The Rap Godfather

-8-

"Hello, my friend," Min Yoongi answered the phone light-heartedly. "You've finally decided to talk about the greatest collab of the century?"

"You know it will never happen," Jung Hoseok responded coldly.

"Such a loss for humanity."

"Do you know what exactly is on Jungkook's memory card?" Hoseok cut the small talk sharply.

"To be honest, I do wonder what could that precious boy be hiding. I guess we'll find out pretty soon."

"Did you try to get it for yourself?"

"It does cost a ton of money, but I don't need it. Even if I did want it, I wouldn't send Taehyung to get it."

"I've heard you two were pretty close."

"Now, though, he's my problem, not yours."

Jung Hoseok hung up. Yoongi leaned back in his chair, letting out a deep breath.

"Do you think he really is that desperate?" he asked, staring into space. It was unclear whether the question was addressed to Hwasa or Taehyung, who both were sitting at the opposite ends of the couch across from Min Yoongi.

"They wouldn't ever agree to peace if they weren't desperate," said Taehyung.

"Nah, I think he's planning something. I know a liar when I hear one," Hwasa pronounced contemptuously, staring Taehyung down.

"That's your fault I had to lie," Kim responded carelessly. "You didn't tell me a thing about Jungkook's memory card."

"You weren't supposed to know about it."

"But she was?"

"She was the one who came up with it, while you were being a pain in the ass."

"You expected me to observe cluelessly and do nothing?"

"That's what you'll be doing from now on, until I instruct you otherwise," Yoongi said, his expression darkened.

"You think you can lock me down?" he scoffed.

"No," Yoongi softened up slightly. "I'm asking you to stay away as your don."

"What if I choose not to? What if I think you're making a mistake?"

"Then I won't be talking to you as your don anymore," Yoongi answered coolly. "We let Hope steal the boy's memory card, watch the whole nation find out, and wait till they tear the evil Hope clan apart, with our help. Your interference is not needed."

"How are you not seeing that something is fishy about this memory card? How can you so blindly underestimate—"

"You're the one who's underestimating Jeon Jungkook's influence," Yoongi asserted. "If his name is smeared with even a tiniest bit of dirt, our whole country's economy will be at stake. We have the major media corporations on our payroll. Instead of publishing the news, they'll call the cops."

Taehyung stood up.

"I'm not letting this happen before I see what's on that card," he said, already on his way out of the room. "Try to kill me, it's not going to stop me."

He shut the door behind him. The two people remaining in the room exchanged telling looks.

...Having finished the phone call abruptly, Jung Hoseok looked Jimin in the eye.

"He thinks we're weak," he said. "That's good."

"So what are we doing now?" Jimin was relieved to find out that the agreement with Sugar was just a strategic move.

"I knew he was setting up a trap, but I expected he'd wait longer before taking action," Hoseok was thinking out loud. "I need you to watch Kim Seokjin for a couple of weeks. Find out if he intends to do something unusual with Jungkook's information."

"Should I also see what kind of information-"

"You can, if you're curious. It's probably connected to the rumors about him sleeping with his backup dancers."

"Jungkook?" Jimin chuckled, amused by the idea of the renowned national angel boy Jeon Jungkook engaging in such inappropriate behaviors.

"I suspect Sugar wants to tie the information leak to us, but they don't know we have our people in their media. If you don't see anything suspicious about Seokjin in the next couple of weeks, we got them."