Author's P.O.V:-
Winter spoke through the frosty wind, seeping into the terror of willful's attire with a freeze. Same spoke the orbs of Jimin's forlorn eyes, his mind holding a storm for its purpose. The rest held the opposite as they picked themselves up with a moderate rush mode on.
"How long is it gonna take? What did manager-nim say?" Taehyung looked at the oldest, being busy at the side. Jin replied without eye contact, "An hour or so. PD nim told us to hurry."
"The decisions are already taken, but they want our last word of agreement on it." Yoongi's eyes rested on Namjoon's bandaged hand in a blank gaze, "The wound is gonna take some time to heal, with that amount of damage. We couldn't hold concerts like this anyway. If the starting ain't smooth, the ending is most likely to be a mess."
"Sorry guys," Namjoon added in a guilty posture. "What are you sorry for, hyung? This ain't your fault." Hoseok said.
"We should've been more careful with Che Geun-Hye's folks. I never thought those bastards could actually reach our dorm and put on an act like that. Who thought someone would go to this extent when there was only little chance they knew they had of succession?"
Yoongi added, "We took it too lightly, being vain about ourselves. Strange how they attacked Y/N twice even at her house. She was the prominent lead to our place for them."
"I told y'all from the very first that it was risky to keep her here with us. None of you willed to listen." Hoseok grumbled with protests. Yoongi held his hand up as if in defense, "Leave that, Hobi. Yes, sure it was. But if you think otherwise, even if it took a wrong turn, they reached us themselves lessening our work for finding them out. And now, everything's taken care of well."
"Agreeing with Yoongi." Namjoon said, "Let us be positive guys. Che Geun-Hye case is now fully closed. Those pimps will be out of sight from now. Our part is done. Sir will take care of the rest."
"Right..." The chatters seemed to calm down for some while. Jungkook chimed in first after minutes, "Bad that the timing was unexpected, and our concert tour had to be postponed for this...Jimin hyung especially practiced a lot this time. He was taking extra vocal training sessions, not to mention all the late-night hours I saw him practicing in the practice room alone."
"He is always working hard." Taehyung looked at the subject, somewhat worried by his eyes, "Jimin-ah, you've been quiet for some time. Is anything wrong?"
Jimin shifted at the utterance of his name, leaving a monotone 'Nothing, I'm fine' lowly in reply then looking away. Taehyung noticed the inadequacy of engagement in his voice but didn't know what to ask in return for a word. He knew Jimin for too long to know the sudden off keys and the ways he always avoided an answer when asked for a reason for this. The male wanted to help others to cure, but liked to do it for the brittle himself all alone.
"Are we all good? I'mma go get the car. Where's Jin hyung?" Hoseok looked around at others.
"He will be joining in a second." He nodded to that and went out the door. Everyone else got ready to head out. Within everyone's busy steps, Yoongi sidled beside Jimin coughing to get his attention.
"Ah, hyung." Jimin was startled in the first second. He looked back at him, "Were you saying something? What is it-"
"I should be asking that. What is it, Jimin? You seem to be distracted by something." The former went silent to that. Yoongi eyed him with patient eyes fixed on his countenance, working to extract every single detail he could out of him from minute blinks.
"Nothing's up. I'm oka-"
"How is Y/N? You went to the hospital." Yoongi's eyes didn't skip the way Jimin's gentle expression faltered for a second at the thrown question. His face rested blank with a certainty of his current lead to the other male's thoughts.
"Uh-huh yeah...she's doing okay now. Probably got released this morning."
"I took that you would want to go check her out."
"No...she should be fine without me."
"I wanna ask you something, Jimin. But first, I want to be assured you will be honest with me."
"What oh- what are you saying? Why would I lie to you?"
"I ain't saying you can't lie to me, but I want to be obligated of the truth this time. Is it Y/N?"
Jimin's cheeks flushed pale with red, he couldn't stop the stutters from coming out aiding his answer, "Is it Y/N- I don't get what you're asking..."
"I think you do. Do you like her?"
His abnormal further stuttering was despicable to himself, "No, what are yo-u even... saying-"
"Hmm." The male took a break, casting his eyes away to a distance. When he talked, the light shadowed the inches between their walking stances. His folded hands rested behind his back, one tapping the fingers over the other, something he did when he felt anxious, usually.
"Since when?"
"I don't know."
"You know this can be-"
"I know, hyung. But...I still...don't know..." Jimin mumbled in the response, slowly brushing his head to clear off the sets of thoughts, "I don't like her. I-I don't think I do, but then- it's just complicated at the moment. I will need some time to think over."
"I think that's not just it. You're hiding something else from me."
"What do you mean?"
"Look at me." Yoongi's voice was firm, his halted pace was enough for the other boy to turn and meet his eyes. "You know something, don't you?"
"...know what?"
"I don't know what is giving me the premonition in this, but you sure know something that we don't. I might be guessing dark from the dark, but a lot of times my assumptions turn out to be right. And I'm sure about you. Maybe not Y/N, maybe something else but yet..."
"It's nothing, hyung. Rest assured." Jimin smiled feebly at the other, holding his shoulders from both sides in a light hug, "You all come first as my priority. You think I would lie and ever hide anything from you? If there is something, ever, to our point of risk, I shall go and get rid of it first. There's no way anything can get to you without encountering me firsthand."
"You sound so random. Be specific with that comprehension. What is it that you're talking about?"
"Aish, nothing. Let's go. We're running late already."
Y/N's P.O.V:-
The minute hand passed half the round since the car swished out towards the road. My eyes stared at the periodicity, my brain staying unobserved, the passage clean from the slight snow hinting us to proceed. The petite green-haired male with me tapped his foot against the ground in a rhythmic low beat, humming to himself. Ten more minutes gone, I glanced at him. It was time to sneak inside.
"Follow me, Neo."
"Finally."
Three minutes for a quick stakeout and unlocking the door, both of us were in the dorm.
"How sure are you that it's gonna be there?"
"Eighty percent."
"Did you see any of them ever taking the route?"
"No."
"Any weird interaction?"
"No, pretty much never."
"Other than that time one member stopping you from touching the board, any other hint that allowed you to believe so in your guess?"
"Nope."
"And still you're saying you're eighty percent sure that their secret arsenal could have an entrance by the staircase wall?" He sighed swiping fingers through his hair.
"God, Neo. Shush. I wouldn't act simply by a mere impulse. Do you take me to be one to do it like that?"
"One can be always wrong."
"Are you done disabling the cameras?"
"One quick second."
"Work fast." I didn't wait a moment as soon as he gave the thumbs up, dashing towards the staircase. The decor boards lined up perfectly in the balance against the wall, I figured out the one I had misplaced that day fainting on the staircase, when Jin had slapped my hands away from placing it back.
I knocked on the wooden boards. No sound came in rescue telling me there could be a hollow space inside. Gripping onto the board, I tried to bulge it to no avail. The thing stayed pinned at its place.
"This sure moved easily that day as I barely pushed against. What happened today?"
"Not working?"
"You're not helping sir. I didn't bring you along with me to help only with the cameras. C'mon, gimme a hand."
Neo rolled his eyes in a lazy manner, moving his hands to my side, and gave a push along. The board creaked like a metal door but only so much space it inched to the side by the force.
"This sure is the part we're looking for, for so long. The anomaly in the architecture, it all fits so perfectly. There has to be some way to get through this. I can't-" I said to myself, "Should I try falling onto the staircase like that day and see if something clicks?"
"I ain't voting in the obnoxious activity for breaking a leg intentionally."
"You can grab me before I lose a part then."
"Bye."
"Lemme think." I looked up at the landing, "I stepped onto the first flight, then my vision had shifted." I skedaddled down the second flight, slowly swirling around to recapitulate the previous scene, "I can't remember the rest of how I had fallen. But from the time I can recall is seeing Jin before me, he was-" I stopped on the fifth staircase. "He was here. And I was sitting on the seventh. Seven..." I mumbled to myself, "BTS is seven."
"Seven is a lucky number." Neo chimed from the landing, playfully eyeing my actions.
"Right. Seven. Neo, can you move a bit?" I climbed up beside him and kneeled down to take a look.
"The nosing of this stair step..."
"What is up with it?"
"Move from there. I will try to pull this out."
"You are damaging a personal property right now." He lightly whistled with his tongue as I pulled the nosing from its place. It worked like a doorknob. With the force, it moved in a trice, letting go of the tread that made up the seventh stair step, and the wall string tilted. The boy started, moving away from the side. With the tilt of the wall string, the decor board I labored so long to move slid down to the space left out by the tilted wall string. A chain peeked out from inside above, to quench the curiosity of a mind to get pulled by the hunter.
"So it wasn't just the board I had misplaced that day, the staircase itself had gone out of its place by my impact..." I mumbled to myself, "And hardly I had taken a good look at the puzzle. BTS? Smart."
"Quick. Let's get inside." Neo grabbed the chain.
"Now you're the hurrying one."