Taehyung looks down at his tattooed fingers fumbling with the trigger of his handgun before he glances at the rear view mirror to see jungkook sitting on the back seat with an emotion less stare on his cuffed wrists.
He was kept between two of kang's most trained men just to ensure he wouldn't try to fight back the agents, inky black strands of hair framing his features as he hangs his head low.
It was hard to assume what he could possibly be thinking about since his face had gone completely blank. He had always been the most unpredictable when it came to situations like these.
A soft sigh rolls off of taehyung's lips once he throws his head back and peers at the car's ceiling, the driver who was seated next to him glances at his face as if asking for the permission to speed up and upon getting a nod from tae, he presses the gas pedal to slightly increase the pace.
A fresh blow of wind ruffles taehyung's bangs and he can't help but shut his eyes close for a moment, jungkook's voice still reverberating in his ear drums.
"Once a traitor, always a traitor"
flashback: 3 years ago
"How much is he going to pay us for this again?" Jungkook asks, eyebrows furrowed in full concentration as he watches taehyung read a text on his phone.
The older male nibbles on his lower lip before roughly combing his hair back, "enough for my grandpa's surgery" he lowly mumbles.
Jungkook doesn't say anything and simply nods, eyes glued to the dagger he had gripped on for nearly twenty minutes now. Its sharp edges shone in the dim moonlight, illuminating his entire face which he found unnaturally beautiful despite knowing it was going to be covered in blood after a few minutes.
He swallows a lump down his aching throat and sucks in a sharp breath.
This was it, his first mission as a leader.
Not just some troublesome kid working under namjoon, he had fought for this title and he had to prove it to his hyungs that he wasn't going to be the next leader of bangtan just because of his dad. He was actually capable of the title he held and he wanted to show it somehow, through this mission.
Once the wheels of the truck the two boys had been sneakily riding on stop rolling, taehyung nudges his partner with his elbow and both of them scurry their way to hop out of the trunk, randomly kicking some boxes full of goods on their way out.
Jungkook tries his best to be silent, harsh breaths gradually fading to soft sighs when his feet come in contact with the ground.
The cold wintry breeze embalms his skin as he stuffs his hands inside his jacket's pockets and looks at taehyung who nods, "you know what our first priority should be?" he questions.
"Namjoon hyung's dad" the raven haired mumbles before looking around at the crowded road.
Seoul was always full of liveliness even during late nights.
"Yeah, he must be asleep right now, we need to make sure nothing wrong happens to him" he says, fastening his pace until the sound of his footsteps resonate against the sidewalk.
Jungkook feels adrenaline pump through his veins at that reminder, lungs getting filled with the night air, "but it's not like someone is after him at the moment, is it? We just need to go and help him get a discharge then kill some random dude right?" he questions, still unable to understand why they were going to meet namjoon's dad at this hour when it could've been easily handled tomorrow morning.
There's a pause, a sudden tightness in the atmosphere which makes taehyung's back prickle with guilt.
Jungkook didn't know namjoon's dad was actually kept as a bait, one wrong move, one minute wasted and he would be wiped away from the face of earth permanently.
The man who wanted to kill joon's father was also the person they were supposed to kill and he wouldn't appear until he was given a bait, so there was no other choice rather than sending him the address of his good old rival's dad which had somehow managed to be namjoon's since he had bankrupted his account once.
Although it was actually joon he was supposed to be mad at, no one could ever raise a hand against him so the anonymous man was instead aiming for his old, sick father.
That's how most revengeful people worked, always trying to get to the vulnerable when they fail to lay a finger on their enemy.
If everything went well and the boys got successful in reaching the hospital before that man could, they could easily get mister kim to somewhere safe, pretend like taehyung is actually him by slipping beneath the sheets and also murder the other person smoothly.
So yes, it was once again a battle against time.
Of course taehyung didn't want to use his own best friend's dad as a bait but he didn't have any other choice. His grandfather was dying on the bed of seoul national hospital and there wasn't enough money for his thyroid surgery, even with all the gang's savings combined, they couldn't get the full amount with medications and all since they were just a rising gang with their leader as an 18 year old.
So one of the agents who worked under tae had told him about this mafia who was willing to pay all the money he wanted if he managed to kill the man who was also 'coincidentally' after namjoon's father but the only problem was he barely came out of his hideout so using a bait was the only way to lure him into this whole 'trap'
Agent A had promised taehyung that the underground mafia would pay him for his work, no matter how high the amount was so he got compelled to complete this task not for himself but for the love of his only guardian.
"No one's after him but let's speed up the process. I want to go home to see seo's red lingerie" the older brother mumbles, earning a chuckle from jungkook as both of them make their way into a dark alley wedged discreetly between dilapidated buildings, their walls chipped and eaten by weather and time.
The smell of garbage and smoke is evident, trickling of drain water echoing through the otherwise silent path while the two men walk wordlessly.
Despite the multiple questions popping inside jungkook's head, he chooses to stay silent because of his blind trust towards taehyung, the guy whom he had more faith in than himself.
Both of them carefully stride through the pathway squeezed between two huge buildings, knuckles brushing against the bricks every time they rocked their hands a bit too hard.
Jungkook fishes a black mask out of his pocket and covers his face before putting his hood on, followed by taehyung who does the same. The red gem clasped in the handle of both their daggers shine among the pitch black surroundings.
Then taehyung peers up at the one street light which was still flickering before sending a text to someone, soon after which, it lights off as well.
"You ready?" He swallows a mouthful of saliva and agitates his gaze towards the other side of the street where there was the private hospital namjoon's dad had gotten admitted in.
Jungkook brings his fingertips up to skim his jaw, the spot he had gotten punched on while fighting a bodyguard earlier had formed a bruise that slightly hurt everytime he moved his mouth.
He feels his heart pick a pace once he sucks in a deep breath.
"Yeah, let's go" he softly mumbles, doe like eyes looking around the street to make sure no one was watching them.
Then with one final nod, both of them cross the walkway, hooded heads lowered just to ensure they wouldn't get recognised through any cctv cameras.
Taehyung takes the lead and walks ahead first, grabbing a bar of the gate which had a huge lock right in its centre.
A frown climbs up his face as he licks his lips and sighs, "I think we need to go through the window"
Jungkook glances at the time on his phone with eyebrows scrunched in worry, "twelve fifty five" he murmurs underneath his breath.
Taehyung's eyes widen in shock upon hearing that, time was seeping through his fingers at a rapid pace now and if he didn't speed up even during this period, it would be too damn late.
"We wasted too much of time fighting that fucking bodyguard" he groans, frustratedly running a hand through his hair before his irises swallow the surroundings carefully.
Then once he sees a large wastebasket lying below the window that led to the nurse office, he grins knowing exactly what to do.
He staggers through the parking lot towards the giant framed window, accidentally stepping on some puddles in the process while jungkook quietly follows behind.
He stretches himself up, getting on his tip toes before reaching a hand out to grab the bin by its upper part so he could prop himself upwards.
"Can you give me some support?" He whispers in a deep voice and jungkook nods before kneeling down so tae could climb on his back.
"Three minutes until one am" he huffs, standing up with the bulky guy's legs hanging on each side of his shoulders.
Taehyung's fingers firmly wrap around the bin's handle as he climbs on top of it, the smell of antiseptic and bandages filling his nostrils once he sits on its lid.
He eyes the window which was just a step away now, carefully taking a peek to make sure none of the staff were roaming around.
Unlike most other hospitals, this one did not have a twenty four hour shift so that was a relief. It was only the watchman whom yoongi had already kidnapped in his trunk, patients who were surely asleep and a few nurses in the workers room during midnight.
Taehyung grabs the window sill and tries to open the jammed sash lock with his bare hands, the glass creating a rattling noise at his actions while jungkook looks at the desolate parking lot at a distance.
"Fucking hell" taehyung curses, clenching his jaw before using both his palms to lift the pane up with a sudden jerk.
Beads of sweat roll down his forehead once he hears the sound of the elevator button being pushed across the tiled corridor.
That guy is here too.
Of course the boys had the advantage of knowing the elevator was broken so it wouldn't go up the second floor which meant the other man would have to come down and take the staircase but he was an assassin for a reason and namjoon's dad was just a few minutes away from being murdered if they didn't hurry.
Taehyung leaps through the double hung window without a second thought, a tang of pain hitting his body once his arm comes in contact with the clean marble tiles which leads him to wince.
His teeth sink into his bottom lip as he stands up on his feet, the smell of bleach filling his lungs while he peers around curiously at the empty hallway.
It was dead silent.
With a hand splayed around his elbow where he had hit the floor, taehyung scurries back to the windowpane and sees jungkook zoned out, still staring at the parking lot.
"Jungkook" he whispers, creating a 'tch' sound with his mouth to revamp his attention but it's of no use.
His eyes are too focused on the black honda which steadily passes away from the hospital building, the sound of its engines reverberating in his ears.
"Jungkook!" Taehyung whisper yells at this point, frustration building within him as the seconds seem to go by faster than ever before. He outstretches his arm to grab jungkook by his collar but the younger male takes a step back before gulping.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Tae scowls in anger when he feels his chest get tightened.
Jungkook's dilated pupils constantly move up and down the road, mouth slightly parted open as if in great disbelief.
He finally looks upwards to meet taehyung's eyes and hesitantly says, "I think I just saw y/n in that car"
His subtle tone makes a vortex of anger swirl inside taehyung as he raises his voice out of nowhere, "the last time you saw her was in that fucking gala four years ago, you don't even know what the fuck she looks like now" he shouts, angered at how it was still you jungkook was talking about even in such a dangerous mission.
With that being said, he lowers himself in an attempt to get a hold of his brother's bicep so he could forcefully pull him upwards but the younger male was too lost in his daze to even bother looking at him.
"I swear I saw her" he sniffles with a slight tilt to his head, "I just feel it in my bones hyung, it was y/n"
Taehyung clicks his tongue and purses his lips together in a thin line, trying to press down the anger which was making him want to just plant a bullet straight into jungkook's head, "Forget her for god's sake jeon, namjoon's dad is going to die if we don't move right now-"
Taehyung's words get cut off when he hears someone run up the stairs and his nausea begins to churn through his abdomen at the realisation of this risky mission's horrible failure.
"Shit" he sighs and lets go of the end of jungkook's hoodie to pull out his dagger, at least an attempt on getting things done.
But what could he even do alone against a trained hitman? A guy who had just turned twenty against one of the most dangerous assassins of korea? He could only return injured.
And about jungkook, he was in such a disassociated phase that if someone punched him right across his face right now, he wouldn't even notice it.
He blankly stares down at the elite tattoo he had gotten just a few hours ago when the images of last night's dvds flash through his mind, his dad's death.
He had to find you and tell you about your past but how?
He continuously chants the car's number plate in his mind, afraid he would forget it if he tried to think of anything else without knowing that namjoon's father was somewhere in the fourth floor, getting brutally murdered.
But you couldn't blame it on him, no and you couldn't blame taehyung for what happened it either. It was all kang's trap the young kids had fallen in to.
He was the 'mafia' who promised to pay tae, the guy upstairs whom taehyung was trying to fight with was his agent and it was him who purposely swerved his car in front of jungkook to distract him.
He wanted to divide the gang and he knew such an incident would bring distrust among bangtan, it was a game of time, money and brains.
If only taehyung wouldn't be so compelled to earn some amount for his grandfather's treatment, things could surely have been a lot different now but he didn't point fingers at his financial status for the breaking apart of bangtan either, he didn't put the blame on jungkook, or himself.
He blamed you for it, for the death of joon's father, for the death of his own grandpa, for the zoning out of jungkook's mind, for every wrong thing that happened to the gang ever since that terrible occurrence, it was you whom he held responsible for.
And he whole heartedly believed that if you hadn't popped up suddenly on that particular day, both him and jungkook could have easily knocked down that hitman and rescued namjoon's dad in full safety along with the payment required for his grandfather's surgery.
It was after that day, he generated such hatred towards you for 'destroying' bangtan that he was afraid he would kill you if he ever saw your face again.
Kim Taehyung always told himself that you were the murderer of namjoon's dad and not him, that him keeping the old man as bait was nothing wrong. However, the little voice inside his head always reminded him of his actions and he couldn't help but feel guilty each day for the rest of his life.
-end of flashback-
"I'm not a traitor and you're not a murderer, it's y/n...always has been" taehyung lowly mumbles to himself, staring at the road which appeared yellow under the car's headlights.
The pulse in his temple throbbed from remembering those buried memories that haunted him every once in a while and he couldn't help but try to convince himself.
Upon hearing your name fall from tae's lips, jungkook looks at him with eyebrows slanted inwards in confusion.
Taehyung swallows a mouthful of saliva and glances at his own reflection from the side mirror for a few seconds, hesitating on whether he should just do what he was thinking of doing or not.
"Fuck it" he whispers.
Then with a swift movement of his arm, he points his handgun towards the back seat and the entire neighbourhood gets filled with the sounds of bullets piercing through the air along with the shrill screams that follow.