Namjoon rolled over and for a brief moment he was aware of the fact that he was falling, that he had fallen out of bed and he was going to hit the floor...except he didn't. His head did slam on something, something hard but not the carpeted floor of a hostel and rather cold and metallic. He fumbled his hands along the floor and then he remembered where he was, where they all were. They were inside a train, not riding like passengers because that was too normal for them. They had hitched a ride in a freight carriage and slept inside it like vagabonds, like a ragtag bunch of Tom Sawyers going on an adventure. No, he thought with a smile, we're 'The Railway Children' instead. This was enough to make him laugh to himself and so he opened his eyes and scanned across the interior.

Namjoon had been lying against the wall the door was on and though he couldn't see out of it without twisting around he could see that it was morning because the sun was coming through the gap and illuminating the interior. Unlike yesterday evening he could see it all with a clarity, no dark corners hidden away. He shifted to sit upright and glanced back to see that he had rolled off his holdall, the one that he had been using as a pillow during the night. There was a soft dent where his head had been, the canvas wrinkled deeply. He reached over to smooth this out and then turned to look back across the carriage. The floor was metal and covered in dust, patches clean here and there from where they had been sitting and meaning that they would have filthy clothing as a result. When he eyed his own hands he saw dirt coating his palms and stuck in the grooves of his skin so he hastily wiped them on his jeans before rubbing at his heavy eyelids. He yawned and then rolled his shoulders a few times to try and loosen his tight muscles. His neck felt a little stiff and it was no surprise, he had been lying in a very uncomfortable position. It was a miracle that he could even turn his head. The walls were corrugated sheets of metal, not smooth but rather bumped across the length like store shutters. Unpainted and rusted in parts so that the copper coloured stains looked like mold, it was hard to tell if the carriage was worn down from age or whether it was new and just so frequently used that it had been damaged from the constant packing and unpacking of goods. Perhaps the dust hinted at the former but he couldn't be too certain.

To his right and across the carriage he could see most of his friends and they seemed to be asleep. They were in a sort of line, holdalls and backpacks as pillows, coats and jackets as makeshift blankets that covered their arms and chest, heads visible above the black wool and khaki polyester material. Seokjin was on the right end, lying on his side so that he was facing the wall, light brown hair fanned out on his bag. Beside him was Jungkook, lying so they were back to back and sharing his coat. Unlike Seokjin his own dark hair was messily sticking up in places because he had likely tossed and turned a lot in his sleep. Lying beside him and on his back was Jimin, head on a slight angle and one arm peeping out from under Yoongi's jacket. He looked deep in slumber, chest rising and falling with soft exhales. Next came Yoongi and he was lying on his side. He had nothing as a blanket but the carriage wasn't particularly cold and rather warm right now. The young man had his arms folded in front of his chest, skin not too different in tone from his white cotton tee. The sunlight coming in through the open doorway fell on his face, making his red hair almost glow. There was quite a space between him and the other wall and yet the two other boys were not lying with the group. Namjoon turned his head and sure enough he located them in the corner of the carriage directly opposite him. They had probably been uncomfortable with the original position and had moved to stretch out instead and he couldn't blame them. It was likely a little stifling and cramped being crushed together like that, just like the back of the car and-

The car.

Namjoon took a deep breath and let it out in a heavy sigh as he closed his eyes. The car, the stupid car that they were supposed to be riding in, that was to get them along all of those annoying roads and save them so much time and energy. The stupid goddamn car that was now abandoned in the middle of nowhere, left to rust and smoke like a corpse to rot in the woods. He couldn't believe that the vehicle had only lasted a single day before dying on them when it had looked so good upon first glance. The interior and exterior had looked pretty damn good to his eyes and he had had every reason to believe that it would run good too, but he had been wrong. He felt foolish for expecting it to work, for being hopeful and also a little jubilant about it, but it had went wrong and it wasn't that much of a shock at all. He supposed it was only a matter of time until it had broken down and that it was probably for the best in the end. It was very risky for them to drive through a city. Out on the empty roads between cities with hardly any vehicles passing them by meant little chances of a police siren sounding, lights flashing in the rear view mirror and forcing them to pull over. Why, it had saved them the trouble of being arrested by breaking down in the middle of nowhere like that. But still...

He opened his eyes and then moved to get onto his knees, shifting over so that he could stare out of the open carriage doorway at the sights outside. He saw that the fields outside were starting to give way to more roads instead, freeways and tunnels visible rather than the farmland and trees from yesterday: green and yellow grass replaced with grey concrete and black tarmac. The train traveled along the tracks and he could see vehicles zooming by and disappearing out of sight seconds later, travelling a lot faster than they were. A variety of models and colours, roofs and convertibles, trucks and cars. The sky was filled with clouds for the first time in days and when he looked up he saw an aeroplane flying through one of them, white trails of condensation trailing behind it like exhaust fumes. He studied it for a moment before dropping his eyes to the view in front of him again. A break in traffic before more vehicles started rolling down the road like usual. He settled down and observed this for a minute before he heard something moving behind him and then a loud groaning noise. Yoongi was awake, without a doubt. He didn't even turn around and instead just carried on looking out of the open door and a moment later the young man moved to sit beside him.

"You know what day it is, right?"

"I don't even know the year right now," Namjoon retorted and his friend laughed as he swung his legs over the side. "What day is it?"

"Monday," Yoongi sighed. "Kill me now."

"No Monday morning shifts to worry about," he said and he thought this over for a few seconds before shrugging. "Just...everything else really."

"I woke up about an hour or so ago," his friend said as he slipped his packet of cigarettes free. "Back when the there were still fields visible out here, and you know what I did?" He stuck a stick in his mouth as he retrieved his lighter, and Namjoon briefly wondered how many of them he had smoked in that hour. "I needed to piss like...really bad, so I thought "hey there's an open door right here, it's like the side of the road."" He lit the end and took a quick inhale as it smouldered, blowing the smoke out of the corner of his mouth a second later. "So...I unzipped my jeans, I prepared myself for sweet relief and..." Yoongi pulled the stick free and paused dramatically. "The wind blew it right back at me."

"Jesus," Namjoon snorted laughter.

"Pissing in the wind, I finally understand that saying now." His friend wet his lips and stuck the cigarette back. "At least I've had my shower for the day, huh?" He smacked him on the back hard and he grinned around the stick.

"Lessons learnt, right?" Yoongi nodded and went silent for a minute, just staring out the open doorway. Namjoon studied his face for a few seconds and then looked over his shoulder at their still sleeping friends, seeing them all lying in the same position as earlier. Then he ventured forward with his question. "You OK?"

"Joonie...if you heard something you weren't supposed to, something important, would you tell me about it?"

"Yeah, if it was important I definitely would. Why are you asking?" Yoongi shifted slightly and he saw that he was thinking something over in his head. He reached up to pluck his cigarette free, dabbing ash as he ran his free hand through his hair.

"I heard the kids talking last night, Tae and Hoseok," his friend said in a quiet voice, as close to a whisper as he could. "I didn't mean to but I couldn't sleep you know, it's not like I can close my ears like my eyes. They started talking after Tae interrupted him, after Hoseok was messing around in his bag and, well, it's uh..."

"What?"

"I was right," Yoongi sighed. "That first night in the hostel, remember? I was right about the pills."

"Prozac?"

"Xanax."

"Shit," Namjoon looked at him for a moment, at the little smouldering tip of cigarette stick, and then he glanced back at the sleeping boy again. Hoseok was lying on his back with his head turned to the side, face hardly visible because Taehyung was in the way, nestled against his side like a baby animal clinging to its mother. He looked so peaceful sleeping that he found it so very hard to believe that that very same boy had antidepressants nestled away in his backpack like contraband, that his currently slumbering mind wasn't so peaceful after all. He dragged his eyes away to look back at Yoongi. "You hear anything else? Anything about why he has them?"

"I...uh," Yoongi tossed the stick away and he saw his eyes shifting along the scenery outside, not settling for more than a second or two. "He didn't say. I guess we'll have to find that part out ourselves." He leaned back on his wrists and sighed heavily. "Leave it to Jin, he's good at the detective shit."

"Mmmm...good at what exactly?" A sleep-heavy voice asked from behind them.

"Talking shit," Yoongi retorted without missing a beat.

"I didn't know we were talking about Tae?" Namjoon shifted so that he could look between his two friends and Seokjin sat up slowly. His hair was messy, eyes puffy from sleep, and yet he still looked a hell of a lot better than they all did. Jungkook moved beside him, eyelids opening for a second before he grabbed the rest of the man's coat and pulled it over himself with a sleepy groan.

"Don't wake him up just yet, let us have some peace and quiet for a few more minutes," Namjoon said and he snorted laughter before trying to flatten his hair. "Before we're back on an 'adventure'."

"I always thought that adventures had princesses and dragons?"

"We got you," Yoongi explained with a grin, "Jinderella."

"Oh, so you must be the dragon then? There's finally an explanation for all of that smoke."

"I always wanted to be a dragon as a kid," their friend said, "and people used to laugh at me but hey, you hear that haters? I'm a fucking dragon." Seokjin got to his feet and wandered over to glance out of the open doorway, not sitting down but rather just standing in place instead. After a few seconds he asked them where they were exactly and neither of them could give him an explanation, rather just stare dumbly at the freeways. Namjoon pulled his hoodie sleeve back to glance at his watch and he saw that it was 11:34am and he was suddenly aware of the fact that they had been asleep for over twelve hours before he was hit with a singular thought and he felt his mouth dropping open.

"Damn, we might just be in France right now, wake the kids up." He got on his knees and crawled over to collect his holdall bag. "We gotta blow now."

"Blow what? Who has a bomb?" Jimin asked as he sat upright and squinted at them. He could only smirk at this as he shrugged the bag up onto his shoulder and went over to the two other boys, lightly kicking Taehyung's boot to wake him up. The boy jerked and headbutted Hoseok awake too, saving him the trouble.

"God Tae, why is your head so fucking hard?" he groaned as he rubbed at his chin gingerly.

"That's not the only hard thing right now," Taehyung muttered as he actually reached up to pry his eyes open with his fingers. "What's going on, who died? Was it Seokjin? I know his heart's so weak these days..." The boy had been awake for roughly three seconds and he was already making wisecracks like always, the joke making Jungkook grin as he hugged the eldest's coat around himself like a cape.

"You look wrecked," Jimin commented as he fixed one of his bootlaces, knotting it up nice and secure. "That bottle of soju is looking like a bad idea now, huh?"

"Yeah I look wrecked, but have you seen your mom?"

"Don't you mean dad?" Jungkook corrected and the carriage filled with laughter.

"Eh...both." Taehyung said with a wide grin that revealed both rows of teeth like always. "No seriously, what's going on?"

"What's going on," Namjoon explained as he watched Hoseok shrugging his backpack on, the one that contained those not so secret pills, "is we slept on a freight train for over twelve hours and it's still moving, which means we're probably all the way down in fucking Busan. Hopefully it made a few stops, or we're half a country away right now."

"Twelve hours?" Yoongi's eyebrows brushed up behind his messy hair, eyes opening comically wide as they did. "Fuck me."

"I'm not joking, I wish I was, so we need to jump outta this thing before we end up at the depot. Come on." Taehyung got to his feet with a series of disgruntled noises and he crossed the carriage to lean out of the open doorway. After seeing that the train wasn't moving that fast he jumped out and landed at the side of the tracks with a loud thump. Yoongi copied him, practically sliding out rather than jumping and then catching the holdall bag that Seokjin tossed at him. Namjoon steeled himself and then also jumped out. It was just a foot or two drop, his feet in the air for a second before they came back down again. He felt the vibration of the impact go all the way up his legs and make his stiff knees ache. He took a few steps away from the tracks and then turned on his heel to see Seokjin exiting the carriage. Next came Jungkook and then Hoseok leaned against the doorway, looking over them all.

"You going to miss again?"

"I'm open!" the boy declared as he threw his arms out wide. The other boy laughed before jumping out, stumbling a little before righting himself and then Jimin's head popped out like a meerkat.

"Anyone wanna catch me before I break my neck?!" he called and they all rolled their eyes but were likely thinking about the truth in what he had said. For once he had beaten one of the younger boys to the punchline.

"You're not gonna break your neck!" Yoongi retorted as they quickly walked along the tracks and Jimin eyed the ground for a second before looking back at them. "C'mon, just jump!"

"You can do it Dumbass!" the youngest boy hollered in support. Taehyung took up the chant as he pumped his arm up in the air and Yoongi just jogged a few ahead of them and held his arms up too, gesturing with his hands for him to jump. Jimin hesitated and then jumped down and he didn't even need the help. The young man just grabbed onto his upper arms to reassure and steady him and the boy shot him a grateful smile.

"I give it a...six," Taehyung said as they caught up with them. "Good execution but you could've worked on the landing."

"I should've landed on you instead."

"I'd pay to see you in one of those costumes, what're they called again?"

"Leotards," Hoseok said wearily.

"Yeah, a leotard," Taehyung repeated with a smirk. "A cute one, sparkly and tight."

"Please keep your fantasies to yourself."

"Pft, like you don't wanna see it too Yoongi," the boy retorted as Namjoon fixed his holdall in place and glanced around them quickly. Roads to their right, train tracks to the left, and the train now nothing more than a small dot on the horizon getting further and further away, plume of steam taking to the sky just like the clouds overhead. In front of them he could see a bustling freeway covered in cars, hear them speeding past above them with loud engines and beeping horns. They were maybe a mile or two away from the entrance to the city and he tried scanning for signs but he couldn't see any, being so far from the main roads. "Pink and sparkly, and so small that you can see most of his cute little butt."

"Oh god!" Jungkook declared. "Now I'm imagining it too!"

"Anyone have a clue where we are?" Seokjin asked in confusion, deflecting the course of conversation away from Jimin's ass. He glanced around them too as if trying to see anything that might reveal an answer but he wouldn't see a thing. The only sign was a billboard, one that advertised a new car model: a shiny black one that would most certainly not break down after a single night on the road. "Or is that part of the fun?"

"Every time something goes wrong it's apparently part of the 'fun'," Hoseok muttered from the back of the formation. "Though I'm sure that we could argue against it."

Namjoon dragged his eyes away from the billboard to instead look at the city on the horizon in front of them. Same glass and concrete towers like always, cold fingers brushing up against the warm sky: radio towers and other large structures that he couldn't yet identify, but as soon as nightfall made them all start glowing it would turn into a miniature sun. It looked just like every other city to him, no different than Seoul to his eyes, and it meant that he had absolutely no way of figuring out which one it was. He could have pointed at the map of the country and picked any city out and likely ended up correct.

"Does it matter where we end up?" Taehyung asked as he fixed his backpack.

"Yeah," Jimin retorted. "Of course it matters." But when the other boy asked him why he didn't seem to have an answer and he went blank instead.

"It matters," Yoongi explained on his behalf, "'cos we've gotta get back to Seoul at some point Tae. We don't have a fucking clue where we even are right now." He had a good point and he paused to let it sink in before continuing. "I think you forget that they are multiple pairs of parents back in Seoul waiting for their annoying sons to come back home."

"They just finally got some peace and quiet," Namjoon joked. "I don't think all of them are waiting..."

"Look, we got here by train, we'll leave here by train, right?" the boy said, as if this was the most obvious outcome and he couldn't believe that they hadn't figured it out yet. Jungkook asked him if he knew the train routes, sarcasm both audible in his voice and visible on his expression. "Do I fuck? No, but we'll hitch our asses across the country no problem. It's not like we have to pay for tickets. Just use your brains and we'll get back to Seoul easy, no sweat."

"I doubt it..." Yoongi muttered under his breath.

It took them several minutes of constant walking to reach the beginnings of the outskirts of the new city. Namjoon didn't count but he knew if they'd have stayed on the train a little longer it would have cut the time in half easily. Except he knew that it was smarter to get off the vehicle in advance and save any possible trouble. The last thing that they needed was to have followed it to the end of the tracks and get collared by a worker for sneaking onto it in the first place. At least outside the city they had done so without getting chased all the way back out again by a security officer. Whilst they walked he thought about what Yoongi had said to him not that long ago at all in the carriage: about Hoseok and his medication. Including Taehyung that made three that knew about it, unless the other two boys already did. Should they both tell Seokjin? After all they had discussed their friend that night in hostel and it only seemed fair that he knew too...but did they have the right to do so? Yoongi wasn't even supposed to know, it had been a complete accident that he had heard the boys talking and it didn't seem right to talk about it so freely like that. Yet at the same time he felt that their friends should know to save Hoseok feeling the pressing need to hide it from them. It must not have been easy carrying and hiding the knowledge from them and at least with them knowing he didn't have that weight on his shoulders.

As they walked the ground in front of them started to change, started to widen and turn into actual roads with sidewalks, rather empty ones in terrible condition, but roads nonetheless. But he was so into his thoughts that he barely even registered this, rather just watching his own boots moving left, right, left, right, just like Taehyung's cadence, laces dancing with each step and soles crunching on grit. He was so oblivious that he didn't notice that they had stopped walking and he bumped right into Jungkook.

Namjoon stumbled but didn't fall over and he looked up sharply to see his friends all motionless on the sidewalk. For a second he just stared at them dumbly before realising that they were looking at something, and so he followed their gazes across the road to see a town sign mounted on a low billboard. He read the name and then furrowed his brow in confusion.

"Wonju," Jimin said quietly, pronouncing each syllable precisely, as if he had never seen such a word before. "Welcome to Wonju, population: 327,000..."

"Wonju," Seokjin repeated the city name and then blinked twice rapidly. "I know where we are.

"We're in fucking Gangwon."

The grassy knoll that they were sitting on was perfectly manicured unlike the fields they had passed on the roads outside of the city. The blades were cut so short that they looked like little green needles and when he placed his palms down on them they felt very springy, bouncing back into position as if made of rubber rather than real grass. Even the colour seemed too bright, too artificial, yet he knew that it was real and not AstroTurf or another brand for little beads of soil clung to his skin whenever he placed his hand down. Namjoon found himself studying these little brown specks with great interest because he had little else to do. The dirt looked the exact same as that in Seoul, had the scent of earth just as fragrant as the parks of his childhood and yet it was so completely different. It didn't feel or look like the same soil to him and he wiped his hands together brusquely to knock the specks free. It was ridiculous but he couldn't push the idea away because he couldn't stop thinking of the stupid town sign.

It was still perfectly clear in his mind, the billboard sign with the large black letters dancing across the surface, declaring the name and population in such a matter of fact way. Everyone passing by would likely have glanced at it without a care and yet to them it had been so much more: a revelation. They had all stopped on the roadside to stare at it as if they had never seen a town sign before, mouths hanging open and brows furrowed, and then Seokjin had announced that they were in Gangwon in the most flattest voice. Gangwon, hundreds and hundreds of miles across the country and most certainly where they had not intended to end up. Why, Namjoon had expected to have woken up maybe a city away at most, two or three at worst, but he had not thought that they would jump out of the train carriage and be in another region entirely. He wanted to kick himself for managing to get into such a ridiculous situation but he couldn't; he had kicked himself enough times already since beginning this 'adventure'.

"Hey," Jimin's voice brought him out of his thoughts and he looked over at his friends. He was sitting at the very end of the knoll beside the road, separated from them by a couple of feet of springy grass. They were sitting huddled together in a small group, or in Hoseok's case lying, and Seokjin and Taehyung were nowhere in sight because they had left to go find somewhere to get food. He could see bored and weary expressions on all of their faces, except Jimin's, for the boy had something like wonder on his face.

"What?" Hoseok asked without moving his arm off his eyes, blocking the sunlight from his gaze.

"What bug is this?" The boy lifted his arm up and sure enough there was something on his skin, a little creature moving along the back of his hand. Namjoon couldn't see it clearly from his distance but it looked like a beetle of some kind.

"Why do you care?" Jungkook asked.

"Is it poisonous?" The question was so childish that they couldn't help but scoff at it but there was a grin on his lips rather than fear. "I was gonna put it on Seokjin's back as a joke and tell him it was."

"You're just saying that," Namjoon joked, "so we don't think you're scared, right?"

"He's such a baby..."

"What? I was being serious Kookie, it would've been funny, real funny." Jimin pouted in annoyance and the bug advanced along the back of his hand, little legs brushing against the knob of his wrist until it settled down in place. He could see twitching antenna and a glossy back that shone a variety of iridescent colours: metallic blues and greens and even red. "What bug?"

"Lemme see..." Yoongi grabbed his arm firmly and turned it over so that he could eye it more clearly, squinting down at it with his tongue sticking out between his lips. "Definitely not poisonous. It's a jewel beetle."

"Huh, pretty name..."

"Is it really, or are you just saying that to impress him?"

"Why do I need to impress Jimin?" Yoongi retorted as he let go of him and raised his other hand to stick his cigarette back into his mouth. "'Specially over something as stupid as that, huh? A bug?" But Jungkook just stared at the passing traffic rather than respond. The young man breathed the smoke out before turning back to him. "It's a jewel beetle, I dunno what variety but it's one of 'em."

"Kinda looks like a jewel," Jimin remarked as he lifted it up to study it. "It's cute." He grinned as it slowly trundled around to his inner wrist and Yoongi studied him for a moment, own lips lifting in a smile around the stick.

"Cute? It's a bug," Jungkook said as he rolled his eyes. "You should kill it."

"Kill it? But it's tiny, why would I kill it?"

"Just let it go," Hoseok mumbled, "and let the bug live. Don't need to ruin its day too."

"You don't have to destroy everything nice Kookie." Jimin lowered his hand to the grass and gently prodded at the bug with his free hand to get the beetle to climb off him. "And you don't have to pick fights with a bug just 'cos it's smaller than you."

"I'll pick fights with whoever I want," Jungkook replied matter of factly as he shifted on the grass, "be they bug or man."

"You'd fight...an old person?" Namjoon asked and the boy nodded and said if they were assholes he totally would. "You'd fight...a baby?"

"Who doesn't wanna punch a baby?" The question was one-hundred-and-fifty-percent Taehyung influenced and they snorted laughter at the boy's reply.

"OK, OK, so you'd punch a girl?"

"I...uh..." Jungkook paused as he thought this over for a moment. "Nah, I wouldn't punch a girl."

"OK, but I thought you'd fight anyone?" Yoongi asked as he breathed out a lungful of smoke.

"Hey, I said any man not any woman."

"Kookie's scared that a girl would kick his ass," Hoseok said as he sat up slowly. "That's why he wouldn't fight one." The boy rapidly explained about how dangerous so-called 'cat fights' were and they all just rolled their eyes at this convenient excuse. "Where the hell are those two?"

"Known Tae they're probably in Gwangju," Namjoon joked...well, mostly joked. "He can't steal shit with Seokjin in tow so it's taking longer than usual." It wasn't like they were operating on a stringent budget right now, for they still had quite a decent amount of won left. They had spent a chunk of it on gas and food yesterday morning and he knew that they had a nice amount left if they used it wisely, not including any deducted from the upcoming breakfast, or perhaps more aptly called lunch judging from the time. It was enough for rooming in hostels for another couple of days no problem but he wasn't entirely certain how many more days they had left in them.

Namjoon hadn't said anything to the others of course, but he had been thinking about it all afternoon since waking. How long exactly were they planning on staying on the road before heading home? It had been four days so far, five including the current day, and they were nearing a week on the road; a week in which they had lost money through bribing dirty hostel owners, been robbed of cash and phones by another, had hustled for enough to get them through the day, had won and lost a car, and had hitched all the way to Gangwon in a freight train carriage. In terms of 'adventure' he was certain that all of this constituted as one, a grand one at that. Not many people would be getting into such hi-jinks, that much he was certain of. For most high school kids and young adults an adventure meant a trip to the beach or some kind of amusement park, perhaps even a camping trip. It did not mean what they were currently on because that would likely be classified as a 'disaster' instead. But, disaster or not, he had to admit that it was kind of fun even with the downsides to think about. Yet how much longer could they possibly go? Another four days? Then they were edging dangerously close to be called runaways on account of the kids. He wouldn't put it past photographs of them hitting the news, or at least in Hoseok's and Jimin's case. He didn't want that, he didn't want even more trouble for them when they got back to Seoul.

That was when a coach rolled down the road in front of them and he thought about how convenient it would be to just jump on one.

Of course it wouldn't be that simple, wouldn't be as cheap and easy as the freight train ride. Getting from Gangwon to Seoul would require multiple coaches and multiple coaches meant lots of tickets, lots of tickets which would need bundles of won. He doubted that they had enough to get them back in one constant trip, changing coaches at stations without a break, rather they would have to stop and raise more cash throughout it all to afford the next sets of tickets; more hustling and slaving away on the streets. It required planning and teamwork but he wasn't that certain that they would be able to achieve it. They couldn't even get Taehyung to stop stealing things or Hoseok to open up about his medication, but perhaps it was a different kind of teamwork that was needed. After all, they had managed to raise a decent amount of cash already as a team, what would stop them from sticking to such a plan to get home? Well, other than the fact he didn't even know if the others even wanted to go home yet. It was something that he would need to talk to the others about, perhaps Seokjin and Yoongi next time they ended up rooming together. He would broach the subject cautiously of course, test the waters and find out how they felt about it all rather than blurting out his own reservations about travelling for much longer. Seokjin would need to get back for college soon and he doubted that the other young man wanted to be walking all across the country again for a few more days. It was just the boys that would prove troublesome, particularly a certain someone by the name of Kim Taehyung.

Namjoon tracked the white and blue coach down the road until it was out of sight and then shifted to cross his legs with a heavy sigh. His jeans rustled against the grass softly and his movement caught the attentions of his friends and he felt their gazes falling on him. Before he could do so much as attempt to mumble and break the silence he heard Jungkook loudly wooping and he turned to look along the street and see the two others making their way towards them. No bags in Taehyung's hands but he knew they would be shoved away in his backpack, a small brown paper one curled up in Seokjin's palm. Their eldest friend had the unmistakable sight of a coffee container in hand, matching logo on the bag also on the polystyrene cup. Despite downing a nice hot drink of freshly brewed coffee he looked tired and he knew that they all likely looked that way too: messy hair and wrinkled clothes, puffy eyes and nails and lips that had been gnawed on over and over. In Jimin's case there was still a slight patch of dried blood around his nostrils but at least his nose hadn't swollen or bruised from his accident.

"Good morning sunshine," Taehyung declared as he skipped the last few feet, wincing only slightly despite the fact he most certainly had a raging hangover from a mostly drained bottle of soju last night. His backpack jostled from the movement: a turtle shell.

"Good afternoon," Hoseok corrected as he sat up and wrapped his arms around his drawn-up knees.

"Same thing lover boy," he argued as he sat down on the knoll with a groan, stretching his legs out in front of him. "I hate this city already and we've been in it like... what, a whole fucking hour?" Seokjin moved to perch on the edge of the grassy ledge and he held the container out at him. Namjoon asked him what it was and he explained that it was a caramel macchiato, which explained why he didn't offer it to Yoongi. Their friend would only drink coffee as black as Hoseok's hair. So he accepted it and took a deep sip, enjoying the sensation the hot liquid left in its wake as he swallowed it. The caffeine buzz was an added bonus, he was just glad to be swallowing something that wasn't cold for once. "Breakfast is the same as fucking always, but with a nice twist."

"What kinda twist?" Jungkook asked as the boy shrugged his backpack off and unzipped it, the sound loud in the quiet air.

"I bought us a treat," Seokjin explained as he shook the paper bag. "Dessert, well kind of dessert." Namjoon took another sip of coffee and Taehyung pulled a bag out just like he had imagined. When he upended it little plastic cartons of flavoured milks and water fell out, even a small glass bottle he recognised as a hangover remedy bouncing off the grass. Then came the packets of potato and seaweed crisps, shrink-wrapped dried meats and even little plastic boxes of fruit.

"How much did that cost?" Namjoon asked curiously and the boy just tapped on his nose in response; telling him that he was being nosy. It wasn't like he had to worry about the budget right now, but it was more food than usual and he was a little worried that they might just get into the habit of overspending.

"I feel like we've been on some kind of weird diet," Hoseok said as he grabbed one of the fruit boxes. "Like a two meal a day diet packed with a few mouthfuls of junk food and nothing more. All calorie, zero nutrition."

"I bet idols wish they had that diet," Jungkook joked as he tore a packet of crisps open and grabbed a handful before shaking the bag at Jimin.

"Like idols even need to diet," Yoongi muttered under his breath. As usual he wasn't even looking at the food but rather studying his worn boots.

They all finished the late breakfast/early lunch without much need for conversation, rather using their mouths for chewing instead of talking. Namjoon didn't really care about the nutritional value because food was food and they couldn't afford to be picky, but he did enjoy eating fruit for the first time in days for sure, and he knew that the others did too. Yoongi picked here and there between smoking his fifth cigarette of the day, likely running low on his supply by now. The young man would probably get through a packet a day if not for their judging eyes watching him every time he lit up. The habit was annoying but right now he thought pointing out his penchant for smoking rather than eating, along with not sleeping enough hours, wasn't going to be helpful. His friend was obviously already aware of this fact and did not need constant reminders. Upon finishing all of the food Seokjin opened the brown bag and revealed little baked pastries from the coffee store and though they were likely all full not one of them refused a bite. Even Jimin conveniently forgot about the 'poisonous' bug trick because their eldest friend had dodged the attack by treating them all. He didn't attempt it with Taehyung because the chances were that the boy really would find a poisonous bug and plant it on his pillow one night as revenge.

"So," the youngest boy said as he drained his milk and tossed the container aside. "Are we going further into the city or are we leaving again to try and get outta Gangwon?" The plastic container bounced along the grass and left beads of white milk on the blades like dew. For a moment they were all silent as they thought the question over. They hadn't even spoken about it and he raised a good point. "'Cos it's probably not a good idea to get even further away from Seoul, right?"

"I'd be happy to get the fuck outta Gangwon," Taehyung agreed as he started pulling handfuls of grass out and tossing them aside. "But it's not like we got a map. Any of you know the best way outta this place?" When none of them replied he shrugged. "Yeah, me neither."

"We should leave," Namjoon said after a moment, "'cos Kookie's right."

"Back the way we came?" Hoseok asked as he rubbed at his forehead. "What, along the train tracks?" He said that that sounded like a good idea and the boy nodded in agreement. "I guess we could, I mean, it shouldn't take that long right? A few hours maybe?"

"What about a train?" Jimin suggested, looking between them all. "If we got here by train we could leave here by train..."

"Yes, but we risk ending up even further away from Seoul," Seokjin countered. "So that's not very smart."

"I hear Busan's lovely this time of year," Yoongi said with a smirk and they couldn't help but laugh at the remark. He had meant it as a joke but it was also rather apt. If anyone could jump a train in the hopes of getting to Seoul and end up in Busan it would be them. "How many hours we talking here?"

"Maybe as few as three, maybe as many as six..." Taehyung said, pausing before adding, "or more." The young man made a disgruntled noise under his breath and then shifted to lie down and stare up at the sky. "Vote. We need to get moving soon before it gets too late, so let's vote."

"Don't you think it's too late already?" Jungkook remarked. "It's nearly 1pm right now. Usually we're already a few hours on the road. What if it's a lot longer than six hours?"

"Vote," Taehyung repeated, "I vote we leave Gangwon."

"Me too," Jimin said with a nod.

"I guess we should," Hoseok agreed with a shrug.

"I vote that we stay the night," Yoongi ventured, still staring at the sky in boredom, "and decide tomorrow instead." After a moment Jungkook nodded and said he thought that sounded the best.

"Actually...I-"

"Dumbass you can't just change your vote!"

"Says who?" the boy asked, ignoring Taehyung's glare.

"I vote we stay the night and we leave tomorrow," Namjoon said suddenly. "First thing tomorrow, no ifs, no buts-"

"No coconuts!" Taehyung interrupted with a wide grin.

"Exactly. We'll figure out a quick route somehow, ask around for directions or whatever, but we leave no matter what," he finished as he leaned back on his wrists, looking at them each in turn and studying their expressions. They were clearly thinking it over and he waited to see what they would say. Then Seokjin agreed that it sounded like the best idea that they had. "Kookie's right. we don't wanna risk leaving and getting stuck on the roads at 2am. That would be a really bad idea, right?"

"So long as we get to not move for a few hours, I'm game." Yoongi said wearily.

Namjoon was beginning to believe that all hostel rooms looked the exact same. Much like how the interiors of bus carriages or subways looked the same but with slight variations: the colour or material of the seats, the amount of overhead handles and the shape of the plastic molds, the posters stuck up above the windows. But despite the variations they still felt the same, it was just the views outside that changed and let the truth be known. Every single hostel room they entered also seemed that way. Though the view outside was different; new lots and all kinds of vehicles parked in place, long roads and passing traffic, sometimes billboards and other buildings, sometimes just bushes and streetlights, they were duplicates. Every room felt like a copy and pasted version of the previous, tweaked here and there to keep it fresh but not enough to make it new. Gangwon's first offering had been just like Seoul and Gyeonggi's, and he studied it as he stepped inside.

Four walls covered in cream paint rather than the outdated floral wallpaper that they were used to seeing. Dark brown carpet that would smartly hide stains from sight, the pile tight and not plush. There were two windows, a small one on the wall beside the door and another directly opposite, both with blinds rather than curtains. Bathroom to the left with no door at all, beds to the right with lemon yellow sheets and covers. Side table between the pair with a lamp, matching brown glazed body with a white material cover around the bulb, and above it hanged a watercolour print. It was a little yacht bobbing on pastel blue waves with dabs of white sea foam, a little amateurish but appealing in its own way, but a strange choice considering that they were nowhere near a beach or the coast. A print of a field probably would be a better choice, or perhaps that of a ugly industrial skyline instead. Why, that would be the exact same as the view out of both of the windows. It took him a moment of looking over the room before he realised that there was no settee. There was the usual coffee table in place a few feet away from the bed by the window but no settee, which meant someone was sharing tonight.

Or Yoongi was sleeping on the floor.

The thought made him laugh to himself and earn a curious look off the young man as he tossed his holdall at the bottom of one of the beds, almost as if marking his territory by placing it there. No, Yoongi would leave more clearer markings than that, mostly in the scent of cigarette smoke stuck to the sheets and the stubbed out butts all over the covers, maybe even a slight burn on a pillow from a scattering ash. Namjoon had already noticed two such holes in his jeans from where some had fallen and his failure to notice had let the ash burn right through to his skin. He was counting it lucky that his friend hadn't fallen asleep and burnt one of the hostel rooms down yet, or perhaps his own house. Really lucky, considering the fact he had a stick between his lips already.

"If you're thinking about the bed situation I want you to know that I will wrestle for one of 'em."

"Doesn't seem fair wrestling you, like fighting a kid."

"Ha-ha," Yoongi half-laughed, half-coughed as he sat down on the bed. "You won't say that when I kick your ass."

"He fights dirty," Seokjin remarked as he emerged from the bathroom and perched on the edge beside his friend. "He will trip you up and pull your hair and bite, I kid you not." Yoongi nodded in solemn agreement and the cigarette stick bobbed between his lips from the movement. "I'm willing to share so you two can wrestle, I'm not breaking a rib over a stupid hostel bed."

"I'll guess I'll have to play dirty too," Namjoon sighed as he moved away from the door and sat on the other bed. Not particularly comfortable but better than the freight carriage and grassy knoll without a doubt. No clock on the wall but one of the table beside him, one with an alarm by the looks of the metal fixtures on the top of it. It was an old model, a bright cherry red with nicks in the plastic, and it would require some fiddling to figure out how to work it - and if it even worked in the first place - and so he glanced at the face for a moment before turning it around to check the back. 5:35pm. A few hours spent wandering the outskirts of Inje County before finally settling down in some cheap hostel for the rest of the day. Seokjin had been certain to check the rates thoroughly but he couldn't help but feel that they had paid too much for this place already. At least the shitty Seoul hostels had had a goddamn settee in the room and a door for the bathroom. "7am?" He felt his friends staring at him so he looked up from the clock. "Do I set an alarm for 7am tomorrow?"

"Do you wanna die tomorrow?" Yoongi asked in a deadly serious tone as he pulled his cigarette stick free.

"I said an early start," Namjoon muttered as he started messing with the clock.

"You think the kids will be asleep before 4am?"

"There's no TV, the hell can they do until 4am that would keep them all awake, huh?"

"Drink ten liters of soda and eat more junk food than the whole of fucking America," his friend retorted as the stick went back between his lips, "like they do every night."

"I think you mean beer," Seokjin corrected. "Or at least in Tae's case. He asked me to buy some today because I wouldn't let him steal any. I have to respect him for actually asking." Namjoon asked him if he had bought any and he shook his head and denied it. "No, which probably means that he'll go out later and get some anyway, though I feel like I'm jinxing it a little by saying that." He studied his friend for a moment before sensing Yoongi's eyes on him and when he glanced over at him he could see why: he was silently asking him about their conversation this morning, about whether or not they should tell him. He didn't know whether to shake his head or nod. Eventually he shook his head in a 'not now' manner. "But hopefully I'm wrong, right?"

"Right," Yoongi quietly said in agreement.

"No beers and no junk food," he added with a nod.

"What else can we afford?" Seokjin asked with a soft laugh.

"Well, I don't know about afford but I was thinking about what Hoseok said about crazy diets earlier and how we can't keep going on junk, you know? I was thinking about hot food for the first time in forever." At this he saw their interest piquing. "'Cos I found this pamphlet on the check-in desk," Namjoon explained, "and I was thinking...shit I could really enjoy some jajangmyeon right now..."

"Enjoy it? I'd fucking drown in it!" Yoongi declared and his fervent tone revealed that he wasn't even joking.

"I mean, we can't order too much but it's better than nothing, yeah?"

Namjoon had been expecting a little trouble over the orders because it was only natural that they would all struggle to settle on three large orders rather than seven. That was too many and he reasoned that the order sizes would be big enough to have leftovers anyway. But he had not expected the sheer chaos that had erupted upon the kids hearing the words 'takeaway' and 'hot food'. He wouldn't have been surprised if the owner of the takeaway joint had heard them all hollering about noodles and meat and finally flavour! No more cold, pre-prepared junk that had been on a shelf all day long, just real food that had actually touched a stove. It was enough to trigger a debate that would be right at home in Congress, orders being shouted out and complaints hurled. Taehyung took it upon himself to loudly repeat the word 'samgyeopsal' over and over like a broken record in the hopes of them relenting and picking that as a dish. Hoseok refused to believe that they would happily eat something other than japchae and Jungkook decided that he suddenly wanted pizza even though that was not a choice. Jimin seemed just happy that there would be food and at least he didn't cause unneeded trouble. By the time they had finally agreed Namjoon felt his head spinning, filled with random order numbers like a lottery machine. At least it made the boys all sit down and behave for a few minutes.

Yoongi's joke about drowning in the jajangmyeon wasn't that absurd when the order finally arrived: two large orders of it along with a small japchae and samgyeopsal and the complimentary side dishes because that was the only order they could agree on. The container seemed almost deep enough to drown in, making it worth the cost in the end. It did bite into their cash but he thought that it was well worth it. So they sat cross-legged on the floor of their room in a loose circle with the dishes in front of them, taking mouthfuls here and there. Jungkook practically devoured the kimchi before anyone else could get any and the pork didn't last too long either. Taehyung decided to try and reenact a movie scene with help from a noodle, trying his very hardest to get Hoseok to accept the other end of it, bean sauce dripping from the end to land on the brown carpet. The boy just left him hanging because it was funnier making him sit there with a noodle hanging out of his mouth then take part in the gag. Jimin offered to do it and Taehyung sucked the noodle up so fast to stop him that he nearly choked on it.

When the food was finished, with the expected leftovers of course, Namjoon waited for the kids to once again race off but it seemed to have calmed them down considerably. Maybe it was the lack of sugar they had joked about, but it was probably because their stomachs were too full for them to move, thick sauces and noodles congealed like rocks in the pits of their empty stomachs. In fact they looked half-asleep and Jimin actually drifted off before they left to go back to their own room. Jungkook jumped to his feet first and disappeared without a word, followed by Taehyung who managed to snag a cigarette off their friend, tucked behind his ear like a pencil, and lastly Hoseok, who at least made sure to thank them for the food.

"What do we do with Goldilocks?" Namjoon joked as he eyed the sleeping boy on the floor, curled up on the carpet without a care for comfort or the fact that it was likely filthy. "Wake him up or just leave him?"

"Leave him," Yoongi replied. "I'll share with him-"

"Oh, so I'm sharing with Jin now, huh? When did I agree to this? Where was the wrestling match?"

"Never wrestle on a full stomach," the young man retorted as he bent down and slowly shook the boy awake. "No sleeping on the floor, that's rule number three. C'mon, bed."

"Hmmm...? I've slept on the floor...'fore."

"Oh yeah? Why?"

"Tae kicks me outta the...bed," Jimin replied in a mumble, eyes not even open as he was helped over to the bed, "and sometimes he screams in his sleep it's...crazy." He sat down and then proceeded to lie on his side, knees pulled up in front of him and one arm under the pillow. "What's the first two rules?"

"Number one: no drinking outta the toilet bowl," Yoongi explained as he pulled the covers up over his waist. "Number two: don't believe a word Tae says, it's all shit." The boy let out a soft laugh, lips lifting at the corners for a second before going slack, once again back asleep. "And rule number four: don't wrestle Min Yoongi." He finished as he sat down on the end of the bed.

"Yeah, yeah." Namjoon waved this off and his friend grinned at him before glancing over at Seokjin. The remains of food were being dutifully wrapped up by him, for tomorrow's breakfast most likely. "Today was fun, huh?" He said sarcastically. At this Seokjin laughed and continued with his task. "Go asleep in some town in Gyeonggi and wake up in Gangwon. Can't say I expected that to happen."

"I'm surprised it took us that long," their eldest friend joked. "I mean, four days? I expected we'd have been a lot further than Gangwon by now."

"Don't jinx us," Yoongi muttered as he shifted on the bed. "Don't you have some clothes to wash Jinderella?" Their friend told him to do it for once and he snorted laughter. "I stopped cleaning dishes, shit I'm not going back to cleaning. 'Specially not underwear, nu-uh." He ran his fingers along the covers for a moment before shooting him a glance. His expression practically goaded him into saying something. Namjoon just stared back and silently told him to say something. "Jimin?" No reply. "Jimin, you asleep?" Not even a mumble from the sleeping boy. "Jin, Joonie's got something to say to y-"

"Whoa hey, not cool man!" Namjoon said as he threw his hands up.

"What?" their friend asked as he stopped in the doorway of the bathroom, presumably on his way inside to get washed. "What do you have to tell me?"

"I...uh..." Yoongi reached up to rub his fingers along his lips as if not aware of the fact there was no cigarette there. "Well, I overheard something last night, that part doesn't matter, all that matters is that I heard Hoseok and Tae talking and-"

"Is it about the headaches? The medication?" Seokjin asked, tone anxious and revealing that he greatly wanted to hear this.

"Both," Yoongi said quietly. "He's taking Xanax, antidepressants and pretty fucking addictive." He thought this over for a moment and then sighed.

"At least we know, right? It's better to know, isn't it?"

Not long after Seokjin was finished in the bathroom Namjoon also showered and prepared himself for some sleep. Despite sleeping most of the morning away on the train he still felt tired and he knew that it was the lack of sleep over the last few days added with all of the walking, miles and miles that felt like hundreds to him. He didn't care about clean clothes but rather just how soft the pillow looked, and even sharing the bed didn't bother him at all. Yoongi left the bathroom and got on his usual perch, the windowsill across the room, sitting on the low sill and rolling the blinds up so that he could smoke inside rather than leave the room. He looked at him sitting there, lights from the lot softly illuminating his profile in a harsh orange, and then he felt his eyelids getting heavy and eventually closing, finally drifting off to sleep and-

a series of loud banging noises woke him back up again.

Namjoon started and felt his legs swinging over the side of the bed before his eyes even opened. He didn't know who was knocking at this hour and he couldn't even think because his brain was most certainly not awake. The owner? But they had paid her correctly hours ago. Why would she knock? He heard Yoongi cursing under his breath and then the sound of him climbing out of the other bed to stumble across the room. Then the chain being pulled across, metal scraping.

"...believe it and- oh Yoongi," Hoseok's voice sounded from outside their door. What was he outside for?

"Huh? What's going on?" Seokjin asked, sitting up too, the covers shifting as he did.

"Dunno," he muttered honestly.

"Kookie?" Yoongi asked in confusion. "What the fuck?" Namjoon shifted to look across the hostel room but he couldn't see anything through the gap in the door. "Get inside now."

"God, you're all overreacting!" Jungkook's voice was a little slurred and he didn't know why. Was it drunken slurring or something else entirely? "I'm fine, let go of me."

"How the fuck are you fine, huh?" Taehyung's voice was nearly a shout and he heard a slight rustling sound that sounded like him shaking the other boy, presumably by his arm.

"Look who's talking..."

Yoongi pulled the door open fully and it wasn't to let them past but rather so that he could step outside and drag the boy into the room himself. Then he hit the light switch on and made them all cry out in surprise from the sudden brightness.

For a few seconds Namjoon could only squint at the boy in sleepy confusion before he realised what had happened, saw the slight tear in his hoodie sleeve and his messy hair. A tattered clump was hanging forward across his brow but it couldn't hide the bruises all over his face, nor the deep split in his lower lip that was pouring blood down the front of his shirt.