01. Celebration

"Everyone, everyone!" The large man struggled to stand up from his chair as he was clearly drunk but he seemed fairly determined.

They were a bunch of young men, somewhere about their mid twenties and they were evidently in celebration. A fair number of drinks were already considerably inhaled as seen by the empty bottles of brandy, whiskey and scotch. They belonged to the more privileged group of people as even with their shit faced drunkenness, they were wearing expensive suits and shiny shoes. They looked up at the large man, who was still struggling to find a level of stability with his own feet. He grinned, amused by his lack of stable sense. He raised his scotch, which was filled halfway.

"I would like to make a toast," He looked down at a particular person seated in front of the table and smiled with uncomfortable emotion, "Taeho, my man."

The rest of the gentlemen cheered with disjointed harmony, clashing against each other.

"I have known you since you were a small, gangly kid. All arms and legs, it was as though a stick came alive and started walking around. But yet still, I knew you had it in you. Look at you now, you have come so far. We all have and it was not impossible after all. I am glad to be the person who has watched you transition from that kid to the beautiful man you are today. Congratulations on your engagement, you are finally getting hitched soon! That's my boy! Everyone, cheers to Taeho's future and the end of his bachelor membership! Cheers!"

The group collectively followed his cheer and downed the drink down, then slamming their glasses on the table as the scotch burned down their throat.

"Giseok, thank you." Taeho grinned at his best friend of ages. He was an exceptionally attractive man, with a straight nose and generous lips. Though it was also clear on his face, the struggle. He was slightly tan and had broad shoulders. The black formal shirt molded onto his muscular form as though it was tailored and honestly? It probably was after all. He was no man who would get bulk produce shirts. His tie hung low and loose on his neck as though he had just come in from a business meeting and his sleeves were tucked up, exposing his delectable forearms.

The bar was dark and it wasn't wild in the least sense. It was a high end bar with limited customers and members with personalized servers to each table. The ceiling was high and had a sleek modern architecture and hidden lights shone blue lights down on each booth of the bar. The people were barely visible in the dark blue light and thus allowed a certain amount of privacy. It was certainly an establishment for the rich folks.

"Did he say beautiful?"

The group burst out laughing, some almost passing out face flat on the table.

Taeho had to admit, he barely knew any of the other men except for Giseok and Jang Giseok had been practically glued to his side since middle school. He had a fairly rough past but he was all behind it. The only person who knew about it was Giseok and all other personal details in his life, Giseok probably knew as well. But in the business world, you can simply constrict yourself to one man. Thus this various assortment of chaebol kids were brought to his celebration party. It was all a carefully planned maneuver to bring them into the closer circle, then take it forward with business partnerships. If he was being honest, he didn't think his engagement was even worth celebrating. It was yet another business transaction.

"Psst…" The man next to him drunkenly whispered to him and Taeho leaned in.

"Great party, dude." The spoiled heir whispered into Taeho and Taeho shrugged with a charismatic smile pasted on his face robotically. The man leaned in closer and along with him, an onslaught of his drunken reek but Taeho resisted his urge to immediately back away from this man.

"Thanks for the invitation. Listen, you're a great man, you know that?"

"I pale in comparison next to you right now,"

The man barked out a burst of sharp laughter, throwing his head back as he swung his arms around Taeho's neck and pulled him closer. What was his name again? Pyulwoo? Pyeongwoo?

"That's whaat i meaaaan…listen, man, listen. Take this card."

Taeho frowned, or rather pretended to frown as he grabbed the card between two of his fingers. It read SaWol Industries in a decorative font at the corner. Taeho bit back a grin.

Bingo.

"That's my card. Whenever you're in need, SaWol will be ready for you."

Taeho looked up and met eyes with Giseok, a secret message went off between them and Giseok nodded imperceptibly. He looked away and Giseok brought his hands together with a loud slap. He was a considerably large bulky with small, intimidating features. A piercing pair of small eyes and a thin nose with a nondescript nose in between. He was so large that he could easily be mistaken for a wrestler and while he did wrestle years ago, he was now working in a security firm. He often came around as Taeho's bodyguard when he wasn't on any other assignment. He looked like the kind of person you wouldn't want to mess with.

"Oh!" He exclaimed, raising his wrist to look at his watch, "Look at the time! Look, it's already 3am. Heavens, we are going to be fucked tomorrow morning." he laughed humourously, looking around as he nodded to the group. Suddenly, the drunkenness seemed to disappear and the men straightened up.

"Shit, I have a meeting at 9." One of the men began, fumbling around his pockets to find his phone.

"I have an inspection due tomorrow." Another groaned, reaching for the last bottle of scotch.

God, it reeked in here. You'd think that expensive alcohol smelled like roses or some shit. Taeho craved for some cheap conbini beer right now but he thought to himself, what was the point of all this if he was going to resort to conbini beer. He sure didn't climb on top of the business ladder to resort to stupid cheap food cravings. He leaned back and watched the men gather themselves, albeit too slowly. They were hobbling around, some had their tie around their waist which was apparently a failed attempt to take it off. One eleven had his coat half on, and the other end hanging off one side of his shoulders. Taeho sighed deeply and pressed the bridge of his nose, a ringing headache beginning to make an appearance. It did get a bit tiring, how he had to go through all of this just to secure a business deal.

Beep Beep!

His phone vibrated in his pants and he lazily slipped it out. The screen was already lighting up with an incoming message. Silently, he went through the message, frowning as he read it.

"Yo, you good?" Giseok leaned in, tapping his knuckles on the table.

Taeho groaned and mumbled as he rubbed his eyes, "No,"