Red Eyes ➸ Taekook ✓

- Second -

"Is that it, do you have everything?"

"Yep, we're good."

After a final check, Hoseok slammed the trunk door and went to sit on the driver's side. The others two were already waiting for him inside, Jungkook in the front and Yeji slumped in the back.

"It's a good thing you have a car, Hoseok, otherwise we'd be in deep shit. The nearest station to Tongyeong is an hour away by car, and my grandmother couldn't have picked us up. We would have had to hitchhike."

"Yay, Hoseok saved us!" Yeji exclaimed happily, holding up her hands.

The young man strapped himself in and checked the adjustments of the mirrors.

"At the same time," he answered, "if you had a licence, it would be different. You're twenty years old, it's about time you start driving."

"Don't want."

"Not the money."

He grumbled at this categorical refusal, put his foot down on the accelerator and drove off.

"I'll put the route on the GPS." informed Jungkook, leaning over.

"I didn't ask you," Yeji began, "but how far is it from here, Tongyeong?"

"About five hours."

They were coming up to the highway, so Hoseok relaxed a little, now able to take part in the conversation.

"Tongyeong... never heard of it... is it a small village?"

"As I recall, not so much. It's not a very big town either, but it does have a town centre and a lot of activity. In fact, it was quite pretty. It's true that it's a pity that it's so little known, because it's quite attractive."

This remark drew a smile from his friend.

"In fact, you seem to remember it quite well."

Jungkook plunged into his thoughts for a moment, trying to find an explanation.

"The city itself, I actually remember it quite well. And I saw some photos that brought back some memories from when I was a child. No, what I can't remember... is the people. The people I met there, the life I led... even if I force it, nothing comes back to me."

"Not even some little moments?" Questioned the driver.

"I wouldn't say moments, but sometimes I see little pieces, just a second, in a dream. But the faces of the people present are always impossible to visualize: they are either all black, or they are out of my field of vision."

Yeji sank back into her seat, folding her arms across her chest.

"It's a really weird story. Seven years is a long time... there must be a lot of trauma behind it..."

Jungkook bites his lip.

"I don't know. My parents... have always been very evasive about it. Maybe... they don't want me to remember."

A deadly silence fell over the car. Breaking the suffocating atmosphere, Jungkook clapped his hands.

"Anyway, it's all behind me now, no need to worry about it! We'll stay for a couple of days, just to make sure everything's okay, and then we'll have fun the most of the time we have left!"

He leaned over the radio as his two friends nodded.

"Well, how about some music? That'll keep us busy!"

Yeji lifted herself off her seat and poked her head forward.

"Oh, put on some Bruno Mars!"

"What, again?" Hoseok shouted indignantly. "You already listen to that all day long, don't you want to change it up a bit?"

"If I liked change," she replied, "I wouldn't have been hanging out with you for this long time. So now put on some Bruno Mars."

"Tch."

Jungkook laughed.

"Don't worry, we'll have plenty of time to please everyone. After all, five hours is a long time."

***

"Are we almost there?" Yeji cried like a ten-year-old.

Jungkook, who had half fallen asleep, woke up from his torpor, rubbed his eyes frantically, and glanced at the GPS.

"It shouldn't be long now: we're getting close to the entrance to the city."

His friend smiled with satisfaction and sat up a little. Jungkook stretched like a feline, his mind and body still a little foggy. He then dropped back onto the headrest and looked out the window. He watched the landscape pass before his eyes, a wide wooded expanse that seemed to know no end. However, one detail bothered him: the further they went, the more familiar the panorama seemed to him. In a way, this was not surprising, after all, he had lived most of his life there, whether he had forgotten it or not. But this impression went far beyond the simple, blurred and distant memory. No, it was more intrinsic, his whole body seemed to remember. His brain was the only one that didn't want to follow.

"Ah look, we finally see the victory sign!" Hoseok called out to them, apparently delighted.

Indeed, a small, simple sign appeared before their eyes, with "Tongyeong" written in black and white.

"That doesn't sound like much of a sales pitch." Yeji said.

"At the same time," replied Jungkook, "it's not supposed to be a tourist spot."

"I'm disappointed, they could have put a little 'Welcome to Tongyeong!' "

"This isn't Saint-Tropez." Hoseok scoffed.

He turned to the front seat passenger.

"What do we do now? Do we go straight to the hospital, or do we drop our stuff off first?"

Jungkook pointed to his phone.

"I texted my grandma, she said she'd still be in the hospital, and I don't have the keys, so..."

"Okay. Put the address in the GPS, so we don't waste too much time looking..."

"Yes."

He prepared to do so, but no sooner had they passed the sign than a violent headache hit him. It pounded his skull, with unprecedented violence. The pain was unbearable, tugging at his skin, tearing his eyes out. His whole body was on fire, he was burning from the inside. He rolled into a ball, suddenly screaming with all his soul. The tears flowed at once, and his cries of distress alerted his friends, who immediately stopped the car.

"Jungkook?! Jungkook?! What is happening to you?! JUNGKOOK?!"

He couldn't hear them. He couldn't hear anything, not even his own cries. His very sight was blurred, unable to see what was around him. All he was able to perceive was a memory. That one memory, which made him suffer like a thousand blades piercing his chest. It was clear and monstrous, terrifying, petrifying him in place.

Red eyes.

Bloody, murderous, unhealthy. They seemed to smile at him, they wouldn't let him go. No matter how much he ran away, they were always there. He was afraid. He cried and was afraid. Those eyes traumatized him, they penetrated and raped him without even touching him. They were disgusting and frightening.

He was in pain. He was in so much pain. And afraid. He was scared. Scared, scared, scared. Someone had to help him, someone had to stop them, otherwise... If they caught him, if they caught them, then... then...

"JUNGKOOK!"

~🖤~

Hello! I wanted to say that the city Tongyeong really exist in Korea, but I don't know anything about its geography. So all the thing I will say about it in the story is fake.
Also, the previous version haven't any smut. I have to write an epilogue, so I think I will add smut in it. Is it okay with you? I can't add any in the story, that don't fit with the plot.
Love you💜