134340 |JJK FF|

Chapter 32

TW: Mentions of animal abuse.

"W-what? What... what do you mean?!"

Jeongguk breathed deeply through his nose, trying to keep his calm. Taehyung's horror-struck face only made him feel guiltier, but supposed he couldn't avoid looking at him at all. Turning his head towards the other, he said again.

"That tall human who was in the middle of the battle with the octopuses, he agreed to keep you company while I'm not here,"

There was a long silence where the pale-faced Taehyung gaped at him. Jeongguk stared at him silently before saying calmly, "Let's give them a chance, hyung."

At these words, Taehyung exploded, "Chance? Chance?! You... do you want to die THAT bad?"

Jeongguk quietly crossed his arms as Taehyung continued furiously, "You... you've been doing this ever since... do you not understand what you're doing? Have you forgotten what they are and what they can do?! They... gosh, Jeongguk, you're as dumb as a fucking baby sometimes,"

Jeongguk bit his tongue and remained silent. 

"I get it." Taehyung hissed, "Right. Humans have always loved cute little bunnies, haven't they? And bunnies have loved being the third favourite pets of theirs. Can you say the same for me? Can you say the same for tigers like me?"

Jeongguk opened his mouth, but the other didn't seem to be able to hear him now, "Killers, hunters, abductors, traffickers... I can list out any kind of display of cruelty, and you could find that a human will always be behind it. And now you want them to breathe over me while I go crazy?!"

"Hyung--"

"They are the creatures who wouldn't hesitate to take out their guns against tigers. Do you know for how long it was acceptable to kill our kind so they could make money through our skin and bones?"

"I--"

"They used to have these sick places called zoos where they'd capture and display our kind in cages, and all humans could happily gawk at us and shower them with filthy money!"

"Lis--"

"You think I'm only talking about tigers?" Taehyung spat, "Eggs of birds were broken for fun. Cubs of lions and leopards were separated from their family. Fishes were deliberately removed from the water for reasons other than eating them. Dolphins used to be captured and stuffed in a fucking glass box for entertainment until they committed suicide. Even pet animals like you weren't safe. Kittens were separated from their parents and abandoned. Dogs were beaten. There are cases of fucking puppies getting raped! Those creatures are the reason pure animals don't exist anymore!"

"You think I don't know about that?" Jeongguk cried, "How many bunnies do you think were thrown into water for fun?!"

"Then why the fuck are you doing this now?!" Taehyung snarled, attempting to stand and failing miserably. He breathed heavily, closing his eyes. The shouting must have taken a lot of energy.

"Why I did it? You know damn well that the doctors in here are useless. Two years, this illness has continued, and we aren't even close to fighting it. Only they might know what what's causing this shit and how to fight it--"

"And how the heck did you reach that conclusion?! You think they know Pluto better than we do?"

Jeongguk stared at him for a long time before opening his mouth, "...It was somewhere in the 1900s that Earthians discovered Pluto."

Taehyung remained silent. Jeongguk continued, "By Earthian years, at that. None of us existed. What we know of never existed. And Pluto was still a part of their star at that time. Seems another lifetime away, doesn't it? Yet, they made an ordinary telescope and looked at this planet, more than five billion kilometres away from theirs.