What kind of person is one that desires peace? One that has longed for it and has prayed for it for as long as he could recall.
Virtues one could call him. A pure soul with hopes resting in his heart. Hopes that had been born from the innocence of one's essence and the naivety of youth.
When he was young, he was enraged by any conflictual acts anyone could start. His then mind could not comprehend why there was a need for confrontation, for fights. And when his parents would argue before his eyes, he couldn't help but hate the sight.
For Jimin, peace had always been something he craved for. He could step into his home and smile, knowing that his smile would not provoke turbulence. However, that didn't mean he preferred silence either.
All he wanted was to co-exist with the people he loved so much in peace but for some reason, his parents always seemed agitated by each other. He grew up loved by them both. His mother used to cherish him as any mother would and spoil him with food while his father would play with him and listen to any interests he was to pick up. But that was something that went smoothly only when he was with one of them at a time. Happiness lasted only when they were two and not three and with time, the division had started eating at his heart.
They were a family and they were his parents so why couldn't they seem to be in each other's presence without accusing one another of something? It took little Jimin some years to find the answer to that- and that was the first time he gathered and confronted them.
The seven years old Jimin raised his voice loud and clear and broke the truth of his observation.
"You don't love each other anymore. Do you?"
Back then, his heart was beating in fear of losing hope for ever getting peace with his two beloved parents. Cause he couldn't do without any of them. For him, one was not enough. He loved them both so much and his heart would have liked to have them together.
To his delight, however, his parents laughed at his words. They hugged him, smiled at him, and even claimed him to be cutely silly before they sat him down and explained that their arguments were not because they didn't love each other but because of life. Keeping a family was not easy and winning money was not it, they had told him. The world frustrates them and they leash out at each other sometimes, but that's how they are and will always be.
A reassuring statement meant for his ears but for some reason, the fact that they weren't planning on changing nor seeing the problem with their way of living made Jimin understand why obtaining peace wasn't easy.
His hope had not died however and he had continued to grow, seeking peace, maintaining balance and spreading friendliness everywhere he was to go.
Many used to refer to him as a soft guy that was unable to do anything. A weakling, who instead of fighting against the other kids that occasionally bullied him, would try to psychoanalyze them in order to help them find peace of mind. Maybe his father's mindset had started rubbing on him a bit too much, but he had made a vow to him.
Every martial art skill his father had taught him had been under the promise to never be used to harm anyone. The world of martial arts had been one he had been introduced to since he was four and at thirteen he had come to accept this hobby as his way of leashing out the frustration that the world put on him.
A much better way than the one his parents had. A more peaceful way. One that would not hurt the feeling of any bystander that could come across and watch him.
No matter what, he had sworn to himself. Violence will never be something that will identify with him, be it verbal or physical. That determined belief however had come to shatter along with his mind that fateful night.
The night that he learned the reason why wars exist. The night that he understood that the soft won't be shown mercy. No matter how much he cried, no matter how much he begged, no matter how many prayers he wasted as the horror of his life, unveiled before him, none could change reality.
Peace was nothing but wishful thinking and even if one could come to obtain it, they will have to be the ones that would have swum through sliced bodies and been drained with a rain of blood.
And so had he been born. Like a crimson flower, he had bloomed under a pool of red blood and had risen from the ashes of Jimin's shattered feelings. Like a crimson arrow, he had stood before him and had clutched on his tears for the first time, feeling them palpitating in his palm, like a throbbing heart.
They had cruelly broken all that he was for Jimin was nothing more but weak prey before them. Prey that they failed to kill and thus will return to devour them soon enough. For that prey has given birth to a hunter and that hunter was hearing the excited rhythm of his heart pulping in his veins, as violently as those raindrops that were crashing against the window of the car P3 was in.
The spark in his orbs had managed to give you chills all over your body as he kept observing the three individuals he had signed out from the file Jin had sent over.
It sure proved difficult for him to hold back his curiosity till his filming was over but once you had made your way back to the van and DongMin had started to drive off, he had started going through the file on his phone and you had been stealing glanced over his screen out of curiosity.
All three profiles which he singled out and kept zooming in and out of them were people you had never seen before but you surely had started fearing for their fate as P3's aura had taken a drastic shift.
Maybe the silence was adding more to your worry as no matter how much DongMin was talking about his schedule for the next day, he seemed to be completely ignoring the existence of both of you. Lost in his thoughts while in his eyes travelled an intensity you disliked.
"...You have a full day and you aren't even getting home early. Are you sure this must be done tonight?" DongMin ended his long blubbing as he threw his eyes on the mirror in order to take a glance at Jimin who continued to ignore him.
"Y/N! Won't you say something to him? Why do we always have to rush into things huh? Can't we prepare ourselves a bit? Is no one else feeling reluctant but me? We are going to burger in the house of a worker of the national intelligent services. Doesn't this sound irrational to you?!" DongMin tried to convince you as his worry was visible on his face, for even though he wanted to help with the issue and clarify once and for all who was after Jimin's career, he still had rationally and the law to think of.
To not mention that if you were to get caught doing a crime, whoever was after Jimin would no longer need to try to drag him into any scandal as that by itself would mean the end of his career.
"We are not breaking it. InSu will hack the security system of the house. That's what Jin said once I informed him about this. Plus this worker that I know of, is an ex-worker. Retired." You argued even though you knew that the fact that the man your mother used to clean the house was out of service, didn't change the fact that your breaking into his house was a crime.
"Aish, I can't believe this. If Jin gets caught up with us too, who is gonna bail us out of prison? He is your only trustworthy Lawyer. I say we should think this through a bit more." DongMin insisted but as P3 raised his eyes and made eye contact with him through the mirror, his gaze made a sense of fear bubble up inside him so DongMin ended up retrieving his eyes on the road, followed by the awkward sound of clearing his throat.
"Call Jin and tell him to make sure that your neighbour hacker won't bail on us at the last minute. We can't afford unexpected treasons, especially tonight and DongMin, you better follow that GPS well." He coldly gave his orders, those being the only words he uttered after going through the profiles of those people.
You did as you were asked, feeling slightly bad for your neighbour InSu as, despite the fact that he found all the profiles as P3 had requested of him, he had not been given his right to return to his unbothered life. And you were partially at fault for that, because you told P3 instantly after Jin had sent the file and you had seen it, that you knew one of the men on it.
Your excitement had taken over you and you had blurred everything to him without thinking much but despite how delighted he seemed at the news you shared with him, once he pulled away from you, he took his phone and ordered Jin to not leave InSu's apartment as you would be needing him for a bit more.
Poor InSu is about to have one more stressful night. I need to buy him something good to make up for my guilt.
You thought as your fingers were typing away on the screen of your phone and DongMin anxiously checked again on his GPS instructions as you had placed the address of the man as your destination.
"Isn't it too early though? Like he might not even be asleep at such an hour. And what about guards? Have we thought about guards?"
"Why would a retired old man have guards? That would attract too much attention. As far as I recall the house wasn't too flashy and there were no permanent workers. Back then he and his wife were the only ones living there. Childless marriage." You spilt some information just as you sent your text and received a curse word directed to P3 from Jin, right after he sent another text, confirming that everything was in control.
"As a NIS worker obviously he wouldn't want to draw too much attention to anything. If possible their existence itself would be nice to not be remembered. Information about NIS workers is difficult to be found and the ones that get involved with special missions, rarely end up existing, to begin with." P3 added after your words rather casually then he turned to face you and threw his phone on your lap.
"Hold on to this for me, doll. I will be needing my hands free." He flashed you a smile while you just started coughing, in an attempt to cover up the nickname that he used to refer to you, for it surely reached DongMin's ears and you didn't want to give him space to think on it. For certainly the normal Jimin would never speak to you like that.
"Ahm..now that I think about it, you haven't told us yet. What kind of information are we attempting to extract from this guy? I mean we already have the profiles of the three individuals you are suspicious of and on there, there were their names, addresses phone numbers...what more do we need exactly?" You decided to quickly derive attention to the important matter again as you were genuinely curious about it and P3 reached his hand out and grasped a bit of your hair, before gifting you a smile.
"You are smart Y/N? Think about it. What could an ex-NIS worker have, that would benefit us of gaining?" He allowed his hand to softly travel down your hair, making you slightly uncomfortable with the initiative of the touch for it felt slightly intimate but you didn't comment on it and just tried to brainstorm on his words.
We already have their identities and thus we could easily find out if they have families or anything worth of use to us to blackmail our way to those people. He said he wanted to hunt them so that else could hurt more than making them fear the safety of a loved one?... However, P3 doesn't seem to want to use that approach and instead is willing to risk a lot to get into the house of an ex-NIS worker that has nothing to do with the three he is in conflict with...why?...What's something common between coworkers that we could obtain by the end of this night?
"Oh my!" You uttered out loud once you reached your conclusion and looked over at him with widened eyes.
"What? What? I didn't understand !" DongMin complained from the driver's seat as he had not been able to draw the connection like you and he felt momentarily frustrated that he was being left behind in the conversation.
"It's the pass, you idiot! They most likely have secret places where they receive missions and see them through. Places with top security and access to only a chosen few...Places that even the best hackers could not get us in." You snapped at DongMin briefly then as you went on you couldn't help but glance towards P3 with a mixture of fear and admiration for he appeared to have thought so many steps ahead already.
"That's right. As I checked his file, he was pretty high in rank. Once registered in the system, even though retired, he most likely still has access. A fingerprint..an eye scan...whatever the security system is...if we get this man on our side, we have gotten ourselves a door right onto their personal space."
"Woah, this is crazy...how do we make him cooperate with us though? I don't think your acting skill of threatening will work this time around." DongMin spoke his mind and you smiled, feeling slightly proud for you were the solution to that.
"I will persuade him. Worry not." Your confidence left DongMin puzzled briefly but you were certain that from the moment you were to speak to that old man about the files you had copied from him as a child, that were proof of his double life and the reason he had committed towards the government, he would certainly fold.
"No Y/N...You won't get involved in this."
"What?! But why?! I have the best and easiest road out" You argued with P3 to your surprise he was trying to hold you out when you were the one that had brought him so far to begin with. The fact infuriated you instantly and you glared at him with determination.
"Retired or not he is an ex-NIS worker. Do you think he would live in fear of someone blowing up his life after he helps us? He will come after your life. So if you insist on letting him know that you hold his biggest secret, I will have no choice but to eliminate him right after we are done with him. " His straightforward words had both you and DongMin looking his way in a disturbed way.
"Hey! What are you even saying?! As if such a thing is an option. Snap out of it Jimin, this is not a movie. Be serious." DongMin laughed it off despite the fact that to him Jimin's face didn't seem like he was joking. And unlike him, you were certain that he was not joking so after rethinking his words and the risks that could come up for you, you decided to step back on your initial option.
"Okay, we will go your way...how do you plan on pursuing him exactly though? Cause no matter how much I hate it, I will have to agree with DongMin on his previous statement. I really don't think words and pretentious acts of violence will work."
"Pretentious?" P3 couldn't help but find hilarious the use of that word for it certainly didn't measure up to the reality of what he was capable and willing to undergo.
"If you two have followed me here tonight thinking that you won't be seeing any bloodshed, I suggest you stay outside and observe the raindrops in the dark..." He swiftly gestured with his hand towards the window, allowing his attention to turn to the world outside.
"I am not here as a victim in search of rightfulness...no, not at all" He added right before a chuckle escaped his lips and he leaned his head nonchalantly at the seat.
"I am here as a nightmare...a bloodthirsty nightmare"
P3 whispered under his breath words that unfortunately you had caught right before DongMin brought the vehicle to a halt and announced the arrival of your destination.
A destination that now you caught yourself wishing to have taken longer than that for now you were certain that what you were to live through tonight would become a sight that will stain the image you have for Jimin forever.
It could change your judgment, and the impression you had of Jimin as a human being. For even if this one was one of his personalities and not him alone, all their doings were Jimin's reality. They all compound his soul. What you were about to witness tonight would ultimately help you permanently clear the answer to a question you had originally made to yourself before getting involved with him.
Was he or not a good person?
---To be continued...