There Was Nothing You Could Do

-𝑇𝑎𝑒ℎ𝑦𝑢𝑛𝑔-

I emerge from the woods and into a clearing where a tall hotel-like building stands.

"This is it." I say to myself, "This is the destination I've been looking for. The place I've avoided all my life, but now it seems to be the only place I'll find peace."

I shove my hands deeper into my coat pockets and walk on the concrete toward the building.

The sign above the door reads, "잃어버린 집 (Lost House)"

I push open the door and a woman stands at a desk.

She turns to me and smiles, "We've been waiting for you Mr.Kim."

She stands up and walks to me, "Come, come. We have a room prepared for you."

The woman puts her hand on my back and directs me down hallways and up stairs.

Everything in the building looks exactly the same, everything but the labels on the doors.

The woman stops in front of a door labeled, "KTH" and "KSJ" My name and Jin's? No Jin is useless to these horrible people, he wouldn't be here The woman interrupts my thoughts,  "You most likely will not see much of your roommate, he wanders the halls often. I hope you enjoy it here, for we have been waiting for a very long time to have you."

The woman smiles as she shuts the door and it sends chills down my spine. It's not the kind of smile a friend would greet you with, or someone would make when they receive a gift. It's the kind of smile a sick person would make after they just murdered someone.

I sit on one of the two beds in the room, cross-legged, and watch as the rain pounds on the window.

I hear the door lock and I begin to panic, my mind wandering to places I wish it hadn't

Roommate? This woman makes this place seems like a college or apartment, not the house of unmerciful experiments that it is.

What if Jin is my so-called 'roommate'? That wouldn't be so bad I guess.

But Jin doesn't have anything, what he calls special, on multiple occasions, about him. None of the others do.

I sigh and reach into my pocket, pulling out a crumpled picture of the seven of us.

I turn it over and read the back.

"우리는 가족.우리가 길을 잃었을 때 우리는 서로를 찾을 것입니다. 빛이 죽고 봄이 없어도. 우리는 가족. (We are family, we will find each other when we get lost. Even if the light is dead and there is no spring. We are family.)"

I miss them already, all of them, but I'm doing this for them. I just need to keep reminding myself that this will keep them safe.

I sigh and shove the picture into my pocket. I lie back, placing my head on the pillow and close my eyes, allowing myself to drift off into a dreamscape filled with warnings and fantasies.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope you stay and read until the end. So I don't know if the Korean is correct because I'm not fluent I'm just learning so I used Google Translate and we all know it lies. Anyway have a lovely day! <3