses. "Whatever it is that you owe me that is."
Blushing, Hoseok shrinks under his sister's gaze. He himself doesn't really know how he was going to pay the general back for all the favors, never really thought about it.
Something passes through his sister's eyes as she looks between them. Then she smirks. "I'll give you Hoseokie."
"What?!" Hoseok shouts at the same time that Yoongi sputters, "The hell?!"
The elder Jung sibling doesn't pay their reaction much attention. She just oh so casually pushes her brother in the direction of the general. Hoseok fumbles but stops himself before falling on the smaller man.
"My brother is attractive, no?"
Hoseok just laughs, covering his mouth with his hand (Also using it to his the blush appearing on his cheeks). "Noona, stop messing with him." His tone is half pleading, half embarrassed. It's awkward.
"I'm not messing with anybody," Dawon says as she cocks her head innocently. "I'm just asking him of an opinion." She places her hands on her hips and stares the general down, a brow raising. "Well?"
At this point, Hoseok is expecting the guy to just downright say no since he's always been very blunt with his opinion. When nothing comes, no snide remark, no scoff, no blunt comment, Hoseok turns to look at him.
The general isn't even looking at him. He's staring at the ground, eyes fixed on something that's definitely not Hoseok. Hoseok is about to make a quick joke about the general's sudden silence when he sees it.
Hoseok blinks, making sure he's really seeing it.
Is that a blush?
Is General Min Yoongi blushing?
Yoongi seems to detect his staring. His body doesn't move but his eyes do, they stare right at Hoseok's just as the candidate has a stupid thought fly through his thought. He doesn't get to think too much on it. Captain Song suddenly appears behind the general and taps him on the shoulder.
"General," Song says, bowing in the Jung siblings' direction, "you need to see this."
Whatever it was that he needed to see, Yoongi seemed to take it as if it involved national security (Maybe it did, Hoseok didn't know).
"Excuse me," the general mutters to them before turning on his heels and all but pushes Captain Song out of the room, following right behind him.
Dawon crosses her arms with a pout. "Pft. Coward."
That snaps Hoseok out of his bewildered state. He suddenly turns to stare at his sister with his mouth completely agape. "Noona, what the hell was that?!"
She dismisses his question with a wave of her hand. "Shh you." she huffs a breath. "I was sure he would give in to that," she mutters to herself. "Did I misread something?" She cocks her head, a habit both of them have when in deep thought. "But he blushed. That has to mean something right?" She glances in Hoseok's direction. "He totally blushed right?"
Hoseok looks at her in disbelief. "He did no!" he hisses, knowing very well he saw it, but didn't want to think on it. "Noona, you can't just throw me at a guy. Especially not the general when this competition is for—"
"The king, I know." She rolls her eyes then brings a finger to tap her lips lightly. "But honestly Hobi? I've been eyeing the king the whole night and —I don't know, it's just...he hasn't looked at any of you with any interest whatsoever."
Biting his lip, Hoseok sighs. His Noona has always been an observant one. "That obvious, huh?"
"Totally. Like, is he not going to give any of you a chance?"
"I don't know," Hoseok says unsure, eyes wandering to see if anyone was close enough to listen in. "I think," he chooses his words carefully, "I think he's making time."
She cocks her brow. "Making time?"
"For Jin-Hyung to appear."
That makes her go silent. She purses her lips together. Hoseok can tell she wants to say it. Sometime he wants to say it. But saying the words out loud was like accepting it and neither of them wanted to accept the death of a friend.
"The body hasn't been found yet, right?"
He nods.
"Then maybe..." she pauses, looks at him in the eyes, "right?"
A smile tugs at his lips. "We're hoping, Noona."
And they would continue to hope, no matter what.
The whole incident with his sister and General Min puts Hoseok on the lookout for the other. His eyes automatically scan the room every so often, searching for the mop of dark hair on pale skin.
It's weird, even he knows it. And he doesn't understand why he's doing it, doesn't even realize it till he catches himself feeling disappointed that the other man isn't in the room.
Dawon is casually chatting away with Jackson's sister. Jackson is next to him chatting on something that Hoseok isn't really paying attention to at the moment, he's just letting him ramble on, really.
Then he sees him walk into the room. Hoseok takes in how he looks absolutely distressed and how he's biting his lower lip, brows pressed together in frustration as he presses through the crown and makes his way up to the king.
Something suddenly didn't feel right.
"Can't it wait?" Namjoon asks once the general requests they leave for a moment.
Yoongi shakes his head. "I'd rather we take care of this now. It's kind of urgent."
Everything is always urgent. That was a part of this life. Things needed to get done all the time, never a moment's rest. For once, Namjoon wanted to rest.
"Hyung, I can't just leave," he tries. "We have guests."
"I know. But I think...you should see this now. It might.," Yoongi stops and runs his fingers through his hair, pushing his bangs back from his eyes. "Please Joon-ah. You need to see this."
The advisers were on them in a minute. "Your Majesty, it is not proper for you to leave a party unattended for any reason other than for your own safety. You should remain in your seat till we dismiss our guests."
Nods came from the others.
For once, Namjoon almost agreed with them. It would look bad if he just got up and left and he was just about to explain this to Yoongi when he saw the look on his friend's face.
It was almost as if his eyes were pleading him and Namjoon remembered that Yoongi would never call him out unless it was urgent.
He turns to his siblings, "Cover for me," he says, then frowns when he notices Jungkook missing. "Where's Kook?"
"Bathroom" Geong-Min replies. She shoos him with her hand. "Go, I'll cover for you."
Namjoon nods and stands despite the protests from the elders. The party is still going. People are too busy talking among themselves to even notice him move. "Where to?" he asks.
"Your room," Yoongi answers, both of them already walking away.
Namjoon wants to ask, but knowing Yoongi, if it were something that he could've just explained verbally then he would've done so. So instead, he keeps quiet and follows.
Captain Song is standing at the door to his bedroom. Once they're in his room and Namjoon closes the door behind him he turns to the two soldiers expectantly.
"Take a seat Joon-ah," Yoongi orders tenderly.
Namjoon doesn't question it. Yoongi knows him better than anyone, he would know whether it would be best for him to do this standing or sitting down.
Still, he's suddenly nervous. "What's going on?" He's grabbing onto the sheets of his bed. "What's so important that it couldn't wait till after the party?"
Both men look at each other before Yoongi nods to the captain. Captain Song then hold out a manila envelope to the king.
He takes it, there's a chill that runs down his spine when he does so and he's hesitant to open it up and glance at its contents but knows it must be done.
Regret hits him as soon as he pulls out the first thing his hand grabs.
A photo.
Joon suddenly feels nauseous.
"Is this —?" He doesn't finish his question. He can't.
The look on both of the soldiers' faces confirms his suspicions, but Captain Song's words confirm it.
"They found the body, Your Majesty." A lump forms in Namjoon's throat, he swallows it down. "It suffered sever deformation due to the weight that fell on it, so identifying it facially wasn't going to do any good. Also due to the conditions underneath — the temperature, the bugs —the body basically went through advance decomposition. The body was basically dried out already."
For a good thirty five seconds, silence hits the room. Namjoon counts them just as he counts his breathes. "So how can you be sure it's him?" His voice cracks, it sounds pathetic.
Captain Song's look is somewhat sympathetic. He still gives his report as he should. "The clothes are the same as the ones Kim Seokjin wore the day of the accident and the dried blood samples taken from the clothes confirm it was him."
Of course they did. That's how easy these things were to confirm these days.
Namjoon stares at the photo in his hand, flips through the others. The same image from different angles. He felt sick to his stomach, that stupid lump at his throat was back and wouldn't go back no matter how many times he tried to swallow it down.
He notices a wet stain appear on one of the photographs, a small circle that starts spreading a bit. Then another one appears.
It takes him a moment to realize that those are his tears staining the image.
"I," he manages to softly croak, "I need a few moments alone."
Captain Song doesn't question his request. Yoongi, however, stays behind.
"Joon-ah," he mutters softly, placing a hand on his friend's shoulder.
Namjoon isn't even embarrassed when he wraps his arms around his friend's waist and pulls him in to dig his face into his hanbok. At first his sobs are silent, then Yoongi starts patting his head and it just makes him weak.
Was it quick?
Had he been in a lot of pain?
What had been his last thoughts?
He shouldn't be thinking of these things, but at the moment those were the questions that haunted him. Seokjin. His precious Seokjin. The one man who brought to his life a reason to smile and a reason to look forward to a new day.
Gone.
Never coming back.
Gone in an agonizing way.
Never coming back.
Gone while Joon was left here to cry in agony over his loss, over the memory of him and the ghost of their few moments of touch.
Never coming back.
Death was cruel.
Death was way too cruel.
But life was much more cruel.
Being alive meant you could feel pain.