04; Briefing

'Who doesszz he think he issszzzz, haaahh!??'

'Oh boy, here we go again...'

'Does he know who I am, huh? While he's catching z's in his offize, we're doing all his durrrrrty work! That—that—'

Namjoon cocked an eyebrow, curiously staring at the younger man from the side of his eye in anticipation of whatever despicable word he'd address the commissioner with behind his back. However, all Jimin did was continue to mumble a string of incoherent babbles. In fact, he looked a lot like a grumpy old man who couldn't get out of his TV chair. He began tracing imaginary circles on the polished bar top and the blonde sighed deeply at his drunken state, waving a hand at the bartender who returned with a glass of water.

'Well at least you've got a ticket out of the awful position you're in at the moment,' Namjoon reasoned, nudging the warm glass of tap water towards the latter who stared at it blankly.

'You have to admit; it sounds ridiculous but it's 100 times better than being stuck in a police station pretty much doing paper work.'

Jimin groaned; a scowl replacing his features as he took a tentative sip of the water and quickly returned it to the table with what appeared to be disappointment.

'But the womannnn...,' he drawled; cheeks pink and eyes half-closing as he posed dramatically over the bar top. 'S-she's right, I... I'm doomed, man. Dooooomed!'

The bar occupants upon hearing the younger officer's booming, grief-filled announcement cheered encouragingly and Namjoon rolled his eyes. If only they knew the truth about Park Jimin's predicament, perhaps they would have not responded at all. He watched the chap as he continued drawing circles into the table he now stared at with fierce concentration – often mumbling grumpy remarks – until the older one noticed an approaching figure.

The new arrival to the group grinned; his casual attire, straight brown hair that scattered over his eyebrows, and princely smile catching the attention of every female in the room.

'Hey,' he breathed, and his slightly dishevelled state gave Namjoon the impression he'd been running.

'Am I late to the party?'

'Yo, Seokjin,' the blonde acknowledged, casually jabbing a thumb behind him at Jimin who began crushing a stray peanut shell with his finger, making rocket-like sounds as it descended.

'Doomed like a peanut...!'

Namjoon's face remained composed despite the weird activity he just noticed. 'Nope. You're just in time to witness the kid lose his excrement.'

'Dude, no.'

Namjoon chuckled at the older one's reaction to the uncommon replacement for a more common curse word and scooted over to the empty barstool beside him, where Seokjin sat. The two chatted briefly after exchanging the usual formalities, however it didn't take long for his attention to move back to a drunk, and very upset-looking Jimin.

'What's up with him?'

Namjoon sighed; his eyes directed at the far end of the room on a pool table that glowed bright green under the spotlight.

'What else when he's drunk? Some sort of baby tantrum, I think.'

Seokjin's eyebrows rose. 'Oh? Is this about his women woes?'

Jimin cooed quietly from beside them which caught their attention. 'Mm, peanut eyebrowszzzz though...'

The scattered crowd in the tavern cheered loudly at this and Jimin was ushered away from his sorry state at the bar by a group of regular ahjussis. Both the older men watched with considerable amusement as they patted him on the back and offered him words of encouragement near the jukebox where an appropriate song came on. All the while, Jimin in his drunken state rambling about a woman from the snow mountain top of Everest.

'Yep,' Namjoon said; his eyes lingering on the karaoke the old men and the younger one began singing to.

'He's been forced into a case with her. So you can just imagine the drama.'

'Is she the one with the short black hair?'

The blonde's eyes widened and he quickly pulled his eyes away from Jimin who now swayed with the group of ahjussis, staring at Seokjin who had on an incredibly thoughtful expression.

'What? Do you know her?'

'Nope,' he answered quickly. 'But I have seen her. Or at least I'm sure it's the same person considering that guy there actually resorted to a merciless aegyo stunt in the store the other day when he saw this lady with the short black hair.'

'Did you just use the words Jimin and aegyo in the same sentence?'

The two shuddered in unison before observing a moment of silence at the grisly thought. And as if on cue, the very hot topic of their conversation began swaying drunkenly, teetering on the brink of sleep as he sang to an incredibly angst-inspired song blaring from the jukebox with the older men.

And Namjoon knew it was time to go.

Jimin stared at the last bunch of spinach with a sense of pride and some relief.

He'd actually gotten to it before anyone else did. He his lips slowly; eyes incredibly calculating as they remained fixed to the vegetable wrung together tightly by a rubber band at the stems; and reached out for it, cheering internally at the one thing he struggled to tick off his grocery list for the past week.

A few inches away from the prize however, the young man felt his hand brush against the back of someone else's; a milky white wrist invading his field of vision.

'Oh!'

He gasped, retracting his hand quickly and so did his opponent whom his eyes darted to as he looked up. There was no way he was going to let the last available bunch of spinach go. It was the last of the good harvest before the winter and Jimin was willing to fight to the death for it. And he was certain that determination was more than visible in his eyes as he looked at his competitor with a challenging quirk of the eyebrows.

'Sorry, but I got to it f—'

'I heard you were talking about me last night.'

Jimin's eyes widened in shock and horror. It was Kyungja. Her face was strained in that way that made her look like she was sizing you up comfortably with her dark eyes and her back was straight; confidence oozing from her tracksuit-clad form in effortless waves that made Jimin gulp uneasily.

'W-Woon, I...'

'Who does she think she is? I'm a better officer than you, Park.'

Jimin felt his skin prickle under the hot sweat that covered his hairline uncomfortably; the sweat on his temples