PERSONA ✓

34.

"He wants to save the world by mind controlling everyone to save the ecosystem. Controlling what they eat, throw away, how much they contribute to pollution, all that." Namjoon crossed his arms. "Saving the environment is great, but mind control? That's against basic human rights, and it's too much power for one person."

"That's a terrible plan," Jungkook joked half-heartedly, the air in the room to tense for him to be genuine. "He has a bad name and a bad plan."

Hoseok's eyes were glued to his phone as it buzzed with tons of notifications. Jungkook noticed this and snatched it out of his hand, reading all of the incoming messages.

"Death threats?" Jungkook yelled, his face turning red and fists clenching. "They're sending you DEATH THREATS?"

Hoseok gave an empty laugh. "Yeah. What kind of idiots threaten a supervillain, huh?"

"You're not a supervillain," Yoongi reassured him.

"Yeah," Jimin agreed. "This is all Doyoon's fault. I hope he... I hope he trips on a knife!"

Jungkook was about to hand Hoseok's phone back when his ringtone played. Hoseok cursed at the number.

"It's my aunt," he muttered. "Let me take this..."

He stood up and pressed the phone to his ear, preparing to leave the room. But as soon as he picked up the call, there was the sound of a shrill voice yelling so loud that everyone could hear it.

Hoseok flinched and cut the call immediately.

"Well." He stared at his phone. "Guess I'm not going home."

"You can stay here," Namjoon offered. "We've got plenty of room."

Hoseok looked like he was about to argue, but he seemed too tired and worn out. "Thanks," he muttered.

"...What are we gonna do?" Jimin asked.

"Well, what can we do?" Namjoon asked. "The kids at school all know. There's a possibility authorities like the police know, too, but we do half their job for them. They don't have the balls to arrest either of us."

"And --- if they do try to come for you two --- I can always---"

"Jungkook, no."

"---hack into their files and say that there was a hallucination-inducing toxin released by Ego, which made all the witnesses see Hoseok as Shadow and Joon hyung as Persona."

"That's... actually not so bad," Namjoon said. "I was expecting something more extreme." He glanced at his phone. "My DMs are blowing up. Some are messaging me and asking if I'm really Persona. Some of them are offended I didn't tell them I dyed my hair... There are two types of people."

At the same time, both Jungkook and Namjoon's phones rang.

Eyes widening, they looked at each other. "Shit," they said in unison.

"Your parents?" Jimin guessed.

"My mom is gonna kill me," Jungkook whined, staring at his phone as it rang.

"Your mom is gonna kill you?" Namjoon asked. "My mom is gonna kill me! I'm the one doing superhero stuff. At least you're behind the scenes!"

"I'll put them on the big screen." Jungkook grumbled, accepting his fate. He swiped upwards on his phone and TV screen in front of him turned on, displaying the caller IDs of both their parents. Jungkook swiped right on his phone and the call answered.

Immediately, there was yelling.

Jimin plugged his ears and winced. Yoongi glanced at Hoseok and shrugged. The three boys caught the sentences "are you insane?" and "did you know Namjoon was a superhero?"