If there was one word to describe Jungkook, it would be boredom.
The wedding ended without much of a celebration. Throwing a party would attract unnecessary attention, especially when they were trying to stay hidden and unseen from the KSI.
But as the night wore on, Jungkook only found the boredom slowly eating away at his brain cells.
He looked around, looking for anything to do.
Seokjin was found in the corner of the church, slapping the top of an old aerial TV to get some sort of signal when the static had been hissing and screeching for hours.
"Give it a rest, hyung." Jungkook sighed, watching the angry boy slap the top even harder. "That old banger is long gone, what's the point trying to fix it?!"
"Nope!" Seokjin huffed, "I'm determined to make this work. I've got all the time in my hands anyway, I'm not giving up!"
Jungkook shook his head, continuing to look around him to see what the others were doing.
Taehee and Taehyung laid next to each other on a makeshift bed of old blankets and cloths; they stared through the gap of a missing tile on the roof to watch the twinkling stars as they gushed away their new married life. Hobi was curled fast asleep on top of Taehyung's chest, snoring his little head off away.
Namjoon and Jimin kept watch outside, making sure the surroundings were clear.
Yoongi and Soo-ji were in some sort of hushed talk as they engaged in a serious conversation with Miyoung, who clicked away profusely at her laptop - most likely talking about gang plans.
Jungkook sighed, everyone was preoccupied at something except for-
"-Yah! Microsoft Word!" He yelled out, catching In-ah's attention. In-ah, whose face was buried in an old tattered book, popped her head up and glared at the boy. Needless to say, In-ah hated that nickname that Jungkook only seemed to exclusively use to tease her. After telling him off so many times, it only irked Jungkook to call her that and only that.
"What's this crap you're reading?" He snatched the book away from her nose, holding the flimsy pages by the corner with two fingers as he pulled a disgusted face at the ancient book.
"Don't hold it like that!" In-ah exclaimed, jumping up to grab the book back from his hands, but Jungkook only held it higher, squinting his eyes to take a closer look at the book title. The spine of the book had already peeled away, the text within had already faded a shade lighter, almost blending into the yellow-ish parchment.
"You're gonna break it!" In-ah whined, jumping on her tippy toes but Jungkook was far too tall for her liking. Huffing, In-ah placed the heels of her feet back on the ground, hands on either side of her waist as she gritted her teeth. "Give it back, will you? Go annoy someone else."
"Give it back, pleaseeee." The two corners of Jungkook's lips stretched into a horizontal line as he stretched out the last word into a long syllable. He drew his face closer to In-ah's, a childish smile plastered on his face as he blinked at her, waiting for her reply.
In-ah eyed her beloved book above their heads before diverting her glare back towards him. "Pleaseeee. Please, Mr ever so handsome, greek god reborn Jeon Jungkook, give me back my book. Pretty pleaseee."
Gradually, the corner of Jungkook's lips slowly tilted upwards into a smile. He straightened up, lowering his arm to In-ah's height level and dangled the tattered book in her face.
In-ah snatched it back in the first instance. Plopping herself down on the dusty steps of the altar, she began fixing the book back into place, Jungkook joining next to her.
"You still haven't told me." He said, stretching his arm back behind him as he rolled the aches and stiffness away in his neck. "What's that crap you're reading?"
"It's not crap!" In-ah grumbled, "it's one of the most romantic books I've ever read. I found it in the basement."
Jungkook snorted, stifling his laugh as he shook his head at her. "Yah. Have you not realised? We're in the middle of a war. Reading romance books can't save your life."
In-ah pouted at him.
"Here." Jungkook reached behind the back of his jeans, pulling out a gold metallic pistol from the waistband and dropping it on top of the book. "This is the kind of romance you need. Learning how to use the gun would make your time much more useful. Don't you think?"
In-ah eyed the gun laying on her lap. As someone whose job was to work behind the laptops, it always fascinated In-ah what it would be like to be on the field.
Ever so cautiously, she brushed her fingers along the intricate details of the weapon. Her small hand then loosely wrapped around the handle of the gun before she looked back up at Jungkook expectantly.
He tutted at her, looking at her weak flimsy fingers clenching around the handle of the gun like an insult. "Hold the gun tight, for crying out loud. If you drop that gun, you're gonna blow Taehyung's head off!"
Their eyes travelled across the concrete floor to where Taehyung and Taehee laid a few metres away.
"Sorry," In-ah cleared her throat. Using all of her strength, she held the heavy pistol properly in her hand.
"Good." Jungkook said, "now. You pull the safety back, pull the trigger, shoot the enemy dead until their brain splatters all over your face. Done."
In-ah's hopeful face dropped immediately. "Romance is dead." She groaned under her breath, making Jungkook chuckle out loud, much to Taehyung and Taehee's annoyance who were still gazing at the stars.
"So what's this 'most romantic book you've ever read' about?"
In-ah's face instantly brightened up at the prospect of talking about her book. "It's about this old Parisian couple separated during world war two and they long to find each other again and meet at the Eiffel Tower before they die."
Jungkook rolled his eyes. "Lame."
In-ah pouted again. "Stop talking about yourself," she muttered under her breath.
Thankfully, Jungkook didn't hear that. Because straight away, he jumped up, dusting his jeans off before loudly announcing to everyone, "I'm hungry!"
"There are biscuits in the kitchen," Yoongi told him, waving his dramatic-ness off.
"Biscuits again!" Jungkook moaned, feeling the inside of his mouth sour at the mention of biscuits.
For the last few weeks, all they have survived on were wild fruits and leftover stale biscuits that were way past its expiry date. After clearing out all of the wild fruits in the area, they were only down to the very last pieces of biscuits.
"Can't we eat something else?!" Jungkook cried, "I miss pizza... chicken... kimchi... chocolate... banana milk..."
"We've got no money," Yoongi scowled at him, "we sold everything off."
In the last few months, the Hope Gang had no choice but to sell everything they owned before escaping to the abandoned church for the best chance of survival.
Food resources were their main priority, and they could only save a couple of weapons for defence, Miyoung and In-ah's laptops and Yoongi and Soo-ji's motorbikes which they deemed unsaleable due to the fact that their motorbikes were too unique. Everyone knew that their motorbikes were their signature 'identities'. And if the motorbikes ever turned up at the market, then they would be easily traced.
"We've still got some money left," Soo-ji said to Yoongi. "From when we sold the cars."
"Yeah, but that's for emergency." Yoongi whispered to her.
"We're down to our last biscuits, that screams emergency to me, no? Besides, Hobi needs nappies and milk too."
Yoongi looked down to his feet. After a few minutes, the furrow of his eyebrows and the stressed look on his face made clear that there was no other way to go about it.
That they had no choice but to make a trip to the city.
"I'll go with you." He said to Soo-ji, finally looking up at her.
Soo-ji shook her head at him. "I'll be fine. You need to stay here to look after the others."
"You're not gonna be fine!" He raised his voice, "it's too dangerous out there, I'll be worried for you constantly. What if you get hurt? What if you meet the KSI patrols? What if-!"
"-I'll be back in no time!" Soo-ji reassured him, "I'll just get what we need and come straight back! You won't even notice I was gone!"
Yoongi looked around, his eyes pleading with everyone to say something, anything, to change Soo-ji's mind. Instead, he was met with blank apologetic stares. In their heads, if Yoongi did go with Soo-ji and something happened to the both of them out there, that would leave the gang without two of their leaders.
"Meow meow," Hobi crawled onto Yoongi's lap, rubbing his sleepy eyes with his pudgy tiny hands, "pwease don't go. You still haven't finished tellin' me yesterday's bedtime stowy."
"That's right, Hobi!" Soo-ji chirped as she ruffled the cute toddler's hair, "bad uncle meow meow haven't finished your bedtime story! He better finish it tonight, right? How could he keep you waiting?!"
Soo-ji looked to Yoongi with a grin, only to be met with an unimpressed blank face.
"There's nothing I can do to change your mind, is there?" He sighed.
"Nope."
Yoongi sighed again, "fine. Take the switch knife, take two guns, take a rucksack to carry the stuff. Take a hoody. Take a mask. Oh, and take a jacket. It's cold outside."
"Yes, mum!" Soo-ji jumped up, beginning to gather the things together.
Within the next hour, Soo-ji began her journey to the city. She took her motorbike with her, parking a half hour away from the border of the now locked down city and walking the rest of the way. The loud engine of her motorbike would be a giveaway and timing it exactly right was of crucial essence to whether she would make it or not. Soo-ji knew that the KSI on the west side of the border would've just begun their nightly patrols at this hour, and that meant it was the only time when Soo-ji could sneak into the city.
When she did, the city streets were a lot worse than she imagined.
A rotten stench of decaying bodies penetrated through the fabric of her mask all the way through her nostrils, the soles of her shoes stuck to the ground like glue from the river of blood flowing down the pavement.
The weak and hungry laid unconscious around the streets, the strong and ruthless went about their way, uncaring for the collapsed as they looted and robbed to fill their bellies.
From underneath her hood, Soo-ji watched the scene to her left where a starving dog picked at the dead bodies, devouring its flesh. To her right, she watched with horrifying eyes where a child of no more than ten years old beat an old lady to death for her gold teeth so that he could trade it for food.
'Keep walking.' Soo-ji told herself, swallowing down the bile rising up to her throat. As if afraid someone could hear the loud thumping of her heart, she hugged her jacket closer to her, dropped her head down and continued walking to the store.
In Soo-ji's mind, she knew she came for one reason only and that was to get supplies and get the hell out of there as soon as possible. There were far too many risks, far too many people for her to save. There was simply no way she could risk revealing her identity.
When she rounded the corner of the dirty grim street, she was met with the familiar store sign. The bright blinking 7/11 sign sat on top of the bare shop welcomed her like home.
That was until a large built man stepped right in front of Soo-ji.
If Soo-ji hadn't stopped her steps just in time, she would've crashed straight into his tattoo covered, muscle protruding chest. Or more specifically, the machine gun held right in his arms.
"If you're 'ere to loot, turn around, kid." He hissed at her, looking down at her like she was a cockroach ready to be squished underneath his shoes.
Soo-ji breathed a sigh of relief, worrying she was caught by the KSI just when she was two steps away from the store.
"I've got money," she said to him, reaching her hand inside her jacket pocket to pull out a couple of bills to show him.
The man tilted his head, watching her for a few seconds longer before letting down his guard. He beckoned her inside the 7/11, slammed his machine gun on top of the counter and stood behind it.
"What d'you need?" He asked her gruffly, watching her with sharp eagle eyes.
Soo-ji cleared her throat before pulling her mask up higher. She avoided his gaze. Instead, she merely pulled out three one hundred American dollar bills, eight fifty British pound notes, and two ten thousand yen notes and dumped it on the counter.
The shop keeper raised his eyebrows at her.
"I need baby milk powder, nappies, any canned food you have. Is this enough?"
The shop keeper watched her closer. As the awkward seconds ticked by, Soo-ji was ready to grab the money back and call it a day.
"Hold on." The man grunted, gathering all the money between them on the table.
He stepped round to the back of the shop, not forgetting to take the machine gun with him.
Finally, Soo-ji was left alone.
A sigh of relief escaped her lips. As she leaned on the counter, wiping the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand, she finally had a chance to look around.
The shop shelves laid bare and empty. The shop window was smashed in and bullet holes painted across the far end of the wall. No doubt from the machine gun and the shop keeper.
A slam to the counter behind her caused Soo-ji to jump out of her wits.
"Jesus Christ!" She yelped.
"A lot of people call me that," the shop keeper sniggered goofily, his toothy grin revealing crooked yellowish teeth. He pushed the goods towards Soo-ji, who could only stare at what was laid out in front of her.
"One tin of baby milk, six cans of peas and you ain't got enough for nappies so here's a banana instead."
"What the actual fuck." Soo-ji blurted, looking at the lack of items in front of her. She slowly lifted her head back up at the goofy man, a look of disbelief on her face.
The man shrugged, "money can't buy you jack shit nowadays, luv. Take it or leave it."
And just like that, a disgruntled Soo-ji sulkily stalked away with a barely full rucksack.
As she charged back down the dimly lit streets the way she came back from, steaming with anger and frustration at the wasted trip she risked everything for, all she wanted to do was to get back to the church and wrap herself in a warm blanket.
She envisioned the others' reactions. Sad, angry, disappointed and definitely hungry.
She sighed. At least, she thought, it was a relatively easy journey without much surprises until a sing-song chirpy voice caught her off guard-
"Annyeonghaseyo! Choi Soo-ji noona!"