vox diabolus. » bts

QUADRAGINTA QUATTUOR

seokjin squints at the sudden beam of light entering his eyes. he sits up, and he's still on his bed, one wrist still handcuffed to it. he tugged on it with small hope, but it remained tight around his wrist. slightly disoriented, he reached for what was left of his tea at the bedside table. it was cold.

he felt woozy. he felt dizzy, so dizzy to the point where he could not see straight. the floor seemed to be moving. jeongguk was nowhere in sight. seokjin groaned, racking up his brain to piece together the remnants of the last memories he had before he blacked out. it was a weird feeling, yet familiar. where had he felt like this before?

seokjin couldn't tell if this was a dream or if it was reality. he proceeded to pinch his cheeks, and he felt the pain register in his brain. i guess i'm not dreaming, then?

he struggles against the restraint, his heart beating faster out of panic after he realized that jimin still may be in potential danger. he searches up and down wherever within reach in hopes for a key. after all, jeongguk liked games, right? maybe i'm too late. maybe jeongguk already killed him. crazy son of a bitch.

seokjin sighs, leaning back on the headboard out of hopelessness. how long was he out? minutes? hours? days? he couldn't grasp the concept of time.

he picks up his tea out of thirst, swallowing the contents quickly before abruptly stopping. he felt something foreign in his mouth. he frowns, turning it over and over with his tongue.

it can't be...

he pulls it out with his free hand after setting the cup down. it was the key. rather than happiness, he felt more angry—not only had he been idle for so long with the key literally right beside him, the core of his anger was directed towards jeongguk and his fucking games.

"i'll kill that bastard when i get out of here," seokjin mutters angrily, shoving the key into the keyhole impatiently. he sighs in relief when he feels the handcuff loosening around his wrist.

as he gets up, the wave of dizziness hits again; he wonders if he had adopted vertigo in the span of the time he was sitting in that bed. a ringing sound echoes in his ears, so loud that it is almost painful. through the pain, he trudges toward the door, opening it with whatever strength he had left.

the strength he had was fueled by his anger; he leans against the wall to catch his breath (although he had no idea why he was out of breath, as he had only traveled a few feet since). "i'll kill you, i'll kill you, i'll fucking kill you, jeongguk."

he repeats something along those lines under his breath like a mantra. he staggers across the hallway, and after what it seemed to be forever, he could spot a figure moving in the blurry vision of his.

"j-jimin?" seokjin calls out, his voice weak and hoarse. "is that you?"

that's when he realizes that his hearing had also been affected on some level. he could only hear slight murmurs; everything that passed through his eardrums was indistinct, the words and noises blurring together into a drawn-out, incessant ringing.

"fuck," he gasps, "jeongguk... that crazy bastard... probably drugged me..."

it was getting harder to walk. seokjin claws at the walls, or at least what seemed like walls, in order to keep balance. his vision blurred even further, and his knees felt heavy.

"jimin," he groans, doing his best to walk to the shifting figure. "jimin, we have to get out of here. can you hear me?"

the figure seems to respond to seokjin's voice. seokjin narrows his eyes, trying to focus his vision onto the figure he was walking towards.

"no, that's not you..." seokjin continues, pushing himself to walk faster. "jeongguk... is that you?"

jeongguk's face blurs onto the figure, with a smug smile seeming to taunting seokjin. he seems to mouth something at seokjin, but seokjin can't quite figure out what. it only fuels his anger, and he could feel himself about to explode. seokjin looks around in a drunken haze, nearly dragging himself into the kitchen. he places his hand on a kitchen knife and wraps his fingers around it, pulling it out of the container before trudging back to a figure that seemed to resemble jeongguk.

seokjin found it funny that jeongguk didn't move at all, even when seokjin had a kitchen knife over his head, ready for a full swing. seokjin crouched down to meet jeongguk's eyes at level, the tip of the blade aimed directly above jeongguk's chest. maybe jeongguk was squirming a little, but he stays sitting, his back leaning against the wall. everything still looks foggy, but he can make out the defining features of jeongguk's face. jeongguk seemed to smile, his head cocked to the side, as if to say, "you can't do it."

"yes... i... can!"

with a yell, seokjin plunges the knife into jeongguk's chest. jeongguk screams when the blade cuts through his skin, but in a more higher pitch than seokjin was used to; maybe it was the drug that was morphing everything into something different. jeongguk's hands were around seokjin's very own, which was grasping the knife and twisting it into jeongguk's body. he could feel the thick, crimson blood splatter against his face and shirt. blood steadily trickles down jeongguk's mouth as he gasps like a fish out of water, struggling to say something.

"w-what?" seokjin winces, a crease forming in between his eyebrows due to an onset of a headache. "are you trying to say something?"

"was it you... all along?" jeongguk coughs again, spewing blood as he says so.

"what the fuck are you saying?" seokjin growls, gripping the knife tighter in frustration and pain. he could hear his head pounding. "you! you! it was you! it was fucking you, jeongguk! are you trying to play innocent now? after all you've—"

"why..." jeongguk says weakly, "are you calling me jeongguk?"

seokjin flinches as he gets up, dropping the knife coated in blood. it hits the floor with an empty clatter that rings inside seokjin's head, amplifying his horrendous headache. "what...? i don't understand—"

"it's... it's me, jimin."

···

[ a / n ]
wow i've been so busy and i'm so sorry for the lack of updates but enjoy this update (or try to, at least haha)! the end is nearing very soon but i figured i will do a short mini sequel (continued on this book) for better closure ! :)