"We've only got an hour left with this guy," Suga started. "Should we just keep reading, or should we ask questions?"
"Isn't it obvious?" J-Hope asked. "Isaac is just stalling us by making us read the journal. I think it's time we start getting answers."

Jin glanced over towards the bathroom and still saw the red "occupied" sign on under the door handle. What's going on with you, Isaac?, he thought to himself, What's up with how you act? What did you do? More importantly, who are you?

"I agree," V said. "I think we've been really patient with him. It's about time that we get what he promised."
"Same here," Jimin nodded. "I'm tired of waiting."
"Then I guess it's settled?" J-Hope said.

Everyone nodded in agreement and continued to wait for Isaac to come out of the bathroom.

****

"'Missing something?' Are you ing kidding me?" Rap Monster raged. "Who the hell does she think she is? I'm not some toy she can just play around with!"

He threw his phone onto his bed and waited for the satisfying sound of collision as he took a deep breath of disappointment. He rubbed his temples and then slowly sat down on his bed, staring at his room and the dorms. What happened before all of this started? Everything that was being unveiled was so complex and written in so much detail. There were barely any up's and always many down's. Everything that they're learning was slowly destroying their bonds as a band. Jimin now understands why Jungkook "hates" him and why Jungkook tends to avoid him. Maybe it was best for Bangtan to not know.

But yet again, they're beginning to truly understand and know Jungkook. Over three years and they're just now taking the time to know their maknae. Without these events, they would have never known about his struggle in high school and who he is as a person. As normal for a maknae, Jungkook was at first really shy. But as he grew up, he began to open up to his hyungs. They never knew anything about Jungkook until 2014 at earliest. The first six months were completely silent.

Could some of this possibly be...our fault?, Rap Monster thought to himself, I mean, in hind's sight, we never took time as a band—as a family—to get to really know each other. Sure, we got to know some trivial, first-impression information like favorite color, hometown, birthday, age, likes and dislikes, and stuff, but we never really went deep to talk about family, fears, feelings...basically nothing personal. There's no talk of emotion. To be honest, it is a little strange to talk about feelings, but girls do it sometimes, so I guess it wouldn't hurt for us to do so too, right? Aigoo...

The real question is: why did this happen to Jungkook? We're supposed to be figuring this out, but there always seems to be a dead end. It's so complicated and sad.

Out of everyone in the world, why did something like this happen to Jungkook? Maybe he was just too young when we debuted? Maybe we should've waited another year or so? I don't wish any of this pain to be put on someone else, but I'm just curious to know why. He's still so young. He was barely legal! Ever since he started to talking to me about his problems, he's always dreamt of being legal. Maybe being legal was too much for him? No. That wouldn't be the case. Jin-hyung has always lectured him on the responsibilities and disappointments of being an adult ever since he turned legal during our early days. Even with all of Jin's talks, Jungkook has always seemed eager to be an adult.

Maybe there's more in that journal? We've only covered about six or seven months out of three years. There's still a great deal of time between January of 2014 and September of 2016.

Instead of all of this solemn talk about death and suicide, why can't things just go back to the good old days? When Jungkook wasn't bullied and when we were all together and happy making music and performing for our A.R.M.Y.'s. What happened to innocence and youth?—"the most beautiful moment in life"?

Perhaps innocence is just not enough...

****

"You promised us!" Suga yelled at Isaac.
"W-well...I-I'm sorry," Isaac stammered. "B-but that's not my problem."

Isaac turned his back and began to walk away. The six boys began to make a scene at the Starbucks they were eating at. People began to recognize who they were and watched closely.

"You're sick!" Jin shouted as he began to slowly follow Isaac. "You betrayed him! And you betrayed us!"

Jin suddenly felt a strong force of resistance and he turned back to see J-Hope, who was restraining him from chasing after Isaac. He reluctantly listened to his dongsaeng and refrained from creating a larger scene.

"Don't bother," J-Hope said. "He's not worth our time."
"Um...don't speak so soon, hyung," Jimin replied in a shaky voice from behind.

They turned their heads back toward Jimin in concern.

"He took the journal," Jimin told them.

There was an endless moment of silence that endured. It felt like forever before they had the power to say or do anything.

"Well, don't just stand there!" Jin suddenly shouted. "Let's get that crazy son of a !"

He led his dongsaengs into a wild goose chase. At the moment, they completely ignored the fact that Jin had cursed. They began to run like never before. They had more incentive in running now than in their Run MV a year ago. That journal has everything they ever wanted—everything they ever needed. Without that journal, they would have to give up on Jungkook and tell his parents that they didn't know why Jungkook tried to kill himself—even though they promised they would.

But no. They intended to figure out why. They desperately wanted to know. Jungkook wasn't just their band mate; he wasn't just their maknae; he wasn't just their friend. He was their brother. And no one was going to tell them differently.

****

Agony.

Bruised cheekbones, strawberry bruises, burns, and a few minor scrapes clothed their pained bodies. Aches and pains filled their bodies as they made a sluggish return to Jungkook's room in the hospital. However, they weren't just agonized.

Victorious.

They had just succeeded in retrieving the journal. But it came at a slight cost of their physical health.

The five Bangtan Boys didn't know who it was they were fighting, but they knew they had something they needed. They weren't so horribly outnumbered—only double. But they wished they had Jungkook's taekwondo skills to ward off their enemies. Anyway, the five boys fought their hardest against the gang; throwing punches, kicks, and returning threats. It wasn't a long spar, but it was a tiring one. Isaac dropped the book and Jin skimmed the book to quickly check to see if it was, one, the real journal of Jeon Jungkook, and two, to ensure that the journal hadn't been damaged. Luckily, it was the real journal and it wasn't destroyed. The only hard part was explaining it all to Rap Monster.

"So, who's going to tell him?" J-Hope asked as nurses aided them.
"I will," Jin replied as he watched a nurse clean a bloody cut on his knee.
"What are you—ah!—going to say?" Jimin said as he flinched once the cleaning solution came in contact with his skin.
"I'm just going to give it to him straightforward."
"Sounds good."

After the quick medical aid, the boys returned to Jungkook's room, where Rap Monster had apparently just arrived with Bang-nim and the doctor to discuss Jungkook's condition. Jungkook's parents were nowhere to be seen.

"Finally! You guys are...," Rap Monster greeted his friends, the suddenly shocked at their beaten appearances. "Omo...what the...what...Jin-hyung?"
"Isaac took the journal and we chased him into a strange part of the city. He was there with his gang and we fought for the journal. Don't worry. No one was badly hurt. I made sure of that while we were fighting. I tried to protect them as much as possible. And luckily, when we came back, there were some kind nurses that helped us during their breaks," Jin concisely explained. "In shorter terms, we're okay."

Rap Monster and Bang-nim were at a loss of words as the doctor stood quietly and patiently in the corner, waiting for them to settle down. The Bangtan Boys properly greeted their elders and the conversation proceeded.

"Are Mr. Jeon's parents coming to discuss their son's condition?" the doctor asked Bang-nim.
"I believe they were," Bang-nim replied, then turned to the boys. "Do you all know?"
"No, sir," Rap Monster answered. "We haven't heard anything from them since this morning."

The doctor nodded and remained silent for a few moments to review what he was about to tell them.

"Hello. I am Dr. Mun," he bowed. "I'm not sure if you all were given any immediate update on Mr. Jeon's condition when you first arrived, so I'll be reviewing everything. Firstly, the method of harm he chose was suffocation by drowning. Therefore, he's quite deprived of oxygen. Initially, I thought he would be fine and would wake up almost completely physically unharmed; but that was not the case. We ran a few tests and were shocked to see that there was a large amount of antidepressants in his system. Luckily, just barely not enough to kill him alone, but obviously the amount estimated was an overdose. We tried our best to get rid of the toxins before putting Mr. Jeon on life support. After doing some further research, we have discovered that Mr. Jeon was diagnosed with chronic dysthymia—according to his parents. Secondly, it was also surprising to see how malnourished Mr. Jeon was. He had low levels of potassium and sodium. So, besides the life support, we're also trying to help him increase potassium and sodium levels."
"So, will he live?" Jin asked.
"My team and I strongly believe that he will live. Most people who attempt suicide by overdose survive unless they have underlying physical, and specifically, internal damage. But now, we need to discuss the mental part of this situation. I was really hoping that Mr. Jeon's parents could be here to make the decision in advance, but, I suppose I'll talk to them later."
"So we can't make the decision?" Bang-nim inquired.
"No. It's the parent or legal guardian who makes the decision. Anway, without further interruption, may we proceed?"

Everyone silently nodded in the solemn silence.

"When Jungkook wakes up, he's most likely going to be confused...and angry. Knowing that his attempt didn't work is going to make him feel extremely insecure and vulnerable. He knows that you'll be asking questions; he knows you'll be curious. He knows that he's going to have to confront his family and the company. He knows that he's going to have to confront his fans and the world. We plan on transferring him to a psychiatric ward after he regains consciousness and after his vitals improve."
"Dr. Mun," Suga started, "what is the best way for us to talk to Jungkook for when he does wake up? It seems obvious that he won't want to talk to any of us."
"I'm not a therapist, so I'm not exactly sure. But from what I would assume, it would be to not overwhelm Jungkook with questions or concerns. I would visit him and talk to him about anything but the suicide attempt or anything related. I would only talk about it when he wants to talk about it with you. But, again, I am not a therapist so I don't exactly know. That's what I would do, though."
"Alright. Thank you, Dr. Mun," Suga replied.

The conversation with the doctor ended and Dr. Mun and Bang-nim left the room. The boys remained and gathered to continue reading. They all agreed to fight for Jungkook—even if he didn't make it. Buzz! Buzz!

Who do you think is worse: Miso or Issac?
Unknown Caller — Friday, September 31, 2016

Rap Monster read the text in his head as his friends patiently waited for him to say something. Instead, he unlocked his phone and typed a response:

Miso.