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Part 11, Act 2
Falling back In
Decisions
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Since the party happened Yuhkei had been actively ignoring Valerie. Though it was kind of hard due to them being partners but he somehow managed to keep his lips shut unless they were doing work together or until she annoyed him enough to make him snap.
Though, four days of having Valerie attempting to get him to speak to her proved to be too much for the male.
" So when are you going to explain yourself?" Valerie whispered to the male as he wrote on a piece of paper while their teacher went on with their lecture.
He paused his writing for a moment but rather than responding he shook his head before going back to the work.
" Hey, I've put up with this silent treatment shit for too long." Valerie huffed, pouting as she shoved the male's non-dominant arm.
This time he fully stopped writing, turning to her with a stare that spoke an emotion she couldn't figure out," You? You've been putting up with this?"
Clearly Valerie blew a fuse that she didn't know the full intensity of but even with him speaking venomously towards Valerie she continued on," Yeah, I have. All I did was go to a party I was invited to and you happened to see me. I'm sorry that you're overprotective because of Wonpil!"
" That's all you think this is fucking about?" The male snapped, almost raising his voice loud enough for those to hear around them but he quickly caught himself before he was able to," Listen, I've been nice and all that because of the shit going on with Wonpil but you going to a party there is the issue. You being involved in that life isn't something I'm going to be nice about, especially when it's obvious that you fucked him."
" Listen, just because I went clubbing in your neighborhood and decided to get laid for the first time since leaving Daegu doesn't mean you have the right to be a dick!" Valerie scoffed, not fully understanding what his issue was.
Yeah, it was the underground of Seoul, but she knew how to defend herself in that setting. Ontop of that she wasn't too sure as to what he knew in this situation, along with what role he played in the grand scheme of things.
" You really have no idea where you were and who you were with... Do you?" Yuhkei questioned slowly, taking in her words as she continued to play dumb.
" I'm not all too sure as to who you are either Mr." Valerie huffed, pushing his arm lightly," Who is Lucas?"
The male inhaled deeply, his eyes refusing to find a specific place to focus until he collected a breath," Well, you already know I live over there. It's kind of like my street name? I keep my school life, so my normal self around people, separate from my street life. So everyone over there knows me as Lucas... I'm honestly one of the few people who stayed in the district after being raised there so everyone knows me. Especially with my job being over there."
" Job? What kind?" Valerie questioned despite already knowing before immediately getting shut down by Lucas.
" No no, we're staying to the original topics." He tutted before continuing on," The guy you were with is Johnny Suh, he's from America and since he joined the party scene there has been an increase of lacing and sexual assault cases. I was kind of worried that one of those things were going to happen to you... So I tried stepping in... But clearly I learned you know Jay so it was obvious that wasn't going to happen—"
" Huh? What do you mean by that? Does Jay have a heavy influence?" Valerie caught on quickly, trying to make him go a bit slower for her," And listen, you don't know if it was him unless you genuinely have evidence against him. If someone says he did I'll believe it but right now it's kind of alleged."
" Well, Jay is known just for the fact that he deals... but if you mean at a position where you'd wish you killed yourself instead of fucking with him, yeah he's up there too." Lucas shrugged, though it wasn't all too surprising because Jay was the main dealer of the underground as far as Valerie knew," But evidence or not that's not how my neighborhood works. No one will own up to stuff like that when it'll ruin their reputation unless another group is willing to take them in due to their ranks. Of course, it's obviously not the nicest of groups to be indoctrinated into though."
Valerie nodded on trying to think over all the information before questioning the male," Well, that's nice to know and all but you still haven't really explained much about yourself... Like did you lie about your life at all?"
" No no no!" Lucas began to rush before catching himself becoming defensive and blushed at his reasoning behind it," No... I've been truthful about everything... Everything entangling my neighborhood, besides telling you that I moved and live there, I've swerved around in conversations... It's not something I want you to be apart of, word of mouth or not."
" Well... It's nice to know that at least...." Valerie sighed before finally giving the male a pointed look regarding not wanting her involved," I obviously am involved some way or another as it is, and whatever you are involved in specifically I can handle. You idolize my father for christ's sake!"
Lucas rolled his eyes at the woman as he groaned out," Yeah, okay. Maybe I underestimate you a bit but the shit I'm involved in is the illegal side of what your dad does."
The words made Valerie's eyes widen instantly, her posture straightening as she turned to Lucas fully due to him admitting it," You're an underground fighter? Are you joking?"
" You know about that shit?" Lucas questioned before slowly thinking about Valerie's past," Wait... You're from Daegu?... And when we first met you said stuff about promising not to go back to a certain lifestyle... And talked about how you've been smoking for a long time... And then said something about being back in the real world... Were you involved with this stuff before?"
The question made Valerie's stomach feel like it dropped to the floor for a moment, the worry of being outed and going back to rehab coming immediately before she realized who she was with. Lucas wouldn't tell anyone about that, would he? Even if he did it would probably be to people he knew she was friendly with and in that scene as well. So she swallowed the anxiety that rushed through her and nodded slowly.
" As I've said before... It's a long story... But yeah, I was..." Valerie nodded along and sighed before feeling her phone vibrate do allow her to see the notification from Jay.
" The fighting scene?" Lucas' voice was practically dripping with worry but the teacher announced the end of the lecture coming so they could pack up for their next class.
With the unanswered question being ignored due to the rush of students, Valerie was able to see that Jay wanted to skip with her for something.
Granted, staying in school the whole day after the Wonpil issue was probably the way she should have gone but due to it being her friend who said he wanted to have a talk with her made her feel compelled to go.
So rather than joining everyone since the party happened, Valerie met up with Jay at Rose's car and drove off. The male was the one driving due to him wanting to pick the location they were going to meet at for the conversation. The situation just brought Valerie more anxiety as the silence was stretched out but once they arrived at the campground once more Valerie felt like she could breathe.
It was Jay who started the conversation, it being the normal 'how was your day' and such until he got to what he actually wanted to address," So... You're probably wondering why I asked you to skip for this conversation?"
" A bit, yeah. But you stalling helps me relax." Valerie shrugged as the male chuckled.
" So... It's about Jungkook's original offer to fight. He wanted to change the deadline for when you could give the final say in your decision." Jay spoke slowly, easily continuing his words when he noticed Valerie about to say something," Just hear me out, okay? I understand your hesitance on the situation and I'm going to take your feelings into account so if you genuinely don't want to do this I won't push you."
Valerie chuckled softly at his words due to her thoughts on the matter changing completely after today. Learning Lucas fought in the underground world officially made her feel more inclined to join the Seoul division. The knowledge of him being there possibly beside her made her feel safer in the environment. Plus, he himself told her the first day that she should do what she wanted here due to her father being unaware.
The other people persuading her were the people she met at the party. The two girls seemed nice and since Rose was gone she was going to need an excuse to find or see new girl friends. All the men she had met were also more than welcoming, she couldn't meet them and never see them again. On top of that, she did promise Yuta she would come back and she wanted to keep it.
" Actually... Jay... I was thinking of joining." Valerie started and upon seeing his face light up she continued," But is the payment like Daegu or is it different?"
" He can tell you himself." The male deflected easily, getting up from the bench to guide Valerie back to the car do drive her into the party District," Frankly, I have no idea how they paid you in Daegu and I have no clue how it works here. So Jungkook can tell you all that easily."
Valerie laughed at her male friend as she buckled up while he drove down the cliff's road and to the party district. Rather than stopping at the underpass like Rose had though, Jay drove down the road Lucas drove on to get to his house. They reached an alleyway large enough to fit the car and they turned into it to drive towards one of the warehouses near the docks. The warehouse Jay was going to had it's door slightly open and inside was an arena of sorts.
There were two raised rows for a top, middle, and back row with the normal floor level that were full of chairs on the left and right side of the walls. In the middle was a ring that was caged in from every side but the side opposite to the two had the door to get in. It was relatively large, obviously, there was no out-of-bounds line along with no true order as to where the onlookers go by the setup of everything.
Jungkook appeared from behind a wall that Valerie genuinely thought was the back of the building but once the door opened she realized there was probably an announcer box and an office in the room due to the window that had a cover over it from the inside of that room. He was dressed casually in a plain white shirt, jean pants, and timberland shoes with his attention on Valerie's presence rather than her school attire that was completely different then the outfit she wore the last time they met.
" Valerie! Oh my God did you agree?" Jungkook spoke excitedly as he quickly hugged her tightly in his surprisingly strong and muscular hold," I knew you'd come around! I'm sure you have a lot of questions! Come, come! I'll bring you to the actual office."
Once Valerie was let go, she was inevitably pulled into the room by Jungkook as Jay followed behind quietly due to his ride being Valerie technically.
They all sat down and Jungkook was instantly asking her about anything she was confused about while he filed through papers to try and find the ones he needed. The majority of her concerns were left unanswered by the man due to his attention being preoccupied with his thoughts until he pulled out a contract.
The paper was thrusted towards the girl and she knew instantly what it was, though she was surprised the male used an old system that wasn't as common due to police being able to find people illegally competing easier if a raid were to happen. When she fully read the first page's contents though she could see why he was doing this.
Like how normal businesses worked, the contract was to fully bind her as Jungkook's discovery and fighter in case someone else attempted to recruit her. Of course, there were loopholes around that part such as the man switching her with another fighter that a different recruiter may have and the already used before loophole, quitting.
It laid out all of the things Jungkook and her manager had no control over if something were to happen for legal reasons along with explaining a few things that Seoul themselves prioritize when the fights occur as to not have serious injuries or accidental murders.
As if Satan himself handed a contract to Valerie for her soul in exchange for drugs the paper was signed almost instantly while she filled out the specifications on her fighting style and such.
" Wow you really put little thought into all that..." Jungkook breathed out but he didn't sound too shocked as he took the filled paperback and went over to a cabinet to drop off the paper," Alright, so now that you're officially recruited I'll tell you about how you participate and get paid."
" Oh thank god." Valerie sighed softly, thankful that she was actually getting paid while fighting.
" Listen, we want you to at least have enough money to survive. You act like I'd keep you under ball and chain knowing that you have other responsibilities." The Korean rolled his eyes before straightening his posture," Alright, so your pay isn't exactly the same after every fight. Your pay is determined by how well you do and the audience's reaction so if you lose you get paid by me as a 'you participated' paycheck.
" If you win you get the determined winner pay which changes depending on the skill sets inside the ring and you get the audience's cash depending on how much people bet.
" When people bet they also indirectly announce who they think will win and lose as a collective so if you were voted to be the loser and in fact lose you give twenty-five percent of your winnings to your opponent but that isn't a set rule until you won a championship fight. It'd be unfair for a newbie to go against someone who probably won the competition once prior and make them pay the cut to the other person.
" Without the cut if you lose though you'd make upwards of 500 per fight, obviously way more if you win but that's harder to calculate."
" Explain the championships, she'd be more interested in that." Jay commented, taking both of their attention before it was brought to the new topic.
" So, the money in that is much more complicated but rather than get the whole pot like in the normal fights the championships is used to determine everyone's skills and ranks. The last winner is someone I got traded, BM. If you want I can get him to talk to you at some point before you fight officially? Oh actually!" Jungkook instantly hopped to another topic, rushing to make the two stand up as he guided them out of the office and towards the street," So, usually we have parties to introduce new fighters so you can get to know some people before you get thrown into this community; it'll most likely be thrown at the club seeing as how you're friends with Kris but we still have to set it up! The theme will probably revolve around red and another color but Kris can work on that, he has an eye for that stuff."
" So, the party sounds fun and all but when will I be able to fight?" Valerie questions, being more interested in earning money than partying but she was open to seeing the people she met prior," and who exactly goes?"
" Guest list is exclusive for welcoming parties." Jay states, this being closer to his expertise," It stays to the other recruited people, regulars, and people living in the neighborhood unless Kris, I, or you say something against a specific person. On that note, Lucas may not be invited but if you're okay with it Kris can allow him in."
" Yeah, but I'll contact you about meeting your manager and such so he can tell you all the regulations and rules before you can actually fight." Jungkook states while guiding them to the club," Kris should be here to talk about the party specifically though."
" Lucas and I spoke already, I would rather not go out of our way to tell him but he lives here. I don't want to restrict him from going somewhere near his home." Valerie states before sighing out," So if you do a normal invite where you go out of your way to tell someone, can you keep him out of the loop? I'm not too sure as to how he'd react to me signing up."
" That's for the best." Jungkook nodded along," Especially after seeing the punching bags he messed up Saturday morning."
" Was he really that pissed after the party? Dude should grow a—" Jay was cut off the moment he saw Valerie's raised brow, stopping his words instantly as he instead pulled Valerie into the Bar," Anyways, let's plan this welcoming party."