No matter how far you run, when you are ought to come back, you can't reappear weak as before.
[References to Chapter: Jungkook have been made in this chapter.]
"Jackson!" I professed a jollier smile with an exclamation, "Come in." He advanced towards, but his eyes fixated onto Jimin's the whole time. "I will go then." The boy got up from his seat bringing a few materials forward, "This file's for you, from manager-nim. And- your phone. I will leave these here."
"Thanks." I tapped a silent smile, waiting for him to leave first. He didn't immediately move, his neck vein would accentuate against his skin for one short second as he looked back at the other male again. "Take care." never he looked around for once for the last bid, the door flung fast with soft noise at his departure.
The last impact of his leave had the rest of us in the room in a lack of habituation. Jackson looked back, his mouth shaped in 'o' to utter the question, I cut him short before he needed to give it a voice.
"That was Jimin, one of the group members. BTS. Remember?"
"That felt weird."
"Weird as in?"
He looked around with an intrigued amusement, "The way he looked at me? Is something-" I stopped him right before the blabbers could take an initiation, "Stop right there. Nothing's up." For a quick finish, I beckoned him to sit and added, "Sit down first. How long has it been since we last met? And how did you know that I was here?"
"You are trying to change the topic now, I know."
"Think what you want then...Do I care?" I poked my tongue while pointing at the posy he was holding, "And what's with that? Are those flowers for me? People bring those to a funeral. You took me to be dead or what?"
"Funeral? But the lady showed me this saying they are nice to take along when visiting the hospital." He pouted, "I bought them cuz they got a nice fragrance."
"Give me that." I took a deep inhale of the refreshing incense, "She was right. Not bad. Thanks."
"I guess you've recovered already with your cheekiness been back," The male chuckled in reply as I set the bunch across the bed near the table, "I called in your number and some boy had picked it up. Taehyuk was the name, I reckon? I cursory got to know some of what had happened too. How did you get into all this mess?"
"Shit. How much do you know?"
"The raid part. What else has happened? I am able to extract more if I wanna sleuth, you might know."
"Now that I remember you're a journalist, don't go post stuff around about the boys. Keep it safe for me as well, will you? Do it for a friend."
He snorted, "I don't cover the entertainment sector, be glad for that. Otherwise, I don't think I'd have agreed to let go of such a good spice."
"Nah, I know I can trust you on all of that. You're a good guy." I stretched my legs out of the bed, letting out a big yawn, "We were supposed to meet outside tomorrow. But see the irony, we're meeting at the hospital. Same as the way that time. Nothing much is changed."
He went sparingly silent in reply, leaving a small 'yeah' with discomfort. Expected reaction. I hid the arcane smile about to emboss my face, changing the course of the topic next, "Now, tell me. Have you got some news?"
"News like what?"
"Seacrets? The club owner's wife."
"Ah ah ah, that- you still haven't got it out of your head."
"Why would I? We were supposed to meet for that tomorrow anyway. What else work do I even have with you?"
"Gosh, you sound so vile. You weren't even picking up my calls till yesterday."
"Sorry. You know my workplace is a hectic zone. On that, my job is at stake now too. I might be getting fired."
"Really?"
"No. Leave that. Tell me if you've got something."
"Yes, I have. But not too good for gold. I'm assuming you need more of inside information."
"Go on."
"The Illhwa you're specifically looking for is a Lee Illhwa, wife of the CEO of LMN industries. An eminent social worker, runs an NGO, and she also has a club called "Hwa Yang Yeon Hwa" that has an actively volunteered program called "Life Goes On" to help the deprived. An incredibly great lady."
"Sure she is." I accompanied, "I've found it out recently too. And I heard about the family and their businesses. It's incongruous how they can hide so much under one mask. Mr. Lee running a pimping business under the shell, I shall say, is a job of many risks. He could've had any other black-market connections. Being a prime businessperson like he is, whilst pimp and human trafficking included in this have more danger factors than other lines of work in the field, don't you think?"
"But with the best profitability."
"Yet then, I found not a single article of rumor or scandal about them. How come there isn't possibly the smallest news published of the slightest hint? It's not possible nobody ever took an inkling regarding their behind the door business. After all, they're such a splendor household. There would be more media concentrated on their movements than others. With the lack of evidence, it's a little hard to believe for sure."
"An elite businessperson knows to handle all well. And Y/N, if you can't get yourself to believe until that, I don't think you will be able to handle what I have in to tell next."
I eyed him warily, "What is it?"
"You have been overlooking one small fact regarding Seacrets. We know one name, but Illhwa not the only owner of the place. There are others."
"But Seacrets is registered under the ownership of LMN's, and there was only one name."
"It's a strategy. She has the name in, but there's more to it. To reach my point, I have to elaborate on everything to you first. Are you ready to listen?"
"Stop. And start."
"You are right about the scandal part after all. There was indeed an issue aroused around two years ago. A few documents were leaked hinting at stipulated corruption in LMN's company projects, but things were shut down too soon before anything could get out. A few other big companies were partially linked to this too. I was assigned to work further in preparing the articles. My work hadn't reached an end. Like always, rich people paying their way out, having others' mouths zipped. But within the time of my research, I had got to know a few facts - some strategies the aristocrats apply, usually to skip the staining sides of their business and proofs of corruption from the profit chart. But for Seacrets, there might be more reasons than that. You and I both know it's not the usual night club like the way it is registered as." He stopped to take a breath and continued.
"What I'm guessing is, Seacrets might be registered under Lee Illhwa's name for LMN's. But she's aiding someone else or some people with the business behind the doors of Seacrets."
"How do you know that?"
"Partners without a written agreement. It's a guess. There is a major prostitution line chained behind what we are staring at, you may not know yet. Firstly, Jungkook was from Busan, but I've taken a view that they also traffick people from other countries for this besides Korea. The sector branches out to several objectives to be handled. Illhwa can't possibly be handling all the objectives by herself. She does one part of it, and that, being the owner by name of the headquarter and keeping it out of vigilant law eyes. Seacrets is probably one of the headquarters. Here comes two cases.
As for the ownership, there is one head in the official records, the one who also runs the business mostly. Documents of Seacrets which I've checked have a very specific contrast between the probable income from the place and the amount of tax paid. That's obvious though. In the meanwhile, there are a few minor partners who stay behind helping the head out with a business that is not before the eyes, have their contracted divided percentages of share. The official record has no mentions of the other names, of course. Or there is also case two, just a bit different- the name in the official records is not the main, rather a distraction to curtain the original shareholder."
"Okay...? But where are we going with this? You are trying to say, Illhwa is not the actual owner of the place or she is the owner of the place and there are some hidden partners who also...and distractions...it's not making much sense..."
"What if she is the distraction?"
"You mean?"
"In short, she is the owner of the place by name. But what goes on there is originally handled, 'owned' should be a better term, by someone else. Or some people."
"...but how do these all link to that incident of the club raid, Jungkook abduction, and rescue, the identity of the posse of unknown four?"
"Patience. Prostitution is perhaps not the only hidden line by LMN's. Besides being a strip club, Seacrets is also used for gatherings of the aristocrats for their own purpose. Illhwa uses the place for their confidential business meetings. Remember the other corner of the club when we went that said VIPs only? I slunk around and also talked to Hye Rin about this. That VIP section is a totally restricted zone bordered with high security. Other than a few, nobody is allowed to take a step in. Illhwa has a personal section of her own and no one can even go near to it. Hye Rin has her friend who is on the list of those staff who can go in for maintenance. She said there could be some secret rooms preserved by Illhwa there. She never saw them but she is guessing there are. None of the staff otherwise even knows how many rooms or how it is even like at that zone at all. Only the people sharing businesses with LMN and other related personnel come over there for their meetings with Illhwa."
"I see."
"There was one info missed out. I got to know this from Hye Rin as well - Jungkook, of all the workers, seemed to had been a special case for Illhwa. On the day of the raid, he was taken and locked in her personal section. Perhaps in the secret rooms? There was a meeting to be held on that day. Some VIPs were supposed to come by. There should be a reason behind this same timing.
The group of four who had raided knew where Jungkook was beforehand. They had barged in the VIP rooms directly and taken him out of there within seconds and left. Things happened so quickly that she said it was evident they had known exactly where Jungkook was kept. My notion is, whoever those four were, or whoever they were sent by, that someone or some people know the place Seacrets. On that had such a dare to raid the place. Lee Illhwa is a powerful woman in the industry. Not anyone can make a plan to raid the place she owns and rescue a mere boy like that. From the less evident ransack despite that tight security, this someone and yeah, or some people must know about the staff and guards, the planning of the place as well."
"Or maybe, he is a regular visitor of the place?" I added, "a VIP?"
"That has a high chance of probability."
"And maybe they are connected with LMN's business. It's been seven years though."
"I think they still are. Black market partners have more bonding than anyone."
"But...it's so...it's still not connecting enough...."
My mind whirred with slaps of all the untied pages of information. Jungkook being kidnapped...maybe he was just a victim, there might not be extreme reasons behind his kidnapping other than that. But logic went haywire after that. Why was he sent back to his hometown? Who was it who had it planned to raid Seacrets and do the virtue of rescuing him? What was the purpose behind it? What was their actual interest? An act out of sympathy shouldn't be the correct answer.
Those four...if they were BTS members like I had been guessing, was it entirely their plan? Had they known Jungkook from before? Namjoon, Yoongi, then Taehyung, and Jin...As much as I delved in, there was no way any other than Jungkook himself could have had a connection with Seacrets, no chance of knowing the place from the first either. It was someone for whom they did it for...Someone, somebody...
"What are you mumbling about? I can't hear you."
"N-nothing..."
"Okay, so - yet, you see, so many questions remain. Only the VIPs from the list can know the VIP section so well. But why would a VIP need to raid Seacrets to rescue a boy? Then maybe someone related to the VIPs helped Jungkook out of there sending men? Then Illhwa's personal section. Duh, that must shorten the list to a few furthermore. I still don't have a clue who can be behind the raid. And why was it Jungkok from anyone else too? About those four men, I am still in dark as well. But overall, we can agree that the one who had Jungkook out of that pit and sent him back to his house must be his well-wisher."
"Or not..."
If so, then why was Jungkook engaged as a mobster still now even after being an idol? The person behind his rescue and the person they were working under now- all of BTS- there should and must be a deep grave connection to this. What imposition could even be there that they were still doing this? Namjoon and Yoongi could've left behind their underworld life and started it anew after they became idols, but they hadn't, rather went much into the pit. Were they doing this out of their own will or were they...
"They must know Jungkook from the first too, otherwise, why would someone go this far for his rescue?"
"Who knows..."
"I hope I got you something that you needed."
"I have. There's been a lot more than that. Thanks, Jackson. I knew I could rely on you."
"Speaking of that, Y/N, can I ask you something?"
"Yeah, go on."
"Why are you digging so much into this?"
I halted at his question.
"It was seemingly fine until you were delving for that member, Jungkook, then now the club owner's wife, the inner business sector- where are you going with this? What are you gonna do with this much information? I don't think your job requires it..."
"I will tell you later."
"Tell me now. I wanna know too, the reason behind I should be working this far for you." When I shifted my eyes towards the male, he looked the same way back at me, a full-reading prod of questions encompassing his orbs.
"I went back on you as well when working on the task of studying Seacrets. It was strange how you got the post of manager all so sudden in the company. You have been occasionally changing your working place and traveled around the city. And I also checked about the boys. There was nothing weird on the outward layer of them. But the way I was hindered looking into, and the much I got to know because of you about one member, that Jungkook- I wonder if any of the rest of the members has a similar variable."
He was dang smart. The Jackson I used to know was, of course, but not someone who would reach so far with only his logical statistics. He had grown a lot in times.
"What is your actual intention, Y/N? To be precise, what do you actually do?" His question was firm as a statement. As if he knew already what I was, a slight affirmation onto it would just confirm the one percent he was left without. I needed better lies to pacify him now. My mentor was Jimin.
"Some threats came in recently regarding Jungkook that they are gonna reveal everything about his past life. So the company had to involve. It was some people connected to the wifey, this might turn into an issue. I'm working on the team to find out the full information. Jungkook seems to be still now in trauma about it. So we don't wanna bring out triggering it out of him rather work our way to it on our own. BigHit wants this chapter closed properly."
"I see." Jackson sat straddle leaning against his chair in comfort, looking at my face with easy locating eyes, "You've changed a bit, Y/N. We haven't been in touch for a while. Then all so sudden, one day you contacted me. I was a bit surprised I won't lie."
"Knowing your background, I knew your efficiency to get help on my work."
"You shouldn't trust someone this much. When I am doing this without getting myself a good story." He crossed his hands behind his neck, "You never know when one can betray you with this."
"I am not trusting you without a reason. If you want me to be honest, I knew you would work this far for me."
Jackson looked straight into my eyes, in a way he didn't want to, "And why is that?"
"Let's just skip this topic?"
"I wanna know what you meant by your earlier words, Y/N. What were you implying to?"
I kept staring at him for some moments, gently taking out a sigh, "Because you are guilty. The guilt of breaking trust once. And I knew how to get the best out of that guilt trip."
"I- I don't..."
"I see that you tend to forget about things quite a lot, Jackson." I tried to chuckle lightly, but the bitterness wouldn't skip its arrival, "Well, that's...actually good in one way. It's good to move on. It's just me who hasn't. I just can't. But it's okay."
His jaw clenched as he spoke in slight annoyance, but it was getting to him now, "Why are you bringing that back again now?"
"I am not bringing anything back. You asked. If I have hurt you, I'm sorry."
Jackson went silent. When he spoke again, the strength in his tone was gone. "You k-knew it had been me that time?"
"Probably everyone knew. But nobody spoke up."
He spoke no more words.
"I try, Jackson. I try not to bring it up. But sometimes you do work as a time-traveling pill. And from the uttermost blame that was put on me, no one can ever forget it like it was nothing. And you could've saved me even by the simplest glitch, but when you said you never saw him entering and running out of the building when the fire had started- well, that must've been one of your simplest lies that you don't remember it now. I don't mind though. It's in the past." I looked at his bowing head whilst trying to keep up the casualty through my eyes. My initial intention was not to hurt him. My brain unwantedly settled at its stage few years ago at my teen. A broken state, a dead friend, an accusation of murder, and a horrifying escape- threads wanted to tear themselves apart but the pain was reality. Reality can never be torn apart. An act of betrayal by a close one makes a stronger bond in the ties of those threads.
"How I know it, you may think. I could retrieve, I could falsify your charge well that time, but I didn't. I was already heartbroken enough." I said, "And your mind is still wrecking in guilt for that, willing to pay up for it doing whatever it could. And I know how to utilize, knowing to trust you with."
His tongue twisted to make up words for a reply, but I stopped him, "That doesn't mean I have actually forgiven you for what you had done, neither forgotten. But you're coming to my use. So why won't I take advantage of that?"
"I-" His fingers fumbled morosely on the hem of his shirt, "I am sorry I-they-"
"I know how much pressed you were to say that in front of the mass. It's fine. Me not acquitting you from the act shouldn't do much of a diversion to your state."
"But Y/N-"
"One minus forgiveness is not a big deal. Sleep on it. I think I should take some rest now. My head's burning like a cooker. I want to sleep, Jackson. Can you please-"
He shushed down his chapped lips, slowly getting up taking his moments. As he walked towards the door at a snail's pace, he looked back for once, saying in a low dry tone, "If you knew the real reason behind why I had done that at that time, you wouldn't have held the grudge on me till now-"
"I don't want to know."
After his exit, I took out a deep sigh, resting my back against the pillow. All these past memories wanted to pile up to the convoluted resting head, I forced myself to get rid of them. It was no time to waste seconds on it. I needed to call Momo first. The phone buzzed as soon as I would bring my hand towards the phone. The manager's contact floated on the screen.
"Hello, Y/N. How have you been doing now?"
"I'm fine now, sir."
"What did the doctor say?"
"My condition is well. I think I will get released pretty soon."
"That's good to hear. By the way, has Jimin given you any file? He must've visited you by now. Is he there?"
"He left. And yes, he handed me the file. I was about to take a look."
"Okay. I don't want to pressurize you so much with work at the moment. Just have a brief look. PD sir decided to delay the dates of the concerts. The company had a meeting earlier this morning. Namjoon's hand is not in good condition. It's better if he gets healed first. The tour would be cumbersome for him. A new decision has been taken to supplant the current dates with just one event."
"Oh. I missed the meeting...what is it about?"
"It's not finalized yet but another meeting is to be held soon. Visit to C/N was marked important since new promotions were listed scheduled and new merch is supposed to be launched as well. Sir was saying to keep this one event intact postponing the rest. What do you say? Are you listening to me, Y/N?"
[C/N: Your country name]
His past words left no stimuli in my ears. From the time I heard that one country name-
"W-wait, wait, wait, C/N? I knew the venues but when was C/N included in the venue list? I didn't know-"
"C/N was included in the final decision for listing. You were on a leave last week and I thought you knew about this already? It was the previous meeting where the proposal was made. Sir wanted the collaboration merch to launch sooner so the dates were brought ahead. It might be a 3-day schedule if finalized. You sound a bit off. Do you have something to say?"
If BTS went, then I too...
"Are you there, Y/N? Hello?"
"Can I talk later, sir...I think I need-" I shakily disconnected the call.
C/N, huh? Of all the countries in the world, it had to be...
Never had I ever known running from the past to reach the current state, it would be BTS to bring me back to it.
How would it feel when going back?
Memories gathered like a white sheet on my mind bed. Should I be looking forward to it?
I didn't want to.
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