Black Dragon

Chapter 11

Kangin rolled his eyes as he walked into his apartment. He threw his jacket on the sofa and immediately began checking his apartment for bugs or cameras. Luckily his apartment was small, and he didn’t have many decorations or furniture so it didn’t take long. Once he was satisfied that his apartment was clean, he retrieved his case files out of the vent behind his sofa and took it to the kitchen table.

He had just spent the last three and a half hours at the police station. The officers had been suspicious of him- and Siwon and Hangeng too, actually; because they had all been “caught” up in the office.

The cops didn’t want to believe that their first instincts had led them up the stairs because they were worried about Sungmin. Because “ordinary people” do what all of the drunken college kids had done- they panic and bolt out the nearest door! 

In the eyes of the police, the only logical reason for them to have gone upstairs after someone just took a 50 ft nosedive would be for them to have been looking for money- or revenge. So, for the last two and a half hours, he and the other two men had been questioned relentlessly about their “secret connections” to the dead yakuza . There hadn’t been enough interrogation rooms (or detectives) to question them separately when they first arrived. So they had been interviewed together the first time.

Kangin had been teased and harassed. But only about being a “stupid tourist” because he had obviously come to the wrong country, because he was trying to “get in good with the Yakuza”. And he had been repeatedly told to go home, because to there was “enough scum in the city without smalltime crooks from the USA butting into everything”.

But that was nothing compared to the disgusting comments that had been thrown at Siwon and Hangeng. “Would you answer the question or do we need to find someone to put a in your first?” Siwon never showed any reaction to their antics, remaining calmly disinterested. Hangeng bristled, although he was careful not to let it affect how he answered their questions. Clearly this was not the first time either of them had been interviewed by police.

The detectives asked them a couple of questions about the Black Dragon’s organization- in particular their pimp, named Taj. But Siwon and Hangeng both denied knowing anything about Taj having a boss. Kangin was surprised that their interrogators didn’t press them about their vague denials.

Until he realized that the detectives knew a lot about both men and their scheduled appearances at the club. And yet the detectives didn’t try and find out anything else about who gave them that schedule. It reminded him of being in middle school all over again; when there was an unspoken joke at the table, and he was the only one who didn’t get it.

Both Hangeng and Siwon insisted that they had nothing to do with Ryuske Tashimoto either, but the detectives had no problem continuing to hounding them about that.

That they knew about their regular appearances at the club made him suspect that the detectives must know something about Eddie. Or maybe the club had a more direct connection to the Black Dragon. And the detectives were either intentionally avoiding talking about it; or they really believed that someone in the Yakuza’s family might have had something to gain by killing Ryuske, and were fishing for people that they could connect to that theory.

That was why Kangin decided to let it “slip” that after Ryuske left the club the night before that he had found two girls left behind in the Yakuza’s VIP room. They were unconscious because they had been drugged, brutally beaten and .

He caught the odd look that passed between the two detectives and almost growled. Kangin was careful not to mention that the staff at the club had anything to do with the girls’ abuse. But the detectives didn’t press him like they should have either! Sure, they questioned him a bit about the women’s identities and what he did after he found them. He answered truthfully that he didn’t recognize them as regular visitors. He found them and called for an ambulance immediately. The girls had been taken to the hospital and he hadn’t seen either of them since. He had to insist that he didn’t know how they got there about a dozen times, but the detectives seemed relieved when they back to trying to connect him to the dead yakuza!

Luckily, Kangin had finally set free because the police at last managed to track down Eddie. The club’s owner had informed them that, yes, Kangin actually did work for him. And Eddie told them that unlike the club’s other bouncers, he tried to protect everyone. And that he always tried to talk things out before disagreements could turn into a fight.

The lead investigator was clearly pissed that he had to be let go, but Kangin could tell that he was already under observation. He had made no attempt to lose the car that had followed him home. But he didn’t know if the tail was a cop- or a yakuza spy.

Without tipping his hand and letting the driver know that he was aware of them, there was no way to be sure. He was supposed to be just a bouncer at a fancy bar and he was now out of police custody. It was time to pretend everything was okay. He couldn’t just follow his gut and turn the tables on the tail, whoever it was.

But the surveillance aside, Kangin was glad that the club was going to be closed for a while because of the murder investigation. It would give him some time to follow up on a lead that Siwon and Hangeng had given him while the three of them had waited to be questioned.

The police station had been a literal five ring circus tonight. Between the EMT’s trying to treat Ryuske’s bodyguards’ injuries, and the sheer number of drunk college kids who had been brought in after having car accidents while they tried to escape the cops, it was total, absolute chaos. You couldn’t hear yourself think and there wasn’t room to turn around in the entire building, much less room to allow the cops to keep all of the people that were being questioned, away from each other.

It should have been hilarious, but instead it just reminded him of why he hadn’t entered the police academy in the states… He had already learned the hard way that law enforcement in America- and likely everywhere else in the world, was riddled with corruption.

Even if you caught the bad guys red handed, it was impossible to stop them if they were wealthy or well connected. If they were both, you would probably end up dead, if you kept pressing them. That was exactly what had happened to his cousin, because apparently, there were at least as many corrupt cops as there were good ones.

Kangin had just started the year as a senior in High School. His family tried not to talk about the case in front of him. But Ryan was his best friend- his cousin was only three years older than he was. And they were close because they were together literally every day as kids- after all Ryan’s mom ran her own daycare! Ryan may have grown up a little sooner, but he still told Kangin everything.

Ryan had loved being a cop, but he hadn’t been one for very long. And there was a guy in his unit that he was always suspicious of. Bret Johnson was a couple of years older, but he was always buying watches and clothes that he shouldn’t be able to afford on a cop’s salary. One night Ryan was on his way home from work, and he stopped to pick up some groceries. And he walked in on Bret helping a known drug dealer shake down a grocery store owner… His cousin shot back when the drug dealer threw a knife at him, but Bret shot Ryan.

While Ryan was stuck in a hospital and then later doing months of physical therapy, he was scared. And for good reason- Bret was given airtight alibi by the drug dealer’s connections. And they made sure that there was no security camera footage. The store owners sold their grocery store (at a loss) and moved to another city, while refusing to testify for Ryan’s defense. So they crucified Ryan and his career in front of the press. Public pressure forced the police department to fire Ryan so they took Ryan’s badge and his gun.

For a while, Ryan tried to talk to anyone that would listen that Bret was a bad cop. But three months after Ryan was fired, the police chief gave a press conference. They called it a suicide because Ryan was found dead in his car, only a block from the grocery store that ruined his life. The bullet that killed him had been fired from Ryan’s own gun! But how could Ryan have shot himself with it when it was in police custody? It hadn’t been reported stolen and yet only six months after that, the case was suddenly closed because of a lack of evidence?

The cruelest blow was reading in the paper that Bret Johnson had been promoted to detective only a month later. That was why Kim Youngwoon had gone from a highly recruited high school football player and an honor student, to a trouble maker and a general miscreant, in less than a year.

After Ryan died, the whole family buried him and they tried to tell Kangin to forget that his best friend supposedly shot himself with a gun that he couldn’t possibly have had access to!

Now that Kangin was older he knew that his parents and Ryan’s own had to have been threatened by Bret and his connections. But at the time, telling him to stop digging and forget- that was the absolute worst thing that they could possibly have told him.

Everyone always says that high school is rough. Well senior year was certainly was hell for him. Other kids of course were following the case and they said horrible things about Ryan that weren’t true. He almost dropped out of school- and once he finally graduated he got into so much trouble that he got tossed into the military.

Well, that didn’t last long; his distaste for authority aside, he was too angry to take anything except how much he hated Bret seriously. All he wanted to do was get out of the military and make Bret Johnson pay for his cousin’s murder. So, when their Drill Sergeant mocked the case, Youngwoon damn near killed him and was dishonorably discharged.

His mother reminded him that Ryan would not have wanted to see him like this. So she managed to convince him that he should focus on trying to help people as an EMT, like Ryan had before he entered the police academy.

So Kangin enrolled in a community college and he studied hard because he found that he actually enjoyed the EMT training program. He was still unfocused at times, because he was still angry all the time and he barely passed. But once he started working as an EMT, he really did feel better. For the first two years, saving lives and helping people who couldn’t take care of themselves definitely felt better than thinking about revenge all of the time.

Then one night, Kangin was on duty when they got a call that a police officer had been shot. The woman was desperate to talk even though she was coughing up so much blood that he only understood a couple of the words that she said. “De- Johnson… I saw… he’s…”

She didn’t make it to the hospital, and the policemen that Kangin tried to talk to weren’t really listening. They were more concerned with the botched drug bust than they were with the ramblings of a dying woman. Even though she was a police officer and had been at the raid, they told him not to worry about it and they left.

That was when Kangin had abandoned his real name. He quit his job, and he spent everything he had and every waking minute for months looking for evidence that would put Bret Johnson away for good. And if he couldn’t capture him, Kangin was going to kill him instead.

He actually would have killed that too- if he hadn’t been caught by the FBI while he was breaking into one of the ’s storage units. He had been looking for a gun to shoot the bastard with.

The agents told him were investigating Bret already. It definitely wasn’t standard procedure, but they “knew” that Bret was dangerous. So they wanted at least one more person that Bret wouldn’t recognize to go along when they offer him a stake in a big drug sale that was he had to believe was going to take place that night.

Since he wasn’t an agent, they couldn’t make Kangin the only contact, but he got to go with two other agents. Unfortunately when the sirens started, the lead agent was shot in the head by Bret’s boss. The other agent instantly tried to pull Kangin to safety behind the car before he shot back.

Bret meanwhile ducked and scrambled for his car keys during the gun fire that ensued. The coward opened the briefcase, took out his 9mm and shot his boss in the leg, trying to use him as bait to distract the FBI. And he even tossed some of the money out of the case as he ran through the warehouse back toward his fancy car.

Kangin was too angry to be scared and too desperate to realize about what he was doing. He was only thinking that the man who murdered his cousin was about to get away again!

He shook loose from the agent’s grasp and sprinted after Bret. He kicked him hard with a flying side kick in the back, and the blow slammed him into the side of his car. The corrupt cop was wobbly but he tried to hit him with the briefcase as he whirled around.

Kangin growled and swatted the case aside like it was nothing and punched him in the face. Bret fell and the gun flew out of his other hand. The bastard scrambled to try and grab it, but Kangin kicked the gun away and punched him in the face again- harder that time. “Coward,” he hissed.   

He found out later that ’s jaw had been dislocated, but he didn’t feel any sort of guilt at all. After all, Ryan was still dead and this bastard was only going to prison for theft, buying, selling and distributing drugs and the attempted murder of his ex-girlfriend.

The FBI told him that he had been reckless and totally stupid to have attacked a man like Bret without proper training. But they recruited him anyway, and Kangin has worked for them ever since. It still irks him, but he almost accepts it now when the bad guys manage to evade prosecution. It just means they have better lawyers than his cousin had.

At least in this part of the FBI, he has the freedom he needs to actually catch criminals at their absolute worst. He only has one contact- Kibum. Out here; he is quite literally on his own.

His mother thinks that he is in Korea because he is going to teach adult English classes while he goes to school part time. And the lie doesn’t bother him because the rest of his family still hasn’t tried to find out what really happened to Ryan.

In spite of all the crazy stuff that had happened to him, and all of the interesting- if not unsavory characters that he had met. Kangin still hadn’t known quite what to make of Sungmin’s friends when he had first ran into them at the club.

The whole crowd was drawn to them- like moths to a flame. Although the club was always packed with gorgeously attractive men and women, it was undeniable that the party never started until the guys from Centennial Tower arrived.

Kangin still wanted Sungmin all to himself. But he hated to admit it, but it was obvious that it wasn’t just the street fighter that he was attracted to. Apparently, all of the younger male’s friends were y and damn near impossible to ignore as well.

Henry was younger than the others, and it was obvious that Heechul and Ryeowook always stayed close to him until he found someone he wanted to flirt with. Heechul was up for anything when he had an audience or a drink in his hand- or both. Literally, Kangin had accidently walked in on Heechul getting banged by two or more guys numerous times in the VIP rooms- in the storage closets… in the manager’s office- and occasionally, more than once in the same night. Little Ryeowook was sweet and adorable, and he seemed shy and innocent. That is until he left the dance floor with a good looking guy- when they invariably came back out of one of the bathrooms later; Wookie was never the one who looked tired- or innocent.

Next he met Eunhyuk and Donghae. It was totally impossible not to think of one without the other popping into his head. Not only were they both incredibly talented dancers, but they were usually flirting or grinding on each other while they were flirting with everyone else.

Kyuhyun was one of the few from the Tower who were usually at the club twice a week. And he was a sassy little toward everyone until he finally got dragged into a quiet corner. Kangin had been embarrassed to learn that Kyu didn’t want rescued; nope, he was just begging to have a in his mouth added to the one in his .     

Hangeng was Chinese and he hadn’t said much to Kangin until tonight. Wookie had told him that was normal for Hannie, but he was easy to remember. Anytime he was at the club, by the end of the night he could always be found pinning some guy to the nearest VIP wall, who was his name.

Siwon was quiet but always polite- especially when someone tried to buy him a drink. He usually refused and he always seemed bored at the club. He and Hangeng hung around at the bar with Kyuhyun. The youngest definitely enjoyed taking his time deciding who he was going to let him. Kyu loved it when one or more of his potential suitors didn’t want to take no for an answer…

Because the unfortunate guy very quickly found that he was helplessly pressed up against the wall by Siwon, who was so handsome and strong and yet polite that it never took him long to seduce them into wanting him instead. But most of the time Siwon wouldn’t actually them.

That had to be humiliating, but Ryeowook reminded him that he wouldn’t do it if they didn’t totally deserve it. He said Siwon was actually very affectionate with them when they were at the dorm. But Siwon was especially close to Heechul- hyung, and the older male was extremely possessive of his “Horse”.  

Seeing Hangeng and Siwon tonight was definitely an interesting contrast for what he was used to. He could even say that he was glad to see that Sungmin had such loyal friends.

But now that the club was out of commission, Kangin would have to find another way to get close to the Black Dragon’s underlings and that definitely looked like it wouldn’t be easy.

**

Sungmin woke up just in time for a shower before lunch. And as he stepped into the hot water, he couldn’t help but dread one of the things he had to do today…

Over the years Sungmin had worked with a lot of guys that had been put here. Tons of kids took martial arts when they were young, usually because it was fun. And everyone who got locked up in here wanted to be able to protect themselves!

So he had tried for a while to help the guys that he thought were level headed enough to know that it was too dangerous to try and use their fighting skills to escape. And some of them actually got to be quite skilled.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t very long before a group of them got together in secret and made an escape plan. There were five of them, and it could have bought them a few days of freedom. They jumped Taj, and knocked him out- but instead of running away, they decided to taunt the bastard as he does to everyone else.

As a former street fighter, it didn’t take Taj long- to shake off their attack. He pressed the panic button on his phone and then snapped the leg off of a coffee table. His first swing killed the unsuspecting man almost instantly. When the boys in security arrived, they had been happy to help Taj play with the others.

Sungmin still remembered it like yesterday- he had worked the night before.  No one told him about their plan so he hadn’t suspected anything was wrong that morning. Of course the five who started it were dead. But the six guys who lived on that floor with them had been and beaten beyond all recognition as well.

He wasn’t surprised- Taj had always been a merciless bastard. But those guys had been his friends- and sometimes he still had nightmares about walking around that corner, into their living room...

Sungmin didn’t train anyone else anymore- because he still blamed himself for the fact that they got cocky. Joon had been a member of the Tower for years already before the escape attempt, so they continued to spar together. But Hannie and Siwon were special… they were already able to fight back when he met them, so he quickly took them under his wing too…

But Baekho? He was definitely not as mature as Sungmin had been at sixteen! So how could he tell him that he can’t ever let his guard down now that Taj knows that he can fight? Or that his boyfriend should have died last night? He prayed that none of them would ever see for themselves just how easily Taj could have killed Ren.

Sungmin had seen Taj kill at least half dozen men in the pits with exactly the same one handed choke hold that he had used on Ren. It always drove the crowd wild- because the made it look so easy that anyone could do it… And there was no way to guess how much longer they had before the bastard decided to try it again…

He sighed as he threw his pink towel over an empty towel rod and shook his head. He decided to just put on some sweats, after all, he had told Baekho to wear something he could move in easily today.

“Good morning, hyung,” Ryeowook chirped when he saw him in the hallway. “I never heard you come in last night. Where were you after the club shut down? What happened? We were all scared to death!”

Sungmin shrugged as he pulled a clean tee shirt over his head. “I don’t know anymore than you do about what is going on with A-Jax. The boss sent me straight home last night- can you believe that? But actually that was a good thing.”

Ryeowook frowned, “Why do you sound surprised- you hate the boss?”

“True, I guess. But what bothers me is I got home just in time to hear Taj throwing things around on the tenth floor.”

“Oh no! W-What happened- are they alright?”

“Well,” He hesitated, "Yeah, Ren could have died if Taj had held him any longer. And JR is going to need a few days off because he’s going to have one wicked black eye this morning. But Baekho wouldn’t let the bastard near any of the others.”

Ryeowook giggled. “Really? Baekho can fight? But he’s so cute and cuddly!”

Sungmin laughed as he nodded. “I know, right? I could hardly believe it- and I actually saw it! You know; if I hadn’t met him until last night at that moment I would have thought he was 20, easily.”

Ryeowook looked puzzled. “What do you mean?”

“The way he is built- he’s a trained Maui Thai fighter. And he’s had seven years of Kendo training too.”

“Seven years? Wow!” Ryeowook asked, wide eyed. “He must’ve really started almost as young as you did.”

Sungmin nodded. “Yeah, especially since because of their training with Pledis, Baekho hasn’t had time to practice either style for two years!”

“Woah. And he still managed to stop Taj? That’s amazing!”

Sungmin nodded. “Yep. That’s why today we are going to the dance practice room today. Baekho needs to get back in practice before Taj decides he wants a rematch.”

“Yeah,” Ryeowook shuddered. “That would be awful. I mean, if Taj got Baekho alone and jumped him from behind like he did to poor Taecyeon last year. Taj just loves those stupid, creepy cameras and he definitely knows how to use them too.”

Sungmin’s eyes widened and he smacked himself in the forehead. “Oh ! Now I know what I forgot! And save me some lunch, okay. I’m such an idiot. I can’t believe I haven’t checked their floor for cameras yet!”

“Of course! But don’t blame yourself, hyung. I forgot until just now too!” Ryeowook smirked. “Just make sure you tear a couple out for me too!”

Sungmin gave him a wry grin, but when he arrived on the 10^th floor, he was surprised to find that they were all awake and gathered around the dining room table, and from the looks of it, they were just finishing eating lunch. They greeted him excitedly.

“H-Hyung…” Baekho smiled, but he hesitated, clearly nervously. “I… You’re early. Do you want to have lunch with us? There’s a lot left.”

“Thanks,” Sungmin smiled. “But actually, I’m early because I came down here to find all of Taj’s cameras.”

Minhyun instantly looked sick. “There are cameras in here?”

“Yes, unfortunately. He puts them everywhere. Sorry about this, my manners are terrible, but there’s a camera up here. The security system is how he knew that most of you guys were in bed last night.” Sungmin told them as he pulled out a chair and then used it to climb up on the table. He wriggled the base of the light fixture above them and scowled pulling on it from a few different angles until a few bits of plaster dropped off of the ceiling.

“After the boss…” Sungmin hesitated and then put his attention back on the ceiling. “I mean, after we lost Rain, I never came back down here… I knew that Taj would put new cameras in here immediately. But I thought that I would remember to take them out when he moved someone else in. But I had no idea that an entire floor in this place would be left empty for more than a month or two. So I’m sorry, because I forgot to do this. If I had checked and found these earlier, Taj wouldn’t have attacked you last night.”

“Hyung that wasn’t your fault,” JR quickly shook his head. “Don’t say that. You’ve done so much for us already that we don’t even know how to thank you properly! None of this is your fault.”

“Thanks, but I still feel like it is,” Sungmin sighed, feeling around the base of the chandelier for the wire that held the tube camera in place. “The cameras are really small, but they are quite high powered. And I don’t know about you guys, but I’m in enough without being watched on camera while I am eating dinner or going to the bathroom.”

 “Gotcha!” Sungmin grinned finally. Once he grasped it, he yanked it out of its connecting socket that was still hidden within the ceiling. And he smirked when they all heard it spark and the chandelier flickered. Holding the slender cord with the camera’s eye protruding out of it so that they could see it, he sent a mischievous smirk to Baekho. “Once we find them all, can I borrow your sword?”

“Of course, hyung,” Baekho grinned back. “I think I saw one of these in the corner of the shower in our room.

Ren stared dubiously at the round piece of cord that Sungmin was holding. “That is a camera? I was expecting a little thing that swivels on a little tiny pedestal thing.”

“Well they have cameras like those too. They use them in the parking garage, the tunnel that leads to the host club, the halls on the lower floors and the elevators and on the roof and stuff. But up here, that kind was way too much fun to find and completely dismantle. Because I soak the pieces in salt water so they couldn’t be put back together. This kind isn’t as fragile. We just rip them out and chop them into macaroni sized pieces. Then I take them downstairs and I hide them in Taj’s office.” Sungmin looked especially mischievous, “Someday, I would love to see his face when he finds them.”

Ren grinned, “Then you should set up a camera of your own!”

Sungmin laughed. “We might just have to do that. The boss has told Taj at least a half dozen times to stop putting up new cameras in the living quarters of the upper floors. He is tired of paying to put up new ones because he knows I am going to break them in a few hours anyway.”

“I-Isn’t that kind of…” Aron thought for a moment and then continued. “Well, kind of like waving a red flag at a bull?”

“Yes. That’s exactly why I do it. My parents were very wealthy- and kind of reclusive. I grew up with the safety of knowing that I was surrounded at all times by state of the art cameras. The first thing I did when the boss put me in here, was to flip off and then rip out all the cameras in this entire building. Now I just do it to the ones he puts on our floors. Taj is a creepy erted voyeur and it pisses him off when he can’t watch his favorite floors,” Sungmin grinned. “So, think of this as a scavenger hunt and let’s go tear them up.”

Ren nodded. “Yeah, these look really expensive. They’re like the ones you see in spy movies and dramas and stuff. Hey, I think I saw one of these in the kitchen above the refrigerator a yesterday.”

Aron was looking at the ceiling in the living room. “Hey, look at that smoke alarm. It looks like there’s one of those poking out of it too.”

Sungmin nodded, and they helped him drag the kitchen table into the living room so that he could stand on it. “Yep, and he almost always puts one of these dummy smoke alarms in the bedrooms too.”

“What the- exactly how many of these are there?” JR gasped when Minhyun pulled one out of the vase of flowers on the kitchen table.

Minhyun shrugged. “I don’t know but I was trying to water the flowers yesterday when I noticed that these were fake and this was poking out of the leaves.”

Sungmin nodded. “Yeah, floral arrangements are easy targets- always be prepared to throw them away. And if there are any stuffed animals in your rooms that were here before you unpacked your things, check them too. Make sure that both eyes are sewn in. If they aren’t, at least one of them is hiding a camera.”

“That has got to be the creepiest thing I’ve ever heard,” Baekho shuddered.

Ren came bounding out of their room a few moments later with a large stuffed toy made of soft white and pink felt. It was shaped like a piece of shrimp sushi- it had large shiny eyes and a playful grin on its face. “Like this, hyung?”

Sungmin gently pulled back the fabric of the cute, carefully made face and nodded. There was a piece of the same black tubing leading under the right eye, exactly where a tuft of delicate string should have been. “Yeah, okay let’s just get rid of all the stuffed animals that were here when you arrived, just to be safe.”

“Okay,” Baekho sighed, shaking his head slowly. “I take back what I just said… Because that is now officially the creepiest thing I’ve ever heard.”

Sungmin grinned. “Yeah, but don’t worry. You’ll be shocked by how suddenly it will stop surprising you. I mean, when you find out exactly how much lower they can still sink around here.”

After they pulled the cameras out of the rest of the bathrooms and double checked the kitchen, Sungmin put the cameras down on the table.

“Okay, guys,” He grinned mischievously at each of them. “I’ve been craving cheeseburgers and French fries lately. So are you guys ready to go out to have some fun?”

“Sure!” Baekho chirped. Sungmin bit back a grin. Anything even remotely connected with food made this one light up like a Christmas tree.

“I guess, but what kind of fun is it going to be?” Aron sighed.

“Well, I decided a few days ago that I need to go to the salon,” He answered. “I am going to have my hair done white blonde today.”

“What- I mean, seriously?” Ren gave a happy squeal. “I’ve been dying to get my hair and my nails redone. My nails were done really well for our debut- but… They’ve been chipping since we’ve been here…”

“Oh yeah, you can definitely do that,” Sungmin nodded. “The boss insists that he always wants us to look our very best, you know. And, I promised myself years ago, that I will never miss a chance to make that pay for those words. Besides, none of you have much in the way of outfits to wear to the host club yet. And starting sometime this week, you will probably need them. So we will bring along plenty of help today, so that getting everything for each of you won’t take all week.” 

“But what about work- I mean aren’t we supposed to be working tonight?” JR asked cautiously.

“Well, I don’t have a date booked for tonight, because this is my usual Saturday off. And there wasn’t a text waiting for me when I woke up. Taj is in way over his head with the Yakuza right now. Trust me, almost everyone who lives in this building, has tonight off.” Then he turned to grin at Baekho. “Except for you and I. Come on baby Tiger, we have training to do before we can go play.”

“Uh,” Baekho followed him reluctantly, “Do we really have to do this now?”

Sungmin nodded as they stepped into the elevator. “Yes. I told you. You put Taj on the ground. Let me tell you, there aren’t a lot of people who can do that.”

“Come on,” Baekho shrugged, trying not to blush. “I took lessons for a long time. And anyone who’s been taught-”

“No. I’m serious. You don’t have a lot of self confidence, so I know you don’t want to believe this, but you are special,” Sungmin said patiently. “For hundreds of years, the masters of nearly every style of martial arts have taught their students to seek balance between strength and the desire to use it. And just like my friends Hangeng, Siwon and Joon, you have that balance. ”

“I don’t know about that,” He shrugged. “I just started because some of my friends said it was fun.”

“Yeah, that’s what I mean! You have all this training and strength; and yet you are always such a cute, squishy little ball of marshmallows and sunshine that if I hadn’t seen you staring Taj down with my own eyes, I would never have believed it! You are definitely mischievous, but you’re still kind, sensitive and trusting. And I want you to stay that way. That is why I have to train you,” Sungmin paused and pouted cutely. “But, it is totally not fair that you have the body of a Maui Thai fighter at 16. If I hadn’t met you until last night, at that moment, I would have sworn that you were 20.”

Baekho giggled, blushing. “Really?”

“Are you kidding? When I was your age, I hated my body! I was such a scrawny, wiry little that everyone laughed every time I jumped into the pits for a fight! I even worked out like crazy, but nothing helped- I was 21 before I finally filled out- ask Brian.” Sungmin snorted as he unlocked the practice room. “So, come on. The sooner we figure out exactly how much of last night was stuff that you remember, and how much was instinct, the sooner we can go eat.” 

When he flipped the lights on, Baekho looked around the room curiously. The room was large and it had great hardwood floors. But the highlight was definitely the stunning floor to ceiling mural of the ocean on its back wall.

The painting was visible in each of the mirrors that ran the entire length of the room. The colors were brilliant and the evening light reflected off of the water and everything else beautifully. But the way it was painted made the whole scene seem lonely and distant. Every time he saw it he remembered that the girl who had painted this- and all but two of the other murals in the building- had killed herself only three weeks before he had arrived.

Sungmin let Baekho look around for a few more moments while he dragged out the mats that he used for sparring with Joon, Siwon and Hangeng. “I think we better start with some stretches, two years is a long time to be out of practice, and I don’t want you to get hurt.”

Baekho nodded and plopped down on the mat, stretching his back and arms before stretching out his legs. He was pretty flexible too, especially for being out of practice for so long.

“Ok,” Sungmin said, finally standing up. “You already impressed me last night. This is just a warm up; so, don’t worry about going top speed. And it doesn’t matter to me if you want to start with attack or defense. I’m up for whatever you feel comfortable with. I plan to have at least one whole week of warm up sessions. But you get to decide when you are ready for more. Just tell me and we’ll either slow down or we’ll get to the fun part earlier. Okay?”

Baekho nodded, but he still looked nervous, “I guess so.”

“Uh oh,” Sungmin grinned, “Come on, it is a yes or no question. So, are you ready?”

He sighed, took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “Yeah,” As he spoke, he shifted into a powerful Maui Thai stance. When he opened his eyes, they were as fierce and determined as they had been last night.

The sight of it made Sungmin proud and happy, but he gave no outward sign of it. He didn’t want to distract him now. And only a second later, Baekho took another deep calming breath and lunged at him.

The spinning front kick wasn’t quite full speed but it definitely had his weight behind it. Sungmin ducked instead of blocking, returning a spinning back fist. The move seemed to surprise the youngster, but he was able to get both forearms up to block. But instead of backing off, he continued the forward momentum of his block into a stepping front kick.

This time Sungmin had to block. And as he sidestepped, he couldn’t help but notice that there was a casual elegance in him that kept Baekho from putting any thought or effort into placing his feet in order to match Sungmin’s movements. That lightness had become instinctive through his sword training, as natural to him as breathing.

Sungmin grinned inwardly, no wonder that Taj hadn’t been able to push this kid off balance last night! He was definitely unlike any other Maui Thai fighter he had faced. He was strong but he moved easily into another attack, this time aiming for an elbow smash.

Sungmin ducked and tried to sweep him. Baekho showed his grace again as he picked up his foot, easily evading the sweep. But he continued the motion so that he spun on his other heel, catching him in the shoulder with a spinning back kick!

Sungmin rolled with the solid blow; he kept his body relaxed and used the momentum to somersault back to his feet. Baekho was definitely a natural; he had a great sense of balance, so he was able to react more quickly than most. “Good counter, but let’s see some more attacks, okay?”

Baekho nodded and lunged toward him with a set of well aimed and timed punches and elbow strikes. Sungmin matched his speed, glad that the teenager still wasn’t using his full strength or speed. His restraint showed that Baekho understood the difference between training and competition.

Sungmin finally grinned and backed off, and then bowed politely, Baekho quickly returned it, grinning widely. He looked completely harmless and disarmingly adorable once again as he bounced around for a moment. “So… Was I, uhm, okay?”

Sungmin laughed and ruffled his hair gently. “Actually that was much better than okay. You are definitely going to surprise the other three in our little club.”

“You mean Siwon and Hangeng and Joon, right?” Baekho asked, grabbing the corner of one of the mats and helping him drag it toward the closet. And he immediately had trouble stifling a giggle.

“Uh oh, what’s so funny over there?”

“Well,” Baekho thought for a minute. “Uhm… Isn’t it… kinda weird?” He hesitated again. Then he blurted out, while dragging another mat to the closet. “Havingwithsomeoneyousparwith?”

Sungmin shrugged, he started having quite young but that was really just because he wanted to forget that his family was gone. And drunken was preferable to waking up alone with a hang over. And drinking was way better if you could pounce on the person you passed out with after you woke up- or better yet, if you could get them to pounce on you…

But, the last thing he needed was for five teenagers to wind up like Taj’s pet tattletales. The “recreational” drug users in the building who literally didn’t care where they were, what month it was or who was ing them, as long as they had pills and or a joint in one hand and a vodka, tequila or soju in the other.

He tried to protect all of them too- but once they got a hold of the luxury items, the unlimited alcohol and the free drugs here, almost everyone lost the will to leave. And after that happened, most ended up dying of an overdose. But the ones who survived their overdose got thrown out on the streets cold turkey for “not remembering to properly take care of their appearance”! Joon had been the only person left on the ninth floor that was still aware of what was actually going on around them, for over eight months now. And Sungmin was starting to worry about him too- Joon was definitely drinking more often since his boyfriend Mir died of an overdose…

So Sungmin grinned and changed the subject. “Are you telling me you never had a secret crush on anyone at your dojo or gym?”

“Well,” Baekho blushed. “Yeah, but she was crazy about a boy in her class at the private school she went to.”

He looked so crestfallen for a moment that Sungmin bit back a grin. “Is she the reason that you started taking lessons?”

“Yeah, I hung around because I got to see her everyday,” He smiled again as he wriggled his toes into his slippers. “But she only liked me as a friend. What about you? Why did you start training? I know you could have wiped the floor with me if you wanted to…”

He shrugged and looked away, trying to smile. “My father insisted. He arranged it so that my brother and I took private lessons in multiple disciplines, at home in the family dojo.”

“Cool,” He bounded into the elevator. “So what restaurant are we going to? I can’t wait! I hope they have good fries and huge cheeseburgers.”

“I have a place in mind, but we’ll need to shower and change first.”

“Yeah,” Baekho agreed, wiping the sweat from his forehead. “That was fun- but now I’m tired, I might have to take a nap in the car.”

Sungmin nodded, “Sounds good. You earned it.”