Perilous

Chapter 25 - Survivors Guilt

The next day came around, and everyone gathered at the training court early in the morning—earlier than usual. Everyone stretched and yawned while the mentors stood at their usual positions.

"Good morning, students! Today starts the first day of training for the A-Rank games!" Yoonji announced happily. "This sort of thing doesn't happen so often, so it's a really big deal. Because whoever wins the A-Rank games, gets to graduate from their current class to the highest ranking, A. They will get their own custom suit for training, get a brand new class schedule, and will be given a new dorm too!"

From that, everyone started to wake up a little more when hearing the terms and conditions. It was like winning the golden ticket, or the super bowl or the x factor. It would be the start of what everyone wanted there...a legacy.

Taehyung approached the other two in his team. "Tae! You're back!" Hoseok was the first to notice him, and hugged onto him while Chaeah did the same, the three of them smiling in unison.

"Woah—Chae what are you doing out here?" Taehyung asked worriedly, pulling back slightly and stared down towards her empty sleeve. He glanced back up, only to see her looking toward where he was previously glancing.

"I wanted to come and support everyone," Chaeah told with a smile. "And I wanted to make sure you would be here too. I've missed seeing you around."

"Yeah! It's lonely with only two of us here," Hoseok admitted.

"I'm sorry guys...I've been so busy lately," Taehyung admitted with a tired expression. "I never meant to leave either of you alone. I won't leave you both anymore."

"It's okay, Tae. We get it...you are special," Chaeah told softly. "You are this legendary hero so of course you are going to have a busy life."

"Chaeah—the prophecy shows all of us," Taehyung reminded. "You are as legendary as I will ever be. I mean what I say, I won't leave either of you alone anymore. Especially since...Jackson is missing."

"Now that you mention it, I wanted to talk to you about something," Chaeah tugged onto his sleeve. "It's about Jackson."

Taehyung turned to her, before noticing Jisoo staring at him from afar.

Taehyung glanced back to Chaeah.

"I think...I think the reason Jungkook has been acting so strange lately is because of Jackson," she whispered, pulling at his arm slightly to bring him closer. "He was acting fine up until he went to look for Jackson."

"Do you think he found him?" Taehyung asked. Chaeah nodded, "I think so. And because of whatever happened...Jungkook didn't react well. Or something like that."

The two both stared toward the other side of Jisoo, where Jungkook was standing there staring down at the ground while sniffling ever so often. His eyes seemed dull and gray, completely unlike the sparkling doe eyes he once had.

"I think you could be right," Taehyung admitted sadly. "I will try to talk to him—"

"No, I don't think that's a good idea," Chaeah stopped him. "He could react sensitively. I could try and look into him to see what happened."

"Last time you tried to do that, you lost your arm. Don't," Taehyung suddenly spoke back at her in a harsher, protective tone. "I will speak to Jungkook about it. Somehow...it feels like everything is leading back to Jackson. But why?"

Chaeah frowned, before suddenly remembering there was someone else she needed to use her Empathy on. Min Yoongi.

He was standing on the outskirts of everyone else, alone, a hoodie over his uniform with the hood over his head. It didn't even seem like he was paying attention, which was completely out of character. He seemed lost, and cold, as if he were a ghost compared to everyone else. Or as if everyone around him were ghosts and he was living in a world of loneliness.