¢нαρтєя 7
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ever since taehyung saw those two men from the malgeun pi gang in the elevator of their building, he had an unsettling feeling in his stomach. it's been a month since that day and things have been awfully quiet. maybe it was because taehyung wasn't engaged in any gang activities. was this how namjoon felt all these years? he did mention that murder wasn't his thing, so maybe he liked it in the archives.
but taehyung didn't.

it was the weekend and wednesday evenings when taehyung had time to get his mind off things. after practically switching jobs with his brother, his strip club income ended up being much bigger than what yoongi payed him.
it was awful. he felt like an outcast in his own "house". because he basically grew up in this gang building, and chose to call it his home.

if it wasn't for the horny men who decided they were privileged and could touch taehyung in ways nobody else was allowed to, then life would've been quite monotonous. he didn't like getting touched by old men, but it got to the point where he simply had no physical nor emotional strength to fight back.
the day yoongi found out about it and called taehyung a prostitute will probably forever leave a scar in taehyung's heart. because the way the dirty phrase escaped the elder's lips made taehyung feel like a fucking disgrace. and in a matter of days, taehyung understood that he actually was a disgrace.

as taehyung's body swung gracefully around the pole to the loud music, he heard murmurs of people closest to him. this place with drunk and horny people helped taehyung escape, in a way.

"hey, doll, I bet you'd look prettier without this costume on my bed." some guy shouted to taehyung from the crowd.

taehyung turned his head around and winked, earning a bunch of flirtatious whistles in response.
he turned back around and cringed to himself. he realized it was the same guy from last week. his name was janesser - son of some diplomat from america. pretty much everybody knew him around the town for his outstanding korean and generosity. he was about the same age as taehyung, but taehyung saw him as a provoking and vulgar teen who spent too much of daddy's money.

taehyung's manager told him yesterday that janesser was willing to pay over a million won for him, but taehyung had to decline the offer. it wasn't janesser, it was yoongi's words about calling tae a prostitute that came to his mind.

the music stopped and the light on the stage dimmed. in a matter of minutes, taehyung would perform another dance, so now he had some time to catch his breath. as his chest rose up and down, his eyes scanned the club, but suddenly stopped at the sight of someone ridiculously familiar.
taehyung squinted, hoping it would somehow help him see in the low light. was that... jungkook?

the man who looked exactly like the person taehyung was sure he killed, sat at the bar table and drank something that looked like champagne. it looked like he was deeply involved in a conversation with the barman and was too busy to look on the stage.
before taehyung could do anything, the lights turned back on and taehyung got startled. he completely forgot he was performing and had to quickly get back on track, pretending like everything was meant to be this way.

no longer than a minute passed, but when taehyung looked back at the bar stand all he saw were two women who were ordering a drink. taehyung shook his head slightly, brining himself back to reality.
I must be tired. he told himself. but asking the barman about that jungkook lookalike wouldn't hurt.

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it was soon to be morning and the club was about to be closed. waitresses helped the drunk people get in a taxi and set them off to their houses, janitors cleaned up the confetti, and the barman was wiping the tables.
the other strippers left a while ago, but taehyung stayed for a while, so he could talk to the barman in private.

"jackson?" taehyung came up to the bar stand and leaned over it. jackson, who was rearranging the bottles with alcohol, turned around and smiled. "I wanted to ask you something."

"what is it, tae?" he responded.

"who were you talking to earlier...? I just, I don't know for sure but it looked like... jungkook." taehyung gulped, trying to hold back tears that now just showed up after anytime his name was mentioned.

"didn't you say yourself that jungkook left the country?" jackson took off his apron.

"y-yeah i- I don't know, I think I just... it was probably the lighting."

"so many people come up to me throughout the day, so I won't remember even if I tried to." jackson patted taehyung on the shoulder and walked away.

taehyung left the strip club through the back door and looked at the sky. the sun was starting to rise and the streets were still quiet and almost empty.
taehyung was about to call an uber but heard voices coming from the behind. out of curiosity, he quietly tiptoed to the back of the strip club where smokers usually gathered, and peered carefully.

"listen up, janesser, I'd beat you up, but that would be animal abuse."
a young girl with chestnut straight hair that reached her waist was trapped between janesser and the wall. the jerk had his arms on her shoulders, pressing her into the panel. she was beautiful, her petite yet nicely built body looked perfect in the leather suit she was wearing. it kind of made her look like a spy from some detective movie.

"you wouldn't do that... you know I'm hot." janesser was obviously drunk as fuck and probably even high.

"stop calling yourself hot, the only thing you can turn on is a microwave and maybe even for that you'll need to use some extra brain cells." the girl said with a chuckle.

janesser, who probably held onto the girl to not fall over, instead of trying to intimidate her, moved his face to hers and was about to leave a kiss on her neck, but before he could the girl hit him between the legs and pushed on the floor with her right leg.
taehyung watched with amusement. that was one of the fighting tricks he learned a couple years back.

janesser mumbled something incomprehensive into the ground and after fighting back for a little gave up.
the girl crouched down beside him and leaned into his ear.
"next time you see me - run." she whispered. "or there will be nothing for you to run with. get it? I will break your legs and shove them up your ass."

taehyung felt shivers from the said. as he watched her laugh evily to herself he noticed something on her chest. her leather suit was unzipped and showed a little too much skin.
right in the middle of her chest was a little tattoo... a tattoo of a crescent moon.

a crescent moon? taehyung thought to himself as he waited for his uber. why does that sound so familiar...

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