BLOOD MONEY || bts mafia au

thirty.

Jungkook's pulse pounded against the inside of his head, a hollow war drum, as two soldiers stepped forward to clamp their hands on his arms, their attention trained on their boss as they awaited his signal.

The smirk that played at the edge of Jay's mouth grew as he stepped closer to Jungkook, assessing the slightly awkward position of his injured leg before drawing his gun from his side and shooting the elder boss point-blank in the thigh. Jungkook let out a strangled cry as he bit down sharply on his lip, glaring up at Jay through the tears that made his vision swim.

Jay slid his gun back into place with a smug smile. "That's so you don't try to run away." Nodding his head toward the blown window they'd come in through, Jay motioned toward his soldiers. "Take him."

"No!" Kai leaped out  from behind the throne, his gaze fixated on the bloody hand that Jungkook kept firmly pressed to the wound before returning the surprised look Jay was giving him, which quickly morphed into darkness.

Soobin's eyes widened as he realized the absence of a weapon in Kai's hands, starting to push himself to his feet, but he was too late. There was already a gun in Jay's hands.

Two gunshots rang out, but when Soobin reached Kai he found him unharmed.

Taehyun stumbled backward a step, his smoking gun in one hand as his other came away stained red. Across the room, Jay dropped to the floor, a patch of crimson spreading across his chest as his gun clattered to the ground.

Then chaos erupted.

The soldiers surrounding Jungkook drew their guns hastily, moving to protect their fallen boss as gunshots exploded around the room, panic shining in their eyes as they scrambled to initiate an abrupt retreat while Yeonjun and Soobin fired repeatedly upon them.

But Jungkook wasn't paying attention to any of that.

He could only hear Beomgyu's broken screams as he fell to his knees beside Taehyun, frantically tearing him from Kai, who had caught him before he could collapse, his hands shaking as he tried to push back his shirt to get a good look at the wound.

Guilt seeped into Jungkook's chest. Gritting his teeth, he shifted to kneel on his good leg, gripping the knife he held to Beomgyu's throat just minutes earlier as he faced the lingering soldiers. The closest one to him who had been crouching behind the dead body of his fallen comrade to form a makeshift shield to save him from the bullets didn't even have time to scream as Jungkook came up behind him and drove his knife into his unprotected neck. Yeonjun and Soobin continued to pick off the soldiers from behind the throne as two of them helped their injured boss out the broken window they'd come through until they lay motionless on the floor.

They lowered their guns the second the room emptied, dashing to where Beomgyu was busy tying a makeshift bandage around Taehyun's abdomen, tears streaming down his face.

Jungkook dropped beside them, letting his bloody knife slip through his fingers. He looked helplessly at the medic. "What can I do?"

Beomgyu wiped furiously at his eyes with the back of his hand, shaking his head even as he never tore his gaze away from Taehyun. "W-We need to carry him to the infirmary so I can remove the bullet and stitch up the wound." He harshly bit down on his lip, as if he needed the sting of the physical pain. "Y-You're injured too."

Jungkook dismissed him with a quick wave. "I'm fine. I've dealt with bullet wounds enough to roughly know the drill. Take care of Taehyun."

Yeonjun slid forward, meeting eyes with Beomgyu as he slowly leaned down to hook one of Taehyun's arms over his shoulders, carefully helping the red-haired boy into a sitting position. Kai grabbed his friend's other arm and together they got Taehyun on his feet, a soft grunt escaping his mouth as the movement sent lances of pain shooting through his body. Beomgyu forced his attention away from Taehyun as he started to lead them down the hallway toward the infirmary, twisting his hands together helplessly.