Chapter Text
"You owe him, and you know it."
"I owe him jackshit, Yeosang."
"If his crew hadn't pulled that stunt and just left instead, we would have been alone against the whole bounty hunters crew."
"And so what? We've faced worse challenges. I'm not going to kiss Choi San's boots just because he decided-"
"To help you?"
"No, he decided I was too precious to be gone. May I remind you I am the sole person to know the Jung half of the sentence?"
"I think it wasn't just that. I saw the handsome one, the one that goes around like he is the only person with a cock and balls and good looks, he looked genuinely worried."
"Yes, for his own, as it should be."
"You're not listening. You never do."
"And thanks to that we're still standing. I'm not going to thank The Demon Crew, I'm not going to put any kind of truce between us. The moment when I stop being enemy with Choi San is when I skin him alive and take the second part of the sentence out of him. I'll stop being enemy with Choi San when I hear him begging to kill him, and I see his life abandoning his fucking eyes."
"Always so dramatic."
"But this is my plan. Abduct him, flay him, reduce him to a cry baby until he gives me that damn sentence and begs for mercy. And his mercy will be death."
"I wonder why you both just don't share the sentence you have, and the best crew will find the map. That would be an adventure."
"First, I don't trust the Chois one bit. Who guarantees me they would give me the right sentence?"
"Why, would you do it?"
I smirked, and Yeosang rolled his eyes.
"If fucking Kang Hyunjin -cursed be his name- had just chosen one family he deemed worthy, we wouldn't be here with two clans destroyed and a mess of a situation. I guess the rum took place of his reasoning."
"Hey, it's my relative you're talking about, Youngie."
"And you don't think he was nuts? Sometimes I think all of this was just a figment of his imagination, that there is no map, no underwater cavern. If it wasn't for the multiple legends that talk about the crown of the Pirate King, I probably would have brushed it off as one of his lunatic states. Like when he swore to have found the gold at the end of the rainbow. That was a good one."
"He had been lost on an island with no food and fresh water for three weeks, under the burning sun. It had been a miracle he was still alive."
"Enough talking. We have to plan how to catch Choi San. How to spot him alone and take him. He's big and a good fighter, it won't be easy even if he's without his crew, so we need a good plan."
"He's never alone. He's always accompanied by that psychopath, the other Choi. Even stronger and mad like a box of frogs."
"Then, our number one priority is to divide the two, don't you think?"
"How?"
"They're at another tavern now, downtown. We have to be sure they drink enough to be drunk as fishes, and, just as a precaution, I have a little something to spike their ales..."
"You want to poison the whole crew?!"
"No, silly. I want them to sleep. Everyone, but Choi San."
"You can't just waltz in there and do that, neither can anyone from our crew."
"Who said any of us will do? I have a woman on my payroll, she's a waitress. She'll beg for some work at the tavern and they'll let her, because they're full tonight. She'll be sure to give The Demon Crew some extra rounds paid by me -'on the house', she'll say- and at the right moment, the heavy sedative will be in their last one. I know Choi, he gets mad when the crew gets too wasted. He'll go outside to get some fresh air. And we'll be waiting for the right moment."
"Sounds like a plan. Sometimes you scare me. I'm glad I'm on your good side."
"Make sure to stay there, then. Loyalty is key. Tell the plans to the others. We only have a few hours."
Jenny was more than happy to finally have another job from me. I always paid good coins. She went straight to the tavern in her waitress attire, and as planned, they took her in, telling her they would kick her out if she made any mistake. Oh, she wouldn't. She was a professional. She mostly worked the streets, which she hated, so she always did her best and more when I gave her something better to do than selling her private parts to stinky strangers. I paid her enough to stay away from the alleys for at least a month.
She served every table, but made sure to be always nearer tho The Demon Crew's one. Finally, she brought the first round of extra ales.
"These are on the house. Doesn't happen often to have such patrons."
"Don't you despise a crew of pirates, m'lady?" said Jongho, mockingly.
"Are you joking? Better be on your good side, Sirs. We will gladly serve you some extra rounds. On the house, as I said."
Everyone looked at San, who was studying the girl with piercing eyes. He finally nodded and made a gesture to just go away after the ales were on the table.
"Don't be so rude. The waitress was nice."
"Too nice."
"You're always searching for conspiracies even under rocks, Captain. Let's drink and cheer for our crew, uh?" said Yunho, already a bit tipsy.
"Maybe you're right. I need to relax. To our crew!"
"Aye!"
Everyone basically drank the whole pint in a single gulp. San called the waitress back and asked for another round. On the house, of course.
They did some rounds more, then San looked at his mates and decided they had enough. He always drank less than the others. He was the Captain and he had to be on the lookout, after all.
"Last round, please. This is on us."
"As you please."
Jenny spiked the drinks swiftly, so that no one could have possibly seen her, and returned a second later to the crew's table.
"Your last round. I made them extra full". She winked at Seonghwa, who smirked back.
San was ever observing. He put his elbows on the table and he brought his hands together with a look the others knew all too well. It was his merciless look.
"What's your name, lady? You've been serving us all night and we don't even know your name.
She was taken aback by the question, and San saw the slight panic in her eyes. "J-jenny. My name is Jenny."
"Well, Jenny, you don't look like a regular waitress, forgive my manners. You miss some teeth and others are black, and you have some scars on your arms. Your skin is rather ruined for someone your age -here it's just a guess, but I'm usually right- and you went to flirt with the most handsome and apparently harmless of the crew, something a regular waitress would never do. You know why?"
"W-why?"
"Because they're scared by men. Pretty or not, they're predators. So you either just experienced love at first sight with Seonghwa here, understandable but highly unlikely, or you're used to flirt and lure men... to work. You're a prostitute, aren't you? Undercover, I'd say. Jung's little games are getting pretty boring. Now. You either come with us outside and I slit your throat in front of Jung Wooyoung, or you take a good, long sip of one of the ales you just put on our table."
"I-I'll drink the ale." She went straight for San's glass.
He smirked wickedly. "A-ah. Anyone's tankard but mine."
She was sweating. With shaking hands she took a random mug from the table, well knowing drinking from it would knock her out in seconds -it had been calibrated on big, muscled men after all, and she was a poor little thing- and chugged.
"If you have to kill me, please do it while I'm out." she said with tears in her eyes. After less than a minute, she fell on the floor, sound asleep.
"Damn, San, you're good." said Yunho.
"I haven't survived this long just because. Something was off. Jung's crew is probably out waiting for us... waiting for me. They're going to have a bad surprise. Let's go."
The four men stood up and left the tavern, walked for some minutes only to find, as San predicted, Jung Wooyoung's crew waiting for them.
"What the fuck..."
"If you want to trick me, next time choose a better inside man. Or rather, woman."
"Is she alright or did you kill her?"
"I planned to kill her in front of you as a warning, but I wanted to prove a point and I don't kill sleeping people. Did you really think that would have work?
I smirked. "I had to try, didn't I?"
"What was your plan, Jung?"
"As if. I will better it, and succeed next time."
"And now what, we fight until the last man standing?"
"No. I'm not here to fight them. I was here to fight you."
"Poor Wooyoung. Your low tricks won't work with me. Take this as a warning. Next time I will kill your inside man or woman, whatever you choose to use, and then you, but not before you give me the damn sentence."
"I would give you a false one before giving you the opportunity to become the Pirate King. That title doesn't belong to you."
"And it belongs to you why?"
"Because I was born for it. People called me the Pirate King long before I had the unfortunate chance to meet you. My crew is stronger. More loyal. And they've faced things you and your lackeys can just imagine."
"More loyal? Who knows. But stronger? Take a double look to who you have in front of you and reevaluate your own words, Jung. I can kill you in a fight with my eyes closed."
I laughed out loud. "Strength isn't all there is, Choi, and you lack of vision. Whereas me and my crew are capable of having actual plans there aren't just attacking the opponent with brute force."
"You underestimate me, as usual. And if your plans are all like the ones we saw today... come at me whenever you want. I will see it coming every. Single. Time."
"Go, Choi, before I change my mind and beat your drunk crew's ass. Until we meet again."
"Until we meet again."
The Demon Crew went the other way, laughing and joking about my poor skills and calling me names until I couldn't hear them any longer. I was frustrated, yes, but I knew it wasn't Jenny's fault.
Jenny.
She was probably asleep, if my hunch was right, and I had to fetch her before the innkeeper decided to kick her ass for sleeping on the job. A little mob had gathered around her, and yes, she had fainted on the floor.
"Dammit."
Mingi easily carried her outside and we brought her to a inn where we paid for a room for her and our crew. I also left the money for the deed, because she did what she was told and she deserved to be paid, no matter if that snake found out she was on my payroll.
I was in my room, burning with hatred and will to kill that bragger, trying to make any sense of the half of my sentence, which sounded more than a riddle than a proper indication to a map.
"Where the Sun in not shining, and the fire doesn't burn, you will find a secret entrance..."
I hope your soul is burning in Hell, Kang Hyunjin.