Healing Castle | TXT Fantasy Novel ft. BTS

30 - Beomgyu

Beomgyu finds himself in an almost pitch-black room. The only source of light is a single candle in the center of a square table. His hands are tied to the handles of a metal chair with braided rope. And his feet are bound as well with heavy chains. After struggling a bit with his restraints, he accepts defeat and slumps down as if his body weighs twice as heavy.

He can't recall anything that happened after his encounter with the Black Mage. He might as well have only blinked before being teleported into this room. At first, panic overcomes him⁠—hot stickiness all over his skin. But he decides to breathe deeply and think of his members.

Taehyun, Huening Kai, Soobin, and Yeonjun are his only guiding lights at the moment. He can't come up with anything else that would calm him. He just has to hold on for a bit longer. Who knows how long he was knocked out for? They're all probably searching for him. Topaz and the Resistance members must be combing the streets as well.

Gosh, I really am stupid. He shouldn't have sneaked out by himself, no matter how angry and confused he was. He should've talked it out with one of the members. They always listen with open ears and make him feel better about any pressing situation. Like the time when Taehyun advised him about taking the trainee days one at a time—right when he risked losing himself in the demanding schedule.

We don't have time to rest, Taehyun had said. So we just have to carve out that time for ourselves. In the breaks between vocals and dance, you can take a short nap. Make anywhere you want your healing room.

Now, resting in any sense is just impossible as breaking free from the taut restraints.

No matter, he has to try to get loose. After his eyes adjust a bit, he finds a door near the opposite side of the room. All he must do is free himself from his bindings and use his new skills to blow himself out of this place.

"C'mon, c'mon." He searches for the new power within him. But when he tries to form a pistol or knuckle in his hand, nothing happens. He might as well be trying to turn thin air into gold.

In the middle of the struggling, the door opens to let in a blinding ray of sun. Before Beomgyu can look out to get bearings of his location, it closes. And his eyes are left to adjust again.

No.

But his eyes don't deceive him.

In the light of the one candle, J-hope, Jung Hoseok, walks as if Beomgyu is merely taking a break in the artist lounge.

But looking closer, Beomgyu is chilled at the difference in demeanor. Usually, the rapper is bubbly and lightstepped, but the exact opposite is true now.

Every step is cold and calculated. J-hope is dressed in a black padded jacket, black jumpsuit, and matching boots. His hair is combed back, revealing a full face of stern lines which are altogether foreign to the idol. His lips curl into a snarl, like Beomgyu is a sight as disgusting as a criminal who hurt a family member.

"Hoseok hyung?" Beomgyu bites his tongue, partly wishing his eyes are deceiving him.

Without answering, J-hope takes the seat across from him. "I know you guys will never forgive me, but I'm truly sorry."

Beomgyu's deepest fears explode in his chest, a mixture of glass shards tearing through all of his hopes. "Don't tell me you decided to join the Mage."

"I didn't have a choice." He blinks before settling into a grin, one that's lopsided and ugly on his face—as if whittled into a wooden doll. "It was the only way to save BTS."

Beomgyu is silent before the revelation hits him. If the Mage offered him an opportunity to save the other four members of TXT, maybe he would've made the same decision. Taehyun, Soobin, Huening Kai, and Yeonjun are more important to him than his own life. Even if it means giving up his free will, he'll do anything to protect them.

But still, the betrayal is an iced dagger through his back. He never expected J-hope to turn on them—not the member who carries sunshine in his every step and rap verse—especially after supporting them so strongly for a few years.

"Why?" is the only question that can leave him. He sounds pathetic, but he doesn't care. He shakes his head and refuses to cry, biting on his tongue to keep a straight face.

"The Mage came to me at nighttime," he says. "I was in my tour bus, and he just showed up. I thought I was just a delusional MapleStory player. He showed what he could do to the members, though a sort of nightmare vision.

"But the Mage told me if I joined his side, the members of BTS would be saved. I didn't realize... everything the alliance entailed."

"So you helped with the attack against the Castle," Beomgyu says, filling in the blanks. "You orchestrated the attack at COEX. And you probably influenced other Maple players to join him too."

J-hope is quiet, confirming all of Beomgyu's worst fears. He really trusted him. But being that his mentor is the person driving the knife of betrayal, he's more shell-shocked than distressed. He's more angry than saddened.

He capitalizes on the anger, before he shows weakness toward the Mage's ally. "Wait 'til I get out of these chains," he says. "I'll make sure that the Black Mage will never see the light of day again." And maybe you can be freed from his influence. Although he doesn't want to voice that hope now.

J-hope shakes his head. "It's too late. His powers are almost fully formed, and his supporters probably outnumber the Resistance by double."

"So what's the point of trapping me here?" Beomgyu says. "If the Mage is already unbeatable?"

"Because I want to offer you something," says J-hope. "Join my side. When we perform at the Olympic Arena, fight with me and the Mage against his enemies."

Against the other members of TXT? Beomgyu wants to laugh, cry, and scream all at once.

In the end, he only shakes his head. His teeth are clenched so hard his gums hurt. "No way. My members are stronger than you or anyone else in the Mage's team. If the Mage kills me, at least I'll know that my team will kill him in revenge." He pauses before continuing, swallowing through his dry throat. "Music and the people who love you and love you back. That's what you told us to hold onto, and I can't believe you abandoned that."

J-hope's face is forlorn, and his face dimming as he stands and leaves the room. "I believed what I said. I did it to save them."

Then his former sunbaenim is turning away, and the darkness feels so much realer.

"Where am I?" Beomgyu calls out before J-hope exits. "Where am I!"

J-hope doesn't answer. His dismissal is colder than a Seoul winter.

But this time, when the door opens, Beomgyu squints as hard as he can. He notices the mushroom-topped roofs, the sky that's almost too blue, the cobblestone and air that feels heavier and somehow more pressing against his skin.

He's in the Maple World?

Then J-hope exits in a blur of sunshine, and Beomgyu is left in the dark.

A/N: Are you proud of Beomgyu? Raise your hand if you know he'll never join the dark side!