Seoul City

Ch. 23 - A Mess

Chaeyoung blatantly walked past the Griffins to take a seat next to Jungkook on the loveseat sofa, ignoring Taehyung's displeased expression and Jimin's glare. Jungkook, however, looked extremely amused. She placed the wine bottle on her lap, crossed her arms and looked straight ahead, waiting for the meeting to be over before it even started.

The meeting was moved to the living room because the dining room wasn't big enough to hold the vast amount of people involved in this mission. There was a total of 16 people in the room – the 8 Phoenix members, 7 Griffins and Chaeyoung. Naturally, the Griffins sat on one side of the room while the Phoenixes occupied the other half. Both groups looked uncomfortable as hell and ready to rip each other's throats out with one dirty glance.

Jimin cleared his throat, "So, the reason we're all here is to discuss a mission that we're being forced into by the National Intelligence Service."

"Basically, the NIS is going through some major shit with the Japanese and doesn't want to deal with it so they're forcing us to do it instead," Jungkook explained.

"And why the fuck should we care what the NIS is doing?" Hoseok asked.

"Because they're threatening to reveal all our group activities to the public and throw all our asses in jail if we don't," Jungkook replied bitterly, "we've peacefully co-existed with the Korean police and government for decades, but they finally decided to pull this kind of shit and actually threaten us."

"Jail is the least of our worries, idiot," Jimin rolled his eyes, "they're going to ruin our businesses and kill our family members one-by-one. Although, I'm confident we can protect ourselves, I really don't want to go through all that effort and stress on a daily basis."

"Call me idiot one more time," Jungkook dared, his eyes shooting daggers at Jimin.

Jimin smirked, "idiot."

Jungkook was up in a flash and lunging towards Jimin in anger, but Chaeyoung held him back by pulling on his arms. She sighed in defeat as she realized the Griffins didn't just need her as a pawn in their plan, but also as a peacekeeper between the two groups.

"Both of you need to calm the hell down," Chaeyoung chastised in disapproval, "Jimin, watch your fucking language. Jungkook, sit the fuck down. And no more fucking interruptions, just one person explaining the whole situation. If anyone so much as speaks another word out of order, I'm fucking out. I don't give a single fuck."

In just one short moment Chaeyoung had cursed more than she had the entire year, but she really didn't care. She shrugged carelessly and took another swig out of her wine bottle, causing Jimin to gape at her, Taehyung to furrow his brows in concern, and Jungkook to grin in amusement.

"Have I ever told you how sexy you are when you're mad?" Jungkook whispered to her when he sat down next to her again, causing her to roll her eyes.

"Chaeyoung's right," Taehyung spoke for the first time since the beginning of this meeting. She didn't even spare him a glance, but just hearing his voice caused a stab of pain and anger to course through her, which she remedied with another sip of alcohol.

"But Chaeng," Taehyung addressed her now, his eyes brimming with concern, "please put the wine away."

She avoided eye contact and looked straight ahead coldly, her jaw clenched in anger before saying, "don't tell me what to do."

Jungkook's eyes widened in surprise at her anger towards Taehyung. She could tell he was enjoying himself as he leaned back on the couch and glanced between the two of them with an amused smirk.