14.

8.2K 720 452
                                    

14 March 2015
9:30am


RAPMON

As I slowly opened my eyes, I could see bright sun rays entering the room through the thin lining of the curtains. I groggily sat up on my bed before turning my head to the left to see an empty bed beside mine.

I stared at it, cocking my head to a side, wondering who sleeps there. Then, I realised it was J-Hope's bed. I stretched over to his bed and rubbed my hand all over it to realise that it was cold.

Wait- what? J-Hope did not return back yesterday?

I quickly climbed out of my bed and rushed out of my dorm room. I headed over to Jin's and Suga's shared dorm room and knocked hard on the door.

"Hyung––"

"Namjoon! I have to tell you something!" Jin exclaimed, cutting me off abruptly.

He pulled me into the room and closed the door behind me.

"Taehyung left the building yesterday," Jin started off.

"Huh? Why?" I asked, confused.

"It's a long story but I tried calling him a couple of times but he won't answer me," Jin responded in frustration.

"Yah, seriously? Does he hate us that much?" I uttered in disappointment.

"I'll call him later, okay? Oh yeah, have you seen J-Hope? He didn't return back to our dorm room yesterday night," I told Jin.

"Have you called him?" He asked.

That was when I realised that I had not called his phone.

How stupid of me.

"I'll call him now..." I responded sheepishly before taking out my phone.

I dialed J-Hope's number and placed my phone on an ear. I was expecting to hear the ringtone of the line but it was just dead silent.

"That's strange... umm... there isn't any ringing," I muttered.

"Oh no! Don't tell me J-Hope left too! Oh my god, what kind of a hyung am I..." Jin uttered frustratedly.

"No, no! J-Hope will never leave us," I asserted, trying to comfort him.

"Then, tell me... where is he?" Jin asked, shaking his head in disappointment.

If only I knew.

14 March 2015
1:30pm


TAEHYUNG

I went back to my home in Daegu. I felt a little guilty for leaving my friends at the building but I was just trying to save myself from any supernatural things that might happen again.

How selfish of me. I sighed.

I got curious about the past of the building all of a sudden and went to check it out in the Internet. I searched and, searched and out of a sudden, a large photograph with dull colours appeared on my screen.

"What in the- world," I muttered to myself in disbelief.

It was a photograph of a three-membered family at the front compound of a building. What shook me was the familiar faces. Then it struck me. It was the family in the portrait that could be found at the lobby of the building my friends were in!

I was speechless.

How did I become so good in researching?

I brushed that thought away and instead, scrolled down the website in my computer.

"Building was supposed to be used for the training of scouted individuals into STB company..."


"However, a big fire occurred..."


"Trainees managed to escape, except for..."


"Lee Boram... and her parents..."

I gasped seeing that familiar name on the screen of my computer. My four-year-old cousin, Yura, was the one who had mentioned her. I read on and saw a section of a paragraph.

"A group of the trainees planned the fire outbreak..."


"A former trainee, Park Somi, from the company was interviewed and said that she had seen the group of trainees acting suspiciously at the second floor of the building..."


"However, she had no idea that they were planning to set the building on fire..."


I gasped again.

Why would they even do that...?

My question was answered as I read the following paragraph in the article.



"Unfair treatment..."



"16 March 2008."

The article ended there. At that moment, my eyes widened in disbelief.

The unfair treatment must have been really bad...

And the date––it does not seem too long ago but how did I not know about this?

I was curious so I began searching around the Internet for 'Park Somi'.

Maybe she has Instagram, Facebook or Twitter––who knows.

I was right. She had a Facebook account. I immediately logged into my Facebook account and searched through her account. I was literally stalking her––looking into her photo albums and newsfeed to find any information on the 'building'. As I looked through her old photos, I found a picture of her and another girl in a room with a large mirror at the back. Seeing that photo, I pulled away in utter shock.

It was Boram––










the girl in the portrait.

Ashes, Ashes ➣ BTSWhere stories live. Discover now