Monsters Within Us || Taekook AU

여섯

It's difficult to navigate up the path. He stumbles over rocks, slips on leaves, and invasive twigs keeps snagging on his jacket as if trying to capture him. But he knows he has both speed and stamina, he trusts himself on that, and as soon as he sees sunlight ahead he gives it his all. His destination finally pans into view, fading out the shadows and breaking apart the towering trees.

Jungkook bursts out of the tunnel like he's crossing the finish line. He skids to a halt, breathless. His back is burning with the stare of hungry eyes, drilling into him that shuddering feeling of having escaped by the skin of his teeth. It gradually fades away, slowly retreating into the greenery, somehow unable to cross this invisible boundary. There's only breeze and birdsong left, as if nothing out of the ordinary happened. Even the voices are gone.

He turns his attention to the small and unassuming shrine in front of him. The black and red paint is flaky and faded, joined by a crumbling statue that he thinks is supposed to resemble a fox. It could also be a dog; half of its face is gone so he can't really tell. He hesitates at the edge of the cobblestone path. He reaches for the stone basin next to him but discovers that there's no water in it; the ladle is even rusted in place. He looks around. There's no bell to ring and no coin box, either - nothing to indicate that this is a typical place of worship.

The shrine was probably built by locals a long, long time ago, before it ended up forgotten and abandoned in the dense woods. He can't do much about that.

Still, he's nothing if not well-mannered. He bows, presses his palms together, and closes his eyes. He's just conjured up the vague image of a grinning Taehyung in his mind when someone suddenly speaks up, the voice clear as day.

"How'd you get here?"

Jungkook snaps his eyes open, his beating heart lodged firmly in his throat. He was completely alone a minute ago, he's sure of it. There are no other obvious paths leading up to this shrine other than the one he came from, and even if there were other paths they can't be easy to navigate, not with the trees and the undergrowth. He didn't pass anyone on his way up and there were definitely nobody passing him - and yet he's standing face to face with two young men.

They look like ordinary people, like they just stepped off a tourist bus. The only exceptional thing about them seems to be that they're identical twins - as well as the fact that they materialized literally out of nowhere.

"Huh?" he breathes out.

"We asked how you got here," the one with golden blond hair repeats, head tilted as he regards him curiously.

"Uh," Jungkook begins eloquently, eyes flitting between the identical faces staring back at him. "I - just... up the path? Behind me?"

"How?"

"What do you mean...?"

"How'd you get up the path?"

"I ran," he answers truthfully.

"How'd you run?" the dark-haired twin asks, more of an impressed remark than a question.

Kageyama wonders if he's walked straight into a riddle where the wrong answer will get him beheaded or something. As absurd as that is, his initial shock is replaced by irritation. He doesn't have time for this.

With an impatient huff he replies, "I don't know, I just ran for it."

The three of them stare each other down for a while. It's starting to get awkward when the blond twin suddenly disappears, evaporating into nothing. A split second later he glitches back into view, but this time he's standing mere inches away. A grin slowly spreads across his face. It goes so wide his features begin to morph into a blur, turning into something animalistic, into something that's not at all of this world.

"Think you can do what you want, huh?"

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