“Hey, what are you guys doing?” asked the voice.

Taehyung glanced at Jimin with wide eyes before turning around to address the tall stranger.

“Nothing. What are you doing here?”

Jimin spun around to see a young boy, who looked barely old enough to be out of high school, standing with his arms crossed at the bottom of the stairs.

“I dunno,” shot back the boy. “You guys look like you’re up to something, though. Why are you going into that weird, old house? And what’s up with that helmet on your head?”

Taehyung groaned loudly before descending the steps. He took off the helmet and set it down on the porch before draping an arm firmly around the boy’s shoulders as he tried to lead the younger man away from the house. The latter wasn’t having any of it, though, and slipped out of Taehyung’s grasp before they could cross the lawn to get to the treeline.

“I heard you two talking about power and trails and stuff,” raved the young man. “It sounded really cool! What’re you doing?”

Jimin had jogged over to where Taehyung and the other boy were standing, and he fidgeted nervously as he waited to see what his companion would say - worried that the younger man wouldn’t be nearly as capable as Hoseok at dealing with a snag in their plan.

“Look, kid - what’s your name?” questioned Taehyung.

“Jungkook,” replied the kid, his eyes enormous with anticipation.

“Jungkook, it looks like it’s way past your bedtime, and you shouldn’t even be out here in the first place,” scolded Taehyung. “The woods are no place for some troublemaking hoodlum, so why don’t you run along and forget you ever saw any of this, okay?”

“Oh man; you’re definitely up to something!” squealed Jungkook. “Are you guys, like, ghost hunters? Is that what all those weird-looking gadgets are for?”

Taehyung waved a flashing plastic cylinder in front of Jungkook’s face, using it to point authoritatively in the direction of the trees.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” he snapped, his patience obviously wearing thin. “Get lost, you little punk; how’d you even find this place?”

“I dunno; I’ve just been wandering around,” shrugged Jungkook. “And I guess I just so happened to lead myself here. Good thing I did, too, because whatever you’re doing looks totally awesome!”

“Would you excuse us for a minute?” interrupted Jimin as he burst forth to pull Taehyung aside.

To his surprise, Jungkook actually listened and stayed put, and the older two men stepped away to talk in hushed tones on the steps of the worn-down mansion.

✧✧✧

Although Jimin had been the one to pull Taehyung away, it was the younger man who spoke first, a grimace spreading across his usually spirited face as he began.

“This ,” he spat. “I can’t believe some stupid ing kid is messing up our whole mission. After all we’ve been through to get to this point! We’re finally here, and then Mr. Nosey Teenager has to come crawling out of the goddamn bushes to ruin everything. Who the is strolling through the goddamn woods at this hour of the night?”

“First of all, it’s, like, nine o’clock. Second of all, calm down,” hissed Jimin harshly. “You want him to hear us? We’ll figure this out together.”

“Well we can’t do anything with him here,” countered Taehyung. “It’s way too dangerous.”

Jimin hadn’t even considered that, but he realized that the younger man was right. If whatever legends Taehyung had alluded to were true, then not only was Jimin in danger if he looked into the eyes of a hellhound a second time, but Taehyung and Jungkook were both doubly vulnerable - since neither of them would even be able to tell that they had looked into one of the creatures’ eyes until it was too late.

“Could you explain to me exactly what it is that we’re even trying to do here?” asked Jimin, already preparing himself for yet another unsatisfactorily vague answer.

“Collect evidence,” Taehyung said simply. “Audio recordings, video tapes. Whatever little bit of energy we can pick up to prove that these things exist.”

“And who the is actually paying you for this?” huffed Jimin.

“I told you I can’t disclose that,” Taehyung reminded him. “But let’s just say that they’re paying me a lot. And after I spent pretty much all my money to bribe Hoseok to help us, I kind of really need to do this job if I wanna be able to eat for the next month.”

Jimin scratched his chin as he tried to find a way out of their situation. A lightbulb went off in his head, and he looked up at Taehyung to propose his plan.

“Look, we already found the portal, so you can just collect your data or whatever while I leave with Jungkook,” Jimin offered. “I can distract him while you use your wacky helmet, you’ll get whatever it is you need to get, and everyone walks away happy and alive. Just keep your eyes closed until you leave. They can’t hurt you if you don’t look at ’em, right?”

✧✧✧

Taehyung’s face sank as he made a noise at the back of his throat to show that he was considering Jimin’s plan although he wasn’t happy about it.”

“I don’t know…” Taehyung resisted weakly, fiddling with the wire sticking out of the helmet that was still resting precariously on the top step. “I kind of wanted to do this together. And, I mean - besides the fact that it’s probably super dangerous to hang around a hellhound portal by myself when I have no way of seeing the damned things even with my eyes open - I guess I just thought… I thought that we were a team, you know?”

Jimin wasn’t listening anymore, and instead he was looking over Taehyung’s shoulder and into the open field beyond. His eyes were huge as he beheld a terrifying sight that made his blood run cold.

“Jimin? Hello!” shouted Taehyung, offended. “Jeez; I guess not.”

He crossed his arms as he turned his right shoulder toward the older man. The movement only served to give Jimin a better view of the thing at the edge of the field that he was already totally fixated on, and at that moment Taehyung seemed to realize that something was wrong.

“What the is up with you, Jimin?” His tone softened as he squinted, and the gravity of Jimin’s expression became visible in the dim light.  “Are - are you okay…?”

Jimin couldn’t respond as he stared at the creature standing just a few meters away from them, directly behind the railing at Taehyung’s back. The latter was still looking at Jimin with a concerned expression while the older man stood frozen in place. It was a hellhound - that much Jimin was certain of, although the beast had its haunches turned toward him as it stood up against the trees that surrounded the clearing. It was a dog that was easily several times larger than the one he had seen last night, although that wasn’t even the worst part. The gigantic hellhound had three heads attached to its muscular body, each skull moving independently as two raised their noses to the air and one sniffed the ground.

“T-there’s… it’s…” Jimin barely managed to eek out the words as he watched one of the creatures’ heads turn around to face him.

“!” Taehyung’s narrowed eyes burst open, and he yanked Jimin’s arm as he sprinted away, abandoning his ridiculous helmet in the process.

✧✧✧

Jimin had just been able to make out the faint reddish glow at the corners of the hellhound’s eyes before Taehyung pulled him out of his trance and away from their meeting place by the porch of the ruined house. He realized how close he had come to looking in the horrible creature’s eyes, and stuttered out gibberish as he tried to thank Taehyung for saving him.

“We have to get out of here!” shouted Taehyung as he continued to drag Jimin across the open field.

Jimin’s head was whirling, but he heard Jungkook protest as Taehyung grabbed onto his arm, too, and dragged the both of them into the trees.

“Shut the up, kid,” Taehyung barked. “I am saving your right now.”

The three young men scrambled over rocks and branches, catching each other as they tripped on the uneven terrain.

“Christ; is it still following us?” wondered Taehyung breathlessly.

Jimin started to look back before the younger man pulled sharply on his cheek, forcing the former to keep his eyes forward.

“Don’t look!” he reprimanded. “You can’t look in its eyes again, remember?”

Jimin nodded, too out of breath to give a verbal response, and he charged ahead, fearing for his life and the safety of his companions. After they had been running for several grueling minutes, Jimin stopped abruptly and told Taehyung that he didn’t hear any footsteps - or, rather, pawsteps - behind them, so he thought they were probably safe.

Taehyung collapsed against a tree, his head buried in his hands as he cursed himself between pants.

“!” he cried again, his voice cracking from exertion and panic. “God, I am so unbelievably stupid! Putting you in danger like that just so I could collect my ing data. What the hell was I thinking bringing a person who’s already in danger of looking in one of those things’ eyes a second time along on an expedition straight to their goddamn portal?! Ugh!”

Jimin tried to steady his hands on his own knees as he doubled over, feeling a wave of nausea brought on by all the running wash over him at a painfully slow progression. Jungkook stood quietly to the side, observing the two disheveled, insane-looking men in front of him. Jimin had almost forgotten that the boy was even still there with them until the youngest man spoke, breaking the strained silence.

His voice shivered as Jungkook asked a whispered question that neither Taehyung nor Jimin could have ever hoped to expect.

“Did you guys see that ing three-headed dog back there?”