CHAPTER 3: NOT HOW IT USED TO BE

            Adjusting to this new lifestyle was extremely difficult. From a life in which she had thought was perfect, to a lifestyle that she had always told herself to avoid. And here she is, stuck right in the middle of what she tried so hard to avoid while growing up. As a child, she always knew better. She’d make the right decisions even if her peers would call her a goody-two-shoes since the time she attended elementary school. The biggest thing that made this so difficult to adjust to is the fact that she can’t say anything about it to her friends and family. She is expected to keep shut until the day she dies meaning as she suffers through all of this, she can never lean on any of her friends and family because she’s not supposed to say anything. Since day one, Yoori received warnings from every member of the gang to not say a word about the gang to anyone just in case she does anything stupid later on. Jungkook, specifically, threatened her over that matter. Even now, she can remember the exact words he had said to her. “If you say anything about this gang and what we’re all doing, mark my words, I will kill you myself and put your head on a stick to put on display.” Just thinking about his threat gave her the goosebumps.

            Only within three weeks, Yoori could already see her life beginning to fall apart. She would go to her classes like usual but then she had to reduce the time she’d spend tutoring students after that. There was a great decrease in hours that she spent in her studio. Her students were bummed out to hear that she is unable to keep the studio open as late as she used to due to ‘personal’ reasons. She, herself, can’t even enjoy doing her hobby like how she used to. The last painting she’s ever created was the one with splattered blood on it from the night she met Jungkook. That’s how long it’s been since she’s actually done something for herself. If it weren’t for the fact that she was being threatened to work, she’d be living freely. Because Yoori is required to go to headquarters frequently, she has to make time for herself to work there in the evening and into the early morning hours. Being a hacker isn’t easy at all. She’s constantly told to hack this and that, making her juggle with multiple tasks at once. Yoori was not informed about it but they also tricked her into doing even more computer work for the gang aside from just hacking into systems for them. They made her keep data and enter in files. She’s already come to hate this gang for tricking her into doing more work. Of course, she had no say in it because the one and only Jungkook came to her himself to threaten blowing her head off if she didn’t listen.

            It was hard to even keep herself awake while doing her work at the headquarters. Yoori forces herself to stay up until about 2 or 3 AM to finish tasks at the headquarters so of course she’d be running low on energy. On some days, it’d be okay to oversleep just a bit but on other days when she has classes to attend, she’d have to wake up early to go, giving herself approximately 4 to 5 hours of sleep a night.

            Jimin and Seokjin found Yoori completely knocked out and asleep at her work area. As Seokjin saved her work and shut the PC down for her, Jimin carried her up from her seat. Kicking the door to open wider for him to enter, Jimin entered Jungkook’s bedroom with Yoori, still in his arms. From the sounds of their movement, Jungkook grumpily awakened from his sleep and only glared at the two for disrupting his peaceful sleep.

“Jungkook, you need to sleep somewhere else tonight. Yoori is going to sleep here tonight.” Seokjin told him.

“What? Why, hyung? Can’t she go somewhere else to sleep? Of all rooms, why mine?” Jungkook questioned, still staying in his own bed, refusing to leave his own room.

“We prefer to not wake Yoongi up. Everyone else treats her well but you so we believe it’s right that you have to give up your bed. Plus, you’re the maknae.” Seokjin explained to him, making Jungkook scoff in disbelief.

“The poor girl has worked her off lately and has been losing sleep so she deserves to sleep in a comfy and cozy bed.” Jimin commented. “Well I’m not going anywhere. This is my bed.” Jungkook spoke sassily to them, covering himself with his blankets. He could hear Jimin sigh at him. Jimin left Yoori on the other side of Jungkook’s bed to sleep.

“Either way, she’s still sleeping here. It’s your choice if you want to stay here with her or sleep someplace else.” Jimin told him. Hating the fact that someone else was lying beside him, he grumpily got up from his bed and stomped out of his room while mumbling curse words at them. Although Jungkook’s friends believe that it’s beneficial for them to have her work for the gang, they couldn’t help but also feel guilty for dragging her into all of this. Seeing how she’s adjusting her life just because she’s involved with their gang just makes them feel worse about it. It was getting on Jungkook’s nerves too. Having her around lately has been a pain in the when it was him who forced her to work for them. The members constantly kick him out of his own bedroom just so Yoori can rest. It’s like his friends are all purposely doing this to make him irritated. The headquarters only have personal bedrooms for the 7 of them and extra rooms with bunks for the ones working under them. It was no place for her to be able to sleep. So, his friends figured they can just kick him out anytime they want just for her to rest and claim that it’s because her own bedroom is ‘pending’.

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“Come on, noona, can’t you just keep your studio open for just another hour?” Sanha pleaded once again. Ever since Yoori has been forced to work under the gang, she’s been reducing the time she kept her studio open day by day. Simply because of the fact that Bangtan constantly calls her whenever they need her at the headquarters without notice, she just began to close her studio at night earlier and earlier.

“I’m sorry, Sanha but I have to close up now. I can’t keep it open for too late.”

“How come? Noona, I heard that you haven’t been tutoring often either.”

“I know, I-I’ve just been really busy lately.” She told him apologetically. It’d be weird if things weren’t different than how it used to be. Her students and even her friend began to catch on that something was up.

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“Yoori, do you want to hang out after class and maybe grab some dinner? We haven’t hung out in a really long time.” Jihun suggested as they were in class. It was true they haven’t hung out for a long time. She’s actually missed talking to him. These days, all she has time for is class, a little bit of tutoring and work that she has to do for the gang.

“Yeah, sure, I don’t have anything to do the entire afternoon anyway.” Maybe spending time with Jihun for the afternoon will clear her mind of things. No matter what, she must finish her education properly. She can’t just let her work go down the drain even if she is forced into the gang.

            Just as soon as she and Jihun walked out of the building, she stopped herself in her steps at the sight of two figures standing out in front of the entrance of the place. “Hey, what is it? Did you forget something?” Jihun questioned her, lowering his head so that he could face her because of his tall figure.

“No I didn’t-“

“Hi, Yoori!” She heard Taehyung call out as he waved at her. She force