It was already afternoon by the time they got back to the temple and Kang finished his bath.
Lena was waiting for him outside.
"We need to talk!" she said.
Kang tilted his head back to look at the sky.
"Are your legs acting up again? But it's still not dark yet..."
Clang.
Kang raised his arm just in time to block a side kick from Lena.
"Haha. Very funny~" she glared at him.
"I know, right?" Kang winked.
Lena sighed and lowered her leg.
"Okay, let's be serious! I want to hear about your plan for the future."
They walked together along the mountain path, without anyone around to disturb them. Xiao Yun must have gone off to practice, she had to make up for all that lost time.
"So... you came down here to find Yunyun. Now that you've found her, what's next? Are you going to leave this place and go back to the City?"
Lena tried to sound casual, but the uneasiness in her voice was impossible to hide.
"Don't worry. I'm not planning to go back up to the City. At least not for another three months, I still have a sentence to serve down here anyway~"
Kang smiled. Lena's expression reminded him of Rosaline. She had told him to call her once he settled in District 13 but with all the chaos lately, he'd completely forgotten. Gotta find some time to contact her, Kang thought to himself.
Lena looked visibly relieved after hearing that. She blushed a little.
"I-I'm not worried, okay? Just wondering a bit..."
"Yeah, so I guess we'll be in your care for quite a while. Thank you in advance for taking us in, Miss Razorgirl!"
Kang bowed his head politely. Even if she was totally cool with them staying, he still wanted to show proper appreciation.
"Geez, you martial artists are all the same. Lena did that back then, too. Guess you guys really are birds of a feather, huh..." Lena muttered.
"So, can I know more about your gang and what I can help with around here?"
Kang asked honestly. He was completely clueless about what people did for a living down here, all his knowledge was about three hundred years outdated.
Lena then explained to him in detail about life in the Slum.
Just like the City, there were twelve Slum Areas, shaped somewhat like twelve slices of pizza that together made up the lower levels of District 13. Each area was divided into two parts, the inner and outer zones.
The place they currently lived in, along with the territories of other gangs, was part of the inner zone. It was where the slummers, lowest class residents of the Slum, and sentenced criminals lived.
The outer zones, on the other hand, bordered the massive wall of the District and the lands beyond, where the farms and industrial facilities were located. A large subway track circled the entire district, separating the inner and outer zones like a concrete boundary line.
The outer zones were home to the so-called "high-class" citizens of the Slum. Well, actually not that high since they still had to live down here instead of in the City, but their lives were far better than those of the inner-zone dwellers. Unlike the lawless chaos of the inner zones, the outer zones felt almost like old-fashioned cities from the past, complete with order, structure, and routine.
According to Lena, there were three main classes of people living there:
Workers — ordinary citizens who labored in the farms and facilities in exchange for food and basic housing. They were a class above the slummers thanks to their stable income and living conditions, and they made up roughly ninety percent of the outer-zone population.
Sararimen — corporate employees who worked for various companies. For most Workers, becoming a sarariman was a lifelong dream, a symbol of status and stability.
Execs — short for "executives." These were the elites who stood at the top of the Slum hierarchy, consists of corporate managers, high-ranking administrators and government officials.
"So basically, the execs look down on the sararimen, the sararimen look down on the workers..." Kang summed it up. "And all of them look down on us~"
"Pretty much," Lena admitted with a dry laugh. "The gangs keep the inner zones from falling apart completely. The inner zones are the dark side of the Slums where all the trash ends up, just like how the Slums themselves are the trash zone for the City above."
Kang raised an eyebrow. "You mean the government just lets you run wild?"
"Run wild? Not really. More like... unpaid janitors. They let us exist because we keep the slummers busy, and the corps don't have to waste resources keeping order down here. As long as we don't mess with their supply lines or cause headlines, no one out there cares."
"I see. So the inner zones are kind of like the black streets — dangerous places where people can find what they can't anywhere else."
"Exactly. Brothels, black casinos, weapon dealers, illegal meds, porn simsenses... you name it, we have it." She kicked a pebble down the road. "Heck, the people in the outer zones wouldn't want that kind of stuff near their homes, even though they can't live without it."
Kang nodded slowly, then asked,
"What do the Orphans do, then?"
"Take a guess~" Lena looked at him with teasing eyes.
"Well, if I had to choose, then brothels seem like the best bet here." Kang scratched his chin.
Lena was stunned by his answer, then she smiled.
"Congratulations, that's the correct answer!"
"Wait, seriously?" This time it was Kang's turn to be shocked.
"Yeah, though maybe not in the way you think." Lena sighed. "We don't run brothels ourselves, and no one in the gang takes clients. We just let them live and work in our turf, giving them protection when needed. In return, they pay us a monthly protection fee."
Kang thought for a moment, then something clicked.
"So the reason you saved Xiao Yun when she first came down here was because…"
"Yeah," Lena admitted, "back then she looked like a potential resident of our zone."
Seeing Kang frown slightly, she shrugged.
"Think whatever you want. We just give these women a choice, something they wouldn't have at all without us."
Kang shook his head and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Don't misunderstand me. I'm grateful you saved her. You did nothing wrong, and I won't think any less of you for it."
Lena looked into his eyes, a faint glimmer of tears showing in her own.
"Really? You don't think I'm some shameless woman for making money off other women selling their bodies?"
"In the first place, I don't think there's anything wrong with that act itself. It's a profession, the oldest one, actually. As long as it's done by choice and not by force, it's just work."
Kang spoke casually. There were many kinds of people he looked down on — drug traffickers, kidnappers, extortionists — but prostitutes were never among them. It was simply another service industry. Of course, every trade had its darker side, but from what Lena said, hers wasn't one of them.
He had only known her for less than two days, but he was confident in his eyes for people.
Lena let out a relieved sigh. She had been worried about what Kang might think of her. I seriously bagged myself a great man, she thought. Thanks a lot, Yunyun.
"Now that we've got everything clear, what exactly will my work be, though?"
Kang asked honestly. He had no intention of staying here for free.
"Well, aside from patrolling the zone, we sometimes take on odd jobs for creds. But I think I've got the perfect job for you," Lena said cheerfully.
"Somehow I already have a guess about what it is…" Kang smiled.
"Teach us martial arts!"
Lena's eyes sparkled. To be honest, she had wanted to ask Yunyun before, but seeing how unstable the girl's mental state was back then, she decided to wait. Now there was an even better candidate standing right in front of her. Most of the Orphans were unaugmented—except for her—so learning martial arts would be a huge advantage for them.
"Sure," Kang nodded.
"Wait, that easy?"
Lena blinked, surprised. She had expected some problems along the lines of "family secrets" or such.
"I came to District 13 to run a dojo," Kang said with a wink. "If I can't do that up there, there's nothing stopping me from doing it down here, right?"
"Great! It's a deal, then!"
Lena grinned and held out her fist. Kang laughed and bumped his against hers.
"One more thing, though," Kang suddenly said.
"What?" Lena asked, a bit nervous. So there's still a catch in the end?
"Can I assume that now I'm also considered a member of the Orphans?"
"Of course you are!"
Lena nodded. She had already thought of Kang and Yunyun as part of the gang. And in Kang's case, he was an orphan himself—it felt like destiny, really.
"In that case," Kang continued with a grin, "do I get a discount when using the, uh... services of those women working in our turf?"
Kang gave Lena a you-know-what look, eyes lighting up mischievously.
Clang.
This time, Lena's kick didn't miss its target.