¶¶ÒõÉçÇø

Opulence [A.C.E]

By Mognut

427 50 41

The mission for Junhee and Byeongkwan was simple. Get into the exclusive illegal gambling club, Opulence. Sed... More

Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7

Chapter 4

39 5 4
By Mognut

Rin

I was scanning the crowd from the bar, eyeing the regulars to keep watch. We didn't get new members in as often as one might think, considering we were rather exclusive. I saw the young man Matthew invited in without even asking me, looking like a fish out of water at a craps table. He was flushed and looking around like he was waiting for someone to come save him. Another new face sat next to him and I could only assume it was the guy Chiyo and Donghun had found. He seemed a little more calm, but I still saw the nervous glint in his eye and how his hands would shake a little.

What has got those two so nervous? They wanted in here so badly, why are they acting freaked out? I watched carefully as the two boys left the table, wandering around the club. I was trying to keep an eye on them, but Chiyo interrupted my concentration.

"Where is Donghun!?"

Her frantic voice made me nearly jump out of my skin, whirling around to see her looking flushed. "I haven't seen him. Why, what's wrong?"

"He was supposed to be here by now. He's running late. Do you think something happened to him??" She looked around the cub, searching for any sign of Donghun. Truthfully, he was never one to be late. At least not when it came to Chiyo. He knew how easy it was for her to get worked up and freaked out. Hell, he was the person always having to calm her down. It was suspicious he said he would show up and he hadn't.

I couldn't let Chiyo know I thought it was strange though. The last thing I needed was her to have a total meltdown. "He's fine, you know Donghun, he probably just can't decide what to wear or got distracted by trying to shop for your spoiled ass. Have a drink and chill, you don't want him to think he scared you, right?"

She shook her head, waving the bartender over and ordering a strong drink with a shot on the side. Well... at least she'll calm down. I let her be with her booze, abandoning her at the bar to go walk the floor. Sehyoon was in a heated debate with someone about them not paying up what they owed. I found Matthew chatting up his friend Byeongkwan but it looked like Byeongkwan wasn't even paying attention. His eyes were glued back towards the direction of the bar. Is Matthew boring him to tears? I guess I can relate. He's not much fun when he talks.

My distraction of watching Matthew had me not paying attention to my surroundings. Out of nowhere someone bumped into me, knocking my glass out of my hand straight to the floor. I snapped my attention back to the person in front of me.

"Oh shit! I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going... I was distracted." He tried to hide his smirk but it wasn't a good attempt. "You were just so breathtaking, I couldn't stop looking at you."

I laughed, snorting back at him. It was the dark haired guy that was sweating at the craps table with Byeongkwon just a bit ago. Now he was in front of me and trying to act smooth? Oh please. "Can I help you with something? Maybe direct you towards someone that will actually buy your lines?"

His smirk fell, an awkward smile replacing it while his cheeks turned a deep shade of red. Of course he was embarrassed, he made a fool of himself and for what? To try to get a hookup? Did he know I was the boss and wanted something from me? He reached down to pick my glass up off the floor, not making eye contact as he spoke again. "Can I buy you a new drink since I spilled yours?"

"Much better. Now you're learning how to speak to women." I snickered, heading towards the bar with this new guy in tow. "What's your name? I haven't seen you here before."

"Junhee... Do you come here often?"

I turned to give him a blank stare. Sweet lord help me. "You can't be serious. Do I come here often? Did you research the worst possible way to pick up women online before you bothered us with your presence?"

His mouth fell open for a moment before he picked it back up and waved over the bartender, asking me what I wanted to drink. The bartender chuckled, already pouring a glass of my favorite wine. "No... I guess I'm making a terrible first impression on you..." The bartender handed me my glass and scooted a shot towards Junhee, taking pity on the poor fool who couldn't speak and had no idea who the hell I even was.

"It's Rin... and yeah you could say I come here often. Want to talk about the weather next?"

He groaned and shot his drink back, grimacing at the bitter taste. What is this guy, twelve? He can't even handle a shot of liquor. Junhee attempted to make small talk, very poorly. For a good looking guy he wasn't smooth at all when it came to talking. I was a little shocked at how awkward he was. It almost seemed like he was faking it, who could possibly be that stupid? It was a waste of his surprisingly good looks. If he was a bit more charismatic then he would have no problem getting and keeping my attention. Yet there he was, twiddling his thumbs and looking nervous everytime we held eye contact.

I took pity on him and stayed at the bar with him, watching him throw back a couple more shots until he was finally letting loose a bit. Once he was tipsy and not acting like a shy teenager, he was actually pretty charming. He told me he started gambling because he and his friend had some great ideas for a startup company but they didn't have much money. They agreed to take what they had and try to turn it around into bigger money. Someone in one of the smaller rings had mentioned Opulence and they kept trying to find ways to get in. According to him, if they wanted to really make money they needed to go to a place where their bets could actually earn them some serious cash, unlike the smaller clubs that didn't go high stakes.

His story seemed reasonable enough. It wasn't the first time someone had told me that kind of story, a lot of customers would get drunk and blab about their problems. Normally I found it amusing but Junhee wasn't acting like the usual money hungry slime ball. When I tried to suggest he get back out on the floor to go earn his money, he shook his head and said he would rather stay and talk to me. He seems more interested in me than making money, interesting.

While he was telling me his business plan, I looked back out into the crowd, spitting out my wine all over Junhee when I saw Chiyo backed against a wall with Byeongkwan trying to talk to her. He had his hand on her shoulder, way too close to her for comfort. She looked utterly terrified of him. What the hell is he doing!? Where is Donghun!? "What does your friend over there think he is doing!?"

Junhee stopped wiping his shirt off with a napkin long enough to turn and see Byeongkwan and Chiyo. He let out a heavy sigh, shaking his head. "He said earlier he thought she was really cute. I guess he decided to make a move."

"That is not the way to get on Chiyo's good side!" I was about to run over and save her when someone yanked Byeongkwan off of her, shoving him so hard he fell backwards onto other customers seated at a table. Donghun whirled around staring Byeongkwan down with fire in his eyes and flared nostrils. I hauled ass over towards them, knowing how bad things could end up if Donghun decided to throw hands. "Donghun where the hell have you been!? And you can't go around hitting patrons, even if he was out of line!"

"I didn't hit him! I pushed him. He was practically assaulting Chiyo!"

Byeongkwan was completely taken aback by Donghun's statement. Eyes wide with fear as he looked at the crowd gathering around him. "No I wasn't! I was just trying to be nice to her!"

Junhee pushed past me, moving to stand next to his friend. Someone shouted at the pair of them for insulting 'the boss' pointing their finger in my direction. Junhee gave Byeongkwan a weird look, shaking his head before he tried to apologize. "I'm sorry we've caused a scene, we'll go ahead and leave now." He moved his gaze over to me, looking like he was pouting. "We won't come back if you don't want us to... I'll understand."

Donghun grabbed Chiyo's hand and quickly lead her towards her security office. He wasn't going to listen to a thing they had to say. I didn't know the full story, for all I knew he was just trying to flirt. It's not like Chiyo's panicking is common knowledge. Maybe he really did just want to talk to her, maybe they are up to something. Whatever it is, I'm going to find out. "You can come back, just don't pull another stunt like this. Next time I won't be so forgiving."

Junhee grinned back at me, thanking me for being understanding before dragging his confused friend from the club. He might be fun though, who knows.

-

Junhee

"Are you fucking stupid!?" I shouted. Byeongkwan was laying on the couch with a blanket pulled over his head. I was too pissed in the car to yell at him and he knew it was coming. "In what part of our plan did we agree to corner one of the girls and scare the shit out of her!?"

"I wasn't trying to! I was seriously just trying to be nice. She told me to fuck off and I asked what I did to upset her, she got all weird and started acting freaked out. That's why I put my hand on her shoulder and tried to calm her down and tell her I didn't mean her any harm." He whined from under the blanket, obviously too ashamed to come out and face me. "Besides, my mission just got a hell of a lot harder. It's pretty obvious that guy who shoved me is her boyfriend."

No known relationships. That's what the file said. I doubt director Jang would lie about that. I flopped into a seat next to him, pondering our next move since Byeongkwan made a horrible first impression. A lightbulb suddenly went off and I sat straight up, reaching over to yank the blanket off of him. "Didn't you say Matthew got you in and he's friends with Rin or something? Let's meet up with him and see what he has to say about the girls. You can play it off like you're into Chiyo and I'll still extract information about Rin."

"I guess that could work. I'm going to need a much better plan next time I see her or I'll ruin the entire mission."

"You're damn right. You're lucky I'm not reporting your stupid ass to director Jang. He'd give you the ear beating you deserve." I chuckled. Byeongkwan wasn't usually a failure with women. We didn't have time to date, but being in our line of work we were good at reading people. Anytime we needed to get information from a woman we could fake charm anything we wanted out of her. Though we had never gone for women in higher roles, they were usually acquaintances of whomever we were after. We'll need to handle this more cautiously. I can't let us get kicked out when I've already got an in with Rin.

Byeongkwan begrudgingly pulled out his phone, sending a text to Matthew to ask him for a meetup. They were not the closest of friends, but they were close enough that my plan just might work. Any information would be helpful compared to what we already knew. I assumed they might not be the easiest girls to crack, but they certainly were nothing like what I was expecting.

Matthew had a big smile on his face as he entered our apartment, remarking about how Byeongkwan had never invited him over before. It had been a few days since our disaster at Opulence, and with another weekend approaching, we needed to get a new plan of action in place. I was just hoping and praying that Matthew had as big of a mouth as Byeongkwan claimed and that he could actually provide us with something useful.

"So Rin said she saw you at Opulence." Matthew chuckled, making our couch creak as he sank down onto it. He was a big guy and our couch wasn't exactly made to hold a bull. "I heard you fucked up and tried to make a move on Chiyo of all people! What in the hell made you go after that fucking weirdo?"

Byeongkwan gave him a blank look before clearing his throat. "I just thought she was cute. I told Rin the same thing. Is there a reason I shouldn't try to make a move on her?"

"Because she's a bitch." Matthew's brow arched, eyeing Byeongkwan with scrutiny. "She doesn't like anyone and she doesn't talk to anyone. Not unless they've been accepted into her little circle... and by little I do mean tiny. She only speaks to like 3 people. Plus that Donghun guy is always around her. I wouldn't be surprised if they had some fucking weird relationship going. Anytime I'm around he's always showing up with presents for her and doing shit to spoil her. It's the only time I've ever heard her say anything nice or crack a smile."

Well. Looks like the "nerdy shut in" isn't going to be as easy as he thought. Byeongkwan pondered for a moment, chewing on his cheek and tapping his fingers against the armrest of the couch. "He buys her a lot of gifts? Do you know what she likes by any chance?"

"Expensive ass shit. I'm lucky Rin isn't that way. She's so much easier to get along with and to please."

That got my attention. What does he mean by that?? Is he interested in my target? "Are you involved with Rin? I've heard she doesn't have a boyfriend from other people in the club."

He scoffed back at me, waving me off like I had just made an idiotic statement. "She says she doesn't have a boyfriend, but we've been hooking up for a while. She's easy to get along with as long as you don't fuck with her group of friends or whatever the hell they are. She's not high maintenance either. Though she doesn't really let me take her out or do shit for her." Byeongkwan asked why he saw both of them at a restaurant together and Matthew explained it was the first and likely only time they'd be out together. Rin apparently preferred to keep her relationships as private as possible.

Great. She's hooking up with a bull. Apparently, I also have my work cut out for me. We didn't let Matthew stay too long. It wasn't like we actually wanted to be around him, we just needed to fish for information. Byeongkwan was pissed when Matthew left, demanding we speak to director Jang about this new information. How were we supposed to seduce two girls who were clearly spoken for? I wasn't sure it was the best idea to involve the director. I could just imagine him sitting there in a cloud of smoke, cursing at us that we were pathetic if we couldn't figure out something as simple as stealing a girl's attention away from her boyfriend.


-

A/N: Sorry for the late updates. My writing had been all over the place! I apologize if there are any mistakes. Thanks for reading.

Continue Reading

You'll Also Like

1.8K 118 42
-Part 3 of "I Need A Ganster"- Nothing in life comes easy, right? After becoming one of the biggest mafias in Seoul, it seems like life works out pr...
279K 8.2K 37
[MAFIA AU] In a dangerous country where gangs lurk in every corner, KIM YUN-YEONG runs into LEE KNOW, the boss of the most dangerous gang in Korea. S...
16 0 6
When an unexpected encounter with your favourite idol occurs with an embarrassing situation. Can you overcome the embarrassment or will you hide in...
15K 639 34
Sol was living her life like a dead person in her own family, who treated her like an outsider. One day, her family discovered she wasn't their biolo...