Dreams of Arcadia

22

"Shut up, in the cheap seats." Kibum grumbled, which upset Jin.

"There are no cheap seats in my apartment, it was all so expensive here," he complained promptly.

"Can you please stop arguing? What's the situation now, shouldn't we organize ourselves somehow and collect all the people who are here? Some kind of census and then talk about what to do next, or do we just want to kill time like this?" I asked the group.

"I've told everyone so far that we're meeting at Jungkook's house." Jimin informed us.

"By everyone, you just mean Namjoon, right?" asked Taehyung, who had been so quiet at the beginning, but had now become more and more colorful again.

"Yes, and I just told you that too... Is anyone here actually listening to me?... Besides, Hyung will definitely pass it on when he meets someone." Jimin defended himself.

"Then we'll get Minji, Bora and Han and then go to Jungkook." I decided just like that.

"Are they far away?" Kibum wanted to know.

"No, actually only 50 meters as the crow flies." I said and stood up.

"Wait, I'm coming with you, I could do with some fresh air." called Jin, who had just disappeared into his bedroom to change his clothes. Kibum gave him a critical look.

"If you try to dash over there and undress in front of her, I'll cut your balls off," he threatened, but Jin just rolled his eyes.

"Yah... Have you seen how good I look in these clothes? What's more, I'm about to run into Sua and Jiu... They'll put me through the meat grinder if I show up naked. And then they'll laugh at me," he said, before grabbing my hand and walking out with me.

"Don't get anything dirty or I'll have you cleaned," he threatened before the elevator door closed.

"Have you tried the trick where rooms clean themselves?" I asked him on the way down.

"It exists?" he asked in astonishment.

"Yes, if you leave a room and close the door, when you open it again it's as clean as if you'd never lived in it. But if you leave the door open, everything stays as it is." I found this out quickly and saved a lot of work.

"Yes, then Jungkook has a problem... He only has one front door and one in the bathroom," Jin giggled.

"He only needs a vacuum cleaner to vacuum the mattresses and a washing machine to wash the towels he uses as pillows," I said, amused, to which Jin burst out laughing.

"Is that going around everywhere, or are you just well informed?" he asked with a grin.

"I see the Vlives and just memorize all the crap, whether I want to or not," I said, shrugging my shoulders. By now we had arrived downstairs and stepped out of the house into the still pleasantly warm evening air. The streetlights were on and, unlike in the world of the living, they were warm lights, not artificial neon lights that hurt your eyes. It looked beautiful, as if a huge string of lights had been strung across the street.

"Woah... why does everything here look so much nicer than in the real world?" asked Jin, impressed.

"I don't think we should call the other world the real one... for us, this one is the real one... our new reality. I think it's nicer here so that we don't miss the other world so much. To make eternity here easier for us." I thought about it and saw him nod.

"I think you're right. But when I think about it, I don't miss the other world. Actually, I should miss my friends, my family, my fans... I should miss them painfully... but there's nothing, I smile at their memory, but that's it, I'm totally relaxed here," he said.

"I thought I wouldn't last a day without my sister and Honggiah... but here I am and I hardly think about them," I said and saw him grin again.

"Well, you didn't survive either... technically speaking" he pointed out my mistake and made me laugh again.

"Yeah well... ok..." I admitted before we entered the villa. Everything was brightly lit, but for once, we didn't find anyone in a food coma, instead there was silence and the hall, living room, dining room and kitchen were empty. Instead, we heard laughter from the terrace.

"Looks like there's already a party going on here too..."