Obviously, Namjoon thought, hearing the Si-Hyuk's words. He's a businessman who runs an entertainment business. If we can't entertain the crowds, we are of no use to him. 

     He felt thrown to the wolves, like when the CEO first sent Han and Lee to their dorm. Han was right, no one could think of their welfare more than themselves, even if the CEO usually looked like a father to them.

     Entertain people and not think of yourself. 

    Forget about the threat and pretend it doesn't exist. 

     Maybe it would be okay or maybe it would not. Either way, the CEO had spoken and they had to obey. It was so.

     Namjoon suppressed a sigh and looked one by one at the rotted face of his members. They weren't happy faces to keep the tour going. They were going to have to get over the fear and disappointment of not having been listened to again. They were going to have to be happy to make the fans happy.

     "This meeting is over, you can go, have a rest before tomorrow's flight," Bang Si-hyuk said. "Except you Seokjin, I want to talk to you for a few minutes."

     Jin was surprised but complied and remained seated as the others got up and left one by one, convinced that the CEO wanted to talk to him to reassure him, particularly because he was more concerned than the others by the threats.

     "I'll take the boys home," Han said to Jin, "you'll come home with Lee."

     No please, switch! Jin pleaded secretly, terrified of going home alone with Lee.

     "I'll wait for you downstairs, Jin hyung," Jungkook said immediately, reassuring Jin. "I'll come home with you."

     "Me too," said Yoongi, who had stopped in the doorway and was looking curiously at Lee. Jungkook followed his gaze and saw that Lee was fixing Jin suspiciously. 

     The two idols stared for a long moment at the manager who only looked away when finally Jin met his gaze and he was able to give him a silent threat that Jin understood. The eldest singer nodded, almost imperceptibly. Almost.

     "What a nightmarish sight..." Yoongi whispered to himself, suppressing a shudder.

     "What?" Jungkook asked, absent-mindedly.

     "No, it's nothing. Let's go Jungkook."

     Jin no longer trusted Bang Si-hyuk. 

     From his early days with BTS, Jin had been discredited and he had been made invisible despite all the work he put in and all the progress he made. 

     This situation had weighed on him, but at least, for a while, the man had started to be as affectionate with him as he was with others and Jin too had come to see him as a loving father figure. And he naively thought that the company had come to really and sincerelly trust and appreciate him.

    Then, all it took was one mistake at the international press conference for the company to start blaming him again for a thousand and one things and go after him. 

      And finally, the CEO had ended up showing a formidable coldness in the face of Jin's difficulties and far from resolving them, had sent two managers, one of whom was an eternal iceberg that no heat seemed able to melt while the another had become his worst nightmare, threatening and hurting him while pretending to take care of him in the eyes of all.

     Thus, because of all of this, when Bang Si-hyuk started his speech with "I trust you and I want you to trust me", Jin shouted in his head:

      Liar! What trust? 

     He didn't trust him any more than the man trusted him.

    If the CEO had trusted him from the start, Jin would be a fulfilled idol, perhaps one of the most popular boys in the group, who could know? And he wouldn't have been the one the company had always been beating down on. He would not have been pushed to his limits to be physically and mentally injured and finally, he would not have had to suffer Lee's presence.

      And finally, a trusted person who prioritized his protection over his company's turnover would definitely not have decided to continue the tour after Jin had been threatened with death by dozens of people. 

     So no, he wouldn't trust this man anymore. He was about to reject the good words of the man but was totally taken aback by what the CEO told him:

     "Seokjin, you have to tell me what you have done with those millions that you have poured over the past few weeks."

     "I beg your pardon?" Jin asked in disbelief.

     "I have been made aware. You told your mother those were intentional cash transfers and your manager confirmed this version of the facts. Do you confirm it to me?" The voice of the CEO was unusually soft, the singer thought, as if to give him confidence.

     "Yes," Jin lied, angry that he talk to her about it again now when he had just been threatened with death and was completely expecting something else as a discussion.

     "So now I want you to tell me who you made these transfers to."

     Jin almost laughed when he realized how right he had been. So it was an accusation that Bang Si-hyuk wanted to make by daring to speak of trust! He was convinced that it was once again about protecting the company and not himself.

    "Why?" he asked aggressively. " You want to find a legitimate official reason to kick me out of the band just before the tour starts? Do you think it's because of me that the whole group is threatened?"

     The CEO seemed genuinely surprised at Jin's reaction. 

     "What's wrong with you Seokjin? Why would I do or think such things?"

    "Because I know you despise me, you always considered me less capable of the other and I bet you regret making me join the group in the first place."

    The CEO shook his head at what he considered grossly untrue.

     "Seokjin, you're so shocked by what you've read and you're suddenly lacking in self-confidence, but I won't let you believe what you just said. I don't despise you and I've always admired your strength of character : I don't like you any less than the others. But you repeatedly acted in a disreputable way and I had to act sometimes in extreme ways to protect you from your own lightness and your innocence in the face of the harshness of this environment."

     "P-Protect me?" Jin stammered.

    That was what Lee had told her over and over again while hurting him relentlessly. Why should he believe that word when it came from the CEO?

    "Yes, Si-Hyuk agreed, "and that's also why I have to ask you where did that money you spent."

    Jin turned red with anger

     "The money I make is mine! Why does everyone want to have a look and a hand on it?  It doesn't belong to the company, so I can do what I want with it, right? Then, why ask so insistently what or who I spent it on?!"

     "Seokjin." 

     The CEO's suddenly cold voice sounded like a warning to Jin that he should not cross the red line. 

      "You are both an employee of my company and a public figure, don't forget that. Your reputation is also that of the company and vice versa. If you were plunged into dark traffic, for example, and it were discovered, this scandal would not only damage your reputation but also the reputation of your company and your group's at the same time."

     And yours, Jin thought, who had accepted all the heinous innuendo from his CEO. He winced at another realization. He was an employee before everything else and had to preserve the reputation of his boss and his company before thinking of himself.

     "And then you say you want to protect me? Yet, it's still and always about the company, not about me!"

    "It is by protecting the company that I can ensure your protection Seokjin," Mr. Bang replied. "And if justice learns that you acted by yourself by hanging out in some shady business without the company even knowing about it, you will find yourself completely alone in front of everyone."

    "I'm already all alone in front of everyone," Jin replied without thinking.

    "What do you mean?" the CEO carefully asked.

    "N-Nothing," Jin hastened to say. 

      Bang Si-hyuk had absolutely nothing to say about protecting him, about the managing of his finances, about someone who could try to take advantage of him... Thus, the paternal bond he had publicly with the group was only a facade or maybe it was a fake bond only regarding Jin?

    In any case, Jin realized for the first time that he was probably excluded from this fatherly relationship since the beginning, despite what he had thought he had created as a bond with him over the years, despite the laughter they had exchanged, despite the precious advice the man had given him...

     Was it just because he was the oldest? Or because he was the least talented of the group? Even though Jin didn't really like that man at that moment, it was painful to realize that he had never really loved him like his bandmates.

    "I'm going to ask you the question differently," Bang continued, "so you can say that I respect your privacy: are these transfers used to fund a legal project? Could these transfers one day be detrimental to the company?"

     As far as these were the actions of Lee, an own employee of the company chosen by the CEO himself, Jin found it ironic. Was the CEO sincere when he said he made the decision to choose Lee as his manager for his own good? Didn't he really know that this man was a monster whose latest whim was to extort his money?

      But he could only be sincere when he answered finally because indeed, these cash transfers were only detrimental to Jin, not to anyone else :

     "No. They won't hurt the company." Jin answered coldly.

     The man seemed satisfied with his answer and didn't ask Jin to dig deeper.

     "I trust you, you are a good boy, Seokjin, you always have been."

       Jin suppressed a grimace of disgust: they were the same words Lee had the day before. Both men thought they felt all powerful in the face of him and that was what their mutual trust was based on. Lee had built a trusting relationship based on threat while Bang Si-hyuk had so much power that he thought it was impossible for Jin to lie to him looking him in the eye.

     "One last thing and I'll set you free. I see you've hurt yourself a lot lately, and I suspect that starting the world tour with a broken finger shouldn't have been very reassuring for you. I can make sure you're less physically strained if you want, don't be ashamed to ask, everyone will understand."

     "No, I don't want to," Jin said immediately. 

     Too eagerly, because the CEO was worried about it, suddenly having the impression of a malaise other than that of the recent threat from the fans.

     "Seokjin, is there something you would like to tell me about before your tour starts? Things I might have sorted out when you get back? Doubts, fears, worries, problems with your teachers, your managers for example or anyone or anything else?"

     That last question could have made Jin decide to reveal everything he had on his mind. All the truth. After all, if anyone could fix all the problems that had come upon him, it was Bang Si-hyuk. And if he had have a real father-son bond with the man, the singer would not have hesitated.

     But the man, even if he tried to make up for it now,, was also responsible for part of his misery, had not been able to take the protective measures expected of him in view of the death threats that Jin had received and finally, he had just accuse him of potential illegal investment. Was this really the person he wanted to confide in?

    If he revealed why Lee was threatening him and Jungkook, what would he do? Would he still defend him as he claimed now? Or would he try by all means to preserve Jungkook's reputation at the expense of his own and fire him? Sending him to suffer in military service after being disgraced in front of the whole country and found guilty of having involved his young bandmate in homosexual practices which are still particularly disapproved in their country and who will have disappointed his fans ?

    This scenario was based on the betrayal of his CEO. But since he had no doubt that the man would abandon him as soon as he knew the truth, he had no doubt that this was the most realistic scenario.

    Then, he replied categorically, condemning himself to remain locked in his terrible secret:

    "No sir, there is nothing I want to talk about with you."