A month after the start of the hiatus.

     "Seokjin, sweetheart, the company brought your birthday presents with your fan's letters, do you want me to bring them here?" asked Mrs. Kim who had just opened the door to her son's room.

     Jin shook his head slowly.

     "No... not now, Eomma," he answered in a low voice.

      The snow of january was falling in large flakes outside, plunging Seoul into a magical atmosphere, but Jin did not give a look at the winter landscape: his eyes were glued to the white ceiling, as if he were drawing his own landscapes there. 

      He hadn't left his bed much since he had gone home to his parents, and if his mother hadn't come to open the curtains, he would have spent all his days in the dark. Mrs. Kim was very worried. 

     Despite an improvement in Jin's health compared to the day he returned, there had been stagnation for some time. His condition was no longer evolving, as if he needed something he hadn't yet found himself and that no one seemed to be able to find for him. 

     Since it wasn't getting worse, his mother wanted to believe that it would end up getting better at some, but it didn't make her suffer any less to see her son in this state. She would have preferred him to complain tirelessly to her, to tell her in his usual flurry of words all his problems so that she could solve them instead of remaining immersed in this frightful silence which tortured her. 

     But she realized that even if he had told her all the evils that gnawed at his heart, she could have done nothing but listen and cry. She couldn't fix anything at all about the problems, nor the horrors that haunted Jin. She couldn't do anything about it and that was the worst part for her. 

    Yet she couldn't let herself cry as Jin tried to get better. She had to be strong in front of him, strong for both of them because he didn't need to see others collapsing around him, especially not his mother. She wanted to show him that even though she couldn't share his burdens with him, she was still a strong person by his side. 

     She cried none the less at night and in turn, away from Seokjin's eyes and ears, it was she who needed the strong presence of her husband to hold on. The two were always ready day and night to jump up to comfort Jin when his nightmares woke him up in a scream and he felt alone and helpless in front of them. 

     When the door to his room opened and he saw a figure sneaking into his room to come to his bed, Jin always imagined the worst. He imagined it was Lee coming to punish him, maybe hitting him, maybe breaking his finger, maybe raping him, maybe strangling him... the possibilities abounded in his head and reawakened his not so old pains as if they came from him be inflicted. It broke his parents' hearts to see him like that. 

     Then, those thoughts made him tremble and sobbed with anxiety until he hears the reassuring voice of his father or mother whispering in his ear, and feels their arms embrace him in a reassuring shield. Only then did he felt safe. 

     Despite their efforts, Jin's parents hadn't succeeded in removing this fear from him, even repeating to him that this monstrous man would never pass the door of their house. The memory of the suffering inflicted seemed to prevent erasing the man from his thoughts: as long as he could potentially harm him, he would haunt his thoughts. 

     They realized that until Jin saw Lee behind bars, he probably wouldn't stop having this fear. But because of a cruel irony of fate, he needed to get better so he could testify against Lee and get him arrested. So it was a rather hopeless situation for them, like the snake biting its own tail.

     The day they picked up Jin  from the company to take him home, Mrs Kim and her husband were shocked to find out the condition their son was in. They had already been made aware of all the injuries he had suffered in France and they knew that Jin had been silent from shock for several days during which they had tried unsuccessfully to talk to him on the phone and had been kept abreast of developments by Namjoon.

     However, seeing their son injured and curled up in a wheelchair in front of them was something else entirely different. Jin had just cried when he had seen them and couldn't say anything more or even run into them, letting himself be embraced by his two parents for several long minutes, like an unexpected reunion that might never have happened. 

      After all, he had escaped three times to death: first in France, then at the airport, and finally here at Big Hit, which his parents did not know but which he could not have told them himself at the moment. He longed to be taken away from the company but couldn't find the words to express it. He couldn't. Talking seemed to have become the greatest test of his daily life.

     When his parents had joined him, Jin was alone with Namjoon, the two being plunged into a deep silence which suited them but that would never have suited the old Jin who did not like heavy silences. At this, Mrs and Mr. Kim had immediately realized that Jin was really shocked by what had happened to him but they considered that it was completely normal: who wouldn't have been shocked in his place after what he had experienced at the Stade de France and then in Incheon? They couldn't have imagined that something even worse if it was possible was hiding behind their son's silence.

     The other members had already returned home to their families, but the leader was waiting for everyone to return before leaving the company himself. As Bang Si-Hyuk had to receive each family individually to give them a complete report of the situation, he had scheduled appointments, and everyone left according to these appointments.

      The longest and most difficult of those appointments promised to be with Jin's family so the CEO scheduled it last. Namjoon had chosen to stay until then and witnessed with emotion the reunion between Jin and his parents, realizing that it might never have happened and that instead of seeing them again to entrust Jin to their good care, he could have seen them again to a complete different thing, as to announce his death and prepare his funeral...

      He was moreover distressed at the mere thought of his parents' reaction when the CEO told them everything that had happened to Jin: he would never have had the strength to do it himself, he knew that. He had already struggled to hold back his tears when they had greeted him and hugged him, telling him that they were happy to see him again, safe and sound. He felt so guilty that he didn't dare look them in the eye.

     Leaving Seokjin to wait with Namjoon, Mr. and Mrs. Kim had therefore been received by Bang Si-Hyuk. The latter, after having told them that what he had to say to them was going to be very difficult for them and that they were going to have to hang on, had reported to them in complete transparency, without hiding anything, everything that had happened to Jin and the other boys. And finally, he had apologized to them. But that was not enough, far from it. 

     Both had fallen from the clouds and had almost forgotten to breathe under the effect of the shock. They thought their son was traumatized by the events at the Stade de France and Incheon, but they would never have suspected that it was only the tip of the iceberg of horrors that Jin had experienced for months.

     Without thinking and guided by her emotions, Mrs. Kim had slapped the CEO immediately when she learned that the latter had let Lee walk freely out of the building as if he hadn't been guilty of whatever she had just learned. 

     "How could you do that?!" she had yelled. "He abused our son, he made him suffer, he almost killed him right here in front of your office, with you who were supposed to protect him! How could you let this criminal go freely after all your neglect of your duties?! How could you?! How could you?!!!"

      While Bang Si-Hyuk looked distressed at this sad sight, the terrible pain of a mother, but remained motionless, she had started hitting him frantically, without strength for his strength had been stolen from him by her pain. Her husband had grabbed her, had taken her away from the man and hugged her with all his might while glaring hatefully at the CEO who maintained a respectful silence.

    Jin's mother then had cried as much as humanly possible and gripped and hit her heart so hard while screaming that her husband feared she might have a heart attack from the shock. He hadn't had any words to comfort his wife because he himself was too devastated for that.

     What worse news could a parent receive other than that their child, regardless of age, had suffered so much and they couldn't do anything about it? In the eyes of the world, Seokjin was a handsome thirty-year-old idol full of self-confidence but in their eyes, he was still their baby and he would be forever, their baby whose frailties and insecurities he hid from the rest of the world. For each parent, their children would forever remain children, that was how it was. And they had failed in their duty as parents by leaving him in this suffering. 

     They should have known. They shouldn't have let him get away from them to the point of not being aware of his suffering anymore, of not being able to perceive that Jin was lying to protect his abuser when they had realized that large sums of money were being extorted from him. As his parents, they had some responsibility for everything that had happened to him, but for the moment, it was against the man who was in front of them that Mr. and Mrs Kim's anger flared up.

     Outside of the office, Namjoon had heard the heartbreaking scream of Mrs. Kim and he had seen Jin bury his face in his hands upon hearing his mother's pain. Then, he has seen Jin jumped up and started shaking when he also heard his father's diffuse angry cries that followed his mother's scream, pushing Namjoon to stand up and hug him. Feeling like he was responsible for his parents' pain affected him a lot.

      Indeed, Mr. Kim, his eyes shining with grief as much as rage, had gotten mad at the CEO more that it was socially acceptable to do, holding him primarily responsible for everything that had happened to his son. 

     When Bang Si-Hyuk finally said that Jin should take advantage of this hiatus to get better and be able to convict Lee at the upcoming trial, Jin's mother exploded:

     "A hiatus?! Because you sincerely think Seokjin will come back after everything you just told us?! Are you out of your mind?! Do you really think we're going to entrust you with our son again after what happened?! This is absolutely out of question : he is going to quit, nothing else!"

     The CEO had winced at this statement from Mrs. Kim. He had tried to reason with her calmly:

      "Mrs. Kim, again, I understand your pain, but with all due respect, Seokjin is thirty years old, a fully capable adult, even if for the moment, he is in a state of shock, and that decision is up to him, not you."

       "An adult?" Mrs. Kim had reacts angrily, her eyes still shining with tears, "you infantilized him for so long, making him accept everything the company wanted, everything his fans wanted, without ever trying to find out what he wanted for himself or needed, nor ever spare him in his activities even when he couldn't take it anymore, even when he received death threats, to the point where you let one of his crazy fans stab him and his manager harassed, b-beat and r-r-raped him, and..."

     Mrs. Kim had burst into tears again trying to say it and while her husband was comforting her, she had managed to conclude with rage:

     "...and now you want him to make this decision on his own because you know he would side with this that the company wants, as it always has?! Don't count on it, we will make this decision for him, your company does not deserve our son and he won't come back!"

     "Mrs Kim," Bang Si-Hyuk had coldly replied, becoming a buisnessman again "Seokjin has a contract with the company, he can't break it just like that, by your will. We will give him time to recover,  all the time he need, be sure of that, but he will have to come back and resume his activities with the company when this is all behind us, until the end of his contract. Naturally, if he does not wish to renew it after that, we will accept his decision."

     "We don't care about the contract!" Mr. Kim had said with greater control of his emotions than his wife, even as he was seething inside and his heart was in shreds after the CEO's revelations. "You can tear it up, we'll provide the necessary indemnities for breach of contract and if necessary, I'll put my own company up for sale, but Seokjin won't come back, it's absolutely out of the question. I'm only sorry for BTS, not at all for you. But I even wonder if the other boys will agree to come back after suffering so much and finding out what had happened to Seokjin."

     His wife had added:

     "After all they've been through because of you, you should be ashamed to think of denying anyone who asks you to leave! How could you let such a man take care of them without even realizing that he was a criminal and that they tormented them every day?! I swear, I don't want to make a decision in anger because I'm thinking of the boys, but you deserve us to take your company to court! With the support of the other families, we would have no trouble prevailing against you and your greed, no doubt!"

      "Take the time to think," the CEO had said, trying to maintain some consistency. "The company has other groups and recruits under its responsibility and to destroy the company would be to destroy the dream of these kids who have worked so hard for years."

      "But it would save them from your incompetence and prevent what happened to Seokjin and his friends from happening to these children as well," Mr. Kim said. "You turned their dream into a nightmare. In the eyes of the world, they were the most successful and popular Korean group as they just hid their suffering to continue making people dream.

     We are not naive, we have always known that the kpop industry is a difficult environment and we have encouraged Seokjin to always do his best and persevere despite the difficulty, despite the sufferings he may experience, despite all the tears he was able to shed, thinking that this was how it was supposed to be but that at the end of the journey the life he dreamed of and the end of suffering awaited him. We never would have imagined that the end of the journey would still be filled with pain and injustice, and if we had known that, we would have encouraged him to quit a long time ago to thrive in another professional environment."

     Seokjin was always too nice for such a cruel environment. It is terrible that it took such events to happen for us to finally open our eyes to this reality, but now that it is done, we will no longer close our eyes to his suffering. Never again."

     "If Seokjin loses his smile and his optimism forever, it will be your fault," Jin's mother had dropped, pointing at the CEO with resentment, refraining from lacerating with her fingernails the face of this man responsible for a large part of the condition of his son. She might have done so if her husband had not been present with her.

     She had promised him, looking him in the eye:

     "If this were to happen, we would not hesitate for a moment to do everything in our power to knock you off your pedestal and make you miserable, Mr. Bang. In addition, remember that you are responsible for the trial of Mr. Lee, it is out of the question for you to place this responsibility on the shoulders of Namjoon or Seokjin and Jungkook, or any other member of the group. You are responsible for initiating this lawsuit and winning it, not them.  If that does not happen, we will take over, and you will not like the accusations that will be made against you, I guarantee you."

      With these threatening words, they had taken leave of the CEO who seemed very concerned about the situation but had not tried to hold them back, knowing that the discussion would come to nothing in the face of their grief and anger. He hoped time would eventually ease the Kims' hearts and allow them to think more thoughtfully for the sake of their son and his friends.

      The two had reunited with Jin who was comforted by Namjoon.

     "Jin hyung heard you screaming, he can't stand hearing screams anymore and I think it was even harder for him to hear the suffering of his parents," the rapper had explained sadly, detaching himself from Jin and letting his parents comfort him.

     "Oh, sweetheart, we're sorry," Mrs. Kim had said, kneeling before him, hardly suppressing an urge to cry and stroking her son's wet cheek. "We're so sorry for everything baby."

     "I'm... I'm sorry..." Jin had whispered to the amazement of his parents. 

     He was ashamed of having been afraid of his parents' own voice, ashamed of not being able to be anymore the same Jin his parents always known, ashamed to know that now his parents knew everything everything that had happened to him : now, they knew that he had allowed himself to be abused by his manager without being able to defend himself all because he gave in to fear. He became his parents' disappointment again, as he felt he was before becoming a recognized idol. He made his parents suffer again because he was just an incompetent, a good-for-nothing. How ashamed he was!

     "Seokjin, my baby, why are you apologizing?" his mother had slowly asked in a trembling voice, who was taken aback.

     "I'm sorry," he had repeated, crying, without looking at her while she had hugged him gently so as not to hurt him.

      Jin's parents had looked at Namjoon, who had explained to them with pain:

     "Hyung has been apologizing ever since what happened in France. You have to keep reminding him that he didn't do anything wrong because he feels like everything that happened was his fault. And now, he thinks he makes mistakes every time he does something. It's noted in the psychological assessment that was done at the hospital, I thought PD-nim gave you his complete medical records."

      "Yes, he did, but I have not yet had the strength to read everything..." Mrs. Kim said in a whisper, gently kissing her son's hair.

      She realized that Jin's expression was more that of a frightened kid than the adult he was and that she had seen at their last meeting. She was more convinced than ever that it was up to her to protect her child from the company no matter what the CEO said. Because no one cared more about his well-being than his own mother, not even himself, who had been so abused that he had come to defend his attacker, to agree to protect him.

      She would have to make him forget Lee's threats by surrounding him with a feeling of protection. And to participate in this feeling of protection, she had to make him understand that he would not return to Bigh Hit and that he was going to leave BTS.

     Her son had been made to suffer so much, had been commanded and forced to obey, to submit to the will of the company during so long, that it had no doubt that Jin was no longer in a position to make a crucial decision concerning his career as an Idol. So it was up to her and her husband to stop it. 

     They would let him know later that it was for his own good.