Chapter Text
Jungkook was sitting in his cozy chair switching channels. Human life was somehow always uneventful for him. People would always lose themselves in endless loops of their everyday life so their days somehow ended up looking the same. Go to school, go to work, eat and sleep. Same pattern over and over again. Always lonely, always the same, always running in circles until they forget who they are and become everyone else.
Special individuals appear sometimes. Like a rare flower that blooms in the poverty, fighting the chains of reality, they give all of themselves for a happy ending that may not come. As someone who wanted more from life, Jungkook admired humans like this, but alas…
Jungkook has never experience that. He never met someone as special as that. He longed to see the difference, but he was always only disappointed. The life of the human in front of him was the same as every previous one. He switched the channel.
Click.
CHANNEL 2985
Namjoon was laying down on the floor. It was a hot day but his cell was freezing cold. He didn’t want to be there, but he didn’t have choice really. He craved ice cream even in the cold, he wished he could freeze and live through the hell like that. But life didn’t work like that, did it? We are here to exist and suffer the consequences of our actions.
His eyes danced around the room in hope to find an entertainment but every corner was empty. He felt like sitting in the middle of nothingness, destined to be swallowed by his own thoughts. His thoughts that always brought him back to his happier times. Times when he wasn’t as tired, as lonely.
Flashbacks started playing in his head, smiles and dancing and warm hugs. He would really appreciate a hug right now, too bad he was alone. It were always those memories, the happy ones, the ones that helped him go through the day. It’s almost as the painful ones left his brain and flew someone far away, leaving him wonder what happened.
He didn’t bang his head about them, he always let himself be swallowed by different reality, the one in his memories where everything was okay, where he had friends and family, the one where he went to school and fell in love. He didn’t want the painful ones even if it left him confused, he wanted to live in the happy memories far away from the cold that was eating him in reality.
But those were just memories, weren’t they? And memories get twisted and corrupted, they turn the way we want them to be. So maybe, maybe those memories weren’t as happy as Namjoon thought. How did he end up in here? If his memories were all shiny and happy, how did he end up in a place like this? What happened?
Namjoon was confused, but at least he had his memories to keep him busy.
Click.
CHANNEL 3761
Seokjin was on another of his classes. University was hard and required maximum effort and attention. He would maybe be willing to do all that if only he studied what he wanted and not what his parents demanded of him.
Truth to be told, he wasn’t really thinking about his future after high school, he knew that his parents have plans for him but he didn’t really care much about them. If someone actually asked him, he would probably say how he wants to start working, probably be independent and away from his over controlling parents. But of course, his opinion didn’t matter that much.
Maybe because of the lack of a backbone or because of the pressure and emotional manipulation his parents put him through, he was now doing a degree in a thing he didn’t give a shit about. He didn’t love it and he didn’t hate it, he simply couldn’t care less about it and that was somehow even worse.
He passed next to the music shop while coming back from class and saw a big piano displayed there. For some strange reason his heart hurt at the sight of it. How come his life was easier back then? He felt his cheek getting wet and it surprised him. Looking at that piano almost woke up the memories he didn’t know existed anymore after all the brainwashing his parents put him through.
But before he could even remember anything nice about back then, his cellphone rang. It was his mother telling him to come back home and study and not waste his time on unimportant things. Now that was more familiar scenario. Jin didn’t want to pass there again, afraid of what he may remember.
Because deep inside, he believed it was all his fault.
Click.
CHANNEL 4465
Hoseok for some reason wasn’t able to recognize himself in the mirror. The familiar flush on his cheeks and muscular body weren’t there. He was just a pale skin and bones. He started dancing again but he looked more like a balloon doll waving his hands left and right than a proper dancer. He was getting more and more frustrated with himself.
His moves looked sloppy and the music sounded wrong. He wasn’t alone in a dancing studio, a lot of nameless people were surrounding him, but he still felt emptiness everywhere around him. He focused on practicing even more. He jumped and moved around and shook his body as best as he could but he wasn’t satisfied.
He felt eyes on him. Everyone was looking, judging and laughing at him. They looked so big around him, bigger than anyone ever was. They were better than him, they were stronger than him, that’s what they were whispering about, wasn’t it?
Hoseok wanted to cover his ears and cry. He wanted to run away and never dance again. He looked at the reflection of himself and saw only a fragile shell of what he was before. Everything was useless. He will never be as good as they are so he should stop trying.
Hoseok grabbed his backpack and ran out of the studio. Outside he felt as if he could breathe again. Why was he even there? Why in the world did he even think that he could be as good as people inside there were? He remembers the acceptance envelop being delivered to him with smiles, but who was smiling and supporting him back then?
Hoseok will never forget how happy he had been back then. But know, he would give them a piece of his mind for making him go through that hell, only if he could. He doesn’t want to go back there, he doesn’t want to dance ever again, he doesn’t want to feel ever again, he just wants to swim in the endless void for all eternity.
But unfortunately, Hoseok chose the loneliest path, the irreversible one.
Click.
CHANNEL 5258
Taehyung was feeling relentless. After his older sister left the country, he was in charge of everything. He was so busy that he didn’t even have to think about her surgery. She fell down the stairs and broke her back and without the surgery she may never walk again. If you ask Taehyung, it was an attempted murder, but his sister didn’t tell him a word about it.
She was a CEO of their parents’ company. When their father passed away she was the one to inherit it all at the age of twenty-two. There were many jealous people waiting to take her spot in the company, but she handled them so well, until now.
Now Taehyung ,who had never stepped inside the company building, Taehyung who was always playing around carelessly, Taehyung who always took for granted everything she worked so hard for; that Taehyung was now in charge of the biggest company in Seoul and he had no idea what to do.
He couldn’t ask for help or trust anyone. He was completely lost by himself, but he had to stay strong. Endless meetings, sleepless nights, infinite work, she had to go through all that by herself, and now Tae was feeling all that too.
The guilt was eating Taehyung alive. He felt guilty for leaving her and for always inconveniencing her. He felt guilty for not even once trying to comfort her. He felt guilty that his dreams were more important to him than she was. What a stupid dream that was, something that ended up hurting his only family.
But he didn’t only feel the guilt, he was also scared to death. He didn’t even get to see her but he know they were trying to hurt her. They didn’t expect Taehyung to apper out of nowhere. He was always just a silly dreamer. What even is dreaming in the cruel reality we’re living in? He knows he’s next, they are watching him, waiting to get him alone so that they can hurt him, he wants to run but he has to stay. He promised himself that he would stay.
But Teahyung is scared, so scared, and there is no one who can help him.
Click.
CHANNEL 6669
Yoongi was walking down the road. He didn’t know where he was going since everything was black around him. What is happening? He was scared and confused. But he was unable to stop walking. It was as if something was pulling him deeper and deeper into the darkness.
Suddenly, he heard a voice. It was somewhere behind him, far in the distance so he didn’t bother turning around. Maybe it was all his imagination. But then he heard the voice again. It wasn’t a sentence, at least nothing Yoongi understood, but just a sound, warm and welcoming, calling for him.
He turned this time. There was a name at the tip of his tongue, but how could he know the name of the owner of the voice when he didn’t know his own name. Yoongi stopped. Where is he going? Who is calling him? Why was he there?
“Yoongi!”
Flashes of memories appeared before him. He was looking at them as if he was in the movie theater and the movie was actually his life. Only far more complicated and faster. He saw snippets of his life. He saw himself playing basketball, saw himself getting in a fight, saw how he had a lot of fun with his friends and saw himself in another fight.
He saw snippets of pale skin, lips and soft eyes looking at him. He saw someone pulling the cigarette away from his mouth and nagging him about it. He saw many smiles, many tears and many hugs. But then everything crashed like a broken mirror. Yoongi was looking around, searching for the windows of his life, yearning to find out who he was. But it looked like his reality glitched, and he was just stuck in the darkness.
Something appeared on the road. It was so bright that it almost blinded Yoongi. But then, there was a boy in front of him. He looked familiar but Yoongi couldn’t put his finger on it. The boy hugged him tightly and said, “We have to hurry! Our time is running out!”
Yoongi opened his eyes.
Click.
CHANNEL 7403
Jimin was surrounded by white. He couldn’t believe it. He didn’t know how long it’s been, but he knew it was too long to even feel mad anymore. He lost himself along the way, he didn’t know who he was anymore. Is that even possible? To forget your own existence?
Being in a mental institution did that to people apparently. It made you be no one. Just another one of the many. But isn’t it like that outside of the walls too? You’re always one of the many, someone and no one at the same time. It made Jimin’s head hurt so he stopped thinking about it.
But being by himself in the white room didn’t really give him much to do, so he went back to thinking. This is probably why his sanity was drifting away. There are so many topics that a person can think about before they go bonkers. Luckily Jimin was crazy to begin with, or so he was told. He doesn’t remember much.
The real world now seemed like a distant memory. Something like a dream that he wants to wake up in. Maybe he is dreaming in his own dream? Maybe the white room is not there but inside his head. Could he possibly be stuck inside his own mind? Ah, he is overthinking again. But the doctor should be here soon, he will help him. Nice doctor always gives him pills that make him feel like he’s floating. And the best thing is that he stops thinking.
When he has a pill he doesn’t care if he is stuck in his own head, or in the mental institution, or just casted away who knows where. Nothing matters when he can escape his thoughts, because they are worse than the horror movies he used to watch. Or that he never saw? He doesn’t really remember. Who knows how long he is in the white room, maybe it played tricks with him…Him? Who is he again? He doesn’t really remember.
Jimin is slowly floating away from the reality, again.
Click.
Jungkook sighted. He turned off the TV and wondered what time it was. Time was irrelevant in his world, but it was still nice to know.
No one was there. It was probably the first time Jungkook was left alone in the TV room and it felt somehow nice, somehow powerful.
Jungkook wanted to test that power. He looked left and right once again checking that it was empty and when he was sure that it was he went to the control panel.
For a prodigy like him, he didn’t simply want to script a scenario. No, he wanted more, he wanted to create a new channel. There are billions of them and the number was growing, it’s not like someone would notice. He saw a free spot and clicked.
CHANNEL 134340
He smiled proudly at himself. He was unsure how to proceed and who he wants there. It was all white for now. But Jungkook was skillful. He programed beautiful cities, added wonderful nature and downloaded many people on his channel. He was especially proud at tying six people together. He didn’t really care about human life, but he wanted his channel to be different, beautiful. He wanted his channel to outshine all the others. He wanted to make them happy, change something in their lives after seeing how miserable they were in the original ones. Jungkook as was like a rare human, he wanted to make a difference. With all his fussing he didn’t notice that he tied himself to the channel too.
Tomorrow, he will wake up, he will grab a glass of water from the kitchen and wonder why he hates the loud TV so much. He will say goodbye to his dad who is glued to the morning news and he will ran to school. Tomorrow, without realizing, he will be human.