Obsidian Shade (黒曜石シェード): Novella Prequel

9 - Dangerprone Jimin

February 5, 2021

Sonyeondan

"Just sign the contract, Jimin," a deep baritone voice remarks, coming from a tall, bulky man in a suit and tie. The man looks large and in charge and definitely in his upper thirties or forties. He's also familiar, he's the manager for J'TASK, but he looks more...devilish. His eyes are pits of darkness and his scowling expression terrifies Jimin.

Jimin hesitates, his hand hovering over the contract before him. The pen is slimy from his sweat and his stomach is in knots. He's not sure why, but there's something inside of him that tells him to drop the pen and walk away.

This is not the same manager that is really in charge of his K=Pop boy band group.

The others couldn't have signed this...could they have? He looks at the signatures in place above the other names. He is the last one to sign. The others are all awaiting him. He can't leave his friends behind or with this fiend.

"Sign it, you know you want to. Besides, your friends have all done it. Why shouldn't you join them in the fun?" the manager's sly voice, this time even more devious then before, sneers. It's almost villainous.

Jimin's head snaps up. He blinks a few times, his mouth agape and his mind racing. He stares down the head of the recording studio, a sharp pain stabbing at the back of his head as he struggles to figure out what he should do.

His mind clouds his vision over, and cocking his head to one side, Jimin's vision dissolves from the eager sly face of the studio's head to a practice studio. The pen, contract and desk are gone. JT, Astro, Suga and Kookie are gathered in the room, chained to the walls and floor.

"NO!" Jimin shouts out and dives forward to help them. He is halted in place and he looks down, seeing that a chain is clamped around his ankle. It is holding him hostage to the room. He snaps his head up and shouts at the others.

They appear to be in a trance, going through motions of a choreography for Blood, Sweat and Tears (Untied).

They don't even seem to hear him.

"Kookie!! Shugaya!! Astro!! TaeTae!!" Jimin cries out, desperately and helplessly.

The young dancer-vocalist launches forward again, forgetting about the chain for a second, until he is halted in place once more. He jolts to a stop, the clanging of the chains filling his ears and the forward momentum abruptly stopped. He drops to the ground, his face full of fear and horror.

Then his vision goes black.

He feels nothing. Sees nothing.

The darkness gradually begins to fade into a lit blur as Jimin Bakjin comes to. It was only a dream...a nightmare... There's an excruciating pain erupting from somewhere in his body. He isn't sure where it is coming from. But he can still feel a grogginess and taste the bittersweet aroma of a foreign substance that is tingling on his lips. He manages a groan as his vision continues to clear slowly.

The last thing that he can remember is being at the hotel. He was sleeping in the same room with his roommate, JT. Then there was some kind of wild blast of bright light and a gust of wind that struck him hard. He recalls the wind literally taking his breath away, knocking him out and causing all of his senses going black.

His mind begins to unravel, a dozen questions surging into his aching head. Where am I? What happened? Are JT, Kookie, Suga and Astro okay?

His vision finally clears enough, that he is able to take in his surroundings. Damp stones line the room he is in and he can glimpse black metal bars in the corner of his eyes. It's enough to jolt him to reality and clear the remaining fuzziness, clouding his sight. His eyes fly open and he snaps his head around, taking in the eerie sight.

Was it a dream?

Jimin's eyes finally find the root of the pain: his arms are pinned behind his back, a cold and rusty metal clamp around each of his wrists, holding in prisoner to the stone dungeon cell. He tests out the chains and can hear the loud clanking as they reassure him that he is indeed someone's prisoner and unable to escape.

I'm chained up, just like in the dream! Jimin thinks to himself, fear building in the pit of his stomach and threatening to overwhelm him.

"HEY--!" He finds his croaking voice able to shout out. "HEY! HELP! LET ME OUT OF HERE!"

Maybe someone will hear me...maybe. Hopefully. I hope the boys aren't trapped here too... perhaps they are on the way to rescue me from this horrible place. I hope. I hope... please save me.

"Where am I?! What is the meaning of all of this?!" Jimin continues to shout out, jerking desperately at the chains holding him hostage. "I have to get--"

A deep, throaty chuckle of amusement resonates off of the stone walls. It's instantly followed by an evil sounding, "Jimin, it is a pleasure."

The voice, though not as deep and low in baritone like the one from the dream, is still enough to send shivers racing down Jimin's spine, freezing him in place and filling him with a terrible dread.

Astro, TaeTae, Kookie and Shugaya, find me and save me, please.