Confusion blinded you.
What...
How...
Your heart began to pound in your head loudly.
Namjoon had drank the iron filings in his drink, albeit a small gulp- something should have happened to him. So how was he unaffected by it? Those black eyes boring into your own said it all. He was possessed.
Or perhaps you just missed it. Something about him did seem to be slightly off. Maybe it was a trick of the light but the man in front of you seemed to sway slightly.
There was an air around the man in front of you. Something like an aura that grew around him. You couldn't see it, but if you could, you were sure it would be in the shape of fire. And fire grew quickly and could get uncontrollable without action, fast.
Namjoon towered over you, black eyes swallowing your vulnerable form.
He took a heavy step forward, and was going to take a second before thundering footsteps interrupted your situation.
A man you didn't expect to see so soon rounded the corner so suddenly in a hurry, skidding to a halt with his hands on his knees, breathless. Juwon regarded the threatening man in front of you with urgency, Namjoon not once tearing his eyes from you.
"There's someone around out front. I think he's looking for her," he panted, pointing straight over at you.
Your heart gave a harsh thump in your chest. Hope swelled into a tight ball.
Who could have found you so quickly?
A look of irritation crossed Namjoon's face.
"How do you know it's not just some lowlife snooping around? No one would know where to even start looking for her," Namjoon sighed, finally turning his gaze away from you and over towards Juwon.
Juwon glanced over at you slightly jittery and back to Namjoon.
"I don't think so...The way they're acting, they were looking for something," he sputtered. "He knows her, he knows she's here I'm telling you!"
If someone was snooping around down below, things could get messy if they were alerted of your situation. You didn't want to risk anyone else getting hurt because of your inability to do your job. That new fear settled in your racing mind.
Namjoon let out a 'tsk' sound through his teeth and stepped over the unmoving heap that was Solar.
"Make sure she doesn't leave this room," Namjoon commanded as he swiftly disappeared to the lower levels of the building.
The moment Namjoon was out of sight you went straight for Yong-sun falling to your knees and bringing her head carefully to your lap.
A gasp left your lips as your hand came away sticky with blood from a deep gash where her head had collided with the wall. The feeling of guilt hung over you.
Without second thought you stripped a piece off your t-shirt and held it to her wound with shaky hands. There was a little too much blood for your comfort. She needed treatment.
Please, please, please be okay.
You bit on the inside of your cheek until blood flowed over your tongue leaving a bitter taste.
This is my fault.
Your confidence had been stripped from you completely and you became panicked with the thought of not knowing what to do next. All you could think about was survival. Keep Solar alive. Keep yourself alive. No matter the damage.
You turned to Juwon who was staring down out one of the windows at something, possibly to where Namjoon was just headed for this 'intruder'. Was that even possible in a place like this?
There was nothing you could do at the moment other than calling for help. On top of that you had to confirm who had made their presence known outside.
In fear for Solar's life, you called out at the man.
"Do you have a phone? We need to call an ambulance, now!"
Said man turned his attention at you, dry-blood shot eyes flickering from yourself and the female you held in your lap, a pitiless look on his face.
"Leave her," he sneered. "You should worry 'bout yourself."
Juwon then busied himself by pacing throughout the nearby rooms, checking and double checking for anyone who may walk in on the shit-show that was happening. He couldn't risk fucking up again in front of Namjoon. If he mis-stepped again, he knew the consequences would not be pretty for him. All because of this stupid girl Namjoon had brought back with him. Why did he have to be dragged into this!?
Thinking of the un-named wanderer that was nearby, you remembered that Namjoon was armed, unpredictable and dangerous, and you worried for the safety of anyone who would stumble upon the building at this time.
Fearing for the stranger's life, you ran to the window that overlooked the front of the building, scanning the area down below frantically, hoping to get a glimpse of someone. Anyone.
Overgrown roots, shrubbery, bushes and weeds blocked your view of most things. However your sight caught on small movement below, a figure. The figure hovered about, wandering from one broken window to a semi blocked entrance and another, peering into each opening.
You squinted, straining your sight as hard as you could to get a look at the person's face.
You breathed in and held it. Your eyes bulged wide.
It was Taehyung.
Kim Taehyung.
You rubbed your eyes vigorously. He was still down there. Your eyes were not lying to you.
You never thought you would feel an overwhelming feeling of joy and hope at seeing his face, tears glistening in the corners of your eyes, no matter how much of a weirdo you might have thought he was.
"Taehyung! Taehyung! I'm here! Taehyung!" You screamed from the window, your fists banging relentlessly against the tough murky semi-cracked glass.
Hope rushed through you as Taehyung's gaze flitted to your own, with a slight widen of his lids as realisation hit him.
The door burst open at your yelling, Juwon looking like an angry bull that had been poked in the eye one too many times, his teeth gritted and rage filled expression.
He advanced towards you head on, knocking through the trash on the floor and wrenching the chair out of his war-path.
Juwon went to make a grab for you not wanting to get into trouble with Namjoon in case you tried to escape, his actions sloppy and unplanned. You easily manoeuvred yourself away, eyes catching sight of Seung-hyun's toolbox looking for something to defend yourself just in case things got nasty.
You retreated away from him, backing towards the toolbox in the corner.
"Don't make this difficult for me, yeah?" Juwon demanded, more than asked.
While you were moving away from the advancing drug addict you swiped up a screwdriver and hid it up your sleeve as discreetly as you could.
It was lucky you did. The next moment happened quickly as Juwon made to lunge for you.
Wrestling with him, you wretched your arm free and pulled it backwards to thrust it into his shoulder.
Juwon let out an ear-piercing scream as he stumbled away with the screwdriver stuck in his flesh.
"Fucking bitch!"
In his staggered state, you saw an opportunity and took it. Rushing forward you brought your leg into a swift powerful kick into his abdomen, the motion sending him over the edge of the stairs and tumbling down to the bottom, hearing cracks and bump that had you cringing.
"Asshole," you spat before sprinting back to Yong-sun, thinking that you needed to get her out of here and fast.
Before you could reach the unconscious woman he was back up the stairs, screaming and upon you in an angry fit of rage. Huge arms caged you and crushed around your upper body.
"No- No! Let me go you bastard!" You kicked and flailed.
You could have sworn he must have broken a few bones in that fall. That was the power of anger and adrenaline, fuelling one's mind and body to push past the pain.
You were roughly thrown to the floor, the breath was knocked out of your lungs and pain shot up through your ankle. A painful groan was pulled from your lungs.
The sticky substance on your palm only just registering. God you hoped that wouldn't get infected.
"No, oh no. Oh no- no- no! He's going to kill me!" he fretted grabbing fist-fulls of his hair in panic at your injured ankle and cut open palm. Juwon paced feverishly, eyes shaking and flicking between the nearby stairs and you injured on the floor.
"Fuck-fuck-fuck! Why do you have to be so damn annoying! I had nothing do to with this! I want nothing to do with this!" he yelled hysterically. Juwon seemed to forget about the deep wound in his shoulder in his panic.
Namjoon must have failed to find Taehyung, or he must have heard the commotion, as he appeared up the stairs soundlessly, eyes still a demonic black and face hard like a rock.
Juwon twisted to face him.
"Namjoon! Shit-I'm sorry this bitch started acting up and I-"
It happened so quickly. Namjoon spent no time in striding over to Juwon.
Namjoon swiftly caught his head and snapped it to the side causing your heart to stop at the sickening crack. His shoulders immediately loosened and body slumped to the floor harshly with a thunk, broken neck turning his head off to the side face towards you. Those dead shocked eyes landing on you. The sound of his neck breaking continued to ring through your ears and leave as an echo.
Your breath came out heavy as blood turned to ice your veins, not being able to look away from the dead man's stare. You couldn't help the shake your body started to emit.
Your mother had a broken neck like that too...
Tremors started throughout your body. Scared wasn't even the correct word.
Your vision blurred at the edges momentarily, your body seeming to go into shock. You forced yourself to breathe through it, and shook your head.
You pushed yourself to crawl backwards and away from the advancing creature that was 'Namjoon'.
"That useless sack of shit," Namjoon growled under his breath regarding the now dead Juwon on the floor. He turned to you. "You're turning out to be a lot more trouble than you should."
Trying hard to focus on Namjoon, you almost missed the movement by the stairs in the corner of your eye.
What was he doing here!? Why was he not running to get help? Namjoon would overpower him in a heartbeat!
Namjoon noticing your switched attention, also turned to face Taehyung.
It strangely occurred to you that Taehyung had a pair of wired earphones in his ears. But due to the current situation of being in danger, the sight blew straight over your head as you focused on the pain in your ankle and the unpredictable loose cannon in front of you who seemed to be having a stand-off with Taehyung.
Namjoon seemed to be a lot more agile and stronger than Taehyung and it worried you that the latter would get hurt. Why had he come alone?
Taehyung's eyes flickered over to you.
"I must ask why you felt the need to kidnap my friend here?" he asked the most basic question. "Generally, that's pretty illegal," Taehyung's tone was nonchalant and completely void of bother which puzzled you. You wanted to assume that he was masking himself, calculating the best way out of this situation. Hopefully his words wouldn't provoke Namjoon.
"Because she fucked me over and she needs to pay for it," was Namjoon's blunt answer.
"Then why haven't you killed her?"
Your heart suddenly plummeted. You shot Taehyung a bewildered expression, your hope to be saved wavering slightly. Why had that sounded so...So calm?
The question seemed to make Namjoon tick as his expression turned even angrier.
"I don't have to explain myself to you," he spat.
Did they... Did they know each other?
Taehyung shrugged the fire breathing dragon off like a bothersome fly, and came over to you. You thought you saw a flash of bewilderment in Namjoon's expression as Taehyung did this. Feeling like he was being underestimated hugely. Namjoon's fists clenched and his eyes narrowed.
Taehyung sunk down to your level calmly, his eyes assessing you before moving back to Namjoon.
"(Y/n), you gave him iron right?" he asked you quietly, ignoring the burning stare Namjoon shot him.
"Yeah..." you rasped, wondering how on earth he would know that.
"He may not show it, but it's weakened him. We can exorcise him here, you need to trust me."
Your shoulders slumped in reluctance. Why was he so confident with this all of a sudden? He had never taken part in an exorcism before.
"I-I don't..." your brow furrowing in concentration. "I can't remember all of it on my own," you said defeated.
"I can help you remember," he whispered, looking at you intently.
How would he know any of the words? Let alone memorise all of them?
"Trust me, Petal."
All of Soyeon's warnings were forgotten in the moment because the thought of ending this dreadful situation was the only thing you cared about.
Taehyung's arms encircled you and he gently helped you up to a standing position. You staggered but Taehyung's grip held you up-right firmly, boosting some of your confidence. Deeming you steady, Taehyung stepped around and stood directly behind you, his lips close to your ear. The two of you faced the cruel being before you, who himself stared the two of you down menacingly.
Without your ancient book, you felt lost, however as soon as Taehyung began to speak softly into your ear, it all came flooding back to you. All questions and confusion surrounding Taehyung dissipated.
You opened your mouth and repeated the words from Taehyung louder and louder. You prayed this would work. Almost immediately, Namjoon was twitching.
Namjoon's head shook and an unclouded look of rage contorted his face.
"Stop!" he hissed, his shoulders beginning to shake.
Namjoon grew more and more restless and took a couple steps towards you both threateningly. In response Taehyung pulled you backwards with him. Your ankle screamed at you causing you to stumble on your words.
"Focus, keep going," Taehyung encouraged. "Keep listening to my voice."
You repeated the last verse and continued the chant of the exorcism.
"I said stop!" Namjoon tried to advance further but his legs buckled beneath him. Namjoon's body wretched and coursed, a painful groan escaping his mouth.
"̦̪̟̩̍͋̔͛͐͜W̡̗̤̟̯̭̽̐̋͘͞͝į̄ll͓̥̈̅ ̨̺͙̠̅̈́̔̂͜͞y̛̞ǫ̻̻̮͒̄́̃u̡͖̥̹͎̓͑̉͂͘͞ͅ ͚̌r̢͕̍̄ï̡̞̰͍̚̚͝ş̧͍̍͘͡k̢͕͕̗̰̟̓͊͆̍́̐ ̧̫͉̹̮͋̂̓̑͞b̬͈̒̈́r̛͕͔̺̺͈͒̿̅͞i̢̖̐̾͢͡n͎̤̈͡g̲̏ì̲̫̕n̖͑g͙̯͓̒̀̒ ̗͝m̜̾̕͜ỹ͖͇̏ ̨͎̣̟̯͋̂̋͠͡s̝̭̚̕î̳͇̮̋̏ņ̻̰͇̫̩̏͗̒͒̾̔ ̢̰̹̩̉̂͛̈́ĭ̡̖̿̀ͅņ̟̼̲̈́̍͊̃̃ͅt̨͌ǫ̫̆̅ ̢͖͈́͒̈̾́͜͟y̢͍̖̏̿͗o̧͘u̧̻͉̠͇͓̾̑̍̓̈́̊r̩͓̝̳͆̇͊͝ ̱͍̈͠h̠͎̿͒o̜̽͘͟m̱̺̘̫̀̈́̽̂e̢͖͙̠̯͈͊͒͌̌͊̓?̦͈̣̙̯͐͊̐̃͠ ̨̪̮̓̋̽Will you risk bringing something so infectious into your melting walls?"
Namjoon's voice rattled your bones, however Taehyung's voice kept you grounded.
"̨̼̬͉͈̪̑͌̒̎̑̚̕͢T̰̯̟͖̖̾̍̄̄͢͝͡ȅ̡̞̯̗͚͓̼̠̎͒͐͒̄̀͊l̜͉̒̿͜͞l͈̗̳͔͔̄̿͑͐̕ ̡̧̪̍̅̕m̧̳͙̫̄͋͑͝e̱̣̰̼̤̘̜͚̽͌͆̇͛̓̆̚ ̡̢̣̹̬͕̇͌͐͒̏̀(͔̩̊͌̆ͅY͈͕̼͛͂̎̚͢/̢̻̝͂̐̾n̢̮̩̮̱̝͙̠̰̟̄̉̽̓͒͗̇̋̾̾)̺̗͔͚̰͉͔͓̼̙̈́͒͌͛͐̅̆̑̄͘!͍̙̤̥̼̺̮̾̉͒͑̈͐̌"̨̛̜͖͎̦̟̱͗̊̀̒͗͌ ̛̘̰̝͔̞̦͙͍̔̋̌̃̽̍͞he roared thunderously that ran through the building's structure and under your feet. Dust and small bits of debris falling loose from the walls and ceiling.
The black substance poured from his eyes and mouth as he glowered at you with fire set ablaze in his black orbs.
"He cannot be saved. M̡̼͖͕͒̊̃͡y ş̡͙͎̬͐͆́̒͘i̪̙̗͎̭̥̔̀̇̀̍͂n͔̂ has seeped into his veins, and there it will stay," he snarled.
As the last few words of the chant left your lips, those were his last words before he let out a last pain wracked scream, a black cloud like miasma burst from Namjoon's mouth and into the air where it disappeared as if it were never there. His body slumped on the ground all movement ceasing, his eyes closed as if he were merely sleeping.
You let out an uneven breath, your heart pounding and limbs shivering.
Blood ran down your nose, a significant amount this time. A white noise pierced your ears and your vision blurred.
Remember this? Remember what happened last time. You fool, (Y/n).
"T-Taehy-..." you voice came out breathlessly and slightly scratchy.
"I'm here...I'm here, my little Petal," he cooed softly into your ear as he leaned down to you, wrapping his arms around your shaking form. He manoeuvred himself so one arm looped behind your back and the other under the back of your knees. Before you knew it you were being lifted off the ground and cradled securely against Taehyung's broad chest.
Everything seemed to crash down on you at once, the pain that wracked your body, the exhaustion, the fright and stress of the past couple of days. It was the last push that broken open the floodgate of tears.
"I'm sorry, I feel so useless right now," you hiccupped, wiping at your tears.
"No Petal. Far from it."
"Wait. Wait- Yong-sun! I-Is she-"
"Shhh,"
"I'll take care of you, my sweet flower. Go to sleep, everything will be fine when you awaken."
Everything was so confusing to you. How had he known where to find you? Within the whole city? It was highly unlikely that he merely stumbled upon a drug den within the city and decided to take a harmless little look. And to you it seemed as though Taehyung knew Namjoon, and that in itself was one of your other unanswered questions.
God, you were so tired. Even your thoughts were exhausting.
Your body was fully depleted of energy. It seemed to force you into a slumber, your eyelids growing too heavy to keep open.
Once outside, Taehyung somehow managed to open the passenger door of his car all while supporting your weight against him, and settled your limp form into the seat, making sure your head rested in a comfortable position.
A soft smile worked its way onto his lips upon looking at your sleeping face.
His line of vision snagged on the moogle plush that sat in the back seat, staring back at him with its beady black eyes. Taehyung threw you a glance and unzipped his jacket before throwing it over the plushie. He didn't want to risk having to explain why your moogle plushie was in the back seat of his car.
Taehyung made sure to send word to the association to make plans to recover Namjoon's unconscious body. He knew you wouldn't be very happy with him if you found out he had just left Namjoon there alone.
Taehyung at first hadn't been sure how to approach this whole situation involving Namjoon. He was a force to be reckoned with in the right environment. Usually it wouldn't have been that easy to go against him, however something must have taken him off guard. His thinking patterns and clever strategies clouded by his little hostage. His wrath had been blinded.
The thing with Namjoon is, it's not that everything makes him mad...Just that when he is, hell will rain down.
Extra:
Park Jimin's men scoured the building top to bottom, swiftly and effectively leaving no door unopened.
Jimin eyed the half open door that showed a visible part of two motionless bodies that lay beyond it, but said nothing of it. He turned to the man who sat quietly on the floor, with one of his knees propped up and resting his arm over it.
Seung-hyun had returned to find Yong-sun's motionless form left alone on the cold floor. A ripped piece of cloth had bloomed red with the blood that had dried around the back of her head. There was one person that came to mind when he thought of who could be responsible.
Jimin gestured to the wooden chair in the middle of the room. Eyes locked onto Seung-hyun's face, the latter avoiding Jimin's gaze as much as possible. "Mind if I sit?"
"Yes," Seung-hyun said sharply with an annoyed expression on his face. Since when had this place been open to pratty, rich business folk to stroll on into?
Daehyun calmly unbuttoned his jacket and flashed the gun that sat snug in his belt. Seung-hyun fell silent.
If Jimin was affected by Seung-hyun's blunt rudeness he didn't show it, only keeping the mildly amused expression plastered over his princely features as he took his unwelcomed seat.
"I'm here to enquire about something. I won't take up too much of your precious time."
No one responded and merely continued to watch the high class man warily.
"Does there happen to be a woman here? A beautiful rose, in this shrubbery of thorns and shit?"
A moment of silence stretched on, confused looks exchanged.
"What the fuck are you prattling on about?" Choi spat, patience with this CEO wearing thin.
Seung-hyun felt a slight rush of air before pain exploded around his jaw, his head now facing the side.
Daehyun, shook his hand to his side, drops of Seung-hyun's blood speckled on his knuckles.
Jimin knelt in front of Seung-hyun looking the man dead in the eye.
"I don't like having to repeat myself," Jimin said. "Where is the woman that was brought here? The one with beautiful (h/c) hair and wonderful (e/c) eyes?"
Seung-hyun glared at the CEO who stared back just as defiantly.
"If Namjoon had anything to do with her she's probably been stuffed in an oil drum left to ro-" Choi couldn't even finish as another blow to his other cheek smashed into him. This time it had come from the CEO himself, who was typically known to not like getting his own hands dirtied by vermin street trash.
Daehyun lifted a hand up to his ear-piece, listening to the sound emitting through. He strode up to Jimin and whispered something in a low tone so that only the CEO would hear.
"Miss (Y/L/N) has been returned home safely."
"Ah, my apologies, then," Jimin said, straightening his suit as he stood with not an ounce of remorse. "It seems I was late to the party..." he added as a mumble to himself.
"I'll leave the two of you to your... questionable choices in life," Jimin said eyeing the bags of drugs that lay strewn across the floor and the unconscious woman that lay beside Seung-hyun.
"Have a good evening."
"Namjoon really made a mess in there. Shame I couldn't be the one to save the princess from the dragon, someone else beat me to it."
Jimin sighed.
"You win, this time, Taehyung," Jimin said bitterly.
Jimin left the site, his men pouring oil and fuel around the building behind him and moments later a light began to grow larger and larger up from the ground.
The flames engulfed the building and licked at the black sky, the grey fumes and smoke billowing into the air.
Me when I've rewritten the same chapter about 4 times with different scenes...
Oof... So that's the end of part 3, I really hope you all enjoyed it, to those who are still reading '^^ I really hope this chapter isn't all over the place. I feel like I 've missed out on a few things. If anything seems out of place please let me know!
Part 4 will be up soon... -Rikki
UNEDITED
June. 26. 2023