Love In A Sinking Realm ⊰BTS⊱ Steampunk

CHAPTER 3 ➣ No Life Is Worthless

A few weeks ride from Balus Island

The sun was setting, but the forest was already darker than everything else. A tiny watchtower station of the railway, barely visible from a distance in the thicket of the trees, housed an old train engineer.

Three young men, under the cover of darkness, snooped inside the small window.

"I think he's asleep," whispered the youngest, orange-red-haired and beggarly clothed.

"Are you daft?! He's reading a book!" said the eldest, his previous platinum hair turned azure and cut shorter.

The third one popped from behind them, "Jungkook, Yoongi! Come here!"

The two followed the boy, now dark blonde, who pointed at the small wooden door. Jungkook drew some tools from his pocket and picked the lock.

"Hoseok, you wait here, he may get spooked," Jungkook stopped his brother from following them inside.

"But---" he was shoved aside by his two brothers before he could protest.

Hoseok rolled his eyes in annoyance. As he waited outside for them to finish harassing the poor man, he scowled around feeling worthless and weak.

"Hoseok!" Yoongi stuck his head out of the window, "It's safe now, you can come in!"

The boy glared at him from the shadows and proceeded to enter. They squeezed inside the warm environment. Jungkook was already taller than a month ago and so were Hoseok and Yoongi, making it harder to move. The old man, seemingly dotard, half-blind and half-deaf, slow and feeble, sat on his mattress, ogling them utterly baffled and somewhat frightened; three young strangers had just barged in his house announced, after all.

Hoseok could smell the man reeking of old age and poor hygiene. Train tools and gears were spread around the floor, a small fireplace with a dingy fire had warmed up the place quite nicely, despite the general decay of the structure letting the humidity and moisture of the forest penetrate the flaky walls. A nice change after all this time sleeping on the wet forest soil. There was even a portable kitchen eye with a dirty coffee device placed on it.

"Sorry old man, we're gonna have to stay here for a day or two, I hope you don't mind," Jungkook said mockingly, fully aware that he was not in the position to defend his abode, "Please don't mind us!"

"Jungkook!" Hoseok rebuked him and knelt near the old man.

The train engineer blinked. Hoseok shook his hand confidently, giving him a sense of dignity, which he received with a small spark in his eyes.

"Sir, I do apologize for the sudden intrusion. We are travelers and we would like to share your establishment with you for a short time. We will reimburse you with some food we have, for your trouble," he said gallantly.

"Stop wasting your time, he can't hear you," commented Yoongi nonchalantly as usual.

"Yes, I can. I'm not dead yet!"

They all turned surprised.

Hoseok's kindness seemed to have awakened him. Perhaps, being treated like a human being for the first time after so long, added to the fact that loneliness rendered him desperate enough to welcome these three intruders into his house with odd alacrity. Yoongi cooked a fast meal, which they shared before preparing to sleep.

"Pray, what is your name, sir?" asked Hoseok.

"At my age and position in life, names don't matter much anymore, lad," he replied, "I just spend the rest of my days doing the same thing I've been doing for the past fifty years. Waiting for the train to pass and making sure the railway is still functioning."

"Don't you have a family? Wife, children?"

"If I had any family they have forgotten me and I have forgotten them. Life is life."

Hoseok lowered his gaze woefully, "I'm sorry to hear that, sir."

"Don't be. You're young, you shouldn't trouble yourself with the mumblings of an old man," he said dismissively, "I don't have much left but my coffee, the silence of the forest, and the train passing through from time to time. Life is like a train, you know, coming and going. Sometimes the train tracks are smooth. And with time they decay and rot, and should be replaced. And the old rusty metal is thrown, to be dismantled."

"No life is worthless, sir. The wisdom you possess, gained with age and time, is as valuable as an infant's first breath," said Hoseok, immersed in his thoughts, "It's what you pass on to the next generations. You are not just old, rusty metal. You are a human, who was once as young and radiant as me. And one day...well one day I'll be old, too. And I wouldn't want to be treated as such."

The dim light of the oil lamp flickered on the man's wrinkled face. Time had carved lines and spots but could not prevent the muscles from forming a touched smile. Eyes ever so slightly watering, so hard to distinguish from the redness of weary eyes. Eyes that have seen history traverse through them.

"You are too wise for your age," he said after a pause, "Sensitivity like yours will only bring you pain, lad. You'll find that ignorance and indifference are bliss."

The next morning Jungkook woke up at the crack of dawn and brought back two wild turkeys and a rabbit to roast on a bonfire, which Hoseok was trying to start.

"How'd you catch them, boy? You don't have a rifle or a bow!" exclaimed the old man, shuffling his feet and a walking stick, stepping out of the watchtower.

"Knives!" replied the boy excitedly.

"What?"

"He throws knives! Best I've ever seen!" Yoongi replied for him at the top of the tower terrace, "Hoseok! Have you started the fire yet?"

Concentration strained Hoseok's facial muscles. He was staring at the pile of wooden sticks forming a pyramid. His back turned towards his companions, whispering unintelligibly under his breath, he crouched down and kept staring intensely.

"Hoseok!" a faraway voice rebounded.

Grains of soil under his boots were lifted against gravity and hovered in circles around his body. His focus increased.

"Hey, Hoseok!" the voice repeated, now almost indistinguishable from the swish of leaves and forest wildlife.

His awareness increased. He could hear the breath of a fox eyeing them from the cover and safety of its hiding spot, he felt the particles carried by the wind, the aura of thoughts and dreams in the air. Melancholy mostly. Anger and hate.

He shut his eyelids and took a deep breath, his heart pounding rapidly.

"Hoseok!!!"

The boy opened his eyes and exhaled sharply. Irises flared up with a purple glow and the firewood caught fire on its own in an instant.

Jungkook blinked dumbfounded, letting the hunting goods slip his fingers.

"Wha---"