Page 67 of Damian & Jun, Episodes 13-16
“Sold…you?”
“Sex trafficking. Your cousin has a gambling problem. Didn’t matter how much money I made him, he always needed more. Until it was too much. I don’t know what deal he signed with you, but he had another with the Merchari. Guess what his collateral was? Us. First Rei, then me.”
Sahyuk’s mouth opened and closed. He took a step back.
Point.
Jun raised both eyebrows and reached for a powder tray and fresh brush. “Didn’t know that, did you? I could have gone on for years, making you money, trying harder and harder, if he hadn’t practically stopped paying us and had me kidnapped. Was that in your agreement with him?”
“No,” Sahyuk whispered.
Jun added a touch of glitter highlight to his cheeks, blending it in. He’d never done show makeup with so little care before, but somehow his contour was on point and the wings on his eyes sharp. It was hard to care about anything other than the man with the gun behind him and Damian, who was trusting him blind.
He rubbed gloss over his lips. Later costume changes would come with a different layer of lipstick, but this first set was light on the drama.
Normal, sane thoughts collided with the insane, deadly ones. Outside in the venue, people were sitting down, chatting with friends. In here…
…he was talking to a monster.
He reached for the tag Damian had chosen for him to wear for the performance, the black and white dangle that matched his outfit.
“Don’t wear that earring,” Sahyuk snapped.
“This one?” Jun raised an eyebrow.
Bak Sakyuk held out his hand.
Jun snorted. “Fine. Have my earring. It’s a costume, anyway.” He slaps the earring into Bak Sakyuk’s palm. “You take everything else.”
“No son of mine is going to look like a girl.”
Jun raised an eyebrow, again. He had half a dozen other tags in the case, but now wasn’t the time.
Sahyuk shoved the earring in his pocket as if he'd won something. “What’s your deal with the Merchari?”
Jun narrowed his eyes, looking at his father over the barrel of the gun. The end had fallen lower. If Sahyuk pulled the trigger now, it was going to drill through his lower belly.
“Pay off your cousin’s debts through my music, or through my body, and the rest of 5N. Not that the other guys know.” Jun took a step closer. “There’s no more money, Sahyuk. Gyeong made sure of that. I’m going to be paying them for years, and that’s if they don’t lose their patience. So I don’t know what you came here hoping to collect.”
He reached past Sahyuk and tapped Damian. “Come on. It’s showtime.”
Damian lowered his hands and opened his eyes. He looked between Sahyuk and Jun. Jun jerked his head towards the door.
Sahyuk waved the gun. “I didn’t say I was finished.”
“Go ahead,” Jun said, staring squarely at him. “Shoot. Explain to our mutual friends what happened to their investment. You can be on their shit list like Gyeong. They charged him a failure-to-deliver fee, you know, when he didn’t get me properly sold last year.”
Jun stormed out the door. Damian followed him.
Jamal stepped forward, looking between both of them and the closed door.
Damian lifted a closed fist and jerked his head back towards the dressing room. Jamal held his silence until they were a few paces closer to the stage. “Sir?”
Damian cleared his throat. “Bak Sakyuk is inside with a gun. See if he’ll leave the venue on his own.”
Jun forced a grateful smile. An arrest for a gun would stop the concert and damage their comeback. But worse, it would put their plan in peril, the one they’d been working on for months.
Jamal touched his head set, immediately sending out a code.
