"T-Tae, what are you doing here?" Seokjin asked in a fearful voice, as thunder began to rumble in the distance.

Taehyung heard the fear in his voice but decided he deserved it. All the discussion he had had with Seung and especially the conclusion had pissed him off. Seokjin didn't want to live with him anymore and he despised him. It was a heavy blow for Taehyung. It was painful. But he wasn't going to let that happen. If he couldn't have Seokjin through friendship, then he would have him through fear, like everyone else.

"I came to get you, you are coming home," he announced coldly.

He strode forward and roughly grabbed Seokjin's wrist to pull him towards him.

"Ouch!" Seokjin cried out in pain, but he let himself be dragged away by Taehyung.

Usually, he would calmly explain things to Taehyung, certain that he would eventually convince him to let him do whatever he wanted. But that night, after hearing what Taehyung had done to Seung behind his back, and seeing the rage emanating from him, Seokjin didn't dare. He no longer recognized his friend at that moment, he frightened him.

"Let him go, you're hurting him!" Seung exclaimed as he immediately grabbed Taehyung's wrist to stop him from taking Seokjin in away.  "Jin doesn't want to go home with you, now he knows what kind of person you are!"

The young Kim growled menacingly, ready to strike and barely containing himself.

"Get off me, asshole!"

Seung wondered that Taehyung hadn't attacked him already. He remembered that Taehyung never directly hit him after the incident of the first day. Could it be that... no, a guy like him had no such qualms, he thought. But he couldn't help wondering: could he really care about the promise made to Seokjin? Was that why even now he still refrained from hurting him at that moment despite his rage?

He decided not to let go and replied defiantly:

"Not until you release Jin!"

"It's not gonna happen so move or else-"

"Jin!" Seung cut Taehyung, preferring to speak to Seokjin directly, encouraging him: "defend yourself, don't let him take you home, he has no say, you do what you want and what you want is to stay here with me, not go home with him! Right?"

Seokjin seemed to consider this option. After all, wasn't he free to stay if he wanted? Taehyung was only his friend, not his master or his father, he didn't have to order him back. Taehyung felt he was about to break free from his grip and he was deeply displeased.

"SEOKJIN !" he roared, tightening his grip around Seokjin's wrist and pulling it sharply.

Seokjin flinched. Not because of the pain, but because of how Taehyung had called him. Indeed, Taehyung had never called him by his full name, he had always called him friendly by his diminutive "Jin".

He seemed by this simple change to have established a sudden distance between them, as if reminding him that they were not equals and that Taehyung had the ascendancy over him. That Seokjin belonged to him. Memories he would have liked to forget forever resurfaced in his mind and in his flesh, and made him pale.

Seeing that he was dumbfounded and trembling with fear, Taehyung lowered his voice slightly but he remained threatening:

"Remind me when I allow you to sleep here?"

"Y-you didn't allow me..." Seokjin stuttered in a whisper, no longer seeking to affirm his freedom.

"Exactly, so now you're going to follow me and come home with me."

Speechless, Seung saw Seokjin nod in resignation. Usually, when he saw them talking, it was Seokjin who seemed to talk the most and was listened to by the other who seemed to have genuine affection for him. But at that moment, he realized that he had not been wrong to see in Taehyung a monster who would not become less evil as he grew up but would on the contrary be reinforced in his certainty that he could dominate the others. Someone had to stand up to him, and while that role naturally suited Seokjin better than him, Seung had to act while he taught Seokjin how to do it himself.

"No but, who do you take yourself for, seriously?" he rudely asked Taehyung. "Jin doesn't need your permission to do anything. His mom gave him permission to come and he doesn't need anything else, especially yours. Now leave him alone and get the hell out of my house."

A murderous glint passed through Taehyung's gaze that almost made Seung recoil.

"Get off me," Taehyung repeated, "I have no desire to stay in this seedy place. It stinks of mediocrity and failure. What a pitiful family!"

"What did you just say?!" Seung snapped as he tightened his grip around Taehyung's wrist.

"You heard right, so hammer it into your head," Taehyung sneered. "Now for the last time, get off me or I swear, I'm going to kill you in three seconds."

"No, you won't," Seung said confidently.

"One..." Taehyung retorted, thinking he shouldn't have counted and immediately punched that self-confident mouth that hadn't learned to respect him just because he did what Seokjin asked of him had prevented himself all year from punching Seung himself. He hated having passed for a weakling in front of a loser like Seung. He wouldn't make that mistake again.

Taehyung's words resonated with fearsome force in Seokjin. He was intimately convinced these weren't empty threats or a teenage joke: Taehyung was a person capable of killing, how could he forget about it so easily? A searing pain shot through his chest and went all the way down his abdomen, down to his hip where the wound had been deepest. It tore a moan from him, like a resurgence of his past pain, a memory of a day when he had almost died, killed by Taehyung. The pain was such that he felt like his old wound had reopened along its entire length, even though all that pain was in his head, due to Taehyung's creepy behavior.

"...Two..."

"S-seung, let go of him, please, he's really going to hurt you, please, please..." Seokjin sobbed helplessly as he held his aching abdomen with his trembling free hand. "He... he is capable of it, you were the one who was right all along, Joonie too, and it was I who was wrong, I had... forgotten... I shouldn't have..."

Taehyung frowned at Seokjin's behavior but his concern turned to anger one more time when he saw that Seung was in deep concern and that it was this and not his obedience or fear of him that had suddenly let him go.

"J-jin, are you okay?" Seung asked eagerly. "What's wrong, are you hurt?"

"How annoying he is..." Taehyung muttered through clenched teeth.

Letting go of Seokjin, he violently pushed Seung to the ground with his two hands. Seung groaned in pain and then cried out when he felt Taehyung kick him twice in the face. His nose and mouth bleeding in front of a horrified Seokjin and an icy Taehyung, Seung was about to get up painfully to confront Taehyung standing when he felt Taehyung's foot pressing painfully on his ankle.

"No!" Seokjin shouted but Taehyung ignored him

"You are a footballer, I'm not sure you could keep playing if I broke your ankle and crushed your tendons," he said to Seung. "Even if, all things considered, you manage on your own to be a very pitiful footballer with no chance of being selected for the top competition."

"And you, you think it's my fault but you manage on your own for being such a pitiful friend to Seokjin," Seung spat, "you're so scared that he doesn't want to stay with you out of friendship that you're forcing him to walk away from me to make him stay with you. You are really pathetic, I have to tell you because I know that no one will dare to tell you the truth!"

Seokjin moaned in despair as he heard Seung continue to provoke Taehynug. Seung crashed full length when Taehyung kicked him in the face again as a piece of tooth flew through the air.

"Here, I just imagined something funny," Taehyung said with a wicked smile, "I'm going to knock out all your teeth, maybe that'll teach your mouth to refrain from provoking me. But first I have to take care of this ankle."

"NO!" Seokjin yelled, hearing that, but Taehyung ignored him.

As Seung struggled to get up and held his mouth moaning, Taehyung lifted his foot high above Seung's ankle, ready to knock him down with all his might as many times as necessary in order to hurt him as hard as possible. Seokjin saw himself again, several years earlier, in the same position as Seung, crawling on the ground in an attempt to escape Taehyung's cruelty. He wanted to intervene, push Taehyung away from Seung, but he was paralyzed. He didn't want Taehyung to inflict pain on his friend like the one he had inflicted on him. Again, he wondered: how could he have forgotten such pain? And worse, how could he have continued to live with Taehyung as if nothing had happened?

He wanted to get away from Taehyung as much as possible, never to see him again. But it was his fault, if Taehyung was going after Seung, he couldn't let him and there was only one way to get him away from him. Even if it cost him terribly, he had no choice.

"Please stop, Taehyung, I want to go home now so leave him alone," he sobbed seeing Seung at the mercy of Taehyung who seemed to have no compassion for the pain he was inflicting on his friend.

Seokjin put both his arms around Taehyung's waist trying to pull him back.

"Please," he repeated with a sob.

Taehyung took the time to consider Seokjin's request. After all, he had come looking for Seokjin and he could take care of Seung later, without Seokjin getting involved. Now that he had let himself go and broken his promise to Seokjin, he had no reason to hold back anymore.

"Okay, let's go home then."

Relieved, Seokjin nodded.

"N-no, Jin..." Seung groaned as he held out a hand towards Seokjin and ignored Taehyung's icy gaze. "D-don't go with him, s-stay here tonight and never go back to the Kims again, or he'll hurt you."

"Oh my God ! Seung, let him go!" Seung's mother suddenly cried out in a pleading voice from the patio door of the terrace where she had just appeared alongside her husband and Soo, the Kim's driver Taehyung had come with.

The latter held Seokjin's bag in one hand and had a sorry hand resting on Seung's father's shoulder, as if to prevent him from joining his son or attacking Taehyung. Mr et Mrs Choi appeared in shock at their son's condition. His bloody face was disfigured from the beatings he had received.

"He's not someone you can challenge, son," his father said, a hint of regret in his voice. "Let Seokjin go with him if that's what he wants, you have to."

"You... you threatened my parents?!" Seung exclaimed to Taehyung, getting to his feet and wiping his bloody mouth in shock, seeing the fear in his mother's eyes and the resolve in his father's.

Taehyung gave him an evil grin.

"You are less than nothing in front of my family and I can cause your loss by snapping my fingers, your parents understood it faster than you, that's all."

Seung clenched his fists in rage, ready to throw them into Taehyung's face but his father, understanding what he wanted to do, rushed to join him.

"Seung!" he said loudly, "say goodbye to Seokjin, now."

It seemed so incongruous to him as his father's order that Seung looked at him in bewilderment and then looked at Taehyung who was still smiling, looking particularly confident after successfully subjugating Seung's parents to his authority. However, his father's gaze was so insistent that Seung didn't question him. He just glared at Taehyung and walked around him to hug Seokjin, whispering in his ear:

"I promise you that I will free you from him. Let's make an anti-Taehyung plan starting Monday at school, okay?"

Seokjin widened his eyes but realized that this time, instead of blaming his friend for wishing Taehyung harm, he agreed with him and even grateful he agreed to stay on his side despite what Taehyung had done to him through his fault. So, he replied in the same tone:

"O-okay, thank you Seung."

"Goodbye Seokjin, see you Monday," Seung said loudly this time, stepping back and giving his friend a small smile.

"See you Monday," Seokjin said with the same small smile.

The drive to the Kims' property was made in religious silence. Only the summer rain, which had started pouring down in the night, could be heard hitting hard against the car. Sometimes the roar of the storm resounded.

Seokjin was curled up against the right window and cast anxious glances at Taehyung, worried about what he would be able to do to him in the secret of a speeding car in the night, after what he had been able to do to Seung with his parents as witnesses and without fear of anyone. he wondered if Soo would protect him from an angry outburst from Taehyung.

However, Taehyung, leaning on his left side, was so calm he was scarier for Seokjin. He was staring at the black sky, as if he was pondering a dark project.

In reality, the heir was repeating in loop the conversation he had heard and Seokjin's desire to get away from him. He was so angry that now that Seung was no longer around, it was him he blamed and he was afraid of what he was capable of doing to him if he didn't calm down.

Arrived in front of the gate of the property which opened automatically, Seokjin was relieved: he was going to be able to return to take refuge at his house. However, before the car could restart to enter, Taehyung ordered Soo:

"Wait before entering. Jin, get out of the car."

Exchanging a puzzled look with Seokjin, Soo got out of the car, running in the pouring rain to open the door. Seokjin descended without being asked, happy to leave the car and the stifling presence of Taehyung. He was about to walk home but Taehyung told him dryly:

"You will stay here. Soo is going to close the gate and you will wait here in the rain and think about what happened tonight. Anyway, you were ready to play football in the rain, right? Well now, I grant you that wish. But you're not allowed a ball, you just have the right to meditate on what you have said earlier."

"But..." Seokjin began, already soaked and shivering.

"No 'but', I'm tired of you standing up to me so tonight, you are going to shut up and stay here!" Taehyung yelled, without any control over his emotions anymore. "And when Namjoon comes back from his evening classes later, he's the one who will get you in. You can tell him yourself why you are being punished since you like to tell him everything! I can't wait to see how he will react."

The driver wanted to argue for Seokjin but he had been forced to threaten the Chois on Taehyung's orders and he knew that if he didn't obey, he would lose his job and will only be replaced by a more obedient employee who is less reluctant to harm Seokjin. It wouldn't help Seokjin. Thus, he gave a sorry look at Seokjin, who watched him close the cardoor he had gotten out of, get back in the car, and drive it down the center driveway of the property. Behind the car, the gate closed, locking Seokjin outside.

when the thunder rumbled he jumped but to reassure himself, told himself that he had little chance of being struck by lightning.

"I'll be fine," Seokjin wanted to reassure himself squatting and leaning against the gate. "I'm better here than inside with Tae, here at least he won't do anything to me..."

But a few seconds after the high opaque gate closed, the street lamp next to it automatically turned off, and Seokjin found himself alone in the darkness of the alley, more anxious than ever.

"I'm going to kill that damn psycho," Namjoon irritated as he got out of the car and rushed towards the sleeping form against the cold and wet gate. The streetlight had come back  automatically on when a car approached, and the headlights of the car brightly illuminate the place too.

Baek, who had brought Namjoon back, had received a message from Soo explaining that he would find Seokjin in front of the house and he had avoided opening the gate beforehand as a precaution. He had done well because Seokjin had fallen asleep against the gate despite the pouring rain. The poor boy was soaked through and after checking, he was burning with fever.

"How do you know your brother did this?" Baek asked, removing his jacket to cover Seokjin hastily opening the trunk to pull out a large black umbrella. He hadn't told Namjoon what Soo had told him because one of the rules for working in a family like the Kims was to know how to preserve the secrets of each member of the family in all circumstances. The employees talked to each other, but they didn't let anything get out of the property or get in the ears of other family members.

"He eventually snapped," explained Namjoon who had no qualms about breaking sugar into his brother's back and making their family staff hate him. "I knew it would happen, he couldn't stand that Jinnie preferred his friend Seung to him and he got revenge while I was away. He locked him out in the rain, that bastard! Jinnie, wake up..." he called in a softened voice.

He gently shook Seokjin by the shoulder and without waiting for him to be fully awake, he helped him up and head towards the car, as Baek held the umbrella above their heads.

"Hold on, I'll take you home," Namjoon told him as he gets him into the car.

"J-J-Joonie I'll e-e-e-explain t-to y-you," Seokjin stammered weakly, eyes half closed.

He was shivering and in an instant, he soaked the backseat of the car.

"Not now," Namjoon refused as he hugged Seokjin to him to warm him up. "Later, okay?"

Baek accompanied Namjoon and Seokjin to the Murakmi's house and after helping Seokjin out of the car and walking to the door, Namjoon dismissed him, saying he would go home alone. The security guard sighed as he walked away, thinking back to what had happened many years before. "You really should have left, Yoko," he thought to himself.

Seokjin was barely able to stand up and Namjoon helped him sit down or rather collapse on a chair. Finding out about Seokjin's condition, his mother became alarmed and touching his burning forehead, she asked hastily what happened.

"He stayed in the rain too long and caught cold," Namjoon explained as he dried his hair with a towel given to him by the old Murakami.

"But I don't understand," Yoko said, "I thought Taehyung went to pick him up from Seung's by car. Since they weren't coming back, I assumed they stayed there together waiting for the storm to end."

"Yes, Taehyung went looking for him, but Jinnie stayed out in the rain too long playing football with Seung before leaving; you know how he is, he never wants to let go of his ball when he starts," Namjoon lied, unhappy with his made-up explanation.

He couldn't tell Yoko what Taehyung had done, that would be another reason for her to want to run away from home with Seokjin and his grandfather. But he was already thinking of a way to make himself Taehyung pay for what he had just done to Seokjin. Going after Seokjin's friend all year was one thing. Going after Seokjin was another he couldn't tolerate.

Seokjin's grandfather helped his grandson take a hot bath before helping him get dressed and slide into his futon, then Yoko made him eat a hot rice porridge and take medicine before covering him with a double thick blanket because he continued to shiver with cold. All the while, Seokjin remained uncharacteristically quiet, and if his family thought it was only because of his fever, Namjoon suspected that Taehyung was no stranger to Seokjin's behavior. After all, it was Namjoon himself who told Seokjin never to tell his mother what Taehyung might be doing wrong to avoid worrying her, but rather to come and talk to him about it.

When the two adults retired to let Seokjin fall asleep - what he did immediately, Namjoon remained in his tiny room, sitting on the wood flooring against the wall, his eyes glued to Seokjin two feet away from him. He was waiting for Taehyung who would soon arrive as a victorious conqueror to find Seokjin.

And indeed, a few minutes later, Taehyung, after bearing Yoko's hurt gaze regarding his previous behavior without flinching while taking off his shoes, entered Seokjin's semi-dark room without knocking as usual, already dressed in his pajamas and ready to go to bed. But he didn't have time to move forward to the futon where Seokjin was sleeping because Namjoon closed the door and grabbed his little brother by the collar before slamming him against the bedroom wall.

"Do you have a death wish?!" Namjoon blasted him in an aggressive semi-whisper so as not to alert Seokjin's mother and grandfather.

"Ah, there you are, that's good," Taehyung remarked as he pulled away and nonchalantly readjusted his collar. "Thus, we can talk."

After a year spent in middle school taking advantage of his social rank to impose his desires on others, he came out of it more arrogant than ever and had even less respect for his older brother than in the past, to whom he liked to show that he was not afraid of him.

"What the hell Taehyung?! How could you do this to him?!"

"That's not a way of speaking dad would like to hear from your mouth, Mister perfect," Taehyung sneered. "And stop dramatizing, it was just a little rain, he wasn't going to die of it but he still had to be punished. I could have done worse if I hadn't controlled myself, and you know that perfectly well. AND, I had to get your attention, so..."

"Shut up! And if he had died of hypothermia, what would you have done smartass?"

"Hypo-what?" Taehyung asked, taken aback.

"You really are a moron, little brother," Namjoon said with disgust, as if suddenly doubting their blood relationship. "If your stupidity should one day kill him, I promise you that I will kill you too myself, without anyone being able to trace me. I'm not joking, believe me."

Taehyung had just lost a bit of his composure upon realizing that his lack of knowledge and judgment may have nearly cost Seokjin his life. However, he recovered very quickly:

"Got it. Now, listen to me, I need you to keep this evil mindset because you have to help me, Namjoon."

"Why would I help you, to do anything, you moron?" Namjoon asked in a bad mood.

"If you don't want Jin to go away forever, you have to help me!"

It was the only argument that could bring them together and assure him that he was fighting side by side. Namjoon sighed loudly, annoyed but suddenly more attentive.

"I'm listening, so hurry up."

They sat down and Taehyung then told him about the entire discussion he overheard between Seokjin and Seung. He told him about Seung and his family's proposal, and about Seokjin's decision, as well as how he tried to resolve the situation and end it all. But he knew it wasn't enough and he needed to hit harder.

"And hearing all this conversation, you couldn't think of anything better to do at that moment than scare him by attacking his friend, threatening the entire Choi family and then making him spend the evening in the rain? You're a genius, he should really want to stay here with us now!" Namjoon quipped, annoyed.

"I did what I had to do, I was tired of that damn Seung. Spending all his time at school with Jin was not enough for him, he wanted to have him all to himself by inviting him to come and live with him, I wasn't going to let that happen!"

"Obviously, our parents forgot to give you a brain when they conceived you because believe me, there were a thousand and one other ways to fix it!"

"If I had managed to resolve the situation on my own, I wouldn't be asking for your help!" Taehyung retorted. "I don't know what to do, this is where your brain comes in : show me what it's like to be the smartest and find a definitive solution!"

"Aaargh! I'm sick of you!" Namjoon cursed, running a frantic hand through his hair and thinking at top speed.

Taehyung shrugged and while Namjoon thought of a way to deal with the situation, he sat next to Seokjin who was sleeping a fitful sleep, consumed by fever, his forehead burning strewn with bead of sweat.

"I'm sorry Jin, I didn't mean to make you sick..." he muttered, wiping the sweat from his brow.

"Are you going to spend your life making him suffer and apologizing after, only where no one can hear you, not even him?" Namjoon said. "Maybe I should congratulate you on learning to apologize but know that he will not put up with your meanness all his life. No matter how much you want to keep him for yourself, he will end up moving away from you because of what you are : detestable."

"And you despicable," Taehyung replied, "I know you're dying to get him away from me but that won't happen. I will never let that happen."

"We'll see," Namjoon muttered to himself.

"Now is not the time to strategize demonically against me, get that damn Seung away from Jin!"

"No..." Seokjin suddenly moaned in a small voice, his eyes half-open. "No...Not Seung..."

The two Kims jumped as they turned to him and, seeing him awake, eyes barely open, Namjoon stopped Taehyung from talking to him first and ruining all their chances.

"Hey Jinnie, how are you?"

"Don't hurt him, please, please..." Seokjin whined without answering him.

"I won't hurt him, and Taehyung won't hurt him anymore either," Namjoon added, glaring at Taehyung before addressing Seokjin gently but with a hint of disappointment in his voice, "but you have to know what you did is not right: it is not nice to have said that you wanted to go live with him without even telling me. Do you really want to leave me?"

"No, please, not Seung..."

Namjoon very soon noticed that Seokjin, whose eyes had filled with tears, seemed to be plagued by terrible nightmares.

"He's delirious, in his head he's still at Seung's with you," Namjoon sighed, no longer holding back from slapping his brother's head who had done so badly. "Hurry up and help him to calm down and to go back to sleep, since it's the only thing you seem to be useful for."

Taehyung slid into the futon and hugged Seokjin who didn't seem to see him and whose half-open eyes were looking at something that escaped the two boys watching him. But at least, it made him quickly stop shivering with cold and naturally curl up in his usual position against Taehyung.

"Sleep Jin," Taehyung ordered, putting a hand over his eyes to force them closed, hoping that he would drift into a more peaceful sleep.

"You dictator..." Namjoon said but without really blaming him, because he had something else in mind. "He really only has Seung in his mouth, even when he's sleeping," he remarked thoughtfully.

"Do you understand why this annoys me? I'm sure it pisses you off too, whether you want to admit it or not."

"I'll take care of it," Namjoon decided, leaving the room, his determined look telling Taehyung that he had no reason to worry anymore. The Seung case was going to be definitely buried shortly, he knew he could trust his brother's Machiavellian spirit.