Master's ( Jungkook / BTS )

Episode III: The Lab

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      That evening Jungkook excused everyone to leave for the night, except for me, he had me stay and follow him down to the lab. After many months I thought it would be nice to finally be down there and be reminded of all the good times I've had while working with Dr Jeon. Also, I've been meaning to go down there to continue with all the work, but until now the door was always locked.
     For some odd reason the lights wouldn't work which left the stairs pitch dark. I kindly let Jungkook go ahead of me. I promised myself I would stop being so clumsy, but in case I slipped I thought it would be nice to have someone to cushion my fall.
     "Careful, the steps are steep," he warned.
     I appreciated his warning but at that very moment I was too concentrated on not falling and was relying too heavily on the rails to keep me up.
I heard Jungkook call out from the bottom, "Hey the lights don't work down here either." I got to the bottom and lightly pushed him aside.
"There should be an emergency generator somewhere down here, ah, here it is," I pulled on it and got it going; bright florescent lights illuminated around us, revealing the great big lab. I always found it funny how a lab this large was only used by two small scientists. I looked over at Jungkook and saw him in utter amazement as he walked around looking at all the bright screens and monitors. I joined him, excitement rushing through me as all the memories of the numerous hours spent here slowly came back. I walked over to my desk and put on my lab coat. I had another one upstairs but it was nice to put this one with more wear and tear on.
"It's funny," he laughed. "I lived here for all my life and I never imagined this was what was down here this whole time. I'm kind of jealous," he stated plainly.
"What?"
He took his eyes off the bright screens and looked at me instead, "I was never allowed down here, no one was, and as a kid, I used to dream about the day Mother would finally let me in. I never once thought that I'd be down here without her, so knowing that you got to be one of or maybe even the only ones to be down here with her... I'm not going to lie, I hate it. I hate how I couldn't be there to see her face when she finally showed someone, for the first time, one of her deepest secrets. I could be mad at you, but no matter how much I've tried I can't. At the end of the day, I can only blame myself," he finally looked away and went back to wandering around.
"Happy," I blurted.
He stopped and turned around, "What?"
"She looked happy. Just happy."
"Good, that's good. I don't think I can remember the last time I saw her genuinely happy." There was something sad to this whole thing and seemed like the more I got to know Jungkook the sadder his story became. "So," he cleared his throat, "where's this super vaccine of our's?"
With everything that was said I almost forgot why we had to come here in the first place. I lead us through many paper covered desks and shelves filled with books, to the back where the freezer was. Now, this freezer wasn't any ordinary freezer you can buy from the store. No, this was a state of the art walk in freezer shipped over from Germany, with pressurized locks to insure that whatever was put in here stayed preserved. I reached for the handle and tried pulling on it but it wouldn't open. I forgot that the freezer door was also locked; fortunately for us this door wasn't locked by a key, so no more exploding doors, but unfortunately this door was the kind to be locked by an electronic lock and if I really had to and if I really felt like using hours of my night, I'd be able to figure out the number code to get in.
I ran my hands through my hair out of frustration. We were running out of time and if I was really going to run a program to figure out the code I would have to start now in order to have it by morning.
"What's wrong, don't you know the password?" He asked me.
"No," I sighed.
"Didn't my mom give you the password?"
"Yes, except all the locks in the lab are programmed to randomly change every day and she usually told me what they were, but..."
"Well, isn't there any other way, like a master key?"
There was. Dr Jeon never actually had to use the codes, she had her ID card that gave her full access to every place and everything in the lab. I ran back to her desk and rummaged around for it until I found it under some old files. Running back to Jungkook, I handed him the card and sat down. I needed to catch my breath; maybe Jin was right, I need to stop pushing myself or else I'm afraid that something would actually happen to me.
"What is this, her ID?" Jungkook examines it, front and back. "How is this going to help?"
"With it we have access to everything down here." I explained. I took back the card from him and held it up to the electronic lock. Access Cleared, it read in bright green letters. "See, I wouldn't lie to you." I pushed all my weight against the heavy door and stepped in. "Careful with the door, don't let it close behind you, it automatically locks from the outside so if you let go we're gonna be stuck in here for a really long time."
Jungkook heard this and took the initiative to stay by the door. He seemed like he got that covered so I walked deeper into the frigid capsule. I thought the lab lights were bright, but compared to those ones, the ones in here were ungodly and it seemed to get worse the deeper I went in. On the fifth and final shelf I found what we came here for, the original vaccine. I reached into my lab coat and pulled out some gloves, I carefully picked up the delicate tiny bottle of blue shiny liquid.
"What's taking so long back there, you got the vaccine?" I heard Jungkook call from the door.
"Got it!" I quickly slid the bottle into my pocket and rushed over to him.
I felt bad for having him hold the door with how heavy it was and so not wanting to waste any time, I quickly slipped out of there and waited for Jungkook to come out before showing him the tiny beaut.
"Here it is," I pulled it out of my pocket. "This tiny thing is gonna change the world in big ways." I handed him some gloves and passed him the bottle of the super vaccine.
"This is it, the thing you and my mom worked hard on," he looked at it with amusing eyes and if my eyes weren't deceiving me, I think I even saw the beginning of a small smile start to grow at the corner of his lips. He noticed me staring and his expression quickly went back to his usual serious one, which disappointed me. He handed me back the bottle and took his gloves off, leaving them on the desk.
     "We should get this to the main lab as quickly as possible," I slipped the vaccine back into my pocket and started making my way back to the stairs. I turned back when I noticed that he wasn't behind me. I went down to see what was up and stopped before passing the lab door, Jungkook was quietly looking over his mother's desk. Viewing this from afar I was able to take in the beauty that was Jeon Jungkook. The white lighting seemed to bounce off him, creating an angelic effect and I couldn't stop myself from admiring his good looks. It was like God wanted to toy with my heart, how could he both bless and curse me by letting such a man into my life. It wasn't fair.
     I was snapped back to reality when I saw Jungkook reach out to touch Dr Jeon's old lab coat, nicely hung up next to her nicely cleaned whiteboard. They say that the human brain remembers things better in certain situations that requires one to think quickly; in those short five seconds my brain gave me a list of all ninety four of Jungkook's allergies and for some odd but convenient reason remembered that the lab coats made out of 100% cotton. That's 100% of potentially harmful material that could get Jungkook in a lot of trouble.
     "Master, don't-" the words came out of me as soon as I made the realization, but not quick enough to stop him; he grabbed his mother's coat and instantly fell onto the ground. I run to him and pick him up. "Master!" I could tell that he was already swelling up by the way his face was turning red and and the way he was struggling to breathe. I felt my heart pound against my chest, why was this happening, how could I have been so stupid to let this happen? Dr Jeon asked me on her death bed to watch over her son and now I was witnessing him die right in front of me. Fuck. What am I supposed to do? Jungkook went limp and rested his body against mine, as I held him I couldn't figure which was worse his painful gasps for air or my uncontrollable trembling.
      I looked around for anything that could help, both the lab door and the door at the top of the stairs were open, but calling for help would be no use; everyone had left, it was only Jungkook and me left in the house. I was looking around for other solutions when a sudden grip around my arm took me off guard. I looked down at Jungkook, surprised he still had the strength left in him to be holding on to me so tight.
     "Ah Lina," he struggled to let out.
     "Master?" I grab his hand.
     "Th-there's a- a- an ep-epi-i p-p-pen upstairs in- in my study-y, s-second drawer fro-from the bottom."
     I looked back up the stairs and back down at him. I shook my head. His study was too far away, I wouldn't make it back in time. Plus, I didn't feel comfortable with the idea of leaving him alone while in this state. I carefully propped him up against a wall and rummaged through drawers and boxes for anything that might help. I had no trouble finding a syringe and a needle, I just needed the right drug. The doctor and I worked on countless experiments involving allergies, there had to be some epinephrine somewhere down here. I continued tearing apart the lab for it. I found so many different kinds of drugs and medication, none the one I needed. Finally in the pocket of Dr Jeon's lab coat I felt a familiar and small cylindrical shaped bottle. I pulled it out and checked the label: Epinephrine. I acted quickly; stabbing the needle into the tube and running back to where Jungkook laid on the floor. He was covered in hives and his skin went from being red to a sickly blue, most likely from the lack of air. I flipped him over and sat him up. I had no clue how to do this correctly but I didn't even have time to think about it, I took his arm and hoped for the best as I injected him with the life saving serum.
     I watched as Jungkook's breathing became steady and the color returned to his face. I laid his head across my lap and swept his hair out of the way so I could check on him; the hives around his neck were still visibly red, but I could tell that the swelling was going down. I couldn't imagine how uncomfortable the floor must be to lay on, it was cold and hard, not an ideal place to be after almost dying. He couldn't stay here, I thought. I lightly tapped on his cheeks to see if he was well enough to get up.
     "Master," I whispered. "Master, are you okay?" He opened his eyes up half way and I could tell by the way they fluttered that he was fighting to keep them open. I brought my face closer to his, "Do you have enough strength to stand up?"
    He closed his eyes and gave a small nod. Alright. I carefully lifted his head off my lap and helped him sit up. I grabbed one of his arms and brought it around my shoulders and got ready, "Okay, ready? One, two, three," On three we both lifted up from the ground and caught our balance. With most of his weight on me, I helped him out of the lab and up a narrow stairway. I felt like my legs were going to give out, but I didn't need another reason for Jungkook to fire me and if nearly killing him wasn't enough, dropping him would. So I fought through the pain, dragged his limp body into the living room and laid him down on the nearest black leather couch. I got up and brought a small blanket back, laying it over him. I got some water from the kitchen and placed it on the coffee table before sitting on the ground next to him. Sleeping on the couch couldn't be that more comfortable than being on the ground, but I just knew I wouldn't have made it if I tried to carry him up two more floors to where his room was.
     I watched as he soundly slept, his soft snores peaceful indicators that he was for a fact back to breathing normally. I swept his hair to the side so I could see his face better, it was hard to believe what had just happened. Up until now, I saw Jungkook as this indestructible man with a cold exterior and so seeing him this vulnerable really scared me. What if I hadn't found the epinephrine in time? I don't think I could've lived with myself if that had been the case. I checked the time on the small antique clock sitting on the table, it was getting late and I had school early in the morning tomorrow. I readjusted the blanket and got up to leave but was stopped by Jungkook.
"Ah Lina," he called for me.
I sat back down next to him, "Yes?"
"Please, don't let the others know about what happened tonight."
"As you wish, Master."

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A/N:
Yay! That's done with, I felt like this chapter took days to complete (prob because it did).
I officially have exactly a week before school starts and I don't know how to feel about it...
Also, I have some friends who are already in school and I'm getting second hand anxiety from seeing how stressed they are 😫
Oh 🐳, here's some memes to help y'all experiencing the same thing:

As always, thank you for reading !
❤️ ❤️ ❤️
~Lena