The Trials and Tribulations of Pathos - Jikook

Chapter 2

Jimin pulls up to the quaint building in his red Ferrari, parallel-parking on the street and stepping out of the car. He runs a hand through his hair, the many rings placed on his fingers glinting in the sunlight. With a stressed sigh, Jimin walks through the door to the orphanage, grinning when a small body collides with his legs. "Minji!" he laughs and the small child looks up at him with a crooked smile. Jimin pats the girl's unruly brown hair, picking her up easily and placing her on his hip.

The ash-haired twenty-five-year-old leads an odd double life, to say the least.

Jimin started volunteering at the Seoul Youth Home just a few months ago but is already very popular with both the children there and the other volunteers and staff. He loves working here; the kids are great, the work is great, and even though he doesn't get paid, he doesn't need to. He's well off, living off the money from his main job.

Being an assassin.

It sounds worse than it is- and cooler, for that matter. Ever since he was little, Jimin has always dreamed of becoming an assassin. His parents found it weird, his friends found it weird. Even he found it weird. It took a while for him to realize his dream wasn't as far-fetched as he thought it was. Jimin joined a group he had heard about through some online friends: The Korean Organization of Able-Bodied Hitmen, or the KOABH. He had to go through several tests and procedures before he was admitted, but eventually, after seven months and at age eighteen, he made it in.

To say it was a great experience would be an understatement; Jimin fully enjoyed his time as a trainee. It was always new and exciting, and the training kept him on his toes.

He still remembers his first assignment- he got paired with one of the more experienced agents, a man named Chun. They got an assignment from a client claiming that her husband's ex-wife was planning to kill their children. He and Chun had investigated for around a week before confirming that the plans were true and disposing of the ex-wife. It had been one of the most nervewracking couple weeks of Jimin's life- he was so jittery with nerves and excitement that he had almost missed the shot when he was sniping at their target. It had been embarrassing, to say the least, when the two of them reported back to Namjoon and Chun had explained Jimin's shaking.

Not that Jimin was mad at Chun for doing so- it was protocol, and Namjoon needed to know every little detail in a business as dangerous and secretive as this one. Namjoon and Chun weren't too concerned- they said that this was to be expected as it was Jimin's first time in the field, and to learn to calm himself in later assignments.

Jimin had gone home with a skip in his step, grin wide on his face as he congratulated himself on a job well done.

He's been in the business for seven years now and had risen through the ranks quickly. By twenty he was in the top five agents in the company and by twenty-one he had the title of the number one spot. It was an honor, to say the least, and he wore his title with pride.

He still holds the number one spot, four years later, still going strong until just a while ago. After one particular... mishap, Jimin had come to a partial close on the assassin life.

Several months back, he had gone after a young man in the mafia hoping to seek revenge on his boss. He had wanted to look further into the case before completing the deal to make sure the target really was a guilty man, but his partner at the time had insisted they didn't need the extra checks. Jimin had believed his partner despite his gut feeling, continuing out the assignment and delivering the killing shot. Later that day he realized it was all just a plot from the mafia boss to kill off his oldest stepson, greedy for power and unwilling to hand it over to the younger man after his death.