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-3rd Person POV-

Taylen: *sighing* What a mess you two made for yourselves.

Almost midnight, having left the storage garage two hours prior, Joohyun and Sungwoo met with Taylen. He was a tall man -- at least two inches under Namjoon. But he kept everything identifying feature about him hidden, his hands covered in gloves, a turtleneck (despite the warming weather) under a suit blazer, with a full covering face mask that only revealed his eyes that he wore colored contacts over. But that wasn't to Joohyun and Sungwoo's knowledge.

They say side by side on a couch while Taylen faced the window with his hands behind his back. Sungwoo had explained their side of the story, all the events that led them here in front of Taylen, warning him to leave the country before he's killed by the bangtan cartel.

Taylen: So kidnapping this girl...? For what?

Joohyun: To buy us time.

Sungwoo: While everyone is out looking for her, we can try to relocate you. For a little while.

Joohyun: Until we kill RM. If we are lucky, we can do that relatively soon.

Taylen: But not tonight.

Sungwoo: Like we said...we've tried to kill him before-

Taylen: Before he knew I existed.

Sungwoo: well...yes. Even with his guard down we failed. With him up and arms it will take some...strategizing.

Taylen: It sounds to me like you've made things harder for yourself. Instead of easing him back down, you riled him up further.

Joohyun: It was the only way. We couldn't risk him finding you first. He already has a bounty out for your head.

Taylen: *sighing* You know the most frustrating part about being involved with cartels, gangs, and mafias? Making money from it so easy that everyone thinks they can do it...including ignorant idiots like yourselves.

Joohyun: We know we've made a mess. Please, just give us a chance to fix it. We have a safe house for you prepared already. You just have to trust us one last time.

***

Namjoon wasn't alone in that warehouse for more than ten minutes before he decided to take matters into his own hands. There was no way he was going to get sleep tonight -- he knew it. He also knew that the self neglect, going without dinner, water, or even a nap would probably make Soyeon scold him if she was there. But that's his point. She's not there.

His rage was almost blinding, going from one place to the next. He went by the clinic, nothing. Joohyun's apartment. Not a glimpse of him. He stopped by the Kims' house and Jin's apartment. He wasn't there either. It was as if Seokjin had just conveniently disappeared off the face of planet Earth. At the very least he's not bold enough to go around the city as if nothing was going on.

At some point, Namjoon started to slowly stalk the sidewalks, getting a careful look at everyone's face to ensure Jin wasn't just hiding in plain sight. Namjoon had tried the smaller things already, checking Seokjin's location through social media tabs and through their personal messages. They were all shut off. He also periodically checked his own messages with the rest of the group to see if they had found him. No one had.

***

In that storage garage that smelled like hookah and gasoline, Soyeon remained bound to her chair. Sungwoo and Joohyun had left shortly after he slapped her. She assumed they ran off to warn Taylen. At least that was the only thing she could think of them doing having been gone for so long. Those two hours felt like five years.

Mrs. Sodol || KNJ✅Where stories live. Discover now