PLEASE PAY ATTENTION TO DATES.
 

Date: July 25th, 2017

“But why?”

“Just do it.” Her brother’s voice is firm over the phone, and she doesn’t bother saying that she already had three days ago. She had taken out money from the bank, but she wasn’t as stupid as she let on. She knew that the economy was becoming destabilized.

South Korea was a wealthy nation. She would have thought that impending war wouldn’t so easily prey on the minds of the people, but it was clear that she was wrong. In the last few days, the crime rate had increased significantly and the sweltering heat had effected more people than ever before.

There’s a knock on her door, and she pauses, hanging up the phone and tossing it on to the counter carelessly. She opens the door, only to see the boys from before: Jungkook and Jimin, and carrying another between them.

Wordlessly, she throws the door open, and Jimin gently puts the washed and empty container of food on the dining table before helping the third into a seat. His head lolls, and she reaches out a hand.

A fever. A high one.

“Does he have wounds?”

“Yes.”

Then they were infected. She fetches her small box of medical supplies that she had nicked from the dental school for her own practice and entertainment, and sighs at the dwindling amount. She would have to go get more.

She puts down a bottle of pills without a label, before looking at the wound on the male’s arm. It was turning a nasty, color, and she gets to work, disinfecting it and wrapping bandages around it.

“Are you a doctor?”

“Dental student,” She corrects with a smile. She found herself underestimated a lot, but dentists were really a specified kind of doctor. She didn’t know a lot about the general body, but she knew enough. “Make sure he’s eating and drinking, and give him those pill twice a day.”

“Thank you,” The older of the two fully conscious males breathes, and she just nods.

“Do you need more food?”

“Yes-”

“No.” The elder one shakes his head. “We can’t take more from you. Thank you.”

“Put him on the couch,” She nods toward the half-conscious one. “And wash your hands.”

The two freeze slightly, looking at each other. The younger one parts his lips, “Taehyung. His name is Taehyung. I’m Jungkook. And that’s Jimin.”

“Well, Jungkook and Jimin. Are you going to sit there, or are you going to help me get out the plates?” She shoots them a wide smile, and Jimin scurries forward to help as Jungkook sets Taehyung on the couch.

“Taehyung can’t say it now, but he loved your japchae,” Jimin murmurs shyly and looking at his feet. He had to only be a year or two younger than her, if even that.

Jungkook turns on the television for some background noise, and the news flickers on. There was someone droning about the war, and she sighs at that. There wasn’t anything happy or uplifting these days, so she took it upon herself to do that.

Her brother said he’d be returning to Seoul soon, and he insisted on them fleeing to Europe temporarily, saying that it was safer. She didn’t necessarily agree with him.

“Taehyung was robbed the other day,” Jimin whispers in a confession. “We had our savings piled up, and he was bringing them back before he got held at knifepoint.”

Nari nods. It was becoming a common story. She was making sure to only stick to well-populated areas and to not go out at night. She huffs, pulling the rice out of the microwave, which Jimin quickly takes from her hands.

It wasn’t the boys that were bad. It was the circumstances. But she had been told several times that she was too kind for her own good.

The rapping of knuckles against the wooden door makes them all pause, and she wipes her hands on a spare dish towel tucked in the back pocket of her jeans before opening it. Surprisingly, it was the same neighbor that had helped her out earlier.

He looks over her shoulder, face growing stonier seeing the other males, but then turns back to Nari, “We need help.”

And for the second time in the last fifteen minutes, she throws her door wide open, letting four other males parade in, setting one down on the loveseat. She was sure that she had seen that one around the apartment complex.

“His name is Hoseok. Can you help?”

She nods, eyes narrowing at the bruise on his face and the bleeding left leg. The gash was deep, and