In Retrospect - Jikook

Chapter Ten: The Gala

"Where's Jin?" Jungkook asked as Yoongi walked into Jungkook's penthouse. His head-of-arms shrugged and the door shut behind him.

"Gone. As per usual these days. You'd think he'd want to see you off since he's been so anal about the whole gala thing." Yoongi said, heading to Jungkook's fridge and pulling out two beers.

"Maybe." Jungkook said with a frown as he checked himself out in the mirror a final time, his black suit and even blacker silk shirt were tailored perfectly to him. His tattoos were a comfort against his skin, visible on his fingers and his wrists. Silver rings covered his hands and a thin earring dangled from his ear. Each year he got ready for his dad's political event, the knot in his stomach never really loosened.

It didn't surprise Jungkook as much as it should that Jin was preoccupied. Jungkook had asked the head of intel to find as much on The Kims as possible after talking with Jimin. He wanted to know their ins-and-outs, how they operate, how they think. The Kim's had become a concerning force due to the success of Drive - Seoul was fully addicted to it. It made The Jeons a lot of money, but Jungkook needed to come up with a back up plan in case Busan wanted to change their partnership into an acquisition. That, and he wanted to be prepared if they came for Jimin.

Jungkook stretched his hand out by his side, trying not to look at the cabinet in his room that held a small pack of the white Drive powder. He'd never tried the drug himself, but he wondered what made the hallucinogenic have such a strong hold on people. Maybe there was a way to turn the drug's success on The Kims to take them down, but he had to know more about them first to come up with a way to do that.

Jungkook gnawed at the ring on his lip. The Kims were a problem for another day. His dad's Gala was in a couple hours and Jungkook's pulse was already starting to race. Seeing his dad was always a process. The man left The Jeons the second Jungkook's mom died, pushing his son away just as strongly as he pushed away his grief. Jungkook really tried to be apathetic about it, but every time he had to interact with his dad it made the little kid in his heart start kicking his feet.

Yoongi rounded the corner, walking into Jungkook's room from the kitchen and handed him one of the beers. Blood was splattered across his jaw and his bottom lip was cut as he brought a glass of beer to his lips. "At least without Jin around we don't have to drink that God awful Jade wine he likes."

Jungkook smirked, drinking Yoongi's 'God awful' beer that Yoongi kept stocked in Jungkook's fridge and hoping none of it spilled on his suit.

"The blood?" Jungkook asked, raising a brow.

"Not mine." Yoongi replied. "A Jade jump me after I found him trying to bug our warehouse. I fought him off, but man was a hard hitter. No broken bones, just lots of blood." Yoongi flicked his wrists and gave a lazy smile. "Can't say the same for him though."

Jungkook snorted.

"Anyway." Yoongi said, using the condensation from the side of his beer bottle to wipe some blood off of his wrist. "I'll stay back and keep an eye on The Drive tonight. I'm adding more men to the rotation from now on too. I don't think the other gangs understand we're only distributors, we don't manufacture it. It's feels like we're fighting our very own plankton expect we don't have any crusty crab secret recipe for them to find."

"Very poetic, Hyung." Jungkook said as he slipped a pair of silver cuffs onto his sleeve.

Yoongi grinned, clearly proud of himself. "You kids have fun tonight, yea? If you need backup for any reason, just call. I'll work on locating Seokjin in the meantime." Yoongi took another swing of his beer after clinking it with Jungkook's. "Can't believe our Jungkookie has finally found himself a boyfriend. And this one already knows how to use a gun!"