MARCH 27, 2019
1 YEAR & 3 MONTHS
KIM TAEHYUNG.

"there really is nothing left i can do for you."

"what?" taehyung's eyes are wide, his voice outmatching the uproaring pandemonium at the station. "no, no, there has to be something else! you can't just give up—"

"listen here, kid," the man behind the desk snarls, jabbing a fat finger on his name plate. detective is written almost obnoxiously on the beveled glass and taehyung pushes the urge to roll his eyes. whoever addresses this man as a detective is borderline deranged.

"this case has been running for more than a whole damn year. no new evidence has come up, the other detectives are tired out of their minds—" he rambles, waving a calloused palm aimlessly. "—we might as well call it a cold case."

"but—"

"if you're so persistent about this shithole of a case, then hire a private investigator." detective shithead grabs a handful of what looks like a heap of business cards and aggressively puts the haphazard stack in taehyung's hand. "please."

"wait—"

"just leave," the man sighs. "do us all a favor."

taehyung stares at him with furrowed brows, practically oozing with disbelief. the detective gives him a look before pointing at the door overbearingly, the smacking of the gum in his mouth scaling bumptiously to an irritating degree.

"fine," taehyung scowls. "fine."

one year.

one year of scavenging the entirety of their mediocre city looking for jeongguk—anything related to jeongguk. ever since mid-january of last year, it's all what taehyung's been doing. his schedule is a sheer, repititive routine—eat, sleep, work, visit the station. even at work he would find himself shuffling through heaps of speculations and possible theories regarding jeongguk's disappearance as he chugs multitudes of cheap office coffee. he's barely gotten a taste of the perks of adulthood—the perks of finally graduating from college.

they were supposed to graduate together.

he arrives home and hops on the couch, aimlessly flicking through channels and news anchors that he hates, eyes baggy and tired. taehyung is in a slump—he has been in a slump the moment jeongguk hung up on him on that day. he's been fired from twelve jobs so far (it's an absolute miracle he's still kept this one), lost lots of friends, and he's pathetic. he always feels like he's one of the variables—perhaps the sole variable—that made everything what it is now. he had an unrivaled advantage when jeongguk picked up the phone before he disappeared, but taehyung managed to blow that chance and the whole situation detonated in the worse way possible.

"pathetic," taehyung whispers. "pathetic."

his eyes drift to the mini pile of business cards on his side table. 

"private investigator, huh."

-

the agency said one of their investigators will come at four.

it's two and there's a knock on the door.

"hi," taehyung says, opening the door after nearly burning his whole apartment building down while trying to turn on the oven. "you're early."

the man is a bit short. he has noticeably sharp features and a mop of scarlet red hair, keen eyes darting straight at taehyung. the man stares blankly at him, adjusting the bridge of his half-rimmed glasses. "there was a change in schedule. i'm sorry for the short notice."

"it's fine, it's fine," taehyung reassures.

he's a bit creeped out by his aura, but it's majorly because of his utterly intimidating stare—it's a bit dull. the man digs for his pocket wallet and briefly shows taehyung an agency ID card showing his credentials. PARK JIMIN, it read. taehyung moves aside and lets him in.

they sit down.

"so tell me exactly what the situation is."

taehyung heaves a large sigh, fiddling with the fabric of his sweater.

"there was a car accident a few years ago—a big one," taehyung starts, swallowing the lump in his throat. "jeongguk... he lost someone that day. he was at the wheel, so of course it affected him. it was terrible. one of his legs even stopped functioning. he had an awful sense of survivor's guilt and he went into a slump—whole thing lasted for a big portion of our sophomore and junior year. it... it was really painful to watch."

jimin is writing this down.

"right at the end of our junior year, something changed," taehyung explains, furrowing his brows. "jeongguk changed. his mental health was deteriorating and he just wasn't thinking straight. i assumed it was some sort of psychological thing, but it was seriously getting out of hand. he was rambling about how the crosswords on the newspapers had some sort of message—"

"the newspapers?"

"yeah," taehyung says. "it was in a span of three months. he was putting together the weekly newspapers like his life depended on it, saying something about how the whole accident was premeditated and how the answer was in the papers. everyone thought he was going crazy."

taehyung tells him about the call, the disappearance and the smashed phone that made everything a lot harder for literally everyone in the police department to track down jeongguk's last exact coordinates. taehyung tells him about his theories, the low-budgeted scavenging he did in attempts to solve the case by himself—everything. he tells him everything he's gathered for the past year. the whole thing is a dead end.

jimin's phone rings. he looks at the screen briefly.

"i'll have to cut this one short," jimin says blankly. "this talk was very informational, taehyung. i'll look into it."

"yeah," taehyung says, getting up. "yeah, sure."

park jimin leaves.

two hours later and it's four.

there's a knock on the door.

taehyung isn't particularly sure who he's expecting. he hasn't ordered anything specifically, and he certainly hasn't invited anyone over (considering his current lack of established friendships), but he opens the door anyway.

there's two men in plain, ironed trousers and well-fitted blouses at his doorway. they both have a sense of utter professionalism oozing off of them, and they look a tad bit too intimidating.

"who're you people?" taehyung asks, raising a brow.

"i'm kim namjoon and this is my secretary, seokjin—" namjoon says, gesturing at the other. he digs for his ID and briefly shows it to taehyung. "—we're from the agency. we're supposed to meet at four?"

a wave of confusion hits taehyung. "someone from the agency already came by two hours ago—said something about a schedule change."

they both look at each other, puzzled.

"who did they say they were?" namjoon asks, bewildered. taehyung purses his lips. they don't look too pleased.

"jimin," taehyung starts, fingers lightly grazing at the crevices of the wooden door. "park jimin."

their eyes go wide. namjoon and seokjin look at each other as if they don't know how to react. taehyung furrows his brows, unsure of what to say.

"his name was park jimin? i mean i'm pretty sure," taehyung gushes. "he even showed me his ID, and it clearly was from the agency. 'twas even similar to yours."

namjoon doesn't say anything. instead, he rummages through his duffel bag haphazaradly and pulls out a thin binder. he flicks through the fine pages briskly, face contorting into absolute confusion. he stops at a certain page and hands it to taehyung.

"is this how he looked like?"

it's an identification page—(taehyung assumes it's some sort of catalog for their agency's private investigators)—namjoon points at a certain person on the paper. eyes squinting, taehyung leans to take a better look at the blurry image.

it's the same person. sharp features, scarlet red hair—but his eyes. they're not dull?

"that's him," taehyung says. "that's park jimin."

"taehyung," namjoon starts heavily. "jimin's been missing for two years now."

-

i'm in quarantine rn and uuhhh hAAA . THIS UPDATE IS SO LATE IM SO SORRY . my life was in shambles and ive recently just got my life back together after like ,,, months of no motivation at all. i will finish this book ASAP !!!!!