Serendipity {Vmin}

16. The name

Recommended song: Josh Leake - First and Last

Jungkook’s back slammed into the wall with a dull knock.
“You idiotic moron!” Hoseok’s fist landed right on the right eye of the boy, making the boy slide down to the floor and try to protect himself by pulling up his legs, but he didn’t hit back.
“You don’t know how stupid what you did is, you little…” Kook never saw the leader being this furious. Though he was really angry with him many times, it was somehow different now.
Hoseok was threatening, and this time there was no sign of kindness in his eyes that made him different from all the others, who had long been broken by their cruel fate that has befallen them.
Kook closed his eyes and – huddling on the ground – just let the leader give him what he deserved.

Although he didn’t regret what he did to Jimin, he might have still felt some kind of guilt, because he could not defend himself against Hoseok. Because he knew that he deserved every punch.
But Jimin was still out there, where he could live his own life, and he was trapped down here in the never-ending dimness and mold smell; threatened by violent, fierce people. Even if he was one of them.

Jungkook groaned in pain after an exceptionally hard kick. One of his hands that he used to protect his head, he placed onto his stomach now, and fell to the ground, hoping that Hoseok finally got bored of beating him up.
“What did they say?” the boy grabbed his hair and dragged him to a sitting position.
“Aaaah, Hyung!”
“I asked what they said!” Hoseok let go of him this time, and Kook finally had a moment to collect himself.
“They… They told me to go and give him a message” he eventually answered, staring into his lap.
“What message?”
“I don’t know what it means either, okay?” Jungkook sighed resignedly. “It’s something like… they need something from the basement, Jimin will know. And if he brings it then they won’t punish him, and he can come back.
Hoseok’s back straightened.
“How will you know where to find him?”
“They know where he lives.”
“But how? What exactly did you tell them?!”
“Only the other boy’s name. Kim Taehyung.”
“For fuck’s sake, Jeon Jungkook! How could you do that?!” the leader shouted frustrated, and kicked an empty bottle lying on the ground.

Jungkook froze for a moment and stared at the other with wide eyes.
“What?” shook his head Hoseok, who clearly wasn’t expecting this kind of reaction.
“You… You said… Jeon Jungkook” answered the boy with a shaking voice, while he shivered. “You… You know my whole name? How?”
Hoseok closed his eyes as he realized his own fault.
“Shit” the boy mumbled to himself, then looked back at Jungkook. “Well, I think you deserve to get to know. Let this be your punishment.”

Hoseok motioned with his hand and went towards their kitchen-like corner. Jungkook sat on the floor, confused for a moment, then quickly got up and pressing his hand on his stomach, he shuffled after the other.
The leader stepped to his broom in the corner, which he held most of the time. He looked around, searching for curious eyes, but the kids didn’t get back from the day’s work, so practically there was only the two of them in the basement.

The boy took off the top of the broom. Underneath the cap was a wire hooked to the hollow handle, which Hoseok now unhooked, and pulled out a thin package wrapped in brown paper from it.
“This isn’t my idea; the leaders of the kids always did that. Almost everyone remembers their name when they get here, but they eventually forget them. As they forget their parents, siblings, homes and practically everything that linked them to their past. We only leave the first names, sometimes not even those.” Hoseok put aside the broom in the meantime and started to unwrap the package.
“It sounds naïve, but since my childhood when I learned how to write, I wrote down everyone’s personal information that I knew. I didn’t want to use them, but if once it would be useful… If once the system would break down, at least a few could find their families.”
Blood started to pound in Jungkook’s ears, when Hoseok reached towards him one of the papers.
“You’re lucky your parents taught you your exact address. Or unlucky.”
Jungkook reached for the paper with shaking hands. For a moment he wasn’t sure if the leader will pull his hand back and laugh in his eyes that he was only joking because he deserved it. But Hoseok simply let go of the paper when the other touched it.
Jungkook swallowed as he turned to the paper tensely, but somewhere still confidently, which had two lines scribbled with a black pen and trembling children’s writing. Jeon Jungkook. Seoul. Gyeonggi-do, Gwangmyong-si, 123-45 Cheolsan 3-Dong.
His address. The place where he lived, where his family’s probably still living, where they might still wait for him. Wait for him to find his way back home.