Chapter Text
Nobody told him that his life would change from the moment he pushed the key into the lock of his letterbox and opened it. Every time the creaking sound echoed back from the dismal walls of the stairwell, Jungkook hoped the rust around the edges would just hold on a bit longer and keep the letterboxes fixed against the bricks. A mix of dry cement and probably asbestos was crumbling on the floor, but his eyes were much more interested in the single letter that was dwelling in the small box. With a frown he reached for the envelope and turned it around to check its sender.
“Huh?” The bafflement was followed by a groaning sound of the front door of the building. One of his neighbours, an older man whose smell of booze was already infiltrating the entrance, was returning from one of his gamble nights. Judging by the irritated grumbling that was coming closer, it didn’t end well. Since Jungkook wasn’t keen to be used as a possible outlet for the man’s frustration – it wouldn’t be the first time –, he quickly closed his letterbox and crammed the letter into his bag before bolting towards the stairs. His studio apartment was waiting for him at the fifth floor, but he didn’t want to risk being penned up with Mister Poker-Soju in the elevator. Albeit his legs being tired from standing and walking around during the last hours of the night, they brought him upstairs without much complaining.
Finally, he entered his flat and got rid of his shoes and jacket. He had to narrow his eyes when his fingers slipped over the light switch and illuminated the small room in front of him. With a heavy sigh, he parked his bag onto the table and disappeared in the bathroom to wash tonight’s effort away, leaving only exhaustion and tiredness behind on his face. When he slipped into his pyjamas and prepared a pack of instant noodles, his eyes wandered back to the bag in which an empty lunch box was waiting to get cleaned up. Ah, and the strange letter. Not now, after dinner (or breakfast if one would pay attention to the clock), he thought and began to slurp the ramen, trying not to burn his tongue.
After filling his stomach and unpacking the rest of his bag, he finally grabbed the envelope and pushed his index finger into the small gap between the papers to rip it open. He had a bad feeling about it. Why would a lawyer or notary named Choi Moonseok send him a letter? He didn’t do anything, did he? And none of his family members had passed away recently. Maybe a mistake in name or address? But it said Jeon Jungkook …
He unfolded the letter, the seal of the office catching his eyes first. Two half-transparent circles, one bigger, one smaller, overlapping each other in the middle of the logo. Jungkook gulped as he began to read, eyes growing wider and wider with every finished line. A heritage?
“Lee Unmyeong?” he said out loud, but even his mouth showed him the unfamiliarity of this name. This woman had passed away and Jungkook was one of the heirs? That didn’t make any sense.
I would like to inform you about an upcoming meeting at my office with all heirs gathered to discuss the heritage. It was Lee Unmyeong’s will to have all of you together before I am going to read out her testimony. The heirs of Lee Unmyeong’s heritage are:
Kim Seokjin, Min Yoongi, Jung Hoseok, Kim Namjoon, Park Jimin, Kim Taehyung and Jeon Jungkook
The appointment for the reading of the will is the 21th June at 10 o’clock.
Sincere regards,
Choi Moonseok
Lawyer and Notary
That was Monday next week, Jungkook noticed. Should he go? He should, right? At least to make sure it wasn’t any mistake. Maybe he would get answers of all his questions …
The week was passing by way too slowly for his inpatient nature. He could hardly concentrate on his two assignments he had to finish until Saturday so he could submit them before the appointment at the notary. Maybe he shouldn’t have waited for so long and take almost every possible shift of his side-job instead of working on his projects.
He was a digital artist, a freelancer who was willing to do any kind of artistic work, be it designing logos, websites or pamphlets. He specialised on a very natural and harmonic style so many of his clients were from organisations or shops which focused on sustainability or nature in general. One of his current jobs was to draw a couple of flowers and leaves to decorate a brochure and online shop. Fortunately, the commission was coming from a small flower shop business and the client is a very kind woman who was already pleased with the first draft so that he was able to finish the assignment earlier than he expected. However, the second client wasn’t as easily happy with the results and Jungkook needed to revise his work several times on Saturday afternoon until they were satisfied. Jungkook sighed when he got the notification on the next day that the money from the last client arrived on his bank account. Now, his rent for the upcoming month was safe and he could start earning money to put aside.
It was Monday, the day of meeting the notary together with several strangers he knew as much as he knew the woman who had made him her heir.
Without losing much time, he got ready and looked for some decent clothes. Was a suit appropriate? Or was it too much? Jungkook looked at himself in the mirror. He looked young but tired, longer hair framing his face that would urge every grandma to pinch his cheeks and tell him to eat more. He eventually decided to play it safe and donned a clean light blue shirt and black trousers.
“Let’s go,” he told his reflection, grabbed his stuff and left his flat with a strange feeling lingering inside his chest. He wasn’t the best in such social situations. Hopefully, everything would go smoothly.
The office was almost an hour-long ride and Jungkook was trying his best to focus on the music filling his ears, but his thoughts were always pulling him towards the upcoming appointment. He even went this far and searched for the woman’s name on Naver, but nothing appeared, not even a social media account or some newspaper articles. Maybe the whole thing was a scam? But what would they want? Money? He certainly didn’t have much of that.
He sighed, looking out of the window to see the pedestrians passing by like some unimportant figures which could never comprehend the complexity of his own life. Everyone outside seemed to be doing well and here he was, working two jobs to afford rent and food instead of climbing up the career ladder and finding a partner like his parents always wanted him to do. Maybe they had been right all along and he shouldn’t have followed his passion to work in a creative field.
The display of the bus showed him the name of his destination and he pulled himself out of his seat and thoughts. Now was no time to wallow in self-pity. He could continue this hobby in private at home.
The office was part of a big business complex building. According to the name plate at the entrance area, Choi Moonseok was working three flights up. When Jungkook turned towards the elevators, he spotted a young man standing in front of it, waiting for the doors to open. He was a couple of centimetres taller than him, broad shoulders and a handsome face. He looked older than him, albeit that wasn’t really difficult with Jungkook’s big doe eyes. Shyly, he approached the man, contemplating weather he should take the stairs instead. But the doors of the elevator opened just a second later, taking his decision into its own hands.
“Good morning,” Jungkook managed to say timidly, voice almost swallowed by the void. The man looked at him for a quick second as they entered the elevator. He smiled politely and greeted him back before pushing the button of the third floor. Jungkook gulped. Could be a coincidence, right? There were two more offices on the third floor, a dentist and a financial consultant. The man probably wanted to go to one of them, not the notary.
The doors opened again when they were reaching the third floor. The man and Jungkook got out, looking around.
Oh God, this guy is here for the first time too, Jungkook thought in panic. His eyes wandered around, trying to avoid the stranger like a nervous dear that was looking for an escape route. He spotted the office on his left side. The sign next to the door showed the notary’s name and occupation, below the office hours and phone number.
“Excuse me.” Jungkook jerked when he heard the man’s voice and turned around, eyes widened and probably as big as his empty stomach. He had been too nervous to eat breakfast this morning.
“Yes?” Jungkook asked.
“Do you have an appointment here as well? At ten?”
“Ah, y-yes.” Jungkook pulled the letter rashly out of his bag and showed it to the man. He wasn’t the best at explaining things so he thought sharing it to him would be more efficient. “I got this last week. But I think it’s a confusion.”
To his surprise, the man smiled, almost looking like he was endeared by Jungkook’s behaviour. His shoulders visibly relaxed when he said: “Ah, so you’re one of the heirs?” He fished his own letter out of the pocket of his jeans. “Same here. I don’t know this woman, but maybe she knew me?” The man shrugged. Jungkook did an affirmative hum, not really knowing how to respond.
“What’s your name?” The man eventually asked.
“Ah, I’m Jeon Jungkook.” Jungkook’s cheeks reddened as he did a quick bow. How impolite of him to not introduce himself to the older man. “A-and you are …?”
“Kim Seokjin. Nice to meet you.” Jungkook quickly rubbed his palms dry on his trousers before shaking hands with the other, not noticing the little twitch of Seokjin’s lips. “It’s still early.” Seokjin looked at his watch. “We’re probably the first ones. Should we go inside?” He pointed at the office door behind Jungkook.
“Okay.”
When they entered the office, the female voice of the secretary filled the room, greeting them. In front of them was a desk. A pair of plants framed the counter. The entrance hall looked neat and tidy, brown and grey dominating the colour scheme.
“Hello,” Jungkook responded, bowing a second time.
“Good morning.” Seokjin’s voice somehow managed to make his smile hearable. It was a nice voice. Jungkook liked it, not that he would admit it. He didn’t swoon. Absolutely not. The woman immediately smiled back, obviously pleased by the man’s appearance as well. “We have an appointment at ten,” Seokjin added.
Jungkook was thankful that the other took care of the talking. He had probably noticed that Jungkook wasn’t the most charismatic human. He was more of a … socially awkward human.
The woman typed something inside the computer before asking: “What’s your names?”
“Kim Seokjin.”
“Jeon Jungkook.”
“Ah, yes.” The secretary nodded. “You can enter the conference room at the end of the hallway.” She pointed to her left. “When all of the heirs arrived, the reading of the will begins.”
“Thank you.”
The two of them walked down the hallway. The door of the conference room was ajar, giving them the permission to enter.
The room was big, obviously designed for a whole family to sit down. In the middle was a big table with five seats on each longer side and two chairs on each end. Some water bottles and glasses were standing on the table, disclosing Jungkook that this meeting might take a bit longer than he had hoped.
Jungkook wasn’t sure where to sit – except definitely not on the short end – so he waited until Seokjin chose a seat and decided to take the one on the opposite side. Once they sat down, silence fell over them. Jungkook fidgeted with his fingers until he couldn’t bear it anymore.
“Do you know the other heirs?” he asked.
“Hm, I don’t think so? Their names didn’t sound familiar to me at least. It seems like we’re all equally surprised by the sudden heritage,” Seokjin said. “When I found the letter, I first thought one of my relatives passed away without me knowing. It was quite a relief when I read the name, but it also confused me.” He smiled a bit, trying to ease the atmosphere a bit. Jungkook returned the smile, nodding.
“I looked up her name, but I couldn’t find anything. It’s like she never existed.” Jungkook looked out of the window, staring at the neon sign of a karaoke bar.
“She probably reached a high age before passing away. She might’ve not used the internet,” Seokjin told him, but looking a bit clueless himself. In what situation did Jungkook get roped into …?
The silence was about to spread again, when they heard the dull sound of a door opening and closing. The secretary voiced another greeting, sounding absolutely similar to their previous welcome. She probably had to say that very often per day.
“Seems like one of the other heirs arrived,” Seokjin said. Both of them turned their attention to the door of the conference room and waited for the footsteps to come closer. A tall man entered the room, small face, long legs – oh God, thighs – hair back-combed and spectacles resting on his nose. His face seemed familiar, but Jungkook couldn’t point out from where. Maybe he was an actor?
“Good morning,” the man greeted them, voice deep and polite. He bowed and exposed a pair of dimples at the corners of his mouth when he gave them a smile. If it continued like this, Jungkook wouldn’t be able to get a single word out of his mouth, too busy looking at the handsome men around him. Quickly, he got up and bowed, Seokjin followed.
“Hello.”
The man pointed at the chair next to Jungkook “Can I sit here?”
“Ah, yes. Sure!” Jungkook sat down, pushing his bag away from the seat to let the man settle down next to him.
“Thanks. My name’s Kim Namjoon. Nice to meet you.”
“I’m Jeon Jungkook. Nice to meet you, too,” he said, remembering reading Namjoon’s name on the letter.
“Kim Seokjin, pleasure.”
After a quick exchange, Namjoon revealed his missing connection with Lee Unmyeong, contributing to Seokjin’s theory that nobody of them actually had a clue of who she actually was.
Now, it didn’t take long until the next one of them arrived. A young man with permed hair and a stunning smile. Kim Taehyung. He took the seat next to Seokjin.
“Nice to meet you,” he said and looked at each of them. “Can I … can I ask how old you are? I’m twenty-five, born in 1995.”
“I’m twenty-six,” Namjoon said, dimples returning. Good Lord, don’t stare, Jungkook.
“Twenty-nine.” Seokjin leaned forward, elbows resting on the table. “Seems like I’m the oldest so far.”
“T-twenty-three,” Jungkook said timidly, now being officially the youngest.
“It seems like the order of our names in the letter is sorted by our age,” Namjoon mentioned, checking his own letter. “We all seem to be in our twenties.”
Seokjin smiled. “You can speak casual with me,” he offered. “Then I don’t need to feel as old as I am.” A unique laugh followed, tickling a chuckle out of the rest of them.
After Taehyung followed Min Yoongi, a smaller man with an even deeper voice than Namjoon, but not less soothing. When he walked through the door and greeted everyone, Jungkook noticed Taehyung’s brows rising, but he couldn’t decipher the meaning behind the reaction. It didn’t seem to be a bad one, though.
“Is it okay to sit here?” Yoongi asked, hands on the chair’s backrest next to Namjoon.
“Sure.”
“Thanks.” Yoongi took a deep breath once he sat down. He seemed tired. Jungkook could relate. The man was probably working nightshifts as well. “Is anyone of you related to Lee Unmyeong?” Yoongi asked, but everyone shook their heads.
“But she wouldn’t have chosen us randomly, right?” Taehyung asked. “She must’ve known our names from somewhere.”
“He’s right,” Namjoon agreed, crossing his arms in front of his chest. Jungkook tried not to stare again. The operative word was tried. “Hopefully, we’ll find out the answers today.”
The secretary’s voice was heard once again. The next one was a man whose bright smile was already on his lips when he entered the room.
“Hello. I’m sorry, if I’m the last one,” he apologised and sat down next to Yoongi. “My name’s Jung Hoseok.”
Everyone introduced themselves again.
“Don’t worry,” Namjoon said and looked at his watch. “You just made it on time.”
Hoseok exhaled, relaxing in his seat. Jungkook sniffed. Was Hoseok wearing cologne? It was a really nice smell, a bit woody and slightly sweet. Instantly, Jungkook wished Hoseok would be closer. The smell faded too fast.
It was five minutes past ten, when the last heir finally turned up, looking a bit breathless, probably because he had rushed from the station to the office to not be even later. His name was Park Jimin, a small young man, almost still looking like a boy whose face was the definition of beautiful. Jungkook was definitely screwed.
“I’m really, really sorry,” he said, bowing deeply before everyone assured him it was okay. He took the seat next to Taehyung.
Since everyone seemed to have arrived, they wanted to ask each other more questions, but unfortunately, they didn’t have time to do any more small talk. Choi Moonseok entered the room shortly after Jimin’s arrival, several documents in hand. He was a middle-aged man, thin hair already revealing most of his scalp and black suit almost a size too small. The buttons were having a hard time holding the jacket together around his stomach.
“Good morning, gentlemen,” he greeted them and took a seat at the short end of the desk so that the seven of them were sitting left and right in front of him. “I’m glad all of you participate in today’s reading of the will of Lee Unmyeong.”
“I guess we’re all curious what our connection with this woman is,” Namjoon said.
“I figured when I received her testament a few weeks before her passing,” Mr. Choi explained and pulled out a couple of papers. “I would like to start directly, if that’s okay with all of you?” He looked around, everyone nodded. “Great. Hopefully, some of your questions might get answered throughout the reading.”
Jungkook straightened his back. Everything was so formal, it felt wrong to relax. Mr. Choi cleared his throat and began to read.
“My name is Lee Unmyeong, too old for this world to keep me much longer. Throughout my life, I met many, many people. Since my dear husband has passed away a long time ago and no children was able to grow in my weak body, I decided that I need an heir. Somebody I can trust. My fortune shall go to the children charity foundation of this city. It should help them to get the chance to chase their dreams they would never be able to achieve otherwise.
To choose my heir is not an easy decision, but after all these years, I found the right ones. I know they will be surprised to hear from me. But I hope they will understand when time has passed.
Kim Seokjin, Min Yoongi, Jung Hoseok, Kim Namjoon, Park Jimin, Kim Taehyung, Jeon Jungkook. I only know their names. They live here in this city. While writing this, these men aren’t older than thirty, not younger than twenty. Please look for those people. They are my heirs.” Mr. Choi paused and looked up. “We checked your names and were able to narrow down your identities with your location, age and gender. All of you are the only ones with those names and fitting age in this city.”
“So there’s no chance of confusion?” Yoongi asked.
“Exactly.”
Namjoon nodded. “Please continue.”
Mr. Choi took a deep breath, eyes focused on the paper in front of him. “My last will is that those seven young men deserve to find happiness. Fate has heard each one of you. Please accept my heritage together. I only want all seven of you to agree, not one, not six. From then on, fate is fulfilled and destiny is ready to come. Lee Unmyeong.”
Silence filled the room after Mr. Choi finished reading the testament. Jungkook frowned.
“… What?” Taehyung eventually voiced everyone’s thoughts.
“The heritage, Lee Unmyeong wrote about …” Mr. Choi grabbed another piece of paper. “Is this. According to her will, you can only receive it when all seven of you agree to accept it together.”
Jungkook leaned forward to look at the paper. There’s a big photo filling half of the page. “A house?” More of a mansion after a second thought.
Mr. Choi nodded and turned the paper for everyone to look at.
“It is her last will for all of you to move into her house. It’s completely paid off and big enough for seven people to live in.”
Jungkook looked up, facing six other widened eyes and shocked expressions. It was a stranger’s last will to give them her house? Seven young men who didn’t know each other?
“Why?” Jimin asked, but Mr. Choi couldn’t answer that.
It was a mystery.