Chapter 4 – My Turn
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Slipping into the shadows to become one with them.

     The next morning was quite the mix of emotions. First, Taehyung woke up with flushed cheeks; it was his first kiss so it was understandable that he was in such infatuation. Second, despite their cute memory, Jimin decided to leave first without him. Taehyung hoped to think it was because his hyung was too shy to see him, but he honestly had no idea.

"Tae-tae!" J-Hope exclaimed loudly as he jumped off his desk. The whole class turned to glance at the door and watched Taehyung as he entered the room, the most unexpected yet heart-melting smile on his face. Some girls swooned as Taehyung walked past them, making his way to J-Hope and Jin. He glanced over their shoulders at Jimin who was absentmindedly looking out the window. As class was minutes away from starting, Taehyung felt his phone in his pocket vibrate. He moved away from the interesting conversation between his friends and took his phone out to check the text.

"19-3-14, 14-5. / 30-5-10, 19-7-12, 24-5-18." 

He felt his heart sink. No way. He gulped, slowly lifting his head to lay his shaky eyes upon the tall, fluffy light-pink haired boy who was silently rapping in the corner of the room. Mission one: Choi Junhong. 

During the ongoing lecture from the front of the room, Jimin couldn't help but be concerned about Taehyung's condition. The boy's complesion looked terrible; Jimin swear he saw sweat appear from the side of his face. Taehyung was doing his best to stay calm and not tremble, but it was useless. After closing off his senses to everything happening around him, he focused on thoughts regarding what he was going to do. And eventually, he came to the conclusion that there was no point stressing over what he must do, because one way or another, it was going to be done. Composing himself, his breathing became even and he unblocked his surroundings to feel a firm poke at his elbow. He turned his head left and met Jimin's panicked eyes. 

"You okay?" 

Taehyung saw the care in Jimin's eyes and felt a smile creep up to his lips; at least he knew he wasn't ignoring him. He nodded, reassuring his adorable hyung. 

     Late afternoon, Taehyung locked himself in the bathroom with his backpack. Pulling out the dagger casing, he took in a deep breath, feeling the need to brace himself. Slowly, he untied the ropes around it with fragile movements, as if a bomb would go off if he did the slightest mistake. Finally seeing the polished daggers up close, laying on his lap, he shivered with equal fascination and fear. The twin daggers, C and A. 

Honestly he preferred the dagger of clarity better - maybe because he had always wished to have a clear, carefree life and mind - it appealed to him more. He slid it out of its strap hold and tilted it over in his grasp, lightly smirking at how smooth his grip was on its handle. Registration that the daggers were specially for him finally began to feel right, because as bad of purposes he was going to use them for, he could not deny the masterpieces they were.

He ran his finger across the flat side of the blade, examining its sharpness. After test holds in front of the mirror where he flicked and twisted the dagger around in his hand, flipping it up in the air and catching it swiftly with the other, he put the dagger back into its place and closed the casing up, slipping the black leather back into his pack. 

"Hey, I need help with-"

"Sorry hyung," Taehyung interrupted Jimin; the elder looked up from his desk at Taehyung, eyes running up and down his full black clothing with slight curiosity, "I'm busy tonight. Leave it blank, I'll fill it in for you when I get back."

As Taehyung turned around and put his pack on, Jimin's words stopped him. "Taehyung-ah, you do know we're not allowed out of the school after seven right?"

The boy nodded, making his way silently to the door and sliding on a black cap before he left the room. Jimin stayed silent, feeling it wasn't his business to ask about. A knock came at the door not long after, and he rushed to open it, anticipating the boy who was filling his mind. 

"Oh. Hi Jeongkook." 

The maknae's smile turned into a firm line. "Were you expecting someone else?"

"Uh, no. Come on in." Jimin left the door widened as he returned to his desk. 

Jeongkook shut the door behind him and set down his books and pens on Jimin's bed, lying down on it as if it was his own. Jimin didn't really care though; he often reminded Jeongkook to learn his place and respect him, but half of the time he just couldn't be bothered repeating himself because the younger never listened anyway. 

"Hey," he spoke, trying his chances. Jeongkook turned to look at him, "Do you by any chance know how to do year twelve specialist?" 

Jeongkook smirked, and suddenly, Jimin was sort of glad he had come over. 

     Taehyung breathed, hearing his own breath so clearly in the still, pitchless air of night. It was almost reaching eight and he'd been waiting in the alley for more than an hour now. According to his 'sources', Junhong's seen hanging around these streets every week on this day, drunk and somewhat crazy. No one knew why the tall teenager tortured himself this way, some say it was to help with his suffering. Taehyung didn't even ask why his head was wanted; it would be an extra reminder he felt he didn't need. 

Minutes later, he heard footsteps and swiftly spun to peek his eyes out of the dark brick-walled alley, seeing the clumsy-walking figure of Choi Junhong - or Zelo, as they call him. His eyes squinted slightly, lifting his laid out leg up to his chest slowly. The way he could move reflected the years of stealth training he had been through. Fixing his black cap and pushing it on his head tighter, Taehyung saw his chance when Junhong stumbled towards the wall. He bounced to his feet and pulled the pink-haired into the shadows with a hand over his sloppy wet mouth. Spinning the boy to his knees, Taehyung pulled out his preferred dagger of the pair and brang it to Junhong's neck; memories of all his pain he experienced in his childhood returned as he contemplated what he was about to do. But no less than five seconds later, he mumbled a simple 'sorry' before cleanly slicing at his first victim's neck. He let go of his grip on Junhong and watched momentarily as the boy's body rose and fell, then stopped moving completely. Seeing his first time as somewhat a success, Taehyung flicked his dagger to the wall beside him, letting the excess blood splatter off the blade. After putting his weapon away and zipping his pack up with the daggers inside, he jumped the two-metre high fence at the end of the alley and fast-walked backed to the dorms. 

As he entered back in as quietly as he could - to find Jimin already fast asleep - he glanced upon his hyung's note book, seeing all the questions complete. Letting out a small smile, he tossed his cap off his head, slid it under his bed and went straight to sleep. 

To say he wasn't disturbed by his actions was a lie, it just wasn't something he was going to let affect him significantly. He knew this day would come; time and time again, repeatedly as he was a boy, all he did was practice his athletic and martial skills, enduring long hours of training in order for perfection. Killing was something done in the family without even the slightest blink of an eye; as cruel and inhumane as it may sound, Taehyung could probably watch on as innocent people were slaughtered one by one without much change of facial expression either. That could be why his friends tell him he has always has this gloomy, deep face on.  

Maybe it was in his blood, or maybe it was because he knew that whether or not he sulked over his actions, they would be done anyway. He decided to save himself the guilt and grief, shutting his eyes and easing his breath as if nothing unusual had happened. Because really, it's not like Taehyung hasn't seen corpses before.