Begin (JJK) BTS 2026 series Book 3 (COMPLETED)

Hard Truths

Jungkook stares at Namjoon, watching as he stuffs his noodles in his mouth. He tries to wait patiently for him to continue but as he takes another bite, unaware that Jungkook is staring at him, he grows impatient.

"I forgot how much I loved these," he says as he wipes his mouth with a napkin.

"Hyung!" Namjoon looks up from his bowl, and meets his eyes. His lips are turned down in a frown and Joon realizes he's not happy.

"Sorry, I know this has probably been a difficult morning for you." Jungkook shakes his head.

"How could you know about me and Binna?" he asks in an almost whisper. "No one knows." Namjoon narrows his gaze at him, confused.

"What's going on with you and Binna?" He leans in closer. Jungkook is incredulous.

"Us, our relationship. How did you find out? Is that why she quit the video?!" he speaks quickly, rushing to get the words out.

"Kook, she didn't quit the video, she was fired." He stares at him to judge his reaction. Jungkook's eyes grow wide, his mouth drops open. Namjoon gives him a moment to take in the news.

"Fired? From the video? Because of us?" he asks, almost speaking to himself. Namjoon tilts his head as he thinks about what Jungkook is asking.

"Fired, from HYBE," he corrects him. Jungkook looks up at him shocked.

"What? Why? It's - I mean, we are adults! We can make our own decisions. She shouldn't have to lose her job because we slept together!" he protests. Namjoon's expression drops and he frowns at him. Jungkook doesn't understand and it's clear to Namjoon now that he doesn't understand everything that's gone on either.

"She was fired last night, for trying to leak the footage from the music video," he explains. Jungkook looks back at him as though he's spoken a foreign language to him. His face wrinkles to a grimace.

"A leak? To who? What footage?" Namjoon shakes his head, saddened to have to relate this news to him.

"A reporter from Dispatch showed PD nim a clip of you, in the dorm, from the footage for the music video. He said someone sent it to him to publish, but he brought it to HYBE to see if he might make a little more money from PD if he didn't publish it. I spoke with Bang PD before I came to set. No one else knows, I mean, no one else in the group knows, yet." Namjoon drops his eyes and shakes his head at the idea of it. Jungkook can't take in the words, can't make sense of them.

"What makes them think it was Binna?!" He knows she would never do this but he's now putting this story together with the words of the camera operator and it's starting to make more sense.

"They have CCTV footage of her coming into HYBE that night after the shoot and retrieving the footage. She took it back to her office and was in there for over an hour." Jungkook feels as though he's been punched in the gut. He knows exactly why she was there, and why she took the footage late at night. And he knows it had nothing to do with a leak! Surely he can clear this up, if he confesses. He looks up at Namjoon.

"That proves nothing," he argues. Namjoon smirks.

"It's only what made them search the footage for the digital fingerprint. The leak came from her phone Jungkook. Maybe she thought she could get away with it. Maybe she didn't realize the footage could be traced back to her." Jungkook is still struggling to make any sense of what he's been told.

"But she did know, I told her. She knew. And she would never do something like this unless-" he stops himself as an ugly idea begins to worm it's way into his brain. Namjoon studies him.

"Unless what?"

"Unless she wanted to get fired." Namjoon isn't following him. Jungkook looks up at him with sorrow filled eyes. "Unless she was so upset about what happened between us, that she wanted to get fired so it couldn't happen again." He gasps as he says the words, almost startled at the revelation and the thought that it could be true. Namjoon shakes his head, incredulous.

"What is it that really happened between you?"  Jungkook drops his eyes, feeling the weight of what she has done, and why she must have done it. It's agony to think that she went to that extent to get away from her feelings, to get away from him.

"We...we shared something that felt really meaningful. I felt it, and I know that she felt it too, but she's scared. It feels like she's been running from me since the day I met her. She has been trying not to admit her true feelings all along. I guess she just couldn't think of a way to stay away from me without ruining it all." The tears begin to roll down his cheeks and Namjoon reaches across the table to take his hand, recognizing the pain of loss for the first time in his young brother.

"Jungkook I'm so sorry," he whispers, stroking his hand. Jungkook sits back in his chair, folding his arms in front of his chest as he tries to mask the tears.

"I really like her Hyung. I really wanted to be with her." He feels the tear drop from his chin onto his hand and he raises it to wipe the rest away quickly, as he scans the small restaurant to be sure that no one has turned towards him, that no one sees his pain. Namjoon studies him carefully.

"So you think she might have done this in order to get caught? To force herself out of the company? Is that really a reason?" The words seem ridiculous as he says them but then he doesn't know all that happened between the two of them. Jungkook nods.

"It's the only reason. She would never, never do this, unless it was to end it, all." He wipes the last of the tears from his cheek. He's embarrassed to be struggling in such a public place, he takes a sip from his drink, trying to act normally.

"But when did you see her last?" he asks. Jungkook looks up, his lips form a frown.

"Two days ago. She spent the night at my apartment-well, she left sometime in the middle of the night. She hasn't answered any of my calls or texts since." Namjoon squints as he begins to put a time line together.

"But that wasn't the first time?" Jungkook shakes his head 'no'. He chuckles a little, flushing crimson at what he's about to admit.

"The night before the first shoot day, I went to set, I wanted to see it, and we were there alone.  I was a little emotional that night. She, well," he pauses, blushing intensely. "She comforted me."

"The night before the shoot? So she regretted it enough to send footage to a reporter that first night?" Jungkook looks up at him unsure. "But then it happened again?" He frowns as his brow furrows. "I don't know Kook, something isn't adding up." He shakes his head as he returns to his neglected noodle dish and takes another mouthful. The grimace appears on Jungkook's face as he thinks about what other reason she would have had to do this. It just couldn't be because she actually wanted to leak the video, she worked so hard to put it together, it was her idea to keep it a secret, why would she have ruined the surprise for the other members and for PD nim?

"So, you think it wasn't her that did it?" he asks and Namjoon bites his lip, unsure how to respond.

"I don't know exactly what happened, I believed what PD nim told me, but it just doesn't make sense. Now that I've heard what happened between you, it seems like there are more questions that need to be answered before we can say for sure." Jungkook nods, feeling a spark of hope return.  Namjoon is right, something doesn't make sense. Binna is the only person who can really explain this but he no longer has any way to reach her.