Shamans Kim

Chapter 16 : Namjoon's dilemma

"So let me summarize this," Jungkook said slowly when Jimin finished telling him what he had heard, "Seokjin is having a... let's say a magical burnout but still, he refuses the solution that would allow him to get better, at the risk of dying?"

"T-that's pretty much it," Jimin confirmed, flinching at the word dying. "And the most worrying thing is that he refuses to even listen to Namjoon when he's the only one whose opinion he's always listened to."

"What's this story about Namjoon's choice between the twins, by the way?" Jungkook said.

"Namjoon has lived and trained with my brothers since childhood, he is also a western shaman and he has formed a strong bond with Jin hyung and Tae hyung. Initially, the three of them got along very well, we can even say that they were inseparable. They played together, they ran away from study time together, were fooling around together and making Yoongi angry..." Jimin revealed to him, allowing himself a smile.

"I can't belive that," Junkook said stunned, thinking about the twins' relationship, through the behavior he had witnessed even for a short time. "Seokjin and Taehyung hate each other!" 

"You are right but it wasn't always like that, believe me," Jimin replied, loosing his smile to leave happy memories and return to the present. "A lot has happened since then but when Tae hyung and Jin hyung had started to drift away from each other, Namjoon remained close to the two but found himself caught between the two. Especially when Yoongi discovered a ritual of uniting souls."

"Uniting souls? Like Seokjin did with my soul with his mark?" Jungkook asked, looking absently at his hand where Seokjin had placed his mark before removing it.

"Oh no, it's much more than that! Between you and Seokjin, it was more Jin hyung who shared a tiny fragment of his soul with you and who then got it back but you didn't share anything with him. No offense," Jimin said hurriedly when he saw Jungkook's expression.

"I'm not offended!" said Jungkook whose tone said the opposite. "I hadn't asked him for anything so I had nothing to give him in return, he could keep his soul to himself!"

Jimin chuckled seeing Jungkook react like that. The more time he spent with Jungkook, the more he had the feeling that the fleeting presence of his brother's soul in Jungkook had left its mark because Jungkook talked a lot about Seokjin for someone who claimed to hate him. Perhaps this was one of the consequences of having done this with a living human and not with a soul?

For his part, Jungkook was thoughtful: just one small piece of Seokjin's soul had given him a horrible feeling of tearing and then emptiness when Seokjin had taken it from him, so when Jimin said that a union of souls was much more than that, this seemed hardly conceivable to him.

"What's the difference from a soul union ritual then?"

"It's something very strong, it's a ritual that connects the two souls together - only two - and allows them to be shared between the two people. In short, it makes them soul mates."

"S-soul mates?" Jungkook repeated in a blank voice. Without knowing why, it bothered him to think that Seokjin and Namjoon could become soulmates. 

"Yes, it's a very strong commitment, and once done, it can't be undone: it's a soul union for life, there's no going back after that. But anyway, the ritual only works on people who have mutual trust and love, so that's not a problem. Since all three of them use soul magic and Namjoon shares a strong emotional bond with both of them, they can bind their souls together, it will work, there is no doubt about it. The only problem is that he must make a choice between the two : Namjoon faces a dilemma."

"I imagine the Taehyung and Seokjin are fighting to be the one who can make this union of souls with Namjoon?" Jungkook understood.

Jimin nodded.