VLIVE | j.jk

s i x t e e n

mia with a blonde wig and jeongguk with a now new blonde wig agreed that jeongguk's new undercover name would be "john"

cena. dun dun dun dun, dun dun dun dun, dun—

jeongguk—excuse me, john, even had to practice how he would say his lines so he would not sound like a foreigner when they spoke to carl. he would already understand everything he has to say, but would carl understand him? that was the real question.

it was a good thing mia was going to do all the talking. she was not too excited about that idea seeing as speaking to adults terrified her. she blames her parents. but she had to do what she had to do before time runs out.

"would like to do the honors of knocking?" mia asked.

jeongguk nodded. "i've never knocked on an american door before."

mia cocked her head to the side. "what about american hustle life?"

jeongguk inhaled deeply and shook his head. "I completely forgot about that. but we don't talk about it." he joked. but it occurred to him how quickly she brought a memory he forgot he even had. he decided the let the thought go before he reached out and knocked on carl james door.

his house was a simply suburban house, at least that's what mia thought, she's never lived in the suburbs, and there were kid bikes on his lawn which scared mia to be honest because who knew what freak would come and steal those bikes. however she didn't know who would want to, they were crusty and dusty. whoever was responsible for cleaning that had just swiftly opened the door before mia could wonder.

carl james was just as he was in the book, a semi-bald man with glasses wearing a plaid dress shirt and slacks. he looked a little tired with eye bags under his eyes but it had to be because of the time. but he sounded like a really hard working man who was always on time, wouldn't he be holding a cup of coffee or something to make him awake? mia wondered.

"hello," mia squeaked, startling carl. he had been staring at jeongguk's wig. now he had looked down at mia with a questioning look.

"um, yes?"

i said 'hello' i didn't ask a question mister! mia thought.

"um, hi, again, we are very sorry to disturb you or your family but um, i work at the book store nearby and we recently were asked by you to recycle your books because of the lack of sales—" mia started, trying to be as calm as possible.

carl blinked as he took in every word, "woah woah, why is the store sending in their workers? is there something wrong with it? did the publishing company get involved? what's going on?"

mia and jeongguk glanced at each other before mia waved her hands frantically as if to say no.

"no, not at all, we have successfully recycled the books and before we did i um, i read it because well it caught my eye it seems that i have—"

carl stepped back in shock, "don't tell me you're one of those bts armies. i had a few people coming here asking me if i was involved in that kid's disappearance! i'm going to tell you the same thing i told them, i have nothing to do with his disappearance and i don't know what happened. my story was pure fiction anyways."

mia's eyes widened. "sir it can't be fiction, i just went through the exact same thing!"

"if you're saying that to get through to me i won't allow it—"

"no no! sir i'm serious and i can prove it to you! i promise i am currently going through exactly that right now! i don't know how to fix it and you are the only other person who can help," mia pleaded while jeongguk nodded vigorously.