Chapter Text
Tap, Tap, Tap, the soles of her school shoes sounded on the concrete of the pavement, the sun was far gone and the moon lay shining in the sky.
Many people who bustled past her looked oddly, this area of town was designated for partying and overall gang activity yet here was a girl walking through the neon signed bars and clubs in a school uniform with her head up, a file tucked under her arm.
Finally she reached her destination, a karaoke bar, opening the door she was immediately met with the smell of sweat and alcohol. A college student sat at the counter and she nodded to him and he gave a sleepy nod back.
Walking down the dingy, dark hallway with only a small pink light flickering she muttered to herself, “Eleven, eleven, eleven”.
The door was at the end of the hallway and she clicked her tongue as she pulled on the door handle. She had given up knocking a while ago, the music was always too loud and they never heard her anyway.
Pushing open the door a waft of cigarette smoke made her scrunch her nose, “Hey this isn’t your room!” a boy shouted pointing at her obviously drunk from the way his eyelids were half open and his words slurred at the end.
Yet she wasn’t focused on the rowdy teenager but the one who sat quietly in the middle of the long cushioned chair on the far side of the room, ruffled purple hair, a girl hanging off of both arms and that stare that he was all so famous for.
Wolf Keum, the one she had come looking for.
“I come on the orders of Donald Na” speaking clearly while projecting her voice the room fell into a gloomy silence at the mention of the man, just his name seemed to make people shiver.
Taking a few steps forward and pulling out the file that was tucked under her arm she handed it out in front of the boy to take, “Read these before tomo-“ she checked her watch, “-today, there is a meeting in the afternoon at the building, do not be late or hung over”.
His eyes wandered over her for a few seconds before taking the file packet slowly. “Donald fire Kingsely?” he asked flicking through the pages.
“No Kingsley is just busy at the moment so I have taken over the organisation of your division”.
Wolfs eyes flicked to her again for a second before going back to the pages, “My division?” he questioned seemingly amused by the words she had used.
Furrowing her eyebrows she pulled out her phone, “You are the head of this division are you not? Unless there has been a recent change of rankings I have not been made aware of”, scrolling through her phone she tried to see some form of update she had missed but Wolf sat up more straighter catching her attention.
“There has been no rank changes” he spoke sternly, his lazy demeanour now gone almost taking what she said as a personal offence.
Slipping her phone back into her pocket she stretched out her hand, “Well then, I’ll be looking over your work for the foreseeable. I’m (Name)”, Wolf looked at her hand for another uncomfortable amount of time before grasping it too tight for any ordinary handshake.
“Wolf Keum, I assume we both can come to a similar conclusion about this set up.” Pulling her hand away ignoring the ache in her fingers, looking down from where he was sitting, she stared the boy right in the eye.
“I will be doing no such thing; I will of course help you but not over my obligations to Donald. You are not my boss Wolf Keum”.
Tightening his jaw he looked annoyed at her choice of words, “So you are as much of Donald’s bitch as the rest of us then” he lifted his chin up.
“Less so than you are” she bit back.
At this Wolf stood up brushing off the girl that was touching his shoulder, “Be careful what you say to me (Name), just because you are Donald’s left-hand woman or whatever the hell you are does not make you an exception to my rules.” He was walking closer to her, she didn’t have to look down to look him in the eye now.
“I’ll give you the curtesy of letting it go this one time, in the name of your new role, but I run things around here and I do not take disrespect lightly”, she could practically feel his breath on her face and she visibly pulled her face back at the smell of alcohol on his breath mixed with heavy cigarette ash.
Wolf took her silence as his victory stepping backwards again and slumping to where he was before on the chair.
Deciding it was definitely too late to argue with an obviously tipsy boy who could most definitely snap her bones in half if it was not for the fact that she worked for Donald she decided to retreat for the night, "I will see you later in the meeting. Do not be late”.
Wolf had already moved on from his interest in her instead searching the table for a drink, turning back around she made her way out the door and down the hallway, she turned to nod at the college student again but he was asleep at the desk, head leaning on the wooden surface.
Making her way back down the streets again through neon signs and people waiting for the night bus her phone began to ring, “Hey Gray. Yeah, I’m heading home now, I was able to get more work done than expected. See you soon.”.
Hanging up the phone she sighed, her brother was always worrying about her yet she should be the one worrying, especially after everything that happened recently. With the way middle school ended and how Gray now had to attend Eunjang.
That place didn’t suit him at all, she worried there were people like Wolf Keum at Eunjang, fierce and ruthless, Gray was a fragile boy people would target him in an instance she was sure of it.
*****
“You shouldn’t stay out so late all the time, you’ll get eye bags soon” Gray said as she stuffed her lunch box in her bag.
“I know, I know, I just have a ton to revise. You do too, don’t you?”. Gray was already ready standing by the door in his uniform with his backpack packed the night before.
“I finish it all relatively quickly, Eunjangs timetable is rather straight forward. I usually do math competitions to pass the time”, he said straightening his shirt out.
“I never understood how those things are fun” she mumbled zipping up her bag, Donald did them too to pass the time, just looking at them made her have a headache.
Following Gray out they headed out onto the street, “How is Eunjang? I’ve heard there are quite a few gangsters there. Have you been able to make any friends, do you still talk to Eugene from your class? You mentioned him a few times at the start of the year”.
Gray nodded his head while holding the straps on his bag, “Don’t worry about me.” His tone of voice made her worry more.
Since the incident in middle school Gray hadn’t been the same as he was before, he now was stoic with a straight face, only really thinking about academics and not much else.
“When people get to know you they’ll find out how much fun you are, let down your walls a bit and let people get to know you.” She said and Gray gave her a simple nod, not completely subsiding her worries but it was enough.
They had made it to the bus stop now and she waved goodbye to Gray as he left to head to school early since he was on cleaning duty. She had to get the bus to school as she attended Yeo-ll where Donald was head of the school and it wasn’t in walking distance of their house.
Originally she had applied there because she assumed Gray was going to that fancy science school so she wanted a change of scenery at a nice school too, what she didn’t expect however was to be wrapped up in the likes of Donald NA and the union soon after she had applied.
When the bus arrived she got on and took a seat when she received a call, “Kingsley? How come you are calling me so early?” she asked.
“I was checking to see if you were able to find Wolf Keum in the end” he spoke and she could also hear typing in the background, Kingsley always got to school at a stupid hour in the morning, sometimes she wondered if he just slept there.
“I did find him in one of karaoke bars you sent me and handed over the documents but he was half drunk, so I do not know if he even remembers the interaction this morning” Kingsley sighed on the other end.
“Wolf is usually rather diligent when it comes to fulfilling his duties, like a lapdog. Just make sure he is there today.” he said then hung up before she could say another word, she was still new to the school and the union so she wasn’t shocked by Kingsley barking an order at her then hanging up.
When the bus arrived at Yeo-ll she got off and immediately made her way to Donald’s office to report back about Wolf from earlier that morning.
When she first joined the school she found it extremely odd that Donald had an office all to himself looking out onto the city almost like a CEO, even though it was a not long ago it feels like it has already been a year since she started at Yeo-ll, perhaps it was because of all the work she’s been getting recently since she took over more of Kingsley’s jobs.
She wasn’t entirely sure what made Donald give her such a big promotion, she didn’t know why Donald gave her a job on the school council aka the heads of Yeon-ll in the first place.
Knocking on the door she spoke “It is (Name) I have come to report back” there was a slight pause before she got a response “Come in”.
Opening the door into his office Donald was flicking through some papers and he did not look up from them. “I found Wolf Keum and handed him the documents and notified him about the meeting today” she spoke, back straight and voice sturdy, she couldn’t lie that being next to Donald made her feel scared yet untouchable all at once.
Once she got accepted as an executive in the union people treated her like something akin to royalty it was very strange especially with people older than her treating her with such high respect.
*****
When she joined Yeo-ll she hadn’t even heard of the union before but she received immediate attention from teachers and students alike due to her high test scores (all thanks to Gray who would unintentionally push her to what her to try harder) as well as her aptitude for taking over leadership roles.
On the first day of Yeo-ll her class voted for her as class president and her home room teacher asked her to give a speech to her year group about the up and coming year ahead, things for her at Yeo-ll were going extremely well.
Then one day she was sitting at her desk reading when a classmate called out to her, “(Name)! Someone’s at the door for you”. Turning to look out the door of her classroom her eyes widened, Kingsley Kwan was at the door looking at her expectingly.
Immediately she stood to her feet, book forgotten on the table as she made her way to the door “Hi, you were looking for me?” she asked trying to push down the excitement bubbling in her chest, the head of the school council was looking for her?
“(Name) Yeon, I have heard of you, I am assuming you have heard of me” he spoke professionally, standing much higher than her, just looking at Kingsley he commanded everyone’s attention from the way he held himself to the way he spoke and explained topics thoroughly.
That’s what she wanted, that aura, that power. “I have, you are the head of the school council” she said trying to imitate the way he spoke and raising her chin slightly higher than she usually would.
“After some consideration the council has deliberated and decided you will be the new representative of the first years on the council, that is if you are willing?” Kingsley asked and she tried to push down the smile that was rising in her lips.
“Of course I am, I will be looking forward to working with you in the future” she said and Kingsley nodded “As will I”.
After that day she was a permanent seat in the school council, unlike many other schools Yeo-ll’s school council was very prevalent when it came to your popularity in the school, there was no doubt that everyone would know your name, it didn’t matter if people liked or disliked you.
So after securing a place the amount of eyes on her sky rocketed which also meant people had their expectations even higher than before but that didn’t stop her.
Then one morning she received a call from Kingsley telling her to come to Yeoinaru, she knew exactly what that meant, everyone knew what that meant. Yeoinaru is where Donald Na is, the head of Yeo-ll in academics and physical power however she had never seen him before only heard of him through rumours and whispers in the hallway.
That day when she went to Yeoinaru it changed the course of her life not only in school but also at home, the day she began to keep secrets from her family, from Gray.
Donald Na invited her into the union, a rank just under Kingsley. In that moment she finally felt seen like all of her work leading up to that point had finally been rewarded and the person rewarding her was someone so stablished, someone with power.
Moving forward she was a high-ranking union member and it never felt so gratifying.
*****
Donald did not comment on her report instead putting his papers down and waving his hand telling her to come closer, “(Name), how are finding taking over a few of Kingsley’s jobs? You only recently joined the union, so tell me if it is too much because these are things you are not allowed to mess up on.”
Donald had this aura about him that even when he was speaking with such a soft voice it brought a lump to her throat, “I believe I am doing my new roles well and I can handle them” Donald nodded slowly and she fiddled with her hands behind her back.
“Alright then but if it does get too much report back. Now that you are here I need you to check on the budget.” He went back to papers and she nodded taking it as her time to leave but when she grasped the handle Donald called back to her, “and (Name) – go find Wolf before the meeting and try to rein him in a bit. I do not mind it when he is fighting but outside of that his erratic behaviour may cause some communication problems”.
She nodded to him again “I will”, Donald didn’t say anything else so she pushed down the handle and left the office.
Great, now she had to check on the budget and rein in Wolf Keum, the first one would be difficult but how bad could the second one be?