House Of Cards (BTS EDITION)

Damn Good Bluffer pt.5

But it had paid off in his favour for he had caught the eye of a member. A very important member. The man was called Nam, first name currently unknown to him. But he had seen him in the presence of The Boy and that meant something. Nam had addressed him like he would an underling, but he had addressed him nonetheless. The man had wanted to know from Lim what exactly he had been in the meeting for. So Lim had explained that he was a tribute to Haedogje Pa, a new willing recruit. From behind his shades Nam had studied him intently, all business deals at hand suddenly forgotten about in favour of him.

Then the man had turned to one of his lackeys with a grin on his face and Taehyung had heard him say: “he would love him, huh? Look at that face”. Taehyung had yet to figure out who exactly he had meant by that.

Yes, the meetings over the near three month period had been rather hellish. His fears of f*****g up had been unfounded. He hadn’t, but he had often ended up retching over a toilet bowl shortly after they had finished for his relief had finally caused his nausea to take over.

“Right, give it to me kid,” Lim said as he sat back in his chair and lifted both arms up. He swept them out in a casual gesture, a “show me what you can do” kind of thing. So Taehyung leaned over the photographs and he took a second to run his eyes over them.

“Nam,” he said, stabbing his forefinger down.

“Who’s he? C’mon, quicker.”

“Supplier of skin. Gets girls and boys from Laos, prepubescent. Doesn’t deal in adults. Owner of Blue in Gangnam-gu. The club is an investment, all cash earned goes in his pocket and not to Haedogje Pa. That’s why Choi Sooyoung,” Taehyung tapped another photograph, “has a f*****g chip on his shoulder.”

“Why?”

“‘Cos Choi thinks himself a philanthropist. He circulates earnings in Dobong-gu for homeless shelters. Choi preaches that Haedogje Pa should look like guardians in their respective districts: care for the people and they’ll keep you in the profit zone. Nam doesn’t give a s**t. They’ve been at each other’s throats for months now. You’ll never see ‘em together.”

“What does Choi Sooyoung do?”

“Hypocritical fucker runs scams.” Taehyung moved his hand to hit another photograph, fingers bouncing off the end of the man’s chin. “Bae Goohee.”

“Slimey-looking fucker. Gimme facts.”

“Arms dealer. Deals in handguns mostly, but can procure assault weapons when needed. Chinese mostly, mass-produced. Gets the rare shipment from Russia but mostly it’s China or Vietnam.” Lim was nodding at him now, showing that he approved of what he was hearing. “Bae’s a tough fucker. You don’t cross him. He’s well-respected and you don’t even look him in the eyes you just get on your knees.”

“That motherfucker didn’t even blink when he cut me up,” Lim muttered. Taehyung paused for a second to stare at the man before shifting in his seat.

“Bae’s got the strongest connections to The Boy-”

“No, don’t call him that. That’s wrong it’s too…” Lim waved his wrist around rather than grab for a knife like usual. “Call him by his proper title or you could piss him off. Don’t matter what others call him, call him Master.”

“…To Master Jeon,” Taehyung continued. “He’s gonna stay in power ‘cos he’s got too much power. Can’t get rid of him, he’s a threat.”

“So the others, they’re just pawns, huh?”

“No, not all of ‘em. Him,” he tapped the final photograph, “Kim Jinwoo. Pretty boy. He’s the son of Jeon’s old partner Kim Jintae. Owns The Gold Monkey Casino in Singapore. That’s probably one of the strongest pillars of oversea influence that Haedogje Pa have at their disposal. He’s been palled up with Master Jeon since childhood but…”

“But?”

“Word coming from the pawns is that Master Jeon and Kim don’t play nice with each other. Something to do with religion. Kim’s a born again what’re they called…bible fucker, and he doesn’t like Jeon’s bad behaviour.”

“If only we knew what he gets up to,” Lim said as he folded his arms on the table. “But he’s still too secretive.”

“That’s where I step in,” Taehyung said, not meaning to sound cocky but unable to stop the words from spilling free.

“Kim, I got one thing to say to you,” Lim said, expression hardening as he did. Taehyung had to resist the pressing urge to gulp. After a few seconds of silence the man burst out laughing and he nearly jumped in surprise. “You’re a crazy kid but I like that. You’d have to be f*****g crazy to agree to doing this.”

Learning the ins and outs of Haedogje Pa wasn’t the only thing that Taehyung had had to undertake over the last three months. He had been forced to join a gym by Hoseok, who was also in charge of disciplining him. The other officer had had a rather rushed period trying to get him into the physical and mental state that would make it seem like he had finished serving his military duty not too long before working for Lim. That was a strength according to the informant, for military duty showed that he was a man that would follow orders. Taehyung had spent the entire time wishing that he would show them all that he hadn’t been made for the task. But after a month he had found himself starting to get very much used to the hell that Hoseok had put him through. To say that he enjoyed it was a lie but he at least now felt like he was in a better condition to tackle the challenge.

But Hoseok had not just been in charge of drilling him into the right mold. No, the other officer had been given the responsibility of teaching him how to use a firearm. Just like how Namjoon had told him he would receive training he had. It was a skill that Taehyung had expected but had been almost hoping that he wouldn’t have to learn. He knew that Haedogje Pa men carried heat, not all but the important ones did. He needed to have knowledge on using them too, even if the sight of the gun had scared him when Hoseok had first placed it in his hand. But he was starting to understand and accept firearms a lot better now.

Taehyung realised that his initial fear of the weapon had been incorrect for it had been a fear of the unknown. After handling a pistol, after learning to take it apart and clean it, to snap the safety back and how to replace magazines, he had discovered that he had been wrong in his fear. It wasn’t the gun he should be scared of, but rather the man wielding it.

Haedogje Pa were not like Hoseok however, and getting used to the sight of a gun in his hand was not the same as it would be in reality. Taehyung would see them in holsters, tucked into the waistbands of trousers. He could see guns placed on tables like cutlery. If he saw one being drawn he was pretty certain that it would result in death, and that meant that he didn’t ever want to be on the the receiving end of the barrel.

Much like how Lim had to grill him over and over to ensure that he remembered vital names and faces, Hoseok also had to make him go over the mechanisms of a gun every single time they entered the shooting range. Not a police one but rather a private range owned by a security company. Taehyung already knew all about the parts, he had been dissembling and reassembling the practice guns nearly every day for three months now. Yet Hoseok still had to do it, because it was standard procedure. Taehyung knew that constant handling of a gun would eventually result in muscle memory. He would be able to work the safety and reload with nothing more than a quick glance and deft movements of his fingers. Hoseok had timed him and he now had reloading down to three seconds if he had a magazine close to hand. But that still felt like too long to Taehyung. He spent those three seconds holding his breath and imagining how many other bullets could fly in that time.

The firing range was currently empty save for them. They were standing in the booth as far from the entrance as they could get. The booths were separated from the range by a long stretch of several feet, each booth separated from the next by a slight wall of concrete. On the ceiling of the range there were pulleys and they were controlled by a button on the wall, and at the far end of the range there was a paper target.

“See this? What’s this?” Hoseok asked as he gestured at the sliding mechanism set just above the trigger on the side of the barrel. On the counter beside them were several magazines of blanks and cleaning equipment. Taehyung studied the gun for a moment before looking back up at him.

“Thumb safety-” and before he could even ask him the next question he added, “if it’s down by the nuzzle the safety’s on. If it’s pulled back towards the well it’s off. Also there should be a slight flash of red inside the safety mechanism, but like I’d have time to f*****g check.”

“Funny,” Hoseok said with a smirk. “Should I be scared by how unfazed you are by guns now? Or concerned?”

“I’m still f*****g terrified of ‘em,” Taehyung argued as he looked at the gun. “But target practice is one thing, shooting at actual people is another. You can’t teach me that. You can’t teach me how to not be affected by that.”