SERIES II: CLUB JOKER

🃏🃏🃏

it wasn't long until jaemin got the hang of the club's dynamics. to be fair, he had to go through quite the embarrassing moments to get to where he was.

like that one time he was by himself in the club room for once and a challenger came by to play. the girl was sweet and had an adorable gummy smile, determined to win a game against jeno. sadly enough, the former wasn't there and neither were the others. it was only him, his grueling textbooks, and his depleting desire to live.

he was relatively new, so not many people knew of his position in the club yet. the girl being one of those people.

when he opened the door for her, her brows instantly furrowed in confusion at the new face. obviously not expecting jaemin, she asked, "who are you?" in no way was it intended to be rude, she was genuinely curious.

"oh, uh, i'm jaemin. transfer student, second year." he replied, sending her a friendly smile.

seeing her smile back made jaemin mentally pat himself on the back. his social skills haven't failed him yet!

"well, welcome to apgujeong high school newbie. my name's jiwoo, and i'm a third year here." she reached her hand out for a handshake and jaemin accepted gratefully.

"sweet. then you must know mark and renjun right?"

jiwoo blew a raspberry, "everyone in this school knows about those two. they're quite on the popular side and not only that, they're the founders of the oh so famous club joker. you would be living under a rock if you didn't know them by now."

okay, jaemin knew those two had a status but he didn't know they were that high on the list. you can't really blame him, he's only about a week or two into this thing and all he's been trying to do was to catch up on whatever he missed.

"right. anyways, you were here for something right?"

jiwoo's eyes lit up in delight, "oh yeah! i totally forgot about that. i'm actually here for a rematch of sorts. i was hoping jeno would be here but judging by how quiet the room is, i'm guessing you're the only one here?"

with a sympathetic grin, jaemin nodded to confirm her suspicions. "they're out on a snack run or something. i volunteered to stay behind because as you know, coming in halfway through the year isn't the brightest idea."

"ah, that's a shame..." she pouted sadly, thinking that she'll try next time. "i guess i should get going then. good luck on your studies and hope to see you around jaemin."

"ditto!" jaemin had bid jiwoo goodbye but before he could even sit himself down on the floor again, a knock echoed throughout the room. "right when i was about to sit down too." he muttered disappointedly, dragging himself to the club door once more. swinging it open, he was surprised to see jiwoo again. only this time, there was a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"how about you and i play a game instead? you're allowed in the club room for a reason right?"

when jaemin joined the club, he didn't really expect to play anyone else except for the members. no one had selected him as of yet and he doesn't mind really. that just means he gets to observe everyone's gaming style now, to better his chances at winning. you can call him a sneaky bitch, but hey, he's a competitive soul at heart.

"uh, i don't know if i'm allowed to start a match without--"

"just count it as a friendly game between you and i. nothing official." she looked liked a child pleading with their parents for a bag of candy at the store and once again, jaemin has a soft spot for cute things. besides, having someone new to play against is quite refreshing.

"alright. why not?" jaemin finally decided, eliciting a squeal of excitement from jiwoo and a string of rapid fire thank you's.

letting jiwoo into the room, he led her over to what the club calls their 'gambling table'. it was the same table he, renjun, and jeno gambled on on his first day. the day still haunts him today, and makes him wonder where all that confidence came from in the first place.

"since you initiated the invitation, why don't you choose the game hm? i don't mind." jaemin suggested, pulling out a seat for jiwoo then jogged over to the bookshelf on the other side of the room to retrieve a box full of different types of card decks.

"then let's play a little something i used to play all the time when i was younger. it's pretty much a made up game, and the rules are stupidly easy. i'm sure you'll get the hang of it quickly." she proposed, skimming through the box of cards to choose a deck that would suit her wishes.

the corner of her mouth quirked upwards when she saw the deck she was looking for and pulled the box out. she had chosen a deck that only showed off different shapes, nothing like a classic deck of cards.

"usually, we'd have a third person here to lay out the cards for us, but this works too." jiwoo pulled out the cards and started to shuffle them around a bit. she stayed quite modest by doing only a simple overhand shuffle then picked out five cards with different shapes, matching them up with another five with the same shapes. after that, she placed the remaining cards to the side. "the rules are simple. guess the pattern of shapes the other opponent puts down. whoever's closest to the other person's pattern gets the points corresponding to the amount they get right. so, if i got three out of five, i'll get three points. it'll just go back and forth for five rounds, and if needed, there can be an additional tiebreaker round."

"hm. sounds easy enough for me to understand, is that it?"

"we still have to put in a bet remember?" she reminded.

"oh right! the fun part! how much shall we be—"

"it's not a matter of how much, but of are you willing to give up?" her gummy smile didn't seem so innocent anymore, and only then had he noticed what she had in her hand.

a switchblade.

-

"do you think it was a smart idea to leave jaemin alone in the club room?" donghyuck brought up, his eyes still trained on the variety of chip bags on the shelf in front of him.

"i mean, it's just jaemin. i trust him!" chenle was standing right beside donghyuck, piling on the chips into the small shopping basket he picked up on the way in. "besides, he's just doing his homework and i doubt anyone would stop by today. we literally have midterms coming up, so people are probably studying."

the reasoning seemed sensible enough for donghyuck, so he dropped the topic as fast as he brought it up. "any who, where's your baby chick? i haven't seen him since dismissal."

from the corner of donghyuck's vision, he saw chenle visibly slump but was quick to recover. "jisungie caught a cold today. i told him that i would skip classes today to look after him, but he refused and basically kicked me out of his house." the more chenle talked, the more petulant he sounded. he could practically hear chenle pouting.

"i'm surprised you're staying after for joker. why don't you go to him if you're so worried?" donghyuck's eyes momentarily lit up as he spotted the chips that he wanted. plucking it off the shelf, he tossed it into chenle's basket.

"i will! i just gotta pick up some things, that's why i'm snack shopping with you guys right now."

donghyuck's heart involuntarily warmed at how concerned chenle was for jisung. every since he's met the boys, they were always so tight knit and he couldn't help but be jealous of their bond. his eyes wandered off and landed on a certain black haired boy laughing hysterically at something renjun had said, while jeno was scrutinizing a bottle of juice in his hand.

heavily sighing, he left that lingering thought of truce buried away in the back of his mind.

"you done? we can go check out now." donghyuck gestured to the cashier and in return chenle nodded in agreement.

while the two were checking out their items, jeno was still stuck on which juice brand was better. he could always go with the one he always bought, but he was feeling a tad adventurous today and was eyeing another brand as well. sighing in defeat, he turned to ask mark and renjun's opinion on the matter.

"guys? which one should i get?" he raised up the two bottles while giving the two a lost look.

"just get the one you always get and let's get going. i have a bad feeling about leaving jaemin alone in the club room." renjun was antsy the whole trip here, claiming that it was a bad idea to leave jaemin alone.

"why are you so worried about it jun? he's just doing homework, not summoning satan." mark says.

but renjun didn't relent. there was a bad feeling bubbling in his gut and he didn't like it one bit. right when they left school grounds, something just seemed off and he couldn't explain why.

"i know but i just have a bad feeling." renjun toyed nervously with the sleeve of his knitted sweater that was draped over his uniform, picking off tiny balls of fuzz.

he flinched when he felt an arms wrap around his waist, pulling him close to the other person's side. "don't worry. we'll get back as soon as possible. hyuck and chenle are done, so we'll just check out our things and get going." renjun calmed down once he realized that jeno was the one to comfort him, silently thanking the boy for his caring nature.

mark had already left the two for the cashier once he felt like he was intruding. which was saying a lot since he'd almost never feel like he was third wheeling with jeno and renjun. he guessed with their growing closeness kind of left mark feeling a tad lonely, but that's okay. he's been rooting for the two every since seeing the look on renjun's face after jeno won with no effort.

then came jaemin, and mark was still on the fence about the idea. did renjun like jeno or jaemin? or both? was that even possible.

well it's the 21st century. anything is possible if you put your mind to it. mark thought to himself after bidding the cashier a good day.

once they all regrouped and walked back to school, chenle bid everyone goodbye as he sped off to jisung's. that leaves only four members left to view a surprise waiting to be uncovered.

-

jaemin's expression hadn't wavered since jiwoo pulled out her sticker adorned switchblade. in fact, excitement started to course through his veins. such a high risk for a simple game? it was amazing.

the game went on, easy yet tantalizing in ways jaemin felt like teetering off the fine line between sanity and insanity. he never knew how much excitement went into games with high stakes, but so far, money couldn't compare.

jiwoo has laid down a bet, saying that whoever is the winner out of five rounds get to carve whatever the want on the loser's skin. it didn't matter where either.

jaemin surprised himself at how quickly he accepted the terms, but who could blame him?

at the moment, the ticking clock was the only noise resonating around the room, covering every crook and cranny. they were on their last and final round. the round that would be the deciding factor of who will be the one bleeding in the end.

the cards in front of jiwoo lay face down, the smile on her face never falling. she was staring straight at jaemin, watching him move around his cards trying to pick an order.

so far, jiwoo was in the lead, getting three out of five cards correct. now it was all or nothing for jaemin. she was confident that her tricks won't fail her as it worked every time she used it. you see, she played the last four rounds with some type of notable pattern in the order of her cards. she wanted the opponent to figure out that pattern, and she'll let them have all their glory before she pulls the game back to her favor. how would she do that? well, she would completely randomize the order in the last round, throwing the other person completely off and giving her the last laugh.

there was no way jaemin would get this right.

then why, oh why, did jaemin's cards completely mirrored her's when they turned over their cards? each one matched earning him a full five out of five.

"now would you look at that?" jaemin leaned forward, propping up his arm so that he could rest his chin on the palm of his hand. "i got all of them right."

"h-how...?" she was completely awestruck by the results. this was really the one time her master plan failed her huh? and to someone she assumed to be the gullible kind too.

"your pattern was easy to figure out once we got to about the third round." jaemin grasps onto the switchblade that sat in between them, proceeding to play with it. "by the way, i like what you did with this. where did you get the stickers if i may ask?"

jaemin's tone was too casual.

"i-i..." only now had the realization dawned on the girl that she had lost. jaemin could carve anything onto her skin and she'd just have to take it. she was on the winning side for so long, and to lose such a bet absolutely terrified her. this wasn't meant to be at all. she was supposed to be the one with the last laugh, not her opponent. and so, she did the only thing she could possibly think of in the situation. "please...spare me."

the tears that she'd never thought would rise, rose up and poured over landing in little droplets on the glossy cards placed before her. on the other side of the table jaemin shot her a blank look.

"then what was the point in me gambling with you? if you're just going back out the moment you lost?"

jiwoo looked up through her blurry vision, hoping that he was just playing with her. to break out into the cute smile from before and say, "i would never hurt you. we can bet something else, don't worry."

yet, that wasn't the case.

jaemin ran the pad of his thumb across the cool blade, relishing in the craftsmanship put into it. he pressed a tad too hard, resulting in a tiny bead of blood to flow out from the nick. jaemin hummed, "if it's this sharp, it shouldn't be that painful right? they do say that dull knives hurt the most, so this should be nothing compared."

the girl watched the bead of blood build up until it was heavy enough to drip onto one of the cards. to be specific here, right in the center of the heart.

"i just..." jiwoo couldn't even form words. she was petrified , frozen in her seat and unable to escape jaemin's manic stare. "p-please...i beg o-of you. i-i'll pay you however m-much you want! i-i promise! j-just don't do i-it, please..." she sounded hysterical with all her hiccuping and stuttering. her hands gripped tightly at the end of her uniform's skirt, knuckles turning pearl white.

the sudden melodious laughter caught jiwoo completely off guard as she found her head snapping up towards the sound.

there jaemin was, laughing like somebody had told him the funniest joke ever while the switchblade was set down a safe distance away from him. "gosh, i'm sorry jiwoo. i didn't mean to scare you that badly!"

jiwoo was at a loss. what in the hell just happened?

one moment ago, jaemin looked like he was about to murder her and next thing she knew, he's laughing like an innocent child.

"w-what?"

"i was never going to hurt you jiwoo. i might like high stakes and the thrill of gambling, but i wouldn't hurt someone, much less a lady for that matter."

jaemin made jiwoo feel pathetic.

the fact that she was going to willingly hurt the boy in front of her if she won struck a chord within her. and jaemin over here had no intentions of truly following through with the bet made her feel even more like a trashy human.

"w-why do you change your mind?"

a hitch of silence.

"let's say i don't find enjoyment in the act but rather the reaction. now," jaemin stood up to fetch the packet of tissues he always stored in his backpack then came back to jiwoo's side of the table. he gently placed his fingers underneath the girl's chin and coaxed her to look his way. "let's wipe these bothersome tears away yeah?"

jiwoo could only nod in response and let the other wipe away her teary eyes with the utmost care.

"jAEMIN!" the door busted open, causing both jiwoo and jaemin to flinch at the sudden action.

tilting his head to the side, he gave the four boys a questioning look. meanwhile, jiwoo noticing how they must've looked made her blush bright red.

jaemin was still cupping the girl's chin, tissue in hand and distance a bit too intimate for renjun's and jeno's liking. while renjun and jeno were too busy looking and jaemin and jiwoo, donghyuck and mark's gaze lay on the splattered cards and sticker covered switchblade on the table. (they did notice the blood but they're hoping that it was just kool-aid or something.)

"what in the fuck did you do when we were gone?"

yeah, they didn't trust jaemin alone in the room for a good month after that match. he is now also deemed as the most dangerous member to gamble with due to the high stakes he plays with. the boy is crazy, but isn't that what gambling does to the best of us?

after a good scolding, jaemin was told that he could bet anything as long as there's no bloodshed. and to be fair, he was the one who cut himself, but did they listen? noooo.

-
(after the match)

"yoU THREATENED TO WHAT?"

"she was the one to request it! stop being so up tight injunnie."

"uP TIGHT? YOU COULD'VE GOTTEN YOURSELF KILLED IF YOU WEREN'T SO CAREFUL."

jaemin glances over at jeno who sat across from him and gave him his best pleading stare. jeno just shrugged as if you say, "sorry. no can do."

oh, this was going to be a long day.

-🃏-

y'all don't slander me for making chuu cry—

and yes, if you haven't already noticed, i've officially made 'club joker' into a series. most games would most likely be based off of games played in kakegurui cause i'm unoriginal like that, but yeah :) hope y'all enjoyed this short chapter