Seoul Kitchen: Side Story 3 (Patreon)

Neutral Grounds

Seoul Kitchen, the one place that everyone goes to the Cherry Blossom Market for these days. Luis can’t exactly blame them as he often finds himself getting dragged here as well. With a bottle of coke in hand and plate full of fries and Doner on the table, he cheered as he and his friend cheered on the musician that decided to set up shop near the shop.

“Encore! Encore!” He clapped along with the other on lookers, cheering Old Johny one. The former corpo had one hell of a solo act and as fan, he was there to support the man.

“Thank you, you’re too kind,” The man bowed, “And for my next song, I’d like to dedicate it you my lovely audience…”

Luis made sure to give the man a tip as he enjoyed the tune the man played. This place simply had everything. How can he not love the place? It had good food, a nice atmosphere, and one friendly (If a bit crazy) stall owner; What more can a man ask for?

“Oh hey, it’s the Luis and the Cockroaches,” A snarky voice would then called out from behind him. Smiling, he now remembered what was lacking, good company to banter with.

Turning around, Luis find himself staring down the steel edge of a wickedly sharp sword as his lovely friend greeted in her usual manner, “You have some balls parking your grungy ass down on my seat,” Flanked by a broad muscular man covered in glowing tattoos along with a whole host of sword wielding assholes. It seems like the Tyger Claws are here.

Faced against such brazen display of force, lesser man would have fled but he was no mere man; He was a Valentino.

Grinning back casually, he replied, “Awww, so you do love me~” His smile only grew wilder as her pale cheeks gained a rosy red hue. Turning to the man behind her, he jested, “See Taguro, Sakura remembered my name!”

Luis swore he could hear the steam coming out of her ears as the tiny girl let out a screech of frustration. “S-shut up! I only remembered your name cause you keep reminding me you shit!” She spat out as she pulled her sword away.

“But ah, that meant you listened~” He replied as his friends and her friends hooted. He laughed as the girl raised her sword high but he knew her too well. With a growl the girl swung down, missing him by a mile.

“You’re lucky my brother actually finds you funny,” She gritted out, face burning as she sheathed her sword.

“Glad to have you here as well, Sakura,” He laughed as he scooted over, offering his seat to her. ”Despite turning away and crossing her arms across her chest, she still sat down beside him. “We bought extra for you guys so help yourself,” He offered as the two gangs sat down together. It was a bit cramped as there were only so much space in the table but they made it worth.

“I’m taking this as an apology,” She then said as she grabbed the extra doner he had for her.

“Off course Hime, whatever you say” He chuckled as he reached out to grab himself some price before she grabbed it off her hands. WIth a mischievous smirk across her lips, she bit down on her stolen prize, “Cheeky brat,” He laughed.

This was their song and dance, she insults him, he fires back, and they get down to eat together as everyone had a little fun. It’s a win-win for all. Of course, things could turn deadly but that was for future him to worry about. For now, he was just going to go with the flow and enjoy it.

“We need better chairs here,” Taguro rumbled out as he sat up from the poor plastic monobloc he nearly crushed, “And more tables,” He then noted as he looked around, scowling at the number of people forced to lean on the walls or simply sit on the ground.

“We’ll work on it,” Luis replied as he looked around at the motley collection of random tables, chairs and even some crates around them. “We should probably toss those out after we got some proper tables over,” he noted, pointing at the crates. He knew the people that brought those table over had good intentions but they were beginning to be an eyesore.

As he took note on the number of people and the space still remaining, he couldn’t help but admire just how this place was growing. It was strange that people were just bring tables over and leaving them but it was working out. Sometimes he wondered, what the hell was in this place that’s just making everything feel so… nice.

“Taguro, if you don’t mind me asking,” He called out to the other man, “Is this one of your bosses’s business?” He asked as curiosity got the better of him. Maybe it was just that the Tyger Claws were keeping the peace here?

“Though… I have to say, if it is, your boss has one hell of front with that guy in the register. A black guy walks over to Japantown and sets up business, I swear that feels like the start of a joke.” he then said.

The tall tattooed man took his time enjoying his wrap before he replied, “No,” Seeing the look questioning look on his face, the man then explained, “The crazy gaijin is simply a normal shop owner.”

“So what, he just walked up to one of you guys and he asked nicely?” He asked.

Taguro nodded before Sakura butted in, “Yeah, that’s what he did. He got passed around a bit as a few of us milked him for some eddies until some guy decided to play a cruel joke and had him straight up to Aniki Jun.”

Luis winced at that; Cruel indeed. “But wait, he has a stall now. Did this guy just convinced your boss or something?” He then asked.

“Somehow,” Sakura replied, looking unsure herself, “I don’t know the exact detail but he served tea to Aniki and the old hag and the next thing we know, they’re telling us not to bother him,” Taking a fist full of fries, she then said, “And it’s not like we want to at this point. Who the fuck shots their favorite cook?”

Luis nodded at that. Guns and Glory might be what everyone wanted out in the street but Food was holy. “Speaking of food, do you guys perchance… supply him?” Sakura then asked making Luis frown.

“Wait, I thought you guys supply him?” He replied as he looked at his brothers just to be sure.

“Don’t look at me, we don’t deal with the guy!” his close friend told them as he raised his hands, “Don Orta just dropped by one day and liked his food and so we followed,” Luis nodded at that, remembering that party well, “It was the best Carnitas I had in ages.”

“Huh… so neither of us are supplying him?” He asked as both group nodded. “Huh… is he from the other gangs?” He then asked as a whole new mystery reared its head. Come to think of it, where the hell is this guy getting his stuff?

Turning around, he found the all to familiar star spangled bandana of one of his new friends. “Hey John!” He called out, “Is he one of yours?” he asked, gesturing at the busy cook over at the store.

“What do you mean?” John replied, the fat bastard looking bewildered at the sudden question, “I thought he was one of yours!”

He nodded before turning back to the table. “He’s not one from the Street from the looks of it,” He noted, “And its certainly not a Mox front either cause he’s a dude and it’s not an animal because there’s no roided out guard running around here.”

“We can discount Maelstrom and Scavs as well,” Sakura then said, “He’s too nice to be one. Plus, he has this edgerunner group hanging around him. No self respecting group would make friends with a Scav.”

“Then who the fuck is he with?” Luis asked, scratching his head. “This is some preem shit he’s peddling,” He pointed out as he brought up his doner. Tasty, filling and with the best tasting beef he ever had in his short miserable life.

“Corpo?” A Taguro slowly replied as Luis considered it.

“I saw an Arasaka girl come by here every morning?” Some random Tyger Claw pointed out, drawn to their little discussion. “But then again, it’s been weeks since he got here… certainly too much of a long con,” the man then said.

“Ok, lets change subject, this is starting to hurt my head,” Sakura growled out as she massaged her temples, “Thinking about it, do we really need to know who’s he with? He’s been giving everyone a fair share. Anyone here gets the same price, be they corpo or people.”

Luis nodded in agreement. “Maybe it’s best that we don’t kill the golden goose and just enjoy the eggs served to us, right?” he told them as everyone nodded.

“In fact, I’d like to thank the guy for setting this place up!” He cheered as he raised his can, “Without him, I wouldn’t have the chance to talk shit with you guys,” Looking around before settling on Sakura, he then continued, “This has to be some of the best weeks I had in ages. To more peaceful days!”

“You stupid sentimental bitch,” Sakura groaned before she raised a can as well, “Cheers.”

“Cheers!” And everyone joined in the merriment.

As the two group interacted, jostling and making threats while exchanging good natured ribbing and jokes, Luis found himself smiling. He knew all to well that this wouldn’t last but did it matter? Worrying would only distract him. What was important was here and now, living the moment with friends and enemies alike.

Just as he was about to take a bite out of his doner, one of his friends would then ask, “Say… all this talk about who’s he with is making me start to question his food… This is way too cheap. Is he using human meat?” His question was met with groans and curses as they were pulled back in a whole other round of discussion.

A/N:

Just a fun interaction between the Tyger Claws and the Valentinos. This is technically semi canon just like the rest of the Side Stories. It may or may not happen and I'll leave it up to you guys to decide if you like this enough for it to be fully canonized.