No Going Back

5

Let your plans be as dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.
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The Art of War
Sun Tzu

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A shattering of glass momentarily distracted Taehyung from questioning this Jungkook kid.

Swiftly, he crouched down to the floor, pulling the boy roughly by the arm. Taehyung's gun was still trained on Jungkook's head, not trusting the boy for a moment. Just because he answered the identification questions, that didn't mean he should instantly be believed. For all Taehyung knew, the kid was working with whoever just made a not so subtle entrance to this house.

Quickly scanning over the room, Taehyung noted a single window covered by heavy curtains. Based on the thickness of the fabric, the intruder most likely couldn't tell there was a light on in this room from the outside. That was one positive, so Taehyung flipped off the switch and bathed the room in darkness.

Jungkook shifted next to him, his arm accidentally grazing Taehyung's thigh. "Who the fuck could that - ?"

Taehyung clamped a hand over the kid's mouth, forcing him into silence. There was no telling where the intruder - or intruders, potentially - were, so he strained his ears to listen for additional noises. At the moment, there were none.

That fact alone was a bit unnerving. He knew he set the security system before coming upstairs. But there was nothing he could do about that now; he just filed away that piece of information to analyze later.

Taehyung took a deep breath, willing clarity and alertness into his veins. This was seriously the last thing he wanted to deal with right now. As if finding Jungkook here wasn't enough, the universe decided to test him further by adding yet another obstacle to his night. 

If he had it his way, he'd be attempting to sleep right now. But even still, Taehyung knew it would be just that: an attempt. He always had great difficulties letting his guard down to do something as mundane as rest.

After arriving at the townhouse from his new company's headquarters, Taehyung took a couple of hours to familiarize himself with the house. He investigated each room, explored the escape routes, and learned how to use the security system. Once he felt confident in how to run the house, he allowed himself to take a leisurely and indulgent bath.

Following that, he reviewed the contents of the USB flash drive Yoongi had given him. There was nothing too shocking included in the file, just some silly questions and answers, so he decided to research Korean National Oil instead. He avoided reading the endless news reports about the murders, and instead tried finding information on the company's competitors. When he didn't have much luck in that regard, he quickly ran a search on the man who came before him. 

Kim Namjoon kept a low-profile, though there were some old pictures of the man at a few college events. In each photo, a smile spread over his lips and pure joy radiated from his eyes. 

Taehyung didn't want to spend too much time thinking about how Namjoon ended up.

So he busied himself by walking around the perimeter of the house, making sure nothing looked out of place. At one point, he saw a tall man run out of the house and to his car, speeding away as fast as possible. That didn't concern Taehyung; he knew someone was in the house packing up Namjoon's belongings, though he didn't care to introduce himself.

Once it reached almost two in the morning, Taehyung resolved to try and get some sleep. He went back inside, reset the security system, and made his way to his bedroom. He'd been lying in bed, staring up at the ceiling, when he heard something that shouldn't occur with no one else supposedly in the house.