Jungkook
May 22, Year 22
Someone shook my shoulder to wake me up.
When I opened my eyes, the car window filled with
completely immersed in the seascape. The sea breeze
It felt cold, probably because it was only half-open.
I woke up. I wrapped my arms around myself and got out of the car.
The others, already far from the beach where the waves were breaking
Against the shore, they waved to me. Beyond them was the
sea, and above the sea was the sun. The whole scene seemed
a fixed painting.
The wind rose and filled this motionless frame with
sand just as I raised my hand to wave.
Sandy dust rose from the ground and swirled.
Others suddenly turned around, covering their faces.
to protect myself from the wind. I did the same, closing my eyes.
forcefully, bowing my head and covering my face
with the arm. We remained in this position in the middle of
the sounds of the waves and the whistling of the wind for a long time
time.
I tried to open my eyes, but they were itchy because of the
sand. "Don't rub them. You'll only make things worse."
Listening to HoSeok, I blinked slowly. The sea, the sky
And the others kept appearing and disappearing.
through the tears that flowed from my eyes. Then
I blinked several times, tears fell, and
The stinging subsided. The tears must have knocked the...
grains of sand. I heard the others laughing. They were laughing at me, standing in the middle of the deserted beach spilling
tears.
It was unclear who started running first.
It started as a silly game. I pretended to chase the
Others mocked me. HoSeok ran as if he were…
He was running away from me. Then the rest joined in.
running and moving away from each other, laughing
happily. At some point, we were all
running along the coastal road. I ran after
of the others. He was breathless, sweaty, and had a
I had a severe headache, like my head was splitting in two. But
I didn't stop because they kept going.
We met again, we got Jimin out of the
hospital and we returned to this same beach. Everything was
Unexpected. All she had done was accompany him.
But it felt exciting. Maybe running in white was...
the only way to deal with that terribly awful feeling
Touching. I did the same when everyone
We left school and came to this beach the first time
time.
"That's right. We were like that back then too." He said
Namjoon, when we went down to the beach to retrieve the
breath. "I think it was just as hot then."
"When was it?" It was Jimin. "It was June 12th." My goodness
The memory took everyone by surprise. I remembered it.
Exactly because the photo we had taken in this
The beach was marked with the date. Sometimes I would take it out and...
I was looking. I didn't tell anyone, but on that long ago I felt I had finally found a true love.
Family. Royal siblings.
"Guys." I began to express my gratitude, but I
I was speechless. "What?" The others rushed me.
One by one, and then they launched themselves at me. We rolled in the
beach tangled together, playing like children.
"Why are you here alone?" I settled down next to him.
Taehyung, who was sitting in a corner of the sand
off the beach, away from everyone else. He looked at me briefly and
He asked a question instead. "Was that the last time you..."
"Did we come?" He was talking about the observatory. "If it were,
We would have uploaded it. But I don't remember." He nodded.
Agreement. He continued staring intently at the observatory.
"Let's go." Someone touched my shoulder. It was Seokjin. His
His face was unrecognizable as he stood against the
light. It could have been because I was looking at it from
I sat down, but he looked very tall. I got into a seated position.
My feet sank into the sand, shaking off the sand.
deep in the burning sand. I slipped into the shadows.
I walked from Seokjin, kicking sand with the tips of my toes.
sneakers. The sand I kicked up splashed onto my pants.
Seokjin, but he didn't look back.
Tae Hyung
May 22, Year 22
I had seen all this before. In a dream that felt
Too vivid and real, I saw this sea, the seven of us, and
The imposing observatory. I stood up in the
Observatory at the end of the dream. Everyone looked at me.
They were very far away, so their faces were difficult to see.
I couldn't distinguish them. Even so, I smiled at them. As if I were...
Saying goodbye to them. And then I jumped.
"Seokjin?" Hearing Jungkook, I turned my head to
See Seokjin climbing to the observatory. At the very top,
He turned his body towards us. It seemed he was trying to
to take our picture. The others waved to him, but
I couldn't. It was like the last scene of my dream.
The only difference was that Seokjin was there instead of
my.
At that moment, I felt as if the ground were sinking.
My feet were below me and my body floated in the air. I closed my eyes.
with force, fearing my body would fall to the ground. No
I clenched my fist, but the wound in my palm began to
It hurt. The wound seemed deep, but it healed more quickly.
Faster than I expected. It left a red scar. Sometimes
It hurts intensely. As if I were being punished.
Punished for all my bad deeds. It hurts now.
NamJoon
May 22, Year 22
"He's only a year younger than me. No, I didn't say that. I'm older."
I know. But he's not a child anymore. It's time he started to...
Taking care of oneself. I understand. I understand. No, I'm not.
Angry. I'm sorry.
I looked at the floor after hanging up the phone. We
We were heading back to our accommodation after spending the day
on the beach. A warm breeze blew our way.
I felt as if my heart were blocked and was going to
They could explode at any moment. The ants were marching.
in a row on the ground covered with sand and earth.
It wasn't that I didn't love my parents. It wasn't that I didn't...
I would be worried about my brother. I would turn a deaf ear if they...
I could have, but I knew I never could. I knew it.
Very well. So, what was the point of fighting, of losing?
patience, feeling anguish and trying to free myself?
In the distance, someone was standing like me, but
With his back turned. It was Jungkook. Jungkook told me something
Once, she said, "I want to be like you when I grow up." She couldn't.
confessing to him that he was far from being an adult, and much more so.
At least not a role model. I thought it was too cruel.
crush their hopes then. I couldn't tell him.
someone so young, someone who hadn't been given the
trust, support, and affection that she deserved, which she didn't
I want to become an adult as I grow up and get older.
Jungkook's future would be kinder to him than mine was to me, but I couldn't promise him that it would be.
That's how it was for him along the way.
Seok Jin
May 22, Year 22
I looked at the others again. They were making jokes.
silly girls, laughing, chatting, and bursting into laughter again.
when someone jumped up and started dancing.
I couldn't believe what was unfolding before my eyes.
Eyes. We got here after so much trial and error.
I had dreamed of this for so long and so
desperately, it seemed impossible that it really
was happening.
But I felt uncomfortable because I still had something
What to confess. I continued to doubt and couldn't muster the courage.
But she could no longer run away from everything. Unless she told them no.
I would be able to look my friends in the face.
When dinner was almost over, I told them that
He had something to say. But they didn't pay much attention.
Only Taehyung was looking at me. Several days ago,
He came to me and asked me about the dream I had been having.
"Having. "You know what that means, right?" He pressed me.
to get an answer, but I acted as if I didn't.
I said, "How could I know? It was just a dream."
TaeHyung got angry and turned away.
It wasn't entirely a lie. I didn't know why.
Taehyung had been having that dream. But he did know
How brutal he was. That's why I couldn't tell him the truth. About
Everything, because he knew what he was asking himself. No
I needed to know it wasn't a dream, that he had killed her.
father, but that it had happened in real life,repeatedly. Nobody should go through life with so much.
agony. I wouldn't change my decision again even if that
It would hurt our friendship.
I turned my head to avoid Taehyung's eyes.
I closed my mouth, held my breath, and spoke more clearly this time.
time. "I have something to tell you." Namjoon and Hoseok me
They looked, and the others also fell silent. "I should
I should have told them this a long time ago. When
We were in high school..."
Taehyung interrupted. "When we were in the..."
high school? When did you betray us to the
principal? Or when YoonGi was expelled from school?
"So? Which one are you talking about?" The criticism was
written clearly on TaeHyung's face.
"Taehyung!" Namjoon called out in an obvious attempt to
"Contain it." Taehyung shook Namjoon's hand with
His eyes were firmly fixed on me. "That was all..."
"You did." Nobody said anything. Everyone was taken for
I was surprised and they couldn't think of anything to say. I looked at
YoonGi. TaeHyung's case was mild. YoonGi was expelled from
"School is my fault," I muttered, bowing my head.
down. "I'm sorry." Taehyung began to talk about
new.
Tae Hyung
May 22, Year 22
"Seokjin, is that all? You're not hiding something from us, are you?"
I looked at Seokjin. He looked back at me. I was about to
to press it harder when someone grabbed me by the
I had a shoulder to stop me. I knew who he was without looking back.
It was Namjoon. "Don't interrupt him. Why do you care?"
"So much? You're not even my real brother." He could
I felt Namjoon's eyes on the back of my neck. I removed his hand.
Without even looking at him, he knew it too. He was
Unleashing my anger on NamJoon.
As I was heading to our beach accommodation,
Walking through the pine forest, I heard Namjoon
talking on the phone. Every word she said was correct.
I was only a year younger and I wasn't his real brother.
I had to control myself. But it still hurt.
"Taehyung, I'm sorry. So let's stop here." It was
Seokjin was the first to open his mouth.
who told me he was sorry. Namjoon didn't say anything.
He continued to look at me with angry eyes. "Stop what?"
Just confess everything. You're hiding something from us.
"Something." Everyone's gaze was now fixed on Seokjin.
Seokjin gave us a look that seemed to tell us that we
we stopped.
"Let's go outside and talk." Namjoon grabbed my arm.
New. I tried to shake his hand, but he tightened his grip.
to take me outside. I resisted him. "Let me go.
What right do you think you have? What do you know? You don't know.
Nothing. You think you're something special, huh?"
That's when Namjoon abruptly let go of me.
arm. And I tripped in reaction. Or, it wasn't a reaction.
which made me stumble. The moment he let go of my…
arm, it felt as if the chain that bound us had been severed
broke in the middle. Everything that supported me and me
The base that served as a foundation seemed to crack and divide.
Perhaps in the end I hoped he wouldn't let go of me. Perhaps
I expected him to yell at me to shut up and drag me away.
It was smoking outside. Maybe he was expecting me to get in trouble.
as he would his real brother or someone else
too valuable to give up.
But he let go of my arm. I couldn't help but smile. I was
smiling before I realized it. I spat out: "What's all this about?"
All this fuss about being together? What if we're one and the other?
for the other? In the end, we are all alone." In that
At that moment, Seokjin hit me.
JiMin
May 22, Year 22
"We should leave too." That's what HoSeok said.
I turned my head, looking beyond the door of our
Accommodation. The table, chairs, pots, and plates.
They were scattered all over the place. "Jimin, let's go."
I closed the door hurriedly. They were very close.
In front of me. YoonGi and HoSeok took the initiative,
with Jungkook following closely behind. There were seven of us.
When we first came, and now there were only a few left
four.
I looked up as we passed the observatory. No
There was light on the beach after sunset.
The observatory and the sea receded into darkness, and nothing remained.
It was visible. Only the roar of the crashing waves remained.
I realized this was the place. The place that
We visited when we first arrived at the sea together.
The rock, which was said to make dreams come true.
We cried our hearts out in this very place where the
The rock had been broken to make way for a new one.
resort. "Jungkook, wasn't it somewhere around here?"
I looked back, but Jungkook was already running very fast.
ahead of the others. HoSeok called him, but no
He seemed to hear it. It occurred to me then. Jungkook too.
He is progressing along his own path. Jungkook
He had always been behind the others. He had
He had gone ahead and had stopped when the others
They stopped. I was the same. I looked in all directions.
at an intersection. I had to turn left to get to the train station or right to take the bus.
bus home.
I would have to go home someday. I couldn't.
to avoid it forever. I had to confess my lies and
To tell my parents the truth. Even if they weren't there.
willing to listen to them. I had to start squeezing the
first button at some point. I saw YoonGi enter
The path to the left. "Jimin, hurry up." Hoseok
He turned his head toward me. "HoSeok, I'm going home."
"Now." With a puzzled look, she asked, "Home?"
I nodded. Then I turned right.
Jungkook
May 22, Year 22
I felt like my body was floating in the air, but after a minute
Next, I was lying on the hard ground. I couldn't
I felt nothing for a while. My whole body felt so
It was so heavy I couldn't even lift my eyelids.
I couldn't swallow or breathe. When I fell into a state
Semi-conscious, I became hotter and hotter and my body
Suddenly he shook all over. A pain and a thirst.
indefinable forces instinctively compelled my eyes to...
They opened. Something trembling caught my attention; it felt
Dry as if it were full of sand. At first, I thought
It was a light, but it wasn't. It was bright, large, and
Blurry. It hung motionless in the air. I stared at it.
She stared at it for a while and it began to take shape. It was the
Moon, the world seemed to be upside down. My head must be
to have been tilted backwards. In that world, the moon
I was also lying face down. I tried to breathe by coughing, but
I couldn't move. A wave of cold ran through my body.
It was terrifying. I tried to open my lips, but I couldn't.
To utter a word. My vision began to fade.
Even though my eyes were open. Someone made me
a question as my consciousness was weakening.
"It will be more painful to live than to die. Do you still want to?"
live?"