𝑆𝑜𝑙𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑒 ~ 𝓥𝓶𝓲𝓷𝓴𝓸𝓸𝓴

(十五) | 2!3! pt I

World n°1

Jimin was walking towards the market square in the middle of the village. He had no idea why he chose this precise direction, but he just couldn't stand staying in the castle, with everyone sending him strange looks, one guard bowing to him at the door. He didn't know what kind of prank it was, but he would be lying if he said he wasn't terrified.

Jimin looked for Taehyung all over the castle, in the kitchen, in the yard, in the garden. He didn't leave a place where he didn't look and yet his friend seemed to have been swallowed by the ground, disappeared, with no trace. Jimin had one last idea in mind, that maybe Taehyung went shopping, so here he was, in the market square, eyes scanning the place for the familiar silhouette of his friend.

He walked through the merchants selling all kind of vegetables, fruits, even clothes, over and over again, and yet his eyes didn't land on his friend at all. He even asked one of the merchants, if he saw Taehyung, or if he showed up at all the said morning, but the man denied even knowing who Taehyung was, or knowing who he was himself. Jimin could've sworn he felt like going insane, everything seemed wrong and he couldn't even understand the reason.

At his desperate trials of finding his sweet friend, he wandered a bit out of his usual familiar space, and then, his eyes landed on a shop he never saw before. He raised an eyebrow at that, but he entered without a second thought, a man greeted him, without even sparing him a glance.

But for a matter of a fact, the moment Jimin's eyes met with the said man, he couldn't take them off and he was so shamelessly staring, his eyes just that very bit close of getting out of their sockets. The man had mint hair, something Jimin had never seen before. Did people with hair like that even exist, or was he dreaming?

The man seemed to only then pay him a bit of attention, a part of it returning to the fact that he felt Jimin's stare not elevating off of him in the slighest for some time already, and when he lifted up his eyes, to fall directly onto those of Jimin, he almost gasped, getting stuck in his motion of putting a bowl on top of the light wooden table.

“Aren't you human?” If Jimin wasn't already weirded out by the strange color of hair, then the golden shade that suddenly flicked in the stranger's eyes would've gotten him running away. Yet, for some reason, he stays, but he was wary, and the question didnt make sense. Of course he was human, what else he could be, a cat?

“Yes, what else could I be in your opinion?” Jimin asked, his undertone was undeniably sassy, but confusion was obvious in his eyes. For some reason, he remembered all the tales Taehyung used to tell him of other-worldly creatures. But he pushed them to the back of his mind, either this man was lunatic for asking such a stupid question, or he had lost his mind.

“Humans can't even see my shop sir, excuse you. What are you? So I can help you. This is how it works.” The mint haired guy interjected, and Jimin started considering the possibilty of the man being insane in his mind, until the said mint haired guy threw some dust on a chair and it turned suddenly to a rabbit, who just run around the shop.

Jimin's eyes went wide looking at the place where the chair was, then the rabbit, then the empty space, then the rabbit again. He was trying to understand from where did the rabbit show up, and how did the chair disappear into thin air.  He just couldn't believe what he had just witnessed.

Jimin's eyes were just about to jump out of their sockets for the second time that morning, and he decided on the fact that he was the one who had gone mad. Either that or the shop was magical. His eyes seemed to only then land on a few letters written and still flying in the air, color of the rainbow, but not hung on a wooden palet, and they spelled ‘magic shop’ in big letters.

“As far as I'm concerned, I'm fairly human.” Jimin replied, still just as shocked from what he was seeing. A mint haired man with golden eyes and silver magical dust writes with rainbow letters in the air and transforms chairs into rabits asking him if he was human, because supposedly humans cannot come to his magic shop. Jimin had to laugh, what kind of drug was he on to be seeing this kind of shit, but he continued anyways. “What even is this? Some sort of magic shop? And what are you Mr. Mint hair? A magician? A witch?”

Jimin said the last word in an extremely slow way. If witches did exist, then he definitely wouldn't want to run onto one. The other man rose his eyebrow at that, smiling to show his gummy smile. He reeked with magic, Jimin could see, but he still didn't know what to think.

“Debatable.” The other man said with a shrug, like the labels didn't really matter. “And for a human, you're pretty accurate. But are you really human, huh? Not some sort of hybrid, I'm not a fan of those, real pain in the ass.”

“Well, no. I'm a human, rest assured.” Jimin muttered, and the shorter man just smiled again, the type of charming smile that made Jimin smile back just as easily. He was kind of friendly, even if he was, Jimin wasn't sure, but maybe, a witch.

“Humans aren't supposed to see these things, young man. You're the first human I see in a thousand year. If you're really human, it is whether something real bad upcoming, or you've got a heart real pure. Could be nothing else.” Jimin remembered at that the stories Taehyung used to tell him of humans who had the ability to see otherworldly creatures, because they were so pure-hearted. Jimin didn't believe he was pure nevertheless, but he was frightened of the former choice, of him seeing this as a warning that something terrible was going to happen.

“I've heard that before, Taehyung told me.” Jimin muttered, just like a remark, nothing more or less. But the mint haired man’s eyebrows rose at that, tentative, contemplative, like he was doubting what he was saying.

“Taehyung who?”

“Kim Taehyung.” There was a silence after that, in which the man seemed to stare at Jimin as if he was insane, looking at him from head to toe in a strange fashion.

“Well, for a matter of a fact, you don't seem that rich.” He muttered, but Jimin only shrugged. Why would he even look rich while he was definately so poor? Why would the other man check him out to see if he was rich? He never said he was going to buy anything from his shop, he had no money and he needed no magic in his life. Nevertheless, the man's next words didn't fail to surprise him.“Are you by any chance, Park Jimin, young man?”

“I am indeed,” Jimin muttered slowly, thinking back if he ever said his name but he was sure that he didn't. He was doubtful, could witches read minds or was it simply a coincidence? “How do you even know?”

“So you're the royal advisor? Acting like a commoner and coming to look for me, huh? I warn you, I can fucking destroy you. So get the fuck out of my shop or you'll regret it along with your little king friend.” The other man's sudden aggressiveness took Jimin by surprise. What did he even do wrong. Royal advisor who? King who? Jimin was just so confused that he was sure it was blantantly obvious on his face, the way his mouth just went ajar in surprise.

“I said get out, why are you planted in your place? Get out!” The witch shouted again, and Jimin didn't move even an inch. It was then that he understood, maybe he thought Taehyung was the king and he was the royal advisor. He almost had to contain the urge to laugh.

“Jeon Jungkook is the king, and of course, I'm not his royal advisor, I'm just a servant at the castle. Get your facts right, why are you even saying this?” Yoongi raised his eyebrows at that, be he didn't disagree, neither did he agree. He just let out a long sigh, going back to tidying the desk like he was doing before, as if nothing happened. And Jimin just blinked at this, what was going on?

“Jimin?” Jimin nodded wordlessly, not realizing the witch couldn't see him nod while looking down at the wooden surface. The other man turned to look at him, his golden eyes shining, Jimin was mesmerized whenever he saw them. “You're not considered human here Jimin, you're definately an otherworldly creature. That's why you see me and my shop.”

Jimin was about to interrupt, to say that he was human indeed, but the witch rose his hand, stopped him mid opening his mouth. And his expression looked severe, serious and even more confident in what he yet had to say.

“Jimin, you came from the parallel world. This isn't where you belong at all. You're cursed.”

06.07.19