Young Writers Society

Taehyung woke up the next morning to get some kind of plan formulated. He needed to start as soon as possible before Min Yoongi could get wind of him and be unable to be found. Through his notes he had taken the night before, Min Yoongi was supposed to clock in at the station at nine that morning to begin his patrol with his partner, Kim Seokjin.

He had less than an hour to get there and discreetly parked. Throwing himself into clothes and grabbing his normal stakeout gear, he headed out the door. Luckily, Minjun was already gone doing some assignment before Taehyung had woken up. The fewer questions, the better.

The drive was relatively quiet across town to the station. It seemed that Daegu had a sleepy air about it and Taehyung was soothed by the peace. He was supposed to be watching Jimin today but Min Yoongi took priority.

He slowly pulled to the curb two blocks from the station, binoculars in hand, he sat in wait.

He sat there for about fifteen minutes before he saw the blonde head of Min Yoongi emerge from a small black tesla and head into the front doors. The man walked confidently as though he owned the place. Taehyung wasn’t sure if that was his personality or maybe he had control of enough of the payroll to basically own the place. Taehyung had to not jump to conclusions, assuming was dangerous.

He sat there and waited for another half hour before he saw Min Yoongi’s blonde head coming floating out accompanied by another man. Due to the knowledge that Kim Seokjin was his partner and from afar the man looked like the picture he had of him, Taehyung deducted it was him.

They got into Min Yoongi’s car and slowly rolled out of the parking lot. After counting to ten, Taehyung followed, making sure to not be seen. He followed them across town towards a more run-down part of town.

The buildings seemed more and more decayed and abandoned as he drove. Graffiti littered abandoned buildings, grass patches were overgrown, there were almost no people in sight. Taehyung rarely came to this part of the city. The only few times he had been there was delivering some packages when he was younger. It was a relief at the time when The Swan stopped sending him on tasks in this neighborhood, the vibe he got there was an intimidating one.

Were they here to survey some of The Swan’s contacts? The idea made sense but he couldn’t be sure. He continued to follow them around the neighborhood until they pulled into a small run-down convenience store. The sign on the front had half fallen off so Taehyung couldn’t even tell what the name of it was.

He waited a moment and pulled into the small lot as far away from the car as possible. He sat and waited until he saw Min Yoongi make his way out of the car. A moment later Kim Seokjin came out and followed him into the store. He looked around and saw there were four other cars in the lot, so at least there were more people in the store to take attention away from him.

He grabbed his phone and wallet and left his car, locking it behind him. He pulled on the hood over his head and made his way into the store. He couldn’t see them at first so he began to make his way down the snack aisles, pretending to pursue the bags of junk. He couldn’t believe how familiar he had gotten with convenience stores the past few weeks. He preferred The 7-Eleven where Jimin was, obviously.

He heard voices a minute later. He went on his phone and pulled up a voice recording and hit the red button. He wanted to have everything and anything he could get from them.

“I still wish we were at our desks, I didn’t mind the cushy hours,” he heard a man say.

“Stop your whining, Seokjin. You know we were bored out of our minds. Besides, the more men to find Jungkook, the better,” He heard Min Yoongi snap. Taehyung’s ears peaked with interest. He held his phone discreetly and kept looking through the snacks with his head down. The men were soon in the aisle with him.

“But still, why do we need to circle these streets every day? We haven’t seen a glimpse of him. Are we even doing anything to help?” Kim Seokjin sighed a few feet from Taehyung. He took a bag of wavy potato chips and showed it to Min Yoongi. He saw the other shake his head in annoyance.

“Just grab your snacks and let's go. The assignment is the assignment,” Min Yoongi said in a lower tone, eyeing up Taehyung who continued to be engrossed by the selection of snacks in front of him. Kim Seokjin grabbed another bag and continued down the aisle silently with his partner. Taehyung stayed where he was until he couldn’t see them anymore before grabbing a bag of Cheetos.

He slowly walked behind them up to the register. They were quiet paying and left silently. Taehyung quickly paid for his chips and headed out the door to get out of his car before they could leave without him. He stepped out and pulled out his phone to stop the recording when a voice behind him nearly made him jump out of his skin.

“Didn’t I meet you last night?” he heard Min Yoongi ask. Taehyung slipped his phone in his pocket, thankfully still recording. He hoped that the screen wasn’t seen. He turned around and gave him a shy smile.

“I thought you looked familiar! I’m bad with faces, sorry,” Taehyung said, fidgeting shyly. Min Yoongi eyed him up and down. He saw Kim Seokjin in the car looking at him through the window, the car engine idling.

“I’m bad with names, don’t worry about it. You are…” he trailed off leaving Taehyung to answer.

“Taehyung,” Taehyung smiled. He held out his hand to shake Min Yoongi’s but it was left in the air. He retracted it after an awkward moment.

“What are you doing in this part of the city, Taehyung? I didn’t think a boy like Jimin would spend time with someone from around here…” he mused. Taehyung had to keep his breathing steady, he hated confrontation.

“I had to see an old family friend, “ he lied through his teeth. He was met by a raised eyebrow urging for more information. “I help bring some groceries to my uncle who lives around here. He’s hard on his luck so I do what I can.” Min Yoongi gave an emotionless smile.

“That sounds kind of you. Where you headed now?” he ask. Taehyung shrugged.

“Home I guess. I promised my father that I wouldn’t be gone long,” he said, nearly stammering. With a nod, Min Yoongi began to turn around.

“I won’t hold you up then, Get home safe. Nice to meet you again,” he dismissed with a small wave before getting into the car. Taehyung gave a meek smile and began to walk to his car. His heart was beating so fast that he could barely stand it. Was he caught?

He decided to stop for the day and let the men leave ahead of him. He sat in the lot for a few minutes to calm himself. He realized his phone was still recording and stopped it. He had gotten something, but not much. He knew that they would be in the area within the near future and that they were specifically looking for Jungkook.

He really hoped that they found him. His bruises were finally healing but the dark flashes that kept him up at night didn’t.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jungkook took a breath before knocking on the door. He was still groggy from sleeping to the last minute but The Swan’s steel cold voice sobered him up quickly. He was a rather confident person but any ounce of confidence and self-worth dissipated upon The Swan’s presence. It took everything in him to open the heavy oak door.

He slowly opened the door with his head bowed down. He had seen glimpses of The Swan but his identity was always hidden. He always wore a white mask when he saw him. Whether he was just really bad looking or he wanted his identity completely unknown, Jungkook couldn’t have been sure, but regardless, it wasn't his business.

“Good morning, Jungkook,” The Swan said without even a glimmer of friendliness. It was probably more of a habit of greeting than actually wishing Jungkook a good morning.

“Good morning, sir,” Jungkook said quietly with respect. He stood and waited as he felt The Swan’s eyes look over him.

“How is the income of the bar?” he asked plainly. Jungkook tried his hardest not to fidget.

“It’s going well. Business booming every night, the dancers are bringing in the usual swarms of clientele, and I keep an eye out for the customers that would be of value,” he responded. He could see The Swan shift in his seat before reaching over to a pile of files on his desk.

“I need you to take care of this one dancer. She has proven useful and she is not to be overworked. She gets ten percent of the night’s profits and only dances Saturday nights so that we don’t lose her clientele. Make that known.” The Swan informed him, sliding the file towards the edge of the desk.

“I will make sure that this will be handled,” Jungkook replied, taking the file. “Is there anything else you need me to take care of?”

The Swan shook his head. “That is all. Go,” he dismissed cooly. Jungkook turned around and left quickly without a word. This was a more pleasant meeting and he was grateful. Now he needed to head over to the club to get things in order.