The turbulent wind struck against three young men, who stood at the bow of the enormous ferry and gazed with joyous smiles at their destination.

The said destination was none other than Jeju Island, a place they craved to visit madly. It was also their first vacation together, so the significance it held was even more precious.

The sun poured down like an endless flame, heating up their skin despite the gusts of wind, which carried a damp feeling with them.

“I can’t believe we’ll be here for two whole weeks!” Jimin exhaled a breath of bliss, truly eager to tour the entire island.

“I know, right?” Hoseok chuckled. “It feels like a dream.”

“We’ll be away from everything for two weeks, guys. No work, no responsibilities, no controlling parents.” Taehyung’s stomach did tiny flips of ultimate elation at his own words.

“Yeah, but you’ll keep drawing, so you’ll kind of still be working,” Jimin pointed out.

“I don’t see drawing as a job I have to do. I love drawing. And I’ll get tons of inspiration from this trip.”

“It’s way more fun than working at my father’s real estate agency,” Hoseok said.

“And than working at my father’s law firm,” Jimin added with a chuckle. “I wish I could draw like you.”

“Yeah, but it doesn’t pay well yet.”

“We’re still trainees, so we don’t get paid a lot either,” Hoseok snickered, bumping Taehyung’s shoulder. “You started doing what you love late because your mother pestered you to follow your father’s profession. And for the two years you’ve been doing this, you’re doing great! You’re selling your creations in your physical and online shop.”

“Yes, Tae. And even bigger things are coming. We’ll support you, no matter what.”

Taehyung regarded his two best friends with overwhelming gratitude. They were beside him in everything for five years now, and he loved them more than anyone in this world. “Thank you, guys.”

The two smiled in return. Soon, the announcement that they had arrived captured their attention and filled them with even more excitement.

Once they disembarked, they sauntered towards their hostel instead of taking a taxi so they could browse the place.

The thirty-minute walk was absolutely worth it, even though beads of sweat trickled down their skin by the scorching sun. They wiped their damp foreheads with tissues as they stood outside of the hostel and fixed their hair slightly, wanting to look presentable.

Taehyung pushed the door open, and they trod to the reception to their right. “Hello. Um, we have booked a room for three.”

“Hello, I’m Yoongi, and welcome to our hostel,” he said automatically with no fraction of a smile. “IDs.”

The three friends exchanged a look at his frosty behavior. They placed their IDs on the counter, looking away from his apathetic countenance, except Jimin, who seemed to be captivated by his sharp characteristics.

“In which name was the reservation made?”

“Uh, mine. Kim Taehyung.”

Yoongi typed his name into the system, checked the information, and looked up at them. “As you know, there wasn’t available a room for three and you’ll be staying in a room for four. Someone already stays there and will continue to do so throughout your stay here.”

Jimin waved a dismissive hand as he chuckled. “It’s okay, Yoongi-ssi. We like socializing, anyway.”

“You sure seem like it,” Yoongi muttered with an edge of scorn. He pulled out their key card from the third drawer and passed it over. “There’s a shared kitchen on the second floor where you’ll be staying and a bathroom only for men. If you—”

“One bathroom?” Hoseok questioned. “For how many guests?”

Still with a mask of indifference on his face, Yoongi trained his eyes on him. “There are four bathrooms in total. Two on the first floor and two on the second floor. Each bathroom has ten toilets and five showers. There’s a sign on the door to inform you if it’s for men only, women only, or for men and women. The bathrooms are cleaned daily and thoroughly. Any more questions about our bathrooms?”

Hoseok cleared his throat, embarrassed. “No. Sorry.”

“If you need anything, someone will be here at any time.”

“Great!” Jimin chirped. “Thank you.”

Yoongi gave them a smile, his lips barely lifting for a second. “Enjoy your stay.”

“Um, what about the other guy who’s staying with us? What’s his name?” Taehyung asked.

Yoongi stared at him, striving to prevent his mouth from twitching in a smirk. “We can’t give any type of information about our guests. You can ask him, though.” Unable to contain himself, he lowered his head as a smirk broke out on his face. And if he tells you, I’m a fucking astronaut.

The three shared a perplexed glance, but no one spoke another word. They bowed their heads and shuffled off towards the elevator.

“Okay, Yoongi-ssi is hot as fuck, or is it just me?” Jimin said in a whisper, then giggled.

“He is hot, but damn... so frosty,” Taehyung said with a grimace, shaking his head.

“But he smiled at us!” Jimin argued.

Hoseok scoffed as he pressed the button for the elevator. “That was like the most fake smile I’ve ever seen in my life.”

Jimin shrugged a shoulder, unaffected by their comments. “I’ll defrost his icy behavior in no time.”

Taehyung stepped into the elevator with his friends following, and he tapped the button for the second floor. “You’ll really go for it?”

“Why not? I’ll have something fun to occupy myself with in this trip.”

“We’re here to have a good time and relax. Not for you to fall in love and be heartbroken when we’ll have to leave,” Taehyung reminded with a raised brow.

“He’ll be so in love with me until then he’ll beg me to let him come with me.” Jimin wiggled his eyebrows, presenting his slyest of smiles.

The other two erupted into chuckles, and Jimin soon joined the fit of laughter.

They got off the elevator and traipsed along the hallway, searching for their room number. They spotted it at the end of the hallway, and Taehyung set the card on the small device that was attached to the door. A cheerful beep rang in their ears, and Taehyung slid the door open.

“Wow,” Jimin uttered in awe. “It’s a lot bigger than I thought.”

They observed the two opposing bunk beds on the sides of the spacious room and the two closets beside them, the flowerpot at the left corner with artificial lilies, the table with four chairs in the center, and of course, the view from the French doors, which was breathtakingly beautiful.

They also didn’t fail to notice the stranger’s presence in the top right bed. The said top beds were almost at the level of their height, so they could see clearly the one who was lying there if they just strained their necks a bit.

A mystified frown swept across Taehyung’s features as he analyzed the stranger. He was lying there with his forearm over his forehead, wearing long-sleeved, baggy clothes in the middle of July. But what was truly bizarre about him, if that wasn’t bizarre enough, was that he was wearing a black mask that covered his mouth and nose.

Taehyung turned to his friends, throughout puzzled. He made a circular motion over his face, referring to the mask the stranger was wearing, as his eyes screamed, “What the fuck?”

The two men lifted their hands to their sides, indicating they were completely clueless, as they had the same bewildered look on their faces.

Taehyung glanced at the stranger behind him again, who still hadn’t moved an inch. He shook his mystification off and plastered an affable smile on his face. “Hi.” The said smile soon faltered at the stranger’s absence of any type of response or reaction. “Um, you, who’s lying in the top right bed. Hi. I’m Taehyung.”

Still, the stranger showed no sign of recognition of their presence.

“Yah. Is he dead?” Hoseok whispered.

Taehyung rolled his eyes at him. “He’s breathing, so no, obviously.”

“Then... Is he sleeping? Tap his shoulder. I have so many questions,” Jimin said with a silent giggle.

Taehyung twisted towards the stranger. He swallowed past his throat and licked his lips, drumming his fingers against his thigh. He dragged his hand up, feeling his heart notch up its rhythm for some reason.

“If you do that,” the stranger said with a deadly low voice, and Taehyung jolted back instantly, “it’s the last thing you’ll get to do. Alive, at least.”

“Aish,” Jimin murmured as he shivered at the bloodcurdling sound of his words.

“I’m sorry,” Taehyung breathed out. “We just wanted to introduce ourselves since we’ll be staying together.”

The stranger, named Jungkook, remained still and mute at his remark.

“Ignore him,” Hoseok said. “Look at the view!” He scuttled to the French doors, forcing out of his mind what had just happened.

The other two dragged their luggage further into the room and joined Hoseok, who was gazing out the French doors in amazement.

“The beach is right there. We don’t even have to take a bus to go for a swim,” Jimin chirped.

“We’ll have so much fun these two weeks.” Taehyung sighed in content mixed with eagerness, completely forgetting about the creepy — as he thought — stranger they had to see every day throughout their stay.

“So, which bed do you guys want?” Jimin asked.

Taehyung peeked behind him at the stranger, who was still in the same position. “Um, who’s going to... You know,” he whispered as he pointed with his head to the occupied bunk bed.

“I’ll sleep here. Don’t worry,” Hoseok smiled, patting his shoulder.

“Are you sure?” Jimin asked with prominent worry.

But Hoseok laughed his concern off. “Yes, Jimin-ah. It’s not like he’ll kill me in my sleep. Right, masked guy?” There was no reaction from him, even though Hoseok gave him plenty of time to answer. “I’ll take that as a no,” he chuckled, then dropped himself into the bed. “Wow, it’s comfortable.” He sat up and bounced continuously, testing the mattress.

“Really?” Taehyung sat in the opposing bed and copied his moves. “You’re right!” Soft chuckles escaped his mouth as he grinned.

“Yah.”

Every movement rested abruptly at the stranger’s irritated voice.

“Don’t jump on the bed. You shake the whole thing.”

Hoseok palmed his mouth to stifle his chortle. “Sorry.” He burst into a mute outbreak of laughter, with his two friends joining him in a heartbeat.

“Let’s get ready to go to the beach!” Jimin said, clapping his hands in uncontrollable glee.

“Yay!” the other two cheered and hopped off the bed.

They fished the necessary things from their luggage and took their turn to change into their beachwear behind the screen at the right corner of the room.

“Ready?” Hoseok asked.

“No, wait. I want to fix my hair,” Jimin said, already taking out of his luggage his straightener and cosmetics.

“Why? We’re going to the beach,” Taehyung pointed out with a half laugh.

Jimin sat in front of the mirror and plugged his straightener into the socket. “Yes, but we’ll pass from the reception again.”

Jungkook’s brows lifted slightly in interest, though the others couldn’t discern it even if they tried, since he had his arm still over his forehead.

Taehyung clutched his shoulder, smirking at him through the mirror. “Are you dolling yourself up for your precious Yoongi-ssi?”

Jungkook choked on a sharp laugh, and he did his utmost to muffle it. His exertion was proven futile since a tiny, stifled sound managed to sneak out of him.

Taehyung, who seemed to be the only one who picked up on that strange sound, tossed a glance in the unnamed man’s direction. He found him in the same stance and shrugged it off, thinking it was just a figment of his imagination.

“Yes,” Jimin smirked. “I’m telling you, he’ll fall head over heels for me in a week.”

Hoseok expelled a surprised snicker. “So the two weeks now became a week? You’re so sure about yourself.”

“Of course.” Jimin shot him a simpering smile, then started his facial and hair care.

“Let’s put some music on while we wait,” Hoseok suggested, but frowned as Taehyung got hold of his hand to stop him. He saw him nod towards the stranger and his confusion abated. “Do you mind us putting some music on for a bit, masked man?”

“Do whatever,” Jungkook sighed.

“Well, don’t say that, stranger,” Taehyung sneered lightly as he approached him. “We might start jumping on the beds again.”

“And I might end up killing you in your sleep if you do that.”

Taehyung tsked with a moue of condemnation. “You and your macabre remarks. It was a joke, you know.”

“I didn’t laugh.”

“You barely talk, so I’m not surprised. I’m not even convinced you’re human yet.”

“Just listen to your music and leave me alone.”

Taehyung pouted hard, lowering his head. “You haven’t even looked at us. And you didn’t tell us your name. Do you want us to keep calling you masked man?”

“I don’t care.”

Taehyung huffed a disdainful sound. “Maybe we should call you asshole,” he said under his breath, and even if the stranger heard him, he showed no reaction to his insult.

Hoseok played pop music from his phone, hoping it would lighten the charged atmosphere. They danced and sang the lyrics with smiles on their faces, as Jimin swayed to the beat, now straightening his hair.

“This song is so good.” Taehyung whiffled, then turned to the stranger. “Masked man, do you like pop music?”

“I told you to leave me alone, kid.”

Taehyung’s head recoiled in shock blended with offense. “Kid? I’m twenty-eight!”

Shit, Jungkook thought. He’s really older? “And you act like you’re eight.”

“Yah,” Taehyung gritted out. “How old are you, then?”

“You don’t have to know.”

“I do, because if I’m older, you have to treat me with respect.”

Jungkook scoffed, tilting his head to the side away from him. “We won’t be socializing, so I don’t have to talk to you at all.”

“I’m ready,” Jimin said in a sing-song tune as he turned off the straightener. “Tae, stop wasting your time with him. Let’s go have fun.”

Taehyung kept his stare locked on the stranger’s form. “You’re right.” He reached for his backpack and headed to the door with his two best friends trailing behind him.

. . .

The next encounter Jungkook had with the three annoyingly outgoing men was later in the afternoon, but it was rather short. They only came to take a shower and change into formal clothes, then they took off again for drinks.

He did his daily exercise, took a shower, and waited until the clock struck eight. He climbed down from his bed and exited the room, dressed in his long-sleeved, black clothes and of course wearing his mask.

He strolled to the other side of the building with his hands stuffed in his pockets and stood in front of a closed door. He swept the hallway with a swift view to ascertain that no one was there and stepped into the storage room.

“Hey.”

“Hey, guys,” Jungkook said as he sat at the table with the other three. He grabbed a can of beer and opened it after shedding his mask, then took a big sip.

“So, how are your new roommates?” Yoongi asked with mocking sweetness.

“Annoying, like you right now,” Jungkook spat out. “I can’t believe you left me all alone in that room with them.”

“It’s just for two weeks. We already have a room we use for ourselves. We can’t occupy two rooms out of twenty,” Yoongi said.

“I could have stayed with you, guys.”

“How many times have we been over this?” Namjoon groaned. “First, do you really want to sleep in a room with other four employees and us? And second, the other employees are our people, yes, but we’re still not sure if they’re trusted. They’ll be here as long as we stay here while these guys will disappear in just two weeks. And you know about that annoying group of people who demanded to stay longer and forced Yoongi to put these three guys in your room since they had already paid for everything. So don’t bitch about it.”

“He’s right, Kook,” Seokjin said. “It wasn’t right to cancel their reservation last minute. And it’s better this way.”

Jungkook sipped his beer, still sulky about the situation. But then the corner of his mouth lifted as he recalled a certain remark from one of them. “What do you think about my roommates, Yoon?”

Yoongi narrowed his vision on him. “Why would I care about your roommates?”

“I heard one of them say he’ll make you fall head over heels for him in a week.”

Yoongi scoffed at the absurdity of the statement. “As if. Who the fuck said that?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t even look at them.”

“Kook,” Seokjin said with an undertone of reproach. “I know you don’t like socializing, but that’s just disrespectful. Don’t be an ass.”

Jungkook averted his eyes from the group and sipped his beer. “I just want them to ignore me. It’s bad enough that they know about my presence.”

“So what? You won’t tell them your real name and they won’t even see your face.” Seokjin shrugged. “But not even looking at them if they talk to you is a dick move, and you know it.”

“I don’t want them to talk to me.”

“They will. Because that’s what humans do. And especially these three. They seem too talkative, from what Yoongi said.”

“You have no idea,” Jungkook uttered with a light snicker. He chugged the rest of his beer and brushed his thumb over the can rhythmically. “Did you find anything?”

A heavy sigh rippled through the room from Yoongi. “No.”

Jungkook knew the answer before he even asked that question, but still, the frustration festered inside him like every time. “I knew it.”

“It’s only been four months, Kook,” Namjoon said in a soft tone, trying to comfort his nerves. “These things take time. We’ll find something soon. I’m sure.”

Jungkook only sighed in response. “How’s the business going?”

“Which one?” Yoongi snickered.

Jungkook cracked a slight smile. “The one back in Seoul.”

“Good. We have our people there, so you don’t have to worry.”

Seokjin’s eyes wandered around his friends, thinking back to everything they had lived and been through together. A saddened smile gleamed on his face at the messed-up situation they were plunged into. “How did we go from businessmen who were selling drugs to this?”

───⭒───༺🎭༻───⭒───

The first chapter is out, and I'm so nervous about what you think! My heart was really pounding as I reread it to publish it😥

Please share your thoughts freely. Any kind of feedback is always welcomed. I really hope you enjoyed it💜

I haven't decided on an update schedule yet, but you'll have news from me again soon💌