Beyond Repair (Min Yoongi) [UPDATED]

30. Drastic Measures

"What," Namjoon all but growled, an intimidating aura suddenly enveloping him so powerfully that, in a way, it made Hoseok's skin crawl, "do you mean, he's downstairs?"

Deputy Detective Park faltered for a second, clearly not having anticipated this sort of reaction. "I'm sorry, I thought you knew. I assure you, you're completely safe—"

"Safe? How could we possibly be safe with him in the building?" Seokjin demanded.

"He's under twenty-four hour surveillance. No one is allowed in or out of his room without proper authorization," Park tried to explain. "Nobody besides us and his doctors and nurses even knows he's here—"

"That doesn't matter!" Namjoon exploded. Hoseok flinched but no one seemed to notice. "He's escaped your custody before. Were you even there the night everything happened? Do you know what he did to Yoongi? To Jimin? How could you allow him in the same building as them?"

"We don't have any say in which hospital the ambulances go to. He's being transferred back to the precinct as soon as he's discharged, which should only be another two days," said Park.

"Not good enough. That's nowhere neargood enough. Either move him immediately or move Yoongi. I will not allow my members to be in the same hospital as that—that animal."

"I'm afraid neither of them can be moved, at least for another day. From what I hear, Mr. Min is in surgery as we speak, and even assuming it's successful, from what I hear, he won't be stable enough to be transferred for several days. As for Lee, there isn't another hospital within a hundred kilometers with a prison unit. Besides, he's just woken up from a sixty-three hour coma. He can barely even speak. He's no threat to anyone, much less you boys, who also have a security escort."

"No. No! I don't care about the security escort. They already failed us once. How do you know Lee won't escape again? Bribe or threaten his way to Yoongi and finish the job?" Namjoon accused.

"And we're not boys, we're men. I'm the youngest here and I'm twenty-three," said Jungkook.

"But by all means," Taehyung cut in, feeding off the other members' anger, "go ahead and infantalize us if it makes you feel better about leaving us to the wolves. Whatever feeds your ego, right? You know, since it seems so much more important than our safety."

"None of us will speak another word with your department until this gets sorted out, investigation be damned," said Namjoon.

"Mr. Kim—"

"I think you should leave," Namjoon interrupted, his voice cold.

Deputy Detective Park pursed her lips and simply nodded. "I'll do what I can. Here's my information, please feel free to contact me if you have any further concerns or questions." She handed Namjoon a business card and walked back to the elevator, but as the doors closed behind her, she turned back. "I am sorry," she said. "I honestly thought you knew."

For a long time after she left, no one said a word, until Jimin spoke up, his voice barely above a whisper but somehow booming in the large, otherwise silent room.

"I knew."

Hoseok, along with everyone else, turned to look at Jimin like he'd grown a second head.

Jungkook was the first person to break the new silence. "You...you knew?" he repeated like he hadn't quite heard properly the first time.

"What do you mean?" Namjoon asked, and despite how well he knew him, Hoseok couldn't read his tone.

"I knew...that he was here. Detective Hwan told me when I—when gave my statement."