Chapter Text
The kitchen was filled with the savory, grounding scent of tteokguk. It was January 1, 2026, and the morning light filtered through the curtains of Seokjin’s apartment, soft and forgiving. Jin stirred the pot with a slow, rhythmic motion, a small, tired smile tugging at his lips.
His body felt heavy in the best way possible. Just a few rooms away, Jungkook was still buried under a mountain of duvets. The memory of the night before—the quiet ushering in of the new year, the slow, steady heat of their bodies, and the way Jungkook had looked at him like he was the only fixed point in a spinning universe—made Jin’s heart swell. He had taken his time with Jungkook, worshiping him until the younger man had seen stars, the moon, and the sun, finally falling into a deep, peaceful sleep in the early hours of the morning.
The shrill ring of his phone shattered the silence.
"Manager-nim?" Jin answered, his voice raspy. "It’s barely nine AM on New Year's Day."
"Seokjin-ah, I’m sorry," his manager’s voice sounded tight, breathless. "You need to come to HYBE headquarters. Now."
Jin’s hand froze on the ladle. "What’s so important that it can’t wait, Manager-nim? It’s a holiday. We have plans."
"I don’t know all the details," the manager replied urgently. "But Shin Seon-jeong’s assistant called. She said it was imperative you come immediately. CEO Lee is already there."
A cold knot formed in Jin’s stomach. He looked toward the bedroom door. He couldn't bring himself to wake Jungkook—not after how exhausted and happy he’d been. Instead, Jin scribbled a quick note: Emergency at the office. Eat the soup when you wake up. I love you.
He pressed a lingering, ghost-light kiss to Jungkook’s forehead, grabbed his coat, and stepped out into the biting January air.
The atmosphere at HYBE was suffocating. When Jin and his manager were ushered into the CEO’s office, the tension was thick enough to choke on. Jason Jaesang Lee sat behind the massive oak desk, his expression illegible. Beside him, Shin Seon-jeong looked like she was vibrating with suppressed rage.
Jin bowed politely, but before he could even offer a New Year’s greeting, the floor fell out from under him.
"WTAF were you thinking, Seokjin?" Shin spat, her eyes narrowed into slits.
Jin blinked, looking genuinely puzzled. "Excuse me? I’m not sure I understand—"
"Do you have any idea what could have happened because of your immaturity and lack of common sense?" Lee interjected, his voice low and dangerous.
Jin looked at his manager, searching for a lifeline, but the man looked just as lost, staring at the floor.
"Oh, for God’s sake," Shin snapped, throwing a tablet onto the desk. It was looped on a clip from a livestream the day before—a chaotic, playful moment during a group broadcast. "You can’t be this daft, Jin. But your aggressive attitude towards Jungkook yesterday almost caused him to be hurt so badly that the comeback would have been jeopardized. How dare you behave like a child at thirty-three?"
Jin stared at the screen. It was a joke. He had picked Jungkook up—a feat of strength they often showed off—and playfully tossed him onto the sofa.
"What possessed you to pick him up so callously and throw him?" Shin continued, her voice rising. "If Jimin wasn’t there to protect his head, he could have been paralyzed from his head to his shoulders. Did you even think before you acted?"
"You have been showing so much aggression lately," Lee added, leaning forward. "We are afraid you will put Jungkook’s life in danger just by being around you."
The words felt like physical blows. Jin felt a sudden, sharp isolation. He was sitting in a room full of people, yet he had never felt more alone. The two most powerful people in his professional life were looking at him as if he were a monster, a liability, a threat to the person he loved most in the world.
"But... I did it cautiously," Jin’s voice trembled. "I would never hurt Jungkook. How can you even suggest that? We were playing. He was laughing."
"Cautiously?" Shin laughed, a harsh, mocking sound. "He almost fell off the sofa, cracked his skull, and suffered spinal damage. He was caught off guard. How could you be so reckless? Are you jealous of his success, Jin? Is this your payback for him surpassing you as a solo artist? Are you taking revenge on him?"
Jin felt the blood drain from his face. The accusation was so vile, so far removed from the reality of his heart, that he couldn't even find the words to refute it. Jealous? He spent every waking hour being Jungkook’s biggest fan. He had spent the previous night showing Jungkook exactly how much he adored him.
"ARMY is demanding an apology for your reckless actions," Lee concluded, sliding a prepared statement across the desk. "You are a liability, Jin. We don't need you ruining this group's comeback because you can’t grow the fuck up and act mature."
Jin looked down at the paper. The words blurred. He thought of the tteokguk cooling on his stove. He thought of Jungkook waking up to an empty bed. He felt the weight of thirteen years of service, of being the 'oldest' who held everyone together, crumbling under the weight of a narrative he didn't recognize.
He wasn't the "Mad Hyung." He wasn't a jealous rival. He was just a man who loved his member, his partner, and for the first time in his life, he realized that to the people in this room, he was nothing more than a replaceable gear in a machine—and a broken one at that.