Chapter 12: Kang Seulgi

Once again, she dreamt of red.

Her hands were smothered in blood. It felt so recent that she thought she could feel the pulse from within the blood, the nerves flowing with blood of a life gone awaste.

Another corpse. She was certain she didn't do this. She can't have done this. She didn't kill anyone. She's done so well she couldn't have—

"Look in front of you." A voice whispered from behind her.

She wanted nothing to do with that hauntingly familiar voice, and obliging its orders was the least of her desires, but it seems her mind was separate from her body as her head obediently moved upwards—

Jungkook, Yeri, Jimin, Namjoon, Irene... All her friends were in a heap of a mess in front of her, all so bloodied up that their faces were barely recognizable. 

"They put up a hard fight," he spoke again, this time beside her, as she horrifyingly stared at what was in front of her.  “But they were all powerless against your Alice."

Her hands started shaking. "No, no this isn't real—"

"—But you know this is what's to become of your little friends if you stay here."

She collapsed on the ground with her hands covering her ears. "Stop it! You're just manipulating me—"

He knelt down in front of her and caressed her bloodstained cheek. "One way or another I will have my way, Seulgi. 

Mark my words; you will be by my side. I will do whatever it takes, believe me."

She looked back at the corpses of the people she loved, massacred by her own hands. She forced her eyes shut. "Why do you want me so badly?" She whispered as she was afraid, so terribly afraid, of what the answer might be.

He suddenly gripped a strand of her hair tightly, bringing their faces close together. "Because you have what I want, Seulgi. How many times do I have to say that for you to understand what I mean?"

She started crying, their deaths hitting her all at once like a sudden strike of lightning. "I don't understand what you mean, but please don't hurt them, Taeyong, please."

"But don't you see whose hands are stained with blood, Seulgi?

Is it mine, or is it yours?”

Seulgi gasped as she awoke from her dream.

She quickly scanned her surroundings: there were the familiar walls of the hospital room she was admitted in, the sterile scent she had gotten used to over the days, the hard bed which had done nothing to ease her sore muscles, and, of course, Jungkook, holding her hand as he sleeps on the side of her bed.

No deaths, she sighed in relief. Not today. It was just a nightmare, that’s all. She’s been getting those more often than in the past, which was already quite often indeed.

Not wanting to wake the boy, she did her best to manoeuvre her way into getting the water from the side table without bumping into him.

This proved an impossible task, as Jungkook stirred awake almost immediately. “Oh, noona,  how long have you been awake?”

He squeezed her hand tightly before letting go. “Just a couple of minutes ago,” she smiled at him.

Jungkook rubbed his eyes as sleep still lingered on his face. He didn’t look too well; his eyebags were darker than usual. He looked like he needed his own room to be admitted in.

“Kookie-yah, look at you,” She held his cheek as she examined his face. His cheeks were looking a bit hollow, perhaps from all the meals he’d been skipping lately due to their schedule. 

“You look awful.”

He chuckled as he gently took her hand off his face. “I don’t think it’s me we should be worried about here, Seulgi-yah.”

“I feel fine, though?” She stretched her arms as evidence. “I’m thankful that it happened now, actually. How else was I going to get sleep, right?” She joked, although she didn’t think any of this was much of a laughing matter.

“Sorry, Seulgi, but I’m not changing my mind,” His grip on her hand tightened. “I’m still going to kill him the second I see his face.”

Seulgi didn’t respond, but was inwardly panicking. No, no, no, that can’t happen. I can’t let him kill Taeyong. Even after everything, he still means so much to me. I can’t lose him. Not again.

“I understand why you’re so angry, Jungkook, but let’s not rush into things—“

“Are you hearing yourself right now?” He glared at her, probably for the first time since they’ve met. 

Seulgi was shocked into silence. “The man who was in charge of all those criminals stealing our Alice stones, the man who sent out people to have us killed, to have you killed—how can you still feel anything for him?”

He doesn’t understand. I’ve been through so much with Taeyong, I—I simply can’t lose him. 

“Jungkook, please don’t,” She pleaded.

Jungkook shook his head. “I didn’t realise his powers could extend to such a great distance.”

“What?” 

He looked at her straight in the eyes and spoke, “Seulgi, he’s already taken almost full control of your mind. He’s playing you, and you’ve fallen right into his trap.”

Seulgi’s eyes widened, but she shook her head vigorously. “No, that’s impossible. We’re inside the academy, his Alice couldn’t possibly—“

Seulgi knew the extent of Taeyong’s Alice, so what Jungkook was saying must be impossible. And he wouldn’t hurt her, she knew he wouldn’t, after everything they’ve been through together—

“I know how you feel about Taeyong, noona,” He withdrew back into his seat with a forlorn look on his face. “But you’ve always hated what he’s done to the academy… yet, now you’re defending him like perhaps he’s the good guy he pretended to be all along? You can’t ask me to believe any of that.”

She slowly closed her eyes as the realisation finally sinks in. I’ve been played yet again. How can I ever trust my own thoughts when every idea and decision I make may have been a seed he planted on my mind? 

“I’m scared, Jungkook,” She whispered, for fear that he might hear her. It had finally dawned on her that her thoughts may not be her own. “I can’t even trust myself anymore.”