Chapter Text
The members followed Mr. Lee to the courtroom. The room where they would find out just how much their lives would change forever.
Would Junso and Ky be set free, despite their crimes?
Or would Bangtan get justice for the immense fear, pain, and tragedy that had been inflicted upon them at the hands of those two and all the people they had hired to make the members' lives a living hell?
This was, hopefully, the start of a new narrative. A new beginning.
The members were nervous upon entering the courtroom. It was crowded with wooden benches for the jury members, with wooden tables in front of the judges and witness stands. There were flags of South Korea lining the walls. It felt so proper and sterile, with everything having a place and being in order.
The main thing running through the members' heads was the gnawing fear that the judge was also corrupt, just like so many others they had encountered, and was being paid off just like the rest of Ky's and Junso's puppets.
The only thing they could do was hope luck would continue to be on their side.
The members took a seat next to each other behind some of the wooden tables, sitting across from the judges stand. They didn't realize that when they sat down they were all practically sitting on top of each other. The fear and anxiety made them want to stick close together as much as humanly possible. As they awaited for the room to fill, they couldn't help but all feel the same thing- shame and embarrassment.
People were filing in and filling up the courtroom, and the members suddenly felt like this was somehow their fault. As though they were the ones who put themselves in this situation and deserved some kind of public ridicule for letting things get this bad without doing something about it sooner.
An immense fear that this was, somehow, their own doing.
All of them started to hold hands with each other and pat each other on the back, a silent reassurance that the worst was possibly over.
Without any prior warning, Ky and Junso were escorted into the room.
It was silent as the two entered, dressed in bright orange jumpsuits with shackles around their ankles and their hands handcuffed behind their backs.
Yoongi had to stifle a whimper as he immediately dropped his gaze down to the floor. The mere sight of them made him want to get up and sprint out of there. Jin rubbed his hand down Yoongi's back and leaned into his ear. "It's alright, Yoongs. They can't hurt you anymore. I promise."
Jin then looked at the rest of his members to make sure they were all doing okay. Every single one of them had their heads down looking at the floor, refusing to look at the two men who had made their lives an absolute living hell.
Jin hesitated to look at Ky and Junso himself, but being the hyung he wanted to show the others that it was okay. That they were all capable of facing their fears. Hyung will do it.
Jin looked over and stared both of them in the eye. He could sense the coldness, the evil, the lack of humanity, the lack of souls within the two. He wondered if they had quite literally ascended up from Hell and were just enjoying some kind of earthly experience out of boredom before finding their way back down.
As long as they made their way back down.
Ky and Junso stared right back at him, both of them smiling at him. Ky even went as far as to wink.
Jin felt bile begin to find its way up his throat, but he gulped it back down. If there was ever a time to show Junso and Ky that they were no longer in control, it was right now. I will no longer let myself be afraid because of them.
The member's were antsy. Still gazing down, all of them were picking at the skin around their fingernails, or tapping their feet, or pulling at their clothes. All nervous habits that they didn't have before.
Once Ky and Junso were seated on the other side of the courtroom, the judge walked in. He arrived in a dark blue suit, with a matching dark blue tie. He looked to be in his mid to late 60's, which made the boys feel a little better knowing this man probably had a lot of experience with his career. With a hint of gray in his beard and in his hair, it represented wisdom. Hopefully that turned out to be a good thing for the members.
The judge introduced himself as Mr. Kim, and the boys couldn't help but laugh a little bit. It was a popular name, and it also made them feel a bit more connected to the judge considering three of them had the same name as him.
So far everything seemed to be falling into place well.
The judge wasted absolutely no time. He presented the case before him to the court, reading through documents to everyone in the room that discussed why they were all gathered. The documents detailed the constant abuse, manipulation, murder attempts, threats, gang affiliations, stealing, corruption, and more.
Jimin's heart seized up when he heard the judge mention murder attempts. These were more than just 'attempts'. He thought back to his best friend, the one Ky actually did kill. Even if Flyn was a fish, he still killed him. That's still murder.
Jungkook noticed Jimin start shifting in his seat at the mention of it and knew. He grabbed his hyungs hand and gently gave it a few squeezes.
As the judge finished reading through the case, the members couldn't believe that after all of that, they were in fact all still alive. It didn't seem humanly possible to suffer so much and still be alive to talk about it.
They all survived the ruthless beatings.
Jin and Jungkook survived the car accident.
Hobi survived drowning.
Yoongi survived a beating that very much should have killed him.
Same with Namjoon, he still doesn't know how that belt didn't pierce through his skin and tear apart his organs.
Taehyung had survived the prison of his own mind, only created by the bars that Ky had built.
Jimin was still coping with the loss of Flyn. Somehow. He felt lucky enough to still have all of his members alive and sitting right there beside him. He was glad that all of them are going through this together.
"I'd like to call the first witness to the stand," the judge, Mr. Kim, firmly announced. He shifted his gaze to the members. Meaning it had to be one of them to go first.
The members felt the dread crash through their bodies from head to toe. It was bad enough that they had to breathe the same air as Ky and Junso, and now they wondered how they were expected to confront and condemn the two bastards right to their faces.
Yoongi glanced at the members while clutching his stomach as he attempted to gulp down vomit. He slightly shook his head. "I'm not going up there. At least not first," he whispered.
The others started to quietly bicker over who would be the first one to go.
Once again, Jin decided that 'hyung will do it. '
He felt his ears and face burning, surely turning bright red. As he took a deep breath and stood up, he smoothed out the small wrinkles that had formed at the bottom of his shirt because he'd been clutching it. "I will go first."
With shaky steps, Jin slowly made his way around his members. He was noticeably trembling, and he felt extremely vulnerable knowing that as he was walking across this room, all eyes would be on him.
Before Jin was actually away from the members, Jungkook couldn't stand to watch his hyung be this scared. His hyung had to endure enough as it was. All of his hyungs did. "Wait!" Jungkook shot to his feet, everyone turning their gaze to the youngest.
Taehyung tugged on Jungkook's shirt. "Kook sit back down!"
Jungkook turned to the judge, ignoring Taehyung. "Mr. judge, man, sir. Uhm, Mr. Kim, I mean. Sorry, I'm sorry but would it be okay if...if...we all went up together? Can we all speak as one?"
Now it was Hobi who was tugging on Jungkook's shirt. "Jungkook sit down, that's not how this works. He's not going to let us-"
"-If that is what you'd like to do, then you may take the witness stand together," Mr. Kim replied.
The members were in complete disbelief. They hadn't thought to ask that because they figured they simply wouldn't be allowed to. They slowly stood up, following Jungkook to go be closer to Jin so they could all walk up together. Jin whispered a silent "thank you" to Jungkook, and the maknae could see the glimpse of relief in his hyungs eyes. What really made Jin quite emotional was that it was Jungkook who had stood up and asked so that he wouldn't be up there alone. Seeing Jungkook still love and care for him so much, despite what had happened between them, melted his heart. His maknae truly did still love and care about him, probably even more now than ever.
As they all went up to the witness stand, they crowded around the microphone and made sure to be standing so close to one another that they were physically touching. Namjoon found the courage to look over at Ky and Junso. The two were staring intently at them, the hatred evident in their glares. Hope you rot in hell after this, fuckers. We're about to expose every damn thing you've done. All the pain you've caused is over now.
Namjoon felt a spark of inspiration to be the first to speak up, so he was the first to clear his throat and begin.
And he didn't spare a single detail. He spoke of it all. He started with how Ky had been forcefully put into the group to begin with and it was corruption on Junso's part. He admitted he felt like an idiot for not realizing Junso had more to do with this than he initially thought. He couldn't help but begin to break down completely, so Taehyung took over.
"The first time I knew Ky was going to be a monster was when he tried to force Yoongi hyung and I to go to bed early, and then he pinched me. He explained to me that I shouldn't be eating so much because he could pinch my skin." His gaze dropped, sorrow filling him. "And I ended up listening."
Jin spoke next and picked up on what Taehyung had said. "I had tried to talk to Ky alone about what he did, and that's when things only got worse. He started talking about how he owns us all, like some kind of puppets. How he was the hyung of the group now and how we all basically had to kiss his feet and worship the ground he walked on and if we didn't then he would-"
"-Beat the shit out of us," Jungkook added. He was using his nice suit collar to wipe tears off his cheeks as he explained the first time he saw Ky hurting Namjoon, and then how the man took his belt and started beating on him too.
The members don't know what came over them, but their fear of Ky and Junso completely melted away as they continued to tell their story to everyone sitting in the room. Mr. Lee was brought tissues because he had started sobbing hearing all of what the boys had gone through. When they started to talk about how they were desperately trying to get help but everyone was on Ky's and Junso's side, Mr. Lee cried even more. He felt guilty for letting crime like that happen in his city yet he didn't even know about it.
"But then Jimin-ah posted online, and Mr. Lee showed up," Yoongi held back his own tears as he looked straight at Mr. Lee. "We can never repay you for that." Then Yoongi turned to Jimin and said, "Or you, kiddo."
Jimin felt his heart fill with pride. He hugged Yoongi and then turned to Namjoon, and his leader smiled at him and patted his back as he silently whispered, "Thank you."
The members continued to tell their story from beginning to end. Jin got choked up when describing the car accident, so Jungkook took over that story. Yoongi couldn't get through speaking about his beating in the woods, so Hobi helped fill in the blanks. When Hobi started crying while explaining how he was being drowned, Jungkook helped him get through his speech. Jimin talked about Flyn, not only about how Ky had killed him, but also just...about Flyn. He wanted everyone to know about his amazing pet. His best friend.
Having all seven of them up there together was doing something to them. Giving them power. Giving them the strength they needed to make sure their stories were straight and nothing was left out.
What a relief it was to have each other.
The fear came back when they realized they were done speaking. Everything had been laid out on the table at this point and they knew that now, the rest was up to fate. They had done all they could and they could only hope that was enough.
As the boys left the witness stand, Yoongi looked over at the judge to read his expression. The judge had, subtly, been crying too.
Yoongi had to hide his smirk.
As they took their seats, the lawyer representing Ky and Junso asked the judge if his two clients may also take the witness stand together.
"No," Mr. Kim replied. "Absolutely not, only one at a time."
Namjoon had to bite his lips to stop himself from audibly laughing. The rest of the boys put their heads down to also hide the fact that their expressions screamed 'Holy shit!'
By all evidence so far, this judge seemed to truly be on their side and in favor of them. And this was only the first court date.
The members, after all of the lying and manipulation they'd already experienced, could only hope that they wouldn't be fucked over in the end.
Please not again.
Please not this time.