A day in reminiscence

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IT was like any other day. At that time, he was Namjoon's secretary while Taehyung was one of the marketing managers. While both of them specialised in administration, Taehyung's strength lay in marketing while Seokjin's was mainly in finance. Both knew that the other desired the apex position of them all - the coveted title of President, which was Namjoon's.

When he stepped out of his cubicle for the coffee run, he had spotted a hooded figure drop a brown paper packaged parcel in the letter tray in the lobby. Thinking nothing of it, he entered the elevator and delivered the coffee cups to the rest of the staff and remembered that he still had to collect the mail. He hurriedly went downstairs before Namjoon could seize the opportunity to nag him.

After removing all the mail from the box (which wasn't much, save for the parcel). When he got up, he collided with someone behind him. When he gained his composure, he realised that he had bumped into the hooded person from before.

"My apologies," a voice spoke from behind the mask.

He nodded, a bit put out. They left without bothering to help him pick up the letters strewn on the floor.

He brushed that thought aside as he glanced the name written in ball-point ink on the package. It spelt out Kim, with no further details given. Assuming it was for Namjoon ("It must be one of his shady dealings," Seokjin said to himself), he tucked it under his arm and gathered up the rest of the mail which wasn't much (a few invites and some pleas, tossed in with a couple of threats) in his hands. He didn't open the package for the sake of privacy (why poke his nose in matters that didn't concern him?).

After a short sifting at his cubicle, he tossed most of the mail into the wastepaper basket underneath his desk (save for the invites and a few reasonable appeals) and picked up the parcel. As he got up, his eyes failed to notice a little slip of paper escape the open seal, landing on the floor.

Opening the door to Namjoon's office, he placed the parcel on his desk and uttered a brief: "Might be something for you." To which, Namjoon jerked his head a little, his gaze unwavering from his laptop as he feverishly typed something.

Seokjin took that as a sign to leave and left the office.

Thus, an hour passed.

An hour in which Taehyung arrived in the company, he decided to pop in Namjoon's office for a quick "hi" before heading to his department.

An hour in which he heard a blood-curdling yell and words that he wished never to hear.

An hour in which he wished he had never stepped in the office and seen those incriminating photographs.

An hour in which he wished he had tried, if not prevented, tried to restrain an enraged Namjoon from Taehyung.

An hour in which he glimpsed the hatred that Taehyung now held for him.

An hour in which the entire floor beheld Namjoon dragging Taehyung and hurling sexual slur after sexual slur, thrashing after thrashing even though Taehyung's clothed back was beginning to show red stains.

An hour in which Namjoon ordered Taehyung to pack his things and leave the house while Yerim pleaded with him to relent.

An hour in which even Yoongi stepped out of his room and asked him to reconsider his decision.

An hour in which Yerim begged Seokjin to say something, to at least try and change Namjoon's mind.

An hour in which Seokjin did nothing but remain silent.

***

"Did ... you ... do ... it ...?"

Opening his eyes to a bare millimeter, Seokjin gazed at the hazy figure of a girl.

"I didn't do it, Yeri," he mumbled.

"Mr. Kim?"

He blinked. His eyes were now wide open.

"Mr. Kim, the mail that you had to send to the African Ambassador about the mine," said his secretary, Ms. Ahn, unaffected by the fact she had walked in on her superior taking a nap.

"Excuse me," Seokjin said after he cleared his throat to which the woman gave a professional nod.

"Yes, I recall sending it. Why do you ask?"

"They were expecting the final decision by today so I had to make sure. I assumed you hadn't because this is what their secretary sent me," she explained, handing a print-out of the mail.

Seokjin furrowed his eyebrows.

"I will sort this out. You may leave," he said.

*

Taehyung stared at Yerim's motionless figure resting on the bed. After making some tea to calm her down, Yoongi had begun to insist that she lay down for a while to give her raging thoughts and emotions a rest. After much coaxing, they finally managed to convince her and now she lay on Yoongi's bed, fast asleep. Her face had become bloated from all the crying and on her cheeks lay miniature dried up rivers.

"Ya look like ya could've a cuppa o' tea," Yoongi grunted.

Taehyung nodded weakly. "I suppose I could. I'll call for Ms. Son-"

"'ell naw, ye can make do with ma teabags. No need to call the 'ousekeeper," Yoongi said, wrinkling his nose.

A brittle grin formed on his handsome face as Taehyung accepted the offer. Yoongi heaved himself up and shuffled over to one of the cabinets in his room. Opening it, he fisted two teabags and four sugar satchels. He placed those on the counter and looked back into the cabinet to remove the cream jug.

During this elaborately inelegant ritual of tea-making, Taehyung traced soothing patterns on Yerim's palm.

"I had no clue how much you suffered, Yeri. I'm sorry for not being a good brother," he whispered, pressing her hand against his cheek.

The corner of her mouth twitched slightly but it was too miniscule for Taehyung to notice. Yoongi stood before him with two steaming mugs, watching him carefully.

"There's no use cryin' o'er spilt milk. Ye couldn' do anythin', ma boy," Yoongi said, setting the two mugs down on the tea cosy. As he settled into his rocking chair, Taehyung sank in the chair opposite to him.

"Wha' are you up to these days?"

Taehyung raised his head, blinking rapidly. "Huh?"

"Wha' stuff you upto?" Yoongi asked again, sipping his tea.

Taehyung picked his own mug up and he took a sip, wincing immediately as he did. "Too soon," he murmured.

Looking back at his uncle, he spoke: "Nothing much, to be quite frank. There wasn't any workplace that would hire me in Seoul, thanks to Father. With what little I had saved up, I managed to go to Busan and get a job as a barista in a cafe near Jungkook's workplace. That's how we met."

"Typical cafe-romance, eh?" Yoongi grinned.

"You could call it that, if gay romance could ever be called "typical"," Taehyung chuckled.

"Romance is romance, laddie. And wha' 'bout 'is parents? They as acceptin' as Joon?"

"Still haven't lost your dry humor huh, Uncle Yoongi?" Taehyung said, a ghost of a smile on his face. He continued:

"They didn't have the best reaction when their son announced that he was gay and engaged. But with time, they did give their blessings."

"That's a relief. And then?"

"And then, I quit my job as the barista and became more of a householder," Taehyung replied, taking a sip from his tea.

Fortunately for his singed tongue, the tea wasn't as hot as before.

"So, yer unemployed?"

"Rather a harsh way of putting it, but yes I am. I found it unnecessary since Jungkook was already making more than enough with his job. Plus, I hadn't found one that appealed to me anyway."

Yoongi tapped his chin. "Seems odd to me. You had a real zest for a busy life, if not a crooked one."

Giving a side-eyed look, Yoongi pointed out: "If you know what I mean."

Taehyung smiled. "I see what you are trying to imply. I am my father's son - or at least, I was. No, the business life doesn't suit me anymore and resorting to dealing with affairs under the table seems unnecessary to me especially when I have enough allowance to keep food on the table. It's a silent, mutual agreement between Jungkook and I; he earns the bread and I keep house. I don't mind it and neither does he. We've established that both deserve equal credit and respect."

Yoongi shook his head. "Ar, that's not what I meant. I wasn' shamin' you for doin' wha' you do, make no mistake. It's a bit of atypical of you, if you catch my drift."

Taehyung looked straight ahead with a wistful expression. "You're right. It is a bit unusual of me," said he, speaking more to himself than to his uncle.

Yoongi eyed him curiously but didn't utter a word.

*

In the city's archival library's basement, Hoseok and Wheein were sifting through piles of newspapers. The longer they searched, the longer their list of questions concerning the Kim family grew.

"Anything yet?" An exhausted Hoseok asked. Wheein raised her head from behind a heap of newspapers.

"Not really. No scandals, no sudden crashes, no bad investments, nothing. Not where we want to find them, of course. There were at least five different newspapers covering Ms. Kim's nose-job and sixteen articles (two of them headlines) about the late Mr. Kim's second marriage. I found one magazine ranking Kim Seokjin as the most handsome heir to a corporation in the gossip column. And an older publication wrote its conspiracy theories about Kim Taehyung's sudden disappearance from the public eye," Wheein rattled off.

Hoseok massaged his forehead. "I'm starting to think my hunch about Kim Enterprises having a financial problem might be wrong."

Wheein looked up. "Why did you have that thought in the first place?"

Hoseok crouched down on the floor, hiding his face in his hands.

"What's wrong?" Wheein asked, making her way to him.

"It's sort of embarrassing and yet, it's such a strong feeling. I apologize for making fun of your early suspicions."

Wheein was mystified by Hoseok's sudden outburst.

"You're making no sense, brother-"

"I think it's Seokjin, Wheein," Hoseok admitted, looking up.

Wheein's mouth fell open.

"I know it sounds crazy; but think about it in this way - he has always got the perfect alibi. For Jimin's case, he couldn't have done it for he wasn't at home when Jimin was murdered. He reached roughly ten minutes after Jimin's supposed time of death. When Namjoon was killed, he was out of the country. Joohyun's case excludes almost everyone present in the house (unless one of them managed to drown her) thus also making everyone as suspicious as the other. He has the most to gain - aside from Yerim."

Wheein's eyes had begun to stray, despite her trying to pay focus to her obviously distraught brother.

"And yet, it also doesn't make sense because Hansol now gains the most - a pro-defacto from Joohyun. What unsettles me the most is the memory of Seokjin being ever ready to jump at Hansol's throat. I know it could be simply his devotion to his sister, however, it could also mean him losing out a pretty pocket of cash to an unworthy man. At least for Joohyun's case he couldn't argue, since it was the wish of the man who he respected the most. I don't know, Wheein. Hadn't it been for Joohyun's will, all of her inheritance didn't need to be taken out of the firm at all. Which is what-"

"Hang on," Wheein said, holding up a hand to silence him.

She trudged towards the nearest bundle of newspapers and with some difficulty, pulled out the bottommost one. The part that had been hanging out the most in the pile was a small column on the front page that showed the stocks of that day. She let out a soft gasp as she stared at it and quickly scourged for the date on the newspaper. Her eyes narrowed as she faced her thoroughly bewildered brother.

"Check this out, brother dear," she whispered as she handed him the paper.

He searched the paper with lines of worry flooding his forehead but with each new piece of knowledge he consumed, the more he was enlightened.

"Brilliantly done, sister dear," he said, standing up with a new confidence that Wheein was thankful to note.

*

Seokjin tapped his fingers on the powderwood desk in his office. He wondered what exactly was it that Hoseok wanted to interview him for.

A soft knock announced the arrival of the Jung siblings. There wasn't any room for a "come in" for Hoseok and Wheein strode in anyway. Not that Seokjin minded in anyway. He had managed to squeeze in some time between meetings to meet them and they had barely half an hour on their hands to discuss whatever they wanted to.

"Well? How may I help you?" Seokjin queried.

The two of them exchanged a quick look before Hoseok proceeded to ask:

"Tell me, Mr. Kim. Was there any loss to the firm in the financial front after Mr. Kim Namjoon died?"

Seokjin's eyebrows knitted for a millisecond before reverting back to their composed manner.

"Not really. A lot of our partners were more than eager to curry favors and gain my good side. A few even sent letter of grievance for my father's death and pledged their full support to the company even in the terrible times. I can send those to you for cross-examination, if you like."

"That won't be necessary," Wheein assured.

"Can the same be said for the time before your uncle's death?" Hoseok quizzed.

Seokjin opened his mouth but no answer left him. He closed it and took a moment to gather his thoughts. Then, very carefully, he spoke:

"I'm afraid not."

Hoseok, pretending to look surprised, ploughed on: "Really? Why is that?"

Seokjin's smile thinned.

"Uncle Namjoon was a bit too indulging, if I may say so, when it came to his wife."

Hearing no answer from the two, he sighed with resignation and continued.

"You may have observed that our home is filled with fancy oddities and no expense was spared for its interior decor. Let me be very frank, my late aunt never had a lavish taste; she preferred simplicity as it reflected regality to its finest. Bae Joohyun," Wheein noted that he didn't refer to her as Kim Joohyun.

"Bae Joohyun, on the other hand, was very vain and had an appetite for the opulent and fresh. Unique her new additions to the decor may be, they came at a heavy price - quite literally. Needless to say, she had him wrapped around her finger."

"So the financial status of the company took a short fall, I assume?" Hoseok asked.

"That wasn't the only reason. Lately - obviously under the influence of Joohyun - Uncle Namjoon had been making rash, illogical decisions. Selling good stock here, buying speculative stuff there. I tried to make him see sense but was harshly rebuked. Why, he even went as far as to say-"

"That he would call Taehyung back?" Wheein chimed in.

Seokjin was bewildered. "How did you-"

"We know a lot of things, Mr. Kim," Hoseok said, smiling genially. "But please, don't let that stop you from going on."

Seokjin didn't look completely convinced but he went on, nonetheless.

"Well, he said a lot of nonsense. It put a bit of a strain on our usually good relationship. Yeri was as worried as me about the whole thing and began to start coercing her father into letting her into the firm as well. She thought she might be of some help. Unfortunately, Joohyun put an end to that and introduced Hansol to Uncle Joon - while praising his good sides and scarcely mentioning the ugly."

"Ah, so she was the one who introduced Hansol to your uncle?" Wheein queried, clearly interested.

"Yes, she was. She said she played golf with him on weekends and found him an amiable gentleman. Of course, Uncle Joon saw him as an easily influenced pawn and thought he would easily be under his thumb," Seokjin sneered. "Which he was right about."

"Anyways, he had him under his thumb alright, all ready and set to marry Yeri off to the slimy asshole. The fact that Hansol's father runs a prosperous coal industry was a bonus. I remember him raving about how Joohyun had found a gold mine. It went to her head, as expected and since Yeri was to take up the role of the dutiful wife to a businessman, Namjoon brushed aside any request of her that concerned the company. And there was a time when our stocks fell dangerously low. We were on the verge on being in debt; however-"

"Kim Namjoon died shortly after that?" Hoseok butted in.

Seokjin pursed his lips.

"Yes, indeed he did."

"So, the company was saved, technically."

"Technically speaking, yes."

A brief, uneasy silence passed between the three of them. Wheein then offered her two cents.

"So, everything worked out well in the end, I suppose?"

Seokjin gave this notion some thought.

"I believe it did."

"But Mr. Chwe will inherit a chunk of the money left by Namjoon. Won't that be disastrous to the company, seeing that it's a rather large amount of cash?"

Hoseok sucked his breath in. With that tricky question, Wheein had beautifully struck a nerve. The money left to Joohyun was a very handsome sum, handsome enough to feed and clothe a man in good fashion for many a year. However, it would take a serious blow on the company's economy. And given the current situation Namjoon had left the company in, it would have crashed, most definitely.

Joohyun would have no remorse for the company's fall and had she been alive, she would have wanted her share whatever the case. The same could probably be said for Hansol; since his secret was anyways out of the bag and reputation was soiled, he had nothing to lose. A fresh thought came right after that particular idea.

Hoseok carefully looked at Seokjin. If, his intuition was right and Seokjin was the killer, could it be that they might be on the look-out for a fourth murder?

However, his fear was instantly replaced by utter perplexity the minute Seokjin's next words left his mouth.

"Hansol will not inherit Joohyun's money."

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3,095.

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