Chapter Text
It’s been a year and a half Nam-gyu was approached by a man in a suit while he was stoned in a filthy alley in the middle of the night to play a game of ddakji for money.
It’s been a year and a half since that man gave him a business card with a phone number.
It’s been a year and a half since he had to play a bunch of deadly games to pay off his debts.
And it’s been a year since he had to share a house with his new-found “teammates” from the games.
It happened in a time of need, not a want. In fact, Nam-gyu had the exact opposite of a friendship with half of them. The only person he could even slightly consider a friend was Thanos, and he was an acquaintance with Gyeong-su at most, though he wasn’t sure they felt the same way. Min-su seemed scared of him and he was happy with that, and he hated Se-mi most of all, with how much she acts like she’s better than him. In the end, maybe there was some sort of mutual empathy and understanding between them after having to go through those games together, but they were nowhere near close.
They were there because paying rent was easier, and by the time they were more stable, they’d all go their separate ways. That was what Nam-gyu planned and believed. Thanos may have made them think that he thought that they were all best friends forever, but he wasn’t stupid, and Nam-gyu knew that.
Well, he started doubting that as he sat on a chair at a bar in some rowdy nightclub Thanos thought would be a good “hangout” for all of them. Going to a club sounded awesome, but this hadn’t looked like a hangout at all, they were all barely talking to one another. He only had conversations with Thanos.
“Dude, I seriously don’t know why you still bring us all here together,” Nam-gyu sighed, chugging another drink. Cranberry vodka, this one has a lot of tartness.
“It’s fun though, isn’t it?” Thanos yelled over all the music, inhaling probably his fourth bottle of beer yet.
Nam-gyu rolled his eyes and chuckled, “The club part is, yeah.”
Thanos took another chug, “Do you guys wanna go dance?” he yelled out to the rest of them to his left. Gyeong-su immediately got up and said he was totally down, of course. Se-mi and Min-su who were originally talking to each other turned around, Nam-gyu expected them to decline but Se-mi actually mumbled a “fine” and nodded. He watched them lift up from their chairs, and step away into the crowded and over-stimulating dance floor, which had a strong stench of sweat. Nam-gyu had been a longtime frequent club-goer and even worked in one, but god, he’d rather jump off a cliff than even step a single foot on to that floor.
There was no silence after they left, this is a nightclub after all, but there was a noticeable immense awkwardness in the air, because the only person next to him then was Min-su. He seemed to be glancing at him awkwardly every other second and playing with his sleeves, funny. Nam-gyu ordered another glass of vodka, “Want some?” He raised the glass to Min-su’s eye level, just to be met with him shaking his head, as expected. “Suit yourself,” he said, continuing to drink himself away.
Min-su had always been fidgety, but wasn’t he overdoing it then? He seemed to be looking around himself tensely way too much, Nam-gyu almost thought this place was haunted and he was making sure that there were no ghosts around them. Out of curiosity, he decided to peek over at what his eyes were so focused on.
There were a few guys, bigger than Min-su, but not so big that Nam-gyu thought he couldn’t take them in a fight, if the time came, of course. They seemed to have their eyes on Min-su as well, but they looked a little more pissed. They were sitting on those cherry red couches with a lounge table in front of them, with alcohol scattered on it. They were drinking, but they were barely even looking at their glasses, their eyes were either on each other, or on Min-su. Nam-gyu was surprised they didn’t just spill their drinks all over their tank tops. From a single look, Nam-gyu thought that there were at least five of them.
They looked like the average gang members, with the fake gold chains, hand-me-downs, baggy black jeans, beanies and bandanas, and a shit ton of tattoos. Also, overgrown armpit hair. They were basically a walking stereotype. But what exactly could people like them have with fucking Park Min-su? They lived in completely different worlds.
He glanced at Min-su before he went back to his drink, and turned on his phone to scroll a little, waiting for Thanos and the others to come back. Mid-way, he suddenly heard a loud creak. He looked to his side, and saw Min-su getting up? He mumbled a ‘be right back,’ and hurried right through the exit. Strange, but Nam-gyu didn’t pay too much mind to it, until he saw those guys from earlier go the exact same way.
He tried to just sip his drink in peace, but honestly, he was a little worried. Just a little. Maybe he just needed a smoke break. The smoking area is also only accessible from the exit, though…
He stood up from his chair, almost tripping over. He had to have gotten a little beyond tipsy by now. He walked over to the exit, pushing open the door. He leaned on the wall, and took out his cigs and lighter. Right before he could start, he heard a familiar voice.
“I’m sorry, I don’t have anything right now- please let me go…”
The voice sounded shaky, and absolutely terrified. Min-su? He heard a deeper voice right after.
“Don’t you think I’ve let you off the hook a bit too many times? Hold him down for me.”
Yeah. That didn’t sound good. At all.
Nam-gyu might have not liked Min-su all that much, but he was not gonna sit here and smoke while these random men do god knows what to him. Especially knowing he wouldn’t have been able to fight back all that easily. And plus, he’d like the ego-boost.
Good thing he always carried a dagger around.
Putting back his cigs and lighter, he took the sheath off his dagger which was placed in his other pocket, and walked forward, and turned to peek at what exactly was going on here.
There’s Min-su held back against a wall by two guys on each side, and three in front of him. The one in the middle in particular, was the closest to him. And he was lifting his fist.
Before Nam-gyu could even realize it, he was already yelling over to them.
“Get the fuck away from him.”
And they did.
The guy in the middle jumped a little out of surprise, and looked over at him. The guys holding on to Min-su didn’t let go, but definitely loosened up a bit. Min-su looked way more shocked than any of them, though.
“And who the fuck are you? This isn’t any of your business, is it? You don’t know what's going on.”
“Get used to it, everyone’s in each other’s business here,” Nam-gyu taunted, stepping towards him, “And from my eyes…all you’re doing is ganging up against someone weaker than you. Mind you, I know the guy and I know him well enough to know that he has no business messing with hooligans like you, so it's quite clear who started this here.”
“Who do you think you are? I could beat you up right here right now you know that-”
“Oh, but I’m the one with the weapon, not you,” Nam-gyu lifted up the dagger to the guy’s neck. He could hear his breath hitch. “Your breath stinks, by the way,” he couldn’t help but add that, because god, his breath really did stink.
He looked livid, but Nam-gyu knew he couldn’t do anything in this situation. He almost laughed. He enjoyed having all the power in his hands. Though, he could get taken off guard and get the dagger snatched from his hands, so he made sure to hold on tight to it.
“Try anything and I’ll cut his throat right now,” Nam-gyu snarled, looking over at the other guys.
“Fuck…let him go,” their supposed leader finally exclaimed, and his little minions followed and let go off Min-su. “Just know, you aren’t free just yet.” And then, they just walked off after Nam-gyu removed that dagger from the guy’s neck.
He sighed, and turned around, “Let’s go.”
“Hm? Oh, yeah, sure…” Min-su jumped out of his trance, and walked next to him.
“Who were they?” Nam-gyu mumbled, finally lighting a cigarette and being able to smoke.
“Who you would expect, loan sharks… but they have other connections to my family too,” Min-su responded, quietly. Still seemed a bit shaken.
“Like what?”
“Er- they were family friends at some point, the big guy in the middle in particular… But then…” He hesitated.
“Don’t gotta tell me, they seem like assholes anyways.”
Min-su couldn’t help but smile a little, “Um, thank you, by the way… I didn’t expect that from you, but you really helped me back there. I don’t know how to repay you…”
“It was nothing- Se-mi?” They turned a corner, and saw Se-mi there, her leg bumping. She looked over at them once hearing him, “You’re alright?”
“Hm, yeah… What, wanted me dead?” Nam-gyu snickered.
“Maybe,” she glared at him, “I went here after seeing you both gone, and heard the commotion. I genuinely thought you were making Min-su pop a pill or something, but I saw something else… I was going to help, but you seemed to have it handled, so I just stayed here just in case… What exactly happened?”
“Loan shark stuff…I’ll tell you more later,” Min-su spoke up, “I don’t know if they were trying to just beat me up or something more, and I don’t want to know…But uh, Nam-gyu basically saved me, God knows where I’d be if he didn’t butt in. I’m grateful.”
“I can’t believe he saved you…” Se-mi muttered, “Are you alright now?” Min-su nodded.
“I didn’t “save” anybody,” Nam-gyu scoffed, and brushed past her.
He threw away his cigarette, and went back over to where he was sitting at the bar. It seemed like everyone was back, and Thanos saved his spot.
He sat back down, and chugged the rest of his glass of alcohol he left behind.
“Hey, dude- what happened? We went to dance and have fun, and then when we came back- whoosh! You both were just gone,” Thanos yelled over the music.
“Er, Min-su got jumped by this gang and stuff. It was crazy.”
“No way! Is he okay?”
“Yeah, he’s fine. I scared them away. They weren’t as tough as they looked.”
“Hell yeah, that’s cool! Make sure they never mess with my boy again.”
Nam-gyu smiled at him, and went back to scrolling on his phone. He wanted another drink, but he wanted to get out of here more than anything. Se-mi or Min-su were the ones usually driving them home after bars, since they didn’t drink, so he had to wait for them.
They eventually walked through the door, still talking about something. Se-mi walked back over to her seat, and…ordered a drink? She didn’t drink, but Nam-gyu was way too tired to think about that.
But soon after, a glass of cranberry vodka landed right next to his hand.
“Good job back there,” Se-mi said, putting it down, and going back to her seat.
That was surprising, coming from her. He almost thought she spiked the drink or something. Not that he cares.
He took the glass, and drank all of it.