iris . vkook

twenty three

이십 삼

Jeongguk's PoV;

"Honestly, Woo, I don't even get why you're mad." I said, inspecting the various weapons and bags of drugs laid on the desk.

I rested my left foot on my right knee, leaning back in the sturdy chair with arms folded behind my head comfortably.

Boss' left eye twitched in mild irkness, sighing as he looked at me over the mahogany table, the wood polished and shiny.

"First of all, Jeon, we're not on nickname basis, definitely not in this current moment." He said, his face stoic, "second of all, and most importan- Jeon!"

I froze, sliding my phone back into my pocket with an awkward cough, "apologies. Jungwoo was asking me about when I go back."

"You won't get to leave this room, never mind the fucking city if you don't listen to me." He rubbed his temples with calloused thumbs in regular circles, looking up at me with narrowed eyes.

I shook my head with my bottom lip jutted out slightly, showing that I had no genuine idea of the reason behind his annoyance with me.

At first, I thought it might be selling the weed to the teenager, but then I realised that if that was the case, why isn't Jungwoo in trouble?

I sold all of the other drugs properly.

Shrugging, I sank further down the chair as he stared at me with similar annoyed eyes to that of my principle.

"Yeah, I haven't got a fucking clue, Park." I shook my head, unaware of the nickname that had slipped out again until I said it, his eyes squeezing tightly shut before opening with wide irritation.

"You beat the living shit out of a customer, and you didn't think of that while I was angry at you?" He said, like I should know.

I stared at him in mild confusion, chewing on the lip ring that had come back to sit snugly in my labret, tucking the silver behind my teeth as I tried my best to think.

"The junkie who bought about a kilo of coke? That ringing any bells?" He said in a patronising tone.

"Oh!" I shouted, slamming my hand on the desk before pointing it at him, "yeah! I know who we're talking about!"

"Yes. You beat him up."

"Well, yeah. He slapped Jungwoo's ass."

"You broke his nose." He said, unimpressed.

"He broke two of my knuckles." I replied, looking down at my bandaged hand, vibrant purples and blues painting my sore and cut knuckles.

"You broke two of your knuckles." He pointed down at my hand.

I shrugged, going back to tucking my hands under my armpits, grumbling about the room being fucking freezing and mumbling a low, "can you turn the heating on? It's fucking January and we don't exactly live in Australia."

He dismissed my request and continued on, "you're a dealer, Jeon, not a fucking assassin. You requested that you be dismissed from that title after the... incident, shall we say, with Jisom. You can't be pulling stunts like that, especially around Jungwoo. He's just a dealer, he just passes plastic bags over to begging hands. He doesn't hand over dead bodies or disfigured bodily parts over to his boss."

I shuddered at the mention of his name, resisting the urge to roll my eyes as I hugged my arms tighter against myself, leg bouncing anxiously as if the man himself would walk in and pull me away.

"Yes, I get that. I just got a bit, uh, carried away?" I offered a guilty smile to the unimpressed man before me who was way old before his time.

"Really? No shit. I did not notice that." He said, his words coated thickly in sarcasm, a pissed off pout on his lips.

Not that I could blame him for being annoyed.

I did make him lose one of his best customers.

Whoops.

I rolled my eyes, allowing my head to loll back as I ran a hand through my freshly dyed purple hair, the mulberry locks slipping through my fingers whilst Boss went onto another rant about something I couldn't care less about.

I sat with my head resting on the back of the chair, chin facing the ceiling, eyes staring at the pretty lampshade that hugged the bright white bulb.

I played with the piercing that sat in the middle of my lip, twiddling the ring between my front teeth as I became re-accustomed to the old feeling of the jewellery.

"Is that all pops? Can I be off on my way now? I have a shift in like half an hour." I said.

A low growl emitted from the back of his throat, "yes. But if you attack another high-paying customer with no good reason, you'll be training newbies for a week."

Not a bad punishment.

Other goons and dealers got worse.

One apparently had to sit in a dark room for twelve hours, tied to the chair with no light, food or water. All for selling coke to an undercover police officer, and he only got off of the hook because he convinced them that he had no idea what it was, he just wanted some money.

The story is probably bullshit, but Boss would totally do shit like that.

I looked at Boss, the maroon turtleneck clothing his top-half and a gingham blazer shrugged over the top of it, the cherry hair matching his anger that practically seethed from the young man.

Smirking cheekily, I pushed back my chair - making sure it scraped extra loud - and pulled on my leather jacket, the fabric decorated with pins and the occasional badge, tugging on my beanie as I grabbed my phone.

"So, Boss, how about drinks?"

"Jeon, get out of my office before I shoot that smile off of your face." He said threateningly, though a small smile threatened to spill through his tightly pressed lips, shaking his head.

"Later, Boss."

"Leave, Jeon." He said, the smile finally breaking through and highlighting his tough features.