Save Me? I'm Fine.

Chapter 9

About fifteen minutes later when Taehyung was done showering, like you said you had already laid the pancakes that were smelling heavenly out on the table but you seemed to sit down by it lost in thought. You seemed so lost in thought that you didn't even react when Taehyung accidentally slammed the bathroom door shut, or when the chair screeched annoyingly as he pulled it back to sit down or even after an entire minute of him sitting right across you. Instead all you did was constantly stir the maple syrup uselessly. Taehyung smiled mischievously as he leaned forward close to you and shook his head splaying the droplets of water on you. As you jerked back in surprise he laughed sitting properly again, unable to control himself even though you frowned as you wiped the water away.

"Where are you lost?"

"I'm thinking what next." You pushed Taehyung's plate towards him and handed him a fork. "I'm obviously not going to be sitting in idly even though the Crux is persistently after me."

Taehyung put his fork down exasperated. "Y/n you-"

"Don't." You glared at him slowly shaking your head. "Look Taehyung the only reason I'm staying here with you is because I know you will be in trouble if I am summoned to the station and you fail to produce me there. I am not here because I'm hiding. I'm not going to stop trying. If you try to stop me then I'm sorry, but I will leave whether you are hurt because of it or not."

Taehyung stared at you in silence. So stubborn. You were so incredibly stubborn. Why was your safety not important to you at all? It was important to him though so if this is what you want in return he will give you that.

"Okay fine." Taehyung crossed his arms. "Fine I won't stop you but I will accompany you."

"You don't have to-"

"You can't expect everything to go your way Y/n. I listened to you, agreed to let you get out. But you are my responsibility and should anything happen to you it is I who will suffer. So I will follow and ensure nothing goes wrong." You opened your mouth in protest again but he shut you up. "That is final. Now tell me what the plan is and where do you want to go?"

You took a frustrated bite and then sighed. "I don't know yet."

"You don't know?"

"I don't know where to start from. I tried looking for a mole among them but that has backfired on me. They will definitely be more careful now."

"Yes, they will be, so staying as far from them as possible is the best thing to do now."

"Taehyung you said you won't stop me-"

"I won't stop you from looking for him. We can still go out to look for him."

"And how do you intend to do that?"

"If my guess is right and your brother is really on the run, like me the first thing he will try to do is get out of the city. The crux has very large influence in nearly every inch and corner of this place. The smartest thing to do is to get out."

"Where could he have possibly gone? Where should we start searching from and how many places can we search? It's not possible Taehyung-"

"Are you forgetting, I work in a travel agency. I may be just a taxi driver there but I have my contacts." Taehyung looked thoughtful slowly devising the plan in his head. "We can look for your brother's name in the passenger lists from the day his calls stopped coming till today. I'm sure we can run searches and try to find him."

"Are you sure it will work? I mean it's over thousands of passengers and-"

"Didn't you say you wanted to try every possible way to find your brother?"

You nodded slowly, eyes darting around as your mind calculated through the possibilities. Taehyung watched the unconvinced expression on your face as you bit your lip. Taking a deep breath you looked up at him and nodded firmly. "Okay. Let's give it a shot. Maybe I'll get some sort of lead from this."

"We will find something I'm sure, eat up and let's go."

As you complied Taehyung couldn't help but shake off the feeling that you weren't enthusiastic about the idea. But this was his only way to keep you at bay. So he hurriedly ate too. He was curious to know today's outcome too.

You stood outside the office kicking the dirt and small stones with your feet waiting for Taehyung who was inside trying to convince his colleague to do him a favour. Noticing that some of the mud was getting on to your new pants you stopped, displeased with the idea of dirtying what Taehyung got for you already. He had insisted after breakfast that you wear it because he for sure couldn't and he didn't want them lying around seeming like a waste. Though you could tell he was just trying to get you to wear it somehow. You never really liked giving into people's requests so far but you didn't feel like arguing with Taehyung, not when today's work was so important to you.

When Taehyung first suggested the idea, you knew it was useless. You would never find his name on the list of passengers you knew that. But there was something else you could find instead. Someone else who will lead you to who you are searching for. That's why after much thought you agreed. Today's job may not be a waste after all.

Taehyung returned within two minutes holding the door open for you as you walked in and whispered in your ear. "I've got days of extra shift to do in return for this favour. Use it well."

You nodded entering into the office spotting computers all over and just one man in glasses amidst it all waving at you. "Y/n I presume?"

You nodded.

"Jinyoung, your saviour for today."

You bowed slightly thankfully and looked around at all the machines buzzing around you.

"Which computer do you prefer I work on?"

"None of these." Jinyoung turned around walking to the end of the room opening a small cabinet like space pointing at it. "This is where you will work."

You looked at Taehyung who nodded. "All these computers have only information about our company. It's taxis, its trains, its buses. Only that one, our master computer, has records of all the companies of Seoul. Every single one of them"

"And it's supposed to be top secret." Jinyoung crossed his arms. "Keeping our competitors information is vital statistics but it is also hacked data. I'm considering this because of you alone Taehyung, one word out and we will be facing hundreds of litigations within minutes."

Taehyung nudged you forward prompting you to enter the room. "Of course Jinyoung. You can trust Y/n."

Jinyoung nodded as you sat down before the computer in the small space and leaned against the door. "I've opened all the files you can possibly check in. Normally I scan run searches through softwares to find out the information I need but that gets recorded and I cannot explain to my superiors why I searched for your brother. I'm afraid that means you will have to manually go through each list and it might take days for you to go through it, the records are no joke." You nodded understandingly as he took a step back. Of course it would be hard but you had to do this. "Call me if you need anything, I'll be right outside."

You smiled politely in response and as he left Taehyung approached you. "I have to leave to work Y/n I'm sorry. But you'll be safe here don't worry, I'll come to pick you in the evening alright? Stay here only. Don't get out of this room." He began to leave when you held his wrist looking at him gratefully.

"Thank you, Taehyung. Without you I could never have-"

"It's alright." He patted your hand as you let go. "Call me if anything goes wrong yeah?"

You nodded and he left shutting the door behind him leaving you in the small space lit only by a lamp and the brightness of the desktop before you. You skimmed through the dozens of columns staring with awe at the immense data before you. There was so much information about a person on this tiny little screen. Their names, destinations, ticket numbers, their seat numbers, phone numbers, credit card numbers, address and more and more things as the list went on and on. Finding someone on this was not going to be easy. You cracked you knuckles as you stared at the screen. It was going to be a long day.