Faust

Dine and dash

          "What do you want to know about." Dojo's voice sounds much less..... ups and downs in intonation.
"Everything." The man next to me slowly exhales a long breath.

"The club is a member-only place not open to the public. It was founded, protected, and owned by us. Originally built for oyabuns and their business associates to have some private conversations years ago. But the number of associates kept growing and after a while, even the 'fathers' couldn't stop them from spreading rumors about the place to their friends. And believe me, Mr.Lee, those guys have a lot of friends."

            Dojo moves my cup to his mouth before he realizes it's empty.

           "The place used to be for business only and nothing else, but after the associates starts bringing their pals along for..... mostly for showing off but also to introduce them to the Oyabons." Dojo rubs the stubbles on his left cheek as he studies my face to see what the fuck am I thinking.

            "Word got around the city about an exclusive club in the city center for the top players in town. Club 57 became a threshold for the top one percent of the top one percent in the city to filter the other 99.99 percent."

            "And how does a certain someone become a member?" Dojo's mouth purse into a thin line like he doesn't know if my question is amusing or idiotic.

           "To become a full-fledged member of that joint you'll need to be filthy rich, the kind of rich that'll reshape your understanding of this world. And extremely powerful in both our world and theirs. But most importantly, you need to represent something. Something they fancy...... Being known in the city is not enough." Dojo shoots me a warning glare at the end.

           "What about invitations? What if a member decided to bring friends along?" I crack my shoulder joints while asking. Sitting in this position is damn uncomfortable.

           "It will make them a guest. They can't get in without being with a full member, nor enjoy all the services." Dojo stood up from the stool, walk passed the counter to the narrow kitchen and grab the clay pot next to the grill to refill his cup but he ran out of tea halfway.

            "This place......is it still directly run by you guys?" After he confirmed shaking the pot couple of times didn't help either. Dojo bent down under the counter.

            "Mr.Lee. Everything here is run by the Gumi. Just a matter of who." The idea of a fat man crouching in a tiny kitchen to find tea leaves made my mouth curls upwards without noticing it.

            "And the who is....?" Dojo made a squeaky sound which I interpreted as a laugh and speak with a taunting voice.

            "Hayashi-San."

            Saiko Komon, the senior advisor of the company, is the so-called 'foster father' in the family. Never heard much about him except he's been with the oyabun for a very long time.

            "Tell me about the members. Do they allow other gang's affiliated fellows in too? Or is it just the rich fuckers in downtown and Saint Elisha?"

            "Of course. Like I told you, as long as you represent something they like or deemed worthy, that includes the other big shots in the city that we're more familiar with. Vors, Don, the pries and the family, I'm pretty sure the Qins too." Dojo finally rises up from the storage cabinet under the counter with a box of tea leaves.

"And what if they tried to kill each other in the club?" Pouring out the leftovers in the pot, dojo turns on the water tap to wash the used leaves off the bottom of the pot.