Seoul City

Ch. 21 - Torture

"This is a terrible fucking idea," Yoongi scoffed, swatting a fly with his hand, and accidentally getting his hand stuck in a tree branch as a result.

The Griffins were currently on stakeout – in the middle of the night - at one of their business partner's mansions. Ever since the bank robbery (which they still haven't found the culprits for), more suspicious events have been happening. Most of these have been break-ins into elite families' homes – families that were in some way connected to the Parks. It was becoming clearer that the culprits of these crimes were specifically targeting the Park family and would only continue to raise havoc if the Griffin's didn't put a stop to it.

Based on a technological analysis of the sequence of their crimes, the Griffin's were able to identify a pattern. All of the break-ins were in the homes of guests who attended the Parks' Charity Ball, and the majority happened when the families were either away on holiday or out for the night. And, it seemed they were moving down the list based on the strength of the families' connections with the Parks. Using these pieces of information along with the list of the places they'd already broken into, it was easy to identify the next target: The Kwons.

So, they set a trap by hacking into the families' security system and strengthening it with advanced coding mechanisms that only Chanyeol understood. Then, they separated into small groups along the perimeter of the mansion, awaiting the intruders. Fully equipped with guns, night-vision goggles, and their distinct Griffin rings (that they always wore during missions), they were ready. Chanyeol had his finger hovering over his tablet, ready to cut off all the electricity around the mansion to give them the advantage.

A full hour went by without any trace of anything, not even a whistle of wind. Of course, Yoongi was starting to lose his patience, but at least he hadn't fallen asleep like Baekhyun.

"Baek, wake the hell up," Chanyeol elbowed him in the ribs, causing him to jerk awake.

"Oh my god. Did he fall asleep again?" Jennie hissed into the walkie talkie, seeing his movements from the other side of the yard.

After another 20 minutes, they finally heard rustling behind the gates and saw a shadow approaching. Taehyung watching closely from his hiding spot behind a massive fountain and noticed the same dark mask and outfit on this person as he saw in the surveillance footage from the bank robbery. It seemed, they finally found one of the culprits.

As soon as the person got close enough to the house, the Griffins started to stealthily move towards him, taking care not to make any noise. With a press of one button, Chanyeol finally cut off the power in the house. As soon as this happened, the Griffins pounced on the culprit, Taehyung being the quickest to tack him to the ground. A few moments of wrestling later and Taehyung had ripped off his mask. The fact that it was a face he didn't recognize was relieving as it meant he wouldn't have to torture someone he knew.

Because that's what was supposed to happen next. A whole lot of torture to squeeze out vital information from their captive. No one (well, except for Yoongi, maybe) liked the torture aspect of the job, which is why the Griffins rotated the responsibility of it around. That night, it was Taehyung's turn.

The Griffins shoved their hostage onto the damp ground of what they called "the Park dungeon". It was a hidden, underground area underneath the Parks' mansion that served as their main interrogation area, because it was inconspicuous and no one would ever guess it was there. The fact that there was no surveillance around the Park mansion was an even better advantage.

Jimin picked the man up by the collar and threw him onto the wooden chair placed underneath a hanging light fixture, in the center of the room. Bogum began tying his legs to the chair with a heavy-duty rope while Chanyeol tied his waist.

Meanwhile, Taehyung was busy getting himself in the zone. He needed to be someone else for a couple minutes, someone more cruel and stoic. Like someone who needed to protect what was his and would stop at nothing to do it. It was like acting, except it left hidden scars in his heart when it was over. Some of these sessions had caused him to have nightmares for months, and some of them were too painful to be remembered at all. Those were often the ones that ended in death.

He plastered a scowl on his face when he ripped the blindfold off the man, whose face was already bloody from their little scuffle in the yard, "who do you work for?"

"Like hell, I'll tell you," the man smiled lazily.

Taehyung immediately wiped that smile off his face with a sharp blow to the left side of his face, "are you going to continue with this pointless arrogance or do you want to live?"

The man spit out a mouthful of bright-red blood before glaring at him again, "you don't have the balls to do anything to me."

Taehyung chuckled and took his gun out of his back pocket in one fluid motion, pressing it against his chest, "I'll let you decide where you want the shot. Your heart or your head?"

"I'm not going to fucking talk, so just save me the bull-" before he could finish his sentence, Taehyung lowered the gun and shot him right in the toe, causing him to scream in agony.

"You talk a big game for someone who screams like a girl," Bogum scoffed from the corner of the room, earning a glare from Jennie.

"Losing one toe is nothing compared to what the people I work for will do to me," the man croaked through his pain, his face turning bright red, and a vein popping on the left side of his temple.

"Just tell us who these people are and we can negotiate something," Taehyung proposed and then stepped away to hold his gun aimed towards his chest, "or else, you're not walking out of here alive."

The man regarded Taehyung carefully before glancing at everyone else in the room, "the only thing I know is that they're looking for a piece of information that can destroy the Parks and the Jeons. It's not just the Parks that are being targeted, they want to ruin both sides."

The Griffins looked at each other in confusion. This new piece of information was shocking, since they were sure the Phoenixes were the ones behind these attacks in the first place.

"Can you tell us anything more?" Taehyung asked sternly, his gun still held up to his chest.

"No..." he trailed off and just as he looked up as if he was going to say something else, Yoongi had lost his patience for the night.

"Then you're of no use to us," Yoongi muttered and shot the man in the heart without a moment of hesitation as Taehyung stood there, frozen in shock.

Just then, a familiar, shrill scream echoed through the room, causing everyone to snap their heads in the direction of the entrance. Taehyung's eyes widened in mortification as he saw a devastated Chaeyoung staring at the dead body on the ground and Taehyung's hands which still clutched the gun, his Griffin ring glittering under the light fixture.

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I forgot to attach the most important part!! This video is amazing and fits in so well, I'd highly recommend watching it - especially if you're in the mood to cry. 

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A/N: Bet you guys didn't expect another update today ;) I'm posting this early because it's my birthday tomorrow and I won't be able to write anything then :( Sorry to leave it on such a cliffhanger!