Aug 31st, 13

Hoya was standing in a corner of a room, his face not offering any expression as he was observing the other men sitting around the table. Everyone was laughing loudly, but Hoya could feel that behind those laughter, there was also a strand of tense, with each and every one of them trying to guess what kind of row the others were holding. The thin man wearing a plait shirt placed his bet across the table, with a straight face, earning glancing from everyone at the table.

"Call." Another man said, and everyone followed suit, and although the thin man wasn't smiling, Hoya knew he was almost laughing. He stood up straight when the door flung opened, and the older man whom he just met yesterday ambled in, making everyone in the room to stand up hastily.

"Sajang-nim." Everyone said, standing upright stiff and bowed, watching the man sitting down on a chair that was occupied by the thin man. The man hummed, looking at the cards on the table, and picked up a row that belonged to the thin man. His face showed that he was surprise to look at the row, as he was smiling to himself.

"Is this yours, In Sung?"

"Yes, Sajang-nim." The man replied, with a tight face.

"Did I just disturb a good game?" He asked around, and people were looking at each other, unsure of how to answer the question. "Aigoo. You should have told me." He said, putting the row of cards back onto the table. "Well, you can always resume it, right?" He asked, and the people nodded frantically, not looking at their boss. "But do you mind if I join in?"

The men who were playing looked at each other, and Hoya immediately stiffened, feeling a chill creeping up into his stomach. He clenched his jaw when the players nodded, and the boss gestured for them to sit down. He put his elbows on the table, intertwining his fingers in front of his face and smiled, looking at each player. "You were betting cabbage?"

"Yes." They answered curtly.

The boss clucked his tongue, picking up his row of cards. "Why not we bet with something else?" Everyone said nothing, staring nervously at their boss. "How about we bet with our lives?" He hissed, looking around the table with an eager face but everyone was immediately began sweating, and was only looking down on the table. "Agreed? Good!" He cheered, "So, whose turn it was?"

The man next to him drew two cards, his eyes moving frantically looking at his cards. The boss was observing him, his bottom lip jutting out a bit, and it made the other man even more nervous. He put back the card, and gulped hard and the person next to him drew three cards and the next one drew the same amount. When the turn returned to the boss, he called for a bet and everyone in the room shivered a bit as he slid a token across the table with his fingers. "This." He paused."...is my life."

Everyone had no choice but to place the same bet, and just as the turn arrived at the boss again, he glanced up to the two men that had entered the place with him who were standing behind the players. Both men nodded a bit, keeping a calm face, and the boss held back his smile, looking at Hoya who was looking uneasy as if he was at the table himself.

"You know, I heard some really, really strange news." The boss began, feeling the cards with his fingers. No one said a word so he went on. "Do you know what I heard?" People were shaking their headw and he chuckled a bit. "Someone told me that... a certain someone is selling us out by giving out our clients to some other people. Isn't that just sad?" He asked, looking at the man on his right. The man nodded, feeling like he couldn't properly breathe. "I really don't like it when I hear such things. Why do people never learned?" He sighed and sat up straight, revealing his cards and smiled contently. "I won."

Hoya's face changed when he noticed the man on the boss' left was shaking when he put down his cards. The boss was also looking at him, and then his cards and smirked.

"A person who backstabs you... Should really be just stabbed from the front, don't you think?" The boss asked the man, who was then sweating hard.

"No, no, it's not me!" He stammered, looking around the room. The other players at the table were widening their eyes, not offering any sound as they were observing him.

"Don't worry, it's just a little lesson." The boss cooed, and the two men heaved him up from his chair, and the man started begging and screaming for mercy.

"Please. I swear! I won't do it again!" He shouted, with the men dragging him away. "Sajang-nim!"

"If the world is solved with just apologies, then we wouldn't need the police and I am free to sell more dope." The boss said, laughing hard and everyone laughed in as well, including Hoya who only smirked, with the corner of his eyes watching the man being dragged out of the room.

"I really, really hate betrayers. You people know that, don't you?"

"Yes, Sajang-nim." People said, nodding once.

"Good. Ah, that was a good game." He stood up and fixed his coat and cracked his knuckles. He walked to the door but stopped shortly when he noticed Hoya was staring at him. "Hoya, you're going to get older 10 years faster if you keep on making that face. Smile a bit, won't you?"

Hoya then smiled awkwardly and the boss smiled contently when he opened the door and left. After waiting for about 10 seconds, everyone fall back into their seats, sighing and out loud in relief. He himself felt so, but it wasn't enough to make him feel better. He left without saying anything to anyone, and went straight to his car where he sat in without starting the engine for a few minutes. His phone vibrated in his pocket and slightly frowning, he answered the call.

"Oh."

"Yo, Hoya. Aren't you coming down for practice tonight?"

"Yeah, I'm on my way."

"Buy me some lemonade!"

Hoya frowned and hung up, started his car and drove through the streets, watching the rear mirror occasionally. He was reminded of the screams and shouts of the man earlier, and couldn't help but to be shaken by it. His mind was composing his next moves, as he drove on till he arrived at a neighbourhood, where he slowed down his car. Just as he stopped his car near a garage house, his puckered his lips, remembering that he had forgotten about the lemonade. Nevertheless, he got out of his car, and entered the garage house, to be greeted by a loud music and a man dancing so fluidly to it. Hoya went to the stereo, and softened the music, making the other man stopped and bent forward limply.

"Lemonade?"

"I forgot." Hoya said, smirking a bit. The man frowned and sat down on the floor with a sulky face. Hoya had only known him for a few months as they had met at a bar and he was only interested in getting to know him as he had heard that he too, was a dancer. He would come by the place to stretch his