"hello to viewers here and from all over the world! we are here with kpop superstars, bts!"
"hi, we are–"
"bts!"
the interviewer clapped his hands, flashing a smile at the camera. "how have you been? it's almost been a year since you came here to our show."
rm smiles, soon translating for the others beside him.
"oh!" jimin exclaims. "we are fine!"
"happy! we very happy to be here!" j-hope says, his best english causing chuckles from his members and the interviewer.
rm smiles, turning to the other male. "well, there isn't anything wrong." he says.
"that's good to hear! so, you guys are back once again! a new album release that topped the charts before twenty four hours! how do you feel about it?"
the members looks at their leader.
"well, it felt great of course. it's amazing that was actually possible, but what we really are happy about is that our fans, our supporters, love the music we give them." rm says, being the humble man he had ever been.
the interviewer chuckles. "is that so? i'm sure they loved it. even those who haven't heard your songs fell in love with this album."
"i just got to say, this year's first release from you had been so awaited and i'm sure they were satisfied. i mean, with the meaning of each line, it stood out with previous releases!"
the members nodded their heads politely.
"what is the meaning, or if i may ask, the reason behind on why you released an album that was different from your past albums? a lot has been pointing that this is this and that is that. what is the inspiration behind this album?"
jungkook's eyes widened, his lips in a thin line. this man had a lot of questions his head started aching.
rm chuckled, he translates a question. only one.
"what was the inspiration behind our album?" he said to the others. their lips parting to an 'o' shape.
suga answers in korean. fuck it if they don't understand. they should've expected that most of them are poor when it comes to english.
"a lot of hurdles came across when we had a break after our previous album. and we had stumbled so much we thought we couldn't get back up." he states, not making eye contact, only focusing at the floor. it seemed rude but others didn't mind.
"until we looked deep into the roots of the problem. that, that gave us the idea of making it into an album." suga says, the others smiling, nodding in agreement.
their leader relays the smaller's response to the interviewer.
it was difficult to find the right words.
"if you don't mind, what was this problem? the root of this album?"
the other members, not understanding the full question, turned to look at their leader. rm looks down, a small smile placing on his lips.
everyone knew what the problem was. but even if they said what the reason was,
they would never understand.
—
everything was silent.
none of them heard sejin's desperate calls. none of them listened.
"namjoon? yoongi? anyone? are you guys still there?"
speechless. they couldn't utter a single word nor could they breath.
was it true?
they couldn't believe it.
when they heard those two words sejin had uttered, they didn't speak. who knew two words could make them quiet at once. cause them to go silent all together, speechless rather.
is it really happening?
sejin sighs. "i'll be busy for the week, if anyone is listening."
no one responds.
"you all will have a longer break. take your time for recovering."
they don't speak.
"you'll see him tomorrow when everything is sorted out. pd-nim's orders."
they remain silent.
"everything will be alright, okay?" sejin tries to comfort the other six.
"you'll go through this together. i don't want more attempts."
mouths remained closed.
"are you guys okay there?"
disappointed, no one answers.
you can't blame them.
they were shocked. they couldn't believe it.
sejin sighs. it went silent for a second.
"he wants to talk to you."
they hear shuffles and mumbles from the other side.
"hello?" someone whispered.
they couldn't believe it. they couldn't believe what they were hearing.
the soft, low voice rang through the silent dorm.
just one word from the voice made everyone in the room burst into tears.
jimin cups his mouth with his hands, muffling the gasp he was going to let out. he walked to jungkook's, the closest to him, side, head on the maknae's shoulder.
the youngest had his own tears. he felt small and vulnerable. at the same time, satisfied and contented. relieved. he wraps his arms around jimin, comforting the smaller, but letting his own tears drop on the older's shoulder.
taehyung stood still. he wasn't crying until he hears his voice. he covers his quivering lips, his eyes closing as he hiccups silently. his shoulders going up and down, shaking. his knees were going weak until they finally gave up.
yoongi knelt slowly beside the younger, pulling him to his chest.
taehyung willingly moves to face the older, his body shaking against yoongi's.
yoongi palmed taehyung's hair, pressing his face to the fluff of hair. soon, he found himself shaking, tears making their way out the corners, dropping on the younger's crown. he sighs out shakily when the younger pulls him towards him, both of them receiving the same amount of comfort and love.
hoseok has his palm on his head, wet tears sliding down the dancer's cheeks, his back slowly sliding down the wall closest to him before he slumps on the floor with a thud. he was squeezed his eyes shut, his hand going to a fist, pressing down his lips from making any noise. but he knew his sniffling and quick breathing created sound. he could care less.
namjoon felt his legs go numb before falling on the couch, his left hand hovering over his mouth, his right hand nearly dropping the phone he tightly held. he was shaking and tears were brimming at the corner of his eyes. it started blurring his vision, the tears finally falling when he closes his eyes shut. he couldn't stop sobbing.
"i'm sorry."
they didn't answer. they were shaking, they were scared. they were too weak and vulnerable to respond.
they hear him sigh.
"i'm going to make it right."
they wanted to answer. they wanted to assure him that it was alright, that it wasn't his fault. but they knew they couldn't because it wasn't true. it wasn't alright.
"i'll be coming home soon."
relief. they were relieved. they weren't exactly happy, but they were relieved.
"guys?" sejin's voice rang once again, snapping the others back to what the manager.
"get rest, you'll see him soon."
the call ended.
oh how they wished that was how it ended.
—
"people may not understand but to answer your question," rm exhales.
"a member of ours had been the root of this album."
the interviewer nods his head in understanding. "and who might this member be?"
"our older brother." jimin replies, smiling as his eyes disappeared.
"oh, suga?"
a pin needle could be heard from the distance for a millisecond.
"our previous eldest, jin." rm says, giving the interviewer a strained smile.
eyes widening, the interviewer stutters out. "i apologize, i completely forgot–"
"no, no, we don't mind. it had been a few months back then, it's been long." the youngest rapper interrupts, not wanting the male to apologize. "we've moved on."
"h-how is he though? by that i mean, how is he the root of this album?"
rm opens his mouth before looking at v who was silent. v caught the older's eyes before receiving an encouraging smile. he translates what the interviewer said, gesturing for the younger to speak.
"well," the second maknae states thinking it would be better to speak in korean. "he was the entire reason why we had made this album. not only that but the words we had used in the songs were from both his last words for us and words we wanted to hear from him. so basically, we wanted to make an entire album in honor of him. an album where he was the star and not just us."
rm feels troubled and uneasy to translate but he does it either way.
"was the name of the album, map of the soul: persona, from him?" the male said, trying to lift the spirit up by asking correlated questions.
rm shakes his head. "it was actually the problem in the first place." he didn't need nor did he want to explain any further.
the male nodded before coughing.
"he must be very happy then. knowing he had an album written entirely for him." the interviewer says. everyone just chuckles.
"if only he had enough lines."
—fin