The elevator ride down was dead quiet. Forrest and Robin walked silently, faces turned towards the ground. She suspected that the two were embarrassed by the ordeal on the rooftop.
Standing at the doorway of the building was Grape, the pile of cigarette butts at his feet having doubled since she last saw him. She’d bumped into him on her way up to the rooftop, and she didn’t need to look at the ground to tell that he’d been stress smoking. The boy reeked of smoke.
She’d regarded him with a click of her tongue and a small look of sympathy before rushing upstairs– she supposed hearing the words ‘Wolf Keum’ alone were already enough to give him a panic attack. Poor baby.
“What did that fucker say?” Grape cut through the thick silence, returning to his position behind Forrest as he shoved his hands into his pockets, the expression on his face making it obvious that he only expected the worst. Not that she blamed him.
“The money and files got stolen.” Forrest informed him, and Grape nodded soundlessly. Had it been someone else he might’ve made a derisive joke, but he seemed to be worried that if he even opened his mouth, Wolf Keum would swoop down like an eagle and swallow him whole. Maybe he just didn’t want to take the risk.
The four of them continued to walk quietly, before Forrest Lee spoke again. Perhaps he’d wanted to break the silence, or perhaps he’d just been waiting till they were a safe distance away from Ganghak to talk.
“So you’ll be working with that bastard from now on, huh Bambi?” Forrest glanced to the side to look at her, and she studied his face. He looked grim, though she thought she could spot a hint of relief too. He was probably just glad he didn’t have to face the Big Bad Wolf alone anymore.
“Yeah.” She slowed down as the quartet reached a bus stop, and the three boys stopped with her. Her bus was already there, slowing down as it reached the stop. “I’m gonna go now. Bye.”
She barely heard the perfect sync of goodbyes from the boys as she turned around, long brown hair swishing behind her, and stepped onto the vehicle.
~
It’d been about an hour since this meeting had started, and Bambi was starting to get restless. The last sixty minutes, she’d been standing behind Donald’s armchair, watching as he talked to the new client sitting across from them.
The new business partner was another wrinkly man in his sixties with a failing business, desperate for Donald’s help. The news of KHG’s big break had spread through the grapevine, and now businessmen were swarming around Donald like he was the second coming of Christ. Because of that, they’d seen a pretty large increase in their commissions. What a blessed new year.
The old man seemed to be wrapping the meeting up now, sticking his hand out to Donald, both anxiety and excitement displayed on his face at the idea of all the money he was about to make.
She didn’t pay further attention to any of the other words exchanged between the two, turning her focus instead to the clock on the wall (9pm) and both her mental and physical exhaustion. Thank God it’s finally over. Kingsley, who had stood by her side until now, followed the man on his way out to guide him downstairs, leaving Donald and Bambi alone behind him.
The room fell silent after the door snapped shut.
Bambi tapped her foot nervously.
Usually she preferred silence, but with Donald the quiet always felt suffocating. Like even breathing would make an avalanche of noise. Like there were a thousand thoughts running through his head at once, and she was missing out on every single one of them.
Donald didn’t seem to be bothered by the lack of noise though, standing up and making his way to the other side of the office wordlessly. Bambi leaned back to rest her body weight on the chair, watching as he stood in front of the large window, his hands clasped behind his back.
Perhaps to a bystander, it may have seemed like he was admiring the view. But she didn’t need to look to know that he was watching her in the reflection, his red eyes trained on her like a hawk. Staying as still as possible under Donald’s gaze proved to be a challenge, and she found herself fiddling with her fingers anxiously as she forced herself to meet his gaze in the glass.
She felt like he knew that he was torturing her with his silence– like he enjoyed her attention, enjoyed watching her hang on to his every movement, waiting for more.
After all, all she wanted was to know him better.
Ever since she first joined the Union, she’d felt an unexplainable magnetic pull towards Donald Na. It was as if he were the sun, and she was just a small insignificant dwarf planet rotating around him.
He had charisma, and what seemed like infinite confidence capable of making even her nervous. From the moment she’d first set eyes on him, she’d made it her lifelong goal to unravel the mystery of who Donald Na really was.
Plus, Donald was nice, which made it easier. Not nice in the way where he’d hold open doors for you or smile at you in the street, but where he’d make small talk and pretend to care about your personal life. Not that she was stupid enough to actually mistake this for friendship– he did this with everybody, even the executives he beat up. Just another thing that came built in with his alluring personality– but it opened up a door for her to actually know him. The person past the intimidating stare and massive displays of wealth that she now realised looked a lot like a form of protection.
She relished in the attention that he gave her, though admitting it made her feel somewhat embarrassed. It was like she’d deciphered a puzzle no one else could solve, except she was really only halfway to the answer– even after all the time they’d spent together, it still felt like she’d barely scraped the surface of who Donald Na really was. Well, she wasn’t gonna stop now.
No matter how much it went against her better judgement.
“It’s late. You should go home.” Donald had finally looked away from her, his attention turned to the streets below, and she felt a pang of jealousy. The tone he’d used was casual enough, but she knew the statement was more than a simple formality.
So, instead of saying her goodbyes, she walked towards his desk slowly, almost defiantly, fighting the urge to smile as his eyes finally left the window and followed her across the room till she was right behind him.
Dragging out the silence, she spoke slowly. “What about you?”
Donald turned slightly at her question, and his red eyes glinted, as if he was amused by her deliberate slowed pace. Often, she went so quick everybody around her found it hard to keep up. But when it came to Donald, it felt like she had to go slow, or she’d miss out something essential and never catch up. She knew he knew it too.
She stopped herself from huffing. Not her fault being around him felt like walking in a minefield. He let out a small breath of air, deadpan expression melting into a smirk. She wanted to ask him what he thought was so funny.
“I have work to do.”
Both pairs of eyes flicked down to the stack of files on his desk, and Bambi nodded in understanding. It wasn’t rare to see Donald working late into the night, a small frown on his face as he read through reports and legal documents, and who knows what else. Sometimes he fell asleep at his desk, head resting on his arms, a rare moment of vulnerability for someone as vicious as Donald Na.
“Would you like tea? Or coffee?” Bambi was already turning towards the door, though her eyes stayed fixed on him.
Donald smiled, tapping on his desk.
“Coffee will do.”
Fuck, where is she?
She’d called him the night before to ask for the designated pick up time, but ten minutes had already passed since the agreed timing and Bambi was still nowhere to be seen.
Admittedly, Forrest felt a little embarrassed for eagerly anticipating Bambi’s arrival like she was some knight in shining armour and he was a damsel in distress, but when you were facing a real life villain that would make any fairytale antagonist piss their pants, you needed all the protection you could get.
He’d felt relieved when she informed him that she would be tagging along to observe the pickup with Ganghak– for what reason, he didn’t know.
He doubted that Wolf would be happy with the decision, but as long as it meant that Forrest and his friends would be free from both psychological and physical damage, he didn’t give a damn about what the boy felt,
But regardless of what she’d said the night before, Bambi was still a no-show. And Forrest Lee was paying for it big time.
“I said I’ll make sure to take care of the money that got stolen. And yet you dare intimidate me with Donald Na?”
Wolf grabbed him by his hair, yanking his head down towards till their eyes were levelled.
“You dare do that to me? Have you forgotten who I am?”
Fuck. It became harder to evade Wolf Keum’s eyes as he leaned in closer to his face. Fuck. He was vaguely aware of Robin cowering behind him, and he was glad he left Grapes waiting downstairs. Where is Bambi? This was the exact scenario Forrest had wanted to avoid.
Where the hell is she?
Just as Forrest was about to resign to his fate, his panicking was cut short by footsteps and a familiar voice.
“What’s going on?”
Relief flooded his body.
Thank fucking goodness.
~
Bambi had never had a favourable impression of Wolf Keum, not when she first set eyes on him, not when Sam Lee recounted the days where he was bullied by Wolf, not when he and his little gang of assholes nearly ran her over with their motorbikes, and definitely not when she walked in on him about to beat the shit out of Forrest Lee.
She had been nearly ten minutes late to the pick up due to an unexpected holdup, and was not in the best of moods even before she watched as Wolf Keum entangled his fingers in Forrest's hair, pulling down on it so harshly she was worried that Forrest would go bald before he even hit twenty.
After all the time she’d spent alongside Donald Na, she’d learnt how to keep her emotions from being public display. Despite that, she still had to physically stop her jaw from dropping at the sight in front of her. However, even if she did let it hang loose from shock, she doubted that anyone would’ve noticed it anyways. Aside from Wolf and Forrest, the only other people present were Robin Ha, and two other boys from Ganghak.
Robin stood with his back to her, his head lowered to face the ground and his shoulders slumped in what seemed like a pathetic attempt to shrink all six feet of himself to avoid looking at his fallen leader. Wolf’s two lieutenants stood at the other end of the rooftop, facing the elevator. If their eyes weren’t so glued to the scene in front of them, they probably would’ve noticed her arrival. In the centre of it all, was Wolf Keum and Forrest Lee, the former grabbing the latter by the hair as he leaned in closer to Forrest’s face.
Her first reaction was to butt in and stop Wolf (an impulse that EMBARRASSED her)– what overwhelmed her shock at his actions was her worry for Forrest Lee. It was pitiful watching the school head be reduced to a mere ragdoll in front of Wolf Keum, especially since she knew of his assaulter’s formidability. The choice of action she decided to take however, was to stand by and watch silently, crossing her arms over her chest.
Just like how she’d learned to control her facial expressions, she’d learnt how to control the way she acted too. Rushing into a fight to stop it just reeked of desperation, which was the last thing she wanted to show around delinquents, or anyone, really. Observing silently and collecting information was the smart thing to do. An uncaring, cool and collected image had already been built for the higher ups of the Union, and she’d be an idiot to not utilise it.
Not that she wasn’t entirely unaffected by the violence that had become her everyday life– contrary to the opinions of many Union members, she wasn’t totally callous and apathetic (or in their words, a “stuck up bitch”). She wasn’t Kingsley. She had loads of empathy. She just found it easy for her to watch delinquents that weren’t her friends get beat up since she knew better than to waste her empathy on them.
Asides from worry, another emotion that had wormed her way into her heart while she watched the scene in front of her was anger, something she was much more familiar with.
What does he think he’s doing?
Was Wolf really stupid enough to attack another executive? Perhaps stupid had been the wrong word, Wolf had brains after all. Crazy would’ve worked much better.
She knew she should’ve known better than to let Wolf’s actions shock her, but she couldn’t help but feel surprised at the boy’s brazenness. Not that they weren’t perfectly in character for the bastard.
The boy hadn’t been branded as the Union wildcard for no good reason– the big, bad, Wolf with sharp teeth and large claws. A powerful and scary delinquent, no doubt, but still a delinquent, who probably only started smoking because they thought it looked cool, and thought every little insult had to be resolved with violence. At the end of the day, he was just a teenage boy who thought he was hot shit just because he had a couple of wins under his belt.
Wolf was saying something else now, and she turned her attention towards him. She raised an eyebrow. The boy was still unaware of her presence, moving so close to Forrest’s face she might’ve thought that he was going in for a kiss.
“I said I’ll make sure to take care of the money that got stolen, yet you dare intimidate me with Donald Na?”
Stolen money? Her anger on Forrest’s behalf had been forgotten, her body temperature rising significantly before dropping again. An unpleasant chill ran through her body, like someone had dumped a bucket of ice over her head.
Wolf was now saying something about his name, but she tuned it out. Stolen money? That explained why she hadn’t seen any bags on the rooftop.
In the Union, it wasn’t rare to see members fuck up their missions. Sure, maybe it'd get them a slap or two from their assigned executive, or a lecture from Donald Na himself, depending on the importance of the task, but it was rarely that serious. Losing money, however, was practically a death penalty.
She exhaled, marching towards the two boys in front of her. She’d seen enough.
“What’s going on?”
Every head turned at the sound of her voice, all with varying reactions, though shock seemed to be a common factor in all of them.
Robin and Forrest’s faces leaned more towards relief, albeit mixed with humiliation. Hayden and Hwangmo, on the other hand, seemed to physically freeze up as her gaze swept over them and onto Wolf Keum, whose face had hardened at the sight of her with obvious unhappiness. Reluctantly, he let go of Forrest Lee.
If it wasn’t for the sense of foreboding descending unto her, she would’ve rolled her eyes.
She didn’t stop walking forward until she was a short distance away from Wolf. He’d switched most of his scowl out with the blank stare he kept on while around Donald Na, though there was still a hint of petulance in it that Bambi didn’t like.
“What stolen money?” The sharp edge in her voice went unnoticed by none.
“...I didn’t know you were coming.”
An eyebrow shot up.
“Clearly.” She scoffed. “Now answer my question.”
“What stolen money?”
This time, Wolf didn’t bother to hide his anger, letting it seep into his voice as he replied, though he at least had the sense to lower his gaze.
“The expenditure payment got stolen by a bunch of guys from Eunjang. We’re looking for them right now.”
She didn’t know whether to be shocked or infuriated. She settled for a mix of both. “You lost the money?”
Wolf opened his mouth, but she cut in before he could speak. “No wait, you let it get stolen?” Wolf tensed, but she paid no mind to it, thinking about how she would break the news to Donald. He would not be happy.
All the money, and some important files too, were kept in a big locked bag for safekeeping while it was being transported. Though it was an inconvenient method when compared to digital transactions, it made sure the money- and the Union- never left a trace. However, its weakness was that it also opened up the possibility of intervention from outside sources, which meant that it was the responsibility of the members of the Union to keep it safe.
That obviously hadn’t worked.
“Who lost it?” Narrowing her eyes, she glanced at two boys behind Wolf, who flinched in return.
“It wasn’t them.” Wolf said sharply, though Bambi noted that unlike how other leaders in the Union might’ve reacted, he sounded more annoyed than defensive. “It was two other guys. I’ve already punished them, so relax.”
For the second time that day, she had to stop her jaw from hanging open at his stunning display of audacity. Relax. He really was a peculiar bastard, wasn’t he? First, he’d grabbed another executive by the hair. Then he’d lost the expenditure payment. And now he was telling her to relax.
She released a massive frustration filled sigh.
“Wolf.”
A heavy silence rested on the rooftop as she paused. When she finally spoke again, her voice was dangerously low.
“It’s a simple job. Donald Na entrusted you with this himself, and he doesn’t have time for incompetency, so fix this quickly.” She practically spat out the last part, voice full of venom. “Get the money back by tomorrow or I’ll be telling him about your mistake.”
She started to turn, motioning towards Forrest and Robin to follow her as she made her way to the elevator. “We’re done here for now.”
“Oh, right,” She paused suddenly, swivelling her head to look at him again. “I’m sure you know the rules on attacking another Union member well enough, so keep your hands to yourself next time, yeah?” She sent him a scathing look. “Try to get your shit together now.”
As she entered the lift, she had the distinct feeling that Wolf was glaring holes through her back. She frowned. She had a suspicion neither of them particularly liked each other.
Having a full time job working for a criminal empire had unexpected cons, and missing meals on the regular was one of them.
It was 9.40pm in Seoul, and Bambi was on the bus home from work with an empty stomach. After her talk with Forrest Lee at Hyeongshin, she had a bunch of tasks that took a couple more hours to complete before she could finally clock out and head home.
She regretted her choice of not eating before she left for home; she wanted to reach her house quickly so she could start on her boatload of school work, and now she was paying for it with absolutely crippling gastric pains. Just because she had a high rank in the Union didn’t mean she had the physical endurance of her subordinates.
The bus she was on hadn’t been doing a very good job of delivering her to her destination quickly either, driving so slowly the entire ride that Bambi was surprised it hadn’t been pulled over as a safety hazard, and suddenly coming to a halt at the red light, just metres from her stop. She let out a heavy sigh, unconcerned with the sharp look that the lady sitting next to her gave her.
It seemed like the universe was determined to kill her from starvation. Forget getting home to do work, she was gonna die in this bus. If she waited any longer, a flock of vultures would probably start circling around her head.
As if it had heard her internal complaints, the light turned green, and the bus started to move again, making its way to her stop. Fucking finally. Maybe God does exist.
The doors of the bus slid open, and fresh air gushed in, tickling Bambi’s face as she stepped off the vehicle and into the outside world. Though the bus wasn’t carrying many people, the streets of Yeongdeungpo were still full, and the bright lights and heavy traffic made it feel like it was still day.
Her apartment was only a quick walk from the bus stop, so it wouldn’t take too long for her to reach home and get dinner from the convenience store underneath, but the short trip didn’t stop her from brisk walking as swiftly as possible in order to arrive as soon as she possibly could. Perhaps running would’ve allowed her to reach faster, but that made her sweaty, and depleted the little energy in her famished body that she had left after her long day of work. Screw this job, seriously.
At least her boss and her coworkers (which was. Just Kingsley) suffered the same fate. And honestly, she thought she had it better than they did. Maybe keeping the delinquents in check was tiring, but it was the lesser of two evils. Kingsley’s job of following Donald around the whole day sounded fucking boring- she’d sat in on some of Donald’s meetings herself and she nearly fell asleep every time. And she couldn’t even imagine being Donald Na himself.
Speaking of Donald and Kingsley, she wondered what the two of them were doing at the moment. They usually wrapped up around nine, but sometimes their business matters leached into their free time, and they wouldn’t get off work until ten or so-
Her phone rang, snapping her out of her own thoughts.
She rolled her eyes as she checked the caller ID. Speak of the devil.
“What?”
“We’re having dinner.” Kingsley Kwan’s monotonic voice was muffled by the sounds of traffic, and she pressed her ear closer to her phone in order to hear what he was saying. “I’ve sent you the location. Do you want to join us?”
No need to guess what ‘we’ meant. Unless Kingsley had very suddenly (and very uncharacteristically) added a new person to his social circle, which Bambi thought was as likely as him growing an extra head, or perhaps changing his hairstyle to something more fashionable, it meant he was having dinner with Donald Na.
Which also meant, they were probably at some nice, expensive restaurant, while she was brisk walking home deluding herself into believing that she wasn’t actually that hungry anyways.
She sighed exaggeratedly as she considered her options, loud enough for Kingsley to hear. By the time she reached the restaurant, they’d probably already be done with their meal. What a shame; Donald always paid too.
“So nice of you to think of me, Kingsley.” She said into the phone, a sneer apparent in her voice. She knew he wouldn’t take it seriously anyways. “But I’m nearly home. Sorry.”
She and Kingsley were sort of friends, where they both understood and cared for one another, except with the care part left out.
Due to the isolating nature of their jobs, Kingsley was the only person she hung around on an everyday basis who also worked directly for Donald. The large amount of time that they both spent around each other led to a mutual understanding between the two; they could empathise with each other’s problems, hold a conversation without it being awkward, and banter with one another without coming off as overly familiar.
But also because of the nature of their jobs, every interaction with one another was always laced with the underlying awareness that at the end of the day, they’d both choose the wellbeing of the Union over the other. Or in Kingsley’s case, he’d choose Donald over her.
Like she’d said, the Union benefited from disloyalty.
She paused for a moment, before adding on. “Thank Donald for me.”
“Hold on.” Kingsley’s side of the call was silent for a moment, though she heard hushed talking in the background, and then shuffling like the phone was being passed over.
“Bambi. How is Hyeongshin doing?” Unlike his second in command, Donald spoke at a slow pace with a lowered voice; a voice that commandeered attention and respect. Even from behind a phone screen, it still put her a little on edge.
“I informed them about the dip in sales. Forrest Lee assured me that he’d take care of it. Other than that, I think they’re handling everything well. Tomorrow they’re heading over to Ganghak to make a pick up for KHG, I told Forrest to inform me once it’s done.”
“Good.”
Donald paused, and Bambi held her breath for whatever might come next. Though it had been ages since she’d last been reprimanded (and she intended to keep it that way) you never really knew with Donald Na. He liked to take his time while speaking to collect his thoughts, unbothered by the nerves of those around him.
“From now on, make sure you keep as close an eye as possible on the executives. Make sure to make use of the observers that I’ve planted around Yeongdeungpo.”
The observers were Union members whose jobs were to bring any suspicious activity to Bambi’s attention so that she could investigate it and take care of the matter. To pluck out any weed before it had the chance to grow.
“After all that’s happened with Eunjang and Myles’s excommunication, we need some time to restabilise. While that’s happening, we can’t let anyone take advantage of the weakened state of the Union, especially with the new businesses that require our attention. Report anything out of the ordinary to me.”
“...Okay.” Bambi heard silence in response, before the robotic beep of Donald hanging up.
Donald was right to be concerned. The boys in the Union were the type to cause trouble regardless of how many times Donald Na had demonstrated his power. In order to keep them in line, he’d have to maintain a tight grip on their leashes at all times.
She sighed as she approached the convenience store under her apartment flat. What sounded better, microwave heated pasta or pizza?
Her mind wandered to the pick up that was due to happen the next day.
It was just a simple exchange- Ganghak was just transporting the money to Hyeongshin so that they could drop it off again somewhere else. The Union executives did it all time, so there had never been a real need for Bambi to keep an eye on them while doing it.
Even now, after Donald’s instructions, she doubted that he needed her to watch over every single transaction done in the Union. However, he did order her to observe them as carefully as possible, and she was in the area tomorrow…
She scrolled through Kakaotalk, clicking the call icon on a certain contact as she pushed the door to the store open.
“Hey Forrest, there’s been a change of plans…”
~
okay so i'm a lot happier with this chapter than my other ones. for one, i gave myself more time to write this. i know i just posted chapter 3 so it might look like i rushed this chapter in two days, but it was actually supposed to be posted on tumblr two weeks ago. i just forgot about it after posting on ao3.
Though Yeongdeungpo was by no means a great neighbourhood- with its graffitied walls and copious amounts of street violence- Bambi was unable to get used to the crumbling walls and dirty streets that were distinct features of the area surrounding Hyeongshin.
The school itself seemed a little dingy, with shabby furniture and even shabbier students, so unlike Yeo-il’s pristine hallways and spotless floors. She eyed an overflowing trash can at the side of the corridor as she walked through, before turning away and sighing.
Whatever. She wasn’t a judgemental person. (She was).
She was headed to Hyeongshin’s meeting room, the usual meet up spot for when she came to do business with Forrest Lee. Despite the not-so-stellar quality of the school, she was in a good mood, as she always was when she was about to meet up with Forrest Lee, though it was a little dampened by the news she was about to deliver to him. It had something to do with business decreasing, which would’ve been fine if it was Ganghak, or Yoosun, or anybody with a reputation accumulated after a long time.
But for someone who just lost to another school and had their management changed in the short span that they were an executive (a position that they only gained through snitching on their ex leader), it would not have been the best thing to hear.
The boys from Hyeongshin were already losing part of their commissions, who knew what Donald would do if they continued to mess up? She frowned. Donald’s wrath was something she did not want to be on the receiving end of.
By now, she was nearly off the first floor, halfway up the staircase to the second storey where the meeting room was located, right at the end of the hallway. Though it wasn’t her school, she was well acquainted with Hyeongshin’s layout due to the numerous times she’d visited.
Like Yeo-il, there weren’t many students still lingering in the hallways, most having already left the school to go to karaoke or the pool hall, or perhaps even a cram school. (She snorted a little at the thought.) However, whatever little students were left identified her immediately and soon she had a small crowd of students whipping their heads towards her at breakneck speed, giving themselves a millisecond to gawk before directing their gazes to the ground, arms stiff by their sides.
In other parts of Yeongdeungpo, when people realised of her affiliation to the Union, they tended to stare and whisper amongst themselves.
But in Hyeongshin, when the boys saw her, or any other Union member, they all grew very silent and still, parting before her like Moses and the Red Sea. It seemed like Myles Joo had them trained well.
…
Before he left, of course.
She paid no mind to them, walking through the now cleared path (though there weren’t that many people in the way in the first place) and quickening her pace as she approached the meeting room, reaching for the handle.
Hyeongshin High’s meeting room, though smaller than a regular classroom, was spacious, with a long table on one side and two couches on the other. Though, officially, its purpose was to serve as a room where the student council would gather (and that was what it was used for, at least to the knowledge of the teachers) but the students of the school were all well aware of what it really was; the gathering area for the school head and his friends.
And there the school head was, sitting across the room quietly, frowning and presumably deep in thought.
“Hey,” Bambi tossed her bag onto the couch opposite Forrest Lee, making herself comfortable, before she noticed the unusual silence in the room and the absence of two certain someones. “Where’d they go?”
Forrest seemed to immediately know who she was referring to.
Robin Ha and Sam Lee (or better known as Grape) were Forrest’s second and third in command, though they seemed to be in disagreement about who was who. The two of them followed Forrest everywhere, and it felt strange when they were gone. Grape, who earned his nickname from his curly purple hair, was the shorter and more talkative one of the duo, with a cocky personality and an overt eagerness whenever it was time to get into a fight. Robin Ha, though less talkative than his friend, was by no means less sadistic or willing to punch somebody in the face.
“Hey. Robin went for a smoke, and Grape went to look for him.”
Forrest paused a little before he continued, and the look on his face told Bambi he was only expecting the absolute worst.
“So why’d you come down here today?”
She grimaced a little; it was too bad that she was going to have to validate his fears.
“It involves KHG industries.”
“Hyeongshin’s uniform sales have dipped after your loss to Eunjang. It’s not so bad for Yoosun, since Jimmy Bae’s in charge, but you haven’t been school head for long so…”
She studied his face, and when he stayed silent, she continued.
“Anyways, just get your boys to beat a bunch of guys up, or whatever. The method doesn’t really matter, as long as Donald doesn’t lose his commission.” Bambi pursed her lips; she usually never had trouble relaying instructions, but watching Forrest Lee’s cressfallenness made her feel a little guilty. “It’s better for all of us anyways, for sales to be high.”
Her attempt to lighten the tone didn’t seem to work very well, as Forrest continued to stare down at the table in front of him, his eyes never meeting hers. There was a grim yet pensive look on his face, like he was slowly processing the information.
After a moment, he finally responded.
“Yeah, okay.”
Bambi raised an eyebrow.
She’d been around Forrest long enough to put a name to each of his mannerisms, and the tone of voice he was currently talking with was the one he used when he was down- dejectedness badly disguised as impassiveness.
Usually he was brimming with confidence, making small talk and laughing with her, the large smirk on his face one of someone who knew he had power. But today it was different. She thought back to the events of the last Union assembly, sighing inwardly as she observed his downcast form.
She didn’t have to guess to know why.
“Has Ganghak come over to collect the files yet?” She inquired, neither addressing nor ignoring the elephant in the room, choosing to awkwardly skirt around it instead.
“Robin offered to pass them to Wolf, but I’m not sure if he’s arrived yet. I’ll check later.” Forrest’s grim look seemed to worsen at the thought of Ganghak’s leader.
“Okay.”
To be fair, who could really blame Forrest for being disheartened? Bambi certainly didn’t, but she was never really good at situations like this; she was more used to just saying something snarky and leaving.
She directed her gaze back to Forrest Lee, who was now staring at the wall behind her. His eyes were narrowed, like he was contemplating something, and she sighed again, out loud this time.
“Look, man.”
Forrest finally directed his gaze towards her, seemingly apprehensive about what she was going to say.
“I don’t like this new shift in management either. But if you and Jimmy Bae handled the situation with Eunjang better, this wouldn’t’ve happened. Not to mention what happened with Myles…”
Forrest Lee flinched, and for a split second both of them recalled the events that came before Myles Joo’s excommunication.
Bambi had already been suspicious of Myles after his show of displeasure at being demoted after Jake Ji’s arrival; his obvious anger at Jake and Donald Na, and even his hostility towards her and hesitation to follow orders, which had never been a problem before. She had the observers planted around Yeongdeungpo to report to her if Myles Joo was caught acting out, before Forrest Lee came to her all of a sudden with evidence that Myles was betraying the Union.
She narrowed her eyes.
She was pretty new to the Union too at that point of time, so Forrest’s information had definitely helped her in gaining Donald’s trust. Perhaps it was considered cowardly, or disloyal, to go behind your leader’s back to rat him out, but so what? The Union benefited from disloyalty.
If the boys were just going to sit by as their leader plotted a coup, it could end up leading to the downfall of the Union. And she couldn’t let that happen, could she?
“But I guess I can’t complain, since it was beneficial for me, too.” She finished, and Forrest nodded quietly. He seemed relieved that she hadn’t drawn the topic out any longer. Nobody wanted to think about the punishment that Donald had bestowed upon Myles, and the betrayal that had led to it.
“I’m gonna go now. Don’t forget to make sure the files are handed off to Ganghak. See you.”
“Later.”
She caught a glimpse of his face as the door slammed; his expression had shifted into something steely, like the gears in his head were slowly turning.
The sky outside had turned a dark blue while she was in the meeting room. She made her way down the stairs and out of the school gate. Though the school was empty by now, the streets were busy, cars rushing past her in a stream of colour.
She stood there for a moment, idly watching the traffic before a loud roar came from behind, forcing her to jump to the side as a group of motorbikes sped past her.
(God, she fucking hated motorcycles. Every goddamn Union assembly was full of them, leaking exhaust and polluting the air.)
Bambi glared at the bikers, her eyes catching sight of their red blazers and gray slacks. Could it be? Her eyes narrowed in on the boy at the front of the group, his messy purple hair slowly becoming less visible as he sped away into the distance, turning a bend and disappearing. She grimaced.
Seems like Ganghak did come over to make a pick up after all.
It was evening time, roughly around 6' o clock.
Classes had ended about an hour ago, and the hallways had started to empty out, students heading home after a long day of school. Bambi wasn't one of them.
Instead, she did what she always did after school; receive her long list of tasks from Donald Na before he went off to do business, and then work endlessly to complete said tasks before midnight.
Manage the kids on the student council, make sure that the faculty are on the Union's side, make sure that everybody in the Union was aware of the work that they had to do (easy), and that they actually did it (not so easy).
Pay off their commissions, collect files and money, sort through paperwork, while making sure that none of the Union members were running some sort of grand scheme behind her and Donald's back.
And if they were, she had to investigate it. She could only pray that the boys in the Union would be satisfied with their roles, or else she guessed she'd have a lot more work to do. All of that, and more. Exhausting, but it was her job.
The steady stream of her schoolmate’s chattering was silenced by her making her way down the hallway, as if they’d get beaten if they merely breathed in her presence. She ignored the sudden quiet, pulling out her buzzing phone. Union members, asking for their money. Greedy little bastards.
It wouldn't kill them to wait a little while, would it?
The last few days had been hectic, to put it lightly. Asides from the trouble that the new change in management had been causing with the boys, she also had to deal with her two newfound walking headaches, Wolf Keum and Jake Ji.
The two boys were assholes, as per usual, but she was used to it being Kingsley’s problem, not hers.
She was used to working with the much more docile (or at least, as docile a Union executive could be) and competent Forrest Lee (bless his heart), and Jimmy Bae, who although wasn’t known to be the most cooperative guy, was definitely more bearable than the other two executives.
Especially after his ego got knocked down a peg after his fight with Ben Park, one of the few positive outcomes from his loss to Eunjang. She sighed, having reached the end of the hallway, making a sharp turn before heading down a staircase.
If she didn’t have to bother with the Union’s reputation and all that crap, she wouldn’t mind watching Jimmy get beat up a little more if it meant that he would finally shut his mouth.
She tucked her phone back into her skirt pocket, heading down another hallway. While infuriating and intolerable, Wolf Keum actually did his work. Jake Ji on the other hand…
She remembered she had gone down to Daehyeon at the end of the week, expecting to see a detailed mandatory weekly report on Yoosun from Jake, but was instead met with the news that he had actually ignored Donald’s order and continued with the previous method of doing things.
“Oh, I actually let Jimmy Bae handle everything on his own.”
“You did what?”
She reported the issue to Donald, though she didn’t know why she even bothered, considering how he had just laughed when she told him. She rolled her eyes as she walked out of the main door, the school gate coming into view.
Of course he did. Donald wasn’t subtle when he played favourites.
The sky above her was starting to darken, but she knew she still had a long wait till she could call it a day. Her phone buzzed; it was a message from Forrest Lee. A reply to her previous text.
i’m omw, be ready.
Okay.
Well, no point complaining.
She turned on her heel, and left for Hyeongshin High.
~~
notes: this was supposed to be posted yesterday but i forgot.
if anyone is wondering why her name is bambi, it's actually just because i created her as an OC in 2020 so i could insert her into stories without having to write in second or first person. she was just created for that purpose alone but i've grown attached to her over the past two years and her character has developed and formed a personality☺️. she does have a backstory but honestly i've inserted her in so many stories belonging to so many different fandoms (not that i posted any of them) i've decided that it doesn't really matter anymore.
she's been through so many different worlds the only thing that's consistent is her personality (at least in 2022, because her personality was really different back in 2020)
she does have a real name, but i completely forgot that putting that into the story was an option because i'm so used to just calling her by her nickname.
Thank you to @leftbrainrotsstuff for helping me come up with a title</3
--
The air felt heavy as Donald talked.
It always does.
Bambi watched the room from her position behind Donald, free from his cold gaze. Her legs ached. How long had this meeting been going on again? She couldn’t remember.
She stole a glance at her male counterpart standing next to her, resisting the urge to cross her arms over her chest, like she always did when she got impatient. Kingsley’s eyes stared straight ahead, his arms locked firmly by his sides. She scoffed inwardly. What a fucking robot.
“Bambi.” The girl blinked, pulling her focus from Kingsley’s face to her heavily tattooed boss. In front of them, a table of the most feared men in Yeongdeungpo watched wordlessly.
“Yeah?”
“You’ll collect from Ganghak and Daehyeon from now on.”
She guessed that this was probably Donald’s method of accommodating the fact that Jimmy and Forrest were supposed to report to their fellow Union executives from now on (Wow, talk about humiliation!), while expanding her workload. A two in one deal.
Though Donald had only originally approached her to help him and Kingsley with regular secretary work, as their business and payout grew, so did their workload. And eventually, it became too much for two people alone to handle on their own. So being the most capable person for the job (that wasn’t also a thug) she moved from organising files to essentially acting as a manager pretty quickly.
While Donald and Kingsley did all the business work, she kept an eye on the delinquents. She was the reason why everybody knew what needed to be done, to act as Donald’s eyes and ears, with her sway in Yeo-il’s student council and the observers that she had (allegedly) planted around Yeongdeungpo to report anything of interest to her. Whatever happened, she already knew.
Well, it wasn’t like she wasn’t expecting the change in tasks.
Even if Donald hadn’t come to her before the meeting to casually throw a heads up about her new job, she wouldn't have expected Kingsley to have the time to continue collecting files with all the new business that they were getting.
Mentally, she groaned. This was gonna take so much of her time. At least the pay is good.
(Even if she didn’t want to do it, what was she supposed to do? Tell Donald no? Get real.)
"Okay."
Donald nodded at her compliance before focusing back on the Union executives in front of him.
“Bambi will help Wolf keep an eye on Ganghak and make sure everything goes smoothly. Anything that happens will go straight to me.”
Oh, I see what he’s doing. It seemed like Donald Na had other motives rather than just ‘expanding her workload’. She should’ve known.
Bambi knew that Wolf Keum wasn’t foolish enough to miss the hidden threats in Donald’s words, and Donald knew it too.
It was a warning that if Wolf tried anything, Donald would already know. To just sit nicely in his spot as the number five on the Shuttle Patch, and not to stir up any trouble. Well, after the mess that some of the executives had made recently, it would make sense to think so.
Donald was cornering Wolf, and it was working.
Bambi watched Wolf for any sign of a reaction, his face blank as ever, though his fingers twitched in irritation at the subtle threat; a hint of his violent nature peeking out from behind the docile mask that he wore in front of Donald Na.
She sighed softly; not loud enough for the boys to catch on to her exasperation, but just enough for Donald to hear.
Jake Ji let out a small huff of air through his nose in knowing amusement, which seemed to rile Wolf up more, though he didn’t show it, aside from the way the corners of his lips pulled down slightly.
Wolf nodded slowly.
“Yeah, okay.”
“That’s all for today then.” Donald stood up, satisfied. All the other boys followed suit, leaving their untouched drinks on the table, slamming the door behind them. The meeting was finally over.