jk~ (junhyeok) wrote in gyeongsang, @ 2019-06-10 14:40:00 |
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"What do you mean you're not buying? These are quality herbs. It took me a whole year to grow these right."
JK raised an eyebrow at the supernatural jackass standing in front of him looking smug. These superpowered assholes thought that just because they were stronger than ordinary humans that they could bully them and push them around like nothing. JK had dealt with all kinds of supers ever since he'd gotten into the business of growing certain magical plants that a few of them needed in order to survive. What with their cousins having certain abilities, JK knew about supers and was used to dealing with them. His cousin Rin was a politician even though he was a super, and that helped things when it came to understanding the community. Still, every once in a while, he had to deal with dicks like this guy.
"Your price is too high," the douchecanoe replied. JK was willing to bet this guy couldn't even count that high to begin with, much less come up with the cheese required to make a fair deal go off without a hitch.
"Look, I'm not haggling my price with you," he shot back at him. "This is the price it's going for on the street, and if you don't like it, you can go buy some tainted shit for less."
"Or I could just kill you and just take it for myself," the piece of shit said.
JK snorted and stuffed the herbs back into his pocket. "Are you fucking serious, man? Do you know who my cousin is? I can have you blacklisted in the underground market for the rest of your sick, sad, pathetic, fucktard lif--"
Maybe that was going a bit too far, trying to trigger the guy like that, but JK was pissed. No one bailed on a transaction like that with him. It just didn't happen, but clearly, this guy was just a big old bag of dumb rocks. Dumb rocks that could pack a punch though. The impact of his fist colliding with JK's face didn't hurt so much as the drainage canal that broke his fall after he'd been punched into kingdom come. "YOU ASSHOLE!" Right... that was going to hurt for a couple of days.... weeks.... years.... fuck.
jaemin had come from a long line of hunters; his entire family had passed on the honor from generation to generation, further back than jaemin could ever possibly realize. unfortunately jaemin was very much the black sheep of the family. he was always much happier to play video games and spend time with friends, as opposed to going out hunting for ghouls and goblins and the dozens of other supernaturals who were using their powers for monetary gain and/or to kill or injure anyone who got in their way. sometimes they weren't even hurting anyone at all, but his father didn't care. now of course, being the social butterfly that he was, quite a few of his friends (including his very best friend) were also supers, and keeping that kind of information from his strict grandparents and the rest of the family proved so much more than fucking difficult. jaemin was still struggling with the idea of killing supers - more specifically the ones who had done absolutely nothing wrong.
he knew that most hadn't chosen to be the way they were. of course there would be the random oddball who willing allowed himself to be bitten by a vampire to absorb the powers from the bite to become a vampire themselves. and without someone a mentor of some sort to help them control their impulses and help find plenty of places to collect blood from that wasn't human, they would end up going completely feral - and that's when jaemin was supposed to step in. in instances like that, he wouldn't hesitate to attack to kill, but it still made him feel ridiculous and guilty. when would he be able to just put his feeling side? when would he learn how to disassociate from the shit that he was doing?
for now, jaemin's feelings were put aside as he decided to go check out one of the more forest like areas, driving for a good few hours before he came across the wooded area that some supers tended to spend a lot of time hiding out from the public eye. he swung his crossbow over his shoulder and patted to make sure his silver bullet-ed gun was within quick reaching distance. his feet crunched along the sticks and dirt as he shined a dim flashlight around darker areas to keep from making himself too fucking obvious. jaemin practically jumped out of his own skin as he heard a yell, followed by some loud voices, halfway panicking that they had found him already. "oh fuck, oh shit, oh fuck!" he whispered loudly, jogging over to the next tree, back up against it as he continued to listen.
there was another sudden scream, and this time it sounded like someone had screamed out in pain afterwards. there was a loud groan, and jaemin quickly shuffled his way over to where the sound was coming from. he didn't see anyone around, only heard the loud footsteps of people walking away. he called out quietly, but just loud enough for the man to hear him. "hey man! just like, hold on a second. i'm gonna help you!" jaemin had to pull himself back when he finally saw a glimpse of what appeared to be a young man in a large drainage ditch. his eyes grew as wide as dinner plates as he tried to wrap his head around what might have actually gone down just now. he scratched the back of his head and tilted his head sideways, squinting to glance at the man down there in the darkness. he couldn't make out his facial features, but there wasn't time to worry about that.
"whoa! are you okay? what happened? who did this to you?!" jaemin questioned, bending over the ditch to check how deep it was. "so, you think can you get out of there?"
For as long as JK could remember, he was a flower child. He loved escaping into the gardens to roam about the flowers and trees and grass. He couldn't explain it, just that nature called out to him, raw and untamed. He was given his first flower to take care of at the age of six, and he never looked back since. It was a sunflower, and he remembered sitting by the windowsill just watching it for hours, wondering when it would grow. He cared for it so well that it lived for years, and by then, he'd gathered more flowers and plants to care for. Studying botany was the only thing that made sense, and getting into the herb business for supers was just a natural course for him. Was it dangerous at times? Of course, but JK hadn't died or anything.... yet.
The punch left him dizzy and unable to even tell which way was up. His back felt like it was broken in half, and he wasn't sure which pain to focus on. It was like his entire body was wrecked, but somehow he was still alive. He didn't know how that was nor was it the first time he'd gotten scratched up or injured by a deal gone wrong. Still, this was probably about the worst encounter he'd ever had, and the guy was probably still around trying to see if he could snatch up JK's herbs that he'd worked so hard to cultivate. No way he was giving those up without a fight.
Suddenly, he heard shuffling footsteps and looked up from the ditch through squinty eyes. A young man was standing there hovering over him and looking confused. To JK's trained eye, he could see the young man was wearing hunter clothing and was carrying weapons used by hunters, but he appeared so out of it that JK couldn't tell one way or the other. Was this guy really a hunter? He'd met some pretty stupid hunters in the past, but this one just looked like he was out strolling along down a boulevard, not out on a hunt. "What? Am I okay? Uh, no. Does it look like I'm okay?" Jesus, what was this guy's deal? It would be JK's luck to be discovered by a lameass hunter.
"He's a Shapeshifter," JK replied, trying in vain to push himself off the damp ground. "Be careful, you idiot. He's still around. He wants these herbs I was about to sell him, but he doesn't wanna pay. Cause he's a CHEAP MOTHERFUCKER." Yeah, maybe he should have kept his mouth shut, but JK rarely knew when to do that. He spoke his mind and let anyone else tell him to do otherwise, they'd get an earful too. Turning his attention to the hunter (or whatever he was), he shook his head in disbelief. "Yeah, hold on. Let me just fucking Tony Stark my way out of here, one sec." What a dumbass....
jk's first special gift might have been a sunflower, but for jaemin the first important gift he'd been given by his father were a crossbow and a dagger. perhaps it hadn't been the most appropriate gift for an eight year old, but jaemin cherished them all the same - even if he had no idea how to use them at the time. his father was a cold man; there wasn't much room for sentimentality when his family got together. his mother was a meek, mild mannered woman, who wouldn't have said no to his father no matter how outrageous the question or demand. the men in their family were the hunters, and the women were to stay at home and raise the younger children. if dinner wasn't on the table by the time jaemin and his siblings and father returned home, there was bound to be some type of ugly backlash that jaemin had learned not to get involved with. the one and only time jaemin got between the back of his father's hand and the side of his mother's face ended up with two black eyes and an arm twisted in a nearly 360 direction. that was the one and only time jaemin got involved with his parents' bickering ever again.
as the oldest child, jaemin carried what felt like the weight of the world on his shoulders. he had to set an example for his two younger brothers; teaching them when to go out at night and where the best place to find supers causing trouble. jaemin was covered in scars from battles, luckily situated in places where people wouldn't be able to see unless he'd taken off his shirt. his youngest brother, however, hadn't been quite so lucky... during a particularly nasty encounter with a demon, he had lost an eye, leaving nothing but an empty socket and a white scar down the middle of his eyelid and cheek. jaemin still blamed himself for being so reckless. for letting his little brother out of his sight for a few moments longer than he should have. as much as the youngest boy reassured him that he was fine, jaemin still felt the nagging ache of guilt every time he caught a glimpse of the missing eyeball.
maybe his brother's injury had triggered something within jaemin that wanted to go out and help people. even though he had been hunting for so long, killing was still something that he never got used to... truthfully, it was something he prayed that he never got used to. taking a life, whether it be human or supernatural, didn't sit right in the pit of his stomach. so when he had heard the deep, loud voice cursing and yelling for help, jaemin had no choice but to investigate. his screams were only causing the ditch to vibrate extra loud, causing even more attention to the pair of them. "shh, shut up! quit being so damn loud!" jaemin clicked his teeth, shaking his head as he set down all of his hunting equipment. "if he's still around he's gonna fucking hear you down there, idiot." he rolled his eyes at the young boy's attitude, momentarily considering just turning on his heels to leave him where he was.
"alright, look. how about you shut up and stop being a dick, and i'll help you out of here. sound good?" he was still grinning in amusement, watching the man become more and more frustrated the longer he was down there. the ball was in jaemin's court, and honestly? ...he really was getting off on the fact. he couldn't help but giggle quietly at the sarcastic iron man comment, biting his bottom lip as he stifled back a loud laugh. "alright, alright. here!"
jaemin knelt at the edge of the ditch, reaching out his hand for the man to take. he used all of his force to pull backwards, digging his heels into the muddy ground as he offered him some leverage to stand up. once the young man's face came into view, jaemin blinked rapidly, not expecting such a good looking human (or whatever he was) to have fallen down there. jaemin finally pulled and pulled, and eventually yanked so hard that the other man came flying out of the ditch... and of course, just jaemin's luck, landed directly on top of him, knocking them both backwards. jaemin's back hit the wet, grassy floor with a thump, and the taller boy crashed on top of him with his full weight. "okay, ouch... OUCH."
Honestly, JK had never exhibited any supernatural abilities, though they knew that sometimes these things remained hidden, dormant inside the body until a trigger would awaken them. For some reason, JK had managed to survive several encounters with supers and was still alive to tell the tale. He wasn't necessarily strong or anything, but apparently he was pretty durable. And if that wasn't a good enough ability to have, he didn't know what was. His brother, who was practically his twin, hadn't exhibited any signs either. So maybe they just got the normal genes on this side of the family through their mothers perhaps, or maybe they had yet to awaken. Contrary to popular belief, it didn't always happen right at the onset of puberty.
He couldn't help how angry and annoyed he was about his situation, not necessarily about the hunter boy but he only added to his frustrations. He seemed so nonchalant, like a shapeshifting asshole wasn't currently running around on the loose somewhere in the area. As much as JK didn't want hunters to kill certain supers especially if they were friends, family or if they simply hadn't done anything wrong (or if they were good customers), JK still expected hunters to all be sort of bloodthirsty and willing to go after their prey regardless of the situation. So when he came around to try and help him up, it only surprised JK just a bit.
"I'm not being a dick," JK replied with a huff. "I'm the one that got punched into smithereens, remember?" He tilted his neck to one side and then the other, feeling the crack of bones that could have easily been shattered but weren't. With a sigh, he took Jaemin's hand and tried to pull himself up too with a groan. He didn't know anything about Jaemin's life, but he already saw something in him that was different from other hunters. And it could have just as easily been that he was a total idiot, but that would remain to be seen. "Ngh, easy, jerk..." He was still aching all over and Jaemin was tugging him hard... hard enough with JK exerting force too that....
"Whoa!" He had tried to stand up once he'd gotten close to the edge of the ditch but with their combined force he slipped and landed right on top of the other boy. JK gasped and tried to catch his breath while his face was mere millimeters from Jaemin's. Well... maybe he was a shit hunter, but he sure was a damn cute one. JK couldn't say for how long he remained there on top of the other boy before he realized he was probably on the verge of death. "Oh shit, sorry." Rolling off him, he sat up and ran his fingers through his hair, breathing heavily and looking around still for the shapeshifter. "What the hell are you doing out here by yourself anyway," he asked Jaemin. "Gonna get yourself killed."
jaemin was still in his early stages of being a hunter. sure, his father, grandfather, and uncles had been teaching him the way since he was old enough and strong enough to hold a gun or a crossbow, but being out there all on his own made him feel a little bit lonely. most of the time jaemin spent his nights out hunting daydreaming or listening to music, humming along to the tune that would have alerted whichever type of super had been in the area... but truthfully? he didn't mind. he never felt as though he was cut out for this type of thing. even though there were plenty of supernatural beings out there that hurt people just for the fun of it, there were also sweet, kind, friendly supers who never asked to be born or become the way that they were. needless to say, jaemin's father wasn't much pleased at the fact that his son wasn't performing as well as he could have done, and within the next coming weeks jaemin would have his very own "hunting tutor" with some sort of professional hunter his father hired named kwan. jaemin decided to give it a shot - although he knew deep down that his feelings on supers would never change, no matter who showed him the ropes.
even though he didn't enjoy being a hunter, he didn't exactly consider himself to be an overly sensitive individual either. jaemin wasn't one to cry or run away screaming from a fight. he was loud and brash; he said exactly what was on his mind, whenever it was on his mind and never ever backed down from a challenge. jaemin definitely wasn't a bloodthirsty type of hunter, and the few times he had killed supers was out of pure necessity - it was kill or be killed. otherwise, he tended to turn a blind eye. he had far too many friends who were supernatural beings, and just the thought of other supers not being able to return home to their families because he had put an arrow through their head sometimes made him feel sick to his stomach. they might not have been humans, but they still had people who loved and cared for them. it just didn't seem fair.
"why in the hell did you get punched and knocked down there, anyway?" jaemin quirked his brow and tried to fight back the urge to laugh. the situation wasn't exactly funny, but there was something endearing about the angry way and the snippy attitude that the young man was radiating in his direction. "god, you really must have pissed someone off. yikes." jaemin clearly didn't know his own strength as he yanked jk up and out of the ditch, tumbling backwards as he did so onto the muddy grass. his back hit the ground with a thud and a squish, and he groaned loudly before jk came barreling on top of him. the man was much taller than jaemin, and his body smashing against his own knocked the wind right out of his lungs. "o-u-c-h, fuck! holy shit. i was definitely not prepared for that." jaemin had managed to cushion jk's fall, so at least he done his second good deed of the day.
now that jaemin got a good close-up view of jk as he rolled off of him, he looked him over before propping himself up on his elbows. his clothes were already a wet, muddy mess so he stayed seated while inspecting the young man's face. he was handsome in all of the conventional ways, but there was a little something... extra. even in the darkness, jaemin could make out his profile; nice lips, strong jawline, messy yet somehow still styled hair. he cleared his throat and glanced around behind them in case anyone decided to shapeshift and sneak up on them again. "i could ask you the same question! what are you doing out here? and anyway, i'm, um... hunting. kind of. as you can tell i'm pretty fucking bad at it. but at least i can say that i saved your ass tonight, right? i mean, it's better than coming home empty handed. and i'm jaemin, by the way. what's your name?" jaemin had quite the tendency to ramble, especially when he happened to find someone attractive... and boy, did he find this man attractive.
JK had been out there making deals with supers for years now. He wasn't the cheapest herbs dealer around, but his products were reliable and safe. A lot of decent supers came to him for their orders and he had a witch coven that bought from him exclusively. They trusted no one other than him, because he followed a strict code of ethics. He ran a solid business and after gaining the trust of several supers and the main witch coven, he was deemed as a solid person to buy herbs from. It wasn't some dodgy business like drugs or anything like that. Some of these supers needed these herbs in order to make it by in a world run by regular humans, but since they weren't fully recognized as people yet, these sort of transactions had to happen underground.
It was probably why JK was sort of leery of Jaemin at first. He wasn't sure if he was just here pretending to be his buddy when really he wanted to bust him for an illegal deal. Still, he wasn't one to lie about things either. "Guy wanted to be an asshole and not pay my asking price for his herbs," he replied, pushing himself off the ground and clapping the dirt off his palms. "I was told he was alright, but I'm gonna have some serious questions for my contact now. Guy is totally off the rails." He sighed and glanced down at Jaemin on the floor. He'd sure landed on him pretty hard, and he hadn't meant to do that.... but it was still kinda funny how he was all bent out of shape about it.
And now, it was JK's turn to get a good look at Jaemin, all round-faced and bright-eyed. He didn't have the look of a hunter, with deadset eyes and a perpetual bitchface. He looked... God, he looked cute even. Like he could have been in some kind of boy band or something. His voice had a certain twinkle to it that was just bordering on annoying though not quite, but JK couldn't help the way he was sort of hanging onto every dumb word this guy was saying. "If you're really a hunter, you'd know these kind of deals are illegal," JK explained, "so of course we have to do these kinds of things out here." He smirked though and reached out a hand to help Jaemin up off the ground. "I'm Junhyeok, but everyone calls me JK."
He pulled Jaemin off the floor, still sporting that smirk as his eyes sort of did a one over on him. "You really are fucking bad at it, aren't you," he asked with a chuckle. But the lighthearted moment didn't last for long as a rustle in the bushes put JK on high alert once again. He grabbed a hold of the sleeve of Jaemin's jacket as he looked all around them at the surrounding forest. "Be careful, he's still out here. Being a royal fucking dick. God, I hate Shifters. Here..." He moved so that he was back-to-back with Jaemin, making sure they were still touching in some way. "We can get a wider range if we look out in both directions. You.... do know how to take out a Shifter, don't you? Shit, even I know how to do that."
if jaemin had a say in all of this business, he would have quit being a hunter and just gotten a regular nine to five job like everyone else. if he didn't have to continue carrying on his family's famous legacy he wouldn't be in the woods right now, pretending to hunt supers until the sun came up. all he wanted to do was to make his family proud, even if it meant these miserable nights wandering around in forests, constantly putting himself in harm's way. some supers knew who he was and what his intentions were. they knew he wasn't out to hurt them for just living their lives. others, however, weren't exactly so trusting of him, and jaemin had the scars to prove it. as long as jaemin was sure that he was going after a super that was known for causing chaos, violence, or deaths, he could rest far more at ease knowing he put them down and could help out in some kind of way.
shifters were always a pain in jaemin's ass. for all he really knew, this tall man that he'd just helped out of a ditch only for him to wind up crushing him could have been one as well. quite honestly, jk were handsome enough that any super with a brain would be happy to shift into such an attractive body. the man would have rightfully been suspicious of jaemin, but going around busting people for doing something as trivial as selling herbs wasn't exactly high on his list of priorities. people had to make a living, and he could easily think of a hundred other, more serious, crimes going down that he could put a stop to. jaemin rolled his eyes at jk, shaking his head before snipping back at him. "yeah, obviously i know it's illegal, idiot." he sighed, rubbing the sore, dirt covered, small of his back where he'd fallen backwards. "but i couldn't care less about something stupid like that. you're just making a living. i don't have a problem with it."
jaemin's eyes widened, quickly realizing he'd still been latched onto jk's hand after he'd helped him up. he quickly let go, clearing this throat as he peered around their surroundings. "so he just took your shit and ran off. didn't pay you or what?" jaemin knew he wasn't a great hunter, but hearing someone he'd just met reiterating the fact back to him put him on edge... especially with that little cocky smirk of his. "oh, you know what? fuck off i'm not that--." he hissed before being interrupted by a harsh tug as suddenly his back was up against the taller man's. "well that we can both agree on. they're super fucking annoying." jaemin couldn't help but melt a little into jk's back, the strong smell of leather and cologne and a hint of dirt flooding his senses.
"of course i know how to take one out, asshole." he clicked his teeth, sighing quietly. "...but we're not killing him, right?" jaemin's voice shook a little as he asked, unsure of what jk's intentions actually were. he had only just met the fucking guy a few minutes ago, and he had no idea what type of person he was. he didn't seem like a killer as far as jaemin could tell, but obviously he couldn't be sure yet. "i'm happy to fuck him up, but i don't think we have to go too far." the hesitation of killing someone probably sounded absolutely ridiculous coming from a hunter, but jaemin was far too preoccupied with figuring out where the rustling was coming from to care.
It wasn't JK's job to take out supers, so he didn't care one way or the other what happened to this guy. All he knew was that it was a hunter's job to keep the rest of humanity safe from rogue supers. Or at least that was what they claimed to do anyway. He knew some hunters were just assholes with too much power and the belief that they could do whatever they wanted under the pretense of protecting people. Power corrupted and absolute power corrupted absolutely. That said, he really couldn't figure Jaemin out. Was he trying to protect people or not? Where did his true intentions lie? He also couldn't be sure of how much of a stickler he was for the law. Some hunters took it upon themselves to consider the selling of herbs to supers as being part of the problem. That didn't seem to be what Jaemin thought though.
"I'm just saying, jackass," he replied with a roll of his eyes. "Someone else would have cuffed me and shipped me away along with the Shifter." He didn't know why he found it so hot for this guy he just met to call him all these names. Maybe it was just the heat of the moment that had him acting strangely, so he shrugged it off. "He didn't take my stuff. I'd never hand over the goods before getting paid. He just refused to pay me the asking price we'd agreed upon and then punched me out!" JK couldn't get the smirk off his face as he knew he'd hit a nerve with Jaemin. It was fun setting him off for some reason, and JK wished he could do it more often.
But for the moment, he had to settle for being back-to-back with him. Even though it wasn't necessary, he leaned his head back so he could touch Jaemin's head with his. Okay, so maybe he'd been in a few little situations like this before, but it was nice to have someone else there with him to help him out if needed. Maybe Jaemin was a shit hunter, but at least JK wasn't alone. Except maybe they had different ideas about what they were doing here. "What? I mean he only threw me into a fucking ditch. I think he's pretty hostile enough to get taken out. What kind of hunter are you, geez."
He would have said more insults, but the rustling noise came from somewhere to his left. His head turned in that direction immediately and quickly hushed Jaemin to keep him quiet. Reaching over, he found Jaemin's hand and turned it so his palm was facing up. With his finger, he started to trace out the words to your right 4 o'clock. He glanced back at him subtly to see if he'd gotten the message. They were going to have to work together if they wanted to escape this alive.