chapter X 자비 [mercy]

you got me begging you for mercy...

        "Yongguk, you're gonna be here for a while." Jaebum said slowly, his voice hesitant - as if he was hiding something or restraining himself from doing something. Most likely something stupid, Yongguk thought to himself as he puffed out some smoke before smudging the cigarette into the ash tray. "You've been sentenced to 25 years to life... Even if I tried, even I wouldn't be able to get you out--"

"Who said I wanted to get out?" Yongguk cut him off, leaning back against the cold concrete of his jail cell - the same type of coldness he felt in his heart. Jaebum fell silent as he observed the male, standing on the other side of the bars. "I deserve to be here, Jaebum. After all I've done--"

"--All you've ever done were robberies; you've never killed someone!" Jaebum persisted.

Yongguk smiled, though it was bitter, and turned his head to look at him. "I killed when we rescued Daehyun, now didn't I?" Jaebum exhaled and lowered his gaze to the floor. "Now, now, you're a cop, may I remind you."  He pointed out, watching as Jaebum set his jaw. "You've always wanted to see me behind bars. Why the sudden change of heart?"

Jaebum was silent for a moment, but kept his gaze on the ground. "Because even I realized that not all people like you belong behind bars." He murmured. Yongguk blinked before his expression turned into a confused look.

"Jaebum, I don't understand--"

"You fought for what was good." Jaebum explained, stuffing his hands into his pockets as he looked up. "You never killed, you never caused trouble until trouble came to you. But whenever it did, you'd fight back ten fold - which was why the cops were always after you." He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "You treated your group like family, and I saw that in your eyes when you came begging for help that one day. I saw the sorrow, the longing in your eyes - I saw how helpless you were, despite you trying not to seem like it. You were destroyed and devastated, and you were more than willing to die if it meant that Daehyun was in safer hands. You made too many sacrifices to ensure the greater good for the people you care about. Yongguk," Jaebum took a step forward and reached out to grab on to the bars. "I don't care how long it takes, but I will get you out of here. Daehyun needs you. I can't stand seeing you locked up in here and in pain like this. The damn hospital is refusing to let us know about his progress, and it's been 3 months already! I just...I can't--I can't see you like this. I will do what I can. I promise you." Yongguk swallowed thickly as he watched Jaebum, then looked away before slowly nodding.

"Good luck then, Jaebum. Oh, but one more thing." Yongguk got to his feet and walked over to the bars. "...How's Jimin doing? I heard that last week, he got into a rough patch."

Jaebum exhaled, slowly nodding as a look of shame came across his expression. ", he was just released out of the hospital 2 weeks ago too. And our boss made me put him on a task, which seemed harmless at first. But last week, I got a call at 2:14AM from some stranger using Jimin's phone saying that he's holding him hostage. Turned out, the not-so-harmless task turned out to be very harmless. What our boss forgot tell us was that the guy Jimin was supposed to bodyguard was someone the Korean Mob was targetting - so when he got in their way, he became a target as well."

"...Is he doing okay, though?"

The captain nodded with a small, relieved smile. "He's shaken up. When we arrived, they were about to him so I got truly pissed. Luckily, the boss didn't put me on leave for killing the mob leader." He chuckled warily and rubbed the side of his neck. "In fact, he gave me a raise."

Yongguk laughed and folds his arms across his chest. "Well, then that's good, right? Glad Jimin's doing okay. And how about Jungkook? Heard anything about him?"

"Yeah, actually." Jaebum blinked a little. "Because he's so young and he was still very new to the gang life, they don't have any evidence on him except for the fact that he was there the day we rescued Daehyun. So he's going to be released from jail within the upcoming year as long as he promised to get help for his drug addictions, which he quickly agreed to. His first day of rehab is tomorrow and they said the better he does, he sooner he gets out of jail." He hummed low before making a face. "Though he might not get off the hook so easily for me."

"Why's that?"

Jaebum scoffed. "The broke Jimin's heart. Though Jimin disobeyed direct orders, I wasn't mad at him - I would have done the same exact thing if it was Mark. But it took a real monster to toy with someone's heart like that and walk away, leaving him bleeding on the floor. Jimin was a mess afterwards; he barely ate, never spoke, was even suicidal. It took him a while to get back to his real self and back into the police force." He explained.

"Speaking of Mark, how is he? How are you two?" Yongguk pondered, his keen eyes watching Jaebum's expression lighten up.

"Great, actually. The judge ruled Mark as innocent because he was forced to do everything and he was still labeled as a missing person. So I had him move into my place - and he even took the entry exam to become an officer under my command." He bragged, letting out a small laugh. "He passed. "Now he gets to call me Captain."

Yongguk groaned, playfully rolling his eyes. "Ugh, that lead to so much ual things."

"Oh, like office ? Yeah, holy , I've always wanted to try that." Jaebum revealed before they both burst into laughter.

"But, really, I'm glad everything is doing well." Yongguk hummed and took a moment to look around at the blank walls of his jail cell. "Ah, that reminds me; did you bring what I requested?" He asked. Jaebum looked confused for a moment before he realized and let out an exclaimed 'oh, right!' before grabbing his duffle bag.

"Pictures of Daehyun and some of his belongings, per your request." Jaebum chimed, letting another officer unlock the jail door so he could hand the duffle bag to Yongguk. Yongguk immediately took it and sat down on his bed as he opened the bag. Jaebum watched the officer lock the door before he turned his attention back to Yongguk. "I even went to the liberty of framing each picture and giving you some stuff to help you hang them up." Yongguk reached up and took the photos out one by one, his soft smile growing ever-so-slightly as he eyed the smiling boy in each frame. He then grabbed