BTS HYYH Notes (Book 1, 2, BUS Game) // COMPLETE [Part 2]

2022, Jul 17 - Taehyung (The Girl and The 14th Day)

[Places: Bus stop, walls]

I thought my side was going to rip apart in pain. My sweat dripped. The hiding place in the railway, the empty lot behind the corner store, underneath the overpass, that girl was nowhere to be found.

I ran even to the bus stop but here too, she was unable to be seen. Those whose waiting for the bus stared at me strangely.

What had happened?

We hadn’t promised to meet, but it was still strange. That girl always turned up somewhere, and followed me wherever I went. Even if I said she was annoying, it was useless. But in any of the places we’d been together, she could not be found.

Having arrived at a familiar wall, I stopped my footsteps. It was graffiti we had done together. It was also the first artwork she had completed. On top of it, a huge X sign had been drawn. It's hers. I hadn’t even seen her, but I still knew. How? There was no answer. But on the wall, there were many images that super imposed on each other.

The way she had laughed on the day I lay on the railway and hurt my head. The way she had helped me rise after I fell trying to help; her expression when she had been mad that I stole her bread to eat it. The way her expression would dim when we passed a family portrait store. The way her eyes would unknowingly trail after passing students.

As we sprayed this wall, I had said this: “If something’s hard, don’t just suffer alone, and tell me.”

The X was drawn over all our memories. It felt like they were saying all of those things were fake. It felt like they were saying everything was a lie. Without knowing, I curled my hand into a fist. Why? There was no answer, of course. I turned and walked away.

I was alone again. That girl, and myself, both alone.

***

(A/N: Just a throwback)

[Places: Areas near City Hall, Guan street, buldings, convenience store, rooftop]

The typhoon arrived in the afternoon on the 14th. Before it did, we took a look at the two massage chair offices near City Hall and one in Guan-dong, we couldn't find a canned coffee billboard, but we climbed up every nearby seven story high buildings from where we can see a four leaf clover logo and Yangji Stream.

On the morning news that day, they said Typhoon Plāthxng was approaching the southern coast. Plāthxng with the hope that it would pass quietly like a goldfish: like its name sake, its size was small but not the amount of rain. What had started as a drizzle soon turned into a big sheets of raindrops.

We visited different buildings with umbrellas, but soon we went around without them and ended up getting into brawls. The downtown in Guan-dong area was lined with bars and clubs where people got drunk, and out of drunkenness or anger, they got themselves into brawls. Seeing us soaking wet as we tried to walk up to the rooftop, they thought we were some juvies looking for trouble and kicked us out. The doors to the rooftops were often locked up and it was impossible to check the view from the staircase windows.

The convenience store we went on to get instant cup noodles had their AC turned on too strong. The wet clothes clung to our skin, and our teeth chattered from the cold. Without a word, Namjoon hyung and I stared at the rain outside the window. Neither one of us mentioned quitting.

Things got worse the next day. Because of the stormy wind, the windows had X marks taped on them, and there was small and big accidents caused by wind-blown signposts and newspaper stands. The news reported submerged areas, and road signs came loose and damaged some cars. Namjoon hyung and I couldn't do a thing except stare at the rainy sky.

Namjoon hyung opened the online map on his phone. Looking at the roadview, he checked the places we'd been to and hadn't been to.

And he said, "We combed through the downtown and City Hall area near the four leaf logo. We should search on the internet if there is any other massage chair office."

While hyung was checking, I looked up at the night sky. Rain was pouring down from the black sky. "Maybe it was just a silly dream."

Namjoon hyung didn't even look up as he said, "That'd be great. But what if it wasn't?"

"But what if it wasn't." I repeated it in my head.

I recalled how the lights of Songju vanished altogether at one instant. I wished I could remember more about the dream, but I couldn't. I squatted down next to Namjoon hyung.

"Taehyung-ah, show me the pics that you took in front of the convenience store by the City Hall." Sitting next to him, I took out my phone. As we roamed the city, we took pictures of places. When I got home, I went through the pictures to see if I had missed anything. "No, not that one. But the one you took from the convenience store next to the movie theater." Namjoon hyung pointed to a place in the roadview billboards.

"So? Our pictures are different because this roadview was taken early this year."

"That's what I mean. If there were a canned coffee billboard instead of this energy drink one, wouldn't this look like the scene you saw in your dream?"

I looked at the phone picture and back at the roadview. If there was a canned coffee billboard there, then---.

"But there wasn't a building near this place that was seven stories high."

Namjoon hyung nodded. "I don't remember seeing one, and there wasn't one in the roadview either. But this one comes closest to what you saw in your dream. There isn't another place. Let's try here when the rain stops."

I looked at him feeling a bit odd. There were differences between the picture and the roadview, and there was no seven story building. More importantly, there was an energy drink billboard, not a canned coffee one. How could he explain these differences?

Namjoon hyung gazed at me, as if to ask what was up. He said, "You said what you saw in your dream was the future. You said so yourself."

"Right--- that's right. But it's still---." What I'd seen in my dream did happen in reality. I'd said that to him because I experienced what I'd seen in my dream. But this dream hadn't happened yet. Because of that, I couldn't believe a canned coffee billboard would replace the energy drink. "Do you really think it will?"

Hyung nodded and said, "I do. If I didn't, and something were to happen, then I would---." He stopped there.

(A/N: end of throwback)