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“No.” Tae Hyun shook his head. “No. Seong Min was shot.”
Jason’s heart plummeted to his stomach. In all the excitement, he hadn’t thought about anyone but Tae Hyun. “Is he–”
“He’s okay. The bullet only grazed him.”
Jason breathed out some of his adrenaline-fueled stress. “That’s a relief.” He finished cutting off Tae Hyun’s bindings. “There.”
Tae Hyun pulled his arms free and shook them out before wrapping them around Jason. “Thank you, hyung. Thank you. ”
Jason and Tae Hyun tightly embraced each other as Jason’s heart pounded in his ears. The fear, anger, and anguish he’d been bottling since getting Yun Seo’s call threatened to break through his control and explode. But it wasn’t the time. They were in some anonymous scrapyard somewhere in Seoul–if they were even still in Seoul–and needed to go home. But Jason held on for several moments before letting go. “Can you walk? We should get you out of here.”
Tae Hyun nodded as he took Jason’s outstretched hand. “What about Ji Hoon?”
“What? That asshole’s here, too?” Jason snorted. He’d always secretly imagined his uncle was a villain, but his mind almost refused to process that he really was. “I only saw Oh Min Su.”
“He was here.” Tae Hyun deeply sighed and shook his head. “It was Ji Hoon the whole time, hyung. He’s been the one behind it all.”
“I fucking knew it.” Jason helped Tae Hyun climb from the van, put his arm around him, and led him past the tank. “I’ve been saying it was KBR, and it was fucking KBR this whole time.”
Tae Hyun briefly stiffened when he saw Min Su sitting with his hands bound behind his back between a pair of men from Min Kyu’s security team. Then he surged forward, snarling, until Jason grabbed him and held him back.
“I think he’s had enough.”
Min Su was already sporting a bloodshot and bruised eye above a scratched, swollen, bloody cheek from Jason’s beating. He glanced at the blood on his knuckles–Min Su’s blood–then noticed Tae Hyun looking at it, too.
“Maybe,” Tae Hyun replied, his voice low with restrained anger. “But he deserved everything you gave him.”
Seong Woo, standing nearby, motioned for Jason and Tae Hyun to follow him before walking a few dozen feet from Min Su. He waited for them to catch up, frowning when he saw Tae Hyun.
“Are you alright?”
Tae Hyun nodded. “I am. I’m more worried about Seong Min. How’s he doing?”
“His brother and one of my men are taking him to a company physician to get him checked out.”
Jason snorted. “You have a company physician?”
“My father’s company, of course. But we thought it would be best to keep him out of any public hospitals until we’ve decided what we want to do.”
Tae Hyun frowned. “Decided what?”
“Whether or not we want to involve the police.”
“Oh.” Tae Hyun pursed his lips for a moment. “What are our other options?”
“Well, we can talk more about those. But, first, we should get our asses out of here. It’s only a matter of time before someone official shows up and starts asking questions.” Seong Woo grinned. “And there’s something else you should probably know.”
Jason huffed and shook his head. “Enough with the fucking theatrics, Seong Woo. Just tell us.”
Seong Woo’s grin fell away as he flinched at Jason’s reprimand. Then it returned, just as bright as ever. “You’ll never guess who Min Kyu has tied up in his truck right now.”
23
Tae Hyun anxiously fidgeted on the folding chair he’d found leaning against the back wall of the makeshift office. He glanced at Choo Ji Hoon, who’d so far refused to answer anyone’s questions. By his expression, you’d hardly have known that he’d been placed in his chair with his hands zip-tied behind his back. He could’ve been sitting in his office in KBR’s Gangnam-gu headquarters, waiting for his next meeting. He was only missing his expensive office chair, a few plants, and a framed photo of his family on his desk.
Jason, Seong Woo, and Min Kyu had gathered in the corner of that same prefab office at some construction site conveniently owned by Cho Seong Woo’s family, quietly conferring as they decided what exactly to do with the KBR Director. That left Tae Hyun to watch over Ji Hoon.
Tae Hyun’s feelings toward the man sitting before him were complicated. They’d evolved over the years, just like any boy’s would for a father figure. Because that’s what Ji Hoon had always been to him. But Tae Hyun also had a complicated relationship with fathers, symbolic or otherwise. His desperation to please them and fulfill his duties as a son, trainee, and idol had come at the price of constantly lying. He’d always known that the love and support he enjoyed from his parental figures was conditional–they would surely withhold that love once they knew who he really was. And, for the most part, he’d been right about that.
