Choose Your Own BTS Adventure

PATH 3: JIMIN - PART 5

The sound of tires over gravel crunched to life before you as the big black car pulled over to let you in. You had your hand on the passenger side door, but quickly released it when you saw that the seat was already occupied.

"Oh my god, are you okay?" Jungkook turned around in his seat to greet you as you hopped in the back.

It took everything in you to slap the weak smile onto your face. You were too tired and too anxious to push out more than just a puny, "Yeah."

This answer didn't seem to satisfy the man, but let's be honest here, no one was going to be happy until Jimin was found and back in safe hands again.

Now it was Minji's turn to question you. She pulled her dark, cat-eye sunglasses up into her long, black hair, a waterfall of silky tresses falling down the sides of her face as she did so.

"What the hell happened?" she asked you, her voice no-nonsense as always.

Trembling hands scrubbed at your face and you let out a long, shaky sigh. You explained what had happened, your words tumbling out all at once like a stampede of syllables, all elbows and knees jabbing at each other, fighting to be the first to leap from the finish line that was your tongue. When you had finished, you slapped the crinkled note down on the console between them.

Minji read it aloud, while Jungkook listened, eyes widened with rapt attention.

"We should call the police!" Jungkook fired out once the girl had finished reading.

"Are you crazy?" Minji said. "You heard what it just said. Don't get the police involved. Who knows what those lunatics will do to him if we don't follow their demands!"

"I don't care!" Jungkook bit out. He gave a stifled scream and then ran his hands through his hair in frustration. Hot air puffed through his nostrils. He sounded hot with anger. "We have to get him back! We have to."

You watched both of them closely from your vantage point in the back seat as Minji laid a gentle hand against Jungkook's shaking shoulder. He took several deep breaths, his whole chest expanding and contrasting like a bullfrog's as he did.

"We will," Minji promised. "We're going to get him back." Her soft spoken words seemed to do the trick and finally Jungkook caught hold of his unruly emotions, trapped and wild within him like a caged tiger. They had nowhere to go, so Jungkook bottled them tight and when he opened his eyes you noticed a fire sparking there, as if it were lighting him from within.

The resolve in his face was clear as he said one word, two syllables, "Okay."

The air in the car was thick and hot with tension, almost too much for you to bear. So you cleared your throat to release some of the sizzling energy from the car.

"Jungkook," you tried, your words coming out slow and measured, like molasses poured into a baker's cup. "What's tasty in Busan? What does that mean?"

The man waved a distracted hand through the air, his thoughts still clearly trapped tightly around the coils of his mind. "That's just an inside joke between me and Jimin, Y/N. I don't see--"

You cut him off. The clock on the dashboard had jumped to the next minute, reminding you afresh of your panic and refilling your frantic efforts to speed things up. "No, I know," you said. "But I think it's a clue. The only clue we have anyway. If you can figure out what they mean by that, maybe that's where we'll find Jimin."

"She's right," Minji said, having your back. "It's all we have to go off of for now anyway, at least until we find more clues. So spill it, Kook. What's tasty in Busan?"