GOODFELLAS → EXO // WATTYS 2019

[18]

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
DEAD MEN WALKING

[MARCH 1st, 1982]

-

"It's that time again."

Jonghyuk stares at the anxious faces of his henchmen as they crowd the table he sat at the head of. Even in the dimness of the room, he can see the way they glance at each other nervously. It makes him laugh, smoke curling from his lips as he grips his cigar tightly. He had put off his revenge following the hotel's collapse, mostly because he had broken his leg again. But now, another perfect opportunity to strike had appeared, and this time - he wasn't going to miss it.

"Promotions for the middlemen are coming up, and our very own Byun Baekhyun is at the very top of the list." Jonghyuk announces, mocking a sad smile as he adds, "How unfortunate, he's just made it to the top only for me to strike him down as soon as he gets here. But that's okay, he was never fit to be a boss to begin with. Which is why it's up to us to make sure he doesn't live to see the title."

"But boss-" One of his henchmen speaks up hesitantly, shifting nervously when Jonghyuk looks up at him, "What about Park? You think he'll just let his old middleman go down that easily?"

"Of course not." Jonghyuk replies with an annoyed look, "But that doesn't matter because they're supposed to have cut ties by now. They've reached the two day mark."

The mafia worked in strange ways. When middlemen were selected for promotions, they were expected to cut ties with their old boss, gradually but steadily. They were expected to start making more decisions on their own so they could get used to operating on their own. Because soon they'd be their own boss and they'd have their own empire on their hands. They needed to know how to run it without relying on the guidance of someone else. Everything that their boss had taught them came into play then, as they used everything that they had learned in their years of being a middleman to create a foothold for themselves in the family.

The two day mark was the most important part of the process. On the night of the first day was the celebration ceremony, a fancy, expensive dinner where the middleman was congratulated by the very same bosses who had beat them down in their henchman years. It was like being accepted in a way. And their old boss was expected to be there as a sign of acceptance that this was no longer their middleman, but a boss and now, a possible enemy.

The next day was their actual promotion. There was a stint of secrecy that came with promotion day. All that was known was that the middleman went to the main house by themselves and came back later that night as a boss. Usually the family head handled these promotions, but since a successor hadn't been chosen for Jongmin, Jonghyuk had taken it upon himself to be the one to handle this years promotions, a task that Jongdae had gladly handed over to him for some reason.