Leader Oh had one weakness Taehyung had identified – he was a cheapskate. So he had arranged for several surveillance cameras to be set up inside the buildings where people lived, in the L building and in the factory, but not in other parts of the commune, like on the roads. Furthermore, they were cameras that had infrared, but they were supplied with power and they transmitted data through cables. If one would cut the cables or turn off the power, the cameras would stop working. And the power was easy to turn off because many control panels were in really accessible areas or even outside of buildings.

Even so, it would be really difficult for a regular person to do something in these conditions without being found out. But Taehyung wasn’t a regular person.

So, one night, he stepped onto the window sill of his room on the fourth floor in building R, grabbed onto the drainage metal pipe traversing the building from roof to ground and climbed down on it without making a sound. In a similarly stealthy way, he traveled throughout the commune, careful to not run into the 2 guards that were on patrol within the commune or let anyone else notice him. Because there was no lighting aside from the flashlights of the guards and the moon, it was easy to avoid being seen. Also, he could see fairly well in the dark and had memorized where everything in the commune was, so it wasn’t that hard getting around.

At the G building, he had found several windows left widely open on the ground floor because it was late spring and it was fairly hot outside. He looked in the rooms till he found what he was looking for, then crept into that room while the guard was sleeping in his bed. Guards and those higher than them had perks like getting alcohol and cigarettes, but they weren’t allowed to consume those in front of the workers who were supposed to think that any craving, even for sugar, was a bad thing.

So Taehyung took the pack of cigarettes from the guard’s table and left the room just as silently through the window. He then walked up to the haystack that was close by and lit a cigarette with a match. The hay had dried off since the day when it rained so, when Taehyung threw the lit cigarette into the hay, it didn’t take long for a fire to start. Taehyung dropped the pack of cigarettes near the haystack and dashed towards building L as the flames started to spread.

In not even 5 minutes, the flames had engulfed the nearby pig barn and the pigs inside were causing a commotion. This and the strong light coming from the fire woke people up and people started mobilizing to put out the fire and free the pigs. One of the guards on patrol ran to building L to alert the lieutenants and the leader and it woke all of them up since the guard had to yell and bang on the front door of the building to reach anyone inside. When he did, Taehyung saw several rooms light up on the third and fourth floor and, by the looks of it, building L had electrical lighting.

A few moments later, Taehyung saw 6 men leave building R: Leader Oh, the 2 guards and the 3 lieutenants that were currently staying at the commune. Taehyung considered himself lucky, so he went and turned off the power to the building from the outside control board, then climbed on the outside of the building till he reached the open window on the second floor where he assumed Leader Oh had his office.

T: No way you’re running a drug operation without communicating with the outside world. There has to be something here that should be useful.

Taehyung saw a laptop on the desk but there was no network cable or internet flash drive near it. There were papers on the desk, but he couldn’t make out anything with just a bit of light from the moon. He tried looking around for a smartphone or a router, but his eyes fell on an unexpected device.

T: You gotta be kidding me… A telegraph?! Is this him implementing his own bullcrap about a simpler life or something? Wait, no. This might be harder to intercept because no one would think of intercepting this. Also, if he just gets alerts, he could just go to areas with phone signal or internet and take care of the complex things like that. Regardless, he or someone who’s usually in this office knows Morse code.

Taehyung went over to the telegraph, picked up the paper from the receiver and read the recent message: Operation 167 intercepted. Harry still with us. Awaiting orders.

               T: Harry… Is that what they call the drug?

Then Taehyung’s reckless and troublemaking side kicked in, so he went to the transmitter key and pressed it to send the message: Redo operation 167 like nothing happened. It’s part of the plan.

Taehyung didn’t have a clear goal when he broke into the office and he definitely didn’t have a clear goal for sending that message, especially since he only assumed operation 167 was a drug shipment operation, but he thought it would be nice if the people shipping the drug would get caught and that would create enough pressure for the leader to leave the commune for a while.

Suddenly, he heard noises outside the building and panicked, not knowing what he should do, so he hid inside the only dresser in the room, which had a few sets of regular clothes inside of it, but enough space for Taehyung to hide without moving something to create noise. Luckily, he managed to hide inside the dresser before the little red light indicating that the cameras were running .

O: “How the hell did this kinda thing happen?!” Leader Oh angrily asked while stomping into his office after turning on the light. “You’re saying it was caused by a lit cigarette?”

W: “Given that we found this pack of cigarettes near the haystack where the fire started, it’s fairly safe to assume so, sir. We can check the location more thoroughly when it will be daylight outside, but I’m sure we’ll find the remains of a cigarette bud.” lieutenant Wonsuk, who was something like a bodyguard for the leader, said as he placed the pack of cigarettes on the leader’s desk.

O: “Who smokes this brand? Aside from the guards and the hunters, only 2 of the 6 lieutenants smoke and they’re away on duty, so this belongs to one of the guards or one of the hunters.”

Lieutenant Wonsuk listed the people who smoked that brand of cigarettes and Taehyung thought his plan of framing one of the guards, getting him in trouble and disrupting the patrolling shifts, thereby creating potential loopholes, was a success. However, he was stuck inside the leader’s dresser and he saw no way out. Even if the leader and the lieutenant would soon leave the room, the power was back on so the cameras were running again. He was trapped and he started fearing what would happen.

O: “Tell Park to bring those people to me immediately. Tell Yang to make sure the people calm down and don’t think up conspiracy theories, to rearrange the shifts of the guards because we’ll question all the guards and all the hunters eventually and… You know what, never mind. I’ll tell Yang what to do myself. And after this mess is taken care of, I need to have a word with the technicians because this idiotic outdoor control panel thing is getting on my nerves. It’s the third time this month that the power goes off and…” the leader stopped because there was a knock at the door and the voice outside announced:

C: “Leader Oh. Jungkook is here to see you, sir.”

O: “Let him in.” Leader Oh commanded and Jungkook stepped inside along with lieutenant Choi.

J: “Sorry to disturb you at a time like this, sir, but me and 2 other recruiters along with lieutenant Choi were supposed to set out in 3 hours to go on field duty. Should we proceed or should we stay here till the situation with the fire gets cleared up?”

O: “Do any of you have events like seminars or nature retreats planned?”

J: “No, sir. Only regular fishing.”

O: “Then stay here and postpone your recruiting activities.”

J: “Understood. Thank you, sir.” Jungkook said, turning to leave before he was stopped.

O: “Hold up! You recruit ex-convicts, right?”

J: “Yes, sir.”

O: “This target audience that you proposed has a high conversion rate and they’re used to following orders and being obedient, except for that one messy case 6 months ago... But, anyway, they also come with certain risks. Did you have in the last 3 batches of recruits any arsonists or vandals?”

J: “No, sir. All of them were convicted for crimes, tax evasion or robbery.”

O: “Find and show me their profiles.” Leader Oh said, handing Jungkook a very thick folder and, as Jungkook started flipping pages taking out the requested profiles, the leader asked: “How many have you recruited so far?”

J: “137, sir.”

O: “I see. Good job. You’re one of my most efficient recruiters and you’re halfway to your goal so make sure you don’t get lazy.”

At that, Jungkook looked to the leader with a very strong gaze and said:

J: “When I reach 300 successful recruitments, you WILL transfer me to the commune where Jin is like you said you would, right?”

O: “Of course. You’ll get to live with your brother and you’ll help me grow that community as well. Win-win, so I have no reason not to transfer you.”

T: Jungkook! No! Why would you believe that?! There is no other commune. Seokjin’s either dead, involved in drug dealing or hiding somewhere very far away from the cult. Open your eyes!

Jungkook left and the leader let out a sigh before saying:

O: “It’s really a shame that we’ll have to get rid of him before he reaches his target. But he’ll cause a lot of trouble if he reaches it and doesn’t meet that brother of his, so we should deal with him sooner.”

               T: They’re gonna kill Jungkook?!

W: “Pardon me for asking this, sir, but how did Kim Seokjin escape?”

O: “I don’t know. Many have tried, but only he succeeded and no one managed to figure out how.”

T: Seokjin escaped?! Joon and Jungkook will be so happy to hear this! Wait… What the am I thinking about?! I might die before I get to tell them or even before sunrise… What should I do?

O: “What the is taking Yang so long?!” the leader suddenly shouted as he slammed his hands on the desk and got up to leave the office. “Come on. We still have a mess to take care of. Get a flashlight and check the control board before we go.”

When the leader slammed his hands on the desk, Taehyung almost let out a yelp. Fear was running wild inside him, because he had no idea what to do to escape his situation and he was running out of time. Then, suddenly, he heard a whispered voice saying:

W: “5 seconds.”

Taehyung was in shock that the lieutenant knew someone was in there, but he tried getting over it fast because, apparently, he had 5 seconds to do something. But what? Even though the room was empty and dark again, the cameras had infrared and they were still running.

T: Did he mean 5 seconds after they leave the room? If so, I already missed my chance. But he was told to check the control board, so does that mean he’ll turn off the power for 5 seconds and I’ll have to get out of the building then?

Taehyung hoped he was right and watched the faint light he could see from the cameras and, when it disappeared, he swiftly and silently bolted out of the dresser, closed its doors back, checked outside the window to see if anyone was there, got out and climbed down the wall slowly because the cameras couldn’t see him there and jumping or hurrying would make too much noise. When his feet touched the ground he looked around and saw lieutenant Wonsuk standing one meter to his left just staring at him with a straight face. Taehyung now remembered how feeling a knot the size of a planet inside his throat was like, but he managed to let out:

T: “Why?”

W: “Kim Namjoon and Jeon-Kim Jungkook saved my life when others would’ve let me die. You’re important to Kim Namjoon. A life for a life. My debt to him is repaid.”

Taehyung didn’t know that, a few months ago, while lieutenant Wonsuk was checking something out in the woods, he had been attacked by hungry wolves which he had managed to fight off but not without sustaining considerable wounds. He managed to drag himself towards the road leading to outside the commune and collapsed close to it. A team of recruiters were heading out to do field work around that time, Jungkook noticed lieutenant Wonsuk and forcibly stopped the car, went to him and then ran with him on his back to Namjoon, because any other doctor was further away even by car.

Namjoon gave the lieutenant first aid then desperately urged the leader to take the lieutenant to a proper hospital because he didn’t have everything he needed there to make sure the lieutenant doesn’t die from the wounds. The leader flatly refused, because this would’ve created a precedent and many would get ideas to injure themselves to get out of the community. Luckily, even without all the things he needed, Namjoon managed to not let the lieutenant die.

Taehyung didn’t know this and he didn’t need to know, so he asked about what concerned him:

T: “How’d you know it was me?”

W: “Smell.” Wonsuk said, making Taehyung confused and attempt smelling himself. “I can feel a troublemaker’s stench from a mile away.”

The lieutenant turned and left. Taehyung didn’t think this was the time and place to sit down and reflect on what happened, so he rushed to building R and climbed back into his room while it was still dark outside and no one could see him.

Without sleeping a wink, Taehyung left the building in the morning to go to the public square as their schedule usually implied. On the way there, he saw Jungkook in front of him and remembered the things he had heard in the leader’s office.

T: I should at least warn him… It’s none of my business and I have no reason for caring, but I should at least warn him so he could watch his back.

So Taehyung hurried a bit to get to Jungkook’s side and, when he did, he whispered:

T: “They’re planning to get rid of you.”

Jungkook looked surprised when he turned his head towards Taehyung but, after a few seconds, he looked in front of him again as he whispered:

J: “I know. They started attempting it since a while ago.”

               T: Then why the are you not running for the hills?! Oh, right… Seokjin.

T: “Seokjin escaped the commune.”

J: “No, he didn’t.”

This got Taehyung so confused, he stopped in his tracks for a moment and he couldn’t say anything.

T: But I heard it with my own ears. Did I misunderstand something? Does Jungkook know something more? I don’t get it. I… I don’t care anymore! Seokjin’s not my problem. You being an idiot is also not my problem. I already told you what I knew and could be useful to you, so you do you, Jeon-Kim Jungkook.

The morning sermon didn’t take place as people were obviously agitated about the fire from the night before, so the leader got up on the platform and agitated people even more by claiming that the fire was started by an intruder who came to steal from them because the outside world was already in such a bad state that some people resorted to crimes just to be able to feed themselves. Most people got agitated, thinking that they were going to be attacked in the future as well and have their hard work stolen from them. Taehyung, however, got confused again.

T: I mean… that’s a brilliant idea to reinforce the things that keep people here and to not let on that the guards have a supply of cigarettes, but what about the recruiters who are probably aware that the outside world isn’t in such a bad state? Oh well… If you’re gonna create that kinda context, don’t mind if I use it to my advantage later on…

The leader then went on to say that there was no need to worry too much, because a certain guard had stopped the intruder from causing more damage than he already did. That guard had also taken the intruder to the other commune in another part of the country where he would be thought the error of his ways and the guard will remained stationed there to increase that commune’s security. Meanwhile, even though the remaining guards would be able to keep the commune safe, there was still a spot left to fill, so one of the workers would be selected to take that role on.

T: So… I guess the guard’s dead now… If I had to hide a body, I would do it in one of the holes where all the from the toilet is dumped, because that would hide the smell and no one would dig it up by accident. So does that mean I might stumble across a corpse tonight? Should I look for it? Is there any use in that? Or, wait, maybe he’s just imprisoned somewhere… Should I look for him, free him and get him to help me?

Taehyung had too many thoughts running around in his mind and, to top it all off, he remembered that lieutenant Wonsuk likely had his eye on him, so he decided to lay low for a bit and not engage in reckless, not completely thought out attempts anymore.

That evening, dinner featured meat from some wild animals the hunters have hunted and something suddenly clicked in Taehyung’s mind.

T: The times we would get meat that doesn’t come from our livestock are always one or two days after it’s announced that someone transferred to another commune…

Taehyung picked up a piece of meat with his spoon and stared at it.

T: So this is what’s left of the guard, huh? Get rid of the troublesome person, get rid of the body and feed the community without investing anything but some time and effort. Triple win.

He then put the meat in his mouth and chewed on it like he had just realized it came from a wild boar instead of a dear, because it really didn’t matter. The guard was already dead, he had eaten human meat several times already without realizing, meat was pretty necessary for keeping his strength up and it would have looked suspicious if he suddenly refused to continue eating.

Namjoon refused though. Taehyung had noticed that Namjoon didn’t eat any meat aside from fish and he asked him about it. Namjoon just said that he had considered becoming a vegetarian since before coming to the commune and, now that resources like meat were scarce, he thought it was the time to make the switch. Taehyung didn’t doubt him in the least back then, but now he understood why Namjoon didn’t eat meat. Namjoon most likely knew how wild boar, dear, rabbit and other such kinds of meat tasted like, he probably realized from the first bite that the meat in his bowl was not what it was claimed it was, made the same connection Taehyung did and made up a natural sounding reason for not eating meat anymore.

Taehyung wondered if anyone else knew about this out of the ones eating. He searched for Jungkook and saw him eating normally. However, after only 2 seconds, Jungkook seemed to have become aware that someone was looking at him, so he looked around till he found who and he locked eyes with Taehyung.

T: Damn, he’s like a wild herbivore. But, I guess, if someone tried to kill or attack him repeatedly, he naturally developed sharp instincts like that.

Then Taehyung looked away because he realized he was thinking too much about Jungkook and he had other more pressing things to think about.

Like the fact that lieutenant Wonsuk now knew that Taehyung had snuck into the leader’s office and, even though the lieutenant helped him out this time, when it would be found out that the message in Morse code Taehyung had sent from that office messed up something potentially important, he might change his mind and rat Taehyung out. Especially if another lieutenant or Wonsuk himself would be blamed for the misleading message, because surely only those people had access to the telegraph and this kind of information.

Furthermore, all arrows were pointing to the fact that this cult, or organization or mafia or whatever, was dangerous enough to kill people over relatively small things.

               T: Damn… I gotta get Joon outta here fast!