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jeongguk isn't fond of caves. it was by the convincing of taehyung, sweet, innocent taehyung, that they decided to explore the caves near the outskirts of their small little town.
there wasn't much to do in their town. there was barely a government, no police force, nothing. jeongguk found it suffocating.
not as suffocating as this cave.
"watch it," says jeongguk, "that's my foot."
"why did you agree to come along if you knew you weren't gonna like it? even seokjin would get a kick out of this," taehyung says.
"i'm not gonna let you wander a cave alone," jeongguk says, ducking down low and pointing his flashlight into the dark. "and the only thing getting kicked here is my foot."
jeongguk pauses. he hears something.
sniffling.
"do you hear that?" taehyung whispers in his ear.
"yeah," jeongguk breathes back. "hey, don't go farther in!"
taehyung ignores jeongguk's warning and ventures farther into the cave, leaving jeongguk no choice but to follow. soon they enter a larger space, where jeongguk can finally stand at full height.
there's a cage and a lantern. the lantern illuminates the room. taehyung is already crouched down next to the cage. he had found the source of sniffling; it was a boy.
"tae," jeongguk hisses, "get away from there. he could be ḑ̷̡̱̬̠̗̣͋́a̴̡̭̜̗̤̠͈͒̂n̴̖̈́g̴̼̰͕̮̜̪͚̗͠e̴̡̥̹̖͆̀r̸͕͎̟̮̓͛͑̈́̕ͅṑ̸̧̧̲̹̳̯̪͎͠ͅu̵̡͇͍̤̠͕͉͍͚͆͆̎ͅş̸̗̼͈̳͇̦̭̦͕̅."
"but he's crying," says taehyung, as if that made it alright to interact with the boy. "hey, what's your name?"
the boy had pink hair and plump lips. his voice was small. "jimin."
"okay, jimin," taehyung continues, "why are you in this cage?"
"they keep me in here," jimin whispers. "my suffering is what keeps the town happy."
"okay, this is bullshit," says jeongguk. "taehyung, i bet this is all a prank. let's get out of here-"
"it's not a prank!" jimin says, his voice suddenly raising. "please, i've been stuck here for years."
jeongguk takes a good look at the boy. he looks underweight, certainly not healthy, and his skin is pale like he'd never seen daylight.
"okay," says jeongguk, "okay. taehyung, before we bust this kid out of here, i think we should ask the others. a group opinion."
taehyung licks his lips, considering. he nods, turning back to jimin. "hey, we'll be back. and we'll bring some nice food too, 'kay?"
jimin gives a small, scared nod, and jeongguk feels his heart sink a bit.
they would get him out of that cage no matter what, jeongguk decides, even if it was the l̷͈͛̓̈́ą̸̛̺͓̗̩̱̜̥̲͊̏͆̈́́͛͛͘͝s̷̡͇̹̬̝̞͍̮̄͋̈͂̾͌̒͂͜t̸͇̹̯̉̅͊̾̆̊̕ ̴͓̜̻͔͔̙̗̼̍̓͜ͅt̷̡̨̗͙̞̭̺̦̙́̑̒̂̽̌̅̈̚͝ḫ̴̼̋ḯ̷̢̡̬̠͚̮̫͙̦̪͒̃͑̿͝n̶̢͉̟̼͔̈́̀́̊̔̀̍̅͌̀g̸̛̘̙̰͆́̇́̄̏͋̒̍ ̸̡̡͖͓̰͙̰͔̙̦̓̽ḩ̶̥̞͇̲̘̼̖̝̀̕e̴̥̞̥̾̎̐̀̒̌͑̈́̈́̚ ̵̰͔̗̼̹̏̏͘̚d̵̢̝̰̞͆̆ĩ̷̡͓̮̥̙̦̦̹̣̽͂̏̈̑͠d̴̞̰̰̟̦̮͔͒͜.̵̫̗͕̳͍̯̊̆̅̔͝
