Chapter 3

The room was dark, and Min-Soo couldn’t see well. He entered a corridor and saw a light from the left room. When he entered the lighted room, he saw a man tied up on a wooden chair. In front of the man was office desk which was overloaded with garbage and empty injections, probably heroin. In the corner of the room was an old tv which was still on. The man in the chair tried to free himself but the ropes were to strong. While Min-Soo observed the room he suddenly felt a hand on his back. “If I were an enemy you would be dead already. First lesson if you do a job like this. Always mind your surroundings. An enemy could wait everywhere for you.” Min-Soo looked at Jin-ho and nodded, his martial teacher was right. He had to look out.

Jin-ho turned around and looked at the old man then he said. “Second rule. Never, and I mean never. Never use our real names. Use some pseudonyms like red or butterfly. Whatever you want but no real names. Got it?” He nodded then asked: “What are our pseudonyms right now?” “You really are stupid, aren’t you? If we would use pseudonyms, then I would have told you earlier. Right now, we just beat this shitty old man up and then go back. For that we don’t need any pseudonyms got it?” “Yes, sorry.” Jin-ho sighed then he took out his brass knuckles and gave them to Min-Soo. “You will hit him now. Hit him into the face and the stomach. Don’t show any mercy and don’t stop until I tell you to stop.” Min-Soo stood there in a daze and looked at the brass knuckles and then at the old man. He tried to take them on and hit this old geezer, but his hands didn’t follow his commands. He was still the coward from school who was bullied by everyone.

Jin-ho noticed very fast that Min-Soo couldn’t do anything and came from behind. He nudged him. Min-Soo turned around and his face was hit by the fist of Jin-ho. He felt intense pain and started to groan. His body nearly lost his balance and he had to lean against the wall. “You useless little son of a bitch. Get yourself together and beat this guy up or I will beat you up. Got it?” Min-Soo was shocked and tried to argue with Jin-ho, but he was met with another fist. Tears dropped from Min-Soo face when he turned around to the old man. He had enough. Enough pain. Enough suffering. Enough humiliation. He reached out with his hand and aimed at the face of the old man. He felt how the knuckles met the bones and the flesh of the man and he knew he had hit the old man now. From this point on his body went into the automatic mode. He just hit and hit. At first the man cried shouted and begged but as times passed the man became more and more quiet. Now he was just whispering for help and mercy. Before he could land another hit, he felt to strong arms from behind. “He had enough. Let’s go back. He is waiting.” Min-Soo felt very weak, but he followed Jin-ho back.

When he entered the car, he lost all his strength and laid back. His master looked at him and then had a short conversation with Jin-ho which he couldn’t hear. Then his master came back and looked at him. “As I have heard from Jin-ho you still hold on to the rules of society. That’s ok for now but later you have to change. In the end you did well. We will now take a break. Jin-ho please bring us to the usual coffee store.”

They drove for a short while. While they were driving Min-Soo remembered about his classmates and sister and how they all looked down on him. If he would screw up here to, then he had no place left to go. He had to endure it.

The black Mercedes stopped in front of a small coffee shop in Gangnam Station. The coffee shop was called Coffee Gallery. Even tough it was in a modern street the coffee shop had a somewhat old feeling.

They left the car and went together into the coffeeshop. He ordered a Latte Macchiato and the others drank normal black coffee. With the flavour of the coffee and the chattering around him, he finally started to calm down. While he was sipping on his coffee, his master started to tell him some things. “Min-Soo firstly you need new clothes, a new mobile phone and you will have to make a tattoo. First about the clothes. In about 15 minutes we will leave this store and then go to a tailor. He will make you a suit. You can’t walk around like this. Then you need a new smartphone. The smartphone you have right now is way too easy to track and hack. We need to get you a better one. About the tattoo, that will be a topic for later. Do you understand?” Min-Soo nodded. After they thanked the waitress for her service and his master paid, they left the coffeeshop and headed towards the tailor.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

An old man with some weird glasses welcomed them. He made a respectful bow in front of his master and then went with his master into a special room. He was left together with Jin-ho. While he already had time, he started to explore this interesting tailor shop. There were some suits in the front of the shop and mannequin which wore hats and sunglasses. On the walls were some classy canes. After some looking, he noticed the price for the suits. It was enormous. A normal suit costed around 1 500 000 won. His master must be rich!

10 minutes later his master came back and said that he should follow him. In another room which was not much decorated but had some nice colourful walls he saw the tailor. In the middle of the room was a big mirror. The tailor looked at him and his gaze was quite unpleasing. Then he presented him a black suit with black pants. They had no patterns or decorations it was just a simple black suit. But this simple black was to his licking. He changed his clothes and looked into the mirror. Even tough he was still ugly and fat he had now a bit of a special feeling. It was still too faint to be able to impress other people, but he knew with time flowing he would become more and more impressive. While he looked in the mirror at himself, the tailor started to tell him some details. “This suit is especially made for people who work in your business. It has 5 hidden pockets and it can block a knife attack. Even bullets can it stop if they are not shouted from 30 meters or nearer at you.” He was impressed by these facts and thanked the tailor. His master talked a bit longer with the tailor and then they left the shop. The next destination was an electronic store. They went with the Mercedes to the store. When he entered the store, he smelt some quite orientalism flavours. The storekeeper came and greeted them. It was a foreigner and he looked like he was from Arabia or any other country of the near east. The store itself was filled with all kinds of electronic goods. He saw smartphones, computers, televisions and even some old radios.

His master turned around to him and said: “That’s Amir. He is a good friend of mine and will equip us with any technical equipment which we need on our missions. He can provide you with any electronical good you need. From an interfering transmitter to a small EMP machine, everything is possible if you can pay his price. So, negotiate if you want something.” Amir turned to him and smiled at him. “Hello my fiend. My name is Amir and I will provide you with anything you need. You just have to ask. What your master told you is not true; my prices are good and fair.” Min-Soo nodded and asked: “I need a smartphone which is not trackable and has good security, if some hackers attack me.” Amir thought first and then smiled. He disappeared behind his counter and started to search for something and then came back. In his hands were 8 smartphones. All of them were black and looked simply. They had no brand name. “Those phones are the best untraceable and safest phones for you. Which one do you want?” He picked a phone and then his master negotiated with Amir. Around ten minutes later they left the shop. They went back to the car and his master said that they were now going to eat before the next mission started. They went into a small restaurant and ate some Kimchi. The chief even came out of the kitchen and asked them how the food was, so he guessed that this restaurant was involved in their business. The Kimichi filled his stomach and he felt very relived and relaxed after the meal. Even tough the restaurant was small, there were still quite a lot of people around. In one of the corners were bikers. At the bar of the restaurant was a group of ladies who chatted among them. On the opposite of their own table were two guys who looked like some business people. Even though he saw so many kinds of people from different part of the society, he didn’t feel like there was a wall which would normally separate them. When they were finished his master entered the car. Jin-ho drove while his master spoke to him. “Now let me tell you this now. Our next destination is quite important, and you mustn’t mess thing up. You just stand aside and do or say nothing. If anything happens, then hide in the car until everything has finished. Got it?” He answered with yes and then asked what their next mission was. “On our next mission. We must secure a drug deal. A drug deal between two rivalling gangs. So, stay low and don’t speak.”

He was nervous. He never ever thought about selling drugs or have anything to do with it. Even some rivalling gangs were involved. He gulped down, but he believed in his master.