powerboys | They call me baepsae

"For the most part. I don't like Minjun, he dresses like he's got no cash and it's an embarrassment. The other one I never see. Their father is okay." He was interesting, Kangwoo spoke to him once at fifteen and he said Kangwoo was a promising young boy. Promising. Neat. Kangwoo didn't mind them but they weren't much to him, he usually just ignored their existence. "They were just having a boxing match."

Kangwoo didn't think it was any cause to disown his friends. "The guy screwed them over and cheated. It's not that big of a deal."

"There is always more to things. Gang politics. For one thing, the fighter on the Kim Family side was Sangwoo. He's Minjun's head enforcer. So that makes it a more direct attack. For another, they knew I'd be there, they wanted me to witness it. Take sides." Yoongi didn't like being used like that. But that was how it went with these matters, all tangled up in each other.

"You don't need to keep track of these things. That's my job. But you do have to trust my judgement."

"You told me the new Star Wars movie was pretty good." He told him Force Awakens was pretty watchable and not a bad popcorn movie. What the hell did that even mean. Kangwoo wasn't sure how much he trusted that judgement but he knew that Yoongi had a point. He just didn't fancy ditching all of his friends over this.

"What if I got the idiots to apologise? I bet I can." He just had to make it worth their time.

"The apology won't change who they are and what they've done, I'm afraid." Yoongi ran a hand through his hair and then rubbed behind his ear, pressing his lips together. So many things to consider and very few of them were the intricacies of the Star Wars universe. "I thought it was a fun movie."

But then, he wasn't Kangwoo. "I know more about gangs than Star Wars."

The door opened and Sian returned, with the drink just as it had been ordered. He put it down in front of Kangwoo, offering a smile. "Do you want anything else?"

"No, thank you." Kangwoo nodded his head politely and then rethought it and decided to had a point to make and a willing audience so why not? "Hang on." He held up his hand and gestured for Sian to come back, looking him dead in the eyes and then asking the most important question.

"Do you think Star Wars: Force Awakens was a good movie?"

"Er." Sian's eyes widened, mostly because that was not a question he had expected. Ever. But he swallowed, smiled and then tried to think of an actual answer. "I believe it was very derivative, reliant on the nostalgia to get people hyped and I doubt it would have been a successful movie if it had to stand by itself... Although, then I guess they wouldn't have had to check off so many things from a list, right?"

Yoongi stared at the waiter, blinked and then rolled his eyes, leaning back. Well, great. Now he'd have to stop Kangwoo's Star Wars talk so he could give him the uncomfortable sex talk.

"See, that's how you describe a film. Not 'I thought it was okay'." Kangwoo gestured at Sian as a shining example and then shook his head, very displeased with his hyung. "This generation has been failed by Star Wars. Why did they have a different director for the second one? The third trailer was just clips of the other movies... it's gonna be so bad."

And he was not looking forward to it. He didn't want Star Wars to fail, not really.

Yoongi shrugged. What was he supposed to say? He'd thought it was okay. Seemed similar to the other Star Wars movies, although apparently that was a bad thing. Whatever, he'd let the surprisingly nerdy waiter take care of this.

"It might not be that bad," Sian said, hoping to cheer Kangwoo up, "I'm sure the director had a vision and he can bring it to completion now. Besides, I really think the actors are going to give it their all and there is still a story to tell. A new story. It might surprise you by being quite good. Or, if it's bad, at least there will be lots to talk about."

"... I suppose. Well, I'll give then my money regardless. I have to. They trapped me at three and I've never escaped the fandom." Well, that was a new interlude from this terrible talk. He smiled a little and then gave him a gesture to leave cause he wasn't one for small talk. "Good talk, thanks for proving my point." Leaning forward on the table, he looked at Yoongi and smirked.

"See? I told you it was just a carbon copy cash-in."

Sian bowed, smiling happily and then taking his leave, while Yoongi rolled his eyes.

"I never said that it wasn't." He just didn't care, but, well. He didn't want to bring that up again, he loved his brother. No need to upset him. "Glad you found your soulmate though." Well. He didn't want to upset him, he could still tease a little. Yoongi checked his watch. "Hobi should be here soon. No more Star Wars talk then."

"What are we talking about?"

He just wanted to be 100% clear how swiftly he should try to leave and go somewhere else. A bar he happened to like stayed open until late and if he paid for drinks, everyone would be his friend tonight. Then he didn't need Cheon. Ha. "I don't want to be here all night, hyung. So don't dance around it. Be direct."

"We are talking about consent." Yoongi might have said more, but Hobi came in just then, walking over and bowing to them, mostly to Yoongi of course, before sitting down with them.

"I came just in time, huh?" He had heard those last few words. "Hope you like your drinks. Anyway! Yes. Consent."

He smiled brightly and Yoongi looked at him. Damn it. How did he even continue? "Consent and non-consent should be a clear line, but some people claim it's a blurry line."

Hobi nodded. "For example! Anyone who has been drugged can't give consent. Anyone who is scared of the consequences should they refuse? No consent there either."

"I know what consent is." God, this was humiliating. He sat upright, crossed his arms and glared straight ahead. "If you say yes, it's consent. Like nine times out of ten. I'll give you the drug one but people who are scared should grow a pair and just say it." He didn't think that one counted but he agreed with drugging. That wasn't cool.

"And it's different with Cheon. I know this, he told me."

Oh yeah, he'd told Kangwoo some things. He leaned back, feeling pretty secure in his judgement even now. "I know he's a dirtbag and all. Not shocked, it's very true but... he doesn't rape. It's different."

Hobi did a loud buzzer sound to indicate that Kangwoo's answer had been very wrong and Yoongi rubbed his forehead. Damn. This was going to be harder than expected.

"How is it different with Cheon?"

Hobi snorted, leaning forward as he looked at Kangwoo. "I can't wait to hear that one. Consent according to Cheon."

"He's into that weird shit, isn't he? Like the kinky bullshit. So he does this thing called domming and he gets all the control. They consent to that and then you don't have to keep reconsenting and stuff, you just do it. Whatever it is. I think whips are involved."

Wasn't really what Kangwoo was interested in but he knew the club, he knew the jist and he got that it was pretty on the level for a load of perverts.

"When people fuck around like that, they're asking to get hurt so it seems kind of stupid that I should feel bad for them. If you ask to get tied up, don't like it and want to stop, you're an idiot for putting yourself in that position in the first place." Oh yeah. This was not gonna be easy. "I don't have empathy for dumb people."

"I'm a dom." Hobi just said it, while Yoongi strongly considered the upsides to not being here. But, no. He had to do this, for his brother's sake. "There are rules. Consent matters more than ever to a dom. I'd never do anything to anyone if they weren't okay with it. If I did that, I'd just be a torturer. A sadist. That's all Cheon is. All he told you is a bunch of bullshit. I wonder if he believes it himself."

"I doubt Cheon considers the people he uses to be human." Yoongi just couldn't believe he would.

"This lecture should count as torture." Kangwoo mumbled as he slumped forward, head in his hands, unsure what they were getting at. "This stuff is just -- I don't know, I don't care. He told me what it's about and I told him not to bug me with it. I said we didn't deal in it. It's like a hobby, it's not a business thing. I'm not linked to it."

He wasn't really into kinky sex that much. He did like hurting people but it seemed weird to bring that into the bedroom. "Besides, most of Cheon's guys are those thai boys and you know what they're like."

"I know what they are like. Human, for one thing. Not all of them are Thai, but even if they were..." Hobi fell silent when Sian came back in to hand him his drink, bowing in front of all of them and, yes, smiling at little at Kangwoo. He had enjoyed their little Star Wars talk.

Evidently the two Min brothers were not enjoying the current talk. Sian wanted to leave again, but Hobi stopped him. "Sian-ssi, you worked for the Dark Dragons, didn't you?"

Sian blinked, then nodded. "For a bit."

"Why did you stop?"

By now, Sian was blushing. He wasn't sure what to say. The leader of the Min clan was right there! "....I-- I don't know. It's dangerous. Sad."

How very eloquent. What did he say? "I was scared."

"Then he left and came here. Look how happy he is, his hair is a rainbow." Kangwoo pointed out, gesturing at his hair. If ever there had been happier hair, he hadn't seen it. "It's smarter to leave, you know? If you're in a bad situation, you walk away from it. Like Sian did. He's smart."

He gave the Star Wars fan a thumbs up because he appreciated his common sense too.

"Cheon doesn't force people to work for him, they have the choice to leave."

"...I didn't have the choice. Hoseok-nim helped me. I was trapped. But I was lucky, I knew Korean. It's harder for some of the others." And a lot of them he still worried over, quite a lot. "If Cheon-nim finds out you're thinking about leaving, you get whipped."

At the very least. Hobi reached out to take Sian's hand, pulling him closer and then gesturing for him to sit down, which he did. Even if he was clearly still feeling very unsure.

"He took my passport and driver's license."

"Yeah, he likes his whips." Kangwoo didn't know what else to day cause he didn't know it that well but he did know that Cheon kept whips on some of his walls. He told Kangwoo not to worry about it and he tried not to. It made life easier. "I mean, he's a jerk. I'm not defending. I think he's a dick but --"

But he was Kangwoo's social life and he kind of wanted to keep that.

"He and Jaebum are bad, I get it, I'll nab some cash from them and make it all square." He was sure some money would smooth stuff over. It usually did.

"I think they are like the Emperor. Or worse." Sian muttered it and Hobi was confused. He had no idea what he was even talking about.

"Sian speaks three different languages or more, sometimes I can't follow him." He shrugged and Yoongi shook his head.

"That wasn't a different language, that was nerd talk. Don't mind him." Might actually get through to Kangwoo. "What's the deal with the cash, Kang-ah?"

"The emperor? I guess... he kind of is. Not as old but just as ugly." He shrugged his shoulders and then looked at his brother, briefly giving Sian a look before turning back to Yoongi. "Everyone likes cash. He gives people cash to overlook stuff all the time. And it works. Even in the Kim Family and the Min Clan, he told me some of the guys he'd paid to walk away."

Which was dodgy, he knew, but he also knew what money meant. Cheon had showed him. "I mean... I wouldn't have friends if I didn't have money. Money is a language. No one comes near me but I buy a few drinks and they all want to be pals."

It was sad but to Kangwoo, very true. "So if Cheon offers some cash, I bet we can just-- move on from this."

"...you can't pay off Min Yoongi." Hobi was pretty much just fake whispering, but he felt as if someone had to tell Kangwoo. He knew that Kangwoo had a different approach to life a lot of the time, but it was interesting to see how the roles they had been raised for had shaped them as well. "And if there's clan members taking money from the Dark Dragons, you should tell."

Yoongi gave a nod, a bit taken aback. Damn, there were a lot of holes in Kangwoo's education. And, perhaps even more importantly, his socialising. "You can have friends without money, Kang-ah..." Damn it.

Sian wasn't sure what to do, so he shuffled his feet a little. He kind of liked Kangwoo. He'd rather be talking about Star Wars.

"No, I can't. Don't be stupid, hyung. Name one time I made friends before I started having cash? ... Can't think of any. Yeah, thought so." Kangwoo moved from school to school until he was privately tutored to avoid embarrassment. He never did click with anyone. He talked to people his age and he hung out in extra classes sometimes but he never had a social life until he got money.

Then he knew exactly how to reel people in. All he needed was cash. "The man with the most money is the most popular man in the room. I learned that watching you and appa. You had cash and power - then people liked you. Or pretended to like you. I don't think it matters."

Kangwoo didn't need to be liked, he just liked the feeling of thinking he was liked.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject