Chapter Text
I am…somewhere.
I have no idea where. Which is why I said somewhere instead of giving you specifics. But even if I do give you specifics, will it matter? I have no idea who you are or even if you’re listening. For all I know these tapes will end up being buried in a ditch in a planet that over a million miles away. Maybe you’re a species that can’t understand the language I’m speaking in. Maybe these tapes will end up being burned along with my corpse. Maybe you’re someone who doesn’t know how tapes work, and end up placing it somewhere as decoration. Maybe I lose them, and they end up abandoned somewhere. A nowhere. A no-when. Never to be seen or heard. A memory forever lost. Maybe you’re one of the soldiers hunting me down and are listening to this trying to understand what was going through my funny little brain. Maybe…just maybe…so many maybes with no way of confirming it.
And the worst ‘maybe’ of them all?
Maybe you’re human
And I can’t imagine what crimes we must have committed in our past lives to be cursed this way.
Jimin grinned as shivers ran up his spine, the sultry voice engulfing him. My god did he love this podcast.
Making himself more comfortable on the wooden floor, he leaned against the mirrored wall of his dance-practice room. Being early had its perks. He gets to practice alone without the constant nagging of his fellow dancers, and, on the few days it gets an update, listen to the new episodes of the podcast “Makes us Human” alone without the hustle and bustle of his home.
But I’m giving us too much credit, aren’t I? We can’t let that ego get into our heads! I’m sure there are species much more awful than we are. There’s always someone much more awful.
If you are indeed human…well that leaves me with a bunch of issues. Why am I the one being hunted down as the last human while you’re still there? Why am I on the run, from an army whose only intent is to kill? I should be angry. Come out and help me you coward! I should scream. At you. But I won’t. Cause even if I’m on the run, even if I must suffer the countless near-death experiences and the trauma and not to mention the PTSD I will definitely have to endure when this is over, assuming I’m still alive, it consoles me that I might be the one keeping them away from you. That I might be the one protecting you, a fellow human… So, promise me something, ok?
“Ok…” Jimin whispered, his heart beating slightly faster. He clutched onto the wire of his headphones like a lifeline, holding his breath, waiting for the promise he had to keep. For her.
Promise me…that you’ll hold your head high.
That you’ll walk with the pride of a human. That you’ll scream it out loud. Even if it’s within your head, you scream it! And you scream it loud! For the whole world to hear!
Cause we’re special, aren’t we? I’d like to think so. There’s no way I can know for sure, having never met another human in my life, but I think we are something special. All this doesn’t happen to people who aren’t special. Yet it’s happened to us. So that means we’re something worth killing. And in turn, that means we are something worth fighting for! So stand up tall, head up high, and scream it!
Jimin immediately hopped onto his feet, grabbing his phone that he had placed on his lap (quickly pausing the episode) to listen to the podcast, with a giant grin on his face, he yelled:
“I am human!”
“I should hope so.” A voice replied.
Jimin’s face flushed as he shriveled up, completely embarrassed. Shoulders hunched, he pouted as he dropped back down to the floor,
“When did you get here Jungkook?” He asked with a frown, “You’re never this early.”
Jungkook flashed him a grin as he walked into the room, “I came here to get some extra practice, cause with my tests coming up I won’t be able to dance much. Also I was here just as you jumped up and shouted ‘I AM-‘”
“Okay! Okay!” Jimin interrupted, still embarrassed. “But I couldn’t help it! She dropped her deep tone and started yelling at the audience to get up and scream! Can you imagine how excited that got me!” he defended himself.
Jungkook sighed, “You and your weird kinks, I’ll never understand it.”
Jimin tore off his shoe and threw it at the younger who easily dodged it.
“Yah!” the older shouted, “Not everything has to be sexual, get your mind out of the gutter.”
“Dude, I’m nineteen!”
“Yes, you’re still basically a child, so stop it. And shut up cause I have to finish this episode.”
Jungkook rolled his eyes, walking up to the middle of the room, facing the mirror and started doing his warm up stretches.
Ignoring the boy a few steps away from him, Jimin secured his earbuds as he hit play.He could hear panting for a few seconds, followed by a voice. Her voice.
Pride. That’s another thing that makes us human. Of course, it’s not something that only humans feel, but it’s one of the things. And that’s enough. In this universe. In this galaxy. In me and in you. In this somewhere. It is enough, a nd this somewhere is where I am now. I can see-
Jimin closed his eyes as he listened attentively to her voice, describing her surroundings and what she was planning on doing.The format wasn’t always like this. Sometimes it was. Other times she would start the story and then move onto a tangent. Sometimes the whole episode would be a speech on humanity. Other times the whole episode would be an adventure where she told in detail the heist she was planning on doing. On the first of April, she released an episode where the whole 30 minutes was just awful puns. On one episode, she sang bits and pieces of a song and Jimin swore that’s the first time he knew what love felt like.
Yes, he was a bit obsessed, but he couldn’t help it. The podcast helped him through extremely difficult times. When he was going through depression and anxiety, when he was stressed about his dancing, when he was starving himself to lose weight, when his mother passed away, this podcast, this voice, was there. And he was in love. What kind of love? He didn’t know.
Whom did he love? The character of Vivi, the last human alive hunted down by an army of cyborgs? Or was it the creator? The person brilliant enough to write a story as simple and as complex as this? He didn’t know that either. (But a feeling in his gut said it was the second one) and that was fine. Cause one day he will know. One day he will find out who the creator of this podcast is and he will shower him or her with the praise and recognition that it sadly wasn’t receiving. How would he find this person? He doesn’t know, but he does know that if Park Jimin is anything, he is persistent, and he will never give up.
A part of him was happy it was obscure. He was always hesitant when he introduced people to it. A part of him wanted the show to grow and be more recognized, and yet, another part of him likes that it was small, so that he could have it all to himself.
The fandom as on now has around five hundred followers. At least, that’s the number of subscriptions the YouTube channel has. Which is small. Very small. He hated that fact but loved it at the same time.
‘what are you like?’ he wondered, ‘I can’t wait to find out.’
~~~
“Did you pack everything you need?”
“Yup.”
“All your books?”
“Yup.”
“Have some cash in hand?”
“Yup.”
“Your student ID?”
“Grandpa!” you exclaimed with a fond smile, “I have everything, don’t worry!”
Your grandpa passed you a sheepish grin, chuckling. “Sorry honey. Just making sure.”
You flushed, a bit embarrassed by your outburst. You finished tying the lace of your shoes and hopped onto your feet. Getting up onto your tiptoes, you planted a kiss on your grandfather’s cheek.
“Thanks Gramps, I appreciate it. Now, how do it look?” You twirled, your sleeveless denim frock fluttering as it slowly settles over your black leggings.
“Beautiful as always.” He replied, grinning, giving you a thumbs up.
You grinned back with a smile very identical to his. “Thanks!” you placed your hand on the doorknob, twisting it and skipping out of the house.
Turning around, you waved, “Bye gramps!”
“Bye! Have a good day at school!”
“It’s university! And thanks, I will.”
You broke into a slow jog, a skip in your step as you pulled out your phone and earbuds. Plugging the item into your ears, you played the recent episode of your podcast.
I am somewhere.
You slowed down your pace, now walking as you focused on the podcast. You’ve already heard it over five times before you released it onto the world last night. You haven’t had a chance to read the comments under the video, you were saving that for the break time during university.
The podcast was something you never thought would become so important to you. It started off as a simple way for you to improve your speaking skills, considering you were quite the introvert who had trouble in making friends and suffered a stammering problem because of it. And it helped. Immensely. Writing down your script, speaking into a mike, recording and editing the audio along with music and background sounds, knowing that your voice was out there for anyone to hear helped you get over the fear of speaking in public and to new people. But you never expected it to gather an audience. An audience that truly loved what you had created and were constantly looking forward to the new episodes you would put up.
Sometimes you felt sorry for the fans as you weren’t the most interactive. You knew it was necessary if you wanted to keep your podcast completely anonymous. That meant no sponsorship’s (not that you would accept them) and sadly not much interaction with the fanbase. But surprisingly, they understood. Even if you never released your name, face, gender or anything, there was still a special bond between you and your audience, something you couldn’t quite explain but cherished immensely.
The episode finished, this being a fifteen minute one. You never really had a strict script or a time limit, which made some episodes short and other quite long. You simply let the words slip and ended up making something interesting. Removing your headphones, you focused on your walk to university when you saw a mop of brown hair and a pair of gigantic shoulders. You grinned as you recognized him immediately and started skipping towards him.
“Hey professor!”
“Oh god, please don’t call me that.”
You chuckled at Jin’s moaning. “Still nervous huh?”
“Am I that obvious?” he asked, running his fingers through his hair.
“Don’t worry so much Jin, you’re going to be fine.”
“I’m not even a professor, just an assistant. But my heart is still racing.”
“You’re smart and handsome, the students will love you.” You raked your eyes over him. He was dressed in a simple grey shirt and jeans. Yet, in this basic outfit, he still looked very charming.
Jin smiled, now that his looks were mentioned. “You’re right,” his chipper mood returning, “But that’s another problem, isn’t it? I don’t want the students to totally fall in love with me. That’s going to make it hard for them when I leave.”
You frowned, rolling your eyes. “Yeah, they’ll fall in love with your looks, but they’ll hate you as soon as they get to know your personality.”
Jin stuck his tongue out at you, chin up high. “You’re just jealous because I’m prettier than you.”
Pouting, you didn’t reply cause you both knew it was true. A few seconds passed before the two of you started laughing.
“Thanks.” Jin said, chuckling, “You eased my nerves.”
“No problem.” You said, smiling.
The two of you continued to walk in sync, enjoying the silence.
“So…” Jin said, breaking the silence, “Does this mean I finally get to meet Jimin?”
You flushed immediately. Park Jimin. The most beautiful person you’ve seen, and your classmate. With his orange hair, soft and radiant, his cute pink lips and his chubby cheeks. Not to mention his talent for dancing and singing. His dancing was extraordinary. One time he had performed on stage and it was magnificent. His body becoming one with the music as he practically flew, twisting and turning gracefully. And while you thought his contemporary dancing was amazing, of course he could dance to hip hop as well. Remembering the sinful way he danced to the beat, with his body rolls and hip thrusts… it made your heart beat faster just thinking about it.
However, it wasn’t just the body and the face and the talent (while you were extremely happy with those) Park Jimin seemed to be the sweetest person in existence. How you wished he was just an arrogant hot asshole, but no, he had to be the full package.
While he did hang out with those group of popular kids, the typical bitch/bully group, he wasn’t one of them. He always talked to everyone with a smile, treating them with respect and formality. Always lending a helping hand to the students who need it, even if he hardly knew them. One time, a student was practicing for soccer way after the last bell had rung. And while everyone had gone home, Jimin waited for him, even though they weren’t close at the time.
A beautiful face, body and personality, Park Jimin was easily perfection with a capital ‘P’. Which is why you never had the guts to even speak to him.
No amount of podcast narrating could get rid of the absolute fear of talking to Jimin. You just…freeze when it comes to even saying ‘hi’ to the boy. Eventually, you decided it would be best if you continued to be a creep and fantasize about him from a distance. Your friends called it shyness, you called it being smart. You can’t make a fool of yourself in front of the boy you like if you never talk to him. Not that you didn’t try before. It’s just that every time you got near him you ended up having a foot-in-mouth symptom where you couldn’t speak normal words like a normal person.
“Park Jimin…” you muttered, “No. I don’t want you to meet him.”
Jin gasped, offended. “Why not?” he asked, eyes wide, his lips puckered.
“Because,” you said with confidence, “If you meet him you’ll end up talking to him about me and tell him embarrassing stories and that will weird Jimin out cause a professor is talking to him about this random girl he’s never met then I’ll become ‘the girl that the pretty assistant Jin has an obsession with’ or worse! Jimin might think the two of us are dating! - and don’t you dare try to disagree Seokjin,” you said firmly, cutting off Jin’s protest, “You know that I know that’s what you will do if you talk to Jimin.”
Jin pouted, “Can’t a brother help a sister out in love?”
“That’s kinda creepy. Also, you’re not my brother. So, in conclusion, do not talk to Jimin.”
Huffing, Jin grunted in agreement. “Fine,” he mumbled, “But can you at least point him out to me? I wanna see why you’re so infatuated with him.”
You were about to refuse but saw that university was just a few minutes ahead. You also knew that refusing would make no difference cause Jin would bug you about this until you agreed.
Sighing, you replied, “Ok fine. See if you can spot a guy with orange hair…”
~~~
“Ok class, today I have an assignment for you.” The teacher announced.
You groaned along with the whole class. Everyone hates assignments.
The teacher chuckled before adding, “You’re going to have to read three literature classics and write an essay on each of them. It can be by any author you like, any story you like. I want you to get as much information as possible regarding the book, the author, its backstory, anything you can get your hands on. So, you’ve got a lot of research ahead of you. Each book has to have a minimum of five pages dedicated to it.”
“And final point,” he added, “It’s a group project. You have to work in pairs.”
The mood immediately changed. You grinned, making eye contact with your best friend who was sitting in the second first row (you were obviously in the corner of the last row). Julie, looking super cute with her curly auburn hair and butterfly clips, gave you a thumbs up.
“And your partners have already been decided.”
The class broke out in a series of loud shouts and ‘boos’. The teacher simply grinned, enjoying everyone’s misery.
He clapped his hands twice, waiting for everyone to settle down.
“Now, regarding your partners, our lovely assistant Seokjin was the one who managed it for me. So, if you have any issues with your partner, blame him.”
Oh. You thought.
Oh no.
Jin got off the chair he was seated in and walked in front of the class with a sheet in his hands. He made eye contact with you and tossed you a small smirk before he started reading the names on the list.
“Starting with…Julie and Ken.”
Seokjin you piece of shit.
You felt your heart beat faster as the noise around you started to fade away. You were pretty sure that wasn’t normal.
And the you heard your name being called out.
Snapping out of your daze, you looked up to see that Jin was looking at you.
Bitch don’t do it
You sent Jin a glare, warning him, but he just ignored it with a smile.
“You’re partnered with…Park Jimin.”
The bitch did it.
~~~
“You’re partnered with Park Jimin.”
Jimin perked up. He frowned a little as he was hoping to be paired with someone he knew, but he had no issues in making new friends.
But this girl was a bit…weird.
He felt bad for thinking so as he’s never had a conversation with her. He’s tried numerous times to go talk to her, introduce himself, but it just…never worked. She just disappears as soon as he walks towards her, or somehow manages to escape.
Literature is the only class they have together, even though it’s been almost a whole year, they never exchanged words, and Jimin has made conversations with everybody, even the janitors.
So for him to suddenly be paired with her…he was worried. What if they didn’t get along? And they ended up hating each other? And some unnecessary drama might erupt from it? Well, whatever, he thought, no point in speculating.
There were another ten minutes until class got over so the professor gave the extra time for the students to meet up with their partners to discuss about the project. Jimin walked up to her, tossing her a wave as he sat down on the chair next to her. “Hey.” he said, with a smile, “I’m Park Jimin.” He stretched his hand out.
“I…uh…hi.” She replied, simply staring at him.
This was awkward already. His hand was still out there, was she not going to do anything? He was about to bring it down in rejection when she seemed to realize what was going on.
“Oh!” she exclaimed, darting forward to clasp his hand. With both hands. Like she was cupping it. Introducing herself, she again seemed to have forgotten that she was holding his hand. A few awkward seconds passed by when she picked up on the situation. Letting go of his hands quickly, she placed hers on her lap, her face flushed a bright red.
“…Sorry,” she said, embarrassed, “I’m not good with meeting new people. I tend to get a bit…awkward.” Jimin flashed her a smile. Be nice. Just because she’s a bit weird doesn’t mean she’s not a good person.
“It’s no problem. So…what classics have you read?”
She chuckled and said, “What classics haven’t I read?”
Jimin just stared at her. What was he supposed to say to that?
“…That would have made more sense if you knew me.” She mumbled, closing her eyes, “I read a lot of books.” She clarified.
“So, this should be a piece of cake for us, huh?” He asked, slightly glad he was partnered up with someone who knew what they were doing. They couldn’t have two clueless people in one group.
She smiled, “Let’s hope so…have you read any classics?” she asked, somewhat hesitantly.
Jimin shook his head, “Not much of a reader honestly. Especially of classics. I prefer the newer stuff. I have read The Jungle Book, though.”
She grinned, “Perfect! So that’s one book down. We just have to decide what the other two will be.”
“Which ones are your favorite?” Jimin asked, leaning forward, placing his hand on his chin. He could have sworn the girls breathing hitched for a second.
“I…um…Secret Garden? And I really like chronicles of Narnia but I don’t know if that counts as a classic or not…Charlotte’s web is really good too…”
Jimin smiled, he could see the passion when she talked about books. It was nice to see the fire behind her eyes over the excitement to do this project.
“Oh, sorry.” She said, “I was rambling. So how do we do this?”
“Maybe…we can meet up every day after classes and work on it?”
The girl squeaked, her eyes widening, “Ev-every day?”
“Umm…yes? Is that not ok with you?”
Shaking her head quickly, “It’s fine! Not a problem! How’s the library sound?”
Getting over her sudden outburst, “Library sounds good. So we’ll meet there today evening?”
“Yeah,” she said, “Let’s do it.”