V

The guilt didn't leave by the next day or the day after that. It just continued to eat at him with every page that he turned. He had gone back to the library with Yoongi every day so far, but they still hadn't found anything. With his luck, there wouldn't be anything useful in the library at all.

It was then that Jimin thought back to when they went to the coffee shop for a quick snack and drink after yet another unsuccessful search. Something had seemed strange, he had quickly noticed. The old woman was nothing but welcoming and friendly to Jimin, but seemed a bit more reserved when speaking to Yoongi. In fact, she had completely avoided him, it wasn't hard to miss how she would purposefully walk further away from him whenever she had the chance or how she only spoke with him to take his order and never asked him how his day was going or made any effort to carry a conversation. Yoongi hadn't seemed shocked in the least and hadn't spoken much either.

It was odd.

He made a mental note to ask Yoongi about it later, whenever he actually decided to bring it up. He flipped another page of the book with a sigh. Yoongi was right after all. The book was pretty boring and didn't seem to have any actual information in it that would be relevant to their search.

He sighed in disappointment, shoulders heaving and an intense regret for taking the book in the first place if it was completely useless in the end. The only thing was that every once in a while it would mention that someone would go missing and it was apparently agreed on that it was just the wildlife. Which made sense for a town this far in the middle of nowhere. The one time a body was found, apparently, the townspeople had declared that only a bear could have done that kind of damage.

He closed the book with a huff and left it laying on his bed. They weren't getting anywhere with this. He leaned over and tapped his phone until it turned on and he glanced at the time. It wasn't too late, maybe he could still go out and do a bit more research.

He hesitated. There had been no sign of the shadows since the day in the woods, but was he willing to risk it?

Oh, what the hell. Why not?

He got up and left the house, walking down the streets that were getting more familiar with every passing day despite the eternal fog that seemed to blanket the town. He found his way to the coffee shop with ease and entered quietly. The little bell on the door rang and the old woman came out from the back, her expression brightening the moment she saw him.

"Welcome back, love! Please, make yourself comfortable. Would you like anything to drink?"

"Can I have a tea today?" He asked as he smiled at her and sat down at a table near the window.

"Of course, love. It will be done in a few minutes."

He stared at the foggy street outside silently while she made herself busy with the tea. A few minutes later, she set it down in front of him and sat on the other chair.

"So what brings you here today?" She asked him with a gentle smile. He looked down at his tea nervously and took a small sip to avoid burning his tongue if he could help it.

"I had a couple of questions." He admitted quietly, holding his mug up by his mouth and shyly glancing over the rim.

She sat up a little straighter. "What are they, love? I'll do my best to answer them for you."

He bit his lip nervously and tried to avoid meeting her gaze. "Have you ever found this town strange? At all?"

She hummed and looked at him with an indescribable expression. "I can't say that I have. This is just a normal, quiet town, that's all."

Ok, he did not believe that in the least.

"Maybe it's just me being nervous." He tugged on his hair slightly with a chuckle.

"It's possible." She smiled, her eyes twinkling and the strange expression and atmosphere dissipated into the air as if it hadn't even existed in the first place.

"I was also wondering..." He trailed off. She nodded at him and urged him to continue.

"Go on, love."

He clasped his hands together tightly. "Why were you acting so different with Yoongi?" He whispered as if he were afraid of someone else hearing his words despite them being the only ones in the coffee shop.

He could hear her breath hitch and his heart clenched anxiously.

"Min Yoongi. A tragic child," She murmured, "No one associates themselves with him these days unless they want trouble. Well, no one except you, apparently."

"What do you mean?"

She sighed. "It's a long story, love. Are you sure you want to know?" He nodded. Yoongi had already told him enough and he didn't want to push too far.

"When the boy was young, his parents would bring him here often. He was shy, yes, but he was as kind as they came. I could sense the innocence in him, the sparkle that only happens in childhood in his eyes. He only started to open up once he befriended the Jung boy, though." She frowned before continuing.

"Then one day, he comes stumbling into my coffee shop, covered in blood and crying." She recalled. "I called his parents immediately and tried to calm him down, but he kept insisting that someone - no - something would come after him. No one knew what he was talking about, the child was barely making any sense. We found out from him later that the Jung boy had broken the law." She sighed. "I think we all knew it would happen one day, just not that soon."

Jimin stayed silent even though he was still unsure about what the law even was.

"For months afterward, he wouldn't leave his house. We thought he would recover from it, but it got worse. He began spouting delusional things like 'the shadows are alive' and 'they're going to kill us all' but that's simply ridiculous. His parents were close to shipping him off somewhere and I think most of the town agreed with that idea. Clearly, whatever had happened had messed with the child's mind. He never really had any friends other than the one, but everyone avoided him like the plague after that. Everyone said he was going crazy." She reached over and clasped Jimin's hand in hers.

"I'm glad you aren't judging him like we all did." She said and Jimin felt as if some kind of weight had settled on his shoulders, some kind of responsibility.

"I tried to have faith in the boy, I really did, but it got worse after he came back from the forest a few months later. The child was completely hysterical. His parents were at their wit's end, you see? I remember they almost completely lost any hope they might have had."

Jimin squeezed her hand in an attempt at being reassuring and to silently urge her to continue.

"He closed himself off even more than before, and the people began to ridicule him. I heard rumours, love, awful ones. I can't even bring myself to repeat them. I haven't spoken to him since then." She admitted.

Jimin finished the tea and looked back at her sympathetically.

"I guess it makes sense why you would be uneasy talking to him after so long " his grip tightened around the mug. "But thank you for telling me."

She smiled sadly at him. "You're welcome, love."

They talked about nothing in particular, the weather, Seoul and even the school he was no longer attending until it was getting too dark outside for him to be comfortable. He said goodbye to her with a quick hug and left the shop, cautiously looking around on his way home. The sound of chirping crickets was reassuring, and he relaxed somewhat. He liked silence, despite how it wouldn't ever be comfortable anymore. But anything was better than whispers.

He had just turned onto his street when he felt something grab his wrist and pull him off the road into a dark alleyway. He gasped and was about to scream when his mouth was covered and his arm was twisted behind his back.

He wanted to cry. Why now? Why him?

He struggled in the hold but couldn't escape no matter how much he tried. He even pulled as hard as he could but it didn't do anything.

"Calm down sweetheart. 's just me." A gravelly voice spoke right next to his ear and Jimin twisted out of the grasp with a shriek, turning around to face the man standing behind him. Jiyong stood there cockily, hands on his hips and with a satisfied smirk playing on his lips. "What's gotcha so scared, hm?"

Jimin put a hand on his chest and exhaled. "Nothing. You just... Surprised me," He stood up straight and tried to appear much more confident than he actually was. It would be better than showing just how shaken he felt in that moment.

"So why did you grab me like that?" He asked, crossing his arms and glaring at Jiyong.

"You owe me, ya know. I just thought ya should know that I'll be comin' to collect tha' favour sooner or later."

Jimin frowned. "And you thought grabbing me was the best way to tell me this?"

He shrugged in a way that made Jimin want to punch him. "Easier than tailing ya for th' next few days."

"And you don't need me right this second, do you?"

"Nah," Jiyong confirmed. "Just felt like tellin' ya now so it won't be a shock when I actually need ya." The glee in his eyes made Jimin nervous. He didn't like that look at all.

"If that's all, I'm going home."

"Ah! Not so fast sweetheart," Jiyong smirked. "Aren'tcha gonna thank me for bringing you to Min?"

"Fine. Thanks. Whatever." Jimin scoffed. He turned around to leave when Jiyong grabbed his wrist and spun him around again, cornering him against the wall.

"A proper thank you, sweetheart. Not whatever that was."

Jimin tried to back away anxiously, but the hand that tightly held onto his wrist and the wall behind him kept him from doing so.

"And what would be a 'proper thank you' in your opinion?" He asked skeptically and somewhat dreaded the answer.

Jiyong leaned forward and held Jimin's chin between his thumb and finger, towering over Jimin and making him feel completely trapped.

"Ya seem smart," Jiyong observed with a hunger in his eyes that made Jimin shudder. "I'm sure you can figure it out." He whispered, much too close to Jimin's face for him to be comfortable.

His breath caught in his throat and he tried to lean as far back as he could but was pulled forward again.

"Please don't do this." Jimin whimpered. He could feel himself trembling in Jiyong's hold and the dread washed over him like waves as Jiyong leaned in closer. His heart rate began to skyrocket with every millimeter of distance that was vanishing from between them. A familiar tightness in his chest returned and he struggled even harder to get away.

"Sweetheart." Jiyong frowned. "Ya gotta stop moving."

Jimin glared at him and tried to turn his head away. "Fuck. You."

"Don't make me force ya," Jiyong growled and forced Jimin to look him in the eyes even as the tightness in Jimin's chest increased with every second until he could no longer hold it in. He clapped his hands over his mouth as he let out a deep cough. Every time he breathed in, more coughs came out and he could barely breathe.

"What the fuck!?" Jiyong let go of him in a panic and took several steps back. He didn't even have to do a blood check, he could taste the metal on his tongue as he grew lightheaded and collapsed to his knees. Jimin coughed for a few minutes until he could breathe normally again. He inhaled deeply and held his breath before exhaling in an attempt to calm his heart rate.

He pulled his hands away from his mouth, knowing that there was surely blood on them, and shoved them in his pockets before Jiyong could see anything.

"Sorry." Jimin said blankly and did his best to bluff his way out of the situation, "I have a really bad cold. I don't want you to catch it."

Jiyong stared with wide eyes. "I don't know much, but that didn't sound like no cold to me."

"It is," Jimin said with finality. He stood up on shaky legs and nodded once at Jiyong before staggering back home alone. He collapsed in his bed after waving off his concerned parents and washing his hands in the bathroom. He also made sure to brush his teeth well so he could get rid of the metallic taste in his mouth. There was no taste, in his opinion, that was worse.

He sent a quick goodnight message to the group chat as well as asking if they could call in the morning before closing his eyes and falling asleep.

He didn't dream at all that night. It was probably the first peaceful sleep he had gotten in a while, if he were to be completely honest. He checked his phone. 8 am. Jin and Tae were probably already awake, which was good. Or maybe just Jin since Tae liked sleeping in as much as humanly possible and was more zombie than human before 11 am. He scrolled through Jin's concerned messages after Jimin had said that he had to call them.

He messaged asking if it was alright and both of them responded positively, although Taehyung seemed more hesitant. Honestly, Jimin was more impressed that he was even conscious at such an, as he often called it, 'unholy hour of the morning'.

A few minutes later, he had set up and video called Jin. His friend picked up almost instantly, and Jimin could see the tired faces of not only Jin and Kook, but also Tae.

"Good morning." Taehyung groaned, leaning his head on Jungkook's shoulder.

"Good morning to you too," Jimin responded with a giggle. "And here I thought I'd have to wait for you to wake up in order to get over to Jin's house."

"Nope." Tae smiled, a small curve of his lips that was only ever seen when he was still half asleep.

Jin poked Tae on the forehead with an eye roll.

"This doofus showed up at my doorstep at one in the morning," Jin grumbled, "said he wanted a sleepover."

"Sorry," Tae said sarcastically although it was obvious that no one actually believed the apology for a second.

Jimin rolled his eyes with a laugh. "Things have been alright for you guys?"

"Nothing much has happened. Other than Kyungsoo and Hyeri breaking up and getting back together for the millionth time." Tae drawled, sounding more bored than ever.

"Good to see I'm not missing much."

"You aren't. Trust me."

Jungkook smiled excitedly after yawning. "How are things there?"

Jimin quieted and sat pensively for a moment. He wasn't sure what to say, especially since Jungkook hadn't heard the first conversation and had no idea what was happening.

"Things are...Alright. I guess."

Taehyung frowned and he seemed to pay more attention than before. "What do you mean, Jimin?"

He exhaled loudly and felt terrible for having to say something, but it was necessary. "Hey Kook, is it okay if you don't hear this? I don't want to exclude you but I don't want to re-explain everything."

"Yeah… I'll just, go get breakfast or something." He looked slightly hurt, but he stood up and walked away without even staying long enough to hear Jimin's rushed apology.

"Go on Jimin," Jin said quietly, eyes obviously following Jungkook out of the room.

"I'm still worried," He admitted. "Yoongi and I are searching the whole library, but we haven't found anything useful yet."

"What about the... Movement in the shadows?" Taehyung asked hesitantly.

Jimin frowned. "It's strange. It doesn't happen all the time."

He paused. "But there was a guy who says I owe him and tried to assault me earlier. He pulled me between two houses and cornered me." He said in a whisper, knowing full well how overprotective the two could get. Taehyung and Jin both stiffened, but Taehyung seemed to be much more on edge than ever before.

"I was scared. I thought he was-"

"Did he touch you?" Taehyung growled.

"Tae, what do you mean-"

"Did. He. Fucking. Touch. You?"

"Um... He dragged me?" Jimin answered, a bit taken aback by Taehyung's strange behaviour. "He grabbed my wrist, my face…"

Taehyung snarled and stormed out of the room, bringing his cellphone with him. Jin just stared after him looking lost.

"Do you think he's alright?" Jimin asked after a moment.

"To be honest," Jin sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "I'm not sure. When he showed up, it looked almost like he'd been crying."

"But why would Tae have been crying?" Jimin wondered.

"I mean, it could also have been the lighting." Jin reasoned. "I was also really tired so I could be wrong. I'll keep an eye on him, don't worry."

Jimin hummed thoughtfully and he knew the worry showed clear as day on his face. Jin took the opportunity to change the subject while he could.

"So other than this asshole assaulting you, anything else?"

"I learned some stuff about the town's history, which is cool, I guess. But not much else happened, to be honest."

Jin shrugged and accepted it. Nothing was always better than a tragedy, they supposed. The door slammed open hard enough that Jimin could see Jin wince and Taehyung stomped back into the room and flung himself onto the bed. There seemed to be a small mark on the wall and Jimin knew that Jin would scold Tae later for it. Both Jin and Jimin just watched as he glared at the ceiling for a minute until one of them finally broke the silence.

"Are you alright?" Jimin wondered quietly aloud.

"I'm fine." Tae hissed. "Perfectly fine. Never been better."

Neither of them bought it. Taehyung was usually a good actor, but he could never conceal anger all that well.

"Anyways. Kook can come back in now, I guess. We can just chat until I have to go scour the library again."

Jin moved to stand, but Taehyung pushed him back down.

"I'll do it. It's fine."

He walked out again, but much calmer than he had been before.

"Something is definitely up with him," Jimin said worriedly. Jin agreed instantly.

"Yeah. If this keeps up, I'm going to have to speak to his parents."

They sat in silence until Taehyung returned, pulling Jungkook in behind him. The two sat down and Tae played with Kook's hair. It had always been a nervous tic of his, needing to fiddle with someone else's hair. The three of them were the only ones who would let him do it. The fact that he was doing it showed that he was genuinely stressed about something and Jimin hoped everything would be alright.

Soon enough, he had to hang up after saying goodbye to the others. He was hungry and knew he had to meet Yoongi soon.

He ate a quick breakfast and headed out through the foggy streets towards the library. They had agreed to meet outside, so he was taking his time getting there. He didn't have to rush.

As he approached their meeting point, he began to hear voices.

At first, he tensed up and prepared to bolt at the slightest movement, but then he listened again. It wasn't a menacing whisper. Not in the least.

He walked closer and saw several people standing outside the library, as well as Yoongi just leaning against the wall and observing silently.

"What's going on?" He asked Yoongi as he walked up beside him. "I'm assuming there aren't usually this many people around here at this time of day."

"Or at all," Yoongi replied, glancing over at Jimin. "Just listen. You'll learn a lot that way."

Jimin pouted but paid attention. A woman was walking from person to person, and seemed to be completely distraught; her hair and clothes were a mess, her voice was trembling and she had tear tracks on her cheeks. She seemed to get more and more upset with every new person she went to, and Jimin felt genuinely sorry for her.

Eventually, she approached them, although she seemed reluctant to do so.

"Excuse me," she asked with a wavering voice, "can you help me?"

Jimin gently clasped her hand in his. "What's wrong?" He was definitely concerned and being the bleeding heart that he had always been, wanted to do anything he could to help her.

"It's my son." Tears streamed silently down her cheeks and Jimin couldn't even imagine how much pain she was in. Maybe, he thought then, this is how his parents felt when he was diagnosed.

"What's wrong with your son?" He squeezed her hands in what he hoped was a reassuring gesture. She only continued sobbing and let go of his hands to wipe the tears out of her eyes.

"He didn't come home last night, and no one's seen him since yesterday afternoon. What if something happened to him?" She looked desperate and her gaze only proved it.

"I couldn't take it if anything happened to him." She whimpered and covered her eyes as another round of tears spilled from her eyes.

"Hey, calm down. Everything will be fine, I'm sure. He'll probably be home tonight!" He tried to comfort her, but he wasn't sure if it was working.

"I hope so." She wiped away a few stray tears. "Thank you. You're kinder than most."

Yoongi tapped Jimin's shoulder and he was obviously irritated.

"Hey, we have to get working. You can console crying ladies whenever you want in your spare time, just stop wasting mine."

Jimin glared at him and stood his ground. "Yoongi can't you have some empathy? God. Her son just went missing!"

"It's not my problem," Yoongi shrugged and walked into the building, leaving Jimin gaping and seething outside.

Just how rude could he get?

He turned back to the woman apologetically and hung his head. "I'm sorry that he's such an ass."

The woman giggled slightly and shook her head, and honestly, Jimin was relieved that she seemed to be crying less than before. "It's alright. He never got along with Jiyong anyways."

Jimin stiffened. "Jiyong?"

She looked into his eyes hopefully. "You know him?"

He nodded slowly and hesitantly. "I saw him at about nine last night."

"That's the latest anyone's heard from him," She whispered. "Did you see where he went?"

He shook his head. "I wasn't feeling too well, so I went back home. The last I saw him, he was on my street."

Jimin felt awful. Was he really the last one to see a missing person?

"I'll help look for him!" Jimin volunteered, feeling as if he had to do something. He felt almost personally responsible for some reason and the guilt ate at him even though he knew that logically he had nothing to do with the situation.

"Really? You would do that?" She asked, sounding as if he had just told her the best news in the world. When he agreed, she drew him into a tight hug.

"Bless you, child." She whispered, "Bless your soul."

He smiled shakily once she released him and headed into the library after saying goodbye to her only to see Yoongi scowling at him.

"What's your problem?" Jimin hissed angrily.

"Jiyong is an asshole, that's what." Yoongi spat back and Jimin glared at him.

"Well so are you!"

"Excuse me!?" Yoongi was livid. "At least I'm not threatening or assaulting anyone, since I'm sure he probably did that at least once!"

"Anything could have happened to him!" Jimin stormed past Yoongi and only turned around when Yoongi spoke again.

"He's probably drunk on a street corner somewhere. Wouldn't be the first time."

"Can't you have any common decency?" Jimin wanted to yell but he knew the librarian would likely kick him out if he did.

"Oh?" Yoongi challenged, "Can you stop sticking up for people who don't deserve it?"

That was it. Jimin shoved his finger up against Yoongi's chest and pushed more with every word.

"Can you just shut up? I'm trying to be a decent human being, it's not my fault if you can't be."

"I think-" Yoongi began but he was cut off by Jimin.

"If you could stop being a self-entitled prick for just one moment, maybe you'd understand!" He fumed, "You aren't better than anyone else."

Jimin's glare could have killed. There was no way he would let Yoongi off easily.

"I-"

"Save it, Yoongi. Let's just shut up and do what we came here to do. I can't deal with any more of your bullshit right now." Jimin stormed away into the rows of books and began aggressively flipping through the pages of the first book he saw. He could feel Yoongi's eyes on him, but he didn't care about acknowledging him. When he found nothing, he shoved the book back on the shelf in frustration and moved on to the next one.

Yoongi tried coming up to him several times over the next few hours, but every time Jimin would simply grab the largest book he could find and hold it up so that he didn't have to look at Yoongi.

"Fine." Yoongi spat after the fifth attempt, "Be that way. See if I help you next time."

Jimin glanced up over the top of the book to see Yoongi walking furiously out of the library. Jimin just scoffed and flipped him off before turning back to the book.

"Don't need your help. Asshole."