Page 81 of Damian & Jun: Episodes 5-8
“You did. One.” Damian tapped Jun’s chest. “You never let him take your mother’s Buddha.”
No, he never had. That suddenly felt like a bright spot of victory. There was something he’d never given Bak.
“I feel young, all of a sudden, like I should already know these things.”
“Don’t.” Damian stroked Jun’s neck with this thumb and brought their foreheads together, rubbing his nose against Jun’s. “I didn’t know a lot of these things either growing up. Bak didn’t want you to know these things, so you didn’t. He didn’t want you to have boundaries, so you only had the one your mother had given you. Even though you became an adult, the only time you spent away from him you were in the military, another place where you’re not allowed to have a lot of boundaries or at least not encouraged to develop them, depending on who your officers were. Just because someone’s an adult doesn’t mean that they got handed all the tools to be one. Not all adults are equally adult. What defines you is if you’re strong enough to wake up, brave enough to pay attention and realize your tools are missing. And then, what you do once you start waking up.”
“Like when Richard said he learned things for you he didn’t learn for himself?”
“Like that.”
Jun nodded. He pressed his cheek to Damian’s and reached for his body wash. He wanted to return the favor.
Mi Hi was in the kitchen, her tablet, laptop, and two phones spread out on the center island and a large legal notepad in front of her with half a page of notes scribbled down. She had a massive mug of coffee in hand, and half her face was buried in it. She waved with her writing hand as Jun and Damian entered.
“There’s coffee. Gigi made it. So good.”
Jun smiled and moved toward the large machine. There were mugs on a rack, and he went about making two of them.
Damian joined Mi Hi at the center island. Jun listened as he poured and mixed. “What’s the update?”
Mi Hi huffed. “Well, no more threatening messages yet. We’re right at the twenty-four-hour mark, so we’ll see. There’s been some activity around the announcement that Jun made his statement to US and South Korean authorities yesterday. A lot of people are speculating about why he isn’t making the statement in Seoul.”
“What’s the top speculation?”
“That Jun was snatched by an international crime ring and South Korea and the US are protecting him.”
“Not entirely wrong.”
Mi Hi sniffed. “No. I’m not doing anything to squash the rumors. I think it would be good if Jun released a video statement today expressing hope that the legal system can work everything out.”
Jun came over with the two coffees and handed one to Damian. “I can do that.”
“Good.” Mi Hi marked something on her legal pad. “Let’s record that in about an hour. I want to get past this twenty-four-hour mark completely so we aren’t putting up multiple responses a day. Everyone already knows that you spent hours with authorities yesterday. This video is just to get you on public record supporting the legal system.”
Jun nodded and held his mug under his nose. The cups here were so much bigger. The steam could get all over his face all at once.
Something dinged on Mi Hi’s laptop. She opened a tab, and a notification signaled that BBB3’s official account was about to go live with a press conference.
“You may not want to watch this,” she said.
“Let’s just find out.” Jun settled in beside her. Damian angled in from her other side. She let the video pop up.
Bak was on the screen, obviously holding a press conference inside BBB3 headquarters. The room was familiar. It wasn’t the place Bak liked to hold events, though.
On screen, Bak was sitting behind a table, hands folded. He leaned forward, toward the camera, projecting sadness and a sort of paternal air. The hair on Jun’s arms went up. After being around Richard and Émeric, Bak’s thin veneer looked cheap and creepy. And dangerous. Mostly dangerous. The man felt like a threat, just through the screen.
There were some introductions by someone else, and then Bak got down to it.
“We at BBB3 are very sad to have to confirm reports on Gang Junseo, the leader of PentaNow. You all know that there has been some unusual activity and our JunJun hasn’t been at his normal events for the last week. Unfortunately, it seems that stress and his responsibilities leading PentaNow have caught up to him. We believe he is suffering a psychotic break of some sort. We’ve been trying to reach him and help him, and I’m grateful to Sanada Yohei and some of his other bandmates who are trying to stand with him during this time, that they’ve been able to reach him and make sure he’s not entirely alone, but, in truth, none of us and none of the members of PentaNow are psychological professionals, and what Mr. Gang needs at this moment are professionals. So, I’m appealing to all the members of PentaNow and any fans and supporters who love Mr. Gang as much as we do, please help him come home. Help him get the support and medical treatment he needs.”
Questions came hard and fast from the room. One managed to make its way to the top. “Mr. Bak, why does BBB3 believe Mr. Gang has suffered a psychotic break?”
“Well, I mean, I think all of you have seen how he’s behaving lately. Until a week ago, JunJun was a model idol, and now, well, I think it’s telling that he’s not even in the same country where he agreed to be. I think you’d agree that is very much not like him.”
“Mr. Bak.” Someone else pushed forward. “Mr. Gang appears to have a very good reason for not being present lately. And he was with authorities yesterday. We know he’s in contact with authorities here in Seoul. In fact, Judge Su just confirmed thirty minutes ago that he spoke with Mr. Gang yesterday and that Mr. Gang was cooperating with officials. That doesn’t seem like a mental break to us at my news organization.”
Bak held up his hands. “I’m not a judge or a police officer. I can only tell you what I’ve been told by the detectives that have spoken to me, and honestly, I can’t tell you most of that. If Mr. Gang is speaking with authorities, I can only hope that means he’s becoming willing to get help.”
