Chain Of Command Chapter 4

Chain of Command Chapter 4

Having a full time job working for a criminal empire had unexpected cons, and missing meals on the regular was one of them.

It was 9.40pm in Seoul, and Bambi was on the bus home from work with an empty stomach. After her talk with Forrest Lee at Hyeongshin, she had a bunch of tasks that took a couple more hours to complete before she could finally clock out and head home.

She regretted her choice of not eating before she left for home; she wanted to reach her house quickly so she could start on her boatload of school work, and now she was paying for it with absolutely crippling gastric pains. Just because she had a high rank in the Union didn’t mean she had the physical endurance of her subordinates.

The bus she was on hadn’t been doing a very good job of delivering her to her destination quickly either, driving so slowly the entire ride that Bambi was surprised it hadn’t been pulled over as a safety hazard, and suddenly coming to a halt at the red light, just metres from her stop. She let out a heavy sigh, unconcerned with the sharp look that the lady sitting next to her gave her.

It seemed like the universe was determined to kill her from starvation. Forget getting home to do work, she was gonna die in this bus. If she waited any longer, a flock of vultures would probably start circling around her head.

As if it had heard her internal complaints, the light turned green, and the bus started to move again, making its way to her stop. Fucking finally. Maybe God does exist.

The doors of the bus slid open, and fresh air gushed in, tickling Bambi’s face as she stepped off the vehicle and into the outside world. Though the bus wasn’t carrying many people, the streets of Yeongdeungpo were still full, and the bright lights and heavy traffic made it feel like it was still day.

Her apartment was only a quick walk from the bus stop, so it wouldn’t take too long for her to reach home and get dinner from the convenience store underneath, but the short trip didn’t stop her from brisk walking as swiftly as possible in order to arrive as soon as she possibly could. Perhaps running would’ve allowed her to reach faster, but that made her sweaty, and depleted the little energy in her famished body that she had left after her long day of work. Screw this job, seriously.

At least her boss and her coworkers (which was. Just Kingsley) suffered the same fate. And honestly, she thought she had it better than they did. Maybe keeping the delinquents in check was tiring, but it was the lesser of two evils. Kingsley’s job of following Donald around the whole day sounded fucking boring- she’d sat in on some of Donald’s meetings herself and she nearly fell asleep every time. And she couldn’t even imagine being Donald Na himself.

Speaking of Donald and Kingsley, she wondered what the two of them were doing at the moment. They usually wrapped up around nine, but sometimes their business matters leached into their free time, and they wouldn’t get off work until ten or so-

Her phone rang, snapping her out of her own thoughts.

She rolled her eyes as she checked the caller ID. Speak of the devil.

“What?”

“We’re having dinner.” Kingsley Kwan’s monotonic voice was muffled by the sounds of traffic, and she pressed her ear closer to her phone in order to hear what he was saying. “I’ve sent you the location. Do you want to join us?”

No need to guess what ‘we’ meant. Unless Kingsley had very suddenly (and very uncharacteristically) added a new person to his social circle, which Bambi thought was as likely as him growing an extra head, or perhaps changing his hairstyle to something more fashionable, it meant he was having dinner with Donald Na.

Which also meant, they were probably at some nice, expensive restaurant, while she was brisk walking home deluding herself into believing that she wasn’t actually that hungry anyways.

She sighed exaggeratedly as she considered her options, loud enough for Kingsley to hear. By the time she reached the restaurant, they’d probably already be done with their meal. What a shame; Donald always paid too.

“So nice of you to think of me, Kingsley.” She said into the phone, a sneer apparent in her voice. She knew he wouldn’t take it seriously anyways. “But I’m nearly home. Sorry.”

She and Kingsley were sort of friends, where they both understood and cared for one another, except with the care part left out.

Due to the isolating nature of their jobs, Kingsley was the only person she hung around on an everyday basis who also worked directly for Donald. The large amount of time that they both spent around each other led to a mutual understanding between the two; they could empathise with each other’s problems, hold a conversation without it being awkward, and banter with one another without coming off as overly familiar.

But also because of the nature of their jobs, every interaction with one another was always laced with the underlying awareness that at the end of the day, they’d both choose the wellbeing of the Union over the other. Or in Kingsley’s case, he’d choose Donald over her.

Like she’d said, the Union benefited from disloyalty.

She paused for a moment, before adding on. “Thank Donald for me.”

“Hold on.” Kingsley’s side of the call was silent for a moment, though she heard hushed talking in the background, and then shuffling like the phone was being passed over.

“Bambi. How is Hyeongshin doing?” Unlike his second in command, Donald spoke at a slow pace with a lowered voice; a voice that commandeered attention and respect. Even from behind a phone screen, it still put her a little on edge.

“I informed them about the dip in sales. Forrest Lee assured me that he’d take care of it. Other than that, I think they’re handling everything well. Tomorrow they’re heading over to Ganghak to make a pick up for KHG, I told Forrest to inform me once it’s done.”

“Good.”

Donald paused, and Bambi held her breath for whatever might come next. Though it had been ages since she’d last been reprimanded (and she intended to keep it that way) you never really knew with Donald Na. He liked to take his time while speaking to collect his thoughts, unbothered by the nerves of those around him.

“From now on, make sure you keep as close an eye as possible on the executives. Make sure to make use of the observers that I’ve planted around Yeongdeungpo.”

The observers were Union members whose jobs were to bring any suspicious activity to Bambi’s attention so that she could investigate it and take care of the matter. To pluck out any weed before it had the chance to grow.

“After all that’s happened with Eunjang and Myles’s excommunication, we need some time to restabilise. While that’s happening, we can’t let anyone take advantage of the weakened state of the Union, especially with the new businesses that require our attention. Report anything out of the ordinary to me.”

“...Okay.” Bambi heard silence in response, before the robotic beep of Donald hanging up.

Donald was right to be concerned. The boys in the Union were the type to cause trouble regardless of how many times Donald Na had demonstrated his power. In order to keep them in line, he’d have to maintain a tight grip on their leashes at all times.

She sighed as she approached the convenience store under her apartment flat. What sounded better, microwave heated pasta or pizza?

Her mind wandered to the pick up that was due to happen the next day.

It was just a simple exchange- Ganghak was just transporting the money to Hyeongshin so that they could drop it off again somewhere else. The Union executives did it all time, so there had never been a real need for Bambi to keep an eye on them while doing it.

Even now, after Donald’s instructions, she doubted that he needed her to watch over every single transaction done in the Union. However, he did order her to observe them as carefully as possible, and she was in the area tomorrow…

She scrolled through Kakaotalk, clicking the call icon on a certain contact as she pushed the door to the store open.

“Hey Forrest, there’s been a change of plans…”

okay so i'm a lot happier with this chapter than my other ones. for one, i gave myself more time to write this. i know i just posted chapter 3 so it might look like i rushed this chapter in two days, but it was actually supposed to be posted on tumblr two weeks ago. i just forgot about it after posting on ao3.

Chain of Command Chapter 1

Thank you to @leftbrainrotsstuff for helping me come up with a title</3

The air felt heavy as Donald talked.

It always does.

Bambi watched the room from her position behind Donald, free from his cold gaze. Her legs ached. How long had this meeting been going on again? She couldn’t remember.

She stole a glance at her male counterpart standing next to her, resisting the urge to cross her arms over her chest, like she always did when she got impatient. Kingsley’s eyes stared straight ahead, his arms locked firmly by his sides. She scoffed inwardly. What a fucking robot.

“Bambi.” The girl blinked, pulling her focus from Kingsley’s face to her heavily tattooed boss. In front of them, a table of the most feared men in Yeongdeungpo watched wordlessly.

“Yeah?”

“You’ll collect from Ganghak and Daehyeon from now on.”

She guessed that this was probably Donald’s method of accommodating the fact that Jimmy and Forrest were supposed to report to their fellow Union executives from now on (Wow, talk about humiliation!), while expanding her workload. A two in one deal.

Though Donald had only originally approached her to help him and Kingsley with regular secretary work, as their business and payout grew, so did their workload. And eventually, it became too much for two people alone to handle on their own. So being the most capable person for the job (that wasn’t also a thug) she moved from organising files to essentially acting as a manager pretty quickly.

While Donald and Kingsley did all the business work, she kept an eye on the delinquents. She was the reason why everybody knew what needed to be done, to act as Donald’s eyes and ears, with her sway in Yeo-il’s student council and the observers that she had (allegedly) planted around Yeongdeungpo to report anything of interest to her. Whatever happened, she already knew.

Well, it wasn’t like she wasn’t expecting the change in tasks.

Even if Donald hadn’t come to her before the meeting to casually throw a heads up about her new job, she wouldn't have expected Kingsley to have the time to continue collecting files with all the new business that they were getting.

Mentally, she groaned. This was gonna take so much of her time. At least the pay is good.

(Even if she didn’t want to do it, what was she supposed to do? Tell Donald no? Get real.)

"Okay."

Donald nodded at her compliance before focusing back on the Union executives in front of him.

“Bambi will help Wolf keep an eye on Ganghak and make sure everything goes smoothly. Anything that happens will go straight to me.”

Oh, I see what he’s doing. It seemed like Donald Na had other motives rather than just ‘expanding her workload’. She should’ve known.

Bambi knew that Wolf Keum wasn’t foolish enough to miss the hidden threats in Donald’s words, and Donald knew it too.

It was a warning that if Wolf tried anything, Donald would already know. To just sit nicely in his spot as the number five on the Shuttle Patch, and not to stir up any trouble. Well, after the mess that some of the executives had made recently, it would make sense to think so.

Donald was cornering Wolf, and it was working.

Bambi watched Wolf for any sign of a reaction, his face blank as ever, though his fingers twitched in irritation at the subtle threat; a hint of his violent nature peeking out from behind the docile mask that he wore in front of Donald Na.

She sighed softly; not loud enough for the boys to catch on to her exasperation, but just enough for Donald to hear.

Jake Ji let out a small huff of air through his nose in knowing amusement, which seemed to rile Wolf up more, though he didn’t show it, aside from the way the corners of his lips pulled down slightly.

Wolf nodded slowly.

“Yeah, okay.”

“That’s all for today then.” Donald stood up, satisfied. All the other boys followed suit, leaving their untouched drinks on the table, slamming the door behind them. The meeting was finally over.

Tags

weak hero donald na wolf keum donald na x original character wolf keum x original character chain of command why is posting work online always so embarrassing

17 notes View Post

dontkickmyshin

4 weeks ago

No but the Hunger Games really said "what do you hate more- the atrocities or the people who commit them against you? Because like it or not there IS a difference. If you hate the people who commit acts of pure evil more than you hate the acts themselves, what will stop you from becoming just like your enemies in your pursuit of justice? What will keep you from commiting those very same acts against THEM when the opportunity arises? And what then? The cycle of pain and suffering will never stop. Round and round it'll go. Nothing will ever change. But. BUT. If you hate the atrocities. If you hate the vile, senseless acts MORE than you hate the people who did them to you. If you are able to see that evil is evil regardless of who does it... The cycle ends with you. No, you may never get justice. But you will never be responsible for making others, even your enemies, suffer the same crimes you have. The atrocities will never be committed by you, never by your hand. And that's the way you change the world. It's the ONLY way" and that's why I am sure it will never stop being one of the most relevant works of fiction ever created

52K notes View Post

dontkickmyshin

1 year ago

Death Note AU where hbomberguy makes a five hour long video about youtuber Light Yagami that's initially completely unrelated to the murders (Light would probably plagiarize or have really unhinged right-wing political takes if he was on youtube)

but halfway through he reveals that while researching he stumbled upon evidence that Light might be behind the Kira murders, and then spends like fourty minutes explaining the concept of a shinigami, an hour explaining how he thinks Light used one to commit murders, and then another hour explaining Light's ideology and why the concept of criminals being inherently evil is flawed

He finishes the video by addressing Light directly and telling him that he (Hbomberguy) had his name legally changed before uploading the video, to something that only he knows, making it impossible for Light to kill him

143K notes View Post

dontkickmyshin

1 year ago

So does L ever show up at Wammy’s to meet the kids in your AU? I love your art so much 😭🙏

Thank you!! <3 ;^; The short answer is: Yes, he tries to visit once a year and personally met Near, Mello and Matt at least once. The long answer is this:

Hope that clears some things up :'D

506 notes View Post

dontkickmyshin

1 year ago

I keep thinking about her (mysterious fanmade teaser for Netflix's ASoUE)

28 notes View Post

dontkickmyshin

1 year ago

I'm never forgetting the Palestinian babies that were left to starve to death then rot in their beds by the IOF.

I'm never forgetting the Palestinian doctors surrounded by bodies of dead children begging the world to stop the slaughter.

I'm never forgetting the Palestinian children who held a press conference in English to beg the world to stop murdering them because they want to live.

I'm never forgetting the Palestinian Priest who said "We will not accept your apology after the genocide" to the world.

I'm never forgetting the Palestinian Imam who used the speakers of the Mosque, not to call people to prayer but to call out to God while the world around them was burning from American supplied Israeli bombs.

I'm never forgetting the grandfather who held his dead grandchild in his arms. Or the father carrying the remains of his two children in plastic shopping bags. Or the mother holding her dead child in a shroud. Or the father sitting among the rubble after he lost his whole family. Or the girl trapped under a broken building begging for people to save her family first. Or the boy who cried when he saw his brother alive. Or the girl who asked if she was still alive after being pulled from the rubble. Or the boy who carried the remains of his brother in his backpack. Or the old man the IOF used for a photoshoot before they shot him dead after getting pictures. Or the little boy wearing plastic gloves to pick up the remains of his family. Or the graves desecrated. Or the body of that small baby girl left alone in a tent because no one knew who she was or if her family was alive, small and alone and not one person who knew her name to bury her. Or the young boy who was shot in the street while his sister watched from the window. Or the men and boys who were stripped naked in winter. Or those tortured. Or those made to stand in open graves. Or the people who were raped by IOF soldiers. Or Palestinian workers kidnapped by the IOF and then labeled with wristbands, each one reduced to a number, then made to walk back to Gaza to be killed in the world's largest open air concentration camp. Or the people of Gaza starving because Israeli Zionists are blocking aid trucks. Or the Israelis dancing and celebrating the death of Palestinians. Or the lies spread by Zionists and their supporters. Or the people profiting off the oppression and deaths of Palestinians. Or the people of the West Bank being killed or kidnapped by the IOF. Or old woman who was older than the creation of the terror state of "Israel" who was shot by snipers for saying that. Or the Israelis dressed up as Palestinians to enter a hospital and kill three Palestinians in their beds. Or every single Palestinian currently kept in an Israeli prison. Or the journalists, doctors, poets, men, women, children, and the unborn all massacred. Or the fact that WCNSF exists now. Or the woman who refused to wash the blood from her hands. Or the dead, unburied and unmourned.

I'm never forgetting those who chose silence in the face of a genocide.

I may not know all their names but I will not forget the over 30,000 Palestinians dead. Or the over 60, 000 people hurt. Or the unknown number of people missing, still lost under the rubble. Or the 12,000 children slaughtered. An entire generation crippled or murdered.

I will never forget these things when Palestine is free.

36K notes View Post

dontkickmyshin

1 year ago