Chen made a short detour on his way back to the hotel. If he was going to convince Bakwi to do what he wanted, he needed a powerful bargaining chip, and he already knew the one thing that could put real pressure on Bakwi. So when he arrived back at the hotel, it was with nine-year-old Jinsu clutching his hand.

“There was a new kid at school today,” Jinsu chattered at his side. “I made him pay to join my gang. Look, Uncle Chen!”

Chen glanced down at the handful of notes Jinsu was proudly displaying. He didn’t say anything, but Jinsu didn’t need any encouragement.

“I’m going to tell dad to get BlackPink to come over next. The new kid says they’re even better than Twice.” Jinsu kept babbling on as Chen led him up to the room where Bakwi was being held. He knocked on the door in a pre-arranged code. A couple of seconds later, Xiumin opened it.

“Hi, Uncle Xiumin!” Jinsu said. Xiumin glanced down at the kid, then met Chen’s eyes knowingly. He stepped aside to let them in.

The sight of his all-powerful father tied hand and foot to a chair finally shut Jinsu up. He stood silently, hand still in Chen’s, as Bakwi glared up at them.

“You bastards,” he began, but Chen cut him off.

“Let’s continue what we started yesterday,” he said.

“Dad, what’s going on?” The first hints of fear were evident in Jinsu's voice. Xiumin took the boy's hand out of Chen’s.

“Jinsu, let’s go play cards while dad and Uncle Chen do business,” he said, leading him into adjoining room.

“I’ll make it simple, Bakwi,” Chen said when the door closed behind them. “Your status and position will stay the same. But from now on, I’ll be handling all the business. You can sit back and relax, receive a comfortable salary at home.”

Bakwi stared at him as if unable to believe his ears. “You want to make me a puppet?”

Chen didn’t move a muscle, fixing the older man with his stoniest gaze as his face reddened.

“Receive a salary?" Bakwi's voice began to rise. "From you? You must be crazy!”

Chen looked meaningfully at the door Xiumin had taken Jinsu through. “I think you have a good reason to do as I say.”

Bakwi looked at the door too.

“You think I care that much about the brat?” He looked back at Chen, baring his teeth in an angry smile. “It’s been amusing bringing him up, but I can get plenty more where he came from. Go ahead and kill him. I’ll never work for you.”

Chen didn’t blink. He was almost sure the man was bluffing, but it didn't matter. Chen had never planned on threatening Jinsu anyway.

“Why would I hurt an innocent when there’s a guilty man right in front of me? I’m going to kill what you care about most, Bakwi. I'm going to kill your pride." He stretched his lips in a cold smile, then let it fade again as the words fell from his lips like chips of ice. “I’ll strip you in front of your son. You’ll be forced to kneel down before me. That golf club of yours? I’ll use it on you while he watches. You’ve done it enough yourself to know that pride can only take so much pain.” He leaned down to stare directly into Bakwi’s eyes. “Before long, you’ll be begging me to stop. Begging me to let you live. You'd plead and plead for your pathetic life. And that’s when I’ll take out my knife.” He made his switchblade appear in his hand, and Bakwi's eyes went to it. Chen let his hand lower slowly, suggestively, towards Bakwi's groin. He knew the moment Bakwi understood his meaning. The man blanched.

Chen grabbed Bakwi’s collar and jerked him closer until their faces were inches apart. He lowered his voice till it was almost a whisper, staring directly into the man's eyes. “A swift cut. A father’s scream. Blood splashing everywhere.” He grinned, showing teeth. “It’ll be a good memory for your son.”

Bakwi stared at him, speechless. Chen let go of his collar and straightened up, glancing towards the closed door. “Xiumin, bring him out –"

“Wait!” Bakwi barked. Chen turned, raising an eyebrow.

Bakwi's jaw clenched so tightly that his next words sounded like they were being forced through his teeth.

“How much is my salary?”

Chen hid his flare of triumph.

“That depends on how helpful you are now.”

---

It had quickly become clear to Xiumin that he was going to be stuck in this boring hotel on babysitting duty for quite some time, so he’d called two of his favourite men over. Lay and Kai were not only loyal to him, but also good company. He would have called Tao over, too, but he'd left Tao watching Bakwi's house in case any of his remaining men crawled back there, with the instruction to try and recruit them over to Xiumin's side. He and Chen needed a much bigger power base, now. Most of the men under Bakwi had been arrested at the factory by Park Chanyeol and his crew, but anyone who had escaped could hopefully be bought.

Lay and Kai had helped them move Bakwi and Jinsu to a larger suite of rooms on the top floor of the hotel. Once there, to Xiumin’s relief, Chen had finally allowed himself to get some sleep. His friend had looked near ready to drop after a succession of sleepless nights, a head injury, taking down most of Bakwi’s men single-handed, kidnapping him and escaping from the police. It had been such a crazy thing to do, going in there alone, but that was Chen all over. Xiumin had never met anyone who could think of - and pull off - insane ideas the way Chen could.

Chen hadn’t woken up until halfway through the next day, and then they’d discussed the information they’d gotten out of Bakwi. He was backed by Gwangju, a name that both Chen and Xiumin had never heard spoken with anything less than fear. Gwangju went by the name of the southern city he ruled. He sourced the raw ingredients for meth and sent them up to Bakwi, who had a secret lab under one of his factories where he produced powder, crystal, rocks and tablets for the Seoul market. Chen and Xiumin needed to negotiate with Gwangju for ingredients, find the factory, secure the continued cooperation of the chemists, and supply the dealers with the finished product. They had only ever been at the runner level themselves, and they knew getting the cooperation of all these hardened drug traffickers wouldn't be easy.

Xiumin also knew they couldn’t put all their trust in what Bakwi told them. The man would screw them over if he could. They needed to verify whatever they could with other sources and find out as much as they could about the whole arrangement with Gwangju. Chen was about to go visit the factory Bakwi had provided the address of, but Xiumin couldn't shake his sense of unease.

“It could be a trap,” he said quietly to Chen at the door, making sure Bakwi couldn’t hear him from across the large living room. “He might be lying about the location, or about who will be there. We don’t know if he got word out to his wider circle before you caught him.”

“I know,” Chen agreed calmly. “That’s why I have to go. If it’s a trap, I’ll figure out a way to turn it back on them.”

“They’ll be watching for you specifically,” Xiumin said. “They don't know I'm involved yet. I’ll go instead.”

“I need you to stay here and watch Bakwi," Chen said. He put a hand on Xiumin's arm and looked straight into his eyes. "You’re the only one I can trust, Xiumin.”

Xiumin couldn't say anything to that. Chen gave him a brief, reassuring smile and slipped away.

Xiumin sighed and turned back to survey the room. Jinsu was watching cartoons on the flatscreen TV. Bakwi was sitting on the couch beside his son, defeated, but still shooting the occasional resentful look in Xiumin’s direction.

“Hurry up, Xiumin. The next round’s starting,” Kai called. Xiumin returned to the dining table where they’d started a game of poker.

Ten minutes later, Xiumin’s phone rang. He glanced at the screen and raised an eyebrow, swiping his thumb across to accept the call. It was an ex-girlfriend o