Chapter Text
What could make a highschool student happy?
No doubt the answer was graduating, but getting to spend time outside of the country as a gift from his friends made Jungkook even more happier. It was the perfect gift.
Not only was Jungkook excited but everyone else was more than hyped too to get their long awaited rest from work and studying so Berlin was surely the place for that, it's a beautiful city to restore their energy in.
Tickets for the flight and apartment rent for two weeks didn't cost too much, nothing was hard but what tired the boys was the long 14 hours and half minutes to finally reach their far destination away from home so after getting to fill their stomach with the instant noodles they brought with them, everyone went straight to sleep, leaving the showering part for the morning.
___
"Come on, what's taking you so long Kook?" Namjoon knocked on the door of the bathroom they all shared.
"Give me a second! I'm putting on my clothes"
"You never learn Joon-ah. We all know kookie-ah takes the longest in the shower" Seokjin sighed as he styled his black hair to his liking.
"You should've woken me up earlier" The English teacher, Namjoon spoke as if he's speaking with one of his students who didn't do their homework.
Seokjin rolled his eyes "Tae-ah" He turned to the younger who was still looking at the city through the window and taking pictures ever since he finished drying his hair "Tell him that I did try waking him up. You saw me"
"He tried to wake you up" The second youngest said nonchalantly.
"See! He's a witness"
Namjoon sighed, still not believing Seokjin.
Jungkook ended the conversation by opening the door and stepping out as if he didn't just take almost one whole hour to shower.
"You know you could've went to the other bathroom"
"There's another one?" The confused look on Namjoon's face had Seokjin turning his head away as if he didn't know before laughing. He had always enjoyed annoying the others.
___
When everyone was done and ready, they went out to have breakfast or rather lunch since they were pretty late to call it a breakfast.
Teahyung and Hoseok did their research on the city beforehand so finding a place to eat wasn't so hard. They sat at a restaurant with a beautiful view and as recommend on some website on Google, they tried the Doner Kebab and weren't disappointed a bit, it was perfect and gave them the needed energy.
When the seven young men finally stepped out of the restaurant with full stomachs after more than an hour, they decided to walk around the streets of the city to enjoy the weather and the view of different but beautiful buildings around them.
They had two long weeks to explore the city before going for another two weeks to Japan to continue their vacation there, so taking a walk in Berlin wasn't going to be a waste unless one of them goes back to Korea earlier but none of them had any business back at their home so that was unlikely to happen.
The group of young men entered lots of different shops, some were small and some were big but none of the boys bought anything, they were just looking for now and writing down whatever they might come back to get later if they don't find anything better to bring back home.
Something Berlin had was the popular Water Taxi which the boys wanted to try so to head to their next destination, they decided to accomplish their goal and ride it. Jungkook, Taehyung and Seokjin waved and said "Hello!" to every person on the boats that passed by them while the others pretended they don't know them out of embarrassment. This happened again on their way back, making Seokjin and the others look as if they were were still kids.
Despite all the embarrassment and tiring hours to move from one place to another, everyone was enjoying their time off. They were happy. Everything was perfect and nothing could go wrong in a peaceful city like this where they had no worries or so they thought.
___
Everyday the seven young men would visit a different part of Berlin.
The buildings, the weather, the food, almost everything was different from Korea and the new things they were trying made the vacation more special.
The fourth day wasn't so different from the ones that passed. They all went to the old part of the city where small shops sold old but valuable and mostly expensive items. It took a lot of time from them to arrive. It was still early in the afternoon when the sun hit the strongest despite the good weather.
They have had breakfast that morning but now after the long trip, almost everyone was slowly starting to get hungry again "The shops are right there after that building. I think it's better if we check them out first before lunch. I mean we don't want to spend most of our time eating" Yoongi was the one leading the way after asking someone who passed by them.
"I agree, and with the amount of time you take to eat and rest from eating and rest from resting, we won't get to check half of the shops. I've read that they are one of the best in this area"
"This time we'll finish eating quickly! Come on Joonie hyung, why are you on Yoongi's side" Teahyung pouted cutely, hoping that the two would lose to his innocent eyes but they weren't even looking.
"Kookie, say something, which side are you on?"
A sigh left the younger's mouth as he continued to walk next to the pouty Teahyung "I mean...it's not really about sides. It's been only three hours since we had breakfast"
Teahyung gasped and placed a hand on his heart dramatically for being betrayed by the youngest "I break up with you" He huffed and went to walk by Seokjin's side instead.
"We're not even dating, you know" Jungkook rolled his eyes at Teahyung's over dramatic act.
The oldest chuckled and placed his arm around Teahyung's shoulder, bringing him closer "I'll grab you a bite if we pass by a food stall but for now, I guess majority wins" Seokjin was also on the side of checking the shops first. He wasn't hungry and nor was he tired. He just wanted to enter any shop and get done with being under the blinding sun soon.
__
So far, they've entered about nine different shops and the one they're walking towards would be the tenth. They've seen a lot of beautiful things and instead of shops, it was more like small museums that you can buy jewelry and other things from. They thought that all the shops were going to be related to tradition and sell old goods however some of them sold hand made items that looked too advanced with technology or just normal. Overall, everything was good but expensive so they were yet to buy something other than ice cream and matching shirts.
The tenth shop was owned by an old lady and her young but breathtaking and beautiful granddaughter. It was a smaller shop than the others and didn't look like it sold many items.
"Welcome to The Magic Shop, the items you're looking at are only for display" The young girl with a white hoodie covering her whole hair said in English and smiled at the guests "We don't sell anything however we do give small gifts to the people who want to know about their future through fortune telling, it won't take a lot of time. Are any of you interested?"
The boys shared a look. Even though they were all fairly good at English, Namjoon still translated what she said for the others to fully understand before Teahyung nodded with a smile on his face "We're in but...how does this work? You're going to tell us what happens in the future?" Excitement for being able to do something new was showing on the second youngest's face.
"Well, you won't get to know what exactly happens or see your future, my granny will be able to see flashes of it but she can't tell you. You'll only know if any big accidents or obstacles will come your way and if anything good will happen, it will be like giving hints on what will happen to you or anyone related, granny will help in guiding you to the right path in your future if she can. What she will see and tell is actually going to be different from one person to the other so I can't exactly tell you what you're in for." The girl explained with her sweet voice as she walked to the desk table in the shop and sat on the chair there.
"30 Dollars each if you're all in" Again, everyone shared a look, unsure if they should give it a try or not since things like this were usually scam and not something you can trust.
"In" Taehyung pulled out his wallet "Me too" Jungkook said right after his hyung.
Hoseok and Jimin gave a nod and silently pulled out their wallets while the other three stayed quiet.
"What about you guys? Not interested about your future?" The maknae looked at the two oldest and Namjoon.
"Yeah..I'll deal with the future when it becomes present" Namjoon wasn't into magical stuff or anything not ordinary so no one was going to try convincing him or Yoongi who said that he's not interested like Seokjin did. However, the maknae found the oldest's answer weird since he was usually the one always trying new and unusual things.
"Alright" The hoodie girl stood up after putting all of their money away "Follow me to the back room, you three can come watch if you want" and so, everyone did as told. Upon entering the back room, the old woman they saw when they entered the shop greeted them.
Teahyung who seemed more interested than the others sat on the chair in front of the old woman first.
"Alright young man, tell me your name, age and remove your bracelet and ring before extending your hand to me" While Teahyung did as told, the old woman opened a black bottle that filled the room with a sweet but weird smell.
When the woman was finally holding Teahyung's hand, she dripped a few drops of the red liquid in the bottle on it and slowly started to draw patterns on the front of his hand with it as she also muttered a few words, she kept on doing the same thing until the liquid started to move on its own in the same patterns she's been making which scared and amazed Teahyung at the same time.
"Close your eyes now and think of the people closest to you" The moment Teahyung closed his eyes, the old woman softly placed her hand on his palm and closed her eyes too.
Thirty seconds passed like that before the liquid finally stopped moving and dropped on the table like normal water.
The woman opened her eyes and told Teahyung to do the same before giving him some wipes to clean his hand with.
"What I saw was only flashes of what will happen if nothing changes because yes, your future could be changed. Very near, something emotionally painful will happen with you and the people around you. There will be some kind of threat on the life of someone you know. It also seems like you will feel betrayed, I'm not sure by who or why but just remember to know the full story before jumping to assumptions or your problem could get bigger. That's all I can tell you" The lady was looking at Taehyung in a weird way. She wasn't really sure about what she saw since it wasn't clear and too messy to understand which doesn't usually happen, she's supposed to see everything in order even if blurry.
And so, one by one, Jungkook, Hoseok and Namjoon sat in front of the lady, did the same thing, got surprised by the liquid moving on their hands each time. What she told each of them wasn't so different from her words to Taehyung. She explained that the reason for this was that their future could be linked to the other which made sense since she's seeing almost the same things but from different perspectives.
The more the lady saw, the more she was sure that one of these boys was going to either be trouble or add a number to her list, marking that as another successful day which came once every year, two or three.
"Don't these three men want to know about their future too?"
"No, grandma. They're say they're not interested" The young girl shrugged.
"No need to be shy young men, come here, I won't charge you. You're not from here so I know you won't be coming to look into your future again unless you're really enjoying Berlin" The old woman smiled.
"Really thank you but-"
"Come on hyung" Teahyung groaned "Don't be stingy. She's nice enough to do it for free so there is nothing to lose." He grabbed Yoongi's hand and dragged him to sit down in front of the old lady. The second oldest looked a little annoyed and embarrassed but he extended his hand nonetheless.
Again, the old woman did and said the same thing to Yoongi. It didn't last for even 30 seconds, only ten seconds and the lady was no longer able to see anything which made her realize that what she's been suspecting was true. All she needs to do now was to figure out who the person she's searching for is and she was sure it was one of the two men standing behind Yoongi or someone not even in the room.
"Alright, you young man, sit down" She gestured towards Seokjin who also declined at first but did as told nonetheless when the others started telling him to do so, leaving no chance to decline again.
Finally, Seokjin sat down and extended his hand which the old lady held gently and dropped the red liquid on, however unlike what happened with everyone else, the liquid fully dropped on the table right away rather than staying on his hand.
The woman was silent for a second before she stood up and chuckled "Sorry dear, looks like I've kept the bottle open for too long which ruined the mixture, it should always be closed right away because of the pollution we don't see in the air" Was her excuse for what happened as she went to grab another bottle from the cabinet behind her, opening the lid as she walked back to her seat. She could instantly tell that Seokjin was different from the others upon touching his cold hand and knew what she needed to do.
Seokjin could feel that something was going on from the sharp eyes of the young lady who knew the meaning of what happened. However, he didn't think about it much even though he could sense that something was out of place.
'Never let the magic touch you' Were the words of Seokjin's father but did he remember them? Not at that moment.
A gasp left Seokjin as he was taken by surprise when the woman tripped on what he couldn't see, drenching his face and shirt in what he assumed to be the same red liquid.
In an instant, Seokjin was up on his legs. He backed away from the woman and the seat as he started to wipe his face with his dry sleeves. He felt as though his whole face and every opening or hole in it were getting burned before he started to feel numb all over instantly.
"I'm very sorry dear" The old woman said with a hand over her mouth like her granddaughter was doing.
"Hyung, are you alright?" Yoongi who was near Seokjin asked. He could see the unspoken pain on Seokjin's face and eyed the owner of the shop for a second as he grabbed the tissues on the table for his hyung but the moment he turned back to look at him, Seokjin was already losing strength in his legs and whole body.
"Hyung!" Everyone was picking up on the weird way Seokjin was acting for being drenched with the water like substance but only Jimin was treating that liquid like some kind of chemical and got horrified when it was on Seokjin's face where it could possibly blind him or even worse, he could swallow it.
Before Seokjin could hit the hard floor, Jimin was already holding him in his arms. The younger registered for a second that the color of the liquid on Seokjin was black rather than red before the others started to surround them.
"I'm very sorry." The old woman said again as she approached them "This is all my fault, I picked up the wrong bottle but this is a normal reaction to having this black mixture come in contact with his skin, he should be up in no time. What's good is that he didn't hit his head." She spoke calmly as though this had happened before but no one was actually calming down from her words. This whole thing was unsettling. To faint from being drenched with water like substance was not normal, they didn't even know what the mixture she's talking about contained.
Jungkook and Hoseok's strategy of trying to wake up Seokjin by calling out his name and shaking him slightly wasn't working so Teahyung whose a medical school student took over to at least know if something serious was wrong with Seokjin. He wasn't an expert and didn't graduate yet but he knew some stuff and not breathing or having no kind of pulse was definitely not a good sign. It terrified Taehyung, leaving him speechless and shocked a second later when he saw Seokjin flutter his eyes open.
"Hyung, are you alright?" Namjoon asked with a worried expression on his face.
"Gosh..." Seokjin groaned as he sat up "What happened?...I don't feel well" He placed his hand on his spinning head and looked at the others for an answer.
"You fainted after you got.." Namjoon gestured at Seokjin's wet shirt "drenched with this black liquid, remember?"
The oldest furrowed his eyebrows "Y-yeah..." Seokjin himself looked rather shocked to the others more than they are and he indeed was since he had never experienced something like this before. These things weren't supposed to happen to his kind. They never faint.
"I'm very sorr-"
The second oldest never liked these unnatural stuff. He wasn't even into the whole thing from the beginning "Let's get out of here. Can you stand up hyung?" He asked and received a nod before he placed his hand on Seokjin's shoulder to support him despite the oldest saying that he's fine.
"Sir, at least please use this" The young girl extended a towel to Seokjin who just looked at her from head to toe with his narrowed eyes before walking away, ignoring whatever she was trying to say.
When they were finally out of the shop, Seokjin noticed how worried everyone was and reassured them that he's fine now even though his whole body was feeling somewhat weird and drained.
Since Seokjin's shirt was all wet, Hoseok gave him his jacket to change into because that's the only thing they could do right now. They asked another shop to use their restroom where Seokjin cleaned himself and changed.
It was still in the middle of the afternoon and even though they changed their destination and went to eat, it was obvious that the mood and specifically Seokjin's had been ruined. It wasn't like the oldest was a fan of food to begin with but he had eaten nothing at all, saying that he was still full from the breakfast they had in the morning.
When the idea of cutting their plans short for the day and returning back to the apartment was brought up, Seokjin was the first to refuse. He knew it was for him and didn't want to ruin their plans and vacation just because he's not feeling all that well and most importantly, he wanted to find some time alone to call his father before they finally go back.
Despite Seokjin's protests, they all ended up going back around five, saying that they were the tired ones for spending the last days out and wanted to rest.
___
"Guys..." With a small and unsure voice, Teahyung called the other two in the room with him.
Yoongi hummed, letting the younger know that he's listening "What is it Tae-ah?" Hoseok asked before jumping on his own bed.
"Well...I don't really know how to say this and I'm not sure...no I mean I'm sure of it but....you might not believe me" No one would blame Taehyung for being confused if they were in his shoes. He wanted to tell someone of what's been bothering him and listen to their thoughts so that it no longer sounds like a secret and most importantly he wanted to be told that's he's wrong about the whole thing.
"Is it something serious?" The oldest in the room the three of them shared asked as he placed his phone away.
Teahyung stayed silent for a few seconds since. He himself didn't know the answer "Could be...Depends...I'm not sure...It's just that...you know I'm a medical student so it's not like I'm dumb in that area but...you see...when I checked Jin-hyung's pulse for any irregularity...I didn't feel anything" He licked his lips and fiddled with the hem of his shirt as he looked at the reaction of his hyungs.
"What do you mean?" It wasn't like they didn't understand his words but more like they couldn't really register them. It seemed like a silly joke since Seokjin looked fine.
"I mean...there was no pulse"
___
At night, when everyone was sleeping, Seokjin finally got the chance to speak with his father outside in front of the small apartment building. He's been feeling even more worse than in the day even though the night was supposed to be the time where he most feels refreshed.
"It's so weird of you to call, It's only been six years and you're missing me?" Was the first thing his father said to him, he was genuinely surprised and knew that Seokjin called for a reason but didn't ask right away.
"I plan on visiting home some time soon but Father, I didn't call because of this. You see..." Seokjin went for the main topic instantly "I'm in Berlin. I went to a place called The Magic Shop and the old woman there splashed some black liquid all over me, since then I started to feel weird...I mean...I really don't understand what I'm feeling but...I know I fainted?...that woman...I know you've always told me to stay away from these beings but...I think she was a werewolf...I'm not sure. I couldn't really tell." Explaining what happened and what he's feeling wasn't an easy task for Seokjin. Feelings such as nausea, the tingling pain in his head, chest and stomach never hit vampires unless they were really short on blood or stayed in the sun for too long.
The person on the other line stayed silent for a few seconds as he registered the words which left his son's mouth.
"Come back home right away Kim Seokjin. I've told you countless times not to get near any other being, especially the werewolves, the magical ones, these ugly creatures were never up to any good and you know we've never been on any good terms with them either but look at this! How could you not tell they were werewolves from their ugly smell? Look at what you've got yourself into. All because of these stupid humans that you call friends. I know you're still hanging around with these humans. There is no such thing as friendship in this world, why do you never get it? You've only got your family and that's the only thing you should ever hav-"
"Father stop it please I get it alread-"
"And now you're interrupting me? Where did you learn such ugly manners? From your so called friends? Do you even know what you got yourself into?!" Hearing the cold but aggressive tone of his father didn't shake Seokjin. However, his next words had his eyes widen "That black liquid, it's the Werewolves blood mixed with black magic, something us vampires should never touch but so much got into your body that you fainted and soon if you don't get any kind of treatment to get it out, it'll merge with your blood causing you to feel as if the sun is right inside of your body and you know what that means, right? It'll just be like going out in the sun without your protective ring" Seokjin didn't need his father to say it to know what he's talking about.
"But father, remember that I'm a hybrid, does that also-"
"You've got the blood of a vampire and no beating heart. You're nothing like the humans so stop trying to act like one! You're different and you should remember that. A young person like you should-" Seokjin disconnected the call with his father as he tried to control himself from breaking the phone in his hand.
It was the first time in 246 years that blood dripped out of Seokjin's eyes, he didn't know that he was even capable of producing such bloody tears until the sad realization of his end being near hit. However, that single tear was all of what he could show to express his feelings other than clenching his hands and sighing with furrowed eyebrows. He couldn't sob, couldn't cry out and couldn't deny his foolishness for ever wanting to try living like a human instead of staying with his original family.
He was foolish and he was dying.