[12/06/21] Just a quick note before we get started: if you're a new reader, hi and thank you so much for checking my story out! I just wanted to give you a heads up that I wrote all the earlier chapters about 6 years ago now when I was like, 15-16, so sometimes the writing will definitely be questionable. If you do decide to stick around as the story progresses, you'll find that my writing does too - fortunately in a good way. Please try to overlook  the rough writing and mistakes in the earlier chapters!! Thanks so much again.

Life starts early in Seoul.

At 7 am sharp, Starchucks Coffee always opens.  But today, something iss different when the manager enters the cozy little coffee shop.

The tip of his polished, black, leather shoes enters the coffee shop first and suddenly, a little, nearly inaudible crack.  The opening note, the beginning of the disaster that lay before his eyes.  What he is about to see is beyond his worst expectations. 

The owner of this upturned place takes in what greets him; what he used to know as his beautiful little coffee shop.  Broken tables.  Upturned chairs.  Spilled coffee.  Paper cups littering the floor.  In short, it could've been the coffee shop equivalent of Pompeii and it is not the prettiest sight one could be greeted with at 7 a.m. on Monday. 

"What in the world is going on in here?!" he fumes. 

Immediately, a worker rushes to his side.  "Excuse me.. Sajangnim, I can explain.  Last night, some of our investors came for a visit.  But they were drunk.  Naturally, a... a few things happened and... and then..." 

But the livid owner is having none of this.  "Who was on the night shift last night?"  He growls. 

"S-Seo Iseul, your highness- I mean, boss.."

"I can already picture it happening." The owner breathes angrily.  "Go get her." 

"Who?" The scared worker squeaks.  

"Well who else you idiot?  Go get Seo Iseul!" he roars, sending the other guy quickly scuttling away.  He goes to the back room and pulls out his phone with shaking hands.  

5 rings, and this Iseul finally picked up.  

"He... llo?" 

The worker's panic meter pops off the chart.  After making all that mess yesterday Iseul still has the audacity to sleep?!  Does she have no conscience?!  She nearly shut down a business and here she is, comfortably in bed even while--

"Goodbye."  Iseul murmurs sleepily, about to close the phone.

That single word activates the worker's system.  "Yah, Iseul!  You better get here quickly!" 

There was a pause as this 'Iseul' on the other side groans and argues with him.  After a couple of insults, several 'shut up it's not even my shift!' and 'can you not hear me I don't have shifts today!!'  and whining 'why did I even give you my number!!', the poor worker finally gets an important sentence in.  

"YOU'RE ABOUT TO LOSE YOUR JOB!" the guy screams, and immediately, somewhere on the other side, Seo Iseul hangs up and bolts right awake.  

Ten minutes later Iseul is out the bed, haphazardly dressed but still, out the bed, and she's trying to hail a cab like she has never tried before.  

"NO!" she screams, watching another cab whizz right past her, blowing her hair all around.  "IN.. TAXI!" she yells again, waving her hand up and down.  "YAH!"

"Aish!" Iseul hisses, pissed off.   "I'll have to run to the nearest bus stop..." 

And so she runs, her heels nearly never touching the ground, like Achilles, in the Ancient Greek world.  Supersonic speed.  She is on fire, both figuratively and quite literally, for that pun is indeed intended.  She's about to get fired.  So in a last desperate attempt to save her sorry she whizzes around telephone poles, dustbins, and every other obstacle.. when suddenly-- BAM!

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry Halmeonii!!" Iseul apologizes, bowing thrice to the grandmother she has just bumped into.   Blowing on her bangs, she mentally curses herself for being so stupid.  And the ing apples in the grandma's shopping bag just HAD to roll around everywhere did they?!!  Not having a choice, Iseul stops to help the grandmother collect her belongings.  

"I'm definitely going to lose my job."  Iseul groans, already accepting her doomed fate. 

Meanwhile, on the other, darker side of Seoul...

“We’re here.”

He fixes his tie once more before stepping out of the luxurious black limousine that brought him here. Slowly, with long, brisk strides, he walks into the building in front of him.  The man then enters an elevator, which looked completely like any other elevator that one might ride on... until he steps in it.

As soon as the doors shut closed the man looks up at a security camera on upper right-hand corner of the elevator.  A flash of green light protruded from the camera and hit the man square on the eyeball.  

But the man doesn't flinch as the green ray of light scans his eyeball.  After two seconds, the green laser ray zapped back in the security camera, and a new set of buttons appears right below the panel of normal ones, the ones that are already present.  

The man presses a button from the new set that has just appeared, and the elevator starts going down.  

Down, down, down six feet under the ground. 

The laser ray earlier was actually a retina scanner.  Not all people could access this part-- the underground part of this building.  Only registered and identified people could. The retina scanner began with face recognition, and once it had identified your face, if you keep staring at it for five seconds or longer, the retina scan will begin.  

Ding.  The man pulls out his phone as he casually steps out of the elevator.  He is greeted by dozens of men; classy, elite looking men who are all wearing immaculate, crisp black suits.  Further behind is a huge pair of double doors, and the men guarding the door bow as he walks by.

"Hello, hyung?" He says, talking into his phone.  

"Yeah yeah, I'm here." 

A pause. 

"Okay." 

He pushes the doors open and is immediately greeted by a large banquet hall, where even more classy and elite looking people are gathered, chatting animatedly in their seats while drinking wine.  On the table in the middle there are trays and trays of assorted dishes, portions doubling the usual portion at a normal restaurant.   Smaller tables stand scattered all over the room; the round kind of tables usually used in Chinese restaurants.  On the opposite end of the room is a huge stage.  It is empty, yes, and nothing is there except a little stand made of bronze, like the ones a priest would use when preaching.  The design is simple and barren, but it is already oozing with such an authoritative aura that nobody will be able to step foot on it without cowering.  Except for one man, of course. 

The man the stage belongs to.  

The Joker.  

The man pulls his eyes away from the stage and scans the crowd before quickly finding what he is looking for.  Heading over the to the table where 5 other young men are seated, his eyes lingered on the stage once more. 

'I wonder...'

But he quickly shakes the thought away.  Because that isn't important.  What's important is the fact that they are all able to gather here again this year, which means a year well done. 

"Boss." He says, bowing to the man with spiky black hair. 

"Just call me hyung when it's just us, Kai." The man shoot him an easy smile as he drinks more of his wine.  "And I'm not going to be your boss for much longer, anyway."

"Very well then, hi hyung."  Kai says, grinning, dropping all formalities.  "Suho hyung, Chanyeol hyung, Baekhyun hyung, D.O. hyung and baby Sehun." He finishes, smiling slyly at Sehun. 

"Don't start, Kai."  D.O. says sternly.

Kai, as he is called, pulls the empty chair beside him and takes a seat.  "So what do you think will happen tonight?"  He sighs, gazing at the stage again. 

"We're gonna go up there and one of us is going to bring home the title, that's what."  Baekhyun says, lazily playing flappy bird on his phone.  Obviously things aren't as important to him as they are to Kai.  No, he's too preoccupied with the game on his phone.  Which is why when the bird jerks a little to high and hits the metal bar--

"!" 

"What, you can take down an entire gang while eating peanuts and you can't even beat my high score on Flappy Bird?" Beside him, the guy named Chanyeol teases

"Must I remind you that your high score is ing 214?" Baekhyun snarls.  "My thumb aches from all the swiping already!" 

"I'm hungry, when is this starting?"  Sehun pouts while laying out all the guns and knives he currently has with him on the table.  "Oh hey, did you see my .3 Calliber?" 

"You lost it during our last fight, stupid." Kai reminds him, lazily drinking some wine from his own glass.  Unlike all the others, Kai is just calmly waiting for the event to start.  Why?  So that he can bolt out of here.  Why?  Because... 

"This is getting boring." Chanyeol announces as he drops his chin on the table.  "When is he coming?" 

"I heard someone saying that he had a meeting with some Yakuzas earlier today."  The 'boss',  Suho, explains.  "That's probably why he's not here yet."

"A bored Chanyeol is never helpful.  He's just gonna piss one of us off."  Baekhyun rolls his eyes. 

"Yup!  And today... You're the lucky man!" Chanyeol announces merrily, flashing him a toothy grin. 

"What? Why me?!" Baekhyun protests.

"What? Why me?!" Chanyeol mimicks smoothly, intonation and all.

"YAH!  Seriously?  A parrot?  That's what you're going to be today?"  Baekhyun yells, crossing his arms.  To his dismay, Chanyeol quickly copies his actions.  "Yah!  I think I liked you better when you were a jerk!"  

"Oh, no."  D.O. groans as he buries his head in his hands.  "Somebody get these morons out of here!"

"Baaaeeek-hyuuun.  Baekhyun is handsome.  Baekhyun is smart!  Baekhyun is the best!"

"Chaaan-yeoool.  Chanyeol is handsome.  Chanyeol is--"

"Yah!  You're supposed to copy me!" 

"Yah!  You're--"

"Oh my God just shut up!"  Kai groans as he watches the two older men quarrel endlessly. Baekhyun is whining non-stop like a giant baby, which only delights Chanyeol even more. 

"Baekhyun, have you ever considered that maybe sitting still and fully ignoring him might just do the trick?!"  Suho finally interrupts, sick of all the latter's girly protests.  "We're  the coolest mobsters in town guys, come on!" 

It is true.  We are, but if people saw how we act when we're with ourselves everyone would think they're just a bunch of childish lunatics who pretend to know how to shoot and might accidentally end up killing someone anyway. 

"I wonder what will happen to us once our enemies know that we're really just a bunch of idiots with ammos who happen to be really good at fighting."  D.O. remarks.

"And killing!" Kai adds.  Killing is a breeze.  Killing is almost relief.

"And hacking into government systems.."

"And torturing.."

"And slitting people's throats.." 

"And shooting.."

"And strangling.."

"SHUT UP!" The mommy of the group, D.O. yells. "Seriously, you guys are psychos!!"

"You should've gotten used to all this by now."  Kai grins.  "Now this thing better start soon because I don't have all day." 

And as if just on cue, the lights dims and the whole hall falls silent.  It is as if a spell has been casted, and everybody shas suddenly grown mute.  The spotlight falls on the edge of the stage, illuminating a man's figure.  The man calmly walked up to center stage, folding his hands on the stand. 

Looking around, he oozes with power, brilliance, and authority.  

He is The Joker.

K A I ' S   P O V 

The Joker.  He is the top, the pinnacle of the whole The House Of Cards. 

Before things get even more confusing, let's give you a short briefing on what The House Of Cards is all about.  

Under the happy, lively streets of Seoul, there is a hidden network that not many knew about.  It is known as The The House Of Cards.  Basically, it's more than just Seoul's average gangsters.  It is an underground criminal network with chapters all over Asia, involving ruthless, cunning mobsters.  Like us; me and the other five idiots.

Yeah, we're actually cunning mobsters who can strangle a guy without blinking.  And that guy Chanyeol who is still busy mirroring my friend Baekhyun?  He's a guy who can wipe out a whole gang while watching his favourite football team on the TV in just a matter of seconds (he once did that in an underground club when it was FIFA season).  He is also a techie geek who can hack into government records in just a blink of an eye. 

Okay, so moving on.  There's a structure here in The House Of Cards.  That man on the stage, Lee Soo Man, is The Joker.  In contrary to his title, he is a very grim and uptight man.  But he's also one of the sneakiest, most deceiving man who runs this whole network and can smuggle a ton of crack in and out Russia without batting an eyelash.  He's the big boss of this whole structure.  He's the pinnacle of our mobster business, and he resides here in the Seoul chapter because, well, HOC originated from Korea.  

Right below him is us, The Aces.  We are the only people who have direct access to The Joker himself.  But when it's just us, we prefer to call ourself EXO K. We have a brother group in the Shanghai chapter in China, who are also fellow Aces, who call themselves EXO M.  We're pretty serious about our job as mobsters so if anyone messes with us, they're practically dead meat. 

Okay... So what's next. 

Oh.  Below us are three branches of the same rank, the Jacks, Queens and Kings. The Jacks are basically the ceremonies officers; which means they basically take care of The House Of Cards agenda like scheduling parties, meetings, etc. The Queens are financial and business counselors who keep track of our money and finance, and no, they are not actually women.  We are all men here.  The Kings are the operation officers and our enforcements. They basically are men with fabulous combat skills who guard the perimeter and take down light gangs and disturbances.  It is also the King's duty to guard us, EXO, The Aces.

The harder and more complex problems are taken care by us.

Below the Jacks, Queens, Kings, are the Diamonds, Spades, Hearts and Clovers.  The Diamonds are the snitches of our organization.  Their job is to basically snoop around the country, blend into other organizations and gather information.  The Spades are also snitches. The Hearts are our professional hackers and The Clovers are our message relayers.

The rest are ordinary members, a Red-and-Black, or RAB for short.  Every RAB is basically a very skillful fighter, and they act as the security guards of The House of Cards.  Like the men in front earlier.  They have the lowest rank in our system so basically they have to listen to everybody.

Basically we’re a whole deck of cards.  You remember the card system and you got our system.

Suho nudges me, noticing how I am zoning out.  I blink.  Man, this guy really doesn't have a blind spot!  I am standing behind him and he can even sense me ZONING OUT! 

"Kai! They're calling us!" D.O. hyung, nudges me.  And yep, that’s me.  I’m Kai.

Now, if you’re planning to ask more about my name, I’d suggest you to just shut up and keep it to yourself.

We slowly walk up the stage with bated breath.  It is that time of the year again.  Every year, a different member of the Aces gets chosen to be our boss.  Last year, it was Suho hyung, and he did a fantastic job, I tell you.  He was…. intense.

The Joker is smiling at us as we board the flight of steps slowly, one at a time.  All six of us face the almighty Joker and bow.  

"EXO, we are one!" We chant together, bowing.  Yes, that is our oath, to be one and to never betray another.  

The whole hall claps and some even whistle.  The Joker holds up his hand and immediately the loud ruckus is reduced to a silent hush.  

"As everybody might know already, we are here to choose the new leader of The Aces.  Last year it was Suho and during his period, he did a wonderful job.  Well done, Suho." The Joker patted Suho hyung's shoulder, who dips his head slightly. 

"Bring me the bowl please." The Joker said, and immediately a King brings him a small, porcelain dish, containing five pieces of neatly folded paper with all of our names, except Suho's inside.  

"As we all know, the six young men standing beside me here are all equally extremely capable and each and every one of them deserves the title as the leader equally. Therefore, it is a tradition for us to pick out the new leader by taking a lucky dip, and may destiny choose who the right man will be."  The Joker says to the audience. "This process is done fair and squarely, like what is written in the Oaths Book of The House Of Cards.  If I cheat, I will die by 10 thunderbolts." 

Yeah, our oaths are pretty similar to the Triad's too.  We die by thunderbolts and all that.  Wikipedia it if you wanna know more. 

The Joker dips his hand in and fished out a piece of paper.  He unfolds it and flips it open, showing it to the whole hall.

We, the Aces, are actually standing behind him so we haven't seen who our new leader is.  It can be any one of us, and even though I think this whole lucky-dipping process is ing stupid--why not just set up a fix cycle?--I'm more than excited for the outcome today.  What if...

"Guys... No matter who gets picked.. Truce okay?" Suho reminds us, murmuring softly. 

"Yes grandpa.." We chorus, tired of all his nagging.  During his time, I think we aged him about 30 years.  

"Aish.." 

"And the new leader of the Aces is..." 

We all in our breath as we wait.  

"Is.."

"Hurry up..." I mumble as I check my watch. Oh , I really have to go, I really have to go, it's time for me to leave already but I can't because I'm still stuck here on top of a stage and everyone I mean everyone is waiting for the Joker to just read the goddamn result already and--

"Kim Jongin, a.k.a Kai!" 

Did somebody call me?  I look up, dumbfounded.  

That's when I realize.  

Sooman is looking at me. 

M-me?

Oh…

Oh my God.  Oh my ing I can't believe I-- okay Kai, breathe.  Breathe.  It's no big deal, you're just the leader of the Aces!  I'm the leader of the Aces!   yes, this is so cool!  Make way, everyone, King Kai is in charge! 

I should probably stop.

Averting my attention from my monologue to the world around me, I see my hyungs are congratulating me.... which is basic