On Saturday morning, at half past 9, Seokjin and Namjoon arrived in their car near the guest house to pick up the other two, but only Jungkook was waiting for them outside.

N: “Is Taehyung not coming?”

J: “Don’t know. I haven’t seen or heard from him at all this morning.” Jungkook explained, so Namjoon called Taehyung and, when the latter answered, Namjoon said:

N: “Morning, sunshine! Are you up?”

T: “Morning! Yes, at approximately 200 meters.”

N: “What? Where are you?”

T: “In the woods on the mountain that starts on the other side of that bridge with the goat.”

N: “Why are you there? Did the goat corner you again?”

T: “No, but if you feel the need to run for the hills and the hills are practically in your backyard, it kinda feels like a missed opportunity to not run for the hills.”

N: “O…kay… And are you lost?”

T: “Yes, very. It started a month ago and it’s sorta hitting its peak. But I’m not physically lost, since I practically just have to go downwards from here. Are you on your way to the guest house?”

N: “No, we just arrived here.”

T: “Oh, already? Sorry! I’ll be there in 5 to 10 minutes.”

N: “It’s fine. Don’t rush too much.” Namjoon said before hanging up and, after Seokjin asked where Taehyung was and why, Namjoon said he didn’t really know the answer to the second question, then he addressed Jungkook: “Do you have any idea about this?”

Jungkook stayed silent, just briefly lifting his shoulders and looking away, and this got Namjoon thinking.

When Taehyung arrived, he did everything he could to avoid looking in Jungkook’s direction, even if his eyes were sunken in and his vision was so blurry from lack of sleep that he might’ve not seen right anyway.

S: “Did you have to play nurse throughout the night for someone again or something?”

T: “Nah. I just couldn’t sleep well, so I’ve been walking around since 6 a.m. But I’ve had 2 coffees and 1 coke, so I’m good to go.”

S: “Alright then. Let’s go.”

As Seokjin drove them towards their road trip’s destination, Taehyung kept engaging him and Namjoon in all sorts of conversations, the two in front teasing him for how hyper he was with all that caffeine in his system. Jungkook, however, was on the opposite end of that spectrum. He was lethargic, his stomach growled at one point and he was yawning every 3 minutes.

S: “Did you skip sleep, breakfast and coffee or something?”

J: “Just breakfast and coffee.”

S: “Why?”

Jungkook didn’t want to admit it was because he had gotten used to Taehyung bringing him those every morning and just waited for Taehyung to show up that morning as well, especially with Taehyung there too, so he just said:

J: “I forgot.”

S: “Well we were planning on stopping at a supermarket along the way to get drinks and snacks for the road, so you can get some food and ice-coffee there.”

Along the way, Jungkook kept glancing towards Taehyung on his right, but Taehyung had not looked in his direction even once, so Jungkook got annoyed, crossed his arms and legs and just stared out the window on his left for a good while.

They stopped the car in the center of a certain town that seemed to be inhabited only by dogs. They did see a handful of humans here and there, so it wasn’t really a ghost town, but it still gave off that vibe with the eerie stillness, silence and some houses that had been built around 2 centuries ago, which wasn’t something you’d see every day. They explored a bit on foot with Namjoon telling them about the place’s past and present, then they got back to the car to head higher up in those mountains.

Without the help of any software or map, Namjoon directed Seokjin up the bumpy mountain road till they reached an entrance to an ancient gold mine. The structures and signs around it indicated that it was currently used as a touristic attraction, but there was no one there at the moment. Following Namjoon inside, they discovered it was lit just enough for them to see the shapes of the rock surrounding them and maybe distinguish its color.

Namjoon explained that the first people to build and work in such mines were slaves and war prisoners and, with the horrible conditions of living and working in such mines coupled with the inherent dangers of this kind of activity, most people died within a couple of years after being sent to such places.

As they went further, Namjoon talked about how, centuries before dynamite was invented, people used to carve the inside of such galleries with chisels and hammers, how before the tracks were set up for barrows to travel on them, people used to carry the rocks outside in baskets and how, way before any other form of lighting was introduced there, people made small holes in the rock wall for placing a very old type of lamp with a lit wick inside oil or animal fat that provided highly insufficient lighting.

S: “Guess I won’t have to pay for a guide anymore no matter where I travel in the world.”

N: “Which means you’re gonna travel the world together with me?”

S: “Of course.” Seokjin joyfully said, interlocking arms with Namjoon and giving him a sweet kiss.

They reached a point where the gallery split into 2 directions, the one that Namjoon wasn’t leading them towards having no lighting.

J: “Hey, what’s over there?” Jungkook asked, referring to the unlit gallery.

N: “Don’t know. I only explored the pathways open to tourists. Since that one has no lighting, it was probably deemed unsafe four regular people to go there.”

At that, Taehyung felt a sort of Spidy-sense tingling, so he subtly kept an eye on Jungkook and, as he intuited, Jungkook had started walking slow enough to fall behind the group, then went back to the crossroads and, just as he had the flashlight function of his phone to enter the section with no lighting, Taehyung grabbed his hand and stopped him without saying anything. It was just them staring at each other for a moment, then Taehyung forced a smile and pointed in the direction they came from.

T: “I have a feeling there’s something really cool where Joon’s taking us. Don’t wanna miss it, right?”

It was clear as daylight that Taehyung was bullting just to stop Jungkook from going into the potentially dangerous section without ordering him to, nagging at him or pleading with him. Jungkook really didn’t like being hindered from exploring what his curiosity was compelling him to explore, but he appreciated the friendly method Taehyung had used to stop him and the effort put into that and, even more, that Taehyung looked at and talked to him for the first time that day. So when Taehyung started lightly pulling his hand so they’d catch up to the other two, Jungkook let himself be pulled in whichever direction Taehyung wanted to go.

Taehyung didn’t let go of Jungkook’s hand until they were back outside again. Along the way, Namjoon had noticed them holding hands and wanted to question it, but decided against it. Seokjin also noticed, but he just thought Taehyung wanted to keep Jungkook from wandering off into unsafe places, because Seokjin himself had that urge ever since his cousin asked “Hey, what’s over there?”.

Seokjin wanted to take some pictures with everybody in that area, then wandered off a little further away to take some selfies and other pictures with Namjoon. Taehyung wanted to go with them, because he didn’t want to be alone with Jungkook, but he thought he shouldn’t intrude on a couple’s alone time, so he just closed his eyes and exhaled a long breath.

When he opened his eyes, he realized he didn’t have to worry, because Jungkook was not beside him anymore. Searching the surroundings for where exactly Jungkook had gone off to, he located him on top of a tall pile of white and reddish pebbles as he was seemingly taking pictures of the view from up there.

For some reason, Taehyung also went up to the top of the pile, discovering that it was harder ascending on those pebbles than on regular ground because the pebbles would move and you could slide down.

T: “Hey, you should be careful on these pebbles. It’s-”

Taehyung’s words and breath stopped in his throat when he saw how ridiculously high up they were, how the pile of pebbles ended on the edge of a cliff that was practically vertical and how the next level of relatively horizontal ground was so far below them it wasn’t even visible from there. Taehyung’s hand instinctively grabbed Jungkook’s for fear of either of them falling.

J: “Hey, if you’re scared, just focus on that.” Jungkook said, pointing towards the sky and where some mountain tops looked like they were trying to reach that sky. “Isn’t the view from here awesome?”

Taehyung looked towards the high horizon and, yes, the view was breathtaking in more ways than one. Then he looked towards Jungkook who was happy just seeing what he was seeing in front of him and a sense of both wonder and longing overtook Taehyung.

T: “Yeah, the view from here is awesome…”

Jungkook turned towards Taehyung and saw how he was looking at him, so his smile faded into a serious expression as he turned his whole body to face Taehyung and came closer till they kissed. It was a slow and loaded kiss, with desire and intensity coming from both of them, but then Jungkook could feel Taehyung slightly closing off on him as the latter’s contradictory feelings were surfacing, so Jungkook pulled back a bit and they just looked into each other’s eyes. Jungkook attempted detaching his hand from Taehyung as he took a step backwards, but then…

J: “Whoa!”

The pebbles made Jungkook’s foot slip and fall towards the edge of the cliff. Taehyung was still holding his hand, so he also fell and both of their bodies slid down over the pebbles for about a meter till they stopped. Both of them were with their stomachs against the pile of pebbles, but Jungkook’s head was facing the top of the pile while Taehyung’s was facing the dreadful abyss that stretched out below them and, from this position, Taehyung could clearly see how great the fall would be if they slid down anymore. He was frozen stiff with his hand squeezing Jungkook’s and his widely open eyes locked on the depth in front of them.

J: “… Taehyung, are you okay?” Jungkook asked, but it didn’t seem like Taehyung even heard him from all the fear he was feeling and that was evident on his face. “Listen – don’t move at all! Stay calm and don’t move at all, alright? I’ll try to get us out of this. But if I fall you have to immediately let go of my hand so you don’t end up falling with me. Okay?”

Finally Taehyung reacted, but it only consisted of his eyes focusing on Jungkook and his head going from left to right and vice versa very slowly a couple of times. It was like Taehyung couldn’t agree to letting go of Jungkook’s hand, but the fear didn’t even allow him to speak and his eyes slowly started watering.

J: “Ugh, okay! But I’ll need to switch hands. When I grab your wrist with my right hand, you have to grab onto it and let go of the other one without moving too much. Can you do that?”

Taehyung gave a subtle nod, so Jungkook decided to trust him. He also trusted the foothold he had managed to make for himself right after they stopped sliding down as well as the way he was balancing his weight and his center of gravity over the pile of pebbles. So he grabbed Taehyung’s wrist with his right hand, Taehyung let go of Jungkook’s hand and, after that was moved, he grabbed Jungkook’s right wrist.

More towards the base of the pile, the pebbles were less likely to move, so Jungkook kept his feet at the same level they already were and just crawled towards his left, securing a good enough foothold before shifting his weight.

There was nothing stable to grab onto yet, so he only used his left arm to help move the rest of his body until he finally reached near the branch of small tree that was growing out of the pile of pebbles, on the side of it. One more move with his foot and he would reach it, but the pebbles under his foot didn’t sustain it and rolled on till they fell off the edge. Luckily, Jungkook had not shifted most of his weight onto that foot yet, so he didn’t lose his balance. He tried again and managed to grab onto the branch.

However, Jungkook couldn’t properly pull himself towards the tree without moving Taehyung and, given the position he was in, any slight movement could cause him to slide further down the side of the pile.

J: “Taehyung, can you trust me fully for a few minutes? We’ll let go of each other’s hand, I’ll pull myself more towards this tree and, with the good foothold I’ll get from its trunk, I can climb up the pile till the tree above it and then I’m good. Then I can pull you up by your feet without the risk of us falling.”

Taehyung nodded with unexpected firmness and let go of Jungkook’s wrist. At that point he hadn’t realized yet that most of his anxiety faded when he saw that Jungkook was mostly likely going to make it out safely.

As he said he would, Jungkook pulled himself towards the tree, placed his feet against its trunk and climbed to the small tree above it. After reaching solid ground, he hurried over to the top of the pile, placed his knees, belly and chest against it and pulled Taehyung up by the latter’s legs until they were both not in any danger of falling anymore. Jungkook still had to help Taehyung, whose legs were wobbly, get down from the pile of pebbles and make their way to a large rock they sat on to catch their breaths.

Taehyung was still as the rock under him and staring blankly at the ground below him when Namjoon returned and noticed something was wrong. He rushed towards where the other two sat on a rock and asked what happened. That question prompted Taehyung’s mind to replay the recent events, highlighting how the abyss looked when he was upside down, and he suddenly puked. Namjoon ran to the car to get napkins and water before Taehyung started shaking and sobbing.

J: “Hey, it’s alright now. You’re safe. We’re both safe and on solid ground. It’s okay now, Taehyung.” Jungkook tried comforting Taehyung while rubbing his back and kissing his temple, but it was inevitable for all the tension and fear Taehyung had felt to burst out like that.

Namjoon came back with the napkins and water and handed them to Taehyung who had calmed down enough to use them to clean himself and drink while Jungkook explained what happened without going into graphic details.

When Seokjin came back from peeing in some bushes, he also wanted to ask what happened, but his words were stopped from being articulated when Namjoon and Jungkook made X signs with their arms and shook their heads. They didn’t want Taehyung to mentally relive everything again so soon, but the latter said he had calmed down enough and started explaining things to Seokjin himself. After Seokjin heard everything, he snatched Jungkook’s cigarette from his hand and smoked it himself in an attempt to keep himself from overreacting.

S: “Well what should we do now? Should we just head back home and drink the strongest things we can find?” Seokjin asked after he was mentally ready to have a normal conversation again.

T: “No. We still wanted to see the red lake before sunset and we still have like 2 hours left.”

N: “Are you two still up for it?”

Taehyung and Jungkook said yes, so Seokjin pulled himself together properly and drove them there.

Not long afterwards, they reached a huge lake that was red at its extremities and had a small church sticking out from the water in the middle of the lake. Namjoon explained that the red color came from the natural iron reserves in the area and people would go to that church only a few times per year.

Everyone was silent for a few moments, mostly contemplating the beauty of what they were seeing, but also waiting to hear or see Jungkook say or do something with the aim of getting to that church. They subtly started looking at him in expectation till Jungkook realized and asked:

J: “What?”

N: “Aren’t you gonna suggest swimming to that church in the middle of the lake?”

T: “Or finding a log and some branches to row ourselves there with?”

S: “Or any crazy thing like that, really.”

J: “No. I’m busy right now.” Jungkook declared, lifting up his and Taehyung’s hands that were holding each other. “Maybe next time.”

Jungkook and Taehyung had naturally started holding hands inside the car and outside of it, but Jungkook making that so obvious to everyone, and even to Taehyung himself, through this little gesture made Taehyung so flustered he had to cover his eyes with his free hand. Namjoon and Seokjin exchanged a short glance, then nonchalantly carried on.

S: “So can any fish live in such iron-filled water?”

If Namjoon and Seokjin hadn’t become aware of the other two holding hands non-stop throughout that evening, they would have insisted for the 4 of them to go to the hut and get drunk out of their minds after what happened after exiting the mine. But, as such, they just dropped them off at the guest house and went back to the hut to have a joint and a few beers before resting for tomorrow’s road trip.

It was very late, dark and no one was around outside the guest house, so Jungkook and Taehyung held hands until they entered the hallway where their rooms were located and where they just stood still for a moment, a bit awkwardly, until Taehyung suddenly asked:

T: “Don’t you want to smoke a cigarette on the terrace or something? I can even go buy whatever strong alcohol you’re into.”

J: “Don’t wanna be alone after the events of today, huh?”

T: “Well…”

J: “You won’t find any stores or bars open at this hour in this kinda town… But I have a bottle of wine in the fridge at the end of the hallway.”

A.N. This is an entrance to a gold mine, but it's only a random and very small one.