Godori [Part Five]
[ Part Four]
~*~
The next day, he's told that that night, he will enter the lounge and have trial run at entertaining customers.
Sunggyu, the one who tells him all these things, looks extremely stressed about it. Maybe as stressed as Myungsoo should actually be feeling after hearing the news. He isn't though. As Sunggyu complains, things are moving far too fast he supposes. But then, at least it's better than having nothing to do.
This way, he won't have to think beyond answering with clever quips and cheeky replies.
But of course, he pretends to be stressed about it because it would be suspicious otherwise. So he whines and frets and fusses. Luckily Sungyeol is only free enough to drop by to wish him luck and to tell him that he'll see Myungsoo later otherwise the older youth would have seen through him. The other person who would have seen through him... well...
Myungsoo sees him once in the afternoon. But it's only a small glimpse as the older man passes by, and Myungsoo also catches a glimpse of Hoya with him. They're talking, perfectly happy.
Myungsoo had turned away, turning his full attention on the swatch of cloth the tailor was showing him. Sunggyu-hyung was right. The blue was too deep that it made him look sickly.
~*~
He should have been more excited about his first time entertaining in the hall, but he's more tired than anything else, and that's what he tells the crowd of customers who seem mesmerized by his presence. They all laugh and they laugh even more when he alludes it to a bride on her wedding night who's too exhausted from wedding preparations to actually properly enjoy the sex.
The night flows on. The customers are as nice as the servants. They don't seem to mind that he's jukeungot. There's even a slightly more informed repeat of the Q&A session he had with the servants. The only odd hiccup was when one of the ladies, with no malice on her part, had informed Myungsoo that he was a lot more eloquent than she's expected a jukeungot to be. He hadn't had any idea how to answer that, and there'd been an odd, tense silence that surprised his mind into blankness. But then Sungyeol had suddenly dropped into the conversation, easing it with a simple statement of how Myungsoo hadn't been that eloquent before Sungyeol had gotten to him. Myungsoo had replied with a "yes, he's so horrible at talking, I quickly learned to fill the silence" and all had been well again.
Myungsoo had found out later from Sungyeol, when the crowd had moved away to other things (a mostly deliberate act in order to give Myungsoo some rest), that the odd, tense silence had been because the customers had been fearful that the lady's statement might have offended him. Myungsoo had blinked, uncomprehending at first, until Sungyeol reminded him about the main difference between Bijou and other Zinnia establishments - the exclusiveness of Bijou depended very much on the opinion of the Zinnia with the customers. And if the Zinnia was not pleased, then the customer could very well be banned from the establishment. And as a Zinnia of Bijou, Myungsoo had that power.
He hadn't linked that fact to its consequences, and certainly hadn't realized the power that he now held. Of course, the reason the customer had to be banned had to pass vetting from not only the owners, but the customers as well. But it was a power that no other Zinnia had in any other establishment, yet alone Wilted Alley. But yet, it was accepted as the norm here in Bijou.
When he rejoins the crowd again, he's more quiet this time, observing as Sumire works his customers. Sumire is charming no doubt. But there is a lot less pandering and sweetening of words than he'd be thought to do. And when one customer jokingly calls Sumire out for it, the Zinnia only replies that it's in his nature. After all, he is Sumire - the honest flower. And they all laugh with him easily when in any other establishment, Sumire would have been walking a thin line between dangerous entertainment and punishment.
Somehow, it made Sumire's wild claims about wanting to make things different for Zinnia a little more concrete and less the wishful thinking of a idealistic man. And it also eases a part of Myungsoo's heart so that when Sumire comes by later and congratulates him on a good first night, he manages to smile and thank Sumire before allowing Sunggyu to lead him away.
He doesn't notice the puzzled hurt that flashes across Sumire's face before the Zinnia is distracted again by socializing. Nor does he notice the calculating look on Sungyeol's as he observes the situation, lost in his own thoughts, undisturbed by the rest of the customers as they gather back to the stage to see Sumire perform.
One person does see it, but unsure as what to all this means, he files it at the back of his head for when he does know. He has a feeling it could be important.
~*~
It's a few days later and Myungsoo is settling in fine. The customers all like him apparently, so much that Sumire jokes that Myungsoo can replace him.
Or at least he'd thought it a joke then. But a mild panic overcomes him when he goes in one night and realizes that Sumire is nowhere in sight.
At first, he thinks that the older Zinnia has maybe ducked out of the room for a while. But then, some of the regulars tell him that Sumire and Hoya have taken the night off, retiring to their room early.
Myungsoo freezes at the information, the panic from earlier and the sinking feeling in his heart congealing into a mess that stops his mind. But luckily, the regulars read it wrong, thinking him suddenly nervous as an apprentice feels when he suddenly realizes he has to do his master's tasks.
"Besides, there isn't anyone new today. No feisty, new trial runs that might react wrongly and create an explosion. Only us old, boring regulars who are far too stable to have any reaction at all."
Myungsoo's eyebrow raises, and his gratefulness at their attempt to ease his panic causes his amusement to spill over before he can think better of it. "So are you all noble gasses then? Well, no wonder there's a whole lot of hot air here suddenly."
But the statement had been arranged to suggest that reply in the first place, and so instead of taking offense, the regulars just laugh - and also because it's something close to the fashion of what Sumire would say, and Ambrosia is his protégé after all.
"Mmm... but still. I envy Hoya-sshi. He gets Sumire all to himself." one of the regulars, a young man named Woohyun who Myungsoo actually finds rather amusing in his harmless quest to pander to others. "Then again, I suppose that's the perk of being Sumire's sponsor."
Myungsoo perks up at the word. "Sponsor? I thought he just bought Sumire's yangryuk?"
"Well, yes. That means that he's Sumire's sponsor," Woohyun sighs dramatically. "And that means that Sumire is untouchable by the rest of us."
"I... didn't know it meant that." Myungsoo admitted, and when pressed for why he thought that way, he expounded. "Well, in most other places, purchasing a Zinnia's yangryuk is sort of like... purchasing a premium item. You just get first taste."
"Oh, yeah. That's the normal way things are done I guess. But... it's quite distasteful, don't you think? I mean, we are the upper class after all, and we should behave like it I guess." Woohyun scratches his head. "And I've heard that other establishments have begun to have sessions like ours, and they've begun to take to the concept of selling the yangryuk of younger Zinnia only to a sponsor. Seems like Sumire started a trend."
Myungsoo is about to ask more when there's a loud commotion in the hallway. Blinking, Myungsoo finds himself drawn by the noise, peeking out to see a loudly swearing man being forcibly dragged by the guards down the stairs. Sunggyu is there, and when he spots Myungsoo, he frowns and waves his hand, a signal for Myungsoo to get back to work and possibly distract the customers from the noisy scene if he could.
"Ah... this is the first time you've seen something like this, eh?" Myungsoo jumps a little when Woohyun appears behind him.
"That was Kim Mingwoon or something like that right?" a lady, Lizzy, Myungsoo thought she was called, piped up. "Huh. I guess he was pretty rich, but nowhere near Hoya's level to think that he could compete!"
"Well, some guys are just delusional," Woohyun shrugs.
"What do you guys mean?" Myungsoo frowns, not understanding the factor which ties Hoya and the man who had just been ejected from Bijou.
"Oh didn't you know?" Lizzy gleefully tells Myungsoo. She hasn't had a chance to tell show off to Myungsoo yet. "There used to be many more guys like Kim Mingwoon who insisted that Sumire have sex with them just because they could pay. See, they just didn't think that Sumire was serious with his ideas of Zinnia being just entertainers and not sex symbols. After Hoya became Sumire's sponsor however, the number of crazies diminished."
"Yeah. So all those who were just coming here hoping that Sumire might do it with them stopped coming. They realized that whatever money they had, they probably didn't have enough to go against the Lee Howon. I'm quite grateful actually, because geez, someone once tried to jump Sumire once before just before I nearly beat him in Hwatu! And I've never had such a good hand from then onwards." Woohyun pouted, and Myungsoo laughs - not just because of Woohyun's story, but also the fact that these regulars really were here, paying good money for company and conversation and entertainment - all of it devoid of any sexual implications whatsoever.
An arm suddenly snakes around his shoulders and he blinks to see Woohyun waggling his eyebrows suggestively at the younger Zinnia. "Well, although Sumire is taken, Ambrosia here isn't yet. So, my pretty little flower, will you consider me as one of the candidates when you come to selling your Yangryuk?"
The question is probably asked in jest, but the fact that it is makes it hurt even more when Myungsoo takes it in a way Woohyun probably didn't mean it to. He swallows, telling himself that, and quickly replies the way Woohyun expects him to. "Only if you can afford to, Woohyun-sshi~"
Woohyun looks unabashedly gleeful at the reply, and is about to milk the moment more when he unexpectedly gets pushed to the floor by an irritated looking Sungyeol.
"Ow! What did I do wrong?" Woohyun protested, rubbing his elbow where it had met the floor wrong.
"What you did wrong? Woohyun, you're an idiot. That's what's wrong." Sungyeol huffs and sits himself down beside Myungsoo. "Don't listen to the idiot alright, Ambrosia. He doesn't know what he's talking about. Anyway, did you see that Kim Mingwoon...?"
The conversation swerves off into a different direction. But Myungsoo's mind stays at that moment, churning over the new pieces of information he's just learnt.
He falls asleep that night, re-playing the scene of the man being forcibly removed in his mind and wonders that when it comes to it, would anyone really be so desperate to acquire Myungsoo's sexual attentions as they do Sumire's.
After all, there was a saying in Chousen - an honest lie, a tragic comedy and a jukeungot's virginity.
~*~
When Myungsoo wakes, and the first action of his day is to sneeze violently, the shock of the sudden necessity of the action wakes him up almost immediately. And so it doesn't take him half an hour to register the fact that there is a strong floral scent in his room and the cause of this is probably the multitude of flower petals strewn all over his bed.
Groaning, he wonders what the hell was going on, climbing out bed when he yelps, feet meeting squishy softness instead of the springy tatami he expects.
Staring in mild dismay at the white petals that now carpet his floor, he raises his arm to wipe his face only to realize that someone has tied a fresh flower corsage on his wrist.
Now he knew why the scent had smelt familiar.
"Sungyeol, you idiot! What the hell is this?!"
That morning, the whole of Bijou, from the servants to the guests who stayed the night, hear the angry shouts and laughing pleas of mercy as the two youths engage in a chase. And pretty soon even the man who delivers the groceries to the house knows that Sungyeol had littered Ambrosia's room with gardenia petals and had been rewarded with a bucketful of ice water in the face.
~*~
"Aw... Sungyeol's really sulking Ambrosia. Maybe you should forgive him or something."
Myungsoo looks up to see Woohyun holding out a glass of light makgeolli to him and sighs, accepting the glass. "You're the fifth person who's come here saying that already. Is Sungyeol blackmailing all of you or something?"
Woohyun blinks before he laughs, "oh man. It's not that Sungyeol doesn't have blackmail material over me, but he wouldn't use it for something like this. Oh no, he's much too proud."
"Proud? The one who was kneeling down, looking all pathetic and begging me not to pour the bucket of water on him?"
Woohyun chuckles at the mental image. "Well yes. He's quite spineless sometimes, but on things like this that truly matter to him, you'll find that he doesn't bend quite easily."
"That I forgive him of his own accord is something that truly matters to him? I doubt that." Myungsoo rolls his eyes, taking a big gulp of his own drink.
"Why not?" Woohyun seems puzzled at Myungsoo's stubbornness. "You're obviously someone very important to him. And... he's quite important to you as well, isn't he?"
"That guy? No. What the hell is wrong with your eyes?"
"Wrong with my eyes and everyone else's then." Woohyun looks genuinely surprised. "The two of you remind me of Hoya and Sumire when Sumire first started out. It was a little bumpy at first, but Hoya always looked out for Sumire in the end. A lot of the girls here are starting to ship the two together like they do the two of them you know? And if you think about it, although the petal thing might seem like a prank to you, most girls would view it as romantic."
Myungsoo didn't, and he's rather floored with the suggestion. "I... why would that guy like me anyway? He just sees me as something to tease all the time, a plaything."
"And I would doubt that since that would be hypocritical of Sungyeol. And if there's one thing Sungyeol doesn't like, it's hypocrites."
Myungsoo now vaguely remembers Sungyeol saying something along those lines. "Why would he be a hypocrite?"
"Because being treated like a plaything, or even just a thing, is something that he hates the most." Woohyun explains. "Sungyeol's mother is his father's second wife. What's worse is that his first wife has two sons. So, Sungyeol and his brother Dayeol didn't have not much standing in the family at all. It's not very widely known outside of the upper classes, but sons like that always end up being used as... bribes to sweeten up a business or political deal..."
"Wait." Myungsoo closes his eyes, and covers his mouth in disbelief. "You mean... his father would offer him as...? Oh god... that's horrible." A stranger taking advantage of a weaker human Myungsoo could imagine, but family?
"Yeah. A lot of us here are." Woohyun sighs, scratching his head. "I personally wasn't, but my brother was. We owe a lot of the people here. Our father forced my brother to come here with him to make contacts and maybe use him to sweeten a few deals - imagine his shock when most of the people here turned him down in disgust and he found himself banned from this establishment. My brother however, was taken in and he managed to make a few good deals with the condition that he never sell his body like that again. After that, my brother brought me here with him because he was scared that my father would start using me in his place now that he was well protected. So, here I am."
"So... all of you are like... a conglomerate of like-minded individuals?"
"Powerful like-minded individuals. Although the power doesn't come from any one person, but the fact that we're all willing to cooperate with each other on fair terms and kick anyone out who doesn't play according to the rules we've set. And slowly, we've been influencing others who want to join in to adhere to our practices. Sungyeol's been quite inspiration in fact. He wouldn't tell you himself, but even though his step-brother is still official the heir, Sungyeol's really the one who holds all the financial and political power in the family. "
Myungsoo glances over to where Sungyeol is seated. It is hard to believe the sulking young man who had just pranked him the night earlier is in control of so much power.
"Anyway, speaking about Sungyeol. He really does look out for you... I mean like last night... Oh yeah, I'm sorry about what I said by the way. I really wasn't thinking."
It takes a while for Myungsoo to get what Woohyun was saying. "Are you talking about you wanting to buy my yangruk?"
"Yeah. I went to ask Sungyeol later on after you'd gone about what he meant about me being an idiot. And yeah, I really am, and believe me, I didn't mean it the way it came out. And I didn't mean to be insensitive."
Myungsoo already knows, but somehow it makes a big difference to have Woohyun come tell him. "It's really alright. I know you didn't mean it that way."
"Yeah but still... look." Woohyun is suddenly uncharacteristically serious, even a little uncomfortable. "I just want you to know, that... everyone here knows that you aren't technically a virgin. But all of us still think your yangryuk is valuable. No- no. Let me finish. Any time before, you were forced one way or another - physically or circumstantially. This time, when you sell your yangryuk it will be because you want to, not because of anything else. And that in itself will be worth even more than whatever humongous sum each bidder will put forth for it."
Myungsoo is speechless. Because, really, what can someone say to that?
"Heh. Okay. I surprised myself. I sounded pretty cool, didn't I?" Woohyun laughed, striking a pose. Myungsoo laughs too, because, he realizes that for once, he truly might be accepted - not as just an object to be treated, but maybe, just maybe, a person... if not, a friend.
"Yeah... but you kind of spoilt it in the end. Now, what's this about Sungyeol having blackmail material over you?"
"Yah! What is this..."
~*~
"Hey."
Sungyeol looks up, then quickly glances back down to the drink he's been nursing for the past hour. "Finally decided to come over?"
Normally Myungsoo would reply with some quip. Instead, he just sits down besides Sungyeol and says softly. "I found out from Woohyun-sshi. About you... and your... situation."
"Ah."
Silence.
"So... do I disgust you now?"
Myungsoo raises his eyebrow and he stares at Sungyeol in bemusement. "Why would you think that? I'd be a hypocrite then. And you hate hypocrites."
"Why would that stop you from being disgusted by me?"
"Obviously because I don't want you to hate me, idiot."
Myungsoo can't see Sungyeol's face, because if he did, he would have seen how Sungyeol's face lit up like a burst of sunshine over glass. It takes a while for Sungyeol to hide it behind the clouds again, and when he does, he looks up with a nonchalant expression. "But that doesn't mean that you like me, right?"
Myungsoo turns and returns Sungyeol's words with a line as nonchalant as Sungyeol's own. "Obviously not, idiot."
"Good."
"Good!"
And the way they're both grinning at each other like idiots make those watching either squeal or gag at the cheesiness of the scene.
There are only two who are watching who seem to have a different reaction. One, who looks at the scene with a dark expression in his eyes, and the other one who's watching not the two young ones, but his companion's fixated expression.
"I did warn you, Sumire."
"Quiet, Hoya. I don't need you to tell me. If Ambrosia likes Sungyeol then so be it."
Hoya glances at the two younger men sitting across the room and frowns. So this was what had been bugging him that time. Now he knows what this whole thing is about. He sighs. Great. Caught in the middle again.
"Dongwoo, I don't think-"
"Shush. How many times have I told you not to call me by that name here?"
Many times, especially in the past few days. Sumire had obviously been bothered by something with the way he kept wanting to go out of his way to places he had no business being in. And although he'd tried to be subtle about it, Hoya did notice that a rather oblivious Ambrosia appearing in their sights one time too often. And although Sumire hid it well, the Zinnia's attention had not once been truly focused on Hoya at all, not with the way Sumire's eyes kept a very vigilant watch on his protégé. Calling the Zinnia by his real name was the only way Hoya knew how to get Sumire's attention whenever the Zinnia got like that - not that it was even working this time around.
Oh well, it looked like he was going to have to do some meddling again.
~*~
[ Part Six]
~*~
The next day, he's told that that night, he will enter the lounge and have trial run at entertaining customers.
Sunggyu, the one who tells him all these things, looks extremely stressed about it. Maybe as stressed as Myungsoo should actually be feeling after hearing the news. He isn't though. As Sunggyu complains, things are moving far too fast he supposes. But then, at least it's better than having nothing to do.
This way, he won't have to think beyond answering with clever quips and cheeky replies.
But of course, he pretends to be stressed about it because it would be suspicious otherwise. So he whines and frets and fusses. Luckily Sungyeol is only free enough to drop by to wish him luck and to tell him that he'll see Myungsoo later otherwise the older youth would have seen through him. The other person who would have seen through him... well...
Myungsoo sees him once in the afternoon. But it's only a small glimpse as the older man passes by, and Myungsoo also catches a glimpse of Hoya with him. They're talking, perfectly happy.
Myungsoo had turned away, turning his full attention on the swatch of cloth the tailor was showing him. Sunggyu-hyung was right. The blue was too deep that it made him look sickly.
~*~
He should have been more excited about his first time entertaining in the hall, but he's more tired than anything else, and that's what he tells the crowd of customers who seem mesmerized by his presence. They all laugh and they laugh even more when he alludes it to a bride on her wedding night who's too exhausted from wedding preparations to actually properly enjoy the sex.
The night flows on. The customers are as nice as the servants. They don't seem to mind that he's jukeungot. There's even a slightly more informed repeat of the Q&A session he had with the servants. The only odd hiccup was when one of the ladies, with no malice on her part, had informed Myungsoo that he was a lot more eloquent than she's expected a jukeungot to be. He hadn't had any idea how to answer that, and there'd been an odd, tense silence that surprised his mind into blankness. But then Sungyeol had suddenly dropped into the conversation, easing it with a simple statement of how Myungsoo hadn't been that eloquent before Sungyeol had gotten to him. Myungsoo had replied with a "yes, he's so horrible at talking, I quickly learned to fill the silence" and all had been well again.
Myungsoo had found out later from Sungyeol, when the crowd had moved away to other things (a mostly deliberate act in order to give Myungsoo some rest), that the odd, tense silence had been because the customers had been fearful that the lady's statement might have offended him. Myungsoo had blinked, uncomprehending at first, until Sungyeol reminded him about the main difference between Bijou and other Zinnia establishments - the exclusiveness of Bijou depended very much on the opinion of the Zinnia with the customers. And if the Zinnia was not pleased, then the customer could very well be banned from the establishment. And as a Zinnia of Bijou, Myungsoo had that power.
He hadn't linked that fact to its consequences, and certainly hadn't realized the power that he now held. Of course, the reason the customer had to be banned had to pass vetting from not only the owners, but the customers as well. But it was a power that no other Zinnia had in any other establishment, yet alone Wilted Alley. But yet, it was accepted as the norm here in Bijou.
When he rejoins the crowd again, he's more quiet this time, observing as Sumire works his customers. Sumire is charming no doubt. But there is a lot less pandering and sweetening of words than he'd be thought to do. And when one customer jokingly calls Sumire out for it, the Zinnia only replies that it's in his nature. After all, he is Sumire - the honest flower. And they all laugh with him easily when in any other establishment, Sumire would have been walking a thin line between dangerous entertainment and punishment.
Somehow, it made Sumire's wild claims about wanting to make things different for Zinnia a little more concrete and less the wishful thinking of a idealistic man. And it also eases a part of Myungsoo's heart so that when Sumire comes by later and congratulates him on a good first night, he manages to smile and thank Sumire before allowing Sunggyu to lead him away.
He doesn't notice the puzzled hurt that flashes across Sumire's face before the Zinnia is distracted again by socializing. Nor does he notice the calculating look on Sungyeol's as he observes the situation, lost in his own thoughts, undisturbed by the rest of the customers as they gather back to the stage to see Sumire perform.
One person does see it, but unsure as what to all this means, he files it at the back of his head for when he does know. He has a feeling it could be important.
~*~
It's a few days later and Myungsoo is settling in fine. The customers all like him apparently, so much that Sumire jokes that Myungsoo can replace him.
Or at least he'd thought it a joke then. But a mild panic overcomes him when he goes in one night and realizes that Sumire is nowhere in sight.
At first, he thinks that the older Zinnia has maybe ducked out of the room for a while. But then, some of the regulars tell him that Sumire and Hoya have taken the night off, retiring to their room early.
Myungsoo freezes at the information, the panic from earlier and the sinking feeling in his heart congealing into a mess that stops his mind. But luckily, the regulars read it wrong, thinking him suddenly nervous as an apprentice feels when he suddenly realizes he has to do his master's tasks.
"Besides, there isn't anyone new today. No feisty, new trial runs that might react wrongly and create an explosion. Only us old, boring regulars who are far too stable to have any reaction at all."
Myungsoo's eyebrow raises, and his gratefulness at their attempt to ease his panic causes his amusement to spill over before he can think better of it. "So are you all noble gasses then? Well, no wonder there's a whole lot of hot air here suddenly."
But the statement had been arranged to suggest that reply in the first place, and so instead of taking offense, the regulars just laugh - and also because it's something close to the fashion of what Sumire would say, and Ambrosia is his protégé after all.
"Mmm... but still. I envy Hoya-sshi. He gets Sumire all to himself." one of the regulars, a young man named Woohyun who Myungsoo actually finds rather amusing in his harmless quest to pander to others. "Then again, I suppose that's the perk of being Sumire's sponsor."
Myungsoo perks up at the word. "Sponsor? I thought he just bought Sumire's yangryuk?"
"Well, yes. That means that he's Sumire's sponsor," Woohyun sighs dramatically. "And that means that Sumire is untouchable by the rest of us."
"I... didn't know it meant that." Myungsoo admitted, and when pressed for why he thought that way, he expounded. "Well, in most other places, purchasing a Zinnia's yangryuk is sort of like... purchasing a premium item. You just get first taste."
"Oh, yeah. That's the normal way things are done I guess. But... it's quite distasteful, don't you think? I mean, we are the upper class after all, and we should behave like it I guess." Woohyun scratches his head. "And I've heard that other establishments have begun to have sessions like ours, and they've begun to take to the concept of selling the yangryuk of younger Zinnia only to a sponsor. Seems like Sumire started a trend."
Myungsoo is about to ask more when there's a loud commotion in the hallway. Blinking, Myungsoo finds himself drawn by the noise, peeking out to see a loudly swearing man being forcibly dragged by the guards down the stairs. Sunggyu is there, and when he spots Myungsoo, he frowns and waves his hand, a signal for Myungsoo to get back to work and possibly distract the customers from the noisy scene if he could.
"Ah... this is the first time you've seen something like this, eh?" Myungsoo jumps a little when Woohyun appears behind him.
"That was Kim Mingwoon or something like that right?" a lady, Lizzy, Myungsoo thought she was called, piped up. "Huh. I guess he was pretty rich, but nowhere near Hoya's level to think that he could compete!"
"Well, some guys are just delusional," Woohyun shrugs.
"What do you guys mean?" Myungsoo frowns, not understanding the factor which ties Hoya and the man who had just been ejected from Bijou.
"Oh didn't you know?" Lizzy gleefully tells Myungsoo. She hasn't had a chance to tell show off to Myungsoo yet. "There used to be many more guys like Kim Mingwoon who insisted that Sumire have sex with them just because they could pay. See, they just didn't think that Sumire was serious with his ideas of Zinnia being just entertainers and not sex symbols. After Hoya became Sumire's sponsor however, the number of crazies diminished."
"Yeah. So all those who were just coming here hoping that Sumire might do it with them stopped coming. They realized that whatever money they had, they probably didn't have enough to go against the Lee Howon. I'm quite grateful actually, because geez, someone once tried to jump Sumire once before just before I nearly beat him in Hwatu! And I've never had such a good hand from then onwards." Woohyun pouted, and Myungsoo laughs - not just because of Woohyun's story, but also the fact that these regulars really were here, paying good money for company and conversation and entertainment - all of it devoid of any sexual implications whatsoever.
An arm suddenly snakes around his shoulders and he blinks to see Woohyun waggling his eyebrows suggestively at the younger Zinnia. "Well, although Sumire is taken, Ambrosia here isn't yet. So, my pretty little flower, will you consider me as one of the candidates when you come to selling your Yangryuk?"
The question is probably asked in jest, but the fact that it is makes it hurt even more when Myungsoo takes it in a way Woohyun probably didn't mean it to. He swallows, telling himself that, and quickly replies the way Woohyun expects him to. "Only if you can afford to, Woohyun-sshi~"
Woohyun looks unabashedly gleeful at the reply, and is about to milk the moment more when he unexpectedly gets pushed to the floor by an irritated looking Sungyeol.
"Ow! What did I do wrong?" Woohyun protested, rubbing his elbow where it had met the floor wrong.
"What you did wrong? Woohyun, you're an idiot. That's what's wrong." Sungyeol huffs and sits himself down beside Myungsoo. "Don't listen to the idiot alright, Ambrosia. He doesn't know what he's talking about. Anyway, did you see that Kim Mingwoon...?"
The conversation swerves off into a different direction. But Myungsoo's mind stays at that moment, churning over the new pieces of information he's just learnt.
He falls asleep that night, re-playing the scene of the man being forcibly removed in his mind and wonders that when it comes to it, would anyone really be so desperate to acquire Myungsoo's sexual attentions as they do Sumire's.
After all, there was a saying in Chousen - an honest lie, a tragic comedy and a jukeungot's virginity.
~*~
When Myungsoo wakes, and the first action of his day is to sneeze violently, the shock of the sudden necessity of the action wakes him up almost immediately. And so it doesn't take him half an hour to register the fact that there is a strong floral scent in his room and the cause of this is probably the multitude of flower petals strewn all over his bed.
Groaning, he wonders what the hell was going on, climbing out bed when he yelps, feet meeting squishy softness instead of the springy tatami he expects.
Staring in mild dismay at the white petals that now carpet his floor, he raises his arm to wipe his face only to realize that someone has tied a fresh flower corsage on his wrist.
Now he knew why the scent had smelt familiar.
"Sungyeol, you idiot! What the hell is this?!"
That morning, the whole of Bijou, from the servants to the guests who stayed the night, hear the angry shouts and laughing pleas of mercy as the two youths engage in a chase. And pretty soon even the man who delivers the groceries to the house knows that Sungyeol had littered Ambrosia's room with gardenia petals and had been rewarded with a bucketful of ice water in the face.
~*~
"Aw... Sungyeol's really sulking Ambrosia. Maybe you should forgive him or something."
Myungsoo looks up to see Woohyun holding out a glass of light makgeolli to him and sighs, accepting the glass. "You're the fifth person who's come here saying that already. Is Sungyeol blackmailing all of you or something?"
Woohyun blinks before he laughs, "oh man. It's not that Sungyeol doesn't have blackmail material over me, but he wouldn't use it for something like this. Oh no, he's much too proud."
"Proud? The one who was kneeling down, looking all pathetic and begging me not to pour the bucket of water on him?"
Woohyun chuckles at the mental image. "Well yes. He's quite spineless sometimes, but on things like this that truly matter to him, you'll find that he doesn't bend quite easily."
"That I forgive him of his own accord is something that truly matters to him? I doubt that." Myungsoo rolls his eyes, taking a big gulp of his own drink.
"Why not?" Woohyun seems puzzled at Myungsoo's stubbornness. "You're obviously someone very important to him. And... he's quite important to you as well, isn't he?"
"That guy? No. What the hell is wrong with your eyes?"
"Wrong with my eyes and everyone else's then." Woohyun looks genuinely surprised. "The two of you remind me of Hoya and Sumire when Sumire first started out. It was a little bumpy at first, but Hoya always looked out for Sumire in the end. A lot of the girls here are starting to ship the two together like they do the two of them you know? And if you think about it, although the petal thing might seem like a prank to you, most girls would view it as romantic."
Myungsoo didn't, and he's rather floored with the suggestion. "I... why would that guy like me anyway? He just sees me as something to tease all the time, a plaything."
"And I would doubt that since that would be hypocritical of Sungyeol. And if there's one thing Sungyeol doesn't like, it's hypocrites."
Myungsoo now vaguely remembers Sungyeol saying something along those lines. "Why would he be a hypocrite?"
"Because being treated like a plaything, or even just a thing, is something that he hates the most." Woohyun explains. "Sungyeol's mother is his father's second wife. What's worse is that his first wife has two sons. So, Sungyeol and his brother Dayeol didn't have not much standing in the family at all. It's not very widely known outside of the upper classes, but sons like that always end up being used as... bribes to sweeten up a business or political deal..."
"Wait." Myungsoo closes his eyes, and covers his mouth in disbelief. "You mean... his father would offer him as...? Oh god... that's horrible." A stranger taking advantage of a weaker human Myungsoo could imagine, but family?
"Yeah. A lot of us here are." Woohyun sighs, scratching his head. "I personally wasn't, but my brother was. We owe a lot of the people here. Our father forced my brother to come here with him to make contacts and maybe use him to sweeten a few deals - imagine his shock when most of the people here turned him down in disgust and he found himself banned from this establishment. My brother however, was taken in and he managed to make a few good deals with the condition that he never sell his body like that again. After that, my brother brought me here with him because he was scared that my father would start using me in his place now that he was well protected. So, here I am."
"So... all of you are like... a conglomerate of like-minded individuals?"
"Powerful like-minded individuals. Although the power doesn't come from any one person, but the fact that we're all willing to cooperate with each other on fair terms and kick anyone out who doesn't play according to the rules we've set. And slowly, we've been influencing others who want to join in to adhere to our practices. Sungyeol's been quite inspiration in fact. He wouldn't tell you himself, but even though his step-brother is still official the heir, Sungyeol's really the one who holds all the financial and political power in the family. "
Myungsoo glances over to where Sungyeol is seated. It is hard to believe the sulking young man who had just pranked him the night earlier is in control of so much power.
"Anyway, speaking about Sungyeol. He really does look out for you... I mean like last night... Oh yeah, I'm sorry about what I said by the way. I really wasn't thinking."
It takes a while for Myungsoo to get what Woohyun was saying. "Are you talking about you wanting to buy my yangruk?"
"Yeah. I went to ask Sungyeol later on after you'd gone about what he meant about me being an idiot. And yeah, I really am, and believe me, I didn't mean it the way it came out. And I didn't mean to be insensitive."
Myungsoo already knows, but somehow it makes a big difference to have Woohyun come tell him. "It's really alright. I know you didn't mean it that way."
"Yeah but still... look." Woohyun is suddenly uncharacteristically serious, even a little uncomfortable. "I just want you to know, that... everyone here knows that you aren't technically a virgin. But all of us still think your yangryuk is valuable. No- no. Let me finish. Any time before, you were forced one way or another - physically or circumstantially. This time, when you sell your yangryuk it will be because you want to, not because of anything else. And that in itself will be worth even more than whatever humongous sum each bidder will put forth for it."
Myungsoo is speechless. Because, really, what can someone say to that?
"Heh. Okay. I surprised myself. I sounded pretty cool, didn't I?" Woohyun laughed, striking a pose. Myungsoo laughs too, because, he realizes that for once, he truly might be accepted - not as just an object to be treated, but maybe, just maybe, a person... if not, a friend.
"Yeah... but you kind of spoilt it in the end. Now, what's this about Sungyeol having blackmail material over you?"
"Yah! What is this..."
~*~
"Hey."
Sungyeol looks up, then quickly glances back down to the drink he's been nursing for the past hour. "Finally decided to come over?"
Normally Myungsoo would reply with some quip. Instead, he just sits down besides Sungyeol and says softly. "I found out from Woohyun-sshi. About you... and your... situation."
"Ah."
Silence.
"So... do I disgust you now?"
Myungsoo raises his eyebrow and he stares at Sungyeol in bemusement. "Why would you think that? I'd be a hypocrite then. And you hate hypocrites."
"Why would that stop you from being disgusted by me?"
"Obviously because I don't want you to hate me, idiot."
Myungsoo can't see Sungyeol's face, because if he did, he would have seen how Sungyeol's face lit up like a burst of sunshine over glass. It takes a while for Sungyeol to hide it behind the clouds again, and when he does, he looks up with a nonchalant expression. "But that doesn't mean that you like me, right?"
Myungsoo turns and returns Sungyeol's words with a line as nonchalant as Sungyeol's own. "Obviously not, idiot."
"Good."
"Good!"
And the way they're both grinning at each other like idiots make those watching either squeal or gag at the cheesiness of the scene.
There are only two who are watching who seem to have a different reaction. One, who looks at the scene with a dark expression in his eyes, and the other one who's watching not the two young ones, but his companion's fixated expression.
"I did warn you, Sumire."
"Quiet, Hoya. I don't need you to tell me. If Ambrosia likes Sungyeol then so be it."
Hoya glances at the two younger men sitting across the room and frowns. So this was what had been bugging him that time. Now he knows what this whole thing is about. He sighs. Great. Caught in the middle again.
"Dongwoo, I don't think-"
"Shush. How many times have I told you not to call me by that name here?"
Many times, especially in the past few days. Sumire had obviously been bothered by something with the way he kept wanting to go out of his way to places he had no business being in. And although he'd tried to be subtle about it, Hoya did notice that a rather oblivious Ambrosia appearing in their sights one time too often. And although Sumire hid it well, the Zinnia's attention had not once been truly focused on Hoya at all, not with the way Sumire's eyes kept a very vigilant watch on his protégé. Calling the Zinnia by his real name was the only way Hoya knew how to get Sumire's attention whenever the Zinnia got like that - not that it was even working this time around.
Oh well, it looked like he was going to have to do some meddling again.
~*~
[ Part Six]