before this chapter starts, I have a question for y'all
would you read any of my other fanfics if I published them? I started writing a handful, but idk if anyone would actually read them 😔 👉🏻👈🏻 let me know by commenting!
anyways, long chapter ahead, enjoy xx
_____________________________
"Remember that this isn't just your average night club," J-Hope says to me as the club comes into my line of sight. "It isn't where people go to get plastered and dirty dance. This place is way more formal than that despite what you will see."
"What will I see?" I ask.
He pauses for a moment, looking at the dull lights that get closer with every step, "You'll see for yourself."
Within seconds, J-Hope is opening the wooden door at the front of the building and I quickly scope out the place out of curiosity. We walk into the vestibule where a man who looks like he is not from around here stands, wearing an old fashioned tuxedo and who has his hair slicked back. The man takes one look up and down at us and gestures to the open door that leads to a bigger room to our left with a smile.
He was right; there is no one dirty dancing. Instead, people of all different ages and all different ethnicities are jaggedly moving to the music that a band in the far left corner is playing, but it isn't the kind of music that people nowadays listen to.
The brass trumpets are playing an energetic melody to which everyone on the dance floor is moving to in sync. Each girl is partnered with a man, swinging their arms and legs to the jazz music, and looking around, it's almost like I have went back in time to New York in the 1930's. No one is wearing anything that merely looks like it was made in this generation, immediately making me feel out of place.
Everyone, right down to the hair style, looks like they are from they are from America in the 30s.
The walls are elegantly designed with wood trimmings and a glorious chandelier hangs from the ceiling, illuminating the dancers on the dance floor. Circling around it, there are booths lined in red with black tables and a bar that is almost as long as the back wall. At the opposite wall from the bar, there is a staircase that leads to a balcony where people are laughing and simply enjoying the music without dancing.
"This was definitely not what I expected," J-Hope whispers in my ear, having to lean down to reach it and I only nod as a response. "I'll grab us a booth."
He leaves me at the entrance to look for a booth and I instantly feel shocked at my surroundings. This place is lovely and unlike anything I have ever seen before, but I am here for my job and my job only.
If I came here on a different circumstance, I would love to come here again already.
"First time here?" An accented voice speaks from behind me and I turn my head around right away, and I make eye contact with a face with fair complexion. He's definitely not from Korea, but perhaps his Korean isn't that bad.
"Is it that obvious?" I reply to his question with another with a small smile. Focus.
"Not at all, I've just never seen you here before," he smiles back. I take note at how perfectly put together he looks, and that his suit is exactly what I would expect to see if I time travelled to this era. His tuxedo is all gray and has thin white stripes throughout, and it is accompanied by a matching hat.
"So, I'm guessing you're here pretty often, then?" I question again, trying to get my stomach to stop doing anxious flips.
"Well, I would sure hope so," he smiles again. "I am one of the owners of this place."
His words immediately send a shock from my spine to my head, reigniting the plan back into mind. It occurs to me that Kim Donggyul isn't the only owner, so he has partners in his crimes. "One of the owners?"
"Indeed," he replies, but in English. I notice his accent and I can tell that he used to live in New York from all of the American television shows I watched as a teenager. He speaks again but back in the only language I can speak fluently, "What is your name?"
"Haein," I lie swiftly as I relax my shoulders and try to make myself look calm and collected. Another charming smile spreads across his face before he lightly grasps my hand.
"Nice to meet you, Haein." He lifts it to his lips and places a light respectful kiss on my knuckle before letting my arm drop to my side. I feel heat rush to my cheeks in slight embarrassment, but I send him a slight smile. "My name is Antonio, but you can call me Toni. May I interest you in a drink?"
"Of course." I flirtatiously flutter my eyelashes at him. He tilts his hat down at my acceptance and gestures for me to follow him. I begin to follow him, and since he is no longer looking at me, I scan the booths and make eye contact with J-Hope who is sending me glares.
He waves his hand as if to tell me to come over to him, but I shake my head as a response. I can tell that he is annoyed by the way his jaw is clenched, and I wish I could tell him that I'm not falling out of line. This may not be the plan, but it's apart of it now. Toni is an owner of this place, therefore he must know about the black economic actions that run in and out of this place.
We finally make it back to the slick brown bar at the back of the room where an array of extremely expensive wines, bourbons, and gins are displayed. Almost instantly, a blonde with bright blue eyes and an insanely beautiful red dress walks up to us and says in a whole different accent, "What can I get for you, Toni?"
"Two Corpse Reviver #2's please, on the rocks." I am instantly confused with the conversation taking place, but I decide not to think too much about it as the girl shakes the cocktail bottle and pours the drink in two martini glasses filled with ice. "Merci beaucoup, madam."
Toni hands me the pale yellow drink and tinks our rims together while saying, in English, "Cheers to the hair of the dog that bit you."
I try not to think too much about the phrase as I solely let the drink hit my lips without taking a sip, not knowing how strong the drink is. Running my tongue along my lips, I taste the bitter taste of wormwood. I really don't think it's wise for me to be impaired while on this mission.
"Would you like to watch from above? It's incredible to watch everyone dance to the swing music from up on the balcony," he offers, but I send a quick glance at J-Hope whose gaze seems to have never left my figure as he takes a small swig of his own dark drink. His hair curls slightly on his forehead and his dress shirt is slightly ruffled, but he still looks like he belongs.
"I would love to," I smirk, looking up at him. He seems very pleased with my answer before grabbing ahold of my hand and guiding me to the stairs. I look at J-Hope one last time, and he points at me and follows with dragging an imaginary line across his neck, as if implying I'm going to die. I mouth to him, trust me.
I hope he understands me.
The two of us make our way up the stairs where only a few people were sitting at glass high top tables, but there was only one booth. In that booth, though, was an somewhat young looking Korean man sat smoking a cigarette and he leads me there.
"Donggyul, I'd like you to meet my companion for the night, Haein," Toni says respectively to the man sitting. At the mention of his name, my head begins to feel dizzy with overwhelming anticipation. My throat closes up before I can even speak, so I simply bow my head out of respect.
I must look like a deer caught in headlights for he lets out a hefty chuckle, "Haein, how beautiful."
"Thank you," I force an appropriate smile on my lips and he seems to be content with it. Toni slides into the booth and I hesitantly follow in suit. "However, not as beautiful as this place. How long have you two been running this business?"
"I would say it's been about a year now, right?" Toni replies, asking for reassurance from Donggyul. He simply nods, taking a long drag from his cigarette, but as soon as he blows the rolling smoke from his lungs, I realize it's not a cigarette he is smoking by the smell. He holds it over to Toni and he, too, takes a long drag.
"That's incredible, and it's already this popular? I wish I noticed it was here sooner," I say, trying to add as much fascination in my voice as possible. "How did you two come up with the idea?"
"Well, I am from New York, and I have always been interested in this era. However, I did end up going to college here in Korea, and after we graduated from college, we decided to open up the business," Toni answers. His eyelids immediately begin to droop in bliss because of the inhalant. I guess this might be my chance to finally ask the question I need to.
"That's truly interesting!" I exclaim with a smile, placing my small hand on his shoulder. "So is this all you two do for a living?"
The two men look at each other with a small smirk tugging on their lips, and I feel uneasy at the encounter between the two. I shift my legs more towards Toni, and I can feel the knife attached to my thigh shift which makes me feel more safe than before.
"Not exactly," Donggyul speaks up. "We have another small job too, but I don't think your pretty little head would be able to process it all."
"That makes it sound like you guys do some bad things," I laugh, trying to make myself seem oblivious as I move my hand from Toni's shoulder to his thigh. They laugh along with me, but I darken my tone to be slightly more seductive, "It's okay, though. I like it when boys are bad."
"Is that so, baby?" Donggyul says, taking a large sip of his drink. "How bad are we talking?"
I lift my drink up to my lips and pretend to take a sip again, running my fingers on Toni's pant leg, "Really bad."
"Well, I guess we gotta at least tell her a little bit of what we do to uphold her dark fantasies, now don't we?" Toni suggests, placing his large hand on my knee. I feel a chill kiss the back of my neck for he is touching the same leg my knife is attached to, so I hope he doesn't trail further south.
"Have you been watching the news lately, Haein?" Donggyul asks.
"A little bit, here and there. Why?" I respond.
"Then I'm guessing you have seen a little bit about the gang problem we have here in Seoul," he says calmly while taking another sip of his drink. My heart stops at the mention of gangs.
"Vaguely, but I live in a pretty decent area so I don't notice much." My mind briefly thinks of the moment in the alley, but I brush it off completely. The soles of my feet begin to ache with suspense of what is to come with this situation.
"That's very good to hear," Donggyul smiles. "However, we have been having issues with one gang in particular due to our, let's just say, involvement, with a certain market in the States. Have you ever heard of BTS?"
Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck. They know I'm working with them. They know it and I'm fucking screwed. I'm going to die. They are going to lock me up in a cellar and torture answers out of me, and then I'm going to die.
"I've heard stories about them on the news. They seem kind of anal to me," I try to reply calmly despite my uneasy thoughts running around in my head. I reach behind my neck to release the aching tension arising there, and I feel the chain of my necklace which I remember holds a microphone. I'm never hearing the end of this one if I get out of this alive.
"Exactly!" Toni exclaims. "Let's just say that those little boys are trying to get our franchise shut down. They don't know that we know, but we know."
"How did you guys even get into all this stuff? It's very interesting," I ask, leaning slightly into Toni so the microphone records him loud and clear. "And it's so bad."
"We don't want to scare you, little Haein," Donggyul chuckles.
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," I smirk, moving my hand back to Toni's thigh and slowly moving upwards. "But just know that I find this stuff very intriguing."
Toni takes a deep breath, "See how everyone is enjoying themselves down there? We want to keep it that way. This city is being run by a pack of idiots who keep sticking their noses in other peoples' business, our business."
"And all those people down there? They agree with us. They want us to continue with our underground trading with some people from the States," Donggyul adds.
I suddenly feel like I am about to vomit all over the sparkly table in front of me. All of the people in the floor below me are followers of these two wack jobs, and are they really getting help from the States? Now that they have told me this, I am probably going to have to pledge my allegiance to them or something.
This is too much. BTS is going against something way bigger than they expected it to be, and they have no idea yet.
"Are you okay?" Toni asks almost suggestively, as if he knows he has struck a chord somewhere. To my utter shock, he runs his hand up my leg and he feels the strap on my leg. Tears prickle in my eyes in fear because I can no longer contain my composure and he grasps the knife.
"I have to go to the bathroom," I say abruptly, sliding out of the booth and standing up. Toni pulls out his own knife and flicks it out in suspicion, shocking me at his sudden advance.
"You're the one Got7 got killed for, aren't you?" Toni tentatively questions. I freeze in my spot but I'm still a good distance away from him. "What do you have there on your leg there, little miss Haein?"
My legs don't even give my mouth a chance to reply before they begin fast walking towards the stairs. I hear curses and shuffling behind me, but my flight instincts don't care as I run down the stairs.
Thankfully, I see J-Hope leaning against the wall in front of me and he sees my frantic expression.
"We have to go right now!" I exclaim, grabbing his wrist and making a run for the door. I hear shouts from above but my adrenaline is pumping in my ears too loudly for me to comprehend what they are saying. The same man who was standing at the desk in the vestibule stares at us as we book it outside the door, running for our dear lives since the two owners of the club are onto our antics.
"Get them!" I hear behind me, but my legs pump harder and harder as we run down the street. I hear footsteps pounding behind us, but I am too filled with adrenaline to care.
3 blocks west. 3 blocks west. 3 blocks west.
The small pharmacy comes into sight and I blink the tears out of my eyes in happiness. Hobi takes the lead in our running facade and basically drags my exhausted self with him. We are almost there, the parking lot merely meters away when I feel a hand grasp my wrist, and it pulls me backwards into the dark abyss of impending doom.