Vision diluted and flashed to the same as black when I darted up sitting straight on the bed, pulse increasing at a fast speed with swirls of breath rush enervating my lungs.
Nights like this felt too sultry before, but now as time passed, it became more like a mundane routine. It took half an hour, or maybe forty minutes, to cool myself down. The memories would stay afresh and frivolous, but the sound of alarm from my phone did good work this time. I was brought back faster to reality at the low but iterating cring. One box of notification popped out alongside- sender's name as Momo- to tell- You on yet? Jackson's piled up texts peeked in the lower midst, each one starting with a disyllable to provide how much infuriated he was for not replying to his text any soon.
I pulled myself out of the blanket.
Night was the best time at the dorm of seven firebrands since it was the only time the zone remained all pleasing and devoid of sounds. In daylight, the boys were everywhere. Even though I was allegedly sure, it was evident that some conspiracies had taken place, like a plan to not let me go around inside without supervision of any one of the seven. Times I saw Jin watching me over while doing his own work, or when Taehyung constantly kept on asking me to play games with him in a way to perhaps keep me distracted and busy. Aside from that, I was assured, there was something, something still within the place with possible permanency that had all of them mentally tensed, and they had to get rid of it because of me, and couldn't get rid of because of me.
I called Momo's number and put the call on Bluetooth. She picked up right away.
"Take care of the streams. I am moving."
"Two minutes."
After a while, I was striding through the narrow corridor towards the alignment of other members' rooms, taking an unconscious pause when one red blink of light glimmered from the corner of my peripheral glance. For the way they were perfectly hidden despite being at the most obvious locations, it could have skipped the view of many unless looked definitely closer. One faint red-eye glanced from the crevice of the first-floor corridor, another before the landing of the staircase. The third eye of the face espied till the far corner of the hallway hiding at the corner of the video monitor within the wall beside the main entrance. They bugged only the main routes that went around the dorm and nowhere else, being certain that they didn't have to.
I planted an ear onto the doors. Everyone seemed to be deep down, Namjoon's snores evoked past the six's. Resting assured, I climbed downstairs and trailed around the floor in slow motion. It was the advent of the winter breeze. The night sky peeking through the light curtains was a fading gradient of black to medium gray by the horizon. A broken moon toppled the pictures of thick clouds that were splotching at areas influenced under the halo around the iridescent white shape. The breeze smelled heavy too. Vague but enough light seeped to the living room illuminating my way to proceed. The couches, bookshelf, all appeared like small silhouettes and edges were darker as if the places of imaginary monsters where the light was too weak to reach.
First stop was the kitchen. Sipping down a glass of water sluggishly, I stood beside the main door and looked following the way the tilted lens inside the wall stared at. The bookshelf should have been just within the edge of its field of sight. Except for Jin once in a while and Namjoon, no one paid enough attention to books in this house. And whatever that had no attention paid to was left open to specks of dirt enough to coagulate. Nobody cared so. Surprisingly and not surprisingly enough, this one shelf belonged to the cleanest material category. I glanced at it.
Wooden emboss arrayed around the traditional design, it looked moderately heavy in weight. I picked out the electromagnet from my pocket and grazed over the surface. If things went along just the way analysts summarized, the night's effort shouldn't be a null vector.
And it worked just as fine as it was. A minute later, there was a satisfying low click sound. I whispered on the call.
"Where did the magnet pull the sound?" Momo asked.
"Near the middle of the height."
"There should be a lever on the upper corners then. Or the middle." I took the instruction and went along. Finding the desired behind the books of the middle rack, I gently pulled it down.
"I have greater news to tell you but finish this part first. So more things are coming in, you can't even imagine." Momo whistled on the other side. "No one's awake though, right?"
"No, obviously not. By the way, did I tell you one fun fact, Momo?"
"Ye?"
"Namjoon loves to read the Bible. One week in here, I have seen him read it more than times 'a lot' phrase would denote."
"But- I used to know he's an atheist?" Momo perplexedly replied back. "He is." I smiled, "Even so, no one else reads the Holy book more than he does in here- so far what I have seen."
"Yet then, he may enjoy reading it even if he doesn't believe, I guess..."
"That's not it though. He doesn't allow others to read it. One time I asked him for it, he precisely prepared a special excuse for me to not take it from him."
"Wow. Did you do a check?"
"I can't. I guess it used to be in the bookshelf before. Now, he keeps it in his room. And it's not easy to go in other's rooms, someone's always keeping an eye so that I am maintaining the unannounced perimeter. The moving-in part did do a few pros, but isn't having too well effect on rest of the essentials."
"Committee decided on it. And the closer you remain, they will try to stay more vigilant and even the smart ones commit mistakes when cornered without a chance to prepare."
"I agree with that. Since I am checked from liberal locomotion-"
"Then?"
"You will have to do something for me."
There was no instant sesame door opening to the action, I hefted the bookshelf aside and looked behind, taking a moment to look at the upper deck too. It was thick-skulled so there could be anything anywhere.
The backside opened to a moderate deep compartment for fillups. I enthusiastically dived in to take an immaculate look. Lines of dust matted till the corner, clean in square shapes at a few portions, on the top of which rested a small crumpled paper. Except that, the rest was empty.
I brought the low sigh to real life.
"Y/N, leave info. How is it going?"
"Great. Just that, there's nothing."
"Ugh...God good damn..." The woman delivered her expletives in tiny bangs reverberating in the background twice, "I don't understand why. Not all the coordinates and from the analysis of the video records you sent this could go wrong this way."
"No. It wasn't wrong. There was something," I traced the clean portions left out in the field of dust, "but it seems that they moved them out recently."
"You found the compartments?"
"No 's'. It's probably a makeshift hidden drawer they use, for keeping go-to materials-" I brought out the torch and flashed a circle of light to inspect the place further, "There's a drivel torn paper. Some things were kept in here for a long time that dust accumulated the rest of the place but not the parts they were kept. As much as I can guess- a bunch of files or books or similar I don't know, a box thing on its left, and uh- there could be a pistol, and something else-"
"Something else what?"
"I ain't sure if it could be it-"
"What is the paper about?"
"Rubbish."
"It's an abort. But at least we found some of our analysis are working. Leave the place as it is."
"Hmm." I scanned the middle portion of the compartment, "But I don't wanna go back yet."
"What do you mean?"
"Something's wrong with this thing. They moved things out? I am pretty sure very recently. But when did they? How did they? I was always here, around them, never leaving for a second. Did they do it at night? My room is just before the staircase. if there was a movement, I never slept too deep to not hear a thing." I tapped the back middle, "There's definitely something wrong. Can it be a dummy?"
"What are you babbling to yourself? Don't do anything else. Stick to the plan-" I fisted my knuckles to a ball and slammed the bland board in the back, producing a low bang.
"Wh-Y/N, I said don't do anything! The boys might wake up-"
"It's hollow, Momo."
"Let it be hollow. We'll check it later. Don-"
"I'll keep it low." I slammed again on the back, this time harder than before. The board tweaked at the impact, tilting at the edge by less than an inch.
"God of Jesus!" My eyes evitably glinted at the success, and I slowly tried to move the piece off. Each effort was urging to be a void retreat, but I pressed harder against the board, taking time to move it back and forth to get it loose and slide smoothly with the push. The backside started to move inch by inch. My arms tensed with part fervor to move faster in an irrespective manner.
Darkness had darkened and the low sound of wind whizzing at my back started to quieten down a bit, then once when, it was totally blocked. Before I could turn around and get a look, something cold and metal lightly was lightly tangible against my backhead.
"Don't. Move..."
I halted.
"Get up now as I say."
My blood rushed in a stagnant motion at the steel-coldness, the greater familiarity of the tenor voice. When I turned around at once, there was a male, tall enough to center and block the entire window the source of moonlight, with his stature while holding the weapon firmly at me. His black fringes swayed down messily next to the scar on his cheek, that I would've never noticed but the transfixed senses had gone too strong at the bolt of the blue. Fear aggregated and knotted in my stomach.
"I said get up."
"Y/N, what is-"
"Wait-" My voice was rather startled than shocked, when I saw the gun in the youngest's hands, both clasping the grip and around the strap of it, letting the barrel nearby attain a small chunk of white shine from the slipping moonlight. His eyes were wide open but had no meaning in the gaze. Glassy-eyed he stared at me and pressed his thumb tightly against the trigger guard.
"Jungkook," I mumbled.
"You b-bitch!"
"I can explain."