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sorryimananti-romantic · 2 months ago

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The Leaders | Chapter VII

"maybe a place where light and darkness meet, the choice between truth and lies is mine."

masterlist

ot8!ateez x f!reader, mafia au

chapter warnings: drinking, smoking, illegal businesses, mentions of war/military, drugs, gangs and corruption, reader is anxious throughout most of the chapter, hongjoong redeems himself, san shoots his shot so that makes reader a serial kisser, and impending doom ig

chapter wc: 11.6k

chapter synopsis: after a last gathering in edenary where you meet a few key people of eden, you come back to sector 1 and have a meeting with the crescents. you and hongjoong make up and you finally learn about the nature of the crescents’ relationship from san. hongjoong delays the deal with madame tiffany but you still do not hear back from your sources in wonderland until the two parties officially sign the deal and it starts to feel like it’s too late to turn back.

prev chapter recap: the crescents meet up at the bar and share recent updates about assemblyman wi and how the anonymous funders have been identified save for one. yeosang reveals that the rv spies are protecting you from a threat which is not secretary park, and that has you rethinking everything from your past. your anxiety weighs on you and yunho attempts to comfort you. he hints about the nature of the crescents’ relationship. seonghwa and hongjoong finally let you in on the drug project for silver light and ask you to look into their possible partner for the deal, madame tiffany– a well-known tech company owner from wonderland. you finally step back into edenary after years and before the meeting with madame tiffany at a business gathering hosted by eden news owners, hongjoong gifts you a pearl necklace to match with your ring while asserting your role as his partner and his weapon. you meet secretary park and get a feeling that you’re being baited into making this new deal. You confront and warn him. the night ends in a conflict with hongjoong, though seonghwa is there to kiss away your tears.

There was something you wished you did not have in common with Hongjoong– the trait of stubbornness.

None of you was going to take the first step to acknowledge that perhaps, you both were at fault and the discussion that night in Edenary could have been handled in a better way without leaving things on a bitter note.

Hongjoong had managed to buy some time before Madame Tiffany would sign the deal, like you wanted. He invited her to Sector 1 and offered to show her around his business as a fellow tech-enthusiast. Still, things remained somewhat tense between the two of you. With Seonghwa’s presence as a buffer, it was somewhat bearable but it was getting harder to not address the elephant in the room when you were alone with him.

However, the two of you were also good at acting like everything was fine. No one would feel the tension surrounding the two of you unless they cared to take a closer look.

It was the third and the last day of your stay at Edenary, an unusually clear July afternoon at yet another business gathering hosted at the Ju Residence in the honour of Eden Newspaper’s 50th anniversary. It was an important event with a lot of politicians and business figures from all over Eden and the neighbouring countries attending so the three of you had planned to split and conquer.

You had prepared for this event in advance in a true Edenary citizen fashion. The previous day had no schedule so you decided to visit a few hotspots in Edenary. You offered Seonghwa to join but he already had another commitment with Hongjoong. Seonghwa requested Jaehyun and Ten to escort you– they were old employees and friends who could be trusted and as residents of Edenary, they were probably updated on where you should make your stops.

When you told Jaehyun and Ten that you would be making trips to the bars and clubs in Eden, they immediately knew what was up. Sporting little smirks and dressing their best, they joined you and you had to admit the three of you were quite a sight together– Hongjoong seemed to think so since he commented on your odd choice of outfit.

The odd thing being the burgundy colour of your lace blouse paired with cream slacks. Your feet were clad in heels and you were wearing your pearls, adding a sunhat and shades to the look. That was definitely something new for Hongjoong who had only seen you in formal office attire– or in the dress that he bought for you. He half wished he could ditch his appointment to observe you from the sidelines– he was quite curious about how you would look as an Edenary citizen.

He didn’t have to wait long to see that. Just like yesterday, you blended in seamlessly with the crowd today. You were wearing a mulberry coloured sheath dress, switching the pearls with silver accessories to match the bracelet that Hongjoong had given you. You weren’t oblivious of the way his eyes stuck to the cuff around your wrist when you sat next to him in the car. When you reached the venue and split up, he kept an eye on you while you got acquainted with the crowd. You seemed to be getting along just fine so he relaxed and let you handle it, deciding to trust in you just a bit more.

You would later reveal that this was what you had practised for– in the bars and clubs where information was sold over drinks, you got updates on the latest gossip of Edenary. It was the oldest trick in the book, yet it always worked. All you had to do was look good and provide something worthy in exchange, and you had a lot to share– just nothing about the Crescents but about General Wi and Secretary Park. Harmless little rumours.

You knew not to believe anything that came out of drunken mouths but from your experience, most of the time they were right. The other times, half-right.

That was how you made a mental list of a few people that you had to get acquainted with at this party. Most of them were business owners but there were quite a lot of politicians and people that had connections in the underworld. You had a short chat with Lee Sunmi, the heiress to Maddox and Co. – the jewellery brand that was Eden’s staple. She recognised the silver bracelet on your wrist and told you how Hongjoong had spent a lot of time choosing and designing the bracelet.

“Hold up,” you interrupted. “You’re telling me he designed it?”

“We take custom orders, and our customers sometimes suggest designs and we try our best to incorporate it into ours and deliver what they desire,” Sunmi smiled. “And Kim Hongjoong is quite a thoughtful man. He has always been creative.”

It looked like Hongjoong and Sunmi were on friendly terms– they probably had to be, considering the amount of purchases he had been making recently. You almost wished you had worn the pearl necklace too so you could hear the story behind it, but for now…

This was enough.

A few moments later, you went to hang out in a corner with a drink, clouded by the contents of your conversation with Sunmi while you watched the guests and made note of who was interacting with whom. You felt a tap on your shoulder and turned to find a man who was about Hongjoong’s height. He looked familiar for some reason.

“I see you’ve got eyes on Assemblyman Kim Jooheon,” the man said, pointing at the politician with his gaze.

“I see that you do too,” you replied, making space for him in the corner. You could see almost everyone from here since it was an elevated platform but hardly anyone looked back towards you.

“Drink?” You offered and when he nodded, you grabbed a glass from your right where the table was.

“You look familiar,” he commented. “Where are you from?”

“Sector 1,” you told him. “Are you from there too?”

“Yeah,” he put his hands in the pocket of his plain black suit, habitually sniffing. “I saw you talking to Park Seonghwa. Are you… acquainted with him?”

You narrowed your eyes just a fraction. “Can I have your name, please?”

He smiled in defeat. “Bang Chan.”

You almost dropped the drink in your hand, resorting to a gulp. This was the man who had unintentionally triggered the wheels into motion that led you to where you were today– Chan, the leader of Wolfgang. Had he not ordered his men to raid the Crescent Bar, you wouldn’t have signed the deal with Seonghwa and become a Crescent.

You wanted to thank him for a multitude of reasons, and the small part of you that still yearned for the normalcy you had before getting swept up in all these politics wanted to kill him for ruining your peace.

“Mr. Bang,” you nodded, extending your hand. “I’m Luna.”

“Is there more to it?” He shook your hand, his eyes filled with curiosity.

“Perhaps,” you replied nonchalantly. “What do you know about Assemblyman Kim?”

“Well, if you’re looking to make connections with him, he might consider if you’re influential around Sector 1, though I must say I haven’t really heard of you…”

“You will, soon,” you promised and he shook his head in amusement. “Do you think he would associate with… people who have influence in the underworld?”

Chan raised a brow. “You must recognise me, huh?”

“Yeah, but that might not be the reason I’m asking that question,” you said, taking a gulp. You smirked. “I must say I didn’t expect the leader of Wolfgang here.”

“Well, you know what they say about us mafiosi,” he smirked back, swirling the drink in his glass. “Refined gentlemen during the day, gangsters at night.”

Just like the Crescents. You had heard about the history of their gang once from Wendy– the members of Wolfgang had been among the first to get forcefully drafted in the military during war. President Son could not prevent the military takeover during the war and that was the reason that the people around your age, like the Crescents and the Wolfgang, had all been enlisted. What made Wolfgang unique was that they were already becoming an established gang before the war and after the war ended, they only grew stronger.

Chan quirked his brows. “Will you answer my question now?”

“Well… you could say we’re acquaintances, yes, Seonghwa and I,” you said and he raised a brow at the way you so casually addressed him. “Will you answer my question now?”

Chan laughed deeply, knowing you wouldn’t be giving him anything else about your connection with Seonghwa.

“Assemblyman Kim is a presidential candidate for the next elections, though his ratings aren’t very high,” he sighed. “But you already know that. What you should know is that he’s a smart man- smarter than people give him credit for. His moral compass is very clear and he values justice above everything else.”

“And that would be why he has such low ratings, because who cares about justice in this era?” You huffed. “Thank you for the tip, Mr. Bang. I must shoot my shot now– I hope we can cross paths on good terms in the future.”

“Likewise… Luna,” he bowed jokingly and you shot a grin in his direction before walking towards the assemblyman, his secretaries by his side busy speaking with other people who wanted to hold a conversation with the presidential candidate. You slid in front of him smoothly as soon as he shook hands with a person to bid them farewell.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Kim,” you extended your hand and he scanned your figure, shaking your hand with a warm smile. “I’m Luna of the Crescent Company. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Sir.”

You could tell by the look in his eyes that he was trying to pinpoint where exactly he had seen you– certainly not in Sector 1 or anywhere near the Crescents. You only smiled knowingly.

“Haven’t we met?” He couldn’t resist asking. “In Edenary, a few years ago?”

Oh, Chan was right– he really was smart. He had, in fact, met you very briefly once. You hadn’t exchanged any meaningful words other than a light shriek from you when he suddenly appeared in your way, and a question from him to ask if you were okay, or if you needed help, because you looked so out of place in your own home.

That had been the last party that you attended in Edenary which was hosted in your father’s own mansion before you had to leave. You had been strictly instructed to stay in your own room but obedience had never been your strongest forte especially when forced.

And that might be why things turned out like they did.

“You have… exceptional memory, Assemblyman Kim,” you breathed, truly impressed.

He seemed to be still in thought, trying to pinpoint where he had seen you. You decided to make things easier for him– perhaps this could be an opportunity.

“At Secretary Park’s residence– the party was hosted to celebrate President Lee’s official debut in the political world.”

“Ah… that is a memorable night,” he nodded slowly, recalling the events of that night. You remembered that night as well as if it was yesterday– it had been truly electric to see so many powerful and influential people in one place and in your residence of all the locations. The mansion had been heavily guarded and only a few people were invited. Lee Jinwook and his wife Han Hyojoo had both been present. President Son’s term was about to conclude and he made a short appearance for the sake of his old friend, Han Hyojoo.

Your father would have sent you somewhere for the duration of that party but he locked you and Sunghoon both in a room– you because he couldn’t have anyone know that you were related to him, and Sunghoon because he was too rebellious at that time.

However, Sunghoon had always been one step ahead of his father as long as it concerned sneaking past him. When he waved the key in front of you, you almost smiled. And he let you out that night simply out of spite for his father, though you knew better than to stray too far.

And Assemblyman Kim hadn’t been the only person you had a memorable encounter with. Han Hyojoo, who would later become the President of Eden, was one of them too. A memory you would never forget.

“Sometimes when I recall that night,” Assemblyman Kim began, “I remember how frightened you looked to see me and then I start wondering what I had done to scare a child.”

“It wasn’t you,” you suppressed a chuckle. “I just… wasn’t supposed to be roaming around and then you caught me sneaking outside.”

Mr. Kim laughed heartily. “I’m relieved to hear that. So you’re a Crescent, huh?”

“It’s a recent happening,” you confirmed. “I hope you’ve been doing well, Sir. If you ever need a helping hand or a… tip, you can look for the sneaky child that gets scared easily. You’ll find her in Sector 1.”

Assemblyman Kim considered that offer. “Noted. Although if you’ve done your research, you would know that I don’t associate with… underworld organisations.”

“Perhaps, your information is outdated– or rather, one-sided,” you commented, noticing how his secretaries were listening in to your conversation now. “But tell you what, Assemblyman Kim… you don’t need to step in the underworld to rule the world, you know what I mean?”

He poked his tongue inside his cheek, shaking his head. “I’ll keep that in mind, Miss.”

“That’s a positive sign, right?” You look towards his female secretary, Secretary Shin, whose lips curled in an assuring smile. You parted with them, deciding to take a break before resuming your scavenging.

You ascended up the stairs of the Ju Residence, your hand sliding up the marble railing with ease. There were people everywhere, drinks or tarts in their hands as they chattered endlessly. Craving some peace, you found the balcony empty and went to stand in the corner, hopefully out of sight of the people inside. You ran your gaze across the expanse of the residence– the garden that surrounded the mansion was also full of guests lounging near the buffet table. You recognised a few of them and spotted Hongjoong conversing with a group of older men.

You shut your eyes and took a deep breath, a dull throbbing in your head preventing you from organising your thoughts any further. You almost didn’t feel the presence of Seonghwa until he was beside you, his hand sliding over yours and you would have been startled if it weren’t for his very familiar sigh sounding in the air.

“Tired?” He asked and you opened your eyes to look at the underboss. He was dressed to perfection in a black suit with a red sash emerging from under the left lapel that attached to his right shoulder and fell back in a flowy manner– true to Edenary fashion. His hair was getting longer, which meant that it was getting harder for you to resist stealing glances at him.

“A bit, yeah,” you shrugged. “No matter how much I get used to this… environment, it will always feel a bit suffocating to be here.”

“I can understand why,” he agreed. “Parties used to be somewhere that you could let loose. Now you have to be cautious of every move you make, every word you say.”

“You’re a natural at this, though,” you teased. “You grab everyone’s attention when you’re in the room.”

“Everyone but yours, it seems,” he retorted. “I was watching you talk to Assemblyman Kim. You didn’t even notice me when you were done. Tsk tsk,” he shook his head and you curled your lips downwards, making him grin.

“I’ll tell you all about the meeting with him when we get home– but first, I did not know Kim Hongjoong was a romantic,” you whispered dramatically and he raised a brow in question. “I met Lee Sunmi and she had something interesting to say about this piece. He designed this himself.”

You waved the bracelet in front of him and he chuckled, showing off his ring. “Did you not notice all of us wearing the same ring, sweetheart?”

“Oh?” You held his hand to inspect the ring- it was shaped like your bracelet with infinity symbol design carved all around. “All of you?”

“All eight of us, yeah. Also designed by the one and only Hongjoong,” he smiled proudly. “And you match.”

You pursed your lips, taking a closer look at your bracelet– it really was a matching set. “A part of the Crescents, huh?”

Seonghwa nodded, his eyes darting towards the window. “Mr. Ju is here. I’ve got to greet him.”

“Alright, I’ll go get something to eat before I resume this serious business,” you mocked and he snickered before the two of you parted ways.

You didn’t get a chance to brief the boys until you were back to Sector 1 and you figured that it was for the better since it saved you all the repetition. The rest of the Crescents came to town to hear about your visit to Edenary but this time, you were all cramped inside Hongjoong’s office. Or maybe it felt cramped due to the lack of drinks and the subtle tension in the air.

You took yet another deep breath as you heard Seonghwa’s side of the story, your eyes darting among the boys. Now that Seonghwa had hinted that they were all a single unit and might be closer than you thought, you couldn’t help but read too much into the otherwise casual actions– Mingi holding Yunho’s hand and Yunho absently caressing it while he watched Yeosang with a unique fondness, Wooyoung trying his utmost best to land a kiss anywhere on Yeosang who was strongly resisting with a subtle smile on his face that indicated that he didn’t dislike his attempts, and San massaging Jongho’s shoulders while he listened intently to what Seonghwa was saying.

Hongjoong watched all of them with almost parental affection, sending warning glares to anyone who dared interrupt the underboss and sharing smiles with anyone who looked his way.

So the question remained, looming over you until the weight of it felt almost tangible–

Who was with who, and just how many of them wanted you to be a part of whatever relationship they had?

“You alright?” Mingi asked. Having sat next to you, he noticed how you had stopped listening a while ago.

You nodded, smiling briefly in assurance before focusing your attention on Seonghwa who was now finishing up. Hongjoong filled in the parts that Seonghwa had not covered, especially about the previous day at the party at Ju Residence.

“I think the only memorable part of my night was finding President Son’s wife at the event,” he said and a chorus of appreciation sounded across the room. You looked at Hongjoong who was smiling knowingly at you– he had withheld this information for this dramatic reveal.

“Kim Jiwon,” he continued. “I think she attended knowing President Lee wouldn’t make it. You don’t often see ex-President Son’s family and anyone connected to President Lee in the same room.”

“Secretary Park was there, though,” you recalled. You purposely ignored and avoided him that day. “But I don’t think they crossed paths.”

“They probably didn’t. She was there for a very short time,” he agreed. “Anyways, she asked how business was. I told her that it was fine, and then she asked how business was.”

“Hold up–” you straightened. “You’re acquainted with President Son?”

Hongjoong crossed his legs, smirking. “The war may have ruined us all but me, personally? I made a lot of connections.”

You whistled, impressed and Wooyoung, who was sitting not far from you, waved his hand in dismissal. “He knows everyone, Luna. Get used to it.”

“Noted,” you sagged back into the couch but kept your eyes trained on Hongjoong. “How do you know him?”

“That’s a story I’ll tell you some other time,” he promised. “But anyways, my point is that this is the first time President Son has hinted that he knows something. I thought it might be a slip of tongue from his wife but then I remembered that they’re the kind of people who make mistakes on purpose.”

“She could be referring to the illegal trade, the weapons, or… anything, at this point,” Yeosang thought. “But the fact that they’re aware and have not done anything must mean that they don’t entirely disapprove, right? President Son still has enough influence to make our establishment collapse if he wants to.”

“Right, which is why I’m thinking that I really need to look into what he has been up to recently,” Hongjoong concluded. “Luna.”

“Yeah, so,” you began, inhaling deeply. “I think the two of you covered most of it. I had a not-so-cool meeting with Secretary Park,” you said, your eyes darting towards Seonghwa who had a subtle smile on his face. “He’s an arse, as usual.”

“Louder!” Wooyoung clapped in appreciation, eyes full of pride which prompted a laugh from you, making you feel instantly lighter.

“He thinks we should sign the deal with Madame Tiffany, which translates to ‘it will ruin us’, but maybe that’s just me,” you looked pointedly at Hongjoong who was suddenly too busy admiring his nails. “And then yesterday, I met Lee Sunmi of Maddox Jewellers and she had some interesting things to say about our boss, but that’s a story for later.”

That finally made Hongjoong look at you and you were surprised to see the glimpse of a cautious hope in his eyes. You continued. “I also had an interesting conversation with Assemblyman Kim. He remembers seeing me in Secretary Park’s mansion in 1963.”

“That’s seven years ago,” Jongho looked surprised. “How does he remember?”

“Well, your boss recalled seeing me from way before,” you pointed out and Hongjoong huffed.

“Seeing a young girl in Secretary Park’s mansion. Didn’t realise it was you,” he corrected.

“And Assemblyman Kim remembered me because, well, I gave him quite the reaction when I saw him last time,” you told the boys about your first meeting with him. “I made sure he knew that the Crescents are one call away if he ever needs help.”

“But he doesn’t associate with ‘gangs’,” Jongho pointed out.

“I told him he doesn’t need to ‘associate’ with us in order to gain something from us. And let’s admit it– my addition to the Crescents makes your business image far cleaner than it actually is.”

Laughter filled the room as the boys clapped in acknowledgement, making you sit just a little taller, your heart feeling full with something like pride.

“Anyways, I’ve heard more rumours about the recent happenings in Eden which may or may not be true,” you continued. “But the most interesting one has to be about how the Sirens Rebel Party is planning some unusual way of protesting when the campaigns start– and this time, their target is not only General Wi but also… President Lee.”

“President Lee?” Yunho frowned. “When he’s been pretty much unproblematic this whole time? I don’t think he’s being controlled by the army like the Sirens fear. If he was, the first step he would have taken is to send the Strictland immigrants in Eden back to their homeland.”

“That’s what you think,” Wooyoung scoffed. “I’ve been saying it this whole time– he’s far too clean to be unproblematic. Besides, he wouldn’t make a move like this and oust himself.”

“This means it’s time we do a little digging, no?” You looked at Hongjoong who was nodding in thought. “We should look into why the Sirens suddenly think President Lee has joined hands with the army. The Sirens are mostly Strictland immigrants– they must be anxious about something… And who would know President Lee better than President Son? Isn’t it so odd that he refuses to acknowledge him when he was so close to President Lee’s wife?”

“I just thought it might be a personal issue. There were always rumours about how President Han and President Son may have been a thing at some point in their lives,” Hongjoong said and you were about to protest when he spoke your mind. “I think that’s rubbish and it’s probably another deep-rooted grudge– President Son has never been a fan of President Lee.”

“Well, I hope there’s some way to find more about the reason their relationship is so strained,” you said, taking a deep breath before saying, “and that’s about it, yeah. Trip to Edenary concluded.”

A chorus of hums sounded across the room and someone shuffled to get the drink from Hongjoong’s table that they wanted to open for a successful trip. You, however, caught Yunho’s gaze.

“You did great,” he leaned forward to say with a warm smile, Mingi pressing himself back on the couch so you two could talk. “Assemblyman Kim is actually not a bad idea at all. We might need him if President Lee really is guilty of something big.”

“Right?” You exhaled in relief. “You can never have too many allies.”

San interrupted the moment with a tap to your shoulder, sliding in the empty space next to you and handing you a glass, congratulating you on making your first trip to Edenary as a Crescent a success– he had heard about your worries and anxiety about the trip over one of your usual late night drink sessions before you left.

“Any moments worthy of another late night drink session?” He asked in a low voice, winking subtly and you stifled a smile.

“There’s actually a lot, but if you can’t tell, me and Hongjoong are a little tense. We had a little argument,” you told him and he went ahead to glare at his boss unfiltered, which made you grab him by the chin so he would face you.

“Choi San!” You scolded in a harsh whisper. “You can’t do that!”

The action did not go unnoticed by the few who were watching you, but you were far too focused on the way San’s gaze softened as he looked at you. You dropped your hand, taking a big gulp of the drink as you attempted to appear normal and unaffected by the fluttering of your heart. You looked back at him and the two of you burst into giggles.

“You want me dead and gone, don’t you?” You poked his thigh.

“How dare Hongjoong have an argument with my darling sweetheart!” He continued with his charade, fully pouting as he clutched your head to bring you into a mock of an embrace. You struggled to free yourself and the boys laughed in confusion. Once you managed to wring away from San, you fixed your hair before smacking his arm.

All the while Hongjoong watched you challengingly.

You stared right back, eyes determined. And when a little smirk appeared on his lips, you finally found yourself relaxing while also realising with a sinking heart that Hongjoong already had quite the hold on you.

Now that you had wrapped up the hard part about the business with the conclusion of the Edenary trip, things were settling back into the old, quiet routine. You were only waiting for Madame Tiffany’s arrival to Sector 1 and, if lucky, a tip from Madame Cha in Wonderland to arrive preferably before the deal happens.

You had to admit that it was making you a little restless to not hear back from Madame Cha, and it had you wondering if she was purposely withholding information. Was she in cahoots with Madame Tiffany or worse, Secretary Park? The unease that you might have been betrayed by the one person you trusted prevented you from focusing completely on work and you often found yourself distracted and zoning out.

Anyone could tell that you were a bit jumpy these days. It was not because of your shift in relationship with both Yunho and Seonghwa. Things with Seonghwa were surprisingly normal and comfortable even after the romantic moment in Edenary, even after the confessions. He was still the same old underboss who gave you orders and a pat on your shoulders for doing a good job. He would make sure you were taking your meals on time, as did your colleagues Eunha and Jihoon.

It was mostly the lack of response from Madame Cha that was eating you up, and… Hongjoong.

Hongjoong was pretending to be normal– pretending, you were sure, because you were no stranger to the slight edge in his voice when he talked to you. It reminded you of the time when he had ‘respectfully’ asked you to stick to being a bookkeeper instead of meddling with their business and it made you reconsider if becoming a Crescent was a smart decision at all. You could have simply given away every information you possessed in exchange for your life, or used Kihyun as a shield. You could have resigned and gone to work at MX Pharmaceuticals– that way, you wouldn’t have had to interact with the Crescents very much.

But then… you would think about the boys. You would think about the recent development in the business and your relationship with the boys, ruminate about the good moments that you shared with them. The bond that you had created with them definitely outweighed anything else by a considerable margin.

You were waiting for Hongjoong in his office while you finished up the daily report for him. You couldn’t help but get distracted by the bracelet on your wrist. Perhaps, you should not have worn it today.

However, Hongjoong seemed to think differently. When he came to the office and seated himself across you, his gaze stuck on your wrist as you passed him the report. You hid your hands under the desk on purpose while you reviewed the reports as he went through them. It was all very smooth and casual, just like before, until–

“When are you going to share what Sunmi had to say about me?”

You couldn’t help the smirk this time. “When were you going to tell me that you’re not just the boss of a criminal organisation but a part-time designer as well?”

Hongjoong let out a wicked laugh. “Boss of a criminal organisation, okay, but a part-time designer? That’s something I’ve never heard about myself.”

“Well?” You waved your wrist in the air. “I’m hearing you designed this yourself, Captain.”

“Yeah, I did,” he leaned forward challengingly. “What about it?”

“Is this your trademark design,” you asked, letting your fingers brush the ring he wore on his right hand, “or… did you design it to match with your rings?”

Hongjoong only smiled in answer, letting you caress his hand for just a moment before he grabbed yours and brought it to his lips, pressing a kiss to your knuckles and sending butterflies in your stomach.

“I need answers, Hongjoong,” you almost whispered. “Not distractions.”

“I designed it to match,” he admitted, clasping both of his hands around yours. “And since we’re both feeling a little chummy right now, I will admit that I said things that I should not have said.”

He cautiously looked into your eyes before he continued. “Your opinions were never imposing. You are my– our partner now, and you are allowed to voice your opinions even if they are imposing. Yes, I’m the boss and I make the final decision but that does not mean that I do not make sure that all my partners are satisfied with the decision I will make.”

“I know,” you said softly, surprised at the hint of vulnerability in his eyes.

“I’m just eager to make this deal,” he sighed. “This drug project has been in the works for far too long now, and I know I should be cautious, but it’s a golden opportunity, isn’t it?”

You nodded. “I might have been overthinking because it’s my father who encouraged us to proceed with the deal. I haven’t heard back from Madame Cha yet.”

“And that is why I delayed the meeting,” he reminded you. “But you must understand that I cannot delay it any further, right?”

You nodded, pursing your lips. There was still an unsettling feeling in your heart and now you were starting to understand the gravity and the seriousness of this drug project. It could improve the healthcare system of Eden and it could shake Eden as it exposes the people who tried to keep silver light all to themselves. Perhaps, you were just anxious because of those reasons.

“I understand, and I will cooperate,” you said and he shook his head at your choice of words. You let out a nervous laugh, the tension releasing from your body. “I mean, I accept your apology and I will work with you when we shake hands with Madame Tiffany. She’s probably a good choice– the best option we have for now.”

“The best option we’ve ever had,” Hongjoong said. “And I’m wary of her too. My network is meticulous and so far, she’s mostly clean. Only misfortune can ruin us now.”

“Let’s hope not,” you squeezed his hands in assurance before drawing them away. “Also, is there any way for you to contact President Son?”

“What for?”

“I was just wondering if he would like to share what he has on President Lee.”

“If it was that easy, I would have asked him ages ago,” Hongjoong chuckled.

“I know!” Your shoulders sagged. “Still…”

“He’s not the type of man to share information just like that, and I don’t even want to try,” Hongjoong raised his hands in surrender. “He’s scary.”

“So you are scared of someone, huh? You’re just human, after all,” you folded your arms, laughing mockingly.

“One wrong move and he will end my whole career,” Hongjoong reminded you and you bit on your lower lip in thought.

“What if we have something to trade? Information, an opportunity, something like that?”

“He is the kind of person who knows everything that happens– in Eden and in the underworld of this continent. It’s no wonder that he exercised presidency in Eden for two whole terms. A solid ten years of experience in that position, given his background is something to fear.”

“So we need him, but he does not need us,” you sighed in resignation when Hongjoong nodded. “Alright. I’ll see if there’s some other way to find information about President Lee. I really don’t think he’s unaware of this Strictland business. There is no way Secretary Park is making all these visits to Halaland personally under his nose.”

“Jongho is working on that,” he assured you. “He has a few connections in Halaland but they’re waiting for Secretary Park’s next visit to their country before they tail him.”

“Good idea. Have we still not found any clues about the anonymous source?”

“No, but I have a feeling it’s gonna be something big,” Hongjoong rubbed his face, tired. “We will also have to wait for the end of this month but I can’t promise any results. The anonymous sources usually hire someone from delivery services who have no connection to both parties. We correlate the timing through them– we hide our identity too. It’s going to be hard.”

You sat in silence, sorting your thoughts out and then agreeing that it was best to wait and see. Hongjoong reminded you that Madame Tiffany was arriving in three days’ time and that he and Seonghwa were going to show her around, but they would appreciate your presence when the actual meeting happens.

And it was the pressure of your new role that made you search for the comfort of your old job– where a part of you would always be, you mused. The Crescent Bar was almost like a home to you now, and tonight you were looking for Yeosang so you could tell him the events of Edenary in detail and talk about the things that you had been avoiding for a while now before it gets too complicated.

You had just wrapped up things with Yunho in the office before coming here and you might have talked to him instead, but it was getting harder to look at him and not have your heart melt a little. You were afraid that you were going to make a mistake– or simply, not think rationally in his presence. That is why your heart reached for Yeosang. You had known him the longest time and it was always comfortable with him, even after the subtle shift in your relationship.

However, when you sneaked in through the back door, wanting to avoid the rest of your friends who worked at the front, you found the door to his office locked. You stood there with your hand on the knob, your shoulders tensing up with each passing minute as you wondered where he was–

“Luna?”

You turned to find San who was shrugging on his usual leather jacket over a black tank top. It looked like he was getting ready to go home.

“Oh, hi,” you awkwardly waved. “Done for the night?”

“Yeah, what’s up? Are you looking for Yeosang?”

“Yes, but it looks like he’s not here,” you pursed your lips. “So I’ll be going back home.”

He studied you for a moment before shaking his head. “You need a drink?”

“Not here, I sneaked in from the back door,” you told him and he smiled in understanding. “Just wanted to talk to him about… stuff.”

“Well,” San stepped closer. “You can talk to me, if you’d like? No pressure– we could go somewhere else. I was going to go home anyway, and I’ll be alone tonight. No engagements.”

You contemplated for a moment. San was definitely easy to talk to and you both were very comfortable ranting to each other about what was going on in your lives. While he wasn’t as good as Yeosang at helping you navigate through what you were thinking… he was comforting in a different way. Like a friend, your equal.

“I guess we could walk around for now, yeah?”

“I’ve got drinks at my place if you’d like to drown your sorrows away,” he laughed and you clapped in acknowledgement, asking him to lead the way– you would definitely need a few drinks to talk about tonight’s subject matter.

The matter being what the eight of them really wanted from you.

“Look,” you took a deep breath, glad your mind was not cloudy from all the drinking you had been doing. San wasn’t drinking very much, opting to hear you out instead and promising to stop you if he thought was necessary. “I get it. You guys are close, in more ways than you let on–”

“It’s really not that complicated–” he began but you shot him a warning glare and he pretended to zip his mouth.

“To you, it may not be. You guys have been together for a long time, San,” you reminded him, shifting so you were sitting cross-legged on the floor now, resting your elbows on the table. You moved the bottles in front of you, arranging them into triangles while you talked. “Your relationship developed naturally. Right?”

“You’ve been with us for a long time too, now,” San countered. “At least with me and Yeosang.”

“That’s why I’m in your apartment right now. If it was someone else, I wouldn’t have intruded,” you winked at him and he laughed. “But my point is… how would it change us? What would it mean for me?”

“I think you need to answer a few questions first,” San shrugged. “If you’re comfortable with at least a few of us. If you see us in that light– if you want to be with some of us romantically.”

When San brought you to his apartment, he showed you around like a gentleman. He lived with Mingi and Seonghwa but Mingi usually stayed in the warehouse, opting to come back during the weekends. Seonghwa was visiting some family so he wouldn’t be home tonight either.

Then you told San about the details of your time in Edenary– specifically your argument with Hongjoong and how it got resolved now. He didn’t comment much, only smiled knowingly and agreed that Hongjoong could be a bit temperamental at times but that was probably stress.

And when you told him about your kiss with Seonghwa and your undeniable feelings for Yunho and Yeosang, he couldn’t help but make a few teasing remarks which finally made you get a good amount of wine in your system. You asked him to simply answer all your questions without ambiguity. You couldn’t simply sit around anymore and keep getting distracted over what was and what could be.

“Maybe I do,” you answered, your mouth suddenly feeling dry and you were glad you had some drinks in your system because you couldn’t have admitted it with this confidence otherwise. “Maybe I like you too.”

San smirked. “I’ll hear that when you’re sober, thank you very much.”

“I am sober. Just a little bit tipsy,” you straightened. “Come on, San. Don’t push me back now.”

“I’m not,” he gently said, scooting closer. “You wanna cuddle?”

“Cuddle?” You gaped at him– the mafia capo wanted to cuddle. With you.

“How long has it been since you’ve sat in someone’s arms, dear? Even platonically?”

There was a certain sadness in his voice that you couldn’t pinpoint. It made your heart sink, and you wondered if he had looked through your heart and found how lonely you were.

Cautiously, you scooted closer where he sat on the floor with his back resting on the couch, his legs spread to accommodate you. You sat in front of him, unsure of how he wanted you to sit.

“This is weird,” you told him and he shook his head, grabbing your wrists and turning you around so you were now tucked in his embrace, and with his bare, strong arms wrapped around you, you had to admit–

This was nice- no, this was lovely.

“Relax,” he said in a low voice, adjusting your bodies so you both sat a bit more comfortably. “You okay?”

“Yep,” you assured him, slowly letting the tension release from your body. “You’re right, I’ve almost never done this.”

“You don’t need to be partners to do this,” he told you, caressing your hair. “I think every human needs or craves a little skinship. I, for one, can’t sleep without holding something.”

“Oh,” you giggled at his admission and he chuckled. “So you cuddle just about anyone?”

“Anyone or anything,” he grinned. “Isn’t it nice?”

“Yeah, you’re like a cushion. A hard one– what’s all that muscle for?” You poked his biceps and he laughed loudly, poking your stomach and making you squirm in his grasp.

“We used to sit like this– the boys,” San said after a moment, voice deep with the memories of that time. “Usually it was Mingi and I after a tough night during the war. Jongho doesn’t really like cuddling but sometimes, he needed that too. We were all soldiers in the same platoon.”

“Did you know each other from before the war?” You asked, tracing patterns into his arms while you rested your head against his chest.

“Mingi and Yunho did. Yeosang and Wooyoung were old friends too, and they were stationed in the same area so they often met up. And then Yunho and Hongjoong became friends during the war, and after the treaty happened, we just… found each other again. We have never separated since.”

“You’re each other’s home now,” you smiled. “It must be nice to have each other.”

“It is,” he said. “We can always rely on each other. And our relationship… it’s different. Sometimes, we comfort each other, but there are no boundaries. Some of us have had girlfriends before, sometimes two of us with one person, but we never really met someone who could fit in with us and be a part of all of us, until… you.”

“And how did you know I would fit right in? Especially with the romantic aspects of your relationship?”

“We didn’t, we just liked when you talked back to Seonghwa,” San said and you laughed, drawing back in his embrace so you could face him. “Yeosang liked you from the beginning, but he’s probably the most cautious one out of all of us when it comes to relationships. And you always kept a distance until you became a Crescent.”

“Kept a distance for obvious reasons– I had so much to hide,” you sighed. “I can finally be myself since all my secrets are out.”

“Yeah,” San tucked your hair back lovingly. “It wasn’t until you started showing interest in Yunho that we thought that you might be the one for us. Seonghwa, at least, thought so. He had to convince Hongjoong.”

“But how does it work?” You asked. “Do you all… actually like me?”

“Obviously, not all of us yet and not in the same way,” he said and you figured that was true. “You know your relationship is different with all of us. You haven’t really interacted much with the warehouse boys, but with those you have… what do you think? Do you see yourself with us?”

“Does being one of you mean… that I’m with all of you?”

“Not necessarily, no,” San explained. “You can be with a few of us if that is what you would prefer. You can take your time navigating your feelings. You can be with one of us– but we… we’re willing to be with you if you are.”

“It’s… a lot,” you laughed, heart feeling full at the thought though there was an anxious strain in your chest that accompanied the feeling.

“Your own pace, darling,” San kissed your temple. “Whatever you say, whoever you want, whenever you want.”

“Wow,” you breathed. “So you will all be my boys then?”

San couldn’t help but gleam at the sound of that.

“It’s been the eight of us for a long time now,” San admitted. “And if you accept us, it will be the nine of us, and nobody else.”

“Well…” you scanned his face, finding his eyes full of hope with a hint of caution. You wished to erase that emotion from his eyes, now that you had your answer. “I actually quite like the sound of it.”

“Really?”

“Yeah,” you folded your arms. “If I get tired with one of you, there’s always another. And another. And another–”

San groaned loudly, moving to tickle you again but when you tried squirming out of his grasp, the two of you somehow wrestled yourselves into a position so your bodies were flush against each other, with you lodged in his lap so you were at eye-level. San’s gaze darkened for just a moment and he removed his hands from around your body to make sure you wouldn’t feel uncomfortable.

But then you moved to cup his face, entranced by the way his eyes watched you and his plump lips parted for air. You traced the sharp curves and edges of his face, running your thumb over his lower lip.

“San… does it make me selfish if I really want to be a part of you guys? If I want all of you, in some way or another?”

“Not at all,” he whispered.

“Does it make me greedy to crave love?” You tilted your head, inspecting the moles and freckles that littered his neck. “To crave you?”

“No,” he rested his hands on the dip of your waist. “We all crave love. It’s natural.”

“You won’t break my heart, right?” You asked, locking eyes with him, unable to keep the assertiveness out of your voice even though it threatened to betray you. “None of you. I don’t think I have more capacity in me to grieve if I lose someone again, San. I’ve already lost everything once and it took me a lot of time to recover.”

“We will never do that to you,” he squeezed your waist in assurance, the promise in his eyes strong. “We protect each other. We don’t betray each other. We’re one.”

You nodded, leaning forward just a fraction, unable to deny the magnetic pull and he held his breath in anticipation. “Do you mind if I…”

“Are you sure?” San asked. “I don’t want you to wake up in the morning and regret coming here tonight, Luna. Bringing you here wasn’t– this wasn’t my intention–”

You reckoned that the only way to shut him up now was to capture his lips in a kiss. He froze for a moment before melting under your touch and reciprocating the kiss. His hands lowered to your hips, wrapping around your back as he brought your bodies closer and you kissed his lower lip sweetly before drawing back for breath.

For a few moments, you assessed each other. San studied the vulnerability in your eyes, watched how your eyes ran along the expanse of his upper body, your hands following the path as they traced down his shoulders and then came back to smoothen the fabric of his tank top.

“You’re… hot, Choi San,” you breathed out the confession and he laughed, eyes laden with adoration as he watched you.

“You sound drunk, Luna,” he said. “And I don’t want you to make a drunken mistake tonight.”

“I’m not drunk,” you steeled your gaze. “But okay, I get it. You’re a gentleman to the bone.”

“That I am,” San picked you up effortlessly as he got up and you almost squealed, wrapping yourself around him instinctively. San’s body shook as he laughed and he waited until your fear settled and you drew away to look at him.

“Would you like to stay over?” He asked.

“Sure,” you nodded, frowning in anticipation.

“Then let’s go wash up and cuddle until we sleep. Don’t let your drunken thoughts keep you up at night, darling.”

You pouted but you were aware that you would be thanking him the next morning. The two of you went to separate bathrooms to wash up and he lent you one of his shirts and a trouser for the night. You took your time in the shower, letting the water wake you up and take the cloudiness in your mind with it.

Once done, you walked to his room and stood in shock at the absurd amount of pillows on his bed– every shape, every size. San simply watched you from his bed, amused.

“That one looks like it’s begging for death,” you pointed at a worn out pillow in the middle of the bed.

“That’s my favourite pillow to cuddle,” San chuckled, patting the space next to him.

“I’ll dethrone it– I’ll be your new favourite cuddle pillow,” you promised, getting inside the covers and tackling him in a hug which made him laugh in surprise, his arm going around your back to hold you close.

“Didn’t expect you to be the shy type, Luna,” he said sarcastically.

“Didn’t expect you to be such a gentleman, but here we are,” you pecked his lips, gauging his reaction before sharing another sweet kiss.

“It’s really good to be here tonight. Thank you, San.”

“It’s nothing,” he caressed your head. “I didn’t expect this turn of events, but I hope all your questions are answered now.”

You grinned– truly, the night had taken an unexpected turn but you were not going to complain. There was only one thing left now.

You will have to make this official amongst the boys. You needed to hear if they were alright with this, and if they were, you were ready to become a part of their team.

For now, you were content sleeping in San’s warm embrace.

The wet winters was an unavoidable thing in Eden but it was still amusing to see how it vexed the citizens of Eden. The rest of your week passed by in a blur, unforgiving with its never-ending downpour of rain that cast a bleak spell on the area. The laughter of the children was replaced by shrieks as they huddled under shade, being shouted at by their guardians to get back home. The once calm and steady footsteps of the people making their way to begin with their day at their workplace was substituted by wet and uneven steps, often accompanied by a whisper of a string of curses.

You tried to stay optimistic but even you could relate to the cranky pedestrians when a cycle, or worse, a car would pass by, sending a splatter in your direction which you would narrowly avoid. Sometimes, you would carry the drops of muddy water on your bottoms to the office and make a quick stop at the toilet to scrub it off. You wished there was an umbrella that would guard you from head to toe.

Seonghwa told you that it was called ‘a car’ and you made a face– you would not be accepting conveyance offers. Your walks to the office and back home were perhaps the only mundane activity left in your life. Plus, you liked how the morning walk specifically made you vigilant if it was raining– calculating where to place your next footstep was quite a nice activity to wake your mind and get it running for the rest of the day. Working with the ‘big three’ made you want to start your day as normally as possible.

It also kept you humbled, and perhaps, you needed that now more than ever. While you and Hongjoong were no longer tense, you were starting to understand a few things. You were no longer an Edenary citizen– not by any means. You were now a Crescent, and that was the only identification you would need in the future.

Being a Crescent meant that you were an equal now. There were no longer any power dynamics going on– you did not need to prove your worth with the information you had or with your status. You just needed to work with them. They needed your brains– though, again, they really didn’t, as Hongjoong had clarified. They just needed… you.

Why did they need you anymore? Their deal with Madame Tiffany was done. You had already shared everything you knew about the elite’s dirty secrets that you deemed significant. Did you really deserve to be a Crescent? Did you deserve this position in the Crescent? Sure, a bookkeeper, maybe you earned that. A secretary, even. But to be one of The Leaders?

And to be wanted by them? Desired?

That question gnawed at you like a constant itch ever since San told you about the true dynamics of their relationship and their offer– to be with as many of them as you liked. While his admission had helped the guilt that you wished to be with more than one of them, it also contributed to the self-doubt and the insecurities you had been harbouring in your heart. Did you really deserve to be at this position?

And it was this confusion about your self-worth that was making you delay officially accepting their offer to be a Leader and be a part of their relationship dynamic. San had explained that the latter part would be shaped on your terms but that did nothing to comfort you. Plus, there were more pressing matters that you needed to take care of. It was odd how Madame Cha had not responded back to you after you told her about Madame Tiffany. You were wondering if she ever received your letter in the first place or if someone else got to it first– you wouldn’t be surprised if your father’s rats intercepted the letter.

Madame Tiffany was now fully aware of the boss’ vision for silver light. She understood why it was so important to a man like Kim Hongjoong to have that drug earn the status of a medicine so that he could crush the most powerful drug network in Edenary. Once silver light would be in the hands of a common man, the elites would no longer want to consume it or keep using it as their currency. The fundings for silver light would stop and he would finally learn just which influential personalities of Eden were involved in this. Things for the Crescents, especially business, would get easier from there.

Madame Tiffany, of course, didn’t need to know the last part. She could keep wondering if it was solely because Hongjoong was a moral man who wanted the best for the people of Eden.

That was true. He did want the best for his people– just not without gaining something himself as well.

Tonight was the last meeting with Madame Tiffany before she would be going back to Wonderland. So far, the sessions had been fruitful and she had already made her first instalment of payment, thus solidifying the partnership. You attended a few meetings too and learned a lot from her– while she was considerably young for an owner of multiple businesses, she was well-experienced and had knowledge to share. You were starting to think that you had been worried for no reason.

When you were not attending the meeting, you were working in the background with her assistants while Hongjoong and Seonghwa or Yunho gave Madame Tiffany company. Tonight, you were handling the legal aspect of the finances with Jihoon– the two of you had been on it since before Madame Tiffany arrived, making sure her huge advance payment would be adjusted properly and unsuspiciously into the current statements especially since a few inspectors had been keeping an eye on the Crescents tax and bank statements recently.

You both would have to make sure not to raise suspicion at such a sensitive time and maybe keep the extra cash stored somewhere safe, which was another headache. It was a relief that the weapons incharge group needed cash soon so you only had to worry about transporting the extra bunch safely.

You checked the time on your wrist watch– it was almost 10 and that meant the meeting was about to be over. You let Jihoon know who instantly relaxed back in the chair to crack his neck and you both grinned at the loud sounds that his aching joints produced.

“Eunha owes us a meal for skipping out on this,” you said, signing the last document and shutting the folder with a sense of accomplishment.

“Oh, definitely. I’ll make sure she pays us back as early as possible,” Jihoon muttered, highlighting a line in the report and passing it to you to check for any discrepancies. You confirmed that it was alright and he concluded his work as well. “Oh, also, I forgot to tell you because it’s been so busy here, but someone came looking for you today. Not exactly ‘looking’, but asked if you worked here.”

“Me?” Your heart sank. “Who would?”

“Don’t worry, it wasn’t anyone from around here– I would have recognised him if he was. He said he would find you. He didn’t give me a name.”

“Well… geez. It could be someone my father sent to kill me.”

“Yeah, and he would come marching right in here unscathed, huh?” Jihoon shook his head.

“What did he look like?”

“Cool,” Jihoon laughed. “Had a few piercings– one here to match with his moles or something,” he pointed at his brows and your face scrunched in confusion before you realised.

“Lim Jaebeom was here?”

Jihoon narrowed his eyes when you looked absolutely shocked to learn the identity of the person who came to see you. “Is that supposed to be someone important?”

“Kind of, but I wish he had come earlier,” you nervously looked at the closed door of the boss’ room. “That’s my source for verification on Tiffany.”

“I thought you gave up on that?”

“I did,” you nodded and he whistled in response, agreeing it was too late now. You simply needed to pray that Jaebeom brought good news.

You could not stop shaking your leg while you waited for the meeting to be over and once Yunho stepped out, he paused when he saw a very tired Jihoon and a very fidgety you. He immediately came over to dismiss Jihoon first after making sure everything was okay, and then he called you into his office.

“How did the meeting go?”

“It was okay. They’re just chatting now so I thought I would leave. It was a good idea, apparently,” he looked at your jittery hands pointedly. “Can’t wait to go home?”

“It’s not that,” you laughed, deciding not to tell anyone about Jaebeom until you actually had something to share. “Okay, yeah, I might be a bit tired too.”

Yunho hummed in response while he locked the documents in the cabinet. “You need a ride? I’m going to the bar and it looks like it’s still raining.”

“Oh, yes, please,” you groaned in relief. “I can’t wait to take these damp clothes off– I had to run outside to get a snack and got caught in the rain.”

Yunho raised a brow, scanning your body– if the clothes had been a lighter colour, he might have gotten a look at your silhouette. You folded your arms and shook your head.

“Get your head out of the gutter, Lieutenant Jeong. I’m not taking anything off here.”

“Whatever happened to our office romance?” Yunho wondered, grinning as he asked you to follow him downstairs and you caught Hongjoong and Madame Tiffany sharing a farewell handshake, opting to wait inside until she was gone.

As soon as she was out of sight, Hongjoong’s fake smile dropped and he turned, rolling his eyes when he saw the two of you snickering at the change in his demeanour. “A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do. She smiles too fucking much.”

“What a gentleman,” you commented, patting his shoulder in mock sympathy. “We were just leaving– he’s dropping me home.”

“Wait till Seonghwa hears that,” Hongjoong scoffed. “He’s still bitter about how you won’t accept a car and a driver.”

“I’m only making use of this man here,” you pointed at Yunho. “Why don’t you two try taking a walk tonight, huh, you and Seonghwa? Get a breath of that fresh air– you look like you need it.”

You proceeded to sit in the passenger seat with a teasing look shot at Hongjoong who stood at the entrance of the office, thoroughly amused. The ride to your home wasn’t too long so it was mostly silent and you made him park the car at the end of the street so he could save a turn.

“Well, that is goodnight,” you started grabbing your things. “And we part ways till it is the morrow.”

Yunho brushed his fingers against your hand and you let him link your hands. He squeezed them before he raised your hand to kiss the back of it.

“When are you going to talk to the boys?”

You knew what he meant. You smiled. “I just want the business to settle down a bit before we take that step. There’s too much going on right now.”

“I understand,” he pressed another kiss to your hand. “I’m just excited for it.”

“Gosh, you’re such a child sometimes,” you laughed, returning the sentiment and kissing the back of his hand. “I think I need to personally talk to Yeosang first.”

“Yeah, I think that’s a good idea,” he agreed. “He’s waited too long for you.”

You pursed your lips guiltily. “He wouldn’t mind that I– that me and you, and me and San–”

“No, he wouldn’t. Not in the slightest,” Yunho assured you. “However, he is the type to mind after you make this official.”

“Oh, thank you for the tip. I shall keep that in mind,” you breathed. That sounded like the Yeosang you knew. “Any other tips to share?”

“Hmm… the underboss likes to receive gifts. Meaningful gifts.”

“I knew he had that side to him,” you shook your head, recalling seeing a bunch of stuff that seemed out of place on Seonghwa’s office desk. “What else?”

Yunho took a moment to think, caressing your hand absently. “The consigliere quite likes intimate moments like these. He might never admit that, though.”

“Is that so?” You tugged at his hand, beckoning him to look at you and for once, he looked shy which made you bite back a grin. “Does he like eye contact or is he too tough for that?”

“Oh, he can hold his eye contact,” Yunho assured in a low voice, looking intently at you and sending butterflies in the pit of your stomach. “He is known not to break away first.”

“I would take this challenge when I’m not feeling icky,” you told him, just wanting to get out of your clothes that stuck to your skin. “But…”

You pulled him in and locked his lips with yours, sharing a sweet kiss. The way he looked at you afterwards made you want to stay and talk about feelings, for once, but you only smiled, pecking his lips in farewell.

And it was a good idea to let him go. Just as you had predicted, the familiar figure of the leader of one of the most notorious and influential underworld gangs of Wonderland sat on a bench, fiddling with his smoke. You took a look around before taking a seat at the other end of the bench.

“Fancy seeing you here, Jaebeom.”

Jaebeom scanned your figure slowly with his piercing gaze before it softened just a fraction. “You’ve grown, kiddo.”

You smiled widely at the term– strangely, he had been the first one to give you such a childish nickname. It made you see him in an almost familial way.

“How’s Madame Cha?” You asked. “And what brings you here?”

“Your aunt’s the same,” he began, crossing one leg over the other. “Which means she’s thriving, keeping the boys busy. Me? I came to take a breather.”

“Lies,” you scoffed. “You can’t leave them alone. You’re incapable of that.”

“But I’m here,” he spread his arms to prove a point. “Okay, I’m here with Jinyoung. He had some business here and now was a good time to tag along and deliver some news.”

“Good news or bad news?” You asked sombrely.

“Both?” He inhaled deeply. “But not now. There’s still a few things I need to check before I decide what to give you.”

“Is this about Madame Tiffany?” You prodded. Reluctantly, he gave in with a nod.

“Just tell me if it looks bad,” you tried swallowing the anxiety in your voice.

“It could be the end of your beloved Crescents’ career, if I’m right about this,” he said in a low voice and you cursed under your breath– you knew it. “It’s hard to say anything right now because we didn’t find anything while investigating her. She’s clean, you know that.”

You nodded. Countless thorough checks brought nothing to attention.

“You know Madame Cha makes us track shifts in the elite world to have an idea of what the political situation in the continent looks like– and it’s looking bad. We fear the stepping stones for the second war of our lifetime are being cemented, and we’re working with people from around the continent to try and stabilise the situation. It’s kind of ambiguous right now, so I can’t really say…”

“But she might be involved?”

“We spotted her with far too many instigators to call it a ‘coincidence’,” Jaebeom explained. “It could be just her business and stuff, but there’s a chance that she might be involved. However miniscule it might be.”

“Good lord,” you breathed. “Wish I had learned that earlier.”

“Like I said, she’s clean. Far too clean,” Jaebeom tsk-ed in disappointment. “But we got a tip and got busy. We might need the Crescents to join hands with us in the future, so don’t look like you’ve just seen the grim reaper.”

“You don’t understand,” you looked at Jaebeom, positive your face was void of colour now. “If she’s involved… we’ve given her the key to destroy the Crescents… and ultimately Eden.”

Jaebeom pursed his lips in disbelief. “I sure hope not. I’ll report back soon– stay vigilant.”

The ickiness of your clothes didn’t bother you anymore. You sat on the bench, letting the dampness of it stick to your soul for a while, waiting for a miracle to happen. However, the only miracle that did happen was that you mustered up your courage to go in the comfort of your room, away from the monsters of this world.

After washing up, you found yourself in front of Wendy’s room. Her door was slightly ajar and you peeked inside– she seemed to be asleep. You quietly got inside the covers next to her and she stirred in her sleep, turning to you and opening one eye to confirm your presence.

“Everything alright?” She mumbled, voice laden with sleep.

You didn’t answer. “I’m just very tired, Wendy.”

Wendy smiled sadly before falling back asleep, one arm draped over your chest. You followed, hoping the last bit of tonight was just a bad dream and you would magically wake up in your own room as if nothing had happened.

next chapter

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wirewitchviolet · 2 months ago

Text

The problem with Gleba

There's a game I'm a big ol' fan of and don't write about enough called Factorio. It's an interesting beast of a game. There's a lot of RTS DNA in it, and a lot of grand logistics puzzle/progammer-brain game. The main appeal is that as a the player, you are running around setting up a giant tangled mess of machines, conveyor belts, and little robot arms to produce large amounts of stuff to feed into research machines, teching up to more on more complex stuff, requiring you to scale up more and more until eventually hitting a win condition, but the more you expand and produce, the more the resulting polution causes your basically-Zerg neighbors to become larger and more aggressive. There's a really great inherent push and pull to this where if you're new to the game and just kinda struggling along, you generally have a lot more leeway on enemy aggression, and if you're really confidently rushing through (or just seriously overbuilding all your production), big deadly attacks roll in super early and you'll have to be way more aggressive about defenses.

Back in October, Factorio got an expansion, which I described while streaming it as the sort of expansion that's for "real Factorio sickos only." It makes the game significantly longer and more difficult, mainly in that normally, you advance through 5 flavors of science packs, each more of a challenge to produce at the rate you'd like, then head off into space. In the expansion, you can get into space with just the first 3 science flavors, but to hit the new victory condition, you need to be producing the original 5, plus an additional 5, one produced on orbital space platforms and the rest each coming from setting up bases on 4 new planets, each of which basically require you not only to start your big setup from scratch, but have their own resoruces, tech trees, and obstacles, meaning you end up playing 5 variations of the base game, simultaneously, and an extra logistical challenge in tying their science outputs together.

As a real Factorio sicko myself, I love this, for the most part. I have long since mastered the base game to the point where it's fairly trivial for me to get a thriving base going on what's now just the starting planet, and set up defenses that won't hold up INDEFINITELY without any further input from me (places to mine up the most basic resources do eventually run dry and one must push out into the map to set up new outposts now and then). So hitting a point where I have to just step away from my primary base and spend several hours setting things up on new planets is a cool change of pace.

And of the new planets, three of them are just fine. There's a volcanic planet where there's no water with which to set up the usual early game steam power nor the late game nuclear plants, nor can you mine for the iron and copper you need to produce basically everything in the game. The big challenge is figuring out the new tech tree and how to get the basics set up, then in realizing just how incredibly generous this new tech tree is with everything, and how much more efficiently you can set everything up, and the normal enemies that would be harassing you have no real equivalent. There ARE stupifyingly large and tough new enemies, but they won't come to you. They camp out around the map, guarding their personal territory, and requiring you to essentially handle a boss fight every time you need more territory to set up your stuff or harvest finite resources (but honestly, in practice, you'll need to expand in this just once, most likely).

Another planet's main hook is that literally the only resources to work with come from setting up your mining drills on the ruins of a long-dead civilization, pulling up an odd slurry of what in the base game are end-game resources. Complicated electronics, fuel, and superstructure materials just come out of the ground, and need to be broken down in recyclers for the actual base resources, which is just sort of hilarious. And the real puzzle is you have this mixed slurry of all these resources you need to sort out, then also deal with the incredibly unbalanced ratio, and find some way to keep the resource pipeline flowing and not getting gummed up with all that concrete and super advanced electronics you don't actually need that many of. And the final planet, only unlockable after mastering the rest, needs a good interplanetary logistics network as you need to important damn near everything from elsewhere.

All of this is great. Head to a new planet, spend a couple hours puzzling out it's quirks and how to set up a new rocket platform, its required inputs for perpetual rocket launches, and how to produce each planet's science flavor to send home. Then since it's been a few hours since you've checked on your main base, you head back, do some maintenance, maybe move some mines, maybe take a moment to make upgrades everywhere as each planet also has some infrastructural stuff that can't be made anywhere else, giving you better production structures and faster conveyor belts and so forth you might want to use everywhere. But then there's Gleba.

The gimmick of Gleba is it's the biological planet. There's no metal to work with (technically). No oil. Solar power doesn't even work particularly well. So like the volcano planet, you have to reinvent the wheel with everything using a new tech tree where you harvest two types of fruit, throw them into a series of goop-filled tanks powered by "nutrients" rather than electricity, and various combinations of byproducts your tanks spit out let you make literally everything you're ever going to need. In fact, a properly set up Gleba base becomes a perfect closed system, circulating seeds back to the two fruit farms for an infinite suppy, producing all the nutrients required to keep everything running, and enough surplus production of some form or another to feed into incinerators to provide electricity for the few things that still need it (basically just the inserters moving things from one tank to another).

And then there's the downsides. First, and this is a real serious problem for anyone dealing with this for the first time, Gleba has a real serious problem of "what the hell am I even looking at?" Everywhere else, there's pretty clear divisons between flat open ground, cliffs, some sort of liquid, and whatever useful resources you can harvest, without anything else really factoring in. And then here's Gleba.

I love the visual variety, but for comparison's sake, the base game looks like this:

It is very clear where the water is, it is very clear that there is a big patch of copper you can mine up. Meanwhile in these Gleba screenshots, you can't make out where the important resources are (a bit of a cheat because I didn't actually include the biomes where either of the plants that matter grow), and it's honestly quite hard to tell where the water is (I'm PRETTY SURE there's some in every screenshot, and probably a lot more than you'd think as it looks real different when very shallow)... oh and almost all water on Gleba is shallow to various degrees so you can't even go by what's walkable, you'll only really notice an area is flooded when you try to place stuff on it. It will probably take you quite some time before you can even successfully identify what's important, where it comes from, and where you have enough dry land to set your base up. And during that time you'll probably start dealing with the second complication.

Everything rots on Gleba. Well, almost everything. Stuff you build is fine, but the two important fruits, their intermediary peeled forms, the main intermediary material you make from mashing them together, the nutrients that power everything, the bacteria that you need to breed for your basic metal supplies, the one ingredient I haven't mentioned, and even the science packs you're eventually going to be exporting decay over time. Fresh picked fruit spoils in an hour. Peeled fruit and nutrients only last a few seconds. And once stuff rots, generally, you have this completely different item called spoilage, which is going to gum up all your automation by blocking conveyor belts or the input slots of machines and it can be pretty difficult to clear out.

Also as some things decay VERY quickly, any number of problems can cause something vital to spoil in transit, like say the nutrient supply to getting fruit initially processed, or the nutrients powering your production of nutrients, and everything's going to grind to a halt. Including the little inserters that move stuff to the burners providing power to those very inserters. So it's not at all uncommon when setting stuff up on Gleba that one tiny thing will be wrong, maybe as you cut off a belt to reroute it for a change in your overall design, everything rots, the whole base dies, and you have to go around clearing out rotted gunk from literally everything by hand, hand-produce a few nutrients from said rotted gunk, and slowly manually restart everything. Meanwhile we have the last issue to worry about.

youtube

Gleba is the one planet other than the one you start on with aggressive enemies to worry about. And there's a lot more to worry about from them. As the above sizzle real shows, they're significantly tougher on an individual level, but also, having these cool stretchy legs, they ignore all terrain. So you can't funnel them to choke points with walls, and they're likely to skim over water you can't build on in their approach. So you just sort of have to have a huge amount of standing firepower where they're likely to attack, which will only be your tree farms (and the path they need to take to them) which will be two very remote locations that are more or less completely flooded out... and your defenses most likely will require a lot of electricity, which is hard to get.

Also that last ingredient you have to worry about rotting? These things' eggs. Yeah both the buildings you use to produce everything on Gleba, and the science packs you eventually export, require the eggs of the local monsters to produce. Good news is, you really just need to risk your life attacking their nests to run off with a couple to start with, since you can make more eggs from eggs without too much trouble, but if one sits around for a few minutes without being processed, it hatches, and now there's a bunch of baby monsters freaking out in the middle of your base. And more importantly, after you clean that resulting mess up, you have to go on another super dangerous safari to get fresh eggs.

Now, individually, I actually love all this. There's some delightful cruelty and the puzzle of working out how to keep everything from rotting and clogging everything up in a fail-safe way is pretty neat. But putting it all together, there's two big things here that just feel real real bad.

First there's the pollution system that makes me love the base game so much. If I'm barely mining and producing stuff, I'm not causing a lot of pollution, so enemies aren't getting big and scary. If I make some huge mistake like, oh, running my whole base on coal power, scaling up a ton, and forgetting that I'm just plain not bringing enough coal in to sustain that, and my entire base de-powers and grinds to a halt, that's pretty bad, but I am producing zero pollution until I get it back online. If some small part of my factory stops working, because I'm massively overproducing something or I'm under-producing something, some machines are just going to stop doing anything until they get what they need, or have a place to dump their stuff, and even mines will stop mining if their output backs up.

Gleba... doesn't work that way. When anything goes wrong in any way, you go from having a ton of stuff you've produced to having a ton of spoilage. Or if you have some safety valves, you are suddenly tossing a massive overproduction of eggs or science or something straight into the furnace. But you're always going to be planting and harvesting the important plants (unless all your fruit rots on the line and there's no seeds to plant) whether you're really doing useful things with that fruit or not, and that's the one and only thing that generates "pollution" (officially it's spores that smell really delicious as a byproduct of harvesting). So catastrophes that end up being more of a full reset than a pause still leave you with jacked up pollution and much deadlier attacks, and that self-balancing difficulty just doesn't happen.

The other big problem, and this may be a bigger one, is you're really discouraged from tweaks and experimentation. You really are just sort of forced to fully design and deploy your entire Gleba base, with every emergency pressure valve and contingency, and the full production line to producing the final products you're shipping offworld before you even "plug it in" and start the actual plant harvesting. You can't really slowly build it up as you go (largely because you kinda get all your power by burning overproduction at the end), making a tiny change is going to make something start starving or backing up which can cause a disaster within seconds, and you either need to really really carefully manage ratios, or commit to massive overproduction and burning everything (spiking the difficulty).

So the first time you ever set up a base on Gleba, you're probably going to spiral into a failure state and need to reload from when you first landed there, maybe several times. But once you know what a functioning base looks like, either from your own trial and error or copying from someone else, you're going to have a nice little blueprint saved of this very nice compact efficient closed-loop base you can just stamp down on future play-throughs, hook up, and basically never have to look at again, ever. I was prompted to write this because I'm doing my second run of the expansion, got set up real quick here, and it's going to be a couple hours still before my defenses even get tested. Meanwhile I have basically all the Gleba research done already. There's no middle ground here between overwhelming and frustrating and a totally dull turn-key setup. Which is a huge shame!

Of course I'm also saying that before testing my defenses. The other inherent problem with Gleba is that from the moment you set foot on it, you do inherently have two planets with a steadily increasing difficulty modifier. Plus the science rots. So you are always going to have to divert SOME mental processing cycles to babysitting it at least a little bit even after you've solved the planet, even if it's just remembering to clean rotting science out of the labs on your starting planet here and there. And that really makes it into something you're still going to want to put off visiting for as long as possible even after playtest response to it being such a nightmare lead to the developers locking all sorts of cool researchable goodies behind it.

And then thing that really bothers me about all this is I can't really think of an easy fix for it. The closed loop where overproduction gets burnt is too conceptually foundational to really mess with. The cascading difficulty spike you could maybe fix by tying it to space launches and not basic production (rockets ignite methane in the air and freak the locals out)? Make solar work OK or take inserters out of the equation maybe by just letting belts feed directly into and out of the important machines here? If nothing else it'd certainly help if coastlines were more obviously marked in some way.

Also like... I'm not an outlier griping about this. Everyone hates Gleba. I just want to be the weird contrarian who thinks no, rotten planet is super rad, you should head there first even, get all that cool stuff to use elsewhere but... no there really are problems with it that are always gonna suck.

#factorio #factorio space age #Youtube

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