The Hunt

19

"Hyung," Jungkook yelled from where he was standing at the kitchen sink. All of the other men turned their attention to him. "They have good quiche." 

"Mmm," Jin nodded. "I do love a good quiche." 

I looked around at my dinning companions. Sons of the most powerful and wealthy hybrid families in Korea. Kidnappers. Lovers of good quiche. Maybe they aren't so bad? 

"So, guys, I hate to do this, but what if the hunter doesn't show up at the coffee shop?" Hoseok asked, rendering everyone else silent. "Are we just going to hang out there every day?" 

Crickets. No one said anything in response to Hoseok's very reasonable question. In all honesty, it was very likely the hunter wouldn't show up at the coffee shop. It was a shot in the dark, and we were just hoping to get lucky. 

They all knew what the next course of action would be. Okay, maybe not Taehyung. Ah! He's so naive!  

I sighed. "Then we'll set a trap and lure her out." 

"And how do you propose we do that?" Yoongi cocked an eyebrow and gave me a quizzical look.

"Seriously? Did none of your families train you for these eventualities?" I was met with blank or puzzled faces. 

I couldn't help but laugh. 'Catch the Hunter' was a favorite game at family reunions when I was young. One of the adults would pretend to be a hunter and would go around 'killing' the other adults. It was up to the kids to figure out who among the adults was secretly a hunter. They would always give clues and hints to help us figure it out. But the older us kids got, the game became more difficult and the stakes were raised. If it took too long to identify the hunter, we would face consequences. It was usually having to sleep outside without a sleeping bag, or having to skip a meal. But there was also relentless teasing and ridicule. It wasn't exactly a healthy family bonding experience. 

"Okay, so my family is just super paranoid? Cool, cool." I muttered under my breath. When no one responded, I continued. "We will need to set a trap with bait. We'll want to use the most obvious hybrid out of this group, and he will act suspiciously to lure out the hunter. Make it obvious, but not too obvious. Just slip up a couple times in public. Catch the hunter's attention." 

I looked around the table to make sure they all understood. Namjoon appeared to be deep in thought, while the others were either nodding or just blinking slowly. 

Taehyung and Jungkook rejoined us at the table. 

"So, we use Jungkook as bait. Maybe have him break something a normal human wouldn't be able to, like push over a tree or something. The hunter will either see it or hear about it and start tailing him? But we'll be watching Jungkook, too?" Taehyung flashed me a pearly smile, displaying all of his teeth. 

I was a little stunned. "Y-yeah. Yes. That's exactly what I'm saying." I silently cursed myself for ever writing off Taehyung. Forget Yoongi, Taehyung was the one I needed to keep an eye on. 

"For now, let's see how things go tomorrow," Namjoon said with finality, putting the discussion to bed. 

"Wait, hyung." Jungkook glanced between me and Taehyung. "Why am I the most obvious hybrid out of all of us?"

Yoongi chuckled and Jimin rolled his eyes. 

"You look like a rabbit, Kook," Taehyung slapped his friend on the shoulder. "It's hard to miss." 

As the other laughed at Jungkook's pouting face, Jimin stood up and walked over to me. 

Placing a hand on the back of my chair, he gently pulled it and me away from the table. "Come on, I'll take you home," he mumbled quietly. 

I said my good-byes to the rest of the men before following Jimin out to the garage.