Infinite Space
Disclaimer: Not mine, not true.
Writer's Note: Occurs some months after chapter five.
Prompt: 079: Chains - WooHyun, L
Chapter List: Infinite Space
Chapter 6: In which DongWoo gets more than he thought, and SungKyu decides not to pay any attention.
DongWoo followed his father through the crowd, not at all sure why he'd insisted DongWoo come this time; he'd never insisted before, to SungKyu's obvious relief. SungKyu was not happy. DongWoo could tell by the way he stayed close behind DongWoo, and he could practically feel his friend and bodyguard's scowl hitting the back of his head.
It was worse than he'd heard. Cages lined the front of the hall, men, women, and children crammed into them, too many for the space provided. Most of them looked so hopeless that he wanted go and set them all free. He knew it would be pointless; too many of them would just end up right back in there.
DongWoo sped up, catching up to his father. "Why do you come to these?" he asked softly, glancing at the pitiful boy now on display, not much younger than he - he actually looked younger than SungJong, but then SungJong looked years younger than his 12 years - that the auctioneer announced was up for sale. Educated, he said, and DongWoo wondered how he got educated and still wound up here.
He stepped back when his father raised his hand to bid, stopping at SungKyu's hand on his back. "What is he doing?" he asked, and DongWoo could only shake his head.
"I don't have any idea," he murmured back, his head hurting from the smoke hovering over the crowd. "I don't understand."
There was the rub; he was probably supposed to, and he could just stare in utter disbelief when his father won the bidding war (not much of one), spending money on something they didn't need and didn't believe in.
"Stay here," his father said, and went up to exchange his credits for the boy he'd just bought.
DongWoo stared after him, and then turned to SungKyu, almost panicked. "Has he lost his mind?" he whispered.
SungKyu turned him back around as his father approached, the boy following. He looked even worse up close. "Take care of him," his father said, and handed him the chain linked to the manacles on the boy's wrist.
Stunned, DongWoo accepted the chains. "Huh?" It wasn't a request, either; that phrasing meant 'he's your responsibility now' and DongWoo just... stared.
SungKyu leaned closer. "What are you doing?" he demanded, his voice low. "Accepting a slave? What are you going to do with him?"
The boy himself had an answer, though. "Wait, what?" he demanded, sounding outraged. "I don't have any say in this?"
DongWoo stared at SungKyu. "You expect me to say no to my father?" he hissed. "Really?" He glanced at the boy, biting his lip. "I'll tell you what," he said, keeping his voice low - it really wasn't anyone else's business what he said - "come with me and we'll discuss this." He had no idea what he was going to say, but at least he had some time to figure it out, right?
He started back toward the dock, trying not to tug the chains that had warmed up to his skin temperature far too quickly for his liking. "I wish he'd warned me," he muttered to SungKyu, glancing back to make sure the boy was doing okay. "Didn't I just say something like this to SungJong?" Well, it had been some months ago, but still.
"Yes," SungKyu said flatly. "You have got to learn to make your own experiences, even if those go a different direction than your father wants. And this is something you should have stood up to him in. Or at least demanded an explanation."
He glanced at the boy as well, lips pursed as if he tasted something particularly sour. "You could do what your father does, and turn him loose," he said. "He looks like a smart kid. Let him go, give him options, see what he does...."
The boy glared at them both, furious, and DongWoo wondered if he were always like that, or if he had some objection to DongWoo. Or even to being slave to travelers. Uncomfortable with the idea, DongWoo looked back at SungKyu. "Do you have any idea what my father did the last time I demanded an explanation to something he did? If you don't, you're the only one in the whole caravan." He didn't like the idea of SungKyu going against him in this, either; they'd been friends, of the same mind, since his father had stuck them together (well, not exactly, but enough that this stung).
DongWoo bit his lip again, tasting a sharp copper taste. The brightly colored shuttle came into view, and he sighed in relief. Almost home, and he could figure things out, sit and think, and maybe talk to one of his sisters. Or both.
A commotion stopped them before they got much farther, a yell of "hey, get back here!"
DongWoo turned to see his father behind them (whew), and beyond him, a young boy running away from what looked like two bruisers. "You can't escape! We'll get you, no matter where you hide!"
The words didn't stop the boy, and DongWoo knew when he spotted them, because he doubled his pace and then threw himself at DongWoo's father's feet. "Sanctuary," he gasped, shoulders heaving with his breath. "Please. I can't go back there. Give me sanctuary."
The men stopped still some distance away, looking angry. They didn't move any closer, both due to the guards that fanned out around DongWoo's father, and the crowd behind them, beginning to sound unhappy.
"DongWoo, would you help this young man into the shuttle?" his father said mildly, without taking his eyes off the men.
DongWoo didn't look away, either, suddenly sure he knew one of them. A guard for the Kim family, one of the more... infamous chaebols around. He didn't hesitate a moment at his father's words, though. "SungKyu, either take this young man or help that one up and into the shuttle. Please," he added at SungKyu's glare.
Couldn't he see that DongWoo had his hands full?
This could be bad. the Kim family were not known for their forbearance, and did not know when to quit. The Jang clan had run afoul of them before, so maybe the Kim family had the same thoughts about the clan. He hoped so.
"Thank you, sir," the boy said, bowing his head. "I'll do my best to make sure you don't regret it."
"Come with me," SungKyu said, totally business again. "I'll show you where to go. DongWoo, go."
DongWoo nodded and led his (ugh, the very idea repulsed him) slave into the shuttle. He helped him get strapped in, fighting a bit to make it so that the chains didn't hurt him anymore.
"What a brat," the boy said, his eyes dark and full of anger and hate when he looked at the new-comer with SungKyu. "He should have been handed over, not rescued."
"Maybe you should know what happened before judging," DongWoo said mildly, sitting next to him and buckling himself in. "I doubt you deserve to be in those chains any more than he deserves what he was running from."
The boy looked away, his eyes dropping almost submissively. But not quite, and DongWoo was actually glad. Submissive usually meant broken spirits.
He looked up as his father boarded, the guards finding seats around the edge, trying to stay clear so that they could speak privately, if necessary. "You have the key for these. Can I have it?"
His father nodded and handed it over - but just the key, he noticed, not the rest of the information. He tucked into the pocket on the leg away from the boy, and sighed. "I'd like to know what happened to you," he said. "starting with your name."
"Nam WooHyun," the boy said, hopelessness lacing his voice.
DongWoo looked up at SungKyu's attempt at a conversation with their other extra - good thing this was a large shuttle - and sighed. He'd leave them alone for now. WooHyun was his responsibility.
"It's nice to meet you, WooHyun," DongWoo said, a bit belatedly. "My name is Jang DongWoo. That's Kim SungKyu, and... I don't know the other guy we picked up. Welcome to the clan."
He closed his eyes as the shuttle took off, grateful for the respite. How was he going to do this? SungJong would go through the roof if he found out, but with luck... he wouldn't. Until everything had been set right. What that meant was anyone's guess.
Finally, he opened his eyes and looked at WooHyun, "If you don't mind my asking, how did you end up... in that situation?"
"The auctioneer would have given that man - your father? - the information. It explains everything." The bitterness in his words didn't surprise DongWoo.
"But he didn't give it to me," DongWoo said. For a reason, but he didn't say that. "And the information will give me merely a list of your original seller and every seller after that."
The sight of the chains drove him nuts. He grabbed out the key and unlocked the manacle closest to him. "I want to know from you," he said, carefully removing it. The boy winced as it came off with a fair amount of skin. DongWoo winced with him. "Sorry. Unless the story is too painful for you. I don't know first aide that well, but I'll get someone in to look at you." He touched WooHyun's wrist just above the bruise and raw skin, noting as well just how bony the boy was. He had no more flesh on him that SungJong and SungYeol had had.
WooHyun stared at him while the shuttle slowed, then looked down at his wrist, beginning to ooze blood. "Why did you do that?" he demanded, his voice sounding stuck in his throat. "You don't know me!"
He swallowed and got control of himself, but DongWoo didn't think he imagined the panic in his eyes - and the hope. "It's not painful," WooHyun said, but he still sounded less composed than he had a moment ago. "There's just not much to tell. My father went through the family's money with drinking and gambling, and when I was eight, I was the only commodity they had left. I ran away, of course, and then got beat and sold on to worse and worse masters...."
"I unlocked you because we don't like seeing anything in chains," DongWoo said, saddened by the story. He'd expected something like it, but it didn't make him feel any less sorry for the child WooHyun had been. "I have a friend who had to buy his own ship because he couldn't see any animal in a cage. He practically has a menagerie." He caught WooHyun's eyes. "My father wouldn't have given me the key if he didn't mean for me to take them off."
He mulled over WooHyun's words. "I bet beating wasn't the only thing," he said darkly as the shuttle began docking with the main ship. "Some people will do anything to break what they think is theirs."
WooHyun stared at him, taken completely off guard, and DongWoo wondered what he thought about.
"The thing is," he added, "I'm not sure what to do with you, aside from getting your bruises and everything treated, and getting you less... bony."
"You could use an aide," his father said neutrally, and DongWoo looked up at him, surprised. He'd actually forgotten he was there.
WooHyun looked up as well, the movement catching DongWoo's attention. "Me?" he said. "I'm a slave. Why would you want.... I mean," he added, looking as turned around as DongWoo felt. Good. It was nice to know his father did it to others, too. The pink that suffused WooHyun's face added color that DongWoo didn't even realize was missing. He needed so much help. "I never finished my education," WooHyun finally stammered. "They sold me when I was eight."
DongWoo knew the answer to that. "On-the-job training," he said. "It's what I'm getting. As for education, I know of at least two kids, about your age, I think, who need some, too. I don't even know if they can read and write, and neither of them are in any condition yet to tell me." SungJong was still very touchy. And... it actually hadn't even occurred to him to ask.
"I'm grateful, don't think I'm not," WooHyun said, sounding almost desperate. "But I'm hardly the right person for the job when I don't know what I should and barely remember what I used to know."
DongWoo regarded him seriously, impressed by his candor. "You don't know if you're the best person for the job until you've tried," he said. "It won't be immediate anyway. You've got some healing to do first, not to mention the malnutrition."
"Often those who think they are perfect for the job are the least qualified for it," his father said, sounding like he approved. DongWoo wished he knew what he was doing and had earned that approval. "And WooHyun," he added gently, "you are not a slave. You are Nam WooHyun, noble-born son of the Nam family, and it would be wise for you to remember that. It might come in handy."
DongWoo blinked. Should he know that family name? He couldn't remember it, but then the first time he'd heard it had been not that long ago.
WooHyun straightened in his seat, as much as he could, and looked at DongWoo. "Then I want to see the contract," he said. "I want to know what I will be paid for my efforts."
The other boy snickered softly. "Finally the idiot gets it," he muttered, glaring at SungKyu. "Use the family that used you...."
DongWoo ignored him for the moment. "Well... you won't be working immediately," he said as the captain let them know it was safe to disembark. "And I'm pretty sure you don't have any money." He frowned, thinking it through. "I'm not going to draw up the contract for a while. As long as you are...." He stopped, scowling briefly at his father for making him say this. "...mine, you are regarded as part of the family, more than the clan, and therefore entitled to the same care I am, within reason." And when had he slipped into formal speech? "When you're not skin and bones, and the bruises and everything else have healed, we'll talk about the contract."
Finished there, he looked at the boy next to SungKyu. "A little courtesy isn't a bad thing, either," he said, softly. He unbuckled himself and WooHyun, then unlocked the other manacle, wincing again as it pulled the skin off. How long had those things been on him? Hadn't they even taken them off? He dropped them and the key to the floor and rubbed his hands on his pants to get the feel of them off.
WooHyun stared at the chains, his freed wrists, and then up at DongWoo. "You unlocked the chains," he said carefully, placing his hands on his knees and trying not to show his relief and pain. "That means I'm not yours. I'm not a slave any more. So you can't order me around anymore."
DongWoo could hear the hysteria in his voice, and wondered at it. Then he stood, and staggered, bracing himself on the seat he'd just left to keep from falling over. DongWoo gripped his arm, appalled at the feel of it in his hand, trying to steady him.
"You're still registered as such," he said gently, his heart aching for the simplicity in the boy's words. "And as soon as someone realizes that, you'll be back where they don't feed you and try to break you. You'll need more than just a lack of chains to stay free." Common knowledge, some of his education he hadn't expected to ever use. "I'll give you your freedom. But if you expect to stay ahead of slavers, you need medical care and regular food for a long time."
He lifted his voice. "SungKyu. You're zoned. Let's go."
SungKyu looked up, realized that the shuttle was empty but for them and DongWoo's father, and flushed. "Sorry," he said, and unbuckled himself. "Just thinking...."
"Too much," DongWoo teased gently.
WooHyun sat down heavily, eyes on the chains at his feet and obviously disturbed. "So you're just like the others," he said, hopelessness in his voice. "I thought you were going to free me...."
SungKyu stepped over before DongWoo could say anything, gripped WooHyun's chin, forcing him to look up. "Are you selectively deaf?" he demanded. "He said he'd give you your freedom and maybe a job. You can't go anywhere right now, freedom or not, so take advantage of what you can, when you can. Don't be an idiot."
DongWoo touched his arm. "Not so harsh," he said softly, and helped WooHyun to his feet. "Come on. You need food, sleep, and more food, and then I'll take you to see a doctor to make sure you don't need more than that."
He helped WooHyun through the air lock and onto the ship. "Although," he added, "he's likely to want to stick you with needles, proclaiming that it's vitamins, which you might actually need. I didn't think I did, but he stuck me anyway. And SungKyu, so you're probably not immune," he added to the boy walking next to SungKyu.
He looked back at WooHyun. "I will free you once know you are in good health and can take care of yourself, and maybe even have some skills so you can get a job. That way, you won't get caught in the same trap your parents did. And, if you wait around that long, I'll give you that first job.
"I don't tend to order people around except SungKyu when he spaces out like that. They tend to tell me exactly what's wrong with that, or worse, tell my father and he explains it to me. Which you did not need to know." He grimaced at his own nerves, because he only babbled like this when he had them. "None of which you really needed to know right now. Are you allergic to anything?"
WooHyun shook his head, and staggered. "I don't think so," he said. "I don't know. I don't really feel very well...."
"He doesn't look very well," SungKyu said, echoing DongWoo's thoughts. "Maybe you should take him right to the doctor. What do you want to do with him?" He gestured at the other boy - it was irritating, not knowing his name.
"I'd like to talk to your father," the boy said. "I'll go with you, to take WooHyun-sshi where ever he needs to go, but I need to talk to your father, soon." He glanced at DongWoo, then at SungKyu, his lip curling in scorn. "Especially since I'm not one of your slaves or playthings to be ordered about like they are," he added slyly, innuendo heavy in his words.
"Are you always this rude?" SungKyu demanded. "Is that why they chased you, you insulted them? Maybe you are a spoiled brat...."
DongWoo shook his head. "Kyu, please," he said, knowing exactly why his friend reacted like that. He felt as off as SungKyu did, but he didn't have the luxury of showing it. He regarded the boy seriously, for once not wondering what he should do or say. After a moment, when the boy started to look a bit... uncomfortable, he shrugged. "My father hasn't left the shuttle," he said neutrally, and then turned his attention to WooHyun, who was seriously beginning to droop. "It's not far," he told WooHyun, putting an arm around his waist to support him. "SungKyu, would you ask for some broth or something light for him - I don't think he's used to eating too much - and meet us in my quarters? I think that's where he'll be most comfortable." SungKyu nodded and took off at a fast walk - possibly to avoid the unnamed boy.
WooHyun leaned wearily on DongWoo, and he glanced at him, worried. He looked like he slept even as they walked. "I promise," he murmured. "It's not far."
Chapter 7
Writer's Note: Occurs some months after chapter five.
Prompt: 079: Chains - WooHyun, L
Chapter List: Infinite Space
Chapter 6: In which DongWoo gets more than he thought, and SungKyu decides not to pay any attention.
DongWoo followed his father through the crowd, not at all sure why he'd insisted DongWoo come this time; he'd never insisted before, to SungKyu's obvious relief. SungKyu was not happy. DongWoo could tell by the way he stayed close behind DongWoo, and he could practically feel his friend and bodyguard's scowl hitting the back of his head.
It was worse than he'd heard. Cages lined the front of the hall, men, women, and children crammed into them, too many for the space provided. Most of them looked so hopeless that he wanted go and set them all free. He knew it would be pointless; too many of them would just end up right back in there.
DongWoo sped up, catching up to his father. "Why do you come to these?" he asked softly, glancing at the pitiful boy now on display, not much younger than he - he actually looked younger than SungJong, but then SungJong looked years younger than his 12 years - that the auctioneer announced was up for sale. Educated, he said, and DongWoo wondered how he got educated and still wound up here.
He stepped back when his father raised his hand to bid, stopping at SungKyu's hand on his back. "What is he doing?" he asked, and DongWoo could only shake his head.
"I don't have any idea," he murmured back, his head hurting from the smoke hovering over the crowd. "I don't understand."
There was the rub; he was probably supposed to, and he could just stare in utter disbelief when his father won the bidding war (not much of one), spending money on something they didn't need and didn't believe in.
"Stay here," his father said, and went up to exchange his credits for the boy he'd just bought.
DongWoo stared after him, and then turned to SungKyu, almost panicked. "Has he lost his mind?" he whispered.
SungKyu turned him back around as his father approached, the boy following. He looked even worse up close. "Take care of him," his father said, and handed him the chain linked to the manacles on the boy's wrist.
Stunned, DongWoo accepted the chains. "Huh?" It wasn't a request, either; that phrasing meant 'he's your responsibility now' and DongWoo just... stared.
SungKyu leaned closer. "What are you doing?" he demanded, his voice low. "Accepting a slave? What are you going to do with him?"
The boy himself had an answer, though. "Wait, what?" he demanded, sounding outraged. "I don't have any say in this?"
DongWoo stared at SungKyu. "You expect me to say no to my father?" he hissed. "Really?" He glanced at the boy, biting his lip. "I'll tell you what," he said, keeping his voice low - it really wasn't anyone else's business what he said - "come with me and we'll discuss this." He had no idea what he was going to say, but at least he had some time to figure it out, right?
He started back toward the dock, trying not to tug the chains that had warmed up to his skin temperature far too quickly for his liking. "I wish he'd warned me," he muttered to SungKyu, glancing back to make sure the boy was doing okay. "Didn't I just say something like this to SungJong?" Well, it had been some months ago, but still.
"Yes," SungKyu said flatly. "You have got to learn to make your own experiences, even if those go a different direction than your father wants. And this is something you should have stood up to him in. Or at least demanded an explanation."
He glanced at the boy as well, lips pursed as if he tasted something particularly sour. "You could do what your father does, and turn him loose," he said. "He looks like a smart kid. Let him go, give him options, see what he does...."
The boy glared at them both, furious, and DongWoo wondered if he were always like that, or if he had some objection to DongWoo. Or even to being slave to travelers. Uncomfortable with the idea, DongWoo looked back at SungKyu. "Do you have any idea what my father did the last time I demanded an explanation to something he did? If you don't, you're the only one in the whole caravan." He didn't like the idea of SungKyu going against him in this, either; they'd been friends, of the same mind, since his father had stuck them together (well, not exactly, but enough that this stung).
DongWoo bit his lip again, tasting a sharp copper taste. The brightly colored shuttle came into view, and he sighed in relief. Almost home, and he could figure things out, sit and think, and maybe talk to one of his sisters. Or both.
A commotion stopped them before they got much farther, a yell of "hey, get back here!"
DongWoo turned to see his father behind them (whew), and beyond him, a young boy running away from what looked like two bruisers. "You can't escape! We'll get you, no matter where you hide!"
The words didn't stop the boy, and DongWoo knew when he spotted them, because he doubled his pace and then threw himself at DongWoo's father's feet. "Sanctuary," he gasped, shoulders heaving with his breath. "Please. I can't go back there. Give me sanctuary."
The men stopped still some distance away, looking angry. They didn't move any closer, both due to the guards that fanned out around DongWoo's father, and the crowd behind them, beginning to sound unhappy.
"DongWoo, would you help this young man into the shuttle?" his father said mildly, without taking his eyes off the men.
DongWoo didn't look away, either, suddenly sure he knew one of them. A guard for the Kim family, one of the more... infamous chaebols around. He didn't hesitate a moment at his father's words, though. "SungKyu, either take this young man or help that one up and into the shuttle. Please," he added at SungKyu's glare.
Couldn't he see that DongWoo had his hands full?
This could be bad. the Kim family were not known for their forbearance, and did not know when to quit. The Jang clan had run afoul of them before, so maybe the Kim family had the same thoughts about the clan. He hoped so.
"Thank you, sir," the boy said, bowing his head. "I'll do my best to make sure you don't regret it."
"Come with me," SungKyu said, totally business again. "I'll show you where to go. DongWoo, go."
DongWoo nodded and led his (ugh, the very idea repulsed him) slave into the shuttle. He helped him get strapped in, fighting a bit to make it so that the chains didn't hurt him anymore.
"What a brat," the boy said, his eyes dark and full of anger and hate when he looked at the new-comer with SungKyu. "He should have been handed over, not rescued."
"Maybe you should know what happened before judging," DongWoo said mildly, sitting next to him and buckling himself in. "I doubt you deserve to be in those chains any more than he deserves what he was running from."
The boy looked away, his eyes dropping almost submissively. But not quite, and DongWoo was actually glad. Submissive usually meant broken spirits.
He looked up as his father boarded, the guards finding seats around the edge, trying to stay clear so that they could speak privately, if necessary. "You have the key for these. Can I have it?"
His father nodded and handed it over - but just the key, he noticed, not the rest of the information. He tucked into the pocket on the leg away from the boy, and sighed. "I'd like to know what happened to you," he said. "starting with your name."
"Nam WooHyun," the boy said, hopelessness lacing his voice.
DongWoo looked up at SungKyu's attempt at a conversation with their other extra - good thing this was a large shuttle - and sighed. He'd leave them alone for now. WooHyun was his responsibility.
"It's nice to meet you, WooHyun," DongWoo said, a bit belatedly. "My name is Jang DongWoo. That's Kim SungKyu, and... I don't know the other guy we picked up. Welcome to the clan."
He closed his eyes as the shuttle took off, grateful for the respite. How was he going to do this? SungJong would go through the roof if he found out, but with luck... he wouldn't. Until everything had been set right. What that meant was anyone's guess.
Finally, he opened his eyes and looked at WooHyun, "If you don't mind my asking, how did you end up... in that situation?"
"The auctioneer would have given that man - your father? - the information. It explains everything." The bitterness in his words didn't surprise DongWoo.
"But he didn't give it to me," DongWoo said. For a reason, but he didn't say that. "And the information will give me merely a list of your original seller and every seller after that."
The sight of the chains drove him nuts. He grabbed out the key and unlocked the manacle closest to him. "I want to know from you," he said, carefully removing it. The boy winced as it came off with a fair amount of skin. DongWoo winced with him. "Sorry. Unless the story is too painful for you. I don't know first aide that well, but I'll get someone in to look at you." He touched WooHyun's wrist just above the bruise and raw skin, noting as well just how bony the boy was. He had no more flesh on him that SungJong and SungYeol had had.
WooHyun stared at him while the shuttle slowed, then looked down at his wrist, beginning to ooze blood. "Why did you do that?" he demanded, his voice sounding stuck in his throat. "You don't know me!"
He swallowed and got control of himself, but DongWoo didn't think he imagined the panic in his eyes - and the hope. "It's not painful," WooHyun said, but he still sounded less composed than he had a moment ago. "There's just not much to tell. My father went through the family's money with drinking and gambling, and when I was eight, I was the only commodity they had left. I ran away, of course, and then got beat and sold on to worse and worse masters...."
"I unlocked you because we don't like seeing anything in chains," DongWoo said, saddened by the story. He'd expected something like it, but it didn't make him feel any less sorry for the child WooHyun had been. "I have a friend who had to buy his own ship because he couldn't see any animal in a cage. He practically has a menagerie." He caught WooHyun's eyes. "My father wouldn't have given me the key if he didn't mean for me to take them off."
He mulled over WooHyun's words. "I bet beating wasn't the only thing," he said darkly as the shuttle began docking with the main ship. "Some people will do anything to break what they think is theirs."
WooHyun stared at him, taken completely off guard, and DongWoo wondered what he thought about.
"The thing is," he added, "I'm not sure what to do with you, aside from getting your bruises and everything treated, and getting you less... bony."
"You could use an aide," his father said neutrally, and DongWoo looked up at him, surprised. He'd actually forgotten he was there.
WooHyun looked up as well, the movement catching DongWoo's attention. "Me?" he said. "I'm a slave. Why would you want.... I mean," he added, looking as turned around as DongWoo felt. Good. It was nice to know his father did it to others, too. The pink that suffused WooHyun's face added color that DongWoo didn't even realize was missing. He needed so much help. "I never finished my education," WooHyun finally stammered. "They sold me when I was eight."
DongWoo knew the answer to that. "On-the-job training," he said. "It's what I'm getting. As for education, I know of at least two kids, about your age, I think, who need some, too. I don't even know if they can read and write, and neither of them are in any condition yet to tell me." SungJong was still very touchy. And... it actually hadn't even occurred to him to ask.
"I'm grateful, don't think I'm not," WooHyun said, sounding almost desperate. "But I'm hardly the right person for the job when I don't know what I should and barely remember what I used to know."
DongWoo regarded him seriously, impressed by his candor. "You don't know if you're the best person for the job until you've tried," he said. "It won't be immediate anyway. You've got some healing to do first, not to mention the malnutrition."
"Often those who think they are perfect for the job are the least qualified for it," his father said, sounding like he approved. DongWoo wished he knew what he was doing and had earned that approval. "And WooHyun," he added gently, "you are not a slave. You are Nam WooHyun, noble-born son of the Nam family, and it would be wise for you to remember that. It might come in handy."
DongWoo blinked. Should he know that family name? He couldn't remember it, but then the first time he'd heard it had been not that long ago.
WooHyun straightened in his seat, as much as he could, and looked at DongWoo. "Then I want to see the contract," he said. "I want to know what I will be paid for my efforts."
The other boy snickered softly. "Finally the idiot gets it," he muttered, glaring at SungKyu. "Use the family that used you...."
DongWoo ignored him for the moment. "Well... you won't be working immediately," he said as the captain let them know it was safe to disembark. "And I'm pretty sure you don't have any money." He frowned, thinking it through. "I'm not going to draw up the contract for a while. As long as you are...." He stopped, scowling briefly at his father for making him say this. "...mine, you are regarded as part of the family, more than the clan, and therefore entitled to the same care I am, within reason." And when had he slipped into formal speech? "When you're not skin and bones, and the bruises and everything else have healed, we'll talk about the contract."
Finished there, he looked at the boy next to SungKyu. "A little courtesy isn't a bad thing, either," he said, softly. He unbuckled himself and WooHyun, then unlocked the other manacle, wincing again as it pulled the skin off. How long had those things been on him? Hadn't they even taken them off? He dropped them and the key to the floor and rubbed his hands on his pants to get the feel of them off.
WooHyun stared at the chains, his freed wrists, and then up at DongWoo. "You unlocked the chains," he said carefully, placing his hands on his knees and trying not to show his relief and pain. "That means I'm not yours. I'm not a slave any more. So you can't order me around anymore."
DongWoo could hear the hysteria in his voice, and wondered at it. Then he stood, and staggered, bracing himself on the seat he'd just left to keep from falling over. DongWoo gripped his arm, appalled at the feel of it in his hand, trying to steady him.
"You're still registered as such," he said gently, his heart aching for the simplicity in the boy's words. "And as soon as someone realizes that, you'll be back where they don't feed you and try to break you. You'll need more than just a lack of chains to stay free." Common knowledge, some of his education he hadn't expected to ever use. "I'll give you your freedom. But if you expect to stay ahead of slavers, you need medical care and regular food for a long time."
He lifted his voice. "SungKyu. You're zoned. Let's go."
SungKyu looked up, realized that the shuttle was empty but for them and DongWoo's father, and flushed. "Sorry," he said, and unbuckled himself. "Just thinking...."
"Too much," DongWoo teased gently.
WooHyun sat down heavily, eyes on the chains at his feet and obviously disturbed. "So you're just like the others," he said, hopelessness in his voice. "I thought you were going to free me...."
SungKyu stepped over before DongWoo could say anything, gripped WooHyun's chin, forcing him to look up. "Are you selectively deaf?" he demanded. "He said he'd give you your freedom and maybe a job. You can't go anywhere right now, freedom or not, so take advantage of what you can, when you can. Don't be an idiot."
DongWoo touched his arm. "Not so harsh," he said softly, and helped WooHyun to his feet. "Come on. You need food, sleep, and more food, and then I'll take you to see a doctor to make sure you don't need more than that."
He helped WooHyun through the air lock and onto the ship. "Although," he added, "he's likely to want to stick you with needles, proclaiming that it's vitamins, which you might actually need. I didn't think I did, but he stuck me anyway. And SungKyu, so you're probably not immune," he added to the boy walking next to SungKyu.
He looked back at WooHyun. "I will free you once know you are in good health and can take care of yourself, and maybe even have some skills so you can get a job. That way, you won't get caught in the same trap your parents did. And, if you wait around that long, I'll give you that first job.
"I don't tend to order people around except SungKyu when he spaces out like that. They tend to tell me exactly what's wrong with that, or worse, tell my father and he explains it to me. Which you did not need to know." He grimaced at his own nerves, because he only babbled like this when he had them. "None of which you really needed to know right now. Are you allergic to anything?"
WooHyun shook his head, and staggered. "I don't think so," he said. "I don't know. I don't really feel very well...."
"He doesn't look very well," SungKyu said, echoing DongWoo's thoughts. "Maybe you should take him right to the doctor. What do you want to do with him?" He gestured at the other boy - it was irritating, not knowing his name.
"I'd like to talk to your father," the boy said. "I'll go with you, to take WooHyun-sshi where ever he needs to go, but I need to talk to your father, soon." He glanced at DongWoo, then at SungKyu, his lip curling in scorn. "Especially since I'm not one of your slaves or playthings to be ordered about like they are," he added slyly, innuendo heavy in his words.
"Are you always this rude?" SungKyu demanded. "Is that why they chased you, you insulted them? Maybe you are a spoiled brat...."
DongWoo shook his head. "Kyu, please," he said, knowing exactly why his friend reacted like that. He felt as off as SungKyu did, but he didn't have the luxury of showing it. He regarded the boy seriously, for once not wondering what he should do or say. After a moment, when the boy started to look a bit... uncomfortable, he shrugged. "My father hasn't left the shuttle," he said neutrally, and then turned his attention to WooHyun, who was seriously beginning to droop. "It's not far," he told WooHyun, putting an arm around his waist to support him. "SungKyu, would you ask for some broth or something light for him - I don't think he's used to eating too much - and meet us in my quarters? I think that's where he'll be most comfortable." SungKyu nodded and took off at a fast walk - possibly to avoid the unnamed boy.
WooHyun leaned wearily on DongWoo, and he glanced at him, worried. He looked like he slept even as they walked. "I promise," he murmured. "It's not far."
Chapter 7