Chapter 2: The Arrival

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The sun had long since disappeared behind the thick canopy of trees, leaving only a dim, bluish hue that filtered through the fog. The headlights of Namjoon's car cut weakly through the dense mist as he drove, the road winding like a serpent into the dark heart of the forest. Every turn seemed to lead them deeper, the towering trees looming overhead like silent sentinels, their branches clawing at the sky. The engine hummed, the only sound breaking the oppressive silence of the woods.

Namjoon’s hands were tight on the steering wheel, his knuckles white. His eyes were fixed on the narrow road ahead, though his thoughts were a thousand miles away. He couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. This wasn’t the kind of place you came to for a reunion, yet here they were, summoned by something unspoken, unexplainable. There had been no formal invitation, no concrete plan—just a shared understanding between them all that they had to come.

Seokjin sat beside him, staring out the window with a furrowed brow, his usual bright and cheerful demeanor dulled by the growing sense of dread. His breath fogged up the glass as he exhaled, watching the trees blur by, each one looking more twisted and gnarled than the last. The farther they drove, the more it felt like the forest itself was swallowing them, cutting them off from the world they knew.

“How much further is it?” Seokjin’s voice broke the silence, though it was barely louder than a whisper. It was as if he were afraid to speak too loudly, worried that the forest might hear him.

Namjoon glanced at the GPS, though it had stopped working an hour ago, the signal lost in the wilderness. “I think we’re close. But honestly, I don’t even know if this is the right road.”

Seokjin didn’t respond, but his frown deepened. His fingers tapped nervously on his thigh, a rhythm out of sync with the quiet tension that filled the car. The longer they drove, the heavier the air became, thick with an unspoken sense of foreboding.

The mansion had been a topic of whispered rumors among them, a place none of them had ever visited but all felt inexplicably drawn to. It had been Yoongi’s idea, or at least, he was the first to mention it. He had spoken about the mansion with a strange urgency in his voice, as if it were a matter of life and death. They hadn’t questioned it at the time, all of them agreeing to meet there without hesitation, as though something had compelled them.

But now, as they neared their destination, doubt crept in.

Seokjin shifted in his seat, casting a glance at Namjoon. “This whole thing feels… off. I mean, why are we going to some old mansion in the middle of nowhere? We don’t even know who owns it.”

Namjoon sighed, his jaw tightening. He had been thinking the same thing, but every time he tried to voice his concerns, they sounded irrational. Still, the unease sat like a stone in his gut, heavy and unmoving. “I don’t know. But Yoongi was insistent. He said we had to come.”

“And we all just agreed, like it made sense,” Seokjin muttered. “But nothing about this makes sense.”

The road narrowed even more, forcing Namjoon to slow the car to a crawl. The trees pressed in closer, their branches reaching over the road like skeletal arms. Seokjin shivered despite himself, pulling his jacket tighter around his body. The temperature had dropped significantly since they entered the forest, and now the cold seemed to seep into their bones, gnawing at them from the inside.

“There,” Namjoon said suddenly, pointing ahead.

Through the fog, the outline of the mansion finally appeared, rising out of the trees like a dark, hulking shape. At first glance, it looked more like a crumbling ruin than a place anyone would willingly visit. The roof sagged in several places, and the windows were dark and cracked, covered in grime and ivy. It was as if the mansion had been forgotten by the world, left to rot in the heart of the forest.

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