There were a pair of gloves in Jungkook's hand. He had pulled them out of the bottom drawer in the dresser beside the bed. On the list of things that he had done today checking the house had not been one of them. Taehyung had looked in the bathroom, had checked a few cupboards earlier when hungry to see if there was food inside the apartment room. As for the dresser drawers, the wardrobe, things like that, he hadn't even thought to check. Taehyung had assumed - wrongly so it would seem - that the place was empty. But now he knew otherwise. He had to admit that he had not seen it coming and he wondered if there were even weapons hidden away too. Then he recalled being searched before entering the block and he figured out that anything sharper than rather blunt cutlery was most certainly not allowed within the premises.

Jungkook was holding them out to him, his own pair on his hands. They were thick leather, the kind that made it look hard to bend the fingers whilst wearing. The other man's gloves looked well-cared for, oiled but mostly certainly worn. The care gone into them couldn't disguise the fact that they had been used often. He could see the slightest scuffs on the knuckles mostly, the black leather having faded slightly. It wasn't hard to imagine where the marks had come from. The knuckles had very few uses beyond punching someone right in the fucking mouth and he guessed that Jungkook had knocked a few sets of teeth out with them. That was what took him by surprise mostly, because he hadn't expected it.

Taehyung wasn't stupid. He knew that Jungkook, much like Jeon, had people murdered for him. Men mostly, it was seen as a bit pathetic to murder women for gang circumstances. Prostitutes notwithstanding of course, they weren't a part of the picture. Children were a likely victim too, that part he was unsure on. Like father like son, they both had victims to their names. But like his knowledge of Jeon he had assumed that Jungkook would simply organise and perhaps watch the murders. To participate in them? It was enough to make him feel a little numb. Why was he thinking about murder? Maybe this had nothing to do with murder? Maybe this was something else entirely and he was just assuming it to be the case.

But Jungkook had mentioned getting rid of Nam and now he was holding out a pair of gloves. If that didn't seem coincidental then Taehyung would call himself a bitch in front of his own father.

Taehyung couldn't seem to breathe. Behind him, still turned on and waiting for attention, was one of the computers. He just wanted to spin back around and carry on using it. He could just immerse himself back into the files, the words and photographs and shit, and forget about reality for several hours just like earlier. When he dived right into Haedogje Pa accounts he could ignore all of it, what was happening around him. The gang, the drugs and sex slaves being passed around like cigarettes behind the gym building in high school. Death and attempted rapes. Taehyung could shut it out, could pretend that nothing bad was happening at all. It was just like being back at the department minus Hoseok's shitty jokes and the pleasant scent of Sungah's perfume every morning.

It was like being safe but he knew that wasn't the case.

Taehyung reached up slowly to take the gloves off him. He eyed them and wondered if they would even fit. As he tried to fumble the first one on he asked Jungkook what he needed them for. The other man responded to this by grabbing his arm just above the elbow and firmly pulling him to his feet. Taehyung didn't even flinch at this because he was starting to figure out that Jungkook was a physical person. Probably came with his upbringing. He felt no need to be polite, grabbing an arm to make someone follow him was much more effective than word prompts.

"Wet work."

Taehyung didn't need an explanation for that. He knew exactly what he was alluding to. Wet work. The liquid in particular being something a little thicker and trickier to clean up than water of course. Perhaps his expression shifted at this for Jungkook's lips lifted on one side in a rather wry manner. Taehyung knew that he had to perfect a mask and yet it was hard to do so. All of his mirror antics were rather pointless, practising expressions and phrases and posing to make himself feel more comfortable in his own skin. Apparently he was no better now than he had been three months ago.

"Lim really kept you sheltered," Jungkook replied as he guided him across the room towards the door. "But I suppose you didn't need to see the filth, you just needed to keep track of it all."

"Yeah, Jungkook," he replied, "that's what happened."

He still felt weird saying his name like this even when he had said it before. In the past, in the department when talking to the rest of the team it was nothing; completely normal. But saying it to him, to his face, was something else. Taehyung felt the irrational fear that he would get mad at him even though he had told him that he could call him by his name. But Taehyung had seen how very little it could take to have him turn without warning, and that meant he had to be very very careful. And maybe, just maybe he was feeling something like shock at being in his presence still. Taehyung supposed that it was a little like meeting a celebrity, except so much more. It wasn't a fleeting moment in a concert, a signing, in a store or on the street. It was a constant and foreseeable situation, yet that didn't make him any less terrified and awed. He was in the same room as the second most wanted man in the capital and country. He was holding onto his arm . If that wasn't something to find shocking then he didn't know what was.

"You won't be sheltered around me," Jungkook retorted as he opened the door and pulled him across the hallway to the elevator. "In any meaning of the word." He pressed the button with a hard jab of his thumb. Taehyung waited to see if he would let go of his arm, but he didn't. After a few seconds they were stepping inside the carriage and Taehyung felt the fine carpet pile against the soles of his feet. He was finally able to slip the other glove on, even with Jungkook's hand firmly around his elbow.

"Jungkook? What exactly is going on?"

"What's going on, Taehyung, is that you're getting another lesson in what it means to be a part of Haedogje Pa. You already know the rules, the members. You've seen what happens to men that piss me off because they fuck with business. Now you're going to see what happens to men that just piss me off," Jungkook explained as he studied the metal doors in front of them. Taehyung studied his profile before dropping his eyes as he got the glove on properly. A tight fit but it would suffice. "You might think that Haedogje Pa morals are not clean, are not what other men would think of as honourable."

"Jungkook, I-"

"You're absolutely fucking right, that's the truth," the young man carried on over him. Taehyung had been pretty prepared to argue against this, rather foolishly it seemed. "Fuck cleanliness, fuck honour. You try and clean one mess up in this fucking cesspool of a city and you make ten more. It's not about cleanliness, it's about the option that gets rid of most of the shit. As for honour well, that's a rather tricky matter wouldn't you agree. Some people think suicide is honourable. Some think murdering raped women is honourable. Quite a lot of people think war is honourable. The men and women, they get medals and parades. Honour is something of a grey area, yes?"

"Yeah...yeah it's pretty fucking grey, Jungkook."

"Honour and cleanliness, that applied to business only. Outside of business that shit doesn't matter. Murder doesn't have a valid excuse, and I feel no need to give one. What I'm going to teach you, Taehyung..." Jungkook finally let go of his arm and he turned to look at him. "Is how to commit cold blooded murder."

Taehyung held his gaze unblinkingly but inside, inside he was a mess. His brain was a mess of thoughts and he couldn't seem to pull a single one to the front. His mind felt like the static buzz of a dead TV channel and he didn't know if he was supposed to keep his silence or say something. Before he could even attempt it the carriage doors slid open and Jungkook stepped outside. He had no choice but to follow after him. As he stepped across the entrance area one of the bouncers ducked to retrieve something from under the check-in counter. It was the cardboard tray with his shoes in of course. Another man standing in front of the doors held out keys for Jungkook. Taehyung just grabbed his shoes and hastily followed the young man out of the building. There was plenty enough time to put them on inside the car he knew they would be climbing into.

Except the car parked against the curb was not the Mercedes-Benz S-Class. Not at all. It was a sleek black beauty, that much he could see. There were twin headlights, long slanted cats eyes set above rounded ones on either side of the grille. He could see the unmistakable emblem for Mitsubishi stamped on the grille and the hood curved up to a nice roof before flaring out to a soft smooth boot. The tires were considerably eye catching with the glinting hubcaps and there was a thin stretch of chrome along the bottom below the doors and framing the windows.

Taehyung darted forward to open the door for him, the back door of course. Yet Jungkook just ignored him and opened the driver-seat. He turned to look at him rather dumbly and the other man laughed.

"Chauffeurs aren't at beck and call for murder, Taehyung, only when notified in advance. My man certainly doesn't know about this. Maybe my father does, depends on how busy his day is. Get in. We have someone waiting for us and I don't like tardiness."

Taehyung went around the back and climb into the passenger-seat, bare feet brushing on the asphalt as he did. He sat inside and slammed the door shut, leaning forward to get his shoes on as fast as he could. The other door slammed shut as he did, the car shifting slightly from Jungkook's weight as he got inside. He already looked a mess without his jacket, he didn't need to be seen barefoot too. As soon as he had managed to knot them up with the awkward gloves on he sat upright again and glanced around the dashboard. There were so many digital screens close to the wheel and he saw something that looked like a camera; one for assisted parking from what he could tell. Everything was black and a glance up in the rear-view mirror showed the back behind the glass partition was the exact same.

"Jungkook?"

"You're full of questions, aren't you?"

"Sorry I-" But Jungkook gently waved his hand as he shifted to slip the keys into the ignition. Brushing his apologies away without a care. "Are you going to...to murder Nam?"

"We're going to murder Nam," he explained as he twisted them to start the engine and dropped the clutch. "Murder is often a joint cooperation, from the actual act to the disposal of remains."

"Wuh...why're you murdering Nam?"

"He pissed me off," Jungkook said with a rather lazy shrug of his shoulders. The engine purred to life and then fell into a soft purr as he twisted the wheel and pulled away from the curb and into the road. "We have a man to replace him, Nam really doesn't matter any more."

Taehyung could have pulled a name out at random. He could have picked a man not suited for the job at all, one that would have caused a lot of trouble for Haedogje Pa and yet he had given Jungkook the name of a man that would actually manage to handle his new position incredibly well if the files on him were in any way accurate. He was still trying to figure out why exactly he had done so but it had felt like the right choice to make at the time. After all, this wasn't a simple game. It was his life now and making a mistake like that could be bad for him. Right now Taehyung was affected by every single thing that happened in Haedogje Pa. If he tried to sabotage it, he would suffer too. So that was why he had picked a man with a track record in illegal sex slavery and human trafficking and had given him a fucking promotion.

Just another thing to add onto the ever growing list of bad shit that he was going to help be responsible for. And apparently he was going to help murder a man now.

His bucket list was shrinking every passing day.

"That's why you're going to kill him?"

"...Nam stepped out of line one too many times. I can be patient when I want to be, Nam is a perfect example. I gave him a few chances and he repaid me by fucking up every single time." Taehyung had been looking out of the front window and at his words he spared a glance over at Jungkook. He was staring out the front window too, eyes not leaving the road once. "I said that I would give him a single chance after the last time and I did. Look what happened last night. You should know."

He gnawed on his lower lip as he thought the implications of his words over. Jungkook had stepped up because of what Nam had done to him, but for what reason? Nam had spat all over his name, over Haedogje Pa and the other men. He had said some pretty nasty shit about him. It made perfect sense that Jungkook would want him gone for his words alone, but was that really the only reason? Was it feasible to think that he had done so because the man had attacked him? It might just be the case but Taehyung had a feeling it was because Nam had stepped over a line and nothing more. The man had touched something that he wasn't supposed to, he had ignored the big red sticker that claimed "this belongs to The Boy!" and that was what this was. It wasn't about him , it was more the concept of him. The object rather than the human.

"Don't think about him. As of now, no more questions about that fucker."

The car fell silent and Taehyung turned his attention to the window instead. There wasn't much on offer and so that meant falling victim to his own thoughts. He didn't like the idea of that happening because his thoughts were pretty fucked up at the current moment. He didn't know how long they were going to be stuck in the car for and he wanted to avoid that at all costs. He risked a quick look back over at Jungkook, trying to gauge his patience levels.

"Jungkook?" He saw the other man's lips twitch at this, not down but rather up before settling back to neutral. That was a good sign, he was still amused by his incessant questions it would seem. "This is a new car. Woo picked me up in an S-Class yesterday evening."

"Yes, that's because that's Woo's car now."

"Oh, I thought that it was yours," Taehyung trailed off in a quiet voice. No, he didn't think, he knew. But that didn't seem to be the case anymore. No, he had upgraded. "This car's nicer..." he said as he reached down to stroke the leather seat. Jungkook's gaze shifted to look down at the sound the gloves made and then back up at the road.

"Taehyung, did Lim practice such things as small talk?" Sensing that he could perhaps risk a little more before he risked pissing him off Taehyung nodded and told him that he had. "Hmm, I can't say that my men practise that."

"Do...do you want me to shut the fuck up?" Taehyung asked as he lifted his gaze from the seat to look at him. But Jungkook shook his head. "I uh...I guess that working with Woo all day means no small talk."

"Woo lives, breathes, eats, sleeps business. I'm pretty certain that he would fuck it if he could. Sometimes I wonder if he sleeps in a fucking suit."

Taehyung realised that this might be one of the few times that Jungkook actually got to talk about things without business looming over his head, or the shadow of his father. Maybe he ranted often to the man he was pretty certain that he had seen in the background of his penthouse suite from this morning, or maybe not. All he did know was that was talking to him like he wasn't just some new blood, some tribute. Was that a good sign? He was pretty fucking certain that it was.

"He could remove his tie and use it as an eye mask."

"Sometimes I want to throttle him with that fucking thing," Jungkook muttered and he saw his hands tightening on the steering wheel. "He makes me look like a child in most meetings."

"I'm sure that your men don't see that way. It would be a big fucking mistake to make."

"Real fucking big."

"I mean, when you step into a room all eyes are on you and you alone," Taehyung continued, shifting in the seat slightly. "That's gotta be a burden. Maybe it's kinda good that Woo alleviates that sometimes?" Jungkook made a noise at this, maybe in agreement or maybe just because he couldn't be bothered to give him a proper answer. "I couldn't do that."

"Do what?"

"I couldn't have all of those eyes on me like that. I'd choke up, fuck up. That's way too much pressure for me, Jungkook. None of your men could handle it either, they think they can be they can't. Everyone thinks they could rule; be a president or a CEO or a leader or shit, but once you put 'em in a power position it's a different matter. Most of 'em just think about what they want and what they should change, they don't think about the rest. But you've gotta think about the rest."

"I've got to think about everything."

"Exactly, so Woo can make you look like a fucking baby but it's not true. Anyone that thinks it is, they're dumb shits."

Taehyung stopped talking and looked out of the window and the car fell silent for a moment. He was hoping that his impassioned words had left an effect on Jungkook, had made him sound loyal and trustworthy and certainly not like a rat. There was a chance that he sounded sycophantic but he doubted that Jungkook would mind. After all the young man had legions of ass lickers all over the capital. What was one more on top? To stay on Jungkook's good side would require more than silence and occasional muttered words, he was going to have to assume a role and stick with it. Right now his current role seemed trapped between fervent fanboy and grateful damsel in distress willing to put out. He wondered which one Jungkook would assume correct.

"You'll have to get used to all eyes on you, Taehyung," Jungkook said to eventually break the silence. "Haedogje Pa men don't hide in the shadows, and one like you...well, you're going to be seen very often."

"Can I ask why, Jungkook?" Taehyung turned his head to study him again.

"It's rather simple, Taehyung. You're a tribute, you're new to Haedogje Pa and your loyalties are yet to be tainted by years and years of servitude. All my other men have reasons, have 'friendships' and other pathetic excuses. You don't. In terms of trust...simply a tribute is the best selection of choice. My father taught me that a stranger is oftentimes more safer than a friend."

"Woo?"

"Woo is loyal to my father," Jungkook replied, not furthering his explanation for this answer. A man loyal to his father would pick the other man over him, should a reason arise. The young man didn't want to speculate that he might just stab his own father in the back but there was a chance and he clearly wanted to be prepared in advance.

"OK, but I worked for Lim."

"As a friend or a sheep?"

Taehyung hesitated at the question. What exactly was Lim to him? It seemed like an obvious answer to say that the man was his friend but he wasn't, not really. The informant had simply been nothing more than a colleague he had been forced to work with. In his normal life Taehyung would have never even approached the man, so their connection was most certainly not friendship. Just business, and business that Jungkook could most certainly not learn about.

"As a sheep," he finally settled on replying. This answer seemed to please Jungkook immensely. "I guess I was a sheep."

"There's nothing wrong with being a sheep, Taehyung," Jungkook replied as he twisted the wheel smoothly. The sight out of the window looked strange to his eyes, the headlights casting beams across a wide open and rather desolate street. "Even a sheep can turn out to be a wolf."

It was only when the car pulled up outside a building did he remember what they were here for. Having been distracted by the light conversation (that had actually gotten rather heavy in his opinion) all thoughts about Nam and death had almost crept right to the back of his mind but now...now he remembered. So Taehyung opened his door to climb out, soles of his shoes stepping down on gritty concrete.

The area was an abandoned stretch of lot and what looked like warehouses to his eyes. Most of the buildings were low solid blocks of concrete with shutters and no windows. The ones that did have them were hidden behind mesh metal screens. He didn't know where they were for he had never stepped foot in the area but he knew one thing. He could smell water, briny water. He was also certain that he could hear the drone of either boat horns or distant lorries denoting an expressway. Jungkook slammed his own door shut and he went around the front of the car to get closer to him. Taehyung took that as a cue to follow him and he did past several block buildings before coming to a stop in front of one.

"Taehyung," Jungkook said in a low voice as he hunkered down to grab the shutter. His gloves rubbed against the steel with a rustling sound. "You're going to see something inside that might scare you, but a true Haedogje Pa man doesn't let fear get to him." Taehyung nodded and took a deep breath to try and steel himself. He even lifted his shoulders to look tougher as his breath plumed out on the cold air. "Once we step inside, you must follow orders. I heard that you have a bit of a streak in you for refusing orders." He bit his lower lip at this, thinking about the Nam incident all over again. "I'm going to teach you, so you have to follow."

"OK, OK, Master Jeon, I understand."

"...Good." Jungkook wrenched the shutter up as he stood upright. With his free hand he gestured for him to step inside first and so he did. At first Taehyung was aware of the darkness in the room, pitch black darkness that made him feel disorientated and a little frightened. The young man let go of the shutter so it hit the floor with a deafening metallic sound, making him jump. He had to bite his tongue to stop a squeak from escaping his mouth. "Hit the lights, let's see the fucker."

There was a loud sound like a punch and then a hissing fizz as a light button was hit by someone. A series of white lights dropped from a fixture overhead like spotlight beams and suddenly he could see the room perfectly. Concrete walls and flooring, high ceiling above. There was a strange scent in the air, rusty and rather foul, and Taehyung's eyes settled on the sight of metal chains dangling just a few feet away. There were massive curved hooks on the end as long as his hands in length, gleaming wicked hooks with one use. To hang carcasses on. They were in a abattoir, that explained the smell. Taehyung felt Jungkook's hand snagging his arm to lead him away from the chains and instead steer him in the direction of a huddle of bodies.

"Is he awake?" Jungkook asked.

"Kinda," another man replied. Taehyung saw two massive men, unmistakably twins because they had the same flat face. One twin had darker hair and the other had brassy blond, the shaved sides black stubble. "He'll come around soon enough, boss."

"Wakey wakey, you son of a bitch!" Jungkook goaded before dropping to his knees in front of a man. Taehyung saw that he was in a state of undress, not naked but minus his trousers and underwear and shoes. There was a thick binding of rope around his ankles and this had been used to help suspend him several feet off the ground. That meant that the only way to get eye level was to hunker down like Jungkook, otherwise the sight in front of their eyes was that of his splayed genitals. Not a pleasant sight at all. Jungkook cocked his arm back and delivered a slap that was like a whip crack in the silence of the slaughterhouse. It was enough to make him wince at the sight of it, the sight of the man's head being knocked back from the blow. It made him jerk involuntarily and the chain moved with him, so he swung like a gentle pendulum.

That was when it hit Taehyung who he was looking at. Upside down it was hard to make out his face, especially considering the missing shades and the busted lips and bruises appearing on his face. But when the man let out a weak groan and shifted it was startlingly obvious who he was looking at.

Nam was hanging from a meat hook in front of him.

"Did you try and cause trouble with Daewoo and Siwoo, hmm?" Jungkook asked as he reached over, back of his hand caressing across his cheek.

"Luh...like I'd fuck with those retards." It was hard for Nam to speak, all things considered and yet he still managed to do so just to piss them all off.

"Oh? Says the man hanging upside down with his cock out. Who looks like a retard now, hmm?" Jungkook grabbed his cheeks in one hand, in a tight vice so that he could squeeze hard. "Don't talk shit about my men, you fucker. You're not one of mine now, you know what that makes you? A bitch? Isn't that funny?" He lifted his free hand to gesture over at him and Taehyung studied his gloved hand. "It's a bitch eat bitch world and a tribute is more important than you now. Isn't that fucking funny?"

Taehyung's stomach was cold, much too cold. It felt like the liquid had turned to ice and it was spreading through the rest of his body too; freezing him. He should have expected this but the sight still scared him. He felt like he had been plunged into an ice bath and he was aware of the fact that his heart wasn't racing but rather going much too slow in his chest.

Jungkook got to his feet and he reached over to grab the rope around his ankles. He was looking down at the man with an expression that could only be described as black hatred. Seeing the expression didn't make Taehyung feel better one bit, for he wondered just how long it would be until he saw it aimed his way. It was probably the last thing that he would ever see.

"Taehyung, I'll assume that your knowledge on matters pertaining to violence are rather low. Have you ever heard of a 'Colombian Necktie'?" Taehyung couldn't stop staring at Nam's bruised face but he managed to mutter something that sounded like a disagreement. He had heard of it and seen it over the last few months of department work, but he wasn't going to tell Jungkook that. "A lot of people are mistaken about it, about the origins and the true form. It's not about drugs, it's not about gangs. No, the act was committed as an act of political violence to scare dissidents. That's mistake number one. Mistake number two is the form. Yes, you slit the victim's throat but you do not feed the tongue through." Nam had started making noises at this and so the twins moved to grab his legs and still him. "That's not true, that's a tacky ripoff. I hate ripoffs, I want the originals. I don't want a copy of The Mona Lisa I want The fucking Mona Lisa. So today, you're going to help me create art, Taehyung."

"Wuh-what's the original, Master Jeon?" Taehyung asked as he lifted his gaze to look at him. Jungkook's lips lifted in a grin.

"Step one: castration. Step two: slit the throat. Step three: insert the cock up into the mouth." Oh now Nam was starting to make noise, starting to wriggle on the hook. "It's just like dancing, follow the steps and everything will be fine." Taehyung was staring at him dumbly and so he moved closer to him.

"I don't- I don't think I can-" the young man reached over to press his hand on the back of his neck, a sign for him to stay still and stop talking but his mouth had ran off on him again and he couldn't stop himself from stuttering.

"Think about what he tried to do to you," Jungkook talked over to his bumbling nonsense, hand still cupped on the back of his neck to keep him trapped in place. Taehyung could only really shift his eyes off his face and stare across the abattoir instead. That didn't help him feel much better, seen as he could see the dangling meat hooks coming down from the ceiling when he did. They glinted in the low lighting and he felt his nausea starting to rise again. "Think about what he would have done if he had been given the chance."

"I nuh-know but I don't-"

"He's done it before, countless times. To others just like you and he'll keep doing it. That's why you need to do this. Remember what you said in the meeting? What's the ultimate sign of loyalty, Taehyung?"

"To kuh-kill another buh-brother for Haedoh-dogje Pa buh-buh-buh-"

Jungkook let go of his neck and instead grabbed hold of his face in both hands, further locking him in place. Despite the cold coming from the warehouse his leather gloves were warm on his skin, just like his palms would be through the material. His eyes were staring right into his and yet Taehyung saw no anger in them. There was something in the depths, he just couldn't seem figure out what it was. It was clear however that he wasn't going to be able to back out of this. He was going to have to do what Jungkook told him.

"Taehyung, whatever you did before joining Haedogje Pa, whatever you did or thought or wanted. That's got to change," Jungkook said in a stern voice. Listening to him Taehyung was torn between emotions. On one hand he sounded like a teacher scolding an elementary student. On the other he was so very much Namjoon that it was unsettling. "You work for me now, for us. So when I tell you that I want you to do something, I want you to do it. There's no choice in the matter."

"I kuh-I know, Master Jeon."

"So do it."

"Cuh-can't I just cuh-cut his throat instead? Does it have to be...?" Taehyung saw the look in Jungkook's eyes and he knew that he was already edging dangerously close to stepping over his boundaries. There were two men in the room with them right now, two Haedogje Pa men. He couldn't go against Jungkook's wishes without it being highly disrespectful, and that meant that he had to do what he had asked of him. So he took a deep breath and let it out slowly instead, pluming out into the cold air between their faces. "What if I fuh-fuck it up?"

"You won't, because I'm going to teach you," Jungkook explained in that same fashion. His thumb moved ever so slightly along his cheekbone as he spoke, not exactly a stroke but close to it. "This is a great privilege. Kill for me and I'll kill for you. Kill for me and I owe you, it means that I reward you." He dragged the word out and Taehyung watched his lips move as did; the soft movements and that slight of tongue and teeth. "Good men are rewarded, Taehyung, and I want to reward you. But bad men..." Jungkook looked over his shoulder at Nam, hanging like a slab of meat.

"I'm sorry, Master Jeon. I'll do wuh...what you asked of me."

"Good," Jungkook said and his lips lifted in a wide smile: a sign of pure contentment. He let go of his face with one hand and reached up to pat at the back of his head. Taehyung felt his fingers against his hair, ruffling and lightly tugging as he patted his head. "Good, Taehyung."

Taehyung wished that he could just shut his eyes and pretend that this wasn't even happening but he couldn't. This was reality and he had no choice. The longer he delayed the more at risk he put himself. And the more at risk he was the more chances were that he would fuck up or worse. He could be killed for disrespect or insubordination. It was his life right now, his life and his job, or it was Nam's. His life, or the life of the man that had tried to attack him.

Jungkook reached down to pull something out of his jacket pocket and he saw that it was a black object. Plastic? It was hard to tell but when the young man pressed his thumb down to slide up a mechanism he figured out what it was. It was a knife, a butterfly knife, for the plastic snapped open and Jungkook moved his wrist in two fast jerks to pop the blade free and snap both handles in place. Taehyung stared at the blade and he saw the light from the ceiling playing off it, making it gleam. It would be cold, icy cold and razor sharp. Then the handle was being forced into his hand and he gripped hold of it tightly.

"Step one," Jungkook said as he wrapped his hand around the handle, "the removal."

Even with gloves Taehyung didn't think there was a thick enough layer between him and Nam's cock. Taking it in his hand he felt a surge of disgust and a bitter taste flooded his mouth, acid bitter. In his other hand gripped tightly there was the butterfly knife. Wickedly sharp, it had a rather thin blade. He knew that that meant it would take him some effort to do this, and that made him suddenly detach. It was strange being there but not being there at the same time. Taehyung felt like he was inside his body but he wasn't controlling it. Rather he was trapped somewhere behind his eyes watching it all like a spectator. These were his hands and yet he wasn't controlling them. Jungkook was. This was his body but his limbs were being pulled like puppet strings. Wasn't this everything that Namjoon and Lim had taught him, becoming another person? Playing a part to perfection.

"Keep hold tightly, Taehyung," Jungkook instructed as he moved to stand right behind him. "Keep hold and don't let go. Remember this is about presentation. It's a form of art. Smooth and clean removal." Taehyung felt his breath against his neck, hot and slightly ticklish but he didn't shift, didn't squirm. He just stared at the splayed sight of Nam's genitals in front of him.

"Master Jeon?"

"Yes, Taehyung?" He was more than certain he felt his hand slowly moving to settle on his waist. He might just be wrong but there was a weight there that hadn't been there a moment ago, a weight that felt like his hand. Why not? He had his mouth so close to his neck that he could feel his breath, could almost feel his lips on his skin.

"Will he scream?"

"Yes," Jungkook replied without hesitation. "He will scream like a baby that just shit itself until you finish the piece. So please, start."

It was then that Nam decided that it was high time to try and cause trouble. As a result of his blood rushing to his head when he started screaming his face didn't exactly flush with colour. It was already red, veins pulsing and visible through his skin from the pressure of his blood. As a result his shouting was also rather hoarse and forced, in a horrible way that seemed to hint that he might rupture his vocal cords if he made too much noise. All he really could do was scream, seen as he couldn't move with his legs pinned in place by the two thugs. When Taehyung pressed the blade lightly against the base of his cock Nam gave another almighty yell.

This was the man that would have raped him had he been able to. This was the man that had mere children stolen and smuggled into the country as sex slaves. This man was a monster, but did this make what he was doing righteous? Taehyung knew that it wasn't, that his act was just as sinful but at least he had no choice. Nam had had many and he had used them all up. And now...now was all his own doing, his comeuppance for it all.

Taehyung didn't just apply pressure with the blade but rather moved his wrist as he did. At first it was hard to figure out what he had to do but after three attempts at slices he figured it out. He had to saw, much like one would saw at a chunk of meat with a steak knife. The angle was wrong, the sawing motion side to side rather than front to back, but he managed to find the balance. With the first cuts came the blood of course, but not a great deal of it. That was all pooled body in his upper body instead. Taehyung felt the blade slipping in the sudden but rather weak gush of blood and so he had to keep a tight grip on the hilt. He didn't want to drop it and piss off Jungkook. It was his blade, and dropping it would be very disrespectful.

Oh Nam just starting screaming when he got the blade snagged nice and deep in the slice and started the sawing motion properly. Taehyung just gritted his teeth in a grimace as he carried on. There wasn't much resistance against the blade, he was cutting through meat after all. Meat with nothing more than skin and veins and little tubes rather than fat and muscle. Under the other man's cries of pain he couldn't hear if there was any sound, perhaps a gristly wet noise as the blade cut. That was a blessing he supposed. It was so easy to just block out the screams if he concentrated on the sawing motion like a mantra - left right, left right, and the sensation of Jungkook's uneven breath on his throat.

There was rivulets of blood running down to soak into the bunched up ends of Nam's shirt. He could feel it against his fingers through the gloves, could smell it along with the hideous stench of bile. Nam had gagged and dribbled a puddle of it all over the concrete floor and luckily not on his shoes. Taehyung could sense that he was nearly finished because the effort was no longer hard but rather smooth. It took a few more seconds of frantic sawing before the blade sliced through the thin skin at the front and the blade severed the man's cock completely.

Taehyung had it in his hand, he was holding another man's cock on his hand and it wasn't even attached to a body.

"Good work, Taehyung," Jungkook breathed out against his neck. He watched him reach over with his free hand to touch the bloody stump. It looked like he was stroking the wound, to check if it was clean and smooth. "Very good work. I told you that you could do it, didn't it?"

Taehyung didn't reply. He was much too distracted staring at the sight of Jungkook's gloved fingers stroking the raw stump. The stump that he had just created. When Jungkook dug his thumb down hard into the red mess Nam let out another cracked scream and he could feel Jungkook laughing. Not only his breath on his neck but because his chest was against his back, so he felt the slight vibrations of his body too.

That was part one finished, now what came next? It couldn't be worse than that, or at least Taehyung didn't think that it could.

"Let me show you the best way to slit a man's throat," Jungkook explained as he dropped to hunker down in front of man's sobbing and gasping face. "A clean cut can be hard to achieve without some practice, the windpipe can cause the blade to stick." Taehyung hunkered down beside him, still distant and not really processing things beyond breathing and blinking. In his left hand he was still holding Nam's fucking cock and in the right was the knife. "Now you see, you need a good angle first." Jungkook seized hold of the man's greased hair in his left hand, pushing his head back to expose his throat to him. "You will likely be tempted to just slash out and hope to do damage but don't. The key to killing is to take time to ensure you do it right. Like so."

Jungkook retrieved the knife out of his right hand and he gripped it sure and tight in his hand. Taehyung watched as he hovered the blade over the side of the man's throat. What happened next was quick and smooth, a sign of much experience. Jungkook angled the blade so that he could press the side against his throat and then he pressed down and dragged his wrist across. As the blade parted flesh and arteries it turned slightly so that the pointed tip started tearing through his skin. As a result it ribboned his windpipe like a sheet of paper. Blood didn't gush out in a fountain like he had expected, like in all of those shitty horror films he had watched as a teen, but rather it took to the air in a fine mist that sprayed them both. Taehyung reeled back, blinking to try and stop the spray from getting into his eyes, and then the blood gushed free.

He had never seen anything like it. This is what happened when cattle were strung up on one of those hooks and a knife was used on their throats. This was all of the blood pooled down in his body exploding free with the strong and terrified beats of his heart and within seconds there was a massive puddle on the floor. Jungkook pulled back but he didn't let go of his hair, keeping his head held back so that the wound stayed stretched open. Nam wasn't really making noises, or at least Taehyung didn't think that he was. It was hard to tell if the hideous wheezing rasps were coming out of his mouth or the slice in his throat, his destroyed windpipe. After a few seconds, body twitching and shuddering, he fell still. That was when Jungkook dragged his eyes away to look at him. Taehyung didn't return his gaze. He was still staring at the rather steady flow of blood spilling down to the floor. There was a puddle spreading so far across the floor that it was almost impossible to believe. Too much blood, it looked way too much for one body. They were all standing in it, it was pooled around all of their shoes like rainwater.

The stains on the concrete would never be able to be cleaned free.

"Now for the finishing touches." Jungkook reached over to grab his wrist, moving his hand so that it was hovering over the still leaking gash. At least Nam had stopped screaming now, had stopped fighting. He supposed that that was a blessing for it meant that the man was well and truly dead. "Stick it inside, angle it out of his mouth. You have to make sure to get it right, part the windpipe with your fingers if you have to."

Taehyung did as he was told because there was little point in resistance now. After everything that had happened it was rather pointless saying no. He didn't even blink as he leaned forward and used his other hand to force the wound open wider so that he could shove Nam's cock inside. Looking at the slice in his windpipe was a little like looking at a mouth, a gaping bloody mouth. It took quite a bit of effort to slip it fully inside and then down so that it was visible in his mouth and hidden deep within his throat. But when it was done Jungkook let out a noise he expected one to make when appreciating fine art or wine.

"The best one yet," Jungkook said as he stared at Nam, at the head of his cock sticking out of his open mouth. There was a smile on his face and a spray of blood all over his nose and cheeks like freckles. Now that the majority of the blood had gushed free the rather pitiful dribble was spilling down to drip like water from a sink. Humans were just a funny sink, Taehyung decided in that moment. A sink made from meat instead of porcelain. It made him start laughing and after a few seconds he couldn't stop. It didn't sound like laughter to his ears however, for it was much too reedy and breathless to be classified as a humoured laugh.

"Daewoo, Siwoo, leave him to drain and then dump him in the usual location. Remember I want him to be discovered, he's to set an example. Call in cleanup too, sort this place out."

"Yeah, boss," the twins said in unison.

Jungkook got upright first and then he dragged him up with him, not roughly but firmly. Taehyung didn't attempt to fight free because couldn't have walked without his support. He did try and stop the rather hysterical giggles however. He had heard from Hoseok once that often people laughed when faced with great anxiety or shock, a strange reaction but completely natural. He wondered if Hoseok had been talking about evidence being dropped on a desk during interrogation or after castrating a man, and then he wondered what exactly his partner would think.

Hoseok had told him that he might have to kill men that day on the target range that felt an eternity ago. He had lifted the practice gun and he had told him that he might just need to shoot another man to save his life. He had not told him about this, none of them had, not even Namjoon.

Taehyung was pulled across the warehouse, both of them likely leaving bloody shoe prints in their wake as they did. When they were both outside he felt Jungkook seizing hold of both of his upper arms and then his back was driven up against the wall of the building. Just as fast as he had grabbed his arms Jungkook was grabbing his face.

"Breathe," he instructed. "Taehyung you need to breathe. In," Taehyung took an intake of breath after him, "and out." An exhale that hitched and sounded like a strangled groan escaped his mouth. "And again. In." Jungkook repeated this over several times until Taehyung managed to get most of his breathing regulated. Not his heart however, for that was still racing in his chest. "The first time is always like this. It's not like sex." Taehyung wouldn't know, he had never had it. "The fear comes after, not before. The pleasure peaks at the start, not the end."

"Juh-Jungkook I-"

"Just keep breathing. The worst part is over with now, he's dead and you're not." Taehyung closed his eyes and he just concentrated on breathing like Jungkook had told him to, deep inhale and hold, than a slow exhale. He could feel his hands on his face and he couldn't help himself from reaching up to grab Jungkook's wrists too. To hold onto something and to stop his hands from shaking. After perhaps a minute he managed to open his eyes and when he did he saw Jungkook's face just a few inches from his own. "OK?"

"Uh-OK."

"Stay still, I need to clean you up," Jungkook instructed as he let go of his face with one hand and reached inside his jacket. He pulled a silken handkerchief free and wet it with his tongue. Then he methodically wiped the damp silk along his face. "With practice, you learn to cut throats from behind to save yourself the mess. I needed you to see from the front however, hence the irritating mess."

"Do...do I have to...to learn how to do that?" Taehyung asked as he took another shuddering breath and felt his entire body shaking. "Can't I just work for yuh...you, Master Jeon? Do I have to kuh-kill men?"

"If you want to survive Haedogje Pa, you need to be tough," Jungkook said, fingers gently wiping along his cheekbone. "You need to not be scared of violence. A man that flinches at violence is a boy. A man that hasn't committed violence is a boy. You're not a boy, Taehyung, you're a man. If other men see you as a man than you're much safer, but if they see you as a boy then they'll hurt you."

"Luh-like Nam?"

"Nam thought you were a boy, you showed him you were a man."

Taehyung stayed still and patiently let him clean his cheeks and nose free of the blood from earlier. Jungkook concentrated on the task at hand, brow lightly furrowed in concentration as he made sure to clean his skin of all traces. This meant that Taehyung could momentarily study his face whilst he did so, without fear of eye-contact. Jungkook didn't even look shaken by what had happened, unfazed and very much used to it all. He wondered what his first murder had been like. Had he cried, had he vomited all over himself and sobbed like a child? Had he just started laughing like he had until he had struggled to breathe? Or had Jungkook already witnessed great violence from the start, desensitised and numb to it all? After a minute or two he had cleaned it all free and so he dropped his hand from his face.

"I should..." Taehyung paused before reaching over to pull the handkerchief free from his hand. He found a spot that was free from blood and bunched it around his forefinger before lifting it to his mouth to wet it. His tongue ran along the smooth silk, leaving a damp patch of saliva behind. Then he slowly moved his hand so that he could touch his cheek. Jungkook didn't blink and instead let him wipe the material along his cheek. Because of the angle he had been on he had avoided most of the spray. Taehyung's hand was shaking as he cleaned the blood free. "I've only got one shirt and it's ruined," he said in a quiet voice.

"I'll get a man to bring your belongings to the apartment," Jungkook replied, eyes trying to track his hand as he cleaned the blood free. "But it doesn't matter. Tomorrow morning you're coming with me. There's a schedule for Dongdaemun-gu. You're my right hand man, Taehyung. But I also have a gift for you."

"A gift?"

"Yes," Jungkook shifted and now Taehyung was more than certain that his hands were on his waist. It was enough to make him stop on the act of cleaning, not quite freezing up but close to it. "And if you perform well tomorrow, just like today, then I'll have another gift."

"Do I...do I have to kill anyone?"

"...I hope not, but that all depends on how tomorrow plays out."

"Namjoon, you gotta see this man."

Namjoon hadn't really been paying much attention to what was in front of him. A file, he could see that much but he didn't know the specifics. It could have been about anyone, anything, for his eyes had just been staring at the paper with enough intensity to set it alight rather than reading it. These days concentrating was a hard task, a very hard task. How could he sit there and let his mind be preoccupied and distracted when there was a very important matter at hand.

Taehyung.

It had been way over twenty-four hours since Taehyung had called him. If he were to give a precise estimate he would peg it at roughly forty-nine hours, seventeen minutes and five seconds. Six...seven...eight. He didn't like this fact but he knew that it could mean a great many things. It didn't have to mean something bad had happened, no not at all. Taehyung could be distracted right now, under the watchful eyes of superiors and unable to safely get his hand on a disposable phone to pass along a message. He had went many more days when he had been undercover without contact to the outside world but that didn't mean that he wasn't going to worry. It was Taehyung, not him, and he didn't know what could have happened in those long hours.

Maybe nothing, maybe everything.

Taehyung could be halfway across the capital in a drugs den, could be at a meeting, could be passed out drunk in a strip club, could be dead, could be anything. So many possible outcomes and no way of telling which one was true. Namjoon had taken to ensuring that the phone was in his sights at all costs, be it during daylight work hours or in the evening. Taehyung might only find time to call in the middle of the night, which meant that he had to be prepared. Taehyung might call whilst he was on a fucking bathroom break and he couldn't risk missing their one window of time because he had been too busy pissing away four too many cups of coffee.

Taehyung was alive right now, or he could be dead. It was much too Schrödinger for him right now. Namjoon didn't deal with maybes, he dealt with solid facts. He just needed the phone to vibrate on his desk beside his coffee mug to let him know that Taehyung was still breathing and then he could breathe again, could concentrate on work. But then his team member's voice had called out and dragged him back to reality again.

Hoseok's complexion was a lot paler than usual, noticeably so. There were twin patches of high colour on his cheeks giving him a flushed look that Namjoon associated with too many coffees, important news, and a shocking revelation of some kind. He had learnt to read people and sometimes he couldn't switch the skill off. Even when it meant learning mannerisms of team members and the usual young lady that would serve him coffee at the store across the street. And what his learned mannerisms about Hoseok were telling him was that the young man had a bombshell to drop.

"Speak to me, Hoseok."

"Dead body found in Gangdong-gu as of 5:31am this morning. Body has been removed and since identified. Haedogje Pa. Get your ass out that seat, follow me."

In most circumstances he would have refused to have moved out of downright principal but he understood Hoseok's brusque language and behaviour. This was something serious and he needed to see it. So he pushed his chair out, grabbed the disposable phone and followed him across the office to step out into the hallway.

"Photographs were floating around the pool, trying to get a positive ID and Sungah did it for us. She's cinched us the case, thank fuck," Hoseok explained as he guided him across the department and down a set of stairs to get onto the first floor. Namjoon just held his tongue as he followed him into a large room filled with booths and packed with people. Sungah was standing a few into the room at a desk, hands on her hips and head cocked in a manner that showed impatience.

"Can't take the files without you here," she explained as she reached up to brush a stray lock of bobbed hair behind her ear. "But trust me Namjoon, this case is for our department. I'll explain in the office but just accept the case."

"I'll be more than happy to say yes if it means you'll both tell me what's going on."

Two minutes later, standing in front of the cork board in their department Namjoon watched Sungah tacking the photographs onto it with ruthless presses of her thumb. The sight he saw was that of a heavily mutilated body, male perhaps in his thirties from what he could tell. Hard to do so considering his rather grey complexion. Namjoon had seen quite a few dead bodies in his time and he was always struck about how they didn't look like they were flesh and blood. There was always a strange rubbery look to the skin, like looking at a mask. The victim was wearing a shirt and nothing else, naked entirely from the waist down. There were several shots, distant full body, close-up examinations. They were very unpleasant to look at, particularly the raw stump between the man's legs. Looking at that Namjoon knew exactly where this case was going. He had seen this all before, had been shown deaths similar to this level of brutality by a certain someone in the department who was no longer present.

"His cock is in his mouth," Hoseok said as he studied the photographs. "Usually most would feed it to the dogs but apparently not this time."

"Do you recognise this?" Sungah asked, gesturing with a hand to sweep it across the board.

"Yes I know what that method is. It's a favourite of The Boy: the 'Colombian Necktie'."

"Like what drugs cartels use?" Hoseok asked, cocking his head as he dropped his gaze to the shot of his throat.

"Yes and no, not these ones. You ever read up on your political history, Hoseok? These originated in Colombia right in the middle of a violent political clash that saw hundreds of thousand of people slaughtered. Probably one of the more tamer versions of the torture techniques they used."

"This is tame?"

"There was a method of torture that involved slowly cutting a person up whilst they were alive. Another that involved hundreds of puncture wounds. Another one involved Caesareans and roosters but I won't go into that; all you need to know is that The Boy is an avid fan of torturous death. The more inventive the death, the better. I have no doubt in my mind that he would loved reading about La Violencia. Hell, might just be his fucking bedtime story for all I know."

"OK, so what's the point? And how do we know that it's The Boy?" Sungah asked as she folded her arms across her chest. She had nibbled on her lower lip considerably whilst listening to him speak so it was a good thing she never wore lipstick.

"The point? It's pretty obvious what the point is," Hoseok said as he turned back to look at the board. "Humiliation, Nam's cock is shoved so far up his own windpipe it's like the most fucked up blowjob possible."

"Taehyung was onto something before he left the department," Namjoon explained. "He had been linking a few dead bodies together and he had a hunch that the men might have been murdered for The Boy instead of Jeon. He said that the deaths were much too out of character to be Jeon. Daddy dearest deals clean and quick, you piss him off and there's a bullet in the back of your skull before you even hear the gunshot. A good couple of his men showed up dead and the only possible link that could be made was that they had pissed him off. But then Taehyung started thinking... What if they had pissed him off but someone else had offed them? Or, what if they pissed off both daddy and son?"

"Stop calling him daddy," Hoseok muttered with a faux shudder.

"But he couldn't get solid links before I dropped the undercover shit on him," Namjoon finished. "The bodies were brutalised. Neckties like this, decapitation, shit Lee down at the morgue said she thought one had been fucked with a power drill 'cos his organs were fucking pulp." He reached out to tap a finger on the photograph. "So this makes him another link. Next question, who is he?"

"Nam, Nam Jaebum," Sungah explained as she turned her head to look at him. "You've more than certainly heard his name."

"...I have, shit I've heard of a Nam. Mapo-gu?" When she nodded Namjoon cursed under his breath.

"I cracked open prostitution rings of his ilk in the past. Never caught him, barely caught more than a dozen of his pimps. That man was a piece of shit and I'm glad someone stuck him before I could." The office fell silent for a few seconds and then she dragged her eyes off the board to look at him. "What were you cursing for?"

"Taehyung...he was in Mapo-gu. That's where Lim fed him into the gang from. Notoriously a calm district with more drugs and nightclub issues than other offences. He mentioned a Nam, hang on. All his messages go through to my tapped phone. I can play it back to you." Namjoon crossed the office to get to his desk, placing the disposable down so that he could give his computer full attention. After hitting a few buttons he accessed the online database on which all the recordings would be kept; one thus far. He started playing the recording and increased the volume loud enough for it to be heard all the way across the small department room. When Taehyung's voice sounded his two team members twisted to look over at the computer, almost as if they were looking at the young man as he spoke.

"... I mean I'm Haedogje Pa. " Taehyung's disembodied voice explained, slightly static from the recording and the high volume. " Nam wanted me, he wanted me under his orders pretty badly but he didn't get his way thank fuck. No, I think I've got a new owner now. "

"Jesus H. Christ," Hoseok said as he reached up to start running his fingers along his lips. Yes, Namjoon could agree with that sentiment. Here Taehyung was, talking about a man that had been found dead just two days short of him mentioning his name. He couldn't believe it, and yet there was solid evidence.

"... When he asked about his men taking an interest in me I told him about Nam and he...he looked displeased and said that Nam couldn't have me," Taehyung explained, and he knew after that point that Nam was no longer mentioned, just some talk about armies and chess. So he shifted to hit the mouse and stop the recording. Both Sungah and Hoseok were staring at him and he took a moment to collect his thoughts before opening his mouth. But before he could she took the plunge.

"Nam's death and Taehyung's infiltration into Haedogje Pa are both connected. Aren't they?" There might not be solid evidence yet but there was enough weight behind it to make the connection. Sungah had made that exact link. "Nam's death could be one of several reasons, we all know that he's a slimy bastard that's pissed most of his so-called brothers off. But why now? And why so brutal?"

"There's something...off about it, what Tae said," Hoseok added. "The part about not having him. It sounds...I don't know but it sounds strange. Like ownership but something more than that."

"It's not uncommon for hierarchy to...to select lesser ranked members and to use them for sexual purposes," Namjoon explained in a quiet voice. "It's a form of control and dominance. Some groom, some just plain rape. I should know, I once had three men attempting to groom me when I was undercover."

"Did Tae know this fact?"

"...No." He could see Hoseok staring at him, expression hard to read. "I didn't tell him because I was scared that it would terrify Taehyung out of committing to the job."

"You think The Boy's got his eye on Taehyung and so he took Nam out of the picture?"

"No, it's not his style to be so petty, Sungah. I think that Nam had already blown several chances and he fucked The Boy over somehow. That's where Taehyung comes into it. The Boy wants him for something, Taehyung made that much clear during our last talk. He's singled him out of the new bloods, and that means something. But until Taehyung contacts us and explains we can only guess what."

"Does Tae know much danger he's in right now?" Hoseok asked as he twisted to look back at the cork board.

"Yes, I think he does. He's already seen a man get murdered on his first day. I have no doubts that Taehyung now knows how dangerous Haedogje Pa really is."

"You think that maybe..maybe Taehyung witnessed this too?" Sungah asked, eyes boring right into the back of the computer.

"I'm not sure. Right now...I'm just praying that Taehyung didn't have to get involved in it."