House Of Cards (BTS EDITION)

Damn Good Bluffer pt.3

“But you’re smarter, y’know what to do if-”

“s**t Taehyung I might be smart but so are you, your aptitude tests were off the chart. I know because I checked the records. Yes I’m smart, that’s why I need to stay back here, in the base camp. You have think of this situation in a certain way. Don’t use your ace card when you can pull a joker.” Namjoon reached over and tapped him on the side of his head. “You’re smart. Very smart. You’re also a damn good bluffer.”

“Bluffing about kiddie s**t is easy Namjoon,” Taehyung retorted, an almost whine in his voice as did, “that’s not kiddie s**t. If I say the wrong thing I can lose my head, and I like my head. It’s a nice head if I can brag about it.”

“I’m in too deep Taehyung. This department has affected me, I can’t go undercover. I’d blow the operation up. Sungah can’t, she’s female so she can’t even attempt to join. Hoseok can’t. He’s just like me, he’s like a soldier, not a spy. He does his job great, but he’s not right for this one. Daesu’s too old, Youngjae couldn’t look anymore like a f*****g cop if he tried.”

Taehyung realised that he had named all of the team already except for him. They were only a small group of officers, for the only time they needed numbers was during raids. That was when the armed units stepped in, following Hoseok’s guidance. Other than that there were just six officers on the current squad and it would be pitiful if not reflective of the rather low level of drug activity in the region. There were more convictions for buyers of drugs than for sellers, and certainly not producers. No, most of the drugs floating around were imported s**t from North Korea, China, The Philippines and more.

When it was so hard to find dealers and producers it wasn’t like there was a demand for officers in the field.

“Taehyung, this is the best shot we will get at infiltrating Haedogje Pa. It’s been an entire generation, we’ve been waiting forever.”

“I know, I know,” Taehyung muttered. “I know it’s the best but…me?” Namjoon held his gaze without blinking, refusing to back down. “I don’t even have any practical experience. What the f**k am I supposed to do?”

“You will undergo some training Taehyung,” he explained, shifting on the table as he did. “How to work a firearm mostly, but other stuff too. You’re not going into it naked. You’ll be prepared. We’ve got nearly three months to prepare ourselves for this. By the time we get you inside you will know every single thing about the f*****g Haedogje Pa you will ever need to know.”

“I already know all about ‘em,” Taehyung said, edging close to an argumentative retort. “I know everything that I need to know. I don’t need to know anymore.”

“Not everything, not yet,” Namjoon said as he shifted to get off his desk. “The only way to know everything about Haedogje Pa,” he said as he placed a hand on his shoulder, “is to join Haedogje Pa.”

Taehyung didn’t follow him with his eyes as he left the department office. He was too busy staring at the files left on his desk to do so. They were just sitting there, so very much like Pandora’s Box waiting for him to open them and look inside. Namjoon just knew that he couldn’t ignore them, because he would just have to check the files to see the information. To see if it was correct and that there wasn’t the slightest piece of error. That was why he had left the files there, to tempt him. Taehyung wanted to go back to his laptop, to scanning the countless other emails and pretending that none of this had happened but he knew that he couldn’t.

There was no way of backing out of this. He was cornered and he shouldn’t even try.

Taehyung sighed and pushed the lunchbox aside so that he could pull the files closer to him instead. He opened the thin manilla one and slipped the photographs out, spreading them across the desk. The glossy surfaces reflected sunlight back at him. Then he opened his desk drawer and pulled a rather tattered notebook free, covered in scrawls of ink with torn and folded pages. Right now the other files could wait. Taehyung wanted to do his own investigation first; starting with identifying as many men in the photographs with Jungkook as he could. Then he would try and figure out what exactly that might mean.

If anyone on their team could predict the future of Haedogje Pa then it was him. That was why Namjoon had left him the files and had picked him as their spy. He had figured that much out on his own.

Taehyung sighed and turned to look at the photographs on his desk. No one on the shots looked back at him, all caught looking down the streets or at watches; fingers pressed to earpieces so that he could see black wires curling down and out of sight into shirt and suit jackets. No one stood out to him on this particular outing. There was a high chance that they were just hired thugs and nothing more; bodyguards for the baby heir in their midst. Taehyung dragged his eyes away from a bald-headed man to look at Jungkook: at The Boy. He tapped his pen against the notebook as he stared at him.

A new player on the chessboard, not a pawn but rather a king. Jungkook was limited right now, unable to move around much or control vast swathes of his empire yet. No, that still remained in the hands of his father; who was now something close to the queen. The most powerful but not the most important. Well, Taehyung knew his chess and that meant that he was going to be a rook.

There was much work to be had and he knew something else too.

He was going to need more coffee.

Taehyung knew about Haedogje Pa. He was sure that anyone working in the force would, along with those in government sectors and the judicial system. They were often referred to as a cancer, a malignant cancer that lingered and would never go away. They were something above every other gang in the country because they had long surpassed what could be counted as a “gang”. No petty street wars or power struggles. Haedogje Pa were an empire to be precise: the largest and most ruthlessly monitored empire in the entire of Seoul. Everyone knew about them, but no one could do a thing to rid them from existence.

The motto of Haedogje Pa was this: you’ve got the poison, we’ve got the antidote.

The poison applied to a great many things. The gang dealt in a rich profusion of drugs: m*******a and prescription medication like Valium and Xanax were the soft s**t; Yeba, methamphetamine, heroin and cocaine were the more in demand, the hardcore s**t. But drugs weren’t the only things, though they certainly were a powerful foundation. Taehyung knew that the empire had been founded on drugs smuggled from American military camps into the general population. That meant that they were very important in regards to the culture of the empire.

A second staple and by no means last specialty of Haedogje Pa was countrywide prostitution. Taehyung didn’t like calling it that because that seemed to state that the gang dealt in s*x workers, when in reality he knew that they were s*x slaves. To call the women and men working the circuits willing was so far from the truth it was rather shocking. They were either drug-addicts, immigrants, runaway kids or desperate. With all of those factors put into play it wasn’t about workers anymore, but rather more people trapped under their control. First the addicts, then the slaves. There were underground strip clubs, brothels, dens filled with the kind of s**t that Taehyung could only imagine. Sungah had worked on busting open prostitution rings before moving onto the vice desk, and he had heard stories. Stories that he had wished he never had.

They were more vices that interlaced under these two: gambling, pornography, extortion and other s**t. These were just as important even if they seemed to be lesser, because they were just another pillar of strength that kept the gang standing strong and unbreakable. Looking for a c***k in the armor was something that took years of work, and more often than not there was never enough time or strength to break through. Taehyung wasn’t stupid. He knew that an empire wasn’t just built on smarts and money alone. It required power and influence, along with protection. He knew that Haedogje Pa had links to all kinds of powers in the country. There would be politicians, chaebols and CEOs, judges and more all willing to help keep the business flowing and the risks low. They were Seoul’s biggest open secret, and not a thing could be done without information.