"A gunshot wound?" Jungkook repeated, horrified.

    "Yes," his manager agreed, "and burns to his back from a severe electrocution that nearly stopped his heart. He didn't pretend this morning when he woke you up, he was really in pain."

    "There was blood on his shoulder but I wouldn't have thought it was that serious," Yoongi confessed, remembering what happened early in the morning that he had already told in detail to the others. "Does that mean that it will have to be spared in the days to come?"

    "Yes, this is important for his healing. However, his injuries won't prevent him from returning to work, don't worry."

    That morning when he arrived, while Jin was still locked in his room, Sejin had begun to explain to the other members that the eldest was going to temporarily resume his place in the group while waiting to return to his post in the army, this having been authorized by his superiors who had total authority over this decision since Jin was an army recruit for two years.

    "How bad is the situation, hyung?" Namjoon asked, concern could be read in the crease that crossed his forehead.

    "Seokjin was guilty of irresponsible behavior but his final judgment, I don't know why, was postponed and he was not permanently discharged from the army and should resume his military service as soon as the situation is resolved. As it concerns the army, part of the information is classified as confidential, such as the motivations for such a violent quarrel or even the identity of Seokjin's opponents. 

    I am quite ignorant of the real situation, like you. Let's say that for the moment, if his behavior is beyond reproach, everything should be fine for BTS. We must act as if nothing abnormal had happened, go back to work with him, then let him go back to the military barracks when everything is back to normal."

    "Okay, we'll let the problems sort themselves out," Namjoon agreed, not being reassured.

    "No but, can you hear yourself talking Namjoon hyung?!" Jungkook protested, who couldn't believe it, "Sejin hyung has just told us about Jin hyung's state of health and the fact that he really could have died, Yoongi hyung even told us about how shaken he was this morning, and you talk about him as a problem instead of worrying about him?!"

    "Jungkook, calm down, I didn't say I wasn't worried, of course I-"

    "That's not the impression you give," the maknae cut before looking at everyone else. "None of you seem to really care except for the reputation of the band!"

    Only Jimin lowered his head, ashamed. The others only seemed upset with Jungkook's words.

     "So what?" Yoongi snapped back, leaving the maknae in awe, "did he deserve our concern if he didn't think of us before acting rashly? I'll be honest with you : I find it absurd that we even allow him to rejoin the group as if nothing had happened."

   "I quite agree," Hoseok interjected, "how could he have been allowed to officially rejoin the group after what happened, knowing that the situation could escalate at any time depending on the decision of the Army? And if the situation escalates, the whole group will be hit by the consequences of his actions. You have to understand that, JK."

    "Besides, contrary to what Sejin hyung just said, Jin's behavior has been far from flawless since his return," Yoongi added, still clearly thinking about their breakfast verbal sparring.

    "We have no choice, no matter what you think," the manager objected. "His temporary departure from the army will not be a secret forever and an official reason will have to be given. By the way, I learned that Seo Eun-kwang from BtoB and Son Hyunwoo from Monsta X will also be returning to their respective groups."

    "What's the connection with Seokjin hyung?" Taehyung asked, puzzled like the others.

    "So you don't know either? I learned that these three have been inseparable since taking up their post at the DMZ."

    "Shownu hyung and Eunkwang hyung?" Jungkook wondered, suddenly aware that he didn't know a lot about Jin anymore. 

    All the questions he had long since stopped asking himself for lack of time and energy to think about him popped up again in his mind: has it been a trying year for Jin? Had he been well fed, well treated? How far away from the group had he become through his new friendships?

    He couldn't tell why he was so bitter at the mere thought of Jin replacing his relationship with him by those with other idols. While it was true that he resented Jin for jeopardizing the survival of the group by who knew what behavioral issue, he desperately wanted the elder to take his place back in their group alongside them.

    "They were stationed at the DMZ?" Jimin wondered, having a hard time imagining that it was Jin who had been in charge of protecting the dangerous border.

    "There's so much we don't know," Hoseok complained, feeling the situation completely slipping away from them.

    "If I had known that before, I don't think I would have been able to sleep soundly," Yoongi growled, barely ironic.

    "This position of responsibility may make his behavioral problems even more serious," Namjoon worried, more lucid.

    Sejin sighed for a long time and resumed:

    "From what I understand, the three boys were together when the incident took place. The other two were also temporarily suspended from the army and sent back to their group, like Seokjin."

    "So, if the situation gets worse, not one but three groups could fall?!" Hoseok exclaimed.

    "Unbelievable," Taehyung commented. "How could they be so irresponsible? And how not to find suspicious the fact that suddenly, three members of three groups leave the army before the end of their military service?"

    "To keep up appearances, the companies have decided that we have to pretend that an event is brewing between the three groups and that's why the three boys had to be brought back," Sejin explained.

    "More work," Jungkook groaned, already exhausted, thinking about the preparation it would require.

    "Thank Jin for that," Yoongi replied harshly.

    "Hey, it's hyung for you too! Sejin hyung, do you hear how disrespectful he is to Jin hyung?!" Jungkook complained.

    "Stop bickering you two," the manager replied, irritated. "Yoongi, it looks like Seokjin's return is already starting to knock you off your hyung pedestal and turn you back into a brat. And on your side Jungkook, stop defending the indefensible. Just because Seokjin is coming back doesn't mean he has the legitimacy to be there with you."

    Yoongi and Jungkook glared at each other but didn't respond.

    "Hyung, what kind of event are you thinking about for BTS, BtoB and Monsta X?" Namjoon asked, worried, like Jungkook, about having to add extra preparation to their already overloaded schedule.

    "We don't know yet," the manager admitted. "We will think about it as soon as possible with their compagnies Cube and Starship. In the meantime, we are keeping the schedule that was planned and we will announce the mystery event to the fans of your three groups."

    The boys nodded and went to get ready for the day ahead. Junkook immediately went to Yoongi's room which was now also Jin's. There he found the eldest sitting on the floor among the boxes and his scattered belongings. 

    Visibly in pain, he was holding his shoulder but when he saw that Jungkook was looking at him, he immediately pulled his hand away and gave him a sad smile. The maknae also felt a lump in his throat faced with this vision: Jin didn't deserve to be treated as an enemy of the group.

    He couldn't really realize that he might never have seen Jin again, as he had narrowly escaped death from what he had understood. He didn't want to imagine it and was grateful that Jin came back alive.

    "Hyung, are you okay? Sejin hyung told us about your wounds and it seems pretty serious," he said with concern.

    "I wanted to start tidying up," Jin explained deliberately ignoring Jungkook's question that he didn't want to collapse, "then I wondered if it was any use knowing that my time here is limited."

    "Hyung," Jungkook said as he knelt next to him, "this is your home, this is the place you will always come back to no matter what. Of course you have to put your things away. And I'll help you."

     "Thanks, JK, but you're the only one who thinks like that. Nothing has changed since I left, I'm still the one to get rid of. And you should be mad at me too," Jin added painfully.

    "Hyung, it's true that at the time, I was afraid of what was going to happen to BTS. But I never imagined BTS without you. Never!"

    "JK..." Jin breathed, moved by his words. They might be the mathyung and the maknae, the eldest and the youngest, but Jin had always felt closer to Jungkook than the others. That hadn't changed a bit. At least that's what he thought.

    "The others can think whatever they want," the maknae continued. "Once you show them your worth, they will be forced to recognize that they were wrong about everything and they will come to ask your forgiveness on their knees."

    Jin wanted to tell him it wasn't love, only respect, but that was a good start and he was glad Jungkook tried to reassure him. Instead, he said with a smile:

    "You sound like Shownu!"

    "Hyung, why are you comparing me to Shownu hyung? I am infinitely more handsome!" Jungkook protested with exaggeration, not knowing what to think of this comparison because he did not really know Shownu.

    Jin laughed. There was no physical resemblance between Shownu and Jungkook. What brought them together in his mind was their consideration for him. Because they seemed to be the only ones who really cared about him. They were perhaps the only real friends that this year of military service had left him.

    "Yeah of course, it makes all the difference between you two. That and the fact that you didn't shoot me," Jin joked before realizing in horror what he had just said to Jungkook whose eyes had widened in amazement.

   "What?! Hyung, was he the one who shot you?! Is it because of him that you were suspended?!"

    "No! That's not what I meant," Jin tried to correct himself, "we trained together for several months and argued and fought each other so many times I couldn't count. Fought like Tom and Jerry, not like Voldemort and Harry Potter."

    Jungkook seemed to accept this explanation much to Jin's relief.

    "Tom and Jerry? I thought that was you and me," he chose to pout, nonetheless. "So, you made other friends and quickly replaced me."

    "Oh, I understand! You're jealous, ha ha!" He gave the maknae a little pat on the shoulder.

    "I'm not jealous!" 

    For fun, Jungkook punched him in the arm in return but Jin immediately winced and let out a little cry of pain.

    "Sorry hyung, did I hurt you?" Jungkook worried, remembering that he was hurt all over.

    "No, I was joking!"Jin lied with a mocking smile. "I'm not that fragile, you know? I trained hard to build that soldier body for a year but you've gotten a lot stronger than me, that's unfair. All those muscles are scary," he joked as he felt Jungkook's biceps.

    "That's because I'm no longer a kid hyung," the maknae said with a shrug.

    "You are seventeen, of course you are a kid!"

    "I'm not."

    "You are."

    "I'm not. You are!"

    "You'll tell me that when I drink a good refreshing beer in front of you and you can only look at me with envy!"

    Jin raised his eyebrows to taunt him and stuck his tongue out at him before burst out laughing. Jungkook didn't have a chance to retort because at that moment, Yoongi walked into the room and glared at them, mumbling something that sounded like "how dare they to have fun in a moment of crisis like this". 

    Still irritated with the rapper, Jungkook hurriedly left the room to get ready and also to escape Yoongi's bad mood, leaving Jin to his fate. 

    When the door closed, the sound of the sharp slam made Jin jump suddenly and his heart rate suddenly accelerated.

    "What's happening to you, now?" Yoongi asked, frowning.

    "N-Nothing," Jin stuttered.

    Could he say that he had confused the sound of a slammed door with the sound of a rifle bullet? He was already injured, he shouldn't let them know that he had gone completely crazy too.

     After a few days of rest, Jin had resumed his place in the group. Or rather, he had been given a whole new place in the group. Because his visual place had been taken from him by Taehyung and his place in the hearts of the fans was entirely up for grabs. The new songs left no lines for him, and he could only match the choreography of the other members, looking more like a back dancer than a band member.

     His errors in the choreographies, however, annoyed the other members who felt like they were falling behind, while the fans pointed out his shortcomings compared to the ease of the other members. 

     Even though Jungkook helped him however he could, Jin knew that the maknae wanted to move forward faster and he couldn't stand failure. The eldest always ended up working alone, long after the others. His long months without singing or dancing lessons made themselves felt and his teachers gave him no respite. All this exhausted him, despaired him.

      However, this did not prevent Jin from shining during his vocal demonstrations and his public speaking which, through his humor beyond his suffering – which he hid behind his acting talents – brought a breath of fresh air to the group and a lightness to the cold and rigorous exercise that were the interviews.

     The members themselves found the exercise suddenly less burdensome thanks to him and even managed to have fun. Yoongi himself lent himself to the exercise with more goodwill, and while he wouldn't admit it, he was grateful to Jin for it. Their relations had gradually calmed down to become, if not cordial, less hostile.

     Without warning, the notoriety of the group suddenly exploded abroad because the one who was perceived as a new member, at the same time handsome, funny and still mysterious, fascinated, intrigued and subjugated people. The cameras seemed to be on him ever more insistently and everyone started giving him all sorts of nicknames:

The 7th Phantom Member.

The car door guy.

The second from the left.

The orange suit guy.

The zoom in guy.

The most perfect face.

The flying kisses boy.

The unreal prince.

The guy in the pink hoodie.

     And many others. 

     He obviously regained his legendary nickname Worldwide Handsome, WWH, and invented others that his fans took up with pleasure: worldwide funny guy, worldwide cutie guy... Jin was truly the king of entertainment, and Big Hit, his company, suddenly wondered if they had made the right choice by sending him to do his military service when they debuted. Wouldn't the group have achieved notoriety infinitely faster and more effectively with Jin alongside the other members?

     They realized their mistake and the waste it had been but they would not have admitted it. Not now that heavy threats of sanctions weighed on the eldest singer. For the moment, they were counting above all on making the most of the idol they had trained, before he became a title for them.

     Thanks to this sudden notoriety, Jin was offered to work on a solo project to allow this large audience to discover his voice and the short song that the company made him produce in record time was a resounding success. He was dubbed the "Silver Voice of BTS".

     International fans started clamoring for more lines for Jin in songs and Korean fans a visual spot. Jin's hair that had grown back had been curled and dyed a caramel color that suited him perfectly and his skin neglected during military service had regained its original glow: he was more handsome than ever. 

     Jungkook was very proud of his hyung and his progress. Jin had been his model of resilience when he started out, and he hadn't failed to become that again upon his return.

     However, the company did not give in to these demands of the fans and everyone wondered about it and uttered increasingly virulent criticism. But Big Hit knew that in case of something went wrong, if they wanted to be able to send Jin back without too much of a repercussion on the rest of BTS, they couldn't give him a prominent place in the group. 

     So, despite his best efforts and despite support from fans, Jin received little gratification from his agency. He felt like he was being unfairly punished.

     He had a lot of questions about his future in the group, especially because relationships with others weren't improving as much as his relationships with fans. Certainly, his dazzling progress in all areas – singing, dancing, modeling, speaking, acting, entertainment – ​​had helped to strengthen the confidence they wanted to give him despite the long months of absence and the mistakes that had made him guilty.

     However, the very strong ties that united the others who had gone through difficult times together did not unite him to the rest of the group. He was excluded from many anecdotes for example, and even Jungkook, whom he thought he was close to, was infinitely closer to Jimin and Taehyung than to him now.

     As a result, even though Jin was very talkative in public, in the private setting of the dorm and the van during commutes, he was the quietest of them, as if he didn't feel entitled to participate in the discussions of the group. 

     He had realized that the slightest mistake he made was not forgiven and it was usually Yoongi who jumped up to retort with harshness or sarcasm and Namjoon who sighed loudly to tell him of his disappointment. Jin therefore generally preferred to be silent. He had become this duality: playful in public, withdrawn in private.

     To compensate for this isolation, Jin had tried to occupy a shyly place of eldest again, or in any case, the one that Yoongi wanted to leave him, always so intractable with him. He therefore took care of the management of the dorm, in particular the meals that the others appreciated while making him understand, however, that Yoongi's cooking was tastier than his. 

     Obviously, Jin yearned for more than this position, but he hoped that it would earn him a place in the hearts of his dongsaengs.

     At the same time, even though his physical injuries were healing well, Jin could not forget the horrors of that terrible night at the DMZ and kept reliving them in his nightmares, waking up suddenly, violently shaking, sometimes hands clasped over his ears because hearing imaginary gunshots echoing in the room and jumping at the slightest noise. 

     Surprisingly, Yoongi never complained about it but Jin knew that it always woke him up and could only imagine how much it annoyed him.

     Sometimes, when Jin was fussing too much and threatened to wake up the whole dormitory with his whines, he would get up to wake him up and force him to calm down. There was even a time when Jin, confused and thinking it was Shownu who was next to him and was protected him, had thrown himself into Yoongi's arms and stayed there for long minutes before realizing with embarrassment that it was the rapper.

      He had wondered why Yoongi hadn't pushed him away that night. Maybe he was afraid that he would start screaming and wake the others if he had refused to take him in his arms? Jin was aware of the feeling of security that had invaded him when he found himself in Yoongi's arms but he didn't want to have to rely on the one who despised him. To his relief, it had never happened again.

     However, despite all the trouble Jin knew he was causing him, the rapper kept it to himself and didn't tell others about it, which he was grateful for. He had taken a little pity on his roommate and even ended up offering to sleep in the living room to let him sleep in peace, to which Yoongi grumbled that if he didn't stop spouting nonsense, he was the one who was going to move. 

     Jin had then ended up wondering if Yoongi hadn't also taken pity on him and if this feeling could approach what had once been their friendship.