"これは助けるかもしれない
ᵺeodore ℣. Ƙarn."
|

tsuki began to pull a set of keys from her jacket pocket, some unrecognizable to the two guys standing behind her.

"tsuki, what..." but jimin stopped, watching her single out the key with a 'J' written on it and put it in the lock.

"who is this guy?" haneul asked, staring astonished as tsuki walked straight into the mud room.

"we dated a couple summers back," she nonchalantly replied, watching as jimin closed the door behind them.

"you did?"

"seoki!" tsuki called out as she made her way into the living room, her friends following slowly behind, eyeing the decor.

"haneul," jimin whispered, gesturing his friend over with one hand and holding a picture frame in the other. "look." he pointed at the picture, tsuki stood with two handsome men. one had dark brown hair and the other had light brown.

"which one do you think he is?" haneul asked. jimin shrugged and started to make his way toward where tsuki had disappeared to.

"hobi!" they heard tsuki exclaim, turning the corner to see a dyed-red haired man embrace the petite girl.

"what are you doing here, ki?" he asked as he pulled away from the hug. haneul had recognized the guy to be the dark haired one in the picture, and nudged jimin to tell him so.

"i'm..." the conversation continues on as jimin turns to haneul and whispers, "do you think he's the ex-boyfriend?"

at that, the red haired man looked in the direction of the whisper and furrowed his eyebrows. "who's this?"

"remember when taehyung-" jimin had flinched at the name tsuki spoke- "used to talk about our other friends, haneul and jimin?"

the red haired man smiled and bowed to the two in from of him, leaving them confused and raising eyebrows. "i'm hoseok." both of them sighed. this guy wasn't her ex. bowing, the two introduced themselves.

"okay, now that we all know each other...where's seoki?" tsuki asked, turning toward hoseok and waiting expectantly.

"he's probably still asleep, i'll go get him." hoseok made his way down a hallway and disappeared around a corner.

"what does all this have to do with a convenience store and spicy ramen?" haneul asked, crossing his arms and tapping his foot impatiently.

"jin works at a convenience store and me and tae always got spicy ramen from there," she explained, peering down the hallway.

"tae and i," haneul corrected, "and you're saying that a guy who works at a convenience store owns this house?"

"not exactly," tsuki shrugged, "it's a home away from home for all of us."

"us?" jimin asked, joining the conversation out of curiosity.

"well, they like to joke and say we're called bulletproof. like some gang or something, but we're just normal people trying to escape for a while," she vaguely explained, noticing hoseok returning with jin.

"you didn't answer jimin's question correctly."

"jin!" tsuki exclaimed, hugging him quickly.

"why don't you visit anymore, tsuki?" he asked, pulling back from the hug with a small frown on his face.

tsuki looked uneasy, twiddling her fingers and glancing around the room, as if reminiscing past memories. "i can't."

jin nodded, understanding her without an explanation. he was always like that. it's like he always knew what she was thinking.

"so, this is jimin and haneul!" he announced, changing the subject and going to introduce himself to the two as tsuki quietly chatted with hoseok.

"i'm seokjin, but call me..."

"it's okay, tsuki," hoseok placed a hand on her shoulder, "we'll find him. i promise."

"you know i don't like broken promises, hobi," she told him.

"i know. that's why i promised it," he smiled brightly, causing tsuki to smile back. haneul, who stopped listening to jin's blabber, hadn't seen a genuine smile on tsuki's face in a long time.

"and this is the bangtan household! who would like a tour?" jin had concluded his introduction speech proud and loud, as if he hadn't just woken up.

"i would!" jimin replied excitedly, haneul nodding his head along with the statement.

"i'll make tea. tsuki, wanna join me?" hoseok was giving her the 'i need to talk to you look' when he asked the question.

"yeah, sure! i'll see you guys after the tour."

|

"these are our family photos. we take one every year on new year's day. that's why some of us look drunk in the pictures," jin told them, pointing at the pictures along the hall. as they traveled down the hall, each person looked older as the photos carried on.

"you take one every year?" jimin asked, looking at taehyung and tsuki in the pictures.

"yeah, but i'm not sure if we'll be taking one this coming year," he replied, mumbling something about taehyung afterward.

jimin sighed, thinking about how tsuki and taehyung hid such a big secret- a secret family- from them.

"look how young tsuki looks here," haneul said, pointing at the first picture she had showed up in, along with taehyung.

"ah, 2014 was an interesting year. that's when she and taehyung decided to have a home away from home with bangtan," jin explained, walking further down the hall, causing jimin and haneul to pick up the pace.

"there's a couple of spare rooms down this hall and entertainment type of rooms, and the stairs at the end."

they made their way up the staircase and toward the occupied rooms.

"this is yoongi's room. he doesn't really like people in it... so, we'll go in," jin said, smiling slightly and opening the door.

"why are there packed boxes in here?" jimin asked, looking at the opened boxes and items on the floor.

"yoongi always said he didn't want a room here, so i took it upon myself to make him one and forced him to sleep in it whenever he was here. now, he's actually moving some stuff into it."

"isn't this violation of property?" haneul asked, watching as jimin pulled open a drawer filled with polaroid pictures, a few of, presumably, the yoongi guy, taehyung, and tsuki.

"he lives in my house, doesn't he? it's not like we're going through his underwear drawer," jin joked. "anyways, on to the next room."

across the hall from yoongi's room, was another door.

"this is taehyung's room."

|

"taehyung's room hadn't been touched in over half a year, tsuki," hoseok mentioned, "and then one day, out of the blue, we open it to see a box of- i don't even know- letters and clues? none of it made sense. some theodore guy thought it was funny or- i don't even know how they got in without a key! and we all have our keys, jin, me, you, yoongi, namjoon, jungkook, tae- what if he took it from taehyung? look at this letter! i don't know what it says! japanese! it's in japanese! maybe he thinks namjoon can speak japanese. that makes sense, right? or you-"

"hobi, calm down. that's why i'm here. i've gotten letters from theodore, and haneul, jimin, and i think it's taehyung."

"what? how?" hoseok almost dropped his cup due to shock.

what if taehyung is still out there?

"the letter says 'this may help.' hoseok, do you still have the box?"