Page 41 of Damian & Jun, Episodes 13-16
He lifted his chin, not looking at the Merchari. “I told your agent to give me three days.”
“The Merchari never agreed to your time limit.”
“Your messenger did.”
“You assume you are in a position to negotiate.”
“Just because the terms are bad doesn’t mean I can’t decide whether or not to agree or bargain.”
“You’re ours.”
“No, I’m not.” Jun faced the Merchari.
“So you’re willing to risk the consequences.”
“I’m assuming you’re halfway decent at business and you actually want the debts repaid.”
The Merchari paused.
Jun cut his eyes. “What? You thought I was an idiot and going to tell you to fuck off? I don’t need three days to run the math on that.”
“Then what math were you running?”
“What kind of arrangements we could even come to, considering you and Bak Gyeong left us scrambling to have income at all.”
The Merchari grunted. “Go back to Bak.”
“As if. Cut your losses. His greatest positive to you was that he was forever in debt. He was running a lucrative business into the ground. Going by what numbers we have, he was going to have to keep selling idols into your black market every few years just to cover the interest you probably charged him on just the debt he claimed I owed him.”
The Merchari said nothing.
Jun raised his eyebrow. “I’m not fucking around with ephemeral terms like debt when actual numbers aren’t involved. 5N isn’t going to work without income again. We already carried Bak’s broke, addicted ass, my father’s expensive taste, his entire family and at least one mistress, and whatever payments Bak was making to you. And we’ve been doing it for years. The boys have to eat. Their aging parents have to eat.”
“Not our problem.”
“It is, actually.”
The Merchari stepped closer, almost as if he was about to try to intimidate Jun. Jun swung one foot to the side, leaving the Merchari at his side, unable to get in his face. A couple of people passed by. The Merchari reined himself in, stopping just short of making a threatening motion.
Jun spoke, sharply, switching to Chinese. “It’s your problem because you have a choice: a quick, dirty paycheck, if you can get us, or a long-term steady income from a successful business arrangement. You might get a couple hundred thousand each for us, maybe a million USD if you’re lucky and have the right buyer. Say you’re lucky and you sell us for five million total. You’ll spend a good portion of that covering your tracks and paying off everyone involved. Five idols don’t just disappear without outcry. And that’s if you take us clean.”
The Merchari glared at Jun through his sunglasses, saying nothing. He obviously understood the language change.
Jun continued in Chinese, even though no one was right by them at the moment. He ticked points off on his fingers. “Or you could treat this like business. You stay the fuck back and let me rescue BBB3, give me a solid accounting of Bak’s debts, and accept reasonable payments based on BBB3’s profits. 5N’s military service is done. We have another ten years in us, plus side projects. BBB3 has one other exceptional idol group. Let Bak Gyeong go to prison and let the courts hand BBB3 over to SP4700Y as compensation. Five percent of BBB3’s profits, before paying out to idols and owners would net you payments far beyond what you could expect to recoup by kidnapping and selling five men in their mid-twenties.”
The Merchari was quiet for a moment.
Jun held his ground in silence.
Finally, the man spoke, answering in the same language, a calculation in his voice that told Jun he was talking with a decision maker and not a messenger. “You’ll have to give up this foolishness with the Sathers lawyer. A few months of dalliance is nothing in the face of a career, or your freedom. Easy come, easy go.”
Jun jerked his head once, in a negative, switching back to English. “I could no more easily disappear out of Sather’s life than you could cease to be Merchari.”
The man’s eyebrows drew together.
Jun smirked. “Yes, Bak Gyeong wasn’t as brilliant as you thought. I have had a life outside of BBB3.”
“So he’s the reason you started to ask questions.”
