Jimin had slept - at Taehyung’s advice - for the majority of the remainder of the lengthy ride. He was exhausted anyway, but also was glad for any excuse to avoid actually dealing with the situation he now found himself in. Yoongi hadn’t made a sound since retreating into his little bubble in the sealed-off back of the truck, and Jin was so fast asleep that he could’ve been dead for all Jimin could tell.

When they arrived in Seoul, Jimin was rudely startled awake by the harsh glow of a floodlight, which shined into their car from the mouth of the alleyway in front of which Taehyung was parked.

“Okay!” declared the orange-haired man. “We’re here; let’s go.”

Aside from the fact that they were apparently in Seoul according to Taehyung, Jimin had absolutely no idea where “here” even was. He wasn’t too fond of the look of the place, though, because the dank, dirty alleyway in front of him looked like it was smack in the middle of the most unsavory part of any town Jimin had ever been in. He had visited Seoul only once, when he was a very young child accompanying his parents on a week-long trip. The now-matured young man couldn’t remember any of the vacation, however; so he was essentially clueless about the city itself.

Taehyung had already jumped out of the cab, and was heading around to the rear of the truck. Hurriedly, Jimin undid his seatbelt as he scrambled to reach the storage van’s door before the younger man could unleash Yoongi and whatever pent-up rage the latter had been hoarding onto for the past couple of hours.

“I know you’re not happy about this,” Taehyung greeted Jimin. “But try to keep an open mind about it. I really am sorry I did something this stupid, but I honestly thought we could all benefit from coming here.”

There was sincerity in the young man’s voice, but Jimin didn’t hear it as he was suddenly reminded of something the former had said on the ride to Seoul -  something he didn’t understand.

“You said all of us were coming here, right?” questioned Jimin. “So, where are Hoseok and Jungkook?”

“Oh, they’re coming,” assured the younger man as he unlocked the truck. “There just wasn’t enough room in the van for everyone, so I dropped Kookie off with Hoseok and told them where to meet us.”

“Well, where are they, then?”

Jimin glanced into the deserted alley, half expecting to see a gang member jump out and stab the two of them as they stood there chit-chatting. Their surroundings were truly abandoned, however, and only a family of rats occupied the cracked pavement of the narrow passage.

“I called Hoseok before I drove over with Jungkook,” explained Taehyung. “He was pissed, by the way - only at me, though; never at Jungkook. Star pupil syndrome or something, I guess.”

Jimin winced.

“Or maybe he’s just not a night owl,” Taehyung hypothesized. “Anyway, I could barely get Hobi to agree to come to Seoul for the surprise, but he told me that they would start driving here in the morning.”

Taehyung had almost finished unbuckling the clasps, and was getting ready to lift the vertically sliding door to the storage area. Jimin held his breath as the younger man continued.

“I told Hobi that’d take too long, but he didn’t care, so I ended up buying them both plane tickets,” expounded Taehyung. “It’s almost sunrise, so hopefully they’ll be here in a couple hours. Goddamn Hoseok. I love the guy, but he doesn’t roll out of bed for anything less than an alien invasion.”

“Are you saying-?”

Taehyung tapped the side of his nose, turned to face the truck before Jimin could respond, and flung open the back of the moving van.

✧✧✧

Yoongi was sitting surprisingly calmly, hugging his own knees as he hovered expressionlessly next to Jin. The older man looked like he was still asleep, but to Jimin’s surprise, his friend lifted himself easily up into a sitting position beside the statuesque man.

“How’s it goin’?” asked Taehyung casually - as if he hadn’t just tricked one man into getting into the back of his unmarked van after dragging the other one in unconscious.

“Not bad,” replied Jin airlily. “Neck’s a little sore from the ride over here. Yourself?”

Jimin was astounded by the grace with which Jin was handling the situation, and even Yoongi looked a bit surprised as he sat motionlessly next to the older man.

Taehyung looked pleased with himself as he threw a look at Jimin that said “See? Everything is going great.” The older man wasn’t so sure, though, as Yoongi for one still looked skeptical of the entire situation. Jimin supposed that Yoongi could have briefed Jin on what was going on while he and Taehyung had been noisily arguing in the front seat, and he felt a little embarrassed that the two older men had probably heard him yelling at the auburn-haired boy. Even so, the poise and politeness that Jin directed toward a man who had just broken into his house and stuffed him into the back of a van was unbelievable, and Jimin had to remind himself to close his mouth as he gawked at his older friend.

“I’m doing splendidly,” answered Taehyung as he hopped into the spacious back of the truck. “Now, if you’ll both follow me, I’ll have you inside in a minute, and then we can see about getting those ropes off your wrists.”

Jimin hadn’t noticed when he’d glanced at Jin briefly, but the older man’s hands were tied firmly behind his back with a series of connecting knots that looked like it would give a sailing instructor a heart attack if they stared at it for too long.

“No need,” refused Jin, slipping effortlessly out of the tangled restraints.

Taehyung stared dumbly at his worthless handiwork for a minute before laughing as he helped Jin to his feet, making it necessary for the latter to crouch over beneath the low ceiling of the truck.

“Guess I should’ve seen that coming,” chuckled Taehyung. “Follow me, please.”

✧✧✧

Jimin continued to marvel at the interaction going on in front of him as Taehyung hopped out of the rental truck, followed closely by Jin and Yoongi, who looked just as shocked as Jimin did. It felt more like a late-night business transaction was taking place in front of him as opposed to something more akin to a hostage situation, and Jin even gave Jimin a small wave as he landed on the ground outside the alleyway - which was where Taehyung was already heading.

“I hope you understand,” called back Taehyung as he strode deeper into the alley. “The restraints were just a precaution. I have an idea of what kind of creature you are, but I didn’t want to bring you here and risk setting you loose on the streets of Seoul if it turned out you were actually dangerous.”

“Completely understandable,” assured Jin.

“That was the other reason for the truck,” Taehyung admitted. “I’m not at liberty to disclose our exact location at the moment, and a windowless moving van seemed like the perfect solution.”

Jimin glanced over at Yoongi, who had a look on his face that just about matched the level of confusion and puzzlement that the young man himself was experiencing. He wanted to reach out to the older man - to offer him comfort or apology or even just a reassuring smile - but Yoongi refused to pay attention to Jimin as they stopped in front of a nondescript door in the middle of the sheltered street.

“Anyway, I’m glad that we’re at an agreement,” beamed Taehyung as he knocked on the metal door, stepping back to wait for whoever was on the other side to open it.

The floodlight buzzed overhead, blinding Jimin as he squinted up into Taehyung’s smiling face. The older man didn’t feel like they had reached any kind of agreement at all, and he was terrified as he realized that Taehyung had taken him and his friends to a strange, novel place without any of the other three men’s permission, and now he wouldn’t even tell them exactly where they were. They could have even been somewhere other than Seoul for all Jimin knew; he wasn’t sure who to trust or what to think. He, Yoongi, and Jin were incredibly vulnerable, and Taehyung hadn’t even disclosed who they were currently visiting.

✧✧✧

A moment later, a tall, young man opened the alleyway door, shielding his eyes from the sharp beam of light.

“Namjoon!” Taehyung screeched happily, pushing unabashedly through the entryway.

The other three men followed him inside, and the heavy door locked behind them with a resounding click.

“Good to see you, too, Tae,” chuckled the lanky man.

Jimin thought that Namjoon looked like he’d rolled right out of bed to answer the door, as the latter was wearing pajama pants, and his bouncy, lavender hair was sticking up at odd angles under the soft light of a table lamp in the otherwise shadowy apartment. Jimin was beginning to wonder if messy, unnaturally-colored hair was some kind of dress code for these people when Namjoon spoke again, bowing slightly as he extended a hand toward Jin.

“Nice to meet you,” smiled Namjoon. “Are you the monster, or…?”

“He’s not a monster,” barked Yoongi. “God, you people don’t even know what you’re talking about.”

Jimin’s eyes widened. So Yoongi did have at least some idea of what was going on. He wanted to ask the older man so many questions that he wasn’t even sure where he should start, but Jimin’s chance to do so would have to come later as Namjoon apologized, shuffling his feet awkwardly in front of the two kidnapped men.

“Sorry,” he muttered. “I’ll take that as a ‘yes,’ then.”

Namjoon then turned to Jimin, who was standing with his mouth agape next to what appeared to be the studio apartment’s unframed bed, utterly lost in the single square room.

“You must be Jimin,” Namjoon guessed. “I recognize you from your picture in the database.”

Dazed, Jimin shook the hand that Namjoon graciously offered him. This was a man who apparently had information and even pictures of Jimin stored in some kind of computer network that connected a bevy of Sensors from all corners of the globe. It was a lot to be faced with at four in the morning, and Jimin didn’t think he had the mental capacity to process its implications. Namjoon let go of his hand as the younger man continued to gape at him openly.

“Sorry I, uh, suggested you were somewhat challenged in the mental department,” Namjoon apologized, referring to the phone call over which he had briefly been introduced to to the confused, younger boy. “I didn’t mean anything by it; it’s just that… well, I’ve never heard of anyone who doesn’t know they’re a Sensor, and…”

Namjoon trailed off, waiting for Jimin to supply a response or accept the apology, but the shorter man did neither as he continued to struggle to take everything in and remember to breathe. Taehyung stepped up in his stead, however, to sling an arm around Namjoon as he prepared to speak, sweeping an arm out in front of him as if to vividly illustrate an important piece of information.

“If you think that’s crazy, just wait ’til you meet Jungkook,” alluded Taehyung. “Now, if you’ll all take a seat, I would like to present my theory.”