Chapter Text
Maybe I was never there from the start. Some day you'll understand.
-134340, BTS Tear
Yoongi made eye contact with Jungkook. He held a string of hope inside of him when the maknae gave him a sympathetic look. His heart had leaped that maybe, finally, he was going to get out of here. Unfortunately, all those feelings crumbled away when Jungkook's eyes gazed over to Taehyung. Yoongi's eyes widened when he helped the red head up and let Taehyung's arm wrap around his shoulder. They began to walk away.
"N-No." Yoongi's voice shook. "No. Jungkook!" Yoongi yelled from the bottom of his throat.
They maknae ignored him as well as the tears prickling his eyes. He continued to walk forward as quick as possible.
"No! Jungkook! Please! You can't leave me here! Jungkook! They're going to kill me." Yoongi cried out desperately. The boy tried to get up from his spot, but it was useless. He would just fall back over since one hand wasn't enough to support his entire weight. He started to panic even more when the whistles got closer.
Yoongi's eyes formed into a glare."I hope you get what you fucking get deserve! I hope you never escape from here!" Yoongi's curse was heard from afar. Jungkook's eyebrows furrowed, but he ignored the call. He distracted himself by giving Taehyung the reassurance that they were almost there.
"T-Thank you." Taehyung mumbled out. He was breathing unevenly from his painful wound and only stared down. Jungkook didn't say anything. His ears only focused on the faint bullet shots.
He didn't hear Yoongi's yells after that.
~~~
The two remaining boys walked in silence. They couldn't hear the vehicle following them anymore, but they didn't take any chances and continued to walk as quick as possible. They followed Hoseok's foot marks. The boy had really ran far ahead of them.
Taehyung had been staring at the ground this entire time. There was guilt deep in his stomach and it just made him feel horrible. Eventually, he found the effort to look up. Taehyung didn't know why, but his heart started to race. He looked around the forest in confusion.
"I-I've been here before." Taehyung whispered. Jungkook escaped from his own thoughts and looked up.
"You've been tested here before too?" Jungkook asked. Taehyung stayed silent for a minute.
"Yes. I have." Taehyung quietly answered. His eyes gazed into nothing as he lost himself to his thoughts. It wasn't until he caught a glimpse of the third gate from afar that a flash of realization passed through his eyes.
"Jungkook..." Taehyung was getting a bad feeling. He looked further around his surroundings. He's been here before.
Taehyung didn't say anything more. Hoseok's voice had interrupted him.
"Jungkook! Hurry up! I found the gate!" Hoseok's yell echoed all throughout the silent forest.
Jungkook didn't know whether to be happy or not. He was happy that Hoseok had found the gate. He wanted to jump up and down in glory. The sound of a vehicle engine turning on close by made him hesitate his actions. Hoseok had revealed where they were.
"Come on, hyung. We have to go." Jungkook hurried up and pulled Taehyung's confused body quicker. Taehyung had been lost in thought when the maknae's push pulled him out if it. He shook his head from his thoughts and hurried along.
Jungkook and Taehyung eventually caught up to Hoseok. The boy was standing and facing the large gate with a huge smile. His smile was so bright, it seemed like the sun that lit up the darkness. The second he turned to face the two though, his smile was lost.
"Where's Yoongi hyung?" He asked with concerned eyes. His brown eyes trailed over Taehyung. The edge of his mouth twitched at realizing that Taehyung was still with them.
"He got hurt. I wasn't strong enough to bring him. I had to leave him." Jungkook muttered underneath his breath. The guilt was still in the maknae's body.
Taehyung's eyes narrowed when Hoseok let out a curse at the information. He had also rolled his eyes a bit and seemed... disappointed?
Taehyung stared at him longer. He stared and stared at him. He grew even more confused. This wasn't Deja Vu...
The sound of an engine grew closer. Their disscussion immediately ended.
"Come on, let's go." Hoseok nodded over to the gate. "Once we're out of this gate. We're done." Hoseok's smile returned.
"The thirteen hours should also be up any minute now. It's 2 am. The cameras will be back on. We have to climb now." Hoseok ordered. Jungkook nodded in agreement. Taehyung's eyes wouldn't stop staring at the older.
"Are you going to need help, hyung?" Jungkook asked. Hoseok had already started climbing the gate. Jungkook had one hand wrapped around the metal.
Taehyung stood still. He shook his head. Taehyung still didn't move from his spot.
Jungkook frowned, but he was guessing that Taehyung just needed some time to recollect himself. He was wounded. Jungkook began to climb and trusted that the older would follow soon. Jungkook didn't look back and continued to climb. This was it. After this, he would be free.
Taehyung's heart began to race once again. His hands began to sweat. He was scared. Why was he scared?
Taehyung continued to stay still. He watched as Hoseok placed a foot over the gate once he reached the top. Jungkook hadn't caught up with him yet, but he was still there. Taehyung's stomach began to drop.
He gazed around his surroundings. The gate. Trees. The fear. He's done this before. He's done all of this before. Taehyung's heartbeat accelerated faster than a treadmill.
13 hours. It was 2 am. The cameras would go up any second now... Taehyung was on the verge of having a panic attack. He has done all of this before.
Taehyung snapped his head forward. He trailed his eyes up the gate and realized that Jungkook had finally reached the top. Taehyung's eyes trailed to the left. Hoseok had already started to climb down the other side. He was holding the gate in a tight grip. and his head was only visible to Taehyung. Hoseok made eye contact with him. Taehyung's entire body gained chills on what the older did next. Hoseok smirked and winked at Taehyung before he jumped off on the other side.
Taehyung was ready to throw up. He remembered.
The whistle began to sound. It was several yards away from him.
"JUNGKOOK!" Taehyung yelled at the top of his lungs. He began to climb the gate, but his foot slipped. His wound was preventing him to climb. He was too weak now. Taehyung stared up and realized that Jungkook had already began to climb down on the other side.
"JUNGKOOK!" Taehyung pounded on the gate and shook it as much as possible.
Jungkook had just jumped down and landed on the floor harshly. His eye vision had stopped for a moment and now had large spots on them. His head spun because of the fall. Jungkook groaned.
It took him a couple of seconds to realize that Taehyung hadn't followed. And that he was screaming at him at the top of his lungs.
" -A TRAP! JUNGKOOK! IT'S A TEST! GET OUT OF THERE! YOU HAVE TO GET OUT! IT'S A TRICK! JUNGKOOK!!!"
Jungkook stared up at the gate. He had never stood up so quickly and gripped his fingers around the metal. He was about to call out to the older and ask what was wrong, when a bullet echoed his ear drums. Jungkook's heart stopped. Taehyung stopped yelling.
Hoseok's laugh was suddenly heard.
"We made it! We actually made it!" He heard Hoseok's laugh behind him. Jungkook was too afraid to turn around.
"You thought it was Jimin? Really? I felt like that kid was literally the most innocent one from all of us! Like, he really thought we were best friends?" Hoseok continued to laugh.
Jungkook's heart began to race. The grip on the gate turned stronger that his knuckles turned white. He didn't want to turn around. No. No. No. This couldn't be happening.
"I felt bad for Seokjin, really. I didn't have hope for him since the beginning actually. He was too weak in everything. Running, climbing, etc. I'm kind of glad we got rid of him." Hoseok continued with a laugh.
Jungkook's anger was hit. How dare did Hoseok talk like that about his hyung?! Jungkook turned around. He was ready to punch that bright smile off Hoseok's pretty little face, until his stomach dropped. He finally took a look of his surroundings.
There were probably fifty men standing in front of them, five by ten. They all had a cloak on and had their head tucked down. The maknae caught a glimpse of a white mask covering their face. Jungkook's mouth hung open. He stared ahead and realized there was a two level building in front of them. The figures were facing a wall of it, the entrance being the other side. Something was being projected on the wall. Jungkook felt sick when he realized what it was.
"Number 3191057" A monotone voice read out. Jungkook saw the picture of Seokjin being projected onto the screen. Words and numbers were placed right next to him. "Test #3139168135. Failed." A red stamp was placed right under his name.
"Number 6385996," Namjoon's picture replaced it afterwards.
"I was actually afraid for Namjoon. I thought he was really going to succeed in leading us the right way and figured out everything that was going on." Hoseok continued on.
"Test #134341. Passed."
Hoseok smirked. "Huh, he actually passed his test. He escaped. Wow, I'm proud of him. Maybe you should have just stuck with him." Hoseok laughed again. Jungkook's anger was seeping in and out through his nose. His fingernails found themselves being digged into his flesh again.
Namjoon's picture was replaced with Yoongi. Hoseok started to laugh hysterically. Jungkook glared at him. The man seemed nothing but a lunatic. Which, given the situation now. He was.
"And Yoongi? Gosh. Honestly, he was so pathetic. His acting was marvelous I do have to say. Always thought he deserved an award. He got you a couple of times. But at the end, poor old Min Yoongi failed." Hoseok said with fake sadness. At the exact same second, the monotone voice echoed the forest.
"Test #01471121. Failed." A big red stamp was placed under Yoongi's name.
"We gave him one job. He was supposed to mislead you this entire time. We practically gave him a free pass to escape in the Magic Shop. But. You. Didn't. Save. Him." Hoseok shook his head with disappointment at Jungkook. The maknae continued to stay silent. Everything didn't feel real. This couldn't be real.
"Number 12." Taehyung's picture appeared.
"Ah, Taehyung. He was doing well actually. He led you to all the wrong places. He succeeded in making Jimin drown. I was impressed. Maybe thought of asking to give him a promotion." Hoseok laughed. It stopped a second later. He glared into Jungkook's now fearful eyes.
"But. You. Made. Him. Lose. The. Ball. We were controlling him with that, you know. I need to tell them to upgrade the controlling system now." He shook his head. "After he lost that ball, I knew we couldn't trust him anymore. He was starting to remember." Hoseok shook his head with disappointment.
"He was actually the last person to take this test when, you know, he had been normal. He failed, of course." Hoseok shrugged.
Taehyung's big red stamp picture was replaced with Jungkook's.
"Number 51368109910,"
Every single cloaked person who had been been staring down, immediately snapped their heads up. They all turned their heads from the projector and stared at Jungkook himself.
"You just wanted to escape. You begged for it. You broke our stuff for it and cursed at us." Hoseok creeped closer to Jungkook's body. All the cloaked men began to move from their spots. They walked in sync.
"Hyung, please." Jungkook nervously pleaded.
"So we gave you the chance. We gave you the final test because you were so ready for it. We planned everything just for you. Skills. Strength. Trust."
Jungkook's body hit the back of the gate. Hoseok's face was inches away from him.
"And. You. Failed." Hoseok smirked.
"Test #134340."
Jungkook gasped.
"Failed."
Hoseok walked away with a smirk and allowed Jungkook's screams to be music to his ears. All of the cloaked men had surrounded the maknae, but Hoseok didn't care. He walked all the way up to the front instead of helping the boy. He admired as his picture appeared on the screen next.
"Number #55941." Hoseok smiled. "Test #4113937. Passed."
He turned his head and noticed a cloaked man was standing beside him. The man held out a cloak and mask out for Hoseok.
"I'm done doing these stupid tests now, right?" Hoseok laughed. The figure didn't say anything and simply nodded.
Hoseok put on the cloak around him. He smirked one last time before he secured his cloak around himself and wrapped the string of the white mask around his head. He felt the usual vaccine shot being put in his arm afterwards, but as always, he ignored the feeling. He walked away and let the sound of Jungkook's screams continue their way.
The results were always the same. You failed. Or (which was rare) you passed. At the end, like we said, it was the same.
You never escape at the end.
Fin.