december 14; 11:10 hrs
"advocate jeon, welcome. is everything okay?"
jungkook stares at the man, his lips stretching into a meaningless smile to recieve a very similar one from the police officer. from the corner of his eyes, he can see taehyung skimming through some files and yoongi talking on the phone, looking ready to leave the place on the slightest command.
"of course," he walks over to the desk, taking a seat uninvited and smirks when kang leo keeps standing and struggles to read along his intentions. "have a seat, officer. it's your area, i'm not of much power here. so please don't be scared."
kang scowls at the mocking, leaning on the table top with his eyes throwing daggers at jungkook, "what are you here for?"
"nothing, can't i just pay a visit?" jungkook smiles at the man, leaning back on his chair as he appeared to rest his body with comfort and places his feet on the top of the table, right near kang's face. "can i get a coffee or something?"
"you–"
"please get two, in fact." jungkook chuckles, glancing at one of kang's men and nods for him to follow the order.
"jeon, drop the act and tell me what do you want?"
the advocate shuffles in the chair, whistling casually as his eyes inspect the hall before gradually stopping at kang leo's face. he's standing up straight probably humiliated on having jungkook's feet in front of his face, but he never backs off with the the icy glare making jungkook hiss softly.
"what do i want..." he pretends to think, "let's make a guess, officer. money? your job? this case? or maybe... your wife?" he leans forward to whisper the last with a smirk, "i've heard she's quite alluring, am i wrong officer kang? i mean, you'd know it better right?"
"jeon!" the man growls, clasping the collar of jungkook's shirt in his hands, "don't you fucking dare get my family into this!"
"and what about what you did?" jungkook gives him a displeased look, "dragging my sister in this, and then my brother too."
"i didn't," he states firmly, staring at him dead in the eyes, "they were involved."
"you have a daughter too right?" jungkook plays again, smirking mischievously as he frees himself from the policeman's hands, "how old is she? fifteen?"
"i swear to god i'll kill you if you fucking lay a finger on my family,"
jungkook laughs at the threatening and stands up facing kang as he straightens his shirt and gives an assuring smile, "i want nothing but truth. if you can give me that, great. if not, i have other ways." before kang says anything, jungkook is already taking a step back, not interested in talking anymore.
the man from earlier returns with two cups of hot coffee, making jungkook smile as he takes one and tells to give the other cup to leo. "cheers, officer kang." he chimes, raising his cup in the air and walks out, heading to his car as he throws the coffee in the trash instead of drinking it.
13:44 hrs
"order, order!" the judge hammers twice and adjusts his glasses on the bridge of his nose, "the defence may start,"
"thank you my lord," advocate han takes his seat and jungkook stands up now, going near the witness stand where his sister is made to stand. taking a deep breath, he starts, "so aera, according to your last statements, noah came home on his own? nobody called him?"
"no," aera shakes her head, "he said that he going somewhere and stopped by,"
"alright, does he often stop by like that?"
"no,"
"any other teachers from your school who comes home?"
"no one,"
"okay, and did he tell you anything about why he was there?"
aera stops for a moment recalling the exact event when she had asked noah if he wanted to meet her brother, and he just shook his head, not saying anything clearly. she blinks, looking at her feet then lifts up her gaze to meet jungkook's, shaking her head and the brother sighs while a low mocking laugh comes from the opponent lawyer.
"this is getting us nowhere, your honor." the prosecutor speaks, standing up and gestures towards jungkook, "you should've prepared something, or at least taught your sister what to say."
jungkook looks down with a small smile, "come on, sir, you cannot get bored that fast." he looks at the man, "anyway, my lord what we were told according to the police investigation report was that park noah was called at the jeon mansion. but here seems to be a different story." he says, bringing a few stapled papers and holds it out for the court.
"this, your honor, is the original copy of the investigation, along with it there are pictures of the crime scene, and the post mortem report of park noah. according to the information i have, noah's phone had no recent contacts with jeon jimin or anyone in touch with the jeon mansion. park noah was there for an unknown reason and apparantly aera happened to be at home at the same time."
"and how can you say that this is the real one?" han crosses his arms over his chest, earning a wink from jungkook as he grabs another paper and hands it to the man.
"this is the charge sheet, copy of the fir and the documents signed by kang leo himself." he says, then turns to the judge, "your honor, may i have kang leo up for a word?"
"senior inspector kang, please come to the witness stand." the judge orders, getting a bow of gratitude from jungkook and the said man gets up, walking to the witness stand as aera goes back to sit with jimin.
"officer kang," jungkook starts, standing in front of the man, "you're the incharge of this case am i right?"
"yes," kang nods.
"ah great, then i assume you have every bit of knowledge regarding the case. so tell me what did you find near the dead body?"
"nothing much, there were a few broken vases and the knife with aera."
"alright, so you're saying there was nothing that the police finds objectionable?" the lawyer says and kang nods briefly, glancing at the man sitting behind advocate han, park ransom– noah's half brother. jungkook steps back, putting up a picture from the crime spot for kang, "do you think noah smoked?"
"i don't think so,"
"you don't think so? then would you please tell me how did a box of ciggerate reached there? and even dissapeared in the next picture. you and your department know some magic, officer kang." jungkook chuckles, earning a glare from kang leo. "can we call the doctor who gave you the post-mortem report, officer?"
"what?" kang frowns at him.
"objection my lord!" han jumps up, "the police has already given the post-mortem report. this is unnecessary!"
"for you," jungkook looks at him and then at the judge, "your honor, in the reports i just gave you, please see page number 5, that is the real post-mortem report of park noah. not some fake one just to get done with the legal procedures, correct me if i'm wrong officer kang."
"my lord, on the basis of all these information, i'd like to draw the attention towards how officer kang and his fellow department members tried to change the legal documents and presented fake evidences regarding the case. kang leo knows noah's brother, and because of the connections in the police department, erasing important evidences wasn't that hard for them. please note, that they didn't let anyone see noah's body in the hospital because that would bring up many other things, like him taking drugs."
a few gasps are heard, as han, ransom and kang exchange glances. advocate han glares at kang who looks away instantly, "i object your honor. advocate jeon is just making up things to defame my client. all of this baseless."
"overruled," the judge says.
"thank you, your honor," jungkook says, "baseless you say, sir? this is the truth and we're half way done with the case."
"what's the source?"
"let's just say not all officers are corrupt."
the three enraged men dart their eyes to taehyung who smirks at the them, standing stiff straight in his place.
"thanks to my sources," jungkook continues, "i also came to know about noah's history. he's a patient of emphysema, and also has a criminal record for being indulged in drug abuse and dealing, which again is very clearly ignored during the investigation by officer kang's team. i wonder why, sir," he glances at the scowling han.
___
december 16; 12:45 hrs
"the man is suspected to have a property worth a thousands of millions! and i'm pretty sure, advocate han, it's not possible with a job of a school teacher, having negligible financial background. he traded drugs ever since he was japan and even came to korea for the same purpose. his clients were family members of rich kids in school, which explains why he was suddenly so interested in aera and meeting her family."
"great story, advocate jeon," han claps his hands, looking at jungkook with a mocking gaze, "but i guess you missed that this case is about how noah died."
"thanks for reminding me," jungkook smiles bitterly and glances at the judge, "my lord, what i wanna say from my words is that, this man, park noah was neither clean nor innocent. everything was a part of his plan, from the school suddenly announcing a holiday, to him coming to see aera at home, and now his brother has been taking the lead of this game. i would like to point out a massive transaction made in the recent days when jeon jimin's company's net worth had a sudden drop of 500 million dollars. the same day, your honor, park ransom invested in a real estate property worth 200 million. he works as a clerk in a bank, with zero buisness background.
"the next day, some of the remaining money was wittily transferred to a charity under kang leo. and now if we ask park ransom, he's declared himself bunkrupt with no marked assets." jungkook says, "because of him, not just jeon jimin is facing a demolishing loss but even the share markets have fluctuated drastically."
___
december 19; 11:33 hrs
"when did you come to know about the money scam in your finances?"
"the same day, in the evening." jimin answers.
"you mean 10th of december, today is 19th, have you recovered the money?"
"no," jimin says.
"in the last hearing your brother claimed it was my client who apparently stole your money. but i wanna know what you think. you lose 500 million dollars suddenly and don't even report it. isn't that weird?"
"it was related to this case, and for that reason we thought not bringing the spotlight on the scam would be better."
"really?" han chuckles, "or maybe you just planned all of it to use it against my client? tell me it's true,"
"i object your honor, he's leading the witness."
"overruled,"
"i didn't care about the money, i just wanted to get aera feee from all this."
"exactly!" han points out, "your honor, all this is set up for this child who is accused of a murder. this filthy rich family doesn't care about a few millions and is only trying to get their kid out of this. but let me tell you, mr jeon, our justice system is very strong, no criminal can escape this."
"objection your honor! nobody proved aera guilty yet!"
"sustained,"
"i'm sorry, my lord," han says, then turns to jimin again, "so, mr jeon let's get back to our subject. why do you think ransom would steal your money?"
"i don't know,"
"or maybe you do?" han arches a brow, "no? let me help you a little, three years back on january 18th, you met park ransom for the first time in a meeting am i right?"
"i don't remember..." jimin shakes his head.
"that's okay, i'll add more. the meeting was with insurance and banking officials about your company's finances and all. from the balance sheet that you and your partners put forth then, there was some problem raised. does that ring a bell?"
jimin thinks for a minute, nodding slowly and glances at jungkook who is frowning as he apparently doesn't know about this. han smiles, looking at jimin and asks, "great, now that you remember, would you please tell us what happened?"
"uh there was some mistake in calculating the net stats."
"worth?"
"150 million,"
"150 million," han chuckles, "people like us can only dream about that huge sum, and you're saying you lost the count of such a big amount of money?"
"it was a mistake from my c.a., but we recovered it in a week." jungkook nods briefly, letting his hyung know that it's okay. his eyes never leave han's figure who walks to his desk and brings up a file.
"these are the documents about the scam during that time. a full civil lawsuit was filed and all legal procedures were carried out, but for some reason they were stopped in the middle and mr jeon brings back the money saying it was his c.a.'s human error because the inquiry was affecting his company's name in the market."
"and this time he has wider reasons for doing it since all he cared about was his sister getting out of this case. he planned the money scam, vanished the 500 million dollars– not all in cash but through different ways– and since my client has filed the case against his sister, he's targetting my client with his money power. it's all planned and plotted, your honor."
"that is bullshit! ransom is targetting us through my sister!" jimin glares at the man
"why would he do that?" han sighs, "he's a normal middle class man, with zero buisness background as your brother already said. it would be stupid of him if to even think of doing this to someone like you, who literally owns half of the korean market. don't you agree mr jeon?"
"really advocate han? then how would you explain the investments he made?" jungkook voices out.
"he didn't," han says, "my client is just a middle class man, no bank or authority would give him such huge loans. meanwhile jeon jimin is a successful businessman with firms and branches of his company not just in korea, but in japan, indonesia, usa and britain too. it's no big deal for him to make some investments through fake names of get his men to do it for him and frame my client."
19:03 hrs
"i'm sorry, jungkook..."
jungkook sighs softly, shaking his head and takes a seat on the couch, "it's okay, i had no idea han could bring that up." jimin nods, sitting next to him and brings aera on his lap. jungkook looks at her, seeing her eyes holding tears and hint of guilt brushing the moisture. "don't cry princess, you don't have to be scared. i know you didn't do anything wrong,"
aera looks down shaking her head subtly and holds jimin's hand, "i did... he died because of me..."
"what are you saying? no he did not, don't think like that." jungkook assures.
"no, koo, really." she hushes out, staring at him this time, "i hit him with the- with the knife koo..."
the brothers stare at with horrified eyes, both refusing to believe her. jimin hugs her tightly, rubbing her back and kisses her forehead, "don't listen to the others, i know you didn't do anything like that. you don't have to believe what they say okay? you didn't–"
"w-why...?" jungkook asks almost like a whisper, earning a look of disbelief from the elder brother.
"are you crazy? she did not do that! she's just scared, i–"
"you knew it right?" jungkook looks at him, gulping down his fear of knowing the answer. "tell me, you knew it..."
"what are yo–"
"i'm asking something just answer me for god's sake!"
"jungkook liste–"
"yes or no?" jungkook stands up, noticing the silence from the elder which makes him groan on frustration. "jesus! hyung, why?!"
"for aera..." jimin hushes out, "she told me about it a few days after coming here, and i just wanted to save her somehow... han, kang and his team, i knew they'll do something. so before they did, i had to take an action... i can't just let my child's life get ruined like this can i?"
jungkook stares at him and then at aera who is quietly hugging him, "and what about the money? did you..."
"yes," jimin nods, "i had to,"
the younger gasps, too shocked with the information for he never thought he could be the one being outwitted by his own brother. but instead of getting mad at the moment, he redirects his attention towards their sister, realising he wasn't playing fair either. he, too, was paying chelsea to sleep with his opponent party's people for some information. he, too, used kang's family to threaten him. all to protect his sister. jimin did that too.
"hyung," he says, sitting down again and takes jimin's hand in his, "please, no lies this time. tell me the truth, whatever you did and whatever aera told you. we're at a position where we can't afford to back off, i'll continue the case in our favour and do anything to prove our aera innocent. but i need your help in that, please tell me everything."
jimin nods slowly, starting from day one, "after two or three days moving here, at night aera woke up to a nightmare. i was trying to put her back to sleep when she said noah died because of her. i couldn't believe it and thought she's scared that she's saying that, but the next day she was telling me the same. i asked her what happened and said noah was acting weird when he came home, he had a needle kind of thing pointed at her when she said i wasn't at home or something. he was an addict, your sources were right.
"aera was scared from that because he was behaving differently. she said he was trying inject that into her and even tried grabbing her. there was probably a knife nearby, and she started hitting him but it accidentally hit him on the chest and went too deep when noah held her hand and tried to snatch the knife." jimin says, never letting go of aera from the hug, and glances at the younger brother, "i told her not to say anything to anyone, i knew you'll prove aera innocent. so i just kept it to myself... then i heard you talking on the phone about how complicated this is and everything. i never lost any money, it's in the company safe as it's always been. just not showing."
"what? how?" jungkook frowns.
"balance sheets," jimin says, "we altered those and the financial profits and other statistics to make the 500 million look missing."
"god... how did you even think of all that?" jungkook breathes out, "jesus christ, i had no idea you've been up to all of that."
"i had to," jimin looks down with tears in his eyes, "i want my child safe with me, that's all i'm asking for."
"oppa, sorry," aera mumbles,
"it's okay," jimin whispers, "nobody's gonna take you away from me. you trust me right?"
"mm-hmm," she nods, burying her face in the crook of his neck, "i don't wan' go to jail... i didn't wan' noah to die, but he died accidentally... i didn't mean it,"
"i know, don't worry," jimin looks at jungkook, "what now?"
jungkook inhales deeply, nodding his head and rakes a hand through his hair, "i'll handle it, but make sure you don't mention any of this to anyone. continue being like you've been doing the past few days. they don't have any proof against us, so it's okay. and aera, do not confess anything no matter what han says. he will try to scare you, lie to you or try to trick you into confessing guilty. but do not fall for that okay?"
"okay," she nods slowly, "koo, are you mad at me?"
jungkook sighs, smiling a little and shakes his head, opening his arms for a hug which aera quickly responds to and leans forward in his embrace, "i'm not mad." he whispers into her hair, "you're my strong girl, just don't give up. oppa will manage the rest."
"thanks koo,"
"no problem, my love. go and get changed now, and then eat something. you must be hungry, aren't you?"
aera nods, standing up after giving a kiss to both the brothers and left for her room. jimin takes a deep breath, glancing at jungkook, "i'm really sorry, i know i'm making things hard for you an–"
"it's okay," jungkook assures him, "believe me hyung, you're not the only one who played dirty. nobody here is clean, not even our thirteen-year-old sister. don't let what you did make you feel any bad. i've done worse, i can assure you. the kind of job i have, i have to and i don't feel bad for it."
"but that doesn't mean we're right,"
"but it does help us not die of guilt," jungkook places his hand over the elder's shoulder, giving a gentle squeeze, "this world is not so beautiful, i've seen people selling themselves for money. people buy people for their purpose and then pretend to be the victim. we do whatever helps us get where we want, good or bad, but we don't feel bad for it. never."
jimin nods slowly, and jungkook hugs him tight as though he felt each and every word that left his mouth. of course he did. in fact he just summarised his whole life.
_________________
a/n- hellooooo once again! i'm dying i just watched the last concert and it's ssoooooooooo good 😭😭😭 i took a lot of screenshots and saved a lot of pictures and videos and my phone is going to explode.
<jungkook and jimin looked so hot! soooo hawt! u can't convince me otherwise>
and last but not the least 🌚🌝