AP·OP·TO·SIS

Chapter 2 – Shadows & Silence

Kim Seok Jin

Seokjin spent three days not knowing about Taehyung and Jungkook. In that time, he and Jimin conjured many possibilities for the two. Being the two more optimistic people of their group, Jin and Jimin’s solutions to their friends’ absence consisted of moving to different countries, finding cures, transferring hospitals, or participating in various studies for medicine. Hope could only be spread to a certain extent. They knew it too well. He thought that if the truth wasn’t voiced, then it wasn’t really true. It was a childish concept, but when things are spoken out loud they all seem too real.

As usual, Jimin had gone and left to play basketball with the neighborhood kids, leaving Jin to read some of the comments on his most recent post on Instagram. He recognized some usernames while others were new to him, calling him ‘ulzzang’ and ‘handsome’. Scrolling through some of the comments, he responded to the ones in English with a simple ‘Thank you’, except for Namjoon who had commented recently with a simple ‘nice’. “Years of friendship and all you have to say on my pictures is ‘nice’...aish, I can’t stand you,” he thought, clicking the username and seeing his feed. Not even two minutes ago, Namjoon posted a mirror selca with the tag #ootd and #kimdaily. Jin will admit, the outfit looked extremely well on Namjoon, fitting his unique streetwear fashion. He wore a beanie with a simple t-shirt, joggers, and running shoes; all in black. A silver army tag hung from his neck, matching with his silver rings. It was very simple, but fashionable. Hitting the heart twice, Jin tapped the home screen button and opened his Kakaotalk. He entered the chatroom ‘Yoda’.

Jin: YAH. KIM NAMJOON.

PDD: Yes

Jin: Where are you? ㅂㅈㅂ Didn’t even bother to say hello…ㅠㅠ

PDD: I forgot to tell you! I came over to Yoongi-hyung’s house for a couple of days to work on some music.

Jin: ㅍㅈㅍ

PDD: Am I forgiven?

Jin: I guess… just know that I’m the first person to listen when you guys are done!!!

PDD: You know I always show you first out of all people.

Jin: I know.

PDD: Don’t worry, when I come back I’ll make it up to you.

Jin: When are you coming back?
PDD: Probably today. Keep an eye out. :P

Jin didn’t see Namjoon that day, but the silhouettes from the outside that casted over his room were a type of company he had grown to accept.  The faint conversations that rang throughout his neighborhood at night never forgot to remind him of Namjoon’s missing presence. It was weird for him to think about Namjoon leaving his life…they’ve been friends ever since they were kids.

Sitting on his desk chair, he opened his laptop and signed in to his university’s website to read his professors blackboard messages. No new projects presented themselves, just the deadline for the assignments for the online classes. Having already turned in early all of the assignments for the current semester, Jin couldn’t help but wonder how his classmates – “Could I even call them that?” -  looked. Were they foreigners? Did they speak in satoori? He sat and leaned back to look at his roof, kicking the side of his desk leg to push himself and rotate.

“I. Am. So. Bored!” Jin shouted into the empty space in his room and groaned. He debated his options from pirating Tropico 5 and becoming a world leader, to trying to win all of the trophies offered in Devil May Cry 4 on his PS4. “Maybe I’ll just learn how to draw anime.” Before he could open the browser again, he had an incoming Skype call from Jungkook. He put his finger on the mouse pad and hit the green answer button.

“Jungkookie!” Jin screamed his friend’s name in excitement, throwing his arms up. “My savior!”

Jungkook didn’t respond verbally and only vaguely smiled at his screen. From what he can see, the young boy’s bedroom is darker than usual. He can’t see the carefully placed posters of rappers and athletes, or the obnoxiously loud reds of the gigantic alphabet letters that spelled his name. His face was merely illuminated by the lightin