Of Idols and Fans - a BTS fan-fiction

Chapter 1: Anywhere and Nowhere

"Of Idols and Fans"
(a BTS fan-fiction)
By: Ren Baek
(Please note: mature language present)
Chapter 1: Anywhere and Nowhere

"Why is it so humid and gross outside?!"
I yell angrily at the lines of deadlocked cars in front of me. My audible irritation is evident as I glance into the rearview mirror and I have a revolting revelation that I'm the last car in this endless stream of traffic. It seems like everyone got to leave work at the same time and me being me... I was the moron that decided to stay over twenty extra minutes. Therefore I'm trapped, unless I want to make a u-turn and head back to work. No, thank you. I've had enough journalism today and for the rest of the year really. There's a network of backstreets and roads I wouldn't dare try to navigate yet. I've only lived here for six months; I'd be lost forever... pretty sure.
I honk my horn rapidly with no movement following my attempts at scaring people to
move forward faster. I can feel the sweat beginning to bead on my forehead and my face of half melted makeup is on its way to looking like a raccoon is in my ancestry. Screw it. Not like I need to impress anyone anyways. South Korea can have some of the coldest and hottest months in the world it seems, but I don't usually mind it. However, the car I bought last week at a minimal price is lacking air conditioning, and two of the windows won't roll down. The back two. "You get what you pay for," my dad always says. I can hear him mocking me in my head. I know dad, I know.
"DID YOU GET YOUR DRIVER'S LICENSE AT A FLEA MARKET, PEOPLE?! Can we please get on with our lives before I grow roots here?! Jesus freaking Christ."
I pound my forehead on the steering wheel repeatedly making the horn bleat shortly over and over. My life, ladies and gentlemen.
What the hell? I slowly pull my head up when I begin to hear a faint sound I don't recognize in the distance. No really, what the freak is that? I peer into the rearview and side mirrors trying to find the source of the dull... scream? Screams? Wails? A donkey? Donkey...s? I don't know. Odd. Brushing off my laziness, I pivot my head around to look out the back windows. Nothing. It seems to be getting louder and less distorted.
With one inquisitive eyebrow permanently raised, I resign to try and drown out the noise, whatever it is. So, the best way to leave the world behind? Music. Of course. My palms are sweaty as I roll the radio dial back and forth trying to find a station to listen to. The traffic begins to move a bit thankfully when I land on Seoul Sounds FM. That'll have to suffice; I don't even have a CD player. Alas, even though I turned the volume up quite a bit, I can still hear the distant cries getting closer. I swear to God if this is the start of the zombie apocalypse, I'm done. Let them eat me. I've been in an oven for over an hour so...

BAM! CRASH! BOOM!

        Something hits the back of my car like twenty sledge hammers on steroids. My head is flung forward harshly, but thankfully the seatbelt catches me halfway to permanent brain damage. OW. I'm going to have a nasty bruise on my chest because I can already feel sharp pain exuding from my ribcage. Whatever hit my car sounded like it crunched my back bumper like a T-Rex noshing on a tasty cow, but my clunker of a vehicle is still running, and the radio is still blasting oldies. I angrily click the radio off Kim Jeongho.
"What the actual fuck?!"
I screech flying out of my car in a rage to confront the driver of the car I now see with a disastrous front bumper to match mine. I quickly take note that my car is in way better shape than the one who hit me. Their car is smoking, and the engine of the black SUV seems to be totaled. Before I can check to see if the other driver is okay and then yell at them properly, I jump back a few inches when the door of the now useless SUV swings open forcefully. I blink a few times, my brain not registering the tallish, bluish/blondish, a lot of –ish dude sprinting towards me in a blur. He's in front of me in three seconds, and my facial recognition feature in my head is momentarily "closed for repairs" from the accident.
He says nothing, but his breathing is out of control and there's a look of sheer panic in his eyes and expression.
"Hey, you're bleeding, bro. You okay?"
I ask him. With respectful greetings momentarily out the window, I examine his head wound as best I can while he wildly looks around him and down the street. The dark sunglasses on his face have a long crack on the left frame; it makes him look deranged. In his silence, I wonder if this guy is in trouble with the police or something. I know I definitely need to be calling them about this collision. Soon. Suddenly, my attention is again aware of the ever increasing roar coming from about four or five blocks away.
"What-"
I don't get the inquiry out of my mouth when I'm without warning being dragged quickly by my wrist towards my car. I follow for a few steps before I realize I might be being kidnapped. I try to get this crazy, and more than likely concussed, individual to let go of my wrist. I thrash about wildly like a fish on dry land.
"HEY! What the hell are you doing, you psycho?!"
He doesn't let go until we get to the passenger side door after he yanks me down to a crouching position. He relents my wrist back into my possession, and I'm confused as to why we're now seemingly hiding. Especially since he's bleeding from a right nasty gash on his forehead and I've still yet to notify local police or an ambulance. This is as dodgy as a cheap, B movie horror film or a Law & Order episode.
"Look, if you're in trouble with the law or the mob or something... I can't help you, man. Okay? You really need to go to the hospital."
I start to stand up to retrieve my cell phone, but I hesitate as I don't want to piss this guy off. Besides, behind his broken sunglasses he looks pretty cute and it'd be shame to find out that he's a criminal honestly. I know. Shamefully shallow of me, but give me a break.
"NO!"
He finally yells at me and grabs my wrist again pulling me back down next to him. I'm increasingly aware of the roar continuing to waver from loud to louder every few seconds. Zombies. I'm telling you. This is it.
"Seriously? Why are we hiding?"
"Please, just..."
He whispers popping his head up slightly to look down in the direction of the impending stampede of what I'm guessing is people, but he drops back down immediately.
"Please, I need your help."
He begs me in a tone of complete desperation and fear. I can feel he's being genuine, I just don't know what he's so afraid of, and what's causing him to ask a complete stranger he just, quite literally, ran into for help. Every second that goes by, I feel his nervous energy increase and spread to my own emotions. What gives?
"What? How? Why?"
Every instinct I have warring inside is telling me to bolt in the opposite direction. Away from him and the unknown danger that's getting closer and closer, but I mysteriously don't run for my life. I guess this is how I die.
"We don't have time! Just please get me out of here!"
I bite my lip looking around the car and I see the source of the sound finally: a horde of girls heading this way. All of them are splitting up, going down alleys and then rejoining the approaching monster mob. What the...? My brain refuses to put two and two together right now; I've never been more confused at a situation in my 24 years of life. I look at him, then the stampede, then back to him. He's shaking like a leaf at this point and my body begins to move without thought or abandon.
"Get in."
I tell him sprinting up like an antelope, and opening the passenger door for him. He looks up at me for a split second before diving in. I slam the door shut quickly, and I can see the marching mass only a block away as I'm rounding the front of my car and climbing in with panicking haste.
"Th-thank you..."
He mutters putting his seatbelt on.
"Thank me when we get out of here alive."
With my front two windows still open from earlier, I try to roll them up, but the electrical panel seems to have been damaged in the crash. Fuck. We both spastically jump in our seats hearing the mob abruptly scream bloody murder in unison, and I make out a girl screaming at the top of her lungs: "THERE'S HIS CAR!" Who is this guy?! Damn! The girls have broken into an Olympic speed run towards both of our cars, and the intensity of this moment has made me completely forget how to operate a vehicle.
"Go go go!"
He shrieks at me with his voice cracking mid-scream, and I sloppily try to make the car move forward as the traffic has finally cleared in front of us. "Sweet baby G-Dragon on a Thursday, DRIVE, BITCH!" I bellow to myself in my mind. The blonde haired boy quickly pulls the shift into D from the passenger seat, and as soon as the galloping swarm gets to his SUV, I slam my foot on the gas pedal. We jolt forward and accelerate right through a red light, just barely escaping the stampede. Two or three cars have to veer off to the sides to miss my car, and angry horns surround us on all sides.
Neither of us say anything until we get ten minutes down the road. I moisturize my eyes realizing I haven't blinked in quite a while. My knuckles are white from gripping the wheel so hard, and I can feel my knees shaking from the adrenaline. What just happened?
"Where do you want to go?"
I forgo asking about what just transpired as right now... I'm honestly too shellshocked to care. I cut my eyes over to him and back to the road waiting for a response.
"I don't care.  Away."
He almost whimpers. That's not an answer, sir. I sigh loudly in frustration at my gas light and his response as we drive around Seoul in utter silence another few minutes.
"What's your name?"
He says almost monotone. He seems to be more relaxed or my diagnosed concussion has set in. I reach behind me and grab a clean towel from my gym bag, throwing it into his lap before answering.
"You should get some of that blood off of your face. My car may be in bad shape, but I'd like to keep it from looking like a crime scene."
   I catch him staring at the side mirror examining his face, then taking off his crushed sunglasses. He looks them over a second, and proceeds to nonchalantly throw them out the window. I faintly hear them shatter on the hot pavement as we continue on.
"Seoyeon. Yours?"
I keep my eye on him while he's attempting to wipe off the dried blood matted in his hair and on his forehead. I reach over to pull down the visor mirror for him, but I stop as soon as he jumps in fear. Okay, no sudden movements. I'm guessing he's just as traumatized as I am.
   "Yoongi."
He murmurs between wipes, and I nod in acknowledgment. I rub my chest gently in an attempt to stave off the dull ache from my injury I incurred during the fender bender with his SUV. The pain is becoming more noticeable as my body remembers it was hit with shit tons of metal a very short time ago. Ouch. Strangely, I find myself more concerned with this mystery man I'm driving in circles with. I have all of these questions in my head annoyingly trying to be the first to be asked, but there's only one that escapes.
"You okay?"
I inquire as we get closer to the highway.
"Not even a little bit."
He mumbles almost inaudibly. For some reason, the sadness in his answer almost brings tears to my raccoon eyes.
"Where do you want to go, Yoongi?"
"Anywhere and nowhere."
His response doesn't put me at ease as I've still got the running from the police or mob scenario simmering in the back of my mind, but when I start down the off ramp to the highway, he doesn't stop me.
"I can do that."
I answer him softly as I reach over and crank up the volume on the car stereo until I can no longer hear my own thoughts. Hopefully, it will also temporarily silence the demons that he's very clearly trying to fight off in his soul.