Chapter Text
Hwangmo Ju tended to see himself as a good guy in the grand scheme of things. He was never overly cruel or violent except when he needed to be, and business was just that—business. When he wasn't overseeing Union matters, he was smoking with Hayden Ma on the rooftop or going to the arcade with some of his friends from his old cram school—a place he dropped by every now and again. They were pretty cool for a bunch of nerds, and Hwangmo had no qualms with being seen with them in public, though he made sure Hayden would never find out about them. He'd be able to beat Hayden the fuck up for sticking his nose into his business, but on the off chance that Hayden got Wolf involved...
No way I wanna deal with the fallout of that shit. Hwangmo sighed as he took a drag, leaning against a partition behind the school building. It was a slow day today without Wolf around to terrorize everyone. It'd been three days since Wolf had gone with the other Heads of the Union to take over Cheongang. He should have been back by now, cigarette between his lips and a fat stack of papers or cash to toss at them with demands to make sure they were logged down properly.
"Yo, Hwangmo." Hayden appeared from around the corner, his black mask pulled down and hugging the underside of his chin. "Me and the guys are heading to the usual—you coming?"
The usual probably the karaoke bar. There was a cute girl who worked there that Hayden liked. Hwangmo waved him off. "You go ahead without me, I'm gonna finish this cig. I'll join you in a bit."
"Alright then, suit yourself."
Work was work. Business was business. And Hwangmo's personal life was his personal life. I wonder if the guys are meeting up for D&D tonight. He unlocked his phone, scrolling through his chats. He was always being pinged for some matter or another, but most of them weren't too important. He was about to shoot them a message when his phone began to vibrate, and a number popped up on the screen. "Oh—oh, holy fuck!" What the hell was Donald Na's number doing on his screen? Gulping, Hwangmo hastily unlocked it and held it up to his ear. "H-hey. Donald Na?"
"Put Wolf on."
"Uh..." Dammit, what the fuck?! Why would I have any idea where Wolf is?! The last time I saw him, he was leaving with you! "I... I haven't been able to get a hold of him since... Since before the Cheongang Operation."
There was silence on his end. It made Hwangmo's heart pound quicker than it had any right to. "Interesting," Donald said, finally. "Go visit him at the hospital. There's no reason he shouldn't be back on his feet by now."
"Y-yes, of course! But, ah, which hospital is he—"
Donald hung up.
Hwangmo breathed out, slowly. "Damn." Well, at least he'd survived a call with Donald Na. I'm just the second-in-command, he grumbled to himself as he finished his cigarette and grabbed his bag. It seemed like he would have to take a rain check on his personal life tonight—business called. He scratched the back of his head, orange hair splitting at his fingertips. "Goddamn Wolf... This is the second time he's gotten himself wrecked recently... First by the White Mamba and now..." What had even happened in Cheongang for Wolf to be hospitalized? Not even the aftermath of his fight with the White Mamba had landed him in the hospital. The thought stopped Hwangmo short. Wolf was a fucking tank—nothing short of his opponent being armed with a gun or a knife could take him down easily.
Why, Hwangmo thought, Do I get the feeling that there's more to this than what meets the eye?
In any case, there was no time to waste. Donald Na was not a man who liked to be kept waiting for results, and there were at least three hospitals in the area that Wolf could have gone to. Hwangmo wracked his brain. If he were to operate on the assumption that Wolf headed straight to the hospital from Mapo...
Damn, sometimes Hwangmo wished he wasn't so smart. Then he wouldn't have to be second-in-command to the Head with the worst and scariest personality in all of Yeongdeungpo. If he weren't second-in-command, he could be belting out Chuli and Miae with Hayden or role-playing as a bard with his cram school friends right now instead of sitting by himself on a bus on the way to the hospital.
Hwangmo arrived at the hospital sometime before six o'clock, toward the end of visiting hours. He sighed deeply as he gazed up at the building, which looked more menacing than it should've, its scare-factor enhanced by the knowledge that—somewhere inside the building—was a big bad wolf waiting to devour a little piggy like him. Let's just get it over with. Hwangmo slung his backpack over one shoulder, walking with his back straight to the receptionist.
Her nose wrinkled ever so slightly as she greeted him. The stench of cigarettes that clung to everything he owned and wore didn't agree with her, it seemed. "Hello, young man. How can I help you today?"
"Umm..." Hwangmo rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm here to visit my... friend. His name is Wolf Keum."
The receptionist's eyes dropped to her screen, her fingers typing swiftly on the keys. "Ah, yes. A student by that name was admitted here three days ago with a concussion."
A concussion? That was alarming. Hwangmo didn't believe that Wolf could even get hurt like that—he'd always seemed so unstoppable. "Yes, that should be him. Could you direct me to his room, please?"
"Of course, it's..."
Room 1408. The apprehension he'd been feeling the entire journey tightened into a ball in his chest. He pushed down on the handle, the door swinging open slowly, as if to perhaps reveal a horrible monster behind those doors. The doorstop hit the wall with a barely audible thump, the breeze of a fan swaying his bangs from side to side. At the end of the room was Wolf Keum, bandages wrapped around his head and face covered in plasters. The hospital gown hung loose around his frame, and Hwangmo wondered—briefly—if Wolf had always looked so small.
It was just perspective, he told himself, because as soon as Wolf looked up with that terrifying glint in his eye, Hwangmo stopped in his tracks. "Ah," he said, his hands hovering beside him as he searched fruitlessly for something to hold. Damn, he'd forgotten to bring something. Anything. Some drinks, or red ginseng, or maybe even just a packet of cigarettes. "How are y—"
"What the fuck are you doing here, Hwangmo?"
Hwangmo immediately ducked his head, unwilling to trigger Wolf's three second rule. Even while bedridden, Hwangmo was sure that Wolf could probably beat him into a pulp. "I—"
"Who said you could come visit?" Wolf snarled, gripping the bedsheets. His hands were also bandaged. "Hwangmo, you fucking—"
"Donald Na sent me!"
Wolf didn't say anything. Hwangmo looked up, chancing a glance at his boss. There was an air about him that disquieted Hwangmo. Outwardly, he looked almost exactly the same as when he'd left for Mapo minus the bandages, but there was an odd tension in his shoulders. He longed to say something, but the inside of Hwangmo's mouth was dry, and Wolf had always been unreachable. Was he upset that he hadn't come out of his own accord? Hwangmo considered the possibility, but found it unlikely. Wolf was a cold mountain in the tundra—untouchable and distant.
"What did he say?" Wolf asked, eventually.
"Not much," replied Hwangmo. "I think he just wants you to get back to him. Maybe give him an update on your condition."
"Condition." Wolf spat the word out like it was dirty. "Fuck. Alright. You can tell Donald fucking Na that I'll be back tomorrow morning." He lifted a hand to his head, biting back a grimace. "Fucking Na and his fucking money... That's all he fucking cares about, isn't it? Whatever."
"Um," said Hwangmo.
"You can go. You don't have to stay here."
"Right." A pause. "Do you need anything? A drink? Cigarettes?"
Wolf glared, his glasses flashing under the hospital lights. "Just get the fuck outta here."
"Got it."
Hwangmo closed the door behind him, sagging with relief. God, what had been in the air in there? He felt like they'd both been on the verge of suffocating the entire time. It was normal to feel this way when talking to Wolf, but there was something undeniably off about him. Whatever. It's none of my business. I don't mix business with pleasure. I don't need to know any of the shit he's gotten up to. On his way to the elevator, he stopped by a vending machine, counting his coins to see if he had enough for a can of coffee.
"Is that you, Hwangmo?"
"Hm?" Hwangmo turned to see Jack Kang, clearly surprised to see him leaning over the vending machine in the hospital. "Wha—Jack? Damn, it's been a while. What are you doing here, man?"
Jack Kang was a calculative guy. Hwangmo could practically see the wheels turning in his head as he debated whether or not it would be dangerous to reveal his intentions. At last, he decided that Hwangmo wasn't a risk to whatever he had been tasked with, and lifted up a box of red ginseng. "Jimmy sent me," he said, shortly. "For Wolf."
"Jimmy. Jimmy sent you."
"I know—I was surprised, too." Jack narrowed his eyes. "Wolf must've fucked himself up real good for Jimmy to even think of sending him a get-well-soon present. How bad is it?"
"He... He seemed okay, mostly. He'll back at school tomorrow morning. The nurse told me it was a concussion and lacerations, mostly. It won't kill him—Wolf's made of tougher stuff than that."
"Uh huh." Jack shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "Right, well. I'm gonna drop this off."
"I'll come with you," offered Hwangmo. "Or else he might think you're trying to start something."
"Oh, yeah?" Despite Jack's nonchalance, Hwangmo could tell he was relieved. "Let's go, then. Room 1408, right?"
Hwangmo knocked before going inside, emboldened somewhat by the presence of another Head's second-in-command. Messing with Jack was almost like messing with Jimmy. Not that Wolf would normally have qualms with doing either, but it was nice to lull himself into that false sense of security. When you're being chased by a wild animal, you only need to run faster than the guy beside you.
"It's from Jimmy." Jack decided to rip the bandage off before Wolf could snap at them. "He sends his regards."
"Hah. Jimmy Bae?" Hwangmo's heart dropped to the pit of stomach as Wolf made a face that Hwangmo hated to see. One of pure, utter rage—one that bordered on primal. Like an animal that had been caught licking its wounds by its natural enemies. "Jimmy fucking Bae?"
Jack must've been brave or stupid to put the ginseng right beside Wolf on the nightstand. Whatever courage he had was draining away quickly, however, the other boy unable to even meet Wolf's gaze. He backed away hurriedly. "Yes. From one Head to another. That's... That's all."
"That's all?" Wolf grabbed one of the bottles in the box Jack had dropped off, observing the glass in his hand, as if he were carefully inspecting the quality of the gift. It must have been expensive. Ginseng always was. It carried an unspoken meaning Hwangmo was uncertain of.
"I'll get going now." Jack backpedaled, Hwangmo eagerly following him.
The door closed.
But before they could finally fill their lungs with air again, there came a crash. Glass shattered against the door behind them, and the both of them flinched. Something akin to dread filled Hwangmo's heart when he saw an orange-reddish liquid seep through the crack underneath the door, pooling into a small puddle at their shoes. He looked up at Jack, words stuck in his throat. Jimmy's second-in-command looked equally stunned, evident by the half-inch his brow had risen.
There was something very, very wrong.
Wolf was known for his temper, yes, but nothing like this. It seemed to border on a bizarre tantrum than anything else. Hwangmo wanted so terribly to ignore this, but—could he? Just what had happened in the time that Wolf had been gone? Had he been embarrassed by his loss? That didn't seem possible—Wolf wasn't the type to act out like this when he lost.
"I'm gonna go." Jack's smooth voice broke Hwangmo out of his reverie. "See you around, Hwangmo."
"Huh? Yeah, see ya."
When Jack was gone, Hwangmo looked down miserably at his shoes, the soles of which were now sticky. I don't get paid enough to deal with this shit.
Sometimes, it felt like he was the universe's perpetual babysitter.