Taehyung’s day had ended perfectly yesterday, but the next didn’t start well at all. When he woke up around noon, he found five missed calls from Soo Gun and a text commanding him to meet him at his house. 

He took his sweet time to get ready, mostly because he truly didn’t want to see him. He had to go, though, and about two hours later, he was escorted to his room. 

At first glance, he could tell Soo Gun was furious. The tirade that followed only confirmed it, and the brutal slap he delivered on his left cheek rendered Taehyung in shock. It was indeed such a brutal slap it managed to bruise his cheek. 

He instantly apologized, spewing some lame excuses that he couldn’t control himself.

The worst people for Taehyung were always the violent ones. And because of his work, he often met aggressive assholes who thought they could behave however they wanted. He knew jerks like Soo Gun inside and out. Their apologies meant shit. Even if they promised they wouldn’t do it again, they always did. 

He had to cut any relation with him as soon as possible. 

He couldn’t threaten him that he’d leave him if he ever did it again because he’d hit him for sure. He knew that much. Soo Gun was that type. The most loathsome one. 

After reluctantly spending some time with him, he drove to the mansion to inform Jin Mo about his behavior. 

“What happened to your face?” Jin Mo asked the moment he let him in, a scowl sprawling over his features. 

“Soo Gun hit me. He called me, and I didn’t answer because I was sleeping. He’s too obsessive, Jin Mo-ssi. And he even hit me without a reason. He’s dangerous.”

A frustrated sigh thrust out of Jin Mo as they settled down on the couch. “I’m sorry, Tae. It angers me to see you like this, but he’s important. Almost as much as Jungkook. You have to stay close to him.”

“If he gets so mad and slaps me for not answering my phone, he can easily kill me.”

“Don’t be so dramatic. Just be good to him.”

“I don’t want to!” Taehyung vociferated, feeling a sudden storm of exasperation burn in his gut. “I don’t want him to touch me in any way. I don’t want to talk to him. I don’t want to see him.”

Jin Mo observed the fury clenching at his traits and sipped his drink. “You became more sensitive the last month. Any particular reason why?”

“I didn’t.”

“Come on, Tae. I know you. Even if you hated it when they touched you, you never complained. Did you fall in love or something too?”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Taehyung asked in vexed surprise. “And what do you mean ‘too’?” 

Jin Mo lowered his eyes to the glass in his hands. “Someone else was in your place before you. He was with me almost from the beginning. But that idiot fell in love and told me he couldn’t do this anymore.”

Taehyung’s nerves mellowed at the narration. “And what did you do?”

“I couldn’t keep him against his will, so I let him leave. But there was a condition. He had to leave the country and forget that he knew me. And he did. I still check on him from time to time. He’s doing well. He has adopted two kids. It was difficult for me to find someone to replace him. No one was good enough. But then I found you.”

“How did you find me? I never asked.”

“One of my men back then saw you coax someone and then steal his wallet. He found it interesting how you managed to do that and told me about it. I asked Ah In to find out everything about you and keep an eye on you. The moment I learned about your past, I knew you were the perfect man for this job. You had anger in you. And with that anger came determination as well. You were skillful too, of course, and I sent Ah In to offer you the job.”

Taehyung snorted softly as the way they met flowed through his mind. Looking back now, it was funny. Interesting. But back then, he was furious. 

 
Seven years ago

Loud, blithe laughs surrounded Taehyung’s group of friends as they chilled at their usual spot. But then, their cackle silenced abruptly, and Taehyung frowned as he watched them lower their heads and shrink in their seat. 

“V.”

Taehyung spun around and faced the man. “Yes?”

“I’ve heard about you.”

“Okay,” he said, an apparent glint of confusion swirling in his eyes. 

“I’m here to offer you a job.”

A jumble of gasps rolled into Taehyung’s ears from behind him, along with murmuring chatter. “What job?” 

“How about you come with me?” 

“V, they want prostitutes. Don’t go,” Eun Hae whispered as he tugged his jacket. 

The man erupted into a throaty laugh. “Yes, we do. But it would be a waste to put you in that group. We want you to be a part of Selene.”

More intense murmuring sounded from Taehyung’s friends. “What is that?”

“Come with me and I’ll explain everything. If you don’t like my offer, you can leave.”

Taehyung pondered over his request with a deep frown. He turned to his friends then, giving them a reassuring look. “I’ll come back, don’t worry.”

The man escorted him to a black car and opened the back door for him. The moment Taehyung took his seat, Ah In struck an injection into the side of his neck, and his consciousness slowly blackened. 

He could feel something metallic fastened around his wrists when he woke up. He jiggled his hands as the drowsiness abated, quickly realizing he was chained to a column. The image of an unfamiliar man sitting in front of him, grinning, pierced through the dizzying fog. “Where the hell am I?”

“Ah, you’re finally awake. Hello, V.”

“Who the fuck are you?” He strained against the chains as a spark of dread took root in his stomach. 

“Well, don’t be so scared,” Jin Mo snickered. “It’s a mission.” 

“What the fuck? I never said I’ll accept that fucker’s offer.” 

“I know you will. Now, focus. You wake up chained somewhere. What do you do first?” 

“What the fuck is this? Let me go!” Taehyung exclaimed furiously. 

“Come on, live up to your name, V. What do you do first?”

Taehyung’s struggle carried on, but he soon comprehended there was no getting out of this by pulling on the chains. He had to calm down and assess the situation. And so he drew in a row of palliative breaths and ruled over his anxiety. “I check the place for cameras.”

“Good. Continue.”

“If I’m alone, I check with what they’ve tied me up, but I don’t try to free myself yet.”

“Why?” 

“Because I don’t know where I am. Even if I untie myself, there’s no guarantee I can get out of here. So I wait until someone comes to talk to me and try to get information.” 

“Good. And let’s say you know where you are. How do you untie yourself?”

Since he was tied up with a chain, he couldn’t possibly break it. He squatted and searched for something in his shoe, but the man cackling stilled his movements. 

“Are you looking for this?” He wiggled a small case that contained a knife and a pin. The amusement drained away from his face, though, as Taehyung mirrored his previous smirk. 

He rose to his full height, looking straight into his eyes. A few seconds rolled by, and they heard the click of the lock opening. The chain dropped onto the floor with a jiggling thud, and they stared as Taehyung rubbed his wrists. Then, he suddenly charged at Jin Mo, his hand swinging back to pound against his face. 

But Ah In leaped at him and twisted his arm behind his back, restraining him, as Jin Mo cackled. “I’m impressed, V. As expected. You’re a gem. How did you do it?” 

Taehyung stopped fighting against Ah In, and the grip around him loosened. “See this? It’s just a plastic bracelet, right?” He held his hand up to demonstrate his wrist. “What no one knows is that it has a button. And inside it has another needle, even smaller than the one you’re holding.”

Jin Mo was truly amazed by his skillfulness. “Smart. But you just revealed your secret to us. Do you really trust us so much?” 

“I don’t trust you one bit. But if you put all your people under such missions just to join you, it means they’re good, and they make you a lot of money. So you pay a lot of money as well.”

“Correct. You can make up to one million by a mission. It depends on how dangerous it is.” 

“One fucking million?” he questioned, appalled at the amount. “I’m in. But are you really the boss?” 

“Why? I don’t seem like it?” 

“I don’t know. Why did you reveal your face so easily? Bosses stay hidden as far as I know.”

“I like recruiting my people face to face.”

“Okay. I’ll accept your offer in one condition. You’ll help me find who killed my parents.”

He chuckled. “Slow down. I’ll help you only if you become a VIP. It won’t be easy, you know.”

“A VIP? What does this mean?”

“You have a lot to learn and a lot of training to go through. Ah In will tell you everything you need to know. Do we have a deal? Because the moment you say yes, you can’t go back to that shelter. You’re not allowed to leave this mansion if it’s not for a mission.”

“What about my stuff? I don’t even get to say goodbye?”

“We’ll bring your stuff later. And no. You don’t get to say goodbye. The faster you become a VIP, the faster you’ll see them again. So you should work hard.”

“Okay. We have a deal.”

. . .

Taehyung sighed quietly. “Anyway. If Soo Gun hits me again, I’ll cut any contact with him. And I don’t care how important he is.”

“You’re not the one to decide that.” Jin Mo’s voice was austere, with an undertone of caution. “There will be consequences if you give up this mission. It’s that much important to me. That slap from Soo Gun will be nothing compared to what will happen to you. I hate threatening you. Especially you. But don’t test me, Tae. And please don’t make me do something to hurt you.”

Taehyung huffed in bitter contempt. “Don’t pretend to be nice. You’re a jackass like him. You hit your men to toughen them. You hit your men when they don’t obey you. But will you really hit me? Huh? You’re such a scumbag. And it’s so fucking sad that I expected you to care about me and tell me by yourself to stay away from Soo Gun. You knew how dangerous he is from the start, didn’t you?” He scowled at him fiercely, although he was more hurt than mad by his demeanor. And Jin Mo’s unresponsiveness to his last question only confirmed his speculation. “Of course you did.”

Taehyung snatched the control from the table and pressed the button to open the door, then took off in a blaze of stinging bitterness. Jin Mo always put his work first. Why did he expect him not to do that this time? Why did he expect him to care? He only cared when he wanted to.

He returned to his house, but it felt too stifling to stay inside. He traipsed around his neighborhood and also visited the Hangang park. Resting at the usual bench he shared with Jungkook, he recalled yesterday’s events and the beautiful time they had together. Then, something else slammed into his mind. 

Sa Rang. 

She knew everything about him. What if she was planning to tell Jungkook about him? He had to warn her. And also let her know that Jin Mo didn’t kill her son.

He sent a text to Jimin, asking him to give him her address. He knew her husband and Jungkook were at work since it was still six in the afternoon, and it was a good chance to talk to her. 

Jimin did as he was told, and soon he was on his way to her house. He didn’t spot her car when he arrived twenty-five minutes later and waited for her, since he had nothing else to do. 

He spent his time observing the lavish house, checking if there were cameras. He located one near the door and made sure to stay away from its region. 

It was about half an hour later when a car approached the house. He squared his shoulders and spectated as the car came to an abrupt, screeching halt in front of him. 

A perplexed, furious-looking Sa Rang popped out of the car and stomped towards him. “What are you doing here?”

Taehyung raised his hands in front of him, signaling her to calm down and keeping her away so he wouldn’t hurt her accidentally. “Relax. Just hear me out, okay?”

“No. I don’t want to listen to you. Leave. Now!” she exclaimed with such hatred that an awful, inexplicable sense of guilt stung Taehyung’s chest. 

“Wait,” he pleaded as he held onto her wrist, but she wrenched her hand away and took off. “Jin Mo didn’t kill your son.”

The rashly spoken words froze her to her spot as the shock that stiffened her muscles was too immense to move. “What?”

“I asked him, okay? He doesn’t have a reason to lie and especially to me. He hasn’t left from his hideout in six years. Jin Mo wasn’t the one who killed your son.”

She turned around at a creep. The color drained out of her face and her glazed eyes stared at him in wide circles. “That’s... That’s not possible. He has to be the one. He’s lying!”

“Listen. Jin Mo is an asshole. A psycho. He kills people. And he has the balls to admit it. He always said if cops catch him, he’ll admit to everything. He’s proud of his work and wants to brag about it. If he had killed a detective, the son of the chief of police... I’m sorry to say this, but he would brag about it. He wouldn’t lie that he didn’t do it.”

The possibility that Jin Mo didn’t kill Kang Ho left her at a loss for words, as everything she thought she knew was slowly turning into a lie. “Then... who killed my son?”

“I wish I knew so I could help you. But I don’t. And Jin Mo didn’t seem to know either, or else he’d tell me. We share everything.”

A glint of abhorrence flared her eyes as she glared at him. “You’re that close to that monster?”

“Yes. And I’m not ashamed. Jin Mo is a psycho, as I said, but... he gave me a job when I needed it the most. And that’s how I was able to help my people. He has done a lot for me and helped me more than anyone. Even if he’s a jerk sometimes.”

“Anyway.” She furiously shook her head. “I don’t want to listen to this anymore.”

“Wait,” Taehyung said as she tried to leave again. “How do you know me? No one knows about me.”

“I can’t tell you this. And I don’t want to, anyway.”

“Will you... tell Jungkook about me? About who I really am?”

“I should, right? You’re a criminal like Jin Mo. You want something from my son, so I have to warn him to stay away from you. The moment he finds out who you are, he’ll send you to jail. And that’s how he’ll be safe.”

“I can’t let you do that, Sa Rang-ssi. Yes, the moment he finds out about me, he’ll lock me up, but the moment you tell him about me... you’ll die.”

“What?” she asked in disdainful startle. “You’ll kill me?”

“No! Not me. But Jin Mo won’t let you get away with it. He cherishes me more than you think. If something happens to me, he’ll seek revenge. No matter who’s responsible for it.”

“I’m not afraid to die if it’s to protect my son! Go and tell him that,” she spat out and stormed to her car. 

Fuck, fuck! What the fuck am I supposed to do? If I tell Jin Mo about this, he’ll kill her right away. He could only watch as she got into her car and drove off right away. Where the hell is she going now? 

Taehyung climbed over his motorcycle, put a bluetooth earpiece in one ear and called Jimin. He wore his helmet and started the engine. 

“Hey, Tae—”

“Listen. This is super confidential and has to be done quickly. I’m following Jeon Sa Rang right now. You can hack into her phone if I stay within a two-mile range from her, right?”

“Uh, yes. But what the fuck is going on?” Jimin was already in his room and started the process immediately.

“I think she’ll tell Jungkook who I really am. We need to buy time to find out how the fuck she knows me first.” 

“Okay. When I’m in, what do you want me to plant?”

“A tracking software. Also bug her phone. If she tries to tell Jungkook about me, I have to be on standby to interrupt them somehow.”

“You think she’s going to Jungkook right now?”

“I’m not sure yet. She’s taking a lot of sideways.”

“I’ll get access in eight minutes. Don’t lose her.”

“Why is it taking so long? It’s usually done in four minutes.”

“I think she’s using her phone right now. When they use their phones, the program reroutes multiple times, so the phone doesn’t lag. If it does, it’s easy to realize they’re being hacked.”

“She’s... not talking to Jungkook, right?”

“Call him and check!”

Taehyung hung up the phone at once and called him. It rang as usual and although it took a while, Jungkook picked up. 

“What?”

“Um, I have new information,” he blurted out the first thing that came to his mind. “Call me when you get off work.”

“Hello? Hello?” Jungkook stared at his phone in a maze as he realized the line went dead. “What’s wrong with him?” he murmured.

“She’s not talking to Jungkook,” Taehyung said the moment Jimin picked up. 

“Thank God. So that means... she’s talking to the one she’s working with? Or... the one who told her about you.”

“Yeah, that’s what I think too. Also, she passed the Han River, so she’s not going to Jungkook.”

“Three more—oh, fuck, wait.” Jimin groaned in exasperation. “She has an anti-tracking program. I need to break the code.”

“What? Why the fuck does she have this? Who is she?”

“I have no idea. Fuck. It’s a difficult code, so it’ll take at least thirty minutes, Tae.”

“Oh, come on now!” Taehyung grumbled, throughout frustrated by the situation. 

“I’ll do it as fast as possible. Just don’t lose her because if I lose the signal, I’ll have to start all over again.”

Taehyung continued following her carefully so he wouldn’t get caught. 

A while later, Jimin’s cheerful voice broke out. “Yes! I did it. I’m in.”

“Thank God. How long will it take?” 

“About two minutes. She probably stopped using her phone now. But where is she heading? Where are you?” 

“I think... we’re going to Gangbuk-gu.”

“Gangbuk-gu? That’s over an hour away from where she lives.”

“I know. Wait, she stopped.”

“What? Why?” 

“I don’t know!” Taehyung slowed to a halt as well as he observed her leaving her car and slipping into another one in the backseat. “She got into another car. I can’t see the plate from here.”

“Follow them carefully, Tae.”

Taehyung did exactly that. He stayed as far away as possible until the car stopped outside of the gate of an enormous building. “I think it’s a mansion.”

“You’re in Gangbuk-gu, right? Her tracker doesn’t work anymore. She turned off her phone.”

“I think we’re somewhere at the borders now.”

Jimin quickly searched for any mansions in that area and soon he got the results. But they were too appalling to speak right away. “Tae. There’s only one mansion there. And it belongs to Moo Chae Yeon.”

“What? What the fuck is Jungkook’s mother doing here, then? She can’t be... She can’t be working for her, right?”

“I don’t know, Tae. Why else would she be there?”

Taehyung was in a sheer maze at the shocking disclosure. “Why couldn’t you find that there’s a mansion in Chae Yeon’s name before?”

“I’m not sure. Maybe I found it because I gave a specific location this time. When I searched her name before, I got nothing.”

Taehyung’s blustering thoughts ended abruptly with the beep that signaled another incoming call. “Shit, Jungkook’s calling.”

“Answer him. And leave. You’ll get in danger if they find out you’re there.”

“I think they already know that, Chim. They’ve been following me from Sa Rang’s house. But I can’t see the car anymore.”

“Fuck.”

“Anyway, thank you. We’ll talk later.”

“Bye, Tae.”

Taehyung composed himself, willing calm into his agitated nerves, and answered the call. “Yes?” 

“Where are you?”

Jungkook’s sharp voice caused him to clear his throat before replying. “Um, why?” 

“What was that call earlier? What did you find?”

“I’m a little busy right now so—”

“Yah. You can’t call me, throw something so vague, and then tell me you’re busy. Where are you? I’ll come right now.”

Despite his efforts to gentle his tumult, Jungkook’s words brought him another round of intense alarm. “You haven’t even finished work yet. It’s early.”

“I can step out for a bit. We don’t have a lot of work.”

“Well, I can’t meet you now.”

“Why?”

“Stop being so nosy,” Taehyung snarled, vexed by everything at that moment. “I’ll see you in two hours at Hangang park.” He hung up and called Jimin again, then made a u-turn and drove off.

“What did he want?”

“He wants to meet me. When I called him before, I said I have new information. Fuck, I shouldn’t have done that. What am I supposed to tell him? I have nothing.”

“Well, you do. But you can’t use it yet.”

Taehyung processed his words for a stretch and sighed. “Yeah. I can’t tell him about Jin Mo’s side hideout yet. Anyway. There’s something I don’t understand. If the guys who follow me work for Chae Yeon, why didn’t they stop me from following Sa Rang? Why did they let me find this place?”

Jimin reclined in his seat and rubbed his chin in thought. “We know they willingly let you find the mansion. But I can’t think of a reason why.”

“You don’t think... they’re so close to killing me that they just don’t care?”

“Yah! Stop saying stupid things. You won’t die. I won’t let that happen.”

Taehyung smiled bitterly. “Search everything about Chae Yeon again. You might find something new. And monitor Sa Rang for me. Record every phone call and store every message when she turns on her phone again.”

“Okay, Tae. Be careful.”

“Bye, Chim.”

🥀

Jungkook dropped his phone onto his desk with a frustrated sigh, earning Hoseok’s attention. “Are you calling Taehyung again?”

“No. It’s the second time I’m calling Min Heo and he doesn’t answer.”

“Min Heo?” Namjoon questioned. “The server from Merlina?”

“Yeah. He said he’d help me make a sketch of Kim Taehyung’s face. I wanted things to quiet down a bit, so I waited before calling him. But now he doesn’t answer.”

“Maybe he’s too busy with work. Call him tomorrow again, and if he doesn’t answer, go to the bar,” Namjoon said. 

“That’s what I’ll do. For now, I’ll go meet Taehyung. Call me if anything happens.”

His team said their goodbyes, and Jungkook was on his way to his motorcycle. One and a half hour had passed since he last spoke with Taehyung on the phone, and although he was curious as hell to know where he was and what he was doing, he told himself he wouldn’t question him about it. 

It wasn’t his business. But Taehyung’s secretive demeanor truly enraged him. 

To his surprise, Taehyung was already there when he arrived, sitting at their usual bench. “Hey,” he uttered with feigned disinterest as he sat next to him and cast him a fleeting glance. But the glimpse of his bruised cheek he caught had his brows pulling into a scowl. 

A hasty hand suddenly grabbed Taehyung’s chin and lifted his head. Shit. I forgot about that, Taehyung thought as he shut his eyes momentarily. 

“What the fuck happened to you?”

Taehyung pushed his hand down and lowered his head. “It’s nothing.”

“Yah. Who did this to you?”

“I just fought with a friend, okay?” Taehyung snapped. “It’s not a big deal.”

His irritable manner told Jungkook he was clearly lying, but he chose to let it slide since he wouldn’t tell him the truth, anyway. “Fine. What about the new information you said you have?”

“Um, I heard something about Jin Mo. He has side hideouts where a few of his men live and work there. I’ll tell you if I find a location. I know it’s not that important since I don’t have a location yet, but you said to let you know when I find something about Jin Mo.”

“No, it’s okay,” Jungkook said. “You did well. Anything about Jin Mo is important, so thanks.”

Taehyung hadn’t met his eyes since the moment Jungkook arrived. And his remark only drove him to angle his head slightly away from him.

An awful churning of enmeshed emotions gnawed at his chest. Unreasonable guilt. He was working for Jin Mo while Jungkook was trying to catch him for years. Unexpected empathy. Maybe he didn’t know who killed his hyung, but he knew it wasn’t Jin Mo and his urge to tell him was extremely hard to suppress. A sense of willingness. Fuck, his desire to help him in everything just so he could get another praise from Jungkook was simply absurd. 

And the most ghastly and detestable one was that inexplicable remorse. Taehyung had lied to him from the start about everything, and he never stopped. Every sudden caring action from Jungkook and every soft-spoken remark towards him fermented that repulsive feeling of remorse within his gut. And his impulsion to flee rose high like a turbulent tidal wave, constricting his chest and blocking his breath, until a cold but fond hand embraced his clenched one. 

Jungkook called his name twice. He tugged his jacket. Even nudged his shoulder. But Taehyung seemed too lost in his own world to notice his efforts to bring him back. Until he gently clasped his hand. “Taehyung? Are you okay?”

His impulsion to flee deepened even more. His brain howled at him to move, whisk his hand away, just bolt, but his body disobeyed him. His logic resisted with abandon, but his body longed for his touch. That touch mollified the compression in his chest and tamed the churning of emotions, mellowing it until all that was left was a strange warmth of comfort. 

Taehyung’s eyes zoned in on him. There was a scintilla of worry written in Jungkook’s gaze, tangled with traces of mystification and eagerness to uncover where his mind was traveling to this time. Taehyung found that dim curiosity cute. 

“Sorry. Your praise brought back memories,” Taehyung jested in his attempt to appease his curiosity and stop him from questioning him more. But Jungkook’s somber expression wasn’t what he hoped for. Any glimmer of mirth in his eyes burned out and was replaced with befuddlement as Jungkook rose to his feet and stuffed his hands into his pockets. 

“I’m tired of your lies.”

Taehyung’s heart sank — the reason unknown. 

Jungkook was planning to end it there. Just say that one sentence and disappear. An unforeseen spark of light aggravation, though, held him rooted to his spot. And it coerced him into spewing his mangled feelings. 

“I don’t understand why the hell I care about what you do. Why I want to know where you were before and what you were doing. I don’t understand why I want to know what you’re thinking. Why you spaced out again. What the fuck happened to your face. I don’t understand why it infuriates me that you don’t tell me anything.” He twisted his head towards him, his scowl threatening to mellow upon glancing at Taehyung’s pouty face. 

“But it infuriates me even more that I want to know. I don’t understand anything about you. And I hate that I want to understand you. I hate it so much I can’t stand seeing you. I can’t stand being near you. You make me so fucking mad, Taehyung. I don’t know how to handle it. And I don’t want to handle it.”

“Why are you talking like you’re any better than me?” Taehyung fired back in an overwhelming upsurge of pained vexation. He sprang up from his seat and stood in front of him, hard creases of anger covering his forehead. “I told you countless times that I can’t read you. I asked you countless times what are you feeling. You never told me anything. You never tell me anything. I can get mad about it too. But I accept you don’t want to tell me things. Why can’t you do that for me too?”

“We’re not the same. Call me selfish, call me a jackass, but I can’t accept it. I just can’t. It bothers me. And I don’t want to deal with it.” Jungkook stepped away, but Taehyung’s fretful voice prevented him from leaving. 

“How can I change it? What should I do so you won’t get mad?”

“Be honest. You can’t do it, can you?” He threw him a look over his shoulder, detecting Taehyung’s evasive eyes. “Of course you can’t,” he scoffed bitterly and let out a slow breath. “Text me the location of Jin Mo’s side hideout when you find it. Then you’re free. Our deal will automatically end there.”

His order was so appalling it stole Taehyung’s words, and by the time it finally sank in, Jungkook was already marching towards the exit of the park. He couldn’t stop him. He couldn’t protest. He was Jungkook’s informant against his will — just so he wouldn’t go to jail. How could he protest when Jungkook freed him from the deal without even locking him up? He couldn’t. 

But why did he want to protest with all his might? 

It wasn’t about his mission when he jolted forward and scurried to catch up with him. It wasn’t about his mission when he grasped his shoulder and swiveled him around, maintaining his grip in his irrational worry that Jungkook might try to leave again. “You wanna end the deal and never see me again? I was just your informant this whole time? Just that?”

“What do you think you were?” Jungkook spat out as he shook his hold off him. He couldn’t specify the label of their relationship, and calling him just his informant was the best and easiest way out of the uncomfortable question. “Just because we talked about other things too doesn’t mean we’re friends or something.”

“Where the hell is this coming from?” Taehyung exclaimed in pure frustration. “It’s ridiculous that all of this started just because I joked about why I spaced out before. Because of a joke you’re calling me a liar and telling me you can’t stand seeing me? Does this even make sense to you?” 

Why the hell was Taehyung fighting so hard to hold him there and keep seeing him? He wanted to flee minutes ago. He couldn’t bear the remorse of his actions. But why was the thought of never seeing Jungkook again so disturbing and just... odious? 

“It’s not just that, Taehyung. It’s not just about your joke. That’s what happens when you keep lying and hiding things. You’re giving me reasons not to trust you almost every day. And I don’t associate with people I don’t trust. You wanted an out without going to jail. Now you have it. When you text me the location, you’re free from me.”

Jungkook left again, but this time Taehyung didn’t go after him. What else could he say? Jungkook was right. All he did was lie to him. And if he attempted to fix this mess, it would be with more lies. He didn’t want to fix it. He wanted to end it, too. 

He wanted to give up his mission. To stop pretending around him. To show him a glimpse of his true self. Would Jungkook find him repulsive if he showed him who he really was? Would he hate him like Taehyung hated himself sometimes, too? 

It was the first time he ever longed to share a scrap of his true self with someone. And it ached in some unexplained, nonsensical sort of way that he couldn’t do it. 

───⭒───༺🌑༻───⭒───

Oh boy, they're fighting again😅 What do you think about Jungkook's outburst? Can you understand his frustration about Taehyung's secretiveness?

Although Sa Rang's role isn't completely revealed yet, you now know she has a connection to Chae Yeon! I hope it was something you didn't expect.