Hooked | JJK | Twenty One

  Pair: UndergroundFighter!Jungkook x f!reader 

Summary: Walking away from your brother was never what you intended, you just wanted to run from the ghosts of your past. But now you’re back home and ready to pick things up from where you left off. If only things could be that easy, right? 

There’s a new guy living in your house, your brother’s best friend, someone you can’t help but grow close to. And the more you find out about him, the more you learn about yourself. An underground fight club, a newspaper competition, an overprotective brother and secrets you can’t seem to escape from. Did you make the right decision by coming back? Or did you just put yourself and those you love in danger? 

Genre: Series, fluff, smut, angst. All the aus: non-idol, underground fighter, brother’s best friend, roommates, rap-scene, chaebol. 

Chapter warning: Things are getting dangerous!

WC: 5.8k

 JULY 19TH | 15:05

You were pretty proud of yourself, if you could say so yourself. 

So far, you didn’t break the promise you made to yourself, that you weren’t going to hide things from Jeongguk anymore. Even if you knew he would worry and disagree with the way you wanted to do things most of the time. It helped that, by now, he already knew how stubborn you were and that if you had something in your mind, you would see it through; no matter if he agreed with it or not. 

To your pleasant surprise, when you told the man about your recent discoveries and when you showed him the lab reports belonging to your sister’s autopsy, Jeongguk was on board with your plan. 

No matter how hard either of you tried to justify it or find an explanation, you just couldn’t believe that it was a mere coincidence that the same drug that was found on Hyejin’s system after her death was the same as the one in Jae. Both deaths had been separated by years in between, but both had a common denominator. 

Wonho. 

He was part of the Circle when Jae was –in all ways but legal– murdered. And he had a personal and intimate involvement with your sister when she died. At this point, you didn’t believe that Hyejin’s accident was an accident at all, and if Wonho had anything to do with what happened to her, you would make him pay. 

Even if it was the last thing you did. 

But for you to be able to do anything about this, you had to know who you were dealing with. You needed to understand how Wonho kept getting away with things. And Jeongguk even brought to your attention that Hyejin and Jae were the cases you knew about, meaning that Wonho might as well have a lot more skeletons inside his closet than either of you even knew about. 

A good place to start your investigation was The Circle. 

Which is why you and Jeongguk were coming over in the middle of the afternoon, on a day where the fight club wasn’t going to be open. And while snooping around might be the kdrama take, that wouldn’t work in real life. Not when the risks of getting caught were so much bigger and you simply couldn’t afford to be kicked out right now.

You had to come up with a different plan that involved telling the true, while masking your real intentions. 

“You think this is going to work?” you mumbled as you walked next to Jeongguk; the hallway of the backstage of the Circle was way too quiet for your own liking. 

“If there’s a chance of growing our profits, Hatter won’t think too hard about it.” your boyfriend assured you as you stopped in front of the closed office door. “Ready?” 

You nodded and watched as Jeongguk knocked on Hatter’s office door. He had mentioned before that even when the Circle wasn’t open, you could still find the manager there, working on finances and deposits regarding the bets. 

Not too long after the first knock, the man himself was opening the door wide and smiling. Even on down days, his shirt was still very much out there and his eyeliner was still too dark. 

“To what do I owe the pleasure?” the man smiled, friendly and slightly crazed; as if he’d drank three energy drinks in the past hour.  

“We wanted to talk to you.” Jeongguk lead, placing a hand on your back. “Thank you for giving us a couple days off to settle things.” 

“And for backing us up with the whole Jennie thing.” you added, putting on your bartender face.  

“There’s no need, you guys are part of the family.” Hatter assured you, dismissive.  

Before he could send you on your way, Jeongguk added: “Still. I kept thinking about a way we could repay you.” 

“If you’re inviting me for a threesome, I will say yes.” the man joked. You hoped.  

“This is better than a threesome.” you laughed, but it was awkward. “It’s a free business plan.” 

“Have you ever had a threesome?” Hatter cackled with a rhetorical question, as if comparing the threesome to a business plan was insane.  

“Did you know dove is a business major?” Jeongguk praised, gently nudging you into the man’s office. 

“Is that so?” Hatter moved out of the way so you could both come in. “What are you doing in this hellhole then?” 

“I guess you could say I like looking at the cute boys.” you cringed as soon as the words came out of your mouth, but Guk masked it with a fake laugh. “But I’m also on vacation, so it’s not like I was that busy to start out.” 

“But she’s really good in that area, so I told her she could come up with a way to help grow the business in some way.” Jeongguk spoke as if it really was his idea, as if he wasn’t just going along with it. “Not that we’re doing bad, but there’s always a way to bring more money in.” 

“And did you come up with this business plan?” Hatter was intrigued, you could tell.  

“I have a few ideas, but I’d be shooting in the dark.” you started, fixing your posture as if trying to pass a more professional look. “I would like to look at some paperwork, to assess how much we spend every month, how much money is coming in, which fights are more profitable and things like that.” 

“You want to look at our records?” 

“I don’t need to see everything, but I would like to study as much as you’ll allow me to.” you were ready to throw in business terms and legislations.

You didn’t like your study field, but you were good at it. Much to your dismay and to your parents’ pride. It wasn’t interesting to you, it didn’t excite you in any way. But if that’s what you needed to do for a living, you wouldn’t starve. And you could tell that Hatter was interested, if only by the fact that he hadn’t kicked you out of his office yet. 

“Okay.” 

“You know you can trust–” you stopped yourself as Hatter laughed. “Okay?” 

“Why not? If you’re as good at doing business as you are bartending, it could bring us more money.” he shrugged and you almost thought it was too easy. “But you can’t take anything out of this office, no pictures, no recordings.” 

“I promise.” you agreed right away. “I know of the confidentiality rule. I’m a team player, remember?” 

You knew you were talking too much when Guk gently squeezed the back of your neck. But you were dealing with something important here; more important than your article ever was. This could very much be a life or death situation. 

Wonho was dangerous, which Hatter had already warned you about. But if he had anything to do with your sister’s death, then you were an easy target. Well. Anyone inside the Circle could be a new target for him. 

“Where’s your computer?” you asked before he could change his mind. 

“Computer?” Hatter laughed, as if he was in on a joke that you weren’t. Then he walked behind his desk and brought attention to the gray file cabinet in a corner. “We don’t keep any records on the cloud, songbird. That would make it easier to be hacked into and as you know, our patron’s privacy is our best policy.” 

“Okay then.” you had your work cut out for you. 

“Everything you want is in there.” Hatter told you, pulling a chain from around his neck where four keys were hidden under his shirt. “Please don’t make a mess of my things.” 

“I’ll leave everything as it is.” you promised. 

Hatter handed you the chain with the keys and felt their weight on your palm. Then he turned to Jeongguk: 

“Since you’re here, Guk, I’d like to run some ideas about the next fighting ring designs.” 

“Sure, I don’t have anywhere else to be.” Jeongguk agreed, sending you a look that told you he was thinking the same thing; this was too easy. 

“Let’s go outside to let our business major concentrate.” Hatter called, planning on leaving you alone in his office. And then he turned to you with his hand out. “Phone, please.” 

“Oh, right, of course.” you scrambled to reach for your backpack, pulling out Jeongguk’s device and handing it over to Hatter. 

“I’ll give it back to you later.” the manager slipped the phone into his pocket without checking it. “Have fun.” 

“You guys too.”

You were standing in the middle of the office as Jeongguk and Hatter left you alone and closed the door. Should you lock it? Would that raise even more suspicions? Did you have a time frame? Was this the only chance you’d get or would you be able to come back here tomorrow and continue your research?  

Your brain was working on maximum capacity as you tried to make sense of what just happened, of how easy it was for you to get Hatter to agree to let you look at the latest records of The Circle. Your theory number one was that the man simply liked you and Guk too much to trust you with something like this. And your second theory, the more scary one, was that he knew. Hatter knew you were lying about something, that you didn’t tell him the whole reason behind what you just offered. 

And he wanted you to find what you were looking for, even if he couldn’t be the one to hand it to you. 

“Shit, okay, let’s do this.” 

You were talking to yourself in hopes of not feeling so alone. You couldn’t help the anxiety that felt like an adrenaline shot, making you turn to the file cabinet and match the key to each deep drawer, unlocking all of them so you could look at what was inside. 

The bottom drawer held bills of all kinds; energy, water, internet, monthly payments done for the fighters and workers. You were on your knees as you quickly glanced at them, but you didn’t really find anything too suspicious. You resisted the urge of looking into your own file when you saw your name as the most recent addition. You did, however, pull out Wonho’s. 

Somewhere in your mind, you expected to find his biggest secrets on the first page, but as you looked at the handwritten logs, it looked pretty normal. You reached for your pocket, taking out your own phone and opening the camera app. 

“Sorry, Hatter, I couldn’t give you both phones.” 

You took a picture of Wonho’s files, where it stated the date he started working there, his full name and date of birth. On the last page you saw the dates and pairings of every fight he ever fought, all marked in green and red for wins and losses. 

You worried that the only fights Wonho ever lost were against Jeongguk. 

The second drawer was a lot more interesting, as it held the customer logs. You noticed that, for the amount of patrons that filtered in every night, the number of files was a lot smaller. That’s when you realized that the Circle couldn’t exactly control who came in every night. 

Not when there were no cameras upstairs for face recognition, and as long as you knew the password, you could come in. 

But the betting patrons… Hatter needed to know their names and information so he could make the deposits according to the wins and losses of the night. You were thankful that not everyone paid in cash, which meant that you could look into their info. 

When your thighs started to burn from your position, you brought the files to Hatter’s desk, pushing things around so you could spread out the papers and take pictures of everything you thought might be helpful. 

Lucky for you, you weren’t actually creating a business plan. 

That would take weeks of studies and you didn’t have that much time; not when you knew Wonho was onto you. After his text message, where he confirmed he knew you were Hyejin’s sister, you had no way of knowing if he was looking into you as much as you were looking into him. 

With someone like that, you had to be a step ahead of all times. 

That’s why you focused on investigating him. Not the other fighters. 

You held Wonho’s fight log in one hand, as you tried to match the days he was lined up to the logs of payments made to patrons. And it might be a coincidence, but you noticed a name that appeared every single time Wonho was fighting. 

Lee Hee-jung. 

This man had been to the Circle every night that Wonho had a fight, always betting on him. And the bets were always ridiculously high, as if he knew Wonho was going to win. You knew that the fights were arranged and fake most of the time, but this was too much. So much so that it caught your attention right away. 

Naver searching that name also didn’t tell you much, as ‘Lee’ was one of the most common surnames in your country and you could see at least one hundred profiles with that exact same name. 

But your intuition still said this might be the key to answering some of your questions. 

You were taking pictures of everything that you could, not knowing when Hatter and Jeongguk would be coming back. You were in the middle of looking at the contents of the first drawer when your phone started to vibrate in your hand. 

Incoming call: Yoongi oppa.

A cold shiver ran down your spine. Yoongi hated phone calls. 

“Yoongi?” you answered right away, dreading that something was wrong. 

“Where are you?” was his rushed question. 

“I’m with Guk.” not a complete lie. “Is it my brother?” 

“Namjoon relapsed.” never one to beat around the bush, Yoongi told you right away. Your knees were about to give out, making you look for balance against the desk. “I need you to come over right now.” 

JULY 19TH | 18:42

Over the phone, Yoongi did assure you that Namjoon was okay. At least in the sense that he didn’t need to be taken into the hospital or anything like that. Yoongi, Namjoon and Hoseok were at your house right now, and that’s where Jeongguk was currently dropping you off after having to cut your investigation short and leave the circle in a rush. 

Well… Your house didn’t feel like your house, not at the moment. Not when Jeongguk’s apartment felt more like a home and not when the man felt more like your family than your brother right now. 

But you didn’t have time to worry about that, not when you needed to see your brother and make sure that he was okay with your own eyes. Jeongguk was also worried, you could tell, but he didn’t want to get out of the car, telling you to give him a call later to let him know that everything was alright. 

Your heart hurt for your boyfriend, how he felt like he wasn’t welcome in the house that had been his home for the past few months. But one battle at a time and all. 

“Namjoon?!” you were calling as you pushed the front door open, bordering on desperation. “Where is he–”

“Hey hey, it's okay, he's alright–” Yoongi was coming up to meet you from the living room. “He's sleeping right now, we thought we should let him rest.”

You took a deep breath as you let Yoongi’s words sink in. More than that, you studied him over. The man might be stoic in high pressure situations, but you’ve known him for closer to twenty years at this point. You knew the telltale signs of lies or nervousness. 

Hoseok was a bit of a different story, all of his feelings would be exposed in his face and he wouldn’t be able to keep a straight face, not with you. And when he showed up right after Yoongi, he just looked sorry and worried for you.  

“What the fuck happened, guys?” you sagged, kicking your shoes off and finally closing the door. “You said he relapsed.” 

“Yeah, like before.” Yoongi nodded.  

Unfortunately, you knew what that meant. You weren’t in the country to see the ugly of it, but you knew your brother had problems with picking fights with people, getting himself into messy situations to escape his numbness, to fight his demons in the most unhealthy way possible, to let go of the raging anger inside of him.

And it was happening again.  

“He got into a fight? Unprovoked?” you might as well tell him about the Circle so he can let that rage out of his system in a controlled environment.

“We were there, so we managed to get him out before things went to shit.” Hoseok sounded tired when he finally spoke. 

“Fuck, Joon…” your heart ached for your brother in more ways than one. “This is all my fault.”

“It's not on you, dove.” Yoongi offered you a small squeeze on your shoulder, but you were still too tense. “Not this. Not anything else.” 

You scoffed. “Yeah, right.” 

“We're serious.” Hoseok added, resting his back against the wall. “We think Namjoon is only acting like this because he feels guilty.”

Yoongi agreed and told you what you already guessed: “I told him what you and Guk told me that day at his apartment.”

“And Jimin and Angel confirmed it too.” Hoseok spoke calmly, you could tell how tired he was. 

You wondered if he and Yoongi had been taking turns babysitting your brother. 

“Did he believe you?” your voice was tiny. If Namjoon listened to his friends then you’d be one step closer to fixing things with him.  

“It was impossible not to.” Yoongi said with an exhausted sigh. 

“Then he should have called me. He should have texted and asked to talk.” you could feel your worry turn into frustration. “I would never deny him that.”

“I know, that's why I didn't.” upon hearing your brother’s voice, the three of you looked to the side to see Namjoon coming down the stairs. “I don't deserve your forgiveness, not after what I did.”  

“Joon.”

You thought a lot about what you would feel when you saw Namjoon again. Would you be ashamed for hiding things from him for so long? Would you feel angry for the way that he treated you? For how he treated someone as sweet as Jeongguk? 

All you felt was relief. 

Relief that he was okay and that he didn’t hate you. There was a shadow of a bruise on his cheek, but other than that there was nothing swollen and no cuts. You’ve seen worse after fake fights in the Circle. 

As soon as Namjoon was stepping off the stairs, you rushed to hug him. He let out a small oof that was followed by a wince, but you didn’t care. And he hugged you just as hard, as if he needed the proof that you were okay just as much as him. 

“Don't scare me like that anymore!” you huffed against his chest, holding back the urge to scold him harder. “I'm still mad at you, but dammit, Joon.”

“We'll leave so you can talk, okay?” Yoongi’s voice reminded you that he and Hoseok were still there. When you parted from your brother, you saw the look he was sending Namjoon. “Really talk. I mean it, Namjoon. It's been too fucking long.” 

“I know, hyung.”

Namjoon walked past you to walk his friends out. While you let the three boys do their thing, you walked to the living room to wait for your sibling. 

It was definitely weird to be back here after everything you found. It almost felt like you were a different person, just from the new knowledge about Wonho and Hyejin’s boyfriend and everything else. 

You missed your brother, but you didn’t miss this house.

“What was that about?” you asked Namjoon as soon as he joined you in the living room.  

You could tell Namjoon was afraid you might ask exactly that, but it was also something he couldn’t run from. He motioned for you to sit on the couch and you did so, but your brother wasn’t able to do the same. 

“The reason I know I don't deserve your forgiveness is that I can't ask something from you if I've been doing the same thing.” he started, confusing you further. What secrets had he been hiding? “It’s about time I'm honest with you. Even if that means losing you.” 

“What are you talking about?” an uncomfortable tightness settled in your chest.  

“You're going to hate me, dove.” Namjoon couldn’t handle looking at you, running a hand through his hair. “Fuck, you’re gonna hate me and I dont even fucking blame you.”

Trying to keep calm, for both of your sakes, you gently nudged: “How about you let me be the judge of that?” 

Namjoon looked conflicted in a way you never saw before. You could tell something was eating at him, something that he’d been dealing with for a while now. You didn’t know how long, but by his cryptic words, you guessed that it was even before he found out between you and Guk. 

And then he was saying the last words you’d ever expect to hear from him. 

“I knew. About Hyejin.” Namjoon admitted, still not looking your way, even when your breath came out shuddering and you felt like you were going to be sick. “Her secrets, the partying, the drugs, the sneaking around... I know all of it, I always knew.” 

“What?” you half expected Namjoon to laugh and say he was joking. A very tasteless joke at that, but it would still be better than what he was implying. 

“She told me. She needed someone to cover for her and I just…” Namjoon trailed off, his pain clear as day. His shame. It matched your shock. “I did it because I thought it was her last adventure before focusing on her studies and I thought it would stop once she went to university to take over the company.”

You were trying really hard to make sense of his words. How could Namjoon think that it was okay for a sixteen year old to do any of the things that your sister was doing behind everyone’s back? It didn’t matter if she had responsibilities or not, she chose to have those responsibilities and she chose that future. 

She might not know what she was getting herself into and you didn’t judge her for that, not when you were feeling that same pressure now and you were a whole ass adult! But what she did in response, what Namjoon allowed her to do was reckless and dangerous. 

Namjoon continued as he started to pace from one side to the other: “Like, I don't know, her way of letting loose before growing up…”

“Why didn't you say anything?” your throat felt dry and you couldn’t even swallow, feeling like you had a cotton ball stuck in your throat.  

“Because I was selfish. I am selfish.” his voice raised, but it wasn’t aimed at you. It was the result of his self hatred, but it made you wince anyway. “I thought that if Hyejin didn't live, she would give up on taking over the company. And then it would have been my responsibility, so I let her do what she wanted so that it wouldn't fall on me.” 

That hurt. For so many reasons.

You couldn’t even grasp Namjoon’s desperation to run from a future that would’ve been his by birth as the Kim heir. His fear that Hyejin might change her mind and he would be forced by your parents to step up. It was the same fear that made him freak out when Hyejin died, when he covered himself in tattoos and started picking fights, getting hurt on purpose. 

Or at least you thought. 

Now you realized everything ran a lot deeper than you could have ever guessed. 

“You hate me, don't you?” Namjoon read your silence for hatred, but it couldn’t be further from the truth. You just felt heartbroken for him. And for your sister. Neither of them knew any better. “I'm a fucking coward.”

“I don't know what to say.” how blind must you have been? Living in your own little world, writing for the silly school newspaper, blindly following what was expected of you, reaching every single goal that was set for you by someone else. Missing what was happening with Hyejin and Namjoon. “Why did you two hide it from me?”

“She didn't want to disappoint you, dove.” that’s when he looked at you and you hated how red his eyes were. “She never wanted you to look at her differently.”

“You knew.” why did she trust Namjoon and not you? 

“I knew and I didn't protect her. I was there that night.” your brother fell against the armchair, elbows on his knees and hiding his face on his hands. “I was at the party the night she died.” 

“What– so you know what happened?!” you moved to the edge of the couch, heart leaping up your throat. Thoughts of Wonho, of VOID, of the accident that might have not been an accident at all. What could Namjoon tell you about it?

“I was drunk out of my mind, I don't remember shit.” Namjoon admitted and you had to hold your tongue not to cry in frustration. “But I know she was there and she shouldn’t have been, not that night.” 

“Why not?” you needed to know, pressing:  “What was different about that night?”

“Some guys just... there was a bad crowd there that night.” Namjoon was puzzling, but you could tell he was trying to remember. “Some politician's kid who thought he owned the world. I don't remember his name, it doesn't matter.” 

“Yes it does, Joon, everything about that night matters!” 

“I told her to go home.” he continued and this time you heard the small sob he couldn’t hold back, getting choked up. “I'm the one who told her to leave and that's when she– I should have taken her home. I should have put her inside a cab myself and then she wouldn't have–”

But she would. You couldn’t tell Namjoon that, but you knew how VOID worked now, you knew she had been poisoned with it. Hyejin didn’t die just from the car that hit her, she would have died regardless. 

VOID was a silent drug, you did enough research to know that it acted faster when the person who took it was under a lot of stress or when their heart worked too fast. For Jae, it was the fight at the Circle. For Hyejin it was the car. But if it wasn’t the car, it would have been something else. It could have been Namjoon fighting with her, she could have died in his arms. 

And if your brother felt guilty as it is, he would never have forgiven himself if he thought he caused her a heart attack. 

“It was my fucking fault that she died!” Namjoon cried hard and it made you stop fighting your own tears.  

You knew you wouldn’t get anything else out of Namjoon right now, not about the party or Hyejin. So you brought the conversation to a safer subject. You couldn’t change the past, but maybe you could understand your present a little better. 

“That's why you act the way you do.” you whispered, drying your tear with the back of your hand. “Why you’re so protective of me. Because you blame yourself for Hyejin.”

“How can I not?”

“This is so messed up.” you felt tired, like you hadn’t slept in days.  

“I'm not telling you this so you forgive me for how I acted with you and Guk.” Namjoon wiped his eyes and nose with the sleeve of his shirt. “I just kept this in for far too long and it was ruining me.” 

“Wait, Yoongi and Hobi?” the thought crossed your mind suddenly. “Did they know too?”

“I made them swear they wouldn't say anything.” that brought another surge of tears. “I’m so sorry, dove. I’m so fucking sorry. I took her from you.” 

“You didn’t do anything, oppa.” you were done being away from him, moving to sit on the arm of his chair so you could rub his back in small circles. “It’s not your fault. What happened to her would have happened one way or another, even if you didn't know anything.” 

“I still should have protected her.”

“So should I. So should our parents.”

JULY 19TH | 21:16

It was safe to say that it didn’t take much for Jeongguk to convince you to go back home to him. Or any convincing at all. 

Despite your talk with Namjoon, one that was ridiculously surprising and eye opening, you both still needed time. Time to process everything that was said, and for the two of you to figure out how to move forward. 

You still would have stayed if Namjoon was alone, but just after sundown, Yoongi and Hoseok came back with pizza and beers. It was only then that you took your leave, getting into your car and driving back to Jeongguk’s apartment. 

And this felt like coming home more than the house you just left. 

You didn’t know why, but you felt like knocking on the door instead of using the spare key that was on the bottom of your bag. Jeongguk was also weirded out by it, frowning when he unlocked it for you. 

“Why didn’t you just come in?” he had a light chuckle on his lips and round eyes. 

“I don’t know.” you were honest, leaving your shoes by the door. “Maybe since you don’t have to let me stay here anymore it would feel weird to act like this is my place too.” 

Jeongguk stared at you as if you were crazy. Or as if he heard you wrong. 

That’s all it took for him to push the door closed with a harsher bang than it needed to be, then pressing your back against it. Both of his hands held your face in place, your gasp made your lips part when his pressed against yours. Jeongguk’s tongue slipped into your mouth as if it was his to take and it should be annoying how easily you melted against him. 

Your hands found his chest, but you didn’t push him away. Your fingers grabbed the cotton of his shirt and you held him close. You tried to follow his crazed, needy kiss, but it was hard to breathe and impossible to think, so all you did was open your mouth and let him kiss you, flicking your tongue around with his and panting. 

And then Jeongguk was biting down on your bottom lip and letting it go. 

“What was that for?” you were panting, licking your lips to taste more of him. 

“It sounded like you didn’t remember where you stand with me, so I felt like reminding you.” Jeongguk told you with a small shrug, wrapping an arm around your waist and pulling you closer to his body. “As long as I live here, this is your place, too. You may come and go as you please, I don’t care if you stay here for two months straight, or if you never leave.” 

“Okay.” you couldn’t help but smile, suddenly shy under his confident gaze. 

Your eyes fluttered as Jeongguk leaned once more, lifting your chin to gently brush his lips against yours and peck them. I missed you too, you wanted to say. Your boyfriend let you breathe, giving you space to actually walk into the apartment, and you followed him to the small living room.

“How is hyung doing?” 

“He’s a mess, but he’ll be fine. I think he needed that conversation more than I did.” you dropped to the couch, sitting sideways with your legs criss-crossed and putting a cushion on your lap. “I’ll tell you everything later, okay? That was too much to go through right now, I need to let everything sink in.”

“Yeah, of course, dove.” Jeongguk smiled softly, the fact that you were with was enough. “Are you hungry? I can make you something.” 

“I’m okay, Hoseok and Yoongi brought pizza to the house and I ate a couple slices before coming here.” you denied it, patting the space in front of you on the couch so he would join you. “How did it go with Hatter?” 

“He has some cool ideas about the new fighting rings.” the man chuckled and you could only imagine what their conversation sounded like while you were snapping pictures. “He wants to test some fire machines.” 

“Fire? That man really is mad, huh?” 

Jeongguk laughed. “You could say that.” 

“But I mean… Didn’t you think that was too easy?” you tried again, still not completely at ease with what happened earlier today. “The way he just agreed to let me look at everything?”

“Kinda. But that’s Hatter. If he likes you, he trusts you.” Jeongguk shrugged, so maybe it was just you being too suspicious of everything and everyone at this point. “And he seems to like us.” 

“I suppose. He did say yes to a threesome.” you couldn’t help but laugh, which made Jeongguk squint.  

“Don’t get any ideas, songbird.” his warning made you laugh. As if. “Did you find anything in the files?” 

“I did. At least I think so.” you nodded excitedly, reaching into your backpack that was resting on the floor to pull out your phone. Your battery was almost dead at this point, but you had enough to scroll through your photo gallery and show it to Jeongguk. “Did you know Wonho has been in the circle for this long?” 

You showed him the picture of Wonho’s file, zooming in on the date where he was first hired. If your calculations were correct, he joined the Circle when he was only eighteen. 

“2015? Damn, so he’s been there from the start.” Jeongguk took your phone as you handed it to him and you watched him flick through the photos. “I’m pretty sure that’s the year it was created.” 

“That’s interesting.” you were frowning, temple starting to throb. You might need some painkillers soon. “What do we know about his family?” 

“I don’t know anything about his family, dove.” his eyes lifted from the device. “Why?” 

“Namjoon said something tonight that got me thinking.” you rubbed your eyes and your forehead, not knowing if you were dehydrated or overworked. “I could be very wrong about this, but if I’m right, it could change everything.” 

“And how do we find out?” 

“I have an idea.” you let your phone drop on top of the cushion on your lap. “But you’re not gonna like it.”