The sounds coming from outside the window are what kept Jeongguk alive. The quiet pitter patter of the rain against the car windows reminded him of the time he spent curled up in their company van, Sejin, one of the boy's favorite managers had been driving, a slight crease on his face. Jeongguk was wrapped in three different blankets, snuggled up next to Yoongi, whose had he hadn't let go of since the event full morning, and Taehyung, who squeezed into his side, arms wrapped around him protectively. He remembers Seokjin, hugging a sleeping Jimin, who was leaning on Hoseok, while Namjoon sat up front, quietly recalling what Jeongguk has told him about the abuse, Sejin paling further, cursing under his breath. Though a the mood that car ride to the hospital was a bit morbid, Jeongguk remembered the warmth that surrounded him, and he felt comforted. Even when he's in despair, his hyungs have never let him down, left him alone, and they most definitely never left him cold. Even with his arms tied (again), the thought of his hyungs kept Jeongguk feeling brave, less scared, and the tears that were welled up in his eyes never fell. He promised himself they wouldn't fall, not until the very end, when he was safely wrapped in Seokjin's arms, a cup of hit chocolate placed in front of him in his iron man pajamas that yes, he wore every night. One of the two men up front moved, turning to face the younger in the back of the car. "Hyung look at him, he's so cute, trapped there. Why don't we take a picture, I'm sure his own hyungs would love to see how he's doing." The other rolled his eyes. "We can once we get there. He has to at least have some form of a scratch on his face."
Jeongguk kept quiet, glaring darkly at the man sitting in the passenger's seat. "Maybe we should give him a bit more than a scratch," he said. "I think he's feeling a little brave." Jeongguk never faltered in his glare, and, for once, all the anger came out and replaced the fear as he stared at the bloody knife the man was holding. He couldn't wait for his hyungs to help him. He had to do it himself, for Jimin, for Hoseok, who he hoped was okay, he hadn't seen him since he and Jimin had lost him.
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"The two suspects are reportedly part of a rather dangerous gang based in Busan, but their main focus on targets has shifted to Seoul. Min Soo was apart of this gang, and his target was you." Yoongi's eyes widened, and the nausea in his stomach grew. He was being escorted to the hospital to see the other members and Jimin, god Jimin, last time Yoongi saw him he was covered in red and Yoongi didn't know what to think, what to do, and the most that he did do was go with police to devise a plan, one that had him feeling sick, scared, and had anxiety crawling under his skin. "BigHit was not a large company, and back then, Bangtan Sonyeondan was a small group. Small enough to cover up the disappearance of a member who was involved in underground rapping." Yoongi nodded, knowing exactly where this was going. The black market is very inconspicuous, and human trafficking was no secret business.
There have been incidents before, just trainees or rookie groups, people who were worth more and not popular enough for a gang to be pursued. It happened a lot underground, of course it happened in the idol business as well. Still, Yoongi couldn't shake the thought of Jeongguk all alone, surrounded by those men, doing god knows what to him. Sure their maknae wasn't a baby anymore, he had grown to be the strongest of them, muscles bigger than they'd ever imagined, but he was still their youngest, a kind hearted, sweet maknae, who would defend them without a doubt, but struggled to defend himself. And now he was being held hostage by a whole gang? Yoongi wasn't just scared any more, he was terrified.
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The steady beep of the machines forced Jimin to open his eyes. The first feeling that returned wasn't the pain, but the weight on his left hand. He turned his head, and found a sleeping Taehyung, in what Jimin's sense as the most awkward position he'd ever seen, undoubtedly uncomfortable as the younger latched onto his hand and strained his neck the opposite direction, attempting to fit the whole of his body to curl up on the small chair. Despite himself, Jimin let out a bubbly laugh at the sight, then winced, instantly regretting it once he felt the sharp pain in his side. Taehyung shot up and was at his side in an instant. That was when Jimin noticed the three policemen in the room by the four other members. Yoongi caught his gaze and walked towards the hospital bed. "Gukkie isn't here, he's been-god all of this is my fault, I can't-" "Hyung, what happened," Jimin said carefully, scared of the answer. He looked at his hyungs, and saw, saw Hoseok's pacing, Namjoon's serious look that only the leader could have, Seokjin's tear tracks, Taehyung's deadly stare at the wall behind Jimin, and Yoongi's crease of concern and tearful eyes. "Your friend has been taken by two suspects who were believed to have been accomplices to Min Soo. They left behind a note, asking only for Yoongi-ssi over here to come alone to get him back, but we can't let that happen. We are here to help devise a plan, and Yoongi-ssi wanted to be near you, as you were still unconscious." Namjoon stepped forward. "Hoseok, Jin and Taehyung are going to stay with you, Yoongi and I are going to get Jeongguk back," then his gaze softened and he put his hand on Jimin's shoulder. "I'm glad you're awake, there was a couple moments when we thought we'd lost you, Chim, I don't know what we would've done if you didn't make it." Namjoon's voice cracked, and he hugged Jimin tightly, Yoongi joining, and the two were escorted out by police. Though he was nervous, Namjoon was even more determined. He couldn't lose his youngest dongsaeng, he won't let that happen.
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The car pulled in to an empty shipyard, and an old one at that. Jeongguk wasn't quite sure what area they were in, only that they traveled a long while, and that he was sore from laying down for two hours. He was dragged out of the car rather forcefully, and thrown onto a patch of grass, muddy from the rain. He groaned in pain, and wasn't able to move in time before a fist connected with his cheek, and he flew back down. A bright flash had shown in the corner of his eye, and he pushed himself up, which he found rather hard to do with his subdued hands. "Your Yoongi hyung should enjoy that nice bruise on your face," the one holding the phone cackled. Jeongguk's face held no emotion as he staggered to a full stand, but his heart tore at the man using Yoongi's name. "Don't talk about my hyung," he mumbled. "What was that?" A man taller and stronger than Min Soo had been walked forwards, appearing in the middle of the darkness, a tattoo on his bicep, one that Jeongguk was very familiar with. As if suddenly realizing his situation, Jeongguk's back went rigid. He saw it as a young teen, right before he had left for Seoul, the gang that had terrorized Busan. The tattoo was everywhere, on every news channel, heck, it was everywhere in Seoul, he was just too busy to see it.
"He's cute, This our target?" Another voice said, and, when Jeongguk turned around, he swore. There were about fifty different men with guns, tattoos on their bodies, staring at him, surrounding him.
"No, were not selling this one, were breaking him."
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Yoongi drove the black car to the coordinates, Namjoon sitting in the front, a fake tattoo on his forearm, dressed in all black, face covered with a mask. The police were following, having put a tracker in the car Yoongi and Namjoon were in. "Hyung, you're shaking," Namjoon said, caring glint never leaving his eyes. "Why is this even happening to us? I knew it wouldn't be smooth sailing, but, Jeongguk, he doesn't deserve this, neither does Jimin, none of you do." Namjoon sighed. "Neither do you, hyung. I saw them once. When I was underground. One of their targets was a rapper, wasn't very popular, yet I witnessed their strategies first hand, they truly are ruthless hyung. You're not the only one scared. There are too many what ifs." Yoongi knew that. All he could think was what if they hurt him, what if they killed him, what if what if what if. What if they don't get there in time? "We'll get there, we'll save him," Namjoon said as if reading his mind. "Yeah, we will."
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Jeongguk opened his eyes to the inside of a warehouse. "Kid, you awake?" voice next to him asked. Jeongguk jumped, finding his hands were no longer tied, but there was a door, and he was in a room with nothing but a bench and cold floor. "Hey, I won't hurt you, I'm just here to watch you. Damn, they got you good, didn't they?" Jeongguk didn't say anything, fear gripping at his back as he saw the man's tattoo. "I promise I won't hurt you," the man said. "But you're one of them," Jeongguk whispered. "Yeah, but not by choice. Kinda hard to go against my father's gang," he said. "I've seen you before, you're that idol right, isn't it Sugar? I think?" Jeongguk shook his head. "Suga, he's my hyung, my names Jeongguk," he said, his Busan dialect thick with fear. "Oh, they must've switched targets. You're from Busan?" Jeongguk nodded. "What do you mean switch targets?"
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Jin held onto V tightly as the younger snuggled into his side, sitting on the small sofa in the VIP ward where Jimin was, waiting for him to change so they could go back to the dorm. Back to the dorm, where it was cold, lonely, incomplete. Hoseok appeared with Jimin in tow, helping him walk. Jin lightly shook Taehyung awake, and the singer looked up at him drearily, making Jin smile. "Where's Jeonggukie, he said he'd watch iron man with me later," the younger mumbled, still dazed from his sleep. Jin's smile dropped. "Jeongguk's not coming home tonight, but I'm sure he'll watch it with you when he gets back." Taehyung nodded, half-asleep self seemingly satisfied with Jin's reply, while Hobi's hold tightened on Jimin, and Jimin's gaze turned sad. "C'mon, I'll make you some hot chocolate when we get back, then we can all sleep, it's been a long day."
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"So hyung was the target after all this time?" The man, whose name was Sung-ki, as Jeongguk had learned, smiled sadly. He had a nice rounded face, and his hazelnut eyes reminded Jeongguk of Seokjin's, kind and charming. Sung-ki's lightly dyed hair was nicely parted, his appearance nothing like the other gang members. "Min Soo was determined to break him, make him leave on his own free will, but he could never get to him. So he turned to the next best thing to rally him, you." Jeongguk stared at the ground, the distant memories of the bruises that littered his skin had suddenly made so much more sense that it made him want to vomit. "He expected you to break, so that he could control your every thought, eventually use you. But you didn't, and our forces were forced out of your reach. It took years to devise a plan, but Min Soo was going to kill Yoongi and sell you. That's why they only got Min Soo and Tae Woo, or T. The other two abandoned him, after learning of his intentions. But I thought they were going to get him tonight, not you." The information was... a lot. But all in all considered, Jeongguk was glad it wasn't Yoongi who was trapped like this.
Just then the gate opened. "Jong-Min? What are you doing here?" Sung Ki asked. Jeongguk recognized the man as the muscular one who knocked him out right before he woke up in the warehouse. Jong-Min didn't answer, eyes looking Jeongguk up and down. "Sorry kid. Didn't mean to hit you that hard." He commented, looking bashfully at the ground. Jeongguk blanched. "What?" He said dumbly. Sung-ki chuckled. We're helping you escape, Kooks." The pet name made Jeongguk smile. "Why?" "Cause I don't want to be here anymore, I'm sick of living like this. And I can't leave without Jong-Min, he's my favorite hyung." Jong-Min pulled up Sung-Ki. "Yeah, I wouldn't just let this kid roam around the streets, that's a disaster waiting to happen, and you're to young for this. I can see it in your eyes, your innocence. Reminds me of my own kid brother."
"Let's get out of here."