Vigilante | knj • jjk • kth

| 28 |

| Chapter Twenty-eight |
[18k+ words]
A/N: Long for a reason I guess 🕴️

•••

"Thank you so much, Soyun-ssi you don't understand how grateful I really am, I'm just so —"

"You're welcome sir, it's only right that you stay safe for the honesty you gave us." she chuckled politely as she led Dong-Il into the elevator.

"Really, when I decided to find you, I thought I was going to meet a sharp-tongued and very solemn agent." the man said.

"Uh, what made you assume that?" she pressed the buttons with a half-hearted chuckle.

"I just assumed so because you were young and that acknowledged as an agent. What was I thinking, your parents were both warm-hearted too. But I also saw how you threw fists at the kidnappe —"

"Does that mean you knew my parents well?" she thought to ask after much hesitance.

"Oh. I wouldn't say so, but Hee-Ae was close to your mother because she admired her as a criminologist. With your father, I usually see him coming to the station every now and then because he was an investigator. I had to go bring him some files when he was in libraries, which ended up with him treating me to coffee." he said as the lift started going down and Soyun held back her second-hand flattered smile, "It was impressive in a way, how a couple could work that well together in close departments."

"I get that, I used to think there would be audience complications at workplaces if they ever fight." she said jokingly. Her mind went to Namjoon for some reason because he really was the only one at the office who would use confusing terms with her.

"The thing is that they probably never fight, they just do their work together all the time or discussing through calls. Your father, Seungwon, would shamelessly just call your mother on the spot in the library when he needed ideas. And I thought that was very refreshing to see." Dong-Il said, shortly amused at her insert but then laughed nervously, "He always worked like a rushing person though, I don't know how to put it."

They could see the city below as the elevator slowly went down. She supposed she got a bit of that from her father. Then got her mixed feelings to become a lawyer, psychologist, or a criminologist from her mother. And she was now an NIS agent to avenge them.

"I heard that your brother is a lawyer now?"

"Ah, right. He always wanted to be one."

"Well, what about you?" the man asked out of curiosity. She felt like she was asked this by many before.

"I might stay as an NIS agent or go ahead and become a criminologist whether I stay or not." she shrugged.

"How did you think to become an NIS agent for someone so young?"

She had been asked this a lot for sure, just in differently formed sentences.

"It's so I could have more rights and permissions to investigate the case of my parents' death. It was my senior, Kim Namjoon who found me and brought me in though."

"You really sound like a determined person, way more than many of us." the lift doors opened for them and they walked out relaxedly. The man hummed solemnly, "I wish I could be like that earlier."

She shook hands with the archivist and smiled thinly, "The second reason was to repent for my sins and guilt."

The man went quiet for a moment and it seemed as though she didn't realize that her words were firm and that her gaze had narrowed slightly on their linked hands.

Dong-Il had to brush the pressure off with a chuckle.

Soyun let go of his hand and asked again, "Who was the head of the investigation back then, if you know?"

"A man named Choi Minsoo." Dong-Il replied. They stopped some steps away from the elevator.

"Who is he?"

"He was the former prosecutor general, but he retired when his older brother at a company office tower passed away to take over. That's actually all that I know of him... I don't know what you want to make of that, but I hope I helped." there was a car outside the lobby with the staffs Soyun recognized, Adora and Hyungsik.

"Anything about his personality?" she hummed, turning back to the man in front of her.

"What?" Dong-Il blankly paused before trying to recall, "I don't know."

"Right. The guy who was onto you. Do you think you know anything more about him?" she asked then.

"H-Him?"

Soyun nodded relaxedly through her meandering bitterness, "He tied you up in the bathroom and then went to explore my condominium unit however he wanted, didn't he?"

"I heard him say that to you, but it had been so quiet until you came. Oh," the man turned pale, "I still remember how loud my heart beat through my chest because of the silence..."

She would usually be delighted to hear more details of a crime scene but something about the skills that she could make of this one was unpleasant.

"He's dangerous."

"Pardon?" Dong-Il said nervously, more curious at her serene tone. "I mean, I could tell first-hand..."

There's a chance Choi Minsoo was affiliated with Haneul. She could assume that it was between Haneul not being able to reach him or if he didn't know who could've been the one to set the password behind the drive.

The archivist bowed once before walking away. She just watched with a calm little smile as the man went on ahead to the automatic sliding doors.

"Great." she muttered lowly under her breath with a sarcastic eye roll, "A rich man and a skyscraper. Must be hard to reach him. What a big change of environment for him though."

•••

"Jungkook, you're Woo Junhyung's son." Namjoon said calmly as though he was talking over snacks.

The clouds in the skies continued to drift with the afternoon. Seokjin looked caught off-guard himself, glancing back and forth between Namjoon and the guy across him with a slow reaction, "Hold on... Wait, he's what?"

"Oh?" Jungkook's seemingly calm eyes froze but he let out a calm laugh after in pretense that no word affected him, not even the mention of his beloved father. "How long have you kno —"

Hoseok sighed softly, it was telling how his younger friend's eyes would trace anything but the NIS agent in the conversation.

"Since the first time we met in person. I'm pretty good with faces." Namjoon calmly spoke again. He felt their solemn and uncertain eyes on him.

"I see."

The silence was heavy.

"So what was your thought process when you easily confirmed to her that you were a vigilante?" the NIS agent asked a strange question. Seokjin could somewhat get the gist of it whereas it wasn't odd to the vigilante who had grasped similar undertones in his own hyung's skeptical questions before.

"I didn't know that she was the witness at the time, you know." Jungkook replied with slight edge slipping through his gritted teeth. He could guess that Hoseok wasn't going to speak for him, "She was an NIS agent who could be of use. And I don't think of her as an enemy at all."

"You have been keeping your eyes on her."

"Mhm, seems like I have." he replied calmly, seeing a man walking out of the lobby over his shoulders. He held his head for a moment and there was an unconscious urge to try recognizing a voice. He had that feeling back then but never pondered over it and now he was unamused, "You were one of them."

His throbbing head gave him the scenes he searched; there were once three investigators that came to their hanok stay in Daegu, it was around the time when he and his mother lived there for two weeks after visiting the funeral home. He didn't know why it took him that long to realize it was a younger Namjoon among them. The other two were Bang Shi-Hyuk and Ju Jihoon as Go Geun.

"Jungkook, you good?" Yoongi asked.

"I'm fine," they followed his eyes to the elevator's side and the atmosphere went back to normal when they heard Soyun coming nearer.

"Oh, you guys are all here already?" she said, glancing from her boss to Jungkook who remained still in his couch. Hoseok smiled as usual when she met his eyes.

Namjoon tilted his head and got up. She thought it would be better to bring up about the assassin she encountered tomorrow. It didn't seem like Jungkook would like to talk about the matter either, at least she assumed from the dark look under his bangs.

"Yeah, let's go now."

•••

11:00 PM KST

News of the bombing in Seoul National University were talked about by most of the broadcasting channels and still were as Taehyung and Jimin walked out of the airport, basking in the familiar breeze of their homeland again. They headed straight to their chauffeur for the night, Woo-Shik because Seojoon was already seen with the NIS and the vigilantes — skipping greetings casually as usual with no rude intent of course between them, yet his underboss still couldn't help but feel like his unspoken words could be for him.

"Is Soyun still staying with them?" Taehyung asked in the car.

Woo-Shik laughed amusedly but the man just deadpanned into the car mirror. He cleared his throat consciously then, "Yeah, she is. And just a reminder in case you'd forget but we can't be seen with the NIS and the vigilantes in public at all, preferably."

"Yeah, it would be messy for us, dealing with Omerta Code folks and all." Jimin yawned tiredly, rubbing his eye as he took off his tinted sunglasses.

"It will be messy for all sides if people knew." Taehyung snorted silently.

Hyowon used a separate car than theirs as he shouldn't be seen together with two unknown people. Soon, the word might get out to whoever Haneul's spies were that Hyowon was back in Seoul.

"I notified Seojoon about our arrival. Once we're at the manor, we'll talk through calls like last time." Jimin said calmly and Woo-Shik kept his eyes on the road. He was already familiar with Taehyung from all the years he killed by his side, and he could guess that he wasn't pleased at all. Honestly, he was impressed that he hasn't gone on ahead to do things his own way yet. "Taehyungie."

"What?"

"Are you still pissed at my honesty?" he giggled.

"No," Taehyung replied uninterestedly at his friend's clear cheekiness, "I was doing some thinking."

"On what?"

"The fact that Kim Namjoon is definitely going to kill me at some point. Or maybe arrest us along with Seojoon and Hyungsik." he hummed relaxedly, his dark eyes not moving away from the car window and Jimin could just see his shadowed side-profile. He sneered, "I doubt he can do it easily though, and he already knows that."

Woo-Shik wasn't following, "What are you gonna do if that time comes?"

"You two realize what Haneul is aiming for at the moment, don't you two?"

Jimin and Woo-Shik didn't shake their heads or reply, they only had solemn looks in the short silence.

"Well, Soyun is quite ambiguous herself, don't you guys think so?" Taehyung said, yawning quietly to his side and caught Jimin's quiet laugh. He didn't bother with it.

"I thought you wouldn't like it if she becomes a vigilante?"

"Her becoming one isn't the problem if there is one." a calm smile curved on his dark reflection in the car window.

"Hope, then?" Woo-Shik raised a brow in the car mirror.

"Anyway, if things actually go down that path, I won't have to worry about her circumstances. Jimin can stop worrying then." he said serenely again.

What Jimin found amusing was his questionable nonchalance. He just shrugged, "I guess it's not hopeless."

•••

Soyun figured that there was something she wasn't in time to witness a few hours ago, basing on the silence from Namjoon and Jungkook specifically. Neither of them looked exactly pale or sick by something but she felt like that composure could or couldn't just be their natural faces; she could never guess at once.

Most of them who were in the task force but weren't in Rome to know about her connection with Taehyung from the Corvino Family had to be excluded from their meeting. They all sat in the living room, their wide windows closed behind sheer curtains with the light of the screens setting an atmosphere, the seriousness lessening slightly only when Hyowon arrived. The NIS agents greeted their colleague before sitting down again. The vigilantes had been quiet.

"Have you eaten, sir?"

(A/N: at this point I'm just switching randomly between 'sir' and 'sunbae' and I hope that yall don't mind ahsjdhsdj and no I am not a koreaboo to clarify)

"I ate on the plane." Hyowon replied, breathing out quietly.

"You can share a room with me, by the way. Seojoon usually sleeps in the living room, and today he's working overnight." Namjoon said and he nodded in response.

Soyun was just sharing her chocolates with a somewhat jittery Sana.

"Don't worry, you're important to Soyun so I doubt the mafioso would ever target you." Seokjin said casually, putting his phone in his pocket.

Sana laughed nervously, "Most of you here are important too, yet it doesn't actually look like they don't view yall as enemies so..."

"Right." Namjoon said, now most of their eyes looking at the other screen. Taehyung probably had no reason to show his and Jimin's face on the screen so they just proceeded anyway. Woo-Shik had gone off to the hospital again for his secret bodyguard job after sending them to the manor.

"Jungkook, you don't look excited." Dawon pointed out. Hoseok, Yoongi and Jackson were staring at him from the side as well.

"You'll see later." the younger vigilante mouthed calmly and after soft sighs, they all turned to the screen as Seokjin managed the projector. Soyun just pretended to not be stretching her ear for anything, sitting right beside Jungkook and all. She often found herself trying to observe the vigilantes.

Their seriousness returned when the screen loaded a detailed blueprint.

"Before we talk about this though, we'll hear from Soyun first about what she heard from Dong-Il today." Seokjin said, clapping his hands.

Soyun explained and told them every part of the conversation, only leaving out the small chat she had after the session. She noticed back then that the bug was turned off before she left the room with Dong-Il and assumed Jungkook had put out his tiny bud earlier. As she explained, she noticed the vigilantes shifting slightly when she got to a certain part, mentioning places — the locations that were written in a 'different handwriting'. She went on and told them them about the code-like scribbles, Japanese letters —

"Japanese letters?" Namjoon leaned forward in his armchair, looking intrigued. The rest of them have heard of Soyun mentioning the same language in her dreams, but still. Hyowon remained quiet and pensive.

"What's up with the national treasures though, is he a treasure hunter or something?" Seokjin frowned in confusion.

"To say that Soyun's parents were looking into that too... We have no context." Sana sighed.

"The Japanese letters, someone speaking Japanese in my dreams and the way that one vigilante whose name and face I don't know first kicked off in Japan..." Soyun pondered deeply, not realizing the last bit until Yoongi put down his mug of water with a bit of noise. Namjoon looked in Hoseok's way.

Jungkook's brow curled a little, "A vigilante in Japan?"

"I," she scratched her head, "I actually asked Yeonjun to decode some old articles and all that some time ago."

Namjoon gave her a look to continue. Everyone was listening.

"The informant was believed to be Japanese and I followed their timeline for a bit. Found out that they have been around since 1998." she then looked in her NIS colleagues' side, "Right. I was searching about the 'mess in the north', and the only relation I could find of this vigilante to it was a bombing there in 2009."

"A bombing?" Hoseok said, exchanging a short glance with Yoongi.

"Yeah, I guess but it was reported as a gas leak."

"How's he related to that though?" said Jungkook.

"He had been chasing a bomber and it was a corrupted politician's location that was bombed, so honestly I was still only guessing."

"In the North..." Dawon mumbled under her breath, discreetly eyeing her brother's expression.

"So Jihoon knew Woo Junhyung after all..." Namjoon pondered serenely.

"That dickhead really lied to us during questioning." Seokjin snorted.

None of them were criminologists but they sat in cogitative silence, while their main objective was to get justice for an old case, they were also trying to capture a criminal.

"Right, Soyun." Taehyung began talking, "Dong-Il said that your parents had stopped by a different place before heading to Myeongdong. You were in the car."

"Yes, I was." she nodded then, relaxedly sitting on the floor then and lightly hugged her legs together. She recalled, "It was true. What's new to me is that they met someone there. I stayed with my sister inside the car when they went into the building, it was a shophouse with no exact banners and all that, it wasn't that far from Myeongdong too. They went to the second floor and there was a restaurant below it, but they were meeting a client upstairs where it looked like there wouldn't be food or coffee served."

"So they met someone." Jimin's hum could be heard from the laptops, "And were following someone's instructions in secret."

"I assume it's the said informant before an unexpected tragedy happened. Or not." Yoongi shrugged calmly. He felt Jungkook's unamused or confused frown reading him from the side, and they didn't need talking. The vigilantes only shifted silently and unnoticeably amongst themselves, on their own. Something was connecting and Jackson gulped silently, partly because he felt observed by Namjoon's ruminative gaze.

Hoseok noticed but remained unaffected and just smiled as he added in "we should look into the other pictures that the archivist mentioned too", knowing damn well that the stated locations all happened to be so familiar to each one in his group.

"We should, definitely." Seokjin agreed, serious but unaware. Soyun and Namjoon felt off for a reason they couldn't conclude yet, just using their instincts.

"And their investigation notes say that the guy they met that day was an ex-NIS agent." Jungkook raised a brow with an uninterested tone, his gaze on Soyun who nervously looked away from him and had quickly turned back to the front when he caught her. A quiet titter left his grin, "You've been staring at me for some long seconds. Ah, I always knew you found me handsome."

She smacked his knee and calf, not sure how to respond at all to that with so many ears and eyes present.

"An ex-NIS agent..." Namjoon brooded with himself, bitterly ignoring their little interaction.

"The first one I thought of was the informant, you know, based on our guesses and other info so far." said Dawon, "So... something doesn't math here."

"They're not the only former NIS agent though, meaning, uhh," Seokjin's eye twitched a little at Jungkook's smug look that definitely was nonverbally side-eyeing their agency. "You looking for a fight?"

The vigilante just took a bag of snacks and minded no one. Soyun chuckled lightly before beginning to think by herself. Taehyung only stared at her on his screen, which none of his underbosses bothered to point out.

"Anyways, I've recorded and written down everything." Hyowon told them and they nodded. The car sounds from the highway felt so far away and barely through them as they were concentrated, "I will have some look into Choi Minsoo and some into the current prosecutor general. Yeonjun and Soobin could do this one," he explained as he went on his phone then continued, "Sana and Soyun will look into the said treasures, and as for the list of retired agents, I will do it."

Soyun inwardly breathed out a soft sigh. All of a sudden, she felt light but a mild ache in her head. She had known this since the afternoon and had been a bit jittery about it, clearing her throat before speaking. Namjoon had a knowing smile on his lips.

"And... with most of these, do you think I can try to —"

"— appeal and motion to consider reopening the case." Namjoon finished for her, his eyes moving to Jungkook briefly before he smiled, "We have new facts and evidence. Sung Dong-Il's words brought to the court can be of help."

Soyun held back her genuine smile. Hoseok gently played with Jungkook's fluffy hair without any of them saying a word. The NIS agents knew how much and how long she had wanted this and it seemed like all their reported ratchets and mess were worth it if it could make one come forth to talk.

"Then we'll just have to get the password from Choi Minsoo." Hoseok hummed.

"I doubt it would be easy though." Jackson said grimly.

"Does Haneul know about the man or does he not, and has he long opened the pen drive if he does?" Seokjin wondered with a groan, "I wonder what's inside the pen drive. If Choi Minsoo was tasked to just keep the password to himself, it must've been because no one was allowed to destroy it."

"There's a chance he might've opened it."

"Not to be overthinking, but what if there's more evidence inside the pen drive and that means Haneul could've smashed it by now?" Woo-Shik whispered to Taehyung and Jimin off-call.

"The pen drive aside," Namjoon spoke calmly, "The ex-NIS agent. Soyun, do you think you saw the person your parents met that day?"

She wasn't sure. It was getting hazy that day when her mother and father told her and Ryujin to wait for them inside the car, and she just remembered noises from the restaurant. Her parents were walking down the stairs from the second floor. She put away her textbook and went to unlock the car door for them, glancing back at a man in black who came out of the building a minute after the investigators.

"Mom, can we get some ice creams on the way before we go to the next stop?" Ryujin said excitedly, popping herself up in between the front seats but these played behind Soyun, she could freeze the time for a bit in her head and squint toward the shophouses shrinking behind their started car.

Shin Seungwon glanced at the car mirror, noticing one of his daughters spaced out while looking outside. Perhaps he was a bit skeptical as well, "Soyun, do you want one too?"

Back then, she turned around at once to nod but her parents said that they would get the ice creams some other time anyway; she memorized just a few details — black shades, maybe around 178cm and it was an adult man who looked somewhat rugged from behind.

That was all she could actually pinpoint in such faint memories.

"A former NIS agent..." she mused and then turned to her colleagues, "Wait. Namjoon, do you remember that one time you told me about what case Bang went to handle in Italy?"

The vigilantes and Mafiosi frowned slightly as Hyowon choked on his drink. Namjoon chuckled with an amused undertone, "Yeah. There was a case with an ex-NIS agent."

Hyowon grumbled his old sigh under his breath, hands over his face because he just knew that the info would be widespread freely now that Soyun and Namjoon casually brought them up without bothering to confirm with him. "Guys, hold on first, I think we —"

"There was a former NIS agent who was exposed for working for an unknown organization. He infiltrated by being the state attorney's bodyguard." Soyun explained simply, "Bang as the head director of NIS was called in then."

"That case?" Taehyung tilted his head behind the screen.

"What case?" he saw Jungkook raising his head a little, looking at the screen with a frown. They similarly paused.

"Right, wasn't the Mafiosi onto Bang since weeks before the poison acted up?" Seokjin flickered with certainty and leaned forward in his seat, "They might've been there around the time Bang dealt with the ex-NIS agent of that case."

"State attorney?" Hoseok mused, "You mean the prosecutor general. Which one is this?"

"I suppose it's our current one, Jin Heekyung." Soyun thought pensively, "Choi Minsoo retired in 2018, I heard."

"What's the case about?" Jungkook asked.

"It was a personal case in the end, so Bang just killed the agent after investigating his tracks. The agent's name was Yoo Tae-O though." Hyowon stated.

"That's wrong, he didn't actually kill him off like that." Taehyung frowned, hissing quietly through his teeth as if he was trying to figure it out. His sudden voice cut off their discussions.

They grimly quietened. Hyowon questioned confusedly, "What do you mean?"

"He only killed him off after interrogating him first. He told us, his temporary local colleagues to stay out of the warehouse that he used so no one of us knew what conversation they had though."

"Okay, what does this mean?" Jungkook squinted.

"He hid the fact that he might have gotten some information out of the agent first before killing him off?" Yoongi mused with a sneer, "No one wondered why this case was supposedly confidential? It's obvious that he assumed the Italians wouldn't be able to tell anything perfectly to yall back in his home country. Bang Shi-Hyuk was hiding something."

"This is confusing," Sana laughed nervously, "but yall know, with what we have so far, we can at least force an appeal."

Namjoon turned to Hyowon as Seokjin did something with his laptop, "What organization was the agent working for?"

"What Bang told us was Haneul's."

The vigilantes paused with a general expression of incredulity than shock and while Taehyung's side just remained impassive. Soyun just sipped her glass of water and exhaled sarcastically, "Wow, I wonder why I'm not told of it."

"By 'us', you mean you and Jiwon only?" Namjoon asked again with a look of forced patience.

"Anyhow, the corpse was taken care of and the next day was his off-day. One of the days on which I wasn't supposed to follow him around, and he went to the basilica."

"When did he go to the cafe then?" Soyun asked, both Namjoon and Seokjin looking in her way, "You know, the cafe where we investigated."

"On his first day in Italy. He would come there for breakfast a few more times."

"He was receiving notes from someone when he arrived, killed off Haneul's goon who had tried to threaten using what he learned from the attorney's files I assume." Soyun hummed, "Hyowon-nim, can I ask for —"

"Yoo Tae-O," Namjoon repeated to himself then passed her his phone, which she took readily. Years of working together as colleagues had them familiar with the casual proceedings. The others watched them, "This is a picture of him. He's 178cm tall, left-handed,"

"Left-handed..." Soyun recalled the man who walked off by the sidewalk and entering a car, opening it with his right hand but picking up his phone with a left hand. She paused, "Uhhh. I'm not sure if I should identify him based on just these. He was about this tall though."

"I'm more surprised by the fact that you can try to remember from that far back." Jungkook commented with a short laugh.

"Honestly, I'm not always this good with faces. It's just that specific day when everyone felt suspicious so I had to look back at least thrice." she said sheepishly, passing the phone back to Namjoon.

"It was someone with a tattoo... The guy with the weird tattoo... H-He told Dad to come this way and said he's following right behind the car."

She sat up at once with widened eyes.

"Wait. Ryujin had seen someone behind our car then."

"Great."

"Kids do tend to have better instincts with sniffing suspicious adults." Yoongi nodded relaxedly. Jackson half yawned, half suppressed a joking laugh at his buddy.

"You talk like an old man sometimes." Jimin giggled and Taehyung just kept staring at the screen with a bored look as Namjoon searched more on his phone. As Hyowon

"He always." said Jungkook.

"Well, and I am a daughter of good investigators. Maybe that made me a bit self-conscious."

"Cocky."

"I wasn't even being —" she stopped herself to throw a glance at him over her shoulder with a deliberate stare from the head to his foot, her eyes saying "you're not one to talk at all though".

"And so, that makes us two."

Hyowon tried to focus on his call, "Yes, of course we have to declare this on the news... But uhm can you repeat what you said earlier?"

"Huh."

"The way you 'flirt' is different for sure." Dawon cackled with Jackson from the sofa across them.

Seokjin who remembered that the Mafiosi could see this wondered if some thunderclouds were rolling.

"I'm not flirting though." he hummed, and for some reason felt like giving Namjoon a smug look.

"Wait, that was flirting?" Yoongi said flatly.

"Soyun-ah, you're blushing!" Sana teased although she knew a smack or accidentally aggressive push was coming.

"I didn't!" she said quickly in defiance as she shoved her friend away but the woman just laughed at her.

Jungkook felt as though there was something delightful and sweet in his chest despite his denial seconds ago, because she clearly was flustered at least, and he supposed he found that quite adorable?

"Why was the NIS agent no longer one?" Hoseok asked.

"He retired around the same time as when Ju Jihoon was back from his vacation," Namjoon replied as he kept his eyes on his phone.

"If the ex-NIS agent from Bang's secret case actually happens to be connected to Myeongdong's bombing, I guess we have to reveal the details, right, Hyowon-nim?" Seokjin said, unintentionally making all of them focus again. Namjoon nodded for the man and gave Soyun his phone.

"I tried to get one which could be the most recent to 4th of March when the bombing took place. So this was one that was captured from a surveillance camera instead."

She looked at the guy in the picture, the same figure again. "When was this?"

"Around January of 2014."

"My instincts say that it's him," she said, narrowing her eyes. "he's covering the back of his neck with these long collars? That other day, he wore a long turtleneck and a long coat. I want to say that it's the moth tattoo he's hiding but mhm."

Namjoon hummed, "He was covering it the same everywhere else."

"Can we conclude it from this?" Jackson wondered.

"Well, Yoo Tae-O was playing as the prosecutor general's bodyguard and used what he stole then to threaten people — to lure Bang Shi-Hyuk. Around March and April, around the time Haneul started again." she thought, "he was Haneul's hitman too, and it'd make sense... I think we can ask Ju Jihoon though."

"I'm sure the guy that day in the shophouse could've been Yoo Tae-O even if we don't know where did Soyun's sister see the tattoo slip." Jungkook said relaxedly.

"While we're back on the topic, I forgot to tell you lot that their organization is targeted by an unknown side at the moment." Taehyung said.

"Do you think you can keep an eye on their timeline then?" Yoongi asked solemnly with a small frown.

"Yeah, we've been doing that. And so far, it doesn't look like our moulage artists would respond at all."

"Your leadership is that bad?" Namjoon burst a small chuckle with his curt words but the silence that came after matched Taehyung's, not that the guy expected any sort of reply or a retort. He knew that much about the silent criminal.

"Ayo, what was that for?" Woo-Shik frowned unamusedly but Taehyung just reprimanded him to go back to sleeping with a hand gesture.

"Namjoon-ssi, just leave our business to ourselves." Jimin giggled with spite behind his forced sweetness. "You should be more concerned about the NIS's rotting reputation."

There was an emphasis on 'rotting' and Jungkook held back a grin at their exchange.

Soyun cleared her throat firmly despite her apprehensiveness, "Right. Hyowon-nim, when will we hear from the court and prosecutor general?"

"Maybe tomorrow afternoon is the latest. We have to rush with things like these. We will also tighten our security around Sung Dong-Il now," the man replied grimly as he put down his phone, "Yeonjun just reported to me. Some group of people is already searching, probably had been searching for the guy since the day he was missing. And we know on whose orders."

Hoseok sighed, "With one tragic event, at least we got one good thing on another matter today, I guess. Though it can't really be compared."

SNU had decided to give its students a few days off until they find a way to resume classes and make do with other facilities since some departments had their buildings blown up. There were clear buzz and murmurs from the general public as the merciless bombings were similar to what one mass bomber would usually do in the past. There was some beginning to blame the NIS, bringing up many controversies they had in the past, a small part being the NIS agent that turned into a terrorist, and some were questioning, furious if the vigilantes plan to let these things happen because of them.

Soyun was checking on her phone while Seokjin was fixing his laptop, it took a few minutes. In that time, she checked on her friends and acquaintances from the college. SNU didn't restrict the students from leaving their dorms temporarily but according to Nayeon, she heard that they had fortified the security around the campus for those who stayed back. It felt rather heavy to see her KaTalk group chats discussing the loss of lives when they were all about sports, food, fun and cheering that morning. They had been silent then grim when they started buzzing again; Soyun definitely paid attention somehow to her colleague's explanation and the slides as she half-eyed her phone the entire time though.

•••

The dark and voices were swirling around her but tonight, although not so strangely, it took her back to the rain-scented day of her parents' funeral in Daegu, five years ago.

Her past-related dreams always felt so vivid and she hated it, being reminded of everything that happened again and the crippling loneliness that would never be filled like it once was because it was one of her parents and sister. Her chest beat irregularly and it felt as though she was being shouted at but she could distinguish a familiar voice from somewhere in the blurry, imperceptible illusion, of her brother. Maybe it was because of the recent suspicions and her forgetting to ask her brother about it.

"YOU WANNA GO AT IT?"

She could see her brother on the other side of the room from where she was, surrounded by her nameless cousins, aunts and Ryujin. Rain was beginning to gently fall outside as shouts became more intense.

"Look at how the terrorist of a brother didn't even show up here." she heard another man's voice and turned as unexplainable trepidation suddenly grew in her from nowhere — "Even if he showed up, honestly, I don't think you and your sisters would recognize him..."

What?

She frowned. She would need a replay of these words and was a bit confused, who were they talking about? Her brother's face was pale with concern or grimness then, and it made her curious, guessing that he was concerned about something. Her heartbeat slowly calmed down and although still panting slightly, she'd say that she would rather have this instead of the ones with intensely harrowing memories.

She reached for her phone the moment she woke up, sighing softly. There was still that relief and anticipation for the news they would've received by noon, but looking at the date, she couldn't really smile or drop her face. 8th of May. Parents Day. And one day before they were to make sure a building won't blow up. The attendees for the auction-like event weren't the only ones they had to watch, after all as several other events could be held in a luxurious hotel like such venues. There could be weddings, other gatherings, meetings and of course, those in the hotel rooms...

So much to think of and her nerves hurt a little.

It's still 4:30 AM though.

The discussion last night was until 1 AM like that if she recalled correctly but honestly, she was usually used to surviving a day on even just three hours of sleep. She pocketed her phone. The blue sky was still dark outside and Jungkook was lightly snoring below the top bunk of the bed, so she used the ladder carefully to not make even a bit of noise or screech. She nearly slipped her foot on the floor because of a few of his pillows which fell off his bed though, and she saved herself at the last second.

"I almost crashed like a clumsy Namjoon, gosh." she hissed to herself quietly and picked up the soft pillow anyway, putting it back on his side carefully to not accidentally disturb his sleep. They needed a lot of rest.

Jungkook was sleeping more soundly than yesterday. She did the same thing again then, carefully trying to put another of his pillow on the empty side of the bed that was to the wall, throwing it there gently because she could've hit his face. The dim blue-lighted room was quiet and calm.

She was aware of every soft, calm gush of wind at the moment, and that she was then gazing at his sleeping face. Some handsome yet delicate features he had, there was no way to deny these.

"I wonder why he wanted to know if I had free time...?" she hummed quietly and sighed, "I probably won't know today."

He's very handsome though.

Her cheeks flushed a little as she said it in her head. She had only been focusing on their situations and his personality, so she hadn't really digested it much but indeed, the guy was very handsome — so was his comfortable, approachable character.

Jungkook's small random mumbling in his sleep had her back away by meters to the wall behind her, defensive hands in a chopping stance. When she realized that he was still sleeping, she let out a sigh of relief because she would definitely be a joke through the whole day if he ever caught her staring secretly like that. She just then cleared her throat to no one and grabbed her towel.

"I feel ridiculous, wow." she told herself then and just tiptoed out of the room. As she thought so, the living room too was still quiet. The vigilantes were probably still sound asleep in their shared master bedroom, Namjoon and Hyowon in theirs, Sana still asleep too — and she could hear Seokjin snoring lightly on the couch. It was dim but not so dark outside due to the lights coming from the city buildings behind the sheer curtains.

After taking a shower very silently, she went to the kitchen's countertops and made herself a cup of ramen. She wanted to call her brother but maybe he wasn't up yet, so she just texted him. Sungrok was still supposed to be watched over by the NIS and his doctors, he probably wouldn't be able to go out again today after yesterday's events. "I'm going to visit mom and dad at the cemetery soon. You probably can't come right now but tell me if you're to go later. I'll accompany you somehow."

She most likely won't be able to if during Namjoon's training, but anyway, she also had questions for her brother.

"Right listen, so I heard from Namjoon about you mentioning an incident at the basilica years ago but you never mentioned one in front of me. Can I know what that's about? And what were you going to tell me back at the campus yesterday when I was trying to get you to evacuate? Also, five years ago, who were you and uncle shouting about at the funeral home?"

That was quite a lot in one paragraph of text but her brother would just deal with it. She put her phone down and picked up her chopsticks when she just noticed that someone had been watching her from the fridge and she inwardly flinched but Jungkook was unbothered. He was casually rubbing his eyes as he stared at her, "I smelled some ramen and I thought Yoongi-hyung was already awake and cooking."

"Good morning, I guess?" she smiled amusedly, continuing to eat, in her own business. She eyed the carton of milk in his hand as he made way to sit across her, "You're up early."

"You too. Are you going somewhere?"

"Yep." she nodded.

He nodded back with a hum, "I see."

Seokjin's snore loudened for a second and they both looked back at the living room with a grimace or squint before she gulped in the noodles.

"Are you gonna go back to sleep later? It's early."

"I do feel like not wasting my sleep time but..." he said, looking at the city view below then gradually turned back to her. "I don't really feel sleepy anymore, so I'll stay awake."

"Mhm, so is it a good time for me to ask why you wanted to know if I had free time —?"

"Not sure, honestly." he replied conversationally but his calm gaze was locked with hers. It seemed as if it could be for something important that he kept avoiding to bring up randomly or she was just looking into it too much. He reminded, "We'll most likely get some news around 6 or 7 AM though, so you should probably come back from whatever business you have sooner. We might have things to discuss again."

She smiled and got up with the last gulp of her ramen noodles, "All right then. I'll get going now." she grabbed a piece of tissue as she went on ahead, the emptied cup perfectly thrown into the small trashcan at the side.

"You could've waited to eat proper breakfast with everyone else though." he commented and she laughed softly as she put on her shoes.

"Instant noodles are good enough for me, plus I don't have to wash plates then." she hummed, walking away. She just waved before closing the door behind her, and she felt like she heard a small chuckle but brushed it off, briskly walking through the corridors.

•••

5:00 AM KST in NIS's office building — it was given that the floor could never be completely silent, but honestly, grunts weren't that common to hear through their speakers. Yet here Seojoon, Yeonjun and Soobin were, monitoring their screens with a grimace.

"Send people there. We can ask around. This was around yesterday's noon right? Adora, call in Hyungsik and his team." Seojoon said urgently, several rushing to different desks in the room as the cold dark sky outside slowly brightened.

The woman responded at once from some desks away, "Okay, I called them in."

Yeonjun's eyes narrowed slightly as he looked back at the screen, Soobin recording in reports at his side.

"This guy looks quite dangerous, honestly. Isn't he the one that the boss said looked like a martial arts fighter?" he hissed and then looked over to Seojoon, "Tell them to be careful. Man in the middle is familiar and literally killed a guy to blow off steam."

"Wow, they would be more furious if they know that Sung Dong-Il is already under our protection at the time. Actually, he probably knows and that's why." Soobin muttered to himself and shook his head at the screen but still focused on the screen as his eyes followed a group of rogues getting into a van behind a building, "So he wasn't alone at all. These must be the snipers Soyun-sunbaenim and her guyfriend mentioned."

"The extras around the middle guy remind me of Han Daewi, or Lee Jongsuk, whatever his alias was in a way that their presence really are underwhelming compared to this middle guy. And I want to eat our deliveries so bad but this shit is annoying. Let me find some more... They didn't leave physical traces at all so we have to depend on device catches." Yeonjun said seriously after whining.

"Not just a martial arts fighter, that guy probably knows Muay Thai too." Seojoon who noticed the knee turns and the visible knee pads under the man's clothes murmured while the younger agents were whining tensely. He sighed then and tapped Yeonjun again to get him back on track, "Tell Seokjin and Namjoon that we spotted one of Haneul's actual fighters again at last. Send a picture to Seokjin too because I might be right, these are really Ji Changwook's eyes."

The floor was busy and he could hear the other side of the office reviewing the broadcasts related to their agency and the news as they continued their work. The agent or mafioso supposed that his colleagues should be reminded beforehand of who they might encounter tomorrow for their operation in Lotte City Hotel.

"Soyun and Jungkook fought him?"

•••

5:20 AM KST

The cemetery was as cold as a lake could be before the crack of dawn. The pale but dark blue sky looked melancholic.

So fitting, she thought.

Her parents' and Ryujin's graves were in different places due to space problems in the other cemetery. It was one of the reasons there were fewer families in Korea who bury the dead, most of them cremate and put them in charnel houses.

Soyun knelt down to a tombstone that read her parents' name, softly breathing out. Now, the strange feeling that easily took over her every time she visited was slowly churning in her chest, a hole in her heart that seemed to violently pull in this bittersweet pain into it, making it hard for her to stop sobbing. She had grown quite resilient though. It had been five years since she lost them.

"I hope you both are smiling up there." she said softly, smiling thinly to herself, "You guys probably are. Since you don't have to deal with Sungrok's attempt at cooking for you two." she hummed, "He had gotten so much better at cooking ever since though, don't get me wrong. And it's endearing. What else?"

The winds blew softly, leaves falling onto the soft grasses and grey paths as she continued to talk to the tombstone.

"...I think he's been hiding something from me, honestly."

And she was still trying to get actual justice for the two of them. There had been a considerable amount of progress ever since the past few weeks. A reckless mission was upon them and in their hands tomorrow night. Whether Haneul decided to bomb another building again or not, she knew the main concern was the lives of many in the observed hotel. The flashes of the vile images that the mass bomber sent her almost two weeks ago marred her emotions again and her gaze burned slightly before she exhaled, knowing how much patience she needed if she dwelled too much on it at the moment.

"I still feel terrible and miserable as hell. Can I be this honest in front of an inanimate stone?" she muttered quietly, sighing. The graveyard was indeed pretty lonely at such hours in the morning, and no one could hear her from so far anyway. "First, it's about the NIS. I feel like I don't value what I've learned from them enough. Everything that I have right now is thanks to my boss, Namjoon. Yet, every trouble he's thrown with right now is because of — all right, I can't blame myself for all of it though. Because of Haneul and my case. Since the beginning of time, I would say."

She could only hear the soft, enchanting whistles of the wind and her own voice. There were small barks from a nearby stray dog at her side. It had been staring at her talking to herself for some time now so she waved and patted it before shamelessly continuing, "Then there's Woo Junhyung. I think I'm — we're making progress, but still, I feel uneasy. Does it really change much after the damage done? Why does it still feel so wrong... so disgusting and uncomfortable...? It's like, I have the privilege to live on, and I'm not the one whose life was ruined or changed forever by his execution. My name isn't stained, and I'm forgiven for not being able to be a 'sane witness'. That's how it was like. Terrible. Telling me I was not in my right mind is a different matter, but saying it's fine?"

She groaned in frustration, reacting to her own words.

"What is fine with it? I've told myself time and time again, I'm very fine with living with guilt that I couldn't be a witness and I never even say it in a self-hating sense but in a SELF-AWARENESS sense!" she paused for a moment there, reconsidering. She was actually not very affected when people told her she was not at fault, she remembered feeling warmed when Jungkook told her that. She cleared her throat, "I'm a bit inconsistent and clueless but well, mostly, to others who just shunned me: that's not what I needed or wanted to hear at all like damn what the fuck, help me out on how to repent and help with the case?! It's not fine being someone who just sits back and settles with this bullshit and injustice! But of course it's because they never believed me at all and —"

"Woof, woof."

She felt like the dog cut her off intentionally, even leaning against her lap to make sure she was back to her senses. She breathed out and wiped her tear with her sleeve, swallowing awkwardly, "Did I curse...?"

She looked around the cemetery for a moment and felt relieved to know that no one was there yet. She got a bit carried away by her emotions. Her cheeks reddened slightly, embarrassed but at least it was only the dog who saw her. Animals had always been so attached to her since she was little and she just giggled, patting it before getting up. She apologized to her parents for some time and sent her wishes for their peace, lighting the incense. She shouldn't spend so much time here because she also needed to get Taehyung's coat from her condominium, and maybe bring more of her clothes. She bowed to leave when her phone was then suddenly ringing.

"Taehyung?"

"What are you doing, going outside alone?!" a shout came through and she had to reflexively put her phone away from her ears for a second, Taehyung sounded worried, "I know it's not right for me to track you like this but I'm kind of glad I did, I should go out —"

"I, what? Wait, no you don't have to go outside." she said quickly with a sigh, she understood wjy he would be concerned because she could disappear under broad daylight if Haneul happened to send out better fighters to kidnap her, not that she was incompetent though, "You can't be seen with me, remember? They might tail you or something if they notice a new person around me."

"...That's right but Soyun, you should really go back to the condominium now then." he suppressed a groan.

"I will do right away, but after I get your coat at my place." she said as she walked on the paths relaxedly.

"That's a reason for me to come out, isn't it?" he said, adding a chuckle so it was clear that he was joking to tease her.

"We'll meet at the hotel tomorrow and I'll give it to you then, don't worry."

Taehyung stopped biting his nails and sighed lowly, "I get it. But be careful since you're still going there alone."

"Also, another thing, Taehyung." she hummed, "You don't always have to track me but I understand your intentions."

Before this, she didn't even know if he had ways to do that but she supposed that she forgot he did the same thing back then when Jungkook then coincidentally was looking at his phone too. He was silent on the other side for several seconds. He just didn't inform them about it.

"Taehyung?" she blinked.

"All right."

•••

5:35 AM

Seokjin yawned, waking up to the sounds from the television that Jungkook had put on since minutes ago. He rubbed his eyes lazily as he stretched and sat up on the couch, "Who's already up at five in the morning?"

"Me, dude." Jungkook replied conversationally from the kitchen.

"Ah, you. You're cooking?" he asked, eyes still squinted at the TV screen. Its volume was lowered a bit, so he guessed that the vigilante only put it on to be able to know at once when it starts broadcasting news and not actually to annoy his ears. They were all looking forward to updates from the courts, after all.

"No, just an instant cup noodles for myself." he responded again, looking at the cup in his hand. Mhm... This the one she tried earlier?

"Oh, okay. I'm going back to sleep. If you're still there later, wake me up at 6:20." Seokjin said, plopping himself back to his pillow and pulling over his comforter again.

Jungkook rolled his eyes, "Yeah whatever."

"Anyways..." he glanced at the trashcan then turned back to the countertop, raising his brows as a nod to himself. He could peek at the same cup colour from the can and remembered her throwing it into the can from afar back there.

The perfect throw was kinda sexy.

He smirked as he sat down.

He was hearing light thuds from his vigilante buddies' room as he prepared his cup of ramen, using his chopsticks to smoothly push out the sauce and his teeth holding the sauce's small packet. A hack he learned himself. Still mixing the sauce with his noodles, he got up.

"Jungkook? Good morning." yawned Jackson, followed by Dawon's sleepy "morning".

"Knew you guys were awake when I heard some thuds." he said, closing the door behind him with his elbow.

"Who was walking just now?" Hoseok questioned amusedly at his younger friend, he was stretching flexibly on the floor when he came in while Yoongi was on his phone, also minding his own business.

"You were. Jackson fell down the couch too. Could tell by your footstep sounds." Jungkook looked around the room as he replied. He supposed that Dawon used the bed while the other three seemed to very love their couches, seeing how self-customized and decorated their cables and laptops were around them.

"Correct."

The thicker curtains we only half-closed and he casually sat down beside Yoongi as he ate his cup of noodles.

"So, we haven't talked about what we got from last night." Yoongi hummed.

"We did, with the NIS agents and Mafiosi." said Jackson.

"Excluding the pictures..." Dawon added solemnly, looking at all of them.

A sombre silence came through with Jungkook's noodle-slurping sounds occasionally cutting it.

"Well, if we look at it," Hoseok got up to sit with them, his tone calm as the skies. "Hueningkai was found in the US, Jackson in Hongkong, then there's me, Dawon and Yoongi-hyung who were found in Hawaii."

Jungkook paused shortly before continuing to eat, "Very fishy."

"I don't know why the informant and Soyun's parents have the pictures of these specific locations, but we would've been made fun of if we told them about this last night." Jackson grimaced and shook his head, "But it still doesn't make any sense for me..."

"They might've had a picture of Busan or something in the pieces, and then we're done."

Yoongi's serene gaze at their side was easy to notice the moment he fell quiet. He had crossed his arms in thinking and let out a sigh, "What do you think though, Hoseok?"

"If Haneul thinks it's Argus, why isn't he hinting it at us though?" Dawon spoke first as her brother remained silent.

"Why indeed." Yoongi sighed to himself again, leaning his head against the couch's backrest.

Maybe Haneul didn't want them to know that their previous leader could be alive. Even though they knew that both sides were searching for the informant now, it didn't look like the man intended to let them know at all. Not that telling them who the informant could be would sound like a clever idea, but it would really rile people up a little and confuse them.

"That day of the bombing. 4th of March 2014," began Hoseok, "Jungkook wasn't with us yet. The four of us were in the North to deal with some of Chimera mobs when he called us urgently to go back to Seoul 'to help someone', but also..."

Jungkook frowned as he ate his food.

Yoongi hummed, "He seemed to know that he was late. I mean, assuming if we replace the variable with Soyun's parents," he cocked his head slightly at Jungkook, "or Woo Junhyung."

The vigilante got up and they didn't bother to call him back, he was probably just getting up to eat outside or cleaning up his cup. And if it was to calm himself down, they would really much encourage that.

Dawon shook her head after the door closed on them, "He acts like he doesn't care about the leader but he was the one who rushed ahead to the antique shop in search for his tracks that night."

"Ignored everything we said and never woke us up too." Jackson added annoyedly.

"Some guilt really can make people irrational, huh." Hoseok thought to himself calmly.

"Why doesn't Argus reach out to us again if he's really alive?" Jackson frowned confusedly, "I emphasized the 'if' by the way."

"Who knows, maybe to protect us? Since it seems like he doesn't even want us to know he's alive. Assuming if the informant really is him." Yoongi tsked.

"How to explain the body we found then?" Dawon pondered and none of them had an answer.

"And apparently, Kim Namjoon had known that Jungkook was Woo Junhyung's son." Hoseok laughed dryly as he reached for his mineral water bottle, "Good to know that he had already known why Jungkook was bitter to them since then though."

Jungkook groaned inwardly, walking back to the kitchen and threw away his emptied cup. It wasn't that he couldn't see something like this coming, he just felt a bit numb and strange. Unintentionally recalling the violated, grotesque dead body with deep red stab wounds on that one night, he grunted quietly to himself in annoyance since the memories only made his nerves squirm with rage alongside this odd guilt. He just went back into his room and laid on his bed as the blue skies outside suddenly felt a bit darker...

"I'm going to make a deal with someone."

It was dark in the base that night. An adult with slightly rugged black clothes was facing five teenagers. Hueningkai was asleep on the couch over their shoulders. They never knew the man's real age but he often joked with them, saying he was just twenty. Jungkook could say that he was probably in his 40s or early 50s by now. What could separate 'Argus' from other people his age could be his tough body and skills. How else could he have lived on the run and now leading several teenagers and lost people like them?

"Are you guys worried? I'm very capable by myself, don't worry about it." was what the man said that night, his voice as calm as always.

One of the youngee vigilantes scowled and it was Hoseok. The moonlight dimly lighted up their spacious hideout.

"Worried? Yah, I'm baffled at how you never discussed this with us at all."

The man just chuckled without a certain undertone. He was always a hard one to read, yet they all knew that he couldn't help but glance at the quietest one in the grim, dark room, the one who just gave a stare.

"You're always like that, old man." Yoongi groaned, "Coming up to us like this as if you're just telling us that you're heading to a convenience store."

"Who are you trying to make a deal with anyway?" Jackson asked, his face hardened.

"I can't tell you that yet."

It was the Corvino Family.

"Don't joke with us like this, if Yoongi hadn't secretly installed a sensor by the door leading to Hoseok almost killing you in the dark, you would've just left without telling us." Dawon said sharply but her eyes were pleading that he would tell them something. Yoongi remained stoic while Hoseok bit his lower lip hesitantly.

"You all grew too cautious."

"Rightfully." Hoseok talked back.

"Anyway, none of you are allowed to —"

"At least tell us who you're trying to bargain with, will you?" Jungkook cut in sharply, his cold and distinct tone pulling all their eyes toward him. He locked his eyes with the taller vigilante, his concealed fury see-through.

Yoongi sighed under his breath and turned back to Argus.

"The Mafia."

Yesterday, it was only Jungkook who snapped but all of them were incredulous and furious at his decision. To this present moment, they have never understood what he was doing — "SAY WHAT?"

The scruffy-haired man couldn't even look at them. It didn't look like he was annoyed or guilty, it didn't look like anything was really thought out.

Dawon frowned, "Argus, have you actually gone mad —"

He only ignored the signs the past few weeks. Argus had been messier than usual, more prone to sudden headaches and snaps, he was harsher on them and him during training at random times, but he ignored all that. Something was wrong. Maybe it was the guilt? But well, what could he have done about that? He remembered hearing loud screams and pleas from inside the man's room though it was seldom. Even when he suddenly gathered all of them yesterday night to talk, to reveal to him that he had been involved with the case in Myeongdong and cry his eyes out while saying that he was late, he couldn't reach them from another country, all that — Jungkook knew something was wrong. His leader was driven by something and on a whim, decided something so fucking stupid and ridiculous right on the next day. But he noticed all that and didn't do anything. He made him feel worse, definitely that. He remembered shouting all the words to blame someone to the ditch after he confessed his mistakes that night, both of them with tears falling down their cheeks. He didn't know why it hurt so much to listen to him the other day.

"What if you would've really just disappeared tonight without telling us that?" Hoseok scoffed with a dry chuckle, "Excuse my manners but —"

"You know that the Corvino Family is gathered and has high morale tonight and since the explosion from our intel, what was your fucking thought process?!" Yoongi added furiously. Despite their shouts though, Jungkook thought that he never saw the man flinch at anything. "Did you even have one?"

Jackson shook his head, "And it's obviously a death wish to go alone, it's so risky —"

"You just revealed to me yesterday that you were the reason my father couldn't be freed from his death sentence, and today you're basically telling us that you have a death wish already?" Jungkook snorted. They stood back and watched apprehensively as he grabbed the slightly taller man by his shirt, looking up at him fiercely in the eyes, "TELL ME HOW THAT WOULD HELP TO CLEAR MY FATHER'S NAME."

"Jungkook, stop." Hoseok sighed.

"DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO, HE'S —"

"Master, you know damn well we can't just go like this without backup plans by the way." Yoongi said, consciously speaking over the vigilante who was still gripping the older man.

"— NOT GOING TO TELL US ANYTHING AT ALL. HOW ARE ALL OF YOU SO FINE WITH IT?"

"Jungkook, don't start." Dawon whispered with a low hiss, "We have enough conflicts as it is."

"AND DON'T ANY OF YOU FEEL LIKE SETTLING ONE?" he was still carving his seething glare into the person before him as he spoke, they had gone silent behind him and he knew they were just as hesitant to ask more, "What more? What more are you hiding from us, master? Maybe you forgot that we have significant smarts to dig up on your fake biodata, we only didn't know there was so much — ugh!"

"Sorry for that."

Argus had tossed him aside and then faced them with no sign of nervousness nor anger at how they were cornering him. He merely said as Jungkook helped himself up, "I am not telling any of you to follow me tonight. I don't have to make that clear too, don't I, Hoseok?" he moved his gaze back to Jungkook slowly and smiled, "I'm not sure either, in all honesty, to answer your question before."

"Why are you talking so formally tonight?" Yoongi hissed through his teeth as he held onto his shoulder, "At least stop that. It makes my blood crawl."

Their leader continued serenely, "I'm just acknowledging Haneul's skillsets. He's good at recruiting and stealth."

"And? You're going to recruit the mafia?" Jungkook rolled his eyes, "We can continue striking Haneul's bases like how we have done it these past 3 years and you might potentially throw all of that effort, we don't know if the mafia is secretly affiliated with them yet —"

"You all don't have to worry about the risks, just remember whatever else you guys have to do in this hideout."

"Are you kidding us?" Hoseok sharply cut in, "Master, you're not actually serious about going now right? Yah, Yoongi's shoulder is still injured from last week's mission and my sister still has a fe —"

"I don't have a fever!"

"— ver and I hate to admit it but do you also have to pick a time where I'm also injured from training?"

"This whole thing was ridiculous, have you even talked to Bohyun, old man Dongseok and Kangho? The rest in the bar? At all?" Jackson asked sternly.

"Maybe that was his intention?" Jungkook raised a brow, tilting his head with a forced grin.

"Then again, I was planning to not allow anyone to follow me. It will only make them not trust me more."

He met Jungkook's gaze momentarily before turning and they didn't know what they were supposed to do. They weren't in the right shapes, the right minds or the right time. They could understand from a professional's point of view at the moment too that all of them would only be a liability if they went with their leader.

"But master —"

"See you all later." he said, hand on the doorknob and giving them all a look before turning. He sighed, "You guys seem to know that bringing all of you now would really just hinder the bargaining. But if any wish to follow... I suppose no one. Well, see you all again later."

Jungkook clenched his fists at his side. It was fear too with them that night. The thought of the Mafiosi gathering at one location was bizarre, they weren't completely confident to take them on in their states. Some of them wanted to go with him that night, knowing how ridiculous the situation was.

That's legit how he left that night and never returned —

Jungkook realized that he had been spacing out when he heard footsteps. He remembered that one of the NIS agent, either Sana or Hyowon, or the both of them were to check in at their office building today which would explain the noises outside. He just groaned and then went to his desk, starting his computer peacefully. Perhaps it wasn't exactly intentional but he paused shortly when he recognized some footsteps, two opened the door to leave but one entered.

Soyun just casually minded her business with some bags, one for Taehyung's coat the other for her new set of clothes because really, she didn't have any pretty outfits here for her temporary show-off later at the hotel. Temporary because she'd probably leave the hall at once to go around the place and look for some potential explosives in the floors. As she was coming inside, she could hear Jungkook whining out of frustration in their room.

"Ugh, why is the line so bad here? Or is this PC way too old?"

"Were you going to start an assignment?" she said conversationally, closing the door.

"Nah, I was going to play games." he just gave up and turned off the computer, turning to see her folding plenty of clothes, a few sprawled on his bed before she could arrange them in the drawer, "...You look busy. You went to your place before coming here?"

"Yep." she nodded, placing a folded ruby-red dress into the drawer.

"You brought so much though." he pointed out, sitting on his own bed.

"My clothes won't take up your space, don't worry about that. I couldn't help it, I just realized that I have a lot of my mom's dresses that I can fit now to the uhh —" she shrugged a little, "the hotel stuff tomorrow."

He grinned amusedly, "Understandable. Gotta look good too while fighting, y'know?"

"Yeah that." she hummed back.

His eyes went to the expensive-looking black fur coat and he frowned slightly, "Your mom had style."

"Yeah, she d — wait that's actually Taehyung's." she chuckled, grabbing the said fur coat.

Jungkook snorted bitterly, "No wonder it smells like cigarettes. But you went to your place?"

She wryly nodded, "Mhm. It's probably as you think, yep, the mess reminded me of yesterday's encounter. I cleaned up a little though."

The vigilante groaned aloud at the unpleasant memories his muscles recalled from the fight. The assassin was an actual fighter, nothing like the cheap ones they dealt with at SNU or the ones in the underground infiltration the other day.

"I was wondering too though," she talked as she folded some clothes, "have you fought anyone like him before? Since you guys have been underground."

"Well, that's a given. I've taken on plenty." Jungkook replied conversationally, "But there's a difference. Only a few of them end up dead, some get away. Lucky assholes. Trust me, I'm more skilled than most underground fighters."

She chuckled and just nodded playfully, "A shame that I didn't bring an extra gun with me yesterday. I don't like how he just barged into my bedroom and got rid of my emergency weapon."

"What emergency weapons?" she heard him laugh over her shoulder.

"Nothing that cool, you can find them anywhere in your house or storage. Just steel pipes..." she said sheepishly and shook her head incredulously at herself, "Hid them in between my drawers and under my mattress. When I checked earlier, I think he got rid of the scissors pack I had behind my vanity mirror too."

"We were way too shabby." Jungkook groaned but with a faint tone of cheekiness, "Have you told your brother what happened at your place though?"

"I'm pretty sure Sana or Soobin have told him." she thought.

"Anyway," he scratched his nape, eyes elsewhere as he asked, "why do you even have that mafioso's coat?"

"Huh? Well —"

Their door was opened casually by Seokjin just then. The three of them stared at each other for a few seconds, Soyun still folding her clothes.

"Hold on, I got up too quick, my vision is blurry and I forgot what to say aooahhh —" Seokjin said as he held his head, leaning against their doorframe and then clicked his tongue after a few more seconds of a stare from Jungkook. "Right. Both of you, get out to the living room. Jiwon-nim said we're getting some news."

The two of them followed Seokjin outside. Namjoon and the vigilantes were already seated around the television before them.

"The Supreme Prosecutors' Office has reportedly issued an appeal of a major crime case from 2014, five years ago this morning upon a confession from an archivist. The archivist claimed that there were crucial wrongs in judgement and the investigation process of Myeongdong Tragedy, the bombing that destroyed many facilities in the district, severely injured many and brutally killed two investigators from the KNPA. The culprit concluded years ago was Woo Junhyung, a prosecutor from Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office."

All of them were tuned in across Seoul, including SNU students who had been more attentive to television news ever since yesterday's bombing, NIS agents in their office floor, Taehyung and Jimin sitting in their master bedroom; Jitae in New York who was about to enjoy his nap scrambled toward his laptop on the desk when Sunoo woke him up.

"The shreds of evidence years ago show that he had been around the crime scene, owned transaction records for the explosives, requested that a part of the street be restricted for his and the duo from KNPA's investigation. His motive then was believed to be halting their progress on an investigation regarding his contractor — but with this archivist who worked to record the case coming forth to the NIS and revealing —"

Jungkook's eyes widened slightly and he didn't sit down. None of them really minded anything, too concentrated on the news but Hoseok just chuckled under his breath, knowing that the vigilante would be the happiest one to hear the next words of the broadcast.

"— he states that there were many pieces of evidence in a half-burnt document from the victims which could prove that Woo Junhyung was wrongly accused."

The current general prosecutor, Jin Heekyung had agreed to publicize what they have so far and declared that the case would be reopened for resuming of investigations again, with the NIS having the most control over the directions.

"This is one good thing, isn't it?" Seokjin said, eyeing Jungkook from the corner of his eyes. He knew by now who he was. He could be happy for Soyun too, knowing how much that colleague of his had wanted this. Hell, it was really the main reason she joined the NIS.

"Yes, of course it is!" Soyun couldn't hide her teeth from joy when her smile widened, "We still need to capture Haneul and find a pen drive but knowing that the people are now aware of this is so satisfying! Jungkook," she casually shook him by his sleeve, "Looks like the encounter yesterday was worth it!"

"Mhm? Yeah..." the vigilante smiled back distractedly. He didn't mind Namjoon observing him from the side or his hyungs patting him anymore. He felt strangely light, relieved. He inhaled deeply, he didn't want to suddenly weep in front of so many people.

"Why aren't you sitting down though?" she blinked.

"Can't I just stand if I want to?" he chuckled, still not looking back at her. The news was going on and he had his eyes focused.

"Well sit down, we're gonna talk a bit." Hoseok said, amused at how the vigilante was still concealing his real feelings at the moment, be it a deep relief after a development.

"But wait..." Soyun's brows furrowed slightly, "What about the district's prosecutors' office though? Shouldn't they run a thorough investigation now?"

"It turns out that we need some time to receive approval and a decision for that. This was quite sudden after all, in a middle of a mysterious bombing case." Namjoon said, "Jiwon-nim is working on it."

"Why do I have a bad feeling about this pending approval?" Jackson clicked his tongue.

Soyun and Jungkook quietened. The morning felt so cold yet mellow but it wasn't autumn season at all, the news have most likely reached Haneul or his men.

"Isn't the NIS given full authority over the investigation, Namjoon?" Yoongi asked solemnly. The man seemed to be in a thoughtful silence himself and he sighed, leaning back in the couch at the nonverbal response.

"If it's not us, they might give it to the office that Woo Junhyung worked in." Seokjin said.

"I don't like the sound of that." Hoseok snorted, putting down his cup of tea and giving Namjoon a look, "You're sure your current head director can get it handled?"

"We'll see first."

Seokjin went on his phone and just noticed that he had some unread mails from the headquarters while Dawon mumbled grimly, "If the office takes over —"

"They'd most likely try to save their own image." Jungkook cut in serenely.

"They could come up with something like 'Woo Junhyung was our precious colleague and we have the rights to conduct the full investigation for the case ourselves as prosecutors'." Soyun said but she didn't come off dejected, her expression just calm and her tone still soft. It was true that she felt euphoric just now so the negative anticipations couldn't fully affect her yet, "Ultimately, it's Haneul's crime but they were really unprofessional and useless. They didn't even try to help out their best prosecutor.

The blatant abetting of an innocent man's execution and unjust, wrong procedures was telling. Jungkook was tapping his finger lightly on the couch's top arm rail. He laughed with a doomy calmness, "Right. They should be questioned."

Seokjin frowned hard at his phone. "Hold on, what the..."

They turned to the scruffy purple-haired guy and the portent concentration took over them again.

"What is it?" Namjoon raised a brow.

"The dude Soyun and Jungkook fought yesterday, it couldn't have actually been Ji Changwook, could it?"

"Ji Chang who?" the two in question just blinked, all they remembered was their frustration when the assassin could be on equal grounds with their charges yesterday.

"Wait, right. Soyun wasn't on the task force back then." Seokjin then gave his phone to her and she ended up casually sharing with Jungkook beside her, "This was the man you two fought yesterday. I know these eyes. Namjoon identified him a few weeks ago too but he reportedly disappeared off our radars after being spotted once near the convention's previous venue."

"He's Haneul's owl and also a former Muay Thai champion." Namjoon hummed.

"Haneul's owl..." Hoseok mused, "One out of eight, then."

"There's eight?" Seokjin blinked and tilted his head a bit when the vigilante nodded, "That's new info to us. And I suppose you guys can share some info after all."

Jungkook smugly ignored the agent's snicker. The vigilantes knew he was sneakily nitpicking about the informant.

"Owl as in messengers?" Soyun blinked then spoke again before Namjoon wanted to explain, "Oh, wait. That makes sense. Their eight-winged moth tattoo that's inspired by Brahmaea wallichii, a moth species with wings that look like owls..."

Namjoon chuckled, "Yeah. So they are Haneul's messengers but in a more accurate term, they're his top fighters and generals."

"Underground sources say that this Changwook guy was banned from championships because he had killed many in his fight rings."

Jungkook's gaze raised slightly at the mention of the word 'underground'.

"Muay Thai is a deadly combat sport. Were they accidents or something?" Jackson said.

"Can't tell." Namjoon shrugged calmly and it brought an awkward shift of seriousness to their living room, "Because he killed many outside the rings too."

"This guy didn't kill us?" Soyun laughed quietly, "Huh."

"He could've gone softer on you two for a reason —"

"He didn't need to hold back at all but okay." Jungkook interrupted casually, glancing at his watch which showed that it was 6:30 AM.

Seokjin went on with a dismissive wave in the guy's direction, "— because something that they told yall yesterday at the campus stuck with me."

"That they want us alive? I can't really buy that shit." Yoongi grimaced.

All of them agreed. Soyun's case was believable but they only posed threats, so it didn't make sense for them to be spared. Her case... Thinking of it, she wasn't sure where her dreams and nightmares were heading to anymore. She still hadn't got a reply from her brother whom she knew too well would sleep until at least 10 AM. She wasn't sure about bringing up her dreams yet, even if she felt Namjoon's eyes on her for clear reasons.

"Anyhow, this guy is one of Haneul's general, so to say. The next time any of us encounter him, it won't be nice. Watch out."

"Mhm." Jungkook hummed, just scrolling on his phone.

•••

6:35 AM

The phone's ringtone was almost like a fire alarm in the warehouse, growing more irritating to the ears as the man left it alone. The dark green hue covered the atmosphere of the scene, a contrast with the white ring in the middle of the room. The windows closed no curtains but the place remain dim as though it was in the middle of a forest when in truth, it was high in the sky, in a skyscraper that towered over the buildings of Seoul.

The black-haired man just stared at his bandaged fists and feet as he wore shorts and no shoes, just sitting on a bench in silence. There were footseps coming from behind him but he sat still as if he could hear nothing. A emptied drink can was thrown at the back of his head from behind and it clanged on the floor, making a loud noise but he just turned wordlessly to the suit-wearing man walking down the noisy steel stairs.

"Not even this can annoy you, huh, Changwookie?" the red-haired man approached him with a grin, picking the drink can up.

"Dongwook?"

"Yeah, hi. You're not going to take that call?"

Changwook side-eyed his ringing phone then faced in front again, "It's just Jitae."

"Just Jitae, he says." laughed Dongwook, taking a seat some distances away on the same bench as he pleased, "He's the closest Owl to the boss though. You're so brave to ignore him like that."

"You're scared?"

The drink can was thrown at him again but this time, Changwook caught it to throw into the trashcan at his side without any dent of edge on his face, their moth tattoos under their sleeves peeking when they did.

"I know you're asking that emotionlessly and just to continue the conversation, but I'm just like you." Dongwook said with a frown, yawning.

"I see." the black-haired man nodded.

"So he's pissed because you couldn't kidnap Sung Dong-Il."

"I guess." the man nodded again.

"That was very unprofessional of you though. Did something happen? How could the old dude get under your nose like that anyway?"

Changwook gave him a silent look before eventually explaining with his same calm tone, "It was an NIS agent and the vigilante. The archivist ran to her condominium so I was caught by their inspection team's camera."

"If it was me there, I could've kidnapped all three." Dongwook said, rolling his eyes. "Everybody makes stupid mistakes sometimes."

"The woman." croaked Changwook with a grit, "Her style of fighting threw me off."

"Woman? Oh! You encountered Shin Soyun?"

He moved his stare to the man, secretly judging his dramatic gasp, "Why? What's with her?"

"Well, did she fight well anyway? How was the fight?" Dongwook asked enthusiastically, "I saw her info from other hideouts, she's very close to my ideal type so —"

"She's allowed to attack or kill me but I'm not allowed to kill her. It's unfair." Changwook cut off, his eyes cold.

"Yeah, yeah." the redhead sighed and rolled his eyes, "Unfair to you I guess, since all you know is to kill. Just learn to make your kicks more gentle will you?"

"Also, the vigilante with her was Woo Junhyung's son."

"Ohhhh." he just nodded more solemnly, "I don't know what the boss wants with him but now that I think of it, trying to kidnap people without accidentally killing them does sound difficult."

"The guy was irritating too."

"Go on, go on." the phone was still buzzing.

"He had the audacity to read my moves first instead of actually trying to take me on. They both were messy but —"

"Held you on equal grounds, also cornered you with third parties." Dongwook laughed, "Sounds like me without the last one."

"You know speed chess? That's how they fought, too relentless. I could tell they were surprised."

"You felt surprised too." the red-haired man got up despite the glare at his back as he went away, "I guess that's why you don't like me. I'm telling you though, Changwookie... Your obsession with elite styles will kill you one day. The real world isn't a ring with rules you still break, it's a deathmatch with people who can just keep charging."

"Why did you stop by?"

He halted with a sigh, "Right, I almost forgot. To tell you that the NIS are probably going to hunt for you and that we have to protect this office building we're in. Just to tell you that the boss wants us to team up for the convention later. Sunoo was supposed to join us, but boss changed his mind and had some stuff in New York to observe. Two other Owls are gonna arrive tonight too but I don't remember for what."

"Who?" the other asked again.

"Lee Minho and four-eyed Kim Minjong." Dongwook smiled passively as he waved lazily at his shoulder, "See you later."

•••

Soyun folded her last shirt and got up. She had time to spare before 7:00 AM, training in the NIS office building with Namjoon that would probably occupy her from then to the evening, at least until 7:30 PM. She really wasn't sure with her sore forearms at the moment but that was why, she couldn't just let the same guy potentially worsening their states the next time they encounter one another.

Everytime her forearm twinged, she felt like groaning aloud not out of pain but rather, simple exasperation.

Jungkook was sitting by the windowsill, staring at the city. He had been silent for a while since they went back to their rooms. There were still voices outside, probably the rest of the vigilantes and Seokjin eating chaotically as usual. Namjoon had gone ahead to the building and gave her a very stern look, she would have to go down and be on the way to the office soon.

"What time is it?" he asked, breaking the silence.

She approached him as she hummed, "6:20."

"You're gonna leave for the training thingy soon right?" he said, watching her nod as she comfortably sat on the windowsill too, just discovering how neat the spot was because she only placed books on it until some time ago. "You're looking pretty and dressed up for someone who's just going to go sweat."

"I look pretty all the time." she said casually with a tiny shoulder raise as she looked at him.

He let out a small chuckle, having already learned that self-confidence and awareness were really just a natural part of her.

"Are you happy?" she asked, sitting with her back facing the view.

He conversationally returned her gaze, "What?"

"I mean, I don't really know what of the Myeongdong case was important to you," she smiled a little, "but since we're progressing to get the justice for it..." she peeked at him, "How do you feel?"

His smile was a bit melancholic but he nodded, "I am happy, I just don't know how to express it."

"Well, that's fine. It's already good to know that you're happy."

"What about you?" he asked.

"I feel very good. We're not that close to the end of this yet but it's a development. The breaking news for justice coming out happening on parents' day too," she giggled softly, "the timing doesn't feel like just a coincidence."

Jungkook found himself smiling softly again, both at the tenderness of the dim air and her. The sun was still hidden away by clouds and the rain began to fall gently.

"Parents' Day..."

Soyun stuttered but he laughed as though he could hear her slow realization, "I could guess where you were going this morning, honestly. You were wearing black, I know your background and the date today, so it's easy to guess."

A serene silence came swept in between them, it was comfortable for them. Soyun's gaze was still on him with her unspoken questions as he just stared outside the window.

"Jungkook," if not about why he asked about her free time, maybe she could ask another question since they were alone. "just a curious one but what did you mean when you said that I reminded you of yourself?"

"I wonder." he crossed his arms on his chest playfully and just stared at Soyun across him. He laughed when her cheeks started to get pinker and found it funny how she still tried to not look away.

"What is it?" she hissed, covering up her flusteredness.

"I will tell you that some other time. Because not yet." he smirked with his usual calm air of mysteriousness and she just sighed. She could hear the sound of rain from far away now and also his sigh. "Your parents must be proud of you though."

His sincere tone again.

"And I hope this can put Woo Junhyung's soul at a bit more ease." she shrugged lightly, "I feel especially light today. Maybe it's also because of the meaningful day but who knows."

It oddly reminded her of when he told her that the innocent's execution wasn't her fault. She just smiled; she wanted to say it back or at least thank him too but she was biting her lower lips, not because he wasn't amazing. Was it the leaden atmosphere, her own mixed emotions or was it that he really looked blue despite what he said? Soyun didn't realize that his gaze had been on her since hers was lowered.

"Are your parents..." she didn't know how exactly to word her question, "Can I ask about your parents?"

"Do you really want to know?" he replied, both looking into the other's eyes.

"Yeah."

Jungkook prised himself off the windowsill fairly fast, cocking his head to his side. She followed his gesture to follow him but honestly realized that she was short on time, wherever he was planning to go.

Ayo wait. Wasn't she supposed to go downstairs and leave for the NIS office building with Seokjin? She checked her phone as she followed Jungkook and discreetly panned her eyes around the living room where they were seen by Hoseok, Yoongi, Dawon and Jackson. She was actually looking around with tenseness but it didn't show on her face.

Seokjin is already downstairs, isn't he.

"Hyung, I'm going outside for a bit."

"You are? With Soyun?" Hoseok's tone was curiously sweetened.

Jungkook relaxedly went over with it, "Yeah. We're going outside for a bit."

Dawon and Jackson gasped dramatically over Yoongi's shoulders, all of them peeking.

"It should be safe to visit the base now, right?" he asked.

"Mhm, should be." Yoongi replied, a towel over his shoulder. "I'm going to go work out at the gym. You're going to be there later?"

"Maybe," Jungkook shrugged and then waved relaxedly as he walked away. Soyun was quickly typing a text to Namjoon at the moment as she followed the vigilante who haven't really said anything about where they were heading to, she already grabbed her bag and all, mind struggling to work out an explanation at the speed of light but her fingers weren't typing anything. They were in the elevator and he moved over closer to see her phone screen, "You struggling to make an excuse?"

She admitted, "Yeah because uhhh —"

"Just tell the truth and be honest."

"Right, I should. Wait. What is the truth?" she turned to him uncertainly.

He leaned against the lift's wall and nodded to himself as though a light bulb just turned on in his head, "Let's see. How about 'I'm going somewhere with Jungkook'? Good?"

She choked out air at her side after his suggestion, "That's too honest, you're even giving your government name. But where are we going?"

"You'll know when we get there, just follow my lead."

"Okay I just told him that I'm going somewhere." she breathed out. She would be at ease for the time being, "And then told Seokjin that he can go ahead."

"What about my name?" he grinned.

"Oh my, maybe I missed that."

She knew he could see through her bluff and he obviously knew, just returning the same energy.

"There's always a next time."

"Right, huh. Seokjin might be in the parking lot though, that'd make me leaving your name out pointless." confused but distracted, she just went on. Her eyes followed his to the digital number display in the elevator, then the pressed buttons and she blinked, "Why are we going to the second floor?"

"So we can use the stairs from here and exit from somewhere else."

The doors opened.

"...Oh. You're clever."

•••

Taehyung snorted, his eyes darkly monitoring his screen. He could see her phone's location sprinting further from the lobby and supposed that she wasn't heading to the NIS building yet, not at all. A venomous feeling clutched his chest but he just remained silent.

"The vigilantes said that Jeon Jungkook was going out for a bit and Soyun followed." Jimin reported with a knowing, cheeky smile. He could read his friend's expressionless faces pretty well and he knew that at the moment, he was jealous, more or less.

"Just focus on Haneul's timeline in New York." Taehyung hissed from his desk and Jimin just enjoyed his drink by the couches, shrugging as he faced his laptop again.

"But don't worry, Taehyungie you'll see her at the hotel to —"

"I know that." he rolled his eyes, muttering calmly to himself, "And I won't let that vigilante near her at all then."

"It's literally like 6 or 7 AM in the morning, isn't it too early to be jealous?" Woo-Shik yawned on the couch across Jimin, his laptop neglected until it beeped. Taehyung left his desk and casually pushed aside Woo-Shik, Jimin got up, both of them quicker than the guy to take over his laptop and it didn't look like the mafioso even minded, just groaning from a shoulder pain but getting back up to sleep on another couch. "What did we get?"

Taehyung's eyes narrowed, "Nicolo sent a mail:"

"Jaesik's teams said that they are being followed and have yet to find out who." Jimin clicked his tongue, "And it seems like they're suspecting the serial killer to be someone with a personal grudge against Haneul. The air says that Haneul probably sent out more of his men to trace the person. One of them is very young, named Sunoo or something and had disguised himself with the police. They probably want to watch over and see through their investigations at the same time."

"Tell our team should be more careful about who's onto them." he leaned back on the wine-red, elegant couch as he viewed the screen from over Jimin's shoulders.

"Yeah, we can't have it be Haneul."

"Right, Taehyung..." Woo-Shik asked groggily, facing them across him and still laid on his back, "The snakes. You're really bringing them to Korea too?"

Taehyung sneered subtly and nodded. He got up.

"Rome isn't the only place with our men and I don't plan on slowing down our progress. That being said, update me about the ones in New York too."

"Will do." Jimin hummed in response, still focused on his screen.

"Where are you going?" Woo-Shik asked.

Taehyung closed the door on them with a calm reply, "Training."

There was a temporary silence in the bedchamber then, and the blonde-haired Mafioso interrupted the silence with a laugh.

"I've honestly never seen him this worked up, it's so fun to watch."

Woo-Shik chuckled nervously as he sat up, "I don't know about you but I'm just scared."

"Scared of Taehyungie? What for?" the entertained grin hasn't left Jimin's pink lips yet despite the images he was seeing on the laptop screen, "Interesting one. This serial killer seem to really have it in for people with eight-winged moth tattoos."

"That too but I'm also scared for the girl."

"Coming from a Mafioso?" Jimin laughed, still scrolling. "That's funny but well, I'm sure whatever quandary this is would be settled in the future anyway."

•••

The rain gently pattered on the paths, naturally mixing in with the sounds of other people walking along the sidewalk.

"Whyyyy would I be scared of Namjoon or anyone, pfft." Soyun said, waving her hands in a sarcastic and playfully sense as Jungkook just nodded beside in pretense that he was taking anything in seriously. She was honest though, she wasn't scared. Even with her enemies, she would say it was at most just suspense and her fighter ego. So far, at least.

"Why are you so nervous about an explanation for your lateness then?"

They were walking on the sidewalk and he still hadn't explained where they were going, so in the present, she was honestly not concerned about the excuses. The busy sounds of cars and motorcycles at their right and the calm, soothing whistles from the bushes on their left, it was hard to guess.

"He is my superior, so —"

"Yoongi-hyung and Hoseok-hyung are just numb when I don't listen to them." he shrugged nonchalantly.

She burst a small laugh, "You really are something."

"I can say the same to you, now." he said, casually pinching her cheek and she just gave him a half-confused, half-warning look.

"So um, like, are you telling me where we're going to or not?" she asked with a soft sigh, feeling her own cheek.

"We are going there, trust my lead." he assured relaxedly, just looking around.

"What about your previous leader?" she asked, her gaze and tone as serene as the breezy, thin winds. He looked back at her, "Did you not listen to him too?"

"Mhm," he didn't appear to be taken aback by her calmness and just answered, easier than he thought he would. "Sometimes. But I would just do what I want so when I do listen, I guess it's because we want to do the same thing."

"What do your parents do?" she asked.

"My mom was a Taekwondo instructor." he replied shortly.

"Wait whoa, that's actually so cool."

"She had a studio... though it's abandoned now." he added. They stopped walking and he was looking around the area, it was a quieter road with shops but fewer cars.

"What about your fa —?"

"All right, I think we can just get it through here." he said, cocking his head at his side; it partly came off as though he cut in intentionally but since he was being quite mysterious, she just left it behind for the moment.

"Through here?" she blinked then looked around as she walked up the lawn by the sidewalk, there were shops around them with a lot of tall boxes and crates, including rocks and banners that she could feel safely hidden from the road there.

"Come on." he chuckled, watching her squint at the 'restricted area' sign on the wooden gates and fences where behind them would be a forest of some sort.

"It's a restricted area." she pointed out the obvious flatly.

"Good eye." he clapped with sarcasm, "Let's go."

She watched him casually and effortlessly climb up the wooden gates and wondered what was going to happen next. He landed on the other side and yelled playfully, "Come on or you gonna be left behind!"

She chuckled amusedly under her breath but paused for a moment to be thankful that she wore pants under her skirt because she couldn't have possibly foreseen that she'd need to jump over a fence in public. Hearing voices from the shops behind her, she  climbed up at once and landed silently.

"You could've told me to catch your bag first." he hummed.

"Well anyways — is it just me but this area looks familiar?" she was reminded of the way to their hideout behind the bar as it was inside a forest-like area too. She looked around. The lawn before them would lead deeper and she just realized that it almost seemed like having to climb down a small hill. 

"Mhm, and I didn't think making you follow me past these gates would be that easy."

"It's a bit exciting, honestly. Breaking rules." she hummed, walking along first to explore the trees and green forest.

Jungkook just smirked and walked on, "Did I influence you or have you always been this way?"

"I've brought Taehyung to sneak into an abandoned swimming pool behind SNU with me before, but I'm not sure if that says anything." she giggled.

"Didn't ask." he tsked but was grinning amusedly as he walked in front of her, "And you say you have never cheated on tests."

"I don't even know how to cheat on tests, please." she laughed it off, "I can cheat on online quizzes though."

"Man, this is why people have to watch out. Their future psychologist or doctor might be cheating in their quizzes for all they know."

"Yah." she elbowed him in a playful manner that he would just smugly ignore, and he could hear her giggle anyway. They were deeper into the forest now though and she asked again, "So are we heading to your hideout from here? I just realized that the sidewalk and district earlier wasn't that far from the bar."

"The bar is on the opposite side of the sidewalk and the trapdoor is near the other end of this restricted forest land. Our hideout is actually almost in the middle," he said and they halted again. She just gazed at him as his eyes scanned the area below. The lawn was quite steep again, "All right. It's the right way." he said, "Come on."

"And he still haven't told me where we are going." she just sighed and relaxed her shoulders, watching Jungkook already going ahead. The forest whistled silently around them. Still uncertain and therefore she was more curious than apprehensive, she just followed his lead again.

They walked past the green leaves, bushes and dark tree trunks. The skies had gotten brighter and she glanced at her watch. It was 7:00 AM and by now, so Seokjin had definitely reached the NIS building. She hadn't opened her messages from Namjoon yet and felt so bad at the moment but just proceeded, relieving herself with the fresh morning air. The scent of after-rain followed them as she gazed at him from the side.

"Your parents... They are dead, right?"

"Yeah." he replied, his tone noticeably calmer. The leaves rustled at his boots and her shoes as they just avoided the lower branches of the trees. He felt her gaze fixed on him and noticed her falling silent. He continued, "My mom's grave is in Busan. My dad's is nearby, somewhere not so far from our exploded hideout."

It was 8:00 PM in New York in the meantime — the night view and city lights below were splendid and would've been more for Haneul if only there were no one else in the gym at the moment. But he had to blend in. Of course, he was used to wearing fake masks outside, even when sweating.

"Ugh, that cold guy!"

Jitae groaned to himself and just put down his phone. Sunoo had been witnessing his raging behind the phone from the side and just held back his laugh.

"Boss, Changwook-sunbaenim isn't answering Jitae's call at all!" the young man said, still laughing but quieter.

Haneul walked over to them with a low exhale. The gym was spacious and had some table at the sides for rest, and these two had been trying to get ahold of one of his owl since an hour ago to no avail.

"I think we should let him cool down, he does that when he's pissed."

"You're just letting him off like that?" Jitae sighed, sitting down again. "He made the biggest mistake I could imagine yet, and now our enemies have successfully reopened that case."

Haneuk drank his water and remained silent between their chats, his eyes over the city.

"Why is it bad if that case gets reopened?" Sunoo frowned.

"Kid, listen." Jitae began solemnly with a glance at Haneul, "The entire reason our boss went on a 'hiatus' was to stay low after we trapped Woo Junhyung. The case could've revealed our current boss's relation to our previous boss because of what Shin Soyun's parents were investigating. The only way was to frame someone else."

The younger man's face was less light as though a dark cloud just passed by. He didn't sound as laid-back anymore, "Oh. That's bad. Then, what the archivist told the NIS might have —"

"Yes, it might have had more damage. For now, we'll just keep watching out for our objectives and investigations..."

Haneul intervened with a calm but sinister smile, "The archivist doesn't even remember much of what he saw, so there's no use to worry about that."

The two of them tuned to Haneul firmly with grim yet calm faces.

"The worst that can happen from this twist is just that I would be revealed as the real mastermind behind the case."

"If they start investigating why," Jitae began grimly but Haneul cut in.

"And that won't happen as long as Unknown's plans work."

Sunoo looked awed, "You really believe in Unknown-hyung's tricks, don't you? Well I mean, he is the most useful card for this."

Jitae side-eyed his colleague as Haneul curved an insincere smile.

"How about you? Anything useful you found in the police station?"

"N-No," he avoided Haneul's eyes as he laughed nervously, "it just looks like even the police is having a hard time trying to find the serial killer."

"I see." the man sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, "Our situation is fucking ridiculous. If this shit continues, I might have to force myself to play out here with them too. Anyhow," he pointed to his colleague's phone, "just remind the Owls in Seoul of our objective. Get Dongwook to just try and cheer up the introvert too before the convention."

"How did he lose anyway?"

"Curious, isn't it, Sunoo?" Haneul hummed over his opened can of beer, "I suppose we can't really underestimate our enemies. Unknown hss told all of you why I'm putting back my Owls to work, hasn't he?"

Sunoo nodded, the air of seriousness not leaving their sides although Jitae was back to grunting in annoyance at his phone over his shoulders. There were fewer people in the gym as the night fell.

"He has calculated and thought of scenarios: the three agents from NIS, Kim Namjoon, Kim Seokjin and Shin Soyun. Three vigilantes to be prioritized from Hope, including Woo Junhyung's son Jeon Jungkook, their current leader Jung Hoseok, and Min Yoongi. That makes... six out of eight of us assigned."

"At least your memories are better than Dongwook's." Haneul said, satisfied, "The other two can be of assistance. Who knows if we might need them one-on-one with more, because I can make out two in case the Corvino Family would ever pick a side."

"Who?" Sunoo blinked.

"Kim Taehyung and Park Jimin should be watched out for as foes. Though I don't see why they would even look in our way, don't even mention the vigilantes or the justice-advocating NIS." he laughed darkly, his fist crushing his can. "Which is why it's too difficult to get them on my side."

There was silence from the young man and Haneul let out a chuckle, not because he wasn't  even listening but because he felt that it was quite ridiculous for his fellow Owl to lose to the two that he encountered. Or why he felt like making fun of Changwook's sulking phase.

The skies had lightened up more in Seoul as the rain had stopped completely and Soyun was beginning to feel a bit cold in the forest. She felt strange, hearing Jungkook's words.

"Your dad's grave is around here?"

"Unusual, isn't it?" he chuckled. It was an empty one. She followed him closely, stepping on some stone paths she realized were there at their feet as they had gone further.

"Changwook is driven by pride in his kicks and killing style. Can't really blame how sensitive he gets if it's disturbed in one way or another." Haneul shrugged, facing the windows, his dark eyes reflecting the city.

"Guess I underestimated his sensitivity." Sunoo met his gaze with a confused, still stubborn blink.

"Coming from a man like myself, it sounds ridiculous but you shouldn't underestimate people with a driving force." Haneul hummed serenely. Jitae was going to give up on the phone and he spoke again, "That would most likely include the serial killer who's onto us, and Shin Soyun."

Sunoo just listened more tentatively as he played with an empty drink can, "Revenge and hatred, huh. Oh, then it's money for me and Unknown!"

His eyes narrowed.

"And then there's guilt." The only similarity we share.

Jungkook chuckled, "Unusual because most people have graves in the cemetery or are placed in charnel houses..."

She could see a tombstone ahead, still a bit small to their eyes but there was a pond alongside it as well. It was certainly a pleasant area for a homemade grave but it felt so lonely to the eyes. The sole stone in the middle of trees and bushes. There were butterflies but they were silent. The paths weren't scattered. It wasn't anything wrong to be buried alone but still, she had a question, "Why though? Can I..." Jungkook was quieter as she asked, "Can I ask that?"

The birds chirped softly on the branches. The pond made the place seem more alive, the pale, greyish sky enhancing the atmosphere but she only felt more apprehensive. It was a beautiful forest for an ignored one in the middle of the city.

He hummed without turning to his shoulder and replied, "He does have a grave in the cemetery actually, but in the prison's, which I have only visited like once with my mom."

He was already by the gravestone when he had said these words; Soyun felt her thoughts stirrinng uneasily, a strangely ominous waft of wind dimming and shifting not just her composure but also their laid-backness from earlier.

Prison...?

Jungkook crouched to carress the headstone lightly and coming closer, her eyes widened as she froze on the paths.

"He was executed and died in prison too. It was hard to visit there without weird looks, so I built one myself out here."

'Woo Junhyung'.

The letters carved on the stone wrote the name of a man she failed to save from his unjustified death. 

End of Chapter Twenty-eight

A/N:

I AM GOING TO WRITE THE NEXT CHAPTER RIGHT NOW BECAUSE THIS IS ALSO A CLIFFHANGER TO THE WRITER AKA ME HSSISHSJDH 🧘‍♀️

I should've talked about this before but yeah I know that traditionally, Koreans take their father's surname but UMM MAYBE AN EXCEPTION HERESHSHDS so like uhm yes Jungkook took his mother's surname. Plot purposes I'm sorry if this is a flaw 😭

Feeling kinda sorry for Namjoon and Taehyung rn — more moments in next chapter though ahdksbsksndkndjdekdjjdahahadjdhshhddj