For the first time in days, Jungkook walked beyond the Jeon estate without fear of being dragged back by guards.
No walls blocked him.
No shadows followed him.
Yet every step felt heavier than the nights he once escaped in secret.
The path leading to their usual meeting place was familiar—too familiar. His feet remembered it even when his mind didn't want to. Memories pressed against his chest, not all of them his own. Some belonged to a man who had lived generations before him, a man who had laughed recklessly, loved freely, and lost everything.
When Jungkook reached the clearing, Jimin, Hoseok, Namjoon, Seokjin, and Taehyung were already there.
They were talking quietly—until Jimin suddenly looked up.
"…Jungkook?"
The sound of his name broke something fragile.
Jungkook stepped forward, and all five of them stood at once.
"You're out," Namjoon said carefully, eyes scanning him as if afraid he might disappear. "They really let you go outside now?"
"Yes," Jungkook answered. "Lord Seonghwan allowed it."
No one smiled.
Seokjin forced a light tone. "Well… at least you don't have to sneak out anymore."
Jungkook nodded, but his expression didn't change.
Jimin moved closer, hesitation written all over his face. "You don't look okay," he said softly. "Have you… eaten? Slept?"
"I don't feel hungry," Jungkook replied. "Or tired."
That answer alone made Hoseok's chest tighten.
"You've been through too much," Hoseok said. "Anyone would be like this."
They all knew what he meant.
Yoongi.
Namjoon cleared his throat. "Hyung chose to protect you. He knew the consequences."
Jungkook's fingers curled. "That doesn't make it hurt less."
Seokjin spoke gently, as if afraid one wrong word would shatter him. "Yoongi cared about you more than anything. He wouldn't want you blaming yourself."
"I know," Jungkook whispered. "But knowing doesn't stop it."
Taehyung had been quiet the entire time.
He stepped forward and placed a firm hand on Jungkook's shoulder. "Everything that happened… it wasn't meaningless," he said. "There has to be a reason."
Jungkook looked at him, eyes dark and tired. "If there is, I haven't found it yet."
They sat together like they used to—under the same tree, on the same ground. Jimin tried to joke. Hoseok tried to lighten the mood. Seokjin shared a memory of Yoongi correcting Jungkook's posture during sword training, earning a faint, almost painful smile from him.
But everyone felt it.
Jungkook was here—but not fully.
"I keep remembering things," Jungkook admitted quietly. "Things I shouldn't know. Feelings that don't belong to me."
Namjoon stiffened. "What kind of things?"
"Regret," Jungkook said. "And loss. As if I've already lived this life once before… and failed."
No one knew how to respond.
As dusk settled, Taehyung walked beside Jungkook when it was time to leave.
"You don't have to face this alone," Taehyung said.
Jungkook stopped walking. "I already did."
Taehyung's voice cracked slightly. "I miss you."
Jungkook looked away. "I miss who I was too."
He turned back toward the Jeon estate, walking alone under the darkening sky.
He was free now.
Free to walk.
Free to breathe.
Free to see the world.
Yet as his figure disappeared into the distance, his friends understood something terrifying—
The Jungkook they loved was still alive.
But the boy who laughed, escaped at night, and believed he could change fate…
Had been left behind with Yoongi.