PROBE | discontinued

06. Disclosure & Concealment

3:33 a.m.
Yeolsong

★★★

Taehyung was scared.

He shouldn't have been given his profession; a cop — that too specialised as an undercover spy — ought to be used to visiting scary places, but Taehyung felt different this time. Ever since he saw the body of the girl, he felt strange. He didn't know what it was, yet he felt uncomfortable.

"You know," he choked on his words, frantic with trepidation while being glued onto his seat, "we really don't have to go at this hour, hyung. It's pretty late, let's head home."

"He's not completely wrong," Jungkook blinked for a few times, the contrast between the car's headlight and the road's darkness making it difficult for him to drive. "It's half past three and I'm tired as fuck too. My eyes feel really heavy."

"No," Namjoon was steadfast and commanding. "I am not going to go back now that we've almost reached. It'll be just a small little investigation. Infact, think of it as some late night sight-seeing." He tried to radiate some encouragement.

"Sure, a late night sight-seeing of absolute notoriety and infamy," Taehyung murmured to himself, pressing harder onto the seat as he looked outside.

The transition from being on a normal road to entering scandalous slums was drastic. Yeolsong-Daeun was so foresaken from the rest of Hanjeong that it made people question whether they were on the same path or not.

A yawn escaped Jungkook's mouth when the car stopped. He parked it a little outside the core of the slums. His head hit back on the headrest, eyes shutting and a sigh escaped his lips.

"You both can stay here if you want," Namjoon got off the car. "I'll take on."

"No, I'll come with," insisted Jungkook, tightening his belt and opening the case that held his gun. "You'll need someone as back-up. Taehyung can stay back."

"W-what?" The other stammered in fright. "Are you not looking around for you to be saying that?" He got off the car too. His senses caught notice of the silence around him and he gulped, frightened that something was going to be wrong.

"For frick's sake, Tae! You're an undercover expert stop shitting your pants." Jungkook snapped and then in the next second, Taehyung found himself standing alone by the car with a creepy man staring at him with a cigarette between his lips.

He stole a quick glance at the cigarette-smoking anti-social a few yards away from him, and he quickly—yet subtly—popped open his holster and coiled his finger around his gun while leaning on the car.

Taehyung sucked in a sharp breath and turned his head back towards Namjoon and Jungkook. They looked like small figurines, miniature dolls, as they're silhouettes became smaller with each step.

→ • • • • • ←

A faint bark echoed around the area.

Leaves crackled beneath their feet even as they proceeded walking. Jungkook was leading while Namjoon followed. Taehyung and the car were way behind them; perhaps, if they turned around, they couldn't even spot the fellow.

Yeolsong was a different type of fearsome altogether. They spotted two tattooed, buff men entering a dimly lit motel and though that wouldn't be enough to characterize a person in any other place, Namjoon knew they had a pretty interesting crime record.