i can't believe I finally finished this goddamn chapter
sorry again for how long it took smh
Hope you'll like it
As usual, my life isn't very stable rn so I can't promise you anything about when the next update will be... I can only promise that I'll do my best !
Enjoy ~
Jungkook remembers it perfectly.
After all, it's difficult to forget about something you've seen countless times in your nightmares.
He remembers their glory days. How Junghyun went from struggling with files in a law firm on the verge of bankruptcy because of how mediocre their billables were, to making managing partner and becoming one of the greatest lawyers that firm had ever seen.
All thanks to his and his brother's mischiefs. They took on bigger and bigger clients, and as they rose to the top, the stakes of the risks they took rose with them. Everyone knew the Jeon brothers weren't good people. Everyone knew that instead of catching the bad guys, they helped them get away with their monstrosities. Everyone knew, but they just couldn't fucking catch them.
There were no slip ups. No evidence. No forgotten loopholes. Nothing that could be used against them. There were other lawyers in the firm who did the big pro bono cases, pretended to give a shit about humanity and made them look good in the eyes of the public. Meanwhile, the Jeon brothers exonerated people who committed the same disgusting crimes they denounced in the pro bono cases.
Judges bit their lips until they drew blood as they ruled murderers not guilty.
The devil's advocates is what they were.
They destroyed people's lives. Helped the rich get richer and made the poor miserable. Anyone who presented themselves with enough benefit to catch their attention was immediately taken under their wing, regardless of whether or not they were guilty.
Dozens of CEOs, corrupt officials, daddy's girls and boys, drugged athletes and bored, wealthy psychopaths knocked at their door and admitted to their disgusting crimes loud and proud, because they knew the Jeons would make them disappear the moment they waved some cash at them.
They've always seen right and wrong as two separate paths. The right path was a difficult, time consuming and tiring uphill road, while the wrong path was a slope so rapid you could just relax and slide right down its easy descent.
The one thing they didn't seem to know was that once you go down the wrong path, you should be excessively careful not to close your eyes and let yourself go, otherwise you might just brutally crash at full speed on the first obstacle you encounter.
Their obstacle was so fucking simple.
It was one fucking teenage girl's Snapchat story. Their client was a sixteen year old douchebag whose parents were ridiculously rich. He was accused of abusing a girl at a party while she was drunk.
The moment that boy walked into the room they knew he did it. That fucking look on his face, it just gave it away instantly. It was a look that said he didn't give the slightest shit about the consequences of his actions, he was just glad to have finally put his virgin dick in a hole.
Junghyun initially didn't want to take the case. Everything pointed directly at him, and the fact he was an absolute dickhead wouldn't have helped them play the innocence card in court. But the little brat's parents promised them millions and suddenly, Jungkook found a solution. Something inhumane and absolutely beyond fucked up, but a solution anyways.
He made the girl look like a liar.
And he didn't feel the slightest ounce of guilt as he destroyed her inside out, dismantled every piece of the story she had the immense courage to tell, discredited all the evidence they put together until she broke down in the middle of court and they had to stop Jungkook from breaking her even more.
He made it look like she wanted it and tried to get revenge when she was rejected afterwards, presented her as a dishonest, rebellious teenager for drinking while underage and made it all her fault.
And people believed him. Because he's that goddamn good.
People believed him until one Snapchat story fucked it all up. Merely three days after Jungkook destroyed the poor girl on the stand, another teenage girl came forward with a video she had posted on her social media on the night the incident happened.
A video where there were people dancing, people drinking, people singing, people chatting, and one sixteen year old dickhead slipping a pill into a drink before offering it to the victim.
The video went viral. Every time the Jeons tried to take it down, it resurfaced. It wouldn't have been long until the video was discovered by the authorities, so they needed to act quickly. They tried to track down the origin of the video to destroy it, and that's where they fell into the trap. They tracked it down to a hacker the girl paid to diffuse the video for her, and said hacker didn't like them trying to sneak into his system.
So he fought back. He accessed their system, and he exposed them. Every single piece of evidence they buried, every single case they cheated on, every single loophole they used, every single witness they bribed or got rid of, it was all out in the open.
Jungkook was the first to know, and he didn't waste a second. He knew they were done for.
But while he was young, fresh and still in university, his brother was older and had his goddamn life's work on the line. If he went down, the entire firm went with him.
So Jungkook came forward, turned himself in, and took all the blame for the crimes every person at the firm contributed in. He pretended that they knew nothing and that everything that was buried was done by his own hands, and it somehow held up. After all, he was the one who handled most of the problematic cases. He was the one who made a rape survivor look like a liar on the stand.
He was the monster.
That's how Jeon Jungkook's empire fell down. Because of a fucking Snapchat story and a desperate urge to save his brother no matter what.
Hoseok's night shift is finally over.
It's past five in the morning and he's just now walking into his apartment, ready to dive head first into bed without even bothering to change clothes. His muscles ache and his eyes feel heavy from fatigue. He can't wait to get a couple hours of sleep before he has to go back to work in the afternoon; finally some rest after a long, tiring night of patrolling around the prison and pretending he doesn't see Jungkook's minions coming in and out of the yard to get the drugs he smuggled in recently.
He needs to quit that fucking job. He wishes he could do it, if he could he'd do it right now, take his sister with him and get the fuck away from this place.
But he can't. He's trapped. He knows that he has to do what's expected of him. Daewon met Jeon Junghyun and that fucker decided to use her to get to Hoseok and make sure his spoiled goddamn brother was treated like a fucking king, and from that day, Hoseok's been their slave. He's been treated like a servant dog, taught to bring the stick to his master obediently, but if only it was just a stick. It just had to be drugs.
Hoseok feels relief washing over his body as he lets himself fall onto bed, muscles finally letting go of the tension they've been harboring ever since he got up. He breathes in, out, listens to the silence, enjoys the feeling of the cold, fresh bedsheets on his skin, allows his eyelids to fall shut slowly.
And then, because nothing good ever works out for him, his doorbell rings.
He gets up with a massive groan, body feeling heavy from the fatigue that's been building up for days. He reluctantly plods towards the door, dragging his feet on the parquet floor lazily. Once he opens the door, he surprisingly doesn't find anyone behind it, and his blood starts to boil as he thinks for a moment that someone just played a distasteful ring-and-run prank on him. He steps forward, ready to eye the corridor for anyone trying to sneak away, but comes to a halt and quickly looks down when he feels a bump on the floor under his foot.
He picks up a medium-sized black bag from the floor and stares at it questioningly. Hoseok's slightly suspicious of what it could possibly contain -- since he has no idea who left it in front of his doorstep -- but he still brings it into his apartment and closes the door behind him to look at its content. He looks for the zipper to open it but finds a padlock on the main zipper. There's a smaller front pocket that's not locked, though it doesn't seem to contain anything, but he opens it to look anyways.
Inside, there's a small piece of paper that says "Dawon".
Hoseok doesn't get it ; why would his sister's name be on that paper? And why would anyone drop a locked bag on his doorstep without giving him the code? Hoseok's too tired for this, he's too fucking exhausted to start solving riddles and--
Oh.
Hoseok checks the underside of the padlock. It needs a 3-digit code to open. He types in "301". The lock opens. He looks inside and feels his heart stop abruptly.
Hoseok's always been someone with lots of imagination. He's seen too many terrifying crime and horror films and although he's not the smartest of the bunch, he's smart enough to see a connection when there is an obvious one. There are only three people who know both Dawon's birthday and Hoseok's personal address: Hoseok himself, Dawon, and Junghyun.
And Hoseok knows damn well that his pregnant sister wouldn't drop a bag with a gun in it in front of his doorstep.
"Namjoon!" Jimin calls out, catching the tall prison guard's attention at the end of the hallway. The latter stops walking and turns around, waiting for Jimin to arrive. "Have you seen Hoseok?"
"He's not on duty right now, he had a long night shift so he doesn't work until this afternoon. Why? Is there a problem?"
"No, there isn't. It's just that I've been trying to reach him all morning and he hasn't been answering, so I'm a bit worried."
Namjoon chuckles. "You shouldn't. He's a grown man, and he's had a very long night, so he's probably just trying to rest. You'll see him this afternoon, don't be so impatient to see your boyfriend."
"Don't put so much emphasis on the word 'boyfriend', we've only been on a few dates."
"Boyyyfrieeeend." Namjoon drags out in a ridiculously high-pitched voice.
"Leave me alone." Jimin laughs softly at the look Namjoon's giving him and rolls his eyes. "Seriously, though. I actually wanted to ask him about Lee Donghyuk."
"What about him?"
"He's getting out soon, isn't he? Hoseok's often in charge of whoever comes in or out of solitary and protection, so I wanted to ask if I could speak to Donghyuk before he leaves." Jimin explains.
"He's getting out next week. His parents can't pick him up, so he'll be driven home by one of our trucks since he's under twenty." He responds. Jimin nods understandingly. "And to answer your question, Donghyuk's in protection, not in solitary. He's just like any regular prisoner, you can simply request to have him escorted to your office or go visit him yourself if you'd like to speak to him."
"Okay. I'll do that. Thanks, Kim."
"You're welcome, Jung's boyfriend." Namjoon insists.
Jimin sighs, lips twitching as he tries to contain his smile. "Suck my dick."
"Your boyfriend wouldn't approve."
This time, Jimin lets a giggle slip out as he turns around and starts walking away, dumb smile plastered on his face. He feels his chest warm up. He has to admit he's having fun with Hoseok, every date they've been to went wonderfully. He feels at ease with him.
He'd never really seen the cheerful, bright side of Hoseok's personality. At work, he always looks tired and stressed, always completely focused on his job. Outside, Hoseok just looks... happier. More relaxed. He shows off his beautiful heart-shaped smile and doesn't hesitate to let out his loud laugh. He's touchy, cute, adorable in every way, and Jimin has to admit he likes him more and more.
In fact, he might even like him enough to date him seriously.
So what's stopping him? Why does he feel so uneasy calling Hoseok his boyfriend? What's constantly irking him at back of his mind, making him take a step back at every step forward?
Jimin already has the answer. He'd just rather not see it.
The counselor enters his office, closes the door behind him, and finds the answer sitting in the chair in front of his desk, legs crossed, pale skin as smooth and pretty as usual, fiddling with his fingers, hair colored unevenly with its mint color slowly fading into dirty blond.
"Yoongi." Jimin breathes out, slightly startled. They haven't spoken since... last time.
The mint-haired man looks up. "Jiminie." He says softly, a gentle smile slowly stretching across his face. "You haven't called me by my first name in a while. What's the occasion?"
"It... slipped out. Look, I gave you the keys to my office so that you could come whenever you want but I'd appreciate it if you'd at least called me before that. It'd get me in trouble if anyone saw you alone in an office full of confidential info about prisoners with big names in the country."
"Sorry." Yoongi apologizes, getting up from his seat to walk towards the counselor. "I got too excited. I wanted to show you something, if you have a little time."
"I..." Jimin stutters. He can barely breathe. Yoongi's right there, and Jimin can barely breathe anymore. "I need to go check on Lee Donghyuk, sorry."
"Please?" Yoongi slightly tilts his head, mint-colored strands falling in front of his sparkling eyes.
Jesus fucking Christ why the puppy look, Jimin thinks very loud without voicing it out, before closing his eyes and groaning in defeat. "Okay. Five minutes."
"I'll try. Come."
Yoongi walks out, Jimin following behind him, and he slaloms expertly through the prison's hallways until he gets to the storage room. He enters it and heads towards the center of the room where the freshly cleaned old piano sits, graceful, majestic.
When Yoongi sits on the bench, Jimin's eyes widen. "Are you gonna—"
"I'm a little rusty," Yoongi says with a bitter laugh. "Hope it won't be too bad."
And then he plays.
Just like that. He glides his fingers along the piano keys and plays, plays like he didn't make Jimin wait a whole year to hear one of his songs, plays like it's the most natural thing to do, plays like he was born to be on that bench with his fingers on those keys, he plays and it's the very first time in eight years he has an audience.
His fingers are actually shaking. Jimin doesn't know. It's so hard not to go off-key and Yoongi thanks everything holy that Jimin isn't his piano teacher from back when he was a kid, otherwise he probably would've left the room already. He knows what he's doing is messy, completely off tempo but he plays with his heart and right now it's all that matters. He doesn't want it to be perfect. He wants it to be real.
Yoongi realizes how much of him he poured into it when he stops, lifting his fingers off the keys like they're going to combust if he keeps them on any longer. He turns around and sees a black-haired man completely in awe, his face so full emotions he looks like he's on the verge of tears.
"Are you alright?" Yoongi asks, chuckling.
Jimin snaps back to reality and looks up, fighting hard to absorb the tears back into his eyes. "I... yeah. I'm fine, hold on."
"Didn't know I was that good." Yoongi laughs. He gets up and walks to the counselor. "Actually yes, I did know, I'm a genius. But I have to admit this isn't the best I can do, so I don't know if I wanna show you the best of my abilities for fear that you might just cry the whole time."
"Asshole," Jimin retorts.
"As a bank owner, I am genetically conceived to be an asshole." Yoongi wipes a tear off of Jimin's pretty face. It's warm and soft, pink shade invading his cheeks as the blood rushes to them.
"An asshole and a show-off." Jimin clicks his tongue. "I knew I shouldn't have fallen for the whole sad emo boy act."
The mint-haired man furrows his eyebrows and grimaces, a hilarious mix of offense and disgust painting his traits. He points his finger at Jimin.
"Did you just call me a sad emo boy?"
"Absolutely."
"You wear more eyeliner than my sister."
Jimin's eyes widen, bulging out of their orbits. "This is the kind of toxic masculinity we don't tolerate in this house!"
"We're in prison." The other man replies, smiling.
"Well this prison could use some fucking makeovers once in a while." Jimin starts ranting with wide hand gestures and a high-pitched voice. Yoongi watches him with the corners of his mouth softly curved upwards. "I mean, these are all rich and famous people, it would be completely appropriate for them to care for their image and have a decent amount of self-maintenance, because I swear to god sometimes when I walk in the hallways I have to hold my breath so my nostrils don't fall off, I mean did you ever go anywhere near block Y? Those weirdos smell like death, I mean if you want to pray all day that's fine but at least take a goddamn shower so you don't have your Lord's nostrils burning, Jesus—"
"Jimin." Yoongi interrupts him.
"What?"
The younger man looks up at the prisoner and realizes he's much closer to him than he was before. He also realizes that his hand is still on his cheek, his lips are still beautifully stretched into a little smile, his dark, dark eyes meet his own and Jimin suddenly feels dizzy.
"I'm kidding," Yoongi chuckles. "Your eyeliner looks good. Everything does. You don't need to justify anything."
Jimin's heart liquefies and he feels it pool in the pit of his stomach. His mind oscillates between right and wrong, the need to escape and the desire to stay, and he frankly doesn't know which is which anymore.
And just when Jimin thinks he might just suffocate from holding his breath, Yoongi removes his hand.
"We should probably go," he says, walking away from Jimin to carefully close the piano. "You probably have work to do, and I'm normally not allowed in the storage room outside of my cleanup hours."
When Yoongi turns around, Jimin's face is as neutral as can be. He's got his emotions in check, his usual gentle smile on his face, his hands behind his back.
Stoic. Calm. Composed.
Like his heart isn't racing and his hands aren't shaking.
Stoic. Calm. Composed.
Like he didn't wish with every ounce of his body that Yoongi would lean down and kiss him.
Stoic.
Calm.
And a fucking good liar.
The yard is full of life today.
The summer weather is here, sun shining over the inmates' heads and engulfing the entire prison in its golden glow. The heat isn't unbearable, there's just the right amount of fresh breeze to compensate it. The ground is covered in green, cosmos scattered here and there, growing unevenly.
With such a pretty scenery, Jungkook should be relaxed. He should be enjoying the warm sun and light wind, possibly sipping at one of Seokjin's famous summer cocktails the latter likes to make for the prisoners — although the alcohol is missing from them for obvious reasons.
Yeah, Jungkook should feel good.
And he would, if it weren't for the looks his minions have been giving him ever since he somehow thought it was a good idea to suck Gucci boy's dick in the middle of the cafeteria.
He would, if they hadn't been slacking off more and more and executing his orders lazily, as if they were reluctant to do so.
Jungkook's been distancing himself from his cell mate ever since. He's waiting for his brother to tell him who the fuck "Tae" is, where he comes from, what his crimes are, because Jungkook feels his position as the prison's top dog slowly slip away from him as the days pass.
Jae was right. Jungkook's move was a stupid one.
Because now Tae might be his, but he's about to lose everything else.
Jungkook's suddenly pulled out of his thoughts. His phone's buzzing in his pocket, and when he looks at the caller ID, he answers as fast as he possibly can.
"Kook?"
"Yeah, hyung," Jungkook replies, "please tell me you have something."
"I couldn't find anything about your cell mate. Some inmates' identities are protected, so unless some information channel or some newspaper talks about it, the only way to know is to hack into the prison's database, but getting a hacker good enough to do that would take me weeks. I can try, but it's complicated."
Jungkook hears him sigh. He decides to hide his disappointment, Junghyun already sounds exhausted.
"Try finding out, take your time, hyung. Anything else?"
"Lee Donghyuk's supposed to get out next week. I've done my part, everything's ready, now you just gotta find your guy."
"I've already got him." Jungkook hears paper rustling and quick footsteps, accompanied by some sort of chattering in the background. "Where are you going?"
"I've got a trial in thirty minutes."
"Ooh, who is it? Defendant or prosecutor?"
"Defendant." Junghyun chuckles at his little brother's enthusiasm. "Some crazy fan thought she could win a trial against an idol."
"She's already lost. Especially against you." Jungkook laughs.
"Yeah. Look, I need to go have a quick chat with my client before the trial and try to get the girl to settle, again." Junghyun sighs, sounding exasperated. It makes Jungkook smile. "I'll talk to you later, Kookie."
"Yeah. Bye." Jungkook replies and flips his phone closed.
He then drops the device in his pocket and decides that maybe, he can actually enjoy the fucking sun. He ignores the slight aching in his chest at the thought of what he's got in store for Donghyuk, and decides to replace it with pride. No one fucks with Jeon Jungkook, and no one rats out his loyal guard dogs.
Soon, he'll show everyone that he's still on top, and that no one but him has the right to decide when he'll give up his crown.
It's the fifth call from Hoseok that Junghyun ignores and the latter decides that risking to have his phone ringing in the middle of the trial might not be the best idea. He's told his little brother everything he needed to say for now, and he doesn't have any other important call to make, so he decides to turn his phone off.
The room is relatively empty. For such a big trial, he expected to see paparazzis, cameras and fans everywhere, but since his client requested a private hearing, no one is allowed in court except for the judge, the attorneys, the defendant, the prosecutor and eventual witnesses. Junghyun scans the room, recognizing some of the individuals, though he doesn't know the judge since there was a last minute change. Something to do with an important witness, apparently.
Junghyun turns to his client.
"So, Minho, why'd you request a private hearing?"
"Because my witness would be screwed if I didn't. Plus, my company agreed to not crush my career if nothing that is said in this hearing about my homosexual tendencies is known to the public. Everyone in this room has signed a secrecy agreement," Minho responds, nibbling on his nails.
Junghyun hums. "I see. Good move." He looks around for an unfamiliar face. "You didn't tell me much about your witness. Why would he be fucked if this was public?"
"I... don't think I can tell you. He was already reluctant to do it, he only accepted because we have history together, and on the condition that I don't reveal his identity to anyone—"
"Minho." Junghyun interrupts him, sighing. "I'm your lawyer. You're a famous idol. I need to be able to protect you and your career in case your mysterious witness decides to take bribery from somebody and say whatever he's being paid for. If that happens, you're fucked. You already fucked up by bringing a last minute witness I didn't have time to do my research on. So get your shit together, I don't care about him, I'm just here to save your ass."
As Junghyun plunges his cold gaze into Minho's eyes, he sees a plague of doubt slowly invading his face. He hesitates for a moment, biting the skin around his now absent fingernails, then seems to give up whatever internal battle he was fighting.
"He's... an inmate in the Daegu prison. He has to hide his identity there because otherwise he'll probably have the entire prison against him. He's a famous judge's son, and you know what happens to judges and their offsprings in that prison... Especially when they're the reason the criminals were locked up in the first place."
Minho looks down and chuckles softly, remembering the multiple conversations he's had with his old friend over the phone before the trial. He adds, "Plus this crazy motherfucker told me he's been fucking his cell mate, who's the goddamn top dog at that prison," and it catches Junghyun's attention. "I guess that's all the more reason to—"
"The top dog?" He cuts him off. "You mean Jungkook, right?"
"Yeah.... I think that's his name. Is he famous or something?"
Junghyun pauses. Unlike Minho, he knows when to weigh his words and speak carefully to avoid mistakenly creating an unwanted ruckus. "I guess you could say so. What did you say your friend's name was?"
"I... didn't say his name." Minho eyes him suspiciously. "Why are you so interested, all of a sudden?"
"For your own safety," Junghyun lies, "Jungkook has a bad man's reputation. Did you know he tried to let a 16 year old's rapist go free?"
Minho's eyes widen. "Shit, that's fucked up."
"If your friend associates with such a man, you understand that I need to check his background to be able to invalidate everything he says in case he decides to turn against you, right? After all, he's a criminal. There's a reason why he's in there, and—"
Junghyun is cut off by the loud creaking of the courtroom door as it opens widely to reveal three officers whose bodies block out a fourth figure. As they advance towards the center of the room, Junghyun's eyes are on them, squeezed and focused to try and identify the person behind the officers. It isn't long before he doesn't need to try so hard anymore, though, because the group of guards dissolves to form a pathway for the unknown individual.
When Junghyun sees his face, something strange happens. He has a weird feeling of déjà vu, recognizing some of the young man's traits although his entire face is somewhat unfamiliar to him.
But then, as memories of his teenage years resurface, he recalls oftentimes seeing a shy little boy in Judge Kim's backyard when he and Jungkook went to play there. He only ever saw a glimpse of him, as the boy would immediately vanish the second their eyes met. The boy was no older than six, slightly older than his little brother, maybe, and Judge Kim always apologized on his behalf.
After they lost their father, the two Jeon brothers had to move out of town to live with their mother in Busan. It was heartbreaking to leave behind all the memories of Judge Kim's house, of how they idolized that man, of the things he taught them when their father was on business trips, and never getting to know that little shy boy who always watched them play. They never heard of him again, even after they moved back to the city to build their own law firm.
Until now.
"Now that our last witness has arrived, please take your seats so that we can begin this trial," the judge announces, and everyone silently takes place.
As Kim Taehyung takes the chair, Jeon Junghyun closely watches him, and he thinks to himself, a bitter smile on his lips,
Looks like Kookie hasn't lost his bad habit of diving head first into trouble.