#senior division ocs

[unohanadaydreams]

There’s a bleach dating sim ?

No one wishes there was one more than me, but no lmao.

There was a post about a project dubbed BleachAPRIL yesterday that linked back to a little preview video on the Bleach site, using the delinquent high school art Kubo made for JET and making a game with it. I think people calling it a dating sim weren't thinking it was like a true otome or anything but more a simping game (ala Hypnosis Mic and other games that revolve around attractive anime guys but don't involve actual dating).

The game itself was an April Fool's jokes, which is very fun and I hope they do AU jokes every year. I will gladly be an April Fool for a fake Bleach game any year, every year.

But also kind sad it won't exist!!! Bleach games that dare to be more than rehashes of the main plot are rare! Really the only one I remember is The 3rd Phantom (which brought all the drama a teenager could ask for, really).

[captain-joongz]

Abraxas; Act 1, ch. 1

Pairing: mafia boss!Min Yoongi x police officer!reader

Genre: angst, humour and some fluff, investigative, dark themes, sloooooowburn, enemies to lovers, eventual smut

Chapter summary: As a new addition to the organized crime unit after a huge corruption scandal burnt through it, it definitely wasn't easy to seamlessly fill in and join the team. Tasked with menial shit and kept away from the actual investigation, my patience ran out after meeting the one man the unit was after, Min Yoongi, thus leading me to getting myself involved with one of the most dangerous men in the whole of Korea.

Everything is fair in love and war, isn't it? And this was war.

I would take him down, no matter what.

Word count: cca 26k

Warnings: reader is somewhat innocent and naive (in a sense that she's very idealistic), there will be brief reader x OC, but worry not, Yoongi is endgame, nothing much here, workplace sexism, some slight discussion of illegal stuff, description of the boys as criminals, reader is just a tiny bit obssesed with taking Yoongi down, some slight stalking (illegal tailing and stake out)

Series masterlist | Next Part

A/N: welcome to the first chapter of my new series! i have a ridiculously soft spot for mafia yoongi fics, so this is a child of me watching daechwita and haegeum too many times drooling over min yoongi himself, i hope that you stay with me throughout the entire ride and enjoy yourself as much as i did when writing this <3 i will attempt to update this every month, the semester is starting soon again but i'll be having less classes so i should be able to do it, take this love letter to long-haired yoongi <3

"That which is spoken by God-the-Sun is life; that which is spoken by the Devil is death; Abraxas speaketh that hallowed and accursed word, which is life and death at the same time. Abraxas begetteth truth and lying, good and evil, light and darkness in the same word and in the same act. Wherefore is Abraxas terrible."

- 3rd sermon, Seven Sermons to the Dead, Carl Jung

Winter, first year in the force

“Minjoon, for fuck’s sake! Move it!” the booming voice of Senior Inspector Park rang out through the station as the poor man in question scrambled to put on his jacket, grab his badge and gun and ran after him. When he was passing by my table, he sent me a little sympathetic smile and then hurried to catch up to our superior before he left to make the arrest without him.

I sighed heavily and then sulkily returned to filing away some old hand-written cases. It’s been 3 months since I’d been assigned to the Organised crime unit, fresh out of academy and full of hope to change the world for the better. The second I got my badge I sent in my application to SMPA, hoping to make it to violent crimes. Instead, I was pushed to this division. The official reason was because they were lacking manpower, which wasn’t exactly wrong, after what happened. But I knew what they were really trying to do – clean up after a huge scandal that broke through this unit just a few months before my joining, when several young policemen were caught tampering with evidence and reselling confiscated drugs. After a few tough rounds of investigation, three men were fired from this unit and several others from affiliated places.

That meant that when I walked through the door, all rosy cheeked and wonder eyed, excited to start my career, the reception was more than icy. Senior Inspector Park, who was in charge, barely ever spoke to me except for barking out orders, and I was almost never allowed to do any actual work, always confined to the office and left with tasks that no one else wanted to do. My colleagues were ranging from cold and reserved to actual full-blown assholes, happy to take advantage of young blood knowing I couldn’t say anything in return to my seniors. Except for Minjoon, who actually made effort to be cordial, everyone in this hellhole was insufferable. Thus, I pissed away my days filling out forms, cleaning out cabinets, cataloguing files and putting old files into the system.

I looked wistfully out of the window and just caught the sight of our team’s van leaving the parking lot of the station. It was an arrest pertaining to our current leading objective – an informant was finally able to gather enough evidence for us to be able to interview one of the higher standing members of a gang this unit was currently focusing on. They knew we most probably wouldn’t be able to keep him long, after all it wasn’t that substantial at all and his boss always found a way out of any arrests, but it was better than nothing – we’d annoy him at the very least. That’s what Park always said anyways – never let them forget you’re hot on their trail, even if it meant being a little petty.

I walked over to my computer and sat down. All I could do was wait.

It was a surprisingly short amount of time until Senior Inspector Park came barrelling through the door with three men hot on his tail dragging a tall, handcuffed man with them. Unlike what you’d expect from an arrested man, he had a serene expression on his handsome face to a point he almost looked smug, lazily walking and letting himself get pushed around by eager officers, not a hair out of place and his expensive suit looking absolutely pristine.

They briskly walked through the office space to the back hallway where the interrogation rooms were situated, not sparing a single glance to anyone still sitting by their computers. By the disinterested short glances of the present colleagues, it was obvious that this wasn’t that unusual here. I myself was a witness of similar arrests of members from this gang, but this was my first time seeing someone this high up. This wasn’t just anyone. It was Kim Namjoon.

With careful peeking around to see if anyone was looking my way, I made sure the coast was clear, and then curiously moved after them into the hallway. I walked to the very back and lingered for a moment by the door, gathering courage, before grasping the handle and confidently walking into the listening room. Park was sitting there with a senior detective by his side, watching as Minjoon and his partner prepared the computer to start their interrogation while Mr. Kim sat there looking bored. Park looked to the door and did a double take when he noticed it was me. A disapproving look etched itself onto his face and he was just about to say something when I beat him to it.

“Please, sir! I’d never been able to watch my colleagues during interrogations, I want to learn,” I pleaded with him, “I’ll be totally quiet, you won’t even know I’m here!” I clasped my hands together in a praying motion and gave him my best puppy eyes. He looked at me and it almost seemed as if he was considering my words, but then his face closed off again. My heart was beating against my chest as I waited for him to shut me down.

“Don’t you have anything to do?” he asked, and displeasure oozed out of him in suffocating waves. I shook my head. “I was just putting the files I’d been working on away when you returned.” He was just about to speak again when Minjoon in the other room suddenly cleared his throat and began talking to the eerily calm man, asking him basic questions about his personal information and occupation. That sufficiently claimed Park’s attention and he just waved at me and said “whatever, just be quiet”. I bowed to him even though his back was already turned to me but didn’t even dare to mutter a thank you in fear he’d throw me out for speaking.

When I was first assigned to this department, I was warned that this particular unit unfortunately was a sausage party – no female officers in sight. While my colleague’s distaste of me never really felt overtly sexist, I knew some of them doubted my capabilities as a female detective, and Park was definitely one of them. He didn’t shy away from speaking out about how he’d always worked only with men and male officers and how a woman in a unit full of men would only bring trouble and unnecessary drama. He never got over the fact that they pushed me on him and didn’t listen to his bullshit.

 While none of them ever asked me to make them coffee or bring them lunch, I knew that they kept me occupied with work that they viewed as “softer” and “more suited for a woman”. It infuriated me to no end, but I just needed an opportunity to showcase my skills. I didn’t need their approval; I just wanted to fully do my job and not be stuck at a desk all day.

I knew one day I’d get that. No matter what it took, I would make it happen.

I was brought out of my reverie by a shockingly deep voice that struck me to my core as I was wholly unprepared for it. Kim Namjoon, who was completely silent until now and only nodded along or hummed, had finally started talking. I didn’t catch the question and I barely made out what Mr. Kim said in answer, but my attention zeroed in on him in a second and refused to let go. I knew who he was very well, after all, his picture along with several others was hanging on our wall in the meeting room, all connected to each other with strings, intel and many, many cases we were trying to push against them. I’d see him every morning when I walked in, every time I went to the toilet or for lunch and every evening when I was leaving.

But in his picture, he looked very different – hostile and angry, with a face full of fresh bruises from a recent fight, miles away from the suave self-assured man currently occupying the room in front of us. He had a domineering aura to him and even if he was supposed to be here as a suspect, he gave off the vibe like he wanted to be here more than anywhere else. In a sick twisted way, he fascinated me to no end. I’d seen mobsters before, petty thieves and drug dealers, tatted up, with foul mouths and hands dirtied by crime, but this man was a whole different class with his sharp eyes and sneering mouth, dangerous in a way that made the hair on my arms stand up. He knew how to mask his violence and that made him even more terrifying.

“I see that you have a law degree,” said Minjoon cooly and I saw Mr. Kim subtly roll his eyes, “Is the work you do for him pertaining to that?”

“We talk about this every time we see each other,” he answered coldly, “You know I have a degree. You also know that I currently work in accounting. You have my file memorised to a point that you probably know my measurements better than I do. Let’s not waste time with pointless bullshit.”

“Accounting is a very broad concept,” Minjoon didn’t let himself be intimidated and matched his indifferent attitude, “I want to know what exactly your line of work is.” Mr. Kim looked at him and put on the fakest smile I’ve ever seen.

“I’m sorry, officer, what is my arrest pertaining to exactly? Why are these questions relevant to whatever you brought me here for?” he said in a professional voice, his eyes glinting in challenge.

I stayed there and watched their back and forth for whole two hours. The whole time Minjoon drove hard questions about the exact nature of Mr. Kim’s work while the said man played hot and cold with him, teasing him with little remarks and then returning to cold professionalism or prolonged periods of confident silence. I learnt that the intel they’d been delivered this morning was a vague allusion to certain tactics of tax evasion that were closely related to his boss’s smuggling activities. But all these were easily deconstructed by Mr. Kim in a matter of seconds.

It seemed that everyone involved (even Mr. Kim himself) already knew that though and judging by Park’s intense focus on Mr. Kim’s mannerisms and speech, this was about something completely different. As I found myself splitting my attention between the lawyer’s fascinating dance and my own superior’s complete interest, I realised that he was studying him. He was learning him. And for the first time, since this was the first time I saw him in action, I felt real respect towards the older man and his dedication to his work. This wasn’t even about being annoying, it was a purely academic endeavour. I found myself lightly laughing at the revelation.

Behind the glass Mr. Kim was running the two officers in circles, never surrendering any new information and only regurgitating bits and pieces we already knew in different context, and I could see how exhausted Minjoon was becoming.

I was stepping around by the door, alleviating a certain leg to ease the pain and discomfort of standing for such a long time, also nearing my limit, when Park leaned closer to the mic, pressed the button and said: “take a 10, let’s talk”. Hearing that, Minjoon and his partner stood up and with unfriendly smiles thanked the clever lawyer for his cooperation. They left the room and in a minute they were pushing into the listening room.

When Minjoon stepped in and saw me, he looked surprised for a split second and then gave me a kind smile, which I returned, while his partner stared rather impolitely. Park didn’t pay attention to any of that, eyes never leaving the sole man in the interrogation room, who was now leaning back on the chair and picking his nails in a bored manner.

“As expected, as a lawyer he’s skilled at this,” Park muttered, “What a talented prick, if we didn’t know it already, I bet we wouldn’t be able to get even his name out of him.” The officer sitting next to him finally spoke for the first time.

“Still,” he argued, “this is the first time we’ve managed to actually get him to the station. It means something. Min’s gonna be pissed.” At the mention of the name, Park smiled animatedly and nodded quite happily. I tried to blend into the wall while I watched the men converse and try to come up with a new strategy.

“It’s clear questioning him leads nowhere,” Minjoon added to the convo, “He doesn’t even seem bothered by it. Just look at him. He has all the patience and time in the world.” He motioned to the glass and the man sitting calmly behind it.

“I’m not surprised, he’s had years of experience dodging the police like this. Fucker’s barely thirty and yet has already spent more than a decade covering up his boss’s mess. That’s more than I’ve spent in academy and the force combined.” We all turned to look at Minjoon’s partner, officer Hwang, who was dispiritedly leaning on the doorframe. He was right, but Park didn’t seem to be put off by that.

“That’s how it works here in this unit,” he said firmly, “You sometimes spend years just to get a chance at arresting someone. We’ve been working on this for almost a year and we’re already starting to get somewhere, but this is only the beginning. We need to learn how they work and that takes time.” No matter what my personal opinion was on him, I could see that Park was truly an experienced detective when it came to organised crime. I made a mental note to myself to pay attention to what he says carefully and learn.

They talked for a little while longer when suddenly a commotion was heard back in the office space of the station. We all looked at each other, some more surprised than others. Park got up and pushed his way out into the hallway. As he was passing me, I heard him quietly mutter “here we go” as if this was the main point of the evening. And I quickly realised why.

When I also pushed my way into the hallway and peeked over Minjoon’s shoulder, I was able to see a man confidently making his way through the station flagged by two others. Before I had a chance to gasp at the sudden appearance, he’d already stormed all the way to us.

Just like with Kim Namjoon, seeing his face on a picture on our wall every day could never prepare me for the experience that meeting Min Yoongi was. I was beginning to curse the people who chose the pictures, because they were clearly dangerously understating these men’s aura. With longer black wavy hair, sleek black jacket, black tee and ripped jeans, standing there looking both incredibly angry and incredibly bored, was one of the most dangerous men in this city and the man Kim Namjoon called master. As did half of the city’s criminals. To an ordinary person he was just a businessman, an owner of a few clubs and, recently added, a hotel in the posher area of Seoul, but to us he was a leader of a gang that rose in power and ranks so rapidly it was like witnessing a wildfire. The blink-and-half-the-forest-is-gone kind.

I’d never met him before, and judging by officer’s Hwang flabbergasted expression, I wasn’t the only one, but the man in question barely paid any of us attention. He walked up to Park as if they were old friends, cruel annoyed smile on his face.

“Here I am!” he proclaimed in a faux sweet voice and threw his hands into the air, “That what you wanted? You come into my house and steal my things when I’m not looking now?” Park returned his smile in a similar manner. He was extremely pleased at having pissed off the man to this extent.

“Mr. Kim was lawfully retained due to suspicions of illegal activity,” he answered the man, “He was arrested in one of your clubs.” Min Yoongi’s eyes minutely flitted over to me and there was a tiny spark of surprise and then interest.

“Huh, you’ve got fresh blood here?” he asked all jokes and games, “How come I’ve never met her, isn’t that like a rite of passage here? Coming to see Uncle Yoongi?” He waved at me and laughed like he was encountering a cute animal in the wild. I felt the anger coursing through me, but I knew this wasn’t the situation to lose my cool, so I just scoffed and turned away from him. He fake pouted and then put his attention back on my senior, suddenly turning all serious again. Watching his moods swing was like trying to keep up with a bouncy ball in an empty room.

“Whatever, just release my man,” he said firmly, “You know that anything you came up with to get him here is bogus, so just let him go and I’ll let this slide.”

“How gracious of you,” Park gritted through his teeth. Tensions were beginning to brew between them, and the more annoyed Min Yoongi was, the more teeth showed in his wolfish grin. Just when I thought the whole building was just going to combust, Minjoon stepped in.

“We are legally allowed to keep him here for eight hours at the minimum,” he said calmly, “It’s only been two and a half.” The man’s whole attention shifted to my colleague and, standing behind him, I saw how all-consuming it was to be at the centre of Min Yoongi’s focus. His intense stare and dangerous smile only deepened having noticed just how much he was throwing me off balance. I knew he was getting off on intimidating people and I tried to not give him the satisfaction, but suddenly coming face to face with him, I wasn’t prepared to withstand it, especially since he was so intimately familiar with our entire force that a new face stuck out to him like a sore thumb.

“I know that,” he retorted sharply, “But he wasn’t brought here to be questioned. He was brought here because he-“ Yoongi pointed in Park’s direction “-wanted to know how long before I showed up to bail him out. So, here I am. Release him.” Minjoon looked at our superior with questioning eyes, but he only nodded.

“Let Mr. Kim go, we got everything we needed from him,” he smiled pleasantly in Min Yoongi’s direction, “Have a nice day Mr. Min.” With that he moved back into the office. Mr. Min’s attention once again shifted to me and Minjoon, watching with rapt interest as he moved towards the interrogation room, and I followed him like a loyal shadow. The moment the door opened, Mr. Kim was already hallway outside, coming to his boss and giving him a half hug. Neither of them said anything, they just shared an amused smile at our expense and then turned around to leave with cheeky smiles. As Min Yoongi was rounding the corner, he winked my way. Absolutely flabbergasted by his behaviour, I couldn’t get the encounter out of my head for the entire rest of the day.

While much of Min Yoongi’s childhood was a mystery to us, we had a pretty good idea of what his life was like since around he was 16. So, a good decade of criminal life. As a young teen, he started an apprenticeship as an underling of one of the former ruling gang’s top men, and basically was brought up by him into the man he was today. While the old royalty was torn apart in succession wars after the old master died and his four sons all decided they should be the sole heir, Min Yoongi started up with his own few loyal followers, all who today are his most trusted closest subordinates. With cruelty, tenacity and violence, he took the city by the storm and before they knew it, he was ruling most of it. Too caught up in trying to kill each other, neither of them reacted fast enough to stop young Yoongi’s rise to power. Today, with the original gang wiped out, his was undoubtedly the one at the top of the food chain.

He started with one club and now he owned several of the most prestigious clubs in the city, making enough money to buy him a hotel and finally catapult him into the sphere of honest business. In hindsight, it was pretty stupid of me to show up to one of them to “scope it out”.

Peeved by our last (and first) interaction and driven by the need to prove myself to my unit, I’d decided that the way to go was start right on his turf and dig around. I’d believed that with how much business he had to take care of, both legal and not, there’s no way I’d show up at the right club at the right time to actually meet him there. How foolish. They did always say that he stayed at the top by working endlessly, stupid of me to not actually take that into account.

I didn’t even know how I managed to actually get into the club, considering the long waiting list and lines outside, it was a miracle one Friday evening I found myself sitting inside Dynamite, one of his clubs, watching everything go on like a hawk.

I knew this was something that was rarely accomplished by the people in our unit. Maybe a few months ago they had the liberty to sneak onto his territory, but currently he knew very well about our interest in him, and everyone associated with our unit quickly got blacklisted from half the establishments around the area, owned by Yoongi or not.

I knew that anything pertaining to illegal activity would definitely be taking place in the VIP zone with private booths and waiters, so getting there was the actual challenge. Somewhat foolishly I decided to just try my luck and think of the plan as it went. Little did I know just how easily I’d manage to get invited in.

I was just sitting there minding my own business when I felt a presence next to me. At first, I thought nothing of it, thinking they’re probably just trying to catch the barman’s attention, but suddenly I felt them press into my personal space. I sighed, annoyed, turning around to send whatever sleazy flirt that was trying to get into my pants to hell, when my breath caught in my throat. Sitting next to me, leaning on the bar with a million-watt smile was none other than the owner himself. I cursed every god in existence and three generations of their ancestors and steeled myself for what was coming.

“Didn’t expect to see a police officer letting loose in one of my clubs,” he drawled out playfully, “They all know which ones to avoid. I suppose you’re either stupid or up to no good.” I rolled my eyes to him and turned back to look onto the dancefloor.

“My friend insisted we go here,” the lied slipped through my lips easily, but by Yoongi’s smirk I knew he didn’t believe me one bit. “Oh, and where does this friend happen to be right now? As far as I could see, you’ve been just sitting here glaring,” he laughed at me lightly, as if we were just two friends teasing each other.

“Do you have a habit of watching partygoers like a creep?” I bit back at him, annoyed at being sniffed out so quickly. What are even the chances of him being at this exact club the night I decided to snoop? Something not of God was on this man’s side to arrange a coincidence like that.

“No,” Yoongi answered with a teasing lilt, “But I do happen to remember faces very well. Two weeks ago, you’d slip right by me, but now I know you’re an officer.” I cursed under my breath, and he laughed again. Then he stood up and turned to me. Suddenly a hand was offered to me.

“Come on,” he said, this time a little more serious, “Let’s talk.” I ignored his hand but stood up to follow him. He snickered and started in the direction of the VIP zone. We were currently on the ground floor, which was the general area with a dance floor dominating the centre of the room. The VIP zone was situated on a little gallery overlooking the ground floor.

The flashing lights, bass boosted music and mass of moving sweaty bodies made it difficult to orientate myself in the space, but I kept my eyes on the back of Yoongi’s head as he leisurely made his way through the crowd like he had no worry in the world. He led me to stairs that were cordoned off by red velvet rope, with two very big and very angry men standing on each side. When they saw Yoongi coming near, they both put on professional smiles and bowed wordlessly. He didn’t react to them in any way, just waited till they let him through patiently. As I walked in behind him, they both stared me down as if I was about to jump on Yoongi and stab him right in front of them.

I knew this was probably my only and last chance to get a look around this place, since after being found out I’d definitely get blacklisted just like all the other police officers, so I hungrily scanned the VIP zone and tried to take in all the details. It was very dark there; some booths were out in the open while some had curtains and it was surprisingly packed with people. Waiters were busily buzzing around, serving drinks and appetizers, hum of conversations and laughter carried through the space comfortably. At first glance, you couldn’t see anything wrong or illegal going on, just young people having fun, but I knew better than to trust that.

I followed Yoongi through the area all the way to the back, where one corner was similarly cordoned off. The couches and tables were situated in a way that allowed a little more privacy and separated the space a little from the rest of the people. This must have been his personal lounge.

He made himself comfortable smack in the middle of one of the couches and I timidly sat on an armchair right across him, with a small table between us. Immediately waiters descended onto the space, bringing in plates of appetizers, most probably assuming all kinds of crazy shit since Yoongi brought a woman to his personal zone. The man in question was nonchalantly asking for some cocktail and acting as if this was a completely normal situation and I wasn’t the police. I declined his offer for alcohol and just uncomfortably sat there, watching him settle in.

He gestured to the food and said: “Do you mind if I dig in? I haven’t eaten the whole day.” I gave him a polite smile and told him to go ahead. Yoongi started filling his plate, sharp eyes watching my every move while offering me various food items with annoying courteousness, smirk in place on his lips cause he knew just how much he was pissing me off. It was absolutely crazy – here I was, small-talking with a man I was trying to get behind bars.

Then I had to sit there while he enjoyed himself with his appetizers. When the silence stretched enough to become awkward, I started losing my patience.

“Have you brought me here to watch you eat?” I barked out annoyed, crossing my arms in front of my chest and leaning back into the chair. He looked up from his plate with a little amused smirk. Then he finally put it down.

“Why exactly are you here, officer?” he got straight to the point, “What are you hoping to accomplish?” He mirrored me and leaned back into the couch, his form slouching comfortably with hands laying on his thighs.

“Isn’t that obvious?” I answered, sudden insecurity taking a hold of me. Why was I supposed to explain myself to this guy? He smiled and this time it wasn’t as ferocious.

“I fail to see how this helps in your divine plan to put me under.”

Truth is, I didn’t know either. I was angry and frustrated that nobody was taking me seriously, the encounter with him last week only serving to push me further over the edge. I didn’t know how this was supposed to help, I just knew I needed to do something. Anything. It was better than just endlessly sitting behind a computer typing away. I had to do something that would put me on the radar in my unit and if it involved humbling Min Yoongi a little bit, I was all in.

Truth was, no matter how much I didn’t want to admit it, I was shaken by him. Seeing in flesh this fabled monster, having him stare and smirk at me while he shamelessly strutted around a police station as if he was untouchable, it took everything in me to hold up under his scrutiny. But now, sitting across from him and returning him the favour, I felt some control slowly trickling back into my hands and it calmed me.

He was watching me contemplate with rapt attention and suddenly I was reminded of the prickly feeling of having his eyes trained solely on you. They were dark, so much darker than in the bright daylight in the middle of a police station, and all-consuming in a way I’d never encountered before. It felt as if he was reaching straight into the centre of my being and pulling, pulling something out of me. I shook my head subtly and looked away.

When I failed to answer him or defend myself, he sighed.

“Look, I’m saying this, because you seem like a really naïve genuine person,” he started, “Take this advice to heart – don’t bite off more than you can chew just to stick it to some old guy. This is a dangerous place for people like you, don’t get pulled under.” Now that made me angry. Somewhere deep down I realised that my stubbornness actually was putting me in danger and that I was stupidly jumping headfirst into things that could be my end, but I was so done with getting treated as a fragile little thing.

“Whatever do you mean by that?” I answered him prickly and sat more defensively. Yoongi looked at me and for a moment I could see a glint of something almost melancholic there, but then he was all wild grins and suave demeanour again.

“Let me speak frankly for a moment,” he said and winked conspiratorially, “You decided to single-handedly take down a whole gang, allegedly, that controls half the city, allegedly, because your superior is a sexist pig, that doesn’t seem like biting off more than you can chew to you?” Every time he said the word “allegedly” he smirked a little and I could see he was having fun playing around with me like this. I smirked right back at him and leaned forward until I had my elbows resting on my knees.

“Who said anything about single-handedly? That’s what teams are for,” I whispered teasingly, “Why do you even assume it has anything to do with Senior Inspector Park?” I tried to mask the genuine emotion, but he still must have realised that one was actually spot-on.

“I’ve known Park for quite some time,” he explained and leaned forward as well, “Heard about him a long time ago, been seeing him here and there for years and then been in personal contact with him for about a year now. He’s an excellent policeman, no doubt about it, but even I know he’s a shit person. He lives for his work, but in personal life he’s a jerk.”

“He’s a jerk at work too,” I couldn’t help myself and muttered. To that Yoongi laughed lightly, eyes gleaming at me. “Should I be asking how you even know about his behaviour outside of work?” I quipped in quickly.

“I’d be stupid if I didn’t run some basic checks on people that are hell-bent on making my life difficult,” he answered me with a dangerous glint in his eyes, but quickly relaxed again. I found myself tensing up and relaxing alongside with him. The realisation that talking with him was like constantly walking on ice and hoping that even though you hear cracks you won’t fall in, hit me square in the face and put me off balance again. He kept effortlessly flip-flopping between joking and being serious and I was starting to get whiplash from it. I decided to leave this subject behind.

“So, what is your advice exactly?” I returned to the previous topic, “To just let you go and leave you to your little crime syndicate? Live happily ever after knowing you’re out there?” He snickered at that.

“No, you can do whatever you want,” he said, “I’m just warning you to be careful. This, this space right here, it has its own rules. It’s very easy to end up badly.” It didn’t feel like a threat even though it may have been worded like one, imagine my shock when I recognised actual genuine emotion behind his words. Instead of shying away from it, I bored my eyes into him just as intensely as he did to me.

“Rules or no rules, no one is above the law, not even you, Mr. Min,” I told him prickly. He smiled at me sardonically and then sighed again, but this time it was more amused.

“Since you’re someone that spent most of their life studying the law, I’m surprised you still haven’t realised that it’s quite useless,” he laughed and I could see the switch in him, becoming meaner and smiling cruelly, “The only thing that law does is fuck over those who are already in a bad place and benefit those who are already in a good spot.” He laughed mirthlessly and continued. “No one is above the law? Oh, my dear, many people are above the law. All you need is money and power and not even God can touch you on this mortal plane.” I took full offense to his words, feeling the anger overpower my instinct trying to tell me this man could potentially be extremely dangerous.

“Spoken like a true criminal,” I spit out venomously, “That’s a load of bull.” Yoongi’s eyes flashed minutely and then he relaxed into the couch again with a lazy smirk full of sharp edge. His hand suddenly pointed somewhere behind me. “You see that guy? That one in the striped shirt?” he asked.

For a moment I debated whether I should turn my back to him or not, but my curiosity overpowered me. Steeling myself for potentially getting attacked from behind, I turned and searched in the crowd of people. There, a little to my left, was sitting a group of young men. Each of them had a girl or two by their side, they drank and laughed and looked exactly like the kind of company I’d never want to find myself in. One of them, sitting on the far edge of the couch facing me, was wearing a horrible unfashionable striped shirt. I turned back to Yoongi with a queasy stomach.

“Yeah, I think I see him,” I told him suddenly quietly, unsure of where the conversation was going. Yoongi leaned forward to me again as if he was about to tell me a great secret.

“He could walk over here, steal your gun, then walk outside and shoot someone straight between their eyes in front of a street full of people, and you wouldn’t be able to charge him with anything. You wanna know why? His father sits in the parliament. Before you knew it, he’d be skiing in the Alps while you faced losing your badge because you crossed a politician.” Yoongi smiled at me triumphantly and my stomach swooped again.

“This kid comes here four times a week, each night breaking at least five different laws at a time,” Yoongi continued meanly, “and the most trouble he’s ever gotten into with the law was a parking ticket his father took care of for him.” He waited for a moment to see whether I’d react, but when I stayed silent, he went on. “Go ahead and arrest him, officer. Go over there and pull out your badge and bring him into the station with you. If you test him now, you’ll probably find every drug that’s available on the street in his system. But I guarantee you, you won’t be able to keep him there longer than two hours before you’ll be steam-rolled by his family’s lawyers.” He threw his arms into the air in a pompous gesture.

“Look around here. This place, it doesn’t work because I came here and brought crime with me, no. I sprung up here, because they needed a space to do rank shit in. You could bring me out back, shoot me in the head execution style, and tomorrow you’d be sitting back in that chair talking to the same clown in different clothes. The way this goes is that you find a spot that works, and you grab onto it, and you hold on for dear life until someone either kills you or puts you away. I’m like mold, darling, wherever there’s a place damp, cold and dark enough, there I will grow. I’m a product of the people. Not the other way around.” I felt bile in my mouth as I looked around the area and saw the little evidence of illegal activities. Girls too scantily clad and flirty to not be working, powdery smudges on the tables, prints of guns under jackets. Behind me, Yoongi kept going on in his spiel.

“You put me behind bars, and tomorrow there’s going to be the same guy doing the same shit in the same place. The people will keep coming here and they will keep doing their thing here, it doesn’t matter to them who runs it, as long as they can fuck and get high in here.”

I turned back to him, and he was just sitting there like a king of the underworld, sardonic grin on his face while he looked over his hard work. He was beautiful and terrifying at the same time and there was something demonic about him in this dark lightning with shadows dancing over his face and cruel lips curved around sharp teeth. I felt my throat close up as panic seized me, shaking hands gripping onto the armchair to attempt and get some stability. My stomach was protesting, and I feared I might throw up if I stayed there a second longer.

“You’re disgusting,” I whispered. He smirked.

“And you’re naïve.”

I got up, turned around and left without looking back. Still, I felt his eyes burning into me all the way home.

I was soullessly staring into the computer, hopelessly trying to focus on my work, but instead I kept coming up short. My mind was elsewhere, unable to comprehend anything that was written in front of me. The fateful meeting with Yoongi had already happened a few days ago, but I still haven’t shaken off the effect of it.

His words, as cruel and self-righteous as they were, I knew there was truth to them. And I knew I had to do something about it. I had to do something about Min fucking Yoongi and his empire. So, as shaken as I was by the encounter, it also served to make me more determined. I’d help to bring him down, no matter what.

I stood up from my table and made my way across the office to the meeting room. I wouldn’t be able to do any work anyway, not right now when I was too pumped with adrenaline to focus on anything. I walked in and bee-lined for the back wall, which was covered in pictures and papers. Dominating in the centre was a picture of Yoongi. He was younger there, with short, bleached hair and face still a little plump from adolescence, but I could already see the signature smirk forming on his lips. Under him there were six more pictures, one of them Kim Namjoon which I had met for the first time a little over a week ago. Those were those closest to him, his friends who each monitored a different part of the gang’s activites.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t much information on them beyond a few years back. Yoongi himself emerged out of nowhere when he was 16 and made a dent out for himself. At that time, he already knew Namjoon, God knows how. Together they quickly climbed the ranks of the Song gang, which was ruling over Seoul at that time. Back then, they were already notoriously known for their violence and determination, which made them favourites of the gang’s higher ups. They were also quite liked by the underdogs and quickly a group started forming around them. They were Yoongi’s loyalists and this… this was most likely the moment he realised he can soar even higher.

When the Song gang was falling apart, just like war strategy dictates, it was a matter of knowing whose side to take. Between four sons, two were on par, one knew he could only survive by hugging the thigh of the strongest and one was barely hanging on. If Yoongi chose his loyalties correctly, he could gain a lot. If he chose poorly…

But he didn’t. He took Namjoon and their dogs and together they stormed an “enemy” club – it was recently acquired by one of the brothers. He won the fight of course, and then brought the keys to Song Hwan, the weaker of the two winning brothers. He wormed his way in – offered his intel, his expertise and whispered poison in his ear. Every win he got for Hwan was actually a win for Yoongi himself and through Hwan he started laying base for his own road to power. Long before Hwan fell, most of the gang was already following Yoongi’s lead.

When the war ended and Song Hwan stood victorious, Yoongi murdered him and stole his throne. He went on a bloody rampage against everyone that didn’t support him and from the blood and fire emerged a new gang, a stronger gang, and at its centre – the devil himself with his six. That was seven years ago.

It wasn’t all sunshine and roses at the beginning though. His territory was contended often – others saw it as an opportunity to steal turf right from under his nose, and it took a long time before his gang was respected in the scene. They thought him to be a child that won by pure luck and love for killing, that he’d be easily taken down, either by one of them or one of his own. But he stood his ground and time and time again he proved himself, until there wasn’t a single person in this city that didn’t know he owned it. These were Min Yoongi’s streets, painted with blood, sweat and tears.

That’s when he started coming up on this unit’s radar until he gradually became the sole focus, the main purpose, the goal.

I stared intently at the mess of strings all connecting together people, events, news and crimes. Missing persons, corruption, arrests, murders, intel, dirt. It was all there, black on white. I reread the headers of the articles, the names of files and the accusations until I was dizzy and could barely make any sense of it.

After what felt like hours, I was brought out of my reverie by the sound of the door opening. I jumped a little and turned around quickly, an excuse hot on my tongue, but relaxed once I realised it was Minjoon.

“What’s up? Jae said you’ve been standing here just staring at the wall for whole 40 minutes,” he said in lieu of greeting and I blushed with embarrassment. So they saw me, I thought nobody here was paying attention to me. I peeked over my shoulder where some of our colleagues were curiously glancing our way. I frowned. Should have closed the blinds, I thought to myself.

“Just… catching up, refreshing the information,” I explained lamely and sat down at the table, still with a perfect view of the cursed wall. He hummed and leaned his back on the table. For a moment we just quietly existed there, side by side studying it.

“What’s with the sudden interest?” he asked a little hesitantly, “Not that I want to discourage you.” I sighed.

“It’s not sudden,” I muttered a little petulantly, “I’ve been coming here from time to time, I just mostly did it when no one else could see. Felt like I wasn’t really allowed to look at it.” He smiled a little at my attitude and went around the table to sit at my side.

“Why not? I think it’s great you’re outwardly showing interest.”

“Just- You know, it doesn’t feel like I’m welcomed here, I didn’t want to overstep.” He hummed again, but kept his eyes trained in front of us.

“So, what’s changed now?” he asked the question of the hour, fingers drumming a pattern into the table.

“I’m done with that,” I said firmly, glancing his way, “I am part of this unit, I’m staying and I’m solving this fucking mystery. I’m taking Min Yoongi down and I’m gonna be looking straight in his eyes the entire time I’ll be tearing his life apart.” Minjoon next to me chuckled, amused by the sudden turn of attitude.

“That’s quite charming,” he hummed again and finally turned to look at me. We both grinned at each other.

“You know… I understand,” he started hesitantly after a moment of silence. We both focused back on the wall and Yoongi’s picture in the centre of it was like a magnet – no matter what you did, you found yourself drawn to it. With slight reluctance I tore my eyes away from it to look at Minjoon questioningly.

“I mean… this, I understand this,” he stated more firmly and gestured between me and the wall, “I was also quite distraught the first time I met him face to face. He has a way of messing with you. It’s a mix of everything, I mean, you go months hearing about the atrocities of this one man, and then suddenly he’s there, right in front of you. And he just stares and stares and stares while talking calmly, too calmly for the crimes that he’s being investigated for. It’s unnerving. So, I understand.”

I knew exactly what he meant. It was the same feeling I had with Namjoon too – you know what they’re capable of, you’ve heard of their crimes and when you see them, you can almost feel the danger in the air, but the violence is hidden just beneath the surface. Sometimes you see it peek out momentarily in flashes of sharp teeth and slanting eyes, but then they reign it in and just play with you again.

“Well, yeah, meeting him was jarring,” I conveniently omitted having met him just a few days ago too, “but it’s not just about that. I just don’t want to be underestimated anymore.” He smiled at me, a real genuine smile, and it warmed me knowing at least someone here was on my side.

“But you joined the team before the whole Yoongi thing, no?” I asked suddenly. For a moment he was confused where this question came from, but then brightened up.

“Just barely,” he answered earnestly, “You joined like three months ago? In early September, right? For me, a one-year anniversary is actually coming up, I joined in December last year. It was just as all the shit was going down. They were investigating mainly this mid-size gang in Incheon that was wreaking havoc in the harbours and steadily rising in power. There was a lot of corruption in that area, and they managed to snatch control over some ports. The unit had been working on it for about two years and were super close to an arrest, but it went bust. The guy fled, a question about the corruption in the force rose and an investigation into our guys started. That’s when I joined.” I hummed in sympathy. That must have been extra rough. I told him as much and he gave me a thankful smile.

“It wasn’t easy. When I asked to be transferred, I thought everything in this department was okay, then I walk in and suddenly I’m in the middle of a botched two-year operation, forever lost suspect and a lawsuit waiting to happen,” Minjoon kept talking, “Within few weeks, the three guys had been suspended and a more in-depth investigation was promised. The case was lost, the boss had managed to flee somewhere south, most likely Malaysia, so it was put on a backburner and instead an open case that was sitting on someone’s table, slowly piling up more evidence, was brought forth. That was the Min gang. Two teams had already been tasked with looking into it and when it was confirmed that the previous case was dead, they made it a priority.”

I jumped in quickly to ask more questions. I’d never asked Minjoon about his time in the force before and till today I didn’t even know he was here only a year. He was always Park’s first choice to everything concerning Min Yoongi and he relied on Minjoon and his partner Hwang a lot, so I assumed he must be one of the more experienced members of this unit.

“Where were you stationed before?” I asked curiously and put my attention on him instead of messing with the wall.

“I was part of the drug prevention team,” Minjoon clarified and gave me a grin, “I was one of those fools they dress up nicely and send into schools to warn kids. It’s still a part of the force, but it’s a dead-end spot and you don’t actually do much, at most you here and there deal with some petty criminals selling weed on the street. It’s usually where older policemen go when they want to have some peace and quiet before retirement, it’s not the best place to start your career. But thanks to that I was able to make it here, cause my expertise on illicit substances was a big plus.”

“I see,” I laughed, “You’re right, that is pretty much a dead end. I didn’t even know they assigned youngsters there.”

“Well, they try to, because kids are nicer to them and they take it easier from someone closer to their age,” he explained, “Some graduates actually do ask for the position, but I was trying to get here and didn’t make the cut.” He was still smiling kindly and occupied himself by playing with the string on his hoodie.

“I was actually trying for the violent crimes unit,” I confessed quietly. I’d never told that to anyone here. Besides the fact that they absolutely weren’t interested in such information, I was also kind of scared they’d be acting even more hostile since I “clearly didn’t even want to be here”. “I got sent here because of understaffing problem,” I continued.

He looked at me and didn’t react in any way, just leaned back and said: “Oh yeah, we do work with them quite often. Can’t have organised crime without violent crime. If you survive it here for some time and make a little name for yourself, I’m sure it would be easier for you to transfer. But a lot of people strive for violent crimes, so it’s kinda cutthroat to get there.” I relaxed at his words and finally smiled back fully.

“Yeah, maybe I could make it there if I help with Yoongi,” I muttered and focused back on the wall, “I’m sure, considering his reputation, that violent crimes have their hands full with him.” Minjoon stood up and walked over to it. He raised his hand softly tapped on a poster of a missing man.

“Actually, unfortunately it’s more about missing people,” he said, “He has a great clean-up team, it’s super messed up.” His hand moved downwards and this time he tapped on a picture of two men. “You know these guys?” he asked absentmindedly.

On the photo, there were two incredibly familiar faces. One man a bit taller, with wide shoulders, dressed in a nice suit, his perfectly sculpted face in a neutral expression and framed by light brown hair. By his side there was the second man – a bit shorter but with much fiercer displeased expression. His hair was cut into a mullet and the hair just about touched his shoulders; he was clad in a fitted black turtleneck that gave away his strong lean muscles.

Of course I knew them. In this whole building there most probably wasn’t anyone who didn’t know them. Actually, I’d argue that in this entire city only a few people had the pleasure of not knowing.

“I’d be an embarrassment of a police officer if I didn’t,” I joked at him, “It’s Kim Seokjin and Jung Hoseok, they’re part of Min’s six.” Minjoon smiled approvingly.

“Tell me everything you know about them,” he challenged, teasing, “Shoot.” I gave him a wolfish grin as excitement coursed through me. He was giving me a chance to show I’d really been studying this case. I sat on the table and made myself comfortable.

“Kim Seokjin studied medicine and has a degree. He poses as the main seven’s personal physician, but the assumption is that he most probably deals with all wounds of anyone from the gang that were sustained during any illegal activities that cannot be taken into hospital. He owns a house up in Gangnam, just a few streets from Yoongi himself, and has a clinic there. He’s the second son of a pretty wealthy family, his record’s completely clear and it’s unknown how exactly he came to know Yoongi or became involved with crime.” I looked at Minjoon from the corner of my eye and he was just humming, but there was a pleased smile on his face. That gave me courage to continue.

“Jung Hoseok on the other hand, has been arrested several times for assault or causing bodily harm while getting into fights, but never prosecuted. Then he went off radar only to reappear a few years later as a part of illegal fighting rings. He quickly rose through the ranks and was a champion for three years straight. But that also means he most probably killed a lot of people, since these fights only end when one of the two fighters drops dead. It’s presumed that’s where he met Yoongi and became familiar with him.”

Minjoon nodded along and patted my shoulder. “Good job, newbie, you really did spend ungodly amount of time here,” he joked, but I felt the praise anyways. My cheeks heated up and I couldn’t help but feel intense satisfaction.

“It’s mainly Hoseok that’s in charge of clean-up, but Jungkook also participates. They do both clean-up of unwanted people and clean-up of unwanted evidence. Sometimes those two cross over. In other words, they both murder and get rid of it,” Minjoon spoke, his face serious, “I mean, that’s our theory anyways. If we were able to catch them murdering and disposing of a body, they’d already be rotting in jail. But the point stands – there’s a huge number of missing persons tied to this, mostly petty criminals or people known to be associated with enemy gangs. No bodies though.”

My eyes flitted to the picture of the mentioned younger man. Jungkook’s picture, for me, was really hard to look at, because unlike all the others, he was just a kid in his. It was an old photo, most likely taken from a yearbook, with his serious face still round and cheeks full of baby fat, dark hair cut short and styled neutral, but it still hit too hard. Especially when my eyes slid lower to a more recent photo, which depicted Jungkook standing on a balcony smoking, all hard edges on his emotionless face, long hair blowing around and blurring out his tatted-up fingers holding a cigarette and black shirt bulging with muscles. He was the youngest and it was also a mystery about how he became involved with Yoongi, the most we knew about him was that he came from a lower middle-class family and led an unproblematic school life as one of the top students. Where he met Yoongi, or even how he started to involve himself in illegal activities, no one except for them knew.

“The rest of them, as I’m sure you’re already well familiar with,” Minjoon continued talking, “are trying to look more legit. Kim Taehyung and Park Jimin oversee some of his clubs and help him with the hotel and restaurants too. They try to seem like stand-up men with no ties to the underground to grant him an air of an honest man. And Namjoon, well, you’ve already met him. He’s in charge of the finances and that’s exactly where most of the crime is the most visible.” I nodded at him and gestured for him to continue.

“Yoongi’s smuggling in insane amounts of goods, everything from luxury items and artifacts to alcohol, exotic foods and ingredients, to drugs. He sells it to himself, supplies it to his own clubs and restaurants for dirt cheap and then makes crazy money on selling it to clients. If you ask for VIP treatment, you get it deluxe – you don’t have to lift a single finger, Yoongi supplies everything. You want a unicorn? He finds a way to smuggle it in. You ask, he delivers. Namjoon’s job is to make all this look legit, so that he can’t be busted.”

It was so much to take in, but I was finally starting to make sense in it all. Even though I’d been reading the files and trying to catch up on the happenings, there were things I was confused about, things that were lost in context or just lightly referenced without more information, and I had no way of fully understanding it until someone properly explained it to me and filled me in. I was waiting for it to happen in the first few weeks, even asked about it once, but I was shut down and quickly realised that no one was planning on talking to me about it. They rather kept me busy with petty stuff and didn’t let me get in on the operation. I was eternally grateful to Minjoon for taking the time to properly explain what they’ve been doing the past year.

“So that’s why you’re currently breathing down Namjoon’s neck,” I mused out loud, “You want in on whatever magic he’s working to make Yoongi appear as an honest businessman.” Minjoon nodded and added: “And that’s why Yoongi appeared immediately when we brought him in. Park wanted to get a feel of the man. See how he’d behave when interrogated and to test out how strong of a bond they have.” I hummed.

“They’re tight,” I stated, “And Namjoon’s impenetrable.”

We both sat there for a moment, taking in everything that’s been said. I was wracking my brain for a game plan. There had to be something I could do.

“Are you doing stake out missions?” I wondered. He looked at me a little surprised which quickly turned into embarrassment. “I’m sorry, I had no idea you were this much out of the loop,” he said quietly and rubbed the back of his neck. Now it was me who got embarrassed. I was about to stutter out some excuse or an apology, but he started talking again.

“Not currently no, there used to be some in the early stages, before Yoongi caught wind of the efforts. Now that he knows us and knows that we’re interested in him, it’s practically impossible to do stake out missions, unless you just want to annoy him and show him we're there. Not to mention it takes a lot of manpower which we do not have. We’re trying to crack down on the lower levels of the organisation. You know, take in some common mobsters selling substances, threaten them with a sentence and then try to get intel off of them. Some do agree to talk, but somehow Yoongi always manages to sniff them out and they don’t tend to end well. He has a tight hold on everything, despite the size of his empire. Mainly what we gathered is that he is an incredibly paranoid man, he most probably does very frequent inspections and doesn’t hesitate to get rid of anyone just slightly suspicious.”

“Well, in some way, it’s to be expected,” I pondered out loud, “A man that has accomplished this much, it doesn’t surprise me that he’s basically become omniscient.” Minjoon hummed in agreement and flicked some of the pictures around absent-mindedly.

“There was even an attempt to infiltrate,” he said quietly, “We did manage to get in, but it went bust pretty quickly.” I could feel it was definitely a sensitive subject and I didn’t want to pry, but the implication here was absolutely devastating.

“Did he…?” I couldn’t even bring myself to finish the question, but thankfully Minjoon understood. He smiled sadly, shook his head and said: “Thankfully not, but he did end up in a hospital for like two months. They messed him up. He didn’t even return to the force, wouldn’t be able to anyway due to some injuries. When I went with Park to confront Yoongi, he just straight up laughed in our face and told us we’d better feel grateful that he wasn’t interested in becoming a cop killer, because rats in his organisation usually end up much worse. It was the most we’d ever heard him admit out loud, but we didn’t even manage to record it or anything, we were too upset to think straight and missed an opportunity.” He sighed again. I was just glad that the officer ended up okay. At least Yoongi was aware that if he’d killed a cop, he’d become the most wanted man in the eyes of the entire force. There wouldn’t be a moment of rest for him.

Somewhere deep down I felt a little bit of shame though, because I did the same mistake just a few days ago. Yoongi didn’t end up saying anything even remotely that damning, but he still talked to me pretty openly.

I was just about to open my mouth to try and dispel the awkward silence that took over, but Park chose that moment to burst into the room loudly. He didn’t even spare us a glance, too focused on a folder in his hands. I’d jumped off the table in panic and straightened up, but he barely paid attention to anything else. Slowly our colleagues started filing in and taking seats. When after a while no one said anything about my presence, I sat down next to Minjoon, who gave me a reassuring smile.

Park closed the file and slammed in onto the table, then made his way over to the most interesting part of the room – the wall.

“Alright, emergency meeting,” he started, “we just got new info from violent crimes about the disappearance from two weeks ago.”

As I sat there and half listened to the information presented, a plan was starting to hatch in my head. Although Yoongi knew about me, could even pick me out from the crowd, I had to figure out a way to tail him. And when I did, I had to find out more about what Hoseok did. And where. And how. While my unit focused on Namjoon and worked from the bottom, I had to learn about the most criminal aspects of this gang to cover all the grounds. I had to catch a killer.

I’d never been on a stake out mission before. That was one of the few things they didn’t teach at the academy, and I had to figure it out all on my own, while trying to tail a man that probably knew even how many pieces of ham I put on my toast that morning (it’s always two).

Once I pulled information about Min Yoongi’s probable whereabouts, all I had to do was jump in my car and go find him, which was easier said than done. I’d decided to do this in my free time, since asking for the permission to tail him would most definitely not be met with much excitement in the department, especially since they themselves have given up on it.

Now, here I was, sitting in my car at 4 am on a Friday, intently watching a posh house in the middle of Gangnam, hoping that Yoongi is either already in there or soon to return. Since through my snooping I was left with several addresses all ranging from clubs, restaurants and a hotel through factories and warehouses to offices, I figured my best shot would be to catch him while leaving his house rather than running through half of the establishments in Seoul. I also pulled information on the other six, but quickly found out that we had working addresses only for like four of them, so no luck staking out Hoseok’s house or anything.

I was desperately trying to keep myself from falling asleep, the fact that I only slept 3 hours catching up to me, my head drooping and my eyes barely staying open. The house was dark, and I figured at this time he either had to be getting up soon or coming home to rest.

The next three hours were absolute hell. I was so tired, fighting sleep and frustration, I had gotten extremely hungry because I ate through my snacks in boredom, and I was losing my mind. Nothing was happening. Not even a shadow moved on his property. The fact that Yoongi was now probably sleeping happily in his bed, not a care in the world, was pissing me off beyond belief. And another thing – I was freezing my ass off. Duly noted – tailing for dummies: don’t do it in winter.

I had just begun losing hope that Yoongi’s even home, when suddenly a light came on somewhere in the house. My heart jumped with excitement, and I was so happy I could cry actual tears. It seemed that he started his day around 7 am. I wrote it down into my journal and ignored the rising feeling of being a total creep, keeping records on someone like this. This was a professional endeavour. I was doing it for the greater good.

I watched as the lights slowly moved downstairs to the ground level where Yoongi must have been messing around in the kitchen. At 8 o'clock the door opened, and a lady walked out, turning around presumably to say goodbye only to be narrowly missed by Yoongi immediately slamming the door shut behind her. She started shouting something and banged on the door for a little bit, screaming expletives and other interesting comments, before calling it a day and sulkily walking away. I took a look at her as she was walking by and winced. Damn, I definitely didn’t envy her the walk home in those heels. Godspeed, sister.

When the clock hit 8.30 am, a car rolled to a stop in front of the house and Yoongi himself walked out in all his glory. This time he was wearing a classic black three-piece suit with a white shirt, hair slicked back behind his ears, phone in one hand and a to-go cup of coffee in the other. He didn’t look around at all, just sped all the way to the car, got in and in a second, they were on their way god knows where.

I took a moment to check my own reflection. Compared to the sleek mafia boss, my hair was messy since I barely even brushed it that morning, my face puffy and unkept and I had an old, stained hoodie on. I was almost embarrassed. Almost. After a moment I’d decided I gave them enough space and pulled out of my spot.

I had the list of potential addresses sitting out on my passenger seat and as we began weaving through the city, I was trying to guess where they could be going. My mind was constantly on keeping enough of a distance to not look suspicious but be close enough to not lose them in the morning traffic. With my heart beating out of my chest and damp clammy hands tense on the steering wheel, I managed to follow the car up to one of the clubs.

The car had just stopped when Yoongi briskly jumped out and jogged to the entrance. He disappeared inside for about 20 minutes and then he emerged again, a briefcase in hand and a smile on his face. I jotted it down into my journal and then we were on our way again.

I spent my day like that. Yoongi had always rolled up to a club, for a moment went inside, then came out again, sometimes holding something and sometimes empty-handed. Once I even managed to catch a glimpse of one of his six seeing him off. Based on the head full of soft blond curls, it must have been Park Jimin.

Gradually as I went after them, I relaxed, setting into my new role. My journal was getting packed with information, mostly useless things about where we stopped for now. I would be able to put it to more use once I had more stable and reliable info about his routine.

Around 2 pm he went into one of his offices and stayed until 9 o'clock, after that he went back to the club where he met Jimin. I was all cramped up from sitting in my car the whole day, my back absolutely killing me. I was hungry out of my damn mind, and I’d run out of water an hour ago. I just wanted him to go the fuck home and stay there, but he stayed until midnight. When I finally saw him walk back into his house, 1 o’clock in the morning, I was done and tired, but regretting nothing.

That’s how my life went on for a few days. I’d spent full three days tailing him, showing up at his house at around 5 am (I’d given myself an extra hour, but I didn’t want to risk missing him leave) and then drove around the city jotting down all the places he went to and all the things he did. Currently my journal contained everything from the various items he carried around his clubs to his order in Starbucks (which I wrote down very reluctantly, but I figured since I’m already there, I shouldn’t half-ass it). When it was time to go back to work, I’d taken the journal with me and discreetly wrote down any kind of new information that my team brought in.

It was my fifth day of stake out when it all crashed down. I was feeling good about myself, thinking maybe I’ve managed to actually dodge his attention, but I also realised I knew nothing about the kind of scoping out his bodyguards did. When Yoongi moved about, he either had some stone-faced strangers I’d never seen before with him or there was Jungkook by his side, and I quickly came to the conclusion that his job must have also entailed keeping Yoongi safe. It seemed that I never actually popped up on their radar, I’d never noticed any suspicious glances around, no one from Yoongi’s squad had ever even looked in my general direction, so I thought I was good. I wasn’t.

I was sitting in my car, leisurely eating a subway sandwich. It was 4 pm, which meant Yoongi was going to be in his office for another few hours at the very least (that’s how it’s been for the past four days). My car was parked a little off to the side some distance from the main entrance, monitoring who came in and who came out, while the car in which he came few hours earlier was still parked in the same spot and some of the guys were standing around, smoking and talking. Jungkook was with Yoongi today and they went in together, so they most probably had some free time until Yoongi needed to go somewhere again. It had begun snowing a little while ago and everything felt quiet and peaceful.

Then suddenly my passenger door opened, and a person filed in, settling on the seat with a loud exclamation of “god, it’s so cold outside, isn’t it?”. In a split second my hand went for my gun, but I ended up grabbing empty air – I wasn’t on duty, I didn’t have a gun currently. Panicking I turned to the side, prepared to fight, only to come face to face with a smugly grinning Yoongi. The fear immediately all drained out and instead frustration burst through me like a grenade.

“Fuck!” I screamed and hit the steering wheel. I managed to get the horn and in the distance I saw Yoongi’s bodyguards perk up at the sound, immediately checking their surroundings with hands on what one could only assume were their concealed guns. Out of the corner of my eye I also saw a face peek in through the passenger door window to check on the situation, and realised Jungkook must be standing outside the car. Yoongi was just sitting there, completely unfazed, watching me with amusement.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” I growled and glared at him.

“I could be asking you the same thing,” he drawled out, playing with his fingers unbothered, “Though I do have to praise you, we didn’t know about you for full two days. Guess we’re not used to having to worry about that anymore.” I closed my eyes and attempted to calm myself down. I didn’t need to embarrass myself further by throwing a full tantrum in front of them.

“How did you find out about me?” I gritted through my teeth and willed myself to relax more into the seat, stubbornly keeping my eyes in front of me and not looking over at Yoongi.

“You’ve been tailing me for days, of course we’re going to notice,” Yoongi replied cheekily. Then he gave me a once over. “No gun and no badge,” he hummed, “not on official business, then? Am I so charming that you just have to see me all the time?” He smirked at me playfully when he saw me peeking over, now starting to play with my little journal. It was closed, but I was still tensely watching him whether he’d decide to open it. By his smug expression, I had a feeling he knew what he was holding in his hands, and when he decided to put the journal down with a little playful wink, it was very pointed.

I cleared my throat. “It is official business,” I said, and really, I wasn’t even lying.

“Oh, is it?” he hummed noncommittally, “Because right now you just seem like a crazy stalker.” I looked over at him annoyed and he seemed to be very amused. A disembodied hand knocked on the window. Yoongi looked over and suddenly became more serious. It only lasted a second though, and then he was smirking at me again.

“All I can say is, I’m quite impressed, Y/N,” he winked at me, “Good job. Try a bit harder next time, though.” With one last amused smile he opened the door and clambered out. One hand leaning on the open door, he bent down at the waist to look in and contemplated for a moment what to say. Behind him I could see a hulking black mass as Jungkook immediately moved closer to safeguard Yoongi.

“See you around, officer,” Yoongi settled on in the end and then finally moved away from the door to slam it shut. I was left in there alone with all that cold air he let in and an unsettled feeling. I watched him cross the street to his own car, watched him as he turned around one last time and waved to me, then got in and sped away.

Only when I was left staring at an empty curb, I realised he’d called me by my name.

So… a change of tactic it is. Even though he didn’t say much, I didn’t think Yoongi had gotten into my car to threaten me. Quite the opposite, he seemed almost suspiciously encouraging. He most likely wanted to know whether I’d been assigned on this task or not.

Well, I learnt a few things at the very least. First, tailing everyday with the same car when you don’t want to be discovered is a big no-no (honestly kind of stupid on my part not to have realised that). Second – Jungkook was like Yoongi’s shadow and Yoongi’s bodyguards were all most likely under him too. He must be doing some intense scans of the surroundings, given the fact that after two days they realised a car was tailing them. After that they most probably just entertained me to see what I was doing and took the time to run a background check on me.

So, I had to find a way to be more inconspicuous. I was on their radar now; they would look out for me, and they knew more about me. Renting cars would get too expensive too quickly, it would also make me look very suspicious. My car was out of the question since they already knew it.

Honestly, I was surprised they let me tail them for that long when they already knew about me, but this might be the one time someone underestimating me would actually play into my cards. Because my goal wasn’t to aimlessly shadow Yoongi. It was to get closer to information about Hoseok. And I got a little tiny snippet.

When I sat at my computer at work the next day and stared mindlessly into the wall, I was wracking my brain on how to recuperate from this fumble. The previous night I had been going through my journal for hours, trying to come up with a way to keep a surveillance on Yoongi without letting him know I was following him, when I realised it.

Through the five days, I’d been catching glimpses of the other six. Of course, I saw Jungkook the most, but here and there I’d see Kim Taehyung’s shoulder as he was chatting with Yoongi outside of a club, Namjoon calling someone and smoking in front of the office building, Kim Seokjin coming out of Yoongi’s house, Park Jimin’s profile in the darkness of an alleyway by Yoongi’s car. They were all extremely close to each other and their lives were intertwined rather finely.

And I’d seen Hoseok too. It was for a split second, just a flash of the man’s face through a crack in a warehouse door, but I’d seen him. I had written it down, just mindlessly jotted down “door might have been opened by Hoseok”, and that was my chance. All I had to do now was start investigating that warehouse and move from there. Tonight, I had to go there and scope out the surroundings to see whether there was a place I could comfortably watch the area from.

The door to Park’s office suddenly slammed opened and I jumped in my seat, heart almost lurching out of my chest. I glared at my superior’s back and cursed his habit of storming into rooms as loudly as possible. He walked over to Minjoon’s table and started quietly telling him something. My curiosity won over and I couldn’t help glancing their way. Minjoon caught my eye for a moment and smiled, but mostly kept his attention trained on Park.

After a while of mumbling and several hushed okays, Park briskly walked through the station out to the parking lot and Minjoon and his partner both stood up and started gathering their things to follow him. I mournfully watched them get ready and grumbled behind my computer, but as I was about to petulantly grab some files and put them back into the cabinets, Minjoon came over to me and asked: “You wanna come with?” I stared at him for a moment, completely flabbergasted. He waited patiently until I got my wits about me again and then smiled when I started very enthusiastically nodding. The others in the station were also surprised, but I wasn’t about to give them my attention as I also grabbed my badge and a jacket and followed Minjoon out.

“It’s 7 pm on a Saturday, which means Yoongi’s at the Pied Piper,” he explained while leading me to the service car. Pied Piper was Yoongi’s most successful club, one that sat smack dab in the middle of Itaewon and drew attention with its fancy exterior and sleek interior. It was a hotspot for both locals and foreigners, and young trust fund kids often bragged about being on the VIP list, having the privilege to just come and walk in instead of having to wait endlessly in the line. “That also means that Namjoon’s currently sitting alone in the office. Park’s been tirelessly working on obtaining some insider info and he wants to go have a chat with the lawyer while he’s on his home turf.” I nodded along as we filed into the car and started on the journey.

I was a little nervous around the mysterious calm man. I could handle Yoongi’s endless banter, but Namjoon unnerved me with his silence and sharp eyes. It was as if he was slowly uncovering every little dirty secret you had deep within you just by looking into your eyes, he didn’t even need to say a word and you just wanted to spill all your sins. He was a dangerous man, an intelligent one that knew how to use it to intimidate others.

“Our job,” Minjoon suddenly spoke up after focusing on the road, “is to go to Pied Piper and annoy and distract Yoongi, so Park can have a peaceful uninterrupted moment with Namjoon. He doesn’t want Yoongi to even text him anything, so we have to put on a proper show.”

“I see…” I replied finally, the reality of the task setting in. I was a little relieved I didn’t have to confront Yoongi’s right-hand man, but unexpectedly I felt embarrassment flood me. I’d been having some truly awkward encounters with the man, and he seemed quite fond of teasing me. I was a little afraid he might blab about what I’d been doing in my free time and put a mark on my back within my own unit. I knew he definitely wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to put me in a difficult position.

The whole ride over I was preparing myself for dealing with the jokester again and potentially having to stop him from spilling some secrets. So, when we walked up confidently to the bouncer and Minjoon showed him his badge, I was full on panicking, nervously picking on my scarf with shaking hands. While we waited for the bodyguard to relay to Yoongi the police were here, Minjoon must have misunderstood my nervousness as fear of facing the mafia boss again.

“Actually, this is why I wanted to bring you with me,” he said quietly so nobody could overhear, “I wanted you to get over the first meeting, so you could continue with this task. Once you meet him a few times, the novelty wears off and he’s just an annoying dude that commits crime in his free time.”

No, yeah, I already knew that. I could cry inside, that wasn’t why I was nervous at all. But it was better he thought that than knowing I’d actually met Yoongi twice more already and he seemed to be getting quite interested in making my life difficult back. So, I just nodded and smiled at him gratefully, thanking him for bringing me along.

“Alright,” the bouncer suddenly came back to us, “right this way.” With that he turned around and made his way inside the club. I scrambled to follow after him through the crowded area, wading through partying youngsters. I could barely hear anything over the pumping bass of the music and with the flashing lights and crowds I couldn’t even really see what the inside looked like. I saw some dark grey walls, some mirrors and flashy patches of silver met with dark stone, but the rest was covered up with smoke and dancing bodies.

Similarly to the club I’d been to some week and a half ago, we were led to a staircase and up onto a gallery overlooking the ground floor, but it seemed that Pied Piper offered completely private rooms that were in a corridor off to the right, while left side was occupied by a bar. Surprisingly, it seemed that the VIP area also served as a sort of a restaurant, as I saw several couples and groups enjoying a dinner. The sound of the music wasn’t as overbearing up here and it created sort of a constant hum in the background, lending the space some added privacy from eavesdropping.

I expected getting led to a cordoned off little corner somewhere like before, but instead we walked through the entire area all the way to the back, and then up another, albeit a little smaller, staircase to a sort of a half balcony hanging over both the ground floor and the VIP area.

There on a velvet red couch, was sat Yoongi, greeting us with an amused smile. His pitch-black shirt and dress pants were popping with contrast to the vibrant red, just as his pale skin and long black hair was. For a moment I was so consumed by the vision that was Yoongi, that I didn’t even realise there were two other men present.

On a couch to our left, Kim Taehyung sat in all black suit, all spread out with legs wide open and arms resting on top of the couch, wavy dark hair framing his curious face, mischievous expression slowly taking over as he watched us grow more and more restless. And finally, leaning on a wall behind us, was Jungkook. He was expressionless as always and almost blended into the wall with his also pitch-black t-shirt and cargo pants. What was visible of his arms was heavily tattooed and definitely served as make-shift camouflage in this dark space.

I snickered and before I could stop myself, I was speaking. “Did we crash a funeral or what? What’s with the fits?” I glanced at all three of them amusedly. Taehyung started giggling while Yoongi full-on laughed. His face was coloured by surprise at my words and once again, I’d managed to catch his full attention. The nerves I felt combined with my annoyance at the man helped me put up a more confident front than I was feeling and I needed to take full advantage of that.

“Well, personally I think I do look quite ravishing in black, darling,” Taehyung drawled out seductively, righting his posture to lean closer to me, “Don’t you agree?” Minjoon looked between us confusedly and I made a mental note to make some excuse about why I wasn’t a complete wreck in the face of the three men.

I ignored Taehyung’s words and instead sat down on a chair straight across from Yoongi and Minjoon, who finally came out of his stupor, sat down next to me.

“So, tell me, officer,” Yoongi asked noncommittally, “What are you here for this time?” Even though he aimed the question at Minjoon, he was looking at me the whole time and I knew he was also experiencing the same déjà vu as me.

“You know, just checking that everything’s fine here,” Minjoon replied cheekily, watching me out of the corner of his eye, “Weekends can get pretty rough. We wouldn’t want a fight to break out.” Yoongi just scoffed and gestured to the general area.

“You don’t have to worry that head of yours, Mr. Jang,” he replied with a snark that I’d never caught from him before, “We have quite the few very strong and very professional bodyguards and bouncers around here. People know not to mess with them.” He looked back at me and then added: “Would you like something to drink or eat? I must say the appetizers are absolutely stellar today.” With a swipe of his arm, he gestured to the table between us that was decked with food. From my left, Taehyung giggled and leaned in to grab a few grapes.

To be honest, it felt like we were two stupid little lambs that wandered straight into the wolf’s den. And the fact that they were all around us didn’t help. It was finally starting to catch up with me and I nervously rubbed the top of my thighs with my clammy hands. I gulped and looked at Minjoon, expecting him to lead the conversation. I wondered how Park was fairing at the office and whether he’d already met Namjoon.

“Well, it’s our duty to look out anyway,” Minjoon shot back, “Serve the public and all that. Just making sure nothing naughty is going on. People tend to get a little crazy on Saturdays after all.” He was rewarded with a toothy wild smirk, all sharp edges and dangerous glints.

“Yes, they do tend to do that. If I see anyone being naughty, you’ll be the first one I’ll tell,” Yoongi laughed and gestured at the bodyguard at the stairs. He immediately turned around and left. I was on high alert, trying to track him from the balcony and see where he was going. The conversation between the men continued as they traded thinly veiled insults and passive aggressive remarks, while I was frantically searching the crowd.

I only relaxed when he returned to the balcony – a tray of drinks in hand. Each of the men took one – to my horror even Minjoon accepted a glass that was clearly meant for him and took a tiny sip. I gave him a pointed stare. He was the one that drove us here, for fuck’s sake! Not to mention there should be a golden rule about not eating or drinking anything given to you by a gangster in a club he owned.

The bouncer made his rounds, and the last glass was suddenly thrust in front of my face. It was a sex on the beach. It was the single cocktail I ordered and sipped on not to look too suspicious at Dynamite the other week. I shot the man in question a half surprised half horrified look. He was watching me from behind the rim of his own whiskey glass, eyes dark and curious for my reaction.

In the end, I took it because I’d started to feel awkward with the bouncer just standing there with his arm outstretched, but I immediately sat it down on the table, intent on not drinking it. I shot Minjoon another look, trying to signal to him he should do the same, but he was cooly sipping on his and only subtly shook his head at me. I pointedly ignored Yoongi’s gaze hungry for attention. I would not give him the rise he so wanted to get out of me.

“You see, right now I’m only trying to figure out in what club is your partner currently wreaking havoc, to have you here distracting,” Kim Taehyung suddenly joined the conversation, his silky deep voice catching me off guard every time. I jolted, but Minjoon kept his cool.

“You guys know us too well, this is getting a bit repetitive, isn’t it?” he joked back and drained his whiskey glass in a single big gulp, “Guess you’ll have to find out yourself. But entertain me here for a moment, otherwise you’ll just embarrass me in front of my boss and the newbie.”

Suddenly, four pairs of eyes were on me, and a wave of goosebumps ran through my entire being. I met Yoongi’s black eyes again and this time didn’t divert the eye contact. He leant forward, until he was leaning on his knees, and even though there was an entire table between us, it still felt dangerously close.

“You have been quite uncharacteristically quiet, officer,” he said and drawled out the nickname with a deep voice. I was afraid of what else might come out of his mouth, so I quickly butted in.

“What do you mean? You don’t know me at all,” it was both a warning to shut up and warning that we’d just begun, and he really did not know what I was capable of. My eyes were throwing daggers at him, but I tried to keep on a fake polite smile.

“Well, for someone who waltzed in here calling it a funeral and dissing our clothes, I was expecting some more smart comments out of you,” Yoongi explained, and I was relieved he was entertaining my threat to keep our previous conversations secret. He was looking thoroughly amused though.

“You’d have to be saying something smart, for me to have smart remarks.”

Kim Taehyung laughed out of surprise and pointed at Yoongi, who was fighting back his own grin. “She got you, hyung, you’ve gotta admit that,” he teased him good-naturedly and it was almost surprisingly wholesome to see them interacting as friends.

“There’s rarely anything smart said when talking to cops,” Yoongi retorted and it was more of a dig towards Minjoon than me, who stiffened next to me. It must have been a sore subject coming from Yoongi, which I understood with how hard he was making everything for us. Unfortunately, as a cop you sometimes did feel like the criminals outsmarted you… and then hearing them tease you about it, I’d be mad too.

“Okay, okay, we can sit here and call each other dumb the whole evening,” I mediated the situation before it went sideways, “Tell me then, Yoongi, what smart things do you want to talk about?” I spit out his name as if it was a curse, but I saw his entire being perk up at hearing it, a smug smirk tugging at his lips. I ignored it and waited for him to answer.

“Oh, I’ve got many things to talk about, one more interesting than the other,” he said dangerously, and I quickly realised we were nearing a no-go zone again. I suddenly understood why he was so interested in this, in letting me so near and never reprimanding me, playing with me like a cat does when it’s hunting for mice. He was getting off on knowing there was something I desperately needed him to stay silent about. At that moment, he was holding something over my head, something that could get me in a lot of trouble with colleagues that already didn’t like me, and if he threatened to press charges for harassment and stalking, he could most likely even boot me out of the force. But to him, it wasn’t about destroying my life. It was about amusing himself knowing I’m depending on him for something so important when I’m hellbent on taking him down. That way, he still remained in control of all of our meetings.

But I didn’t think he had the intention to truly rat me out. It was too much fun for him, and he seemed the type to let things play out. Ultimately, he must have believed once I became bothersome, he could shoot me down no problem, so why not amuse himself while the opportunity was there? So, I took a gamble. He wanted a challenge, maybe I’d give it to him. Maybe that’s why he encouraged me to do better and chase after him more.

“Yeah?” I said and trained all my attention to him, just as he always did to everyone around him, “I’m all ears.” He looked me straight in the eyes and I fought myself not to flinch away. The longer we stared, the more prominent the amused smirk grew on his face. He tested me, how long it would take me to break the eye contact and back down, but I steeled myself, squeezing the armrests with my nervous shaking hands, keeping the fear at bay by attempting to look as fierce as possible while falling apart with panic on the inside. Finally, it was him who looked away, but it didn’t feel like he ceded. It felt like we both won.

I released a breath I didn’t realise I was holding in and slumped a little into my chair, the tension suddenly draining out of my body in one fell swoop, leaving me almost boneless. Only now I started noticing the tense awkward silence the whole space sunk into, the other three men watching us with very different expressions. Jungkook as stoic as ever but with a hint of something in his eyes, Taehyung hungrily taking in the exchange with open curiosity and a playful grin, watching me as if I successfully tackled some kind of a challenge, and finally Minjoon, his face both confused and alarmed. I really had to think of some good excuse on the way back home.

Yoongi’s phone was buzzing on the table, but he barely paid it any attention. Instead, he gulped down his whiskey and gestured for the bodyguard to get him more, before turning to Minjoon once again.

“I’m sorry, but you seem kind of boring compared to the balls on this lady,” he mocked him, “this is the most fun I’ve had dealing with you guys.”

“I’m not here to amuse you,” I growled through gritted teeth. He flashed me a smile and said: “Oh, of course not, I know that. You’re here on a super secret, super important mission. But I am having fun, which normally doesn’t happen with these guys.” Minjoon snickered next to me, and his next words somehow felt like a punch in the face.

“I should have known that a pig like you would get off more on having a female detective grill you,” he muttered, fully aiming to insult Yoongi, but I stiffened next to him. I couldn’t figure out why, but his remark really didn’t sit well with me, putting me out of my comfort zone way more than anything the three gangsters did the whole evening, and Kim Taehyung’s first words to me were shameless flirting.

“Only a pig like you would only see the fact that she’s a woman and not that she’s just more interesting than you,” Yoongi retorted almost instantly, spitting out the whole sentence in a single breath, leaving Minjoon speechless with the quick comeback. Then he rolled his eyes, trying to stay as calm as he was when he came in.

“That’s not what I said, stop trying to spin this on me,” he said, clearly annoyed with the turn of the conversation, “We’re talking about you here.” I stayed silent and for the first time that evening yearned for taking a swig out of the now melting cocktail still standing on the table in front of me.

“Right,” Yoongi drawled out, running out of patience dealing with the officer, “And I’m a pig why exactly? Last time I checked that’s what people called the police. Not me. And especially not after I’ve just-“

“Shut up, both of you,” I jumped in, annoyed and not interested in whatever Yoongi wanted to say, “You can measure each other’s cocks when I’m not around. Act like adults.” Taehyung off to the side giggled again, thoroughly enjoying himself watching this all go down. I chanced a glance at Jungkook, who was attempting to hide an amused smirk by looking out of the balcony. I didn’t want to look at either of the men I had just reprimanded, but my attention was drawn to Yoongi when he cleared his throat and said: “Of course, I let myself get carried away. Sorry ‘bout that.”

I had been afraid he’d take it badly, but he was laughing when I looked at him. Minjoon looked angry, but stayed silent, instead he petulantly looked to the right, away from all of us. I guess I’d be reaping the consequences of that later.

The awkward silence was broken by the man I was least expecting to speak up. “They’re with Namjoon hyung at the office,” Jungkook briskly informed Yoongi from behind us. When I turned around, he was just putting his phone to his ear walking out of the space.

“Well, I guess the cat’s out the bag now,” my attention turned back onto Yoongi, who still wasn’t checking his periodically buzzing phone. I also pulled out mine to check the time. 7:43 pm. We’d been there for a little longer than half an hour, but it felt barely like ten minutes to my shock.

I looked at Minjoon again, seeking his advice on how to tie up this situation. He finally shook out of his embarrassed silence and was more or less back to his previous self.

“Well, thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Min,” Minjoon said, still a little strained and refusing to look at him for too long, “It was truly a fruitful evening.” Yoongi chuckled.

“Right, I feel like we all learnt a lot of things about each other,” he retorted mysteriously, giving me a grin and then turning to Taehyung, “It seems we both lost the bet. I said it would be The Rose and you betted on the hotel.” The Rose, another one of Yoongi’s clubs, was currently managed mainly by Park Jimin and situated on the other side of the city centre. It was another one of his high-profile entertainments, but most of the time it hosted the filthy rich and honed in on the feeling of privilege and prestige. That was definitely a club you couldn’t just get into from the street, no, you had to be invited in or taken by a member, that’s why the police were so interested in it.

“You were betting on us?” I asked surprised. Minjoon looked at me and grinned. “They do that quite often, actually. We do our best to try and keep them on their toes.”

I glanced at Yoongi, who as the entire time, was watching me closely. I hummed and pretended to think about it for a moment, and finally said: “Honestly, The Rose is a pretty good guess. Keep ‘em coming, I’m sure with an intuition like that, you’ll get it right once.” He laughed heartily and leaned in.

“I know it’s a good guess,” he whispered, “I get them right most of the time. I know you people, more than you think.” I shuddered and pulled away, hitting the back of the chair. With a slight flush of embarrassment at my earlier comment, I scrambled to get up and go on our merry way. That had made him even more amused, and I cursed both him and myself. I should really learn to keep my mouth shut sometimes.

Yoongi didn’t bother standing up as we were leaving, he didn’t even bother to check his phone, that had gone suspiciously silent. He just stared at me from across the room as the bouncer started leading the way back out and Taehyung waved at us with a little wink, looking annoyingly pleased and relaxed. I rolled my eyes at him one last time and then disappeared down the stairs. If I strained my ears, I could almost hear him laughing loudly at my antics.

Outside of the club, back by our car, Minjoon suddenly stopped in the middle of the empty quiet parking lot. I staggered to a stop as well, looking at him confused and slightly worried something happened. What if Park hadn’t managed to have that talk with Namjoon and was waiting for us mad at the station? Panic flashed through me, but I was surprised when Minjoon looked at me with worried sad eyes and started apologising.

“Hey, I’m really sorry about before,” he said and I could finally see the full extent of his embarrassment, “You’re right, we were bickering like a couple of little boys. It’s just- He always gets such a rise out of me. I try and not react, but he always does or says something that just pisses me off.” I softened a little at his genuine shame and a little awkwardly patted his shoulder.

“It’s okay, I understand,” I replied quietly, “He got a rise out of me too. Don’t worry about it.” He smiled at me, a little lighter and less sad, and I returned it. When we returned to the station, Park didn’t say anything about us or our mission and just launched right into his spiel about Namjoon’s behaviour at the office. I considered that a win.

Later that night, sitting in the empty meeting room, Minjoon turned to me and said: “I didn’t get a chance to say it earlier, but you fared surprisingly well tonight. I wasn’t expecting you to be like… that. It was amazing.” I blushed both from his words and his gentle embarrassed gaze and played with the edge of my sleeve to escape his eyes.

“Thank you… When I get nervous, I just start blabbing out the first thing that comes to mind,” I replied with a half-truth half-lie. He didn’t need to know I’d been getting some practice with dealing with the infuriating man in my free time. That would stay between me, Yoongi and the devil.

The next time I saw Yoongi was actually a few weeks later – in January of the new year. As I promised to myself, I took the time to scope out that one warehouse where I caught a glimpse of Hoseok. I had been staking it out carefully for almost a week, losing my mind with boredom just watching harbour workers milling about, when I came to the conclusion that he actually wasn’t there. The one time I’d seen him there clearly must have been a fluke, because he didn’t come at all the entire week. It was a pretty easy to scope out location, and when I continuously didn’t notice any evidence of Hoseok’s presence, I had to face the reality that this just wasn’t one of his spots.

So, that sent me back to following Yoongi around. And I had to figure out how to outsmart the literal king of snakes.

One day, when I was walking through the station, it hit me in a form of a single simple leaflet pinned to a noticeboard. I stopped so fast I almost tripped over my own feet and then hobbled back to the board to take in the huge bold FREE MOTORCYCLE TRAINING FOR OFFICERS FROM THIS PRECINCT. I had to stop myself from laughing maniacally right in the middle of the station and immediately saved the contact information into my phone. It was time to learn some new skills.

While I started taking lessons to be able to get a license for a motorcycle, I had to hold off from tailing Yoongi. Rolling up to his house in a car he already knew would be just embarrassing to me and explaining to someone else why I needed to borrow their car to drive around Seoul for 24 hours straight would be too difficult and, not to mention, extremely weird. There aren’t enough excuses in this world to borrow a different car every night and I didn’t even know enough people to achieve that.

Sometimes I would snoop around his office building or clubs when I knew he either was there or wasn’t, depending on what I was trying to achieve. I also still periodically dropped to the warehouse, just to chance whether maybe Hoseok showed up that time. But no luck. It was like he got swallowed by the earth itself. It did make sense for Yoongi to keep him in the shadows, considering what we suspected he did in the organisation, but I didn’t expect for him to be this hard to spot.

Here and there I would go through the other buildings Yoongi owned and tried to figure out where he could be spending most of his time, but there were just too many. Thus, one night I ended up buying a huge and very detailed map of Seoul that took up almost all of my bedroom wall and got to work on that. First, I marked all of Yoongi’s properties including his house in red, then I added properties that were known to be in possession of his six each with their own colours, and then marked with different colours who I spotted where. Finally, I added post it notes with details of when I spotted them or when Yoongi went there.

As I stood in my bedroom, proud of my hard work, a realisation of what I was doing hit me. There was no going back now, and whoever entered my house and found his way into my bedroom would be positively creeped out. I myself had to admit that sleeping next to a huge map detailing the whereabouts of a certain individual that I acquired through illegal means wasn’t ideal, but I had to do what I had to do to help catch him.

And like that, Christmas came and went and suddenly New Year was here, and I found myself sitting in the meeting room, first thing in January, going over new findings and strategies. I was barely holding my attention to what was said, itching to supervise Yoongi again and trying to come up with ways to check on what he’s doing.

“We’ve made contact with a new informant,” Park said suddenly, “He’s willing to pass info to us, he’s fairly confident that he can dodge the safety checks since he’s seen people fail them quite often. He knows very well the consequences he faces if he gets caught and agreed to help anyway.”

“Which faction does he belong to?” one of the officers present asked him. Faction, that meant under which member of the six he worked. Since they all had such different areas of coverage, a lot of the time the personnel under them was directly employed to them and not necessarily to Yoongi himself, though he owned the umbrella corporation. These groups of employees directly belonging to a certain member of the gang we called factions or squads.

“He works around the clubs and the hotel, so he’s Taehyung’s, but he mostly gets into contact with Jungkook,” Park answered readily, “But, and that’s most important, he gets his fare share of time with Namjoon. He runs a lot of errands for him and Taehyung when they’re together. Which is often.”

Suddenly Minjoon leaned closer to me and whispered: “Namjoon spends most of his time at the office building, but he does go to the clubs and checks on their offices and bookkeeping periodically. Taehyung’s and Jimin’s responsibility is making sure that everything is ready there for him.” I nodded at him and gave him a grateful smile. I thought back to the five days I spent sitting mostly in front of the office space and I did see him a lot. He seemed to be an avid smoker and spent a lot of time standing by the side of the building smoking and shouting something into his phone. Maybe he was like Yoongi and went to the clubs in the morning and then spent the afternoons there.

I leaned to him and whispered back: “It’s almost unfair how much information we have on them and still can’t legally even give them a parking ticket.” Minjoon smiled sympathetically and patted my shoulder.

The meeting droned on and as I sat there, I decided that parking tickets actually didn’t sound half bad. Next time I went out after him, I should take some just in case. I vowed myself to be the most annoying menace he’s ever come across and I fully intended to hold up to that.

About a week later I was once again sitting at my table punching some useless information into the national police database, trying to stay awake as I’d been spending the nights crawling around the industrial parts of Seoul checking out warehouses and the surveillance around them, when Park, as was his habit, stormed into the room letting his door bang loudly into the wall. I’d stopped flinching at this point, no one in the room was even fazed, all of us have heard it so many times it wasn’t even surprising anymore.

As usual when something happened with Yoongi, he went straight to Minjoon and Hwang, his partner, gesturing for them to grab their things and follow him out. I tried to catch Minjoon’s eye, hoping he’d take me with them again, but he just shook his head at me gently. When both of the other men left, he made a stop at my table and in a hushed voice explained: “I’m sorry, not today. Something happened at a warehouse that’s on Yoongi’s turf, probably some kind of fight with a rival gang or something. The police officers from the area are already there, but they’re waiting on us to see. It’s a pretty ugly and bloody scene.” With that he ran out of the door, barely managing to wave goodbye as he rushed to the scene.

I looked at his retreating back in disappointment, not understanding his reasoning behind leaving me out of it. What was he worried about? That I’d be upset if I saw a little blood? That I shouldn’t witness violence? Determination rose in me as I got angry at the perceived discrimination. I checked the clock. 4 PM, Wednesday. I scrambled out of my chair and quickly grabbed my badge and jacket and ran out as well.

As I gripped my steering wheel like an insane person and drove through the centre, I was hoping that his schedule was as solid as I assumed, even though I didn’t follow him for long. In a few minutes, I was parking in front of his office building and charging my way inside like a storm. There was a lady sitting at the reception and when she first saw me walk in, she attempted to talk to me, but quickly gave up and lost interest when I just brushed past her.

I’d never been inside but I hoped that all the movies and series didn’t lie, and his office would be on the top floor, so I flagged down an elevator and pushed the highest button. Now finally standing here, I started getting nervous. I once again acted before I thought about it and standing in an elevator taking me to Yoongi’s office, I didn’t even know what I’d say to him. If he even was here. I had nothing to talk to him about except for inquiring about the disturbance at a warehouse, but I doubt he’d ever tell me anything about it, not that I even had any closer information to ask about. This was reckless and stupid.

The elevator slowly rolled to a stop and the door opened. I self-consciously walked out and took a look around. It was a nicely furnished hallway lined with dark wood and deep scarlet details. At the end a huge vase with white lilies stood, right next to an abandoned desk of who I assumed must be Yoongi’s secretary. To my left, straight in the middle, was a black double door, no doubt leading to the man of the hour.

I loitered outside for a while, gathering courage and thinking about how I should explain my sudden appearance. Right as I moved to the door, it opened and a black-clad figure backed out, both of us colliding between the open doors. With surprisingly quick reflexes he turned around and grabbed onto my elbow, stabilising me before I embarrassed myself in front of Yoongi again.

“Oh! Sorry about that!” a cheerful high voice rung out through the corridor, “I gotta watch the road more.” He ended it with a melodic laugh and his other hand grabbed onto my shoulder, finally shaking me out of my stupor. I looked up to thank him, the cheerful personality putting me at ease a little more, but as soon as I laid eyes on him, the words died in my throat on an embarrassing half choked sound. I froze up and just stared at him for a moment, until I could see confusion paint his face.

It was Jung Hoseok. Hoseok was standing in front of me. Laughing and joking around, hands still holding me upright.

“Hey, you okay?” he asked, suddenly a little more serious, watching me with concern.

“She’s fine,” a voice from the inside supplied, “Maybe she’s just stunned with your beauty, with finally meeting you in person after staring at your picture for months.” All confusion and concern disappeared from the man and he started laughing again.

“Oh, so you’re the police officer,” he announced with a smirk and something a little more teasing crept into his voice. He finally released his hold on me and watched me with amused eyes as I stumbled away from him with red burning cheeks. So much for not embarrassing myself. It didn’t help that he most definitely was beautiful, almost unfairly so for someone who was allegedly a stone-cold killer. Damn these men to hell, what was it about being a mobster that attracted the good-looking guys.

“Thank you for catching me,” I gritted through my teeth, already staring daggers into Yoongi, who was leisurely sitting behind a huge dark desk in the room behind us, watching us with a lazy smirk.

“Don’t mention it,” Hoseok replied almost instantly and winked, “Well, I gotta get on my merry way. Have fun you two! Bye bye~” He waved at me cheerily and walked out. Then he backed into the room again and pointed at Yoongi in a teasingly reprimanding manner and added: “Not too much fun though.” With that, he was gone.

I walked into the room, completely flabbergasted by his surprising character. Yoongi watched me like a wolf, waiting for me to sit down on a chair on the other side of his table, as was our tradition by now. I could see the anticipation rolling off of him in waves, so I took the time to properly soak in the room. There was a lot of dark wood and grey tones with splash of colour here and there, but the darkness was offset by a huge three-piece window in the wall behind Yoongi. Right now, I could see the beginnings of what would soon turn into a sunset.

I knew I couldn’t win in a battle of will against him, so once I dragged it out enough, finally I moved over to the table to take a seat. Immediately, Yoongi had a cordial smile on his face, as if he was greeting an old friend and not a police officer. Speaking of that, I remembered something – I took the time to bring it for the sake of our second meeting.

Yoongi wordlessly watched me rummage in my pockets until I finally found what I was looking for. A second later, my hand slapped my badge on the table between us. I nodded towards it and muttered: “That official enough for you?” He looked at it shocked for a split second and then he was laughing.

When calm enough to speak to me, he said: “I see that whatever I joke about with you, you’ll take it to your heart. I’ll have to think about my words a bit more carefully from now on.” He stared at the badge for a moment and then thoughtfully hummed.

“Now, that reminds me, I should probably check whether you’re recording this talk,” he joked with me, “I won’t stop you of course, just watch my mouth.” Annoyed, I reached into my other pocket and this time I slapped my phone on the table. I went the extra mile of showing him it wasn’t calling anyone or recording anything, and then glared at him in challenge, all under his amused gaze.

“So, can we talk?” I bluffed, pretending like I showed up here for something specific. He made himself comfortable in his chair across from me and motioned for me to start. I took a moment to think about how to start. With no idea what I wanted to achieve here, it was hard to just start up a conversation. But it seemed I was worrying for nothing.

“Actually, I don’t need you to start,” he stated matter-of-factly, “I know why you’re here. With your colleagues currently running around in the docks, it doesn't take a genius to put two and two together. But it’s not their usual MO, they’ve never sent here someone while they were investigating.” I stuttered under his piercing eyes, and he smirked. “So… not that official, is it.”

“It still is, though, I’m here during work hours regarding an on-going police investigation,” I defended myself somewhat petulantly, following his figure with my eyes when he suddenly got up and moved to a small bar in the corner behind me. With his back to me, mixing up cocktails, I realised I’ve never seen him from this angle, always had to face him head on and fight for everything I was and everything I did. This felt as if we were supposed to be relaxed in each other’s company and I didn’t like it.

He hummed again and turned around, whiskey in one hand and pink gin and tonic in other. He motioned for me to move and sit at a small green sofa in the other corner of the room, and I mindlessly listened to him. To my surprise, he situated me on the sofa and pushed the gin into my hand, while he himself made himself comfortable on the fluffy carpet, leaning on the table. The sofa wasn’t super high, but I still found myself looking at him from above for the first time ever. It was putting me off – he had to be planning something. Why else would he behave this way?

I put the glass on the table and gave him a reprimanding glare. “I told you, I’m on duty and I drove here.” He scoffed and sipped on his own drink, ignoring my words.

“And the things you’ll learn here, you’ll share them with your colleagues? You’ll go back to the station and divulge your findings?” he asked seemingly innocently, but there was a dark glint in his eyes. It was the most serious I’ve ever seen him. I didn’t know whether I should lie to him or not. I knew I wouldn’t share it, at least not until a little later, when there was an opportunity for me to showcase my knowledge in the most impactful way. And it seemed that he was aware of that as well. And the longer I took to answer him, the more obvious the answer was. So I chose to be honest.

“When the time comes for it, yes,” I said, and the words felt like ash on my tongue. I could barely look at him in that moment. I was doing something wrong, I was aware of that, I was putting my career on the line and bartering the information for my own gain and putting it out into the universe somehow felt like a curse. But Yoongi didn’t seem to care. He nodded and took a sip again, humming. I regarded him with suspicion.

“Is that why you came here to find out the information your own colleagues wouldn’t tell you?”

His question hung heavy in the air, and I froze completely. I was embarrassed that I couldn’t even disprove it, even though I didn’t think that’s why I came there. They really didn’t tell me anything. I would find out eventually when it was important for me to know. Or if I was lucky, I’d pull it out of Minjoon when he’d come in tomorrow. But I was angry and frustrated. I spent a lot of time studying Yoongi’s warehouses trying to find Hoseok, and he didn’t even give me a chance to tell him and ran. Didn’t even tell me a reason why exactly I wasn’t supposed to be there. So, I went and did something foolish.

But I still had to play my cards right.

For some reason, Yoongi seemed to be suspiciously eager to let me in on some of his dealings, from speaking to me openly that one time in Dynamite, to letting me tail him and even entertaining my clumsy attempts at distracting him or getting information out of him. Whether it was because he didn’t see me as a threat or because he was trying to play a game of his own with me, I had to use this to my advantage. As long as he was this willing, I had to try and milk this situation.

“Just trying to get all the points of view,” I answered cooly and tried to put up a strong front. I hoped that Yoongi had enough decency not to point out my obvious frustration and would take my words at face value. Which, thankfully, he seemed to do. He flashed me a smile and said: “Ah, I see. Just being a good cop.”

He looked at me for a moment and then suddenly got up. I was about to also get up, but he gestured for me to stay seated. He walked over to the table and leaned on it with his hip.

“I can’t tell you much more than what you’ll eventually find out about it,” he said, and it felt both like a ceding and a challenge, “But whatever happened there, we had nothing to do with it. A petty criminal allegedly affiliated with a group attacked another petty criminal allegedly affiliated with another group and it didn’t go as well as he hoped.” I wished I knew more about the situation to ask additional questions, but I knew this would be all I’d be getting out of him either way.

“Well, that’s not much,” I couldn’t help the dig and he scoffed. “Don’t complain when I’m being this gracious,” he retorted jokingly and pointed a finger at me much in the same manner as Hoseok did to him earlier.

I was about to retort too, when the door flew open. For a moment I almost thought it’s Park and my heart jumped into my throat, but the panic disappeared as quickly when I recognised the man as none other than Kim Taehyung. He waltzed in straight to me, paying Yoongi no mind and sitting down on the sofa next to me.

When I moved to stand up, he quickly caught my hand and gave it a swift kiss. “We haven’t been formally introduced yet,” was the first thing that came out of his mouth, “My name is Taehyung, but feel free to call me Tae.” I raised my eyebrow at him as he gave me a million-watt smile and slowly settled back into the couch.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Kim,” I replied, deadpan, and pulled my hand free. Somewhere in the room Yoongi laughed, but before I could turn to look at him, Taehyung spoke to me again.

“How mean,” he fake pouted and slumped into the sofa, only to spring up again immediately, hands going for the pink gin and tonic, “Is this free?”

“Yeah, knock yourself out,” I replied, stunned. I could have stayed silent though, as the glass was already halfway to his lips and there was no stopping him. He gulped down half the glass in one go and then offered me to take a swig too. I was so surprised by his erratic behaviour that I subconsciously grabbed the drink thrust into my personal space and froze.

“Come on, just one little sip,” he goaded me, seemingly all in good spirits, but I knew listening to whatever gibberish he had to offer me was a one-way ticket to hell. I pushed the glass back into his hands and said: “I’m sure you’ll enjoy it much more than me.”

Taehyung suddenly leaned into my personal space and seductively whispered: “If that was right, then I would be doing it wrong.” With his suggestive words hanging between us, obviously no longer talking about alcohol, I blushed so aggressively I might have combusted on the spot and pushed him away until he was squished into the other corner of the sofa.

Alarmed at his words I instinctively searched for Yoongi, holding out hope that he would sort out his friend and school him on how to act in front of a detective and a woman, but I found him half sitting on the armrest of the chair I previously sat on, attentively watching us with a light amused smirk.

“Sorry about that,” he muttered cocky, “He still hasn’t been house trained.” There was a whiny “hyuuuung” coming from somewhere behind me, but I was done with this conversation. I had just had enough of interacting with these lunatics, so I got up and started getting ready to leave.

“Oh, don’t be embarrassed,” Taehyung teased, “I’m just joking around, I always try this on new people to see how they react.” I huffed, slightly angry but more humiliated. “You mean new women.”

“Actually, he doesn’t care about that at all,” Yoongi answered for him, “You should have seen him when he first met your boss and the other cop, Jang. He almost got arrested for public indecency cause he made them so angry.” I turned to look at Taehyung to gauge the truth to this statement, only to find him properly embarrassed and almost as red as me. The image of Taehyung shamelessly flirting with a seething mad Park while Minjoon watched completely horrified entered my mind. I snickered at him and relaxed again.

“I should have known that cops have no sense of humour,” he muttered for himself, but then quickly shot me a wink and added: “No offense.”

“Don’t worry,” I replied, “That’s the least offensive thing you’ve said to me today.” Taehyung only smiled at me sweetly, as if he was the picture of sainthood and not whispering naughty words to people he barely knew on the regular.

I went to check the time and with a start realised I’d left my phone and badge just laying on the table when I earlier moved to the sofa. After quickly grabbing them, I walked over to the door and turned around. Both men in the room were looking at me curiously. I gave them my own wolfish grin and said: “Thank you for your cooperation.” With that I was gone.

So, that wasn’t the most fruitful thing I’ve ever done. I found myself even more confused about the strange behaviour of a man with such a reputation as Min Yoongi. For a moment teasing, for a moment dangerous, for a moment honest and genuine? I had no idea what he was doing, what he was trying to do and why was he letting me get away with so much, but everything about him and every one of our encounters was extremely suspicious.

Well. Even though it disappointed me a little, I knew that it was most likely because he kept underestimating me. So, I had to change that.

A week later I’d finally gotten a license for a bike. I was spending so much time there that I even became somewhat of a running joke between the lectors, but I couldn’t explain to them I was in a time press because I had a gang to dismantle and a mafia boss to humble. That would have made things real awkward real fast.

But now, with a license and slightly used black bike, I was virtually unstoppable. At least in my mind. From there I slowly got back into my routine of tailing Yoongi. During the month and a half I was out, I had been spending a lot of time staring at a map of Seoul and embarrassingly enough, I’d started to remember the streets to a point I could have become a cabbie. Maybe one day when I’ve inevitably lost my badge because Yoongi snitched on my unprofessional misconduct, I’d give it a shot.

I was absolutely sure to him I was just some cute little animal that sometimes barked and growled a little but would never do much worse than piss on the floor, but the moment I’d actually bite a nerve, he wouldn’t hesitate to get rid of me. I had to work quickly, before I became too much of an eyesore to him.

Speaking of which, Yoongi didn’t stray from his routine too much. In the mornings he would alternate between visiting the clubs, restaurants and his hotel, then he would either stay at the hotel’s office or move to his office building. In the afternoons he sometimes went to certain warehouses, but from what I could gather, it was mostly Hoseok, Jungkook and surprisingly Namjoon, who came to him with information about these places. The weekends he’d spent in his office until the clubs opened and then went either to Pied Piper or The Rose, both in which I wasn’t able to enter again.

Sometimes I would let Yoongi sit in the office and move to the warehouses. I alternated between them, checking on them to see who was where, and saw Jungkook and Namjoon very often. Hoseok stayed ever so elusive he might as well have been a ghost, but I was absolutely sure he must have been actively communicating with Yoongi.

I even tried to tail Jungkook, but the man was impossible to track down. No matter what I did, I’d always lose him after a few minutes, and I never managed to stay on him for longer than a few streets. I’d become so good at taking all kinds of back streets and alleys to keep out of sight that his ability to just disappear was truly mind-boggling to me.

While when I tailed Namjoon, I quickly realised that he moved in a very constricted area between the offices, some of the clubs and some of the warehouses. He never lingered for long when he was out but was capable of sitting for hours upon hours in the office building, so that ultimately also went nowhere.

The map in my room was quickly becoming crowded with differently coloured strings and post-it notes, in the evening (or sometimes early morning) I’d come home and add another new little thing and I was feeling like an obsessed stalker a little more every day. From Yoongi’s point of view, I most likely was. But it had to be done.

It had to be done.

It was one regular Tuesday when I chanced upon gold. I was sitting on my bike, bored out my mind, stuffing my face with fast food watching Yoongi laugh about something with Jimin and Taehyung outside of one of his clubs, when a black car with tinted windows pulled up. It was a car I sometimes saw with Jungkook, so I more or less knew to expect the young man, but when Hoseok in all of his glory jumped out and walked over to hug the two youngsters, I was so surprised I almost choked on a hot dog and fell off my bike.

Jungkook came out of the car right after him and immediately started looking around, so I ducked and started pulling my bike a little more behind a corner. The five men conversed for a moment and then Hoseok waved and started walking towards a different car. I watched him full of anticipation, my fingers flexing on their own, eager to try my best at tailing Jungkook if it meant I’d get to find out where Hoseok worked. But to my absolute elation, Jungkook wasn’t following. Hoseok was leaving alone. Fucking jackpot.

I was so happy I almost passed out. I didn’t know what sort of luck this was, but I wasn’t about to complain.

Hoseok walked over to a sleek silver sports car and sat in the driver’s seat. I was getting ready as if I was about to run the marathon, my sweaty hands nervously fidgeting with the handles of my bike, body taunt as a bow. He stayed still for a moment, a moment that felt like hours to me, but then I heard the faint sound of a running engine. He waved to the others again, and then he was off. I pressed myself into the building as he was passing me and then quickly followed.

I’d never been that nervous about tailing someone, not even when I first went after Yoongi almost two months ago at the beginning of December. This was most likely my only shot for a long time, there was no telling when I’d be able to spot him again.

He drove to one of the many docks that were under Yoongi’s control. In this particular area, they owned a whole three warehouses that looked over some of their ships and imported goods. I was here a lot when I was trying to find Hoseok on my own, I figured this was such a hotspot, if he went somewhere, it would probably be here, but I never caught sight of him. Now I was proven right but felt annoyed that I missed him so many times.

The reason for that turned out to be quite simple. The biggest warehouse, situated closest to the water, had another door that I haven’t noticed. It was in the back and blended into the wall so well I almost thought for a second Hoseok’s just loitering in the back banging on the walls. When a patch in the wall suddenly opened and he disappeared inside, it was like unlocking a whole new world in my mind. No wonder I’d never seen him, the whole time he was coming in from the other side.

I admit, it was a bit reckless to pour my attention here after a single sighting, but I was willing to risk it. I took the time to scope out the area while Hoseok was inside (if he was anything like the others, he’d be spending hours there anyway).

A little ways to the left was a small building, but right behind it I saw an abandoned half constructed concrete monstrosity, most likely a leftover of attempts to redevelop this part of the capital city that crashed and burned on the involvement of gangs in the area. I made my way to it.

It was fenced off, but a little probing here and there, I was able to break into one of the fence gates. Inside I apologised to whoever owned this building, but it was very obviously uncared for, so I justified myself in that way. I probably wasn’t even the first person that broke in, I told myself as I made my way up the stairs. I swallowed the sour sensation that left me with and trudged on.

Within an hour I found a perfect spot to stake out. It was high and secluded enough to see the warehouse and its surroundings without a problem if I used a telescope, while I wouldn’t be risking being seen by the people on the street. It faced the second exit, which must have been used by Hoseok enough to escape my notice the first time around. In two days, I’d return here and watch.

It almost felt like things were looking up, like I could finally stop mindlessly following Yoongi around and move forward with this case, and for the first time after a long time I felt some sort of joy and relief.

I reached into my pocket to take out my phone and take a photo of the number on a nearby column, so I’d be able to find it easily again, but found it missing. For a hot moment of panic I thought maybe I had dropped it somewhere around Yoongi’s club, which would mean he now no doubt had it and I’d have to go get it from him, and it would be extremely embarrassing. But then I realised I must have left it at my table at the station that morning when I stopped by to hand deliver some documents to Park. I looked around to find something that would immediately catch my eye upon entering, but in the end I decided to just luck it out and left.

On my way home I’d stopped by the station for the phone and ended up having a coffee with Minjoon. For a brief moment, when I sat in a cafeteria, drank that shitty coffee and laughed at some story Minjoon was telling me about his first few months in the force, I found myself thinking I wish all my days were this nice.

I should have known it wouldn’t last, though.

Due to the fact that it was still January, I was absolutely freezing my balls off on stake out the next few days. Sitting in an open room in minus temperatures staring into a telescope the whole day turned out to be a pretty bad way to spend one’s time and quickly I was turning very cranky. I was hungry, cold, thirsty and even though Hoseok turned up and took the back entry, he just sat there for the whole day and didn’t come out until evening. I was mostly just watching some of the low-tier mobsters mulling about, moving about crates, caring for the ships and continuously walking in and out of the warehouse. Which was something I had already seen when I was staking out here before.

It seemed that the reason Hoseok was so hard to find was because he spent literal days holed up in that metal building, doing god knows what.

On my fourth day I was absolutely losing it. I spent the morning at the station and then went straight here. Hoseok’s car was already present, but other than that there was no other trace of his existence, just like the other days. He didn’t even come outside to smoke like Namjoon would. Not one of the other boys came here either, which was weird since they always seemed to be in close vicinity of each other. I was tired and frozen and I could feel the beginnings of a nasty cold and I was getting nowhere.

My day got exponentially more interesting though, when Yoongi’s black car rolled up to the back exit. It was the first time in the four days he came here, and the first time since I’d started tailing him that he came to this exit. That should have been my first warning.

I watched as Yoongi walked around free of all troubles, wide smile on, and if I wasn’t currently more than 100 metres away from him, I’d punch him in the face. The door opened and Hoseok stepped out to greet him. I could cry with happiness at the first appearance of the man in days. And also punch him in the face. Together they disappeared inside, and I was left with the same sorry view as before.

Impatiently watching the clock, I saw the minutes drift away into two hours of silence and no movement in the back. Just when I thought about just slipping into a coma to escape this hellhole, I heard movement outside my little spot. Instantly alerted, I quickly stood up and pressed myself closer to a wall where I wouldn’t be immediately noticeable from the entrance into the room. My whole body was stiff from coldness and hours of just sitting, my muscles protesting and painfully pulling until I was barely able to hobble away.

The steps got closer and closer until a figure clad in all black stepped in. For a moment I thought it was Jungkook and was a second away from wailing in frustration, but it wasn’t him. It was a young man, based on his clothes he must have been part of Yoongi’s security, but I didn’t remember his face from before.

He located me in a second – after all, there weren’t many places I could be hiding in a completely bare concrete room. Without a word he thrust his hand to me. My eyes slid down to see a take-out coffee. When I wasn’t taking it, he impatiently moved his hand, trying to get me to relieve him of this definitely extremely bothersome task.

I did take it, mostly because I didn’t want to annoy him more when Yoongi was already doing such a good job of it and sighed in defeat. How the fuck did he even sniff me out here? The guy looked at me and then said: “Boss wanted me to tell you that he truly thinks it’s admirable how hard you work in such cold weather.” His face was completely unreadable, but I knew he must have thought this was such a laughable situation.

I wanted to feel angry, I really did, but I didn’t even have the strength to do it. Instead I sighed and pinched the root of my nose between my fingers. Frustration coursed through me and now I was annoyed with Yoongi too. Did he become omnipotent or what?

I returned the poor guy’s gaze and said: “Please send a message back. Tell him that he’s annoying and I hate him.” He nodded and left, no expression on his face. A true professional.

From then on, whenever I got closer to them, Yoongi would send me a subtle message that he knew about me. Either he would send me food or drinks or just stand in my line of sight and wave in my direction. Sometimes when I knew he could see me too I returned the gesture by flipping him off, to which he always laughed. Taehyung also caught on and to any birds sent their way he sent back a kiss and a wink.

It took me embarrassingly long to figure out that they planted a tracker on me. One night in a mad fit to find it I turned upside down most of my apartment. At 3 am I was standing on the street, pawing at my bike like a crazy person, attempting to stuff my fingers to all the nooks and crannies. A passing woman looked at me as if I was sexually harassing my own vehicle and after that I rather returned back home, not interested in getting the cops called on me.

Every time I went to stake out, I would leave home an item, just to try and narrow down where it could possibly hide. I decided to trust that my bike was tracker free and I bought myself a set of completely new clothes even though I thoroughly checked the old ones. I would wear different shoes, even if I knew there was no way they got to them. One day I even chanced moving about without my wallet. They still found me. And that’s how I realised what the only thing that I had on me all the time, no matter what was. My phone.

I thought back to the day I stormed into Yoongi’s office, distraught and upset, how he acted strangely nice and comfortable. Taehyung’s strange behaviour and my phone. Lying on a table, away from me, but close to Yoongi wandering around. He was messing about that table even when I stayed sitting on that damned couch.

All I could do was laugh at his craftiness. At how easily I fell into a trap of his softer demeanour because I was surprised he sat on the floor and talked seriously, how I let Taehyung completely consume my focus by flirting and teasing me. I had to applaud them, really. It was brilliant and I walked right into it. I was so stupid, I let him fool me even though I was suspicious of him the entire time.

At first I feared he was tracking me through the phone itself, but when I inspected it closer, I noticed a little bump under the case. When I took it off the phone, there it was. A tiny little tracker attached to the plastic.

I wondered what Yoongi was trying to accomplish. He put a tracker on me, but then also made it obvious that he knew more about my whereabouts than he was supposed to. He was quite literally giving it away. Therefore, knowing about the tracker didn’t necessarily put me at an advantage since I had no idea what his goal was. I decided to keep it there until I made up my mind about what to do.

But I was petty. Really petty. And as impressed as I was with my ability to fall for Yoongi’s cheap tactics, I was also peeved. That’s how one day I found myself at our station, loitering around an office where the IT guys had their stuff. When one of them rounded the corner, I immediately took my chance. It took a lot of persuading and lying. A lot of “I’m from this department” and “I was tasked with getting one for the next mission” and such, but twenty minutes later, I was leaving the room with a tracker of my own. Was it technically illegal? Yes. Would Yoongi find the tracker within the first 24 hours and then triumphantly return it to me while telling me to try better next time and I would return it right after before anyone noticed I ever had it in the first place? Also yes. No harm done, just a little revenge.

After that, every day for a week I went straight to Yoongi’s office. Whether I was on duty or not, every afternoon I was sitting on his stupid little sofa, grinning at him mischievously and sipping on tea that he started offering me instead of stiff drinks. I would find anything to talk about, I joked and played and asked stupid questions I knew he’d never answer.

And I could see it on him, he was trying to figure out where this was going. He would look at me, intrigued and confused, his head just whirring with ideas of what my new plan could be, and I was enjoying it so much. Sometimes he’d just stare at me in that way he did to people, and I’d stare right back at him and I was able to laugh. For the first time it felt like we both were trying to catch the other off guard, and not as if I was just mindlessly walking straight into his traps. For a few brief moments, the scales were balanced, and I liked that I was able to keep him in suspense. But I also had to move on from this.

At first his eyes would follow my every move, sharply watching me interact with things he had in his office, but once he'd become used to my presence, become used to how I hovered over things and examined the décor and played with the little trinkets he had on display, I was sometimes able to slip his attention. And then, on the seventh day, when he left the room for a split second to call for Jungkook down the hall, I slipped the tracker into a little tear I had noticed on his jacket, along with a little surprise for him, when he found it (which would be soon).

I walked out of there without saying much, wearing a mysterious smile on my lips when both men turned to watch me leave. Once outside, I took the tracker off my phone and slipped it into the bag of a random guy passing me by on the street. Let’s see how long before they figure that one out.

The game was on.

Series masterlist | Next part

A/N: thank you so much for reading this! i hope you enjoyed yourself, feel free to interact, i will be grateful for comments or asks of all sorts :)

Divider from the amazing @saradika-graphics &lt;3

Taglist (open) : @wobblewobble822

[kyoongboxi]

Love Me Endlessly —

[Baekhyun AU]

Summary; When he thought he was done went through the hard times but it seems like its always follows everywhere he goes closely behind. At first the man thought he was the most affected because of the burden he carries as a husband but then he realized what he carried means nothing to what she has suffered.

Pairing; Baekhyun x OC

Genre; angst, fluff, a bit of sexual intercourse

The office is usually quiet when the clock shows its already around two a.m in the morning. The Investigation Division were left for a mission but this time, Baekhyun retreated so he chose to stay in the office with his friend to stand by if something happened. He was casually sitting on his desk, rubbing his temple with his eyes closed when his friend came back with two cups of coffee grasped around his fingers.

"Hyung" The younger man joined him on his desk, placing the coffee down against the table. "Something on your mind?"

Baekhyun sighed, finally pulling his palm away from his temple before taking a sip to the coffee his friend brought. "You know what I think I'm gonna head home. You can handle this alone. If they ask for a backup then call the local police and tell them I left early"

The man stood up, collecting his stuff not forgetting the free coffee before leaving the younger man alone. Mark didn't answer because it left him too stunned to speak as he watched his senior's back disappeared out of his sight.

As the night progressed, the streets became increasingly quiet. Baekhyun doesn't live in the capital, but in a small town quite far from it. Every time his hands gripped the steering wheel, his eyes along with his thoughts always went to the ring wrapped securely around his finger. Thinking about the only woman he loves so much back at home.

It doesn't take more than twenty minutes to arrive, he parked his vehicle in the basement before taking the elevator to go up into the 15th floor where the place full of stories live in. He drank his coffee from Mark in the elevator, and then wondered if it actually tasted weird after he emptied the cup but he appreciated the younger man for the effort.

Baekhyun pressed the passcode lock carefully when he arrived in front of the door. Pushing the door open and his eyes were greeted with dim lights from the city lights passing through the window that illuminated the room. His feet carried him further inside and there she was, his lover, Shin Jori. The woman he loves the most was sleeping soundly on the couch covered in thin blanket. Ain't noticing if Baekhyun were back already from his duty.

The sight of her sleeping already caused his heart to be crushed into a mess, remembering what she had been through lately. He was planning to pick her up and lay her down on the bed but right after he finished the shower. One hour he spent his time in the shower. Letting the warm water stream down his hair, down to his shoulder for the last ten minutes while his thoughts was cursing him.

That he failed to be her lover, he failed to be her husband, he failed to be her protector. He was hurt seeing her suffer. He just wants to make it stop and witness only happiness that surrounds her everyday but he can't. Feels like it's already taking too long under the shower, he swept his wet hair back using his palm for the last time before finally turning off the water.

Choosing a random black shirt and sweatpants to wear right after he dried up and wasting no time to storm back into the living room. Jori still hasn't moved from her previous position because Baekhyun is aware the woman is barely moved when she sleep on the bed with him. Her body tilted into the right, facing the couch.

A faint smile finds its way into his lips, seeing his wife sleeping peacefully with her lips half parted but she didn't snore at all. Meanwhile Jori herself confessed that Baekhyun let out a sound like a whimpering puppy when he sleeps with his half parted lips. The man then crouched down for a bit. Gently placing his arms behind her back and her thighs before picking the woman up into his arms carefully.

He kicked the bedroom door then, after several steps he passed through and laid her down against the mattress. Surprisingly, Jori didn't wake up at all. Makes him wonder that she is indeed exhausted from work and all the thoughts followed. Baekhyun noticed she was wearing his white shirt with the word loverboy printed on the left side as a smile immediately back to his lips again.

There were also no lights turned on in the bedroom. The window leads to the small balcony already giving enough lights to sleep on from the glimmering lights of various buildings in front of it. Baekhyun climbs up to the bed. Immediately stopped his movement when his wife moved to the left, facing her back to him. Didn't want to wake her up intentionally.

He counted, one, two, three until she doesn't make a move anymore before he lay down carefully right behind her. His arms sneak under the shirt softly, securely wrapping around her waist to bring her body flushes into him. Baekhyun planted a kiss against her head, it seems like Jori just cut her hair into shoulder length because this morning her hair is still pretty long. But whatever Jori does Baekhyun won't interfere. As long as it makes the woman happy then he won't be against it.

Baekhyun closes his eyes, inhaling into her hair as his delicate fingers slide down into her now-flat lower belly. Gently caressing her skin while the bitter memories went in a loop again inside his mind. Just two weeks ago, a small bump formed and a new life growing inside of her. A memory he could never forget and Baekhyun has never felt so happy again after she suffered the first miscarriage several months back.

Wouldn't cross his mind that such a bitter event repeatedly happened to his little family. It aches him so much seeing her went through the curettage procedure not only once but twice. Couldn't imagine the pain and uncomfortable feeling when a foreign object is forced to in up your uterus while scratching the surface of it to get cleaned. Even though it was anesthetized, Jori said she could still felt it. Bot to mention the super intense cramps that hit afterwards.

He remembers how she cried so much that day. Thinking and blaming herself that she failed to be a mother, she failed to be his wife. She raged to him that he shouldn't have taken a step further on the day she told him everything about her shortcomings. Shin Jori is diagnosed with a low immune system.

Never crossed her mind that her relationship with the man would last until Baekhyun himself proposed to her. She was very embarrassed to admit that she had a sickness that if people heard about, they would definitely feel disgusted and look at her with judging eyes because it makes her look like a sex fiend while in fact she's not.

But it doesn't make Baekhyun retreat. He said it can be cured and people with normal or higher immune systems won't get affected because he kissed and share the same food or drink with her multiple times and Baekhyun himself just doing fine. While intertwining their fingers together, Baekhyun promised he would never leave her no matter what happened and thats how Jori fell for it. Jori herself wouldn't expect that her low immune system could lead into a miscarriage when she thought its not really that bad.

"Aren't you supposed to stay in the office until morning?" A warm hand which is definitely smaller than him slides up on top of his hand that currently rested against her lower belly. Her voice was a bit hoarse, still heavy with sleep as she greeted him.

Baekhyun chuckled. Apologizing for waking her up in the middle of her peaceful sleep. "I can't resist. I always think about you a lot even though you always say to not worry about"

He was being honest. "Have you took your vitamins?" It was a daily question her husband will never forget to ask. Having a low immune system sometimes required her to take it for at least a week, two or three. At first Jori got pissed off by the question because Baekhyun is worrying too much. But now she understands.

She answered by a soft nod. Her soul is now completely awake. Both eyes were staring against the window which offered a beautiful scenery in the middle of the night sky. Baekhyun fell silent for a minute. She could feel his chest rising up and down slowly against her back while his thumb continued to stroke over her skin with barely any pressure.

"Why did you sleep on the couch?" Baekhyun asked again. This time, his question was answered by a light chuckle from her lips before her sentences followed right after.

"I don't know which one but our neighbors were kinda noisy with the love making session. Bothering me so much. Thank God they're probably passed out now because its stopped" Jori answered with honesty. Baekhyun couldn't hold his smile and thinking this is the right moment to tease her so he ducked his head, purposely pressing his lips against her ear.

"I know you are secretly hoping I don't stay late in the office and come home early tonight after that, right?" His lips nudged her ear slightly every time he spoke. Causing the woman to feel a tingle against her ear down to her neck. But Baekhyun himself wouldn't expect his wife to smack him on his bulge.

"What does that mean? Is that a yes?" The man can't stand it. With a cheeky smile plastered against his face, he crawled over her. Putting his weight on her carefully, nestled perfectly between her legs before resting his head against her chest and wrapping his arms around her body.

Jori was about to answer as she put her fingers into his hair. But her husband didn't let her speak. "Actually I'm joking. You can take your time as long as you need, anyway. Its been only two weeks"

She could feel his warm breath caressing her chest every time he spoke because she didn't wear anything besides his thin shirt and an underwear. "How are you down there?"

The first time Jori had her first sexual intercourse with a man is Baekhyun after they tied up in a sacred vow, after the woman revealed what is actually going on with her body because of the lack of immune. Baekhyun respects her a lot back then when they were still in a general relationship. He never forced the woman to do something related to sexual things because at first he thought that she is a religious woman, for real.

But after he found out, it turned out this lack of immune system caused the woman to suffer from a yeast infection. He remembers how Jori tried to hold her tears when she explained. She even says it's time to take the final decision if he decides to marry her and no going back. She was embarrassed to admit. With the HSV-1 virus residing inside her cells which showed up around her lips, she could already feel he labeled her a sex maniac in silence.

But in the end, this wise man named Byun Baekhyun proves her wrong. He said no matter what her condition is, she deserved to be loved by someone just like everybody else. And that someone is himself alone. "The cramps from the miscarriage are completely gone, I guess? And I'm currently clean from the yeast"

"Remember what the doctor said. You can't be too tired or these two little shit fuckers that won't never go out of my wife's body will recur at the same time"

Said Baekhyun with a light chuckle. Both of them fall silent for a while with Jori's fingers disappearing under the man's hair to stroke it gently. Meanwhile his mind is always thinking about how fragile this woman is and at the wildest one, he would never be ready to force himself standing against his own feet on the day God finally snatched her away from him.

"Can I kiss you?" Hell even if he caught HSV-1 transmitted by her, he doesn't give a single fuck. But Jori would slap him away and go sulking for days if the man suddenly went to claim her lips all of sudden. She said if the blister is currently visible, then he can't kiss her at all.

Jori then answered with a small nod. Baekhyun smiled and pushed himself up, currently hovering over her. As their eyes met, a wave of emotion washed over them both. As he slowly leaned in, their breaths caught in their throats, hearts fluttering in anticipation. His lips touched hers lightly at first. Caressing ever so gently as they savored the moment, before they finally merged in a deep, passionate kiss.

The kiss lasted for a minute. As their lips parted, their breathing slowed and his eyes met with her brown one. Her arm stayed around his neck. "Baekhyun I'm sorry I couldn't give you a child—"

Actually, his answer was expected but Jori still wants to let it off her chest because she hasn't properly apologized. "No don't go there. It was my fault. I should have pulled out I'm sorry"

"No.. We both know I told you to stay inside because I want to feel you completely"

Baekhyun nodded multiple times in understanding. His thumb went to her cheek to stroke her mochi cheek that has now disappeared because of the stress she went through. "You can feel me all you want, you can feel me all day, you can feel me until the 5th round but— Jori"

His voice softened as her name rolled out his tongue carefully. "I'd rather not have a child rather than seeing you suffer. It hurts me.. I'll do a vasectomy procedure. How do that sounds?"

Both of them fall into silence again. Jori was actually beyond surprised but she kept her face remains calm. Her eyes radiate a meaning which Baekhyun couldn't understand. Her lips openen in half parted as if she wants to speak something but it closes again.

"But— thats mean you can no longer cum?" She blurted out all of sudden and it caused the man's eyes to widen immediately. He wouldn't expect such an answer to come out of her pretty mouth. He expected she would answer something emotional after what happened but she didn't anyway. At least for now.

"You little rascal—"

"You love my cum so much don't you?" His laugh then formed into a slight smirk after several seconds it lasted. Suddenly got an idea to purposely dragged his thumb into her lips. Pushing in softly against her mouth with his wife gladly accepting and suck his thumb while her eyes locked with his brown one.

"I will still be able to ejaculate but its no longer has a sperm wandering around. And you will still be able to feel every inch of me just like usual..." A sudden burst of lust consumed him as a result of Jori watching him with those eyes.

Seeing her sucking his thumb softly also makes Baekhyun himself biting his lower lips before he pulled his thumb that obviously got wet with her saliva, dragged it back past her lips, her chin, her neck ever so slowly. Her chest rising up and down in anticipation as he stopped just on her perky nipple. He moved his thumb in circles, purposely teasing her with barely any pressure and tenderness in the same place.

His actions successfully caused her heart pumping so much blood at the same time. She didn't mind if Baekhyun wants the love making tonight but Jori is currently in a mood to tease the man so she caught his hand, then pushed him away against his chest. Her feet joined to kick his body caused him to fall into the mattress beside her.

While holding her laugh, she gets up from the bed and screams, "You're a pervert!" But her scream turned into a loud yelp when Baekhyun caught her by her shirt from behind. Pulling her harshly to fall again into his embrace.

He was fast to bring his hand sneaking under her shirt. Cupping her breasts and lightly squeezes it in a teasing manner. Jori couldn't help but laughed. Trying to escape from his arms as he attacked her with a neck kisses as well. "Stop groping my boobs!"

"Shut up you smack my dick earlier" Said Baekhyun in between his laugh. At the end, the man hopes that he just wants to always live on the happy side. He just prayed that her smile would never come off her lips again, he just prayed that he would never see her suffer again.

Kyoongboxi's works 🐾

[sun-floweroo]

I’ve been thinking about the Black Butler grim reapers for a while. (And yes, I am guilty of having a reaper OC. …her name is Marion and she’s my baby. Thanks for asking.) so…here are some headcanons including her and the reapers.

tw//suicide

Pt.1

- Ever since their deaths, Undertaker and Othello were best friends. The former would indulge in the latter’s experiments, lamenting on their deaths while Othello tinkered away. But their relationship would not last long.

-The two soon graduate, and Othello retreats to his wormhole of a lab, shunned from daylight while Undertaker mechanically perfects each mission. He visits his old friend every once in a while, taking and returning jabs on their thick rimmed glasses as they converse over tea and dog biscuits.

- Othello grows concerned for his friend, who had recently taken a turn for the worse. He had become another of the Retrieval Division’s soulless workers. Undertaker would wake up, eat breakfast, go to work, and fall asleep, just to repeat the cycle again the next day.

- One day, Undertaker goes missing, and Othello panics. He didn’t believe in death after dying itself, but he had heard drunken tales of disappearing off the surface of the earth forever.

- When Undertaker returns after weeks of absence, he is with a young girl, a noose mark around her neck and green eyes bright and chartreuse: A reaperling, as many seniors called it.

- the girl calls herself Marion, Marion Lucy Haskell. A noble, many think, glancing at her laced cape and pressed dress. A noble fallen from grace, but a noble nonetheless.

- the girl clings to Undertaker, pale and timid and all too weak. Othello thinks she’ll be executed, or sent to management for meager work, but he doesn’t say it out loud. Undertaker has already taken a liking to her, after all.

- Undertaker is cruel, Othello thinks. To view such an innocent child as an amusement, as a mere puppy. He hopes she thrives while it lasts.

[xalygatorx]

Worthy (2015) | Chapter 6, "Lessons in Worth"

Disappearing sporadically in public spaces quickly becomes Cora Dempsey's least concerning problem when suddenly she captures the attention of the forming Avengers Initiative, the World Security Council, and Asgard's fallen prince all in one week. And the universe is only just getting started with her.

Worthy is a slow-burn SFW Marvelverse (films) romance between Loki and a female OC. For additional details on what canon is used, see the Prologue post.

Summary: Fury touches base with the higher-ups. Cora tries to get in touch with her abilities and better understand them under Loki’s guidance.

Pairing: Loki x Fem!OC

Warnings: Discussion of Cora’s past abusive relationship including physical and attempted sexual assault.

Word Count: 2.6k

Director Fury stepped into the conference room alone, his hands behind his back until he shifted one to the switchboard on the table. The window panes flickered before the view outside switched over to a connection screen, a dial of dots spinning steadily as he channeled the board and, consequently, their senior leader, Alexander Pierce.

While Fury knew that they would see eye to eye as they always had, especially on matters such as these, he wasn't looking forward to delivering the other bit of news: that there was a person out of their ranks who could wield the destructive alien-hammer and who was now a fugitive from their division.

He watched as the meeting timed in, three faces appearing in their own blue panels on the glass. Alexander's was the last to connect and he looked weary, as had most of them since the incident in New Mexico and the nationwide unease it had caused, but prepared to discuss what Fury and the Avengers Initiative had found out about the phenomena taking place.

"Director Fury, it's been a while," Alexander said calmly, smiling.

"That it has, sir. I've news to report on Operation Camo."

"Go ahead, Nick," he said with a nod, folding his hands in front of him and giving the SHIELD director his full attention.

"Agents Stark, Rogers, and Barton managed to locate the target again near Clarkdale two days ago."

"And was she brought in?" asked one of the other directors taking part in the conference. He'd only met her once, when Steve was revived and reintroduced into the modern world, but he soon remembered that her name was Agent Sharon Carter.

"Negative. The plan backfired just enough that she got away again."

"I thought you were enlisting the future Avengers."

"I did. Three of them there in person, one as on-location as he could be for the time being. Asgard's connection to our world is still broken and unreliable, according to Agent Coulson and Dr. Selvig."

"Good," the third agent on the screen said decidedly. Fury didn't recognize him.

"Director Fury, this is Richard Warren of the World Security Council. He came to meet with me and asked to sit in on our meeting, given the slight uproar Camo has caused in New York."

"Good to meet you, sir," Fury said with a brief inclination of his head.

Warren ignored his comment and continued with, "So you had Avenger candidates on the job and the target was still able to flee?"

"The difference between blowing someone up and capturing them is large," Fury said firmly. "If we want her to work with us, we need to work with her first and that's exactly what they were doing. As instructed."

When Warren had nothing to say to that, Alexander said, "So where is she now?"

"Her location is again unknown, but she can't hide forever."

"You said there was a lot to tell, Director Fury," Agent Carter intervened with an arched brow. "I don't think we've heard the 'lot' yet, have we?"

Fury paused, but only briefly. He'd rather not have spoken to Pierce about it in front of Carter or Warren, who simply weren't necessary for involvement, but he replied calmly, "Yes. Her power was already known, but she was also able to pick up Thor's hammer."

Alexander's eyes widened, half shocked and half impressed. "How?"

"We've yet to discover that. This was only found out at the tail-end of the mission. By all parties."

"She didn't seem to know she'd be able to lift it?" Agent Carter asked, interested.

"From what Tony and common sense tell me—both very separate parties—she didn't know she couldn't. She had no idea what it was because, well, why should she?" Fury looked at the council member, who wore a composed expression he knew meant some kind of shitstorm was on the rise.

Alexander nodded a few times before saying, "Right. Thank you for your report, Director Fury. Keep us updated."

"Will do, sir." And the connection ceased.

Fury glanced down from the glass panes which were once again large windows, pursing his lips slightly. He'd purposely neglected to tell them Steve and Clint's notion that she'd been taken rather than able to escape alone. It wasn't so much that he had a problem with splitting the truth to their superiors, but he wasn't looking forward to what further issues this ally or enemy might cause if they were right.

"I don't even know what caused it to happen those other times, so how am I supposed to trigger it now?"

Loki frowned down at her before muttering, "Stop talking and just try." He'd spent the rest of yesterday catching up on what was going on with the Tesseract, using Selvig's consciousness to get the information he truly desired. He could see it was starting to wear on the mortal a bit, but he couldn’t have cared less. He was a pawn and it would come time to put him into play soon enough.

Because he'd been gone the rest of the day, not showing up again until late that night after his human inmate was sound asleep on her makeshift cot, he'd figured today would suffice for the "practice" he'd suggested to her. She'd not been that keen on it—namely because he'd prodded her awake to get an early start, which she hadn't seemed fond of—but he kept his word when he could. For some reason, hearing her call herself a "freak" the night before had spurred him to do something.

"For some reason," he repeated in his head, a sardonic half smile working onto his face. Because you are a freak, yourself. At least to the home you believed you had.

Loki came back from his thoughts to look at the woman nearby, who had her hand up against her chin, her brow furrowed in concentration. So much so, her face was beginning to flush. Biting down a quiet laugh, Loki said, "You are thinking too much."

Cora glanced up at him, the crease between her brows easing as she responded, "Is that possible?"

He smirked down at her. "Very. Power is complex. It takes intelligence to dominate it, but emotion to fuel it. The trick is to get it brewing and then put on the reins."

"Why are you doing this anyway?" Cora asked with a tilt to her head.

Loki shrugged and said matter-of-factly, "You are of no use to me untaught."

Makes sense, actually, Cora admitted only to herself, though her expression was efficient in communicating her thoughts. "So. Emotions, huh?" She wasn't overly fond of that; she was one to barrel everything up inside and decompress when she knew she was alone. She'd only had a few truly sound times in her life and one had just gotten ripped away from her by the very power she was now trying to channel.

"Maybe based on what you felt in the other instances, your power acted on its own."

Cora pursed her lips, thinking back to those three occurrences. "I think I… I was afraid."

Loki acknowledged logically, "That would make sense for what your manifestation was."

"Then I'm just supposed to scare myself somehow?"

He sneered, his ivy eyes alight with mischief. "Care for some help?"

Cora glared at him and made an "x" with her slender fingers, backing away a few steps. "I can manage, thanks." He chuckled as she turned away and began thinking through her options. Her first attempt was a complete failure, as she'd tried to recreate nearly getting robbed in the subway terminal, but just the memory wasn't enough to even cause a flicker. Pursing her lips, she pulled out her phone and began scrolling through the apps until she found her photo gallery. She needed a fear stimulus.

She frowned when she shifted her weight and Mjolnir—which was tied by the leather cord to one of her belt loops—smacked her lightly in the leg. "Is it absolutely necessary to keep this on me?"

"Yes," Loki said simply, not elaborating until she asked him why. "If it is out of your reach, it might be recalled. I cannot say how well it would travel between realms, but I am not willing to risk it."

Cora rolled her eyes and went back to what she'd been doing, rapid-fire scrolling until she came to a set of pictures she'd never revisited to delete. The photo appeared happy, but she knew it wasn't—at least, not for her. It was of her and her ex, James, the one she'd seen in Central Park the first time her abilities had apparently decided to manifest.

"Who is that?"

She jumped and felt the familiar little whirr of energy in her bones and across her skin as she faded out of sight. As soon as she realized what had actually happened, her visibility returned and she gave a small breath of relief, though she still sounded on edge. "I thought I told you no helping…"

"I did not intend to," Loki replied, wondering how someone could be so easily startled. When she didn't say anything else, he nodded to her phone and again asked, "Who is that?"

"Me."

"And?"

"…James." Loki waited for her to explain, looking equal parts curious and disinterested, if that were possible. Not knowing if he'd understand the term "ex-boyfriend," she answered, "We were in a relationship once."

"Why aren't you any longer?"

"He didn't react well to things," she admitted, glancing down at the concrete floor.

His gaze turned wary. "How did he react?"

"He, um, hit me a few times. Not because I'd done anything, just, well...because I was there."

"Did he do anything else?" he asked straightforwardly though he now recognized she was speaking of abuse. A strange feeling of anger was working its way through him as he watched her pause and struggle to find the right words to answer him. Her conflict was so subdued, he had to struggle to simply see it.

"He tried. Once."

Loki clenched his jaw. "And?"

Cora thought about that, considerately noting with a lingering tone of sadness, "…I suppose that was the first time power 'manifested' for me. He was twice my size and I threw him into a wall…"

"Well done." Cora looked at him in a bit of surprise, but he was perfectly serious. "Though I can not imagine you allowing someone to treat you so indignantly."

"I did though. For longer than I should have," she said embarrassedly. "I think everyone does at some point in their lives. And then you grow from it."

A silence passed between them before she suddenly diverted their little practice session. She put away her phone and suggested, "I don't seem to be doing very well at this, so maybe we could work on this instead? You said it could do other things," as she took Mjolnir from her hip.

Loki was a bit relieved at the topic change and said, "Yes. As I said, it can be recalled and Thor used it to bombard enemies with lightning, cause it to rain, and fly."

"He could fly with this?" she asked incredulously.

"He can, but I would not recommend you trying it. You would hurt yourself." He was only half-teasing.

Cora glowered at him before looking over the hammer, trying to figure out how to use it. "Well, basics first, I guess… How do I call it back?"

"Throw it. Hard." Cora gave it a good throw, hearing Loki say behind her, "Now bring it back to you." She had no idea how to do that and the hammer fell to the floor, dust rising up around it.

"That was the worst explanation ever," Cora noted as she looked over her shoulder at him.

He tried not to laugh at her and only just managed not to before suggesting she pick it up and try again. "Be one with it. Treat it as a mere extension of your arm."

Cora took a deep breath after picking up the hammer before hurling it forward again. With all her might and spirit, she willed it back to her. Her hand shot forward of its own instinctual accord and Mjolnir paused in mid air, switching direction and coming back to her, its handle aimed toward the curvature of her palm. She caught it, but the force sent her backward. She braced herself to hit the floor, but she felt two large hands against her back instead, stopping her fall.

She glanced up into Loki's face, feeling a bit sheepish, but strangely frozen, too. Not from the temperature of his hands—though they were cold through her shirt—but from locking eyes with him. That stillness was only dissolved when he murmured, "Perhaps you should use a little less concentration next time."

"I'm thinking too much again?"

Loki smiled and the expression was strangely kind. "Exactly."

Later that night, they were snacking on bagels again. They had quit around an hour after her little mishap with recalling Mjolnir successfully for the first time and, after that, she'd worked on using just the right amount of willpower to bring it back without sending her onto her backside—which had happened a couple of times. It made her feel better to know she was capable of that little trick now, just in case it wasn't by her side when she needed it, though Loki seemed hellbent on keeping it tethered to her at all times.

Cora looked over the weapon with renewed interest and a good sense of accomplishment. She'd not succeeded at what they'd set out to do today, but she'd been able to do something correctly at least. She thought back to what he'd said about the lightning and wondered if she could just use a little of that energy to make a light source. The use of her phone was causing its battery to wear out faster and she'd tried every light-switch in the old warehouse as evening had fallen the night before to no avail; they were all dead bulbs.

Loki had finished his "dinner"—if there was one thing he missed about Asgard, it was the food; bagels were getting a bit monotonous—and watched Cora out of the corner of his eye as she fiddled with Mjolnir, seeming to be attempting something with it. His eyes widened marginally when there seemed to be a spark of energy from inside the head of the hammer. He wondered if he'd simply seen a trick of the minimal light in the room until the spark grew more pronounced. "Careful, what are you—"

"Shh, hold on," she whispered, her eyes trained intently on the engraved spoke and not moving until a soft blue glow spread throughout the steel, radiating forth from the symbols in particular. There was a faint play of static around the edges, but it set forth enough light to outline the immediate area in a soft electric glow.

Cora smiled broadly, feeling accomplished and entirely unaware of Loki's gaze, now fixed upon her and his brother's weapon. His brow beetled subtly—he'd never imagined that Mjolnir could be used in a way that didn't edge toward violence. He'd gone with Thor into many a fight in their time as brothers and seen the destruction that hammer had caused to their foes. And yet here was this human woman opposite him, encouraging its power to show in a gentle way that made it more of a nightlight than a weapon. She was in control.

His teeth clenched faintly as he pondered that. This mortal could do what he couldn't. As the light grew and then slowly faded from the dwarf-forged steel in her hands, a dangerous envy began to brew anew in his heart.

Next chapter: Chapter 7, "Powerless"

[kuroharukawada]

The 2,000,000 subscribers special: second watch thoughts

Truth be told, when I first watched the new subscriber milestone special I did it pretty mindlessly, because it was friday and I was tired after the uni week. This is clearly not the way one should watch Jacknjellify videos so I rewatched it now, this time with a clear mind, since this short is actually full of pretty juicy Number Playground lore

///

While it's most likely true that The Number Playground Chronicles! are most likely non-canon in the modern XFOHV videos (cause the book is over a decade old as of this year), it's interesting to see that both Divide and the mythical division symbol are held in a similar regard of being not exactly popular to say the least (the reason why other algebraliens hate Divide most likely also comes from being afraid of their power)

We see that Two is fully willing to help Fourteen get out of the jailcage, either not knowing about his background or believing that everything that's being said about him is just rumors ("Well you seem nice. How'd you get locked up?"). This supports my personal headcanon that Two being one of the smallest in terms of value also makes them noticably younger than Four and others. They're naive and somewhat guilliable and have great respect for their seniors. It's only now they realize that Fourteen isn't as cool as they always thought, which causes them to become disappointed in one of the people they possibly looked up to growing up

Another detail that caught me is Fifteen's reaction to seeing who exactly she just burned with the flamethrower. A look of disbelief, shock, maybe even realization that she just did something horrible to someone she actually likes. Since the color change of the integers that went through a mathematical operation usually goes unnoticed (Nine and Six were able to pass as Fifteen almost flawlessly dispite looking nothing like her) and only their value actually matters to the beholders, it means that Fifteen had such a reaction to Seven rather than Fourteen because that's who she saw in the moment. Maybe Seven was one of the few integers Fifteen was friends with before her voluntary isolation and despite she has long cut contacts with them she still sees them as a best friend and gets terrified after seeing them getting hurt because of her (even if it wasn't real Seven, the impact is still there)

"Hi, friends! I know you all falsely accused me and threw me into a cage, but I don't hold grudges!"

That line made me melt. Seven might be self-centered and an emo but they're still so sweet, I love them so much (*꒦ິ꒳꒦ີ)

And as a bonus thought, sometime in the summer of this year I came up with an integer OC named Twelve and they were yellow colored as well, just like Twelve in the credits! I was like "Wow, they read my mind for this one" when I saw them. Pretty funny coincidence

[vxnillite]

is this hurt/comfort

maybe, but instead of a ship, it's my oc and their mother figure at work :D

i forgot how i format this stuff

Characters: Noah ©️ me, Nina Cortez ©️ @smoldoddles (the bestie ever)

Word count: 2436

set just a few days after the RDA left Pandora in the first movie when, I assume, those who stayed continued operation of Hell's Gate

Breakfast. Check.

Coffee. Check.

Daily avatar exercise. Check.

Morning routine check on the staff. Not quite.

Nina, back in her human self for now, breezed through the SciOps lab doors and made a beeline to one particular desk station. All of the owner's documents were cleanly and perfectly stacked, their pens neat in the pencil holder, but the thinnest layer of dust had made the desk its new home. Nina held the overlooking lamp and frowned when she felt it. Cold.

"Where's Noah," she asked, looking forlorn at the abandoned desk.

The scientist stationed opposite Noah looked up from her work. Usually quite cheerful, Angela answered without her signature smile to light her face up. "They haven't come in today, Dr. Cortez." She sighed heavily. "They didn't come back yesterday after lunch."

Nina recalled breakfast that morning. She'd reported to the mess hall a lot earlier than usual, but only because she woke up rather early that day. She, then, finished breakfast before the first wave of staff came in for their own, and since Noah was usually a late riser, Nina didn't expect to catch them at the mess hall. The decision to go on about her morning like usual suddenly felt like a crime, guilt and disappointment in herself crashing down on the doctor. The only relief she could afford herself at the moment was a quiet sigh.

Angela must've heard it though. "Well, it's not like we're keeping up attendance anymore, right, Doc?" She tilted her head as she cracked a half-smile. "I heard Noah fought alongside the Na'vi in the fight 3 days ago. They're probably just tired from that."

Nina thought it was a good point. She straightened herself up and said, "I'll go check on them."

"I hope they're just resting. Surely, they'd need as much of it as they can get." Angela replied. Her eyes fell on the empty desk across her before meeting Nina's gaze again. "Tell them I miss my desk neighbor, yeah?"

Nina smiled and nodded at her before turning on her heel and heading back out the door. Her route now would be short, just a few turns then down the elevator to the level below the labs where the SciOps living hubs stood, now far less occupied with just about half of the residents left. While that meant there was a shorter waiting time at the showers, the remaining staff of Hell's Gate were now at the phase of figuring out how to run the facility with less than half of its people left. As someone who was higher than most on the political hierarchy, Nina had become a supervising figure for the continuing operation of Hell's Gate, not just of the SciOps division. Part of the reason was her seniority, but another was her military experience, which made Nina the ideal person to also direct the SecOps division in the Colonel's absence. In turn, though, her schedule was almost still as packed as it was before the rebellion.

But Nina had finished her rounds on both SecOps and SciOps, and everything was more or less running perfectly. So now, Nina was going to attend to a more personal task, one that she was taking on as both Noah's senior and, more importantly, as their friend.

Nina knocked twice on the door of Noah's quarters. "Noah, it's Nina," she called out. "May I come in?"

No answer.

Fearing that history was repeating itself—this was only the 2nd time ever that Noah had disappeared from the labs—Nina pulled out a security card and tapped it on the scanner next to the door. The light changed from red to green.

That security card was such a handy tool that the security staff gave to her after her informal promotion to SecOps supervisor. Nina had used it to sneak into the pantry for a midnight snack once already. But while her use of it now was rather invasive at surface-level, Nina knew better than to let Noah lock themselves in their room to wallow and rot in self-pity, even in spite of recent events.

The last time Noah had shut the world out, it was because theirs had shattered. Now, it would seem that it was happening all over again.

But much to her surprise, then worry, Noah was not in their quarters. The bed was made but cold. It didn't seem like Noah had just gotten up and left for the showers or something. Nina surveyed the room more closely. A black oversized jacket, Kevin's, was hung over the desk chair. Noah's data pad was missing from its charging pod. Their boots were missing, too.

'Where could they be,' Nina thought worriedly. As she surveyed the room one last time, she briefly wondered if Noah had ever even been in this room since the rebellion. It seemed as such.

If that was the case, then waiting around for Noah to come back wasn't the best thing to do right now, Nina decided. So she left the room. The door somberly closed behind her. For a moment, she stood in the middle of the empty hallway in quiet thought.

While doing her rounds that morning, Nina had asked every person she could if they had seen Noah. Alas, her little investigation had been fruitless. More "I think I saw"s than "Yeah, they were here"s than she would have liked. Their own living quarters had been the last on her mental checklist, but now she was thinking they could be hiding out somewhere else. But Kevin's old room had long been occupied by a different person, so Noah couldn't have gone there. 

So maybe... it was a different soldier's room they were in.

Nina made a pitstop to the records office, where she found just one guy working on his computer. He was the only one from his department to defect.

"I'm a little busy right now," Alex hollered without looking up from the monitor. He seemed more stressed than mean, but there was a sprinkle of the latter.

Nina kept walking toward him. "Alex, I need a favor."

Alex stopped immediately. "Dr. Cortez," he stammered as he swiveled his chair in his direction, a crooked smile forced on his face, "I didn't know it was you. Um, what can I do for you?"

"Room assignments, you've got them, right?"

"Sure do."

"Great. I need Harper Zdinarsk's. SecOps."

Not a second was wasted as Alex pulled up a new window and rapidly typed the name into the search bar. When the results popped up, he read out the needed information, "Harper Zdinarsk. 129 in the SecOps wing."

"Was it ever accessed," Nina asked.

Alex scrolled down to the room access history section. He paled at what he saw. "Opened via DMT 2 days ago." His voice shook the tiniest bit as he added, "But this soldier is dead, one of the casualties from the fight."

Nina hummed. "Was her body found?"

"No, but we assumed she was dead because she wasn't with the people who went back to Earth." Alex swallowed nervously, his trembling hands glued to his desk made Nina pity the poor man. "Doc, are we being haunted?"

"Psh, of course not."

Satisfied with the information she got, Nina began walking back out of the room. Just as she had a foot out of the door, she looked back at Alex, smiling cheekily at the spooked man. "But if you hear something creepy, maybe just log that into the records~"

Nina spared herself a giggle at her own teasing before refocusing herself as she was a few paces down the hall. The SecOps living hubs were just around the corner, and as if Eywa herself had blessed Nina that day, Room 129 was just the 3rd door.

She knocked. "Noah, it's Nina. I'm coming in, okay?"

The steel door hissed open as Nina pocketed her security card. Then, once the door closed behind her, locking out the noise of Hell's Gate, she heard a voice she was sure did not belong to anyone currently in that dark, unlit room.

"Why are you filming me," Z asked, a laughter carrying her words from a distance. "Am I on the observation list today?"

Noah laughed as well, their voice louder. "Yeah, I'm filming a worrywart in her natural habitat, and she's once again worrying about if a blade of grass would strike and poison me. Oh, no," they dragged, "I got stung, ah!"

"Oh, whatever shall I do," Z replied with a playful, exaggerated eye roll. It was weird to see her not locked and loaded with her gun just dismissed to her side.

The camera wobbled as Noah groaned dramatically. "It hurts so bad, oh my god."

In a split-second, Z's carefree expression hardened and she approached Noah. The closer she got to the camera, the clearer the worry was on her features, furrowed brows, a stiff frown, but a contrasting softness in her eyes. "Hey, wait, are you serious right now?"

The camera stopped shaking and Noah responded in a monotone voice, "Nah."

Z clicked her tongue, and Noah laughed again. Nina found herself infected by the cheerfulness of the avatar behind the camera, so did Z, it seemed.

Then, the video ended.

The light was now open. Noah, the one who was sitting on the edge of Z's bed, hovered their finger over the play button. Their data pad laid on their lap, no doubt forcing them into a very uncomfortable position for their neck. Still, they were unmoving apart from the hand tautly fiddling with the hem of their oversized shirt. Stencil-printed letters on the left chest read "SecOps".

Beside them, Nina sat silently. The ache in her chest was growing close to unbearable. The sting in her eyes was demanding relief. But she kept herself together, observing Noah. Instead of the play button, their finger dragged the video track, stopping when the screen showed a clear shot of Z grinning at Noah in the video.

Silence. Unbreaking, unmoving silence as if the world itself had stopped. It would only continue if Noah pushed the play button.

They didn't.

Nina couldn't see Noah's face with all their hair covering them like a blanket, but their head never moved from its position looking directly down at the data pad. They stewed in the quiet for a few more seconds before Nina reached out with a gentle hand. When her hand had barely even grazed their back, Noah grabbed onto Nina, whose mind surged with worry as she held Noah's body, frail and trembling. Yet their hands clenched fistfuls of Nina's coat like they were holding on for dear life. The data pad slid onto the floor, but neither one cared.   

Noah crumbled into a state Nina had never seen them in before, crying their beaten, desperate heart out into her shoulder. No words were spoken, then again maybe they couldn't make it past the tears. But Nina felt all that grief, pain, brokenness. Soon enough, Noah's cries were pushing onto Nina's mind images of the people she herself had lost. Her own arms began to tremble, but her hold of Noah did not falter. Rather, she fastened her arms tighter around them and pulled them even deeper into her embrace.

"It's going to be okay, Noah," she said, her voice cracking under her own tears as she rubbed the young doctor's back while fighting back tears of her own. A sniffle escaped, though. "It's going to be okay."

More sobs. Some Noah choked on. Their tears, their mourning, their yearning. It all felt endless.

"Just let it all out."

Noah heaved. Whatever strength they had during the battle was gone. Now, they felt as fragile as a glass ball. The slightest hit would shatter them completely. But they managed a few words, "She's gone, Nina… It's all my fault…"

Nina pressed her cheek on Noah's head, caressing it gently. At that moment, with her eyes closed, she saw a familiar head of ginger hair. The grief almost knocked Nina over like a tidal wave. But she stayed strong for Noah. 

"Don't blame yourself. Please." Somehow, it felt as if she was talking to herself.

Noah shook their head, but anything they might've tried to say got caught up in their grief. Nina was all too familiar with how that felt like.

Metal clattered to the floor, interrupting the two as Noah flinched straight. They looked down at the fallen dog tags with a panic in their eyes as they reached down. But Nina saw clearly that they were not Z's tags that had fallen, and she swiped them away with her foot. Noah snapped their neck up at Nina, who shook her head.

"It's not hers."

Noah abruptly looked down on their lap, where Z's tags were, both clean as a whistle.

Then, Nina gently put her hand on Noah's. She smiled gently.

"When did you get them," she asked.

Noah answered slowly, "Before the celebration with the Omaticaya." They hung their head low. "I…snuck back out to the forest. I'm sorry."

Nina hushed their worries down. "Alex said they couldn't find Zdinarsk's…" She cleared her throat and spoke again with a firmer voice, "They couldn't find Zdinarsk."

Noah sniffled, then breathed out shakily. "I buried her." The tears started flooding their cheeks again. "I'm sorry. I didn't—I had to. I couldn't leave her there… I'm—"

"It's fine, Noah." Nina held both of their hands and squeezed them tightly. "I understand, and I promise I won't breathe a word to any soul about it."

"If Mo'at finds out—"

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there."

Nina let go of Noah, but only to put Z's tags into their hands. She, then, balled their hands into fists over the metal before raising her hands to part Noah's hair, tucking as much of it behind their ears. In the bleak overhead light, the young scientist looked like a corpse. Nina tried not to frown, but she was only really concerned.

"I'll get you something to eat, okay?"

Noah nodded weakly. Nina got up, quickly peeling from the floor the dog tags that had fallen earlier. 

Once again, Nina stepped into the noisy hallway. The tags felt like blocks of lead on her conscience. She hoped Noah didn't see who it actually was on them. Briefly, she looked down at her hand. What stared back at her were a cold, lethal demeanor and the eyes of the man who let all hell break loose mere days ago. The eyes of the man she, fretfully, loved.

[morganwrites12672]

BILLY HARGROVE X SISTER

STEVE HARRINGTON X HARGROVE READER

This one contains an OC I always use (Ashley)

**

**

"BILLY," You yell walking into the gym after Track practice with you friend who transferred from your old school in cali.

"I'm almost done," he yells running around shirtless with sweaty men. Oh, yeah. That's called basketball.

Your friend, Ashley starts catcalling the players as you sit down . "I'm free tonight hot stuff," she yells earning a few winks.

She flashes a smile, her eyes glowing. She loves teasing boys.

"Oh, my God please don't fuck half the basketball team on your first day,"

"No half, 75 percent . Starting with your brother," she starts running.

You both dodge basketball players as she makes her escape.

**

"You bitch," Yn says sitting outside the principals office, holding an ice pack to her face.

"You threw the first punch. And ninety percent of them," Ashley grumbles.

Steve and Billy stand in front of the girls

"Why? You decide to beat the shit out of your friend," Steve asks. He is pacing in front of the girls.

"Bite me. I'm not afraid of Yn's little bitch," Ashley replies leaning back. Keeping pressure on her ice pack.

"Wait, I remember . Ashley Grover. You both beat the living hell out of each other. Like every day," Billy remembers.

Ashley does a dramatic toss of her blonde waves, that perfectly compliment her sun kissed skin.

**

"Three weeks of after school detention on Thursdays and mondays," yn informs her boyfriend.

As she leans in to kiss him over the center console a gagging voice from the back reminds them of a tag along.

Flipping off Dustin, yn pulls Steve by the collar of his green family video vest, and press his lips to hers. After Steve moans into her mouth, they break apart.

"God I love you baby," Steve says pulling out of the school parking lot .

Dustin gives you both a disgusted look, "You guys are gross," he says pointing between the both of you.

Steve places a hand on your thigh, "No we're in love," yn takes this as her cue and leans in to kiss him on the cheek.

"Billy was weird today," Steve gives yn a questioning look after her comment, "Well, he said he could drive Max home. He always insists if I go with someone else to take her,"

"He probably wanted you to have a little privacy," Dustin replies, once again reminding yn and Steve of his presence.

They pull into the Byers driveway, "See you later Dusty-buns, " yn calls.

"Bye mom, bye dad," the freshman replies.

"Did he just," Steve asks.

"Yes he did. He has let it slip before,"

But not like that. Yn thinks.

Yn pulls on her family video vest as Steve settles into a cruising speed.

"I don't know why Billy was being so....." she tries to find the words, "Cooperative,"

"Maybe, he wants to do something, nice," Steve replies, his hand going back to it's spot on yns thigh after she had sat back down.

"It's weird. Oh," Yn stops mid sentence. She glances out of the window. They are only a few minutes away.

Steve gives her a concerned look, "What is it baby,"

"It is the finals. If we hadn't moved I would be getting to complete in the Senior Advanced Division," she tells him with a sad smile.

"I'm sorry baby," Steve tells her, his thumb rubbing reassuring circles on the material of her jeans.

Whenever you get home Steve cuddles into your side and murmurs words of affection.

"I love you so much princess,"

"It's okay baby,"

You smile as he cheers you up.

[battlekilt]

I am not the best at creating OCs with the same proliferation and density as other fandom denizens. Sure, I have a list of OCs I've created off the cuffs for a scene and will use them again. However, most of the time, I don't think about them a whole lot until I need them again.

Sure, there are exceptions. Kit and Forsil have become two such. However, I still don't think a lot about them unless I am writing for them specifically.

However, today, it occurred to me... I could create for the Kamino Guard. I've got a vague little guy in my head, as well as whole ideas for the KG in general.

First of all, most lower-ranking Kamino Guards rotate in and out of the front because no one wants them to stagnate. Most Clones feel like being assigned to Kamino is like dropping out of college and moving back in with Mom & Dad. They long for the action in the front.

Secondly, senior KG officers tend to stay on Kamino for the stability of the division.

Back to this vague little guy. He was assigned to the guard REALLY early in the war before all Clones began to pick their own names. He wanted out in the front so bad. Maybe he was injured at Geonosis, and that was why he was there?

Then, the first battle of Kamino happened. Most of his senior officers died, but he somehow stepped up to the plate. He was quickly promoted and became a senior staff officer, meaning he is now permanent.

I have two possible names for him.

[ruvviks]

– OC RAMBLING.

TAGGED BY: @katsigian & @reaperkiller, thank you so much!! TAGGING: @aartyom, @strafethesesinners, @faarkas, @necro-hamster, @dirtyimbecile and YOU! RULES: posts 5 facts about your oc, open the latest section of the #cyberpunk 2077 tag and reblog 5 posts of people you don't follow, giving them nice tags & then tag 5 people to spread the game!

– CASSIDY SHAFFER.

Following the tragic deaths of his parents and siblings, Cassidy was sent to an orphanage at the age of eight where he lived for a couple of years. An incident caused the building to collapse and he was buried under the rubble, which caused him to be in a coma for six months. His injuries were very serious and he needed to have several of his bones replaced with cybernetic bones which he has to this day; on top of that, his nervous system got such a shock he now has to deal with very low pain tolerance. He's very sensitive to touch and more than often refuses to let people get near, even the lightest brush of someone's fingers past his skin can feel like a solid punch if he's not been expecting it.

Cassidy was a very intelligent kid and he let himself get recruited into Militech at the age of 16, seeing no other future for himself. He had strategic insight and administrative skills, as well as a knack for computers and digital technology the other candidates lacked- this caused his two year training period to be cut short and he began working for Michele Diaz, one of his superiors. He worked for Militech for several years, but continuously got himself into trouble; he was sent away from bodyguard duty after they found out he was killing his clients himself (they were rude to him and wouldn't stop doing so when he asked them nicely), was sent away from his desk job because he continuously got into heated arguments with his coworkers (started by them after he tried to offer them help), was sent away from his netrunning job because he kept hacking into Militech's own systems (he had nothing else to do so he did this to pass the time and write detailed reports on how their security could be improved), and he even didn't last long in the cleanup crew he was placed in because he kept gathering evidence and data on crime scenes which he would then sell to other corporations, to hold this against them, involve NetWatch and essentially blackmail everyone until he would walk away from the situation victorious and with large sums of money for Militech. This eventually prompted his superiors to "recommend" him to MaxTac and Cassidy was placed over to the other corporation.

At MaxTac, Cassidy got his somewhat obnoxious and pretentious attitude rather quickly beaten out of him; not literally, but his duties as "intern" were heavy enough for him to switch to an almost autopilot state of living. He spent some years barely present while doing field work, until he got injured and was moved to a desk job to make a full recovery. Here, he had to oversee the cyberpsycho reprogramming program at MaxTac HQ and worked directly under Officer Reid Bennett, a senior MaxTac exec who from day one showed interest in him. They grew close quickly and started a romantic relationship only two months after meeting each other, and to Cassidy it felt like he had known Reid for years already. This of course could not last; much later it turned out Reid's initial curiosity had been a temporary feeling only and he had only kept Cassidy around as entertainment, and he ended their relationship rather suddenly during a time Cassidy was already spiraling because of work-related business. After yet another incident which involved Cassidy killing his entire squad after they had made fun of him, he was forced to run away from the corporation and sought shelter at Kang Tao.

Kang Tao also did not last long for Cassidy. Following yet another fight with a colleague (they blamed Cassidy for something he hadn't even had anything to do with and humiliated him in front of the entire division), Cassidy released a bunch of Kang Tao-related scandals to the public and bounced before they could capture him to deal with him. Naturally so, he has very big trust issues nowadays and prefers to be all by himself most of the time, despite secretly longing for more human contact; it physically hurts him and there's a big chance they'll dislike him anyway, so he prefers to just save himself the trouble and stay away from others as best as he can.

Nowadays, Cassidy is an assassin, taking jobs from anyone as long as they have nothing to do with a corporation; if he were to find out his client has been lying to him, he simply kills them too for that reason alone. He's once again running completely on autopilot, actively pushing away all his feelings and emotions at all times to be able to keep his calm and collected composure; however, all of that is going to be changing soon. I'm writing a fic about it if you're interested :].

Bonus fact: Despite him being the equivalent of the standing man emoji most of the time, Cassidy is actually very sweet and kind- he just needs to snap out of his autopilot mode first and allow people to get close to him again. He actually loves holding hands with people he trusts and can talk for hours on end about things that interest him, and he's always very considerate and puts in a lot of effort to learn about the people around him to make sure he doesn't accidentally hurt them, and to be able to surprise them with a gift or their favorite food one day :]. It takes him a while to get there but he gets there in the end.

[eodasks]

OC time

Name: Agent Harlow

Gender: Male

Color scheme: blue with lilac accents

Age: somewhere in his mid 30s

Height: 5'11"

Division: Enhanced Operatives

Title: Senior Agent / Junior Handler (Transition period from agent to handler)

Personality traits: Constantly tired but never seems to sleep, perpetual coffee drinker, sleeps half the day and somehow still gets his work done.

Known around for refusing to just outright state what he means by the various remarks he makes.

Lost an arm while trying to keep Agent Pheonix out of the bomb disposal unit, due to them wanting to see inside to "find out where the bombs go."

Name: Dr Heidrich

Gender: Non-Binary

Color scheme: Orange

Age: Mid-to-late 20s

Height: 5'01"

Division: Scientific

Title: Senior Researcher (Worked under Dr Prism prior to her "disappearance")

Personality traits: Talkative beyond belief (do NOT ask about their current project, they will not shut up for the next 5 hours), kind, relatively polite, hard working

Despite them being so talkative, most agents do not know them, as they spend most of their time experimenting with their newest pet project

Made a replacement arm for Harlow

Occasionally helps out in the infirmary when staff are shorthanded

[lboogie1906]

General Julius Wesley Becton Jr. (June 29, 1926 - November 28, 2023) was born to Julius and Rose Becton in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. In December 1943, he joined the Army Air Corps Enlisted Reserves. After graduating high school in 1944, he joined the active army. He hoped that he would become a pilot but was ruled ineligible because of astigmatism.

Though the Army was segregated in 1944, Officer Candidate School was not. He and sixteen other African American candidates completed OCS in 1945 and were commissioned as second lieutenants. He was assigned to serve in the Philippines.

He left the army and attended Muhlenberg College. In 1948, after President Harry S. Truman had desegregated the military, he was accepted for active duty once and remained in the Army until 1983. He saw combat duty in Korea and Vietnam. He was stationed in Germany, the Philippines, France, the Southwest Pacific, and Japan during his service. In 1972 he was promoted to Brigadier General.

As an army General, he commanded the 1st Cavalry Division, the US Army Operations Test and Evaluation Agency, and the VII U.S. Corps. He was the first African American officer to command a Corps in the US Army.

He earned a BS in Mathematics from Prairie View A&M. He received an MS in economics from the University of Maryland. He was a graduate of the United States Command and General Staff College, the Armed Forces Staff College, and the National War College.

He held several important posts in the government, the private sector, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. He was director of the Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance. President Ronald Reagan appointed him the director of FEMA. He was CEO of American Coastal Industries and he was named chairman of the Senior Civil Emergency Planning Committee for NATO.

The Texas A&M University Board of Regents unanimously voted him the president of Prairie View A&M. He was the first Prairie View A&M graduate to be selected president of the institution. He was the Superintendent of Schools in DC.

He married Louise Thornton (1948). They have five children. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[freequizbank]

Denmark, Albany Senior High School return strong results at West Coast Fever Cup _ FreeQuizBank.com - Free Exam Practice Questions for LANTITE Numeracy, Mathematical Reasoning - OC, Selective and Scholarship Tests @acereduau #NSWeducation #AusEdu @AusGovEducation @ServiceNSW

[vprogresseducation]

Denmark, Albany Senior High School return strong results at West Coast Fever Cup _ FreeQuizBank.com - Free Exam Practice Questions for LANTITE Numeracy, Mathematical Reasoning - OC, Selective and Scholarship Tests @acereduau #NSWeducation #AusEdu @AusGovEducation @ServiceNSW

[midori-laboratories]

Ashes In The Fall - Chapter 7: Tension and Calculation III

Book 2 of the Calendula Chronicles

Resident evil, Wesker X OC

Story Summary: Marigold Ashford escaped the mansion, only to face new incarceration with a familiar jailor. She may yet have to make a deal with the devil, if she can unearth what this Faustian bargain would cost her.

There is always something left to lose.

Chapter summary: An old contact reaches out to the remnants of STARS, and Marigold's activities are discovered.

Kate Everett, senior corporate manager for the Raccoon City Umbrella headquarters, had begun seriously examining her life choices once again since the Arklay disaster.

Another disaster. More ‘accidents’. Except this one was so bad it had taken out two STARS teams, a train, the old training facility and the Arklay mansion itself. Most of the work kept her tied between New York and the town; it wasn’t the only lab, or even the important one. But damn.

She had barely paid attention to the recent uptick in murders until the STARS team was announced, with their shiny new roster. Most of the old lab crew had transferred away since the eighties. So when the paper had shown pictures of the team, her eye had caught upon a face that snagged in her memory: the Arklay researcher that had split off to parts unknown several years earlier. He was older, and had clearly done a few tours out...better not to think too hard on that. Still, the face in the photo was unmistakable.

Something…really bad was expected to go down soon. She’d put in a call to her ex back in May and asked him to let their daughter stay with him in New York for the summer. She couldn’t get away herself, but she felt better for making the decision. He had worked in the same office as her during those rocky years after the training facility had been shut down. Some things didn’t need to be said.

Sometimes Kate Everett really, really hated being right. The officers went in. Most of them didn’t return. One helicopter returned with only a few survivors.

And then things started to get really weird when her phone rang late that same night.

“Where have you been?!” Kate had sat down hard in her recently redecorated kitchen. It had been years - a broken marriage, a daughter, a house, and a promotion, in that order, but that voice transported her back like it was yesterday.

“Same place you left me, obviously. I’m glad you weren’t there for it, but it is what it is.” The mansion...oh, god. Somehow, it kept slipping out of her head that she had left the woman there. The connection just wouldn’t hold. That was likely why no one had looked to hard at her following the mysterious incident that had occurred on the same day. Walls ripped apart. A couple of guards, and an office manager had died. A few others had been quarantined for a few weeks before being released. Their frightened, haunted eyes shone in her dreams.

Marigold...somehow...had warned her of what was about to happen, that cold November day in 1981. “You told me to run, back then, didn’t you.”

“Yes.” She sounded distracted. Then: “The newspaper said that the researcher you had me meet...there...was leading a rescue team into the mansion. Are they all company?” So careful to avoid names.

“The...oh!” Everett stammered, picking up the thread of the question. “They’re all cops, I think. No, he went into the Intelligence Division years ago.” A cold pit was forming in the pit of Kate’s stomach. She really hated being right. At least the one name on that list that actually caused any concern for her team hadn’t survived the mansion. Umbrella had sent an email out to the senior heads at the office to prepare them for the impending shitstorm about to hit them all.

Marigold - good lord, she was alive - then had to run off, and Kate had to hold down the fort while the bombshell of the mansion exploded all over the town for the next few weeks. Doctor William Birkin had withdrawn into his work, and his wife had recently been ambushed by reporters who knew a bit more about her work than was strictly safe at this time.

Kate Everett was a survivor in a million little ways. Sometimes that meant avoiding seeing things that would put her on someone’s hit list.

Sometimes it meant wondering if this was the right time to leave the company.

Twelve days after that call, Kate woke up early. She was still groggy. She’d been sleeping poorly lately. If this kept up, they’d notice at work.

Kate kept a legal pad and pen on her bedside table with a telephone. Reaching for the pad automatically, she jotted something down without thinking, then went back to sleep. When her alarm rang, she got up as per usual and went about her day.

She’d just stepped into her bedroom to change out of her work clothes at the end of another long day, when she saw the note she had written herself.

rchambers@rcu.com

IF YOU WANT OUT: BE SURE. -MA

At the bottom of the note was a messy scrawl of the Umbrella logo. In her own handwriting.

The call is coming from inside the house, she thought, bleak. R Chambers...was the biochemist who had signed on as a medic for STARS. Marigold was offering her a way out. Or you’re losing your mind.

Well, she had the email. Did she want out?

Yes. Yes, she did. Her estranged family was bundled away in New York. She was suddenly sharply glad they had agreed to stay there for the summer.

She looked at the note. There was only one way to be sure whether this was real or not.

But first, she’d need a glass of wine to fortify her nerves.

-----

Rebecca sat in Chris Redfield’s living room, surrounded by Chris, Barry, and Jill. Brad had begged off. They hadn’t fought him on it. Brad would get off light with the precinct for ‘just’ being branded a coward. What was being said about them...

Jill looked steadily at Rebecca. “Okay. We’re all here now. We need to figure out what we’re going to do next.”

Chris looked crestfallen. “I can’t believe Irons was in their pocket the whole time.”

“Can’t you?” Barry replied, just as dejected.

Chris hesitated, then shook his head. “I wanted it to be over so bad. Can we even do anything from here?”

“Um...I mentioned to you guys that someone came over with a tip the day after, right?” Rebecca started, timid. She had moved over to Jill’s computer and logged into her old university email address. After reading through the contents of the notebook from her visitor, she’s started checking it two, three times a day. So far, nothing.

“You did. Sorry, Rebecca.” Chris had the grace to look embarrassed. “I...I kind of thought someone from the company was trying to psyche you out, with everything that’s gone down since.”

“Well, I didn’t want to get into all of it over the phone. I had to check over the notes that she gave me.”

Jill perked up. “Notes?”

Rebecca pulled the lab notebook from her satchel. The bracelet and the ID card were tucked inside the cover. She held it out to Jill. Frowning, Jill took it. Flipped it open, saw the ID card of Doctor John Clemens. “That’s...he was just outside the lab with the...holy shit.” She plucked the ID up and handed it to Chris before refocusing on the other object inside the cover. “A patient bracelet? It’s from the mansion.” She looked back up at Rebecca. for answers.

Rebecca sighed. “She was in the lab - she said that Doctor Clemens managed to get her out - she was a little sketchy on the details of how. I might have just missed crossing paths with her if that’s true.” She looked miserable. “I know how it sounds, but just look at what she’s giving us.”

“Beck, we were all in that forest. even if she got out of the mansion...” Barry trailed off. Both teams had lost people in those trees on arrival. So many people, just gone.

Jill broke back in, flipping through the pages. “Guys, Rebecca’s right. A lot of this stuff is old, but it’s all of the internal structures. Maps, corporate structures. I think she uses a different name for the virus. There are pages here on the mansion in the late seventies to ‘81.” Jill went still. “Wesker’s in here. Jesus, Rebecca.”

Rebecca nodded. She had their attention, now. “She really, really wanted to be sure that he was dead. I told her what I could. She...seemed annoyed.” At Barry’s incredulous look, she kept going. “No, not like that. She just thought it sounded like a stupid way to die. Just walking at the Tyrant and being the biggest target. She said it sounded sloppy for him. She’s written up what she knows there, too.”

Jill opened her mouth to argue, then stopped, nodding in agreement. “...kind of, yeah. You would have had to be there.” She skimmed through the section. “It stops in 1981. Because that’s when they grabbed her then, you said. Was she a spy?”

“No. Worse. She got infected with a version that stayed…dormant, I think, about a decade earlier, and managed to hide it. Apparently, she was a senior bigshot for a while. But it made them pretty mad when they found out.” Rebecca glanced at the computer screen again, frowning. She continued. “She was able to back up some of what I saw before Alpha team arrived - and she was able to corroborate my description because she recognized him.” Rebecca reached into her bag again for her thermos, packed with dry ice. Popping open the top, she showed them two and a half small vials of blood. “That brings me to the other reason I think she came to me. I was able to take these.”

“She let you?”

“She insisted. I think she was afraid I wouldn’t believe her. Wouldn’t stay more than an hour, and she said she was skipping town as soon as we were done.” The thermos had a special cold seal for portable sample storage. “I was able to duck into the university between sessions on a Saturday and check it out myself. I couldn’t do much, but...I believe her, for what it’s worth.” Rebecca glanced back to the computer screen, refreshing the browser window. A small green flag for a new message appeared.

Jill noticed. “That’s not all, is it.”

“Nope,” Rebecca suddenly grinned. “She - sorry, she seemed spooked about using her name, and I think I’ve picked up that tic as well now - she said that she would see if an old contact of hers still wanted to get away from Umbrella. One who could pick up the story where she left off.” Rebecca clicked open the open new email. “And it looks like she’s ready to talk to us. Listen.” Rebecca leaned in the read the message aloud for the room. “A mutual friend reached out to me, in case I wanted to run this time. When she says it’s time to run, it’s a good time to listen.” Rebecca glanced over her shoulder at the team. Her smile was pure triumph. “I have a phone number.”

-----

It was shocking, really, how much farther she could cast herself out since before that fateful trip to Arklay. Physically, she hadn’t changed much. But this...she could sense dozens of people still out around the continental US alone- executives, organizers, intermediaries. People, places to intercept. She’d read about magnetic resonance for brain imaging, and wondered if that might be an option. The technology might just be where she needed it these days.

Of course, pursuing that would mean either escaping and hoping she could beg or borrow that sort of access, or breaking the increasingly uncomfortable holding pattern she had established with Wesker.

The old manor in England was too far away, but the people around it still lived, little fireflies in the darkness. Too far to reach, and the point of the exercise wasn’t to push. Not yet. Just…observe. But with time? Perhaps more.

Enough to risk staying off her suppressants, at the very least.

She reached south, and west. Towards Rockfort. Alfred must have absorbed some of her staff. As far as they could tell, she physically affected her family less, but the connection wasn’t any weaker. Alexia had been fastidious about containment. But Alfred...he had been too young to not seek hugs from his favorite (only) aunt. The little boy had just seemed so damned lonely when the others weren’t looking. Her last conversation with him from Racoon City still bothered her. Alfred was also there. If she reached, she might see more. Too much for her to push through today. But also…

The Antarctic facility wasn’t empty. Did any of hers take over the work? Possible. Alfred had mentioned a plan. None of it will matter, soon enough. What in the world had he meant by that?

Footsteps echoed in the hallway, approaching her rook. She’d been under for longer than she had meant to go. There no real way to mark time down here, and surfacing took time. Not much, but it would be noticeable.

Time to pay the piper.

-----

There was a strange bubble of calm as Wesker approached Marigold’s room. I’ll know if something happens, you realize. Alfred Ashford’s words echoed from his memories.

He reached her door and hit the release. She was sitting cross-legged on the bed, eyes closed.

Marigold, in the Arklay conference room in 1981, sitting very still in the plush conference room chair, head bowed and eyes closed, with hands folded primly in her lap.

A moment passed. Here in the present, Marigold’s eyes flickered open, meeting his calmly.

“Your escort slipped out just after the meeting started,” he stated. His mouth felt dry. “It was put down to nausea, even after you started trying to fight your way out. No one put it together.”

”I’d know if something happened.” She replied, in an eerie parallel to a conversation he’d had in New York nearly ten years ago. History never repeats itself, but it often rhymes.

He could easily chase down this lead, but it would take hours to do it in person. Communication or inducement to filter was a possibility unless Marigold was sedated here and now. Frankly, it would burn the wrong bridge.

Besides, there was a wonderful opportunity right before him, if he let the lesser prey run free. A bird in the hand, and all that rubbish. The video feed had shown she hadn’t moved in hours from that position. Back then, she had arrived to the meeting fresh, but under the influence of suppressant medication. She had grown suddenly exhausted over the course of the meeting, masquerading as a headache.

Dark circles had returned below her eyes. Her stomach gurgled in protest, and she winced.

“Gym. Get some water, but we’ll go now. There’s something I’d like to test, and you may prefer an empty stomach.” He wouldn’t get a better time.

She shrank back. “Neither of us wants another blackout.”

His eyes seemed to gleam behind the glasses. “So it is reflexive. We can work around that.” She didn’t move, but a wariness was creeping back into her face. “I’ve seen you do it twice now if memory serves. Do you really want to worry about that catching you off guard?”

Marigold bit her lip, and closed her eyes again, for just a moment. He allowed it. The snare on the prey he wanted was already snapping tight.

Then she opened her eyes and looked up at him. She slowly unfolded her legs. “I may need a moment. I think my legs have gone numb. I could do with a glass of water, though.”

He stepped into the room.

[personalisedsupports]

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Disability support services near me are available to individuals who need assistance in managing their disability. These services are important to people who are disabled, as well as their families. If you are considering obtaining assistance for your disability, there are a number of factors that you should keep in mind.

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