digging for gold. ᵇᵗˢ

A ray of sunlight managed to slip its way through the small gap between the dark purple curtains, landing directly on Taehyung’s closed eyelids. He furrowed his eyebrows, flipping over to his left side and pulling his covers over his face.

As he did, he felt something crumply below his stomach. He blinked, opening his eyes halfway. The brunette sat up and ruffled his hair, then turned to the creased Pikachu mattress cover. Through his blurry vision he could make out something solid white on top of the yellow fabric, even with the little light that lit up the room.

Taehyung cocked his head to the side, confused. ‘I don’t remember that being there...’ he thought to himself. He got up on his knees and reached for his pair of thick, black-rimmed glasses. He unfolded them, slipping them on, then he turned back to the mysterious white object.

It was a folded piece of paper. Taehyung grabbed it and opened it quickly, curious to know what it was about. Despite the poor lighting, the boy managed to read it out clearly.

Dear hyung,

I want you to know that whatever happens, make peace. If you see two people arguing, for example, make peace. Remember this because it will take you along way.

What is this letter for?Well you’ll find out soon. Carry out your morning routine, you’ll find more of these. Every clue I will give you counts, and some have a deeper meaning to it.

Whoever you’ve got with you, work together with them. I BEG you, work together. Make peace.

I trust you on this mission, hyung, even if you don’t know what it’s about. If you think this is a game, try not to. And remember:

Make peace.

~ Your Favourite Roommate <3

Taehyung blinked in confusion. His favourite roommate? Jungkook? He put the note aside and hopped out of bed. ‘Ermm... I guess I’ll just... draw the curtains?’ He bit the inside of his cheek, walking over to his window. The boy drew the curtains open, letting the blinding sunlight sink in and fill the bedroom. Taehyung squinted, trying to adjust himself to the sudden wave of brightness.

He fitted the curtains to their side-holders, as always, not even needing to look at them to do so. Taehyung was starting to think that the note from Jungkook was probably just a prank, but feeling another piece of paper made him think otherwise. He jerked his head to his right hand, which was holding the end of the smooth purple fabric, as well as a piece of paper which was taped on neatly.

Taehyung ripped it off, this time he didn’t need to unfold it. He furrowed his eyebrows as he read through the letter.

That’s it, you’re getting there. Are you getting suspicious now?Wake me up, haha!

The brunette pursed his lips. ‘What is this kid up to?’ he thought to himself. He unplugged his phone from his charger and hopped out of the room towards the one next door, Jungkook’s room.

Taehyung narrowed his eyes, hesitating for a moment before grabbing hold of the cold metal doorknob. He twisted it slowly and pushed the door, creaking it open. He expected some big jump scare from his roommate, but everything looked normal. The boy looked around, scrutinising every corner of the bedroom. Posters still up... stuff still there... a piece of paper on his bed...

Wait. Taehyung looked back at the bed. Another clue. He rushed up to it, picking it up and reading it again.

Okay so I’m not here... don’t worry hyung! I’m not in town either! HA!

Lol don’t freak out... but I’m like... literally gone. I’ll tell you more later after you have breakfast. Toast up your bread quickly and washup, you have a day ahead of you!

Taehyung scrunched up his nose. It was Sunday. Nobody has classes on Sunday. What ‘big day’? He bit his lip, hesitantly walking to the kitchen and quickly filled his stomach, then went ahead to have a quick shower. After changing, he sat down on his bed and checked the time on his phone.

The time ticked to 9AM, and as if on cue, Jungkook sent him a text message.

I told the others. Go to the lobby downstairs, now. I’ll meet you there.

Taehyung texted him back.

Taehyung: Kookie what’s going on?

Taehyung: JUNGKOOK

Taehyung: ANSWER ME YOU LUNATIC

Jungkook didn’t reply, and the phone didn’t show he read Taehyung’s messages. Taehyung even tried calling him, but to no avail.

The brunette began to grow even more suspicious about the letter. Others? Who? He pushed aside the thought, grabbing his house keys, stashed the notes into his back pocket — just to ask Jungkook what the hell was wrong with him — and then made his way out of the apartment.

“Aishh this kid... always getting me worried...” Taehyung muttered under his breath as he trudged into the elevator. He

pushed the ‘G’ button as the doors closed automatically, then was taken all the way down to the ground floor. The doors opened and he walked out, expecting to see Jungkook.

Instead, he saw five boys, around the same age as him. Taehyung’s eyes widened as he scanned their faces, familiarity sinking in immediately. His best friends. Well, his former best friends. Instead of wholesome, friendly chat, most of them were bickering, going on and on about how stupid or evil or how the other backstabbed them.

“B-Bangtan?” Taehyung stammered, sucking in a deep breath. All five of them turned to him, silencing their arguments.

The first one to break the awkwardness was Yoongi. “Oh would you look at that, another one,” he said, rolling his eyes. “Care to join the heat?”

“Yah, stop being so mean to Taetae,” Jimin slapped the blue-haired boy on the arm. The boy flinched, scowling at the younger boy. Jimin turned back to Taehyung. “Sorry Tae, you shouldn’t trust a BACKSTABBER like him.” Jimin glared at Yoongi.

“Why are you here, Taehyung-ah?” Hoseok asked in the phoniest ‘nice’ voice ever, trying to suppress his urge to explode at the sight of the brunette. “Are you waiting for Jungkook too? Or are you here to abduct me? Because if you want to, I’d be very willing to kick your alien ass.”

Taehyung narrowed his eyes. “Bug off, horse face,” he hissed at the redhead, averting his gaze to Namjoon and Jin. “Jungkook called you guys here?”

“Yeah... he said he had an emergency. Well I certainly didn’t expect this,” Namjoon replied, biting his lip. “Especially having to see the dirtiest CHEATER ever.” The peach-haired boy shot daggers at the oldest boy.

“YOU’RE the cheater!” Jin roared back, fighting back his tears. Taehyung heaved in a shaky breath.

“GUYS!” he managed to stop the two of them before things got to far. “This is important!” Everyone looked back at the brunette half-heartedly.

“Jungkook’s gone. He’s not here. But he left me some stupid clues,” Taehyung said, looking at each and every one of their faces, resisting the urge to scream at Hoseok. He reached into his pocket and took out a few of the pieces of paper he had found earlier and showed them to the others. “I don’t know where he is, but we gotta find him. For all we know he could be putting himself into danger.”

“Why should we look for him anyway? It’s probably just a prank,” Yoongi rolled his eyes and folded his arms. “You could’ve just texted him or called him.” Taehyung sighed.

“I did.” Yoongi looked away, biting his lip.

“Look, I know we aren’t on the best terms with each other, but we all love Kookie, right?” Taehyung tried to persuade them. “He’s leaving us a trail and if we don’t find him, we don’t know he’ll ever come back. And we don’t want that, do we?” The six of them stared at the ground, thinking about life without the youngest boy in their former friend group.

“But why’d he choose us?” Jin spoke up, looking at Taehyung. “He KNOWS it won’t work out.” The brunette bit his lip.

“I don’t know, but I’m sure he has a reason. The point is: He chose us,” Taehyung pushed up his glasses. “He needs us. If he called all six of us here, that means he needs ALL of us. He wants US to find him. So what can we do? We gotta work together-”

“Why the hell would this kid want us to work together?” Hoseok scoffed, disgusted. “Stop trying to trick us with your ‘powers’, alien.”

“He WANTS us to work together,” the boy insisted, pulling out the first note he got that morning and showing it to the rest. He pointed to the part that mentioned ‘work together’. “So we will. Unless you don’t care about Kookie anymore.”

Jimin stepped up. “I’m in. As long as Yoongi doesn’t come along.” He glared at the blue-haired boy, earning a scowl in return.

“Yah, guys, please,” Taehyung stopped them. “We ALL need to go. I’m gonna have to go, even if it means I have to follow the horse.” Hoseok gave him a cold stare, gritting his teeth.

“Fine, I’m in,” Namjoon said, stepping closer to Taehyung.

“Me too,” Jin sighed, following Namjoon. “Even with this idiot.”

“I’ll go,” the blonde boy nodded. He hesitated before looking at the blue-haired boy. “Yoongi-hyung?”

Yoongi rolled his eyes. “Ugh, yeah sure, whatever. Don’t you dare touch me, short stuff.”

Taehyung sighed as he looked at the last boy, Hoseok. “Hor- Hobi-hyung?” The redhead jerked his chin up, narrowing his eyes at the younger boy.

“Don’t call me that. You aren’t forgiven.”

“Forgiven or not, I don’t care. I don’t think I did anything wrong to begin with.” Taehyung put his hands on his hips as Hoseok’s glare sharpened. “Are you finding Jungkook or not?”

Hoseok slowly walked up to Taehyung. “Yes. And don’t think you’re so heroic, Taehyung,” he hissed. The brunette clenched his jaw, counting breaths as he tried to calm himself down.

“Okay then. Let’s get to my apartment and we’ll work from there?” Taehyung looked at the team. They nodded in agreement and followed him into a lift that just-so-happened to open up for them.

Jimin tapped Taehyung’s floor number, having visited him before, and the doors closed. They felt the elevator move up and they stood there in silence. Suddenly, the short notification sound of Taehyung’s phone played, vibrating once in his pocket. He took it out, finding another message from Jungkook.

Have you met your team yet? Well good luck, you’re gonna need it. Remember what I said, hyung! Peace out!