𝐞-𝐛𝐨𝐲. ↬ k. taehyung

-. .xxv.

"You don't have to like it, Soojin, but that's what's happening."

Upon hearing the authority in her friend's tone, Soojin tightened her jaw and pressed her head against the glass of the car, watching as the stray drops of rain slid down the window with a glare.

She shouldn't have expected anything less.

Soojin had a feeling Yoonmin would reject her idea immediately. There was no way he'd allow her to look for Hoseok, even if he was in imminent danger. Yoonmin had already seen what Yoongi was capable of just from the bruises and cuts that littered the bare skin of both Soojin and Taehyung.

"There's nothing you can do for him, please just leave it to me," Yoonmin pleaded, his brows furrowed as he glanced from the road to the rearview mirror, watching her expression carefully, "I mean it, Soojin. Don't tell me you'll stay out of it and then leave the second you see an opportunity."

She met his gaze through the mirror, eyes hard, "I won't."

"I know you won't, I'm having someone watch the safe house you two will be staying in."

"Safe house?" Soojin repeated.

"Yes. You can't be expected to go home after just being held hostage by some lunatic. You'll be put in witness protection until we catch him," Yoonmin's grip tightened on the steering wheel, "And I will promise you, it won't be long."

His words were supposed to bring reassurance to her, but how could they? She'd just been tortured by the very man who now had her best friend in the palm of his hands, words weren't enough to give her comfort.

"We weren't being held hostage," The sudden change in voice was enough to drag Soojin from her reverie as she glanced over to Taehyung, his deep voice firm as he kept his eyes focused on the smudged blur beyond the window, "That would imply he planned on letting us go when he got what he wanted, but that was never going to happen."

"Well you can trust me, Bae Junseok, he's never going to have that opportunity again," Yoonmin caught sight of how both Soojin and Taehyung shuddered when he said Junseok and he frowned, "What is it? What did I say?"

Taehyung stammered, "Well it's just—"

"It's something that can be explained once we find Hoseok," Soojin interrupted, meeting his eyes with a small smile. A large part of her still didn't like nor agree with what Taehyung had done, despite the fact that he was under duress. It churned in her stomach, making her feel sick, but it wasn't something she wanted to focus on.

She didn't want to blame him.

Not after she had experienced how terribly he had been treated. Not after she had seen all the things Yoongi would do to make sure he got things done his way. Taehyung was nothing more than a pawn.

She wasn't sure how long they had been driving for until Yoonmin parked outside a nondescript apartment block in an area that was fairly public.

"Okay, so the code to get inside is 4823, a guard has already been dispatched to watch over you two, you know, to make sure no one finds you and that you don't leave," Yoonmin side-eyed Soojin pointedly, "I would come in, but I have an investigation to solve. Just please promise me you won't look for Hoseok?"

"I won't look for Hoseok, I promise." She offered him a small smile and it seemed to satisfy his concern as he nodded his head.

"I'll be in contact." Was his last words before they clambered out of the car and headed inside the building. Once inside their temporary accommodation, an icy silence fell upon them before Taehyung broke it.

"We're not actually going to sit by and do nothing, right?"

"I promised Yoonmin I wouldn't try and find Hoseok," Soojin started, her voice slow, "I never said anything about not trying to find Jungkook, and I bet he's keeping them near each other, like he did with us."

Taehyung's eyes widened as Soojin pulled out the burner phone that Yoonmin gave her to contact him on. It was a basic phone, but luckily it still had access to the Internet.

"Do you have any clues on where Jungkook could possibly be? Did he say what it looks like when you see him?"

Something flickered in Taehyung's eyes, and he sucked in a sharp breath, "No, but I know how to find them. You need to pull up Jungkook's Instagram."

And she did just that, handing Taehyung her phone, leaning over his shoulder to see what he was doing. After scrolling through countless of pictures, he finally stopped.

"Yoongi is constantly on our social media, but a few months ago, when we first moved cities, he told us to tag girls near so they'd then message us," Taehyung explained, his voice distant as he stared at the picture of his best friend, "Kook is better with technology than I am, and he saw it as an opportunity to make a fake account so he could drop pins. Somehow, Yoongi never found out about it, not even when Jungkook tagged the account in his photo."

With that, Taehyung clicked the username @ddday0345, leading him to an open account with very little pictures posted. They were all of the same kind of nature; pictures of sunsets seemingly off the internet.

The most recent was posted a mere two days ago.

"Gangseong..." Soojin repeated the location with furrowed brows as she took a step back, "That was the place where they found that girls body." She met Taehyung's gaze, "Do you think that's to do with him?"

Targeting didn't say anything, not trusting his voice, but his silence spoke in absence of his words. They both knew the answer.

"We need to go there," Soojin pursed her lips, trying to fill herself up with determination, though her heart thumped wildly in her chest, "Even if we have to knock every goddamn door in that province, we'll find them."

Handing her back her phone, Taehyung ran a hand through his hair with trepidation, "Yoongi doesn't have much money left, he spent a lot of his savings on that complex. My guess is, he was planning on using it as a more permanent holding cell, but got busted. Are there any buildings surrounding the river that are out of commission?"

"I can check?"

Taehyung modded his head curtly, "That's where we need to start."

"Actually," Soojin chewed her lip, turning her attention towards the front door of the safe house, "We need to start with leaving here without getting caught."