Jungkook woke with a start as a slither of golden sunlight pierced through his make-shift curtains. He immediately tumbled out of bed and looked upon his wall that was an off-beige colour. 6 AM, it was too early a time of day for the pick pocket to function properly. Now that he was conscious, how did he get here? What happened? Was last night a dream? He fumbled around in his pocket but couldn’t find anything and his hoodie had no evidence of broken glass or rubble from the warehouse on it.

Strange.

Perhaps it was a dream.

*Bzzzzzzzzz*

What the hell?

*Bzzzzzzzzz*

Jungkook turned towards his dresser and found a new phone vibrating on the wood. He inched closer to pick it up and turned it over. New message from V.

So last night did happen. He quickly checked the text. It read “Good morning Rookie Kookie! That's your nickname now. Good isn't it? Anyway, I want you down at the warehouse when you wake up. Show security at the gates your new temporary ID card, it's in your new jacket in the corner of your room. Do try to be quick, Kookie.”

Jungkook scoffed at the way V acted as if he hadn't blatantly lied to him last night. He wanted to give V a piece of his mind after the stunt he pulled so he dragged himself over to the chair where his new leather jacket was placed.

He picked up the slick black jacket and inspected it further: shiny new buckles and zippers, and many inside pockets. He turned it over to discover the War Hounds' insignia scribed on the back. His attention then averted to a note sticking out of one of the side pockets. As expected a note had been stashed there along with an ID card.

"Jungkook, V would appreciate it if you did not lose this ID card. If it finds its way to the wrong people anything can happen - Jimin"

Jungkook sighed and crumpled the note before heading into the shower to prepare for the surely long day ahead of him.

He decided today was the day for muted tones so he slipped on a white t-shirt and threw some ripped skinny jeans into the mix. Tying up his dark converse shoes he packed his backpack with the new jacket he headed for the door.

"Where the hell are you going?" His father's rough voice grated against Jungkook's ears. Usually his father would be passed out around this time so he didn't expect him to be up bright eyed and bushy tailed so to speak.

"Out" Jungkook said rolling his eyes and scrambling for the handle in the hopes of escaping any confrontation with the drunken calamity

"Out where?" His father demanded to know. But Jungkook would never give him a straight answer.

"Just out" he retorted while swinging the door wide open and escaping outside before hearing his father shouting

"Bring me back some damn beer!"

As he was halfway down the stairs of the apartment complex he thought about how he wasn't going to miss this when he started working for the War Hounds. He expected that his father would interrogate him when he gets back after days of being away.

He didn't dwell on that, for now he raced to the bus stop to catch a ride to the other side of Hongdae. V had no idea how much Jungkook was going to give him

*****************

Once he had arrived at the gated fence that he had climbed over last night, he walked up to the security guard that was sitting in his little hut, he was a stout man with a combination of muscle and fat that was sure to drive trespassers away most of the time, Jungkook pulled out the ID card. The stout man examined it with his beady eyes.

The guard looked at the card and at Jungkook. Checking for discrepancies.

"Look up at that camera" The guard said in a soft but cautious voice.

He had pointed at a camera that was positioned above the gate. Jungkook did as the guard said. He watched as the guard picked up a phone and hit one of the keys.

"Is this the one, sir?" He asked the person on the other end of the phone. He paused for a moment and then nodded at whatever the other person had said, hung up then pushed the button that opened the front gate.

Jungkook cringed as the gate made a loud metallic squeeking noise as it opened sending shrill screeches down the theif's spine.

"Once you get in, go in the front door, straight down the corridor and through the doors at the end" was the last thing the guard said to Jungkook.

Jungkook nodded and braced himself before heading through the gates.

Once he arrived at the two large black metal doors of the warehouse he stood and took a deep breath before pushing the doors open. As he walked in he didn't recognise the building while the lights were on. Nevertheless, he navigated his was through the twists and turns of the warehouse with the guards directions which weren't difficult for him to follow and found himself at the doors described. He put an ear to the impressive steel and heard that there was some chatting going on followed by some laughter. Jungkook took another deep breath and a moment to gather himself before entering.

He had no idea why he was nervous.

"Come on Jungkook, don't be shy." He hard V say in a raised voice.

How did he know he was there. Jungkook whipped round looking to see how he could have known he was standing there. He looked up above the door and noticed a camera.

"Clever boy" he heard V shout again.

Jungkook rolled his eyes at the observent camera then pushed the doors open to reveal the massive room he was in last night.

He saw everyone, apart from V who was standing in the centre on the room, gathered around the large planning table.

He marched up to V who was holding what must have been a portable monitor for the cameras of the building.

"Ah hello, my lovely new thief." V said opening his arms as he greeted Jungkook, welcoming him back.

Jungkook ignored what V had said and began with what he thought was going to be the dragging of V.

"Why did you do that?" Jungkook demanded.

V was clearly taken aback by Jungkook's comment. "Do what? I only said hello"

"I meant last night, you lied about the vial with the blue liquid, said it would calm my nerves." Jungkook said scratching the side of his nose in annoyance.

"It did calm your nerves though" V replied confidently. His head tilted slightly to one side in that annoying smug way.

"No, it knocked me out" Jungkook said as he folded his arms, getting more pissed now.

"Yeah, but it still calmed your nerves didn't it?" V said, continuing to dance around the subject like wood nymph.

As Jungkook thought about it he realised that what V said made sense. He began to relax his body language and dropped his arms from being folded.

"See Jungkook, I never tell a lie. Never. Bend the truth, yes. But I never lie."

As V said this he kept eye contact with Jungkook all the time which allowed him to realise that V was telling the absolute truth.

V smiled a friendly smile at Jungkook and patted his shoulder.

"Right, to our first task of the day. Meeting the rest of the crew," V said excitedly as he gestured his hand to the table full of people.

"Here we have our commander of stealth and discreet operations: J-Hope"

V gestured a hand to the man he'd seen the night before, he wore a smile on his face that made Jungkook feel more at ease about being in the lion's den.

"Hello! It's so good to finally meet you after all this time observing you. I'm glad to have you in the gang!" J-Hope said while shaking Jungkook's hand vigorously

"Here is our commander for negotiations and financial aid: Amber" V introduced a woman with short blonde hair and wire frame glasses who only just realised that V'd said her name

"Oh, yeah hi. I'm Amber and I make sure we have nice things and the other gangs don't" she said in a lower voice than Jungkook expected while shaking his hand.

"And last but not least meet our commander for...uh...how do I put this?"

"His commander for kicking people's ." the blue haired girl interrupted,giving Jungkook a proud smile

"Yes...quite. This is Wendy, she handles our tasks that require brute force.The muscles of the operation if you will" V said reasserting himself.

"And this guy right here" V said putting an arm around Jimin, squeezing him softly and then letting him go "Is my right hand man, "Jimin who you've already met. He keeps me right on a lot of the decisions I make."

Jimin, who was wearing a blue suit today, wave happily at him as V introduced him properly.

"Just so you know, Jungkook, there are much more members of the gang. Each commander has a small team to help in their missions. You'll meet them a little later. However, I need to ask you something Mr Jeon and let these guys get back to work" V said as he guided Jungkook away from the table so they had a bit more privacy.

"What's up?" Jungkook asked V.

"How would you feel about moving in here? The living quarters are in the north wing, there are bedrooms, a kitchen and pretty much everything. Everyone in the gang lives here, either because they have no place else to go, or they desperately want to get out of their own house. I don't want to assume, but most of the people who do still have family but live here have a background similar to yours." V said

Jungkook got butterflies in his stomach at even the thought of being able to escape that wretched place he had to call home, and the beast that lived in it.

"What will I tell my father?" Was the first thing he said after silently accepting V's offer.

"If I was you I wouldn't tell him at all, but he is your father. You do what you think is best." V replied begining to walk.

"Come with me, I'll show you your new accommodation." He said heading for the metal spiral stair case that Jungkook saw him descend from the first night he was here.

As they were climbing the stairs Jungkook had a question on his mind. "Hey, V. Why has everyone accepted me so well?"

"Because, like I've already told you. We've been watching you for the past couple months and we saw how skilled you were. I...we wanted you in the gang, and don't worry by the way. This is basically how everyone was recruited." V said reassuringly as he pushed his way through some double doors when the got to the top of the balcony.

They entered a hallway that was decorated much brighter and warmer than the the rest of the base. Home-like almost. The walls were a nice cookie dough colour and the floors were covered in a nice light wood. It was already much nicer than Jungkook's whole cesspit of a residence.

As they were walking down the hallway V pointed to one door on his right "Toilets" he said and then pointed to another on his left "Showers". He said informing Jungkook as they neared a wooden door at the end of the hallway.

They went through it and came to another corridor, this time much larger with more doors. V stopped so suddenly in his tracks that he almost made Jungkook bump into him. V spun on his heels to face Jungkook.

"This corridor holds all the bedrooms, enough for everyone to have their own room." He said as he began walking backwards with Jungkook following him.

"You'll be sharing a room. Don't worry, every newbie has to. It's just so you have someone who knows how everything is done, who can answer any questions you have. It's just until you settle in, then you can chose to have your own room if you wish." V said before he stopped at a light blue door that read "JB"

"Who is JB?" Jungkook asked curiously.

"That is your roommate, you haven't met him yet. He is like my advisor, He is also rather new too. Joined just a few months ago.." V stated before knocking on the door and pushing it open.

Behind the blue door there was an average sized room, big enough to fit two single beds at either end. It had a single square window in between both beds that let in enough light to illuminate the room without the lights being on, two bedside tables and two dressers. The walls of the room were a scarlet blood red while the floor had the same light welcoming wood as the hallways. It was an odd juxtaposition. One side of the room had a few posters and a calendar on it, below that a boy that had short dark swept back hair was perched on the bed wearing white sweat pants and a baggy black shirt. He had papers scattered all around him looking at them ever so intensely.

"This is your new room, and that's your bed," V said gesturing to the more empty side of the room. "Decorate your side however you wish, put your favourite stolen spoils of war on display if you like." V flashed a perfect grin at Jungkook.

"This, is JB." He pointed at the boy on the bed "How is the deciphering going?" He asked.

"W-what?" JB said as he was dragged out his trance of work.

"Oh, uh yeah well I got a break through actually. Found out their when their drug shipments come in" He said before standing up.

"Excellent! Great work!" V said excitedly.

"This must be Jungkook?" JB half asked half stated.

"Yeah, Hi. Nice to meet you" Jungkook said as he stepped forward to shake JB's hand. It was an odd handshake, almost unsure. It had the traces of a once confident person but also hints of subtle humbleness that almost didn't suit the giver.

"As long as you don't snore at night I'm looking forward to rooming with you" JB laughed.

"Okay, I'll talk to you more about the info you just found once I'm done showing Jungkook the rest of the place" They left the decrypter to his own devices as they journeyed off together.

Before they set off down the corridor again Jungkook had a question to ask.

"What was JB talking about?"

"Oh, I forgot to tell you" V said as he moved Jungkook away from the bedroom door.

"JB used to be apart of our rival gang. The Itaewon Mercenaries. He used to be the leaders right hand man but he left after he had enough of the way things were run around there and the kind of things their leader made them do. Those files he had are filled with juicy Mercenaries information. He stole them from the leaders office before he left. They are all encoded and only the leaders new right hand man can read it, but JB knows roughly how it works so he is trying to decode them so we can find ways to take the gang down."

"Oh right." Jungkook said as they began to walk towards the stairs at the end of the hall.

"Even though he has proven himself loyal over the past couple of months, I still don't fully trust him. If you see or hear anything weird while you're rooming with him, tell me"

"Yeah, sure. No problem" Jungkook said obediently as they made their way downstairs towards the kitchhen and rec room.

*********************************

After V had shown Jungkook round everyone was in the kitchen having dinner chatting and talking about nothing in particular. He saw people he hadn't been introduced to yet but was sure he would be soon.

He heard V talking to JB about what he had uncovered earlier. He only heard snippets of their conversation as everyone else was so loud.

"Need to set a date to take the ship out" He heard V say.

"I'll find out if they have people posted there on the night" JB replied.

Jungkook, frustrated with not being able to hear eventually ignored their conversation and looked around at all the other tabled scattered around the large kitchen.

Everyone was talking and laughing and having a good time. Something Jungkook hadn't been around for years. He saw the way some of the boys messed around with each other and thought to himself:

V is right, they are like a family.

He started to grin at the dream of him not having to tip toe around his own house in case he disturbed the dragon and got burnt. The feeling was overwhelming and he felt he needed some time on his own to take it all in.

He stood up and told V he was going to his room because he was tired. Everyone said goodbye and goodnight to him, some of them gave him a "Welcome to the gang Jungkook" before he headed up stairs.

Once he got to his room he walked over to his bed and pushed down on the mattress. It was so soft. Much softer than his old springy one.

He threw himself on his bed and let out a long and satisfied sigh while putting his hands behind his head.

"I think I'm going to like it here"