Trouble in the Passageway

Snape slowly got back up and ran at Jin with his sword, again. Jin bent backwards and Snape kicked his stomach. Jin fell on his back and flipped back up. Immediately, Snape threw another kick at his face. Jin fell on the ground, weakly. Snape swung his sword at the air, advancing towards Jin, and raised the sword, pushing it down. Jin rolled to the left, dodging the sword. He raised his left leg and kicked Snape by the side. Immediately Snape turned to face him, Jin threw a punch at his face. Snape threw his elbow at him and he caught it. He swung his knife at Snape’s neck, swiftly, slitting his throat. Jin staggered back, as Snape fell on the ground, bleeding from his slit throat.

He breathed, heavily. He had won the fight, already. Jin could hear the cheers around him. He wasn’t ready for a fight when the spin had fallen on him but it was over. He stood straight and looked up at the bleachers. The Gamblers stood up from their seats, shouting his name and clapping for him. On another side of the bleachers, the Gamblers weren’t very happy to see him win. Definitely, they had staked their bets against him. “I won!”, he shouted and raised his sword. The cheers got louder.

He turned and glanced at the fighters’ stand. Kang just smiled back at him. He turned towards the gate and walked towards it, as it opened and soldiers walked out. The loud cheers faded slowly, as the soldiers led him out of the Arena.

“Nice work, Jin. You won”, a lady said, as Jin walked out of the Arena. It was the same girl he had met with, that morning. There was another man beside her. He was hefty, bald and wearing a dangerous look.

“Thank you”, Jin replied.

“There will be a battle with a competing arena”, the bald man said to him. “Now, we won’t be fighting against one another anymore. We will be fighting alongside each other. It’s not happening soon but it will happen… and you are at the top of our list. Congratulations”

Jin wondered what joy was there in that. He hesitated to say anything for a few seconds. “Thank you?”, he muttered, wondering whether he should actually say that. He definitely didn’t mean it.

“Okay, Dea”, the man said to the lady. “I’m going up to the guests. If you have anything you want to say to him, you can go ahead. I’ll just go”

He turned, walking away. She waited for him to leave sight, then she stepped closer to Jin, keeping a straight face. “As he said, someday, you will be leading an army of our men to war. That’s the greatest honor we’ll ever give a soldier”, Dea said and stood in front of him, holding out her hand.

He glanced at her hand and shook it. She clasped her second hand on his wrist and stylishly winked an eye. He nodded slowly, to show he understood her gesture. She let go of his wrist and they stopped shaking hands. She had put a small bracelet on his wrist. He put his second hand on it so the soldiers wouldn’t see it and suspect anything.

★

“Kang!”, a thick voice called, startling the three of them. They turned, quickly. It was Jae, advancing slowly towards them.

“I think you guys should go”, Kang whispered to them. “We will talk later”

“Are you sure I think we stand a better chance if it’s three against one”, Finn replied him. Immediately, three men showed up behind Jae.

“No. I can handle him. Get going”

“Come on, Romeo”, Finn said and pulled his roommate along.

Jae stepped closer. “Looks like your daddy is held up in there”, Jae said, threateningly. “How about we go inside the room and have a little chitchat? What do you think?’

He held Kang by the neck and pushed him into the room. “Please, let me go”, Kang said, weakly.

“I can let you go if you show me your Shin Zhu”, Jae said. “I want to see what you got”

“Just leave me alone and I promise-“

Jae grabbed his neck, suddenly, and pressed him against the wall. “I won’t ask again. When I get impatient, I just smash your head into the wall. Deal?”

Kang struggled and threw a quick punch at his face. Jae clenched tighter on Kang’s neck and smashed his head against the wall. He rubbed his cheek and punched Kang in the face.

Kang fell on the bed and Jae pulled him back up, kicking him on the ground. “What did you try to do, uh? You trying to show strength?”

“Fuck you!”, Kang said, weakly.

Jae kicked him again and bent closer. “Do you mind saying that again?”

“He said Fuck you! Your session is over”, Jin’s voice interrupted.

Jae looked up and saw Jin at the door. “Looks like daddy is home”, Jae said, glaring at Kang. “We will continue our peaceful discussion, sometimes later”

“No, you won’t”, Jin said, confidently. “You won’t step in this room, ever again. If you do, I swear I will kill you before you get to that Arena”

Jae chuckled, walking out slowly with his minions. “I should really test you, some other time”, he said. “I’ll just go ahead and work on more important things”

Jin carried Kang up on the bed, as Jae walked back to his room. “I’m sorry I was late”, Jin said.

“Thank you for showing up. I would have died”, Kang muttered. “My leg’s aching badly”

“I’ll give you a massage on it. Just lay back and sleep”

Kang sighed and smiled. “Thank you”, he said. “You were amazing, out there”

“Yea, I know”

★

“Gibbs?”, one of the fighters called. “Come on, let’s go. The bullies are here”

“Please, just hold on”, Gibbs replied, walking slowly. The both of them were roommates.

. “Who are the bullies? Eh?”, a huge man walked in and pushed him from behind.

“I’m sorry. I’ll leave the room for you”, he replied and glanced at Gibbs, before walking away.

“Please, wait”, Gibbs called, as he watched his roommate walk away. He couldn’t move faster than he was moving. He felt like he had a kind of weighty clog in his pants, preventing him from moving fast enough.

“Oh… isn’t it the guy that got his butt fucked up?”, the bully said, walking up to Gibbs with his minions. “How are you, uh? What’s that your name again?”

“Just leave me alone. I’ll leave the room for you”, Gibbs replied and kept walking.

“What if I don’t want the gym again? What if I want to you now?”

“Stay away from me or you will regret it, Dan”

“I’ll regret it? Oh, I forgot. You used to be pretty strong before you got a gangbang in your asshole. Is that right?”

Gibbs said nothing more. He just kept limping away. Dan walked behind him, clenched his fist and shoved it up Gibb’s ass. Gibbs dropped his elbow on Dan’s jaws, immediately, and pushed him to the ground. Dan’s minions grabbed Gibbs and held him against the wall. Dan got up, swiftly, and stormed at Gibbs with uncurtailed rage. He punched his face repeatedly and slammed his head on the wall. “Who do you think you’re dealing with?!”, Dan shouted, maniacally.

Gibbs struggled with the arms that held him on the wall. He clenched his fist and pushed them away, throwing them away. His arms had turned into stainless steel. He punched Dan’s face and tried to kick him but he couldn’t raise his leg high enough, due to the pain in his ass. He tried to push Dan on the ground but Dan grabbed him and held him tightly.

Kang and Jin walked into the gym, just in time. Some sort of tangled wires emitted from Dan’s body, tying Gibbs’ body up quickly. Dan pushed him back and slammed him against the wall. The wires held Gibbs’ body up and Dan held the other end of the wire. “Won’t you help him?”, Kang asked. “That’s the poor guy who got sodomized”

Jin stepped closer. “That’s enough, Dan. Let him go”

Dan giggled, crazily. “Oh! You have no idea what is enough. Watch this”, Dan said and made the wires wrap around Gibbs’ neck and shoulders. He tugged the wires at himself, swiftly pulling a dagger out of his pocket. Gibbs’ body was moved closer to him by the wires and Dan slashed his neck with his dagger. The wires unwrapped itself from Gibbs’ body and dropped his carcass on the ground, slowly withdrawing back into Dan’s body. Dan exhaled. “Now, that’s enough… You can get out of the gym now. My boys and I want to use the room”

Jin looked back at Kang and gestured to him to come forward. He walked further into the gym, heading straight to the dumbbells. “So, uhm, what were you saying, Dan? What room?”

“Are you sure about this, Jin?”, Kang asked, limping after Jin. He was yet to heal completely after his encounter with Jae. “These guys look dangerous”

“I can look dangerous too, if you want”, Jin replied, with a smile.

“Are you deaf? My boys and I want to use the room so get out of here now”, Dan said again.

Jin grabbed a dumbbell and walked over to the bench where Kang sat. “Your boys; you mean the ones who will probably kill you on the ring in a few days?”, Jin said. “You probably have forgotten how things work around here. You either work out with me, here, or I send you and your boys out of here”

“Damn! I want to be like you”, Kang whispered.

“There’s still a lot of things you need to know”, Jin replied. “One of it is; never pray to be picked by the scout girl… it won’t only weaken you. This is bound to happen”

★

From where they sat, Kang could see Dan’s eyes on him. Dan wasn’t staring for too long but the frequent glances didn’t make Kang comfortable. “Stop staring, will you?”, Jin warned him. “Has your leg healed?”

“No. It still hurts pretty bad”, Kang replied and moved his eyes from Dan. His eyes immediately fell on Jae, who was seriously glaring. He was pretty sure Jae had been glaring at him for more than a short while and he could read every evil intention in that angry scary face.

“You should have healed since that night”, Jin said. “We are meant to heal fast because our Shin Zhu gives us the strength and quick regeneration… You really should start training so you get stronger. You never can tell when you will be forced to fight”

“I hope it doesn’t happen before I heal… or before I learn my Shin Zhu”

A soldier walked through the passage. “Fuck! Does this happen everyday?”, Kang asked, as the girl walked in, followed by another soldier.

“It’s just frequent, lately”, Jin whispered back and the two of them kept their eyes on the plates before them. “Feels like the universe is really trying to scare you”

“Knowing there’s no way to escape this is you are picked makes me want to get out of here as soon as possible”, Kang said, without looking up. He had no temptation to look up at the girl at all. He definitely wasn’t willing to get sodomized or get weakened and bullied afterwards.

“Stand up, everyone”, the girl ordered. They all stood up. Kang kept his eyes down, feeling a lot more nervous. He was almost sure she was glaring at him, as if expecting him to just glance at her so she could pick him again. He fought the urge to confirm that. He closed his eyes and kept his face down. “You won’t look at me, today, uh?”

Kang opened his eyes. Just like he had thought, she was right in front of him. He raised his head and made sure he didn’t stare in her eyes. Her face was as expressionless as his was.

“Okay. You are coming with me, today”, she said and turned. Jin closed his eyes. He had imagined that happening. It definitely couldn’t turn out well for Kang.

“No, I’m not”, Kang said, still looking forward. He was nervous but he didn’t show it.

“What are you doing?”, Jin whispered.

“What did you say?”, the girl turned and asked him. “Come again”

“Apart from my weirdly small size, I’m sure your bosses don’t want someone who is already limping”, Kang said.

She stared at him for a few seconds and slapped his face. “Next time, you may let my bosses speak for themselves”. She turned and pointed to another fighter. “You. Come with me”

“Me?”, Romeo muttered, shivering fearfully already.

“The one behind you”, she said. “Come with me”

Romeo calmed down, as another fighter stepped out nervously and stood with the soldiers. The girl turned and stared at Kang again. “You don’t think you will go scot-free, do you?”, she said and smiled. “You have a fight tomorrow and you will fight with whoever I pick”

Kang swallowed, as she turned and walked out through the passage with the soldiers and the fighter they had picked. ‘I’m dead’, he thought.