{Rundown}

"Now for the ground rules." Jimin began, shoving his hands into the pockets of his loosely fitted jeans. His thumbs were still poking out the top, the pockets too narrow to fit his entire hand. His expression was flat, voice unwavering as he began to speak. 

Standing in front of him, Jungkook kept a steady composure. He stood shoulder width the part, one hand placed against his hip whilst the other hung by his side. The blood from his cut had now dried over his palm, the red still blindingly visible for anyone to see, but Jungkook couldn't care less about cleaning up a small cut right now, he'd had far worse injuries to care about something so minor. Jimin on the other hand shrivelled up his nose in disgust at the sight of blood over their pristine white fluffy carpeting, the glass from the smashed vase still littered over the living room floor. 

Letting out a tired sigh, Jimin ran a hand through his silky orange locks, a noticeable habit of his, "Seeing as you're technically still a threat, you're not to leave this house without another member of our gang." he noted, earning a nod of acknowledgement from the brunette. 

Jimin continued to explain, "We have three golden rules in this house." he spoke, slipping a hand out from his pocket as he held up three fingers, beginning to pace backwards and forth around the living room. Namjoon and Yoongi had left the room, leaving Jimin to carry out the painfully boring ground rules, "One... never withhold information, that means that whilst you're here you are to give us any helpful information on the Jeon family." Jimin paused in his steps, raising a brow under his tousled bangs, "Understood?"

"Sure." Jungkook shrugged, not surprised that Bangtan wanted information out of him. 

Jimin folded down a finger, leaving two left, "Two... Always be at Namjoon's beck-and-call. Whenever he needs you to do something, you do it." he instructed, folding down yet another finger, "And three... never kill the innocent."

"Yeah sure-" Jungkook paused for a moment, going over Jimin's sentence again in his head before his eyes grew wide, "Wait... what!?"

Letting out a snicker, Jimin gave a sarcastic bow, the corner of his lip rising into a sly smirk as his eyes locked dangerously with Jungkook's. "Welcome to the secret gang of Bangtan, the only gang in all of South Korea to protect other people from gangs." he confessed, "We fight fire with fire sweetie." he winked

Surprised, Jungkook's brows knit together, "No fucking way... no wonder my dad was so uptight on Namjoon's movements." he commented, recalling how every time Jungkook found himself stumbling into his father's office, there was always an array of different profiles pinned up against his cork board. They changed on a regular basis, some being crossed out with a red 'x' whilst others were torn down, scrunched up and cast aside, tossed like mere trash. Amongst the different red strings attached to the profile pictures, the newspaper clippings, sightings and documents, only one picture caught Jungkook's attention. Namjoon's. No matter how much time passed, Namjoon's picture was never torn from the board, clues limited to only a couple of sightings. His father was no doubt searching for Bangtan... for reasons unknown that is. 

Jimin simply let out a scoff, "Of course he would be, we're a gang that's always on the low down. Not sure why he'd target us specifically, but who knows... maybe we messed with his men one time." He shrugged, brushing it off almost as if it were just another gang. But Jungkook knew better then to think that way... Bangtan had no idea what they were getting themselves into. 

Wordlessly, Jimin gestured for Jungkook to follow him out of the living room, strolling casually out into the main foyer of the mansion. The carpet soon transferred into polished marble flooring underfoot, the footsteps of both Jimin and Jungkook seemingly echoing throughout the rest of the house as they made their way to the centre of the room. Before them stood the massive staircase, cascading from two angles from the second story. A chandelier hung from the ceiling like a bejewelled masterpiece, sparkling above their heads. 

Jungkook didn't seem to care too much about the vast size of the foyer, more so he was still set on Jimin's words, how carelessly he thought about the Jeon crime syndicate. Maybe Bangtan could take down the lower members of the gang, but the more skilled experts? There's no way. 

Jungkook found himself swallowing thickly, rubbing a hand against his tattooed arm in concern, "I mean... that's kinda risky. If another gang was to find out your motives everyone would turn against you." he spoke bluntly, causing Jimin to turn on his feet, facing the brunette once again. 

"We know, that's exactly why we keep a low profile." he explained, placing his hands firmly against his hips, "Which is why you can't leave our side now, because you found one of our businesses."

Jungkook's lips parted in realisation, "The tattoo parlour."

"You got it." Jimin chirped, snapping his fingers at Jungkook's quick response before cocking his head in the direction of the stairs, "Now follow me, I'm suppose to give you a tour or something... but I'm gonna be brief." he grunted, not moving from his position in the main foyer as he first began to explain the basic layout of the mansion. Come to think of it... Jungkook didn't recall how much time had passed since he had arrived here. Frowning, he remembered entering the tattoo parlour at around ten o'clock, meaning that he most likely arrived here at eleven. Then there was the interrogation. 

Gaze momentarily flickering past Jimin's shoulder, Jungkook's eyes settled on the opaque windows. Although they were too blurred to see out of, Jungkook could confirm by the darkness outside that it was still in fact late at night. He had no way of checking the time, his leather jacket still missing. 

With his feet rooted to the floor, Jimin began his rundown, "Upstairs are our bedrooms. It gives us some security... if someone breaks in through the front door, we have time to prepare." he  spoke in a smoothly professional tone, all hostility seemingly evaporating from the smaller male as he reinforced the strategic blueprint of the mansion, "All of our offices are here downstairs, you've met Namjoon our leader, so I'll give you a rundown on everyone else." he said, eyes beginning to fall lidded with his lack of sleep, "Namjoon handpicked all of us very carefully based on talent and trust alone. We're seriously the best of the best."

Intrigued by the male's statement, Jungkook pursed his lips into a fine line, "I'm guessing you're a close combat expert?" he assumed, recalling Jimin's weaponless stance and bruised knuckles. 

"Of course..." He confirmed undeniably, "I couldn't go full out in the parlour the other day though, I was trying to protect our stock."

Jungkook froze, eyes growing wide as he thought back to their earlier fight. In the moment between standing off and fighting, Jungkook recalled how Jimin's eyes flickered from the shelf back to himself. "You were trying to avoid the shelf that whole time." he breathed out in realisation. 

"Yeah, it proved to be quite difficult." he chuckled lowly, ruffling his hair sheepishly with his hand. 

Jungkook couldn't help but begin to feel slightly giddy at Jimin's statement. It had been a while since he'd had an evenly matched fight with someone, and something told Jungkook that if they were both in a different setting, Jimin would be able to unleash his full fighting potential. As if there was always a trail of gunpowder in his veins, it was as if Jimin had struck a match, letting it spark and bringing out Jungkook's inner self out to play. Jungkook couldn't wait to spar. 

Ignoring Jungkook's silence, Jimin continued, "Seokjin is the oldest member, he's in charge of surface level affairs, running the businesses for us to keep our cover. Jin doesn't attend any gang related gatherings or activities to keep his cover, that way he appears as if he's a normal business man upfront."

"Clever."

Jimin gave a knowing smile, pleased with his gang's simple, but cleaver structure. "Next we have Yoongi who you've met... he's our sniper."

At the mention of the blonde haired male, Jungkook's expression fell dark, teeth grinding together as he point a finger towards the faint cut on the side of his cheek bone, "So he's the bloody bastard responsible for this." he growled

Jimin bit down on his lower lip, "I wouldn't confront him about it... between you and me, Yoongi's vocabulary is limited to 50% swearing and 50% sarcasm." he chuckled, a hint of nerve laced in with his laughter. 

"I'll keep that in mind."

Jimin once again continued onto the next member, "Our eyes and ears is Hoseok. Unlike the others, his office is upstairs in his room, he practically sleeps in there." he commented, lips momentarily rising into the smallest of smiles, "He's a master at hacking into government systems and surveillance, and although he never usually comes out on missions, he's our most important asset." he stated, pointing a thumb over his shoulder at the staircase behind him, "I'll send you upstairs to meet him in a moment, he needs to put a tracker on you."

"The fuck?"

"We all have one, it's for safety not stalking." he muttered, "He only uses them to track us on missions."

"I guess that does make sense." Jungkook replied, noting that the device would definitely be handy under the right circumstances. 

"Then there's me Jimin... close combat expert with flexibility out of this world." he boasted, puffing his chest out in the slightest as he stood tall and proud.

Having the odd feeling to test the short male's patience, Jungkook shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans, raising a brow as he looked down upon Jimin's form, "Prove it."

Letting out a laugh, Jimin lost no time in bending down to grab a tight hold of his ankle. Inhaling the musky air of the mansion, Jimin closed his eyes, exhaling as he rose up with his leg, raising his foot high as it extended upwards. The male posed like a ballerina. 

He cockily let out a snicker, "This enough for you?" he coaxed, stretching his leg more, "I can go further..."

"Yeah no, I've seen enough." Jungkook coughed, diverting his gaze until Jimin lowered his foot back to the floor. 

Shoving his hands back into his pockets, Jimin let out a chuckle, "and lastly is-"

Jimin couldn't finish his sentence, because a new voice interrupted instead. 

"I'm going to fucking murder that tech head!" the voice exclaimed, anger laced throughout the male's tone as the unknown voice sounded from one of the rooms connected to the foyer. "Replacing my shampoo for black hair dye!? I almost fell for his fucking trick, how dare he try to mess with my hair-" 

Before Jungkook could even process what was happening, a door violently swung open from beside him, crashing against the wall before a male leapt out from the shadows. It seemed the man was far too infuriated to even notice the brunette standing before him, ultimately letting out a string of curses as he crashed into Jungkook's form, sending them both falling to the floor in a jangled heap. 

Jimin couldn't help but face palm himself at the two males now painfully fallen against the cold marble floor, 

"Taehyung."

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{Author Note}

Seeing as everyone's personalities are very similar in my books; 'Elements of Reality' and 'The Survivors' I'm switching it up a bit for this book ;)

PS. Happy Birthday to our Mr. World Wide Handsome Jin!!! Let us all be Jin cultists for the day. xox