章 6: 5

The apartment was plunged into darkness. The living room floor was covered with sheets that Taehyung guessed to be covered in words and music notes. Jungkook gave him an embarrassed smile.

"He once told me it was to fill the void of his life."

"And you?" asked Taehyung. "What do you do to fill the void of your life?"

"I dream," he said. "In my dream, I'm the youngest in a group of seven singers. Yoon-Gi is also a member of the group in my dream. Recently, one of the other singers took your face. The others don't have faces... But we travel all over the world and are acclaimed by thousands of people."

"It's a beautiful dream."

Jungkook sat down on the sofa and invited him to join him with a wave of his hand. Taehyung sat down next to him, keeping a certain distance between them. Even if he felt close to him because he knew the tragic fate that seemed to await him, the fact remained that their relationship had to be purely professional. He was a filmmaker and Jungkook was the subject of his documentary. That was all...

"I can't stay long" Jungkook told him. "I've got a very strict schedule to keep. It's just another way of controlling my actions. I can see Yoon-Gi alone because he's unable to compose if we're being watched."

"So it's Min Yoon-Gi who composes your songs..."

Even though Jimin had revealed this to him earlier, hearing it from Jungkook surprised him.

"I've always wanted my fans to know he's the one who writes the songs they love so much... But a singer who writes his own songs is more attractive. It brings in more money. I wanted the director of my documentary to know that. I know you can't reveal it to the public as it is... you'd be risking your career and your reputation. But I needed someone to know."

He smiles sadly.

"It's very selfish of me... I know... "Jungkook continued. "But I needed it."

"I'm going to ask you a question, even if it's strange, answer it sincerely."

The singer nodded.

"Did you know Jung Eun-Chae personally?"

Taehyung could see a dazzling sadness darken his features.

"Yes, I knew her personally. Noona was..."

He stopped talking.

"I'm so glad "Her" revealed the first page of the list of names... I hope one day the other two pages will surface too."

Taehyung's heart skipped a beat.

"How do you know there are three pages in total?"

In his dream about Jung Eun-Chae, Taehyung had clearly seen that the name list consisted of three pages, although he hadn't been able to see the contents of the last two. Jungkook just stared at him in silence, unable to give him an answer, his lips petrified by alienation from which the apartment walls didn't protect him.

"You know the other names on his list" Taehyung said.

Jungkook never proved him right. The last look he gave him that evening was infinitely sad.

***

"Oppa" Min-Ah whispered.

She had put her blanket over her head to muffle the sound of her voice as much as possible. No one was to hear. Not even her allies in this house were to know. When she heard the sound of his voice, her heart began to beat faster. Instinctively, she put a hand on her belly, where their love had taken shape. She had fallen in love with him at first sight, and she knew she would love him for the rest of her life. She may have been a fool, but she couldn't help but surrender to the joys of love without ulterior motives.

"Jimin knows" she said.

The silence on the other end of the line worried her.

"He won't say anything" he finally replied. "He's got something to hide too."

"Yes, you told me he went to see him as soon as he got back to Korea."

"Do you have the tickets I gave you?"

"Yes, I've got them."

"Let's leave and never come back. Would you leave everything for me?"

She couldn't help smiling.

"You're all I've got. We'll leave on Tuesday, as planned."

"I love you."

"I love you too."

***

Taehyung fell asleep as soon as he laid his head on the pillow.

A high-school student was kneeling in front of Kang Sin-Ik, Jungkook's ex-manager. The student's head was down and Kang Sin-Ik was slapping the back of his neck from time to time. Taehyung gritted his teeth in anger. This man deserved to spend the rest of his life behind bars.

A man was sitting in an armchair, showing only his back. Taehyung recognized the back of his head. It was the man who had sexually assaulted Jung Eun-Chae.

"Your father's gone" said Kang Sin-Ik. "It's fair to assume that he left you behind so that you could pay his debts for him."

The man from behind raised his left hand to order Kang Sin-Ik to be quiet. Taehyung noticed he was wearing a gold wedding ring.

"I hear you can sing" said the man from behind.

It was the first time Taehyung had heard him speak, and his voice sent a chill down his spine. So this was what a criminal's voice sounded like.

The high-school student nodded slowly, taking care not to raise his eyes too high to show his total submission.

"We'll make sure you become a popular singer and pay off your father's debts with your earnings" said the man from behind. "We've decided you'd be a good investment."

Kang Sin-Ik brutally grabbed the high-school student's shoulder, forcing him to turn towards the man from behind. Then he pressed down hard on his head so that his forehead touched the ground. Taehyung caught a glimpse of his face. Jungkook.

"Get that kid out of here and bring me the girl" ordered the man from behind to Kang Sin-Ik. "I need to relax."

"Jung Eun-Chae has already met with several investors today..." Kang Sin-Ik retorted.

"She'll rest when she's dead."

Taehyung woke up suddenly, panting. He stared into the darkness for a few moments before running his hands over his face. The man from behind was married. He surely had children, maybe even a daughter, but he had considered Jung Eun-Chae a mere sexual object. "She'll rest when she's dead" he had said. No, she could never rest in peace if her rapists, her murderers, lived decently in a society that forgave their crimes through its passivity.

He got up, switched on the light and began to write. But he halted as he read the lines of what was to become "Her"'s new article. If he revealed what he had just seen, the way Jung Eun-Chae had been treated and abused, he would be putting Jungkook in danger. The only witness to this scene had been Jungkook.

Taehyung slammed his fist down hard on his desk. Jungkook was the key witness in the case of Jung Eun-Chae's death, but putting him on the stand would probably cost him his life. Yet it was Jung Eun-Chae's story that was supposed to help him avoid Jungkook's death. His mind was reeling. He rested his forehead on the cold wood of the desk.

"Mom..." he whispered. "I don't know what to do anymore..."

***

"Jin" Jimin said while smiling at him. "I'd like to go to Gangnam."

The driver nodded and smiled. Jin looked at his cell phone once they were in front of Yoon-Gi's building. He grinned.

"What's wrong?" Jimin asked.

"I'm in the red again. I've been spending too much money lately."

"What cost you so much?" Jimin asked, curious.

"Plane tickets."

"Are you going somewhere?"

Jin gave him a radiant smile.

"To meet my destiny, perhaps?" he replied, laughing.

Jimin shook his head and got out of the car. A few minutes later, Jin's phone rang.

"No" he answered. "Park Jimin has no idea."

***

Many a phone rang with the notification of "Her"'s new article.

A sound of something breaking

I awake from sleep

A sound full of unfamiliarity

Try to cover my ears but can't go to sleep

The pain in my throat gets worse

Try to cover it

I don't have a voice

Today I hear that sound again

It's ringing again, that sound

~ Her.

Jimin looked at Yoon-Gi after he had finished reading. Such was the publication of "Her". These few lines inspired nothing but perplexity. Yoon-Gi read the lines again and again, trying to make sense of them.

"It doesn't seem to make any sense, but don't forget that "Her" wrote it" Yoon-Gi said. "She says she knows things she can't ignore but can't say yet. But it's not desolation. Look at the last two lines. "Even today, I hear that sound. It still resonates, that sound". They're threatening."

Jimin urged her on with his eyes.

"She's saying that she won't stop there, even if it's not now, she'll end up talking because what she knows won't go away."

Jimin couldn't help but smile.

"It's a declaration of war, isn't it?" he said. "She's declaring war on the owners of the names on the missing pages of the list written by Jung Eun-Chae. It's worthy of the Slayer of Kings. Next time, heads will roll."