Aaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh, of course. Chorim knew it wasn’t going to be so easy. She knew that Hoseok staying quiet after finding out about her ‘true self’ was too unusual. It was just 7AM of the very next morning and there he was, standing right at her doorstep in what was probably the most ridiculous outfit Chorim had ever seen in her life. He was wearing a green full-body apron, black silicon gloves and a pair of green gumboots. She was surprised he wasn’t wearing a full head filter mask but instead opted for a simple face mask. If you didn’t know any better, it would have looked like he was ready to quarantine Chorim’s apartment of some disease. Chorim had bloodshot eyes and was almost melting into the door frame just trying to support herself up after having barely any sleep and being woken up well before her afternoon alarm.
“Hoseok...morning….” She didn’t even have the strength to be angry and just stared at Hoseok with half-open soulless eyes.
“Chorim, good morning!” Hoseok energetically greeted her. Chorim was just so close to closing the door on him, unable to take in his cheeriness.
“How can I help you?”
“Chorim, I couldn’t sleep last night,” Chorim’s eye had already started twitching from irritation. Then maybe you should have ing slept in instead of coming here and… Hoseok firmly placed a hand on her shoulder, “because I kept thinking about you and your ’home’. As your friend, I can’t let you continue living like this.” He nodded very sternly, “I’m here to clean your place for you.”
“No you’re not.”
“I’ve already decided. You can’t stop me Chorim! Think of it as me returning my favour for that night.” Hoseok eyes were already burning with determination. She knew exactly what he was talking about. Because he didn’t know it was her that had ‘saved’ him, he had talked about it when every single time they met at the gym and Chorim had to pretend she didn’t know anything about ‘the girl with the cherry blossom mask’. Chorim closed her eyes and took a deep breath, already feeling a headache coming.
“Hoseok, look…” She opened her eyes too late as Hoseok was already leaning over the edge of the stairs and waving his hands as if he was beckoning someone to come up. A uniform line of people all dressed up in business suits started bringing up cleaning equipment in massive crates and stacked them up in front of Chorim’s place. This was the moment that Chorim realised Hoseok was dead serious.
“Wait...wait wait wait...” She desperately waved her arms in the air, trying to think of what to say to stop him. He did a fist pump to the air and yelled out “HOSEOK FIGHTING!” before pulling up his face mask and walking right past Chorim, ascending into what was probably his worst nightmare. Not surprisingly, he only managed to take around 10 steps into the apartment before having a mental breakdown.
“Oh god, I’m going to be sick…” Hoseok cupped his mouth and then rushed out of the apartment. She watched as Hoseok hovered over the bin outside, preparing to puke at any moment. It’s going to be a looooonnnggg day. Chorim looked back to her own home and tilted her head. It’s not that bad, is it? Having lived in such disgusting conditions for so long, she had a very biased view of how her place looked because she had grown accustomed to it. That’s not to say that Hoseok didn’t have a skewed view as well. Due to his now recurring OCD, he probably had an extremely amplified view of every mess that was inside, making it look like an apocalyptic wasteland. But that wasn’t going to stop him.

~

There were plenty of surprises waiting for Hoseok in the nooks and crannies of Chorim’s apartment - grossly mouldy food, decomposing rats, families of dead insects, you name it. The further Hoseok delved into her place, the more convinced he was that he was in a horror movie and that something was about to pop out and eat him alive. He started giving Chorim strict instructions to follow from moving things she actually needed into spare boxes to gathering all of her dirty clothes off the ground for a ‘mass laundry escapade’ later as he called it. It turns out Chorim had an extremely bad hoarding problem which attributed to the accumulation of trash inside her place. Chorim whined every few minutes about how the cleaning was unnecessary but would quickly be shut up by Hoseok’s threat to reveal everything to Jin. It was probably the first time he had actually threatened someone in his entire life but it proved how important cleaning Chorim’s filthy home was to him.
“Okay, but let me ask you...if you’re sOoOo set on cleaning my place for me, why not just pay for professional cleaning services instead of doing the dirty work yourself?” Chorim asked as she lazily gathered all of her textbooks off of the couch and placed them into boxes. It was a logical question considering Hoseok was probably rich enough to just buy the entire building, let alone pay for cleaning services. Hoseok stopped what he was doing and seemed to be seriously thinking about the question for a while.
“I get incredibly anxious if they don’t do it up to my standards so I’d rather do it myself.” He gave Chorim the thumbs up as if it was a good thing and returned to clearing the piles of trash in her kitchen. Chorim was going to continue asking questions but she could tell from his expressive eyes that he was already beyond anxious just being inside her place. She understood why he was so determined to return his favour but didn’t feel comfortable that it seemed to be making him so stressed.

It was only a matter of time before the sound of Hoseok sobbing out loud and Chorim’s angry protesting woke up her neighbours. Jimin stumbled over to her place with a monster-sized energy drink in his hand and immensely dark circles under his eyes, clearly the signs of having pulled an all nighter from gaming, and hugged the door frame to hold himself up.
“Chorim, can you please...tell me what is going on…” Jimin’s jaw dropped in awe as he took a step into Chorim’s place for the first time, “Sh*t, have I just entered a different dimension?” It must have been some kind of feat for someone to have lived beside such a dumpster for so long without realising it.
“Different dimension... No.” Chorim grumpily said as she dropped laundry basket with a mountain of clothes inside onto the floor. Hoseok had made the door open permanently for the time being which meant the interior of Chorim’s place was no longer a secret to the entire world. It would have seemed like a huge risk but despite her popularity, she didn’t have many friends and didn’t like letting too many people know where she lived.  I might as well put a sign up and charge people to come in to have a look at my amazing place. Jimin cautiously walked inside in the clear pathway that was made amongst the trash and looked around as if he was on a tour. He spotted Hoseok in the corner madly clearing out the wardrobe, clearly too focused to notice his surroundings.
“Chorim...you have mould on your clothes...MOULD ON YOUR CLOTHES. HOW DOES THAT EVEN HAPPEN?” Hoseok cried out loud. Chorim rolled her eyes and went over to pick up the clothes off the floor.
“Woah...no wonder we always get cockroaches and weird smells over at Taehyung’s.” Jimin said. Chorim was weirded out by Jimin’s lackluster reaction and narrowed her eyes at him. He had a very heavy aura surrounding him which was probably his body telling him he should be sleeping instead of walking around. I wonder how many hours he’s been awake for. He’s probably waaaaay too tired to process anything properly. Taking advantage of Jimin’s jaded state, Chorim forced a bag of rubbish into his arms and turned him around by his shoulders.
“What...what are you doing?” Jimin asked with bewilderment.
“You have no choice but to help now. Go to the dumpster, my child.” She pushed him towards the front door and not surprisingly, he did as she told him without protest. Yep, he’s definitely out of it.

And so, the cleaning continued for the next few hours with Hoseok unleashing the inner clean freak inside of him, Chorim unwillingly helping at an incredibly slow pace and Jimin mindlessly helping out by going back and forth to the dumpster downstairs. Just as Chorim dumped another box full of her stuff outside, Yoongi was making his way up the stairs and nothing could have given her more pleasure than seeing Yoongi at that very moment. He was sporting a ridiculous black eyepatch over his left eye and looked incredibly pissed because he knew Chorim was holding back her laughter as she watched him come up. It turns out that when he fell just the day before, he had hit his eye against something inside Chorim’s place which cut his eyelid and grazed the corners of his eye.
“Aaaarrrrggghhh, shiver me timbers, if it isn’t Captain A**hole.” Chorim crossed her arms with a pleased and incredibly smug smile on her face. She honestly thought he deserved it after what he did to her.
“Ha ha ha, hilarious.” Yoongi said unsmiling as he quickly walked past her. Unluckily for him, Jimin had just come up from the stairs and as soon as Jimin saw him, he began to hysterically laugh and walked over to uncontrollably slap him on the shoulders, unable to contain his joy.
“Holy sh*t...” Jimin had to try calm himself down before continuing, “this is too funny. You’ve got to tell me what happened.” Jimin asked with a huge smile, obviously still trying to hold back his laughter. Yoongi shrugged Jimin’s hand off of his shoulder and went into his apartment, angrily slamming the door behind him to shut out the sound of Jimin and Chorim’s obnoxious cackling.

~

Taehyung had been curious what all the noise was about ever since he woke up around noon. Due to the nature of his work, Taehyung slept and woke up at irregular times so it wasn’t unusual for him to be waking up so late. With his hair still wet from his shower, Taehyung wore a towel across his shoulders and walked outside in his slippers. He entered Chorim’s house and was pleasantly surprised by how spacious it was now that some of the trash was cleared out. It was still messy but it was looking more like a place a human would live in instead of an animal. All the windows and doors were wide open but there wasn’t a single person in sight. Taehyung sat down on top of what he thought was just a pile of clothes on the edge of the bed but was startled by the sound of a grunt followed by something moving underneath him. He moved aside a bit and Chorim’s messy head of hair emerged from beneath the pile.
“Get your a** off me…” Chorim groaned. Taehyung purposely shifted himself so he was sitting right on top of her back. Chorim tried to turn her head to glare at him but figured it was too much trouble and rested her chin on the bed instead.
“So, mind explaining what’s happening? I’m sure this isn’t your doing.” Taehyung smirked.
Chorim let out a big sigh, “You can bet on that. All I know is that I was up way too early and am now too tired and hungry to function.”
“I’m not going to make you food.”
“Damn it.”
Taehyung chuckled and then ruffled her hair to make it even more messy, knowing that because he was sitting on top her back, she wouldn’t be able to retaliate easily.
“Ew, is your hair wet? It’s dripping all over my back, get off me!” Chorim grumbled as she tried to get up. Taehyung playfully shook his head so that the droplets of water splattered all over her. Chorim angrily pushed herself up and tried to shove Taehyung away even though he was already getting off and running away. Chorim looked quite awful with her dishevelled clothes and unbrushed frizzy hair but it was a sight that he was used to. Taehyung didn’t realise it himself but he had a smile on his face as he watched her unfurl herself from the pile of clothes like some sort of newborn creature.
“What do you want to eat?” He asked her, leaning against the wall with his hands tucked away in the pockets of his hoodie.
“I thought you weren’t going to make me food.” Chorim sneered at him.
“I’m not. I’m heading out for a bit."
Upon hearing his response, Chorim brightened up at the prospect of eating fried junk food. Even though she was still on her diet, the stress of cleaning was too much for her and Chorim, not surprisingly, was a stress-eater. “Hrm...can you stop by the market and get me - ”
“Kimbap it is.” Taehyung smiled at her before leaving her place in a hurry.
“HEY!” Chorim yelled out in protest.

~

Chorim placed the last bag of trash onto the ground for the day and dusted her hands off. Hoseok fell to the ground on his knees with tears welling up in his eyes as he looked at the sight before him.
“It’s….it’s beautiful.” He uttered to himself.
“Chorim, you had THAT much trash in your place? That’s like a year’s worth. What is wrong with you?” Taehyung questioned Chorim, absolutely astounded by the amount. If anything, he was worried his auntie might get a heart attack upon seeing it.
“Leave me alone…it’s gone now, right?” Chorim pouted. She knew she was guilty of living amongst the trash for so long but didn't think it was such a big deal.
“She can live like a human once again.” Jimin said with a condescending grin on his face. Chorim elbowed him in the stomach and then casually stretched out her arms in the air whilst he crouched over in pain.

Afterwards, they all gathered at Taehyung’s place for dinner but unfortunately, there wasn't enough food to make anything special for 4 people so Taehyung ended up making a huge pot of instant ramen with a few side dishes. Hoseok blinked innocently at the steaming pot of ramen noodles Taehyung placed in the middle of the table. Chorim was quick to dig in and slurped up the ramen quite viciously without waiting for others.
“What happened to your diet?” Taehyung asked Chorim who shot him a piercing glare. Her illogical pet peeves involved talking about food when she was on her diet and talking about her diet when she was busy eating.
Chorim waved her hand in denial at him, “Eat now, regret later.”
It was actually Hoseok's first time sharing food with others in such an informal setting. He wasn't used to gathering around a small table and sitting on the ground to eat with others who clearly did not care about etiquette. He wasn’t sure what to do so he observed Chorim and Jimin first before copying them and grabbing a few strands of long stringy noodles with his chopsticks from the pot. He slowly chewed and then excitedly slammed his fists on the table, startling everyone.
“This is delicious! And it was so quick to make as well!” He exclaimed with his eyes bulging out.
Taehyung narrowed his eyes at Hoseok, “Wait, don’t tell me you’ve never…”
“YOU’VE NEVER HAD INSTANT RAMEN!?” Chorim and Jimin yelled out at the same time with food grossly flying out of their mouths. Hoseok shook his head and continued to take a few strands into his bowl. Both Chorim and Jimin were at a loss for words and even looked at him with pity. To them, instant ramen was considered a holy dish, a blessing to those with poor and lazy lifestyles. Only Taehyung remained calm and looked at the others as if they were the weird ones.
“You should eat up then. All of that cleaning today must have been hard for you.” Taehyung kindly said to Hoseok, giving him some kimchi in his bowl. Chorim glared at him from the side, bothered by his subtle insult.
“Well, even though I didn’t ask for it...thank you for today Hoseok.” Chorim said.
“I’m not done yet though.” Hoseok slowed down his chewing and looked at her.
“What?”
“Did you think the cleaning job is done?” Hoseok chuckled, “It’ll be at least another two days Chorim.”
There was undeniable horror written across Chorim’s face as Hoseok’s explained his cleaning plan for her place in detail. In short, he was not going to leave it alone until her place was sparkling clean.
“So you’ll be back tomorrow?” Jimin asked. Hoseok happily nodded in response.
“You should just stay over then!” Jimin enthusiastically suggested, looking over at the others for support. Over the last couple of hours, Jimin and Hoseok had become quite close despite their first awkward encounter. It was probably because their bizarre obsessive personalities seemed to be in sync with each other.
“Jimin, there’s no room for…” Taehyung was quickly cut off by Jimin.
“It’s alright, it’s alright. You sleep in your bed, he can sleep on the couch, and I’ll take the floor. No big deal.” Jimin turned his attention to Hoseok, “What do you say?”
“Well, it does sound quite fun…” Hoseok said quietly to himself. He then cutely nodded and then got up and opened the door to speak to his bodyguard.
              ‘What the ? Did you know someone was standing outside?’ Chorim whispered to Jimin.
              ‘No? They’re actual ninjas, I’m telling you.’
“I’m going to stay here tonight.” Hoseok firmly said to his big brawny bodyguard who was twice his size. His bodyguard furrowed his eyebrows and discreetly looked over at the crew at the table. There was Chorim who was messily slurping away at the noodles, Jimin trying to stop her from the other side of the table and Taehyung sitting between them trying his best not to lose his sh*t.
“Master Hoseok…”
“No, not another word. I will sleep here in this incredibly small and cozy place tonight with my friends.” Hoseok declared. Taehyung, Jimin and Chorim looked at each other, not sure whether to feel offended by Hoseok’s innocent statement dissing their commoner lifestyles or not. The bodyguard tried to convince him that it wasn’t a safe area but Hoseok was determined to stay and ushered all of them away.
“Hoseok, it’s going to be a grand time.” Jimin gave Hoseok a thumbs up full of assurance as he returned to the table. Hoseok nodded with a lot of anticipation, not knowing the grand time actually just involved a lot of alcohol, junk food and gaming. He didn't want to say it out loud, thinking the others might think he was weird, but he was already having a lot of fun.

Bonus:
Even though his hair was still wet, Taehyung went out and just popped his hoodie up to hide it. He stopped by a convenient store to get kimbap for Chorim. He was standing at the aisle debating what flavour to get when he casually looked up and realised the girl at the counter was intently watching him. I must look suspicious with my hoodie on... He quickly grabbed 4 kimchi flavoured ones and walked over to the counter to avoid being mistaken for a dangerous person. Ever since his fringe was gone, Taehyung had had a hard time adjusting to making direct eye contact with people he interacted with. He still thought people stared at him because they thought he was weird but in reality, it was because he had such a striking face. The girl was indeed quite pretty herself but there was something strange about the way she was looking at him that made him curious enough to quietly stare back at her to try figure her out. Does she know me? Thinking it was all in his head, he hurriedly paid for the kimbap but was bemused by the sweet smile she had on her face as he left.
 

A/N: I’m sorry…I just had to make one whole chapter about Chorim’s place getting cleaned. It’s a big event in her life, okay!? This is the apocalytic wasteland we're talking about! Hoseok is the one true savior. God bless him.

It's the 40th chapter milestone too! Can't believe it's been so long! (ᅌᴗᅌ* ) Sure hope you guys didn’t skip reading the BONUS section, hehe. Anyway, some exciting things are about to happen so do look forward to it. This is going to sound lame since I'm the writer but I'm excited for you hahahaha. Thank you for reading as always!

Also, I was looking through the BTS Festa Album and (♡ ὅ ◡ ὅ )ʃ♡