Wretches & Kings

“There's so many people...” breathed Hyun Ae as Daesung led her across the walkway that looked down upon rows and rows of cots. “How many are here?”

“About thirty thousand....” said Daesung, “but that's nothing compared to the twenty million still under Doh-Chang's power.”

The young woman following him shuddered involuntarily at the name of the Dakeu Jeon-won leader. It was Doh-Chang that had brought Asia back, but had done so with the worst ways. Drugs, firearms, and slaves were secretly traded under the table with other countries. No one would admit that they supported the colony of Asia, especially after the revolt thirty years prior.

2020—the world stood still. A pointless wave of chaos and death consumed the planet. Countries fought countries and men slaughtered their own brothers. The continent of Asia was blamed for the chaos as a whole and, therefore, suffered the hardest. The Americas and Europe bombed the nation until there was nothing left, but skeletons of cities, their magnificence lost forever. And from there, the United States moved in to “colonize” and “help” the survivors of the bombing. Only twenty million in the once honored nation survived. They were controlled and manipulated, treated inferior and treated like the dying earth they were forced to try to grow something from.

One man stood up to the United States military. One man gathered forces and pushed the outsiders to the ocean. He was a hero among the people, promising he'd keep anyone out who dared threaten the honor of their once great nation. He armed the people, gave them hope, put them right where he wanted to them.

He made an underground shipping system with other countries, feeding them drugs and receiving anything the people of Asia needed. Drugs turned into living beings. Slavery was no longer illegal, especially if they were Asian. Asians were seen as the evil of the world, but their women were beautiful and the men were cheap labor that could be easily replaced.

Doh-Chang fed his strong supporters, made them rich, while the rest of the population lived in absolute poverty and those that could be bought were forced into slavery. Drugs, slaves, firearms, and blood money brought the Asian continent back to power, if for the worst. Other countries hated them, feared them for what Asia could become. Doh-Chang may have brought Asia back to power from merely dust, but his people had learned to feel hatred and fear for him, just like rest of the world.

Doh-Chang had become one of the most powerful beings in the world—and the most hated.

“So all these people live here to be free from Doh-Chang?” Hyun Ae asked. “Doesn't everyone though?”

“Most do,” Daesung said, “but they're too afraid to step away from the other thing they see as true.”

“Then, why not prove BigBang's existence?” Hyun Ae questioned.

Daesung looked over the railing at the hundreds—thousands—of people milling around beneath him. “Because that would put all of them in danger,” he said. “And that is G-Dragon's greatest fear. He cares about these people more than anything. For as long as they've been coming to find a safe place to live, he's put them first, above everything else. It'd kill him if he failed at the one thing he'd set his life to doing. That's why BigBang can never truly come into the light.”

“That's understandable,” Hyun Ae said. “People have to find you.”

“Like you,” Daesung said with a smile. Hyun Ae looked at him curiously. “All of BigBang is underground.” Hyun Ae nodded. “And you found the entrance without even realizing it. That's why the soldiers were...dealt with the way they were. You were practically on top of us.”

“Oops.”

Daesung laughed. “Luck seems to follow you around. Maybe some of it will rub off on this place. Come on.” He nodded his head and they continued down the walkway. “As you can tell, this is the main area where everyone stays, but there's also other rooms branching off.”

It was safe to say that BigBang was huge; the area was that of a small, crowded town. The walls and ceilings were coated with iron to keep the earth from collapsing, lights lined the walls to give what the far-off sunlight could not. Daesung showed Hyun Ae the kitchen, large and cavernous with people running about. There was also “the library”, a spread-out room with piles and piles of books scattered across the room. Their old spines were wearing and abused, covers faded from years of use.

Hyun Ae's traveled over the heaps, an urge coming over her as she reached for one of the books by the door. She skimmed over the words, some she didn't understand, but others she could comprehend.

“Can you read?” Daesung asked, a twinge of surprise in his voice.

“A little,” the girl answered, flipping a page. “I had to teach myself. I'm the only one in my family that could.”

“That's impressive,” Daesung mused, looking over her shoulder at the words. “My parents taught me before...they passed away.”

Hyun Ae looked at him sympathetically and put the book back on the top of the pile. “My father died in a factory accident when I was ten,” she said. “My mother had been crippled in an accident before that. It was up to me, after that, to bring in the income...” Hyun Ae's tongue slowed as the final memory of her family flashed through her mind. It had been raining; screams filled her ears.

Daesung looked down at her as they began to walk again. “Tell me what happened,” he said quietly.

Hyun Ae's throat constricted and she inhaled deeply. “They came one morning, looking for prospects, looking for people others wanted to sell...” She took in a shaky breathe. “And that's what my mother did. I was strong for a starving child and they offered more for me than anyone else...My mother hardly hesitated.”

Daesung's eyes, hidden behind his corn-silk bangs, softened and he put an arm around her shoulder. Muscles tensed, but relaxed after a few short moments. “I'm sorry, Hyun Ae,” he said.

Hyun Ae shrugged, swallowing back the tears of old, buried betrayal. “She had no choice. Sell one child for the sake of three others...I can see why she would do it.”

“But you you're still angry about it.”

Hyun Ae remained silent before nodding slowly. “Because of her, I...I suffered. A lot.”

“I know,” said Daesung, “but you're safe now.”

Hyun Ae looked at him and nodded, giving a small smile. “Thank you, Daesung. For everything.”

“Its my job,” he said and flashed a smile. “But you are more than welcome. Come on, let's finish that tour.”

They traveled levels, through hall ways, up stairs. It was all once part of a large building with fragments of subways tunnels connecting, along with parts that had been built from scratch. It was enough room to house thirty thousand, plus more, all of which was settled underground. It was an impossible thought to process, but there it was, right before Hyun Ae's own, troubled eyes.

Suddenly, she noticed a group, all clad in dark green, marching down the walkway. Hyun Ae's brain clicked, flashes of those dark green clad men surrounding her, forcing her to work until her hands bled, torturing her. Panic rose in her throat, sending her heart into a fit and oxygen getting stuck in her throat. She stumbled back and Daesung turned to her. His lips moved, but her heart...her heart was thundering too loudly in her ears. All she could see was the green monsters, coming towards her.

Arms she could barely feel against the rising panic caught her; her knees had buckled, air refusing to reach her lungs as black filled her vision. Daesung's face appeared in front of her, talking to her, trying to tell her to breathe. But she couldn't. He had lied to her! All of this...all of it was a lie!
Daesung shook her and that snapped her back enough. “Hyun Ae!”

“You...you lied!” she gasped out, trying to get of his reach. “They're here!”

“No!” Daesung said. “They're not the Dakeu Jeon-won, I promise. Breathe, Hyun Ae.”

Another face, another young man appeared in her vision and she shrank away.

“Its okay,” he said and pulled back his sleeve. The Dakeu Jeon-won's name was no where inked on his skin like the usual soldiers. The panic had lessened, but suspicion lay in her eyes as she watched him, far from trusting. Daesung still had a hold of her. “We're not Dakeu Jeon-won,” the other man said, voice soft and calming, much like Daesung's, but still very different.

It was in those words, or his tone, that made Hyun Ae's suspicions waver. When she studied him closer, looked farther than the uniform, he resembled nothing like a Dakeu Jeon-won soldier. The sides of his head were shaved and the hair left on the top of his head was standing on end, defying gravity. He still held a youthful expression, not one that had been taken away by serious training, with full lips and quiet eyes.

Daesung's arms unwound from around Hyun Ae's when he felt her body relax. “You okay?” he asked.

She nodded and Daesung helped her to her feet. She dared not meet any of the group's eyes, ashamed of her reaction. The young man that had spoken smiled at her and bowed his head. “Its alright,” he said as if he knew what she was thinking.

Hyun Ae only looked at him. He nodded to Daesung and he led the group again down the hall. Hyun Ae couldn't look at Daesung for sometime. “I'm sorry,” she finally said. “I just...I thought...”

Daesung wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders again and they began their walk again. “Its okay,” he said. “You had every right to panic. But they're not Dakeu Jeon-won, like Taeyang said.” He looked behind him at the retreating backs of the group. “They no doubt just got back from a mission.”

“Mission?” Hyun Ae questioned.

“Taeyang and his party are responsible for helping to free as many slaves as we can. Usually they can never get fully into the Dakeu Jeon-won, but they do what they can. They're smugglers.”

“That's incredible,” Hyun Ae breathed. “To...have that much courage to go behind the lines and do that...”

“Yeah,” Daesung smiled. “But my jobs cooler right?”

Hyun Ae's lips upturned. “Of course,” she said.