Hustlers || Taekook

Chapter 30

Jungkook had had nightmares about his brother.

Specifically about the moment he died. He'd relive that exact instant in a disgustingly detailed replica in his mind, except every sense was amplified. He could taste the pungent cloak of blood suffocating the air, he could feel broken bones and torn flesh beneath his knuckles. It'd taken some time for those dreams to die away, but the screams echoing in Jungkook's ears whenever silence settled around him never ceased.

And then all the other people he'd killed since then... he had already lost count.

This time, there had been no nightmares. His subconscious didn't need to remind and haunt him about Hoseok's death, he got enough of that during the day.

It'd been a couple of months, and Bangtan still had not recovered in the slightest. Not Namjoon, not the other executives, not Bangtan as a whole. Jungkook relished in the constant awkward, careful tact and delicacy on the surface, and the madness and chaos that lay just beneath. It hadn't been apparent just how much of Bangtan's work, responsibilities and welfare Hoseok had been carrying effortlessly, until now that he was gone. In terms of the organisation and distribution of work, Bangtan was all but falling to pieces. Hoseok had taken care of most of it, after all. Jungkook had to remember to thank and reward Jinwoo sincerely for all the work that he did for Jaeguk, after having Bangtan as an example and seeing the potential outcome of losing his able deputy.

The result of Hoseok's death was vindictively satisfactory in that trust throughout all relationships within the mob had been shunted askew. This loss of trust had given birth to unguided suspicion that festered and spread through them like an epidemic, infecting and corrupting every last one of them. It was ugly, unsightly, something pathetic and laughable to witness, but Jungkook stood back and let himself enjoy the morbid beauty of it all.

Only thing was, Namjoon was making life hell.

They'd thought that the three days preceding Hoseok's death had been bad enough. But having to be deathly careful in all actions around their currently emotionally unstable boss was no longer a precaution, but a habit and a natural given now. Jungkook was obviously the one in the most danger out of the entire mob, as his position was just about the worst level of betrayal and disloyalty one could reach. And worse still, he was stupid or suicidal enough to maintain it while Namjoon was so paranoid and trigger-happy like this.

But he'd of course anticipated this long before Hoseok's death. He'd observed, analysed and tested the best ways to avoid the slightest hint of any of his secrets being discovered in preparation. As long as Namjoon and the other members didn't find out anything, he could live with Namjoon being pissy and a little crazy. Unlike the other members, it was the least of his worries.

It didn't mean it was easy though, far from it. The painstaking lengths Jungkook went to, every single day, to make sure nobody found out or even had the slightest suspicion about his whereabouts when he left BigHit to go to Jaeguk... It took two full hours and elaborately, carefully constructed alibis everyday just to get there. Usually Jungkook would need to ask Taehyung to cover for him and if anyone asked where he'd been, say that they'd been together. Everyone trusted Taehyung without a doubt, even Namjoon. Taehyung never asked why Jungkook needed him to lie for him, or where he had really been and what he'd been doing. Jungkook had a feeling Taehyung would've burst with curiosity, had he not been otherwise preoccupied and grieving over Hoseok's death.

Namjoon's office felt so much larger and vacant now, ridiculously so considering the absence was only of one person. Meetings were subdued and the atmosphere was constantly heavy with the weight of the glaringly obvious empty space beside them. Jungkook always wanted to leave the room even more than he had before.