TW : Violence

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     Taehyung threw himself in the middle of the circle to block and receive in the stomach the next kick originally intended for Jin's face, while suppressing a cry of pain. He fell to his knees, hands on his stomach, one his eyes closed and teeth clenched.

     "H-Hyung, are you okay?" He asked painfully, turning back to Jin and breathing heavily after the kick that took his breath away.

     The eldest raised his pain-distorted face towards him, and Taehyung understood that his question was stupid. Jin couldn't move and was shaking with anguish anticipating the next blow that might go to one of his old wounds or that might disfigure him forever.

     Even if he had opened his mouth, no sound came out, as if he no longer had the strength. The only thing he was able to do when he saw what was happening around him was widen his eyes at Taehyung who was clinging to his stomach in pain after receiving the beatings he should have received himself.

     It was obvious that he didn't want his dongsaeng to suffer for him.

     Seeing this, Taehyung, besides himself, controlled himself and succeeded to speak in a low voice to Jin in order to reassure before doing anything:

     "Don't worry hyung, I won't let them hit you again. I will protect you."

      "D-Don't..." Jin started.

      "Shhh, don't say anything,  everything is going to be okay hyung," Taehyung cut him, knowing what Jin was going to say : he was going to tell him not to put himself in danger for him. But Taehyung didn't agree.

      He was hoping not to be mistaken in saying that everything would be fine but he was determined to do everything to make it happen.

     Then, he stood in front of Jin as a shield, stretching out his arms. He has promised Jungkook to protect Jin, and Namjoon trusted him when he entrusted the eldest to him: he won't let Jin get beaten up by anyone again. Not on his watch.

     He yelled with all his might at the attention of the attackers:

     "STOP HITTING HIM! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?!"

     He didn't expect the bullies to listen to him but he wanted to buy time until help arrived because there were too many of them for him to hold them alone for long when he was injured.

     "Because it's fun," the red coat boy laughed, cracking his knuckles.

     "You're kidding, right?! How fun is hitting someone?!" Taehyung retorted, shocked.

      "Not just someone," Shark intervened, "Hitting idols is the the funniest."

      "Look guys, it's another member of BTS!" the Showman said, pointing his phone at Taehyung who glared at him. "Oh! he would almost scare us with his killer look!"

     Fans online immediately recognized Taehyung and frantically wrote their concern for him while hoping he would save Jin.

    "Guys!" The young man called his friends, laughing again while reading the comments: "their fans think this one will save this "Jin" one."

     "They are really stupid to think that," Black cap laughed, "as you would expect from them. Kpop fan are something! Are you blind or what? It's obvious that they can't do anything against us!"

     "No, but seriously, look at them: one unable to defend himself or speak - looks like a retarded up seen from close I swear! - and the other who arrives to protect him when all he knows how to do is beg us to stop, ha ha!" Shark said, mocker.

      "They say that they are more than capable of beating us but they won't because they are too nice to hit anyone," the boy who ran the live read on his screen.

       "Oh my, this is so freaking girly!"

     "Look at them closer girls! Without their bodyguards, they are really pathetic," the red coat guy said, addressing the fans who were watching the scene through the screen. "You must be clear who the only real men here are," he added, punching his chest hard and puffing out his chest.

     "They say we're not men but cowards bullies and they're the only real men here," the Showman chuckled.

      "Really? looks like we're gonna have to show them how their boys defend themselves," red coat said with a smirk.

     "None of them has completed his military service while this one has visibly passed the age limit. All because they were given preferential treatment to keep bringing in money. They are not men, do not say nonsense when they are about to get beaten up before your eyes!"

      "This one is asking us to stop hitting his boyfriend, what do you think hyung-nim?" Shark asked to the one who didn't spoke the less since the beginning and had stayed away until then.

     "Mmmh, we should listen to him, after all he is very loved by a lot of people," the one who seemed to be the oldest and the leader of the group decided in a low tone.

     He was wearing a black hood that only showed his face from his face above the black mask and his cruel gaze did not hide his sardonic air.

     "Hyung, I think it's for his face too that his fans love him," Black cap said, pointing at Taehyung's face, who tensed up.

     "Should we break his nose then?" Red coat asked immediately.

      Taehyung understood perfectly that the boys weren't his fans any more than Jin's. They were just haters who came to take advantage of the crush to attack the group. Maybe they were also the ones who had triggered the fire alarm to create this chaos and keep the security guards away.

    "Stop hitting that one, and hit the other one instead since he asks and let's see what he can do besides beg our mercy!" The leader ordered.

      Abandoning Jin, Red Coat, Shark and Black Cap began to fight in turn against Taehyung who received several kicks, even in the face and felt blood flowing from all his orifices under Jin's horrified gaze who was lying powerless on the ground, behind him.

      Taehyung tried to defend himself valiantly as best he could but alone against the three young men with shaved hair who had obviously just completed their military service and who spent more time building up their muscles for fight than him, he didn't last long. Especially when he felt his neck hurt terribly and he couldn't avoid a kick in the face that made him think he had just lost a tooth.

The blows ceased only when Taehyung finally fell slowly to the ground on his knees and then on his stomach, and didn't seem like he could get up anymore. A laughter rang out in above his bloodied face:

     "Hope he doesn't faint right away," the voice of Shark said.

     "He who thought he was an artist, he no longer looks like either an artist or an idol! But we can't see well under that blood, I'll make sure to break his nose this time and maybe gouge out his eye to make his figure unusable," Red Coat said with a smirk. He seemed to be the most virulent of the gang.

      "NO!" Jin cried out drawing attention to him again, his eyes watering as he saw Taehyung not getting up.

      With his valid but weak hand, he tried to shake the younger as hard as he could, but the younger did not seem to be conscious and Jin was very afraid that they attack him when he was so helpless and that he himself could not do anything.

      Seeing approaching, fist raised, the red coat boy who had just spoken of breaking Taehyung's nose and gouging his eyes while the latter still seemed unconscious on the ground, Jin in turn immediately placed himself as best he could to protect Taehyung like a shell.

     But each of his movements was a torture to him and he could not prevent the torturer from grabbing him brutally by the collar and straightened him without however making him stop to stand on his legs.

      "No what?" The red coat boy told him, threatening. "No, don't hit him? No, don't gouge out his eyes? Or no, is it not true we are artists even without our faces? Do you really believe that?"

     As Jin wasn't answering him struggling to breathe, he added:

     "That's what I thought. Don't make me laugh : you're not an artist, you're just a looser. Say it!"

     "N-no," Jin whimpered, without knowing why his mouth had just denied when it was probably the only way to escape the suffering that the other boy reserved for him.

     Why was he unable to repeat the words he had asked him? Why did this seem unthinkable to him, even as he struggled to collect his thoughts enough to think properly.

      "What did you just say?!" Red coat exclaimed with surprise and fury, not expecting Jin to stand up to him, "stop playing brave, it doesn't suit you."

      "Hey, you know what his fan are saying about him?" the showman said loudly as Red coat still glared at Jin with his furious eyes

     "What?"

      "That it's the most resilient of all their group and that he will not abandon his principles no matter the pain."

      "That looser?!" The Red coat exclaimed as he stared at Jin and studied his expression. Even though his face was contorted with pain and his eyes showed the fear he felt, there was a glimmer of determination to resist deep down, not to give up. He couldn't stand being told he wasn't an artist? Perfect, he was going to change that and put him back in his place. "I think it's more your nose than you friend's that I want to break first after all : after that, you'll never think such nonsense again!"

       Still holding Jin with one hand, he was about to send his other fist in his face and Jin immediately closed his eyes feeling waiting for the pain to come.

      It was this moment that Taehyung chose to finally straigh up, suddenly holding back the boy's fist with one hand as the other grabbed his arm, as he had done earlier when he had stopped the hand of the girl that wanted to stab Jin. Two situations too similar in his eyes, but despite his condition - he barely strained on his legs - he did not lose sight of his objective: protect Jin and bring him back to the others.

      "What the hell?!" Red coat exclaimed behind his mask, surprised that he didn't see Taehyung coming as he thought him unconscious.

     "You... are... wrong," Taehyung said in a low voice, catching his breath between each word.

      "What the fuck did you say?!" the other exclaimed, as he tried to pull his fist out of Taehyung's grip.

     "He... he is right and you... you are... wrong," the singer repeated louder. "We... we are... idols. And that... makes us... artists!" Taehyung replied defiantly with a heavy breathing, mouth full of blood, clenching the other's fist so tightly that he winced.

     Jin turned his head and stared at Taehyung with wide eyes, with more surprise than relief, as if his remark didn't make sense to him at that precise moment and that there was more important to do.

     But for Taehyung, what he was saying was essential and he should not stop. The hatred of their critics knew no bounds, and while he could not make it go away, he must not stoop to accepting their criticisms as truth. He was to proudly and publically remind everyone of how far they had come.

       These people had been in the army and were proud of it? Hell, kpop trainees endured training and hardships that were perhaps even more intense than in the army. Some worked hard for ten years before being selected to join a group. And then, they had to work for many more years in order to have the value of a group recognized. And still more years to maintain it. And we dared to tell them that they were only handosme faces?

      BTS had risen to the top. Not by their faces but thanks to hard work by passionate and dedicated artists. Accepting otherwise for Taehyung was tantamount to sweeping away his life's work. Of their life. He refused that. And he knew that Jin also needed to hear him say that, he who more than the others had been the victim of hatred and belittlement, even though he had worked harder than all the others.

     "All... all the seven of us... are artists, and we are... proud of it," Taehyung continued bravely, "you won't... take that away... from us, even if you... disfigure us... or beat us to death!!"

     They had all worked so hard to get their talent recognized, Namjoon even produced their Idol song to cater to the critics of the haters. He wouldn't let them spit on them, even if it pissed them off.

     "Let me go!" Red coat grumbled,  regaining consistency after the past surprise, still holding Jin firmly by the collar and at the same time trying to free his other hand.

     The other boys were watching the scene with curiosity, not seeming to want to help the braggart that was their friend and it was for Taehyung's relieve because he knew he wouldn't have had the strength to face more than one person.

     Jin was still looking at Taehyung and had opened his eyes but was shaking all over his body as he was struggling to breathe and Taehyung couldn't afford to chat anymore to save time, not while Red coat was choking Jin slowly but surely.

     "Let him go first!" Taehyung retorted aggressively, increasing the pressure on his grip so much that the other was forced to let go of Jin who finally fell hard to the ground, unable to sit up as his whole body ached and he tried to catch his breath.

    "You're going to regret that!"Red Coat said massaging his painful fist.

      Another kick to the stomach took Taehyung's breath away, preventing him from speaking any further. As Taehyung fell on all fours, he coughed and spat out the accumulated blood in his mouth.

     "If you can't take it anymore, you can step aside and your boyfriend will take over, what do you think?" The leader of the group said under his wood. "It is my turn now and I want to have fun too. But with a little more blood this time because you were a little too reckless for my taste."

     Hearing that threatening voice, Taehyung hurriedly embraced Jin in order to cover his whole body curled up on the ground and to protect him from the blows that they wanted to give him.

     "Move!" The leader ordered, pressing his foot on Taehyung's injured neck to get him away from Jin and squeezing a howl of pain from him.

     But Taehyung did not let himself be ejected further even if, while holding on, he felt himself falling on Jin who was under him.

     In order not to press on the bleeding wound of Jin's shoulder blade under him and which was already staining his clothes as they were stuck together, Taehyung held himself back as best he could from collapsing.

     "N-no, I won't move!" He said with difficulty, his mouth full of blood which he spat out again.

      "Hey, looser!" Black hood said loudly at Jin whose face he couldn't even see because it was hidden under Taehyung's massive body. "Are you okay with hiding under him and letting him get beaten up instead? How do you expect to be taken seriously when you act like a coward?"

     "Besides, he's the oldest in the group," Showman said as he was reading people's comments. "It makes the one who protects him his dongsaeng, it's the world upside down!"

     "Really ? Wow, that's so much worse than I thought, what a wimp!"

     The six boys all burst out laughing mocking around him. Below him, Taehyung felt Jin fidget and try to wriggle out of his embrace. He had obviously been disturbed by what he had just heard but Taehyung didn't let him move any further.

     "No hyung, don't listen to them and don't move. They know very well that you are not a coward, they saw you protecting me while I was knocked out, they only say that to get at you but I won't let them."

     "Alright, your death wish," Black hood said shrugging the shoulders. "You're going to bite, in this case!"

      Taehyung saw the leader's foot rise again and he tightened his grip on Jin's trembling body even more, making sure to cover his whole body by his, to take any blows that will came again. Then he anxiously waited for the flurry of blows, clenching his eyelids tightly.

      But the blow never came.

      "HEY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" a voice thundered, catching the attention of the attacking group and Taehyung, who had obviously recognized the voice. "LEAVE THEM ALONE!"

     Looking up, Taehyung saw someone who had brutally pushed the young man away by his hood, after violently pushing Black cap to the ground to infiltrate the small circle.

     He was now standing in front of Taehyung and Jin, imposing himself with his tall muscular stature, like a human shield. Taehyung felt a sense of security wash over him.

     He knew without a doubt that this person would protect Jin at all cost.

https://youtu.be/pBuZEGYXA6E

And we, unknown fanfiction writers, are we also artists? ;)

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2023 A/N : I want to thank Praveena281194 and maloozidan because you support the republication of this book by voting for all the chapters, I am really grateful. Thank you very much !