- Forty-second -

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"Soobin!"

The young policeman turned around and immediately met Namjoon's worried gaze as he ran in his direction. The man stopped in front of him, out of breath, but at the moment that was the least of his worries.

"Is it true what you told me?!"

Soobin nodded, looking just as panicked as his superior. He had called Namjoon about ten minutes earlier, because he had seen two of their colleagues from the drugs squad take away Jung Jungkook, the man Seokjin had introduced to them as an old friend. The young man sat down at their table and they chatted for a while. Soobin had immediately seen him as a calm and kind person, far from suspicious. So why had he been arrested? And above all...

"Did you have access to the arrest order?" Namjoon asked.

"No, that's precisely what's strange: no order was issued..."

Namjoon frowned. Yes, the drugs squad were allowed a certain number of free passes, because in their case they often needed to act quickly, but that didn't change the fact that they had a procedure to follow. Even for a highly-wanted criminal, an arrest order had to be issued. Not just anyone could be arrested at any time. There were rules. And apparently, they hadn't been followed.

"It's strange..." sighed Namjoon.

"I think it's stranger than you think, Inspector." Soobin continued. "Apparently, he's been here since midday, but no request for a lawyer has been made. It's as if the arrest never happened."

This information puzzled Namjoon even more. Because if that was really the case, then this arrest was totally illegal. He didn't know what his colleagues had in mind, but it didn't look good.

"What do we do, Inspector? Shall we go and see?" Soobin suggested.

He couldn't help worrying about Jungkook. If he found himself in his place, accused of a crime he obviously hadn't committed, he'd be terrified.

"No, we'll get into trouble if we barge into the interrogation room." replied Namjoon, trying to think of a solution in his head. "Well, go and get the chief and tell him I sent you. I'll call Jin. I think he has a right to know."

Soobin nodded and left immediately to carry out his orders, while Namjoon quickly took out his mobile to call Seokjin. He swallowed. This situation had a horrible taste of déjà vu.

***

Choi and Park stormed out of the interrogation room, leaving Jeongguk alone again. The two men stood in a corner of the corridor, the younger one silently watching his superior, who appeared to be furious. After all, Jeongguk's words were playing over and over in his head.

"Park!"

"Y-Yes, sir?"

The young officer moved closer to his superior, from whom he could almost see smoke billowing, so angry did he look.

"Who was the source of this information?" Choi exclaimed, turning red with rage. "Who gave you Jung Jungkook's name?! The Gangnam dealer?"

Park swallowed, because he knew his superior wouldn't like the answer.

"I-It wasn't one of our informants, sir..."

Choi's eyes widened in surprise, confusion showing on his face.

"What do you mean? Where did the information come from then?"

"From a prostitute in Itaewon..."

If they hadn't been in a police station, Choi wouldn't have held back from punching him in the face. He couldn't believe his ears.

"A prostitute?! You made me arrest someone because of a prostitute from out of nowhere?! Are you fucking kidding me?!"

Park pursed his lips. Choi could shout all he wanted, but the young officer knew it wasn't all his fault. Yes, he'd been the one to pass the information on to him, but Choi had launched the operation before he'd even had time to tell him where the information had come from.

"So to put it plainly, maybe it's all nonsense?" Choi asked, trying to calm down. "Do you have this girl's name? Any proof? Anything to prove that this Jung Jungkook is connected to Kim?"

To his disappointment, Park shook his head. They had absolutely nothing. They had acted on a mere hypothesis, and it seemed to be completely false. Jeongguk's words immediately made sense: how could an ordinary office worker end up associating with the biggest gangster in Seoul? It didn't make any sense, and they were only realising it now. Especially as Jeongguk didn't officially work at the cabaret, so there was no record of his meetings with Taehyung. Officially, nothing linked them.

"What are we going to do, sir?" Park asked, clearly worried. "Do we... release him?"

"We don't really have a choice, even if the guy does look suspicious to me..."

Park would have replied that, in his eyes, everyone was suspicious, but he refrained. Now was not the time to provoke his superior any further.

"Choi Minhwan!" shouted a voice behind them.

The two men turned and saw Namjoon and Soobin approaching them, accompanied by a man in his fifties with an imposing, threatening aura. Their chief. He looked furious, which made them instinctively take a step back.

"What does this mean?! Since when did I authorise this arrest? You even entered his company!"

The chief stopped right in front of Choi, whom he towered over by a good ten centimetres. Choi swallowed.

"A-Ah, that's-"

"You want your promotion so badly that you're prepared to break the law for it?!" his superior cut him off.

Choi felt his cheeks burn with shame. Even Namjoon felt a little bad for him.

"Release him, then both of you come to my office. I'll decide your punishment there."

The two men nodded, both ashamed and terrified, then the chief turned and disappeared around the corner. Namjoon and Soobin exchanged quick glances with them, Choi having easily guessed that they had gone to tell the chief everything. If his job wasn't in danger, he wouldn't have been shy about paying them back. Choi and Namjoon didn't like each other very much, and that was no secret.

"I think you've got something to do, don't you?" Namjoon provoked him, with an insolence that Soobin wouldn't have suspected.

Choi wanted to answer, but Park stopped him, dragging him off to the interrogation room to free Jeongguk.

"Namjoon!"

Soobin and Namjoon turned to see a panicked Seokjin running towards them, stopping at their feet, out of breath.

"Is it true what you told me on the phone? Is Jungkook really in custody?" Seokjin worried.

"It's okay, he's free. It's all sorted now." Namjoon reassured him, more worried about Jin than the man arrested for no reason.

At the same moment the door to the interrogation room opened and Jeongguk stormed out, followed by the two policemen who were mumbling a few shameful excuses. Jeongguk had just picked up his personal belongings and was visibly furious. He'd literally spent the whole afternoon here for nothing.

He passed Seokjin, Namjoon and Soobin, but ignored them, his anger too great to talk to anyone. Still, he stopped at the end of the corridor and turned to the four policemen, his eyes red with anger.

"Thanks to you, I've probably lost my job because of you. And for nothing."

Then he left the police station, under the shameful looks of the policemen.

~🥀~

Sorry, I know you miss them, but I promise, Taekook will be back in the next chapter!

Oh, and just a precision, my chapters are always the same size. There can be some wich are longer, but never shorter!

See you!💕

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