21ㅣReport
-
As we were lost in the emotion of love, we suddenly came to our senses. With all the turbulent events behind us, the original case began to surface again. A report came in claiming Namjoon, who hadn't been seen for a moment, had been seen.
It was quite a distance from where I lived. It was a small town, almost rural. It was an uncivilized place. It was a place where older people lived, and it was the kind of place that immediately comes to mind when you think of "countryside," with Jindo dogs running wild.
When I first arrived there, I was skeptical. I knew Namjoon, with his obsessive-compulsive tendencies, wouldn't be able to live in a place like this. But we decided to trust the informant's words. A young man with that kind of physique was rare in this rural area.
“Grandma, have you seen a man here who is about 181 cm tall?”
“There are no young people like that in this neighborhood… It’s all just old people, you know!”
“Ah… thank you.”
I spent the whole day wandering the neighborhood, searching for Namjoon. My body hadn't fully recovered yet, my breathing was suffocating, and my legs were aching like they were going to burst, but I held on, driven by sheer determination. Jungkook was constantly worrying about me, but I just held on, barely holding on. Compared to the pain I'd endured because of Namjoon, this pain was nothing.
As the sun began to set and the crowds dwindled, we sat down on the bench, seemingly giving up. Watching Jeongguk bring a cold can of coffee from afar, I felt a drain on my energy. I'd dragged my aching body through this grimacing struggle, yet nothing came of it. It was so frustrating.
“Are you okay? You don’t look well.”
“My ankle just… hurts a little.”
“Is it because of the injury you got back then? Look where I am.”
Perhaps due to the strain, my ankle seemed swollen, and the wound from where I'd been crushed by the asphalt had burst open, oozing blood. Jeongguk frowned when he saw my wound and said,
“Is there a pharmacy nearby? I think I should get some treatment.”
“It’s okay, it’s hard, just sit.”
“How can that be, it’s not someone else, it’s Seyun.”
I smiled faintly at Jeongguk's words. My feet ached, but I seemed to have grown accustomed to this pain. The psychological wounds still hadn't quite sunk in, though. A brief silence flowed. Jeongguk's tense voice broke the silence.
“… Hey, isn’t that Kim Namjoon?”