Surprise
It's just a short ride and they stopped at a well known night club, the Moonlight Lounge. Different scenarios surge on Li Jie's mind that he needs to be dragged out of the car.
"Let fucking go of me! I can walk!" Jie said fiercely to toughen himself up.
The guy only looked at him and the other sneered. The scary muscled guy guarding outside the club asked for the identity of the two men with him before they were allowed to pass.
They were welcomed with a loud blast of the club's music, although wide but felt crowded because of the hundreds of people inside. It's not too dark, just enough for everyone to see each other's faces however the dancing light was making Jie dizzy. 'Am I really gonna work here? What, as a prostitute?' Jie thought silently as they entered the place. There's no way he'll let himself be a prostitute. Over his dead ass body.
"Mr. Corleone, Mr. Morelli," a middle aged looking man approached them amidst the loud crowd "The boss is waiting on VIP 8."
As if he only noticed, he looked at the two men with a questioning look.
"A new guy, I'll leave him in your care for now. Have him do whatever necessary for the meantime," the stern guy said without even throwing a glance.
"Will do, Mr. Corleone. Come, child." the man said as if he's welcoming a guest.
All of a sudden the other guy took Jie by his collar, "Try to escape and we'll hunt down every person close to you. Etch this in your mind, we don't miss," he threatens, glared down on him. Jie gritted his teeth, damn he wanted to poke this asshole's eyes out.
"That's enough. He'll be dealt with later," the stern guy interfered and prepared to leave.
The guy holding Jie squinted his eyes before letting him go, slightly pushing, and did the 'I am watching you' sign until the crowd lost them.
"Tsk tsk! That child never changes. I'm Han Yu, you can just call me Mr. Han or Han Yu if you want. Now follow me, you need to change into working clothes. The boss hates disorderness in his property," the man stated and started to slowly walk away. Li Jie was hesitant but followed him anyway, slipping in between every person in his way however annoyed. Fuck, how he hates crowded places.
"It hasn't been that long since the Moonlight Lounge was built but it's made its name widely so I expect that you have already heard of this place. I am the club's manager. I understand that you must be nervous coming in here but it's not as bad as you think it is. Workers here have the privilege of choosing how they could earn money to pay for their debt since most workers are brought here by those two who are indebted to the organization. Though serving customers in that way earns a lot of money, you can always choose to serve customers by bringing in their orders. Though, the tips are not that great compared to the latter. We have a lot of guys like you, you will warm up anytime soon."
'He's blabbering' Jie can only say in his thoughts. He's not planning to stay here for long anyway, thus such information is unnecessary.
The manager keeps on talking until they reach the locker room. "Oh, you don't have to be so wary of me, I'm a beta. I can tell that you're an omega so let me tell you to keep an eye for yourself around here."
'Oh no, it's them who should keep their eyes on themselves or I'll have to keep it out of themselves' he retaliated but chose to keep silent.
When they entered the locker room, according to Han Yu, a slender guy was there with half of his body inside the opened locker.
"Aish, where could it be? I'm sure it was in here," he mumbles but in a foreign language, Jie doesn't understand.
"Taewon, why are you still here?" the manager asked.
The guy, Taewon, distracted by what he was looking for, was startled by the voice of the manager and bumped his head inside the locker.
"Manager Hanyu sir." The guy named Taewon trailed before taking his head out of the locker. "Hehe, I was looking for my pill. Do you happen to see it?" he sheepishly asked.
He has a cute face, a slender body, fair skin, and is a little shorter than Jie. Another omega, perhaps. Does this place flood with omega?
The manager grabbed the nearest towel and beat Taewon with it, scolding. "You rascal! I told you to stop drinking that."
"Ouch! Manager sir, I would. I would. I was looking for it so that I could throw it but somebody must have sneaked in my locker for it." Taewon defended himself from the attacks by the manager.
The manager finally stopped. "It's gone now, it can't be helped. Don't purchase those kinds of pills, I'm warning you."
Taewon just laughed at him. Then he raised his head to Li Jie and smiled warmly. "You must be a new guy. Hi! My name's Im Taewon, you can just call me Taewon-ya. Man, they brought a lot of people here this week huh. This is my hundredth time introducing myself this week. Well not a hundredth but well I lost count," he blabbered then laughed at himself. "Gosh, how rude of me, I'm blabbering, aren't I?"
Jie remained a straight face the whole time. His guts are telling him that this person may, will be, the loudest in his short stay here. "Anyway, it's nice to meet you. It's always nice for me to meet new people," he beamed once more, took Jie's hand and shook it aggressively. "And you are?"
"Oh that reminds me, you haven't introduced yourself, child." If the manager didn't mediate, Jie would probably have forgotten his presence in this room.
It's not like he cared, and he's planning to leave the club immediately anyway, it wouldn't hurt to tell them his name.
After the 'unnecessary' self-introductions and 'getting to know each other', the manager instructed Taewon to accompany Jie for the time being while Jie adjusts to his new work. Taewon was ecstatic to obey and dragged Jie around from introducing him to other club staff that they would pass by, serving drinks on tables, to serving in VIP rooms.
The night was going well if not for this walking, talking unlimited news channel plus the blasting music across the whole place, Jie might reconsider that this day isn't that sooo bad. Right, as if it isn't. Being sold off to a dangerous organization was bad enough, he knows that much. As if it's not enough, he was now working in the place he vowed to never step foot. And lastly, the nasty smell of pheromones and cigarettes he has been enduring from the moment he entered the club.
His eyes found Taewon a few steps away from him, happily conversing with a customer. How long has he been here? The smell in here is disgustingly pungent and Taewon hasn't shown a bit of discomfort while Jie can't help himself from frowning.
"Oh you'll get used to it. I was like—bleeghh!, the whole time when I first arrived," he confessed while they waited for an order to be prepared. Jie never said a thought but Taewon must have noticed him frowning and scrunched his nose a couple of times while they're working.
The night was long and the whole place became hectic and more lively. Reluctant, Jie did what he can at the moment. He'll plan how to leave this place later after everything dies down. But what if he ever is able to leave this place, what then? They might come after his mother and Jie knows best not to mess with people who has both money and power to fuck other people's lives. It would be impossible that these people don't know his relationship with Yue, even if they didn't, they will eventually know. Then escaping might endanger not just his mother but Yue too.
'Yue. I hope you're in a better situation than I am.'
A high-pitched shriek sliced through Jie's thoughts. Before he could even register surprise, a hand clamped around his arm, yanking him in the direction of the sound. It leads them to one of the VIP rooms. These VIP rooms are designated for big clients for their private stuff, either for business or for their own pleasure.
A crowd had already filled the room's doorway. Jie tried to pull back his arm but Taewon, despite being smaller and more fragile than Jie, grips his arm even tighter while trying to squeeze through the crowd. Jie doesn't want to hurt this small, fragile omega if he forcefully pulls his arm back. Jie let out a grunt and just went with the flow which means he's squeezing himself through the crowd.
"Wow, I think I found it," Taewon whispered in another foreign language, obviously amused.
Jie couldn't care less because in that dim light room, a woman whose terrified face hunched over the corpse of an aged male. He had slack jaws, and the limbs had an unnatural stillness that suggested that this is no ordinary death. Considering the substances on the table, the odds are an overdose of some sort of a drug.