rendezvous • johnten

1.

ten awoke to his alarm beeping and to the worst headache of his life.

just the night before, he had been out until 4 to attend various clubs around korea to work through dealings with his partner, winwin. it had been weeks since his last restful night of sleep, as nearly every night, he and winwin were assigned different locations to appear at and different tasks to complete, most involving drug deals, gang associations, weapon trading, and other not so family-friendly ordeals.

this lifestyle was sustainable for winwin, as he had no job to work and was able to rest during the day and be active at night. this was not an option for ten.

the latter was an assistant ceo by day, and a member of the wayv mafia by night. ten worked almost all hours of the day, and was only able to rest fully on the nights kun would let him take off... which unfortunately, with the rise of 127 activity, seemed to be appearing rather sparingly.

it was 7am, and ten was already out of bed and into the shower as his driver was meeting him at 7:45 sharp, to take him to his office for a long day of phone calls and paperwork. his job was dull, but it was high-paying and useful for inside information on highly classified subjects and associations which would otherwise be unknown to wayv. ten was working as a double agent, and was therefore incredibly useful to the mafia.

he popped open his bottle of pain meds and downed them; the action becoming so routine at this point that he didn't even need to check how many pills were in his hand— and could dry swallow them being absolutely sure that he had taken exactly 4.

4 pills was upwards of his recommended dosage, but hey; he was a busy man with places to be, and he had no time for headaches interrupting his work, and was not taking any chances of the pain seeping back throughout the day- though not without extra pill bottles hidden in his desk for "emergencies".

at 7:44 on the dot, ten was dressed and in the courtyard of his apartment, waiting for his driver. it was a luxurious complex, fitting only for ceos and their assistants- or, bosses and their underbosses, per se.

not even 25 seconds later, his driver appeared, and ten was whisked back into the shadows without a second glance.

ten preferred to live this way- down low, away from the spotlight, so that he could easily blend in with his surroundings but stay useful enough to remain important. this was the best way to handle things, he figured- as he was much too exhausted to deal with attention all day, but was far too important to be overlooked. he carried this charm about him wherever he went- charming, elusive, and smooth.

his work appeared in the front window- a tall, expensive looking building, with large letters spelling out 'levanter enterprises' running along the front. directly underneath were large glass double doors, which ten swiftly entered through, nodding to the security desk as he descended up the elevator.

upon reaching his office on the 8th floor, he was greeted by his assistant, lee felix- a small, handsome man who was originally from australia, but moved to south korea a few years before. felix had relations to wayv as well, but was not a member- only an informant to ten.

"good morning, felix!" ten opened their conversation in english, smiling at the bright-faced boy.

"good morning, sir— i have news that may be of value to wayv..." felix trailed that last word off in a whisper.

"go on?" ten replied, leading the two into his office and closing the door.

"we've received an anonymous tip stating that there is a building suspected to be 127's main quarters, sir— and obviously i had to let you know before the police got involed." felix explained, "mr. bang doesn't know of the tip yet, but i will need to let him know within the next few days to avoid suspicion."

"i see. thank you, felix, really." ten smiled again, "i'll let kun know as soon as possible, we can even check out the location tonight if we get lucky. do we have any suspicions for who sent the tip?"

"we don't know for sure, but logically our only options are someone within 127, or someone from dream. i don't know why dream would tell you instead of scoping it out themselves, but it could be because of the shifting power dynamic. they're getting further and further off the radar, you know." felix explained once again, and ten nodded in understanding.

"right.. thank you again, felix." ten sighed and melted into his desk chair. "is there any more news?"

"just a few contracts for you to approve and send up to mr.bang." felix placed a stack of papers in front of ten, and all ten could do was rub his fingers into his temples.

felix chucked at the sight, and began to walk out the door. "call me if you need anything, sir!" ten nodded, and felix left the room, door closing on itself in his wake.

all ten could do now was message kun and start on the papers. he could already feel another headache forming, so he reached into the third drawer on his left and shook a single painkiller into his hand, downed it without a second thought- and popped in a second for good measure.

it was going to be a long night.