Listen | Yoonseok

Unus

Jimin

Why did you have to commit suicide?

Was it because they made fun of you?

For being fat?

This is my fault.

I'm sorry for not giving you enough support.

Hoseok laid on his back as he stared at Jimin's picture that was saved onto his phone. His eye- smile, orange hair and loquacious personality made him miss the younger even more. It was absurd how Jimin passed away and the only remnants he had left behind was a note directly for Hoseok saying how much fun he had with him and that not to be demoralized when he was gone.

But Hoseok was demoralized.

It was weird, wasn't it?

How once a depressed person dies and advises everyone not to be sad; and everyone is sad. You see, Hoseok tried his best to smile and stay exuberant but it took a lot of chutzpah. Because he was sad and nothing could change that. It was still incredulous how high South Korea's suicide rate was.

And Park Jimin was one of the million few victims.

Hoseok had spent a long time mulling about it and weeping. How long has it been, two accomplished months? Wow that's a high score. My previous one was spending a month crying over the death of my Cousin's pet dog.

It wasn't even my dog. He thought. Hoseok was fully aware that he should be moving on, but still couldn't help think how intricate the Suicide topic was, like you could never understand it once you 'catch' it.

Hoseok understands now.

But the dancer was sure he was soon going to stop being depressed. After all, he was Jung Hoseok, who is literal sunshine. Unlike Jimin, he is an untainted gem. Just like a solar eclipse, the moon(depression) will only facade over the sun(Hobi) for about 7 minutes and 29 seconds before continuing on its orbit and Hoseok will continue with his daily life. His current state was only a ramification for Jimin's death.

But right now it was really killing him. The depression.

Exiting out of his photo gallery, the brown-haired boy went to his contacts and dialled 'Namjoon'. Hoseok had met the certain rapper ages ago and still up to today, he was his number one 'creature' to ask for advice.

Number two was his cousin's pet dog.

"Hello? Who is it?" A familiar, deep voice asked.

"It's me," Hoseok mumbled darkly, unaware of how unnatural his voice sounded.

Namjoon felt shivers down his spine. "Hoseok? You sound horrible. I can't see you now but I can only imagine how you look." He joked, almost a bit sarcastically. "When you said 'It's me', I directly thought about some demon haunting me!"

Hoseok's next laugh sounded something a bit between of deadpanning and force. He couldn't understand what was so funny.

"So what's up Hyung?" Namjoon said pretty chill, redirecting the conversation.

"Nothing, just here to ask you for advice," Hoseok mentioned, running a fair hand through his locks.

"Sure, what is it?"

"How did you cope with depression?"

Nothing but silence was heard at first, followed by the sound of zippers being zipped and keys jingling like bells.

"Namjoon-ah?" The elder asked at a loss.

"I'm coming to your place right now." Was what he heard next.

Hoseok would've laughed at his friend's extraness but didn't. "Namjoon-ah, I'm truly fine, thank you very much." He reassured. "Just temporary stress, from school and life, you know? And please don't come to my house, it's crowded enough. I have like 7 dogs here with me."

"Seven dogs? Hoseok, what are you thinking?" The rapped cried in awe but with a 'wtf' tone of voice.

"Hey, ever since my friend passed away, one dog was not enough." Hoseok stood up for himself, signalling one of his dogs over, Happy, who rested on his legs. He had named all his seven dogs after the seven dwarfs, and considered himself the Snow White. Namjoon could be the Evil Queen.

"Oh.," Namjoon said in realization. "I'm sorry for your loss." He lamented. "That's why you were asking for advice. Well, I do have some advice."

The Brunet took out a notepad to note what his friend was going to say next.

"Strolls at the park, read, get an animal companion, wait you already have seven, um, yoga-"

Hoseok wrote none of those down.

"Namjoon, are you reading off the internet?"

"Umm, yes?" He answered unsure.

"I want your advice, please!" Hoseok begged.

"Okay, okay. Chill bro." Namjoon replied. A few minutes passed with the younger thinking. "Oh, I know. When I was depressed I called this Hotline."

The dancer's eyes perked up. Suicidal Hotline? He scribbled it down on his notepad as if his pen was on fire. If he couldn't heal his depression then he might as well help others.

Namjoon continued. "I think it was called... Listeners?"

Hoseok immediately wrote the name down.

"Why, you going to call them?" The rapper asked curiously.

"Nope." Hoseok replied, popping the 'P' before ending the call, satisfied.

For the first time in two months, motivation actually ensembled inside him as he punched in the 'Listener's' telephone number on his black phone.

"Hello? Listeners here." A dreamy voice answered. "How was your day?"

"Uhh, good?" Hoseok replied, a bit confused and anxious.

"What about your day was so good?" The voice asked, making Hoseok confused. The way that the person on the phone talked, you couldn't sense his emotion. Just a bland voice a newscaster would've had. It was calming and gentle, in any way could calm a stressed person out. He then realized what was going on.

"Um, I'm not depressed." He mentioned.

The tone of voice on the phone suddenly changed. "Oh! Then, wrong number? Better not be a joke."

"No!" Hoseok quickly corrected. "I just wanted to get a job."

"Ah, then I suggest you go to our website instead of calling us."

"Alright, sorry for bothering you."

Ending the phone rejected, Hoseok took a deep breath and opened his laptop and looked up the website. It was a dull-coloured website, never meant to be happy or bright. He saw a sign that said 'Workers wanted'.

Hoseok felt a bit tentative.

But once he saw a video on the page, a video of a boy saying "I love working here. I can save many lives," He knew that the job was ideal for him.

He clicked 'Workers wanted.'