8 

“Jungkook?” 

Jungkook snaps out of his thoughts and looks over at Namjoon. The latter is staring at him with arched brows, hands on his hips. 

“Yeah?”

Namjoon looks weary as he carefully steps closer to Jungkook’s desk. “You okay?” 

“Yes, hyung, just tired.” Jungkook gives him a forced smile before turning back towards his computer. The screen is black. 

“Are you sure?” Namjoon prods, eyebrows pulled into a frown. “I’ve been standing here for six minutes and thirty seconds, and you haven’t even noticed.”

Jungkook doesn’t look at him, shoulders tense, and Namjoon sighs.

“Hey, kid, you know you can tell me anything, right?” Namjoon purses his lips. “Think of me as your personal therapist or something. You work for me, it comes with the package.”

Jungkook knows that his coworkers have started to notice the sudden change in his behaviour. It’s not like he can pretend nothing happened on Sunday, but still, Jungkook thinks, he should at least try not to be an open book. 

“Of course, hyung. Nothing to worry about.”

Namjoon does not look like he’s gonna buy the lie anytime soon, but Jungkook decides he’s had enough time to sulk. 

The case needs to be solved so Taehyung can escape that hellhole of a community. 

“Did you come back from the medical examiner?” 

Jungkook needs to question one of Jiyeon’s friends today, and it’s already two in the afternoon. Jimin’s patrol shift ends in fifteen minutes, Jungkook decides he’ll have the officer drive him to Jiyeon’s high school.

“Yeah, just finished going through a few reports with Mark,” Namjoon finally says, sighing tiredly as he runs a hand through his ashy grey hair.

He had brown locks two days ago, and Jungkook wonders if this has to do with one I-never-age-and-am-way-out-of-your-league-but-I-think-your-captain-is-kinda-cute Kim Seokjin who is to visit them today to discuss the previous case. 

“What’d Mark say?” Jungkook asks, frowning at Namjoon. 

“The coroner found the source of the scarring on her belly. Main trail lead to her uterus.” 

Jungkook’s heart drops. . He knew it. 

“Abortion?” he asks, already on his feet as he slips on his coat. 

Namjoon nods. “She must have had it done recently, maybe a month or two ago.”

“Any DNA samples on the father?”

“No medical reports on the abortion at all,” Namjoon says, shaking his head, “kid must’ve done it at a private facility. Didn’t find on it.”

Of course she’d do it at a private facility where a couple of bills ensure the fetus never existed to begin with. She’s fricking Catholic. 

The problem is, in order for an underage girl to get an abortion she’d need permission from at least one parental figure, and Jungkook suddenly thinks back to the look in the mother’s eyes on the night of the murder. The blank stare underneath all the pain and tears.

Jungkook doesn't know who murdered Kim Jiyeon, only seventeen years into her promising life. But he has zero intentions of letting that er get away with it.

“This is some heavy stuff, kid,” Namjoon says, breaking him out of his thoughts. “I don’t think anyone in the family wanted us to know about it, you know, since they’re devout catholics and all.” 

“No ,” Jungkook mutters, grabbing his phone and badge. 

“Where are you going, by the w-”

“To question one of the students. Don’t inform the family about this yet, I have a feeling Mr. Kim won’t be pleased to hear of his daughter’s abortion.”

God knows what that man will do out of anger, and Jungkook feels his heart skip a beat at the prospect of Taehyung being the potential victim of his wrath.

“Fine,” Namjoon mutters, but a frown is pulling at his brows, and Jungkook bites his lip and thinks for a second before deciding that his boss and Seokjin both need to get their together.

If he noticed the tension between Yoongi and Jimin, he practically fed and raised whatever is going on between Namjoon and Seokjin. 

“Can you deal with Seokjin hyung?” Jungkook stops in front of Namjoon, arching a hopeful brow. “He’s gonna be here in an hour to discuss the previous case.”

Namjoon blinks and pretends to be surprised, his cheeks dusted pink as he nods.

“Yeah, sure, uh, why not. Don’t really have much to do right now.”

Jungkook tries not to scoff knowingly and instead pats his hyung’s shoulder in thanks before moving past him. He jogs down the hallway towards the elevators and then impatiently hits the lobby button. 

Everything is suddenly making sense. 

The necklace, Jiyeon’s special position in the church choir, the lack of diary or other private journals - Jungkook just needs a few more pieces to finish the puzzle. 

And then Taehyung will be free. 

The elevator finally reaches the lobby and Jungkook crashes into someone when he rushes to get out, big hands steading him by the shoulders before he can stumble backwards. Jungkook catches a whiff of a familiar, and rather expensive, cologne and instantly feels at ease.

“Hey there, cowboy, calm down now,” Seokjin says, grinning in amusement when Jungkook regains his balance, “where are you rushing off to?”

“You’re early, hyung,” Jungkook says, frowning, and Seokjin shrugs. 

“Meeting was cancelled, boss’ kid got sick on a field trip. Thank god I’m never having one of those.”

Jungkook nods and moves past the lawyer. “Okay, but hyung, I really gotta go right now, something urgent just came-”

“Wait, you’re cancelling on me too?” Seokjin interrupts, looking offended.

“No, Namjoon hyung will step in for me, I really gotta go now, bye!”

Jungkook doesn’t wait long enough to see the way his hyung flushes, and he all but runs out of the building, jumping into the closest available cruiser. Jimin is probably still on duty, so Jungkook will have no choice but to drive himself.

He gets to the high school in no time and ignores the wide-eyed students who stare at him when he exits the patrol car, his coat flying behind him as if it were a movie scene. Seokjin did gift it to him on his birthday for a more “dramatic addition to his usual dull wardrobe”. 

It seems to serve its purpose quite nicely, Jungkook briefly notes.

“Hey, kid,” Jungkook stops when he nears the lockers, pointing at a random student who is in the middle of putting away her books, “Kang Minah, where can I find her?”

The girl blinks rapidly, clearly caught off guard. Jungkook arches an eyebrow and tries not to impatiently tap his foot against the polished floor. 

“She-she’s in the homeroom,” the girl stammers, cheeks red.

“Great, where exactly is that?”

“Down the hall, first room to your left, Sir.”

Jungkook has left before the girl finishes talking. He squeezes past chattering students, ignoring some of the blatant staring, and finds the homeroom in no time.

There are a few students sitting about, lazily going through their books or simply dozing off on their tables. 

Jungkook instantly finds Minah, slowly making his way over to the back row where the lone student is sitting next to the window, her gaze lost. 

“Kang Minah?” 

The girl jumps, looking up at Jungkook with wide eyes. The detective smiles, wanting to come off as friendly in case the girl decides to haul . 

“Y-yes?”

“Could I talk to you for a minute?”

Minah frowns. “About?”

“You know that already.” 

Jungkook arches an eyebrow and Minah’s jaw clenches briefly, her eyes downcast before she slowly nods.

Jungkook did make sure to place his silver badge in his shirt pocket underneath the open coat, and judging by the hushed whispers surrounding them and the incessant murmur of “he can arrest me anytime he wants”, Jungkook’s profession no longer seems to be a mystery to these kids. 

Though they’re kinda wrong, he’s a detective not a police officer. 

He nods curtly and taps his fingers against the table and then turns on his heel, sidestepping the girls who had stopped working on their worksheets to shamelessly stare. 

Minah is curling in on herself with each passing second as more and more eyes settle on them, loud whispers spreading among the student body, and Jungkook tries not to roll his eyes. 

Thank god he’s done with this bull. 

“Let’s talk in my car,” Jungkook decides after seeing how full the cafeteria has become after their arrival, “don’t really think we’ll manage much here.”

Minah looks hesitant, her brows furrowed and Jungkook bites his lip and then sighs, smiling tiredly.

“Look, I’m the head detective in charge of this case. I want to find your friend’s murderer as much as you do, and the only way that will happen is if you cooperate.”

Slowly but surely, Minah nods, wide eyes staring up at Jungkook, and the boy angrily shoves away the sudden need to protect. He seems to be doing that a lot lately, god dammit.

They leave the building and enter the police car, and Jungkook turns on the engine and drives away from the all-girls’ high school. 

Minah looks twice as nervous as before and Jungkook wordlessly takes the route to the nearest Mcdonald’s, slowly pulling up into the drive-thru. Minah’s eyebrows furrow for a second but she doesn’t comment on it. 

“Any restrictions?” Jungkook suddenly asks, breaking the silence that had settled in the car, and Minah blinks before shyly shaking her head. “Milk okay?” 

Minah nods, still weary, and Jungkook grins before rolling down the window once they reach the ordering device. 

“Two large fries and two Oreo Mcflurries. Oh, and a cheeseburger.” 

Jungkook drives up to pay and then hands Minah the paper bags and paper carton holding the Mcflurries, and Minah looks startled but manages to quickly grab everything without spilling. 

Jungkook drives for a few more minutes, navigating his way throughout the small neighborhood until he finds a bright red building surrounded by flowers despite the season. He bites back a snort and parks behind the kindergarten. 

He can see the tiny children painting through the glass windows, their shirts and faces covered in bright colors and Jungkook allows himself to smile fondly as he reaches for the bag of food. 

After unwrapping the burger and handing it over to Minah who hesitantly accepts, Jungkook proceeds to dump his fries into his Mcflurry, earning a stupefied look from the girl next to him. 

“Uh,” she manages, frowning at him, and Jungkook guffaws.

“It’s better than it looks, tried it once back in college and haven’t eaten it the normal way since.”

“I hope you’re not expecting me to do the same,” Minah mutters, worry still etched on her face, and Jungkook playfully narrows his eyes. 

“I’m a cop, you know.” He leans back to stare her down. “Gotta listen to me unless you want me to assign you to do some community service. Public toilets stink no matter where they’re located.”

“I thought you said you were the head detective in charge of this case?”

Jungkook blinks a couple of times, surprised at the slight hint of playfulness in Minah’s tone. The girl looks down at her food when her cheeks warm up, and Jungkook finally breaks the silence by chuckling. 

“Sorry, you’re right,” he says, “I was just messing with you. Not good with social , you see.”

“Well, same,” Minah mutters, and Jungkook reads into the heaviness behind her words. 

“So, how did you two meet?”

Minah’s fingers tighten a little around the burger wrapper, and she bites her lip. Jungkook fills the silence with the sound of him quietly eating his Mcflurry, but Minah eventually sighs and slumps back in her seat.

“I transferred here last year,” she says, staring at up Jungkook. “Lived in Busan for three years with my uncle and aunt. Parents died in a car accident.”

“I’m sorry,” Jungkook murmurs, but Minah just shrugs. 

“It wouldn’t be this hard had we still lived in Japan, you know. But our house was sold because no one could pay for it, and since I’m still underage I was sent to live with my closest relatives.”

Jungkook whistles. “All the way to South Korean, huh?”

Minah’s smile is brief but it’s ridden with bitterness, and Jungkook bites back the urge to reach over and smooth out the wrinkles in her forehead. Her frown only deepens when she turns to stare back up at him. 

“My aunt got sick two years into my stay there, some kind of lung related disease, uncle didn’t want to tell me the details but I heard one of his phone calls with the hospital.”

Minah swallows harshly, fingers trembling. 

“Cancer. Stage four.”

Jungkook slowly puts his food in the cup holder and reaches out to gently squeeze Minah’s shoulder. The girl jolts a little at the movement, but before Jungkook can retract his hand she laughs bitterly and shakes her head. 

“See? This-this is exactly what killed her.”

Jungkook’s insides twist uncomfortably at her words and he ignores the sudden rush of blood to his head. 

“Jiyeon?” 

Minah nods, staring at the windows of the kindergarten a few feet ahead of them. The children are packing away now. It’s nearing 2.30. The sun has painted the sky with all kinds of colours, and Jungkook briefly wonders if maybe Minah has to skip a few classes because of this.

“Aunty gave up all hope of surviving, but my uncle didn’t,” Minah shakes her head, tears filling her eyes as she seems to relive the memories, “we’ve never really been religious, only celebrated Christmas, but desperation really has no mercy on a man’s morals.” 

“He converted?” Jungkook asks, and Minah sighs and nods. 

“Said God could help if the world couldn’t. Worked day in and out, I took up a couple of part time jobs, too, so we could afford a new house which wasn’t placed smack in the middle of the city’s pollution.”

“And you ended up all the way in another city.” It sounds more like a question, but Minah shrugs. 

“It wasn’t the original plan, but my uncle started frequenting the local church to regain some hope, you know, and one of the pastors there told him about father Yongchul.”

Jungkook does not miss the way she all but spits the name.

“Last year, he called us up, told us he had property for sale. In the name of the church, he said. Uncle packed our bags and squeezed us into his truck before the phone call ended.”

Jungkook quietly takes it all in, painting a mental image of the whole situation. And then he clears his throat and scratches his neck. 

“What happened then?”

“We worked for him, kind of,” Minah says, “my uncle and aunt became more religious, started going to the church every bloody day, helped volunteering and . They even started praying before every meal.” 

Minah laughs at that, the sound lacking any source of humour. 

“I was enrolled into the local all-girls’ school and forced to apply for the school choir because we had a weekly obligation to attend Sunday Masses. Extra credit but also to cleanse our souls or whatever, I don’t fully remember the  bull they kept feeding us.”

“I take it you met Jiyeon at school then?”

Minah’s face slowly morphs into a frown and she nods, jaw clenching. 

“I was bullied. Naturally. They found out I’m of japanese descent, didn’t help that I had picked up a Busan accent with my lacking Korean. But Jiyeon-Jiyeon instantly took me under her wing, cut off anyone who tried to bother me.”

Jungkook mentally applauds the girl for her kind heart, and then remembers her brother following him out in the cold to check up on him. Heat rushes to his cheeks and he forces the thought away. 

“She was nice to you.”

“Too nice,” Minah murmurs, eyes distant. “She-she knew. She sent me away so many times, took my spot so many times because she ing knew. Father Yongchul, and his nephew, Jiyeon knew what those devils did.”

Jungkook suddenly perks up, straightening in his seat. “What nephew?” 

As if suddenly realizing what it kept overseeing, Jungkook’s brain replays his visit to the church, quick flashes of faces passing by until he suddenly recalls one of the altar boys who had followed Father Yongchul up to the stage. 

He had been wearing the same dark purple gown as every other priest there, height and body of no significance. He had easily blended in with the rest, but there was something about the way he had smiled at father Yongchul, elongated eye contact, almost cunning in the way his smile looked more like a smirk when he had handed the older male the Bible. 

“It was in the holy water.” Minah’s voice trembles, and Jungkook quickly reaches over and takes the untouched burger from her hands when a choked sob leaves her lips. 

“What was in the holy water?” Jungkook gently asks, his heart pounding against his chest. 

Minah shakes her head, hiding her face in her hands as she starts sobbing, and Jungkook already knows what she’s implying but he needs to make sure the voice recorder on his phone picks it up. 

"What was in the holy water, Minah?” he repeats, firmly, and Minah whimpers and gives him a tear-stained frown. 

“Drugs. Father Yongchul and his nephew Jaebum drugged Jiyeon and-and many other girls to them-” 

Minah erupts into hysteric sobs and Jungkook quickly leans over and pulls her into a tight hug, his eyes wide in both horror and anger. 

He ing knew it.