Treasure tales

Jaehyuk #20: Discussion

Many uneventful months passed after that. Well, to be more precise, it was plenty eventful for me but compared to what we had gone through, I'd consider it plenty uneventful already. My A levels were due in less than half a year, so for a few months I cut off contact with everybody other than Yedam, who offered to study with me.

"You're sure to be behind with everything that's been going on," he had said. "Well, I am, too, but I had taken precautions already and finished the syllabus myself ahead of time.(At this moment I thought, he sure wasn't called GOD Yedam for nothing.) How about we help each other through this tough time together?" 

I nodded gratefully. "Thank you, Yedam," I said in relief. With one of the top students of the top school in the country personally coaching me, I did have hope, at this rate.

That half a year passed by in a blur. To make up for my absence, I had to work twice, thrice, many times harder than everybody else. I was willing to, because I was desperate. Extremely desperate. Occasionally during these study sessions Miyuki would join us, but it was only when she wasn't around did the topic of Treasure come up.

"How's Treasure?" I asked curiously during one of these study sessions. I looked downwards, suddenly missing them like crazy. I was grateful for Yedam's presence, because he reminded me of them, of Jaehyuk. One member was better than no member. But I controlled myself, because I could not allow myself to get distracted. I did not want to lose myself in their comforting presence and allow myself to get complacent about my work.

"They're getting on fine," Yedam said thoughtfully as he absent-mindedly spun his pen. "Although, I don't think it has been easy for anybody, with the loss of Junghwan."

"That is to be expected," I nodded. I sighed. "I haven't really got past it either. His presence is always hanging by the corner of my mind, and sometimes I think he's still with us. It's really weird to think that he isn't around anymore." I paused as tears suddenly flowed out of my eyes. I was surprised. This was the first time I had cried ever since we gave up on rescuing him.

"Let yourself cry," Yedam said as he patted me on the back, but his eyes were also bloodshot. "He was a big part of our lives, of Treasure. I often wonder if we had made the right choice."

Yedam paused for a while. He seemed to be musing over something. Then he spoke. "There's something else. We lost our powers."

Yedam stretched out his hands and did a circling action. "See? Nothing comes out. Not fire, not poison vines. What a pity for Jaehyuk, too, since he finally gained it back. But none of us can use our powers anymore. I think Bigbang did something that tampered with them."

"That may actually be a good thing," I nodded. "You can finally lead normal lives, just like you all wanted. Good for you." I sighed. "I still often wonder if Bigbang was really a friend or a foe. It's so odd."

"That's not the end of it," Yedam continued. "A while ago Junkyu had a horrible dream. You haven't been reading the group chat, so I'll summarise. One day he suddenly sent a message begging someone to come to him. It was so sudden that most of us could not make it, but luckily Asahi happened to be free, which was apparently of great help to Junkyu. He was on the brink of hysteria. Later when I could make time I went to see him. He had mostly calmed down, and told me the contents of the dream."

"I saw Junghwan," Junkyu had said that day. Tears were streaming out of his eyes. "He looked different. Very different. He isn't the cute maknae we know. He looked fierce. He was glaring at us. And he lifted his hands. It seemed as if he was going to kill us."

"Kill us?" Yedam said doubtfully. "Junghwan? He would never. This can't be one of your precognitive dreams again, right? I can't see Junghwan turning against us. Unless there's a mind controller...but Doyoung's mind control makes people emotionless, all robot-like. A brainwasher, perhaps?"

"It isn't a precognitive dream," Junkyu affirmed. "Definitely not. But it happened. It definitely happened. Doyoung said someone tampered with our memories, remember? And there's a time skip between when Junghwan set fire on G Dragon and when we returned to earth. A time skip of a whole month. I'm very sure it happened then."

"I'm hurting inside so badly..." Junkyu whimpered. "There's just so much we don't know. What could have caused Junghwan to act like that? A brainwasher? Or did he...betray us?"

"This isn't up to us anymore," Hyunsuk said, who happened to visit Junkyu with Yedam and was present at the scene. He seemed resigned to his fate. "It isn't our fight to deal with. Bigbang is gone. They said they won't come back. Our powers are gone too. We have no more link with that world. We can finally lead normal lives."

"It never did feel right, leaving him there like that," Junkyu murmured. "There isn't closure at all."

"So something happened while we were in the otherworld that possibly caused Junghwan to turn against us," I said thoughtfully. Then I shook my head. "I'd want to think through it, but Hyunsuk is right. It isn't our fight to deal with anymore. At this moment, it's in the past. We can't go back."

We went quiet, both silently mourning and getting lost in our own thoughts.

"I wanted to ask this, too," I said awkwardly. I blushed and looked downwards. "How's...Jaehyuk doing? Is he all right?"

Yedam laughed. "I kind of knew you would ask that," he teased. "Everything I said about sums it up. He also lost his powers. He was apparently a little disconcerted by what Junkyu saw, but he has moved on as well."

Yedam paused for a while. "He really misses you as well, you know," Yedam said with a small smile on his face. "But he understands. He'll hold it out until your exams end. But everybody can tell that he's missing your presence. Jeongwoo's been teasing him nonstop over it."

I laughed. "Jaehyuk and Jeongwoo, huh," I chuckled. "Many bad things happened, but good things happened as well. The two were close to begin with, but it seems as if they've gotten even closer. I guess everything allowed them to really sort their differences out."

"Indeed," Yedam agreed. But when he said that I noticed a certain, ever enduring sadness in his eyes, and it occurred to me that perhaps there was a secret he had kept locked up this entire time that will probably never be resolved.