The darkness didn't abate when Jungkook finally opened his eyes. A thick, overwhelming mist hung over his consciousness, heavy and static. The first thing that hit him was the unbearable anguish, a blinding, white-hot throb behind his temples that beat in a nauseating pace with his erratic pulse.
His head felt as if it was split open with a hammer. Blazing fire radiated from the base of his neck and each time he attempted to blink, a razor sharp, sickening spike of vertigo flared through his head, threatening to sink him back into the black abyss.
His vision was a blurred, watery smear of shadows, his tongue felt swollen, thick and coated in a dry, metallic taste that stung the back of his throat.
Blood, dried, crusty blood had stained and matted the hair on the side of the head that had taken the blow, trailing down his neck and chest, gluing his collar to his clammy flesh.
He attempted to shift his body, to raise or stretch his arm to feel the wound but an unbearably heavy weight anchored him down, causing him to hiss violently. And even that hurt like hell!
The second he tried to pull his right leg back, a brutal, metallic clang violently echoed off the moist concrete walls. An intense, sharp, blazing bite stung the skin above his ankle.
" Fuck!" he hissed through clenched teeth."What... the fuck is this...?" Jungkook gasped, his breath caught in a dry, aching hitch. His eyes blinked rapidly, forcing his unfocused gaze to adjust to the faint, sickly, yellow sliver of light bleeding through from under a heavy, steel door.
His gaze dropped. A rusty iron cuff was locked tightly around his right ankle, bolted to a thick chain, welded straight into a solid iron bar, embedded deep into the wet concrete floor. He was chained like an animal in a cage.
Sheer, profound panic gushed through his cold veins. " What...? Where...am I? " His voice surged out as a pathetic,dry jag, his throat so parched it felt like desert sand.
Suddenly the floodgates broke. The foggy veil over his memory ripped open, dragging the unwanted, torturous reality back to the surface with horrific clarity.
He recalled the staggering, heartbroken sight outside Kim's Company. Taehyung standing on the pavement, his dark eyes cold as ice staring at him, calling him ' nobody' and then turning into warmth looking at the stunning, delicate, young boy draping over his arm like a priceless, exquisite trophy.
He remembered the roaring engine of his Harley tearing through the night, tears blinding him under his visor, trying to escape the soul-crashing realization that he had been totally replaced. Not that he mattered anyway. Simply a worthless stand - in, until the love of life returned.
And then... that dimly lit alley. The searing headlights. The abrupt screech of tires. The thick, iron pipe swinging through the air before absolute darkness consumed him.
Jungkook slowly lifted his head, his neck muscles shaking under the weight of his own skull. Narrowing his eyebrows, he scanned his surroundings.
The room was tiny. A windowless, concrete box barely large enough for him to lie down straight. The walls were slick with black mold and condensation, glistering like grease in the dim light.
The ground beneath him was freezing cold, soaked in a puddle of dormant, foul water gushing out a revolting stench. A suffocating blend of wet rust, sewer, rotten trash and the district, decayed scent of rats scurrying through the dark corners nearby.
The rancid air smashed the back of his throat and Jungkook violently gagged, his stomach uselessly heaving since there was nothing inside him to throw up.
" Hey! Hey!" he wailed, the sound tearing his remaining vocal cords, raspy and dry. He threw his upper body forward, pulling his right leg with all his strength. At least what was left in his bruised muscles. " IS ANYONE THERE? ANSWER ME! LET ME OUT! HELP! SOMEBODY HELP! HELP!" he screamed on the top of his lungs, his voice cracking into a hysterical, bleeding cry.
He smashed his elbows against the cold, wet floor, pulling, clawing, kicking at the air with his free leg." Help... please... somebody help... me..."
Silence.
Earsplitting, absolute silence.
No footsteps. No voices. Just the slow, rhythmic drip... drip... drip of foul water leaking from the cracked ceiling onto the floor and his boots.
He collapsed back against the cold, drenched wall, heart bashing like a trapped bird against his spine as tears of pure, uncontrollable terror overflowed from his heavy, red rimmed eyes streaming down his dirty, blood stained cheeks.
' Yoongi hyung... Jimin...please... please find me...' he thought, his quivering fingers sinking into the filthy concrete, scraping against stone.'Please... hyung... find me... before they come... before they... hurt me... again... please...' The thought bled through his confused mind, unfiltered and aching.
Disturbing, utterly grotesque images rose unbidden in his mind. Faces of masked men storming in, hands reaching for him, grabbing him, iron rods, wicked laughter, physical assault, agony...
How could he be so damn unlucky?
Why was this happening to him again?
Was it written on his goddamn forehead that he was asking for trouble? Because they kept finding him.
He hunched up his body into a tight, defensive ball, pressing his eyes shut, his entire figure violently shuddering in the pitch black quiet.
He had hope... hope that it was a matter of hours. That his hyungs would track his phone, find his Harley and break down the door to set him free before it was too late.
He was wrong.
In reality only twenty four hours had passed since he was kidnapped. But as the night bled into day and day dragged into night, time lost all meaning inside that concrete prison.
Five long,darting, agonising days passed.
Five days of relentless, racking hell.
No human contact.
No interrogation.
No demands.
No dragging.
The only sign of life was a small hatch at the bottom of the door that slid open once a day.
A huge, tattooed hand would shove a tray of stale, moldy crust of bread and a small plastic bottle of water across the threshold before slamming the hatch shut again.
At first, Jungkook refused to touch it, afraid it might be poisoned. His pride, his sheer disgust kept him away. By the third day, his starvation and dehydration forced him to crawl on his stomach across the dirty floor, dragging the heavy chain behind him, to cram down the dry, rotted bread and gorge the water down his empty stomach.
By the fifth day, his body was totally spent but his mind was far worse.
The walls seemed to be moving. The crushing, claustrophobic darkness of the locked room began to dangerously shrink, pressing down on his chest. That suffocating, primal terror of enclosed spaces returned with a fatal vengeance.
Each time he closed his eyes, the consuming darkness felt solid, smashing on his lips, filling his nose, choking the breath out of his burning lungs.
" I... I can't... breathe..." he gasped out, his hands frantically clawing around his throat, his chest pumping up and down in hectic pants."I... can't... breathe... open the door... please...please... open the door..."
His mind shattered.
That fragile thread of hope he had held onto for days turned into utter devastation.
Nobody was coming.
Yoongi hyung wasn't coming.
Jimin wasn't coming.
The damn police weren't coming.
He was forgotten. A ghost locked in a dark, stinking hole, forgotten by the world and left to die. Left to rot till his flesh turned to bones on that filthy,wet floor.
And then, there was Kim Taehyung.
The man he so foolishly loved. The man whose scent grounded him... whose deep voice eased his rebellious soul. The man who was supposed to protect him.
Jungkook's back hit the moldy wall, his head thumping against the concrete. A peculiar, unnatural warmth spread through his icy old chest, dissolving into a sickening, vicious realisation.
While he was sitting in his own filth, starving, shaking from fever and shouting into the dark till his lungs bled... Kim Taehyung was comfortably enjoying his luxurious life.
Kim was drinking old whiskey, sleeping in his king-size bed, holding his lover in his secured arms, laughing, kissing him and taking pleasure in living his perfect life without a single thought about the boy he had thrown away.
He simply didn't give a damn about him.
He didn't care. He never truly cared about him. He was just a game to Kim. A temporary distraction. A pathetic stand - in.
Jungkook's blurry, watery eyes stared blankly at the dark ceiling.
A hushed sound bubbled up from his throat. A dry, hoarse twitch. Then he tilted his head back, his doe eyes crinkling at the corners as he let out a loud, hysterical laugh.
It wasn't a laugh of joy.
It was the chilling, volatile sound of a broken mind surrendering to absolute despair.
He laughed till his lungs burnt, the sound rattling the cold walls, bouncing back at him like the taunts of the devil. Hot tears streamed down his hollowed cheeks, soaking into his dry, split kips ss his once broad shoulders shook with devilish,manic amusement.
" You... won... Taehyung..." Jungkook hummed low, his laughter suddenly cutting off, leaving only an empty, lifeless shell, quivering, his fingers weakly curling around the thick chain on his legs. " You won... you broke me... you asshole... I hate you... and him... your precious... lover.."
He shut his eyes and let the darkness claim him, completely ready to die...
________________
The heavy clicking of boots echoed down the concrete corridor outside. It was the sixth or maybe the seventh day of his captivity. Time had long lost importance, becoming a seamless, agonizing blur of dark wetness and staggering silence.
Jungkook's frame stood still. He sat slouched in his corner, his back pressed onto the wet, slimy stone, his knees bent against his chest. When the metal hatch slid open, he didn't flinch. He didn't shout. He didn't yank at the iron chain around his ankle and didn't utter a single plea for help or mercy.
What was the point?
Words were meaningless in a tomb. No one was listening. No one was coming and the hollow echoes of his own voice had only served to remind him of how completely alone and forgotten he was.
The metal tray holding another stale hunk of bread and a bottle of water was pushed roughly through the wet floor before the hatch shut again with a finality that barely registered in his broken mind.
With excruciatingly painful, agonising slowness, Jungkook dragged his aching body forward. His limbs felt as if they were made of lead, his joints stiff and hurting from the damp cold that had actually seeped deep into his bones.
He reached out a quivering, dirty - caked hand, his cracked nails scraping against the metal tray. He didn't eat out of the desire to survive. That was long gone.
He merely ate because his shattered body forced the primal function on him. Just instinct.
Jungkook chewed the tasteless bread slowly, his throat so raw that swallowing felt like cramming broken glass. He tipped the bottle to his ashen, split lips, drinking the lukewarm water in small, mechanical sips, letting a few drops drip down his jaw and neck, washing through the grime on his throat.
Once he finished, he didn't slither back to his corner. He laid onto his side on the drenched puddle, his face resting on his arm, his breathing faint and unbearably slow.
His senses were utterly wrecked. The foul stench of mold, sewage and rotten iron no longer made him gag. His mind had numbed itself to the fetid environment, detached from reality just to shield was little was left of his sanity.
His eyes were wide, empty and unfocused, blankly staring at a tiny crack in the opposite wall.
He knew he'd die.
He had made peace with it.
His greatest comfort was that he'd meet his baby up in the endless sky.
But he only wished he had seen his family one last time. Tell them how sorry he was for the years they had lost, how much he loved them.
His shaky hand slightly shifted and the metal casing of the sports watch around his wrist clinked against the stone floor. Taehyung's expensive gift. The one he had strapped on him with a rare, breathtaking smile and Jungkook had taken it as a promise of care.
A frail, dry smile curled up on his lips. It now felt inhumanly heavy. His wrist had grown thin from the days of absolute starvation that the thick, metal band hung loose against his bones, feeling cold, foreign and grotesque against his feverish flesh.
It had stopped working the night he saw the man he loved holding his lover outside the company. It was dead. Just like the promise he foolishly thought it represented. Just like the man who had given it to him. Just like him.
Dead.
A soft, hollow exhale escaped Jungkook's mouth. He didn't even have the strength left to hate the damn watch or the man who fed him empty promises. He simply felt an endless, crushing void. He had no wish to fight, no will to live.
Jungkook was an empty shell waiting for the inevitable end.
Out of the blue, a peculiar, violent wave of heat spread straight to his head. His vision, already foggy, started to warp and sway. The tiny, concrete tomb seemed to dangerously tilt on its axis, the moldy walls spinning in tremendous, dizzying and nauseating circles around him.
His lungs ceased to function as he gasped for air but the foul surroundings felt too thick, too suffocating like wet cotton stuffing his mouth and throat. Raw panic tried to flare in his chest but his exhausted nervous system couldn't even order his adrenaline to fight it.
His pulse weakly fluttered against his neck, slow and erratic. His attempt to breathe ended up in a sudden cough of blood, gushing from his mouth and spilling on the dirty concrete, almost choking him.
The distant echo, a muffled sound of the leaking ceiling stretched out, as his eyelids grew unbearably heavy, lined with lead, dragging down, over his empty eyes.
Instantly, the loud sound of the steel door unlocking drilled into his skull, followed by the screech of rusted hinges swinging open. Blinding, yellow light filled the cell, searing right through his half opened lids.
Footsteps.
Hectic, tactical boots strode into the room, splashing over dirty water. Jungkook's head was impossible to raise, he couldn't even turn his gaze. He merely laid there, utterly paralyzed, heavily disoriented, his breathing coming out in jagged gasps.
A rough hand suddenly gripped the collar of his torn jacket. With a savage, abrupt jerk, Jungkook was hauled upwards. The iron cuff around his ankle was unlocked and before he could even begin to process the sudden freedom, he was tugged forward, his limp frame hitting the hard, drenched floor outside his cell.
He felt himself being dragged. The rough, uneven concrete in the corridor violently scraped against his knees, legs and shoulders. His arms bounced uselessly against the roughness of the ground but he didn't protest, didn't wince or hissed from the pain.
The only thing he could make out were the footsteps and the muffled, distorted murmur of low, male voices above him but the words were totally unintelligible, drowning in the rushing static filling his ears.
He was being moved. Taken somewhere else. To be tortured? Killed? Thrown into the river in small pieces?
He didn't care anymore.
Even death was better than this hell.
He hoped and begged to be killed fast.
As his body was dragged down the endless corridor, the faint light faded once more into a sea of black dots. The spinning room slowed down, the agonising throb in his skull shifted into numb quiet and before the absolute, merciful darkness consumed Jeon Jungkook, leaving him dead in the hands of his abductors, he softly whispered one name.
" Tae -- Taehyung..."
_________________
' Baby... baby please wake up... please come back to me... I'm waiting for you... our baby needs you... please...'
A voice, steady and pleading, rang in his head and consciousness returned not as a sudden awakening but as a slow, torturous bleeding cut back to reality.
Jungkook's head snapped forward, his jaw weakly resting against his bone - dry collarbone. Every nerve on his body screamed in quiet rebellion.
His skull felt unbearably heavy as if shattered glass was being grounded together under profound pressure, a throbbing ache scattering behind his eyes.
His mouth was lacking moisture, his tongue sandpaper rough against his cracked, blood crusted lips. He attempted to shift, to lighten the tremendous pressure on his lower back but his limbs wouldn't comply.
A biting, coarse ache burnt into his wrists, pinning them firmly behind his back. He faintly flexed his fingers, sensing the thick, rough fibers of a rope cutting straight through his flesh. Lower, his ankles were bound to the solid, wooden legs of a chair.
He was obviously trapped, exposed and entirely at their mercy.
He seriously wanted to laugh but his stiff muscles made it impossible. The absurdity of the situation was almost hilarious. He almost wished he was dead and buried.
He forced his swollen eyelids to open but his vision was a misty, distorted blur that took several painful moments to turn into shapes. He obviously wasn't in his moldy tomb. The space was vast, freezing cold and looked like an abandoned warehouse.
The air was thick with the choking reek of engine oil, decaying timber and rust. Right above him, a single bulb bung from a frayed black cord, bouncing in the faint draft. It spread an unsteady yellow light directly over him, leaving the remaining space swallowed by pitch black darkness.
Somewhere in the dark shadows, drops of water tapped on metal but underneath the echo of the room another sound reached his ears. A soft, steady inhalation and a faint, rhythmic shift of weight against the floor.
Someone was there. Standing in the dark shadows.
Jungkook's pulse, weak and skittering, gave an unexpected, panicked leap against his spine. He gulped hard, trying to gather his frail, remaining strength to form words but his vocal cords grinded together. " W - who's... there...?" he hissed out, his voice rough and barely a breath, almost lifeless.
Silence.
The bulb above his head swung, casting shadows across the moist concrete. Jungkook's eyes squeezed shut, drawing a slow, painful breath through his nose that stung like hell before opening them, gazing at the dark void beyond the blinding light.
" Who's... there? Show... yourself..." he called out a bit louder, although his strength was rapidly draining." What... What do you... want from me...?"
Still silence.
No reply, just the steady inhale and exhale of an unknown figure hiding in the shadows.
" Answer me...." Jungkook implored, a desperate surge of raw emotion cracking through his frail, lifeless tone. " Please just... tell me... what you want... I got... no money..."
Suddenly, the hushed breathing shifted and a heavy tread echoed through the silence. Someone was moving. The footsteps were calm, measured, almost casual, taking slow gaits towards the light.
Jungkook's heart bashed at a frantic pace against his chest as he helplessly pulled the ropes on his wrists, his already sensitive skin stinging, his breathing twisting into shallow and panicked.
A shadow spread across the concrete then came the black, polished leather of a shoe, followed by the hem of a brown, tailored coat.
The figure fully stepped under the swaying bulb and the air completely abandoned Jungkook's lungs, his pupils evolved into tiny, frozen points of pure, unbelievable shock.
The world stopped. The torturous throb in his skull, the blazing rope around his wrists, the freezing cold of the room... Everything dissolved into an absolute, earsplitting noise.
Standing before him, bathed in the yellow light, hands shoved on the pockets of his black pants was the face Jungkook would immediately recognise, the same face he had spent months searching through every hellhole in Seoul.
The face he had cried for.
The friend he had sacrificed his own freedom, happiness and his own baby.
MIMHUN.
_________________
His childhood friend.
His brother.
The boy who was supposed to be an innocent victim, trapped in some dark hellhole of the city, helpless and waiting to be rescued.
Minhun stood confidently under the yellow light, his dark, brown hair perfectly styled, his coat spotless and his face without a single scratch or bruise but coated with a cold, arrogance and a chilling composure.
Jungkook's jaw hung open, his mind totally fracturing under the insufferable weight of the sight before him. The absolute absurdity, the devastating terror of the revelation crushed with months of extreme worry, grief, betrayal and physical ordeal, leaving him entirely numbed.
" M... Minhun...? Jungkook murmured, gulping the knot in his throat, his widely opened eyes welling up with tears and his voice a broken dob. " How...? Why... are you... here?"
Minhun lifted his head, an audacious, wicked smile curling in his lips, an eyebrow raised as he stared down at broken, bound Jungkook and took his time into replying. Instead, he reached into his side pocket, pulled out a gold cigarette case and warily lit a clove cigarette.
He drew a long drag, letting the thick, white smoke curl around his face before scrunching down and exhaling it directly into Jungkook's chalk - white, sweat - sheened face.
" Oh, my, my! Jungkookie! " Minhun purred, his voice dripping with venomous, theatrical condescension as he let out a hushed, amused chuckle."Look at you! Not so tough now! Still as pathetically naive as the day you cried over that pitiful,stray puppy behind the orphanage."
Jungkook winced, the smoke stung his red rimmed eyes but the pain in his body and skull couldn't begin to compare with the brutal, sickening twist in his chest. He couldn't understand a damn thing. " Minhun... how... I don't get it... I searched for you... for months..." he choked out, instinctively pulling the ropes." We... thought you were... dead. We thought someone... took you..."
" You searched for me? Should I be flattered? " Minhun cut him off, bursting into a loud, taunting laugh that grew louder and louder. He took a few steps closer, using the tip of his leather shoe to lift Jungkook's jaw, forcing the younger man to look straight into his dead cold eyes." You fucking idiot. You stupid asshole. You were always clueless and so easy to manipulate. Did it ever cross your mind that I didn't want to be found by a freaking loser like you?"
Jungkook's eyes pinned on him, his pupils dilated in a paralysing horror. The man standing above him carried the face of the boy he had grown up with, called brother, shared his food, his clothes but it wasn't really him.
The soul behind them was dark, vile and entirely void of human warmth and affection. He didn't recognise him. He was a total stranger.
" You actually thought I was rotting in some gutter, didn't you? While you were out bleeding, playing the tragic hero trying to find me, I was building an empire. Seoul didn't ruin me, idiot. Seoul made me. It made me stronger and filthy rich." he sneered, tugging his foot back and drawing another puff of smoke, his eyes flickering with a vicious, sociopathic pride.
Minhun started slowly pacing around the chair, his heels clicking rhythmically against the concrete floor, clearly enjoying the moment of absolute triumph.
" I came to Seoul to be a star. That fucking club was my way to meet the right people. I sold my body to every disgusting, sleazy old man who promised me a shot at the top. I let them do whatever they wanted. I did whatever it took, climbed over every corpse, used every filthy bed available. And then I met him... my mentor." Minhun gloated, bending down, his voice coated with a malicious arrogance. His lips were inches from Jungkook's ear, his breath reeking of smoke.
" The most notorious criminal. A legendary ghost. An invisible man. A real monster who ruled the underworld with an iron fist and absolute terror. That old fool thought he made me his little pet, his pretty boy toy. While in fact I used him to get what I wanted. " Minhun murmured softly, a twisted glee flashing in his narrowed eyes, almost manic." He was so obsessed with me that he never saw the blade coming. I slit his throat while he was inside me, in my arms, buried him in the ground and took everything he had. His empire, his throne, his seat at the head of the syndicate. "
Jungkook's breath hitched in his throat, his guts twisting violently and tears of raw, unadulterated revulsion spilled over his lashes, trailing down his dirty cheeks." No..." he lisped, shaking his heavy head." No... impossible... you're... lying... no..."
Minhun laughed, loud and sinister, throwing his head back in absolute delight." Every illegal operation running under that damn club? Every offshore account link to it? The money laundering, the drug distribution, the human trafficking rings from the VIP lounges? Right under Kim's nose? That was me! I built a ghost kingdom inside your lover's precious empire."
He took a step closer, his eyes frowning and becoming two razor sharp slits of pure malice. "The anonymous calls, the death threats, that wooden coffin sent to you, Aespa... oops, sorry Sora,a stripper I picked up at a filthy club." he laughed wickedly as he observed Jungkook's face shattering piece by piece." The assault at the hotel and your abduction... I pulled every string just to watch you suffer. Oh, I love watching you torn to pieces. Almost as satisfying as sex... Almost "
" Aespa...?"
" Did you actually think you met by accident? I paid her a fortune to approach you, make you fall in love with her and a lot more to make you look like a cheap slut in front of Taehyung."
"WHY? WHY?" The scream tore from the depths of his broken soul, a raw, guttural, agonising shriek that cracked his vocal cords. Everything he believed was a big, fat lie. He had spent years caring and loving a sick bastard. A sociopath. A man who didn't stop at nothing and had no moral values.
Jungkook aggressively yanked against the thick ropes, his wrists stinging and bleeding against the fibers, his knees slamming on the wooden legs of the chair. " Why Minhun? Why lie to us? How did you become like this... a monster? Why... Why target me? What did I ever do to you? We grew up together... We shared our food... slept on the same bed. We were... brothers... I loved you... I gave up my.... life to come to Seoul... I searched for you..."
Suddenly, Minhun's mocking smile vanished. The air around them shifted into a pure, suffocating ice. His expression hardened into a grotesque mask of raw, uncontrollable hatred, his nostrils flaring as he stepped closer and snatched Jungkook by the hair, violently lifting his head backwards till his neck strained.
" Brothers?" Minhun barked straight into the boy's face, his voice trembling with a profound, psychotic wrath that had been bubbling for years. " We were never brothers, you fucken whore! You are nothing but a sickening, worthless parasite. I have hated you since the day they dumped me in that orphanage."
Jungkook's breath caught up in his throat, gasping in shock at the pure, evil hate Minhun had for him. The pain in his skull blinding, the disappointment breaking his soul but the words cut far deeper than any knife. The boy he considered as a brother hated his guts. He hated him so profoundly that he found it amusing to torture him physically and mentally.
But above everything, he had cost him his child's life.
" You were always so damn perfect. So fucken superior." Minhun hissed through clenched teeth, unhinged envy and malice bulging in his eyes, his fingers ruthlessly tightening in Jungkook's hair."Everyone at the orphanage, at school looked at you like you were a precious angel. You got the praises, the attention, the awards, the girls and even the boys I wanted. You were perfect at everything. When the Kims came to adopt a kid... one look from you and they were smitten. They looked right past me and chose you. You! Always you! "
" But... I didn't..."
" Shut the fuck up!" An earth-shattering roar echoed inside the basement as Minhun's hand rose and struck Jungkook across the face again and again with inhuman force. Jungkook's head snapped hard to the side, fresh blood welling from his split lips, trailing down his jaw and neck.
Minhun leaned closer, his breath stinking of copper and clove, his expression twisting into a petrifying, sociopathic leer and his eyes... His eyes scared Jungkook to the core. " You had everything without even trying. Your face, your talent, your sickening purity even when you were getting into fights. And then you came to Seoul and managed to make the untouchable Kim Taehyung fall on his knees for you. Hell! He chased after you for months and you didn't even notice. You make me sick Jungkook! You make me wanna puke. I detest you, you fucken whore!" He spit on Jungkook's face in absolute disgust and his voice was overflowing with murderous jealousy.
Minhun let go of his grip on Jungkook's hair, his head flopping forward as the other man tore out a silk handkerchief from his side pocket, casually wiping his hands as if he had touched something deadly contagious.
" You're sick..."
" Oh, thanks! I'll take that as a compliment! I didn't just want to kill you. I wanted to ruin you. Strip away your pretence purity, destroy your name, tear your heart to pieces and make sure that Kim remembered you as a filthy whore before I give you the final blow. " he whispered, staring down at the tied, weeping and bleeding shell that didn't resemble the tough guy of the past.
" Putting a bullet through your head is too easy. I want you to suffer and beg me to let you die. "
Jungkook swallowed the copper taste of his own blood, his jaw quivering as he forced his blurry, swollen eyes to meet Minhun's empty gaze. " All that... because you... hated me..? Because I've... always been better than you? You're a sore loser... scumbag. A piece of shit! You're a pathetic monster who... thrives on people's weaknesses... You couldn't admit I was better than you.. I've always been better than you... I fucking hate you, you fucken cunt." Jungkook lashed out without fear.
He had nothing to lose.
He was already sentenced and convicted to death.
Minhun's features twisted as if Jungkook's words had hit a sensitive cord as his cold mockery gave way to something more volatile and made his pupils dilate.
" You took him from me! He was mine! Mine! And you just had to get in the way and make him fall for you! " Minhun slashed, bending over, grabbing Jungkook by the collar with both hands and his voice trembled with a horrid, possessive reverence." Kim Taehyung is MINE. HE BELONGS TO ME! "
Jungkook's mouth dropped and the air in his lungs gradually vanished. His eyes popped out in total astonishment and the fog finally began to dissolve.
Minhun was after Tae?
Kim was his obsession?
Every agony, every torture, every evil action was because he had a sickening obsession with Taehyung? Jungkook was merely an obstacle he desperately had to remove.
" I met Tae two years ago at a charity gala in Gangnam." Minhun revealed so tenderly as if he was wrapped in ecstasy." He looked like an absolute god standing among mortals. Majestic. Breathtaking. Controlled. Untouchable. I fell in love with him the moment he walked into the room. I approached him, offered him my body, my soul, my devotion and... and do you know what he did?"
He released one hand from the grip on Jungkook's collar and threw a heavy punch straight into his stomach, jaw locked, eyes spitting fire and rage. Jungkook's head dropped backwards, hissing at the raw force of the blow but found the strength and the courage to spit right on that bastard's face.
" Rejected you..? He's got... taste." Jungkook threw the insult to his face.
" Don't be smugged, slut. You're no better. He kicked you out."
The words cut deep but he wouldn't give him the satisfaction to see it. " Fuck you... asshole."
Minhun huffed. He didn't even bother to wipe the spit from his mouth and nose."He glanced right past me. He brushed me off like a speck of cheap dust from his shoe. Yeah! He rejected me without a second thought. So I vowed right then and there... I would make him mine. If he wouldn't spare me a look of love, he would look at me out of absolute terror. One way or the other, he'd be mine. "
Minhun's face, inches away from Jungkook's bruised skin, was distorted and unyielding." I decided to punish him." he giggled, a high-pitched sound that sounded way too malicious." I swore I'd rip away every single thing he cared about. I'd strip his empire, slaughter his reputation and execute everyone he dared to hold close. I'd sign his complete destruction and leave him broken, ruined and alone... and when he has nothing left , he would l finally look at me. He would realise I am the only one worthy enough to stand by his side. The one person who loves him unconditionally and his only choice. He will fall on his knees, beg me to accept him and love me. Kim Taehyung will love me!"
Jungkook peered at the man before him, the sheer, unimaginable insanity of his maddening obsession washing over him like a bucket of ice. The ridiculous absurdity of the entire situation.
The senseless, corrupted, sociopathic logic of ruining a person's life to force him to love you. The twisted thought that you can extort love and affection from anyone simply because you haven't left them another choice. It struck a nerve deep inside Jungkook's shattered mind.
An unexpected, bitter tremor began in his chest, rising up his dry throat till it burst through his bloody, split lips. Jungkook's head snapped back as he began to laugh.
It was an agonising, empty sound, a ragged cry of raw despair disguised as laughter, tearing through his vocal cords while a new set of tears filled his eyes, trailing down his dirty cheeks.
He laughed and laughed until he choked, his shoulders trembling against the tight ropes bleeding his wrists. " Fucken lunatic! Crazy bastard! Motherfucker! " Jungkook wept through his intense laughter, his crimson red eyes fixed on the man's twisted features. " Is that your fucking idea of a plan? Jimin was right... You're a freaking moron." And he kept laughing.
Minhun's fingers loosen the grip as he stumbled back, obviously startled by his unforeseen reaction.
" We lost, idiot... we both lost... everything... Taehyung doesn't love you... he never will.. and he sure as hell doesn't love me... he doesn't give a shit about me... His heart belongs to someone else. It belongs to Taehyn..." He stared back at him with a grin on his lips and boldness in his eyes." You got the wrong guy, dickhead."
Minhun's vicious smile instantly vanished, his dark eyes furrowed till they turned into two thin slits of deadly malice and cruel amusement. He didn't scream, didn't strike him. He gradually raised his head, releasing a muffled, mocking scoff. " Taehyn? " he chuckled, shaking his head and playing with the hold lighter between his fingers. " Oh, Jungkookie... you really don't know anything, do you?"
Jungkook's laughter died in his lungs, his chest ceased movement, his pulse throbbed at the base of his throat." What..."
" Taehyn isn't his lover. He's... Well was his nephew. His precious, little boy. The one he raised since birth. His one and only weakness." Minhun snorted, hunkering down till his hot, nauseating breath hit Jungkook's face, taking profound pleasure in observing his reaction.
Jungkook's pupils contracted into tiny tiny dots, his mouth hung open as his eyes drifted left and right. No, impossible. He had seen them together before his abduction. Their intimacy, their affection. If Taehyn was his nephew, then who was that boy with Taehyung? A new lover? A boy toy? His next sugar baby contract?
Had Taehyung really cheated or was it a misunderstanding?
The ' lover ' he talked to in his sleep was proven to be his own nephew.
What the hell was going on?
" Do you wanna hear the fun part? A little secret. You won't tell anyone, will you?" that psycho hissed next to his ear." I was the one who killed him."
A sharp, electric shock of unimaginable horror shot straight through Jungkook's ribs, paralysing every nerve in his broken body.
" I got close to that idiot, made him fall for me and then had my men kidnap that fool. " he whispered casually as if he was saying the most natural thing. He ran his index finger along Jungkook's side neck, feeling Jungkook trembling under his disgusting touch." They dragged him here, broke his fingers one by one, tortured him for five days just to hear him scream and beg for his uncle. It was hilarious. And when I got sick of hearing him sobbing, I sold him to a drug lord in Mexico."
Minhun pulled back, throwing his head to the side with an amused, terrifying sneer. " They pierced his hands and legs with needles, stuffed him with heroin, took turns in raping him till his heart blew up. He died in a filthy basement, overdosed and bleeding, crying for Taehyung to save him. They fed his body to the sharks and Taehyung never found him. Never said goodbye. I did that. And plenty more. I'm gonna finish the job with you, dear brother!" His dark eyes sparkled with unholy pride and satisfaction.
" Fucken psycho! You... killed an innocent child... just because... Taehyung loved him? He wasn't a lover! He was his nephew. He didn't reject you. Tae did." The disgust and horror hit Jungkook. His whole world, every belief, every single shred of reality he had clung to, shattered into specks of dust.
Minhun was capable of everything. For every despicable, vicious action. He was corrupted to the core ever since he was a child. A tantalising, unbearable wave of anguish surged through him, utterly overwhelming his already fragile body.
His vision began to spin, the yellow light over his head blurred into a streak of blazing gold. His heart felt impossible heavy, his neck giving out as his jaw dropped against his chest.
" What... what do you plan for me?"
" Ah! Finally,the right question."
" Tell me..." Jungkook gulped hard, his eyes pinned on the ground. He had to know what that freaking bastard had in mind for him.
" Simple. I've already sold you to the same man in Mexico. He's coming for you in three days. But your death won't be as easy and fast as that brat's. You'll be a sex slave for drug dealers and every sleazy,old man willing to pay a few bucks for you and I'll be watching your suffering." He roared a loud laughter." You'll hate yourself and your body. You'll beg to die."
" Screw you, asshole!" Jungkook hoisted his weak head and spit on him. " Screw you. I hope you die a horrible death for everything you've done."
" It's highly unlikely. I'll be enjoying being fucked by your sugar daddy. Because contrary to you, I know how to please a man, how to turn him on and I can't wait to have Taehyung inside me." He stopped and roared a malicious laughter." I guess you won't be there to share our joy."
Hyperventilation seized Jungkook's lungs, his spine straining in shallow gasps. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't think. He couldn't feel anything but pure terror for what was coming. For the cruel destiny fate had installed for him.
The smothering thought of disgusting,old men touching him, kissing him with their revolting mouths, taking turns into... into raping him was more than he could handle.
How the fuck did he end up like that?
Kidnapped, tortured, ready to be sold as a sex slave and face the same cruel destiny as that innocent boy.
The absolute, terrifying magnitude of the truth combined with the days of starvation, fever, and physical trauma destroyed his remaining consciousness into pieces but Taehyung's image was present... always there like another wound bleeding him dry.
Tears spilled from his blurry eyes, dripping onto his wan cheeks, neck and bloodied T-shirt as his mind drowned into an ocean of stifling devastation, his body uselessly slumping against the tight ropes as the pitch black abyss pulled him under once again.
He didn't see Minhun walking away like a king after ruling a death verdict, gesturing to his men to take care of their ' guest '.
The clock was ticking.
Only three days left...