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— "make us live on!"
DECEMBER 23: JUNG HOSEOK
==
when hoseok walks into the investigation building, through the lobby, up the four flights of stairs, down the hall and past the tall cedar doors of the boss's office, forward to the glossy glass desk of the aforementioned himself—he does not carry gifts. he does not carry meticulously wrapped gift cards, tirelessly written and perfected reports of his internship (that, and he knows it, no one in the administration truly reads), or even a coffee cup he just so happened to fill on his way up here, the perfect blend of half and half he knows for a fact the boss loves so dearly. that isn't what he came here for. no intern in their right mind would stay at the agency on a stormy sunday evening, but hoseok has never really been one to conform.
hoseok carries no gifts. instead, he carries a stack of files, carefully organized and labeled, with a friend by his side.
namjoon clears his throat quietly when the stack is placed gently on the boss's desk, as if to reassure himself. "thank you for sparing the time to meet with us, sir," he begins. the boss looks up from his laptop screen to his employee and intern moments later. "i know—i know how hectic your schedule must be right now."
"i'm staying late tonight, anyway. what's this?"
there's a lapse of uncomfortable silence as hoseok struggles for what to say. all of the planning he had made the days before—waiting for his sandwich at the deli shop, in the shower, biking to jae's house for the weekly movie night—washes down the drain as hoseok's mind goes blank. he turns to stare at the bold letters written on the label.
what can he say? hoseok knows that without a doubt, the moment that first manila file is opened, it's a slim chance the boss will believe them, much less listen to the rest of what they have to see. their evidence is almost baseless in the eyes of non-witnesses, and complete blasphemy for realists. there's a scarce amount of information gathered by the society that someone like the agency's boss would believe, and even then, it's a longshot. hoseok knows this risk they're taking could very well backfire on both him and namjoon; and because he refused to let hoseok do this without him, the chance that namjoon might lose his job is all too heavy of a weight on hoseok's shoulders.
he's an optimist, but under the almost scrutinizing gaze of the boss (or is he just imagining it?), hoseok can't help but feel like he's already lost the battle.
he takes a deep breath, steadies his racing heart, and speaks.
"for the past few months or so, namjoon and i have been...investigating in a case separate of the detective agency. it began from the explosion of subway 301, and then as we got more involved, it began to tie to a lot of other...events: like the car crash that following week, and the collapse of that building in useol. and...we learned more than a few things."
