Continuum

스물하나

Taehyung awoke the next morning to the smell of Seokjin's cooking, sure that everything that had happened in the past week was all a dream. After all, how could any of that have happened? Hey, he woke up in his street clothes, which he had gone into sleep in, so -

He opened his eyes to a ceiling that he didn't recognize.

Fuck.

Well, it was worth a shot.

He sighed and sat up, his spine cracking with soreness. He had been sleeping on a couch that was not designed for sleeping. Early rays of pastel sunlight were permeating through the glass doors that led to the balcony.

The sound of glasses clattered from the kitchen. Taehyung looked in the direction the noise had come from.

Seokjin was reading something off a label pasted to a spice jar. "You talk in your sleep," he said without his eyes leaving the jar.

"I've been told that."

Seokjin hummed in response before tapping some of the red spice into a pan that was sitting on the stove.

Taehyung thought back to the night previous. After Namjoon and Jeongguk had disappeared, the manager came in, his face a bright red. He yelled at the remaining boys for several minutes without taking in a single breath, but the boys weren't listening. They seemed generally afraid of Taehyung. When the manager was done, Jimin had looked at Taehyung with wide eyes and begged him that he would explain everything the next day. How he knew about the scar, why he was there, how he seemed to know so much of them.

Seokjin had ordered Yoongi, Jimin, and Hoseok to go to their apartments to rest, even though it didn't look like they would sleep at all.

The world then descended into the silence of the night.

"Go out onto the balcony there," Seokjin told him. Taehyung obediently got up, unlocked the door, and was met with a cool gust of wind. There was some grassy area, then a wide expanse of trees.

In the middle of the city? That was new.

"You see the forest?" Seokjin asked.

"Yeah."

"Folks say that it's haunted. That the spirits of those who died there hundreds of years ago still roam. That's why no one has cut it down and no one goes into it. Even greedy men who would gain a lot of money by building there don't touch it." Seokjin paused to taste test something from the pan, apparently deciding that it needed more salt. "People swear that in some areas of the forest, you can actually hear some of the spirits talking or crying."

"Sounds creepy."

Seokjin laughed for a moment. "I suppose so. Go into the forest," he said.

"What."

Seokjin was completely calm. "Walk for a ways into the forest. There will be a small lake near the edge of the trees. By the lake, there'll be a small shack. You can't miss it, it's the only human-made thing in the forest. Go there," he said, "and you might find something that you're looking for."

It was the dumbest idea Taehyung had heard in a long time.

But then again, he was in some parallel universe where everyone was different except him. So really, how did stupidity compare to insanity?

Taehyung pulled on his shoes and began the trek into the forest.

The trees seemed eerie from a distance, but once inside the forest, it wasn't so bad. The temperature was warmer and it was far more humid. Insects buzzed around his head, causing him to flail his arms about in an attempt to rid himself of them. Much to his surprise, there seemed to be a sort of footpath there, even though Seokjin had told him no one went into the forest.