"Long time no see, kiddos!" Kip yelled excitedly.

All of the members freaked out and shot up from their chairs, running to Kip and embracing him in a hug. They couldn't control their emotions.

Hobi turned to Namjoon. "Where did you...I mean how did you?! You said it wasn't anyone we knew Namjoon!"

With a beaming smile Namjoon replied, "I told you I wanted it to be a surprise! I had to lie! If I told you we knew who it was that would have given it away!"

Jungkook was the most emotional. He cried the most tears when manager Kip had left, and for many reasons, was now crying the most tears at his return.

"Is this real? Or is this a joke? Please tell me this is real. But Kip hyung what about having to move and all your family stuff?" Jungkook asked. His voice was pleading. He was hoping this was all true and that manager Kip had returned to be their full time manager again.

Kip held them all in the hug. "It's real, Kook-ah. Yes I had to leave for my family, but after Namjoon called me, I couldn't say no. I had to come back, and I was able to take care of family business and return without having to worry about it all that much. Everything is settled with them." Kip felt like he was going to suffocate with how tightly Jungkook was squeezing him.

"When did you call him?!" Yoongi asked Namjoon.

"As soon as the company posted the job of us needing a manager. I thought about how I honestly didn't want to go about it that way. We already knew we weren't going to trust anyone ever, and then the thought occurred to me, that there is one person who we already know and love and trust. So I called him and explained a little bit of what happened and the rest was history."

Taehyung turned to Kip. "Wait, so you know what happened?"

Kip nodded. He explained some of the details Namjoon had mentioned over the phone and then Namjoon added in that he had never actually went to any interview for a new manager, he was actually meeting with the company and Kip and that's when he explained to Kip in further detail of the things they had been going through.

Kip told the group that as soon as Namjoon mentioned some of the things their last manager had done, he absolutely could not deny coming back. Kip couldn't trust anyone either after that. To him, Bangtan was still his band. His best friends. His dongsaeng's. His heart had completely shattered when Namjoon had first mentioned Jungkook getting abused. He wanted to destroy the man who had hurt his maknae.

Jungkook wasn't upset that Namjoon had spilled the details of everything with Kip. He actually preferred it, that way he didn't have to mention it himself. He still got very nervous and anxious whenever it was brought up.

Also, the members and Kip had been so close for so many years Kip was just as much a part of their family as every other member in the group, there were no secrets. After crying and hugging him for what felt like forever, the members finally backed off and Kip mentioned that he'd like to speak with Jungkook alone.

The members had no problem with that, but Jungkook asked if someone could stay with him. It was absolutely nothing against Kip, but he was still so extremely paranoid that Shik was going to break out of jail and come for him that he preferred there to always be more people around than less, he felt more protected that way. Kip said that was completely fine and Yoongi offered to stay in the room with them as the rest gave Kip one last hug before departing.

The three of them sat down at the conference table and to both Jungkook's and Yoongi's surprise, Kip completely burst into tears.

He grabbed Jungkook's hands in his as he cried. "Jungkook-ah, I am so unbelievably sorry. If I had known what was going to happen to you after I left, I never would have gone anywhere. I should have stayed. I should have figured something else out, I'm so sorry. I never in a million years would have imagined that me leaving would have done this to you. It's beyond my comprehension how the company managed to hire someone who was so incredibly terrible. Not just to you but to all of you. You never deserved to go through any of what that man put you through, and I promise to never let that happen again."

Jungkook couldn't contain his emotions anymore and started crying all over again, which then made Yoongi start crying too. He hated seeing Jungkook cry, but his heart felt warm knowing that this time his tears were because someone was showing nothing but love to him, instead of anger and hate.

"It wasn't your fault Kippie hyung, nobody knew it was going to happen. Please never blame yourself," Jungkook pouted.

Yoongi was rubbing Jungkook's back. He couldn't help but be emotional. He also didn't want Kip to ever blame himself. "There is only one person to blame for anything and that is that Shik fuck."

Kip started asking a few more questions about the guy, he had no idea who Shik was. Yoongi said what Shik had told them at the beginning of everything and all the accomplishments he had claimed to achieve, but Kip still had no idea who he was, and Kip knew a lot of people in the industry.

Kip concluded that "Shik probably lied to make up for the fact his mommy probably didn't love him enough."

This got a chuckle out of both members. Jungkook's pouting turned into a smile. Kip hyung is back. He couldn't have dreamed for something greater. It eased his mind greatly knowing that they wouldn't have to worry about bringing in someone new again and having the same problems. He could already feel his heart beginning to heal knowing he was back to having a manager who had never been anything but kind and trustworthy to them.

Kip always put the boys needs first. He was much like Namjoon when it came to their health and safety. It was always health and safety over everything, even performances. Kip was also never strict with them either. He basically let them do whatever they wanted as long as they were passionate and having fun. He was also extremely protective of all the members. He was one to always hold their hands through the airport and keep fans far away in public places.

Sometimes he even got a bit overprotective. When the members were really young and just getting started, a simple bruise or scrape would send Kip into a panic looking for a first aid kit and bombarding the guys with food and snacks.

Kip asked about the trial. Yoongi informed him that Shik was arrested and in Jail, but that wasn't the end of it. They had had a few meetings at the courthouse already, but their next one coming up was going to determine what exactly happened to Shik. Whether he'd be found guilty or not.

Jungkook tried his best not to think about it, he was terrified of Shik being found innocent and freed. Kip reassured him that he would never let Shik near Jungkook or the other members ever again. The company was already in the process of filing a restraining order.

They hung out for a few more minutes until Jin knocked on the door and poked his head in saying they needed to get heading home because Jungkook was going to start his first therapy appointment. The maknae felt the anxiety rush through his veins and took a deep breath. He hoped his therapist was nice.

And she was. The nicest women he'd ever met. Namjoon sat in his room with him for this first therapy appointment knowing his maknae still had a very hard time with strangers. His therapist was a short cute elderly woman who greatly resembled his grandmother. She had even brought over homemade cookies to the house for all the guys to share.

Jungkook began to realize that maybe his luck actually was turning around for the better after all. The session lasted about an hour and a half. At first the maknae was extremely shy about discussing things but Namjoon encouraged him and helped him open up and before he knew it he was pouring out all of his concerns and fears and feelings.

Namjoon was crying half way through the session hearing some of the things the youngest was admitting. Some things he hadn't even told the members. One of the therapists main concerns was the constant night terrors Jungkook had to deal with. She offered a ton of advice on how to work through them and she smiled when Jungkook told her that his hyungs were also really helpful and how Yoongi was even sleeping in his room to comfort him.

She reiterated to him that he's always going to be safe and protected having his members around.

"And Kip hyung too!" Jungkook reminded her.

"Yes, and your Kip hyung too," the therapist smiled.

Jungkook couldn't help but smile every time he thought about Kip being back. He turned and gave Namjoon a bear hug, knowing it wouldn't have happened without him. It also made him realize just how much his hyungs cared about him and his happiness. He couldn't help but feel like such a fool for not coming to them sooner, but his therapist also helped him realize that was nothing to blame himself for.

--

A few weeks had gone by and things were getting a lot better. Jungkook was having weekly therapy sessions and to everyone's surprise, decided to start going to the office instead of having her come to the house.

Usually Hobi or Taehyung would bring him and he even went into her office alone without a hyung. His night terrors were becoming few and far between. Kip had shown up one day with a surprise for the maknae, and it was a giant dream catcher to hang over his bed. Kip told him as long as he believed it'll work, the dreamcatcher would catch all the bad things in his head while he slept, it definitely seemed to be working. The hyungs were a bit more confident in letting Jungkook be alone at the building again.

The first thing Kip had done when he restarted his work was re-order CCTV cameras for all around the building. He had them expedited so they arrived within two days. The members laughed when one day they had overheard Kip cursing out Shik under his breath and calling him a bastard for cancelling his last order of cameras.

One day while at work, Jungkook somehow stumbled upon finding the universal key card that Shik had made to get into all of the members studios. Something the members weren't even aware of Shik making until Jungkook had told them about the concussion incident. He walked to Kip's office and knocked on the door.

"Come in!" Kip yelled.

Jungkook walked in and held the card up. "Um...could you maybe do something with this? I don't know. Maybe put it somewhere where a stranger won't find it? Maybe in your desk or something?"

Kip gestured to see it. "What is it, exactly?"

Jungkook explained how Shik had the card made so he could basically break into their studios whenever he wanted. Kip was pissed. He never had a card like that made because he wanted the guys to have their privacy. He thought about what to do with it when the thought hit him. "Why don't you go around to the others and ask them if they wouldn't mind you keeping hold of it?"

Jungkook's face it up. He liked the idea of having a key to his hyungs studio's because he still worried for them and got anxious about their safety sometimes. He liked the idea of being able to check up on them whenever he wanted, but he knew he'd need their permission first.

"Really?! I'll go ask hyungie's if I can keep it!" Jungkook yelled excitedly and ran out of the room.

He ran into the dance studio to find all of his members and frantically started asking them if they wouldn't mind him keeping the key card.

They concluded that as long as he promised to be nice about it and not break in while they weren't there (the maknae always enjoyed setting up pranks) and promised to be quiet upon entry as to not disturb them if they were working, they had no problem with him keeping it.

He jumped up and down and hugged them, thanking them. He then ran right back to Kip and excitedly told him how his hyungs are letting him keep it. Kip saw how such a small gesture made Jungkook so happy and he couldn't help but feel his heart hurt knowing that for a long time, the maknae had suffered through way too much. Such a kind and innocent, pure, loving soul, suffered way too much.

Although things had been looking up and getting better for weeks now, things weren't perfect. There were still some instances when Jungkook's anxiety would get the best of him despite all the positive encouragement around him.

The members were about to perform on stage live again for the first time since before the truth of Shik was revealed, and Jimin found Jungkook in the bathroom having a panic attack. It'd been a long time since the maknae had one and his heart broke for him.

Thankfully, Jungkook was a lot better about talking about what was truly on his mind now and the youngest admitted that he was very scared that Shik would magically show up in the crowd to hurt them.

He also had Shik's voice repeating, "If you mess up I will hurt them," in his head and it was making him tremble at the thought of messing up.

Jimin did his best to reassure him that his anxiety and fears were completely valid, but that he really had nothing to worry about. Jungkook gathered the nerve to go up on stage and perform, but during the performance he did have a few slip ups.

Something ARMY hadn't even noticed. But he noticed, and he felt terrified. After the performance he ran down the stairs and off to backstage. The members saw him run to a corner, drop to his knees, and cry. They all went to run to him but Jimin stopped them and asked if he could go alone. They agreed but still stayed within eyesight.

Jimin walked over to Jungkook and wrapped his arms around him in a back hug.

"I don't understand why you're so upset, you did an amazing job," Jimin cooed.

"I messed up," Jungkook cried.

Jimin told him again and again that whatever he thinks he messed up on was never even noticeable.

Kip had gone over to the other members and looked over to Jimin and Jungkook. "What happened?"

The members said they weren't too sure yet, but they had a good idea of what. Kip walked over and bent down in front of Jungkook, lifting his chin up and wiping the tears off his cheek with his thumb. "What's going on? Why so many tears?"

"I messed up. I'm sorry," Jungkook choked out.

Kip gently squeezed the maknae's arm in reassurance. "Well if that's true I can guarantee you nobody noticed. And why are you sorry? Kookie when have I ever cared if any of you guys mess up?"

Jungkook realized, "Never."

"Did you enjoy performing for ARMY? Was the rest of the concert fun?" Kip asked.

Jungkook nodded and said yes.

"Then there ya go, a day well spent, huh?" Kip smiled.

Jimin and Kip looked at each other and knew exactly what needed to happen next. It's something that always happened whenever someone left the stage feeling a bit upset about their performance. Jimin and Kip smiled at each other.

"You know what I think you need?" Kip smiled.

Jungkook looked at him confused.

"Ice cream!" Jimin added.

Jungkook turned and looked between Kip and Jimin and his face lit up. "Seoul Market Ice Cream?!" he asked excitedly.

It was his absolute favorite ice cream place. Kip nodded. The members weren't too sure what was being said in the conversation, but they saw Jungkook's face lighting up and then he jumped to his feet with a smile and began running towards, then right past them.

He turned around to face them. "Last one to the car is a rotten egg!" he yelled and continued on his way.

The members were confused until Jimin was next to run by them screaming "Ice cream!" Then suddenly everyone began racing to the car.

Jungkook quickly became more confident and less worried about messing up on stage, resulting in a ton of fun fan cams. ARMY loved it. It was evident that all of the members were having a ton of fun during their performances. What also made the group happy was that they were back to controlling a lot of what they wanted. Kip had mentioned some community events coming up and asked if they'd like to perform, but the members still didn't feel authentic about those performances and asked if it'd be alright to decline, to which Kip said "Absolutely. It's all up to you."

Jungkook felt like the weight on his shoulders was lifted. He was happy. He finally felt free again. He had his hyungs and his manager Kip hyung by his side through everything.

Therapy was going great, work was going great, he even started going back to the gym after work. If the members weren't up to sticking around while he worked out, manager Kip would stay with him and work from his laptop for the time being. He was eating super healthy again, and the members were ecstatic to see him gaining his weight back.

His personality was shining through again and he had turned back into their happy, funny, silly Jungkook. He never fought or acted out anymore, and Jin was super happy that none of his glass cups were ever being broken. His fear of thunderstorms subsided too, he was back to actually enjoying the sound of rain.

As smooth as it was going, there was still one bump in the road, and that bump was Shik. And today was the final trial and verdict of what would happen with the man. Jungkook was terrified.

He had asked countless times to not go to the courthouse that day because to everyone's dismay, this would be a day where'd they'd actually have to be in the room and take witness stands in front of him.

The company's restraining order hadn't been approved yet, so there was no legal reason to get Jungkook out of going. He spent the entire morning having a panic attack over it, even though the members had reassured him that Shik would be cuffed and chained anyway. They'd be surrounded by security, nobody was going to hurt their maknae.

The members were happy that manager Kip also promised to come. He met them at their house in the morning and they headed there together. Taehyung held the crying maknae in his arms the entire way to the courthouse.

When they got there, he had a hard time getting out of the car but his hyungs helped encourage him. Thankfully no reporters were there, even after posting that BTS needed a new manager, the company was able to detain why. Only a few on the inside of the industry knew what was going on but it was never made public.

Jungkook was super grateful for that. They were standing around waiting inside a hallway when Shik arrived with security. Jungkook was hiding behind the corner, with Jin helping him take deep breaths. The other members made sure to give Shik evil stares.

"It's okay, Jungkookie, he's handcuffed up," Taehyung reassured.

Kip was glaring at Shik from afar. "So that's the bastard who was hurting him?" he asked.

The members nodded.

Kip ventured towards Shik and without warning gave him a swift smack right across the face. "That one was for my maknae, asshole."

Security gave him a small scolding, and Shik just gave him an evil stare. The members jaws dropped in disbelief and Jungkook flinched at the sound of someone getting slapped.

"What was that?! What happened?!" Jungkook cried, he was too terrified to peek around the corner.

The members started smiling as Kip made his way back over. "Kip just smacked him!" they laughed.

Jungkook looked at the floor and smiled. Go, Kip hyungie!

Kip brushed his hands off. "Anyways, where were we?" he asked laughing.

After a few minutes the members were lead into the room. They all sat on one side of the room while Shik sat on the other. The first thing the members didn't understand was why their side of the room was packed with people sitting behind them, and there was nobody sitting on Shik's side.

That came to light quickly. After people within the industry heard what was going on, a handful of other young guys in the industry came forward with allegations about Shik. They all presented evidence and the members were stunned to discover others had gone through abuse too.

All the guys who went up resembled Jungkook, and the members couldn't help but wonder if Shik hated Jungkook because of some weird hatred towards a certain body feature or something, it wasn't making sense. Jungkook kept his gaze low to the ground the whole time.

Yoongi and Hobi were rubbing his back. He talked about what he went through, and his doctor even sent over all of his medical history from when the abuse started to help him use it as evidence. When he was finally done presenting his case the members couldn't stop praising him for how brave he was being.

When it was Shik's turn to speak, Jungkook sunk himself back into Yoongi's embrace. Shik kept trying to plead not guilty.

However, he tried to plead not guilty due to reason of insanity. He started talking about how nothing he did was ever his fault. He blamed his brother for everything. He talked about how his brother ruined his entire life and was terrible to him growing up, and it led him to having mental issues. Shik's lawyer pulled up a news article of when his brother had been arrested and presented it. The members gasped when they saw the picture of Shik's brother.

"Holy shit," Jin started, "That's Jungkook!"

It was starting to make sense to them. If what Shik was saying about his brother was true, then Shik had beaten on Jungkook because he looked a lot like him. Looking around, the members realized all the guys who Shik had hurt looked like him. Jungkook stared at the picture.

So that's why? That's not fair.

Jungkook gulped with anxiety when he felt like the trial was turning in favor of Shik. He was starting to shake and Taehyung noticed his leg bouncing up and down, so Taehyung took his leg and rested it over Jungkook's to keep him steady.

The meeting went on for a few more hours and then it was now time to hear what the verdict would be. Everyone stood up and the members and Kip all gathered into a hug with Jungkook in the middle. They didn't know what to expect but they at least hoped Shik was charged with something.

The judge stood up and read the verdict. They were not in favor of Shik claiming innocence by mental insanity.

They were, however, in favor of him being found guilty by criminal insanity. They had been presented enough evidence to prove that .

"I sentence you, Man Shik, to life in max security prison with no opportunity of escaping."

At first the members were speechless. None of them expected that. Jungkook thought he was seeing stars or dreaming. He had no idea. His heart was on the verge of exploding with happiness. Everyone in the room started cheering and hugging each other.

"We told you! Huh! Didn't we tell you it's over?!" Jimin screamed happily. The members were all flooded with tears of joy.

Shik started screaming at Jungkook and screaming that Jungkook was a stupid liar, that all the other guys were too, but his voice was drowned out as he was dragged by security out of the room. Nobody would ever have to see him ever again.

The first thing Kip asked was if Jungkook wanted to go and celebrate with ice cream, and of course his answer was yes. They headed out and made it to Seoul Market Ice Cream. The members had fun pretending to feed Jungkook with their own spoons like he was a baby, and they made a toast.

"Here's to freedom, and finally moving on." Namjoon toasted while rubbing Jungkook's back.

Jungkook looked in awe at his members. He knew he couldn't have done it without them. He knew that although the road he'd been walking on the past few months was bumpy, his members and manager Kip had paved the road ahead for him. Every step he took now was on smooth and solid ground.

--

The max security prison that Shik was taken to was on an island. It was solely for people labeled criminally insane. He fought tooth and nail trying to pry free of his handcuffs, and even tried jumping off the boat on the way to it, but he failed. He was being dragged through the prison halls to see that some people had cell mates and some didn't. He didn't quite understand why people would have cell mates in a max security prison. He was thrown into one of the cells and started screaming at the guard standing on the other side of his cell that they were a good for nothing bastard.

The guard couldn't have cared less. "Why don't you save that conversation for your new cell mate?" the guard scoffed and disappeared.

Shik turned around to see a man standing behind him with his arms crossed. "Well, I think we're going to have a lot of fun, huh?" the man asked.

Shik froze. He recognized his now lifetime cellmate.

It was his brother.

[THE END]