«Grim» → kth | jjk

XXIX

Jungkook's fingers graced against his keyboard, furiously typing keys and those keys putting letter upon letter on the document pulled up on his screen. He paused, stretched his aching fingers, and took a sip of his coffee that had gone cold in the past two hours. It didn't matter to him. Coffee was coffee.

The first thing he did that morning was wake up and rush to the cafe to work on the article for Taehyung. Never had he ever felt such a rush of energy and excitement for something like this. Yet... here he was.

After taking a sufficient sip of the cold beverage, he immediately resumed his task of typing, the constant clicks of the keys more likely than not becoming a nuisance to those around him but Jungkook had no reason to really care about that. What he cared about in this moment was perfecting this article.

"Finished!" He exclaimed to himself in victory as he placed the finishing period. He copied and pasted the text into an email that was then sent to Taehyung, his heart pounding in anticipation. He was eager to receive feedback.

"Finished what?"

Jungkook looked up at the sound of a female voice, one that was quite familiar in his mind.

He smiled a bit. "Oh, hey Misook."

The girl standing above Jungkook had her long hair tied back in a tight pony tail with a couple stray pieces of hair hanging out. She was wearing a green tee shirt that was tucked into a black pair of jeans that looked to be a bit worn, as were the sneakers she had on her feet.
"Mind if I sit? I'm on my break and my feet are killing me." She laughed awkwardly.

Jungkook nodded and pulled his laptop towards himself to give Misook some table room.
"I didn't know you worked here." He commented as he refreshed his email in hopes Taehyung had replied, even though it hadn't even been five minutes.

Misook nodded. "Well, I've worked here for a while." She shrugged. "Mainly the early morning shifts to early afternoon, though. That could be why you never see me here."

Jungkook thought it over, and she did have a point. He was never here this early.

"Which brings me to the question... Why are you here at such a weird time? For you, I mean. I remember when we were in high school you used to complain about first period being too early." She chuckled.
"Because it was." Jungkook mumbled. "I was just finishing up an article, that's all."
"Oh, that's right! You're a journalist, right? What's the article on?" Misook smiled, and Jungkook could tell she was genuinely intrigued. That tugged at his heart a bit.

He and Misook were friends throughout high school until she left for college, and after that they just naturally lost touch. It wasn't like they were best friends, but Jungkook always knew that Misook saw him as a brother, she always wanted the best for him. This was the first time they were actually having a conversation in years and he could see that desire hadn't gone away.

"Kim Taehyung. He's the guy that lives in that super huge mansion over by-"

"I know who he is." Misook's smile had faded almost instantly. "What about him?"
"Well, you know he's been this huge mystery, right? He and I have actually gotten pretty close over the past couple weeks. He's a super sweet guy, really genuine and I just... sort of wrote about who he really is, y'know?" Jungkook couldn't hold back the fond smile that had made its way onto his face as he looked out the window, thinking of all the things he had come to love about the strange blonde man.

Misook, however, did not smile.

"Stay away from him, Jungkook."

The intensity that had appeared in her voice startled Jungkook, causing him to look at her in confusion.
"I'm... sorry? Why?" He furrowed his brows together.

"He's dangerous."
"No, Misook that's exactly why I'm publishing this article! Everyone thinks he is or thought he was, but he isn't!" Jungkook shook his head with a laugh. "He threw this huge party a while ago and so many people-"
"I know he did." Her tone was still as grave as ever. It was beginning to worry Jungkook. "I didn't go. You shouldn't have either."

Jungkook frowned. "Misook, are you okay?"

Misook's warm eyes were dark and cold as they stared intently at Jungkook, a sense of urgency evident that he had never seen in her before.

"My grandmother passed away a few months ago." She said as if it were the most obvious thing, as if it were supposed to make everything else make sense. "Death is never easy, y'know?"

Death.

Jungkook's throat closed in on itself, he felt like his ribs were collapsing on his lungs and making it impossible to breathe. Taehyung was cursed to feed on death.

"Oh... I'm so sorry. I had no idea." Jungkook shrugged off the absurd connection and gave the reaction anyone would, offering his condolences and such.

Misook didn't seem impressed.

"Kim Taehyung was there." She said in the same level tone.

If the previous remark about death hadn't set alarms off in Jungkook's mind, this definitely did. Taehyung was stealthier than that, wasn't he? He wouldn't be that obvious! There was no way Misook knew what he thought she knew.

"Um. At the funeral?" Jungkook asked slowly.

"Fuck no." She scoffed. "He was at her deathbed, Kook. As in, in the room as she died."

"I- I'm confused." He pursed his lips, feigning a puzzled expression when his heart was pounding violently in his chest.

Misook leaned forward, her arms resting on the table in front of her. "Listen. I was in the room when she died, I was the only one in there. It was the middle of the night, my grandmother passed around 1 in the morning and I was awake with her until she died. Kim Taehyung just came out of nowhere. I didn't know who the fuck it was so I hid in the closet, and I watched as he absorbed my grandmothers soul. Her soul, Jungkook. He- He had these disgusting wings, and his eyes were completely black- he's a fucking demon. Literally."

Jungkook bit his tongue so hard it would probably bleed any second.

"Don't publish that article. Meet me after my shift and I'll tell you everything, then you can publish an accurate article about who that monster really is." She narrowed her eyes.
"He isn't a monster, Misook." Jungkook clenched his fists under the table. "He can't help it."

Misook's eyes widened suddenly, but they suddenly became accusing. "You knew!?"

"He- I saw him the other night and he explained everything. It's not what you think, okay? He does it to survive. He doesn't want-"
"You didn't see him suck out your grandmother's soul. For all we know, he could be the reason she died in the first place. Maybe he killed her so he could "survive."" Misook's voice was quiet, but venomous nonetheless.

Jungkook's heart twisted. "I know who he is, Misook. The article is finished and I'm publishing it as is. That's final." He stood up and put his laptop into his bag. "This stays between us." He shot her a look before leaving the cafe quickly, trying to mask his panic with confidence.

As long as Misook kept her mouth shut, everything would be fine.

Now it was a matter of whether or not she would actually be quiet about this.