failures III » kpop ✓

chapter 10

'' That place is not as bad as you think that it is. You just looked at it from the wrong perspective. If you want, I can accompany you and make sure that everything will be okay- '' the girl was going to continue talking, but I quickly interrupted her.

'' I'm the only one who can make myself okay, '' I stubbornly protested.

'' That's true, but there's nothing wrong with asking someone for a little help when you aren't sure that you can do it on your own. '' She sighed, almost as if she could tell from the look in my eyes that it was useless to try to help me.

After a glass of wine and a good half an hour of chatting, I left Kanako's room and directed myself down the hallway that lead out of Lady L's massage parlor. A light was buzzing on the ceiling, clicking and giving out every couple of seconds. The artificial illumination that it gave at the walls, covered with posters of burlesque shows, advertisements for establishments similar to the massage parlor and notices for different health centers, made the place seem that much eerier. I was looking at the fading faces of smiling girls and their eyes, watching me from the old paper when I suddenly noticed the group of guys that was standing at the exit. One of them was holding a baseball bat and as soon as they saw me, their conversation died down.

Trouble, huh?

I'm not in the mood to deal with them nicely.

'' Why did you come here, night guide? '' one of the guys called out, raised his baseball bat and blocked my way. I tried to ignore them and walk past them, but now I knew that they really were here because of me. '' There's only girls here. You like that type of fun? ''

'' What do you care about the type of fun that I like to have? ''

The gangster man grinned and rested his baseball bat on his shoulder. '' I don't, but my boss does. ''

Shit, Kazuo is not going to be happy when he'll hear that I was spotted at Lady L's massage parlor.

'' If you do something for us, we might decide to not pass this information on to our boss- '' one of the men suddenly suggested, smiling viciously and stepping forward. He was still in the middle of his sentence when his hand touched my shoulder and I instantly reacted. The blade of my knife shined under the artificial lighting, I pulled it out of my pocket in a flash and sliced without hesitation.

Blood spilled out of the fresh wound that appeared on the man's arm and I flung the weapon at one that was holding the baseball bat. I heard them screaming and cursing behind me, but by the time that they actually prepared to chase after me, I was already long gone in the shadows of the district.

I found Baekhyun while he was in the middle of a raid. The information that I gave him, helped him and some other policemen bust yet another bad person, this time a drug supplier. He didn't seem all that surprised when he saw me appear out of nowhere, leaning against the wall in the very apartment that him and the others just broke in and gathering some of the pills for myself to take. '' How did you get here? ''

'' One of your friends didn't want to let me pass, so I broke in to the apartment that's right next to this one and hopped from their balcony to this one, '' I seriously replied and gestured over my shoulder before I went back to thoughtfully examining the mysterious pile of pills that I found on one of the tables in the apartment that got turned in to a drug lab. They didn't have any words or symbols on them, but to me, they looked like benzodiazepines. Either way, they were worth a try.

Baekhyun cringed when he saw me pop one of the pills in my mouth and dry swallow it. '' Seriously? You're going to do drugs right in front of me? ''

'' Hey, I know that you also don't always obey the law, so don't even bother trying to act all high and mighty. We all do small and big terrible things sometimes. Humans aren't perfect creatures. Deal with it, '' I mumbled. I managed to swallow another pill before Baekhyun took them away from me. One of the others asked him who I was and the detective quickly confirmed that I was with him and that it was okay that I was there. His coworkers still didn't seem convinced and I decided to go wait for him outside, but not before I told him: '' How much time are you going to need to take care of everything here? I got some new information that I want to share with you. ''