Wretches & Kings

Hyun Ae handed another armful of gauze rolls to Daesung. He stacked them in the rusting cupboards.

“How do we get all this?” asked Hyun Ae, giving him another roll. “I mean...technically, we don't exist so how do we get it all?”

“Taeyang's responsible for that too. He has connections inside the City. There's more than just smuggling human beings; food, medical supplies, blankets, anything we need comes from the City.”

“Which comes from other countries illegally.”

“Of course,” Daesung answered, “if other countries didn't smuggle things in through the black market or underground, Asia would have died a long time ago.”

Hyun Ae pondered on that as she continued to help Daesung. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Seungri approaching them. “Here comes trouble,” she muttered, making Daesung look over his shoulder and smile.

However, Seungri was straight-faced and serious for once. “Meeting in fifteen minutes.”

Daesung nodded, his own smile gone. Hyun Ae shared a glance between them, but Seungri disappeared as fast as he'd appeared. “What meeting?” she asked.

“Its between us that are somewhat head of BigBang,” Daesung explained, his persona more serious than it was before.

“If you need to go, I can finish here,” she offered.

“You want to come along?”

Hyun Ae was slightly taken aback by the offer. “Um...sure. It sounds interesting. Are you sure I'm allowed?”

That made Daesung's smile return. “Hyun Ae, you've done a lot for us. You pretty much have free reign to do what you want.”

She smiled to herself, handing the last gauze roll to him. “Okay. I guess I can go.”
The two finished up and Daesung led the way. The location was in a more secluded part, down a desolated hallway. The room was packed wall to wall with rusted filing cabinets. A simple desk and chair sat towards the opposite end of the room from the door and a single light bulb hung from the ceiling. There twelve people already in the room; Seungri, Taeyang, G-Dragon, and—to Hyun Ae's discomfort—T.O.P. were among them. She also recognized a fleeting face in the shadows, the woman who had approached Hyun Ae the day she was found by BigBang.

“Who are these people?” whispered Hyun Ae to Daesung.

“They're the original BigBang...well, kind of. You could say G, Seungri, Taeyang, and I are the original original, but...you get the point.”

Hyun Ae smiled in understanding, eyes traveling around the room again to find a pair of empty, dark eyes staring at her. She quickly stepped back, behind Daesung, in order to hide from T.O.P.'s cold expression. Daesung looked at her quizzically and she just sent him a fleeting smile of reassurance.

“Alright.” G-Dragon's voice brought everyone else's to a sudden stop and they turned onto their leader. “As you're all aware a group of our watchmen were attacked by the Dakeu Jeon-won a few days ago.” A murmur of agreement. G-Dragon's tongue traced over his lips. “There's a possibility that they're finally attempting to find us.”

“What makes you say that?” one man questioned, head shaved and tattoos running up his arms.

It was T.O.P. who answered, looking at the man with an expression of almost boredom. Hyun Ae noticed he looked paler than before, eyes sunken in. “They had Jug-eum with them.”

“And that means they were searching for another escaped slaves,” the questioning man continued. “Seems they need to up their security.”

“They weren't in a hurry,” T.O.P. continued, a slight growl to his tone, “which means they were looking for something stationary.”

“Like us,” Taeyang finished.

“Or something else...something inside BigBang,” T.O.P. went on.

G-Dragon's eyes flitted to Hyun Ae before returning to everyone else.

“So what are you saying exactly?” the woman who had saved Hyun Ae all those months ago asked. “What do we do?”

“A couple of years ago we could have simply migrated farther into the tunnels,” said their leader. “But our population has more than doubled in that time and there's no way to move so many people without extreme preparations. We sit and wait, let the civilians know the possibilities and continue on with our lives. But we still need to be prepared if something were to happen.”

The other bodies in the room nodded. Hyun Ae stood back, trying to not let her mind over-think. What could happen if the Dakeu Jeon-won found them...what they would do to the innocent people situated there. She rubbed at her arms when an involuntary chill went through her as GD's voice went on.

Everyone began to move and she realized the meeting was over. She stayed beside Daesung, ready to leave with him when everyone else had gone. However, when Daesung went to leave behind the last person, G-Dragon spoke.

“Hyun Ae, can you stay here for a moment?”

Both medics came to a halt and turned. Taeyang and Seungri looked curious as to why GD had requested her to stay. However, T.O.P. seemed to be unsurprised.

“Yes, sir,” Hyun Ae answered, swallowing down her uneasiness.

G-Dragon seemed humored by the title and sat down on the desk, dark eyes focused on her. “You don't have to call me 'sir', Hyun Ae. G-Dragon or GD is just fine.” Hyun Ae bowed her head, muttering an apology. “You don't have to sorry. And quit looking like I'm going to eat you.” The woman's cheeks flushed and she smiled slightly. G-Dragon's mischievous glint died down and he sighed. “I don't want to worry you, okay? So don't freak out at what I'm going to say.”

His statement made Hyun Ae do exactly the opposite of what it asked. “W—what's wrong?”

G-Dragon sighed and opened his mouth, but it was T.O.P. who spoke. “We think its you who the Dakeu Jeon-won were tracking.” GD's mouth closed and he looked at Hyun Ae for a reaction. Outside, her eyes had gone wide, face drawn with worry. Inside, she was screaming, clawing away from the very thought that the Dakeu were looking for her, singled her out of every other slave there was.

“W—why do you...say that?” she asked, swallowing in a way to regain her voice.

“They haven't bothered with such a hunt before. They were armed and ready to take what they came to get. So your escape has gotten them interested and they're trying to find you. And us.”

“Maybe,” G-Dragon said, eying T.O.P. “Its just a theory.”

“But a logical one,” the assassin replied. “I know how they function.”

“But we don't need to scare her,” Daesung cut in, drawing closer to Hyun Ae. “Just...Hyun Ae, can you step outside?”

She nodded and when Daesung touched her arm reassuringly, she realized her body was trembling. She left the room silently and Daesung turned back to the the group. “Could you have waited a little longer?” he hissed. “She's still in an extremely fragile state. One trigger and she could go right back where she started.”

“We're just looking out for her,” G-Dragon assured. “We didn't mean to scare her.”

Daesung breathed out through his nose and bit at his lip. “Its fine. I just don't want to see her go back. Or worse.”

“Sounds like someone's getting attached,” T.O.P. pointed out, deep voice a purr. “I'd be careful.”

--

Seungri's eyes traveled over the young woman in front of him. She was tall and no thicker than a bean stock. Arms were as long as her legs. Long appendages, long neck, long body. Everything was so lanky and thin, she should have been a swaying mass of awkward.

“You sure you want to do this?” he asked, placing his hands on his hips.

Hyun Ae nodded and set her jaw. “I need to protect myself.”

“This has to do with what GD and T.O.P. said, doesn't it?”

Hyun Ae raised her chin and looked at him defiantly. “What if it does?”

The fighter held up his hands. “Nothing. I know when to pick my fights. And that's what you want me to teach you?”

“I want you to teach me how to protect myself,” said Hyun Ae.

Seungri nodded firmly. “Alright, then. Come at me.”

Hyun Ae's determination faulted slightly and her timidness returned. “No, you're going to hurt me.”

“No, I'm not!” Seungri protested. “I'm going to show you what you do when you're in danger.”

Hyun Ae exhaled deeply and came towards him. Seungri stood and waited until she was only a foot or so away. Then, he turned and sprinted the other way. Hyun Ae looked after him, eyebrows scrunched together as she watched him run to the other side of the room.

He jumped to the halt and turned back to her. “That is what you do.”

Hyun Ae's confusion turned to exasperated annoyance. “Really? Run?”

“Yep,” Seungri answered, walking back to her. “If you're in any danger, the first thing you do is try to outrun them.”

“And if I can't do that?” Hyun Ae questioned, arching a delicate eyebrow.

The interrogation made Seungri grin. “Then, you use what I'm about to teach you.”