Page 45 of Damian & Jun, Episodes 13-16
“Oh, good. Because we thought so, but we weren’t sure.”
Damian mimed chewing on Jun’s shoulder.
Jun slapped Damian’s thigh. “Stop it, this is serious.”
“I know. I want to put you in a cage and never let you out.”
“Well, you can’t do that.” Jun took a breath and faced his team mates. “We’re getting threats, me, specifically, but by extension, all of you. Bak Gyeong had a lot of gambling debts. He owed the mob, basically. And we were collateral.”
“They’re still trying to sell us.” Su-jin’s mind was fast.
Jun nodded. “They approached me to force us all to go back to working for Bak. I refused. If we do that, he’ll try what he did in December all over again. Instead, we’re playing a game, a dangerous game. With some help from friends.” Jun tilted his head towards Émeric. “I can’t give everyone’s names; it would put them in danger. Right now, actually, tonight, one of the Merchari, the mob, came to talk to me. We bargained. I’ve offered to give them a percentage of 5N’s profits to pay off Bak’s debt in return for them leaving us alone. They’ve suggested it would be faster and easier to just sell all of us on the black market. It’s what they’ve done before, with Rei.”
Silence passed through the room. For a long time, no one said anything. Jun gathered himself and went on.
“Offering to pay them off is cover for what we’re actually planning. No matter how much money we give them, we’ll never be free of them. My father is part of the Merchari. He was controlling and taking money from us through SP4700Y. Nominally, they want everything back. They want the kind of money they were making off of us before.”
“That’s not possible,” Yohei said. “We’ve gone public.”
Jun nodded. “Richard, Émeric, Damian, others, they’re working to bring the Merchari down. Through all of this, they finally have a chance to hold them accountable. But until everything is in place, until they can arrest enough of the Merchari all at once, we’re stuck playing bait and bargaining for time.”
“How long?” Jaewoong asked.
“Not sure,” Émeric said. “Hoping for the middle of your tour. Before that would be better.”
“I’ve bargained for a year, that the Merchari gives me a year to prove that leaving 5N as an independent unit under our own leadership is a better business investment than selling us or forcing us back under Bak’s direction.”
“Bak wasted money,” Su-jin said.
Jun nodded. “I pointed that out. Until tonight, they were keeping their distance and mostly making their attacks about me, since SP4700Y is in my name, and the properties my father controlled are in my name. But they’ve brought you all into it as well. You deserved to know.”
“You said they took Rei,” Geun said, softly. “How do you know?”
“They told me. I saw Rei,” Jun said softly. “And if we play our cards right, if everyone who’s working on this plays their cards right, we’ll get Rei back.”
Everyone traded looks. Su-jin’s eyes glimmered with tears. Jaewoong gave a suspiciously wet sniff. Yohei bowed his head, hiding his face.
“Bak sold Rei,” Geun said.
“Yes.” Jun dug his fingers into Damian’s thigh, anchoring himself.
“I’m going to fucking kill him. I mean, he already deserved it, for selling you…”
“But I got away. It was only a few hours. Rei’s…”
“Rei’s been gone for years,” Geun whispered. “You mean to say… all this time… he was like you, when you were…kidnapped.”
Jun nodded.
Heavy silence settled for a long moment.
“We’re being watched,” Jun said. “We can’t say his name. We can’t talk about it unless security gives us permission. This place has been checked for bugs. But nothing, nothing about this conversation can go anywhere. We’d be putting him in danger. We’d be putting everyone working on taking them down in danger.”
“That’s why you didn’t say anything before,” Yohei nodded to himself. “I’m sorry you had to carry that on your own.”
“He wasn’t alone,” Damian said.
Yohei met Damian’s eyes and nodded. “Good.”
