Jungkook focus

Jungkook was on his way to an address he never knew existed. There had been rumors and brief mentionings of Suga's warehouse, but he would never have guessed it really existed. But apparently, it did, because there was an address on the little paper in his palm which Suga had told him about during his call under the condition to burn the paper and the entrance code afterwards. He had been strictly forbidden to safe the information on his phone, so here he was with the little piece of paper, searching for hall G9.

The area was slightly off-putting because even in broad daylight it was completely empty of people. He had seen a straying dog five minutes ago, but apart from that the area was dead. And damn cold. He pulled up the collar of his coat and accelerated his steps.

G9 looked uninhabited. Trees were growing through its broken roof and the windows were dull with dirt and all kinds of chemicals Jungkook did not even want to know the origins of. Still, he walked around to the entrance with the rusty metal door and gripped the handle to pull it open. Suga had told him that he would find another door behind this door, and he did not think much of it, but when he saw what waited for him behind the inconspicuous front, he stopped in his tracks. This looked way more like what he had expected from the hacker.

An unbreakable-looking, sand-brushed black metal door with a number pad for the code blocked his way, and the digits gleamed in an acidic green that made this whole door system look like the entrance to a sci-fi realm. Very impressive, Jungkook had to admit.

But he was here for a job and not to stare, so he stepped inside and punched the numbers on his paper into the panel. A soft beep told him he had been successful, and the door clicked open.

If the entrance had been impressive, the scenery that followed was beyond words. As far as his eyes could see, the hangar-sized warehouse was filled with sparkling and shiny things on rows and rows of metal shelf-systems. It was a fest for the eye.

"Holy shit," he whispered into the sparkling silence. How was he supposed to find what Taehyung had called synthetical diamonds? This place was huge.

Third drawer from the top on the left of the stowing system behind the counter. Those had been Suga's words, but where the heck was the counter? Overwhelmed, he let his eyes wander in search for anything that matched his idea of a counter, but all he could see was the giant heap of Persian carpets to his right and some movable metal frames with chandeliers straight ahead, and of course the long rows of black-market goods.

"Let's get it," he murmured and moved forwards, past the crystal chandeliers, in hopes to find what he was searching for.

On his way through the room, he crossed a section with what looked like Greek statues and another with porcelain that maybe his grandmother would have liked to finally see an old billiard bar counter behind a stack of huge wooden boxes that were labeled with Microraptor, Tupuxuara and Velociraptor. Ignoring the itch to look inside those boxes to verify his assumption that those really had to do with dinosaurs, he circled them to step in front of the giant drawer system behind the table.

The drawer he was supposed to look into was labeled ruby and was next to the drawers sapphire, emerald, and diamond. He opened it slowly and peeked inside only to gasp at the sight of beautiful crimson stones in all sizes shimmering like stars. It was amazing. But he was not supposed to bring those but the cardboard box in the far back.

Curious what he would find in there, he pulled it out and opened it. Well those looked exactly the same to him. With a slightly disappointed pout, he stowed the box in his backpack and turned around to the counter. Suga had told him that the polishing set he was supposed to bring with him was stowed somewhere in the equipment section, C8, and that under the counter he would find a plan of the warehouse to get some orientation.

It did not take him long to find the plan and to locate his target, and he began to walk down one of the narrow passages further into the warehouse. Undefined boxes, statures of all kinds, jewelry, stuffed animals and even books rushed past him until he finally found what he had been looking for.

Lowest shelf on the right, Suga had said. And there it was, a small black case reading Glossover. A funny name for a diamond polishing set, but who was he to talk with the sight he had been granted today? This was Suga's realm, and it definitely was as far from reality as dragons. Jungkook was simply happy to steal glances into the colorful world of the two thieves.

However, he had a timetable to stick to, so he grabbed the case and went back to the exit. His flight to Hongkong would take off in four hours, and he still had to pack.

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"Jeon!" Taehyung greeted him when Namjoon opened the door to the hotel room, and in the next second, he was hugged by something with red hair and the unmistakable scent of paint.

"Kim," he said slightly annoyed but happy to break the awkward silence he had experienced with the ex-cop on their way here from the airport. The man might look softer now with the hazel hair, but Jungkook still did not trust those black eyes. Taehyung grinned at him, arms slung around his neck. "I thought you'd become less needy after you finally have a boyfriend," Jungkook murmured and pushed the other off himself.

Taehyung chuckled happily, but Suga just huffed at them and continued scrolling through his phone on his bed. Those two were weird. Lovely but weird.

"Hello," Jimin said from his place at the table and smiled warmly, and a posh-looking Seokjin, who leaned against the table, nodded at him politely.

From there his gaze wandered over the rest of the interior. The three beds, of which the one closest to the window was occupied by the hacker, the TV above the table and the door that had to lead into the bathroom.

It was nice having them all here, but he would prefer some privacy. "Do we all sleep here?"

"No," Taehyung reassured him and lay down on the bed in the middle, "You'll be sharing a room with Jimin."

Jungkook looked back at the scatterbrain he had coached through his departure and found the brunette smiling at him shyly. He did not quite know how to handle Jimin. They had only seen each other briefly at the last job, and he practically knew nothing about the brunette, but even apart from that it was difficult to put a label on this guy. He seemed to shapeshift whenever Jungkook was sure to know what he was dealing with.

"Okay," he said with a shrug and dropped his giant backpack to the ground. "First I need a shower. Can you show me our room?"

The small man nodded and was about to stand up when Suga interrupted them. "You can do that later. First, we have to discuss something."

Jungkook sighed but sat down on the end of what must be Namjoon's bed when the black-haired gestured him to. Five more minutes would not kill him, would they?

"Shoot," he huffed out and looked at the hacker expectantly.

But instead of the black-haired, Taehyung began to talk. "We need you for a job," the artist said and looked nervous, and Jungkook had to stop himself from rolling his eyes.

"That's what I'm here for, isn't it?" he answered with a raised eyebrow. He had been so happy to call sick for his bumper job and come here to play with the guys. This was so much better, and who would miss out on a payed vacation?

"Well, we weren't sure whether you'd like it or not," Namjoon defended the thieves from behind him and he turned around to give the hazel-haired a brief look. The ex-cop still was suspicious to him, but as long as Suga and Tae trusted him, he would at least go along with it. And as far as he knew, the man was on a very short leash, so nothing to worry about for now.

"Just tell me," he said towards Tae and leaned back on his palms.

"We need your assistance in stealing something," the redhead said.

Jungkook looked at the older in disbelieve. Was he serious? "No shit, Sherlock? I thought we were having a vacation. What are you talking about? What else would two master thieves be here for?" he asked, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Okay, stop this nonsense," Yoongi said and sat up properly. "We don't just need your assistance. You'll be the main actor in the plot, and we need your consent for that. You'll have to learn some basic Chinese and how to copy a completely unknown signature, and you'll have to trick two people in one go. Do you think you can do that?"

Now, Jungkook was stunned into silence. He would be the actor for a theft? "Why... why me?" he asked shyly, suddenly not so sure of himself.

Yoongi shrugged. "Namjoon already has another job running inside the tower and will be needed as your wingman anyway, Jimin and I can't be seen there, and Tae has fucking red hair what makes him as showy as a buoy," the hacker summed it up with a lax gesture at the redhead.

Jungkook stared at Suga without saying a word. He had to process this for a moment. They wanted him to act as if he knew Chinese to steal something. "What are we even stealing?" he asked to say something.

"The keycard of our target, Choi Seunghyun," Taehyung explained. "Are you interested?"

Jungkook was skeptical. He was good at imitating languages, but he did not know if his actor skills were good enough for a job that normally was done by Taehyung. "What do I have to say in Chinese?"

The redhead smiled as if he knew exactly that Jungkook was itching to try his luck. "If everything goes like planned, you'll be fine with 'An express delivery!' and 'What took you so long? This was an express delivery.'"

"I'll do it," Jungkook said. This could not be too difficult, and he urged for some action. The last bar fight seemed ages ago.

The words seemed to lift a spell from the rest of the group and everyone took a deep breath.

"Wonderful," Taehyung cheered and jumped up from his bed, "Then let's have dinner." And with a considering look at Jungkook, "After you showered and changed into something presentable."

Jungkook looked down at his hoody. What was wrong with his clothes? Did they already expect him to wear his suit?

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"How did you make those?" Namjoon asked the two thieves while scrutinizing one of the synthetical rubies.

Taehyung shrugged like it was nothing. "Producing them is not the problem with the right oven, a welding equipment, and a hydrogen-oxygen cutting torch," the redhead explained, "Six hours and you have a stone that easily fits your palm."

Jungkook felt his eyebrows rising at that information, and Jimin on his right looked up in sudden interest.

"But?" the ex-cop asked, waiting for the part where the problem comes in. The man was too wary for Jungkook's taste.

But Taehyung seemed unbothered and explained it eagerly. "The growing lines of a stone that's produced this way are asymmetric, but you can only see it if you look close enough and know what you're searching for. But given that we only use very small stones, the chances of having irregularities in one stone are very low."

The ex-cop nodded understandingly and put the stone back into the box on the table. They were currently dining in one of the hotel restaurants and discussing further steps. Taehyung had explained that he would need tin and gypsum, a portable cooktop and a pot for melting, a milling cutter for hard metal, gold leaf and a soft brush, and small lead beads and pearl nail polish. After that the discussion with Namjoon had started about the diamonds.

"So, Jungkook," the redhead caught his and the others' full attention. "About your job."

Jungkook nodded and put away his cutlery.

"When a card isn't working, the standard procedure for an apartment hotel like the one in the tower is to call the manufacturer for a new one. The latter will make the new card with the coding the hotel provides them and send it back via express delivery."

"So, I suppose you want me to steal the package from the deliveryman?" Jungkook asked the artist.

"No, not exactly," Suga interfered from Taehyung's side. "You'll go in as the mailman to deliver a package that looks like the real one but is, in fact, a blank card. This way you'll get the signature of the one that receives the post for today. And then you'll have to learn the signature, get out of the mailman uniform, and receive the real package from the real mailman by pretending to be part of the staff."

Jungkook slowly repeated the procedure in his head. He would go in as a postman and deliver a wrong card, and then he would go out as a man in a suit to receive the delivery instead of the hotel staff. Sounded easy.

"Wouldn't it be weird that I don't arrive with a car? What if they check the security camera? And how do you know how the package and the card look like?" he asked. The transaction itself sounded easy, but the circumstances surrounding the pull seemed difficult. Of course, he trusted the two thieves that they would have a solution for that, but he would like to know every detail of what he was getting himself into.

"That's where Namjoon comes in," Taehyung said with a brief look at the ex-cop, "You'll go inside while Namjoon is distracting the real postman with a discussion about... I don't know... His engagement ring has gone lost and now his girlfriend left him, or something. He's a good actor. I've got no doubt that he'll manage that."

Namjoon snorted but looked confident.

Taehyung looked pleased. "As for how the package looks: Jin was so nice to get me some samples of the Hongkong post." The redhead nodded towards the personal shopped next to him, who did not notice the artist because he apparently tried to find out how much food he could stuff into his mouth before he would be unable to close it. Sometimes the man was weird. "I'll make you a perfect copy. And as for the cards... well, Namjoon?"

The ex-cop leaned forward to look at them and answered, "They're blank like at most hotels. Reduces the chances of a break-in in case the card gets lost and is found by someone with bad intentions."

The whole table nodded at the insight.

"Perfect," Taehyung cheered with bright eyes and looked back at Jungkook. "Then I'll only need a piece of white plastic. So, no problems here. Will you do it?"

"Yeah," Jungkook agreed and nodded. "It sounds like fun."

"More like adrenaline," Namjoon mumbled next to him but did not speak up. The man could lie to himself forever, but he loved adrenaline at least as much as the thieves, or else he would not have become a policeman.

"By the way, Namjoon," Yoongi changed the topic, "How's your residential interaction with the nightshift guys going?"

Namjoon sat up straighter at the question. "Good. It's actually the same guy every night, except for the weekends. His name's Bailong, white dragon. He had to tell me this the moment I told him my night club is called The Black Dragon. However, our dragon has got a problem with alcohol judged by how his pores look, and he's got no family to take care of, so he offered to take over the nightshifts because Tian and Shixin are fathers of little kids, Chi has a new girlfriend, and Lien has become pregnant."

"You remember all the names?" Jimin asked amazed.

"That's my job," Namjoon deadpanned with a shrug. "Getting as much information as possible. I also know that the wall color at the 48th floor is slightly different from all the others because it has been renovated after an incident the staff is prohibited to talk about, and I can tell you the names of the three cleaning ladies, the facility manager, the guy from 18.6 who's got an affair with the married woman from 19.3-"

"We get it," Jungkook interrupted, "You do a great job."

"He really does," Suga added seriously to take the edge off Jungkook's words. He had not even meant to be rude, but sometimes those things slipped from his lips without his brain thinking about it properly. Well, as long as it only hit Namjoon, Jungkook would not feel guilty. The man had betrayed them and would have to prove to him that he was worth the trust Taehyung gave him so willingly. Sometimes the artist was too soft for this profession, but that was why there was Suga. The hacker would never allow anyone to destroy them.

"So, about our security guy," Taehyung disrupted the thickening silence and smiled mischievously, "We should buy a nice whiskey for him, don't you think?"

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