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Ringggg!
Ring-
Seokjin swiftly put the phone to his ear, cutting the sound off at its second ring.
"Hello, Manager Lee. Direct the PR sector to handle the press. Tell them it was an unknown force, there's need to heed to their insistence."
"Yes, Ms. Kang. Please bring the reports to my office once they're ready."
"Are the files towards Senyu still not approved? No, that is alright. Keep updated on the progress."
"Other companies are asking about the situation? Only give them the most basic information. Their worries are only on the superficial level, after all."
Yinn and Jimin silently sat on the couch in Seokjin's office as they watched the eldest answer one call after another, his face buried behind the stacks of documents on his table.
There was curt knock to his door, followed by a woman who hurried in with another handful of documents. She quickly bowed before sliding them onto the little space left on the table.
"This is the check-in record of all of the employees in Bangtan Co. No one is missing." Her eyes were dulled with fatigue, and her once coiled bun was in a disheveled state.
After skimming over the papers, Seokjin lifted his gaze from his desk. "Thank you, Ms. Kang, you've done plenty for Bangtan. Please go home and rest for the day."
"I simply can not do that, CEO Kim. I've worked at the company for four years now, and have been through all kinds of ups and downs. I will do my best to make sure that we surmount this obstacle without fail, as we have done in the past!"
"...Alright." At her enthusiasm, Seokjin did not press further. Instead, he gave her a polite smile. "Thank you."
"All my coworkers share the same sentiments as I do, so please leave things to us!" She bowed ninety degrees before hastening out the door.
Yinn, who had been listening in on the woman's aspiring attitude, sighed softly as she watched her back disappear into the corridors.
A day have passed since the other members left the company to search for Senyu's base. In the first twelve hours, they had kept in touch by phone, but there haven't been a single message or call since then.
During this time, Seokjin had worked without a break, dealing with documents after documents, one meeting after another. The usual Seokjin would have complained with a dramatic melancholy at his workload, but not this time, and Yinn knew why. The man's expression retained its usual calmness, but his dark eyes were filled with an unprecedented fragility it wouldn't be surprising for him to collapse right there.
Eyes glued to the paper in his hand, Seokjin reached for his cup of coffee, only to realize it was empty. At his actions, Yinn quickly shot up.
"I'll go bring you a new one!" she said.
Seokjin blinked twice. "You don't have to do that, Miss Naron."
"It's okay. I want to help in any way I can!" Yinn said before making her way to the coffee machine.
Soon, a steaming cup of black coffee was served before Seokjin's eyes. Casting his gaze onto the rising steam vapour, Seokjin subconsciously tapped his fingers on the table before smiling at the nervous-looking girl standing before him. "Thank you."
"Do you want milk? Sugar?"
"No, this is fine."
Without another word, the dark haired man refocused his attention to the mountains of papers. At his response, Yinn nodded and returned to the couch. As she anxiously shifted in her seat, she peered towards Jimin, who was postured forward on the couch, his arms rested on his legs as he clasped his hands together, deep in thought.
"If only the inspection approval process could come faster..." Jimin muttered after seeing Seokjin's preoccupied state. "Orin escaped with the documents as well, so we're missing the evidence of Senyu and Orin's relationship. We need more evidence to completely restrain them from pulling something again."
At his words, something suddenly clicked in Yinn's head.
"Evidence for their relationship..." She muttered to herself. "Ah!"
Her exclamation caused the two men to simultaneously turn towards her.
"What's wrong?" Jimin blinked at her odd expression, only to see her frantically shove her hand in her bag.
After a few seconds of searching, the brown-haired girl pulled out her phone. Her eyes flickered as she swept her gaze across the two men with anticipation.
"I think I may have something."
At first glance, Yinn Naron was someone who could blend perfectly into the background.
She had a way of unintentionally making people drop their guards around her. This was her greatest advantage.
This was exactly the case at the banquet. She had been in cooling down in the washroom stall after her confrontation. As she was exiting the washroom, she had noticed two people huddling in a discreet corner near the entrance.
Despite noticing her presence, the two paid her no attention as they continued their conversation.
Little did they know that their entire conversation was recorded.
Of course, she had not done it on purpose. In fact, it was because Yinn had forgotten her phone by the washroom mirror and only realized it when she was about to leave.
Ever since the incident with Tara Lee, Yinn had developed a habit of documenting her everyday conversations in case similar things happened. It was only after the two left that she had returned to fetch her phone, unaware that the device had everything recorded.
The outburst of events left everything in a frenzied state, and Yinn had forgotten all about this until now. Without further ado, she opened up the file on that day and pressed on the play button.
— The transaction with Orin is cancelled? Even though we brought all the stuff?
— Kevin says so. It's a shame we came here all the way for nothing.
— Oh, but it's not for nothing. I smuggled a pack for our team. They won't be able to notice one pack missing among all of those, anyway.
— Heh. You smart bastard.
"This..."
Jimin's eyes widened at contents of the recording that echoed throughout the room. Seokjin, who had stopped looking at the papers, was also listening with a stunned expression.
— Where did you hide the drug?
— Top of the stall to the left. We can fetch it later after this whole thing is finished, to have some fun with it.
The entire discussion between the two Senyu was on the transaction between Orin and Senyu, with names, plans, and all other relevant information mercilessly exposed.
The recording ended, leaving the office in silence.
Staring at each other dumbly from across the room, Seokjin and Jimin were speechless for the longest time before the former turned towards the brown-haired girl.
"...Is the recording helpful?" She subconsciously lowered her eyes after seeing his piercing gaze. "I-I don't remember their faces because I was on the other side of the entrance. Sorry I can't be much help in identifying them."
Assuming their silence as an indication of disappointment, Yinn quickly added to her statement.
"But I remember that they weren't wearing gloves! If they touched the packets like that, maybe we can find out their identity by searching the locations they mentioned in the recording."
"...You have done something amazing." Jimin said, pressing his palm to his forehead with a breathy laugh.
If the information in the recording was accurate, this would change things completely. Once Bangtan secures the drug packets mentioned by the two Senyu members in their conversation, they could collect their finger prints on the packets, have Namjoon match them with the registered identities in the underground database, and connect it back to Senyu.
"Miss Yinn Naron." Seokjin stood up from his arm chair, the moonlight shimmered an outline of his broad shoulders. "I'm taking a liking towards you."
"Jin-hyung? What are you saying?" Jimin instinctively stood up as well, flustered by the eldest's statement.
"P-pardon me?" Yinn blinked in surprise.
Ignoring their bewildered looks, Seokjin pressed both of his palms onto the table, an ominous smile on his face.
Operation Code V wasn't over yet.
✿✿✿
"I gave you all my money, but now you're pulling this bullshit?"
Despite the dumbfounded expressions on the subordinates' faces, Clarity continued to blurt out blatant hostilities towards the short man standing before her.
When she was still a university student, Clarity had worked multiple part time jobs day and night in order to support her self. Even amidst the harsh circumstances, however, she had managed to save money to buy an album every BTS comeback. She had felt it was only right for her to support the seven boys who had saved her so many times from falling into despair. She had also felt an immense trust Bang PD, who had helped the boys become who they were today.
But now Bang PD was trying to kill her?
She glared at the short man standing before her.
"Do you know how many of my wallets you sucked dry? I will not take this betrayal."
She knew that this Bang Si-Hyuk was different from the Bang PD in her old world, but Clarity kept going with her rant. It was partly because she felt petty, but also because she needed to buy time. To her surprise, the CEO did not seem to be affected by her nonsense as he motioned one of his guards to come over. Due to their distance, Clarity couldn't hear the contents of their conversation, but she knew it was nothing good.
The guard started walking towards her direction, and Clarity subconsciously stiffened her back on the chair.
He postured her to face the camera, then unfolded a piece of paper before her eyes.
"Read it in front of the camera," Bang Si-Hyuk said, "after all, this is going to be delivered to your wonderful members."
It really was a ransom. Clarity scrunched her face at the cliched words on the script as her head swelled up with thoughts of confusion.
There was no way that Senyu was simply doing this for money. It just did not make logical sense. Also, Clarity couldn't wrap her head around why it was her that was kidnapped. If it was because she was constantly getting in the way of their plans, Senyu could have killed her a long time ago, perhaps even back at the banquet. If they had blown up the building, they would be saving a lot more trouble.
Instead, Bang Si-Hyuk decided to capture her and gather the members to this location.
Her eyes narrowed at one of the sentences on the paper.
[All seven of you must come. Without anyone else, but all seven of you.]
What was Senyu planning?
After showing the paper to her face for close to a minute, the guard with black hair crumbled it up, tossing it to the side.
"Start filming," Bang Si-Hyuk instructed from behind as he sat in a lounge chair brought in by one of the bodyguards.
The black-haired guard adjusted his mask before repositioning the tripod so that the camera was directly towards her. There was an odd sensation in her heart as Clarity made eye contact with the man in black.
Under the illumination of the moonlight, his sharp eyes stood out despite being covered by the hair on his forehead. His face was concealed largely by the mask, but there was a tinge of familiarity in his unfamiliar features.
There was a tint of mischievous in his eyes that curled upwards at that moment, and Clarity immediately understood.
Sweeping his arm to the side, the black-haired bodyguard threw the tripod onto the ground while the camera flung into the air.
Riding on the momentum, the guard pulled something out of his pocket and smashed it onto the ground, filling the area with an explosion of dust and smoke. Overwhelmed by shock, the other guards barely had time to gather themselves before their vision was filled in a hazy grey.
One by one, they fell onto the ground.
"Taehyung!" Clarity shouted instinctively, sweeping her gaze to find the black-haired man, whose figure reduced to a dark silhouette in the distance amidst their blurred surroundings.
"Here." A deep voice replied from behind, and the ropes around her hands were loosened in an instant.
As she spun towards the familiar voice, a gas mask was looped over her head. Spinning her shoulders towards him, Taehyung gently caressed her cheeks, scrutinizing her features before pulling her into a tight embrace. Instinctively, she hugged him back, taking in his reassuring presence as a sour feeling tugged her nose.
They remained like this for a few seconds, before Clarity was hit by a sudden realization.
"Wait. Taehyung?!" She leaned back, hands on his shoulders, face full of confusion. "If you're here..."
Without waiting for him to reply, she whipped her head towards the silhouette in the distance, towards the other person with black hair.
"Then who's that?"
The smoke grenade dispersed rather quickly due to the wind on the rooftop. Soon, the area around them cleared up, revealing the dozens of bodies that laid unconscious on the floor. One man stood amidst the scattered bodies.
As if responding to her question, the black-haired bodyguard lifted his hand to his head, and in the next moment, a black wig flew into the air, revealing his light-coloured hair.
From the corner of his vision, a hand belonging to a half-conscious guard reached towards him. The guard who had yet to faint was lunging towards the man with exasperation, only to be knocked mercilessly to the ground with a reversal kick to the temple.
Brassily pushing his hair out of the way, Yoongi's sharp eyes were full of animosity as they fixed onto the boss of Senyu, who remained in his lounge chair even amidst all this chaos.
"Suga chose to be a hacker because he didn't like physical combat." Taehyung spoke beside her, casting his gaze towards the light-haired man whose back seemed larger than usual under the night sky. "But that doesn't mean he is not good at it."
"Your turn," Yoongi said as he turned towards Bang Si-Hyuk.
Despite his calm voice, the man was in a foul mood after having allowed a kidnapping to happen right before him. Drawing his revolver from his holster, Yoongi lifted it towards Bang Si-Hyuk with cold eyes.
"Die."
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all hail yoongi! next update friday :)
lori ✿