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Part 13, Act 3
Welcome to K-Town
Higher Ups
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Valerie woke up in an unfamiliar place. Her brain and eyes refused to register the night prior for a moment before she felt something wet lick at her face while her eyes were closed.
If she wasn't being french kissed by doggie breath she would have screamed in shock at first but once she realized she only knew one person who owned a dog she instantly relaxed as the puppy happily licked her face.
" Jesus Christ Bella, quit smothering her." A deep, raspy voice called out until the assault stopped suddenly once the sound of feet came nearby.
It was Lucas, seemingly just woken up by the fact that his hair was messy and his voice was much scruffier than normal.
Valerie was laying in the male's bed, thankfully near no windows due to her luck with them first thing in the morning. Her brain just couldn't connect where the male was if he sounded like he walked over to her.
" Well... morning," Lucas spoke grumpily, rubbing his eyes as he held the puppy near his chest that assaulted his neck with kisses.
" You're not a morning person, are you?" Valerie questioned, a slight giggle leaving her lips as she sat up and moved to scratch the dog behind the ears.
" Not when I sleep on the ground, no." The male rolled his eyes as he sat down on the bed beside the woman, though the words only made her frown.
" Why would you do that? It's your house, I would have slept on the ground." The woman obviously wasn't happy with the idea of the male being uncomfortable but with him sitting, the puppy wiggled out of his arms and launched back at Valerie until she smiled again.
" What kind of host would I be if I let you sleep on the floor?" Lucas questioned, though they both knew that he would have chosen the bed over the ground if it was anyone else," That and you shouldn't. If you woke up grumpy, I wouldn't know what to do. Especially if you're one of those bitchy people waking up."
The woman only rolled her eyes and smiled at his words while she snuggled with the puppy who started to relax slowly with the attention," Either way, I wouldn't lash out at you. Worst-case scenario, I would just hop in bed with you in the middle of the night."
The weird look on Lucas' face made Valerie instantly talk against it," Not like that, just to sleep weirdo."
The male rolled his eyes once more as he kept his mouth shut, watching Valerie with his puppy as they seemingly played together.
The woman was puzzling to the male. She was strong for her size, very level-headed, and down to Earth. It was shocking how her past was similar to his, how he was able to influence her thoughts and actions. Though, seeing her healing bruises it was obvious he didn't have that much of an influence the first night she went partying.
As if feeling Lucas' eyes on her she turned to look at him, his attention directly on her as she couldn't help but flush at the inquisitive look on his face," What? I know I just woke up but I can't look that bad... I even washed my face last night."
Her concern made him chuckle deeply, the sound almost making her blush more," Just thinking..."
" About?" Valerie questioned as the puppy tried to get her attention back by licking at her chin.
" About..." Lucas sighed as he tried to think about which part to talk about but the thing eating at him the most slipped out," Last Friday. When I saw you and Johnny..."
The mention made Valerie's eyebrows scrunch in confusion before she questioned Lucas again," What about it?"
Lucas breathed in, though her response should have been more than enough to give him his answer he continued to ask audibly," After you two left and... Y'know... Are you two...?"
" If you're suggesting anything other than being friends, I'd be happy to admit you're wrong." Valerie laughed softly, trying to figure out why he was asking," It was a one-time thing, I just got out of a rehab that made us stay away from the opposite sex outside of training, and I'm a woman with needs."
" Well... Why didn't you just go for Wonpil?" Lucas questioned before realizing how messed up that sounded," I didn't mean it like that— well I did but not like that, like that."
His clear worry about messing up his words made Valerie giggle, putting a finger to his lips to stop him from rambling," I get it. But frankly, I've been going to school for... Two weeks? And on my first day, I heard about him breaking up with someone publicly and how he slept with a girl that I met... Not exactly my top pick of people to sleep with."
That answer made Lucas bite the inside of his cheek as he thought about her words before being told to ask his question that was building," Well... If Johnny was a one-time thing and you have a list... Who's on it?"
That wasn't a question she expected, her face instantly getting red from the weight of it. A few faces definitely came to mind. Two from her hometown, two that she knew in the nightlife here, and one that seemed to be the reason she flushed. Valerie's voice refused to come out as her mouth opened slightly to try and speak but seeing Lucas' interested puppy-like face just made her look down at the actual puppy in her lap that seemed to give her the same look.
Her action seemed to amuse Lucas a bit, a humored smile playing on his lips as he moved his hand to make her look at him again. It made her heart pound from their proximity, his face closer than prior as if to inspect her eyes for the answer but before his lips could open to speak the door to his room opened.
The two jumped, Valerie, staying frozen in her spot as Lucas moved back straight to look at the person at the door. Though, it was the last person Valerie could have expected.
Hendery stood at the door, his dull expression the same as the first time Valerie met him though she'd expect to see him shocked considering her predicament," Oh, so you know my brother."
That was it, the only statement he had regarding her in Lucas' clothes and with clear bedhead she had was that she knew his brother. With her confusion completely evident she slowly nodded along," Uh... Yeah... I didn't even know you two were related though..."
" I told you he was in your major and who else has the last name of Wong?" Hendery questioned though his tone didn't change from his usual monotonous tone.
" In her defense, she only talks to me so theoretically she could have thought it was someone else." Lucas defends as he shrugs.
" Well, either way, someone's here for you," Hendery says as he waved to Valerie," See you on Monday."
" Yeah... see you," Valerie says, a bit confused about the exchange altogether before looking over at Lucas.
" Um... That was odd... But I'll be right back then." Lucas spoke before getting up and going out of the bedroom while closing the door.
With Valerie left with Bella as the puppy began falling asleep on the bed. It wasn't long until feet made their way back to the room but right as Valerie was about to say anything to who she assumed was Lucas a person she didn't expect peered into the doorway.
Jay was the first person she saw, the man looking in as if confused before he genuinely looked shocked at the girl being there.
" Oh shit, she really is here."
" Of course she is, I told you she was."
" BM told me they were together last and you took Rose's car, of course, she's here." A voice she almost dreaded spoke.
Then his bunny-like face popped around the door's frame, showing he was in fact there. Seeing him almost made her want to pretend to be sleeping, though it was obviously too late.
" So is there a reason why you were looking for me? I understand Jay but he'd call to ask first." Valerie questioned as she moved her position so they wouldn't be able to see her bare legs.
" Well, Missy if you looked at your phone you'd see that I did try contacting you," Jungkook stated, though Valerie didn't even know that he had her number.
" You're an unknown number, do you really think I'm going to check that? Even then I haven't been on my phone yet." Valerie rolled her eyes as she grabbed the discarded piece of metal from Lucas' nightstand to see the plethora of notifications on the screen.
Missed calls from Jay, an unknown number, and a few texts littered her notification screen. They were all asking the same stuff. Where she was. Of course, a bit later it went down the grapevine of finding her and going to her location but it took a bit before they got there.
" So you actually contacted me... what now? Why are you here?" Valerie questioned, fully sitting up to look at the men who looked between themselves before Jungkook explained.
" We're gonna show you around town and such." The tattooed man shrugged before looking over at Lucas," You don't have a problem with that, do you?"
Lucas only put his hands up as if to say it wasn't his job but it did make the man curious," What does such include?"
" Meeting RM, talking about rules, and talking about the regulations for the comps." Jungkook shrugged as he listed off.
" Comps?!" Lucas exclaimed while Valerie could only sigh while getting up to look for her skirt that she slowly wrestled on.
" It's part of the regulations in general Lucas, chill out." The girl huffed as she brushed her hair with her fingers.
" I'm coming then too." Lucas started to Jay and Jungkook to make the woman sigh.
" It's not like we can stop you." Jay huffed before waving them on," Come on."
After Valerie pulled on her shoes they were off in Rose's car with Jay driving and Jungkook in the passenger seat with Valerie and Lucas in the back.
Valerie couldn't help but yawn as they drove into a more city-like part of the underground and it wasn't long before they ended up stopping the car in a parking garage of a large building. For a parking garage, there weren't many cars on the first floor but people have their parking preferences.
They all exited the car to go over to the elevator of the parking garage, Jungkook pressing the top floor's button as they waited with the boring classical music playing softly.
This allowed Valerie to think about the possibility of the elevator giving out and just dropping them. Maybe she should have agreed to those antidepressants the psychologist offered to prescribe her at Camp Henry.
The door finally opened after a painful amount of time and they all exited to a floor full of offices. Jungkook led them as if knowing the layout like the back of his hand to a door that was listed as intelligence and once they entered they saw several people. The main office layout had people at desks and on the walls, there were offices with doors wide open to show no one was in them, rather three people stood at a platform overlooking the city with the walls being made up of glass.
Of course, that's where they took Valerie. One of the men was tall but none were taller than Lucas, of course, the man was a giant by Korean standards. He had blonde hair that contrasted his tanned skin with dimples that showed while he laughed over something the other two men said. The one just under the tallest man was undeniably handsome. He had black hair and sunglasses on but it was the man shorter than the both of them that caught Valerie's attention. He had fire truck red hair, something one wouldn't expect from someone in an office job but he also was the one to greet them all first.
" Oh, Jungkook is finally here." The man smiled but it turned to confusion quickly as he looked over at Lucas," Okay... I know why Jay is here but Lucas? Jheeze, did our newbie tame the beast?"
The words made the man in sunglasses chuckle as if knowing something," Lucas? Be tamed? I doubt that one. But you're Valerie, correct? I'm Dean."
" Dean?" Valerie questioned, ignoring their words on Lucas," Very American."
" Studied in America. Fluent in English as well." Dean explained while the girl nodded along.
" My dad taught me the basics."
" Ah, yes. Alexander. It's been a while since I've heard of him." He hummed, making the woman confused.
" You know my father?" Valerie questioned as Dean shrugged off as if to not know.
" Acquaintances," Dean stated before moving the topic," I heard your meeting with Zion went well though."
This only made Valerie more confused as Jay cleared it up for the girl," Valerie, Dean is our info broker. He gets us the manpower and information we need to make everything in K-town possible. He's close with Hansol and it didn't take much to get him to help us."
Valerie nodded along as Jungkook then explained more," Well, now that one is introduced, the redhead is Taeyong. He's your manager, but of course, that doesn't pay him much so he and RM—" The blonde man waved to show it was him being spoken about," work for the government in research and technology."
" Why am I not shocked that the higher-ups work for the government..." Valerie sighed before RM smiled sweetly while waving them off the platform.
" How about we speak about this in a conference room?" The acknowledgment of a private area made them all nod and follow the man to a room in the middle of two offices.
Once they were in the door closed and everyone sat around the table with Dean being at the head of it.
" So, you did all the paperwork with Jungkook?" Taeyong questioned while Valerie nodded," Okay, so we're going to go more in-depth with everything then. I assume Jungkook has explained the money already so we'll go directly into the requirements for comps and the rules of fights."
Lucas huffed aggressively as Taeyong raised his eyebrows at Lucas' odd behavior.
" It's a thing I'm required to go over, she doesn't have to join it like the others who don't do comps." Taeyong sighed, upset that he had to deal with Lucas' shocking protectiveness," Anyways, basic rules of all fights. No genital shots, no throat shots, and don't try to murder your opponent. If they're knocked out you won, if they say stop you stop. If you genuinely feel like your life is in danger or are about to die in any way you say the safe word and they stop. The safe word we use here is Yogurt, I know it's weird but when would you hear that in the ring?"
Then Dean took over, instantly calling for their attention to him," As for the comps... same rules apply but there are more requirements. While you are allowed to fight freely outside of the competition you have to meet certain requirements to join the comp. You have to be evaluated by your manager, get a sponsor, and be trained by someone who won a comp before. Our old winners still a part of k-town are BM, Wonho, and Lucas here. And as for sponsors that's where I come in, when we get someone who wants to represent you they talk to me and then I'll tell Jungkook and Taeyong unless they want to contact either of them themselves."
" That doesn't seem too hard." Valerie shrugs a bit to show she was considering comps much to Lucas' distaste. Then again he couldn't control the woman.
" One more thing, though." RM states, making Valerie look at him curiously," You have to understand our social rankings. It'll be more help for navigating everything required."
Valerie nodded along, telling the man to continue as he thought for a moment while crossing his arms and sitting back.
" To start, we'll talk about the top of the ranks. Of course, Dean, Taeyong, and I are a part of it but we're a different subcategory. We make sure that fights, races, and drugs are possible in Ktown. We have a few cops on our side, look out for the cops, set up the fights and races, and recruit people to help bring in drugs. That's where Jay comes in. He's a part of our subcategory of dealers, they all deal with different things. Like Jay is the main drug dealer we have a multi-seller that can sell everything that typically one person provides. We have a car saleswoman not including our guy that maintains the cars, an exotics dealer who sells animals and clothing, and a medic who pairs out as a medical seller. Of course, we have a red light district as well but we don't really include them due to their dealings being in a strict location. Then we have our gamblers. They all have a select skill or requirement to them that make them put money down. Some gamble for only races, some only fights, but there are two that gamble for both but they're a bit picky. Out of the top ranks we go to the top-mid ranks which are our recruiters and informants. They're training to be the next heads, hence why they're top-mid. Otherwise, we go straight into Mid after that which is the competitive divisions. In total there are 18 people in the competitive divisions, 9 contracted by both me and Taeyong. Of course, you're included in that number now which makes this much more even for the comps, if you join. Then our bottom tier, it's just the people who watch the competitions, our cop informant, the druggies, the ones who just come to party, and the hookers that the pimps own. Of course, you don't have to meet everyone, but it'd be nice to have a few on your side. You're new, both to the fight scene and K-town. If someone gets on your bad side they have everyone on their side due to their superiority so be careful. Even if we have these tiers or rankings everyone here is like family."
The information was a lot to take in but thinking over it for a few days would probably help her ease into it. After all, she didn't have to fight until the weekend due to her classes. Then she was reminded of class, she was going to forget everything at this rate but she would have to ingrain this information first before her anatomy class.
" Well, we've pretty much-covered everything..." Taeyong thought on before pouting slightly and clapping to make the bored people, ie. Jay and Jungkook, wake up," It's nice meeting you, Valerie, and I cannot wait to see what you got."