Stigma Love's Algorithm [ A BTS x Reader Poly ]

Chapter 125: Breached, but Not Broken 🔥

And still-nothing.

No second ping.
No new messages.
No data breach.

Just... silence.
Which, somehow, is worse.

Yoongi's system has become a beast of its own-his team now working on a security framework so advanced it feels like it's designed for warfare.

Every line of code, every firewall, every anomaly scanner triple-checked and built to catch anything before it even thinks about breaking in.

No one's sleeping.
Not properly.
Not since that night.

The only thing scarier than chaos is quiet.

I sit on the couch in the living room, wrapped in one of Jimin's oversized hoodies and nursing a mug of lukewarm coffee.

Wacha purrs softly on my lap, her tail flicking back and forth as if she too can sense the tension that's settled over the house like fog.

Yoongi's laptop is still open across the coffee table, blinking its coded language into the dark.

He's not here-he's in the kitchen right now, pretending to make coffee, but I know he's just standing there, spiraling.

Because yesterday, we bowed.

In front of the country.
In front of the world.
On national television.

Me. Dara. The execs.
Hands clenched. Spines bent.
Foreheads lowered in apology.

A formal bow. A gut punch.

And even though we were praised afterward for our honesty and accountability-Yoongi hasn't spoken much since.

"You're doing it again," I say softly when he returns to the living room, mug untouched, his gaze distant.

"Doing what?" he murmurs, settling beside me, but not leaning in.

"Blaming yourself."

"I am responsible," he mutters, voice low.

"I built the security. Oversaw it. Trained the team. If someone slipped past us... it's on me."

"It's not on you," I whisper, touching his wrist.

"You didn't press the button that sent that glitch. You're the reason we're stable now."

He doesn't answer.
Just stares ahead.

From the dining room, Jin oppa calls out gently, "Yoongi-ah, can you come check something for me? Legal stuff. Totally boring. Might need your genius brain."

Yoongi exhales and leaves the room with his mug still full.

Jin oppa meets my gaze from across the house and nods once.

Thank you, oppa.

The kitchen is a mess of takeout boxes and stress-eaten pastries.