“There has been an increase in cases including…”

Head captain Jaebum stared at the large projector screen on the wall directly in front of him. He was leaning back in his plush, black cushioned chair, pulling and rubbing at the slowly growing traces of hair on his chin, evidence of the fact that he needed to shave much sooner than he had first thought. He listened as intently as his brain allowed him as the young rookie clicked through the presentation of a few supposedly new cases that the station were gonna divide and conquer between the teams. That’s how they got things done here at the station.

Jaebum was becoming bored even though the meeting began not even twenty minutes before. He was hearing the words Youngjae was saying but it never registered in his brain. Literally going in one ear and out the other. Usually he’d push himself to listen, even if the presentations and meetings were his least favorite part of the job. He was the captain. It was his job. He was the head of this unit, and if he wasn’t listening then how would he keep the others in check. Im Jaebum was the type of boss that no one crossed. When Jaebum walked into the room, all officers, no matter how high their ranking, straightened their postures without a second thought. Any order or demand that fell from Captain Jaebum’s lips were to be obeyed right then and there. Respecting Jaebum had just become second nature to everyone at the station.

He was well aware that he held so much power in this unit, station, and even more so in his small team. That’s why he always attempted to keep that power by never showing any weakness and maintaining an intimidating nonchalance in his demeanor. Especially when it came to his exhaustion. That seemed to be the only thing that actually got to Captain Jaebum and caused him to seem at least remotely human.

But he was a bit lenient on himself for the time being. For the last two weeks, he had stayed at the department until the early, early hours of the morning finishing paperwork and looking over any new evidence for the several cases they were in put in charge of. Sleep was becoming harder and harder to reach for him. Any sleep he did get was more like short cat naps than actual freaking sleep. While Jaebum wished he could be the typical twenty five year old cop and go out frequently with his fellow officers every Friday night and spend his money on the unspeakable, he thought his job was way more important than partying. There were only five officers in Jaebum’s small team, but, despite being the smallest, they have always had the leading number of successful convictions and arrests. His newest officer, Choi Youngjae, was partly responsible for that.

Jaebum may be a strict workaholic, but he didn’t deprive people of their praise for their accomplishments. Youngjae was not only a great officer when he was in action on the streets, he was also an amazing hacker. Hacking even the most protected firewalls and cracking the tightest databases. Jaebum was particularly fond of the young officer. That was why he was putting all of his energy into staying awake to listen to Youngjae’s presentation.

To keep himself awake at least, Captain Jaebum had been tapping the bottom of his shoe impatiently on the carpeted floor. He listened to the muffled pats of his hard, heeled shoe coming down on the bluish carpet that he, by the way, thought was impeccably ugly. The sound had succeeded in keeping him awake for a short while.

Soon getting bored with the constant sound of the Youngjae’s voice and the barely audible sound of his shoe coming down on the carpet, he leaned onto the table, propping his elbow on top of it, knuckles pressed against his cheek then reached his other hand out and started bringing his nails down on the polished, wooden table him and other leading officers, that were in charge of their own team, were sitting around. He enjoyed the rhythmic sound of fingernail on wood. Bringing down his index finger first, followed by his middle finger, then his ring finger, and lastly, his pinky. He did that for a while until he got lost in the satisfying sound. Ignoring the fact that other officers were only subtly shooting him annoyed looks at the pestering, repeating sound because none of them really had the balls to piss off Jaebum.

Yet again, Jaebum had gotten so lost in the sound, his eyes began to close and he began to drift off into a much needed sleep.

That was until Youngjae uttered the names of the two most notorious Asian mafias of their times: the Lotus Syndicate and the 7 Point Syndicate. Jaebum rolled his eyes at the inconvenience but was intrigued and wide awake now nonetheless.

“We received new leads on these two mafias just two days ago,” Youngjae said, pressing the clicker once more. A few photographs of the most well known faces of the Lotus and the 7 Point materialized on the projector. Both men and women all wearing similar attire of sleek, designer suits and dark sunglasses propped high upon the bridge of their nose. That was basically the ‘uniform’ of anyone who worked for either of the mafias.

Youngjae pressed the clicker again. He kept his eyes on all of the officers’ reactions.

The other two rookie officers at the table just stared in awe and confusion at the faces while everyone else at the extensive table glared intensely at the projector screen. Eyes wide and expectant. Youngjae placed the stack of manilla folders that he had been holding in the crease of his elbow onto the table. Everyone at the table took one and decided to follow after Captain Jaebum and assumed they would also wait to look through the folders until after the presentation ended.

“Just in case, you’ve forgotten names and faces, these are the current bosses of the Lotus and 7 Point. First, the 7 Point.” Youngjae pointed to the picture on the far left. It was a picture of an older man walking out of some small cafe in Ilsan-Gu. He had a surprisingly muscular build with thick eyebrows and his sleek, black- slightly graying- hair neatly brushed up and back. He was staring down at his expensive watch with a heavy set frown as if he was in a hurry or late for something. Jaebum found it hard to believe that this man was in his late forties, supposedly. He looked older than that. Must’ve been the stress that made him look ten years older. Next to him was a woman that was slightly shorter than him, her light brown hair stopping just below her shoulder. Those were the only traits they were able to see. Because of the angle at which the picture was taken, her face wasn't able to be seen. It never was.

To be technical, there were several photographs of the man and his ‘wife’, but nothing more than her height, hair, and, partially, her attire were able to be seen or determined. It was as if the man knew exactly what angle the photographs were being taken and hid the woman perfectly behind him. The man wore a sophisticated, black suit, black tinted shades over his eyes, and a few big, flashy, expensive rings on a few of his fingers.

The man’s posture, appearance, and entire demeanor exuded so much wealth, so much respect, and extreme power. Wealth and respect weren’t even an eighth of what the 7 Point Syndicate possessed that made them so powerful.

Power was determined by knowledge, connections, appearance, alongside wealth and respect as well as so much more that Jaebum didn’t even want to think about. The more he thought about the 7 Point’s power, he understood why the police force called them an empire instead of just a mafia.

And that honestly scared the hell out of him. Because there was nothing he or anyone else could do about it.

“This is Kim Bon-Hwa. He is the head of the 7 Point. The woman behind him is presumed to be his wife but we do not have a name or face for her just yet.” Youngjae raised his clicker again and used it to point the red dot to the rest of the pictures of different men and women associated with Bon-Hwa. While they weren’t as well known as the bosses, Jaebum knew very well who each of the people were because of how much time he has spent on cases in the past when he was just a rookie. One of his lifetime goals as a cop was to bring down both of these empires.

“The rest of these people are employees that are very high in ranks of the 7 Point Syndicate. They are in charge of things like prolific drug trafficking, ion and trafficking, extortion, assassinations, and other types of organized crime. There's more about these people in the files in the manilla folders.”

The captain watched with a new, profound interest as Youngjae pressed the clicker again. Jaebum gazed at Youngjae with an immense amount of pride and delight at the young officer’s exemplary work. He also prided himself on doing such a great job training this rookie.

However, Jaebum’s features and entire body immediately tensed at the sight of the leader of the Lotus Syndicate when Youngjae pressed the clicker. He hoped no one noticed the quick break in his hard exterior.

But Youngjae did. He noticed the gesture but didn't think much of it. The movement was very much subtle and hadn’t drawn the attention of any other officers at the table. Youngjae was the only one who noticed. He was well aware of his boss’ unfortunate connection to the Lotus Syndicate.

“Now this is the leader of the Lotus,” Youngjae said. "Park Kang Dae.” Kang Dae actually looked pretty young and rather handsome to be in his late forties and had a smaller build than Bon-Hwa. His appearance wasn’t as intimidating upon first glance like Bon Hwa’s. Kang-Dae looked a lot more approachable at first glance than Bon-Hwa did. Kang-Dae was wearing a sleek, designer suit, but it was a milky white with a complimenting black tie. No shades on and no flashy rings. That was a big difference between the two empires. While the 7 Point liked to show off their power through their wealth, the Lotus chose not to. The members of the Lotus Syndicate did just enough to let everyone know that they had respect, power, money, and more. While they didn’t look intimidating, they most definitely were. That’s what most feared about them. The suspicion. The anticipation. The idea of not knowing. So when you disrespected them, you had no idea what they would do or how they’d go about doing so. You just knew they would do something . They were coming. The people that worked with the Lotus wore expensive suits that drew just enough attention and walked around with that arrogant grin on their faces as if they had the entire world right there in their hands and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

And there wasn’t.

The Lotus Syndicate was known for being a bit more calm and calculated with their crimes. The Lotus had a thing for fear. For psychological torture. Preferring to someone up mentally and emotionally first before harming them physically. Unlike the 7 Point. The 7 Point syndicate was known for their “shoot first, think later,” mentality and didn’t hesitate to harm someone without a second thought.

Both were feared just as equally despite that difference.

While there was that difference between the two, there was an even smaller but all the more disturbing difference between the photographs displayed side by side on the projector: the position of their wives. Bon-Hwa’s wife was always hidden behind him. That’s why there was no clear pictures of the woman and therefore no way to identify her. But Kang-Dae’s wife, Byun Asami, was different.

By her sly, arrogant smirk and her piercing eyes hidden behind those thick, tinted shades, everyone knew that Byun Asami had just as much power and respect as her husband. Asami wore an identical white suit with high heels, standing at the same height as her husband. The photograph showed them both walking out of one of the most popular hotels in Seoul sharing a glance as they both laughed. Their fingers tightly intertwined in a tight, loving hold. They looked like a happy couple on a honeymoon instead of a couple conducting illegal deals and running an entire empire.

Youngjae pointed the laser to other off guard pictures of other men and women. Each picture consisted of the person with their hand pressed to their ear, pushing their ear piece further in or the person looking off into the distance at both something or nothing in particular. Just keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. Jaebum assumed that that was just what you had to do when you were a part of the mafia. An empire specifically. “Same as before, these are men and women that are high within the ranks of the Lotus. The Lotus Syndicate is also involved in illegal activity such as drug trafficking, importing and exporting illegal guns and explosives, ion, extortion and more. While they own several high profile strip clubs around the world, the Lotus has no ties whatsoever with trafficking which isn’t really shocking.”

“There’s a possibility that Asami could be against trafficking. She is a woman and and probably won’t allow slavery. Strip clubs are more voluntary instead of forceful,” one of the rookies commented.

“Correct. But as you will see in the manilla folders, we have reason to believe Asami was also a slave from the age of sixteen until she met Kang-Dae at the age of twenty one,” Youngjae added. Jaebum grunted in agreement. “Exactly.”

“Now to the important part and the main reason I requested this meeting between just these teams. As you might already know, their kids are the supposed heir of the two. There weren't many pictures of them until very recently. This can only mean one thing. The two heirs must be in some sort of training, per say. Learning all of the things they need to know to be a valuable piece on the gameboard.”

Jaebum furrowed his eyebrows at the new information. And was admittedly a bit intimidated by the way Youngjae was presenting it. But Jaebum knew it was true: the new heirs could make it either harder or easier for the police to find some evidence on them.

The kids were new to the game that the two empires played. They were even more prone to making mistakes. While they still had their parents there to cover up any of their tracks, there was always a possibility that the parents could also make a mistake while attempting to teach their heir. However, these children were far from stupid being that they literally grew up in that very environment. They were bound to be different from their parents. Run things differently. Hire different people. Specifically young, new, fresh employees that will grow along with the empire and the heirs themselves. All police forces that were in charge of the keeping track of both mafias would possibly have to scrap all of their older observations because someone new will soon be in charge.

Jaebum sighed heavily in exasperation at the thought.

“For the last few years, the Lotus and the 7 Point have avoided any direct interactions and have been keeping to themselves. Making calculated moves that won’t disturb the work of the other empire. While this is good in the sense of stopping mass numbers of killings out of rage, this makes things a lot less obvious for us. Meaning no evidence.”

Youngjae was right, yet again. The 7 Point and the Lotus have always had many differences but they were never archenemies. More like friendly competitors these days. Bon Hwa and Kang Dae had agreed that they wouldn’t intermingle at all and that both empires would be better off without conflict. That was good for the citizens of Korea, Japan, China and wherever else the empires had huge connections. But it was straight up frustrating for the police. The more calculated and precise the mafia bosses were to avoid each other, the less likely they were to slip up and leave behind even just a piece of evidence.

Jaebum sighed and interrupted Youngjae with a question that was laced with something akin to frustration and confusion. “What new information do you have about them?”

“Well we have reason to believe that KangDae and possibly BonHwa will be in Japan for about a week to do business. I know I am a rookie and my opinion might not matter as much. But I was hoping that we could contact the police forces in Japan and update them about this news. Hopefully they gather some information that we can use,” Youngjae supplied in a pleading tone. He usually did when he was talking about any suggestions he had or some new information that he had found. That was Youngjae’s weakness: lack of confidence.

Jaebum nodded once more, actually liking the idea. “I think it is a pretty good idea, Youngjae. When are they expected to go to Japan?”

Youngjae gave a relieved sigh and a slight smile. “Next week, in fact,” he said. “However, remember. This is a game for them. Like chess. Lately no moves have been made to get rid of opposing pieces. The heirs right now are the kings. The most significant piece that can only go so far. That all the other pieces are protecting. Checkmate. And the entire game is through and one side comes crashing down.” The room went silent. All of the top officers including Jaebum couldn’t find the words to say in response to that. Jaebum decided in that moment that he had a newfound respect for the three rookies in the room with them with confident, straight faces.. If he were one of the rookies right now, he would have taken a quick ‘bathroom break,’ risking a quick scolding from his boss. This was incredibly too tense for a new officer to stomach all at once. Jaebum had been in the force since he graduated high school seven years ago. Yet he even felt his heartbeat fluctuate at the rookie’s words.

Youngjae looked around the table once more, silently asking if someone had any questions. When no one answered, Youngjae clicked the small remote once more. The screen went black, meaning that the forty minute presentation was finally over. Everyone quickly rose from the their chair, wanting to return to whatever tasks they were doing before they attended this long meeting called by the rookies.

“Thank you for giving me your time to reiterate this case. Look through your manilla folders please. Also make sure you closely look at the profiles, please,” Youngjae pleaded yet again. Jaebum hated how much Youngjae used the word ‘please.’ Jaebum hated a pleading, begging, and seemingly weak cop, but he could understand. Youngjae was a rookie in front of cops that probably have been in the force longer than he had been alive.

Jaebum remembers being in his place before when he was an 18 years old and fresh out of high school. While everyone else was preparing themselves to go college, he was preparing himself to go into the police academy. But he wasn’t worried for Youngjae. He saw a lot of himself within him.

Jaebum shot Youngjae an attempt at a reassuring smile as he witnessed Youngjae’s entire exterior just fall apart. He was not that confident officer he was a just a minute ago. Standing in front of everyone presenting his case. He was now standing off to the side of the door, bowing deeply at every officer that left the meeting room with their manilla folders tucked under their arm or clutched weakly in their hands. Not even acknowledging Youngjae. Jaebum was the last one to leave, excluding Youngjae. As he picked up the manilla folder and made is way towards the door, Youngjae’s soft voice sounded.

“Before I leave for the night, can I stop by your office. There is something important I want to talk about with you,” Youngjae said softly. When Jaebum directed his dejected gaze towards the rookie, Youngjae struggled to maintain his, already wavering, confident composure.

“Of course,” Jaebum said, laughing a bit at Youngjae’s expression. The shock on Youngjae’s face at hearing Jaebum laugh definitely hadn’t gone unnoticed by the older. Jaebum had grasped the doorknob and proceeded to open it. “Youngjae,” Jaebum said, stopping in his path to speak.

“Yes?”

“Calm down. Okay? You’re doing very, very well,” Jaebum said, looking over his shoulder. He caught a glimpse of Youngjae looking down at the ground, manilla folder held tightly within his fingers. He watched Youngjae nervously tug his bottom lip between his white set of teeth. Watched his broad chest expand and deflate from his extremely deep breath to calm himself.

“Yeah?” Youngjae muttered, letting his gaze travel up Jaebum’s body to meet his boss’ intense gaze. Youngjae couldn’t deny the fact that he’s always loved praise.

“Yes… I’ll see you in a bit,” Jaebum smiled before proceeding to his office.

 

Captain Jaebum was in his office lounging back in his chair as he clicked and typed away at his desktop computer. He closed the last electronic file after sending it to the printer for him to pick up from the printer in the lounge before he left for the night. Left for the morning was a better way to put it since he didn’t leave at nine o’clock like he was supposed to. He usually stayed until one or two o’clock in the morning.

He moved all of the stray, insignificant papers out of his way and grabbed for the manilla folder Youngjae had given that he had set aside earlier. Jaebum pressed the home button of his phone and checked the time and for any important emails. It was 8:43 and no significant emails. Just ones he had been included in between the leading officers.

With a sigh, he opened the manilla folder. He slid one of the two stacks of papers, each kept together by a single paper clip, out of the folder. The captain took note of how thick the stack actually was, then groaned loudly. This was the last thing he had wanted to be doing right now. While he could go for some sleep, he would much rather just relax right now. Maybe he could be a little lenient on himself and actually leave at 9 o’clock today. Maybe even go out for a drink. But with who?

Jaebum had shrugged his shoulders and reluctantly stood from his comfortable chair and made his way over to the coffee machine in the corner of his room. This would be his fourth cup of coffee today. Luckily, he had a very convenient coffee maker that didn’t take all of the traditional hassel.

It wasn’t long before he was sitting back at his desk, sipping leisurely at his coffee. He reached for the stack of papers once again. There was a yellow sticky note on the first stack of papers, labeled “7 Point Syndicate.” Jaebum carefully removed the note and placed it on the surface of his desk, in front of his computer. He leaned back within his chair and kicked his feet up on the desk to get as comfortable as he possibly could. He knew these profiles would take at least two hours to read through, process, and make some important notes. So he might as well get comfortable.

Just as he had began reading, someone had began knocking heavily on his door. He grimaced and sighed. “Come in,” Jaebum said loudly, a hint of irritation weaved into his tone.

It was Youngjae who peeked his head in the door. “Can I come in, sir?”

Jaebum frowned at being called ‘sir.’ “I said don’t call me that, Youngjae,” he warned as he gestured for the rookie to come in. Youngjae apologized with a deep bow and closed the door softly behind him.

“I hope I am not interrupting,” Youngjae smiled apprehensively. Even though he was, Jaebum didn’t open his mouth to tell him that. “But I came to talk to you about the heirs in particular.” Jaebum just nodded his head in response, leaning up in his chair and taking his feet down from the desk, urging him to continue. “Grab that chair and bring it over here. Let’s talk then.” Jaebum didn’t always want to look annoyed and aloof. He just couldn’t help the intimidation that just radiated off of him no matter what. There was no doubt in his mind that he wanted Youngjae to feel like he could relax around him. But Jaebum could tell that he was already doing a bad job judging by the fact that Youngjae was practically trembling as he followed the instructions Jaebum gave him.

Youngjae set the chair down and proceeded to sit. Youngjae cleared his throat and attempted to show some nonchalance and confidence to match his boss’ demeanor. He reached for the manilla folder and pulled out the other stack of papers that was also labeled with a sticky note saying “The Lotus Syndicate.” The rookie searched through the papers and quickly found the two profiles he was looking for. Placing them onto the desk next to each other .“Um… Mr. Jaebum,” he said more like a question than a statement.

“Just Jaebum or Hyung, Youngjae,” the older of the two sighed. The latter gulped with so much difficulty that he was sure that Jaebum heard. He then moved his long bangs to the side, making a mental note to get his bangs trimmed tomorrow. “Okay. Well… Jaebum-Hyung, may I see those papers for a second,” Youngjae asked, gesturing at the stack of papers Jaebum was still holding from when he suddenly interrupted..

Jaebum hummed and handed them over. Within a few seconds of glancing through the stack, the rookie pulled out two more profiles and set them directly next to the other two. Jaebum pulled his rolling chair closer to Youngjae and to the desk. He heard Youngjae’s breath catch in his throat and Jaebum frowned with concern but didn’t vocalize those concerns. Jaebum wondered if he was that intimidating.

“This is the heir of the Lotus Syndicate,” Youngjae started, pointing at the profile to the far left of the four. He tapped his slightly chubby finger atop the photograph at the top left of that profile in particular. The boy looked as if he had just turned twenty. Hair, dark brown and messy. Prominent nose. Lips tilted up in a slight, arrogant smirk. Similar to Asami’s. “His name is Kim Jongin. He goes by Kai sometimes. He is the oldest son of the Kang-Dae and Asami, but he was adopted. Looking at the rest of the profile, it seems like he was adopted at nine because his parents were murdered a year before when he was eight. He was reported missing but they found out that he lived on the streets for about a year because he didn’t want to be put into foster care. It looks like Asami took a liking to him after watching him sweet talk and manipulate a cashier before he stole hundreds of dollars from the cash register. Asami persuaded Kang-Dae to adopt the boy and they lived happily ever after I guess.”

Youngjae glanced over at Jaebum for a second to ensure he was taking in all of the information. If Jaebum’s pinched eyebrows, squinted eyes, and red, bruised bottom lip from him chewing on it so much was anything to go by, Youngjae was 100% sure that his boss was listening and holding onto every word. He allowed himself to relax a little and flipped the paper over. “These photographs on the back are just other pictures we have of the boy as a child.”

Jaebum didn’t know what to feel while looking at the pictures of the innocent child Jongin used to be. Even the pictures that Asami, KangDae and Jongin had taken together had seemed so innocent. Yet, Kim Jongin had changed so much while being a part of the family. Even though he was already a great sweet-talker in his childhood, Jongin looked much more ruthless and manipulative after all the years he spent being raised by mafia bosses. The boy was as ruthless as the come at such as young age. Especially with his words. He was attractive and it was almost guaranteed that he could use his words and looks to get just about anything that he wanted. Just words. Or just a simple look. Even a simple, sly smile.

Jaebum flipped the paper over once again and analyzed at the present picture of Jongin. That smirk was all too familiar. Asami had the exact same smirk. That arrogant, bratty, superior smirk.

Youngjae moved on to the next profile. “This is their second oldest son, Byun Baekhyun. However, he wasn’t adopted. When Asami and KangDae adopted Jongin, Baekhyun was seven years old. Some officers predicted that Kai and Baekhyun have had a rivalry for quite some time because Jongin was chosen to be the official heir and not Baekhyun. But it isn’t exactly confirmed just yet. For all we know, they could be perfectly fine with the arrangement.”

Youngjae had stopped talking and allowed Jaebum some time to think some more. There was an indescribable silence that followed. Then Jaebum grunted roughly and ran a hand through his messy, disheveled hair yet again. “If you’re overwhelmed… then we could stop here,” Youngjae suggested, about to stand from his chair.

“No,” Jaebum answered quickly. “We can continue. Just needed some time to take it all in. I work on several different cases at a time, you know,” he croaked, scratching roughly at his head and letting his hand fall carelessly back to the armrest of the chair.

“Well, if you insist.” Youngjae situated himself once again in the chair and pointed his finger at the third profile laid out on the desk. Not wasting any more time. “This is the heir to the 7 Point Syndicate, Kim Namjoon. Oldest of the four children BonHwa has.” Jaebum had to admit that this Kim Namjoon exuded the confidence of a leader. From the power that just naturally oozed from his demeanor, anyone would mistake Namjoon as the current boss instead of a heir. No one expected anything less from BonHwa’s children.

“The files say that BonHwa was incredibly hard on Namjoon in particular. He only accepted the best from him. Whatever Namjoon did, whether it be grades, shooting, even a sport Namjoon wanted to play, BonHwa wanted perfection. Being raised in that type of environment, you can easily guess why he seeks so much dominance and retribution after being mistreated and controlled his entire life.”

Youngjae took a deep breath, allowing a brief period of silence so he wasn’t literally burying his boss in new information, before he directed his attention to the last profile.

“This is the second oldest son. Min Yoongi. This boy honestly has had the most ed up childhood you could imagine. His parents died when he was just a baby. He was raised by his uncle who was very abusive. There are multiple reports of physical, verbal, and emotional abuse made by Yoongi himself to the police but nothing ever came after that. Which is probably why he hates the authorities so ing much. Continuously leaving the little boy there with no help. Being abused so much is possibly why he was so interested in fire and torture and showed psychopathic and sociopathic tendencies at just the age of eleven. It says here that when he was thirteen, Yoongi was supposedly kidnapped and the kidnapper shot the uncle in the head and left without a trace. But no one knows if this story is true because years later, the boy is in his early twenties and seems to be perfectly fine and in perfect health after being raised by BonHwa.”

“What about the last two children?”

“We don’t have much information on them. Just possible identification. Jeon Jungkook or Kim Taehyung. They both are reported to be close to the older sons. The other child is a girl but we have nothing on her just yet.” Youngjae nodded, stretching his legs and arms after sitting still for so long.

“What is it that you wanted to talk about then?” Jaebum inquired as Youngjae finished and began gathering all of the profiles after one last look at the four of them.

“Well I have an idea. It might not be the best idea but it’s the best I’ve got,” Youngjae said tensing up and looking away towards the door for no reason. This wasn’t something that surprised Jaebum anymore. Youngjae always got shy when he wanted to share any ideas that were his own. He would demurely look down at his chubby fingers and a dark tint of pink would color he his cheeks and even the tip of his nose. While Jaebum wasn’t surprised by the act and he admittedly thought it was quite endearing, he hoped Youngjae would sooner rather than later gain some confidence. A lot of it.

“I was thinking that after getting more information or any at all when they go to Japan, we could somehow stop them from trusting the other so much. Even just a little slip up that will stop them from being so calculated.”

Jaebum frowned heavily. “And risk innocent people’s lives in the process?”

“”No!” Youngjae corrected him quickly. “Not anger them but just cause them to question the other empire. You see?” Youngjae could feel the hesitance in Jaebum’s expression. He dropped his head a little in disappointment.

“Just give me some time to think about it,” Jaebum sighed. That made Youngjae smile as if he had received a shower of praise. “Thank you, Jaebum,” he breathed before clearing his throat loudly. Jaebum looked up at him with a raised eyebrow. Youngjae almost melted at the sight of Jaebum’s swollen, red eyes from his ongoing fight with exhaustion. He could tell that the older was so very tired and his grip on life- and consciousness- was slowly slipping.

So he bit his lip and exhaled softly. “Jaebum, come back to my apartment with me. I can help you actually get some sleep,” Youngjae said. Still looking intensely at Jaebum, looking for his approval. His reassurement.

Jaebum on the other hand was staring at the desk. His hands. Anything that wasn’t Youngjae’s suggestive glare. He was incredibly taken aback by Youngjae’s sudden request. “How will you help?” Jaebum said in a hushed tone.

“Well,” Youngjae said lowering his voice to match Jaebum’s volume. “I make really good tea that helps me relax and go to sleep. My mom used to make it when I was a child and had a really bad case of insomnia every once in a while.” Youngjae was now the relaxed and confident one in the situation and Jaebum was acting rather demurely. “It was the only thing that worked when I couldn’t sleep because of stress. So when I was stressing about the police academy and getting accepted, she finally taught me how to make it… Let me share it with you.” Youngjae lowered his voice to a mere whisper at the end of his confession.

Jaebum cleared his throat for what seemed like the third time. He even swallowed thickly to quench the rising heat in his body that he hasn’t felt for some years now. The firey and slightly unbearable heat in his core seemed only to rage more intensely at the fact that Youngjae was not only his rookie but also a male. But he still was apprehensive.

Youngjae could sense Jaebum struggling to make a decision so he continued his act of persuasion. “Don’t resist, Jaebum. Just say yes and let me help you out,” he pleaded in a whisper, giving one of the, honest to God, cutest yet most prurient smiles Jaebum had ever seen in his life. His eyes disappeared behind that smile in a way so pure. Yet, his bangs fell in his face and over his left eye once again (even though he had moved them from his face probably a hundred times) in a way that was so lewd, luring, and tempting.

How could he say no? Who was he to say no? This was an entirely new side of Youngjae sitting next to him. He was completely different. Jaebum could relate because he didn’t feel like Unit Captain Im Jaebum right now. He felt like Jaebum that really ing wanted to go home with the twenty one year old sitting in that chair, smirking at him. So he made a decision.

Jaebum quickly picked up his phone, almost dropping in from his urgency, and pressed the home button to check the time.

9:32

“Let’s go then. I hope it’s good.”

 

By the time Jaebum had looked at the clock again, it was ten minutes before midnight. Jaebum hadn’t known he was so smitten with the boy until just a little pout on Youngjae’s lips when he asked Jaebum to stay the night was all it took for Jaebum to give in.

That’s how he got here. Lying in Youngjae’s queen sized bed in oversized pajamas the rookie had let him borrow. And Youngjae lying shirtless next to him in a dead sleep. His tanned skin contrasting perfectly with the rich purple of the bed sheets and comforter, that Jaebum found out was Youngjae’s favorite color. Jaebum took time to admire Youngjae’s broad shoulders and firm torso. That’s all he had allowed himself to do that night.

He sighed.

The tea worked wonders if Jaebum was being honest. He would also be in a fast, deep sleep if he wasn’t forcing himself to stay awake and think. It was like he couldn’t turn off his mind and stop his thoughts from constantly racing. The last three hours had been filled with tension. , maybe. Maybe passion. The stares. The light touches. The breathy laughs. The moments when they sat in a comfortable silence speaking a thousand words without ever opening their mouths. Whatever, it was. He decided he enjoyed it.

Jaebum enjoyed his short break from being a cop. From the cases he had to take care of. From thinking about the two empires. Now he was going to enjoy a nice break from life by closing his eyes and drifting off into a much needed deep sleep like the man next to him.