The scurry of Taehyung’s breath seared his lungs. His entire body trembled like the leaves of a tree that were hit by an unmerciful wind. His brain attempted to make sense of what lay before his round, flickering eyes, but his mind couldn’t function around the unexampled shock.

Jungkook crawled closer in vast worry at his panicked behavior and gently pressed his body to his side. “Tae, what’s wrong? Calm down, please,” he uttered with a quiver of the said worry.

But Taehyung was profoundly lost to the brume of his terror that everything felt numb, and his spasmodic, rapid breaths echoed in a muffled wave in his ears, along with Jungkook’s voice.

“Taehyung, listen to me. Look at me.” Jungkook shifted in front of him, blocking his vision from the unnamed man. He witnessed a vortex of vile emotions eddy in his unblinking eyes that clawed at his heart in a ruthless grip, squeezing it achingly. “Tae, snap out of it!” His voice rose in volume by the overwhelming tide of dread that washed over him.

Taehyung blinked at the resonance of his growl. His eyes centered on him. They still shimmered with a consuming whirlwind and gathered a burning moisture that soon spilled over in a slow trickle. But his thoughts returned to him together with a dreg of his lucidity.

“My dad.” Taehyung’s gravelly voice was wrecked and muted with bemusement.

The words hung over Jungkook’s senses like a dark cloak, threatening to blear them. The sobering fact that he was in a life-or-death situation along with Taehyung, though, breached from the cesspool of alarm that was his mind and rushed him back to coherence. “Did you just say... dad?” He crawled back to his spot beside Taehyung with the weight of his surprise slowing his movements, and just stared dumbly at the man, who crept closer.

“Yes, Taehyung. It’s me.” Ji Sun’s voice, that was coiled around a gruff bass, broke out of him with a light sigh. “I missed you so much, son.” He halted in front of him, the tips of his lips fixed on a sad smile. His torso curved forward as he reached out to cup his cheek, but his brows wrinkled in puzzlement at his reaction.

Taehyung whipped his head away as he lurched, ramming his back against the column. “Don’t—Don’t touch m-me,” he let out in a broken stammer, his breath turning thin and shallow again.

Ji Sun glaciated for a moment, then straightened his posture. “Why, son?”

“Are you... Are you kidding me?” Taehyung’s tears had now dried on his cheeks as his shock overruled each one of his senses. Shock agonizingly threaded with confusion and disbelief. “You’re alive. How can you still be alive?”

A notion of a sweet smile dangled on his lips. “I informed my right hand, Sang Jon, that something was wrong using my ring. When those fuckers ran after you, he saved me. Your mother is really dead, though.”

Taehyung stayed in silence as he processed his words. A sudden spike of fury ignited a fierce flame in his eyes, and he swung them to him, piercing him. “You let me live the past nineteen years thinking you’re dead!” An unnatural loudness coated his tone, which spawned from the mixture of gruesome emotions that kept roiling within his gut.

“I had to stay hidden from everyone, Tae,” he answered calmly. “It was the only way I could continue the legacy.”

“But you went to find Jae Wook.”

“Because I needed someone to do the killings for me. I’m over sixty now. Too old. And Jae Wook will be the successor of my position when I die. I had to train him.” He squatted close to him. His gaze, glimmering with a dose of softness, remained anchored on Taehyung. “I wanted to tell you a thousand times, Tae. But if I got near you, Chae Yeon would know I’m still alive. When I found out that Jin Mo killed her, I was happy because I could meet you again.” Something chilly hardened the previously relaxed muscles of his face. “But you screwed up everything by falling in love with a detective.”

Taehyung wasn’t intimidated, and it manifested in the way he glared back at him. “You let Jae Wook order Jin Mo to beat me and lock me up.”

“I acted on my own,” Jae Wook spoke up. “I told Ji Sun about it when the police raided the mansion.”

“It’s true. And I was furious when he told me what he did. I love you, son. I would never hurt you.” He made another attempt to brush his hair back — hold him even — but Taehyung dodged his touch.

“You’re the Umbra,” Taehyung said in a grave undertone as he twisted his head at creep, fixing his eyes on him. “You... You shot Jungkook. You killed so many people.”

A sigh pushed from Ji Sun’s throat as he stood straighter. “This man makes you so weak, Tae. Don’t you want to join me? Let’s continue the legacy together.”

“You keep talking about this legacy,” Jungkook cut in with an edge of aggressiveness that kept festering by the rage that burned his chest. “Are you really the Umbra? Where’s the card?”

Ji Sun’s gaze transferred to him. He recognized the fierceness of his rage with a single look and delighted in it. A crooked smile surfaced on his features as he pulled Taehyung’s cube out of his pocket.

Taehyung stared at the item in anxious surprise. “Why... Why do you have this? How?”

“I got it from your apartment. You cherished it so much all these years, as one should.” He placed his thumb on a certain spot on the cube and it clicked open. He took the card out and presented it to Jungkook. “My family created the Umbra, and the title was passed from one generation to another. That’s the legacy I’m talking about.”

Jungkook observed all the names of the previous bosses and looked up at him. “How did you open the cube?”

“With my fingerprint. I created this cube. I left it with Taehyung to keep it safe since he thought I was dead. I wanted him to have something to remember me.” Ji Sun closed the cube and pocketed it. “Tell me, Tae. Don’t you want to continue the legacy with Jae Wook when I really die? Jae Wook is excellent, but I also want to leave it with someone who has my blood. That’s how the legacy can truly continue.”

Taehyung’s face twisted with bursts of bafflement, and he traded a look with Jungkook, who had a similar expression carved on his features. He directed his eyes at Jae Wook. “You haven’t told him?”

Ji Sun glanced back and forth at Taehyung and Jae Wook, a deep crease blooming between his brows. “Tell me what?”

“Nothing. Shut up, Tae,” Jae Wook muttered as his clenched fist started quivering.

“Tell me what?” Ji Sun repeated with an intensity that gripped at Jae Wook’s muscles and stole his words.

A heavy silence poured into the room. Everyone seemed cautious about what to do, except Ji Sun, who darted his eyes at the three in turn, waiting for someone to speak.

Jungkook was the one who broke the stifling silence, knowing no one else would. “Taehyung isn’t your son. He’s Woo Myeong’s son.”

Ji Sun just blinked at him. The absurdity of his statement soon wrenched a huff out of him, and he shook his head, refusing to believe what he heard. “That’s not true. That... can’t be true.”

“It is,” Taehyung uttered. He risked a peek, though Ji Sun’s harsh countenance that was still tinged with disbelief caused his eyes to jump away again. “Jae Wook has the DNA results. I’m not your son.”

Ji Sun tossed his head to the side like a whip, nailing Jae Wook with a rowdy glare. He lunged at him in a spurt of uncontrolled wrath and grabbed him by his collar. “Is this true?” His heart pounded against his chest, and with Jae Wook’s silence, he could hear it buzz in his ears. “Is this true?” he roared as he convulsed him.

“Yes,” Jae Wook said, barely audible. He didn’t dare to lift his eyes. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t tell you.”

Ji Sun swung his arm back and smacked his palm down his cheek brutally. “Why? Why does Taehyung know and I don’t? Why?”

Jae Wook stayed silent until another slap landed on his face, the smacking sound traveling through the spacious room.

“Why?” Ji Sun screamed as he fisted his collar again.

“I lost it, okay? I lost it,” he said shakily. “He was talking about how unfair it was for that bitch Maria to die because of you, because of your rivalry with Woo Myeong, and I couldn’t stand it. I told him you were the one who died because of that slut. And you almost did, father. Taehyung wouldn’t stop if he didn’t find out the true reason Chae Yeon still wanted to kill him and only him. And Chae Yeon was almost ready to kill him. I couldn’t let that happen. I had to think of a way to make Taehyung put Jin Mo to kill her before she would make her move. And I just... told him the truth.”

Feeling his blood boil with anger, Ji Sun thrust him aside before he would give in to his impulse to beat him to a pulp.

“Why... Why didn’t you kill Chae Yeon sooner?” Taehyung questioned. “Especially since she wanted to kill me.”

“We tried,” Ji Sun said. “We monitored her mansion for months, but she never got outside. We couldn’t get in, unless if we attacked her. Only Jin Mo’s men could get the job done. I asked Jae Wook to attack her mansion hundreds of times.” His eyes flayed Jae Wook with such ferociousness he couldn’t stand looking at him even for a second. “And now I know why he always delayed it or made up excuses to not do it.”

His persistent refusal to meet his gaze incensed Ji Sun and stirred him to grip his hair, forcing his head up. “It was because you knew Taehyung was Woo Myeong’s son, right? You knew Taehyung had asked Jin Mo to find Chae Yeon. And you didn’t want to put Jin Mo to attack her mansion because he would tell Taehyung where she was. And when Taehyung would go see her, she would tell him the truth. And then kill him.”

“Yes,” he breathed with a groan at the pitiless grasp on his hair. “I didn’t want Taehyung to know the truth because you would find out too when you would reveal yourself to him. But I screwed up. It was the only choice I had, to tell Taehyung the truth.”

Suddenly, Ji Sun’s hand lost its strength and collapsed to his side. He retreated as a fog of pained disbelief danced in his eyes. “I can’t believe... I don’t have a son. I failed. I failed to continue the legacy.”

A blinding anxiousness crowded Jae Wook. He leaped forward and held his hand, cupping it. “You—you have me, father. I’m your son. I’ll continue the legacy.”

Ji Sun shook his hold off him with a savage fling. “You’re useless if you don’t have my blood.”

Despondency showered down Jae Wook’s figure that saddened his traits. “But—but you told me I’ll take over your place.”

“I only said it because I thought Taehyung would join us. Taehyung had to be the successor of the legacy.”

It was just a few seconds later when another mood swing thundered down on Jae Wook. Each trace of sadness evaporated in the blink of an eye and, instead, his features hardened with the vicious darkness that glinted in his gaze. “Well. Taehyung isn’t your son either. He doesn’t have your blood. I was always by your side. I did everything for you. But you still favored him more than me. Always. How does it feel now to know you’ve been fooled for twenty-seven years?”

Ji Sun turned to look at him in the snide hue of his deep voice. Rage spewed from his glare, though nothing came out of his mouth.

“Even if I were your son,” Taehyung said with a quiet snarl in his voice, “why the fuck would I join you? That’s not the life I want for me.”

“It doesn’t matter now, Taehyung,” Ji Sun expelled on a sigh. “You won’t live long enough to get the life you want.”

“What?” Jungkook squirmed in restlessness. “You’ll kill him? Even if he doesn’t have your blood, you raised him until he was eight. You spent the last twenty-seven years thinking he was your real son. And now... Now you’ll kill him?”

“If he doesn’t have my blood, he’s useless. Just like Jae Wook.”

Something snapped within Taehyung that brought him gushes of wrath. It gnarled his stomach and wrung out every scintilla of love he once had for that man. “It’s all your fault,” he said, odium dripping from his voice. “If you hadn’t killed Chae Yeon’s son, nothing would have happened. My mother would still be alive. She was the only one who truly loved me. You just needed me to continue the legacy. And Jae Wook... I don’t even know what I was to him.”

“You’re my dongsaeng, Tae. No matter what. Of course I love you.”

“You don’t love me,” he growled, contempt cutting his tone as his gaze flew to him. For a moment, he breathed deeply while just glaring at him, his face shriveled into a turbulent scowl.

“You don’t know what’s love. You’re just a liar. A psycho. And a murderer. You were behind everything. You played with me. You killed all the detectives who were in charge of our parents’ case. You killed Jeosun, an innocent police officer. You killed Jungkook’s hyung. You laughed while he was crying out for him. I had never heard you laugh like that. Like... there was nothing inside of you but pure viciousness.” The focus of his eyes got concealed as his brain couldn’t conceive of everything Jae Wook had done.

“So don’t tell me you love me. You never did. You’re not my hyung. And”—he trained his regard on Ji Sun—“you’re not my father. I don’t have a family anymore. My only family died when I was eight. Because of you.”

Ji Sun scoffed. “Because of me? If your mother wasn’t a slut, she wouldn’t have died, Taehyung.”

“Shut up! Don’t talk about her like that. Don’t talk about her at all. Falling in love isn’t a crime. It’s human. But killing isn’t. You started a war by killing Chae Yeon’s son. And I paid for that. While you were hiding like a scared rat, Chae Yeon was after me. I lived in fear for years about when those guys who were following me would finally kill me. And what did you do? You were hiding behind your Umbra facade, giving orders. You disgust me. Both of you.”

Ji Sun listened to his tirade with a mounting vexation. His fingers gouged into his palm as the cruelty of his nature overrode every rational thought. “Jae Wook. Kill them. Both.”

Jae Wook sluggishly raised his head and gazed at his back. “And then?”

“What do you mean?”

“And then what? Will you let me be the successor?”

A derisive snort burst out of him. “I was never planning to make you the successor, Jae Wook-ah. You can’t be the successor. You don’t have my blood.”

Jae Wook’s grip around his knife tightened, though his face remained strangely poised, just like his voice when he spoke again. “And who will be the successor?”

“I’ll find a woman to give birth to my child. I don’t have another choice.”

A silence followed, thick and charged. No one moved for a while, and no matter how hard Taehyung tried to read the room, he couldn’t. The air just became suffocating, with an undercurrent of disquiet that floated around them.

Ji Sun’s face contorted in confusion mixed with exasperation at the extended silence. “What the hell are you waiting for? Kill them n—”

Just as Ji Sun turned to inspect the reason for Jae Wook’s silence, a double-edged dagger was struck into his stomach all the way to its base.

Jae Wook embraced his nape with his other hand as he retracted the knife and slammed it into him again. “You deceived me, father,” he muttered into his ear. “You deceived me while I did everything for you.” He stabbed him once more, hearing Ji Sun’s gasping breaths and pained groans echo around them.

Taehyung and Jungkook locked eyes, throughout appalled at the turn of events. Using their distracted state, the latter endeavored to break the zip tie, forcing his hands apart and twisting them. He lifted his hands and pounded them into his back, but nothing happened.

“Stop moving, Jeon Jungkook,” Jae Wook warned as he thrust his knife into Ji Sun’s stomach for the sixth time. His shoulder and almost his whole back were saturated with the blood Ji Sun spewed from his mouth. “Even if you untie your hands, you’re not getting out of here alive. No one will. Except me.” He laughed maniacally and stabbed him again, now supporting his weight as Ji Sun started to lose consciousness.

“I’ll be the Umbra now, father,” he whispered to him through smiling lips. “You can go to hell now. Ungrateful fucker.” He notched up his speed, stabbing him on repeat until he dug his knife into him thirteen times. Then he let him plop down onto the floor, and he stood there while panting by his hyper ecstatic state and gazed at his twitching, almost lifeless body.

A salvo of berserk cackles poured from him that lasted longer than normal. But nothing was normal about him in the first place.

After what seemed to be an eternity, Jae Wook rotated to the two tied up men, still smiling by the remains of his laughing fit. “Are you ready to meet your hyung, Jungkookie?”

Each one of Taehyung’s muscles tensed, and he flailed around, straining against his chains. “Jae Wook. Please don’t do this. You said you loved me. Prove it to me. Please don’t kill Jungkook.”

“And you said I’m not your hyung anymore. So why would I love you anymore? We’re strangers now, aren’t we?” He began approaching Jungkook at a plod, each step purposely slow, teasing and menacing.

“No, no, no, Jae Wook please, please,” Taehyung chanted words of objection and pleas as terror seized the entirety of his existence.

Jungkook remained still, watching with a harsh countenance Jae Wook inch closer. He could see that crazed glint of thirst to kill in his eyes — one he hadn’t seen often in the years of his work. It was sinister, twisted, and dark, ready to eat him alive until it crushed every ounce of fear from within him.

But the love of his life was right beside him. He knew Taehyung would be the next to die. And he could never let that happen.

With adrenaline pumping through him and only the thought of saving Taehyung in his mind, Jungkook lifted his hands and thrust them onto his back with abnormal strength. The next moment, Jae Wook pounced on him, but his hands were now free of their confinements, and he used them to toss himself aside, rolling over his bottom and rising to his feet with incredible speed.

He bent his knees slightly, brought his left leg forward, and shifted his balance to the balls of both feet. He held his hands out in front of him, his focus solely zoned in on Jae Wook, anticipating his next move.

Jae Wook pasted a smirk on his lips as he viewed him with a glimmer of amusement. He put the dagger forward, slightly tipped up, and slid his feet towards him. “You think you can fight me? I’ll slash your throat in seconds.”

Jungkook moved in a circle, placing one foot behind the other and maintaining the safe distance between them. “It’s over, Jae Wook. Drop the knife. My men are everywhere. You won’t be able to escape from here even if you kill me.”

Jae Wook leaped forward, darting his dagger towards him, but Jungkook jolted back at warp speed and continued to circle. “I’ll kill them all. Every man in your team. Your beloved friends. And Taehyung.”

He attacked again, this time closing in on him dangerously. Jungkook sidestepped and swung his leg into a sweeping kick, aiming at his wrist. Jae Wook whisked his hand just in time to dodge his kick, causing him to back away from the force he used.

Jungkook retreated as well and went back to circling. “They have guns, Jae Wook. They’ll shoot you before you even move. You won’t escape from here.”

“Shut up!” With his skin searing with a wild exasperation, Jae Wook launched himself forward. He delivered a straight jab, though his dagger struck in the empty air as Jungkook slunk to the side. An animalistic roar vibrated at the back of his throat and erupted from him as he lashed out with a blind, downward slash to his right.

Jungkook hissed insensibly at the stinging gash on his biceps, but he had no time to process the pain; Jae Wook came at him again and again, swinging his dagger in manic swipes and driving it forward. He kept on dodging, sidestepping, backing away, and circling him at light speed.

Only when Jae Wook seemed to tire himself and reduce the velocity of his attack, he registered how harshly his breath puffed out of him. Not because he was tired, like Jae Wook appeared to be. But because he was scared. Scared that Jae Wook’s knife would hit its target and kill him before Taehyung’s eyes.

He couldn’t let that happen, either.

No words slipped through Taehyung’s mouth as he watched the whole thing in terror. He wanted to scream a thousand times, beg Jae Wook to stop this again, encourage Jungkook, or just cry out the sounds of the said terror that stabbed his heart on repeat.

But if he spoke — if he released the tidal wave of suppressed sobs that were stuck in his throat — he would only distract Jungkook. So he simply watched and prayed with all his heart for this to end with Jungkook alive.

“Jae Wook. Let’s end this, hmm?” Jungkook carried on stepping from one side to the other, even though Jae Wook just stood still, panting. “Drop the knife.”

“It will only end when you die.” Jae Wook advanced at a slower tempo, knife held out in front of him. His sharp eyes drilled into him, contemplating the timing of his next lunge.

Jungkook retreated at the same slow pace. He tried to read his next move, but couldn’t. He had fought with numerous people before, and he knew with the insanity that Jae Wook carried, each one of his moves would be impulsive and irregular.

He allowed Jae Wook to come inches closer than he should, preparing to knock the knife from his hand. A gunshot suddenly boomed through the secret passage, and he perceived how Jae Wook’s eyes flew behind him, probably to inspect the sound.

Jungkook deployed his distraction and hurtled forward to seize his hand. With a terribly wicked smirk, Jae Wook jerked his hand to the right. Exhilaration fermented in Jae Wook’s eyes and spiraled vehemently, his whole body prickling with the same emotion. Taehyung’s cries, that eventually leaked out of him as he realized what was about to happen, only added to his pleasure as he slammed his knife down into his unprotected side, just below his ribs.

There was a pulsation of something far too loathsome in the air as Taehyung gaped at the scene with his mouth hanging wide open.

But Jae Wook’s smirk lost its vitality and the glint in his eyes cloaked by sheer mystification. His knife didn’t slash through his flesh. Instead, it clashed with something solid.

In a split second, Jungkook held the handle of the knife and grasped his wrist with bruising pressure. He twirled to shift behind him and locked his arm behind his back, then brought the knife to his neck. “I knew you would appear today with your little knife. And what’s better from a stab-proof vest, hmm?” He pushed his arm further up, drawing a choked groan from his throat.

Footsteps thundered through the secret passage, and Jungkook’s men spilled into the room a few beats later with their guns leveled.

“What took you so long?” Jungkook asked, aiming the question at Namjoon, who neared him.

“A bunch of guys were waiting for us in the passage, so we had to take care of that. Are you okay?”

“Yes. Handcuff him now.” Jungkook only drew the knife away when Namjoon secured the handcuffs on both of his hands.

With the headlong flood of relief that roared within him, his legs caved under the colossal, pent-up dread and adrenaline. He crumbled into his hands and knees, trying to regain control of his breathing that soared up in a heartbeat.

“Jungkook,” Hoseok called worriedly.

“I’m fine,” Jungkook answered in a murmur. Then, he scrambled to his feet, sprinting to Taehyung with all his might. He collapsed again in front of him and muffled him into his embrace as Joo Eon unlocked the chains that surrounded his body.

“Is your arm okay?” Taehyung asked, barely able to contain his tears, which stemmed from his extremely alarmed state.

“Yes, don’t worry.” Jungkook pulled back and held his cheeks before he carded his fingers through his hair. A gleam of a smile budded on his features as he fondly viewed him. “It’s over, baby. Everything is over.”

“Um, Kook.” Namjoon cleared his throat. “Sorry, but... who is this?”

Jungkook twisted his head and saw him point at the dead body near them. “He’s Ji Sun. Taehyung’s father. Actually, not his real father. The man who raised him until he was eight, anyway.” He felt Taehyung’s now free arms ring around his waist and broke into a smile unconsciously. Remembering his discussion with Namjoon, he continued. “He didn’t die nineteen years ago. He was the Umbra. But Jae Wook killed my hyung.”

Namjoon’s face spasmed, his brain struggling to take in what he just heard. “Jae Wook? As in Taehyung’s hyung? His hyung killed your hyung?”

“Yes. I’ll tell you in detail later. Give me a few minutes.”

“Uh, yeah, yeah,” Namjoon muttered and trudged away, still in shock about the revelations.

Jungkook fixated on his baby. His baby that was now free from any danger. His baby that he would never let him leave his side again. He cradled the sides of his head sweetly. “I can’t wait to take you home and just hold you.”

Taehyung nipped at his lower lip in unexpected timidity at the sugary words, smiling. “I can’t wait either. But Kook. I... I’m sorry for what Jae Wook and Ji Sun did. I—”

“Baby,” he shushed him in the gentlest of ways. “You’re not allowed to apologize for their actions, okay? Never. They did all this. Not you. You knew nothing about who they really were.”

“I know, but... the people who I thought were my family are just... monsters.”

“We don’t choose our family. And we’re not responsible for their actions. Every person is responsible for their own actions.”

Taehyung, still with a slight sadness drawing his traits down, locked eyes with him. “That’s true. I... I loved Ji Sun with all my heart when I was a kid. That’s what I remember. But... I didn’t feel anything when Jae Wook stabbed him. I mean, I was shocked that he did that, but I didn’t feel sad. It’s like... I didn’t care. Am I horrible for feeling nothing?”

“No. Ji Sun raised you until you were eight. But he deceived you, Tae. He wanted to kill you because you didn’t want to continue his legacy. If he loved you, he wouldn’t have ordered Jae Wook to kill you. So don’t think that way, okay? He doesn’t deserve anyone’s pity after all the things he did.”

Jungkook painted a tender kiss on his forehead, deaf to all the surrounding chatter. His eyes flooded over with fondness for that astonishing man — the love of his life — as he offered him a soothing smile.

Taehyung mirrored his smile. He felt the intensity of his emotions caress all the heart-wrenching revelations of the day and cover him in a blanket of pure love. He didn’t have a family anymore, but he had Jungkook. And he was everything he could ever ask for.

“I love you, Kook. We can finally be happy and live a normal life. Thank you for doing this for me. Thank you for saving me.”

“Your love kept me alive and my love for you. I don’t even remember how I dodged all of his attacks. But I did. And now we’re here, ready to live a normal life together, as you said. You don’t know how happy that makes me. And... of course I love you too, Tae. More than anything.” Jungkook leaned their foreheads together, still holding his head in a gentle grip. He pressed his lips to Taehyung’s mouth in a sweet, long kiss. “Let’s get out of here.”

Taehyung nodded in an instant. He used Jungkook’s hand as a brace to lift himself to his feet. They shared a look brimmed with affection and a smile so bright and delicate, like no other. And they were off to start a new life together and live their love without fears, secrets, or burdens of the past.

They were off to live their dreamy love however they wanted. And there was no greater happiness than this.

───⭒───༺🌑༻───⭒───

And all secrets are out! Only one chapter left... 😢