"Hm..." Jimin sat on his bed, phone in hand and looking puzzled. He pecked at the screen a few times, growing more agitated the more time went on.
A heavy thump landed on his bed, shaking him from side to side. He didn't even bother to glance at the lump he knew was Taehyung.
"Jimin-ah," sang out Taehyung softly.
"Mm," hummed Jimin, still staring intently at his phone.
"Want to go shopping with me?" Taehyung scooted up into a cross-legged position and wiggled back and forth like a small child.
"Mm," responded Jimin in the same tone as before.
Taehyung frowned and his shudders drooped. Jimin wasn't even listening to him. He pouted slightly and in a flat tone said, "I met a girl yesterday. I slept over at her place last night." He waited for a response from his friend.
Jimin simply nodded and still frowned as he pecked away on his phone screen. "You're lying," he murmured as he pecked, "you were home last night. I heard you groaning about needing water again." Jimin never even looked up from his phone screen.
Taehyung frowned harder. His eyes narrowed and a mischievous smirk spread across his lips. "I saw Nari today. She and I were hang-" There we go. Taehyung grinned as Jimin's head bolted up and his eyes darkened as he stared at Taehyung.
"You what?"
"I lied. I never saw her. I just wanted your attention," sang Taehyung. "Jiminie, please go shopping with me? I need some new stuff." He smiled sweetly as Jimin rolled his eyes and went back to his phone. Taehyung was done with being ignored. He reached out a quick hand and grasped the phone, taking it away from Jimin's unsuspecting hands. "What are you doing?" He looked down and saw the login screen for Twitter.
"Tae, give it back," frowned Jimin, reaching out for his phone.
Taehyung held it high up above his head and looked at Jimin flatly. "Say you'll go shopping with me."
"Taehyung," growled Jimin.
"Say it!"
"Fine! I'll go! Now give me back my phone!" Jimin snatched it away from Taehyung, who had lowered it slightly.
"What's the matter, Jiminie," said Taehyung softly, sensing this was more than just something about his phone.
"I can't log into my Twitter account," sighed Jimin.
"Which one? Ours?"
"No. The one you helped me make. The private one. It says my password is incorrect." Jimin threw the phone on the bed with a frustrated sigh.
"Incorrect? Did you change it? Maybe you hit the caps lock button and its case sensitive." Taehyung tried to offer up different scenarios of what the problem could be but Jimin assured him that was not the issue.
"Tae, I seriously think it got hacked. Can you look at it from your phone and see if anything's been posted?"
Taehyung now felt a bit concerned but he still felt it could just be Jimin's error. He decided to humor his friend and looked at the account from his phone. He quickly closed up the phone and shook his head. "Nothing there."
"Why didn't you just show me so I can relax too?" Jimin sighed as Taehyung turned off his phone.
"Nothing to see! Now let's go!" Taehyung tugged on Jimin's arm and wiggled it.
"Fine! Let's go. I need to get ready first. Give me ten minutes." He reluctantly got up off the bed and shuffled into the bathroom, closing the door.
Taehyung wasted no time making a bee-line to Yoongi's studio door. He didn't knock but walked right in and up to the man at the desk, who was bopping back and forth to the music playing in his headphones. Taehyung grabbed the chair and spun Yoongi around, startling him in the process.
"Hey! What in the world, Tae?!" Yoongi looked irritated and ready to pounce on Taehyung. Taehyung merely shoved his phone in front of Yoongi's face.
"Someone hacked Jimin's private Twitter account. Look at this mess." Taehyung frowned and paced by the door, listening for footsteps that might alert him to company.
Yoongi looked confused for a moment but then looked down and saw the account loaded on Taehyung's phone. "What am I supposed to see here, Tae," he mumbled, looking back up to his friend.
"It was private. Now it's public. Look at the tweets." Taehyung nibbled on his thumb nail as he paced.
Yoongi frowned. This was not good. This was not just someone hacking for fun. This was sasaeng behavior.
"Jimin-ahhhh....we know your secret."
"Jimin-aaaaaaahhhhh...you can't ignore us forever."
"Park Jimin. Why aren't you reporting us yet? Doesn't this account matter to you?"
The tweets continued with various taunts and creepy teasing. However, nothing private seemed to be revealed yet.
Yoongi sighed and handed the phone back to Taehyung. "This isn't good. Can you get the account deactivated?"
"I think so. I reported it. But that will take several days for them to let me know if they'll remove the account or not. He might be able to delete it from a laptop or something though. What if they reveal all his private messages?"
"Did he really use it that much?"
"He communicated with Nari's sister that way. They messaged back and forth quite a bit. I'm sure there's enough there to incriminate him for something." Taehyung ran a hand across the back of his neck and stopped pacing. "I need to tell him but I also don't want to tell him. He seemed happy earlier today when he got back home."
"Oh yeah. Did he say where he had been?"
"No. He's going shopping with me soon so maybe I'll get it out of him." Taehyung frowned. "What do I do, hyung?" he asked, desperation creeping into his deep voice.
Yoongi leaned back in his seat, blowing a long breath out from his cheeks. "He'll have to delete the account if he can. The big question is what exactly do they know and what can be spread that will cause damage?" He rubbed his face with his hands and then leaned forward. "Do what you can, Tae. But tell him the truth."
The seriousness in Yoongi's face prompted Taehyung to action. He nodded curtly and then quickly left the room. Yoongi leaned back in his seat and looked at the computer. He needed a break now. There was no concentrating on this when a disaster was lingering on the horizon.
* * *
"They'll pay for this, right?"
"They said they would, didn't they?"
"I mean, yeah, but can we trust them?"
"Do you ever trust a group of hormonal girls?"
"Haha, no. I don't know, man, should we even do this?"
"Listen, if you're feeling squeamish just leave now, okay? I'll forget you were even involved."
The younger man contemplated a moment, holding a jump drive in his hand. "No, I'll stay. I just...I dunno. I hate ruining someone's life."
"You do remember what your job description is, right?" asked the older man flatly.
The younger man sighed and took a sip of his coffee, watching the door of the shop. "I know what I'm guilty of, hyung. However, this time it feels wrong." His leg begin to bounce nervously. "This guy has a good image right now. I don't even really know him, but I can tell he's a good-"
"Look," said the older man gruffly, "didn't you grow up on a farm? Wasn't the main rule of farm life to never name the livestock? Don't get attached? They're your food. You don't want to eat your friends so don't name the cow. Don't name the pig. Just don't get attached. You're getting attached to the object of the job here. You're making a big mistake." The older man glared roughly at the younger man, making himself squirm in his seat.
A tense silence fell between the two. The muted noises of coffee makers and overhead fans became like white noise to them as they waited in silence for their current employer to make an appearance.
* * *
"How about this shirt?" Taehyung modeled an oversized powder blue dress shirt. It had a strange pattern on it, but he didn't care. He wanted to try something new.
"Tae, don't you know the fans love when you wear more fitted things?" Jimin sat in a chair just outside the fitting room. His right ankle was resting on his left knee and he leaned his head against one hand. He sighed and rolled his eyes. This was taking too long. He had bought a few shirts and a new pair of blue jeans. However, he was quickly getting bored.
"But I prefer to wear loose things. You know this," mumbled Taehyung, staring at his reflection in the mirror.
Jimin knew what he had to do to end this ridiculous shopping excursion. He adjusted his position and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. He stared keenly at his friend, a twinkle his eye. "It looks cheap," he muttered, loud enough for only Taehyung to hear.
Taehyung froze, his eyes quickly darting over to meet Jimin's. "Cheap," he whispered. "You think so?"
"You know I wouldn't lie to you. It looks so cheap compared to your favorite brand." Jimin leaned back and appeared to be disapproving of Taehyung's fashion choices.
Taehyung stared back at himself in the mirror and frowned, nodding slightly. "You're right. It's not Gucci." He quickly unbuttoned the shirt and rushed back into the small changing room.
Jimin giggled softly to himself, grabbing his bags and standing up from his spot. He pulled out his phone as he waited and saw a text from Nari along with a few screenshots of something from Twitter.
Nari: "Jimin? I know that this is your account but I think you've been hacked. Should I be worried?"
Jimin stared hard at the photos and his expression grew dark. He dropped his bags into the chair and barged into the changing room. "TAEHYUNG!" he roared.
Taehyung ignored his friend's upset mood and continued changing back into his original outfit. He saw the phone in Jimin's hand and the angered look on his face. He didn't need to ask what the problem was. "I was going to tell you," he said calmly, buttoning the cuffs on his sleeves. He couldn't bring himself to meet Jimin's angered gaze.
"This could be so bad," whispered Jimin angrily. "How long were you planning to go without telling me?"
Taehyung sighed and turned around slowly. "I'm sorry," he said apologetically. "I was just waiting for the right time."
Taehyung really had meant to tell him right after talking to Yoongi, but Jimin had looked so relaxed and happy when they left the dorm. They had hit a few stores before Taehyung felt the pressure to tell his friend. However, they were never in a quiet place where he could talk freely. This wasn't even the best place but Jimin had brought it up so they had to talk about it now. Taehyung reached out and pulled his friend into the room and shut the door. "What's in that account that can incriminate you?"
Jimin looked blankly at his friend and shook his head. "I just talked to Nana about her sister. She told me about several of Nari's recitals she wanted me to go to in her place."
"Is that it?"
Jimin thought long and hard about what could be in his dm's. His expression quickly became sour. "Nana might have figured out I was interested in Nari and mentioned it." His face became white and Taehyung facepalmed himself.
"Okay. First things first. Let's get the account deleted."
"You know they've probably screenshot everything anticipating that move, Tae," whispered Jimin, full panic now setting in.
"Let's go see Bang PD," mumbled Taehyung, grabbing his things and charging out of the room, a fearful Jimin close behind.
* * *
A young woman walked up to the table where the two photographers were sitting. She didn't say a word but the look on her face told them everything they needed to know.
The older man nudged his younger friend and jerked his head towards the woman.
The younger man looked down at the jump drive in his hands. This small piece of plastic could potentially ruin a person's life. He swallowed hard as he felt a niggling from his conscience that he thought he had buried a long time ago. Years of working in this industry taught him to shut off his conscience. Positive news didn't put food in his refrigerator. Negative news and rumors did. He pulled in his bottom lip as he held the small jump drive tighter between his fingers. "Look, I don't know," he whispered to his friend.
"I already wired the money into your account. I'm trusting what you have is good. Considering the small clip you sent to me earlier, I think it's safe to say that this is what I've been looking for." The woman held out her small, clammy hand to the younger man.
He winced as a bead of sweat trickled down his temple. He felt like throwing up as he struggled with what to do.
"Consider yourself fired," mumbled the older man as he reached over and ripped the jump drive from the younger's hand.
"Wait," shouted the younger man. "You can't do this!" He scrambled to his feet as his colleague placed the drive into the woman's hand. She smiled victoriously and shoved the drive into her bag, quickly turning and leaving the coffee shop.
"Shut up, take the money, move on to the next job. It's what we do."
"I can't believe you did that," whimpered the younger man, collapsing back down into his seat.
"It's what we do!" The older man slammed a hand down on the table, causing the younger man to flinch.
"But dirty politicians, corrupted CEOs are one thing. This kid is just trying to live his dream," said the younger man desperately trying to convince his friend to fix what they had just done.
"Dreams are for the weak, kid. We live in reality and reality is harsh. I'll give you one more chance. Screw up like this again and you're out for good. Once word gets around that you have a bleeding heart you won't be able to find a job." The older man sneered and adjusted his jacket. He left the shop, saying he would meet back up at the office.
The younger man sat trembling in his chair. He had never been bothered so bad before. The look in that woman's eyes was cold, indifferent, and ruthless. His eyes darted around as he tried to come up with some kind of solution.
This world was despicable. He had never felt so low down and dirty in his life. He had watched that kid through the lens of his camera. He had seen the interactions between him and the girl, the look of sheer happiness that had washed over his face. He had done research on his subject as they had stalked and tried to get something juicy to pin on their target. He had began to feel for the kid, who seemed to struggle with a lot of different things. The music career that kid had seemed to be the one thing keeping him grounded. The young man now worried about the kid's well-being if the information he had just helped to get was the cause for his downfall.
He leaned back in his chair and sighed. He had a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach that began to rise to his throat. His eyes darted around the small shop and located a restroom. Without a moment's hesitation he ran for it, covering his mouth with his hand.