⫣22⫦ Black Swan

And another oneeeee!!!!

Taehyung POV

The inside of the office building is as unspectacular as the outside. Only a desk with folders and papers, a few filing shelves and a little sofa. There is dust everywhere, like no one has cleaned this place in a long time.

The only thing that catches someone's eye is the massive, body-sized painting of a ballerina.

She wears black tutu with a skin tight black top, and the upper half of her face is obscured with a black mask swinging out on both sides in elegant swirls to frame her lovely face. Her body arches to the top, raised on tip toes, her arms reaching over her head into the air and her hands are creating the distinct shadow of a swan on the painted wall behind her.

For some reason she reminds me of Lian.

It isn't just the similar body structure or the black long hair. It's the smile on her face- her lips parted and arched upwards like she is on a height of ecstasy she never felt before.

RM is nowhere to be seen, but it doesn't surprise me or the others. Suga stands in front of the picture now, raising his hand up to the shadow of the swan.

We all see the fine ray of a blue light scan the place where his hand lays flat against the picture. Then there is a mechanic click and the picture swings inwards, revealing a staircase downwards.

Like always, the hairs on the back of my neck rise at the secret we keep from the world. Something we all chose and needed. We make our descent into the room below.

Lucky for us, the previous owner of this Junkyard was one paranoid fella, building himself a bunker underneath his office to be prepared in case of World War III breaking out.

And we made good use of it.

The entire room is filled with a blue-green light, revealing a space filled with electronics. There are several desks with multiple screens, keypads and laptops, flat screens that take up half the size of the walls and computers bumming lowly as they come to life.

RM already sits in his personal desk, eyes down on the paper in front of him, head resting in his hands. Although he owns several computers, his desk is also covered in various papers, notebooks and folders. Others may call it old fashioned, but he likes to write his ideas by hand and the place looks a complete mess most of the time- but he always seemed to find exactly what he is looking for in a heartbeat.

Suga walks over to his usual space. He throws himself into a large office chair which almost swallows his entire body, not one, not two , but three desks in front of him, surrounding him in a half circle. He has by far the largest amount of technology with four screens and keypads, a laptop, several phones laying around and then a couple of more mechanical stuff I can't even name.

The rest of us don't really have fixed workspaces. We usually pick whatever desk is currently free, depending on what we need to do.

This is RM's and Suga's area- a place were they are fully in their element.

They are the ones the rest of us needs to trust and rely on when we are out and about, doing all kinds of illegal, forbidden stuff. And to this day neither has let us down. The rest of the world thinks us to be nothing but rascals. A group of loose teenagers seeking trouble and creating chaos, with no future and no hope for a better life. A lost cause. The shame of society.

We let them think that.

While Jin makes his way to one of the unoccupied office chairs, I head to the little kitchen at the end of the room. Since RM and Suga sometimes spend hours or even days in here, it became an inconvenience for them to always walk all the way back to the canopy to get food and drinks, hence this very smart investment. Not that money is a problem for us as long as Hoseok is with us.

I already throw open the cabinet over the sink and take out a few bags of ramen.

"Make us some too," Jin shouts from the seat he has taken and I smiles to myself. I already prepared enough water for all of them, even Jungkook, Jimin and J-Hope who finally make it down too, knowing they must all be hungry. Or maybe not...

One look at the newest arrivals and I know it's pretty bad.

There is a forced, cheery smile on J-Hopes face as he walks between them, a hand thrown over the two boys shoulders. The two of them don't so much as look in each other's direction, their faces gloomy.

I repress a sigh and continue with making ramen, finished just in time for when Namjoon calls us all to the corner where a large flat-screen covers most of the wall.

He stands, as usual, while we sit in a half- circle around him.

I make quick work of distributing the noodles and then sit too, looking expectantly at our leader.

"What's this all about Namjoon? I really need to go back to sleep," Jungkook says in a strained voice.He doesn't look good. His skin is pale and his forehead ceased in wrinkles, like he has the headache of a lifetime.

Jimin looks a bit pale too, but I know that boy can hold his alcohol like no one else. I once saw him drown half a bottle of vodka in one go, and still walk a straight line, waking up the next morning like nothing happened.

I note with great dismay that Jungkook and Jimin have each taken a seat at opposite ends and still aren't acknowledging each other's presence. There will be a time and place to fix this, but it isn't now as we all wait for RM's explanation.

"We need to talk about Lian," he finally announces and even though we all guessed it, we tense at hearing her name in this room. This room, where we have first heard it.

Lian- who is nothing like we expected.

Lian who drives me absolutely insane, like no other girl has ever managed or even come close to achieving.

No one says anything for a long while, sitting in silence as we all drown in our own thoughts before RM sighs deeply, scratching his head and letting out a frustrated growl.

"Maybe we should tell her. Everything."

I am on my feet before I even realize what he has said, staring at Namjoon incredulously.

"You want to do what?"

Namjoon looks at me long and hard, his expression revealing nothing. Sometimes I hate him a little for it. For his plans and cunning and scheming. He always has an exact plan in his head that we executed without question, because RM's plans are always brilliant- always thought through to the smallest detail. But this time... I can't believe he saw telling Lian the truth as an option.

"I know it sounds ridiculous, dangerous and stupid. But she is nothing like we expected her to be. She might actually understand and help us," he explains with traces of hope in his voice.

"Are you fucking insane?" I explode, the sudden rage surprising myself as much as the others, but there is this loud ringing in my head at the mere thought of telling her the truth, the words leaving me here, but never could I say them to her face.

"You want to tell her that we shadowed her since the moment she and her family moved to Seoul? Or that we spend weeks observing her in order to figure out how to best approach her? Or maybe you want to tell her why we decided to reveal our sad, fucked up life stories: So she would pity us and pour out her heart? And all of that to get to her father? To destroy her family? You are saying we should tell her all that?"

My heart is beating fast, my breathing a raging storm that I cannot tame.

All I can see is the way she looked when she saw the past in my eyes. And to imagine what she would look like if she truly knew my present...If she finds out we've been using her from the very start. Namjoon only keeps looking at me, but it is Jimin who speaks up. Usually he is one of the only people who can calm me down, but today he won't be so lucky.

"Maybe Namjoon is right. Maybe she'll understand. She surprised us in every other aspect. Maybe she-"

I don't even let him finish as I whirl at him, growling in anger that is fuelled solely by my rising fear and panic.

I can't loose her. I just can't.

"She would fucking hate us! We used her! We planned all of this from the very beginning. She wont ever trust us again if we tell her! Do you really think she will just forgive us? For destroying her family, and worse: using her to do so?"

"Calm the fuck down, Tae," a voice says and I glower at Jungkook who has stood up and looks at me with a heated expression of his own.

"We're all just trying to find a solution here!"

"And what if she doesn't understand? What if we tell her and she decides that we are all just a bunch of fucking liars and goes blabbering to her dad. What then?"

"She wouldn't do that!" Jungkook shouts back and deep down I know she won't. She isn't that kind of person. Not if she finds out the truth about her father.

But she might still hate us. Leave us- and that thought alone left me fighting- ringing- for air.

I feel like I wont be able to breath if she is gone. I don't even know how or when it happened, but the thought of loosing her sends such a sharp jab through me, I gasp in pain, then let it fuel the anger.

I take a step towards Jungkook, my hands balled into fists as rage ebbs though me in painful waves. Pain and fear and panic.

"But at least she will have us after her father goes to prison! At least she won't be alone!"

Jungkook takes a step towards me too so that we stand face to face now, bot our glares heated.

"We might be fucked up, Tae, but we are not heartless! Could you really do it? Could you really comfort her and tell her it will be alright, knowing we used her to destroy her own father without her knowledge? Do you want us to lie to her about all we do, all the time? Because I don't think I can! She deserves to know the truth. We can't keep this from her, for Christ Sake!"

"Fuck you, Jungkook! You don't get to tell me about what we should and shouldn't do. You can't even deal with your own shit!"I regret the words the moment they are out of my mouth, seeing our youngest member flinch like I punched him, his eyes flickering to a pale, unusually quiet Jimin.

"Stop it!" RM yells out, authority and force in his voice.

I turn to him, still breathing hard and see him stand with his hands crossed and feet apart: indeed a leader.

But when he sees Jungkook's and my expression, his shoulders slouch, like the responsibility of it all rests on his shoulders alone.

He closes his eyes for a moment and takes a long breath before opening them again.

"Tae, JK, sit down. Suga," he says, turning to the green haired boy in front of him.

"Give us a full debriefing of the case. Maybe we can find another way- anything. The rest of you, listen well and try to come up with... something."

There is no room for questions in his stern voice and Suga stands just as Jungkook and I sit back down, my emotions still raw.

Clearing his voice, Suga faces us all and presses a little button on a remote he holds. Pictures appear on the wall behind him where a beamer projects a terrible truth.

Pictures we saw a thousand times before and still have the power to make us feel sick, disgusted and angry.

I'm sure the women had once been beautiful. But not after what was done to them.

Some of the girls faces were so swollen you could barely make out their features anymore, their lips cracked, their skin a mixture of blue and black bruises and the look of something utterly broken in their eyes.

They were the lucky ones.

There are others, lying on cold, metal boards, their bodies naked and revealing the horrors which have been done to them. Bones are bend the wrong way, rib cages sunken in and angry led lines surrounded their necks like they've been chocked. Their eyes will be closed forever, their skin soon rotting away in a grave that no one will visit. Forgotten.

Only Suga's voice makes me able to look away from the pictures, evoking a memory too cruel and painful.

"So far, there are eight dead, twelve missing that we know of and countless cases of hospital admissions for battery and assault. All of these women are or were sex-workers."

The word sends a harp pain through my heart, like a poisoned arrow and I do my best to keep that box closed, even as I feel the memory trying to surface, trashing in it's confinement.

"They don't have any apparent connection except that they were all desperate. Some had massive debts, children to look after or simply lived on the edge of poverty. Some of them were even minors."

We all see the disgust in Suga's eyes, even as he tries to sound professional and matter of factly. He presses another button and the pictures change.

Once again we stare at the faces of well dressed men with platonic smiles and combed back hair, like they are just about to step out for a dinner party. Slimy, disgusting motherfuckers. Rage coils up in me again.

"These are the suspects. The police have tried investigating the cases of the prostitutes in connection to them but with little success. And with little, I mean none."

There is a snort from Jin, as if the thought of the police being capable of anything is the joke of the century. We can't really blame him. We share the same notion and we know Jin has the most reason to hate them, after they told a little boy there was nothing they could do about his father beating him senseless, even to the brink of death. All while the police looked the other way.

"For one, many of them didn't think it was worth looking into the case since it was the women's own fault for getting themselves killed by their job choice. As if this life had been their choice! But unfortunately in our society, those with little power also receive the smallest amount of help. No one cares about them. No one speaks up for them. On the other hand all investigation attempts were shut down: warrants were denied, alibis appeared suddenly and evidence was either dismissed or deemed insufficient.In other words: they closed the case even though more crimes keep happening.That's where we come in.Now... I've done my own research, but even I couldn't find any apparent connection between the suspects at first.They are all in high position, well respected and rich, that much we know.All of them are powerful men from CEO's to politicians to cooperation owners.Some of them know each other, but the connection is coincidental at best.J-Hope has done his best to gather information about them in the high society, but there was nothing to be found either.And thanks to the work of the maknae line, we managed to get direct access to most of their laptops and even some of their phones.But they were mostly clean too- nothing to incriminate them for the murders and the abuse done to those women. It seemed like a dead end until I found the one thing they all shared.Or rather the one person."

He screen changes again and we stare at a handsome, middle aged man with short black hair and the same platonic smile as he poses for the camera.

I hate everything about him- except for the eyes.I can no longer hate them, not when they are the exact shape and color as Lian's.

"This is Kwang-Sun Cheol, one of the most renowned and successful defence lawyers in Korea. And also Lian's father."

He pauses and we see his expression saddens- like he hopes what he's about to say isn't true.

"He is the only one who has a connection to all of the suspects. Either he is friends with them, worked with them closely or in some cases even defended them in court for minor cases. It led me to look into him more closely. And what I found only confirmed my suspicion.Even though he comes from a lower class family he has managed to rise in the justice branch quickly- too quickly.And the reason for it is his almost perfect track record, winning over ninety percent of his cases.But the reasons for it show similarities to our case: evidence that was incriminating was suddenly ruled as circumstantial or disappeared, witnesses suddenly appeared and spoke out on behalf of the accused.He managed to supply his clients with alibi's out of thin air and sometimes the accusers even dropped the case out of the blue- almost like something had scared them.I guess it's safe to say Kwang-Sun doesn't use fair methods, but no one has ever been able to prove anything.But even when you three," he says, pointing at me, Jimin and Jungkook, "made the trip to Dageu and helped me hack his computer, there was nothing to be found about the woman or any other crime.It almost seemed like a dead end again.Until this."

A new slide appears, now depicting an E-mail dating roughly over a month back. We already know this too, but still listen to every word.

"This is an e-mail written from Kwang-Sun to Park Jin-Young- the owner of the most renowned law firm in Korea, JYP, and also one of the suspects. In it he demands not only to be immediately transferred to Seoul, but also an outrageous salary and the provision of a house. Jin-Young replied in a matter of minutes, agreeing to all the terms- but why?Why would he agree to it if Kwang-Sun didn't have something over him- say the prove he was involved in the women's harassment and murders?Maybe because it was no other than Kwang-Sun himself who hid the evidence and provided them with alibi's, then kept all of that discriminating evidence, giving him the power over some very influential and powerful men."

Suga pauses and frowns.

"But all of that was only suspicion. It made me dig deeper into Kwang-Sun's cases over the years. And I found this."

We look back at the screen to see a case file, with a picture of a man in his early-twenties or even younger at the top corner, posing for his mug-shot. His hair is tousled and tattoo's cover almost all of his body- except the face. Handsome if it weren't for the cruel eyes.

"This is Park Seo-joon. He was accused of sex trafficking and several accounts of assault against women back in 2015. Kwang-Sun took on his case and actually managed to get the sick bastard to walk free. But here comes the interesting part: shortly after his release, he disappeared from the face of the earth. There are no traces of him anywhere, no matter how hard I looked. Until two moths ago."

The picture changes again, now showing the black and white picture of a finely dressed man in a suit, tie and glasses. He barely looks like the man from the previous photo, no longer any sight of long, tussled hair or tattoos.

"I put face recognition over it and it's definitely him. This is a surveillance camera in front of a five star hotel. And these were taken shortly after."

It's the same angle and the same background, but there are four men now. And one of them immediately distinguishable as Lian's father. "An hour after Seo-joon arrived, the head of JYP, Kwang-Sun and two others of the suspects entered the hotel too.Now what are the chances that there is a case with striking similarities to Kwang-Sun's, his involvement with all of the suspects, being able to make demands of people much more powerful than him, and a sex-trafficker he defended showing up out of the blue.I think I don't need to tell you it's next to none."

"But-" he then says with a little frustrated pout in his lips.

"We searched through all of Kwang-Sun's things, in both his house and his office at the law firm and there is nothing. Nada.But he has to have hidden the incriminating evidence somewhere.And knowing what kind of people he is blackmailing, I doubt he made it easy to find. The only one who might know where he hid it, is someone who is very close to him- someone who knows how he thinks and watched him her hole life. Perhaps the only person he truly trusts."

And don't we all know there is just one person- our one chance.

We listened to Suga quietly, as RM demanded, but I can see that we all come to the same conclusion.There is no other way. We need Lian's help or drop the case, and the latter, we simply can't do.

There is too much at stake, and each and every one of us have personal reasons to see this case resolved.

RM, for he knows what it's like to be poor and forgotten, shammed by society for the mere fact of not having as much as others. To take on crappy jobs and still barley make a living off of it while others born with more look down on them with disgust.

Suga hold a deep grudge against any man who raises a hand to a women, probably because his step-father had been one of them. The stories he sometimes told of his step-fathers drinking problem and how he liked to beat his mother left all of us sick and angry.

And Jin can understand the pain of those woman all too well, having been beaten by his father so hard, he ended up begging on his feet to make him stop. Had begged the heavens too, yet no one had answered- until RM found him.

J-Hope might seem like he has no ill will against anyone, but he hates the fact that these men used their influence and money to use these woman. As if being rich and powerful gave them to right to treat others like shit. It might have something to do with the fact that his own parents often told him he would own all of their fortune and be rich beyond his wishes, as an excuse for treating him like he never existed- like he's nothing but an annoying nuisance for them, and then just left on some cruise trip and never returned or bothered to ask their son how he was doing. Left all by himself in a massive mansion with not a single person who cared about him.

Jimin despises that the woman's weaknesses were used to take advantage of them.He always feels like protecting those who can't defend themselves, just like he was nothing but a scared little boy whose father took advantage of his innocent looks to gain power and wealth. Used.

Jungkook shares that reason and because these woman were all alone, just like he had been once. I've seen him sit down here for hours, looking onto a screen with already reddened eyes, trying to find any clues on the missing girls. When I asked why he did it, he had just shrugged his shoulders and said: "If I don't, no one else will."I knew he wasn't including BTS with that comment. Yet it fills me with such sadness still, to think back to that little kid he once was, his only wish to be loved and find a place where he belonged.

And how he can relate so well to how these woman must have felt, knowing, in the end, no one really cared about them.

And my own reasons... I can't even list them all, but they pretty much included all of the others and then some.

"So," a small voice echoes through the silence that has spread out and we turn to J-Hope, playing with his pen as if he is unable to look at us.

"We are really going to do it? Tell her, I mean?"

They don't disagree, but none of them seem happy about it.

Meanwhile, I cannot unsee those pictures. Cannot forget their faces.Cannot stop her face from flashing in front of my eyes and I lower my head quickly to hide the crushing pain. No. I cannot let this go anymore than them. Even less so. Even if it means I might loose Lian. And Jungkook is right too.

I won't be able to sit next to her, comforting her as she cries when she finds out about her fathers true nature while me and the boys used her all along. So even though it scares me to death, it is the only right thing to do.

"There is no other way," I finally whisper, trying to convince myself, yet it doesn't really ring.

"But let's just give her a few more days, all right? Just a few more days before we destroy her family."It's all I can ask for. A little borrowed time.

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Since we are finally seeing their true nature, let's do a quick but proper introduction: