by Con Template
“Stupid Jae Won,” she muttered under her breath. Jae Won calling her “boss” all the time was screwing her up royally. Now her big subconscious head must think she was everyone's boss!
Kang Min remained silent. He kept his worried gaze on Yoori.
"Kang Min?" Tae Hyun inquired firmly, interrupting Kang Min's daze. "How is the operation dealing with the Skulls?"
Yoori raised her head upon the mention of the Skulls. She had been so immersed in the Serpents world that she completely forgot that another powerful gang existed. She cast her thoughts back to the news segment about them and how they made a show of murdering those men in the business district.
To her horror, she began to think that there was another gang out there that was more ruthless than Tae Hyun’s.
Kang Min returned his attention to Tae Hyun. "Good. We're making good progress. They are ahead of us in terms of numbers though. We just need something to shake people – to get them on our side. We need to be a bit more persuasive."
Tae Hyun nodded. "I'm in the process of formulating a strategy for that. I need to run some things by you though."
"Okay, boss," Kang Min said absentmindedly. His mind appeared to be elsewhere.
Stretching his arms out in exhaustion, Tae Hyun nodded tiredly at them. "That concludes our meeting." He rose up from the couch. "Alright boys, thanks for coming. Please keep your eyes out and make sure things run smoothly. I'll see you all soon." And with a simple wave of the hand, Tae Hyun made his exit from the living room and back into his room.
Having received their cue to leave, each of the men stood up from their seat and bowed their heads at Yoori before exiting the apartment. Yoori uneasily bowed her head too. They appeared less hostile toward her, but only slightly. She then frowned when she stood up to close the door behind them. They could’ve at least said, “thank you” to her for not ratting them out. But, then again, she was just glad they were gone.
She was prepared to close the door on the awkward situation when a hand pushed the metal door open.
The hand belonged to Kang Min.
"What is it?" she inquired, feeling nervous with the way Kang Min was looking at her. Now that she had a better view of him without the guns pointed at her, she realized that he looked a lot younger. The perplexed gaze on his face bore a strong resemblance to that of a child’s. He was handsome, but in more of a cute, little brother way to her.
"I wanted to personally apologize for the rest of the guys about what happened earlier," he began quietly, looking almost too nervous to talk to her. "You must’ve been terrified."
"There's no need for you to apologize," she said genuinely. "You were the one who made it better."
"Regardless, it shouldn't have happened. And again, I'm sorry I couldn't prevent the situation from occurring altogether."
She nodded, leaning against the door. She could deduce from his voice how guilty he felt. However, she wondered if he even knew what he was apologizing for. He appeared so...out of it. Despite how strange Kang Min was acting, the smile remained on her face. She couldn't bring herself to be that intimidated by him. He was too sweet of a guy.
"Apology accepted," she said, patting his shoulder. He didn't have to apologize, but she also knew he wouldn't let the matter go if she didn't utter the words of forgiveness. It troubled her to witness such a sight. Poor thing seemed to be feeling horrible about what happened. It wasn’t like it was his fault.
"Good," he uttered, relieved.
His eyes wavered every which way but toward her.
Yoori watched him in curiosity. Why was he so hesitant to make eye contact with her?
"Did you need something else, Kang Min?" She heard a voice ask from behind her.
Yoori turned to see Tae Hyun approaching them. He was dressed in a less formal manner today. No suits. Just a simple white shirt and khaki pants. The shirt molded perfectly to his body, accentuating hard muscles that corded beneath it. Yoori felt her breathing intensify. She bit her lips and turned away before another round of gawking ensued. Damn, he still looked hot.
Tae Hyun stopped behind her. His big arms crossed over his chest. He gazed at Kang Min expectantly.
Kang Min's nervous countenance changed to a more serious one. He shook his head and cleared his throat. "I just wanted to have a couple of words with Yoori here."
Tae Hyun smiled. "Welcoming her into the family, I see."
Kang Min nodded absently. As an awkward stillness threatened to rain upon them, Kang Min shifted his eyes from Tae Hyun to Yoori, and then he bowed his head. "Well, I’d best be going now."
His eyes fell on Tae Hyun. "Have a good day, boss."
Tae Hyun silently nodded as a response.
Kang Min then turned to Yoori. "It was nice meeting you, Yoori. If you ever need anything, please don't hesitate to come to me."
Yoori smiled gratefully. Could this guy be any sweeter to her? "It was nice meeting you too. And thank you,” she emphasized, truly grateful for being able to meet him.
Yoori waved goodbye as Kang Min proceeded down the hall and disappeared into the elevator. A swell of sadness hit her in response to his absence. It was a perplexing feeling, but she already felt an unusual attachment for Kang Min.
"Stop gawking,” Tae Hyun commented playfully, gently pulling her aside. He closed the door, smiling. “He's too young for you."
"I was not gawking!" she huffed, following Tae Hyun into the living room. She already forgot that she was supposed to be upset with her irresponsible boss. She halted when she digested Tae Hyun's words. "Wait, how old is he?"
“He just turned 18."
Her chin dropped. "What? Oh my God, he's a baby!"
Tae Hyun laughed, reaching down and messing up her hair. "Yes grandma, so don't think about doing anything with him."
"I'm not interested in him like that!" she countered, using her fingers to comb her hair back into place. Fully realizing how old he was, she found herself smacking Tae Hyun across his shoulder. "What the hell is wrong with you? He's one of the top leaders in your gang already? How old was he when he joined?"
"15," he answered indifferently.
She shook her head in disappointment. She was appalled with Tae Hyun. Why was this guy out recruiting kids?
Sensing her criticism, Tae Hyun didn’t miss a beat in defending himself. "Hey, he was in the Underworld long before he joined my gang, alright? People in our world start off young. Plus, he was taught well. He's better than 90% of the guys who have been doing this longer than him."
Yoori nodded vigorously, her mind detouring onto another topic. "How did you find him?"
"He found us."
"What do you mean?"
"He was initially in another gang."
"What gang was he in?"
"Some random one. I don't remember the name."
Yoori eyed him suspiciously. "He just came up to you and said he wanted to join?"
"Yeah, pretty much."
"It's that easy to get a leadership position in your gang?" She scrutinized him with a critical eye. His answer verified her beliefs that he was quite possibly the most irresponsible gang leader in existence. There went the glamour of thinking that the Underworld was such a cool place with masterminds as their leaders.
Tae Hyun frowned, catching on to her insinuation. "Kang Min is an asset to have. No Underworld King would pass up someone like him."
"He's that good?"
"He's one of the best I've seen so far. Definitely an asset to have on your side."
"Yeah," Yoori agreed offhandedly. She recalled what happened earlier. Kang Min was definitely a good person to have on your side. "He saved me."
"What?"
Yoori wanted to smack herself when she realized she blurted out a string of no-no words.
"Nothing," she lied, smiling in hopes of appeasing the situation. The curve of her smiling lips quivered under Tae Hyun's hardened gaze. He was inspecting her for a lie. He might have caught on to what happened.
&n
bsp; "What do you mean 'saved' you?" he asked, folding his arms again in curiosity. The muscles in his biceps became all the more pronounced when he did this. By the way he stared at her, she could tell he wasn't going to let it go.
The words of blasphemy bubbled in her throat. They were waiting to come out. That was the thing with Yoori. If you bugged her enough, then she would be more than happy to spill the beans. It was so hard for her. In other circumstances, she would've spilt the beans already, but she promised Kang Min that she wouldn't say anything. Confliction swirled within her.
Damn moral dilemmas.
She was only fully convinced when Tae Hyun gave her the “I'm-going-to-kill-you-if-you-don't-speak-soon” look.
To hell with it, she thought firmly, the weight of the guilt gliding off her chest. Since she accidentally let it out already, she might as well let it all out. And that was what she did. She let it all out...
"So he said, '…Boss will kill each and every one of you if you so much as touch her,’" she concluded dramatically. She looked at Tae Hyun anxiously, pleased with the “what-the-hell” look on his face.
Yeah, they’ll be in trouble now, she thought haughtily. Perhaps he'll have them come back and beg her for forgiveness. Or perhaps he’d even have them become her assistants? The possibilities were endless.
"He said, 'he brought her here last night’?" Tae Hyun asked, completely dismissing everything else Yoori told him and crushing her dreams of having those guys beg for her forgiveness.
"Eh?" Yoori lifted her eyebrow at him, dumbfounded by his peculiar interest in that insignificant part of the story. The part that mattered was when they pointed their guns at her and when Kang Min saved her. Why did he care about the trivial fact that Kang Min knew?
"Yeah. He said that," Yoori confirmed, a little bit annoyed that he didn't seem too bothered that they held her at gunpoint.
"Huh..." Tae Hyun murmured, seemingly perturbed with the new piece of information she presented him.
Yoori eyed him oddly. A prickle of uneasiness gripped her. "What is it?" He was acting especially bizarre.
He looked at her, clearly debating about whether or not he should share what was on his mind. When Yoori gave him the “you-better-tell-me-what's-going-on” glare, he gave in.
"It's just that...they all just got in from being out of town this morning. None of them could’ve known about me bringing you over here last night. How could he have known?"
In that chilling instant, goose bumps appeared on her body.
"Maybe someone else told him?" she reasoned, trying to make the situation appear less freaky. "Maybe those guys who saw me last night told him. Like you said, 'word gets around,' right?"
Tae Hyun nodded at her, smiling as though to mollify the seriousness of the situation. "That's probably it."
She could tell he felt uneasy. She felt uneasy too. Now that her thoughts were aligned together, there was something peculiar about Kang Min and his behavior.
"Anyway," Tae Hyun said boisterously, waving his hand slightly to change the subject. "I've decided you won't be cuffed to me for the next few hours."
Yoori's face brightened prematurely. Could it be that there was some good in him after all? Was her theory correct? The evil Kwon Tae Hyun was human after all?
He threw himself onto his sofa and lazily switched on his 55-inch, flat screen TV. "Please clean my apartment well. It's been a couple of days since I last got around to tidying up around here."
Yoori's bitter face darkened. Of course, he was not that kind. She looked around the room and grimaced. It seemed more like it had been a couple of months than just days since he last got around to “tidying” up.
“Jerk,” she muttered.
Dejectedly pouring soap into the sponge, Yoori began to clean the dirty dishes piled up in the sink. Because of the repetitive nature of the activity, Yoori found herself reliving what occurred earlier. Everything from the moment the guns were pointed at her, to Kang Min saving her, to Kang Min’s apology before he left.
Then something occurred to Yoori. The way he acted around her and the way he looked at her...
She suddenly shot her head up, dropping the dish she was cleaning. The dish clinked loudly when it collided with the sink. Chills bolted up her spine when she recalled Kang Min saying, “Thank you, Yoori” before Tae Hyun even appeared from the shower.
Something was definitely off.
How on earth did Kang Min know her name before he was even introduced to her?
“You can’t allow yourself to be weak.”
11: Out of Character
As the next couple of weeks crept by, it didn't take Yoori long to forget about Kang Min and the "something-is-off-about-him" fiasco. Though the confusion was never really cleared up, Yoori came to the conclusion that gang members were freakishly weird. There was really no other way to put it. There was no point in trying to figure out what was wrong with them when in truth, everything was wrong with them. After all those life, death, and morally questionable situations they placed themselves in, at the end of the day, they were paranoid and awkwardly strange people. This was just something that Yoori, for the sake of her own sanity, accepted.
Unfortunately for Yoori, she soon found herself immersed with another fiasco: the pain of being Kwon Tae Hyun's personal assistant.
Being tired was an understatement. Yoori was completely, painfully, and utterly exhausted. In the span of the last couple weeks, Tae Hyun had her perform various tasks that ranged from the believable (washing dishes, cleaning the apartment, and ordering food) to the unbelievable (taking notes at meetings with his fellow gang members, calling and confirming meeting times with crime lords, making excel sheets of hit lists, and bribing dirty cops to help get his men out of jail).
The cuffs came off, but only during the times she was in the apartment with him. The cuffs came back to prevent her from making any quickie escapes when they went to sleep. Tae Hyun got the bed and Yoori got the floor. Cuffs or no cuffs, Yoori was always by Tae Hyun's side, ready and unhappily servicing his every unreasonable demand.
And, as if the menial tasks she had to perform for Tae Hyun weren’t making her exhausted enough, she was also not getting enough sleep. After the dramatic incident of waking up in his bed that first morning, Yoori kept herself awake to make sure such a disaster would never occur again. Sadly for Yoori, keeping herself awake at night might keep her from climbing onto Tae Hyun's bed, but it wasn't stopping her from sleeping anywhere else.
"Choi Yoori," she heard a faint voice call out her name as she fluttered in and out of consciousness.
She was a feather. She felt herself wavering in her seat, her balance sublimely challenged by gravity. She should open her eyes to avoid collision with the floor, but her eyelids were so heavy. The sensation of resting her eyes was too euphoric. If only she could have a couple more seconds to rest –
"CHOI YOORI!"
Her arms flailed up when Tae Hyun's roaring voice breached her once peaceful state. In the process of returning to the land of consciousness, she accidentally knocked something off the table. Yoori brought her hands to her ears and closed her eyes, attempting to block out the inevitable sound of shattering glass. No matter how hard she pressed her hands against her ears, Yoori could still hear the deafening impact as the glass shattered into a million pieces. She gave a nervous smile, slowly lifting the lids of her eyes.
The image was just as she remembered it before she drifted off to sleep. She was in one of Tae Hyun's many nightclubs in the middle of the afternoon and surrounded by his men. She was sitting right beside him, her hand cuffed to him while facing a group of new gang associates being interrogated for perjury. He was still wearing a white dress shirt and dark pants, looking as striking as ever. The only new image was the sight of everyone staring at her. Not to mention the worst sight of all: Tae Hyun glowering at her in annoyance.
"Sorry," she voiced meekly. She peeked at the shattered champagne glass being swept away by one of the S
erpents.
Tae Hyun grounded his teeth. She could tell he was trying very, very hard to remain composed.
"As I was saying,” he began tightly, doing an awful job of hiding his irritation with her. "Min and his friends here are telling me that they’ve given me all of the money from the drugs they sold at their university. All $10,000 of it. I'm thinking otherwise. Can you verify what they’re saying is true?"
By the tone of his voice, what he asked was more of a command than a request.
"Oh yes," Yoori mumbled, taking out a pink notebook from her white purse. She was relieved that the embarrassment brought on by the shattering glass was looked over. She flipped through the pages. Her finger scanned through the list of sellers and expected profit for Tae Hyun's drug business.
"Let's see, Min and friends,” she muttered, skimming her fingers down the page. When she found their names, she stopped and stared at them warily.
They were supposed to have $12,000.
Sure enough, Min and friends looked at her with tears welling up in their eyes. They knew they were about to be called out for their lies. She glanced cautiously at Tae Hyun.
His expectant eyes were on her.
Dread besieged her. She didn't want to be the one to tell him that they lied to him.
She fidgeted uneasily.
Her fears did not come because she was afraid of Tae Hyun. They came at full speed because she didn't want to see him bash in the skulls of Min and friends. She looked at them. In a sea of Serpents dressed like corporate CEO’s, Min and friends looked young and pitiful in their t-shirts and jeans. Her eyes moved to Min. From her hire date until now, Yoori had chatted with Min on several occasions. From these exchanges, she found him to be charming. She didn't want to be responsible for any ill deed that may be bestowed onto him and his friends.
"Choi Yoori?” Tae Hyun prompted, staring at her with piercing eyes.