My Destiny | Taekook

Chapter 17: Tougher Than That

Sunday morning
Song: Dope

The next morning at eight, Taehyung awakened to a new text notification. With hazy vision, he read the text.

< 1 text message from Unknown Number >

[6:00 A.M.] Unknown Number: Good morning, Taehyung. Jungkook here.

Still weary from yesterday's training, Taehyung typed in a response.

[8:13 A.M.] Hey kook, u type like an old man
[8:14 A.M.] Why r u awake @ six?

Taehyung made it seem like he was typing carelessly, almost carefree-like. But in reality, it was his first time texting someone else other than Jimin, his parents, strangers during the occasional online hangouts and the neighbour next door. While Taehyung texted Jungkook, he was on Google, busy scrutinising a website called "50 Popular Texting Abbreviations & Internet Acronyms".

Jungkook replied instantaneously.

[8:14 A.M.] Unknown Number: I had work to do.

< Unknown Number is saved as 💩kook >

Taehyung was proud of himself for using an emoji. On Google, he came across a Quora page on why teenagers typed in mostly, if not all, lowercase letters. Gotta sound trendy, Taehyung thought to himself.

[8:19 A.M.] u boringggg 😜🤪 ok tyt, ig i ttyl? :) :D i'll b @ training @ 11am, will u b there? 😊

Taehyung spent five minutes editing his text before sending it. He wondered if he was overdoing the emojis and texting acronyms. Probably not.

[8.19 A.M.] 💩kook: Yes.

"Couldn't you have sounded more enthusiastic?" Taehyung grumbled.

[8.19 A.M.] 💩kook: See you later.

Taehyung squealed.

~

"Back to this glorious building," Taehyung tittered, staring at the cracks in the ceiling. Cobwebs hung from every corner. "No wonder strangers stay away from this place."

He opened the door again, once again finding the holographic pit of snakes. "There's no way in hell I'm jumping into that!" Taehyung exclaimed. He took a shoe off and threw it into the hologram, which part of it dissipated to reveal a staircase heading downwards. The hologram quickly regained its original image, as though it had not been disturbed at all. Taehyung took an apprehensive step down the first step, which was completely invisible above the pit of snakes. The pit of snakes, or rather the audio equipped with the hologram, hissed violently. Okay. This is okay. I can do this.

Taehyung was close to having a panic attack when his feet were less than a metre above the "snakes". He repeatedly told himself, "They're not real. They're not real. They're not real. They're not real." Shutting his eyes tightly, Taehyung took another few steps downwards, until he realised he was walking on flat land. He opened his eyes to find that the hologram disappeared and he had reached the bottom of the staircase. He heaved a sigh of relief.

Walking down the long corridor was another nightmare, but at least it was more boring than frightening to Taehyung. When he finally reached the door, he found himself facing another problem. It appeared that the Anpanman were extremely efficient in fixing broken facilities, for the gates were back in place. Taehyung looked at the fingerprint scanner. Am I supposed to scan my finger on this? He lightly tapped the scanner, which turned into bright red.

A second later, sirens blasted around him. Taehyung immediately covered his ears, yelping at the deafening noise. The gates produced a series of low murmurs as they swung open.