strawberry shortcake

30. respect

Jisung ran his hand through his damp hair, nodding his head in the direction of one of his employees as a greeting. Two of his bodyguards trailed right behind him, leaving him to stand right in front of the shooting range entrance to guard.

As he walked through the corridors he could already hear the gunshots and orders. "You have to lower your hands Minjae. And stand like this, both hands on the gun." Jisung grinned upon seeing Jeongin showing the right posture to who was Minjae apparently.

Jeongin noticed the sudden silence that started to spread through the room and smiled a little when he noticed the older had finally arrived. "Good job." He patted the boy's shoulder before making his way to Jisung who until then stood by the wall, leaning against it.

"Sir." He bowed, many others following his act. Jisung repeated the gesture, just in a smaller matter, nodding his head in appreciation.

"Don't mind my presence, I'm here to overlook your training, but there's no need to be nervous. Don't hesitate to ask for advice if needed." There was utter silence as he spoke, not one person dared to make any noise. Jisung didn't even need to raise his voice in order for them to hear.

"You heard. Now back to training everyone." They listened to Jeongin and got back to training. It was evident they were still a little shaken up from the fact The boss was there, but they got to work nonetheless. Some talking, some laughing, some just concentrating without making a noise.

"And here I was thinking you spent the whole trip I sent you on fucking Chan. Looks like he did teach you something after all."

"Believe me or not, he taught me a lot of things, have they got something to do with our job or not." Jeongin chuckled. As they walked among the men and talked, Jisung's attention trailed to one of the small groups where he could feel eyes digging in his side.

"Who are those three?" He signaled towards them, frowning as Jeongin sighed. "Those are my most problematic. They struggle with discipline and have no respect whatsoever. I've been working on taming them, but unless Chan's by my side, barking orders, they act like a bunch of teenagers."

"Shall I give it a shot? Let's see what I can do." Jisung chuckled, already walking in their direction. His posture was brilliant as always with the strong aura of his radiant as ever. Even a regular person could recognize he was someone of power. The charms he inherited weren't for no reason.

The men bowed as he approached them, however it was evident they did not mean any of the formalities.

"What can we do for you boss?" Jisung didn't like when they addressed him as boss. It felt almost condescending. Sir was the usual term he preferred them using, and they all knew.

"I'm not here for requests, though it was brought up to my attention that you're having troubles behaving. Now I don't know if you noticed, but there's a lot of people in higher position than yours. You work for a man that works for who is your supervisor at the moment, Yang. And all of them, including you work for me. Your life lies in my hands. I do not care about your ethnicity gentleman, in my business we pay each other respect, Korean or not. So do all of us the favor and behave yourselves." He flashed them one of his work smiles and walked to the guns that they were using before. Running his fingers along each one, he hummed and picked the middle one.

He turned around and found eyes of one of them, piercing into his in a condescending manner. "Dare to show me your skills?" He turned the gun for the latter to grab, but his order was met with a cocky smirk and a raised eyebrow of the man.

Jeongin was itching to punish him in a way he would never even think about disrespecting any of them again, but Jisung's calm composure held him back. He knew what he was doing. As always, he had a full control over the situation.