The Symbol Of Darkness

⑥Do You Know Each Other?

A door in the mildly raucous police station flung open, and Seung Ho made a whirlwind to reach his squad leader's side with a file clutched in his hand.

Both teams of the violent crimes unit tossed their heads in his direction and watched with skewed faces as the newbie stumbled, almost tripping over his feet before he fell in a heap into the empty chair beside Jungkook.

“Jong Hoon... Jong Hoon...” he panted out, his brain a stoked and nervous mess, unable to formulate the news.

Jungkook’s eyes expanded with a flicker of anticipation at his stutter. “Did we find him?”

“No, but”—he gulped between his wheezy intakes of breath as he passed him the file—“we found a man who works for him.” 

Jungkook’s chest dropped a tad since the news wasn’t what he hoped for so damn long, though he still scanned the report with that man’s information and reason of arrest. “He was caught in another district. Did you ask them to transfer him?” 

“Yes. They’re on their way.”

“Why would he beat someone up in broad daylight?” Namjoon murmured as he regarded the file, a frown embellishing his features. 

“The officers before they caught Han Misu said that they heard the victim saying, ‘I don’t know where he is. I swear.’” 

Jungkook’s face muscles spasmed at the new information, one arm hooking over his belly and the other raising to rub his chin in thought. “Jong Hoon is looking for someone. He tried to kill Kim Taehyung a few weeks back, and he escaped. It’s obvious he’s looking for him.”

“We have to find him before Jong Hoon,” Hoseok voiced out, a string of worry making his tone small. “He’s going to kill him.”

A short sigh emitted from Jungkook as he glanced at Seung Ho. “Where’s the victim?” 

“He escaped. The officers struggled to catch Misu, and the victim ran away with all his might. I don’t know how he managed to run so fast. He bled a lot.”

“Well, if the victim was Jin Mo’s man, he’s well trained to take a beating and still escape no matter the situation,” said Jungkook, unwittingly remembering a certain someone who had risked his life to get information about Jin Mo’s organization. 

“But how are we gonna find Kim Taehyung first? We know nothing about him. Literally just his name.” Seung Ho’s dejected gaze wandered around his team members, meeting the same despair in their countenance except for their leader. 

Jungkook’s expression was unreadable as usual, with traces of harshness and something that was on edge, something that foreboded a salvo at any moment. Since Seung Ho could remember, the leader always was impassive and rarely let his feelings show except for a few bursts of rage he had over the time he knew him. But the last couple of days, he seemed... different somehow. He often snapped at them, even yelled at other officers, banged his desk for no reason after being sunk in his thoughts for a while. He seemed angry all the time. Like he couldn’t stop thinking about something. Like he wanted to punch that something out of him, but he didn’t know how. 

The internal analysis of his strange behavior ceased when Jungkook’s voice perforated his senses. 

“Screw Kim Taehyung. He’ll escape even if Jong Hoon finds him first. Jong Hoon is more important. And we have one of his men. We have to make him talk no matter what. Namjoon hyung, you got this, right?” 

“Yes, Kook, don’t worry.”

“If you can’t make him talk—” 

“I’m not calling you. You’ll beat him up,” Namjoon snickered, but of course, he was right. He could already envision it, especially now that Jungkook seemed more short-tempered than ever. He had perceived the change in his behavior too, like all of them.