40: KNOW THYSELF

"Crater," by Lay.Bn

                It was too late. Namjoon and Seokjin had barely processed the situation when Yoongi jumped, they couldn’t even think to hold him back.

                “Yah!” Yoongi grabbed Jungkook by the shirt and yanked him up. “You! What are you doing here? How did you find this place?”

                “I—I—”

                “I said, how did you find this place?!”

                By this time, Namjoon and Seokjin had snapped out of their stupor and were pulling Yoongi back by the arms.

                “Yoongi-yah, wait, wait! Stop it!”

                “Calm down hyung! Aish, you’re gonna kill him before he even has the chance to answer.”

                Yoongi shrugged the two others off, his eye never leaving Jungkook. “If you told those iljin bastards about this place—”

                “I didn’t! I…can’t…Juyoung kicked me out of Bul-ui Agma. I can’t go back. I don’t want to anyway.”

                Suddenly Yoongi started to notice things he hadn’t before. The bruise on his right arm. The dark skin around his eye. The cut right above his temple. Yoongi took a step closer, reaching out.

                “Did they…?”

                Jungkook swatted his hand away, and said nothing. That made Yoongi growl.

                “If you think you can just stroll in here without giving us a word of explanation about anything, you’ve got some serious rethinking to do, kid.”

                “Hyung,” said Namjoon, tugging at Yoongi’s arm. “Let’s just calm down for a second and talk to him, okay?”

                Finally, Yoongi let himself be pulled away and coaxed into an armchair. Seokjin offered Jungkook a drink, which he accepted gratefully. He seemed to retreat farther into the sofa, but looked a little more at ease when Namjoon sat beside him

                “How much trouble did you get into?”

                “I…well…”

                “What did you do?”

                “I…nothing really…I mean, I just failed at, well, everything. He thinks I’m…useless.”

                Yoongi scoffed and smirked. Seokjin jabbed him in the ribs with his elbow and gave him a significant look. “Yah,” he hissed.

                “So you have nowhere else to go?” Namjoon was saying.

                “Well, no, I think it’s still safe at my house but…not at school. And it’s not just that! I-I want to help you guys! I know they’re after you and I want to help you beat them!”

                “You know it’s not that simple.”

                “Yeah, well, you were going to try anyway, weren’t you?”

                There was silence for a while.

                “Weren’t you?”

                “Yeah…yeah, we are.”

                “Hyung, I’ll do everything to do to help. I know I did wrong. I want to make things right with all of you. I’ll tell you everything I know. I’ll do everything you say.”

                “Slow down, Jungkook-ah,” said Namjoon. “By the looks of you, you just came from the beating of your life, and now you want jump right back into all of that mess? Are you sure about this?”

                “They hurt you. They hurt all of you. And I should’ve left as soon as I found out. This is my fault—”

                “That’s not true,” interjected Seokjin.

                “No,” said Yoongi, leaning in. “Let him finish.”

                The steady look in his brother’s eye made Jungkook uneasy, but he continued nonetheless. “I’ve done a lot of really bad things, and it’s time that I tried to do something right. I know you probably don’t want to forgive me right now.”

                “Speaking of the really bad things you’ve done…” said Yoongi, his voice getting dangerously low, “What were you doing while Ji Naeil was getting beaten up?”

                Namjoon’s jaw dropped, and Seokjin’s face fell into his hands. Jungkook looked like Yoongi had just shot him.

                “Well?”

                “I…”

                Yoongi got up and walked out of the room. The could hear the bed creaking in the backroom where he had gone. He wasn’t going to come back.

                “Aigoo, that idiot,” hissed Namjoon, standing up and stomping outside.

                Seokjin got up and came over to Jungkook to give him a little pat on the arm. “Give him some time,” Seokjin said in a hushed voice. “He’s been a real monster this past month. Give him some time and maybe he can figure things out.”

                Jungkook caught Seokjin by his sweater before he could leave. His head was bowed, and his voice was so soft Seokjin had to lean down to listen.

                “I didn’t hit her, hyung. I didn’t. I…I should’ve stopped them, I know. But I didn’t hit her. I promise.”

                “I know you didn’t, Jungkook-ah. I think Yoongi knows that too. But he’s doesn’t even know how to figure himself out right now. So don’t expect him to understand you so quickly.”

Author’s Note

“I am not a failure,” I said to myself today. “I shall accomplish this. Even though finals may kicketh my , even though laziness tempteth me day by day, I shall write nevertheless.”

Okay, so, just expect the unexpected until basically……………………..when finals end which is………………………basically holy crap like 2-3 weeks from now guys I gotta finish my projects

YES I KNOW THIS CHAPTER IS SHORT OKAY DON’T KILL ME I TRIED AND I LIKE LIVING AT LEAST SOMETIMES

Don’t quote me on this but imma try to have another chapter up by Tuesday but don’t trust me okay I may be lying to you