Chapter Text
Daehyun stares imploringly into cold green eyes, a light sweat sticking the longer strands of his matted hair to his nape. His gaze is met with nothing but contempt; the raised eyebrow and audible scoff preparing him for the response before it’s even been said.
“Did you really think we would hire a scrawny, sickly human such as yourself?”
Feeling his heart give a weak flutter against his ribcage, Daehyun takes a series of short, sharp breaths, never breaking eye contact with the hostile feline ones before him. “It’s cleaning..just cleaning. I can manage. Look, just give me a trial period--a day, one day, unpaid--and I’ll show you I can manage..I know how to clean-”
A pair of tabby-coloured ears twitch in smug amusement as the green eyes look him up and down, taking in his dishevelled appearance from the limp, oily roots of his hair to the tips of his bare, scratched toes. “I’m not convinced you do know how to clean, actually,” comes the snarky reply. “Even if you can, humans aren’t reliable and I can’t have you bringing our service ratings down.”
“Nobody has to know I work here..” Daehyun says in a whisper. “I’ll keep quiet, stay out of the way. You can even pay me less than the others, just please let me work. I need this.”
“You’re dirtying the floor already. Leave, human. Find work amongst your own kind,” the cat-like man sneers, brushing his claws off against the leather of his jacket as if Daehyun’s very presence is causing grime to develop under them. “I hear the whore-houses aren’t too picky.”
Daehyun’s body somehow manages to pump enough blood northwards that his cheeks fill with a deep blush, burning from within. “I might have little status, but I will never-- never --stoop that low.”
“And I’d never stoop so low as to hire a human, either,” the feline man snarls. “I say you’d have a better chance as a whore, but then again, who’d pay to fuck you?”
An almost feral-sounding growl escapes Daehyun’s lips and he spits forcefully onto the tiles beneath his feet. “Bastard..”
The stronger man grabs Daehyun by the arm, digging his sharp claws into the human’s grubby flesh and manhandling him roughly, dragging him outside the building. “You’re nothing but filth, weakling. Get out and don’t ever let me see your face again.” With a harsh shove, he deprives Daehyun of all stability and balance, sending him stumbling over into a heap on the ground. “Learn your place.” comes the last hissing remark before Daehyun hears the thudding of heavy boots on the ground grow ever more distant until he is alone, right back to square one.
He lies on the road for a while, completely still aside from his involuntary trembling. His position is far from comfortable; skin grazed and broken in places where stray pebbles are digging into him, limbs folded and crushed under his own meagre weight, bones aching and sore already. Other than his jagged breathing he lets out no semblance of a complaint, no groan or sign that he’s in pain, already so used to the discomfort that all he feels is a dull sense of expected disappointment.
Once he’s shaken off enough of his previous humiliation and his heart has calmed down somewhat, Daehyun weakly drags himself to his feet, unsteady and at risk of collapsing again at any point. He forces himself to keep on balance and scuffs the soles of his feet along the floor as he starts to head home--if he can even bring himself to consider it that. He allows his mind to fill to the brim with numbness and trusts his muscle memory to take him back to his base, passively accepting his fate should he be run over before he arrives.
No such luck , he thinks, though there’s some relief that comes with the thought as his empty gaze lands upon the communal shack. He wonders absently if any of his belongings have survived his brief absence and makes his way to his corner, dodging out the way of a huddle of several other humans hunched over what seems like a sparse line of white powder and the smell of burning metal. He scrunches up his nose and settles down on the floor in his little area, surprised that his ratty old blanket still remains where he left it, though nothing else does. It’s a bleak place to reside in and despite the almost constant state of depression he’s found himself in the last few years, Daehyun finds some strange comfort in the way he knows he will fight to his last breath to get out of here.
“I ain’t staying here another week,” someone says in a harsh whisper to the person beside them, not too far from where Daehyun is sitting. It might be the millionth time Daehyun has heard this particular kind of sentiment, but with little else to occupy himself he listens in anyway. “I’d rather rot in hell than spend another seven nights in this dump.”
“Then where will you go?” asks the other person--Daehyun thinks it might be Jiho or Jihoon, but he doesn’t remember nor care which.
“I’m thinking of trying my luck at that casino.You know the one,” the dark look on the second person’s face tells the speaker that he knows all too well. Daehyun doesn’t know of a single person who hasn’t heard something about that place. The speaker continues, sounding desperate. “Nothing can be worse than living here, surely..”
Jiho--or Jihoon--shakes his head slowly, looking grave. “They never lose. The second you bet your life to them, you might as well be signing your soul up for free. You’ll never be seen again.. I heard the owner enjoys torturing humans and using their beaten up bodies as bait for hunting.. I wouldn’t go near that place if I were you.”
“That sounds like just a rumour to me. Hybrids like to think they’re all that, but since when have they been allowed to get away with that shit? Are they even capable?”
“The owner isn’t from a common race.. Haven’t you heard?”
The man looks confused. “Heard what?”
“He’s one of those exotics--you know the ones I mean--the violent types, the rare ones.”
Daehyun watches as all the colour drains from the man’s face and his expression descends into something sickly and nervous. “Shit.. okay, maybe not..” The two look at each other and grimace, silently sharing mutual imagery of horrific mutilation.
Curiosity gets the better of him and Daehyun shuffles closer to the pair, not caring that he’s exposing himself for eavesdropping and simultaneously looking as if he’s out of his mind. With what he’s about to ask, he thinks maybe the latter might be rather true. He taps one of them on the shoulder. “Hey, this casino, where is it exactly?”
Jihoon--perhaps Jiho--shoots him a wary look. “Why are you asking? I know you heard everything.”
“Just answer the question.” Daehyun pushes.
“Crazy bastard..” the other man says under his breath. Daehyun chooses to ignore him, never breaking eye contact with the first.
The man sighs. “Look, if you really wanna know, it’s not too far from here. Walk to the end of the street, turn right and it’s down the first alleyway you come across. The door has a huge crack; you can’t miss it,” He watches as consideration washes over Daehyun’s face and grabs a tight hold of his arm. “Seriously, man. Don’t go there..Just don’t do it. It’s not worth throwing your life away like that, you can find a job.”
Daehyun studies the man’s pleading gaze and nods slowly, sighing. “You’re probably right.”
There’s very little hope left within Daehyun, but he takes energy from the small amount he still has, using it to spur him on as he trudges through the cold on his way to his next attempt at possible employment. With the physical state he’s in, he knows there’s no chance in hell he’ll be hired for anything besides small cleaning jobs, but he’s desperate and he knows it’s better than the alternative of nothing.
He lifts his hand to inspect his skin, noting the lesser amount of blue and taking a deep breath. I’m okay, this is better than yesterday , he thinks to himself, a short surge of bravery running through his sensitive veins. His lack of strength is still very much present, but he feels very slightly less unstable, the shaking and tremors having cooled off into the occasional shiver. For several moments he truly believes he’s in with a shot at this, that he may finally be able to gather enough money to buy his medicine again, that he can get back on his feet, start building the foundations for a better life-
His limbs give out below him and he drops to the floor. The last thing he feels is his heart hammering inside his chest in a rapid, offbeat rhythm before his vision blots out to a perfect ink black and his consciousness slips away.
Cold droplets of rain splashing onto his face brings Daehyun back to the land of the living, his fingers twitching to life as his heart holds itself back from racing at dangerous speeds, pumping lethargically whenever it can manage. He gasps for breath and chokes on several exhales as he forces his eyes open, scrabbling at the ground with his fingertips to try and give him something to grip onto while he sits himself up.
“Fuck,” he grunts out loud in annoyance and discomfort, startling some of the passers by trying to ignore him. He watches as they all continue to walk past him, only offering their looks of disdain and disgust in place of any help. He’s aware that he probably looks like any old human junkie but the lack of compassion grinds his gears all the same. “Fuck you all too, then..” he hisses to himself, struggling to get up onto his knees.
Though he eventually manages to clamber to his feet, Daehyun feels a strong sinking feeling in his chest and stomach at the realisation of what has just happened. He’s passed out too many times in the last few years to keep count, more often than not completely without warning, but this time he had a job opportunity at stake--and he knows he’s missed it.
The rain continues to plummet down in almost continuous ropes of thick, unforgiving streams of cold water, only picking up speed the longer he stands there trying to come to terms with the harsh reality of having absolutely no option remaining. He’s soaked to the skin in a matter of fleeting moments, the blue tinge to his skin deepening in hue while his heart tries its unsatisfactory best to keep his blood flowing. This is it.
He glances around him, finding his bearings with great difficulty as the rain impairs his vision. The constant noise of rain hurtling to the ground alongside the more pitiful trickles dripping down from his clothes and tangled hair makes it difficult to concentrate on remembering where he is, but he perseveres until his blurred surroundings start to take more familiar shapes. From where he’s standing he can see the entrance to the alleyway leading to the casino. Before his common sense and first impulse can communicate with each other he finds himself walking hurriedly towards the alleyway, shivering and stumbling over his own feet as he walks into puddle after puddle, breathing reduced to short puffs of air that involve inhaling more water than anything else. He knows with the state he’s in that he can’t make it home right now, that his only chance of shelter lies within that casino and he’ll be damned if he collapses again before he gets there.
The infamous cracked door is staring him in the face before long. He wastes only a few seconds hesitating before he raps his brittle knuckles against the door with as much force as he can muster, barely able to hear the thumps he’s making through the chaos of the rain.
The door swings open.
“What do you want?” comes an impatient yet unnervingly soft-sounding voice from the doorway.
Daehyun blinks at the owner of the voice, fighting hard to prevent himself taking an instinctive step backwards at the sight. The young man’s eyes are unmistakably reptilian, the irises surrounding the slit-like pupils a strange mixture of amber and swamp-green. There’s patches of dark green and black scales covering parts of his neck, and Daehyun guesses there’s a lot more of the same hidden underneath his leather jacket. A hissing noise brings him out of his observations and he remembers he’s been asked a question. He takes a shaky breath and makes stable eye contact, holding his ground.
“I’ve come to bet my life.”
The sharp pupils expand and contract a few times as the young man studies his face. He folds his arms. “Come back later.” Daehyun doesn’t miss the flick of a forked tongue between sharp fangs as the man speaks.
“Please, let me in..” Daehyun says, making a point of pushing his drenched hair out of his eyes. “I don’t care how long I have to wait for the game to start; I’ll wait in the hallway if I have to. I just need shelter, I’m sick..” his voice trails off, still embarrassed at admitting it out loud to strangers.
“Let him in.”
The reptilian man turns his head, frowning at the gravelly voice coming from behind him. “Are you sure, boss? We don’t open for another-”
“Two hours, I’m well aware.” The boss pushes his way to the front, eyes narrowed in Daehyun’s direction.
Daehyun’s own eyes are fixated on two jet black ears standing to attention nestled into equally coal-coloured tresses. The humans back at the shack weren’t lying. Standing directly before Daehyun, the owner of the casino himself, is none other than a panther. Daehyun has never seen one in the flesh before. Suddenly the gravity of what he’s getting himself into starts to dawn on him, images of mangled and butchered humans flashing through his mind. The corner of the boss’ lips twitches.
He speaks in a low purr. “Come in, human. I’m sure we can find you somewhere to sit.”
The boss turns on his heel and leads the way inside, the reptilian man staring Daehyun down until he steps on through, closing the door behind the three of them and following behind the human--far too close for comfort. With every step Daehyun feels as if he is approaching ever closer to his end, muscles quivering under the stress and the cold that has seeped its way into his bones.
This is it.