The Boy From The Bridge - Jakehoon

Chapter 73: Coldstar 2/7

Sunghoon watched on silently as Gi scolded Jungkook who had been the one who had detailed their predicament. Jungkook had left little unsaid, and explained in full how he'd taken Jake in, how he'd got him into a school, tried to push him into living as ambitious a life as possible and how he ended up using him to further his own means which ultimately placed him harms way by allowing him to go alone with Namil to the theatre. 

"I... I'm awful aren't I?" Jungkook asked the room at the end of his summation.  He sat timidly between Artemis and Jungwon. 

"I wouldn't say awful" critiqued Yun, she had pulled one of Jungkook's dining chairs so that it was alongside the sofa. "You tried your best to help him, mistakes did happen but your motivation was admirable"

"Admirable - perhaps? But you let this minor  run away in an effort to find his parents with the expressed intention of having them cease their search for him" Gi said. She was the only one of them standing. She had become increasingly animated the more she heard about the situation with Jake. "Where will he go if he has no one?"

Jungkook gave a weak shrug. "I don't know - when I met him his whole plan revolved around trying to find a job whilst sleeping on a park bench" 

"Argh! Jungkook!" Gi shouted, "You can't just let him walk out on you - you're leaving him for the dogs"

"Well what can I do? He's gone now, and it's probably for the best, he's safer away from me" Jungkook countered, slouching into the sofa. 

"Really? That's it? You're just going to give up on him?" Yun asked, "You might not have being perfect but anything is superior than living on the streets" 

"Look, even if I wanted to help him I've got no idea where he's gone. He could be anywhere on the planet at this point" The dejected Jungkook tried to defend himself before he rubbed his eyes. Sunghoon noticed Artemis, gently, place a paw on him in reassurance of her master. 

"Jungkook you want to get him back" it was Jungwon who spoke this time. His voice low and sincere. 

Silence filled the room as all eyes fell on Jungkook. He didn't look up. Eventually Jungwon stood up and walked into Jungkook's office. He returned a moment later and placed something in one of Jungkook's hands. 

"What's that?" Gi asked the boy. 

She received no immediate response. Jungkook looked up at the model that was delicately balanced on his palm.

"It's his Coldstar" Sunghoon said upon remembering the importance of the model. The room was taken by surprise as it was the first time he had spoken. "He has bad luck but he's capable" Sunghoon quoted the man's description of the model.

"He can move further and more quickly than anyone else, which means you allow him to be hurled across the map." Jungwon added. 

"It's suicide for the Coldstar though, it's a one way trip" Jungkook added, locking eyes with the boy who stood in front of him, recognising the comparison Jungwon was making in quoting him directly. 

"But you don't fully believe that he's gone..." Jungwon said, placing his hand on the man's shoulder, "that's why you spend the rest of the game trying to get him back in one piece" 

A smile flickered across Jungkook's face has he remembered his words exactly, "If you care about someone you don't give up on them. You don't hang them out to dry" 

"So he's your Coldstar?" Sunghoon asked. 

"I guess so" Jungkook said before sighing, the smile falling from his face. "But just because I might want to find him, doesn't mean I know where he is."