Living in a small coastal town was something that Jungkook deemed as a blessing. How could it not, having the warm breeze caressing your cheek with each sunset, or seeing the last hints of sunshine bleed into the sea. It was a small town by the edge of the sea somewhere northwest of Busan with steep cliffs and rocky beaches lining at the east. At the other end of the town, stood lines of hills, hiding their small little town from the rest of the world. That chain of hills were also the reason why it always seemed to rain on that small town of his each day, the sky grey, crying with its tears beating against the old wooden houses.

Gampo was a small town with a small harbor and the old infamous Songdaemal Lighthouse that was probably the sole reason why people dared to spend a three hour long train ride to visit the old, decaying structure. But as his father told him once, there would always be that lingering feeling of an adventure in the midst of people's heart, reminding them that tedious suits and the zero behind your bank account wasn't the only important thing in this world.

It was when he befriended Min Yoongi did he learn that those lingering feeling of an adventure wouldn't bring most people to their lovely lighthouse, only to enjoy such pointless beauty like the warm ocean breeze and the lilac sky. It was another beauty that a rigid collection of reefs down the cliff meters below could offer, as a man found himself falling from the edge of the structure, taking the fifty meter leap of faith that separated life from its long-lost lover.

And only when he befriended Min Yoongi did he learn that the red upon the sky wasn't the only beautiful thing when another was painting the black solid rocks, leaking towards the sea.

.

Jungkook couldn't understand how a visit to the Songdaemal lighthouse was an obligatory curriculum to follow for high school students in their last year who certainly could spend the remains of their time better by preparing themselves for the upcoming national exam. But alas, there was something called 'The Annual Year Outing' which purpose was to remind the young mind and eager soul, that their tiny little town was still in need of their future economical power to thrive. It wasn't that Jungkook found it as appalling or anything. When he was 5 years old, he would find the structure as magnificent, standing tall by the edge of a cliff, its marble white and stairs seemed unending.

Twelve years later and the building stood the same, yet a lot had changed at the same time. It wasn't just the structure, it was probably Jungkook as well, who for now thought that the now grey marble and dim light wasn't as interesting as Yuna's lifted skirt or Jaein's growing s. Maybe it wasn't the lighthouse that changed. It was him who did, just like how playing cops and cars had lost its appeal to him.

Jungkook remembered that day, a fine warm morning in the middle of May. That year's summer was going to be hot considering May already felt like August. Minju was complaining, her gigantuous paper fan slapping Jungkook's on the face as she tried her best to relief herself form the heat. Suji was standing too close from him for her own good, Jungkook could see her sweaty s bulging through her too-small B-Cup bra. Behind him it was Taehyung who sneaked his head over his shoulder, trying to stand on his toes and enjoy the view that Jungkook was accidentally exposed to. He could only wish silently in his head how Taehyung wouldn't start rutting his crotch against him because feeling another boy's against his wasn't the first thing that he wanted to experience in this world.

"How long do we have to wait here?" protested Jimin.

"I mean like-, more than half of us have been here already," Minju chimed in.

Jungkook couldn't blame them for feeling sour. Lighthouses were something that little children would be amazed about, not a group of teenagers with the lack of audacity to just bail on their stupid school trip. Since it was a small old lighthouse to begin with, his class was separated into groups of dozens, Jungkook ending up in the very last one. They were lining up at the staircases that led to the upper deck, waiting for the earlier group to finish whatever business they were doing up there.

"What's taking them so long, really?" Minju protested again. "It's not like there's much to do."

Jungkook couldn't really think about what would the others be doing up there. Taking pictures, maybe, Jaein filling their timeline with countless selfies and heavily edited panoramic photos that Jungkook had seen countless time. He actually had seen the girl taking a dozen more of selfies before they even entered the building, ready to flood his instagram feed with her obnoxious duck face and hashtag abuse.

"Maybe there's an going on up there," Taehyung joked.

"Yeah, and you're clearly not invited," Jimin said, unamused by the dirty joke whilst smacking his best friend on the head.

"Oh please, who in this world would be sane enough to exchange saliva with someone as disgusting as you," Minju sneered to Taehyung.

"Shut your mouth, . At least your mother can give a good ing," the boy returned the mockery back, grinning from ear to ear to the fuming Minju before receiving a typical high five from Jimin for the witty comeback that Jungkook personally thought seem really childish.

Jungkook sighed. In the back of his mind he had wondered about the possibility of something interesting happening during this trip. The troublesome duo picking on Minju's temper would probably be the most that he could get from that wish. It was just in the midst of the unbearable heat that Jungkook whispered to himself softly, hoping that something interesting would indeed take place.

Only at the end of the trip did he finally regret that wish.

.

Jungkook let out a huge sigh as the warm breeze hit his face, finally being freed from the tortuous wait. The small summit of the lighthouse could barely accommodate the dozen students packed right around its outer deck, plus an extra teacher waiting by the one and only staircase, definitely looking bored as hell from the mundane task of organizing the impatient students. Just like any other lighthouses, there was a circular deck right outside of its main glassed structure, in which the main light stood.

Years ago, Gampo was visited not only by local fishermen but also ships from Japan and even the Philippines, bringing in goods before being transported into the mainland. The Songdaemal Lighthouse's existence was vital for such activity, before bigger ports like Pohang at the north were opened and Gampo slowly faded into the background. Still, its historical and architectural value served as a tourist attraction that Jungkook dismally thought of as a reminiscence of a once thriving harbor. Now, he rarely ever saw the light at the top of the lighthouse being lit.

“Hey, isn't anyone worried about this deck collapsing?” said Taehyung aloud with a comical chuckle at the end.

“It might, under the weight of your ego,” commented Suji on Taehyung's words before Minju like always joined in the mockery that would soon enough turn into an argument once again.

Sighing, Jungkook walked towards the other end of the deck, hands around the railing and leaned a bit forward, letting the breeze blow towards him. At the other end of the deck, the typical duo was definitely bickering with each other again, Taehyung being a ert that he always was, making comments about the blown-up skirts of the girls before Minju smacked him on the head with her paper fan.

Ignoring the noises, he focused himself on the view right in front of him, the blue that stretched towards the horizon before another took its place, this time with random brushstroke of white, encompassing his small universe, all the way from the gentle waves at the east to the line of hills at the west. Smacked in the middle of both was the fishing boats lining along its harbor, rocking steadily from the upcoming roll of waves. Small figures of men was walking along the wooden platform, dragging nets and fishes down the boats.

A little more to the left of the harbor and Jungkook could see the town, its little colorful roofs and small roads making the very heart of Gampo. Most of them were restaurants, selling seafood to the visiting tourists from Seoul. Even more to the west, when Jungkook turned his head, were the hills that pretty much barricaded their town from the rest of the country. The green was returning back to the line of trees after a long winter, he could see its leaves and branches swayed away by the same breeze.

Even as much as a boring outing he thought this was, Jungkook got to say that he quite enjoyed the view, even when the only other noise apart from the blowing wind and the crashing waves that he could hear, was that of a whining Minju and a chuckling Taehyung in the background.

Then again, if it wasn't for the noise they were making, Jungkook wouldn't walk towards the other end of the lighthouse to seek a much-needed silence. And if he didn't walk to the other end of the lighthouse to seek a much-needed silence, chances were, he wasn't going to turn his head towards his right once again, to take a better look at the sea and the reef down below.

Because if it wasn't for the noise, if it wasn't for the small walk he took and the silence he sought, if it wasn't for the glistening sea and the beautiful sunny day, the hot spring weather and the school annual outing, if it wasn't for it all, Jungkook wouldn't be standing there with his head turned towards his right, looking at the sight of a certain Lee Geumja – that small and soft-spoken girl from their class that he didn't know too well – climbing upon the railing.

Oddly, the scene came out simply as weird for Jungkook at first, his grip upon the railing becoming tighter as he saw the plain-looking and quite girl from their class having her feet up on the railing, hands gripping the metal bar and face set towards the horizon. He didn't catch her wrong. That was indeed Lee Geumja, the quite kid from his class who always sat in the last row, moping at every recess. It was the Lee Geumja who smiled shyly and blushed when Kiseok made a daring move one summer ago out of Taehyung's cruel dare, the unmistakable Lee Geumja whose parents owned a restaurant downtown with a sickly Mrs. Lee and the infamously loud Mr. Lee. Something definitely wasn't right with the scene because Jungkook was sure that climbing railing upon such height wasn't something normal. After all, they were installed there for a reason, and one of that didn't include climbing.

But Geumja didn't stop, and when her two feet were entirely off the deck, when the only thing that separating herself from a fifty meter freefall was a jump, Jungkook still stood there dumbfounded, heart beating a bit faster but body completely frozen. At the same time it wasn't only Geumja that his eyes realized, but another person that was standing on the deck a bit more to the right, his face hidden from Jungkook's view but undoubtedly there, closer to the girl.

The wind blew a bit harder and once again Jungkook was going to blame Taehyung and Minju for bickering aloud at the other end of the deck. He was going to blame the sunny weather because such outing wouldn't be held without it. Heck, he would definitely going to blame the school as well. Because if it wasn't for such things, he wouldn't see Geumja's long black hair dancing in the air, being blown by the hard wind, nor would he see the girl closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, letting her firm fingers off of the railing with a sigh.

And most of all, Jungkook wouldn't hear the scream that broke through the air, the same time as Geumja's feet finally left the railing, her hand spread out wide as if she was embracing the wind that enveloped her body as it disappeared from sight within seconds.

For a moment no one could really comprehend what just happened, not even Jungkook who witnessed the entire thing.

It was the scream that broke through the air first, coming from one of the girls, breaking the frozen time that Jungkook found himself confined in.

“Someone just jumped!”

It wasn't until the words, that people finally comprehending the situation, the other eyewitness running towards the railing that Geumja was on just minutes ago before another scream followed upon the horrible sight. Soon enough it was a complete orchestra of shrieks and high-pitched wail as people were shuffling to the exact side where Geumja just jumped from, heads looking down upon the rocky cliff just below before they quickly turned their head away, eyes scrunched shut in a painful expression along gasps and held breaths.

“Oh my god, who is it?” he could hear someone asking.

“It was Geumja,” another answered with shaky voice.

“Is she a-alive?” another asked in between sobs.

“She's dead.”

“God, did she just jump?””

“Did someone push her?”

Even the loud Taehyung was looking down upon the railing with hand covering his mouth in horror. Minju the loudmouth was silenced, looking down before taking a few steps backwards and leaned towards the glass behind, face looking aghast.

The only teacher responsible became the last who witnessed the gruesome incident, something that Jungkook bet was what was left of the small Geumja, a splotch of red upon the cliff like a bug being squashed on a windowshield. Jungkook was up here on the observation desk more than twice to know what awaited him down there, nothing but a series of rocky cliffs and crashing waves. She must have been dead upon the impact, her body crushed by the hard surface of the rock, leg twisted in a weird angle, skull caved in and blood-,

“Everybody out!” the teacher finally said, face looking pale, ordering the students to head towards the stairs. “Everybody go back down this instance!”

Yet even when his friends were shuffling towards the stairs with slow steps, Jungkook was still there with feet frozen, fingers still encircling the railing the same way Geumja just did seconds ago before she decided to let go and jump into the air. It was suicide, wasn't it? Jeon Jungkook just witnessed a suicide. In fact, he saw it way before the others did, before Geumja had both her feet up upon the railing and her body falling off the deck.

He had seen the very moment as gravity pulled her down, as her hair danced in the wind and her finger grasping the empty air. He could have done something, couldn't he? He could have-,

“Jungkook, you too. Everybody off the deck!” the teacher called out to him, waking him up from his trance.

Blinking, Jungkook focused his eye towards his teacher, standing by the deck, looking back at him.

“You're okay, Jungkook? Get down, now,” the teacher said again, seemingly more keen on having him following the order than worrying about his mental stability.

Nodding groggily, he pried his finger slowly off of the railing before following his fellow classmates solemnly. None of them said a word, steps walking hurriedly down the series of stairs. No one dared to make a sound and Jungkook somehow couldn't be happier as he reached the ground, thinking that the silence would be kept before other students and school staffs surrounded them instead.

And it happened again, the gasps and sobs, the few people running towards the cliff, either just to witness the gruesome detail or to really help the poor girl who just jumped (or at least what was left of her). Jungkook was just one of the many who just stood there outside of the lighthouse, not knowing what to do.

Yet the scene was on repeat in his head, the fingers leaving the railing, the hair blown by the wind, and the constant realization that he actually-,

“You saw it, didn't you?”

Jungkook turned his head towards the unfamiliar male voice, someone who was talking to him in the midst of the restlessness, only to find another fellow classmate, one that he knew not as much as Lee Geumja herself, a someone who was held back a few years in school for reasons he didn't know, a boy with quite demeanor and pale skin with long bangs covering his soft feature.

His name was Min Yoongi. The person, standing in front of him with a question being asked was Min Yoongi. He knew him.

He wanted to ask, saying how Yoongi could come up with such question, since he wasn't even the first one to react, being frozen on his own two feet during the entire ordeal.

That was, until Min Yoongi smiled.

“When Geumja jumped. You saw it.”

“I'm sorry?” he answered, a little puzzled.

Because even now he couldn't get rid of the image in his head, let alone focusing himself on a person standing right in front of him with a mixture of a cocky smile and dark eyes that seemed out of place in the midst of scared and worried students.

“Don't you lie to me, Jeon Jungkook,” Yoongi said, chuckling.

He knew Min Yoongi as another quite student from his class who never really talked much before with him, someone whose existence he didn't really acknowledge. Yet, what was funny about him was the smile smacked across his face and the cheerfulness in his tone, contrasting the aghast expression of his fellow peers.

“Because I saw it too,” Min Yoongi said to him, grinning widely, more as if he was proud with what he just said.

Jungkook was about to ask him what he really meant before Taehyung pulled him away right when an announcement was made by another teacher, ordering the students to walk back towards the school ground. The moment he turned his head back towards Yoongi the boy was already gone, making Jungkook almost believed that he wasn't even holding any conversation prior to the distracting announcement.

That day at the Songdaemal Lighthouse, amongst his fellow classmates and the scorching May sun, amongst a solemn walk back at the house upon an earlier release from their school activity, amongst the hushed whispers his neighbors exchanged and the tight hug his worried mother gave, even to the moment before he closed his eyes, lying on his bed when the clock ticked closer towards three, there were two things that he couldn't get out of his head. One of it was the image of Geumja, standing there along the railing with hands spread towards the sky, and the other was a smile that a certain Min Yoongi sported after the first's death.