Chapter Text
~$~
The crowd was anxious, and Yun Ak could tell as he stood over everyone waiting for the results of the night’s fight. Everything was running well tonight, running smoothly as his club should. SinJa was keeping an eye on the girls, making sure they were adequately serving the customers. The crowd roared louder once the announcer picked up his microphone, clearing his throat in gesture of speaking, “The sole survivor of tonight’s finale is-” the announcer was a millisecond away from declaring a winner and time seemed to slow as the leader made his way down the stairs, first was the screaming and then gunshots. He whipped his head around to the source of the noise, coming from the entrance of the club. Something was wrong.
When all the lights in the building were turned on, illuminating what was once an almost pitch-black club, everyone stopped dead in their tracks. You could hear the ring settle in almost silence, the building settling behind it, before the screaming resumed, this time louder and more coherent.
“Everyone freeze, do not move!” and like that, every single person in the room bolts, dashing from one side to another to avoid being caught. There is screaming and crashing, people trying to collect their items, retrieve their money before the police catch them, detaining them for illegal gambling and violence.
Yun Ak stands there, less in shock and more pure rage seeping through his blood. He watched as his entire world, everything he’d so carefully built, his entire life, was wrenched away from him. He watched as the police entered the room, guns out. He watched men he’s known for years sink down to the ground so easily. These were people he thought would fight back, but he was wrong. These men were cowards, everyone in this building was a coward.
Once most people were caught, and Yun Ak was the only man left standing, he realized he was surrounded. Cops and government officials stood all around him, waiting for him to make his move, but the only thing that he did was raise his hands. He knew there was no way out of getting arrested, the officers tackled him to the ground, screaming as they pinned his hands behind his back. Through the gaps in the legs in front of him, he saw one of his 'girls', the newer one he remembers bringing in, the one he'd had to look at himself.
The boy was crouching in a corner, hands covering his ears, staring at the scene in front of him. He only moved when a man in a cop uniform crouched down next to him, came from nowhere and called out to the boy, who flinched in response. His tear-filled eyes dragged towards the call, his legs finally giving out as his butt hit the ground. The cop spoke a few words to him and then picked up the boy bridal style. Yun Ak watched as the cop quickly walked him outside of the club, and Yun Ak felt his blood boil.
That fucking boy, the others had called him Sky, he was the only person that Yun Ak has ever had to directly discipline for talking back and not listening. He looked delicate enough but was stubborn as a mule, he had fooled everyone. The boy had molded quickly, bending to the rules that Yun Ak set in place for all his 'girls'. Granted, he had sent Sky out with cuts and bruises greater than anyone had ever seen for one of his 'girls', but the boy needed an extra reminder of his place.
As Sky was taken away, the leader’s eyes followed him, that boy was clearly a part of this. SinJa had told him what happened that night, when those two newcomers came in, he hadn't thought much of it. But the whole takedown, his partner's story about the stupid drink, Yun Ak was convinced that the destruction of his greatest achievement was because of Sky. His whole life was flushed down the drain because of one slutty boy and he would not stand for that.
He was dragged outside and shoved into a car, hands cuffed behind his back as he stared at his ravaged building covered in flashing red and blue lights.
I will be back for you, my love.
~$~
3 Months Earlier
Seungmin had no idea where he was being taken, all he knew was that there was a blindfold over his face and a rope knotted around his wrists. He was in a van, he could tell because of the slamming doors he heard as he was forced into the back and the lack of seats, his legs tucked next to him as he desperately tried to keep his balance on the floor, he swayed back and forth with the car’s motion. The steady-flow of tears streaking down his face dripped and soaked into his after-work clothes.
He had been walking back to his apartment, after getting off work late, when he had been grabbed from behind. Truthfully, he shouldn’t have been walking home alone with earbuds in at eleven thirty at night. But he didn’t really feel comfortable walking in silence, what with his overactive imagination serving to create scary figures in the shadows while he was trying to get home. That was the least of his problems now though, because he was sitting in a van with zero clue as to where he was or who he was with, or what they wanted him for. He should've known that being taken would be much scarier than any imaginary monster lurking in a dark alley. He tried to make out the feel of the van or the rope around his wrists, maybe he could try to fight his way out, but the ropes were knotted tight, and the back of the vehicle was barren of any defining features.
Suddenly, the car stopped, and Seungmin tipped to the side, hitting his head on the door and he tumbled out onto the cool pavement as it was wrenched open. Quickly, any hope Seungmin had of escaping went out the window, as he was hoisted up by the waist and thrown over someone's broad shoulder. He kicked and bucked but it was no use. He heard a sound, and the boy registered the shift from outside fresh air to stale inside air and the music he could hear was pounding in his head, taunting him. Seungmin could hear people talking and laughing and moaning, he shivered at the thought of where he could be, knowing that sex trafficking was a real problem in South Korea. He stopped fighting, flopping down against the person carrying him, making himself seem smaller so as to hide himself from the world, from any prying eyes that wanted to hurt him, from any pain he would feel in the time to come.
They stopped at what Seungmin presumed was a door before he heard a series of beeps and was dropped into a room. They removed his blindfold and the boy blinked rapidly, trying desperately to adjust to the flickering fluorescent light so he could see his surroundings. There were two men, heavily dressed in black clothes and bigger than the average human, each standing at about six foot five. They stared down at him, the crooked smiles on their faces menacing and Seungmin shifted himself to the back of the room, back hitting the cold wall, knees coming up to protect his body. He could feel the adrenaline chasing the fear like predator chases prey, dripping through his chest and affecting his ability to breathe.
“Come on, boys, let's not scare the pretty thing, huh?” a slimy voice came from behind the two men, and a shorter guy, well dressed and put together, stepped up. He had a nasty smile on his face that transformed into a scar leading up his cheek, the faint mustache he had glowed underneath the pale lights. Seungmin did not like the look of this man at all. He looked gross, face moist with sweat and hair greasily slicked back. His beige suit stood out in contrast to his skin color, making him appear more washed out than he is, but it also made him look like he was in charge. The air of authority surrounding him made the boy sick to his stomach. Seungmin then realized that he would only be leaving this place if it was in a body bag.
“Aw, Petal, don’t look so scared,” the nickname rolling off his tongue with a disgusting level of suggestiveness to it, “We’re not here to hurt you much, we just want to make sure that you’re going to follow the rules.” The man looked around, and stepped closer to Seungmin, he pushed back even further against the wall. “My name is Yun Ak, but you'll call me 'Oppa'. All the 'girls' here call me that.” Seungmin didn't have time to think about the other 'girls' he'd referenced when the man reached out a hand to caress Seungmin’s cheek and the young boy bit him, latching onto the hand and locking his jaw. There was a certain satisfactory taste of tangy metal and he smiled as the blood ran down his chin.
Yun Ak screamed, tearing his hand away and examining it, holding it closely to his chest. He watched the older man as he swallowed blood, satisfied with any amount of pain he could bring upon his kidnappers. The greasy man looked at Seungmin, and slapped him once, twice, thrice before gathering himself again and huffing out a wheezy laugh. Pushing back his hair with his unbitten hand and standing up straight, the man looked at him with pure disgust and then it morphed into that ugly smile again, it made the boy’s stomach flip in his body, almost purging what he’d had to eat earlier in the day. In the back of his head, Seungmin reminisced about what his last meal had been before being kidnapped, before being stripped of any freedom. He cringed as he realized that honey butter chips were not a sufficient last meal and he resigned himself to the starving fate he knew was coming.
“Now, Petal,” the man spat, hatred and condescension laced in his voice. “We don’t bite here. You will listen to me, and you will do exactly as I tell you or your experience here will be everything but pleasant.” The boy stared, fear and anger mixing painfully in his gut, Seungmin knew this man was scum of the earth and got whatever he wanted with ease, the young boy decided then and there that he would not make this process easy, he would fight every step of the way. His emotions and attitude had taken front over instinct and Seungmin was pleased to find that he spat in the man’s face. The smile slipped off Yun Ak’s face and in return a look of disgust replaced it, he wiped the reddened saliva off his face as he turned to address the two men.
“Until Petal here gives you the right answer, beat him.” Seungmin’s eyes widened against his will, “I want him screaming and I want to hear it from my office, Hell, I want to hear it from the fucking ring.” Yun Ak turned to Seungmin, smirking, “Drag it out, make it so painful, beat him in increments, not all at once.” And with that, he left the room, and the two men stared at Seungmin before stomping their way to him. With ease they lifted him and dragged him from the room, not bothering to put his blindfold back on. The boy kicked and screamed, pulling all his weight to the ground and throwing himself left and right. Unfortunately, these men were a lot stronger than he thought. While Seungmin thrashed, the men had no problems, and it was almost like they were used to it. Well, they would be, the young boy thought, if they worked for a trafficking ring, they were probably used to all kinds of people fighting for their lives. That’s probably what they trained for. They turned a corner and he saw a young man staring at him, frozen at the sound of screams, Seungmin did the only thing he could think of, he pleaded for the boy.
"Help me! Please help me! Please!" He screeched at the top of his lungs, but the boy just stared sadly until he was hastily pulled into a dark room and the door shut. Seungmin continued to scream, as loud as he could when the two men tossed Seungmin into a new room, the walls a gray concrete with scratch marks buried deep within the material. This room was smaller than the other one, the light dimmer and broken, with one door and nothing else. What worried Seungmin the most was the blood and scratch marks on the ground, he could almost hear the screams from past victims, wanting nothing more to escape the hell they were forced into. His head whipped from side to side as the two men stalked around the room, keeping their eyes on him, sickening smiles etched into their faces. One of the men had taken the time to cuff Seungmin’s right ankle and then back away again. In the muted light, the young boy could see the cuts, bruises and scars the men had acquired over the years they had been doing this. That was what scared Seungmin the most, for some reason, the idea that there had been so many victims before him shook his entire core. He knew what was coming next, but he refused to go out without a fight, he’d made it this long in the world, he was not about to submit now.
~$~
Seungmin had severely overestimated himself, even in just the first couple of hours he wanted to submit, hang his head low and apologize for even breathing loudly. Although he couldn't deny the little spark in the back of his mind that told him to keep fighting, at the forefront, he was exhausted and in pain. They had started relatively simple; they would toss him around and hit him a bit. Then they escalated to kicking and squeezing him, excitedly leaving bright red ringlets on his wrists, arms and legs as if this was their reward for exhibiting good behavior. Seungmin really began to fail when they brought out a backpack filled with items they could use to beat him with. His breath had left his chest when the men emptied the backpack in front of him.
Using a belt, they whipped him until the welts on his back were as big as his kneecaps and bleeding painfully. The worst part was when they would make him stand, gripping him by the waist as they took half-powered swings with the bat against his ribs and hips, skimming his legs when they wanted him to stay standing, sometimes swinging and missing just to make Seungmin cry out even more, afraid of the pain. They loved to force him up or down again and again to throw glasses, cups and bottles at him, forcing him to step and sit on the broken shards of glass, his skin breaking and blood dripping everywhere.
Blossoms of purples and blues decorated his once porcelain skin alongside big and small red cuts, both bleeding and dried up. They had dragged edges of broken bottles against his skin as he screamed, his whole chest reverberating as he struggled against the hands. He whimpered against menthol-smelling skin as they covered his mouth. Then they would leave him, for varying lengths of time, the men would watch him collapse in broken glass, sobbing as pain radiated through him, before closing the door loudly behind them. Seungmin would jump each and every time they left, listening to the footsteps retreat before sinking into the floor, hoping for a longer rest each time. And when he heard the heavy door unlock, he would straighten up and put on a brave face, wanting them to see the little strength he had left.
“Ah, Petal, looking gorgeous since our last meeting, I see.” Yun Ak’s eyes scanned over the small boy, and he had straightened up, keeping his mouth firmly shut in a straight line to show indifference. He realized that he hadn’t spoken a single word to Yun Ak, and he didn’t want to, the man wanted him to break and bend to his will and if staying silent ruined that plan even a little bit, then he would stay silent.
“Are you ready to behave, darling?” when Seungmin just continued to stare at him, pure fire and hatred in his eyes, the disgusting man snarled. He grabbed the boy’s chin harshly and jerked him from side to side, Seungmin tried his best to not give any reaction. And when Yun Ak let his face go, he knew he’d succeeded. “What the hell are you two even doing? He’s not broken yet and it’s taking you guys longer than usual to do so. I want it amped up, I want him crushed and subdued into the perfect 'girl' by tomorrow, he needs to be ready to walk in four days. He will be well-behaved and subservient in that time, and if not, I will beat him, and you both, myself." The greasy man stormed out of the room and the other two turned quickly, growling towards Seungmin.
The maltreatment continued for the rest of the day and the next. Seungmin was tired, somewhere around the middle of the night, the two men began to verbally abuse him as well. Though their insults weren’t very clever, the act of berating someone paired with physical beating is bound to have some kind of effect. And when Yun Ak came back to confirm that Seungmin was, in fact, an obedient boy, all he found in the younger was dimmed fight and submission. He smiled, running a thin hand through the boy’s hair, until he gripped it hard and yanked so that Seungmin's face was inches away from his own.
“I recognize that extinguished fire in your eyes, Petal. This is exactly what I’ve been waiting for.” his greasy smile remained on his face as he turned to his men, “Take him to the rooms, I want him out on the floor in three days. But until then, he’s free to… recover.” The man’s words dripped with venom, but Seungmin was too exhausted to even care at this point. He just wanted to sleep. He didn’t register them taking him to a different room, but he does remember waking up a little while later to murmuring and someone touching him. He jerked painfully into a sitting position and pressed his back to the wall behind him, looking around frantically. There were five people around the tiny room he was in, three girls and two boys, each of them in red and black lingerie, definitely too small and ripped in so many places. From what he could see, their legs and arms were covered in bruises and scratches and the make-up that caked their faces was patchy. Who were these people?
“Sorry, we didn’t mean to startle you.” A shorter girl near the front spoke up, hesitancy coating her voice as she made eye contact with Seungmin. Her black pigtails hung low on her chest, covering some of the purple contusion surrounding her neck. Her eyeliner had been ruined and her lipstick was smeared across her face, indicative of the night she’d had. Despite this, empathy and concern clouded her gaze. “I’m Chaeryeong, behind me are my friends Lily, Wooyoung-Oppa, Beomgyu, and Kazuha.” She gestures to the people behind her. Seungmin looks them over, noting the fierce dominance in some, while sweeter dispositions in others. “We only want to help you and it’s really hard if you adjust without people.” Chaeryeong reaches a shaking hand towards Seungmin, and he has no idea if he should take it or not. But these people seem to be in a similar situation to him. He reluctantly reaches forward, placing his trembling hand gently on top of hers. She gives the boy a small smile.
“What’s your name?” The words are curious, gaining strength with every passing moment. He hesitates to answer, he'd promised that he would stay silent, never giving Yun Ak the opportunity to hear him, but even if he wanted to, Seungmin didn't think that his voice was willing to cooperate right now. It felt trapped in his throat and panic seized him. He quickly realized that he wasn't going to be able to give a verbal answer.
The people in front of him wait patiently for him to speak and when he refocuses, he pulls his hand back to softly place it against his collarbones, a silent indication that he can’t talk. Chaeryeong nods, still smiling gently. One of the guys behind her stands up slowly and moves to grab a box from across the room, Seungmin freezes, body as straight as it could be with the amount of pain he was currently in.
“It’s okay, Oppa’s just grabbing the first aid kit for you. He wants to make sure that you’re okay. We’ve all experienced the beatings here, especially from Yun Ak’s men, only Wooyoung-Oppa had to go through some of them by himself, he helped me when I got here, and we’ve helped everyone since.” Chaeryeong said kindly, eyes scanning the room as she kept her hand face up on the mattress in front of Seungmin. Wooyoung came back and sat down in front of the younger boy. The few cuts and bruises that were on his face were tended to, Wooyoung being as careful as possible to not upset the younger boy, he was in such a fragile state after his hours of torture and Wooyoung knew firsthand what it was like.
“I’m sorry this happened to you, I wish I could take these past few days away from you.” Seungmin was not expecting the soothing voice that came from him, he wasn’t opposed to it. But he had to be cautious, after the last few days, he felt as though he couldn't melt into the warmth, he thought that it could be a trick. “Can I ask you some questions? It’ll be easier if we get a feel of what happened to you so we can better help you.” Seungmin looked at Wooyoung as he placed an ointment on the scratches littering his hands, the delicacy with which the man was holding his hands was something he had not felt in a while, and he had missed it. He wasn’t a very touchy person to begin with, but he did still need touch, as any human being did. He’d just been a bit busy and wasn’t able to go home to his family or make strong enough relationships all the time.
“Can I call you Sky?" When Seungmin tilted his head in question, Wooyoung responded, "It's just that your eyes look like they hold much more than what you can see, like they can hold the whole sky without you even trying, you know? So, can I? Call you that?” He waited for the younger to answer, that was close enough to his name, so he nodded his head slowly. Plus, the reasoning was oddly comforting, if not a little too deep for someone he just met. “Okay, good. So, I was born in nineteen ninety-nine, I’m twenty-six years old. Are you younger than me?” Wooyoung asks, carefully setting the boy’s hands down on his lap and moving to his legs. Seungmin nods, the older smiles at him, and it is by far the prettiest thing the boy has ever seen. “That’s good, thank you. You’re my Dongsaeng! Chaeryeong and Beomgyu were born in two thousand and two, are you younger than them?” His eyebrow raises at the question and Seungmin shakes his head.
“You’re my Hyung then!'' The small boy from the corner has a golden voice, but as he looks over, he finally recognizes the boy from the hallway, right before he'd been taken into that awful room, the boy he screamed at for help. Seungmin's eyes widened in recognition and the boy shrunk into himself a bit. "I'm sorry I couldn't help you that day, but you have to understand that I wouldn't have made it to you. I had... something that I had to do. But I really am sorry, I wanted to stop them, but I knew it would've been worse for the both of us." Seungmin understands that, he really does, so he takes a deep breath, nods and gives him a half smile. Looking at the younger boy, he's so delicately pretty, but his makeup is smudged, and hair is tousled. He wonders briefly how this boy copes with what he does.
“Ah, so you're the boy that Beomgyu was talking about, he's right, it would've been worse if he'd tried to intervene.” Seungmin’s eyes flash back to Wooyoung's, and he nods. How long have they been here that they know that? Was it months? Years, maybe? He can’t imagine being here for that long, being beaten or verbally abused daily does something to people. But there doesn't truly seem to be a way to escape, otherwise they wouldn't be here, right?
“You learn after a while, that keeping your mouth shut and just agreeing will get you left alone. The men here tend to pick up the people that are mouthy and if Yun Ak catches you talking back, then he’ll beat you.” Chaeryeong said, a lilt of sadness crowding her smooth voice. The people in the room refused to make eye contact with Seungmin, that in itself was proof enough that this place was dangerous for them. Unconsciously, Seungmin looked around the room for another exit or something they could use to escape.
“Don’t bother looking, they’ll catch you regardless, and it’ll be worse when you come back.” Kazuha spoke for the first time, her eyes held his and something knowing darkened them. She suddenly turned around, exposing her scarred back. Silvery disfigurements covered her spine, with the larger ones up by her shoulder blades. Some looked as though they hadn’t healed yet, still scabbing over with large bruises marring them. Kazuha turned back around and sat back down, Beomgyu rubbed her shoulder in comfort.
“Do you know when you have to start work on the floor?” Wooyoung asked, changing the subject, and Seungmin shook his head, he couldn’t remember what Yun Ak had said to him through the haze of pain. “That’s okay, we can figure out what you’re wearing and how you’ll act later, for now though, we should get some food into your system. You’ve probably been deprived for the last few days, huh?” He punctuated his sentence by standing and Seungmin nodded his head, eyes glaring a hole into his lap. Lily offers to go with Wooyoung in search of food, and Seungmin gets the idea that no one should travel alone if they can help it. Chaeryeong hands him some shorts and a ripped t-shirt to change into, he wonders briefly where they came from.
“These can be your pajamas, you can change into them when we turn around. It’s probably better to get out of your old clothes and keep them close, Yun Ak will burn them if he finds them.” Chaeryeong says kindly, and they all turn to face the door, giving Seungmin as much privacy as they possibly can.
Right as he finishes pulling his shirt on, Wooyoung and Lily walk back into the room, shutting the door firmly behind them. Seungmin notices the bit of bread and Naengguk that they managed to scrounge together for him, he expresses his thanks by setting himself in a deep bow and gently grabbing the tray from them. He sets himself up on his cot and begins devouring what is his first meal in days, he thinks about how scattered meals might be. If he gets to eat more than once a day or once every couple of days, he’ll take what he can get and learn how to acquire things for himself.
The rest of the night involves them asking Seungmin yes or no questions and giving them information about themselves. He figured out that Wooyoung lived with seven other people, they were mainly dancers and composers, but among them was his soulmate. Wooyoung didn’t touch much on his soulmate, just that they were dating and that his name was San. He had this far away look in his eyes as he recalled memories of the man. He talked about how they would slow dance together to their favorite songs, but he cut himself off there from saying anything else.
Beomgyu was an artist and he was commissioning an art exhibit with his brothers. He had been studying and procuring art since he was fifteen. He expressed how much he missed them and how much he wanted to squeeze them all in a hug again.
Lily was an up and coming singer, doing covers of movie and television scores, she was said to have a voice fit for the ears of the people. She was in a group with six other girls and they loved doing covers, she admitted that she might even have feelings for one of the girls, Sullyoon, and that if she could go back now, she would tell her exactly how she feels. The way she talked about the younger girl was endearing and Seungmin hoped that she would be able to get back to her so that she could confess.
Kazuha was a ballet dancer, she was on her way to going pro before being taken. She’d apparently been dancing since she was young. She’d even studied ballet in different countries and was excited to get her career running.
Seungmin learned that Chaeryeong had four girlfriends waiting back home for her. She explained each of them with a sad look on her face. He could see the desperation in her eyes with how much she wanted to go home to them. She was one of the youngest in their polycule but she was extremely protective of her girls.
Hearing everyone talk about the people they were taken from made Seungmin feel jealous, he had none of that. At max, his landlord would call his phone a few times before shutting off his electricity and water if he didn’t pay the bill on time. Other than that, he didn’t really have anyone that would come looking for him. His family rarely heard from him anyway and he didn’t have friends. Any work friend he made stayed exactly that, distant from any point in his life. He liked it that way, it was easier for him to do what he needed to do.
They slept after that, claiming that the next few days would be extremely tiring and that he would need to be prepared before doing anything. Seungmin didn’t complain, he was exhausted anyway and was happy to finally get some reprieve from his thoughts after the last few days.
~$~
“Seungminnie, come home to us. We miss you, we’ll protect you.” The boy could hear people calling his name, multiple people at once, but he didn’t know who they were. His heart tugged towards the voices, searching for that comfort. Looking around he found himself in an unfamiliar darkness, barely illuminated by a small spotlight up above, he could just make out his old room in his shitty apartment. All of his stuff was still where he left it, his windows were open and his lights were off. The door to his apartment rasped as it opened slowly, and he turned in a panic. Standing there was Yun Ak, an eerie smile stretching across his face, sitting unnaturally.
Seungmin went to call back to the voices, asking for help in a situation he was not capable of handling by himself, before the things around him started falling away, piece by piece, destroying everything his life once was. All he could feel was a blistering pain spreading throughout his entire body. He fell to his knees, head pressed to the cold floor, attempting to push the pain away until he felt a hand caress the back of his head, he leaned into the kind touch. When he could finally lift his eyes to see the figure in front of him, he was enraptured. Though the face was blurry, he could see sleek, shoulder-length blond hair. When the man spoke, the softest voice Seungmin had ever heard pleaded for him, and it took everything in his body to not immediately sob.
“Please, Seungmin, come back to us. We miss you.” The last phrase sent a wave of pain scorching through every limb of his body and he screamed for the loss of something he didn’t understand as everything went black.
~$~
He woke with a startled gasp, sitting up as fast as his injuries would allow. The only person there besides Seungmin, was Lily. The small girl quietly hummed a tune as she stared at the ground, legs pulled to her chest to hide just how much of her skin was showing. The bruises spanning across her pale legs were still visible, though, and Seungmin cringed. The humming dimmed as Lily looked him in the eyes, a kind smile etching across her face. He didn’t understand the kindness of these people, they’re in the same situation as him, if not worse because they’ve been here longer. But every one of them still showed an insurmountable amount of kindness towards him, he didn’t know how to thank them.
“Good morning, Oppa.” Jest coating her voice. “It’s just after seven in the evening, we got some food for you, if you’re hungry.” It didn’t seem like she would wait for an answer as she stood up to grab the tray and turn around, but when Seungmin nodded, she smiled brighter and set the tray down on the bed. The older boy watched carefully as Lily perched on her knees, facing Seungmin and encouraging him to eat.
He nodded his thanks to her and picked up a small slice of bread, chewing slowly as he looked around the room. Now more coherent, Seungmin was able to gather some of his surroundings, well as much as he could when he now lived in a concrete room with five other people. He finished his food quickly, setting the tray down on the blanket in front of him and picking at the seam of his shorts.
“You should get up as soon as you're able, we have a lot of things to do today, we need to train you a little bit. It’s nothing hard but you should remember it, it’s going to be degrading.” Lily stood up and paced around the room, pulling a small piece of fabric off of another bed. “The patrons here are not very nice; they mainly see us as objects to toy with while their bet is bought in the ring. Some will want victory acts, but you don’t give them anything for free.” She handed Seungmin the garment and he held it delicately in his hands, aware that this was likely his “outfit”, he grimaced feeling how light it was.
“Since you don’t talk it’ll be easier for you to not get into trouble,” she paused for a millimeter of a second, her eyes holding questions and censure, before they quickly returned to the calming brown. She took a deep breath, fiddling with her hands, “I’m gonna be honest with you, Oppa, I really hope that you're not mad with Beomgyu, he really would have helped you, but the people here are not kind to rebellion. That doesn't mean we don't care though.” With that, she claims she has to use the bathroom leaving Seungmin alone enclosed in concrete walls.
Her words were clear, but Seungmin had already forgiven Beomgyu, he could understand how something like that would cause problems and he didn't want the others to suffer any more than they already had. He shook it off, holding up the tiny piece of cloth that was supposed to cover him. He decides then that he’ll only wear it if necessary, the others may have walked around in theirs, but Seungmin would not stoop to that level. Even if it meant that he would be wearing the same shorts and T-shirt for the rest of his life.
~$~
The others had come back a little later, Lily in tow, with their uniforms on full display. Wooyoung and Beomgyu were barely covered, tiny, cropped shirts and small speedo-like bottoms, standing near the wall for more protection. The girls were in bikini-like pieces and pigtails, make-up caked on each of their faces. Seungmin cringed internally, worried about what that old make-up would do to their poor skin, to his skin. They all gave him a pitying smile, he hated it, and reluctantly asked him to put his uniform on.
“Sky, we hate to ask this of you so soon, we thought you had another day to recover before being out on the floor, but 'Oppa' wants you to be out there now.” Hearing Wooyoung speak up, calling the horrible man what was supposed to be a word filled with respect, had Seungmin’s face twitch in disgust. He nodded silently, turning around and stripping so he could put the tiny uniform on. His body felt cold, bits barely covered by the bikini he was given. He turned around and the rest looked specifically at his face, making sure to keep neutral expressions. But the energy in the room was a dead giveaway, he could feel the pity and embarrassment radiating off their bodies, it was impossible to feel anything else. Someone cleared their throat and suddenly the occupants of the room began to move, shuffling out the door, arms gesturing for Seungmin to follow. He tiptoes behind them, limp prevalent from his injuries, not only trying to stay as quiet as possible but wanting to stay behind them.
He takes in the rest of the facility, it appears they really are in the basement of the building, Seungmin thinks as he stares at the monotonous cement walls on either side of him. They pass multiple people, the last of which stops them before they can reach the door at the end of the hallway, Seungmin thinks this is “the floor” considering there’s loud music and shouts echoing from behind it, as well as flashing purple lights. The boy can already feel a headache blooming behind his eyes, he’s not excited to enter that room.
“Are you 'girls' all dolled up and ready?” A gruff voice pitches out, planting a hand against the wall in front of the small group of people, a smirk darkening his face, malintent swimming in his irises. He grabbed at one of the girls, Seungmin couldn’t see who, but Wooyoung stood confidently in front of her, blocking the attempt boldly. He scowled as the man raised an eyebrow at him, questioning his courage.
“All of us are here and ready to serve the patrons.” He says the last word with emphasis, the man in front of them must work with them as someone behind the scenes. His smile falls off his lips and he scoffs, looking at all six people. He opens the door and jerks his head, inviting them into the room.
~$~