PERSONA ✓

09.

"School," said Jungkook as they walked to the front doors. "Who created it? Who thought it was a good idea?"

"Jungkook," said Namjoon, "you love learning."

"Yeah, but not school."

Namjoon chuckled as he and Jungkook entered.

"What do you have first, hyung?"

"Chemistry. You?"

"Math." Jungkook scrunched his nose. "Ugh. Anyways, I'll see ya at lunch, hyung!"

And he ran off in the direction of his locker.

-

Namjoon was thinking hard about the information he had learned yesterday.

Someone stole Choi Byungho's research on mind control, but who?Was Shadow being mind controlled? It seemed unlikely. Maybe Shadow was the one who stole the research? Maybe Byungho was controlling Shadow. What if—

"What's up, Namjoon?"

Namjoon looked up to see Jung Hoseok, his lab partner. Hoseok was a kind boy with a sweet smile. Namjoon enjoyed his presence. He was really smart, too, especially when it came to Chemistry.

"Nothing much, you?"

Hoseok shook his head and sat down, smiling. "Chem test next week."

"Huh? Where'd you hear that?"

Hoseok pointed to the words written on the whiteboard. Namjoon threw his head back and groaned. "You've gotta be kidding me. They're piling so much work on us this year."

Hoseok nodded. "I know, right? I've got 5 assignments to hand in next week, and 2 tests. I swear I've got no time to breathe."

Namjoon nodded. "I relate too much to that."

Hoseok brushed his hair out of his eyes. Namjoon's eyes caught sight of the multiple rings on his fingers.

"Nice rings," said Namjoon, staring at them.

"Oh." Hoseok looked at his own hand, twisting the rings around nervously, seemingly on guard as soon as Namjoon had pointed them out. "Thanks. They were gifts."

Then the teacher walked in. All the kids that were standing around and talking to their friends dispersed slowly, heading to their seats as the class commenced. 

-

"Where's Taehyung?" Jimin asked, winding his way through the crowded cafeteria to find Jungkook and Namjoon.

"Probably in the library," said Jungkook. "Let's go find him."

The three of them stood up, discarding their trash and heading out the door. Namjoon remained silent most of the way as Jimin and Jungkook talked about homework and grades, things Namjoon wasn't really listening to.

Jimin pushed open the door to the library, giving a small wave to the librarian. Jungkook and Namjoon followed, and they spotted Taehyung. He was sitting at a table, his back to them, staring out the window, while Seokjin sat across from him, focusing on a book.

"Hey, hyungs," Jungkook greeted. Seokjin looked up, and Taehyung turned around.

Seokjin smiled. "What are you guys doing here?"

Jimin shrugged, pulling out a chair and sitting down. "We were looking for you two."

Jungkook and Namjoon fought for the beanbag chair, but eventually compromised wordlessly, Namjoon sitting on one half and Jungkook sitting next to him.