Sinners like us

by seokjinshoe

Summary:

“These are my newest recruits,” Javier smiled, “Evan Nakamura and Jungkook Jeon, one of them will be joining your team soon,”

Seokjin gave them a nod and something akin to a smile. “Welcome,” he said drably, “perhaps someone should have warned you that this field will cost you your soul.”

When new recruit Jeon Jungkook joins the bureau of violent crimes the last thing he expects is to find himself in the middle of an active investigation. Much less to find himself falling for the very man who had brought him into the field and perhaps learning far more than he should.

Chapter 1: Prologue

Prologue

How strange it is that the one person you look up to most could very well be the one person who strikes the deepest fear in you.
Meeting the man he revered in a dank corridor was the last thing he had expected. The smell of blood flooded his senses and he had to remind himself that he had chosen this plight for himself.
Allowing himself a few seconds to regain his composure he followed the man into the next room. Dressed in a well fitted suit he looked immaculate as he calmly assessed the crime scene, seemingly unfazed by the sheer amount of blood and what looked like human guts littering the floor.

“Jungkook-“ a rough voice called out and he turned abruptly. His supervisor -Javier stood behind him, a tired expression on his face and he blanched as he offered him a sheepish smile. So maybe he wasn’t supposed to be here.

“Didn’t I tell you that you were assigned to desk duty today?” he asked, a hint of annoyance in his voice, “I’ve already sent Nakamura onto the field today, we cannot have two freshers out here, you know the rules,”

He gulped, “I know- it’s just that the case was so interesting-”

Javier cut him off, “Jungkook- we talked about this- or perhaps did you come here solely to see Seokjin?”

“I didn’t even know he was here,” he pouted as he fiddled with the pen and notebook that he always carried around.

Javier sighed, “Well I suppose as you are here now I may as well introduce you,” he said , leaving as abruptly as he had arrived. He stared after him open mouthed, one would assume the smell of blood would make him queasy but it was the idea of meeting Kim Seokjin that made him feel weak kneed.

Nakamura sidled up to him eventually, his mop of unruly blond curls obscuring his vision as Jungkook attempted to take in their case file as the forensic team bagged up the evidence and the rest of the team discussed the case.

“Some case huh,” he quipped in a tone that seemed far too enthusiastic for someone who had been assisting on a murder case.

He made a face as he held up the case file to him, “pretty gruesome,”

Nakamura shrugged, “Nothing we weren’t trained to handle,” he said, placing a tattered looking notebook on the makeshift table in the tent that the team had set up outside the crime scene. “I took a lot of notes- Kim Seokjin is incredible on the field,”

He nodded, not wanting to dwell on the man too much knowing that Javier was most likely to make well on his promise of introducing him to the other man.
“Isn’t he like your idol or something?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” he managed, hoping his face would not betray him.

Nakamura snorted, “That’s not what you said to me when you literally fought me for the last signed copy of his book,”

“It's a good book!” he retorted hotly, colour rising to his cheeks, “I’m just impressed by what he does,”

“Oh I’m sure-” he began but was interrupted by Javier who had just walked into the tent followed by none other than Kim Seokjin, his lips pulled into a thin grim line, the dark circles under his eyes apparent.

“Nakamura! Jeon!” Javier called and he gulped before following the wild haired boy towards the two other men.

“These are my newest recruits,” Javier smiled, “Evan Nakamura and Jungkook Jeon, one of them will be joining your team soon,”

Seokjin gave them a nod and something akin to a smile. “Welcome,” he said drably, “perhaps someone should have warned you that this field will cost you your soul.”

Javier smiled nervously in the background as Seokjin nodded to them, apparently having decided that that had been enough interaction and stalked off.

“Perhaps he’s a little tired,” Javier said.

“He’s awesome,” Nakamura declared , “he’s seen some bulllshit.”

Javier smiled, “You can’t imagine, his book doesn’t even cover half of it.”

“That’s awesome,’ Nakamura reiterated and she saw Javier give him a fond , almost tired smile, “perhaps I understand why Jeon worships the ground he walks on,”

He groaned as he stared at Kim Seokjin’s retreating figure, punching Nakamura on the shoulder as he did so.

Chapter 2: I

Blood and guts are not a conversation starter on one’s first date, neither was bringing up forensic evidence during appetizers apparently.

His date- someone that his friend, Jimin had picked out for him sat opposite him picking at his food rather sullenly as if his food reminded him too much of the poor victim's smashed skull and brain that he had decided to describe rather graphically.

Perhaps he should really learn about those social cues that Jimin was always talking about or perhaps he was better off hibernating in his apartment instead of even making half baked attempts to flirt with a man who was now probably terrified of him.

“So what do you do when you’re not you know-um- doing detective stuff,” the man asked presently and he couldn’t help admiring his resolve to engage him in a conversation that he felt sure he was going to ruin again.

“I read?”

 

“Yeah? What do you read?”

 

He gulped, embarrassed, “Crime…”

He laughed, almost bitterly, “Of course, I suppose not even your down time could really divorce you from your job huh?”

He nodded sheepishly, “I know- it’s odd, but I really do love my job- sorry I guess it must be a lot to deal with,”

He sighed, “It is,if I’m being honest-” he began before he was interrupted by a shrill scream and the sound of gunshots, he was at his feet immediately, his date having ducked under the table without as much as a second glance at him.

His indifference hardly bothered him as he calmly placed a hand on the gun he had strapped to his belt, and deftly pulled it out of its holster as people pushed past him, the gunman himself coming into view now, a tall man, his face obscured by a black ski mask, only his eyes, a piercing blue seemed to stare right at him.

“Stop running,” he chanted in a sing-song voice and he could swear he felt his skin crawl, something about his voice didn’t feel quite right. The people scrambling around him paused momentarily before stumbling away again as if he had not spoken.

Not surprisingly this had enraged the man further as he shot 3 more bullets upwards into the ceiling , the crowd freezing as the sound echoed around the room around them.
“No one. Fucking.Move” he spat. “Everyone get on your knees. Now.”

He watched as the terrified people around him sank to their knees before he followed suit, his hand still clutching the gun tightly hoping the gunman had not noticed. His training had covered hostage situations but being in one himself was definitely not the most ideal situation. Almost comically, his mind supplies him with a myriad of scenarios from Kim Seokjin’s books and how he had dealt with similar situations. Most of them included outsmarting the criminal,mostly through analyzing the criminal’s behavior- a tactic he was a fan of but not so sure that he could pull off.

On his knees now like the rest of the room he watched with bated breath as the gunman walked past each person, pausing at each one individually as if he was attempting to commit their faces to memory. He couldn’t help gulping as he paused in front of him finally, breath hitching in fear as he squatted down to meet her eyes. “Why don’t you hand that to me?” he said, the other man’s eyes boring into his as he motioned towards the gun.

“No.” the words had escaped his mouth before he could think and a collective gasp echoed through the room.

The man laughed , “No?” he mimicked as he pressed the barrel of his gun at his neck, “Is that so? Hand that gun over or I will shoot someone in this room,”

He relented, holding the gun out to him reluctantly, the man’s eyes glittering as he caressed it, “A standard issue huh, I’ve got an agent with me today, well if it isn’t my lucky day,”

“They won’t give you anything,” he managed and hated how his voice shook slightly.

He couldn’t see his mouth but he was sure his lips had curved into a smirk, “Perhaps not, but they haven’t trained you very well have they now,”

“I wouldn’t expect him to be well trained,” came a new voice , a voice he knew all too well. Kim Seokjin strode into the room, looking unruffled in his immaculate suit as if he had just walked into a dinner date save for the gun, an exact copy of his own in his hand.

The gunman turned around, “So we finally meet,” he said, “an honor I suppose,”

Seokjin looked unperturbed, “the honour is all mine, I’ve been watching you for ages,”

“And yet, it took you so long to find me,” the man said, his voice adopting the odd sing song lilt again, all the while he still had him in his grip, the barrel of his gun nestled against her throat.

Seokjin laughed, “oh no, I’ve just been waiting for the right moment,”

The gunman pressed the gun harder against her throat now, “Is now the right time because I have one of your own with me? Or do you perhaps have the humanity to die for all these people,”

Seokjin shrugged, “ you can try,”

He wasn’t sure what exactly happened in the split second that followed as the gunman released him and pointed his gun at Seokjin instead, the bullet flying out towards him before he could process what was happening. The gunman crumpled and Seokjin stood just where he had been before leaving Jungkook’s ears reeling from a loud bang that had sounded way too loud to just be a gunshot.

He stared horrified as blood pooled around the man who lay motionless at her feet, the gun he was holding seemed to have exploded in his hand. The man however was alive, his face scrunched in horror and pain.
Seokjin walked up to the man slowly, the look in his eyes slightly scary as he finally approached him, the hints of a smile ghosting his lips. “Guess you won’t be using that hand for a while huh?”

 

Javier and the rest of the team had arrived swiftly , assessing the scene and sending the civilians home after sending the injured gunman to the hospital while Seokjin filled out the necessary forms calmly as if he had stepped out of his office jobs and not had a face off with a gunman.

“What were you doing here?” he asked him as the team finally wrapped up and he stood outside the building debating on if he should just dish out some extra money on a cab or brave the subway.

He sighed, “Blind date?”

“Ah,” he answered blandly, as he glanced down at the watch on his hand and then back at her.
“Would you like me to drop you anywhere?” he offered much to his surprise. Kim Seokjin was not known for being a sociable person, especially not with people he did not know very well. In all honesty it all felt like someone playing a huge practical joke on him because why would he be offering him a ride?

“No-”

“It’s rather late,” he interrupted, his voice monotone, “it would help my conscience if I was to drop you somewhere and not leave you out here alone,”

“Well,” he yielded as he met the other man’s eyes, an unreadable shade of dark brown as he held his gaze. “I suppose it would be nice if you can,”

Seokjin nodded as he gestured for him to follow him, a long black trench coat wrapped loosely around him as the cold wind bit at their skin. Whatever car he had expected Kim Seokjin drove, this was not it, as he held the door of a sleek black sports car open for him. He couldn’t help holding his breath slightly as he got in, taking care not to scrape the heel of his boot on the expensive looking leather.

“Where do you live?” He asked, sliding behind the steering wheel, his voice its usual odd monotone.

He told him, rattling on the address to the apartment he shared with his roommate Jimin. In hindsight he supposed he should have been wary that he was giving a man he barely knew his address ,but this Kim Seokjin. He was one of the good guys, a man of the law- perhaps even the law itself.

For a law abiding citizen as himself Seokjin did not seem perturbed as he sped down the lonely city roads, skipping several red lights. “Force of habit,” he had explained, “I always have to drive very fast to get to the crime scenes on time,”

“And no one stops you?”

He seemed to smile at that, a sort of subtle curve to his lips, “Not in this government issued car, no,”

He grinned, so maybe, just maybe he too was human.

Most of the drive was silent while he sped down darkened roads, the bright artificial lights from the buildings illuminating his face as he drove making his features look harsher than they were, all edges and angles.
He was a very attractive man- sure Jungkook had noticed it before- but now- being here with him he couldn’t help but stare.

He pulled up outside his apartment finally- a modest mid century building that looked like it was ready to fall apart if you breathed too hard and he couldn’t help feeling rather embarrassed as he realized he was surveying both the building and the land around them.

“Are you sure this is the place?” He asked finally.

He nodded as he pointed upwards, “I live up there,”

He nodded as he followed her gaze, “Alright then,”

“Thank you,” he said, the words escaping him in a quieter tone than he would have liked and Seokjin nodded again in acknowledgment before getting out of the car and the door on the passenger’s side for him.

“I’ll wait until you get inside,” he said calmly, climbing back into the driver’s seat. He nodded and made his way to the gate, fumbling slightly with his keys as he let himself, holding his hand up in a silent wave of goodbye before Seokjin nodded again and sped off as he locked the gate behind him

It had all seemed so surreal he thought, as he took his time walking up the rickety wooden staircase and finally let himself into the apartment. He was hit by the sweet smell of Jimin’s famous “night time’ cookies and the man himself who greeted him with a disapproving look and brandished a spoon at him.

“And where have you been?” he demanded and Jungkook couldn’t help grinning at his roommate as he noticed a dusting of flour that sat right on the tip of Jimin’s nose.

“You know- work as always,”

Jimin sighed, “yes but it’s late, I worry you know,”

“I know,”

“Especially with that murderer on the loose, haven’t you guys managed to track them down yet?”

He shrugged, “I haven’t even seen that case file yet Min,”

“I bet you’re just dying to get your hands on it,” his friend laughed, “who was that who dropped you home by the way?”

He couldn’t help smiling as he met the other man’s eye, “you’re not gonna believe me if I told you,”

Jimin snorted, “really now? Was it perhaps Kim Seokjin then?”

He threw a pillow at him, “am I that easy to read?”

Jimin laughed, “You only rave about him all day , everyday-I just thought maybe-”

He stuck a tongue out at his friend who had moved into the kitchen and was extracting his freshly baked batch of cookies from the oven.
“Would you like one?” he offered, plating the cookies onto an old plate that Jungkook was sure that he had made at a pottery workshop that he had decided to attend despite his better judgment.

“Would I ever say no to one of your night time cookies,” he scoffed as he reached for the plate.

Jimin laughed, “you better not,”

Notes:

My twitter is @jjinnieshoe , sometimes I do post something of interest!

Chapter 3: II

His phone was ringing shrilly as he raced towards the imposing building, almost running into an older woman who gave him a disapproving look. Muttering his apologies Jungkook all but ran into the building, the door man eyeing him suspiciously until he held up his company ID and he allowed him to pass. One would think the doorman would have known him now, he had only been working there for the past 3 months now.

Shaking his head, he tapped his feet, clad in a pair of sneakers that could have definitely been cleaner, he waited impatiently as he rode the elevator to the 40th floor. Nakamura was already at his desk when he finally made his way to his own, eyeing him with a rather scornful expression as he noted his crumpled dress shirt and pinstripe slacks.

“What?” he demanded as he laid his bag down on the table.

He sighed, “Jungkook, Javier is assigning us to different bureaus today, don't you think that constitutes a good enough reason to not get late?”

He groaned, of course Nakamura being the stickler for the rules that he was would say that, nevertheless he did feel rather anxious when he finally glanced down at his phone only to see 3 missed calls from Javier. The man himself marched into the room before he could even call him back, flanked by two mid level agents whose names he did not know, only discernible from the blue stripe on their badges that indicated their level.

“Ah,” he said blandly, “nice to see that you’ve joined us Jungkook,”

He offered him a sheepish grin, pleasantly surprised when Javier returned it with a rather warm smile of his own.
“Nakamura, you’ll be working with cyber crimes and the children’s protection unit as requested,” Javier announced to which Nakamura made an uncharacteristic whooping sound and gathered his belongings off his desk swiftly.
“And Jungkook,” Javier continued, his tone going rather solemn, “violent crimes,”

Nakamura had gasped before he could, “Kim Seokjin’s bureau?”

Javier nodded, a slight smile now contorting his lips.

Nakamura turned to him, an almost accusatory look on his face, “ did you request for this?”

He blinked at him, “what?” he managed, getting over his initial shock just enough to give Nakamura a withering look as he registered what he was saying, “no- of course not,”

Nakamura didn’t seem to have anything to say as he followed one of the two mid level agents out on Javier’s instructions while he followed the other- a tall blond haired woman who walked too fast as she led him to the 50th floor.

This floor, unlike the 40th, was quiet, the offices dim and decorated in cold tones , the leather chairs and dual-monitored desks all in dark shades of black, brown or oak. They passed several personal offices until they reached the bull pen - this space too like the private offices decorated in dark tones with several junior level agents working quietly at their desks , the silence only punctuated by the noise of clicking keys on keyboards.

Facing the common bullpen was a large private office, the shades pulled down so that Jungkook could not see inside from the large glass windows- he already knew whose office that was.
Kim Seokjin was the head of this department- his department- Kim Seokjin was his boss.

The woman- who had introduced herself as Karina deposited him by an empty desk, “I’ll alert the boss,” she said, “why don’t you get settled in,”

Jungkook gulped as he awkwardly laid the few belongings he had brought with his from his previous desk and looked around before setting into the chair which was definitely an upgrade from his old chair on the 40th floor.

The man next to him had stopped his incessant typing and was now staring at him, a shock of freshly permed curls almost obscuring his vision- he was good looking- he noted, almost intimidatingly so had it not been for the hair and the smile he gave her that softened his face considerably.

“Hi,” he said, “so you’re the new recruit huh,”

He nodded, “I’m Jungkook,”

The man smiled again, “I’m Taehyung, you can call me Tae though,” he said, looking way too cheerful for someone who worked in the violent crimes unit, “I mostly do the paperwork,” he added making a drab face, “but it is what it is,”

He laughed, “gotta make a living huh,”

Tae shrugged, “yeah the money’s good- you though- I know the boss is looking for someone to train for the field,”

He sucked in a breath, “ Really,” he asked, more by reflex than anything else. He knew this. Everyone knew that Seokjin had been looking to train someone new to join him in the field ever since Lee Everett- his mentor- had been disgraced after sexual assault allegations and then died shortly after. Nobody liked talking about that- Seokjin in particular.

Taehyung nodded, looking suddenly grave, “won’t be an easy job, that’s for sure,”
He shrugged, “I don’t mind,”

He gave him a small smile before turning back to his work abruptly just as they heard someone walking towards them, footsteps loud in the quiet office.

“Jungkook,” Seokjin greeted, his face its usual emotionless mask but his voice betrayed the slightest hints of warmth. “Welcome to my department, I see you’ve already met Taehyung,”

He nodded slowly, suddenly aware of his dirty sneakers and rumpled shirt, feeling rather small under his unwavering gaze. If he noticed he didn’t say a thing, gesturing instead for him to join him as he walked back towards his office. The space was not much different than the rest of the floor save for some potted plants and a framed picture of a young girl that looked a lot like him that sat on his desk.

“My younger sister,” he said, his voice level as he followed his gaze.

“Oh,”

“She passed on,” he continued calmly, “my idea of a memento, she was one of my biggest inspirations you see,”

“Oh I’m sorry,” he managed, stunned momentarily at the amount of information that Seokjin had just seemed to volunteer, almost uncharacteristic for him but then what did he really know about Kim Seokjin, he had barely interacted with him even twice.

His drab demeanor had reappeared and he watched as he took a seat behind the oak desk, gesturing for him to sit opposite him while he went through a stack of files.
“Are you familiar with the Addison Hamilton case?” he asked, pulling out a rather large case file, book marked in several places with different coloured post it notes.

He nodded quickly, he had written a whole thesis on the mystifying case that had been cold for decades now.

If he was pleased that he had indeed heard of the case he couldn’t tell but the other man did seem satisfied as he held out the case file to him.
“That’s great,” he said, “Go through it and come back to me with what you think, you can consult Taehyung or anyone else on the team if you’d like, just don’t indulge in any unnecessary talking, we all have a lot to do here,”

He got to his feet as he accepted the file and turned to exit the room when Seokjin called after him,

“Please send Karina here please Jungkook, tell her it's urgent,”

He nodded as he hurried out, pausing at his desk when he realized he didn’t exactly know where Karina sat.

He casted a look at Taehyung who was busy typing furiously at his computer before he tapped him lightly making the man jump and almost drop the cup of some amber liquid that he had placed on a coaster that seemed far too close to his keyboard for his liking.

“Oh-Jungkook,” he smiled easily, not seeming very upset that he had almost fried his keyboard, “what can I help you with?”

“Where does Karina sit?”

Taehyung made a face that he could not comprehend before pointing in the general north direction, “You’ll find her in office 6A, why do you want her though?”

“Seokjin wants to see her,”

He rolled his eyes, grimacing, “I suppose he does, doesn’t he, well go on and deliver your message, I need to get back to my report- Seokjin doesn't really take kindly to cases piling up,”

He nodded understandingly and thanked him before heading in the direction, looking for office 6A. He frowned as he reached it, hearing the sound of someone yelling.Peeking through the glass windows that offered him a view of the office suite beyond, he watched as Karina sat at the edge of her desk, her phone to ear, clearly very frustrated at whoever was on the other side of the line.

Taking in a breath of air, he rapped on the door only to not receive an answer. Sighing he had prepared himself to knock again when the door swung open and Karina -with a long suffering sigh- looked at him looking rather disgruntled as if Jungkook was wasting her time.

“Yes?”

“Seokjin wants to see you,”

She sniffed, a small smile curving at her red lips, “Thanks for the message- what’s your name again?”

“Jungkook,”

“Right,” she said, her air rather haughty as if she had so many better things to do than have this conversation, he could see why Tahyung had not seemed to be her biggest fan- but then again- he barely knew this woman, he shouldn’t have been passing judgment based on a single interaction.

“You can go…Jungkook,” the woman said, picking up her phone again and punching in a message, her lips still contorted in that strange smile, “Unless there is something else?”

“No,” he said quickly as he stepped out of the room feeling rather intimidated for seemingly no reason.
Before he could leave however, Karina was pushing past him, marching in the direction of Seokjin’s office. Heels clicking loudly on the tiled floor as she passed.

The case of Addison Hamilton was complex to say the least and Jungkook had found himself wanting to bang his head against something after the last 4 hours that he had spent taking notes on all the witness statements that he had already gone through several times before.
Slamming his file on the table , he drew the attention of Taehyung and another man who had risen out of their seats, fixing her with almost identical looks of concern.

“Anything the matter?” Taehyung asked.

He sighed, “why do these witnesses all have different accounts,” he groaned, “one would think if she was found with frostbite having taken over most of her body she died in Winter right?”

“Right…?”

“Right,” he exclaimed, “so then why, do some people say they saw her in April of the following year, she can't have been dead that long- you know the coroner’s office made reports that she had died about two weeks before the body was found- and you have to account for decomposition-”

“Woah hold on-” the other man said, a small grin on his face, “Addison Hamilton?”

He stared at him, “Do you memorize cases or something?”

“Something like that,” Taehyung quipped in, “he has a photographic memory,”

The other man shrugged, “Sometimes it comes in handy- I’m Hoseok by the way,” he said, extending his hand out to him in greeting.

He took his hand, offering him a small smile. The man seemed as friendly as Taehyung, returning his smile easily with one of his own. “Would you like to join us for lunch?”

“Yeah come with us,” Taehyung added, “the foodhall here isn’t too bad,”

Closing the frustrating case file he agreed and followed the other two men outside, almost bumping into Karina who was coming out of Seokjin’s office looking annoyed. “Watch it,” she grumbled, walking away before Jungkook could reply.

Taehyung rolled his eyes, “Ignore her, she’s probably mad she didn’t get what she wanted,”

“And what does she want?” his curiosity getting the better of him.

“Seokjin,” Hoseok said dryly, ushering him into the elevator first and then followed with Taehyung.
His eyes widened, “what?”

Hoseok smiled, “Don’t be so scandalized now, you didn’t expect Kim Seokjin to not have a fuck buddy? Pardon my crudeness-”

“But someone from the office-” he interrupted, unable to help himself, his ideal of Kim Seokjin faltering slightly- very slightly in his mind. No, he had in fact not envisioned the uptight man even holding hands with another human being let alone getting intimate with them.

Hoseok seemed unruffled, stepping out of the elevator calmly and leading the way down a rather winding corridor into a large sunlit room- the light filtering in from the large floor to ceiling windows. Food stations and long tables bearing tureens of food lined the walls- a good amount of tables sat in the center of the room, some of them occupied by other agents and employees , the low buzz of conversation in the air.

He had never been there before, and the two men ushered him to the end of the line , Hoseok holding out a plate to him.

“You’re young,” Taehyung said suddenly, continuing their conversation before as he ladled kimchi stew onto his plate and a generous helping of steamed sticky rice. “Sometimes you just need to blow off steam,”

He rolled his eyes, “Right- I get it - it’s just-”

Taehyung laughed, now adding noodles to his plate, “aw did I taint your idea of the boss?”

“It shouldn’t have to taint his image though, the man is 31- I for one am glad he’s doing something that’s not his paperwork,” Hoseok interjected blandly, ladling several helpings of the stew into his own plate.

“Doing someone-” Taehyung proudly, dissolving into a fit of laughter, Hoseok joining in and he couldn’t help laughing too as he shoveled an extra helping of japchae and a handful of grapes onto his own plate before joining the two men at their table.

A woman he didn’t know was already seated there, focused on the laptop in front of her, her plate mostly untouched, forehead creased in worry.
“Yerin!”

The woman looked up looking almost stunned at Taehyung’s exclamation and flashed them a tired smile before training her attention back onto the screen, her blond hair falling over eyes.

Taehyung sat beside him, emphatically placing his plate on the table, while she and Hoseok sat opposite him and the woman- Yerin.
“Do you ever take a break?” Taehyung asked, shoveling seemingly steaming mouthfuls of kimchi stew and rice into his mouth.

Yerin sighed , finally looking at him, “I wish I could, but even you would have trouble taking time off if you’d been assigned to this case,”

“What’s the case?” Hoseok asked curiously, eyeing the woman , as did Taehyung who looked equally interested.

“The ongoing serial killer case,”

He gasped before he could stop herself and the woman’s eyes settled on him for the first time since he had sat down there.

“Oh, are you new?” She had focused all her attention on him instead of the laptop and offered a small smile that did wonders to the worry lines on her forehead.

“Oh yes! This is Jungkook!” Taehyung pointed at him with his spoon as if Yerin might have forgotten who he was talking about, “Seokjin’s newest recruit,”

“Ah,” Yerin smiled again, “ A tough job indeed, but it’s nice to meet you Jungkook, I’m Yerin- level 2 agent- homicide unit,”

Taehyung sniffed, “always so serious,”

He smiled at the woman warmly, “Jungkook..um…junior agent?”

Yerin laughed, “honestly I wish I was a junior agent again, beats working on this case, I just can’t understand it all,”’

“Any new developments?”

Yerin shook her head, looking pained as if she was offended at Hoseok’s question, “Even Seokjin can’t figure this one out-”

“But there does seem to be a particular type of victim right?” Taehyung had finished his plate now and had begun stealing grapes off of Sara’s plate- the woman didn’t seem to notice as she sighed and looked back at her laptop screen.

Jungkook had the time to take two bites of his own food- surprisingly quite tasty- before Yerin answered.
“Well yes- he does seem to be going after felons- 2 out of 5 times these people were on death row,”

Hoseok whistled, “Does he think he’s doing a service perhaps,”

Yerin shrugged, “Maybe, but I wouldn’t try to play God.”

Chapter 4: III

It had taken him an embarrassing amount of days to draw the conclusion for the Addison Hamilton case- a total of 3 days to be precise and now- sitting opposite Seokjin with his research clutched to his chest he felt like he could puke.

He could feel the beginnings of a headache as he waited for him. The man looked serious as he worked on something, nimble fingers flying over the keys on his keyboard , his mouth set in a firm thin line. He looked calm as always, his suit impeccable, perfectly starched and ironed, his hair perfectly slicked back, but something about the set of his shoulders and perhaps the ferocity with which he was typing betrayed that something was bothering him.

“I’m sorry,” he said finally, almost startling him out of his reverie, “hand me your file please.”

He held out his hand, and Jungkook handed him the files, feeling rather nauseous as the man scanned them thoughtfully, his eyes narrowed. He could never tell what he was thinking.
The sun was setting-he could see it through the large floor-to-ceiling window behind his desk, painting the sky in vibrant shades of orange and vermilion, bathing the room in a golden glow. The man himself looked rather like a rRenaissancepainting in the golden glow, the tips of his black hair catching on the fading sunlight.

Finally, he put the file down and looked up at him, a stare that made his stomach lurch rather unnecessarily, his face betrayed no emotion, and he wasn't sure if he was pleased with him or disappointed.

“That wasn’t bad,” he said, “I’m impressed that you included Wendy Warren’s witness account.”

“I found her information was quite important. Wouldn’t you say that it was her account that sort of provides a sequence of events to the whole thing?”

He seemed to consider what he had said for a moment, “Yes, in fact, I do,after alll, she is the one who confirmed exactly what they had been wearing, although it does make me wonder if she was just a witness,”

His eyes widened, “You think she had something to do with it?”

He twirled a pen between his fingers- the motion rather mesmerized and he watched it for a heartbeat before he continued, “I wouldn’t rule it out.”

“But then why didn’t the police say anything?”

He smiled, and Jungkook almost gasped. He had never seen him smile before, but it did not reach his eye;, there was no warmth behind that smile. “Have you ever seen a picture of Wendy Warren, Jungkook?”

He nodded, remembering the faded picture of the woman- a dusty copy from the 1950s that had been digitized- but her beauty had been apparent. She was gorgeous, Jungkook grimaced, of course, she had not been suspected.
“So they didn’t suspect her because she was beautiful?”

“Hm, perhaps it was a contributing factor, she was rather resourceful too- you recall she described what they were wearing rather vaguely- but in her witness statement it is quite apparent that she had seen what they were wearing in great detail,”

“So you’re saying-”

“I’m saying you should look at this case from every possible angle- you’d be surprised what people can get away with- given the right circumstances.”

“Right,”

He nodded, seemingly satisfied, “Revise what you can for Wendy Warren and give the case back to me. Tomorrow I’d like you to join Hoseok and me on the field for any active cases, please be ready to leave-”
He was cut off when the phone on his desk rang shrilly, and he answered it promptly, his expression as monotonous as ever.

“Yes?- right- I’ll be there-yes-thank you Karina,”

He got to his feet as he hung up, looking rather tired, "You may go Jungkook, I have a case to attend to outside the city,”

“What case- I mean-” he knew his curiosity shouldn’t have gotten to him but the words had escaped him before he could stop himself.

“We have a serial killer down in the outer rings, I’ve been following the case for a while now, I hope you’re familiar with the archangel?”

Jungkook’s eyes widened, “The archangel? I thought that case was considered cold,”

“Well killers do come back,” he said nonchalantly as if they were discussing the weather.

“Couldn’t they be a copycat- Seokjin-there’s been a 30-year pause between the killings- surely you don’t think it’s the same person?”

 

Seokjin merely shrugged, not paying him much attention as he grabbed some documents off his desk and placed them into his black leather binder methodically. The sun had almost fully set now, the sky a bruising purple giving into an inky blue.

The sound of footsteps approaching broke the almost awkward silence, Jungkook having lingered as Seokjin got his things together despite him having told him that he could leave. Karina appeared in the doorway, looking rather flustered, her dark hair falling out of her usually neat ponytail in little wisps over face.

“Seokjin-” she breathed, “I’m afraid Hoseok will not be able to join us for tonight’s investigation.”

Seokjin seemed unperturbed as he met her gaze, “What about Devi then, can she not cover for Hoseok?”

“No, sir-I mean Seokjin- Devi left early today, and most of our agents have already clocked out of work- would you like me to call Anita? I can ask her to come back in”

Seokjin held a hand up, and Karina fell silent almost immediately. “That’s fine, Karina, Jungkook can take Hoseok’s place,”

Karina’s eyes widened, almost comically so, and Jungkook gasped as the weight of what Soekjin had just said hit him like a ton of bricks, he wanted him to come with him on a high-profile case? Now?

“But Seokjin-” began Karina.

Her protests were cut short as she caught Seokjin’s eye, and the man turned to face him,  “Would you be willing to join us, Jungkook? Unless you object, I suggest we get going now. Karina can brief you on what you need.”

“What?” he began and then gulped before he could embarrass himself, “yes of course, I’ll come,”

Seokjin nodded. If he was satisfied with his decision, he did not show it and waved for him to follow Karina, “I’ll meet you by the car in 10 minutes.”

Clutching the file to his chest, he followed Karina out, his heart beating so fast she was sure it would jump out of his chest. Was he really doing this? Depositing his precious file on his desk as they passed it, he followed Karina down a series of corridors that he was fairly sure he had never been down, finally coming to a stop outside a room with a large, rather forbidding-looking door, access to it protected by an ID scanner embedded into the dark wood above the metal handle.

Karina held up her ID tag to the scanner, and the door swung open, surprisingly smoothly for such a large door. “Well, come along,” the woman huffed as she led him inside. The room was large, lined from floor to ceiling with large glass doored mental cabinets that housed bullet proof vests, guns , bullets and a series of other weapons that he wasn’t sure he remembered all the names of.

Karina was standing in front of the cabinet that held the bulletproof vests, holding up her ID tag to the scanner built into the glass this time before pulling out two vests. “I suppose that will fit you,” she huffed, clearly not very pleased at Seokjin’s decision to bring him along.

Jungkook took the vest from her without question, taking in the black and white garment that bore the insignia of their bureau as well as the city crest. “ Have you ever um-” he almost choked back the question knowing that Karina would probably think he was pathetic for asking it, but he could not quell her curiosity as he continued, “have these ever been useful like? Have you ever gotten shot at?”

Karina snorted, the sound at odds with her usually put-together, sophisticated demeanor, “Of course, several times actually, surely you don’t think working on these cases is child’s play, Jungkook, they are dangerous,”

“Right,”

Karina seemed to consider his response for a moment, as if deciding whether or not it constituted another haughty retort, but must have thought better of it, opting instead to open the gun cabinet. He watched as the woman ran her fingertips over several guns before choosing a small handgun and tossing it to Jungkook who just managed to catch it.

“I already have a gun,”

Karina snorted, “Sweetheart, one gun is nothing, you have to be prepared for anything.”

Jungkook sighed, examining the gun- very similar to his own- and strapped it to the second holster in his belt. Karina surveyed herself in the mirror at the end of the room and Jungkook couldn’t help admiring that even dressed in a bulletproof vest and drab office wear, she looked good, it was no wonder that Seokjin had taken a personal liking to her.

The thought had come unbidden before he could stop himself and he felt his cheeks heat up of their own accord. Karina, however, oblivious to his thoughts, ushered him out, looking every bit as disgruntled as she had looked when leading him in and they arrived at the car park in the sublevels of the building.

Seokjin was already there, binder in hand, usual black trench coat wrapped loosely around him. If he had not looked at him with such a sullen expression, he could have looked like the main lead of a romance drama.

“I said 10 minutes,” he said, his expression morphing back to monotone, and Karina waved a hand at him.

“I had to prepare our rookie,” the last word dripping with disdain as she regarded Seokjin with a meaningful look. The man did not seem to care very much as he shrugged and got into the driving seat of the car, Karina sliding into the front seat beside him while Jungkook slid into the back seat.
This car was not the expensive sports car that Seokjin had dropped him off in almost a week ago, this one- a more sensible black toyota held several case files in the back seat and two small duffle bags bearing the crest of the bureau.

“Are you okay back there?” Seokjin had turned around as he reversed out of the parking spot, eyes meeting his momentarily, and he nodded hurriedly.

“I’m fine Seokjin,”

“Great,”

They pulled out of the parking lot and were soon cruising down one of the numerous highways that linked the booming metropolis to the less decorated suburbs or the outer rings as everyone called it. Jungkook watched as the skyscrapers and large holographic signboards gave way to modest squat buildings and the occasional billboard- not holographic but paper and metal, most of them peeling, the eerie eyes of people long gone staring out from them. A few dead trees dotted the landscape , nothing like the luscious green trees from the city- strategically planted to give the illusion of a healthy environment although Jungkook very much doubted that there was anything healthy about it.

A few of people milled the drab streets, some of them lugging bags of groceries into their driveways and others running to catch the next subway, most of them stopping to ogle at the black car with its city crest, he supposed this was a very rare occurrence for them, cars were not common in the outer rings considering the steadily rising prices.

“What are they all looking at,” Karina drawled , surveying the scenery outside, “Have they never seen a car before?”

“Some of them probably never have,”

“Don’t tell me they’ve never been to the city,” she continued, “surely some of them work there,”

Seokjin did not answer as he pulled into the parking lot of an unassuming apartment complex, its walls painted a dreary fading blue, as if at one point in time it was meant to imitate the sky. Getting off the car, Seokjin traded his trench coat for the bullet proof vest- slipping it over his starched white shirt. Here in the dim lighting he looked unreal and Jungkook, embarrassingly could not help staring at him ,a lump forming in his throat as he noticed Karina staring too, snapping her gaze away quickly as Seokjin glanced up to look at them both.

“Is something wrong?”

They both shook their heads quickly and Seokjin shrugged, gesturing for them to follow him into the small lobby of the building , dimly lit with a single light bulb. A sleepy looking man was slouched behind a rickety wooden table that Jungha supposed was the reception, his bleary eyes barely registering them.

Seokjin held out his agents badge, “We’re from the bureau of investigations- we would like access to the 56th floor, I have authorization to visit the apartment of Miss Lin,”

If Seokjin’s words had any impact on the man he did not show it and simply nodded before pointing at an elevator behind him , “Only one way up,”

Karina shuddered as they crowded into the small elevator, it smelled musty like mildew and perhaps sweat. Wrinkling her nose she tapped her foot impatiently until they finally arrived at the 56th floor. The corridor was as dull and dank as the elevator,oddly quiet for an apartment building - almost unnaturally so. No sound came from behind the badly painted baby blue doors and the air seemed too still, it was as if no one lived here at all.

“Is no one here?” Karina asked, as if voicing his thoughts and Jungkook was glad that she was the one who had asked the question and not him when Seokjin gave her a rather scathing look.

“Did you not read the report Karina?”

Karina blanched , “I did - I mean- not today’s update-”

Seokjin sighed, “If I could have had the time to read it then so could have you,”

Karina looked like she wanted to say something but thought the better of it before Seokjin rapped sharply on one of the dreary doors and they heard soft shuffling from the otherside. The door swung open revealing an old woman, she looked haggard, an almost blank expression in her eyes.

“Ms.Lin?” he asked, his tone brighter than she had ever heard it.

Recognition seemed to flash in the old woman’s eyes as she ushered them inside wordlessly.
The apartment smelled as dank and musty as the elevator had, only this time the air was punctuated with the metallic smell of blood and disinfectant. Half the room had been cordoned off with yellow police tape and a sleepy looking officer sat in a chair in front of it- looking like he could have been doing so many other better things than this.

“Officer Carlysle?” Seokjin asked and the man perked up, getting to his feet quickly as he noticed Seokjin.

“Sir- I didn’t expect you here so soon-” his words fading into the distance as Jungkook took in the scene beyond the police tape- the room was in disarray, a large red brown stain on the dirty wooden floor, crime scene markers indicating where she assumed the body had been. Several other markers placed next to other items of interest.

“She won’t leave-” he heard Officer Carlysle say, the conversation coming back into focus. “Honestly it's concerning- you should see how she talks- sort of terrifying.”

He watched Seokjin nod, his face a blank slate, Karina hanging around behind him. The woman who had led them in had disappeared somewhere inside the small apartment. If Seokjin had noticed he did not seem bothered by the fact and lifted the crime scene tape slightly before ducking under it and entered the cordoned off area, holding a wary hand up as Karina tried to follow him in. The confusion was apparent on her face as she took a step back.

“Karina,” he said, walking further into the scene, “Please take notes on the crime scene when I am done with my inspection, detailed pictures as well, and Jungkook, please follow me now,”
He stared at him, was he asking him to follow him into an active crime scene? Surely he must have heard wrong.

“Is there a problem?”

He gulped before shaking his head hurriedly and ducking under the yellow tape himself, hoping he looked as calm as he was pretending to be when he stood at the older man’s side.
“What do you see?” he asked, pointing at a long bloodied dagger that sat inside a sealed plastic bag, almost too long to just be a dagger, more akin to a short sword than anything else.

“A dagger?” he supplied intelligently, cringing when Seokjin’s eyes met his own, a look of disdain clear in his expression.

“Yes and?”

“It’s long,” he fumbled, all his years of being the best criminal justice student leaving him when Seokjin fixed him with those dark brown scrutinizing eyes. He was testing him, he knew he was. Sucking in a breath, he continued, “is he trying to symbolize a sword maybe,”

A small smile grazed his features, and Jungkook was shocked at how foreign it looked. He looked like a completely different person, tearing his eyes away from him, he pointed to the hilt of the dagger, “the hilt, it’s- it says Michael- wasn’t that the same dagger used 30 years ago?”

At that, the smile disappeared and Seokjin shook his head, “No, that dagger is in our custody, this is a replica- although - a very good one at that,”

“Seokjin, who was the victim exactly?”

An expression of disgust flitted across his features momentarily before he composed himself again, “A sex offender,” the words rolling off his tongue with ill-disguised contempt, “honestly, we’d been after the victim for years,”

“Sort of ironic that a criminal would meet his end through the hands of another.”

Seokjin sniffed, “Perhaps the killer thought he was doing us a service.”

Jungkook stared at him, “And what’s your opinion on that?”

Seokin shrugged, bending down to examine the dagger more closely,a gloved fingerr tracing over the hilt over the plastic bag, “That man would have died in prison anyway,”

His words hung heavy between them before he heard a shriek and the sound of something breaking.
Turning around abruptly he saw Ms. Lin standing in the doorway of the living room, hand clasped around the shard of a shattered china vase as blood dripped down her hand from where she was clutching the shard too tightly and had cut her hand.

“My son was not a sex offender,” she spat, “it's all a rumor, someone else’s word against his, how could you taint his name- he’s, he’s dead-”

Her words were cut off when Seokjin raised his hand up and she clamped her mouth shut, it was almost scary how fast he had silenced her, but Jungkook was coming to learn that this was the sort of effect he had on people.

As if his mere existence inspired a sense of respect towards him in people.

“Why are you lying?” he asked calmly, “you know as well as I do what your son did, even now that he is dead, why won’t you give him the credit for the crimes he was so very proud of?”

Seokjin’s words made his skin crawl, his tone almost mocking as the woman stared at him. “Your son uploaded those videos you know Ms.Lin, some sick fucks actually paid to watch him hurt people, but you knew that didn’t you?”

He heard a gasp and saw the clipboard fall out of Karina’s hands before he heard the clatter.

“He was disturbed, he needed help- he was… insane,” the sentence leaving her mouth in a choked sob, “what was I meant to do?”

“You could have told us,” Seokjin said in what seemed like almost a sneer, “That’s what we are here for Ms.Lin,”

“Seokjin-” interrupted Karina, apparently having regained her composure.

“What?” the man snapped, turning to her, his expression bordering on annoyed, he hadn’t seen Seokjin like this. There was something about him, like some raw rage inside him that seemed disturbed, the expressionless demeanor almost diminishing around him as he waited for Karina’s explanation.

“They need Ms.Lin at the station, and they want you to take a look at the body,”

 

Seokjin had not spoken since they had left the apartment, his knuckles white as he gripped the steering wheel as they drove. The sector was less busy than when they had entered it, most people having retired to their homes for the night.

“So,” said Karina finally, the word puncturing the still silence, “Are we going to talk about the fact that they left out him being a sex offender from the official case file?”

Seokjin grunted, the sound almost uncharacteristic for him he thought, and then felt silly, how could he possibly know about what was and wasn’t characteristic for Seokjin. He barely knew the man.

Karina seemed to think better of speaking for the rest of the car ride and they made it to the station in silence.

“You can go home,” he said abruptly as they got out, “you needn’t tag along, and I don’t have clearance for you to the enter the morgue either,”

He stared at him, the man in front of him looked frustrated , a dark look on his face and to his surprise it was Karina who spoke first, “Seokjin if it’s okay, I would like to head home as well, and with it being so late I think I might actually feel safer if Jungkook was to travel with me,”

Seokjin glanced at the woman , eyebrows knitted in thought before he shrugged, waving her off. “Sure, head home, I can deal with the rest myself,” he said, turning on his heel and walking towards the entrance before she had time to process what had just happened.

Karina turned to him scowling, “I mean seeing a body right now is the last thing I want to, you know?”

He nodded, staring after Seokjin’s retreating figure momentarily before turning back to Karina, “shall we?” he asked, fishing out his metrocard from his wallet, “I’d like to make it home before 11pm.”

The woman nodded, falling into step beside him as they made their way towards the metro. The days events replayed in his mind on the ride back home, the frustration on Kim Seokjin’s face plaguing is mind.

Perhaps there was so much more that he was yet to understand.

Chapter 5: IV

The room was too bright and airy for his taste, the paint on the walls a distasteful shade of lemon yellow. He could barely recognize the room he had grown up in. He felt suffocated with the bright new fixtures and newly painted walls, it was almost as if someone had tried to erase his existence, tearing apart anything that vaguely seemed to hint at the fact that he had once lived there.

“Seokjin?” his mother called, sticking her head into the room, “Heejin is here, will you be down soon?”

He nodded, pulling on a shirt over the t shirt he was wearing before following his mother down the winding stairs-another thing that had been remodeled since his last visit- into the living room.

Ahn Heejin got to her feet as he entered- the girl- a woman now- was the same as she had always been, dark hair pulled back into a signature ponytail, smiling as she ignored his extended hand and went in for a hug. He winced slightly before catching his mother’s eye and hugging the woman back.

“I can’t believe I finally get to see you,” Heejin was saying as they sat down, him opposite her, while his mother took the seat beside her. “You’re always working,”

“Oh yes,” his mother agreed quickly, as if she had been waiting to broach the topic, “and such an awful job too,”

“I like my job ,” he said calmly, “you know I always have,”

 

“Well you are good at it,” Heejin mused, “but even you can’t deny it is not the most pleasant,”

He scoffed, “what job is pleasant?”

His mother sniffed, clearly he had struck a nerve but then again he always did with her, no matter what he did, “well I’ll leave you two to talk, I’ll get lunch ready,” she said getting to her feet, shooting him an ill concealed look of warning before disappearing into the kitchen.

“Why have you been avoiding me,” Heejin asked as soon as she was sure his mother was out of earshot, “Seokjin how could you,”

He shrugged, “It was a one time thing Heejin, I warned you, if you had been okay with that I don’t know what else you expect from me,”

She stared at him, her expression almost sad, “Why did you do it then? Didn’t you want it?”
He sighed, everything people said about him was true, normal people did not behave as he did. Something in him was telling him he should has sounded more apologetic but his voice remained the same as it always did, “I wanted to have sex with you,”

Her eyes widened, “Seokjin-”

“I won’t sugar coat it Heejin, you can delude yourself as much as you’d like but the only thing I wanted from you was sex,”

She gulped as she finally looked him in the eye, “and would you maybe consider it again,”

He stared at her, he had known her since they were in pre school, their mothers- best friends- pushing them together as much as they possibly could have and he had liked her. He had enjoyed her company, maybe he would even consider her a friend but all that seemed to have taken place in another life.

In another life he had made his mother proud and married Heejin.

In another life his sister was still alive.

In another life he felt more than void.

“Consider what?” he asked finally.

“We could be fuck buddies,” the words leaving her mouth like they were poisonous and he couldn’t help the cold smile that formed on his lips.

“What makes you think I want you,” watching her expression change was gratifying at the ill disguised arrogance.

“I-” she was cut off when his mother poked her head into the room and ushered them into the dining room.

Lunch, a lavish affair in true Kim style, his mother had gone all out, filling the tense silence with meaningless chatter, indulging Heejin in conversation that he could care less about. The woman seemed distracted, sneaking glances at him which he returned with a stare of his own, enjoying the way she shrank back under his gaze.

“When do you go back?” Heejin asked finally as his mother got up to fetch dessert from the kitchen, an almost pleading look in her eyes.

“Tonight,”

“Oh.” Concise. Abrupt, as if she had more to say but was afraid of what he might do.

He relented, “see me in my room after lunch,” he said, getting to his feet.

He had never had much of a sweet tooth anyway.

Seokjin had always known that people were afraid of him , they could barely meet his eyes and he enjoyed the gratification that came through him.There was something about having the upperhand that seemed to please him more than he knew it should.

Three gentle knocks on his door signaled Heejin’s arrival and he swung the door open. The girl had taken her long hair out of its tight ponytail, her dark hair framing her pale face.

She looked apprehensive but that didn’t seem to deter her as she advanced towards him, grabbing a fistful of his shirt, a dark look that seemed to mirror his own in her eyes. “You think I’m desperate don’t you?”

He laughed, bringing a hand down to place over the ones clutching at his shirt, “Well you are, aren’t you?”

It was cruel, he knew but she didn’t contradict him, her fingers instead tracing up his arms as she let go off the rumpled fabric of his shirt and hooking her arms around his neck. “Maybe and maybe that’s okay,”

He allowed her a second to push him away before letting go of his resolve and pushing her against the wall, his lips seeking out hers and meeting with a forced urgency. She had worn the perfume he had once complimented- a sweet vanilla- her skin soft as he pressed kisses down her jaw. She squirmed in his grip, breathy moans escaping her as he sucked at the soft skin on her neck.

“Seokjin…” she whispered, her fingers knotting through his hair as he continued, “Seokjin I-”

He paused, eyes glinting wickedly as he pushed her harder against the wall, eyes meeting hers.
“What is it?”

She gulped, “Who is it?”

He stared at her, “what-”

“It’s never been like this - Seokjin we- you don’t kiss me like that-”

He shrugged, “if you don’t want it I can stop. You can leave.”

“No-”

“No?” he asked and her hands were on him once more , pulling him closer, her hands sneaking under the hem of his t shirt, cold palms on hot skin.

“Do what you want,” she whispered, pressing her lips to his again. But she had been right, they never did kiss like that, in fact he had never been struck with the desire to kiss anyone before. Sex was one thing - fast and rough, meaningless, he did it for the high, for the gratification- like some sort of release.

He allowed himself a few more kisses before he picked her up and placed her on the bed- hovering over her momentarily to take in the mess he had made of her, the satisfaction short lived when his phone rang shrilly and the trance they were both in shattered.

“Sorry,” he muttered as he fished the phone out of his pocket and read the caller ID.

Jung Hoseok- Special Agent.

“I have to take this,” he said , “privately,”he added before holding the open for her. She got to her feet quickly, pausing only to pull him down by the shirt and place a kiss on his mouth.

“We will finish what we started,” she said, her tone phrasing the statement in an almost threatening manner, and he scoffed, shutting the door behind her.

The sun was setting as he made his way to the balcony that was attached to his old bedroom before finally answering his phone. Hoseok sounded frantic, that much he could gather before he had even fully brought the device to his ear.

“Seokjin-Seokjin something has happened- I need you here right now,” the other man’s voice was shrill.

“What is it?” he asked in a far calmer tone than Hoseok’s , hoping that his colleague was merely overreacting and did not actually need him to take the long drive back to his office on a Sunday evening.

“The new serial killer,”

Seokjin’s mouth went dry, “what-”

“Two more victims sir-I- I don’t know what to do,”

“How do you know it’s him?”

“Same M.O”

“And what is their M.O Hoseok?” the question had come out far too condescending, like he was questioning a child who had not bothered to study for an exam. Hoseok was one of his best employees but even the best did not know this particular case like he did.

Hoseok seemed to hesitate and Seokjin imagined that he was making the face that he usually did when being questioned about something unpleasant, “Stabbed- twice, once in the heart, once in the genitals - and a cut at the jugular vein,”

Seokjin hummed, “Sounds about right I guess, but who were the victims , Hoseok?”

“Two teenage girls”
“Any history?”

“No I mean- but the M.O Seokjin-”

“It’s not him,” he interrupted.
The sun had set now, the sky a dark bruised blue.

Hoseok cleared his throat, “And you’re sure about that,”

Seokjin watched as the first stars appeared in the velvet night sky, “this is my case Hoseok, I’m sure,”
****

 

Chaos is sometimes a well maintained office building with people entering the building in orderly lines, coffee in flimsy take out cups in hand, tired faces with fake smiles as they recounted their weekends and made plans for the next one. It was all so mundane, so tiresome, organized madness- organized chaos.

None of their lives meant anything. Not in the grand scheme of things anyway. They maintained a respectable distance as he wove through the crowd towards the elevator that would take him to the 40th floor, the doors almost shutting when they opened again and a girl stumbled in. His white shirt rumpled, hurriedly tucked into plaid pants was definitely a dress code violation.

“Good morning,” he quipped and he couldn’t help but notice the combat boots he had paired with the questionable outfit.

“Good morning,”

The rest of the elevator remained silent and he focused his attention on his phone. His inbox had been blowing up with emails and a scheduled meeting about the newest killings. Shutting down the urge to rub his temples as a headache began pounding at the back of his head.

“Are you okay?” A voice asked and he looked up momentarily disoriented at a confused looking Jungkook who was holding the elevator door open with a combat boot clad foot as he waited for him to disembark at their floor.

He nodded wryly as he exit the elevator and fell into step beside her, “been a long night,”

“Oh, is it the serial killer?” He asked with an air of nonchalance that he couldn’t deny intrigued him.

“How did you hear?” he asked, he hadn’t recalled seeing his name on any of the emails or the scheduled meetings. If his tone was skeptical the other man had not seemed to notice.

“Oh Hoseok has been filling me in, he’s quite brilliant, really helping me settle into my role,”
He nodded, “that’s great, Jungkook , please ask Hoseok to meet me in my office,”
He nodded enthusiastically as they reached his desk and parted ways, Seokjin making his way to his office. The room smelled far too musty as usual and he made a mental note to talk to maintenance about cleaning out the air vent.

Someone had taken the liberty of stacking several reports on his desk haphazardly and it took him a good amount of resolve not to just push the entire stack off his desk, the headache ripening into an unpleasant pounding as he took a seat behind the desk. His frustration increased tenfold when he noticed that the files had pushed the picture of his sister to the side rather unceremoniously.

Rubbing his temples again he sucked in a breath and straightened the picture out on his desk before skimming through the files.
This was definitely not the work of their new killer, he could have told them that without reading through these files, the images of the murdered women - their lifeless eyes staring back at him. How fucking unfair-

He was interrupted when someone cleared their truth and he looked up to see Hoseok standing in the doorway, his usual calm demeanor replaced with a more harried, tired one.
“Good morning,” he greeted, crossing the room as Seokjin gestured to the chair in front of his desk.

“Good morning Hoseok,”

“Jungkook told me you wanted to see me?”

He nodded, closing the file before directing all his attention at the other man. Most people regarded him with a sort of reverence but not Hoseok, he remained unperturbed, his own calm energy seeming to be at odds with Seokjin’s ocean before a storm aura.

“What have you been telling Jungkook ?” Seokjin asked, his lips contorting into a snide smirk before he could stop himself when he saw Hoseok shift slightly in his chair like a child who had gotten caught stealing candy.

Hoseok shrugged, “Was it not you that told me he had potential? I assumed he should know,”

Seokjin hummed as he leaned back in his chair, “I suppose so,”

“He’s quite intelligent,”

“Is that so,”

Hoseok’s lips had curved into an almost characteristic smile that Seokjin was not sure was as pure as he was trying to come across as, “He is, I think you should include him on this case, in fact, why don’t we have him at today’s meeting,”

Seokjin snorted, “you really mean to tell me that you want a fresher at today’s meeting,”
Hoseok shrugged, “Maybe we could do with some fresh new perspective, you and I have seen too much Seokjin,”

Seokjin hummed as he thumbed through the pictures again, he had seen too much, Hoseok was not wrong.
“Alright,” he conceded, “have him join us,”

Chapter 6: V

HR had summoned him, not that he had not expected it , but what he had not expected was a grumpy looking man handing him a pair of dress pants and a blazer, looking rather disgruntled when he had met his eyes with a look of confusion of his own.

“What are you looking at me like that for?” he asked.

“Is my outfit that bad?”

He snorted, “I am not dress coding you- you’ve been asked to join in on a high level meeting and we require all personnel in formal clothing,”

“And my outfit is not professional?” He asked jokingly, only to be met with a look of disdain from the man- Min Yoongi- as he had introduced himself.

“Seokjin didn’t seem to think so,” he said, waving him towards a door,”you can change in there,” he added.

Sighing he nodded and pushed the door open which led him into a small dressing room. Exchanging his plaid pants for the dress pants and pulling the blazer over a rather crushed white shirt he had to admit that the formal look was definitely something he could get behind. After pulling his almost too long hair into a sleek ponytail and touching up his lip balm he exited the room.

“Better ?” he asked, glancing at Min Yoongi who had turned his attention to a ceramic figurine of a cat that stood atop his desk next to an assortment of other trinkets that seemed to be at odds with the sour demeanor he was showing him now.

He turned his attention back to him, a small smile contorting his features, “Dare I say it looks better than the plaid pants?”

He made a face, “in my defense it is laundry day! I didn’t really have a choice,”

Min Yoongi half snorted, “well at least you clean up nicely, even the atrocity you have on for shoes are almost covered up,”

Jungkook glanced down at the old combat boots that he had donned today- a rather hasty decision this morning and shook his head before thanking Min Yoongi for the clothes and made his way out of the room. Hoseok was standing just outside, having donned a blazer himself- his hair slicked back.

“Does everyone take these meetings so seriously,” he laughed as he approached him, the man’s face breaking into a smile as he noticed him and put his phone down.

“It’s quite important,” he agreed, before gesturing that keep walking, “You look great Jungkook,”

“You look good too,” he said before he could help herself and felt his cheeks heat up as the other man stopped in his tracks and looked at him. He held his breath as he held his gaze for a moment too long and began walking again.

The rest of their walk continued in silence as they walked into the boardroom on the 51st floor. The large room with its large floor to ceiling glass ceilings definitely did its job at intimidating him. Seokjin was standing at the opposite end of the room, his suit immaculate as always, his usually neat slicked back hair looked like he had been raking his hands through it, eyes focused on the presentation that was being projected on the screen behind him.

“He looks stressed,” Hoseok whispered, catching Seokjin’s attention as they took their seats, the other man nodding at them curtly before training his eyes back to the presentation.

Jungkook nodded in agreement, watching as more people filed into the room and Seokjin fiddled with something on his laptop until the room had finally filled out and they were all staring at the oddly cheerful welcome slide that the man seemed to have prepared to go along with what she assumed was a very gory presentation.

His attention ripped away from the man when someone tapped him lightly on the shoulder and he jumped, almost upsetting the bottle of water that was placed in front of him. Yerin- the woman she had met on her first day with Taehyung and Hoseok was seated beside him, her brown hair pulled back into a slick ponytail, looking far more relaxed than she had the last time he had met her.

“So you're already joining us on this case?” she asked.

“Seokjin was adamant that he join this case,” quipped in Hoseok, “I dare say he’s his favorite at the moment,”

He blushed before he could stop himself and smacked Hoseok’s arm lightly at which the man grinned, “He doesn’t know what he’s talking about, I assume he just wants me to shadow on as many cases as I can,”

Yerin hummed, “Perhaps, this one has been by far one of the most confusing cases that I’ve seen,”

Jungkook nodded before the room went dark and Seokjin cleared his throat from the front of the room.

“Goodmorning,” he began, “I assume you all know why we are having this meeting,”

Someone snickered and Jungkook turned to see a dark haired man, his face harshly highlighted from the pale yellow light of the presentation, “I thought you concluded that this wasn't the doing of your killer Seokjin, I think this meeting is redundant.”

Seokjin seemed unruffled as he squared his shoulders and stood up straighter in front of the large screen, “Evan, I thought you’d have had the foresight to actually read the report and draw up your own conclusions,”

The man- Evan coughed, “Oh yes, but you did seem very sure,”

“Evan-” interrupted Karina, the woman was seated on Seokjin’s right, her tone almost malicious as she continued, “the point of these meetings are for a joint decision to be made, I don’t see what your point is,”

Seokjin nodded, “Shall I begin?”

The crowd murmured something that he wanted to believe was yes and Seokjin began.

“We have been on this case for the last 10 years,” he stated before moving onto the next slide and they were greeted with the gory image of a man sprawled in an alleyway, blood pooling from under his body, the hilt of a knife protruding from his abdomen, presumably where his genitals might have been.

Jungkook stared, he had known of this murder for years. It was of their very own agents- Seokjin’s former boss to be exact- Lee Everett- who had been murdered a week after the sexual assault allegations against him had dropped. He glanced at confusion at Hoseok who was staring intently at the screen, his expression giving away nothing.

Seokjin cleared his throat before breaking the hushed silence in the room. “I know this a sensitive topic but I firmly believe that this murder is the first in this case,”

“But who was Everett’s victim?” began the Evans, a mocking tone in his voice, “this does not match the m.o”

“The signature in the way he was murdered is the same as every other murder though Evan,” interrupted Yerin, “not every victim comes out with their story and there have been allegations against him against an unnamed victim, it seems clear to me that our killer started here,”

“This murder was over 10 years ago though, every other case only stems back to about 5 years ago,” someone else- a woman with dark curly hair who sat to Evan’s right, interjected.

“The signature is the same,” Seokjin repeated and the room was quiet again, “so was the weapon of choice,” he continued, “it would be foolish to not connect this to the rest, which is why- I don't think last night’s murder was connected although the timeline does seem to match up,”

“We also got results from the morgue this morning,” added Yerin, “they’ve concluded that the killer was female this time, based on the stab wounds,”

“And how are we sure the killer is male for the other murders? How are we even sure that the killer is a singular person?”

Yerin scoffed, “Really Evans, I don’t think you’ve done your homework on this case at all,”

“Read the autopsy reports Evan,” sighed Seokjin, sliding a file across the table at the man, and Jungkook couldn’t help feeling satisfied on his behalf as the snarky man accepted it with an ill disguised look of disdain.

“Moving on,” he continued, clicking onto the next slide, a series of pictures depicting the murders that had all been linked to the same killer over the years. All of them criminals- all of them rapists who had died just before they could be arrested. All of their victims had come out with their stories mere days before they had been killed.

“How does the killer know who to kill?” The curly haired woman asked, “it really seems like he’s trying to play god here, every victim has been a criminal,”

“He must have some sort of inside informant,” suggested someone else from the other end of the room, “this information has always reached us or the local police before the general public had been informed of it,”

“It may as well be anyone,” Seokjin said calmly, “but that is the least of our problems,”

“And what is our problem then Seokjin,” Evan asked, still skimming over the autopsy results.

“The fact that this killer is yet to be caught,”

Evan coughed, “I thought you’d have caught have him by now- you know- by the way you have everyone singing your praises,”

If Seokjin was affected by the other man’s words, his expression did not betray him. “I am not capable of miracles Evan, never claimed to be,”

Hoseok cleared his throat from beside him, slightly startling him as he got to his feet, “This meeting is not a show of power Evan, we have all been working on this case tirelessly, perhaps you could direct your questions into actually helping us solve it.”

Seokjin nodded slowly before continuing, “yes and let us move on please,”

The next slide of the presentation was even more gory than the last- a man with a knife embedded in his abdomen again lying in a pool of his own blood, his eyes open and stark- staring up vacantly at the camera.

Someone cleared their throat, “Where is all the blood from,”

 

“He cut the jugular vein,” Evan said , eyes meeting Seokjin’s momentarily before going back to skimming the autopsy report, “now why would he do that?”

“Why wouldn’t he do that?” challenged Seokjin, a snide smirk tugging at his lips, “do you think he did it out of mercy?”

Evan grunted, ruffling through the pages of the case as if he expected some other explanation to jump out at him. “And I suppose last night’s killer didn’t do that,”

“Last night’s killer was a novice, our killer is not so crass,” Seokjin said, his voice lower than before and room seemed to hush as he continued, “You can tell by how unsteady the knife blows were and how frantic the attack seems to have been, it is all about the details after all,”

Evan sighed as he pushed the case file across the table back to Seokjin, “I suppose I have to agree with you,”

“Damn I actually owe Yerin $20 now,” Hoseok muttered under his breath and he couldn’t help smiling before turning his attention back to Seokjin who was now sporting another one of his ambiguous expressions that she just could nor read.

“Shall we end this meeting then? I suggest we all take a look at the case files and any issues can be discussed directly with me by the end of the day, but I do think we need to place importance on finding out who actually killed these women last night. I will be visiting the morgue today with Hoseok-”

“I would like to come as well,” Evan interrupted.

Seokjin looked unimpressed, “By all means do join us- this meeting is concluded.”

The room cleared out as quickly as it had filled up leaving her and Hoseok and Seokjin in the room.

“What does Evan have against you?” Hoseok asked as Seokjin gathered his things and shut the laptop unnecessarily slowly before looking up at Hoseok , a blank expression on his face.

“He and I started working the same year,” Seokjin said dryly, falling into step beside them as they made their way out of the room and into the hallway beyond, “I don’t really dwell on it-” he said turning to him “what did you think Jungkook, what is your conclusion,”

He stared at him, caught off guard, the last thing he had expected was for the man to ask him what his verdict was on such a high profile case. Feeling slightly embarrassed he recounted the meeting in his head as fast as he could without looking like an idiot in front of the one man she genuinely respected. To say he had been shocked would be an understatement, the whole thing had perplexed him, from it beginning with Lee Everett to the copycat killing from the night before.

“I think I agree with you that the murder was not done by the same person,” he supplied, cheeks heating up as the words left his mouth, sounding far lamer than he would have liked.

Seokjin hummed, “You think, as in, you're unsure,” his gaze on him was piercing and he all but wished the ground would give way below him and swallow him whole, he really was as intimidating a presence as everyone who had ever met him had claimed. “I’d like you to draw more convincing conclusions next time,”

He was gone before he could fathom a response. Disappearing around the corner as the corridor they were in forked in two different directions.

Hoseok rolled his eyes, “Don’t take his words too much to heart Jungkook , he does tend to get a little snappy after meetings like these,”

He shook his head, “He is right though, I should have been able to come up with a conclusion,”

The man sighed, “I understand where you’re coming from Jungkook, but remember, everyone else in that room has several years of experience, you needn’t feel less than, honestly just taking in the experience is as much as what I would have expected you to gain from today,”

He offered him a small smile, a small consolation for the anxiety that had stemmed from Seokjin’s criticism. The perfectionist in him did not do well with criticism, especially not from people he had held in high regard.

“I know this might be bold of me,” Hoseok continued suddenly, “but would you be interested in joining me and a couple friends for drinks tonight?”

He stared at him, the man looked sincere, a small smile on his face and he couldn’t help smiling back, “of course , I’d love that,”

 

This bar, he realized later that night, when he entered with Hoseok, was popular with the bureau, almost all the tables filled with other agents whose faces he could vaguely recognize but did not know the names of. He led him towards the bar, pausing several times to exchange pleasantries with other agents.

To say he was popular would have been an understatement, he supposed he should attribute that to his open nature. His thoughts interrupted as they took a seat at the bar. Taehyung was already there, nursing what looked like his 5th shot of the night considering the other 4 empty shot glasses in front of him, giving him a wan smile before downing the 5th shot and placing the glass unnecessarily hard on the table.

“Hello Jungkook,” he slurred, “what brings you here?”

“Hoseok actually,” he laughed as Taheyung’s eyes lit up as he scanned the room for the other man who was now talking to the grumpy man from HR- Min Yoongi who seemed to be all smiles now.

“Ah,” Taehyung nodded, “I do warn you, Yoongi is particularly fond of Hoseok, I hope you wouldn’t mind the company of a poor drunkard,”

He rolled his eyes, “I suppose you aren’t all bad, is the paperwork that bad or do you have some other woes tonight?”

Taheyung sighed, “I actually love paperwork, as unbelievable as it sounds,”

He laughed, ordering herself a shot of his own from the bartender who did not look particularly pleased that he had to actually do, “I wish I was on paperwork myself actually,”

Taehyung raised an eyebrow at him, “what, tailing Seokjin isn’t fun?”

He scoffed, fun was probably the farthest thing he would have classed the experience. “Not so much,”

The bartender placed the shot in front of him, and to his alarm, another one in front of Taehyung just as both Hoseok, and to his surprise, Min Yoongi slid into the seats next to him at the bar.

“Hello Jungkook,” the latter greeted, something akin to a small smile on his face, when he wasn’t glaring at him, he was almost cute.

“Hello Yoongi,” he smiled, “I didn’t expect to see you here,”

“As am I actually, Yoongi doesn’t venture outside very much,” Hoseok interjected, deftly waving the bartender away as Taehyung tried to request for another shot before turning his attention back to him, “but it just so happens to be an interesting night,”

“It’s always an interesting night if Yoongi is out too,” Taehyung said airly , eyeing the empty shot glass mournfully, “It’s Seokjin’s birthday,”

Her eyes widened as she turned to Hoseok who was now sporting an apologetic look.

“You didn’t know?” Yoongi looked unimpressed as he popped a few of the complimentary peanuts into his mouth, chewing slowly before he continued, “Although it is likely that he doesn’t know either,”

“I’m sorry,” Hoseok added, “I figured you’d feel pressured if I had mentioned it was the boss’s birthday,”

He rolled his eyes, “that is true but I fear I might have just come out of curiosity Hoseok,”

“What’s that supposed to mean,” smirked Hoseok, “are you interested in him,”

Taehyung scoffed, “everyone is interested in him Hoseok, whether out of envy or admiration is up for debate though,”

“Was that a dig at Evan?” Hoseok laughed, “I swear Seokjin is his gay awakening,”

The statement, said in so much earnestness, made them all laugh, Yoongi included. The night went on smoothly, punctuated with Hoseok chastising Taehyung and Yoongi , much to his surprise, providing them with several anecdotes that he could have never imagined him having had any part in.

A good hour had passed before Seokjin walked in, the man looked as stoic as ever, Karina following closely behind him, looking flushed. He could only have imagined what had caused the woman's cheeks to be so flushed and he very much doubted it was from the chilly night.
The music in the room had come to a halt with his appearance and a sloppy chorus of happy birthday began from somewhere in the back of the room.

Turning around he noticed that two agents, clearly having had too much to drink, were standing atop a table, bellowing the song much to Seokjin’s embarrassment. At least, that’s what he assumed it was from the way the tips of his ears had gone red. His face, however, was devoid of emotion until others began to join in on the sloppy singing, Taehyung and Hoseok included. He watched with almost bated breath as Yoongi sighed, getting to his feet and walking towards the older man, pulling him into a hug.

“Yoongi,” Seokjin said finally, “what is this?”

“Your birthday,” Yoongi shrugged, “why don’t we start the music back up huh?” he said, turning to the dj who looked equally as stunned as he felt and a hush fell over the room before the music turned back on and everyone turned back to whatever they had been doing before, the dance floor writhing with energy once again as if it had never stopped.

Yoongi made his way back to them, Seokjin and Karina following closely behind Jungkook turned back to the bar to see that the bartender had now placed a small cake, painfully bare with a large ‘32’ sloppily written in black icing at the center.

Seokjin seemed to almost smile as he noticed the cake, peering at it over his shoulder, close enough that he could catch the faintest whiff of his cologne, something musky, yet clean.

So he was 32, something that had never really occurred to Jungkook was his age, yet seeing it here in writing seemed to solidify him as a real living being. And here he really was, breathing, right over his shoulder.

“I suppose you couldn’t have had a professional make the cake?” Karina sniffed.

Yoongi gave her a withering look, “I would say it’s one of my best works,”

“And what would that be?”

“Vanilla with a whipped dark chocolate filling,” said Yoongi and Seokjin at the same time, the latter actually smiling this time, and Jungkook had appreciated just how beautiful he looked when he smiled, his eyes lighting up in a way he had never imagined.

It was gone as soon as it had appeared, Yoongi pushing the cake towards him, the older man accepting it graciously before cutting into the cake and handing them each a slice before he began on his own.

The cake was good despite Karina’s complaints, just sweet enough, the dark chocolate decadent.

“Damn Yoongi, why do you never make me anything for my birthday?” Tayehung complained playfully as he licked the spoon, eyeing Karina’s half eaten slice a little too hopefully. The woman gave him a pointed look before placing the remainder of her slice on Seokjin’s plate instead.

Yoongi sighed, “you act like you don’t steal my lunch almost every week,”

Taehyung pouted, “I don't think that has anything to do with the fact that you hate me,” the incredulity in his voice making both him and Hosdeok laugh, even Seokjin seemed to smile slightly as finished up his slice of cake.

“Would you like this Taehyung?” Seokjin suddenly asked, sliding his plate over to the other man who looked shocked at being spoken to, “I’m not sure that I can have anymore,”

“What?” Taehyung blinked and Jungkook couldn’t help sneaking a glance at Kaerina who looked like she wanted to stab her fork through the remainder of the cake that now sat in front of Taehyung.

Seokjin shrugged, “Have it,” he said simply, getting to his feet, “thank you for the cake Yoongi, I’m going out to get some air,”
He was gone before Taehyung could say anything more and Jungkook didn’t miss Karina sneaking out after him, disappearing into the crowd.

“Well,” Taehung announced as he stuffed a mouthful of the cake into his mouth,” If he wants me to have it, I suppose I may as well comply,”

Yoongi rolled his eyes before, much to Jungkook’s surprise, coaxing Hoseok to join him on the dance floor and he watched them quietly, bodies writhing to the rhythm.

Taehyung’s attention had been taken up by the appearance of a man shorter than him with bright pink hair when he decided he could have done with some air as well, the smell of cigarette smoke and alcohol was getting too much to bear.

Seokjin was standing alone in the balcony that the bar opened onto, giving them a good view of the city scape below, almost breathtaking, but he had to admit, it was the man who was draped over the banister, his long black trench coat billowing in the window that made the view absolutely breathtaking.

He quipped an eyebrow up at him as he joined him at the banister, gazing down at the city. The odd show of some sort of emotion on his face taking him by surprise.

“The smoke getting to you?” he asked, he was not looking at him , his gaze still focused on the cityscape before them.

“Yes, I don’t really do bars or clubs that often,”

“Neither do I,” his gaze was on him now and Jungkook appreciated how deep his gaze was as he held his.Void but still almost velvety and he wasn’t sure how he felt about it-or him. Sure he was the man he had revered, but standing here he was just a man, a very attractive man.

His cheeks heating up as he realized he was checking out his boss, he turned away hurriedly.

If the other man minded, he did not show it, opting instead for silence, the dull sound of music from the bar in the background. The city was still buzzing with activity despite the hour and Jungkook watched as a man yelled out a tirade of insults at a poor street vendor as he tripped over something in front of their cart far away on the street below them.

“Fickle creatures,” Seokjin mused finally and he met his gaze once again, “human beings,” he added, as if to help him understand what he meant.

“You speak as if you aren’t one of them,” he replied, smiling despite herself.

“I never did claim to be human.”

He laughed at that, despite himself, Kim Seokjin was funny without trying to be, his stoic demeanor making the statement even funnier, as if he truly did believe what he said.

“It wasn’t meant to be funny,” he continued, his shoulders squared, but Jungkook was sure he had caught the slightest of smiles as the man turned away from him again, the breeze ruffling his dark hair, and Jungkook had to appreciate the way it made him look, like the melancholy male lead in a dark romance.

His phone rang shrilly suddenly, the loud sound shattering the comfortable silence and Seokjin’s brow furrowed as he answered his phone. The line of what he assumed was frustration only deeperning on his forehead as the conversation went on.

“Are you absolutely sure?” he asked, “tonight?”

His frown only deepened as the conversation went on , Seokjin quipping in with an occasional hum and several “okays” that piqued his curiosity more than he would have liked to admit.
He must have done a very poor job masking his curiosity because he gave him a tired glance as he pocketed his phone with a decided sigh before he raking his hair back, the small movement made far too attractive in the dull saturated night light.

“Fair warning,” he said, “you can always quit before it’s too late, work life balance is a myth,”

He smiled, “I think I’m okay with that,”

If Seokjin had found his comment amusing he would never be able to tell, the other man’s handsome features schooled into the perfect mask and Jungkook found himself gazing into the distance once more.

The silence was poignant until Seokjin sighed before straightening up and pulling his coat more closely around him, “I will take your leave now,” he said robotically before tilting his head slightly to Jungkook in goodbye and walking away before he really had the chance to respond.

Jungkook could only stare after his retreating figure, working for Kim Seokjin definitely was not what he had pictured for himself at 24 but here he was, and life had probably worked out exactly as it should have.

Notes:

Special thanks to my sweetheart. This story is for her afterall.
I am on twt @jjinnieshoe, if you're interested in more mental illness.

Chapter 7: VI

Life was at a standstill as he made his way through the winding streets of the city.The fluorescent lights painting the night sky in a perpetual deep glow flashing distractingly as he wove his way through the crowds of late-night street food vendors and their patrons.

A few of them called out to him, rather forward, even managing to shove a little plastic plate of croissant-like pastries into his hands before he could refuse. He sighed as he glanced down at the plate; ironically, the pastries were one of the few sweet treats he had actually enjoyed as a child.

The woman seemed satisfied as she flashed him a toothy grin before he could say anything and disappeared back into her little shop, the sales girl at the front of the booth giving her an apologetic look of her own. Sighing he crammed his hand into the pocket of his trench coat, grabbing a dollar and handing it to the bewildered girl, leaving swiftly before she could have protested.

Why he had accepted the random pastry mystified even him as he made his way through the street until he ended up at the very end. This part of the city was dark and damp, very much in contrast to the brightly lit strip he had just passed. Leaning against the walls, he allowed himself a bite of the pastry, the familiar taste bringing up a wave of nostalgia that he wasn’t sure he wanted to remember.

A bitter smile formed at his lips. What had he even become?

His phone ringing shrilly brought him back to reality, and he remembered why he had come here.

“Hello?”

“Seokjin,” came a silky voice, and he cringed at the sound of his own name.

“What do you want?” he said finally.

“What do you mean, what do I want? I am here to call in the favour you owe me, come on now, you are the country’s top detective, I thought you would have figured that much by now,”

He cursed as he crushed the paper plate that the pastry woman had handed him, all thoughts of a little piece of his childhood forgotten. “I don’t owe you anything,” he said calmly,quelling the rage he actually felt aching to spill out the second he had his guard down.

A deep intake of breath on the other end of the line seemed to signal some hesitation and Seokjin waited with bated breath until the other man spoke again, “I need the help, you know I can ruin you Seokjin, you wouldn’t want all your dirty secrets out in the public would you?”

The man had clearly meant to taunt, but something about the slight quiver in his voice had betrayed his desperation and Seokjin was in control again, he wouldn't have made this call if he wasn’t desperate. The sadist in him thriving as he pictured the other practically begging for his mercy.

“What secrets?” He was smiling now.

The man hesitated again, the sing-song lilt in his voice gone now replaced by something akin to desperation, at least that was what Seokjin could gather. “You know I have dirt on you,”

“Yeah? Reveal anything you’d like Daniel,” he smirked, “Air out all my dirty laundry for all the world to see,”

A moment of silence before Daniel spoke again, his voice an octave lower than before, “Are you already here?”

“I know you already know I’m here, Daniel,” he said as he looked up at the CCTV camera in a corner of the alleyway, “it’s your call.”

A hum of annoyance, and the line went dead, pocketing his phone he leaned against the wall until the rusted iron gate on the opposite wall that led into the musty high rise that loomed up in front of him opened and a tired looking man stood at its threshold. He was unshaven, a stain running down a threadbare wife-beater that hung off his wiry frame.

“Pleasure,” Seokjin said wryly as he followed the other man into the dank hallway.

“Why won’t you just arrest me?” Daniel asked finally as they stopped in front of a door that desperately needed a fresh coating of paint. The smell of rotting food permeated the air and Seokjin could barely keep himself from clapping a hand over his face as the other man unlocked the door and the smell increased tenfold.

“You want me to arrest you?”

“I want to leave this hell hole Seokjin, even prison would be better than this,”

He couldn’t help the bitter laugh that escaped him at the man’s admittance, “You chose this hell for yourself, why do you live like this, you can’t possibly blame me for your inability to move on,””

The man turned on him, his eyes wild, “really? I thought you of all people would understand survivor’s guilt, that should have been me Seokjin, I can’t live with myself anymore, for fuck’s sake, arrest me.”

“I have no evidence to arrest you, Daniel,” Seokjin said calmly.

The man seemed to crumple into himself as he heard that, falling to his feet against the wall, dragging his fingers down his face as if he wanted to tear the very skin off. “I killed him Seokjin, cmon, I know you know I killed him,”

“You’re saying you killed my boss,” snickered Seokjin, the taunt escaping him far more easily than he would have liked, “and how would you prove that?”

The other man seemed at a loss for words as he sat on the floor, gazing up at him, expression vacant and soulless like any will he had possibly had for an out had left him, “does it matter? I thought you had been wanting to solve that case for ages, wouldn’t pinning the blame on me give you an easy out? Come on, Seokjin, I am handing you an offer here on a silver platter.”

Seokjin hummed, “An offer for what exactly?”

“To be the greatest detective this country has ever seen, I know this case is the only one that has been going unsolved for years now, surely you would like that stain off of your illustrious career.”

“I already am the greatest detective this country has ever seen,” he said, his tone more disdainful than he would like as he readied himself to exit the apartment, “you wasted my time with this, as you have many times before.”

Daniel made a wretched noise, “You know I will call you again, don’t you?”

Seokjin did. Daniel had been making the same call for the last 8 years, and Seokjin would answer every time. Seokjin was a man of principle; a promise was always a promise, and he never did go back on his word.

He left the apartment wordlessly without looking back. The man looked too pitiful, the image almost reflecting his own state 10 years ago, crumpled in the corner of this room upon hearing about his sister's passing. He had been a different person then, the tears coming quickly, falling down his cheeks easily, tears had never come quite so easily as they had that night.

The memory beckoned a wave of emotion he wasn’t sure he wanted to face just yet, as he gripped the steering wheel tightly as he drove himself back to his own apartment. The journey was much faster now due to how late it was. Being the city’s best detective had its perks, he supposed as he walked into his penthouse apartment that boasted a view of the impressive skyline; this was his sanctuary, the one place that no one had access to.

His birthday was not a day he wanted to remember anymore; the days leading up to it having been punctuated with so much grief, the thought of celebrating something as trivial as a birthday seemed foolish. Hanging up his jacket, he unbuttoned his shirt, the overly starched collar had been digging into him all day, the fabric slightly too scratchy. It was one of those days, everything in the world felt like it was there for the explicit purpose of pissing him off.

Pouring himself a glass of wine, he falls back on his couch, having foregone switching on any lights in his living room, the only illumination coming from the bright billboards outside. It had been a long day, he thought as he ran over the day’s events, stopping particularly at his little interaction with their little dark-haired new recruit Jungkook.
There was something about the man that intrigued him, something endearingly innocent in those big eyes, so eager to learn. The thought came unbidden, and he couldn’t help chastising himself for it.

Jungkook was something he supposed.

 

He woke up several hours later on his couch. it was a sunny Saturday morning, and he blinked uncomfortably as the sun streamed directly into his room, the wine glass and his shirt that he had discarded at some point that night on the floor. Stepping over the mess he made his way to the bathroom.

The gel from last night had finally given up, and his hair fell in limp strands over his forehead. Shaking his head as his reflection, he stripped out of the remainder of his clothes and showered, choosing a less severe outfit for the day, a hoodie and sweatpants. Foregoing the effort of styling his hair, he donned a cap before leaving his apartment.

The doorman greeted him on his way out, and one of the other residents, a woman well into her 40s, winked at him before he made his way to his usual running track. It was uncannily empty, but he supposed he could attribute that to the not-so-promising weather forecast for the day.
Allowing himself a few moments to stretch, he began running, choosing a slightly different route to his usual. What could he say? He was a man open to change, the ridiculous making him grin slightly.

He had made it through a solid 40 minutes when he heard him, “Seokjin?” came a soft voice, and he turned so abruptly that he could have almost knocked the other man over.

“Jungkook?” he managed, hoping he didn’t sound as surprised as he felt, taking a careful step back as he drank in the other’s outfit, a slightly too small fitted shirt paired with the tightest shorts that he had ever seen, the man gripping onto a leash, said leash on a baby Doberman. “What are you doing here?”

 

“Oh, I’ve been trying out different walking paths for Bam here,” the younger man said, his eyes sparkling slightly as he gestured to his dog, who yapped happily at the mention of his name.

“Oh I see,”

“Is this your usual spot?”

Seokjin nodded, “I live around here,” he said before he could stop himself, disclosing where you lived with a subordinate was probably not the best idea but Seokjin had found himself doing a lot of foolish things.

“Ah,” Jungkook said, “say, would you want to race me?”

Seokjin stared at him, “...race you?”

“Yeah!” the other man said enthusiastically, “It'd be fun, don’t you think, sir?”
Sir, right Jungkook was his employee, his subordinate.

“What about Bam?”

“He can run with us!” Jungkook said quickly as if that was the most obvious answer that he could have given him.

He considered it, sneaking a glance at the younger man, taking in his physique, considerably muscular, almost at odds with the doe eyed stare that he gave him. “I suppose that works,” he relented, “I hope you’re fast Jungkook, considering that being a fast runner was part of the evaluation to get into the bureau,” the last part added before he could help himself and he enjoyed the slight shift in the other’s demeanor at the prospect of a challenge.

“I am fast,” the younger said with a pout, and it took Seokjin all his resolve not to smile at the little defiance.

“Let’s see,” he taunted.

“Are you going to give me something if I win?” Seokjin stared at him as the question hung between them with a strange tension. The odd casualness of the situation almost caught him off guard.

“ Maybe you should win first,” he smirked, getting into position, catching Jungkook’s eye, the man flashing him a grin before getting into position himself and they set off, Jungkook having let Bam off his leash, the little dog yapping happily as he wove in and out of their legs, almost tripping him up.

The adrenaline was instant, and Seokjin was reminded why he had always chosen running as his physical activity of choice; the burn in his calves was almost satisfying as they passed the two-lap mark. Jungkook was beginning to slow down now, but the determination in his face, however, told him that he did not plan on letting him win.

“Tired?” he couldn’t help taunting as they approached the third lap, glancing at his subordinate, his long wavy hair sticking to his forehead where they had come close from the little half-up hairdo that he had on his morning.

“As if,” came the reply, but he did not miss the breathlessness in the other’s voice.

The younger’s resolve brought an unbidden smile to his lips, and he turned away before the other could see it. They had reached the fifth lap when Jungkook finally gave up, flinging himself onto the ground, Bam coming to lick at his sweaty, red face as he sat on the grass.

“Are you sure you passed the evaluation?” he asked as he sat beside the tired man on the grass, raking a hand through his sweaty hair. “I did expect better from you,” he added, enjoying the incredulous look on the other’s face.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t impress you, sir,” muttered the other man, not quite looking at him as he struggled to leash his excitable dog.

“And did you want to impress me?” The question left his lips before he could stop himself, and the other man finally turned to look at him, those doe eyes searching his own, an odd innocence in them that he couldn't say he had seen in such a long time, almost captivating as he held his gaze. The silence hung heavily between them before Jungkook opened his mouth to speak again.

“Perhaps,” was all he said before turning back to Bam again, and the tension dissipated. Seokjin sighed before he tapped Jungkook and took the leash from him, easily attaching it back onto the dog’s collar. Bam gave him a little lick as he patted his head, and Jungkook was staring at him once again.

He got to his feet, extending a hand out to Jungkook, who seemed almost transfixed on something before he accepted his outstretched hand and got up a smidge too quickly, almost bumping into him as he got up.

What a cliche.

The younger took a step back, almost immediately before flashing him an apologetic smile, “Sorry,”

He waved him off, “No need to thank me, Jungkook,” he said before the early morning silence was punctuated with the loud sound of both their work phones ringing shrilly and Seokjin sighed.

The bureau had mandated work cell phones to everyone in the violent crimes department. The job was everything anyone who worked in law and order wanted, but it also came with an almost non-existent work-life balance, being at the agency's beck and call at any given moment.

 

That was how he found himself at the office roughly 45 minutes later, having rushed to change into something more acceptable, his hair still damp as he walked into the conference room. Karina and Hoseok gave him almost identical wan smiles, the former looking like he was nursing a hangover as he leaned over the table, his head propped on one hand.

Taehyung walked in shortly after him, the man dressed in a crumpled white shirt and slacks that looked like they had seen better days, groaned as he rubbed his back before he sat down gingerly.

“Rough night?” Hoseok questioned, raising an eyebrow at the other man, who stuck his tongue out at him rather childishly.

“Had a lot to drink,” he muttered, at which Hoseok grinned, a mischievous look on his face that told Soekjin that Taehyung was probably not going to hear the end of this.

“Are we waiting on anyone else?” Karina asked pointedly, and Seokjin turned to her. She was probably the only one who looked put together, hair slicked back into a severe high ponytail. Seokjin could only wonder if she had sat on her couch waiting for a call to come into the office on a Saturday morning.

“Jungkook,” Hoseok said before he could, “I did call him.”

Seokjin opened his mouth before thinking better of it and turning away. Jungkook had rushed home to drop Bam off, having hurriedly texted him that he was running a few minutes late. It was an innocent enough encounter by chance, but he would rather spare himself the questions.,

“Really? Are we including Jungkook on this?” Karina questioned, her tone a little too incredulous for his liking, “I mean, this case is outside the city, are we really including a fresher this early on, I mean no offense but wouldn’t you say he is slightly inexperienced?”

“Jungkook was top of his class Karina,” Hoseok interjected, “it was my call to include him, and as discussed with Seokjin I think we could do with fresher perspectives on our cases, it has been the same team for ages and with Devi out of the field as well I do think we need all the help we can get,”

“I think he is good too,” Taehyung added, “I read over his case notes and they were impressive, it is usually hard to find someone so new into the field with such a wise perspective, I say we could even ask him on some older cold cases.”

Karina looked slightly miffed as she turned to him finally, “And what do you think?”

“I want him on today’s case, “ he said simply and didn’t miss the way the woman’s face blanched at his words, the grip she had on the plastic water bottle that she was holding, tightening considerably.

The door swung open before she could say anything, and Seokjin was half glad when Jungkook rushed in, having changed into a sloppily buttoned white shirt and slacks, panting as he deposited himself into the chair across from him.

“Sorry for interrupting your Saturday, Jungkook,” Hoseok said presently, greeting the younger man, his face flushed as he caught his eye momentarily and then looked at Hoseok.

“Oh no, I’m sorry, “ he said hurriedly, “did I keep you all waiting?”

“No, just Karina,” Taehyung said airily, pulling out a gigantic notepad and an expensive-looking fountain pen as he usually did at every case briefing, “she practically lives in the office.”

The woman only had a second to give Taehyung a scathing look before Hoseok shot them both a warning glance and got to his feet.

“Allow me to introduce today’s case,” he said in a voice that seemed far too cheerful for someone with a hangover to be talking about what was probably another gruesome case, and Seokjin rubbed his temples in anticipation as the dull pounding started up again.

This was going to be a long one.

Notes:

Another one from the elusive Seokjin pov.
If you're here, follow me on X/Twitter! @jjinnieshoe, I am funny! sometimes :)
More to come!

Chapter 8: VII

The look Jimin had given him before he left had been very disapproving, and now, walking into the office almost ten minutes later, Jungkook couldn’t even blame him.

Seokjin was already there. The other man looked rather disgruntled, his wet hair creating a damp spot on his shirt. The man greeted him with a brief nod of acknowledgment as he pulled out the chair opposite him and sat down.

“Oh no,” he said hurriedly, unfortunately catching Karina’s eye. The woman looked irritated as she went back to her notes. “Did I keep you all waiting?”

“No, just Karina,” Taehyung said rather flippantly, pulling out a gigantic notepad and an expensive-looking fountain pen before continuing, “She practically lives in the office.”

Jungkook couldn’t help hiding a small smile at Taehyung’s comment as he turned his full attention to Hoseok now, the other man having gotten to his feet and standing in front of a large flat-screen TV.

“Allow me to introduce today’s case,” he said, his voice an octane for whatever gruesome case they had to deal with today Jungkook sucked in a breath before Hoseok clicked on his remote and the crime scene photos stared back at him.

A woman spreadeagled on the floor, her limbs splayed in odd angles, blood pooling out from under her, it almost looked like she had fallen to her death until he noticed that several of her fingers were missing, the digits severed clean off her hand, her eyes open and staring upwards blankly. A white rose, splattered with blood, was slowly turning brown on her chest as if it had just been tossed there, an afterthought.

“This is Marissa Wood,” Hoseok continued. She was found like this in her apartment this morning. The local police want our help on the case. It’s a fairly small town, and they have never had to deal with an incident like this.”

Seokjin cleared his throat, “And do we know what the weapon of choice was?”

Hoseok shook his head, “The body has been taken to the coroner for post-mortem testing. “

“They severed her fingers off,” Taehyung said distastefully as he jotted something down in his notebook.

Karina sniffed rather loudly, and Jungkook turned to look at her. The woman looked far paler than usual, her pointed look directed at Seokjin, who had all his attention on the pictures that Hoseok had pulled up.

“This seems very sadistic,” Seokjin said finally, his expression thoughtful, “and very symbolic,”

“Cutting off fingers can be seen as a form of torture,” he added before he could stop himself, blanching as Seokjin directed all his attention to him, his expression calculating.

“I agree,” he replied, “cutting off fingers has been used historically to get a confession out of people.”

“You think he killed this woman because she didn’t speak?” interjected Karina, her brow furrowed as she flipped through the binder containing physical copies of the pictures that Hoseok had on screen, “if he just wanted a confession, why did he go as far as to kill them?”

“I don’t think the confession was what he was after,” Hoseok said, “rather just a step in something far more elaborate.” Turning his attention back to the screen, he went to the next slide.
Images of two other women in similar positions flooded the screen, and Jungkook was quick to note how tight Seokjin’s jaw had become as he scanned the photos.

“Any sexual assault?” he asked finally, his voice almost an eerie calm in contrast to how his brows were furrowed.

Hoseok shook his head, “So far, there doesn't seem to have been a sexual element here; this seems more like a punishment, something akin to a bloated sense of morality.”

“They all think they are gooddoers,” Taehyung sniffed, hastily scribbling in his notebook, “are the kills concentrated in one area?”

“Not necessarily, although we do a have the radius mapped out,” Hoseok said, pulling up a map, “fortunately for us, we do know where to start this time-the perpetrator also has a clear victimology.”

“Woman, mid-20s, blond, specifically around 5 feet, 5 inches,” Karina read out.

“Right,” Seokjin said, getting to his feet, “ we shouldn’t be wasting any more time, please meet me on the tarmac in 30 minutes, I trust you all have your go bags ready. Hoseok, please have Devi send us all the necessary information, and have her on call. We need someone to access the database when we get there.”

“Of course,” Hoseok said, ending the slide show.

“Oh, and Jungkook,” Seokjin added, “please come with me.”

 

He hoped his face was not betraying the nervousness he felt as he followed Seokjin across the tarmac an hour later, his medium-sized duffle that served as his go-bag in hand. The other man had spent a good half hour briefing him on out-of-city cases and taking the bureau-issued jet. He, however, couldn’t deny the anticipation that buzzed through his veins as the plane came into view.

Taehyung, Karina, and Hoseok were already there, joined by a tall woman with a dark bob who smiled at him in a way that he couldn't quite interpret as they made their way towards them.

“Seokjin,” greeted the tall woman.

“Irina,” he greeted, tipping his head slightly at her, a show of respect, she must have been his senior.

“I wanted to meet your newest recruit,” she said, casting him a look that he wasn't very sure he enjoyed, almost as if she was questioning Seokjin’s decision to have included him in this case.

“Jungkook, wasn’t it?” she asked, giving him her full attention, her eyes raking over him in a way that reminded him of a predator looking at its prey, beady eyes like a vulture’s boring into his own.

He cast one last look at Seokjin, who was now looking in the other direction, before nodding quickly, “Yes, ma’am.”

The woman’s thin lips pulled into a smile that didn’t seem quite sincere. “Ah,” she proclaimed, “Seokjin has certainly had good things to say about you; your whole department seems quite pleased with you.”

“I am glad to hear that,” he said somewhat blandly, feeling the eyes of the rest of the team on him as the older woman nodded at him and then gestured at the plan, “well have a safe trip then, I usually do not recommend such new agents flying out for cases but I suppose Seokjin is the leader for your team and his decision is the final say,”

“It was my recommendation-” Hoseok interjected before he could say anything, “Jungkook has been exceeding expectations, we might even have new leads on a few cold cases that he has been looking into.”

The woman turned to Hoseok, giving the man a cool smile, “It is very sweet that you have all taken so kindly to the newest member of your team. Well then, safe travels.”

“Thank you, Irina, “ Seokjin said courteously, tipping his head again at the woman and leading them into the plane, Jungkook following close behind him, casting the snide woman one last look before he boarded.

“Karina,” Seokjin said sharply as they took their seats, fastening his seatbelt as he cast a withering look at the woman, “if you had a problem with who I want on this case, you should have spoken to me directly.”

The woman blanched at his words, fumbling with her seat belt at his words, the disapproving look that he was now regarding her with sending shivers down even Jungkook’s spine.
“Seokjin,” she began, “why would you even think I-”

The man cast her a tired look, “You used to be in her department, Karina. Don’t give me that, I don’t appreciate team members going behind my back.”

The rest of the plane ride continued in silence, and Jungkook was grateful for it, the sky darkening into a velvety navy as they touched down at their destination. The gloomy skyline of a city loomed up in front of them as they disembarked.

“We will be heading to the station right away,” Hoseok said as they made their way towards the cars that were awaiting them on the tarmac, and Jungkook nodded. To say he was nervous would have been an understatement; he almost felt like an impostor as he followed them, his mood considerably soured by Karina’s thoughts on his presence, and his anxiety at an all-time high.

Hoseok, himself, and Taehyung got into one of the cars while Karina and Seokjin took the others. “You don’t need to worry,” Hoseok said kindly, as if reading his mind, “I know it seems insane at first, with all the travel and everything, but I promise you, you wouldn't be here if Seokjin didn’t think you had the potential to be on this case,”

“A lot of people seem to disagree,” he muttered as he stared out of the window, hating how childish he sounded, but the woman’s commentary had struck a nerve, her words reminding him a little too much of his father. Disdain laced in every sentence he had uttered to him, he had not spoken to that man in years, and the thought of him only made him shudder.

“Karina is just bitter, she used to be Seokjin's newest recruit until you joined, she was moved into this team from Irina’s, now I can’t say this for a fact but people have been saying she joined this team just for him,” Taehyung added, “can’t say I blame her but she is quite a nasty piece of work sometimes,”

Hoseok scoffed, “She needs to get a grip, but perhaps she is just on her high horse because Seokjin sleeps with her sometimes.”

Taehyung laughed, “Seokjin sleeps with everyone, though.”

“What?” Jungkook managed, the comment catching him off guard, much to Taehyung’s apparent amusement.

“Oh, not us,” he assured him, a mischievous look in his eyes, gesturing at him and Hoseok, “if that makes you feel better.”

“Why would that make me feel better?” he said rather defensively, cringing as the words left his mouth. He felt his cheeks heat up, and Taehyung and Hoseok exchanged a glance that he wasn’t sure he liked.

“Karina doesn’t deserve that dick,” Taehyung shrugged and Jungkook could only stare at him, perhaps it was his scandalized look that had Hoseok dissolving into a fit of giggles and he couldn't help laughing too.

 

Whatever silliness had taken over them on the car ride quickly dissipated as they finally made it into the station and were greeted by a tall woman, her face gaunt, with dark circles under her eyes, and a coffee cup in hand, signaling that she probably hadn't slept in a while.

“Detective Harris,” she said somberly, extending her hand out to Seokjin, who shook it promptly, an equally somber expression on his face.

“Agent Kim,” he responded before gesturing towards the rest of them, “and this is the rest of my team, agents Thomas, Jung, Kim, and Jeon.”

“It’s great to have you here,” she said rather warily, giving them each a nod of acknowledgment, “my team has been getting nowhere with this case.”

“Do you have a room we could set up in?” Seokjin asked, following the woman into what he assumed was the precinct’s briefing room, a large round table stood in the middle of the room, littered with several open files and pictures as well as several old paper coffee cups and two boxes of half-eaten Chinese takeout. A large board stood at the far back wall of the room, a map depicting the sites where the bodies had been found tacked on it as well as the crime scene photos.

“You can set up in here with us,” she said, and Jungkook focused back on her, watching as she unceremoniously pushed several files away from one side of the table, knocking over several pictures and an empty coffee that fell onto the floor unceremoniously with a loud clatter.

“Fuck,” she groaned, and Jungkook felt sorry for her, he had been there too. Frustrated and dissatisfied, the weight of being a failure in the face of people who wanted a quick solution, sometimes the field he had chosen could take a lot out of you.

Before the woman could bend down to pick up what she had dropped, Seokjin was already picking up the photos and disposing of the empty coffee cup, as well as the rest of the empty cups on the table.
“We’ve got this Detective Harris,” his tone kinder than Jungkook had ever heard it, “if you can run us through what you have, my team and I will be happy to assist from here on out,”

The woman looked slightly taken aback, possibly from the softness of his tone, and Jungkook had to admire how that one act of kindness had made the woman relax considerably. “Okay,” she said, raking a hand through her unkempt hair, “this is where we are for now.”

She pointed at the map on the wall behind her, “I am sure you all know the sites where the bodies were found,”

“Yes,” Hoseok interjected, “but the killer does not seem to be focusing on a particular area, the kills seem pretty spread out to me,”

Detective Harris sighed, “I fear I have to agree with you, which is why we can’t even predict his next move.

“What about the media? Has the public been made to know that we are dealing with a serial killer?” Karina asked, and although Jungkook had to admit it was a good question. Media attention on the case was always a massive turning point, sometimes even making or breaking the case.

Harris pinched the bridge of her nose, “we have had a data breach,” she admitted, “the media knows a lot more than they should,”

“What do you mean a data breach?” he asked before he could help himself and felt his cheeks flush as they all turned to him, Seokjin’s gaze, in particular, making him feel too small for this room, too small for this investigation as if he were playing a role among capable adults.

“Someone leaked all the information we had to the press,” the woman sighed, looking defeated. “All interrogations have proven useless; everyone has all the details already. It could be anyone,”

“It won’t be useless,” he said, walking closer to the map, tracing along the lines that someone had drawn in an attempt to link all the kill sites, “ we just need to work on linking this better, I can’t image he would kill at random in such a small radius,”

“I do propose we look at what is around each area, perhaps there is something significant.”

“Flowers,” said Hoseok suddenly, nudging Taehyung so violently that he caused the other man to drop his precious notebook, “where does he get the white roses?”

“What?” Harris questioned, looking unimpressed, “Why would that matter?”

“It does matter,” Seokjin said quietly, “how many places can you go to for white roses here? It is his signature, one can assume he has frequented this place several times, maybe we might have a description, perhaps even CCTV footage.”

“That would be a stretch,” the woman sighed, “white roses are not so uncommon here, I dare say almost every florist should carry them here, we are, after all, known as the flower valley for a reason.”

“So, flower shops are common?” Taehyung asked, eyes narrowed as he scanned the map.

“Wait-” he interrupted, “was there a flower shop close to the kill site?” the question had come out rushed and he caught Karina’s eye for a split second before the woman shook her head and broke eye contact, sharp eyes honing in on Seokjin instead as if waiting for his reaction.

Harris rushed to the round table, rifling through several papers before she finally pulled out an ancient-looking handheld tablet and pulled up a digital version of the map behind them, before zooming into each kill site. A low whistle left her lips before she looked up at them, looking almost hopeful.

“Well, would you look at that,” she said, “there was a flower shop in the vicinity of each kill site.”

“We need to interview the owners of every shop,” Seokjin commanded, “and I want every flower shop in this town mapped out, Harris- once we have that, we can assume every location is a target. I would want you to have surveillance sent out there.”

“What about the data breach?” Karina interjected sharply, “Are we not considering how that could jeopardize this investigation?”

“You are not wrong, Karina, “ Seokjin resumed calmly, “which is why, outside the people in this room, we will be sharing only select information with anyone else.”

“My team needs to know-” began Harris. “What makes you think you have the authority to hold information?”

“Detective Harris,” he said smoothly, “You called us here, I am in fact of a higher jurisdiction than you now, this case is on a federal level now, if I think a decision could benefit us all, I do have the liberty to make that decision.”

She scoffed, “And I suppose you think I can’t handle my department.”

Seokjin sighed, “Quite the contrary, I think you have been doing your best, but we are here to help you, detective, I am not here for a show of power, we have the same goal. Now, do you want to have this case solved or not?”

The woman did not seem very pleased as she squared her shoulders and cast them a tired look, “I suppose you are right, I will have the interviews organized at the 3 kill sites as well as work on surveillance in other locations.”

“Thank you,” Seokjin said in a tone that was far more gracious than he would have been had he been in that situation.

“We will reconvene tomorrow. I have not gotten any rest over the past few days. I will have a team work on mapping out all potential locations tonight,” she said as she glanced down at her phone, “It’s half past 1 in the morning already.”

Jungkook had expected Soekjin to argue, but the man merely nodded before following the woman out of the room, leaving him with Taehyung, Hoseok, and Karina, who looked like she wanted the earth to give away beneath her and swallow her whole.

“Good job!’m” Taehyung exclaimed finally, breaking through the tense silence that had fallen, That was a great deduction, Jungkook.”

“Super impressive work,” Hoseok agreed, a small smile on his face.

Jungkook could only smile in reply before he caught Karina’s disgruntled look, before she schooled her face into a more nonchalant expression, looking away vacantly as if even the mere thought of joining in on their conversation was beneath her.

Jungkook scoffed, making quick work of disguising it as a cough.

Karina seemed to despise him, somehow- he couldn't help wanting to give her an actual reason to.

Perhaps he would.

Notes:

Yes- this is somewhat Criminal Minds inspired. I just happen to be a fan of both Jinkoo and this series lol,
Follow me on twt @jjinnieshoe. I could use more Jinkoo lovers!
Ps. I am not in law enforcement- this is all fiction- please forgive any inaccuracies.

Chapter 9: VIII

Taehyung’s alarm rang shrilly, jerking Jungkook out of a too comfortable sleep; the loud sound blaring as he sat up in bed. Taehyung, however, was still sound asleep, an arm draped over his face, one leg hanging off the bed.

Suppressing a grin, he reached over to the bedside table that sat between their two beds and switched it off. Swinging his legs off the bed, he got to his feet, pausing to stretch before he walked towards Taehyung.

“Wake up,” he whispered, and Taehyung waved him off, turning over and muttering something incoherent, rolling his eyes. He decided that he would take on the task for the team and change before grabbing breakfast in the lobby downstairs, as Seokjin had instructed them the night before.

The older man had looked tired as they had eaten dinner, a listless look on his face as he ate his cold noodles, followed by a couple of shots of Soju, nodding along to the conversation that Hoseok and Taehyung were having. However, Jungkook did suspect that he was barely paying any attention at all.

There was something about Seokjin that was so intriguing, an energy that surrounded him that he had never encountered in another. Something that he couldn't quite place.

Said man was leaning against a pillar that led into the hotel’s dining room, forehead creased in what Jungkook assumed was frustration as he typed something furiously into his phone before he huffed in annoyance and shoved his phone into the pocket of his perfectly ironed suit jacket.

No one should have looked that put together at 8 am on a Sunday, but he was Kim Seokjin, and Jungkook should have stopped being surprised at this point.

“Jungkook,” the older greeted, a rare smile gracing his features, “at least one person was paying attention to what I was saying last night.”

He offered him a sheepish smile, "Taehyung did set an alarm,” he said hurriedly, feeling obliged to stick up for the other man.

“I assume he is still sleeping,” Seokjin said, looking unsurprised.

Junhkook gave him a sheepish look before following him into the dining room, a server taking down their room numbers before leading them to a small table for 2. If Seokjin had any objection to how small the table was, he did not express it as he took his seat opposite him.
Telltale signs of a late night were apparent under his eyes as he surveyed the breakfast menu that the server had handed them.

If Jungkook had sensed it before, the strange aura that he had felt around him only doubled the closer he got, something so unreadable under all those perfectly poised movements. As if sensing his gaze on him, Seokjin looked up, and Jungkook froze as the other man held his gaze, brown eyes dark and closed off.

“Is something on my face?” he asked, and the tension dissipated slightly as the man’s plush lips curved into a small smirk, amusement replacing the dark expression in his eyes, and Jungkook swallowed thickly before tearing his gaze away and downing a gulp of water before answering.

“No,” he managed, casting his eyes down quickly at his menu, none of the options being exactly what he wanted that moment until he settled on the high-protein option and finally looked up at the other man again.

“What are you having?” the man asked pleasantly.

“The ‘protein buster,’ “ he answered, cheeks heating up slightly as he cringed at the silly way that the restaurant had named their dish, and Seokjin smiled at him this time.
A smile that made Jungkook’s cheeks heat up, and he wasn’t sure why, something about the way he held his gaze, perhaps, a steady and almost intimate gaze.

No. He chastized himself for that last thought; he was just reading far too much into it. Seokjin was his boss, not some romantic conquest. This was a delusion, a thought that Jimin would have probably supported, a thought that he probably shouldn’t have entertained.

“I’ll have that too,” Seokjin continued and placed their order with the waiter.

“Thanks,” he said, picking at the napkin on his lap to which Soekjin offered him a nod, the action far too nonchalant in his opinion, but he supposed it was the most normal reaction that the other man could have had.

“What do you think of the case?” Seokjin asked finally, his voice cutting through the thick silence. “I was impressed by your deduction last night.”

Jungkkok couldn't help feeling proud as he looked up at the other man, the awkwardness melting away slowly as they began on a topic that he felt confident enough about. “It was just a small deduction; anyone could have done it.”

Seokjin shook his head as the waiter placed their meals in front of them, two identical meals. “No one can do the same as you do, Jungkook,” he said quietly, “it would do you good to hold yourself in higher regard.”

Jungkook could only offer him a small smile as he began on the meal, tearing into the meat and eggs on the plate. He had not realized just how hungry he was. Seokjin said nothing more, and they continued their meal in silence until they were interrupted by someone who had appeared on Seokjin’s side.

“You started without me?” she asked, and he realized even before he looked up at her that Karina was standing, Seokjin, a manicured hand resting on the man’s shoulders, an almost inappropriate caress as she continued talking.

To Seokjin’s credit, the man did seem to tense at the touch, and Jungkook watched with ill-disguised glee as the other man tried to relax the snarky woman’s grip on him.
“You were late, Karina, “ he said blandly, lips pressed into a thin line as he was finally able to shrug off the woman’s grip on him.

She pouted, and Jungkook had to turn away pointedly- if Karina disliked him, he certainly disliked her right back.
“We had a long night, you left without me even realizing,”

A long night? Surely Seokjin had not-

Suppressing the urge to scoff, he turned back to them, Seokjin looking visibly uncomfortable as he looked down at his plate. It was clear that this was something they would rather not be discussing, or maybe he just did not want to discuss it in front of him.

Feeling rather peeved, Jungkkook shovelled the last bits of his meal into his mouth before getting to his feet, “You can sit here, Karina,” he offered in a tone that he hoped sounded far more gracious than he felt.

The woman did not comment as she took his seat quickly.

“I will see you at the station, Seokjin?” he asked, addressing his question at the other man alone, although he could practically feel Karina’s dagger-like stare cutting into his skin.

“I will meet you at the parking lot in 2 hours, please notify Taehyung, I have already informed Hoseok,”

 

It was nearly 4 hours later when he found himself at one of the flower shops around a kill site. The owner- a wizened-looking old man- had ushered them inside, looking stricken, the little shop was falling apart. Some of the flowers were wilting away in their vases, a discarded scissor and colorful cellophane wrap- one specifically used to wrap bouquets sat atop the counter.

“And you don’t remember who visited your shop on the 26th?” Karina was asking, her tone too icy for his liking, but Seokjin had assigned her to the questioning, and who was Jungkook to say anything?

Seokjin himself was surveying the shop, and he had asked Jungkook to join him and Karina when he had split the team up, mystified, but he supposed he should have been glad. Watching the other man work was something his 18-year-old self could have only dreamed of.
Perhaps this was why he was reacting this way, nothing but a silly little case of boyhood admiration.

A crash startled him out of his reverie - the old man had knocked over a very large glass vase, the floor now covered in glass shards and the remains of white roses. Most of the water had landed on a very disgruntled-looking Karina, who looked like she wanted to slap the man.

“What happened?” Seokjin demanded as he took in the sight. The old man was practically shivering now as he rummaged around his counter for something. There was something sinister about him that he could not quite place.

“He tipped it over on purpose,” Karina spat, “he refused to answer any of my questions,”

“It was an accident,” the old man said, his voice dangerously monotone, “I never planned to harm you, ma’am.”

His words only seemed to enrage Karina more as she advanced towards him, hands gripping onto the counter so hard that her knuckles had turned white, “Listen to me, Adam, if you can’t give me the information I want or an alibi, I am going to consider you a suspect-”

“Enough,” Seokjin commanded, placing a soft hand on Karina’s shoulder, “this is not how we should be dealing with this.” his voice was oddly soothing. Although Jungkook couldn’t say Karina’s biggest fan, he had to admire how Seokjin handled the situation as he handed the woman his blazer.

“Wear this,” he said, “and take a breather- Jungkook and I will handle this.”

The woman opened her mouth in what Jungkook had expected to be another snarky remark, but shut it abruptly as if deciding against it hurriedly and only nodded before pulling Seokjin’s blazer closer around her, covering up the wet shirt before she exited the shop.

“Adam,” Seokjin said quietly, and the old man paused, his face as stricken as it had been when they had entered the shop, “would you like to recount what happened on that day?”

“Shop is a damned mess,” Adam muttered as he went back to rummaging in his drawers, “Can’t find a damned thing here, women, you know - they’re the worst of them all,”

“Women?” he questioned sharply before he could stop himself, “Do you dislike women?”

Adam seemed to find his question amusing as he threw his head back in a tinny chortle that Jungkook found he very much disliked.

“I’m sure you boys are relieved to see her go,” he continued, “Women can hardly do a man’s job- I sure as hell won’t be answering to one,”
“Well, she is not here, “ he said decidedly, pushing aside his disgust, “can you answer us now?”

The man gave them an uncanny smile before placing a small dusty box on the countertop, “gave him the roses ‘bout 5 pm when he came in, tall, blond, smelled a lot like cigarette smoke.”

Jungkook narrowed his eyes at him, “And you couldn't tell our colleague this, why exactly?”

“Told you why,” the man shrugged, as if his reasoning was solid, the foul commentary making him uncomfortable as he bit back a catty remark, allowing Seokjin to speak instead.

“What did he give you for the roses?”

The question was calm, and he followed Seokjin’s gaze to the dusty box that the man had placed on the countertop. He also did not miss how the man’s hand had slipped down to the gun in his holster as if he meant to grab it, his stance now on high alert. His movements were so subtle that Jungkook was sure he had only noticed it because of his training.

This man was dangerous.

“Wouldn’t you love to know,” his tone was almost sing-song-like.

“Open the box,” Seokjin’s tone was level, but he did not miss the tone of authority; he could almost see his hackles rising, the tension in the room rising almost tenfold.

Adam did not seem perturbed as he opened the box. Whatever Jungkook had been expecting, it had not been this. Nestled in the middle of stark white tissue paper sad a bloodied locket, it looked like it had been pried open, the blank face of a smiling woman smiling up at him from the little photograph on one side of the locket. The picture on the other side- of a blonde-haired man is what caught his attention. His smiling face looked up eerily at them, the smile as vacant and soulless as the one plastered on the old man’s face as he jeered at them.

Eerily similar.

Seokjin seemed to have pieced it together before he had, “You know him, don’t you?”

If the man was surprised at being caught, it did not show on his face. What do you mean by that?”

“You have the same smile,” he blurted out, and Seokjin cast him a look, clearly he had spoken too soon, without the tact that the situation had called for. The man had gone rigid now, his shaky hands shoving the lid back over the box, and Seokjin’s grip immediately tightened over the gun in his holster.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about-” he began, but whatever he had meant to say was lost when the loud bang of a gunshot splintered through the dull silence and the older man yelped, ducking behind the counter, the box forgotten on the counter.

He and Seokjin were quick to draw their guns, surveying the room, the sound of hurried footsteps signalling someone else’s arrival as they stood with their backs to one another, guns raised.

“What’s going on?” Karina breathed as she ran into the shop, her gun raised similarly, “Who shot the gun?”

“Not us,” Seokjin said, eyes narrowed. “Keep an eye on him, Karina,” he said, gesturing towards the old man who was now crouching behind the counter, still managing to give the women a disgusting look despite his compromising position.

“Jungkook, you’re with me,” he commanded, “Oh, and karina, if he gives you any trouble, remember you’re at perfect liberty to use that gun,” the last comment, Jungkook knew was aimed more at the old man than Karina and he could hardly contain the grin on his face as he followed Seokjin out.

He cursed internally as he schooled his face into a more somber expression, surveying the street. All seemed clear, the street seemingly deserted save for a lone passerby by- an older woman who was carrying a wicker basket- it was as if a gunshot had never rung this sleepy old town at all.

The mid-afternoon silence was almost eerie, and Jungkook shuddered as he heard the odd haunting sound of someone’s wind chime tinkling in the distance, the wind hot and almost sour as it blew.

“There,” Seokjin said, and he looked in the direction that the other man was pointing. A fresh cigarette butt lay on the pavement just outside the shop, the orange glow of its still dying embers still alight. “Someone was here.”

“We need to bag that,” Jungkook said blandly as he eyed the dying cigarrette butt- it was bold, whoever had shot that bullet was brazen.

“How did Karina not see him?” he added before catching an almost disapproving look from Seokjin that made him blanch.

“I asked her to take a breather, Jungkook. If she missed him, that is entirely my responsibility.”

“Of course,” he amended quickly, “it was just a thought,”

Seokjin’s look softened, “Sorry, yes, and it is an apt one, however, I do not like my team members assigning blame to each other, it is just not how we work, and trust me, I say this going both ways. If Karina ever makes you feel uncomfortable, please come to me first. I want you to know that you can talk to me.”

The other man’s gaze seemed earnest, and Jungkook was quick to nod his head in agreement, “Of course, Seokjin, I understand.”

The other man offered him a curt nod before going back to surveying the area around them, carefully placing an evidence marker where they had found the cigarette butt before continuing.

Several minutes of searching seemed fruitless until he heard the second gunshot and a scream following it. He only had a second before he realized that the scream had come from his mouth, and he looked down to see blood seeping through the stark white of his shirt.

Seokjin’s eyes- a furious look in them- was the last thing he remembered seeing before passing out from the pain.

Notes:

...he is not dead.
I promise updates will be faster this time around!
Thank you for reading.

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Chapter 10: IX

Notes:

Sorry for the delay, I’ve been going through it. Find me on twt at seokjjinniies

 

The last time he had felt anger like this, he was 24 years old, a scared junior agent, a mere year and a half into his career. The weight of the situation almost threatened to crush him with its severity as he stared down at the long-haired boy who lay in the hospital bed, a large white bandage covering most of his torso.

The woman next to him was staring intently at her hands, doing her best to avoid his gaze. They had not spoken since the incident. He had carried Jungkook into the car himself and driven to the hospital as fast as he could, leaving her behind. If she had taken offense at his actions, she did not vocalize it, and somehow, he found himself not quite caring how she felt. 

The boy’s wounds, thankfully, hadn’t been as bad as he had thought, the bullet having broken skin but not having penetrated the body. Jungkook had passed out from the pain, and the doctors had decided to put him under general anesthesia for the stitches.

“He wasn’t wearing a vest.” 

He sucked in a breath. There it was, the commentary that he was sure would come; this was Karina after all. It was almost like the woman wanted to rile him up; she had done this many times before. 

“I am aware,” he said curtly, not looking at her. The woman was waiting for a reaction from him; she was just like him in some ways, too smart and calculated, always plotting.

“I did tell you he was too fresh for a case of this calibre, Seokjin,” she continued, and he hated how angry her words made him, how he was digging his nails into his palms, schooling his face into the emotionless mask that everyone was accustomed to.

“No one comes into the field perfect, Karina,” he muttered, his eyes on Jungkook, “It was an oversight, yes, but are you going to sit here and tell me you’ve never made a mistake?”

“I never made a mistake that could have cost me my life, “ she sniffed, “additionally, I think you should take the blame. Why didn’t you check that he had on his gear?”

Seokjin opened his mouth to answer, but found himself at a loss for words. She was right, as much as he did not want to hear it. Jungkook was hurt because of him, because he had been negligent.

The door opened before he or the woman could say anything else, and Seokjin was grateful for it as Hoseok and Taehyung rushed into the room, their faces flushed, badges in hand.

“What happened?” Hoseok breathed, a seething look that Seokjin had barely seen before on his face as he came to stand at Jungkook’s bedside.

“He was shot,” Karina said, her voice too matter-of-fact, too businesslike, as if Jungkook getting hurt was barely an issue at all.

“We know that,” Taehyung replied shortly, “who shot him, though, is my question.”

“I don't know,” he admitted, the words tasting strange as they left his mouth, not knowing was weakness, not knowing was like wearing a sign on your head that said you weren’t good enough. Lord knows Seokjin would rather have died than admit defeat. 

Until now.

Hoseok sighed, “Assigning blame is hardly going to help anyone right now,” he said decidedly, “An attack on a team member is an attack on the bureau. We have to assume this is tied to the same case.”

“We were able to detain him,” Taehyung said, fiddling with the silver chain around his neck. "He didn’t want to cooperate, but as we suspected, the man’s son is now our prime suspect; the last victim was his daughter-in-law.”

Seokjin nodded slowly, his gaze still on Jungkook, “and have we located the son?

“We have been trying to locate him; the local team is working on it, his home has been abandoned, and personal items like his phone and wallet were left behind.”

“To not leave a trace,” Karina added unhelpfully before getting to her feet, “I suggest that we get back to the station. I understand that Jungkook is hurt, but this is an active investigation; it is not going to look good for us if the whole team is here at the hospital and not actually doing our job.”

Seokijm sighed before nodding and getting to his feet. He could not lead his team like this, emotions clouding his judgment. “Hoseok, I would prefer if one of us could stay at the hospital with Jungkook, just in case he does come to, the others can get back to the field,” he said, addressing the other man specifically and ignoring Karina’s pointed glare. 

“You can stay here first, Taehyung, Karina, and I will head back to the station. If Jungkook does come to, please be sure to call me first.”

The words came out decided, a sense of finality, a bitter taste on his tongue as he said them. 

“Of course,” Hoseok agreed graciously, moving towards the seat beside Jungkook’s bed that he had previously occupied, “We have all the details back at the station, Seokjin. It is enough to pick up where we left off. Taehyung can run you through our bit of the investigation, too.” 

Taehyung nodded quickly, as if trying to mediate the situation as best as he could, “I think we are on the right track,” he said, and then added, “Jungkook will be fine Seokjin, we have all gotten hurt of the field, its part of the job,” The other man’s tone was decided but considerably gentle as if he was comforting a child and Seokjin felt embarrassed. 

Ignoring the color rising to his cheeks, he nodded quickly before exiting, cursing before he rushed through the corridor and made it to a door with a large exit sign. The room had started spinning again, and it had gotten hard to breathe.

Weakness. 

He gasped as his knees buckled and he wrenched the door open and found himself in the dank hospital stairwell. He couldn't be this weak, surely not, the voice in his head was screaming at him, a string of mismatched curse words as he doubled over and tried to regulate his breathing. He was no stranger to these episodes, having dealt with several over the years, but the voices in his head would never let him live it down.

The room had stopped spinning now, but the coppery smell of blood was flooding his nostrils, and he found himself slumping against the dirty walls,  his hands shaking as he unbuttoned the top two buttons of his starched white shirt. His very clothes felt like a makeshift prison as he tried to remind himself where he was; the smell of blood wasn't real.

None of this was real.

But Jungkook was- the image of the boy’s unconscious face appearing in his mind’s eyes before he could stop himself. His fault, it was his fault. 

His responsibility, and he couldn't handle it, could he? The mocking voice was wreaking havoc before he finally managed to silence it and get back on his feet. He wasn't sure how he managed to stop the spiral, but he supposed it was sheer willpower that got him back on his feet and composed enough to straighten himself out before returning to his team. 

Taehyung was leaning against the car, a worried expression on his face, and Seokjin supposed a normal person would have probably explained. Still, now, with the blank mask on his face again, he knew the other man would not expect it. 

“Ready?” Taehyung asked instead, sliding into the passenger seat as Seokjin climbed into the driving seat, ignoring the fact that his palms were slightly sweaty from the moment of weakness, gripping onto the steering wheel tighter than he should.

He nodded, “Karina?”

The other man looked almost too happy as he offered him a small smile, “She drove the other car here, so she started without us.”

“Right,” 

“Seokjin, can I ask you something?” Taehyung asked, his voice low, and Seokjin stared at the other man with bated breath. Of course, he had questions. 

“Sure,” he said curtly, glad that his voice remained level.

“What’s your conclusion on the case so far?”

Seokjin had never released a breath that fast.

“Do you think the shooting was related to this particular investigation or that it was an isolated event?” he continued when Seokjin did not answer, his eyes on the road.

“It’s never an isolated event, Taehyung,” he responded solemnly, “We have been facing attacks on the bureau for ages, and to answer your question, no, I do not think that the shooting was connected to the case.”

Taehyung’s eyes widened. “You don't?" he questioned, “and what makes you say so?”

“There is no indicator in this case that points to guns being used. I am pretty sure the killer, one as calculated as he is, would risk himself being caught using something as brazen as a gun,”

“So you’re basically ruling it out because a gun might not be this killer’s style?” Taehyung questioned, not sounding very convinced and looking rather unimpressed at Seokjin’s conclusion.

Seokjin sighed, “People do not often act out of character, Taehyung, you should know.”

“People can be unpredictable,” the other man countered.

“And did you and Hoseok find anything today that might point to the killer acting out this way?” he asked, genuinely curious as they approached the station. 

Taheyung sighed before shaking his head in response.

Seokjin heaved a sigh before pulling into the parking lot of the police station and getting out quickly. Detective Harris greeted them at the entrance, looking even more tired than she had the day before, her lips set in a thin, determined line. He knew that look; it was one that he wore quite often, a resigned look.

“Heard what happened to your agent,” she said quietly as they entered the workroom, “is he doing okay?”

Seokjin’s throat went dry, and he swallowed quickly before nodding, “he was lucky the wounds were minimal; he should be fine.”

Harris nodded, looking glum, “A work hazard, huh?”

“I suppose so,”

“Right,” she said, “we have our suspect in custody; he refused to speak to us, but he keeps claiming that the shooting had nothing to do with him.”

Seokjin stared at her, “he’s adamant about that?”

“So, he’s basically confessing to the actual crime?” Taehyung asked.

The detective nodded, “I would even say he is proud, but he is not the killer.”

“We know that,” Seokjin murmured, “but if he is proud of the crime, why is he refusing to speak?” 

Harris made a face, “Says he won’t speak to a woman, this is my case, Seokjin, and this is a small town, I am the only one qualified on this team to take a confession if any,”

“I will conduct his interrogation myself,” he said, “Taehyung can accompany me. I would recommend you keep trying to locate his son. I am almost certain we have our killer.”

Harris rubbed her temples, nodding, “We do seem to have a slight idea where he might be, neighbours claim to have seen a car leaving his drive away a few minutes after the second murder- the victim just so happened to be his ex-fiancée, they had reportedly called off the engagement 2 weeks before the murders began.”

“Is the first woman connected to this man in any way? We need to know what his pattern is; he could be fleeing, or be seeking out his new victim.”

“We don’t know yet. The team is working on it, though, unless the victims were stand-ins for the last victim.”

Taehyung looked thoughtful as he whipped out his infamous notebook from his leather satchel and thumbed through it, “His victimology was clear, all the women looked very similar, the signature the same, the last one was the most sadistic though.”

Harris shuddered, “The hatred for women definitely runs deep here.”

He sighed, “I think it is that hatred that fueled this whole crime to begin with.”

 

The man who sat opposite him in the interrogation room was as smug as he had been in their flower shop, his convinced eyes boring into his own like he was attempting to intimidate him with a look alone. Seokjin stared right back at him, enjoying the slightly disarmed look on the older man’s face as he took a seat in front of him.

“So you finally decided to face me yourself?” the man asked, his voice level, but Seokjin did not miss the slight look of fear in his eyes. Perhaps it was the reality of the situation finally dawning on the other man now that he was sitting opposite him. 

To say he was aware of the fear he struck in people was an understatement; perhaps he even took pleasure in the control he had over the situation.

“It seems to me like you were anticipating me,” he replied, still holding the man's gaze, purposely relaxing in the chair, knowing his nonchalance would only irritate the other man more, something the man’s bloated sense of self-importance would most definitely not appreciate. 

“I planned it all,” he said as if on cue, the man looking at him almost desperately, waiting for a reaction, “the locket was my idea, you know, the woman, well…they deserved what was coming for them,”

Seokjin only gave him a disinterested look, breaking eye contact with the other man. Your idea, huh? Was it also your idea to get caught? It was fairly easy to catch you, Adam.”

The man flashed him a toothy grin, “You act like getting caught wasn't my ultimate goal, Seokjin,” he said, emphasizing his name in a slight sing-song tone. 

“Was it now?”

“And what if it was?”

Seokjin shrugged, “You wouldn’t be the first, but I must say, you seem to be quite the planner. Why would you let someone else carry out the crime you're so proud of coming up with?”

The other man looked smug. “The planner does not carry out the dirty work; we worked it out.”

“His freedom and your captivity?”

“Something like that,” 

“And why would you want to rot away in a jail cell for the rest of your life?” he asked. The man had an odd look of excitement in his eyes now as he placed his hands on the cold steel table.  His hands- Seokjin noted, were covered in scratch marks, scratches that one would assume were not a result of working as a florist. There was more to this than the man was trying to admit, a lot more to his role than he cared to admit. 

“You won’t find him,” he challenged, the mockery loud in his voice, but his eyes gave away the sense of uncertainty that Seokjin was used to seeing in most criminals who got caught like a deer caught in headlights, most of them bluffing on the spot. This man was no different; his indifference was trying to mirror his own, but the telltale signs of a racing mind were obvious to Seokjin, from the other man’s tense posture to the way he was biting at the edge of his lip. 

Seokjin laughed; the sound was foreign even to his own ear, but he knew the action would irk the other man, and Seokjin noted how he gripped the edge of the table in frustration. “Oh? So I suppose having you in custody isn’t enough; we need the real criminal here? Is that what you’re saying?”

“It isn’t funny,” the man growled, “I told him to kill those women, a man as weak-minded as him could never-”

“You’re talking about your son?”

“My son,” the man said it like it left a bad taste in his mouth, “a defective child from his worthless mother, he was lucky anyone would even look at him,”

“Defective?”

“Come to think of it, the bastard should have died with his mother, but a son is a son; I raised him.”

“You raised him to commit a crime that you were too afraid to commit yourself?”

The man shrugged, “A child like that is always disposable.”

“So why would you protect him?” The question was more of a statement, and the man looked slightly uncomfortable as he shifted in his chair. 

“He is not important,” he was deflecting now, the cockiness in his voice almost nonexistent. “The crime was mine,”

“You’re an accessory,” Seokjin stated calmly, “not the criminal.”

The man’s gaze had hardened, “Well, you won't find him, the worthless bastard is long gone by now.”

“You should just make it easy for yourself and tell me where he is.”

“It is my crime. “

“His crime.”

“This is bullshit,” the man snarled, he had gotten to his feet now, “Leo was engaged to that woman against my wishes, women carry the same sin, they have to pay, they have to pay, they fucking have. To. Pay,” 

The man was devolving quickly, and Seokjin could see him crumbling in front of him. It would not be long before he cracked. Most criminals were the same; their egos were fragile and easy to break down if you played your cards right, and Seokjin was now a master at this game.

“The way I see it, the only person paying the price is you.”

The man cackled, a maniacal look on his face, “Kill me if you want,”

“No one is going to kill you, maybe your son might, you did raise quite the murderer, even if you aren’t one yourself,” he was egging him on now, having formed his conclusion several minutes ago. The man’s bluff was impressive, but Seokjin had dealt with this sort of bluff enough to know that a narcissist would go this far to save their own soul. 

 

“You don’t know what I am capable of,” the response was slow and level, the man looking up to hold his gaze in an eerie stare. 

“But your son is, isn’t he?” Seokjin asked, there it was, the resolve cracking, the stricken look of fear in his eyes.

The man gulped visibly, “If you knew, why would you do this?”

“I don’t know anything.”

“I- he’s dead-”

“Who is?”

“My son.”

“How?”

“Because of me,”

“That’s vague,”

“I killed him,”

“I know,”

The silence was deafening as Seokjin finally got to his feet, his phone vibrating as he did so with a text from Hoseok.

‘Jungkook is awake.’

Concern was a concerning emotion to have.