Taehyung threw the duffle bag onto the couch that adorned the only furnished room in the building. He dropped lazily onto one of the chairs and tapped on the table. M looked up from his book, taking in Taehyung's spotless white jacket and the inflated bag.

"I see you're back early."

"There wasn't much to do." Taehyung drawled. He neatly pulled out a cigarette and let it hang loosely on his lips. He lighted it and watched the smoke unfurl and dissipate across the room. "Don't you ever get bored?"

"Pardon?" asked M.

"Don't you ever get bored of doing this? The same thing over and over again."

M closed his book and leaned forward on his chair. "Not so much. This is what keeps me alive."

Taehyung shook his head. "Not even once? You've never felt like living normally for once?"

"The thoughts have crossed my mind but this feels normal to me now. 'Living normal' as you call it might seem appealing but what thrill does it hold when it becomes your everyday?"

Taehyung looked away, exhaling a huge puff of smoke. The past eight months had moved agonisingly slow. He had been plotting a plan that if failed would prove extremely fatal to himself and anyone who surrounded him. Breaking up with Minjee had been one of its first steps. He had distanced himself from everyone who could potentially be in danger; one of the reasons he never got close to his family.

His mentor had a very cautious routine of trusting the bare minimum. Their buyers could be classified as a set of concentric circles, the innermost being the most important ones. The outer circles consisted of new buyers who venture into the trade either out of curiosity or desperation. It barricades the next circle that deals with companies who are bound by lethal contracts. It surrounds a rather deadly circle of inhabitants: the oligopolists. Being a rather small market dominated by powerful large sellers; it was important to establish good faith between the other marketeers. They ran their own dens and wouldn't hesitate to sabotage the other if messed with. The second step of his plan was a clandestine tedious task: buying over the circles. He wanted to strip M of his authority and this had been the way to go. The innermost circle was once occupied by three trusted henchmen: Taehyung, Jungkook and Michael.

Michael Lee was a lingering bitter aftertaste; a ghost of who was once considered the heir. His essence now stained as a mere traitor, a shameless coward, and a forgotten son. He was the only child of M, cherished and raised in hopes of creating a successor but Michael had other plans. He was never the hoodlum; he was trained all his life to be one but he was the gentlest of the three. Art, literature and romance was what he thrived in, much to M's distaste. Michael had always despised his father's trade. No matter how hard he tried, he could never embrace it. And so, he ran. With the threat of being disowned hanging heavy on his chest, he had left to seek what he truly desired. With his own art studio, he now lived in his precious little world with his wife and son.

Taehyung stared deep into his mentor's eyes as he mentally chose the right words to put forth. "Don't you miss them?"

"Miss who?"

"Your family." Taehyung bit his lips in expectation.

The older man's face was unreadable. The only noticeable change being the lowered hood of his eyes. He paused to gently place the book on a table. "No."

Taehyung didn't know what he had hoped to hear but his gaze drooped in disappointment.

"They left me." M continued. "They left me when they could have stayed happily with me. They deprived me of any choice."

"You did have a choice." Taehyung mumbled. He could feel his mentor's piercing gaze burning deep into him. He was suddenly aware of every movement in that room including the slightest heave of pages as they fluttered in the wind.

"They wanted me to be something I never could. They wanted me to change. They knew it could never be helped and so, they left me for a fool's paradise."

Taehyung shook his head stubbornly. "How can you be so sure that it wasn't the right choice when you haven't even given it a chance?"

The older man leaned forward, his steady elbows supporting his face. The subtle hint of wrinkles and the dusty grey of his hair marked the passing of his once youthful days. His left eyebrow tugged upwards in curiosity. "You want it, don't you? You want a taste of this fool's paradise."

Taehyung looked away, suddenly grappling for words that had somehow deserted him.

"You desperately want one with Minjee."

"I had always thought of it, even before I met her. She was just a pushing factor that made me realise how much I wanted it."

M furrowed his eyebrows, trying to read the hidden bits of truth buried deep under the mask.

Taehyung unlocked his phone; hastily swiping before any more questions could be fired at him. "I've had this for a while now." He said opening an audio file. "I didn't know if I should show it you but if this works, it might help someone."

The audio started off with silence, save for the low hum of a heater. There was a long sigh followed by the click of a tongue. "It's been so long I don't even know where to start." spoke a clear female voice. She scoffed, her breath hitting the microphone with a piercing force. "I should be used to this by now... but I guess I'm not." Taehyung's hand shivered a little as the phone paused and vibrated again with the resonating voice. "Of all the things I was unsure of. Having to talk to you like this, like some stranger... this was never one of it."

Mr. Lee's posture had turned stiff as soon as the realisation hit him. Taehyung watched as the pair of watery grey eyes travelled from his face to the extended phone in hand. He seemed to be holding his breath, anticipating every word that spilled out from the device. The voice belonged to someone close to both the men present in the room. To Tae, she was a second mother. She was the woman who tended to his wounds, the one who looked after him in the ginormous city that had enthralled him. She was the only one who'd hold him close, assuring that he had a family here when he sorely missed his. But to M, she was much more. She was his other half; the one that rusted away with time.

Naoko Lee, as Taehyung imagined would have been the perfect embodiment of an exquisite mystery. From the stories he'd heard before, she was a quiet yet efficient woman who'd just moved out from Japan. With a language only partially familiar to her lips, she'd started out as a Business major in one of the top colleges of South Korea. It was safe to say that she'd caught Mr.Lee's eyes back then. According to Mrs. Lee, he had been a passionate lover. Taehyung remembered her red cheeks as she'd tailed out their fervent love story.

She had been with him through thick and thin. After leaving college, he had taken up his position in June Ray with her by his side. Naoko had never really minded his involvement in the trade of high selling drugs. It wasn't until Michael came along that she knew the intensity of it. They'd been under constant threat throughout their lives and when Michael decided to leave, so did she. She had tried constantly to convince M of leaving it all behind to start a normal life but he had refused. Each time Michael raised his protests, he just seemed to get colder. Taehyung had always found Naoko patient. He could only assume that she was at her wit's end to take that hard decision.

"Minjun-ah" she sighed. "Let's forget about all of this. I'm sick of having to see you as a stranger. I'm worried about you being alone. It's time we put this all behind, you hear me?" She paused. "I miss you. I know that deep down, you do too. Come back to me? Come back to us? I know that you think our son betrayed you but he misses you too. He leaves behind traces of you in his art; I see it clearly more than anyone."

"Let's live the future we always dreamed of." Her voice cracked. She took a shaky breath and continued. "You told me we'd go on morning walks and take on new days, just like how we did back then. We wanted to read to our heart's content in that cosy little cottage by the hill. We can still have that, hmm?" She sniffled. "It's not too late."

A high-pitched wail broke out in between, startling the listeners. There were sudden noises of shuffling feet in the background followed by the steady cry of a baby.

"Shhh Luke. Grandma's here. Grandma's here." The baby stopped crying upon hearing the soothing voice; a soft giggle replacing it.

"Think about it, won't you? I'm sure Luke would love to see you."

Taehyung wasn't sure if it was followed by anything but the audio faltered to an absolute silence marking its end. He gulped, pulling his phone closer to him. M was staring intently at the ground, as if unaware of his surroundings. He seemed lost and Taehyung dared to believe that Naoko's voice just might provoke him to rethink. The younger one sat motionless, careful not to break the dense atmosphere. He looked expectantly as M turned to look at him, his face barren of any emotions. After what seemed like an eternity, he spoke. His voice just as hard are as the words that tumbled out.

"She means nothing to me." He said decisively. "They mean nothing to me."