A ROSE’S SEVEN THORNS

CHAPTER 30

“Confidential”

Earlier

The paper wasn’t actually a paper—it was actually a photo taken from security camera footage. It had been enlarged and in the corner it said: Black Brief E-Camera #3. Below that it showed a date – the same date it was robbed.

Detective Lee or Park hadn’t been able to identify the people in the photo. The way they had their faces angled prevented the camera from getting a good look and being able to recognize them. That maybe so, but coming from someone who saw them almost every day, that was not the case. Jangmi knew exactly who was in the photo.

Standing on the opposite sides of Black Brief’s elevators were Taehyung and Jungkook.

As her arms fell to her side, she breathed out, “Holy .”

•••

She couldn’t believe it.

The case her father was working on was focused entirely on BTS and their long list of places they had done their jobs at. How small was the world that it had to be her father assigned to this case? A case where she knew and was good friends with the criminals. She didn’t want to believe it. How insane was this?

But the more she thought about, the more she realized how it all seemed to fit. It was only after BTS robbed Black Brief that her father returned to Seoul weeks later. Her father wasn’t respected for nothing at the station. He was a damn good detective.

So good he was offered a job in the states and then brought back to Seoul to solve a case that’s been going on for more than three years. Namjoon had given her a rough estimate when they started their jobs, turning into the Robin Hoods of Seoul, so she knew. When the police department of Seoul couldn’t figure it out, they decided to bring him back.

From her spot on the floor, Jangmi decided to snoop through the file. She’d already seen some huge evidence, so what’s a little more? The papers were all cases on different establishments BTS had supposedly stole from.

Supposedly. Jangmi thought as she rolled her eyes. There was nothing hypothetical about this. I know they did it!

By the looks of the papers in the file, her father must have taken the Black Brief case since it was the most recent. As she looked over the cases, she spotted some of her father’s notes. It seemed all the cases had many similarities, which allowed the officers to bunk them together. So they knew it was done by the same people, but had no clue who these people were.

This was good and bad. Good because the boys weren’t caught in the crossfire. Bad because the boys weren’t caught in the crossfire—yet. There’s no way in knowing when her father will put it together. A couple days from now or a couple months, years?

The photo of Jungkook and Taehyung was a close call, even if they purposely meant to be caught on camera. If she could recognize them, then couldn’t their enemies? What if they found another gang like VIXX and cut them a deal if they say who’s in the picture and where to find them?

The boys weren’t safe. She had to warn them.

Jangmi gathered the papers and placed them back neatly in the file. She was still sitting on her knees when she heard her father’s voice getting closer and closer. Her eyes widened and she dived to place the file on the desk, where he had left it.

She dropped the file on the desk just as the door opened. Because of her dive, she landed roughly onto the floor. Her arm hit his rolling chair, making it bang softly against the wall. Jangmi was on her side, fake stretching when she looked towards the door.

Her father was standing there, along with another man, who seemed a bit younger than her father but older than her. Their eyes were both wide as they took in the scene of the girl on the floor.

The position she was in looked very uncomfortable, but Jangmi was making some ugly noises as she stretched. Then she sat up and lifted a hand, “Yo. You made it back in ten minutes – congrats.”

“W-What are you doing?” Her father asked, baffled.

Jangmi stood, holding back a wince when she hit her rug burn on her elbow. “I stretch a lot. You know it can release stress and stuff, make you flexible yeah.” Just to prove her point, she bent down to touch her toes and released an obnoxious groan. Then she stood back up and stretched her shoulder out, placing one arm in the other. “Oh yeah, good stretch.”

Then she turned her attention to the other man when she saw her father opening his mouth – no doubt planning to ask more questions. She moved forward and bowed. “Hello, I’m his daughter, Jangmi.”

Park nodded with a polite smile, “Hello Jangmi.”

“This is Park,” Her father continued. “He’s my partner and hoobae.”

She nodded her head slightly in greeting once more before she focused on her father. “Appa, something came up and I have to leave. It’s important. Do you think we could do the arcade another time?”

At first, he thought she was just trying to get out of going to the arcade with him. He thought she was still upset that he had to come to the station on their outing. He was honestly worried that when he came back to his office, she’d be gone.

But she wasn’t and she wasn’t trying to ditch. She was willing to put a raincheck on the arcade. Now he was more than ready to leave the station to go to the arcade, but he had to admit she looked antsy. Maybe something did come up and she needed to leave. After all, she had her own life that he unfortunately knew nothing about.

“Uh, yeah, is everything alright?” Detective Lee asked her, his eyebrows drawing close together in concern. “You look like you’re in a rush. Do you need me to drive you somewhere? I can put the sirens on to get there faster. It’s against the rules, but what they don’t know won’t hurt them.” He looked over to Park and raised an eyebrow.

Park zipped his lips.

Jangmi put her hands out in front of her and shook them. “Ah no, no. It’s okay. My friend is going to meet me at the bus station on the Southside, so yeah. Don’t worry.”

He tilted his head and frowned, “Are you sure? It’s no problem.”

“No, really. My friend just called me and they need someone to talk to. It’s nothing, really,” She waved him off. When he opened his mouth again, she continued, “Today was nice. I’ll make sure Jangho is ready next week. And don’t forget about the arcade, okay?” She grabbed her phone and bag before moving over to her father and Park. “I’ve really got to run now.”

She bowed her head slightly to Park, “It was nice meeting you.”

“You, too,” Park said politely.

Then she turned to her father and gave him a wave, “See you, appa.”

With that, she exited the room in a hurry. She had almost been caught and sure, he wouldn’t know that she knew the people behind the robberies. Heck, he wouldn’t even put it together, but she couldn’t be under that pressure and not say anything. She needed to regain her composure or else she’d spill it all.

In fact, she was so lost and nervous that she had told him her actual feelings. Jangmi did, in fact, enjoy the day with her father even if they only ate. Now even though there was free food, she thought it would be awkward and totally ridiculous. But it wasn’t.

Jangmi had a nice time and she would tell Jangho that, so he didn’t give their father such a hard time. And she really was looking forward to going to the arcade even if it took her father thirty minutes to finish what he was called in for. But since this came up, she knew she wouldn’t be able to focus on anything else until she told the boys the news.

This didn’t mean she wouldn’t want to do it another day. All that mattered was that Jangmi hadn’t planned to tell her father any of this. Hell, she hadn’t even planned to call him appa (she planned to call him abeoji). She wanted to make him suffer and constantly think if it had gone well – she was a bit of a sadist. But she had to get out of there and she did, not even realizing the impression she left on her father.

Detective Lee grinned.

The day had gone well! Now he could tell Hyunmi that their daughter really had become someone wonderful. He wasn’t so worried about Jangho now. In fact, he was excited and couldn’t wait to see his children again. He was so excited that he needed to tell someone now.

Park looked over just as Detective Lee cleared his throat and his work expression appeared. Detective Lee nodded and said, “Alright then, gather the other files and come back here in five minutes. We’ll go over everything.”

His hoobae nodded and left the room to gather the hidden files on Kingz.

Once he left, Detective Lee pulled out his phone and sent a long message to Mrs. Lee. It was a cutesy message, showing that he was so happy to reunite with Jangmi and couldn’t wait to see Jangho. Despite his demeanor, he had always been one to write cute messages with emoticons and little kid sayings.

After he sent it, he thought of something else. He was curious, so he figured he would ask Mrs. Lee to see what she knew about it. He typed another message.

[Hey…since when does Jangmi stretch?]

•••

Luckily, the bus stop was near the police station. It was honestly why her father had even let her go alone in the first place. She reached it quickly and pulled her phone to message Namjoon. She wanted to tell him what was going on and that she was traveling alone. The police station was sort of in the middle, but was closer towards the south where BTS was at.

Just as she unlocked her phone, it vibrated. She had received a message.

From: Jiji

[You look nice in that color]

Jangmi’s head tilted in confusion as she read the message. Then she glanced down at her maroon shirt before she looked around. But before she could get a good look, her phone vibrated again, indicating another message had been received.

From: Jiji

[Wow you really are slow}

…

[Aaaaand there goes your left eye. Wow look at it go!]

She grounded her teeth together and reminded herself that she actually missed this guy a while back, and wanted him in her life again. Why she liked these rude people in her life, she didn’t know. She typed a message back, her fingers hitting the screen rather angrily.

From: Jangmi

[Do you want to die?]

“That’s not nice.”

At the voice, Jangmi spun around and there he was.

Woo Jiho aka Zico stood with a large -eating grin and his phone in his hand, waving it from side to side. He tucked his phone in his pocket before moving closer towards her. She crossed her arms and scoffed, “I’m nice.”

“And I’m not a leader of a gang,” Jiho shot back, chuckling when she gave him a stink face. He patted her head and then caressed it, “There, there. I know the truth hurts.”

She smacked her lips together in annoyance as her left eye began twitching. Then she hit his hand away and said, “You’re a punk, you know that, Woo Jiho?” He sent her a wink, which made her roll her eyes but even she couldn’t keep the slight smile off her lips. “What are you doing here? You know we’re close to a police station?”

“You say that like I’m supposed to be afraid of the police,” Jiho chuckled then he bopped her on the head gently. “Newsflash, Jangmi, the cops here . Half of them don’t know right from left and the other half are just as bad as gangs. Besides, even if they were competent, I wouldn’t be scared.” He pushed his chest out and shrugged coolly.

Jangmi pushed his chest with a finger and sarcastically said, “Ooh, you’re so tough.”

“I know I am, you don’t have to tell me,” He retorted with a large grin as Jangmi raised her eyebrows. He touched her nose and said, “But it’s always nice to be recognized.”

She chuckled and shook her head at him. “So modest, too? Oh my.”

It was his turn to chuckle now as he tossed an arm around her shoulders. “And what are you doing here? Your guard dogs let you go out by yourself?”

Jangmi hit him lightly with her elbow, which did nothing. “Don’t call them that – that’s not nice.” Then she said, “Remember when I told you my father came back?” At his nod, she continued. “Yeah well, today was daddy-daughter day one. We went to street vendors first and we were supposed to go the arcade, you know like back then? Well, of course his job came up and we had to go to the station, but something came up—”

That’s when Jangmi remembered what she had been doing before Jiho showed up. She had been in a rush to get to the boys! Seeing Jiho was an unexpected yet pleasant surprise and it made her forget her original mission. Her mother always told her that her attention span was quite short.

“Hey, did you drive here?” She suddenly switched subjects once she realized driving there in a car would be faster than taking the bus.

He raised an eyebrow at her question, but answered anyway. “Uh yeah, need a ride?”

Jangmi nodded quickly and put her hands together, “Please!”

Jiho gave her a look. “Why are you acting like I would tell you no? Of course, I’ll take you wherever you need to go.” Then he jerked his head towards where he had appeared earlier. With his arm still around her shoulders, he began leading her to his car.

“You’re not going to ask why,” She asked him as they walked.

He only shrugged, “You have your reasons, right? That’s good enough for me.” Jangmi looked up at him and smiled. “Besides, you always did have a short attention span so.” Her expression fell into a deadpan and she pinched his side. “Ow! See? Not nice.”

They reached his car in a matter of seconds and soon they were both buckled in. Jiho tapped his steering wheel rhythmically as he looked over at Jangmi. “So where to?”

Jangmi didn’t meet his eyes as she sheepishly responded, “Uh, Namjoon’s.”

…

“You’re using me for a ride to go to another guy?” He deadpanned as his fingers halted as well. Then he muttered, too low for Jangmi to even hear. “You sure know how to make a guy feel special.”

“I know, but it’s important,” She told him sincerely. “I wouldn’t ask you otherwise…even though you two should make up already.” When he narrowed his eyes at her, she grinned widely and said, “Please~?”

Jiho stared at her for a few seconds and it wasn’t until her grin faded slightly that he relented. He rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically. “I guess I can take you.” This caused the younger girl’s grin to widen more and she thanked him.

In reality, he would’ve taken her anyway regardless if she was going to Namjoon. But she didn’t need to know that. Just yet.

“But,” Jangmi glanced at him when he started to leave the parking space. “In case you forgot, I’m an enemy of theirs.” She nodded, waiting for him to continue.

She was a bit slow, bless her.

Jiho sighed again, “You want to show their enemy where their hidden location is at?”

How could she have forgotten that?

Wow, she really was losing it. She’d always been slow, but this one takes the cake. But she can just blame it on what she discovered. Clearly, she wasn’t thinking straight since finding out that her father is the lead investigator on BTS.

She face palmed and then whined after when she realized how much force was behind it. Jiho shook his head with a fond smile on his lips then he reached over. With the hand that wasn’t on the wheel, he gently rubbed her forehead.

“Pabo,” He told her before moving his hand away and patting her head. Then both of his hands were on the wheel as Jangmi started to speak.

“Oh my god, I really am,” She shook her head before she looked at Jiho. “I’m losing it, dude.”

Jiho raised an eyebrow. “When did you ever have it?”

Jangmi’s eye twitched briefly as she bit her tongue. She couldn’t get lost again. She needed to remain on the task at hand and get to the boys. If she began to talk back, she’d be so focused on burning Jiho so bad that he needs aloe vera and not the guys. She’d get him later.

So, despite sending him a quick dirty look, she ignored him and thought. Then when it hit her, she snapped her fingers. “I got it! You can take me to the pizzeria and I’ll walk from there.”

“Walk from there? By yourself when there’s gangs targeting you?” He said to her and when she nodded, he snorted loudly. “Yeah no. Why don’t you call one of your guard d—” She sent him a sharp glance, eyebrow raised just daring him to finish. He rolled his eyes and corrected, “—friends to pick you up?”

As much as she wanted to complain that she was not some defenseless kid that needed babysitting, she figured this would be the best route. It would make Jiho happy and most likely, Namjoon. And this was good because then maybe they would realize what idiots they are and reunite as friends.

A girl can dream.

So she grabbed her phone and sent a message to Namjoon, asking if he could pick her up from the pizzeria. He replied back quickly and it was set. He was on his way to pick her up from the pizzeria. She told Jiho and he nodded before focusing solely on the road.

She watched as he mouthed the rap currently playing on the radio and tilted her head. Something had just hit her and she couldn’t figure out why, but consider her curious. “Hey Jiji.”

He hummed as he switched lanes, his eyes briefly glancing at her. “What’s up?”

“Why didn’t you just get me to tell you where they are located?” Jangmi asked him. “You could have used that information for your gang.” He glanced at her with a raised eyebrow and she shook her head. “I mean not that I would want you to. As a matter of fact, I don’t want either of you fighting with each other.”

Jiho switched lanes before speeding up a bit. Then when he made sure the roads were clear at the moment, he looked at her. His serious expression took her back, but before she could ask anything, he spoke. “Jangmi, I would never use you to get to them.”

She swallowed as his eyes pierced hers. Then he looked back to the road and she could finally breathe easier. She continued to watch him as he started to speak again.

“Would it be easy to do it that way? Hell yeah.” He continued on as he shook his head. “But it ain’t right and it’s not how I do things. I don’t do things the easy way.” Jiho glanced at her and caught her eye before turning back to the road. “It’s not worth it if you don’t earn it.”

He made a left hand turn as he went on, “Besides, these gangs after you are planning to use you against Namjoon and I, right? So how does it make me any better to do the same?” Then he stopped and put the car in park.

Jangmi looked outside the window and realized they were outside the pizzeria. She’d been so caught up in his explanation that she hadn’t even seen the familiar surroundings. Glancing inside the pizzeria, she spotted ahjumma ogling some guys that were surely legal but still way too young for her. She shook her head and prayed for the guys’ escape.

Then she turned back when Jiho called her name. She moved back slightly when she realized how close he was to her. He was definitely up in her bubble and it surprised her, but it didn’t bother her. S