Following the string proved to be more difficult then they’d originally thought. While strings might not go through people, it would go through objects and so when the string ended up going through the wall that surrounded a bunch of houses in a residential area, he didn’t know what to do.

“Does this mean the person lives in one of those houses?” Taehyung asked when Jimin explained what was going on.

“Maybe… or maybe we have to go through the residential area to the other side where it will continue to somewhere else,” Jimin responded with a sigh. They couldn’t go through the front gate as they’d need a pin to open the gate.

“Then… should we try going around?”

“I guess, but what if I lose the orange string on the other side cause it turned out the person was living somewhere here? Or what if the person is just visiting someone who lives here?”

“Um… is there like no way to stretch the string around with us?”

“...I don’t actually know… I’ve never really tried stretching a string… “

“Then try now?” Taehyung suggested and so Jimin did. He pulled the string along with him as they began walking around the wall. They made it about three feet before Jimin started to feel some resistance on the string but he went on and when they were six feet away there was a lot of tension on the string and Jimin was afraid if he went any farther he’d end up breaking it.

“Something wrong?” Taehyung asked from beside him.

“Um… It feels like the strings gonna break if I go any farther,” Jimin answered with a frown. “I guess this is its limit. I don’t think it would be good to stretch it further.”

“I see… You probably don’t know the answer but I’m gonna ask anyway, what happens when a string breaks?” Taehyung asked curiously.

Jimin looked at Taehyung with a puzzled look and shook his head. “You’re right… I don’t know… It’s never happened before… except for the black string, I’ve never seen a string break,” Jimin answered.

“Hmm well, you told me the black on breaks when the person on the other end dies… so in a way, the connection is being severed… so maybe… cutting a string will sever the relationship that those two had?”

“I guess?”

“We should experiment.”

“Experiment? How?” Jimin asked while furrowing his eyebrows.

“Let’s break the string,” Taehyung replied.

“Break… the string? You mean this one? This orange one?”

“Yea… you said it appeared around the time Yoongi hyung began to ignore us so whoever it’s connected to probably has something to do with it… so maybe it’s not a good relationship. Maybe it’s a bad one and Yoongi would be better off not being tied to that person.”

“Maybe, but that’s not for us to decide. Strings only form because we’re meant to be tied to that person in some way. It’s fated to happen. I don’t think we should mess with that.”

“And why not? You can see these string, Jimin; something I’ve never heard anyone else being able to do. Up until you told me about this I didn’t even know these things existed. There’s got to be a reason you can see them. And maybe this is it. Maybe this is why you can see them. To get rid of bad relationships,” Taehyung persisted.

“I… I don’t know, Taehyung. Maybe you’re right but what if you’re wrong? What if I break the string and it does more than severing a connection? What if it somehow changes Yoongi’s personality? What if it harms him physically? Do you really want to take that chance?” Jimin asked with a frown.

Taehyung pressed his lips together and then shook his head. “No, I don’t want that.”

“Then we shouldn’t experiment like that, not without knowing what will happen,” Jimin stated and Taehyung just nodded reluctantly.

Jimin sighed and was about to let go of the string when he felt the tension reduce slightly. He patted Taehyung on the shoulder to get his attention and when the younger looked up at him, Jimin said, “The tension is lessening. I think whoever it’s connected to is moving towards us.”

Taehyung’s eyes brightened at that and he looked back towards the gate. Jimin did the same and after several seconds a tall young man came out from the front gate while holding his chest and looking to be in pain. Jimin saw a few orange strings connected the male’s chest and following them with his eyes he confirmed one of them were connected to Yoongi. Jimin looked back at the young man and saw that the man’s breathing was labored. When he was out of the gate he looked in their direction before walking towards them. Jimin grew nervous as he came closer.

“Um, are you ok?” Taehyung asked the guy as he got closer.

“I-I’m h-having trouble b-breathing a-and my c-chest h-hurts so b-badly,” the male said as he got closer. Jimin let go of the string to see if there was something they could do to help but as soon as he let go of the string the man collapsed to the ground and took in huge gulps of air. The string kept going back and forth as it began to straighten itself out like how a stretched string between two objects would oscillate.

“Should we call an ambulance?” Taehyung asked alarmed as the male just kept breathing fast. The man shook his head and held up a finger indicating for them to wait. Jimin stood there watching how the string kept oscillating until it was completely straight and then slowly came to a stop. As it stopped the man’s breathing slowed down and began going back to normal.

“I-I think I’m ok now… I’m s-sorry for the t-trouble… I have no idea what just happened… one moment I was walking around feeling fine and the next I felt like I was having a heart attack… but I’m suddenly ok now… Thanks for offering help though,” the male said as he took in one last shaky breath and then stood up.

“Uh… yea, no problem,” Taehyung replied with furrowed eyebrows.

“I-I’m glad you’re ok,” Jimin said as he gathered his thoughts.

“Same… I really thought I was going to die for a second,” the male said with a sigh and then laughed. “Anyway thanks again, I’m Gale, and you two are?”

“Um I’m Taehyung and this is Jimin,” Taehyung answered and offered the taller male, Gale, a smile.

“Nice to meet you two. Hmm, do you guys go to Seoul Westwood High?” Gale asked.

“Yes we do, why?” Jimin asked.

“No reason, just your uniforms looked familiar. I know someone who goes to your school is all,” Gale answered with a smile.

“Oh, who is it you know? Maybe we know them too?” Taehyung questioned.

“Maybe, but it doesn’t really matter. They’re a senior so you most likely don’t know them… Anyway, I got to go, thanks again,” Gale said waving as he turned around and began walking away. Jimin and Taehyung waved as well and then Jimin pulled Taehyung away and back the way they’d come.

“I wonder what was wrong with him? Also, did he have the orange string?” Taehyung asked as they walked.

“I think I might know and yes he did,” Jimin answered.

“You know what was wrong?”

“I think… when I let go of the string back there, it had a direct effect on him. He was having trouble breathing while the string was moving, but once it straightened out and was back to normal, he was breathing fine… so I think me pulling the string so far from its natural course caused him to have trouble breathing.”

“Oh… I guess pulling it with us was a bad idea then.”

“Yea… do you think it might have affected Yoongi hyung as well?” Jimin asked.

“I sure hope not,” Taehyung answered making a face. “Wait so you said he has the orange string right?”

“Yea he actually had a few of them, I think three in total. And one of them is definitely connected to Yoongi hyung,” Jimin answered with a sigh.

“Well great… now we have a name and a face that should be enough to search this guy up and see who he is,” Taehyung said and Jimin nodded.

The two friends went to Taehyung’s house and began to look up Gale to see what they could find. It took them a couple of hours to gather up all the intel they could from the internet and what they discovered wasn’t much. The guy's full name was Gale Pennington and he was originally from America. Gale was 25 years old and owned his own business and lived alone. His parents weren’t in the picture, having died mysteriously five years ago, leaving their business and fortune to Gale. But since it wasn’t that big of a business he wasn’t well-known. They also learned that Gale was part of an outreach program that's aim was to try and help high school students from underprivileged households apply for college.

“That’s probably how they met!” Taehyung exclaimed when they learned about that little tidbit of information.

“Why do you say that?” Jimin asked.

“Well, hyung told me about that program near the beginning of the school year. Remember how his dad lost a job and his family was struggling financially?”

“Yea I remember… Hyung had to move because they couldn’t afford their house anymore.”

“Yea. Anyway, because of their situation, hyung was worried his parents wouldn’t be able to pay for him to go to college anymore. So he was looking for scholarships and grants to help. And he mentioned a few mo