I'll Protect You, Maknae||TaeKook FF ✓

Chapter 19.

Hobi ran and stopped Jin from leaving out the door, "Wait, hyung. Let's think about this. We can't really just start knocking on every door in South Korea." Hobi had a look of defeat in his eyes.

"Why not?" Jin asked, "What's your better plan, then?" The oldest crossed his arms, ready for any of them to offer a better solution.

"I don't have a better plan.." Hobi frowned.

"Then let's go." Jin left. He was going to go and look for his maknae's with or without the rest of them. The others ran along after him and they started devising a plan. They would split up and simply ask if the two had been seen around recently, and if so, then they would interrogate. They parked in the middle of Seoul and headed out in different directions. They knocked on every door they passed, asking whoever answered it if they'd seen the two. They showed a picture of Jungkook and Taehyung together that was taken the day they had gone missing. It seemed as though everyone was saying no.

Until Hobi got to someone who said yes.

"You saw them at the carnival?!" Hobi screamed. He was speaking with a young man not much older than himself.

"Yeah yeah, I remember seeing those two there."

"Did you see where they went? They went missing from there. Did you see anything out of the ordinary?"

"I didn't see anything weird. I only saw them quickly in passing. Seems like they were having a lot of fun."

Hobi's heart sank. He tried prying out more information but the guy clearly didn't know anything. Hobi also felt depressed knowing that Taehyung and Jungkook probably were having a great time together just for it to all come to a terrible stop.

After a few hours the members met back up and nobody had much information. Except Jin. Not only did Jin ask everyone about the two boys, but he also tried to get information about the documentary and "myth" involving "The People In The Woods." Yoongi couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Whatever makes you happy, I guess."

"Listen to me," Jin started, "I have more information." Jin couldn't hide the hopefulness in his voice. He understood that the entire scenario was a huge shot in the dark and next to impossible to be real, but a small part of his instincts told him he was right. That if they could find this mysterious place, they would find their maknae's.

They gathered back in the car and Jin discussed things he'd found out. He told them how the people in the woods apparently camouflage themselves and are absolutely everywhere surrounding this lost town. He also said how others have heard about people trying to escape and immediately being shot. He dropped his gaze with sorrow when he mentioned something else. "Apparently it's rumored to be a much worse place than the documentary shows. I'm talking about extreme brutality."

"Alright shut up, I don't want to hear all that. Taehyung and Jungkook are fine. I refuse to believe otherwise," Yoongi said.

"They might not be fine," Namjoon said sadly. He felt tears welling up in his eyes.

"If they ended up in that terrible place, they aren't going to be fine," Jimin agreed. All of them sat in silence, wondering if their little brothers were okay. Hoping and praying that they were okay.

Jin continued with the knowledge he had gained. The members asked how he gathered so much information from people and he said most of the people who had known about the documentary were elderly people. Hobi rolled his eyes, hoping they weren't all experiencing dementia or something.

"Anyways, we just have to find where in the woods to start and go from there," Jin said.

"You're telling me you want us to dress up in camouflage, journey through the woods for who knows how long, to a place that we have no clue even exists?" Jimin asked.

"Yes," Jin said without hesitation. "I know it's where they are. Hyung just knows it. Say no if you want to, but I am going with or without any of you."

Namjoon sighed loudly and furrowed his brows as he considered the little operation Jin was trying to set up.

"You know what, we have nothing else right now. Count me in," Namjoon said to Jin. The rest of them decided they really had no other options right now, so why not at least try?

"But wait," Jimin started, "Nobody has ever found this place. Any rumor of where it is has been debunked. We don't even know where to go, or where to even start." Jin said he'd look into it more as they finally arrived back home. The oldest immediately went to his computer and tried finding any more information he could, not only about the documentary, but about the outline and woods all over South Korea. He found a part of a map that seemed different. There were less trees, but it seemed off that the map had been blurred and darkened as to not expose whatever was actually there.

Interesting. It's a place to start.

He printed out the map and ran to the others. "I have it!" he said as he slammed the map down on the living room table.

"What the hell is that?" Yoongi asked.

"It's where we start." Jin explained his reasoning and the members said they will follow his lead. The next task was to equip themselves with everything they would need for their journey. "We need camouflage, backpacks, snacks, water, etc.." Hobi reminded. "Who knows how long we'll be out there."

"What if we don't find anything? How long do we search until we give up?" Namjoon asked.

"Let's just play it by ear," Yoongi replied.

Jin wanted to get going right away. They went to the store and bought everything they'd need. They called an Uber to drop them off at the woodline. Where they would be entering the woods was two hours away from their house. They told the Uber driver that they were simply going for a nice hike. The man told them to have fun and drove off.

The members were in the middle of nowhere, on a back road. They turned and faced into the woods. Jimin took a deep, nervous breath, "Well, I guess it's now or never." The members had all brought a backpack with supplies in it and a change of clothing. They quickly changed into camouflage to try and blend in in case they did happen to run into anyone strange. Hobi pulled out a compass and a copy of the map.

"We are here," Jin pointed to Hobi's map, "And if they're anywhere, my guess is it would be here." He pointed to the weird blurry spot on the map.

"I can't believe we are doing all this based on an assumption. But hell, anything for them," Namjoon said. They all took a deep breath and set out into the woods. There were no trails so they heavily relied on the map and the compass. They were walking for hours.

"We don't even know how far this is," Jimin frowned, "This could take days."

"Then it takes days," Hobi shrugged. He figured it was going to take quite a while, which was why he demanded they bring extra snacks. About three or four hours had gone by when suddenly a man jumped out from behind a tree.

Wearing all camouflage.

The members screamed and scrambled backwards, huddling against eachother.

"Who are you?" The man asked, pointing a gun at them. Jin turned to his members and nodded reassuringly, "New recruits. We're looking for the colony." The members kept their mouths shut because they honestly had no clue what to say to this random man. Jin was the one with all the answers. The man inspected them one by one.

"It's quite a bit away," the man replied.

The members tensed up. Could this really be..?

"Can you lead us there?" Jin asked. The man said yes, but it was a few days journey. Before they moved an inch, Yoongi needed to know.

"What do people call you? The ones out here?" Yoongi asked.

"Many things, it's quite secret though. But those of us around here are known as The People In The Woods."

Namjoon and Yoongi both immediately doubled over and threw up. When they were done they looked at eachother, and then to the rest. They had the exact same thought.

Holy shit. Jin was right.