Chapter Text
It was interesting, really, how it happened. They were meant to love him, cherish him, not curse him out whenever they even crossed paths. The universe said they were perfect for him. The matching marks on all seven of their bodies proved that.
Soulmates had been a thing for ages. People who were meant to be would have a perfectly matching mark. It started with only pairs, but slowly, the universe expanded the range. The chances of a person finding only one person perfect for them made it unlikely for people to find each other. The system evolved. Instead of one person being a perfect match, it could be many people who are perfect matches for one person. Most commonly, these groups of people would group together. A perfectly matched group. The largest group was six people, so a theory grew: soulmate groups could only have six people. The chances of a bigger group were slim to none.
The most popular example of this was BTS, a soul group turned idol group made up of six members.
It was funny, really. They were so confident that they found their whole group that when they performed a song on soul groups to break the stigma that people had to pair off in a soul group, all the members revealed their marks. It was to show that groups didn't have to pair off. They were all destined for eachother, so why settle for only one?
Of course, they probably should have expected what came next. They were a popular group, made up of extremely attractive, talented men. Who wouldn't want to be a part of that group? It was not common to date outside of what your soul mark dictated but it wasn't looked down upon. And, really, these perfect men would be the perfect partners anyway.
The sheer amount of people claiming to be BTS's soulmates would fill an Olympic sized pool. Thousands of people went as far as to do the unthinkable and would tattoo the group's soulmarks on their own bodies. Many people went as far as to go to Big Hit's building to try and get the chance to match their 'soulmarks’ with the members just to be harshly turned away with the threat of a restraining order.
It was hilarious. Jungkook could laugh all day about it, really. In advocating that it was okay to be with a whole soul group, the group wasn't even the whole group!
Cause you see, Jungkook had hopes and dreams of falling in love. Even one person would be enough. But when BTS revealed their soulmarks, those hopes were crushed. As he stared at a billboard with his mark staring back at him on six different bodies, he knew he would never be a part of that.
Maybe those laughs are a little more like desperate cries. Maybe Jungkook should have just taken the rejection. Maybe that would have saved him from all the pain. But if there was one thing about Jungkook, it was that he was persistent.
After seeing the billboard, Jungkook decided, at the age of fifteen, to join the same company as BTS. He hid his soul mark and moved to Seoul and auditioned. It didn’t take long before he was accepted and started training. It took only a couple months before he debuted as a solo artist. In only a couple years, Jungkook gained almost as much popularity as BTS.
In an attempt for the company to advertise a few of their groups, they created a reality show where they put multiple new and old artists together to go on vacation for a week.
A week. That’s how long it took Jungkook to fully lose all chances of being with his soulmates.
At first, everything went well. It was Jungkook’s first time meeting BTS and the new group, TXT. All of them hit it off. The first night, they did challenges and finished the day with a barbeque with the food they won. The next day, they had some free time in the morning, so Jungkook started his day with a run while singing one of his songs. By the afternoon, all the boys grouped back together for more challenges. It wasn’t until the third day that things seemed to go south.
All of a sudden, BTS only talked to him when the camera’s were rolling. Any other time, they seemed to glare at him and avoid any sort of contact. By the fifth day, TXT seemed to follow suit. Any attempt on Jungkook’s part to sort out any misunderstanding that could have happened failed with everyone ignoring him. In the end, it seemed to actually make it worse. By the end of the week, the relationship between Jungkook and BTS became hostile. Jungkook couldn’t even start a conversation with any of the members without them cursing him out. On camera, it seemed like they were all cordial, but once the camera turned off, all friendliness was gone.
Throughout the years, Jungkook had memorized every detail of each of the members' backs. Still, Jungkook hoped. He hoped to one day be the reason Namjoon’s dimples would come out. He hoped that he could eat Jin’s food while the others chattered about their day. Hoped to write music with Yoongi alone in his studio. Hoped to sing love songs with Taehyung. Hoped to dance with Hoseok and Jimin in the refrigerator light.
It all came to a head at a reward show. Jungkook thought it would be a good chance to try to talk to the members again. Another attempt to try to clear whatever misunderstanding occurred. His thought was that award shows had enough cameras around that they would have to listen for the sake of the facade. He didn’t account for the fact that their hatred would grow to such an extent that they didn’t care anymore about what the public thought of their relationship with him.
It didn’t hit him until the soda that was supposed to be in a cup was running down his face and ice cubes were melting in his hair. The sneer on Yoongi’s face would forever be branded into Jungkook’s memory. Jungkook couldn’t hear. He couldn’t remember what he had said or who responded. All he knew was that he needed to get out of there. All he knew was that there was no chance, ever, of being able to repair the relationship. All the colors started to blend together as Jungkook ran. He left the award show before the event even started. He didn’t stop running until he was halfway across the city. How he got home that night will forever be a mystery to him. All he wanted was to forget that night.
As if he could. The point of trying to talk to them at the award show was because he thought they wouldn’t do something in front of the cameras. That fact now was used against him. No matter how much he wanted to forget, the world would never let him. His image was tarnished. There were many fan cams that captured the moment. No audio was ever released. In the end, fans had to determine what happened from videos and images.
Although Jungkook was a popular idol, he was still just a solo artist. When it came down to it, how could BTS be the one at fault? It was more likely Jungkook did or said something to deserve such a reaction.
It didn’t stop there. People started to criticize Jungkook’s professionalism. They said he should have stayed, that him running away was unprofessional.
Jungkook didn’t care, really. If people want to hate, they could. It’s not like they know him. He still had supporters even if the incident caused some to turn into haters. No, the worst part of this incident is something that is said to be near impossible. Something that was extremely rare especially in soul groups. Something that usually only happened to the most deplorable humans out there. Jungkook’s soulmark drained of color. A mark drained of color was the ultimate sign of soulmate rejection.
Jungkook was rejected. By all his soulmates. It was only a matter of time now.