Jaebum deflates a little, partially due to relief, partially due to disappointment. He takes the man’s proffered hand, anyway, with a smile, shaking it firmly.

“Song Minho-ssi?” He returns the greeting, and a smile spreads itself across the other man’s face. “You’re the Special Operations Command transfer, aren’t you?”

Jaebum vaguely registers Jinwoo vibrating with excitement from beside him, and tries not to notice it too obviously.

“I wish people would stop referring to that when they first meet me,” Minho says with a good-natured eye roll. It’s obvious, though, from the build of his upper body, the natural silence with which he treads, like he’s forever ready to pounce on something at a moment’s notice, that Jaebum’s working with a trained soldier. On him, though, it looks easy, effortless, and Jaebum wonders why someone like him would end up in a place like this.

He supposes that’s a question that should apply to a lot of people right now.

“Anyone else here I should get to know?” Jaebum chuckles, looking around Minho’s shoulder. There’s a younger man standing a few feet back at another desk, watching them silently, the sad tilt to his eyebrows almost comical if not for the steel in his gaze that makes Jaebum feel like he’s being systematically peeled back, layer by layer.

Jaebum’s eyes flick immediately to the subtle gesture Minho makes towards the other man, as if signalling for him to come forward, half-aware that Minho’s still grinning at him. “This is Taehyun, my partner. Came over from the analysts.”

“Brain and brawn, they like to say,” Taehyun finally speaks, offering a half-smile which Jaebum tries to return as warmly as possible, and Minho looks insulted, mouthing a he never stops talking about that to Jaebum.

“Nice to meet you both,” Jaebum nods, stiffening slightly when they both bow back, as though the action’s automatic. Like they’ve already accepted him into the department, accepted him back here.

Back here to lead them all.

“Welcome back to the family,” Minho gestures cheerfully, before laughing, the sound warm and soothing, nothing like what Jaebum would’ve expected from a Special Ops commander. “JYP’s having a formal meeting in a while, and you’ll meet everyone then. Speaking of which, you seen your new partner yet?”

Jaebum shakes his head, but they slide into decent conversation after that, in the midst of which Minho offers to help him unpack. Jinwoo eventually has to leave, but not before giving loads of thumbs-ups and silent “hwaiting!”s which Jaebum appreciates, before he scuttles back downstairs, red in the face.

Jaebum notices Minho does a lot of the talking out of the two of them- Taehyun opts to listen quietly, gaze never once faltering, like he’s interrogating Jaebum with his eyes. He tries to remember if something like that had ever happened with Jinyoung and himself, and fails. It’d mostly been him doing both, and Jinyoung offering input where he could and helping him straighten out his ideas. He wonders if he should’ve backed off a bit more then, and given the other man more space to work as well.

The Jaebum back then and the Jaebum now are vastly different people, he realises. The Jaebum then had been impatient, straightforward, listening only to his instincts before rushing headlong into the line of fire, and while it had served him well, he can’t say the same for the people around him. The Jaebum of now knows better…maybe, anyway, because sometimes it seems like the only thing he can do now is listen and wait- quickly pushing himself into anything now would be abysmal.

At least, that’s what his past experiences say.

“Meeting should be starting anytime soon,” Minho checks his watch, before grinning over at Jaebum. “Still remember how it works around here?”

“Does JYP still barge in here and powwow with us instead of using the meeting rooms on the fourth level?” Jaebum says dryly, and Minho laughs again.

“Pretty much, yeah,” Minho’s eyes glint with a poorly hidden curiosity. “Hey, just want you to know, man. It’s an honour to finally get to work with you,” he nods towards Taehyun. “Tae and I both heard a lot about you and what you did that year.”

Jaebum winces a little, but not enough not to notice the way Taehyun nudges Minho discreetly with the side of his foot, pale fingers tugging slightly on the fabric of his sleeve, as though reining his talkative partner in.

“A lot of that was probably exaggerated,” Jaebum mumbles, and Minho guffaws.

“Humble,” Taehyun says with a cryptic smile, still rather insistently tugging on Minho’s arm.

“That part, though, about you killing their leader?” Minho tries to say, after the gales have subsided, and Jaebum notices Taehyun give a rather obvious nudge. “Shooting him straight between the eyes, after decimating their getaway vehicles with those planned explosives and trapping his men in the basement floors by caving in the exits,” Jaebum blinks. Another memory he’d very much like to erase. “That true?”

Jaebum averts their eyes, something burning low in his gut. “Yeah.”

Minho gives a low whistle. “Different, isn’t it? Shooting them when they’re running and when they’re right in front of you knowing they’re about to die?”

Jaebum starts a little at the question, before remembering Minho’d been from Special Ops- he probably knows what that feels like a lot more than Jaebum ever will.

“Yeah.”

“Don’t think too much about it, man,” Minho claps him on the shoulder with a firm hand, before raising a finger to his temple. “Makes you go weird up there. People weren’t made to kill other people, you know? But sometimes these things just gotta be done, right?”

“Wise,” Jaebum says with a wry smile, and Minho laughs again.

He realises something else is nagging at him, though, something beyond the implications of this friendly interrogation- why isn’t Jackson here yet? Jaebum watches the minute hand of the clock as he sets up the board beside his desk. He has to be here for the meeting, at least, right?

Apparently not, because at ten in the morning Jaebum stands alone, leaning against his desk at the outer fringe of the circle gathered in the office area, as the other officers stand in pairs, chatting lightly and looking over case files, waiting for JYP to come. It’s slightly disconcerting, and Jaebum wonders if he should feel worried.

He decides that feeling worried is a good option when JYP strolls in half an hour late and his mystery partner is still AWOL. They like to joke that whoever’s later than JYP himself should stand outside with a dunce cap and holding a board confessing they’re tardy as heck, and because you’d have to lose all sense of time and space to be later than him.

JYP doesn’t seem concerned that one of his new officers is missing. He’s starting some pep speech he obviously finds quite boring himself, one listing the crime statistics and cases closed for the latest quarter, and Jaebum is honestly starting to wonder if he should say something when the door is flung open, and everyone’s eyes snaps over to the frame at once.

The first thing Jaebum finds himself thinking is wow, Jimin was right.

It’s not so much his looks, Jaebum concludes, though he has to admit- the dark eyes and all that hair falling into his face plus the edge to his jawline would make about two hundred percent of the female population swoon. It’s more of his charisma, the way he automatically commands the atmosphere once he steps in, though not in the way one would expect of an elite officer in Seoul’s Crime Investigation Department.

“Wow, I’m that late?” He looks mildly surprised and sheepish, and several of the officers snigger. JYP turns to look at the clock, before looking back at the newcomer with an amused smile.

“You know we did say this meeting was starting at 10, not 10.45, Officer Wang,” he says, and Jackson immediately does a 90 degree bow.

“Sorry sir, breakfast and I had a disagreement,” he says with a perfectly straight face. “Don’t worry about it though, we left it all behind us in the toilet.”

Minho laughs- that cues the rest of the officers to break into scattered mirth as well. JYP looks satisfied, he gestures for Jackson to come in and listen.

Jaebum watches the other man carefully as he walks in comically, bending down and half-crab walking so he doesn’t block anyone, and one of the other investigators- Jia, if Jaebum remembers correctly, smirks.

“Yah, Wang, not like you’re blocking anyone if you stand anyway.”

This invites more laughter, and Jackson straightens to give her a scathing look as he walks properly to stand at Jaebum’s side. Yerin was right about the people skills, too- first day, and Jackson’s already verbally jousting with the other officers like he’s known them all his life?

“Now that we’re all here and no longer arguing with breakfasts,” JYP taps the whiteboard behind him with a pointer to get their attention back, and Jaebum decides he’ll have to skip introductions for now and get to know his new partner later. “Rounding up what I was saying earlier- we finished up with the serial cybercrime cases and the blackout robbery cases are still ongoing. Taecyeon and Fei are working on that,” he points to one of the only two females in the room, a slender, somewhat imperious lady standing beside a tall man with polished features, both of whom nod unconcernedly. “We also have reason to believe that the new string of firearm and substance smuggling cases have something to do with the spike in gang activity in the past six months. We’re cracking down on imports especially from China and the Philippines.”

“Taehyun and I got an anonymous tip-off about the ecstasy case this morning,” Minho offers. “The suspicion about the leading organisations was right. I think they’re really back.”

There’s a rumble of anxiety amongst the officers, and Jaebum feels several pairs of eyes flick towards him momentarily. He tenses a little- that can’t mean anything good.

JYP sighs, tapping the whiteboard marker against his chin, before turning back to the whiteboard, drawing a circle, followed by several smaller circles.

“As you all know, the jin long, or the Golden Dragon, was one of the biggest geondal in Seoul a few years back,” JYP points to the circle, and Jaebum’s stomach twists uncomfortably. He knows what’s coming. “Until last year, when two of our officers led a raid which allowed us to seize a majority of their goods, as well as take down the leader of the geondal and arrest many of the other members. We assumed the geondal was finished, then.”

Jaebum feels more eyes on him again this time- but he’s not paying attention, not when JYP’s saying something he realises he hasn’t heard before.

“In their absence, of course, a lot of the smaller gangs whose power had been repressed by the Dragons during their reign started a turf war, of sorts, to determine who would end up on top, the results of which are still unknown. What we do know, however, is that the coast guards got tipped off about a shipment of ecstasy coming in last week, and found it on an illegal fishing trawler which was using one of the old jin long trade routes.”

“But how do we know the Dragons are involved?” Another officer with sharp eyes and thin lips whom Jaebum doesn’t know yet asks. “Another organisation could be using that route now that the Dragons aren’t around to chase them away.”

“That’s what we thought too,” Minho pipes up, and everyone turns to look at him, Jaebum included. “Until the coast guards found a wrecked speed boat a couple days back washed up on shore. Three bodies were found on board, and forensics said two died by gunshot wounds and one by drowning. We identified them by their tattoos, and they belonged to one of the other bigger geondal in Seoul, probably smuggling stuff in until they got robbed and killed at sea. They sent us a picture of the wreck.”

Minho reaches back behind him for a file, and Jaebum peers over Jackson’s shoulder to see a clear photograph, obviously taken in daylight, not the amateur grainy black-and-whites they’re used to seeing. He supposes he should be relieved, only he isn’t, not with what he’s seeing right now.

The wreck is terrible, like someone had blown holes in different parts of the boat and rigged the engine to speed it until it crashed into the rather unforgiving rocks off the quieter parts of the coast. Blue sheets cover the three bodies, no doubt bloated and as beaten up as the boat now. But what catches their attention isn’t any of that- it’s the symbol spray painted in white, standing out clearly against the pitch black of the smuggling boat, on the side, that makes everyone stare.

“The dragon. It’s a warning,” Taehyun says, almost bored, to anyone who hasn’t already gotten it. “For the other geondal to stay off their trade routes and market.”

“But that’s not possible,” another young officer, one with clear eyes and a thoughtful tilt to his head. “It’s only been a year and a half, at the most. More than half their men are in jail, their circle of leadership is either dead or imprisoned- how would they get a new leader or so much resources that quickly?”

“That’s the part we’ve just gotten a lead on,” JYP riffles unconcernedly through the mess of files behind him to extract one, before handing it to the officer beside him, gesturing for him to pass it around and let everyone take a look. “Their- circle of leadership, is that what you’ve called it? It’s been reinstated. Our analysts have been working with our Commercial Affairs and CID officers for some time and they’ve managed to lock it down onto three people.”

“Three ghosts,” Taecyeon flips the file around for everyone to see, showing three default profile sheets, all mostly blank, especially the one in the centre. “Do we actually know anything about these people?”

JYP shrugs, with the don’t look at me face. “They worked so hard they started a petition to demand a raise, apparently,” he gestures to the first one, the one with the most information filled in. Jaebum tenses, sensing an important briefing.

“The three of them- their ranking and origin, we’ve got no idea, but their roles are set out, sort of. For the first one,” he gestures to the half-filled information sheet, “In the underworld, they call him the Enforcer. Our undercover agents said the term was coined as a joke, why though, we’ve got no idea, because no one actually seems to know how this guy looks. The people we managed to ask after the Enforcer’s visits, their descriptions usually range from tall and hulking and scary to crazy and tiny. Either he’s using some really stellar disguises for no reason or we’re following a bad lead.”

“Or they’re just embarrassed to say anything,” Jaebum voices, and immediately regrets it. Everyone’s eyes press to him inquisitively, as though they’d just been waiting for him to say something. Reluctantly, he presses on with his explanation. “I’m guessing the Enforcer doesn’t look the type to kill at all- or someone they’d be embarrassed to describe getting one up on them. Someone harmless looking or frail, I guess?”

“That’s an option,” Jaebum’s grateful that JYP takes it like any other suggestion, scribbling it indifferently down on his files. “Anything else anyone would like to share?”

When his question is met with respectful silence, he carries on. “The Enforcer, he’s the one in charge of the, ah, diplomatic affairs, you could say? For the hostiles they can’t trust to the usual gang muscle, they assign to him. The people that haven’t met him are terrified, and the people that have are mute. Jaebum’s suspicion might be right- someone they’d be embarrassed to talk about fits the facts we have now. But be that as it may,” JYP gestures carelessly to the right.

“The second one, though- he’s the real mystery here.” Jia, now, turns the file around then obligingly to reveal an almost entirely blank profile page. “No one knows anything about him. It took a chunk out of our resources just to discover his existence. We’ve got no idea about his purpose, his status, anything. The only connection we’ve been able to make so far is that he’s a blood relative of the main one- the one we’re after.”

A new leader?

The file finds its way into Jaebum’s hands from the officer with clear eyes, and he flips open to the third and last profile, turning it slightly to let the rest of the officers get a look as well. As expected, most of it is blank, except for the several remarks here and there and things filled in haphazardly. A quick scan has his heart sinking at the bottom line, the one bolded and underlined and emphasised.

“As you all know, leadership in the geondal is very much heritable,” JYP says, sounding properly serious for the first time during this meeting. “And our analysts picked up something about the late leader none of us knew previously. The man Im Jaebum terminated one and a half years ago,” Jaebum’s heart feels like it’s been turned to stone. “He had a son.”

Only child of the late leader of the Dragons. Current leader of the Dragons.

“He can’t be out of his early twenties,” Minho blinks. “You think anyone would take him seriously? In another country, maybe, but not here. Isn’t age pretty much a prerequisite for respect in the geondal?”

“That’s true, unless he proved himself, of course,” JYP shrugs. “This guy, it’s like he’s the genius of the next geondal generation. A peak that big in one particular gang’s activity- our techs should’ve picked it up ages ago, but he’s managed to keep everything under nice tight wraps until that one tip-off about the ecstasy shipments and this wreck warning. And even then, I’m pretty sure this guy was deliberate about it. He wants to be heard and known, and that only means one thing. He’s ready for us.”

He’s ready for you, Jaebum.

Jaebum had had no idea the man he’d shot to death almost two years ago left behind a son. To be honest, till then, he’d seen these people as one-dimensional, power-crazed, ruthless people bent on getting as much money as soon as possible. Until that one night that’d changed everything, and Jaebum had requested respectfully to be dropped to Traffic before anyone could say anything, and had had the time to sit back and take a closer look at everything.

Even now, he isn’t sure he can claim to know anything at all.

“…new assignments, I’m sure you’ve all read up,” Jaebum tunes back in to hear JYP’s final words for the meeting. He’d looked through the file, memorised everything immediately as usual, and if he’s to be honest, it sort of feels good being back in the field like this again. Like flexing a muscle he hasn’t used in some time, or testing the waters in curiosity. He just hopes it won’t end the same way it did last time. “That’s that, then, anything more and ah, I’ll contact someone. Get cracking, folks,” he waves as he turns to leave. “Oh right, I did forget in the end,” he does an about turn, pointing in the vague direction of Jaebum and Jackson. “Let’s welcome back Jaebum after a year and a half of Traffic and Community Policing,” the tiny room breaks out into applause, solemn and quiet and, dare he say, almost reverant, until JYP speaks again. “And introduce our new transfer investigator Jackson, from the Busan unit.”

Jaebum joins in the applause, notably more relaxed and cheerful than the one for his, and he wonders if he should feel insulted. He decides against it after a second or so. It’s not like he’s known for being the greatest social butterfly out there, anyway.

The office breaks into the usual light conversation once JYP’s out of the office, throwing occasional glances towards Jackson and Jaebum’s direction, that Jaebum mostly overlooks, but notices Jackson lapping up cheerfully.

It’s different, perhaps too different for Jaebum, and he’s starting to doubt the success with which they’ll have at anything for that matter. At least he’d shared some common ground with Jinyoung when they’d started off, but with someone like Jackson, plus all the rumours he’d heard from the others back in Traffic-…it’ll definitely be harder than he thought it would.

Then Jackson turns to him for the first time (ever, he realises) and Jaebum doesn’t blink, but something prickles uncomfortably at the back of his neck with the curiosity alight in Jackson’s eyes, the intensity behind that gaze that makes apprehension simmer at the pit of his stomach. It’s not like Jaebum’s taken aback by the intentions behind those eyes, per se- just the way it’s put across.

Jaebum banks on the assumption no one sees him to get by, especially no one prominent. Certainly not someone like Jackson. The Jaebum of now is content to stay in the background, listen and think, instead of stand and talk.

Listening might, but thinking doesn’t seem like much of an option when you’re with someone like Jackson.

“Jackson Wang,” the man extends a hand- he comes to almost half a head shorter than Jaebum, he realises. Where Jaebum is lean and sinewy muscle, Jackson is thickset, overflowing with confidence and ear-to-ear grins, nothing like what Jaebum’s used to. “Im Jaebum, right?”

“Did JYP make it obvious enough?” Jaebum mumbles, accepting the hand, and Jackson’s grin widens.

“I’ve heard so much about you,” Jackson says, eyes glinting with something that’d usually be described as friendliness, though Jaebum isn’t so sure anymore. The grin on his face is infectious, almost, however, when he speaks next. “You look taller in the newspaper pictures.”

“Wow, uh, thanks,” Jaebum nods, unsure of what else to do, and Jackson throws his head back to laugh.

“I’m just kidding, man, loosen up,” Jackson claps him on the shoulder, and Jaebum flinches at the casual vernacular, before reminding himself that Jackson is, after all, a foreigner. But maybe that’s why he’s caught off guard by Jackson’s next question.

“So tell me, how’d you do it?”

“Look, let’s not-…” Jaebum reaches back, really not looking forward to a replay of his conversations with just about everyone other than Jinyoung for the past two years, and he grabs the case file. “Did you read this already?”

Jackson scoffs. “I don’t need those. Real investigators rely on their instincts.”

Jaebum heaves a mental sigh. If this was the brilliant investigator that’d torn through the ranks in Busan with his record of successful cases closed, Jaebum’s definitely been sorely short-changed here in Seoul.

“Spoken like a true accident waiting to happen,” Jaebum pushes the file into Jackson’s hands. “Read up. Don’t make me have to read it to you.”

“But hyung,” Jackson whines, and Jaebum scowls, turning back to his desk.

“Just make sure you know everything on the case,” he flips open the file, absently his thumb and flipping a page. “And who said you could call me that?”

“Yeesh, fine, and sorry, ahjusshi,” Jackson cackles, heading back to his own desk, and Jaebum pinches the bridge of his nose between his forefinger and thumb, sighing.

This is going to be a long case.

“Tomorrow,” Jaebum turns around to say, and Jackson quickly pretends he wasn’t just taking out his phone to start on some game. “We’re going to visit a couple of mid-ranks from the geondal that the Dragons allegedly attacked- they’re our best bet in getting more info about their rival gang progress. So make sure you know everything before we go.”

“Why not now?” Jackson casts a hopeful look downstairs, eyes bright. “Better catch a lead while it’s hot, right?”

Jaebum opens his mouth to cut that idea down, but hesitates for a split second when something that tastes a lot like hypocrisy yanks him back, because it’s exactly what he would’ve said two years ago. Same tone, same expression, same stupidity, raving to chase down leads as soon as they’re discovered. It’d all been a game, a great puzzle to figure out, then, until the one night he realised the players in his hands had hearts and dreams and lives and that one move could destroy all that.

He turns back to his desk and continues reading through his file, and he can almost feel the built up impatience and excitement deflate a little in Jackson, just behind him.

“Don’t be stupid,” he says flatly, instead, flipping another page. “We’ll go once everything’s ready, and that’s tomorrow.” 

“Why?” Jackson grumbles, and Jaebum feels a stab of satisfaction at the sound of him reluctantly opening the file in his hands. “I can memorise this in minutes.”

“Oh, it’s not us who won’t be ready by tomorrow,” Jaebum says absently, checking the dates on one of his old case files, one he’d specially organised, tabulated and kept for occasions like these. To anyone else, it would look like a mess of names, items, and dates, but it’s a gold mine for him- at least, assuming it hasn’t been updated without his knowledge.

Fortunately for him, though, things rarely ever happen without his knowledge.

“It’s them.”

Jackson makes a dubious noise. “We’re waiting for them to get ready for us?”

“Yep,” Jaebum scribbles down a list of things on a post it, before walking out behind his desk over to Jackson, who nods in understanding once Jaebum adheres it to his case file and pats him on the back.

“Ahh,” Jackson says, frowning at the post it. Then he looks up hopefully, before gesturing at the file. “So does this mean I still have to-…”

“Yes,” Jaebum replies unconcernedly, heading out to get coffee. His work here is done. Mostly.

Jackson mutters dissent out loud, but there's a smile on his face when he returns to his file.

a/n: something of a connecting chapter cries, just to move the plot along and make stuff believable ahaha. the real stuff will start happening soon i promise T.T hope this was okay ;A;