cherry blossoms || ot7 [#Wattys2017]

[hold me tight]

The next morning all the boys pack up their things and pile in the van. They decide to go to Incheon, since it's really not that far from Seoul. During the hour long ride, the boys sing and play games to help get Taehyung's mind off of everything that's happened. They arrive to Incheon and the first place that Taehyung recommends is the beach. All of them agree. So Seokjin and Namjoon let all of them off the car as they find a parking space. No one is to leave the maknae by himself.

•  •  •  •  •  •  •

Last night, after Taehyung went to bed, the hyungs have a meeting to discuss the plan. Jimin looks at all of his hyungs with a look of absolute fear. "So I met Jungkook tonight..."

All the hyungs look at Jimin with wide eyes as if he did the unspeakable. "And...?" Namjoon breaks the silence.

"You guys never told me you got branded," he whispers. His mind flashes back to the instance where Jungkook reveals the poorly misshapen star. He shudders at the image and its grotesqueness.

"Branded? What do you mean by branded?" Hoseok and the others look confused. Even though Seokjin was never part of the underground sex trade, he did a lot of research on it and the other hyungs even filled him in on their life stories when he joined the group.

"Jungkook told me that you get branded after a certain point, so that the owner could claim you as their property," Jimin repeats what the hyung told him earlier, extremely confused by their confusion. He clenches his fists as he thinks that he's been fooled by Jungkook yet again.

"Well I sure as hell wasn't branded when I was in there and I've been there longer than those three combined!" Hoseok exclaims. Hoseok was captured when he was two and he was stuck down there for five to six years just being tossed around from person to person. It's why he has a fear of so many things. Anything corresponding to that place triggers bad memories in his mind, causing him to freak out.

"What was the brand?" Namjoon asks.

"He's never shown you?" Taken aback, Jimin grips the dining room chair, restraining himself from throwing it because he doesn't want Taehyung to wake up. They all shake their heads in disagreement. "Well it's supposed to be a star but I think Jungkook moved too much for it to really look much like a star."

"You don't think it could be..." Yoongi starts to say as the truth dawns on him.

"That's impossible. I-I thought he died..." Hoseok cuts him off, wide-eyed and startled to even dare think of his name.

"But it's the only plausible person. Who else could it be? If it wasn't for him, I don't think he'd hide from Taehyung," Namjoon adds.

"W-who?" Jimin stutters.

Hoseok turns around rapidly to face Jimin. "Look, there's a notorious sex trafficker in the underground trade. He's known by anyone and everyone that's been around long enough. He's pretty much broken all of the rules of the trade," he glances at Jimin, "Rules, in an underground sex trafficking business? Crazy right? But anyways, he gets away with everything because of how much money he pools in and the fact that he's got everyone wrapped around his finger." He brings his voice down to a soft whisper, so low that Namjoon and Yoongi have to inch closer to hear him. "He's known to brand his property even before he hands the money. He's very territorial in that way so that no one will take what's his. He might take one glance at you and boom," Hoseok snaps his fingers, "you're his."

Jimin shudders at the thought of being in Jungkook's shoes or any of his hyungs. "W-what's his name?"

"Everyone in the underground business calls him The Rancher because of the way he brands everyone, but no one knows his real name and it continues to remain a mystery," Namjoon interjects.