ONYX BLACK ORDER EDEN
Th-this place...!
Hong Ji-hyeon's eyes flew wide enough to fall out of his head. His heart slammed wildly against his ribs, and goosebumps raced over every inch of his skin.
This is really—! A BBC club!!
He had never believed a place like this actually existed. Even if one did, it would be somewhere overseas—never here. Korea, he had been sure, simply wouldn't have one.
It was the same kind of disbelief he'd felt the first time he met Marcus. He could accept that somebody, somewhere, might end up in the arms of a superior Black man like that. He had just never thought that somebody would be him.
Tonight, every one of those assumptions shattered.
"This is why we've been workin' our asses off, man! Finally! Finally openin' up—fuckin' South Korea, baby!"
Riding the high all by himself, Derrick clapped hard and laughed even harder. Marcus, who had already seen the interior, only watched him in silence. Ji-hyeon had no attention to spare for any of it.
The name alone told him what kind of place this was. Banks of round sofas. A straight runway where a dance floor should have been, and a pole waiting at the far end. The room announced, without a word, exactly what this secret club was for.
This isn't a dream? This is real? And I'm here... right now... I'm actually...
Caught in a moment that felt too much like a dream, Ji-hyeon froze where he stood.
Derrick kept at it alone, throwing big gestures for an audience that wasn't clapping back. When neither Marcus nor Ji-hyeon gave him anything, the wind went out of him and he was left standing there, awkward.
"Uh... well... yeah~ This is our... our place... You okay, Ji-hyeon?"
"Ah—yes! Yes! I-I'm fine... It's just... um... is this place, by any chance..."
Ji-hyeon pressed a hand to his pounding chest and asked it carefully, already bracing for the chance that he had misunderstood everything.
"Ah~ this right here is a members-only club. I mean, the other spot was too, but this is for the real members. You know, bros like me, Marcus... and girls like ya. I mean... ya ain't a girl, but you're Marcus's girl, right? Am I missing somethin'?"
Derrick was just as careful, suddenly worried he might have put his foot in it. He needed an answer—but the words Marcus's girl hit Ji-hyeon so hard that shame dropped his head before he could give one.
Marcus spoke up for both of them.
"It's all right, Ji-hyeon. This is... this is the place from the stuff you like. I mean, your fantasies. You can come here whenever you want and just have fun. I promise you that."
Th-then this place really is...!
"This really is a B... BBC club?"
"Ha ha ha ha—hah!!"
The question, blunt as it was, finally put Derrick entirely at ease, and he laughed out loud.
"Yeah~ you got the point! This is the first! The mo' fuckin' first BBC club in Korea!!"
"It... it really is...!"
Ji-hyeon looked up at Marcus with eyes gone bright as stars. Marcus stroked his hair and smiled.
"Well~ I'll tell ya 'bout the rules and all that later. Don't worry, though. Marcus is family, so he's got the top-tier status, and I'm puttin' you down as top status for the 'girls' too. Now, let's introduce you around! Jade!"
Derrick called for someone and cracked his palm down on the bar.
Smack!
From behind the bar, a dark-skinned woman's arm rose in a lazy wave. Flashy manicure caught the light and glittered.
"Yeah... yeah... I'm here..."
"Yo! Don't be sleepin' on the job! Ya know you're on a monthly salary, right?"
"Yeah, yeah... I'm gettin' paid either way..."
"Man... get yo ass up and say hello at least!"
"Uuugh... Fuck..."
Dragged upright by Derrick's nagging, someone hauled herself up from behind the bar. She yawned long and loose, then leaned her weight on the counter and looked them over.
A long, slender body in a black outfit cut to show it off; gold accessories and dyed hair flashing against the dark. Heavy smoky makeup made the face read Western one moment and, strangely, Eastern the next. She looked young—and yet the poised, unhurried air pouring off her was pure successful unnie, an older sister who already had the room handled.
"Hi, Marcus."
"Hey."
She greeted him like an old habit, then caught the eye of the boy stuck to Marcus's side and grinned.
"And~ hi, cutie~"
"H-hello!"
Ji-hyeon, already wound tight, went tighter still under a beautiful woman's greeting and bowed into the hello.
"So who's this girl? Marcus's girlfriend? Man, I thought Marcus was gay or somethin', haha~"
"Ji-hyeon is a man."
"Have some manner, woman! And wait—ain't you even listenin' to us?"
"Oops, my bad. Sorry, cutie, forgive me—I'm basically gay myself, so~"
She was playful in a completely different way from Derrick.
Nickname, Jade Dupont. Real name, Jade Takahashi. Mixed-race and dual-national, born to a French-American mother and a Japanese father. Twenty-six by Korean reckoning, she had been a bartender working in Japan until her ties to Derrick—and to the eldest of the three brothers—made her a founding member of OBOE, Onyx Black Order Eden. With Derrick she was a business partner they bickered like cats, and a close friend besides.
"Look, Jade, I wanna put Ji-hyeon under ya. As a 'female staff.'"
Jade, who had been looking Ji-hyeon over, lifted a brow and nodded.
"Well, why not. You know anything 'bout cocktails?"
For Ji-hyeon's sake she wrung out what Korean she had.
"Cocktails. Mix drinks. Can you?"
"Ah, n-no... I don't know anything about that."
"Then basic dish prep and servin' works just fine~"
"Can ya doll Ji-hyeon up a bit? Just wearin' the uniform feels kinda empty, ya know what I'm sayin'?"
"As you wish... Come here, cutie~"
Jade took Derrick's meaning, smiled at Ji-hyeon, and crooked a finger. Ji-hyeon looked up at Marcus the way someone looks when they need permission.
"Go on."
"Ah... okay..."
He trotted after Jade into the staff room.
Once the two of them were alone, Derrick drifted over to Marcus and started in carefully.
"So... I get why ya specifically wanted him now."
"What do you mean?"
At the question, Derrick's body went loose and his words stalled.
"Well... you know~ He... looks like..."
"It's not because of that."
Marcus cut him off before the sentence could finish. Derrick took the reaction for what it was and changed the subject at once.
"Aight, aight. Anyhow, is it really fine to put him to work? I mean, he's a guy, but some of the bros are definitely gonna try sumthin'."
Marcus was quiet for a moment, thinking.
"...If Ji-hyeon wants to, I don't mind. But please, make sure you have a backup plan in case she doesn't like it."
"That's what the top-tier status is for, man! Just trust yo big bro!"
Seeing his little brother's face go a shade darker while he weighed the answer, Derrick put extra force behind the words on purpose.
A little time passed. At last the staff-room door opened.
"My bad for bein' late~ Whew, it was so satisfying deckin' him out. Like, there's no way that's a dude's face or body. Fuckin' hell, Marcus, I swear I almost took a bite out of him~"
Behind the chattering Jade, Hong Ji-hyeon appeared—dressed, with evident care and devotion, by her own hands.
"Th-this... th-this is really the uniform?!"
He stared down at himself in outright horror at the outrageous thing he had been put in.