Wretches & Kings

“You cheated!”

“Seungri, I did not cheat...”

“Yes, you did!” the street fighter argued. “Hyun Ae! You—”

“Do not get me involved,” she answered from Taeyang's cot. “I'm here to watch, not to be a referee.”

Seungri's eyes narrowed, traveling from her to the grinning, shirtless smuggler sitting across from him. “I still think you cheated...”

“Aish,” Daesung grumbled. “Just because you're losing terribly, doesn't mean we're cheating. Let's get back to the game.”

Taeyang smirked as he dealt another hand of cards. Hyun Ae watched closely as they continued another round of Badugi. It was quiet day in BigBang; Taeyang wasn't gone smuggling slaves out of Doe-Chang's grasp, Seungri was nursing a couple of bruised ribs from the previous night, and Daesung was taking a small breather in between his shifts. However, Hyun was more interested in the way they interacted together. She thought it was sad that she was still learning how to function socially with other human beings.

The way the three men acted together, able to share verbal consultation and act completely at ease and naturally. She was envious. She wanted to function like that, interact like a normal individual. But there was that wall, that barrier, that did more to destruct than to protect.

“You sure you don't want to join?” Taeyang asked after they finished another round.

Hyun Ae shook her head. “No, I'm okay.”

“Come on,” Seungri said. “It makes days like this go a little faster.”

“I don't know how to play!” she exclaimed.

“You've been sitting here for four rounds,” Seungri pointed out.

“But...”

Taeyang and Seungri grabbed her by the wrists and pulled. “We'll teach you,” said Taeyang with a chuckle when Hyun Ae resisted.

She groaned and pulled against their grasps, Daesung watching with amusement and doing nothing to help her. She finally slid down from the cot, onto the cold floor. “Fine,” she grouched, crossing her legs underneath her. “Teach me.”



“Hyun Ae...Hyun Ae...”

The hand placed on her shoulder made Hyun Ae snap to consciousness. Taeyang was knelt next to her cot, face shadowed in the dim light from the walkway outside.

“What's wrong?” asked Hyun Ae and let a yawn escape.

“I need your help with another one.”

Immediately, Hyun Ae threw the blanket off herself and got to her feet. He led her down long hallways, down and up stairs, to the location that gripped Hyun Ae's heart strings every time.

It was a spacious, well-lit chamber that was used for 'checking in' rescued slaves. There were cupboards to hold the necessities needed for the victims to be comfortable until they could be settled in or further examined for medical reasons.

A group of five. Three girls, two boys. None of them could be older than twenty. The boys were battered and bruised. The girls held eyes that had seen too much, the haunted looks of the slaves dealt more in human pleasure than labor. All bodies resembled those of skin-clothed skeletons, though the girls had perhaps some more meat underneath than the young men. They had to look somewhat decent if they were to be sold for a good price.

While one girl stayed close to the males, another was wailing in the corner. Lost in her hopelessness that where she was would be far worse than where she had been. Her ashen face, sunken by hunger was gleaming with tears of misery. Body curled into a ball in the hopes of stopping any further abuse.

Hyun Ae went to her without an explanation from Taeyang and dropped to her knees beside the girl. She instinctively shifted away, hiding her face in scarred arms. Hyun Ae drew closer, a soft smile coming to her lips.

“It's alright.” She spoke softly, deliberately, always replicating the same tone her mother used to use when she had been frightened of the damned world outside their thin walls. “You're safe. We're here to help you.”

The girl looked at her, a flash of watered-down anger in her eyes. “That's what they said when they took me away...”

Hyun Ae's eyes softened and she sat down fully. “They told me everything would be okay too,” she said. “That I'd be treated decently. And that my mother would get paid wonderfully for my labor. But none of that was true, except about my mother. But I don't even know if that is now...” Hyun Ae continued to speak; she could see the girl's defenses shifting. “I was a labor slave for seven years; I can only imagine what it must have been like for you.”

The girl looked away, new tears coming to her eyes. Hyun Ae cocked her head to the side as to gain the girl's attention again. “My name's Hyun Ae. What's yours?”

The girl studied her again, tears forced to stay contained. “Eun Hee.”

“A beautiful name,” Hyun Ae smiled and drew closer as if to share a secret. “You see that boy over there?” She gestured discreetly to Taeyang who was speaking with one of the former male slaves. Eun Hee nodded. “He's a really good friend of mine and I promise he'll take care of you. His name's Taeyang and he wants to help you...but you have to let him...”

Eun Hee bit at her lip, eyes guarded. Finally, she nodded and Hyun Ae beamed. “Good.” She offered her hand to the younger girl, who hesitated before accepting the aid, and shakily stood. Hyun Ae wrapped an arm around Eun Hee's shoulders and led her towards Taeyang. “You're safe with him, I promise.”

Taeyang smiled at their approach. “Everything good?” he asked.

Hyun Ae nodded and looked down at Eun Hee. “I'll let him take over now.” At her words, Eun Hee pressed further into Hyun Ae, fear flooding her eyes. Hyun Ae tightened her hold on her shoulders. “Hey, its okay,” she reassured. “You couldn't be looking at a kinder men.”

Eun Hee looked up at her, obsidian eyes wide with uncertainty and a thousand hidden traumas. “Please, stay,” she pleaded.

Hyun Ae's lips smiled softly. “Sure.”

The slave was sat on the tarnished table and asked for the usual information—name, age, and anything valuable that she could provide. Hyun Ae stuck close to her as to not send her into a blind panic. She was still fragile and shaking with terror on the inside, a feeling that Hyun Ae could all too easily relate to.

After Eun Hee had been checked in, Hyun Ae volunteered to take her to the infirmary. Taeyang followed along behind as Hyun Ae explained to her all that could be done in BigBang and how secure and safe they were in the underground sanctuary. Slowly, the young girl seemed to relax, becoming comfortable with the tranquility that the very sanctuary brought.

Hyun Ae directed to Eun Hee to another female assistant. “This is where I leave you,” she said. “If you ever need anything, just ask for Hyun Ae and they'll find me. Okay?” Eun Hee nodded. “Alright. Goodnight, Eun Hee, and good luck.” And she turned and left with Taeyang.

“You're good at your job,” he noted after a slight gap in silence.

“I don't really see it as a job,” Hyun Ae answered. “A job sounds like something you have to do, but...I like to do this. Not to see them this way, but to know they're safe...” She trailed off and shook her head. “You know what I mean.”

Taeyang smiled. “Yeah, I do. But you've come a long way, especially since the first time I met you. I honestly didn't expect you to jump right in with us.”

“I need something to occupy my mind,” explained Hyun Ae. “Makes life a little easier to get through.”

“I know what you mean.”

Hyun Ae looked over at her companion, curiosity framed in her knit eyebrows. “What about you?”

He glanced at her, arching an eyebrow. “What about me?”

“I work with you almost as much as I work with Daesung now—and I know next to nothing about you.”

Taeyang looked to the dim hallway, face made of an angular blackness that left his expression hidden. “There isn't much to tell. My sister and mother were taken by the Dakeu Jeon-won while I hid under our house—shack, whatever you wanted to call it. And that was the last I ever saw of them.” They stopped in front of Hyun Ae's room. “I took this job because I keep thinking one day I'm going to find them and bring them home.”

“Well, I hope you do,” said Hyun Ae, dark eyes soft with sympathy.

“What about your family?” Taeyang asked.

She shrugged. “I haven't seen them since I was sixteen. My siblings were probably taken and my mother died for all I know.”

“How many siblings did you have?”

“Four. I was the oldest.”

“I hope you get to see them again,” Taeyang said.

Hyun Ae's eyes studied the floor; the chances of such a thing highly unlikely. “So do I...”