Against Time | k.th. ✔

十一 : the mind-map

"Why, just why do you think that the board is referring to his death? Can't you see the fancy happy birthday imprinted all over it? Why does your extremely creative brain has to go overboard every single time? I may just kill you at this rate!" Yeseul exclaimed as she started to mercilessly whack the back of Taehyung's head, the hits often escalating into punches as well.

Constant instances of Taehyung annoying Yeseul had ultimately resulted in her bridled emotions to get debouched like lava, as her efforts to liquidate him turned conspicuous by every second. Taehyung splurted almost every word that he thought would end up convincing the female to stop thrashing him like a bean bag. But her still being clung to his back while he mindlessly continued to lend her the required support with his arms, was the very case that had made his luck go against him.

"Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!" And Taehyung blurted legit anything yet again.

"Huh?" A gruffy, riled response was let out by Yeseul.

"What? You've never been on a boat before? Seems unlikely to me, because you wouldn't have said overboard if you didn't know of the situation it is used in..." Taehyung dragged his words in wonderment, for Yeseul had finally hopped off his back— which also meant that the endless shower of fists upon him, had come to cease. He made sure to thank the Gods for their benevolence, before turning to face her once again.

"What did you say earlier anyway? Hepi Beorsday? What's that?" Taehyung's voice ludicrously lessened, owing to the snarl that Yeseul had begun to flash right then.

"You know what? Just find your door so that you get lost from here and I get rid of you. Sounds like quite a deal, doesn't it? Now, let's go." Yeseul suggested in exasperation, not bothering to check if Taehyung had even considered trailing behind her or she was eventually going to fulfill her quest all alone.

Just like how Taehyung had described, Yeseul attempted at retracing his steps for it was the only feasible option in her sight at the moment. She hauled the male inside that moving box of his, deboarded it at random floors before following the mind map that she had recreated, only to climb up and down the stairs which led to everywhere but their destination. To be honest, Yeseul's spleen was getting hard to tame, and even she herself had no idea about how she was managing it. She was just letting herself go with the flow, though that did not mean that she would not be piqued if something antagonistic occurred in the meanwhile.

"Hey man, stop," Yeseul paused when she took notice of Taehyung conforming to her, "what do you think you're doing? How long do you think you'll keep making a fool out of me? Don't you feel bad for me? I fed you, saved you from the police, fell for your lie—heck, I must be out of my mind. You know what? I'll be the one to report you now. And don't you dare run away from me!" Yeseul yelled as she rummaged about in her pockets for her phone.

Taehyung could not grasp much from Yeseul's sudden change in tone, all he had discerned was the presence of a slight vexation in her address that was ironically and blatantly palpable. His brow twitched unintentionally as his entire face warped due to confusion. He silently watched the female as she whipped out an object and began to press onto it— the rhythmic beeps suggestive of her action. Yeseul cast one last skeptical glance at the man before diverting her gaze back to her phone.

Taehyung, now completely unable to savvy Yeseul's thoughts, uninterestedly wandered his eyes around. Though much to his surprise, his eyes flew open considerably when he spotted a certain something that he had been apparently searching for. Just when he had lost all hopes about finding it, the alleged door made itself vividly visible to him. Taehyung could not help but set loose a cheeky grin, earning Yeseul's regard in the process.

"Wha— Look at this shameless fella, smiling like that when he knows it's surely game over for him. You're not afraid of anything anymore, right—"

"I found it..." Taehyung trailed off with an unflagging simper adorning his face, advancing towards the door with swift steps as Yeseul proceeded to behold him in awe.

"Wh—what did you find..." Yeseul's voice faltered with uncertainty as she followed in Taehyung's footsteps, picking up promptly when she at last gathered the current situation, "Did you perhaps... find the door?"

Taehyung whirled his head around to meet Yeseul's eyes and offered her an affirmative nod. Nonetheless, he soon resumed to what he had already been engrossed in doing—picking the lock of that very door. The male was then seen beaming endearingly when, without testing much of his patience, the door slung open, revealing the utterly identifiable black void to him once again. Taehyung, after scrutinizing the murk in pleasure for a few minutes, shifted on his spot to come face to face with Yeseul.

"Thank you for looking after me, I'll never forget how kind you've been to me all this while. Although your strikes gave me immense pain, they remain a testimony of our friendship. I wish I could say may we meet again, but that's not totally impossible either, right? Goodbye, lady." Taehyung finished, and abruptly ran into the room.

Before Yeseul could register Taehyung's speech and the elope that he had resorted to, Taehyung had already disappeared from her sight. Even though she was aware that calling out to him would prove to be too late to halt him in his tracks, she still could not refrain from peering into the room too. When nothing except melancholic darkness enveloped by her vision, Yeseul sighed in despondency.

"He didn't even bother to tell me his name." She breathed out as an ephemeral smile danced across her lips.

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1939 AD

Taehyung had— almost immediately— rushed out of the same tunnel that he had traveled to some strange dimension through, and started to trot in the direction of his usual haven, with his lips tugging automatically at the corners once he kicked off his mind to imagine the comfort that he would receive once he reached there.

His home.

His home must not have changed much in the span of three days that he spent elsewhere, right?

Envisaging an earful from his mother whilst she prepared his favorite dishes for him, Taehyung merrily undid his shoes— a recurring melody continued to escape from him as he hummed. Though once the setting and the mood prevailing in his home had flagrantly veiled his observation for everything else, Taehyung swore that the kind of transformation that his home had undergone was not what he had been originally looking forward to.

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a/n

so... tae's back to 1939, what could possibly go wrong now? woah there, that's where you're incorrect hahaha. what if i said the actual story starts from now on?👀

thank you for the 500+ reads, i really didn't expect them so soon!🌻