⚠️TRIGGER WARNING⚠️
After the second set of "---"
---
"How's Kookles doing in the movie?" Seokjin asked, sitting down and tying Mikey's leash to the leg of the table.
He had called Taehyung and requested to eat lunch together.
They had cut personal contact with each other after their partnership contract expired and kept their interactions business only. Fans were quite disappointed when they realized that the two icons were no longer in contact with each other but some were understanding thanks to Seokjin's interview where he responded to the question on why they decided to end their friendship and partnership "we were never actually friends. I wanted to debut a successful clothing line and Taehyung was the guy. And to put it simply, Taehyung and I aren't compatible and we thought it would be good to break things off on a good note".
This was the first time since their friendship-break-up that they've met away from cameras. Of course, they were in the open and Taehyung could see someone who probably worked for Dispatch or some other media outlet snapping their picture across the street.
"He's doing fine," Taehyung answered, "why did you want to meet here?"
"I can't stand how straight-to-the-point you are," the older man sighed.
"I didn't come here to hang out with you, Seokjin. What do you want? If it's another partnership deal or even a collaborative project, I'll go ahead and refuse right now. Plus, I was making a really important trip before you called."
Seokjin rolled his eyes, flicking a crumb from his grilled cheese at the younger man. He too didn't come here to dillydally as he had a comeback to prepare for, but something came up and he needed to get it settled. But what was wrong with a little small talk before leading to the main point? There's supposed to be a rising action before there's a climax.
"As you know, it's a new year, Tae," the newly redhead said, "and we make resolutions and shit like that. My resolution was to go vegan, I ate a steak with Hoseok yesterday, but there's still enough time to start. Oh! Speaking of my lovely boyfriend, do you want to know how he's changed?"
"I do not."
"He's improving. He stopped smoking in February and his company is doing better than ever," Seokjin tried to bite back a laugh as Taehyung's expression slowly turned to annoyance as he kept talking. "Okay, okay, I'll get to the point: last week we were talking and he decided that he wants to be in Jaemin's life again."
"No," Taehyung shook his head. "Yoongi has washed his hands with Hoseok. He's given Hoseok countless opportunities to spend time with that boy and Hoseok has done nothing but break his heart each time. There's no way Yoongi would give Hoseok another chance."
Seokjin scoffed. "He's improved as a person now, Taehyung. And who are you to keep Hoseok from seeing his son? It's Yoongi's decision."
"And I've known Yoongi for years. I was with him through his marriage with that asshole, the divorce, and the legal battles. I know for a fact Yoongi wants nothing to do with Hoseok and he doesn't want his son to have anything to do with him as well. Hell, Hoseok has rejected Jaemin enough that Jaemin doesn't even ask to see him anymore; he's learned that his so-called father doesn't love him and he's moved on to a better person."
"Oh come on, Taehyung, you're no saint," the redhead rolled his eyes, "you act as though you're the best parent ever. Must I remind you of the months you went without seeing your kids or calling them? Or should I mention how you still haven't filed for legal custody over Yunah and put your whore of an-ex girlfriend behind bars? Oh wait," he covered his mouth and feigned a shocked gasp, "she wasn't your girlfriend, she was just a random woman you found on the street—"
"I'm done here," the brunette shook his head and stood up, "don't call me again, Seokjin — don't even call Jungkook. Who knows? You're probably trying to get dirt on him."
"Nah, Jungkook and I are cool. Have a seat, we're not done yet. I want you ro call Yoongi and ask him."
Taehyung hesitated, contemplating whether or not he should just leave or do as Seokjin requested. He imagined if he refused to call Yoongi then his best friend would wake up one morning and be forced to go to court over a custody battle wich would definitely become public. Taehyung knew how Yoongi hated his personal life making headlines so, with a sigh, he sat back down and pulled his phone out.
He tapped on Yoongi's contact before putting his phone to his ear. He didn't think the older man would pick up considering how busy he's been lately so it surprised him a little when Yoongi's sleepy voice answered.
"Hey, Taehyung. What's up?"
"Hoseok wants to see Jaemin," Taehyung said bluntly, looking Seokjin right in the eye as he said it.
There was a pause before Yoongi said, "um...uh...what?"
"I'm here with Seokjin and he told me to call you and deliver Hoseok's request which is to finally step up and try on the Father Shoes."
Another pause before the rapper simply said. "No."
Followed by a,
"And you can tell Seokjin to tell Hoseok that he can shove a grenade up his ass. All he wants Jaemin for is to be his successor. He doesn't have any other kids, so he needs Jaemin to like him so he'll take over when Hoseok retires."
"Exactly," Taehyung agreed. "Sorry for bothering you, I told this asshat that you would say no, but he doesn't listen."
Yoongi, whose mood was ruined now ruined, gave the younger man a simple "bye" before hanging up. Taehyung turned his attention to Seokjin and shrugged.
"He said no — actually, he said that you can tell Hoseok to shove a grenade up his ass," Taehyung smiled, watching Seokjin's eyes squint and shake his head.
"That's wrong, Tae," the older man said, "Hoseok is trying."
"Trying to find someone to take over his business," the younger man corrected, "he should have tried, oh I don't know, seven years ago."
"We all grow," Seokjin argued, "Hoseok is ready—"
"I'm done, Seokjin, you've wasted too much of my break," Taehyung tucked his phone in his pocket, "hope to not see you around."
"Same here."
---
Meeting up with Seokjin was just a detour from the main task that Taehyung was going to spend his time off doing. His mood was a little recked thanks to his old business partner but he wasn't going to allow Seokjin to keep him from doing what he had set out to do before the older man called him.
Another month has passed since Jungkook first brought up his concern about the producer Charlie Shu. He's worked with Charlie several times before and the older man has always given him weird vibes, but he realized how uncomfortable and wary his boyfriend was of the producer. He constantly moved Hanbin away from any place Charlie decided to sit or stand and the way Jungkook watched him like a hawk when there was no other place he could make Hanbin move.
He also noticed Hanbin's reaction towards Charlie. The boy would stare at him and his eyes were aways full of confusion as he consciously moves away. He didn't do that around the other staff members; he was indifferent towards everyone around him including Taehyung and Jungkook. But the way he looked at Charlie made it seem as though Hanbin recognized him.
Plus, just the other day, Jungkook told Taehyung that Hanbin wanted to stay home. It was the first time in what felt like forever where Hanbin wasn't around Jungkook. The younger man had voiced his concern and confusion about Hanbin's abnormal request, but Jungkook wasn't even fifteen minutes away from home when the babysitter called, stating that Hanbin had an anxiety attack.
Jungkook had also told him about the change in Hanbin's pictures. Hanbin's anxiety had spiked back up and with that came outbursts. "He's just a ticking bomb now and I don't know what to do" Jungkook had said one night, clearly distraught, "I don't want to send him away because what will he think of me then?" But he also had to consider Chanwoo's safety — but Taehyung knew that Jungkook felt as though he was choosing one child over the other.
Taehyung had put the puzzle pieces together and decided to investigate himself. Did Hanbin know Charlie? If so, then how? As far as the actor/designer knew, Charlie was just a successful film producer. His personal life was a secret, Taehyung just knew he's married and had a kid who died at age six. That's it, nothing else.
He parked in the driveway of a large house about two hours away from the place he had met Seokjin. He grabbed the papers from his seat before getting out of his car and rushing towards the front door. He knocked a few times before he heard someone tell.
"Took you long enough," the man who answered said before he could even pull the door open completely, "you were supposed to be here an hour ago."
"Sorry, Jeonghan, I got sidetracked," Taehyung said as he handed the man the thin folder.
Jeonghan hummed, turning and walking further in his house. Taehyung walked inside, watching the older man flip through the papers.
Jeonghan was a technical analysis for the FBI. Taehyung knew him from a mutual friend but they weren't too close, so it surprised him when Jeonghan agreed to help him out.
"This is it?" Jeonghan asked, "you have nothing else?"
"No, he's very secretive."
"Clearly," the older man mumbled, "Charlie Shu, American-born, married to an actress, one kid — deceased. Produced — woah — seventy-four movies, TV shows, and Netflix series. His net worth is high, he's popular and well-known in the acting and music industry in both Asia and the UK. He's impressive. Graduated from some American high school, went to university in China majoring in journalism before switching to filmmaking."
"Yup, that's it," Taehyung said once Jeonghan finished reading.
"Well, follow me."
They walked downstairs where his basement was located and Taehyung was shocked to see all the computers and technical equipment all over the walls and floors. Some were blinking on and off and Taehyung had to try not to trip over the wires and the random broken computers littering the floor.
"Jeonghan, are you married?" Taehyung joked.
The older man playfully scoffed and held his hand up, showing the wedding band on his ring finger. "Happily."
They sat down in front of two huge computers and Jeonghan quickly typed in the password. Taehyung stayed quiet as he watched Jeonghan work his magic, typing and clicking while humming and swaying his head to whatever song he was humming.
"Make sure none of this gets out," Taehyung said after a while, "I don't want people sticking their nose where it doesn't belong."
"My lips are sealed," Jeonghan said, "that is, of course, if someone offers me a huge sum for private information."
Taehyung's face dropped but the older man just laughed. "I'm just kidding, loosen up! God, attractive people are always so uptight. Luckily for me, I'm built differently."
The screen turned black, stopping Taehyung from saying anything. He watched Charlie's ID picture load up on the screen followed by identification information. Jeonghan scrolled down, humming and nodding as he read all the basic information and other information that no one would know.
"His parents split up when he was a kid, his dad went to China while he stayed with his mom," Jeonghan read aloud, "life wasn't easy with his mom, he's been to therapy off and on in his teen years before moving in with his dad."
There was a pause and Taehyung frowned. "What is it?"
"His dad went to prison for sex trafficking young women," Jeonghan read, "along with his mother who was also in the business despite having split. They accumulated over 100 million USD just off of selling women to nasty motherfuckers."
Taehyung's eyes widened and he leaned in to read. "You're kidding."
"No, it's right there," Jeonghan pointed at the information, "that was when he was in university too. Strange enough, he managed to get through school with As and Bs and his first film came out two years after graduation. During that time he took up odd jobs before landing himself a temporary job at some company. However, he was making side money but that doesn't have any connections to businesses, so I assume he was either paid under the table or he was making dirty money. Oh, it seems this random money continued on 'til now."
"Did he...did he have any connection to Kang Minsun?" Taehyung asked.
Jeonghan hummed as he scrolled down. "Ah! Right there: Kang Minsun. He invested in Minsun's company and he produced several movies that starred him. However, when he was questioned by the cops when kidnapping charges were placed on Minsun, he said he didn't know anything and that the only connection Minsun had to him was debt."
"Debt..." Taehyung repeated while frowning. He repeated the word over and over, trying to get his brain to connect to all the scattered dots.
"How did his son die?" The actor asked.
"It doesn't say and they didn't even hold a funeral for him. His wife had an interview and she said "he's in a better place now. I guess this was our price to pay for bad parenting, we never paid him much attention". People have claimed to have seen him after Charlie posted the death certificate, but neither parents have come forth. People suspected he didn't die and it was just a publicity stunt, but still no word and it's been six years since his death. Strange enough, right after his death, Charlie's company had a 20 million USD investment even though he wasn't working on anything at the time."
"My boyfriend was involved with Minsun, he was the one to pressed charges against him for kidnapping their oldest son," Taehyung explained, knowing Jungkook would hate for his private information to be uttered in front of someone he didn't but Taehyung had no choice. His heart was beating out of his chest as he realized that Charlie could be up to something or had a whole other identity.
He continued. "Charlie refused to help me with the movie he's currently helping me with when I first asked which was during the time my boyfriend's son was missing. The day after I found the boy, Charlie called me back and agreed to help me. I know it sounds far fetched, but Charlie has to be involved with whatever underground shit Minsun was doing."
Jeonghan took a deep breath. "My team worked on that case. They were convinced that that boy was a payment for a debt or something and it really set us on taking Charlie into custody, but we had nothing on him so we had to let him go. Let me just..."
Taehyung watched him minimize the screen before going onto a darker screen. The text was red and he could barely read it but he managed to make out Kang Minsun. The screen remained black for a while before 3 slots appeared with grey taps in each.
"Take your pick," Jeonghan said and Taehyung clicked on the far-right one.
Several pictures of Kang Minsun popped up and Taehyung frowned. He didn't understand what the older man was doing but he decided not to ask and just wait. Jeonghan clicked on a few more things before highlighting a long row of numbers and typing them in with their corresponding letter instead of the actual number. (I.e on a keyboard the letters 'Q', 'A', and 'C' are beneath the number 1). Suddenly a huge yellow tab popped up before it turned black and a resume symbol appeared on it with a circle around it.
"Prepare yourself," Jeonghan said, "I don't know what we're about to look at, but prepare for the worst."
The designer nodded and Jeonghan hesitantly clicked the play button.
He saw nothing but black for a while, but when Jeonghan turned the volume up, his blood turned cold when he heard high pitched screaming that belonged to a child. It wasn't the type of screaming kids do when they're throwing a tantrum or when you smack their hands or mouth. It was as though this kid was in terrible pain and Taehyung could barely make out the kid's pleas as he yelled "STOP IT" or "HELP ME!"
The screen suddenly switched from black and Taehyung's eyes widened when he was met with the bloodied face of some child. The kid had slash marks from whips littering his face which was so badly disfigured from the gashes and the blood that couldn't even tell if the child was a boy or a girl. As the camera zoomed out, he soon realized that the kid was, in fact, a boy as the boy was completely naked.
"This was two months ago, there's no direct relation between Minsun, Charlie, and this kid but by typing in Minsun's name, he has some relation with what's happening to this kid."
"A-And...what exactly is happening?"
"He's being beaten for money," Jeonghan answered as if it didn't bother him. But Taehyung knew he's probably seen a lot of stuff as an FBI agent. "People pay for requests — it's like Twitch. You send in a bunch of money with a request attached and they do that request. This child was beaten with about seven hundred viewers and highest payer was 900 euros."
"What happened to the kid?"
"Who knows? I can't bust every single child abuser and exploiter on here, Taehyung," Jeonghan said as he scrolled down, "there are millions."
He typed Charlie Shu in the search box and did the same as he did when he typed in Minsun's. Taehyung was terribly bothered by what he just saw and he couldn't get the kid's eyes out of his head. He kept wondering whatever happened to the boy but considering Jeonghan didn't know anything about him told Taehyung that the boy wasn't saved. It bothered him and shook him to the bone.
"Look," Jeonghan snapped his fingers, jerking Taehyung out of his thoughts.
The actor looked up at the screen and his eyes widened again when he saw square slots with timers on them. Some were to end in 72 hours, others were to end in just a few minutes. Taehyung pointed at the one that still had 72 hours and 15 minutes left.
"And you'll try to save these kids?" Taehyung asked, "you can't just let it go."
"If we can find the leader of the operation then whatever kids are left, we can save," the blonde answered, "it's hard to handle, Taehyung, but kids go through this every day. The quicker you realize that, the easier it is to get past it."
Taehyung simply nodded and he watched Jeonghan click on the square and a live cam of a young girl in a padded room holding a raggedy Barbie doll. She was sitting in the corner, her black hair a rats nest on her head. There was a number in the upper right-hand corner of the video: $100,789/$1,000,000
"That's the highest bidder," Jeonghan explained, "but she's being sold for one million USD."
He clicked around before another page pulled up. It was a chatroom. Jeonghan quickly made a user and nicknamed it 6,7,8. He explained that most bidders will put their age limit as their username to keep conversation shorter and adding random symbols and uppercase and lowercase makes it harder for people to find.
CS: hm? (How much)
6,7,8: age?
CS: 7
6,7,8: 443,208,000.00 won
CS: hb (highest bidder)
6,7,8: r U bId-der?
CS: no
6,7,8: who will I meet?
CS: u will kno iF u win
6,7,8: keep me notified
"I'll keep playing with this," Jeonghan said, "but if it's not Charlie, I can't do anything to help you."
Taehyung nodded. "I understand. Thank you, Jeonghan, it means a lot."
---
Word Count: 3353
Sorry this chapter sucks 😔 my writing has been failing 😑
2 questions yay!
1Q: how do you think part 3 is going to end?
2Q: what keeps you up at night?
For me, it's existentialism thoughts 💀
No preview because the next chapter sucks 💀