The way to the airport was a blur. He was so busy trying to ignore the pain – and stay on his feet - that he didn’t pay any attention at all to his surroundings, and was only half aware of Taehyung keeping their shoulders pressed together and his hand on Jungkook’s elbow for most of the journey. Yoongi kept uncomfortably close as well, but thankfully drew the line at touching. Hoseok was in the suitcase, turned into a mouse and watching over the jar Violet was trapped in. That should have been Taehyung, considering he was the only one Jimin didn’t know about and thus didn’t have an ID or a ticket, but Taehyung - typically - hadn’t wanted to hear anything about it. He’d simply ordered Hoseok to guard Violet before changing his appearance. Despite the fact he now looked exactly like Hoseok, there was no danger whatsoever that Jungkook would mix them up - Taehyung didn’t bother with acting and his constant state of amusement was a dead giveaway.

When his phone rang, Jungkook was sitting in an uncomfortable airport chair with a demon on each side, waiting to board. Both of them were too close for comfort, and Jungkook contemplated telling them to move, but dismissed it after a few seconds. Taehyung probably wouldn’t do it, and Jungkook was too tired and in too much pain to argue with him.

Caller ID said Jimin, which wasn't exactly ideal - not that he didn’t want to speak with him, it was just that his brother would probably notice something was off. Jungkook didn’t think he could hide how much he really wanted to die right about now. It was true that the sharp pain in his chest had become somewhat dull, and he found breathing a lot easier as a result of it, but his head still felt as if someone was repeatedly hitting it with a hammer. At least he no longer had any problems with balance.

He pressed accept and raised the phone to his ear, while trying not to hit Taehyung with his elbow. It was a hard task considering how close they were, their shoulders pressed together. “Are you at the airport?” asked Jimin without a single hello.

Jungkook took a deep breath before saying, trying to sound normal and not like a demon had slammed him into a wall a few hours ago; “Yes.” What followed was almost a minute of silence, stretching until Jungkook gave up and asked; “What is it?”. Normally, he would wait for Jimin to get it out on his own, but he couldn’t bring himself to this time, the mix of pain and exhaustion killing his patience.

Jimin took a deep breath. “Don’t hate me.” he said. “I promise I’ve only heard about this a few hours ago.”

Great, so there was bad news. Jungkook buried his face in his hand, trying not to groan.  Usually, his mind would be already working at hundred percent, attempting to figure out what it was, but now he was too exhausted to think about anything. Given the fog in his brain, any kind of attempt at solving problems would probably just result in more questions anyway. “Ji…” he started, catching himself just before he said Jimin’s name in front of three higher demons. “Jinho.” he corrected himself. “What is it?”

Jimin sighed. “It’s about the servant family that looks over the manor I’ve send you to.” he explained. Jungkook frowned. There was a system when it came to the servants. The royals had chosen ten families for the task centuries ago, and their descendants still performed the job today. They were a lot more numerous now, and each family was divided into multiple branches under the same head. If you were born a royal servant you would in most cases stay a royal servant. It wasn’t forbidden to leave and do anything else, but it was strongly discouraged, and because of the exceptionally good pay and decent work conditions most of the children born into servant families ended up staying. It was easier to ensure their loyalty that way. 

He heard Jimin let out another sigh. “It turns out they used to manage Kangmin’s household.” he said.

The phone almost slipped out of his hands when the words registered, and even though he clumsily tried to catch it, it would probably still have shattered on the floor if Taehyung hadn’t grabbed it. He took Jungkook’s hand and gently placed the phone in it, his brow quirked and one side of his lips curled slightly upwards. He pulled away before Jungkook could properly comprehend what happened, but he continued to stare at him, the glint in his eyes giving the impression that he was thoroughly enjoying Jungkook’s clumsiness. Jungkook sent him a glare as he pressed the phone back to his ear. Taehyung just raised his hands in defeat, before he leaned back and looked away.

It was a relief – Jungkook had trouble focusing before, and the situation only worsened when Taehyung looked at him like this, something about his gaze making his heart beat rapidly and his hands sweat. Jungkook took a deep breath and rubbed his eyes, telling himself to focus on what was actually important and forget about it.

Five of the servant families usually looked after the court, and the other five after the royal residences elsewhere. It was unusual for a court’s family brunch to manage a Japanese residence, but considering everything that had happened with Kangmin, Jungkook supposed it made sense.

He messaged his temples - he couldn’t think. At the moment, he found the simple task of stringing words into sentences that actually made sense as difficult as running a marathon with a broken leg. There was no way he could decide whether to go to a house managed by Kangmin’s previous servants in his current state, though he still tried. There was a possibility that the servants had kept in contact with Kangmin, but it was unlikely - there had been an investigation, and if anything suspicious had been found, they would have been immediately removed from employment. On the other hand… Jungkook rubbed his eyes again - trying to figure out what to do just worsened his headache, and he didn’t think he was actually getting anywhere. The only reason he had managed to stick to his plan and get to his room after Violet had slammed him into a wall was the fact he had been running on pure adrenaline - adrenaline that was now long out of his system.

Making the wrong decision in these circumstances could be dangerous. He massaged his temples one more time, before nudging Taeyhung with his elbow. He would have tried to get his attention by staring at him, but he’d have to move his head for that and he’d rather not. He told himself it was fine to trust the demons with this – after all, if the Orders didn’t work the way they supposed to, he would already be dead. Taehyung seemed to realize what the problem was pretty quickly and leaned forward, which made looking at his face a lot easier. He quirked his eyebrow, and Jungkook tiredly motioned at the phone. There was a glint of surprise in his eyes, gone by the time Jungkook blinked. Taehyung frowned as he looked at Yoongi, who calmly gazed back, giving no sign he even knew what this was about. Even so, Jungkook was sure there was some kind of communication going on between them, and after a few seconds of staring at each other, Taehyung looked back at him and nodded.

“It’s fine.” said Jungkook.

Jimin, of course, didn’t take that at face value. “Are you sure? I know…”

“It’s fine.” repeated Jungkook, this time more firmly. He wasn’t sure if it was really fine, but he couldn’t bring himself to care that much – there was nothing he could do anyway, not with the mess that currently ruled his brain. It was out of his hands.

Jimin let out a soft sigh. “Okay.” he said, and probably meant it. Jungkook couldn’t understand why, but he usually trusted his judgment.

“Okay.” echoed Jungkook. “Goodbye.”

He almost ended the call, when Jimin said, urgency in his voice; “Wait, wait.” Jungkook slowly pressed the phone back to his ear and hummed to let him know he was  listening. “There is no extra security, so I suggest you keep Yoongi and Hoseok close.” said Jimin.

“I figured.” murmured Jungkook. With Kangmin’s connections, sending extra security to a random royal residence in Japan would be the same as loudly advertising Jungkook’s whereabouts. Jimin wasn’t stupid enough to do that.

Jimin let out a chuckle. “Of course you did.” he said. “I’ll try to come by if I can.” 

“Good.” said Jungkook. He wouldn’t be against seeing Jimin again, provided he showed up after his injuries at least somewhat healed. There was no way he wouldn’t notice something was off if he saw him in this state, and Jungkook wasn’t sure he’d be able to lie to him about where he'd got the injuries.

There were a few seconds of silence, and then; “Are you sure you’re okay? You sound a bit weird.”

Jungkook winced. Jimin hadn’t mentioned anything until now, and he had hoped he failed to notice it after all. Apparently not. “I promise I’m fine Jinho.” he said, trying to sound normal. A glance Taehyung sent in his direction told him he failed, and he barely managed to suppress a sigh. “In case you didn’t check your watch, it’s 4.15am.” he pointed out. This was probably the first time he didn’t mind the early flight.

Jimin hummed, still sounding a bit doubtful. Even so, the next words out of his mouth were; “Well, I have to go. Take care.”

“You too.” murmured Jungkook, before he ended the call and stored the phone back in his backpack.

On the plane, he ended up in the middle seat, between Taehyung and Yoongi, which was predictable - and uncomfortable. He had hit the back of his head, so he couldn’t lean it on the headrest without an incredible amount of pain, and there was nowhere else he could lean it if he didn’t count the demons. And they weren’t really an option either - if he tried it with Yoongi, the pounding in his head would be the least of his worries because he’d probably no longer have a head in the first place, and just thinking about leaning on Taehyung made his stomach churn. He was too tired to try getting to the bottom of it, and his gut feeling warned him he didn’t really want to unpack that bag of worms anyway.

In the end, he put his feet on the seat, pushed his knees against his chest and rested his head on his knees, ignoring a judgmental look the stewardess sent in his direction.

“You know…” started Taehyung conversationally, a hint of amusement in his voice “you could just lean on my shoulder.”

Jungkook hugged his knees tighter, trying to ignore the sudden dryness in his mouth. “I’ll pass, thank you.” he murmured, so quietly that even he barely heard it. He knew it got to the demon just fine though.

“Suit yourself.” said Taehyung, the amusement still very present in his voice.

He let him sleep after that. It was restless, and he woke up multiple times due to the combination of pain and discomfort. His leg had fallen asleep after a while, and he tried moving around a few times, but his current position was the only one that didn’t worsen his headache, so he decided to maintain it despite the soreness in his limbs.

At one point, Taehyung – who had apparently grown bored of his shifting - nudged his arm, prompting Jungkook to slowly lift his head and look at him. “Look” he said, raising a pillow. Jungkook blinked, wondering where he got it and why exactly he was showing it to him. Because thinking hurt, he didn’t try to figure it out for long, waiting for Taehyung to explain instead. Taehyung leaned the pillow against his shoulder. “No touching required.” he said, and since Jungkook’s mind didn’t work properly, he needed a few moments to realize what he was on about.

He tensed up. This wasn’t fair. Jungkook knew that the demon most likely wasn’t going to give up until he ran out of arguments – arguments to which Jungkook had exactly zero rebuttals considering he was currently in no condition to argue whatsoever. He pondered for a moment if he should at least try, but ultimately decided he was too tired for that. He wanted this conversation to be done so he could go back to sleep, which was why he obediently leaned his head on the pillow, careful not to touch Taehyung directly. He wasn’t sure why the demon was so invested in this, but had no motivation to try and figure it out.

It took a while before he got at least a little bit comfortable, the fact that a pillow was the only thing separating his head from Taehyung’s shoulder too alive in his mind. His mouth was dry, his heart was beating too fast and there was an unpleasant tightness in his chest. Taehyung started humming to himself at one point, something old and unfamiliar, and Jungkook didn’t know how, but it managed to calm him down enough that he drifted back into restless sleep.   

Taehyung nudged him in the arm sometime later. Jungkook jolted awake, momentarily disoriented. It took a few seconds before he realized he was on the plane and they were close to landing. He groggily pushed himself up, wincing due to the pounding in his head, before he attempted to fasten his seat belt. His fingers were shaking too much to have any luck with it though, and after a few moments of watching, Taehyung let out a sigh and gently pushed Jungkook’s hands out of the way so he could buckle him up himself. The demon gave him an amused half-smile when Jungkook made a mistake and looked at him, and he swiftly averted his gaze, heat rising up his neck.

In his haste to look away, he accidentally caught Yoongi’s eyes. The demon was giving both of them a look that could only be described as judgmental, and Jungkook couldn’t for the life of him tell why. He mouthed ‘what’, but Yoongi just shook his head and turned away.

Jimin had sent him a picture of their driver, but since looking at the screen hurt his eyes and he had a pretty bad memory for faces even on a good day, he handed the phone to Taehyung as soon as they retrieved their luggage. He would have given it to Yoongi instead, considering he was better with technology, if he didn’t suspect he would straight up refuse to take it. At first he thought he had been imagining it, but no – Yoongi had truly been giving him strange looks ever since he woke up about an hour before they had to depart for the airport, promptly turning away every time Jungkook caught him staring. He had absolutely no idea what to think of it, but he blamed Taehyung. The number of looks and glances the demons had been exchanging today was clearly bigger than usual. Some of them he couldn’t decipher, but there was no doubt others were downright hostile. He really hoped they weren’t feuding while he was barely able to think and could control them even less than normal.

Taehyung accepted the phone with an unreadable expression on his face, his fingers lightly brushing against Jungkook’s skin. He took the task of searching for their driver seriously, and it didn’t take long before they found her - a woman in her fifties or sixties, with gray hair in a slightly disheveled bun, wearing a black jumpsuit under a vest. Jungkook absentmindedly wondered if that was a new fashion trend or just personal style. It could be either - the high society operated on an entirely different level than the rest of the country, and the servants usually wore what they thought would please their employers. Jungkook wasn’t looking forward to his temporary return into that world.

The woman bowed when she noticed them. It was a slight bow, not too deep, her head barely below her shoulders, which meant that Jimin either didn’t tell her who Jungkook was or - more likely – had warned her to keep a low profile. They were both aware that the less attention they attracted, the harder it would be for Kangmin to find them. “I am Kim Misuk.” she introduced herself. “The head of the staff.”

Jungkook forced himself to nod. Even that sent a wave of pain through his head, and he gritted his teeth to keep it from showing on his face. Taehyung distracted him by touching his wrist for a second before letting go. He wasn’t looking in his direction when Jungkook glanced at him, which made the whole thing even more confusing.

The time needed to get to the mansion was two hours. It was located in a pretty sparsely populated area, and Jungkook watched as the city turned into the suburbs and they turned into a few lonely houses and villages here or there. He was - again - caught in between Yoongi and Taehyung, his position now even more uncomfortable than it had been on the plane. At least the seats on the plane were wider, so he could avoid brushing shoulders with the demons. No such luck now.

They arrived around noon, the car pausing in front of the gates at the bottom of the hill for a minute or so, before continuing its way up. The mansion could be seen pretty well from the road – it was a huge white building on top of the hill, partly obstructed by trees. Jungkook barely suppressed a sigh. He had never been here before, but the house was just as extravagant as everything else the king owned. Jungkook’s traitorous mind wondered if he knew Jungkook was here – though, of course he did, Jimin wouldn’t be able to hide it from him - before he forced himself to think about something else. The king and anything connected to him was not something Jungkook wanted to linger on, especially not now.

Once they were parked in front of the house, he waited for Taehyung to get out of the car before slowly climbing after him. The demon didn’t outright touch him, but he was clearly keeping his hands close, probably to catch him in case he lost his balance. The thought made his breath catch in his throat, and he averted his gaze when Taehyung looked at him. He didn’t do it fast enough to miss an amused quirk of his lips, though. Obviously, he enjoyed seeing him powerless, and Jungkook had to wonder if his only motives for being this helpful were to humiliate him. It wouldn’t surprise him, but…

“Please stop that.” said Yoongi. Jungkook looked at him in surprise, half convinced he wasn’t talking to him, because… well, because he was not really doing anything. Yoongi was definitely staring at him though, his gaze just as indecipherable as ever.

“Stop what?” he asked.

Yoongi shook his head. “Read a few more of your books.” he instructed. “Maybe you’ll get it then. I’m done.” With that, he grabbed both his and Jungkook’s luggage and turned his back on him, setting off towards the house.

Jungkook stared after him, thoroughly confused. What books? How were books supposed to help him get what Yoongi wanted from him? He turned towards Taehyung, who was leaning against Mrs. Kim’s car, looking mildly amused. His expression was enough to know he would get no help from him, and his next words further confirmed it, putting him firmly on Yoongi’s side of the argument. “You should take his advice.” he said, glancing at the sky for a moment, before looking back at him and continuing; “then again, you’ve been doing that for years and are still clueless, so maybe not.”

Jungkook rubbed his eyes, trying to push down a wave of irritation threatening to take over. “How about you just explain?” he asked, although he knew he shouldn’t have bothered. Taehyung seemed to enjoy leaving him in the dark, so it was unlikely he would get anything out of him.

Taehyung’s gaze slightly softened. “Don’t worry about it.” he said. “It’s not important.” He slowly pushed away from the car. “We should get you in the house before you fall over.” His words were accompanied by a quick head to toe look, followed with an exaggerated bow, hands pointing in the direction of the front door.

Jungkook already opened his mouth to argue, but caught himself just in time. He was not at all confident in his ability to stay upright at the moment, so any kind of claim that he would not fall over would be most likely perceived as a lie.