The Secret of The Swan Ch15

Taehyung was bothered by the deja vu he was having upon Min Yoongi’s name. He could have sworn that he had heard the name before but from where? He certainly wasn’t a past target, he remembered every target. Where did he hear of him?

When he came home he went straight to his room, ignoring Minjun’s gentle greeting. He wasn’t too mad at him anymore but he had to search for this man before he could forget.

A few minutes into the special search program downloaded by The Swan to help him research his assignments and everything came flooding back. He was a partner of his last kill, Jung Hoseok. The memory washed over him. Jung Hoseok had given Min Yoongi’s name and Kim Seokjin’s in the act of saving his family. Once he had written them down and sent the information to The Swan, he had forgotten about them completely.

Why did Min Yoongi have Jeon Jungkook’s and Minjun’s contacts? Was he a dirty detective under the wing of The Swan? Was Jung Hoseok? Was Min Yoongi The Swan himself, getting rid of his partner who was close to discovering him? A million and one questions flooded Taehyung’s mind, one firing after another, every one without a hint of an answer.

He wanted to ask Minjun, but that was asking for trouble. He could not completely trust him, he was The Swan’s number one man, that loyalty took over anything he could feel for Taehyung. He knew himself that any man was selfish and would do anything to save his own skin.

All he could do was find a chance to survey Min Yoongi on his own time. The trick was not getting caught. In the best-case scenario, he would be caught by The Swan for surveillance of an unassigned mark and neglecting his duty to watch Jimin. The worst-case scenario-Min Yoongi was The Swan and would catch him in his tracks and end him where he stood.

In this life with little choices to make on his own, he had to make this one on his own. This choice could lead him down a path to his own demise, but was he willing to sacrifice everything to find the truth?

Taehyung stood and paced his room, fingers massaging his temples. He stopped after a few minutes and took a long look in the mirror. He was met with a distressed man with dark black hair curled in every direction. It had been a long time since he had cut his hair. A slight shadow was forming along his cheeks due to a lack of shaving in a few days. His eyes looked sleep deprived and he thought he looked thinner. His brown orbs got lost taking in himself. He had known the man in the mirror his whole life, yet he was a complete stranger.

Was this the face of a cold-hearted killer? Minjun’s honest remarks echoed relentlessly in his mind. He had had little choice, but in the end, he could have tried to run from it all. It would have been dangerous and the odds of him escaping The Swan’s army of men that seemed to surround him was slim, but he could have tried. He didn’t.

The difference now after everything was that he was going to stay until he would find the truth. His hands were stained from the blood of innocent people he had murdered under The Swan’s command. His mindless, obedient hands. He had a choice now. It was a dangerous choice, but he had to stop running. It was time to find the truth and find the possibility of starting his life over. He would do everything in his power to find out who The Swan was and take him down.

His first task was to find out Min Yoongi’s truth.

~~~~~~~~~

Jungkook swaggered through the bar, shamelessly taking in the scene of half-naked bodies gyrating around him. This was his normal scene every night and he was almost numb to it. Almost.

He smiled at the regulars and sat at the bar to get a shot of soju. He glanced at his phone but saw nothing. Minjun had texted him that an important client of The Swan’s needed to meet him, but he was more than fashionably late. Jungkook’s patience was wearing thin. He ran his fingers through his chestnut hair and sighed.

Why was he The Swan’s errand boy? He was one of the few who got to see The Swan in person and it was more of a punishment than a privilege. Others in the trade with him were in awe at his ‘closeness’ to the head man himself, but his constant injuries were not a blessing in the slightest. He cursed his life. Why did he get into this life?

He had started on the very stage ten feet away from him. College payments were suffocating him and he needed a way to make quick cash. He had been a dancer for years in high school so this seemed like a quick fix. His family was poor and unable to help him grow up. They died just as he turned eighteen from exhaustion. Years of pushing themselves, barely eating and the inability to even afford a doctor had caught up with them. Jungkook was left on his own to pursue his dreams in college.

His family always working left him hours upon hours alone, hours he spent dancing to fill the space. His hobby turned into an obsession as he coped with the loss of his parents. With no day hours left with his classes, The Swan’s strip club flashed its lights onto his situation.

He started innocent, coming in every night for a few hours. He soon became popular and was successful. One of The Swan’s scouts had spotted him one night and pulled him aside. There he was interviewed. The following week he was pulled from the stage and into the back office of the club. Though he was talented on the stage, The Swan wanted his brain and strength for his own good. Before Jungkook could realize the gravity of being under The Swan’s wing it was too late.

He over the next four years worked his way up to owning and operating this club and being one of the main bosses in the human trafficking ring. He scouted his club and others around the surrounding cities and chose the best. He knew what the clientele wanted and his eye made The Swan prosper.

He never got to finish college. Though he had the money to fund himself after getting paid generously for his jobs for The Swan, he no longer had the hours to go. He dropped out before he could even finish earning his basic degree, his life now decided by the man that made every day of his life hell.

He watched with jealousy at the rather innocent strippers on the stage. They got to dance, gather the bills thrown at them and leave. Pursue their lives. Jungkook’s was taken away from being so naive.

He checked his clock and grimaced. Three shots had gotten down and his patience was at its breaking point. He refused to wait for this idiot any longer. He pulled up Minjun’s contact and angrily texted him, barely able to focus on the screen in front of him.

‘I’m not waiting anymore. Tell this guy to see someone else, I’m out of here’ he typed after several corrections.

He took down one last shot and staggered out of the club. He needed a nap. He hadn’t been able to sleep the fast few nights due to the soreness of his burns from his last encounter with The Swan. He would go and kill those detectives himself if The Swan wouldn’t kill him for it. He had his driver take him to his apartment. He had to be up early to see the wonderful boss himself first thing in the morning.