Stepping out of the shower he dried his hair, looking in the mirror, the remnants of a smile still on his face, chuckling to himself as he washed his face with water. Coming back from the mall he had collapsed from exhaustion onto his bed for the past few hours, waking up only a few minutes ago, leaving him little time to get ready for the raid. He looked away from his reflection, putting on a fresh pair of clothes. Grabbing the yellow envelope from beneath his bed, and shoving it into his pants pocket. Checking his phone for the time, it was 9:17 PM he had a little more than 50 minutes to arrive and be ready at OneNight for 'Hound'-It was a mistake to go so hard today on the cycling but I got carried away- His legs ached, as he snatched the pill bottle before turning off his bedroom lights and stepping into the apartment living room.
He heard a voice "Where are you going?"It was Daegun's voice, his little brother, Gyun paused before responding as he moved to the front door. "I'll be out with some friends, don't worry I'll be back before midnight"Daegun who was sitting on the couch watching TV didn't seem to care much as he stared at the TV. "Ok" Opening the front door, he stepped out of the apartment feeling all of the emotion and feelings he had leave him as his face hardened.
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The Club OneNight was only a few bus rides away, but first Gyun would need to pick up the appropriate gear. He had a few months ago bought a motorcycle, and rented out a small storage unit to keep it along with other things in a nearby place. Unlocking the storage door, and pressing the button he waited as the door rattled as it rolled up and opened before stepping inside, It was a small badly lit room that smelled of cigarettes.
But inside was a well-kept and slick motorcycle, a pair of cardboard boxes stacked on top of each other, and a small dresser. Stepping inside and leaving the door open, he moved first to the boxes moving one of the boxes from off the top of the other, setting it down near him. Opening the box that was beneath the other, first, there was a stack of steel plates, with a thin layer of cloth over them, the words 'BODYARMOR' plastered across the front. He squatted down, pulling two of the plates out of the box. The two of them combined weighed around twenty pounds, he set them down on the ground near him. Resealing the box, he stepped to the dresser, grabbing an all-black thick jacket that had a glossy look on the outside, it was a rain jacket, with the inside lined with Kevlar making it cut and stab-resistant. Putting it on and zipping it up, he opened the other box, there were a variety of things inside this one.
A metal box, a pair of plate carriers to hold the metal plates, and a variety of other trinkets that Gyun had used or may make use of. Reaching inside he grabbed the plate carrier, sliding it over his head and snapping the clasps around his waist. He turned, grabbing the plates off the ground, sliding one in the front sleeve of the plate carrier, and the other in the back.
The plate only covered from his upper chest to his belly button to minimize how much it would inhibit his movement, as well as protect his back. The plate carrier was all black fitting into his black jacket, he wore it over the jacket. A plate was more reliable than Kevlar as it had better stopping power that could stop up to high caliber rifle rounds, while Kevlar vests could most often only stop pistol rounds. He tightened his body armor as the small light in the storage unit flickered, revealing the old and bleak concrete walls and the faded orange paint of the door. Checking the body armor one more time, he grabbed the black pants from another drawer. Putting them on over his sweatpants, and tightening them with a belt, the pants were also cut and stab-resistant with built-in kneepads to help with falls from heights.
He reached back into the cardboard box grabbing a curved knife sheath made of hard plastic, attaching it to the back of his belt. He opened the metal box inside the cardboard box pulling out a small curved blade a Karambit knife, with a small ring at the end of its handle that could be used to flick the blade and cut the opponent. Sliding it into the sheath, he attached the sheath to the back of his belt and pulled the jacket over the belt concealing the small knife. Grabbing a pair of chains from out of the box, he wrapped them around his forearms, he wrapped his forearms completely. Though they weighed on his arms, stepping onto the motorcycle, it was a black Ishuzuki 238 custom bike from Japan that he'd placed on order 3 months ago, it only arrived 2 weeks ago. Lifting his leg he sat on the bike, the seat felt incredibly soft, though he'd only ridden it once he remembered how fast it was. He pulled the keys out from within the black jacket putting them into the ignition. Grabbing the all-black helmet from the handlebars, he placed it over his head the reflective tinted visor dully shined from the singular light in the room. Turning the motorcycle on, it purred like a cat waking up from a nap, it was an all-electric bike that was so quiet that even in the small enclosed room he could barely hear it. Pulling a pair of leather gloves from the pocket of his jacket, rolled it forward out of the storage unit as he put on the gloves. Stretching his hand out, he felt the gloves in the dim light he looked at his hands closing his hand as if he was trying to grab the light. Reaching the outside of the storage unit and out to the storage lot, he hit the button on the wall closing the storage unit's door. As the old door rattled on its way down, he revved his bike before speeding off into the Seoul night.
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Leaning on the handlebars of his bike, he looked across the street to the crowded entrance of the target nightclub. OneNight its neon sign shown, the black brick building took up most of the streetside. There was a trio of club security at the front, letting people into the club after giving them a short check. Gyun sighed, supposedly inside there were more than several hundred pounds of narcotics, that he was given the task of burning. That task was second only to the mission of wiping out the OneNight members and leaders. "Tough job eh?" tightening his jaw as Gyun turned around at the gruff voice though it was in Cantonese Gyun had enough of a grasp of Chinese to speak it roughly and understand what was said.
Three men were walking down the sidewalk toward him wearing identical brown leather trenchcoats, they looked like they came straight from the streets of Birmingham in the 1920's. The one in the front wearing a fedora, a cigarette burning in his mouth was the one who spoke to him on the phone, it was safe to say he was the leader of 'Hound'. Stepping off his motorcycle, Gyun moved towards him, Hound didn't show any fear the group stopping only to look at him. Gyun's face drained of all humanity as he stepped toward them, they stood off against each other, and the leader of Hound nonchalantly puffed on his cigarette he didn't seem worried about 'Van Gogh' whom he towered over.
Looking into the emotionless reflective visor of that helmet 'Van Gogh', though he was a good two heads taller than the smaller 'Van Gogh', he still felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise as the cigarette's embers reflected off the visor.
The tension was palpable, neither speaking, while the two other hounds behind the leader slowly moved their hands to within their trenchcoats. No doubt reaching for a weapon, the sound of their leather jackets moving ever so slightly drowned out by the nightlife of the Seoul streets.
After a few seconds, the tension was broken as a car with bright lights drove by briefly illuminating them in bright white light. For a slight moment, Hound thought he could see 'Van Gogh's eyes and what he saw. No... what he felt was nothing but pure unadulterated hate, 'Vang Gogh' spoke "You say shit like that again and I'll leave you with just enough time to live to regret what you did, understand? And stop speaking fucking Chinese." Though it was rough Cantonese it was still understandable.
Though his voice was slightly muffled through the helmet, all three members of 'Hound' shook their heads of course they still kept the proud looks on their faces.
Turning back around 'Van Gogh' pointed at the club OneNight, "We've got 15 minutes before the cops receive a report, and about 2 minutes before they show up so we need to be out of here fast. I already checked with management, they assured us that as long as we're not here by the time the police show up everything will be handled. Now I'll take the lead, you follow behind me and clean up the stragglers. When we clear the base floor move to take the basement I'll handle the higher floors understand?"
Taking the cigarette out of his mouth to protest still in Chinese, "Hey we didn't ag-" Marching forward, he briefly looked across the street "We go now" Jogging across the street he pushed through the crowd.
Hound followed behind through a group of people, someone in the crowd protested 'Hound' grabbed hold of him by the collar and punched him in the face sending the smaller man reeling. Screams erupted in the crowd as people started running, and jostled around in the midst of the crowd.
'Hound' briefly lost sight of 'Van Gogh' in the ensuing panic as 'Van Gogh' reached the front doors, after a few seconds the people had dispersed enough that he could see.
Standing at the front doors, two security guards lay on the ground unconscious, bleeding from their faces and heads, the black gloves they had on stained with blood.
'Van Gogh' briefly glanced at the unconscious civilian on the ground, before gesturing "Move quickly, someone would have called the police already"
Rolling his neck around, popping his neck 'Hound' groaned as he swung his arm around a few times as he caught up to 'Van Gogh'
Van Gogh, tilted his head toward the closed club doors, 'Hound' confused asked "What?" "The third guard got away, he locked the door...so kick it down" "Why us?" the lead hound tossed his cigarette on the ground
"Because there are three of you" Glancing at his watch Van Gogh added "We've got 14 minutes to get in and out" Though his voice sounded emotionless there was a tinge of annoyance as if it was a stupid question.
"Fuck..." The lead hound took a step back, "On three!...one...two....three!"The trio jumped forward in sync kicking the door open, as the door smashed open it revealed at least ten thugs.
Before Hound could react, 'Van Gogh' leaped past them, tackling the first opponent and tossing him over his shoulder onto the hard concrete floor his neck turning at an odd angle as he landed. Before spinning using his chain-wrapped fists to pound his opponents and keep the thugs from immediately swarming him.
A dull thud and clinks could be heard as Van Gogh's lightning-fast fists dropped the thugs, and the club music could be heard echoing all the way to the entrance in the background. Blood sprayed, as Van Gogh's fists accelerated, punching one thug before changing his target, constantly turning to take the opponent who had gotten too close."What are we waiting for?!" the lead 'Hound' jumped into the fray pulling out a long knife and cutting down the first thug with a scream.
The pair of other 'Hounds' looked at each other before pulling out crude machetes from their trenchcoats.
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Panting as he ducked under a wild swing of a punch, stepping forward Holding onto the collar of the last thug, he smashed his helmet into the man's nose with a headbutt, the man tried resisting, grunting as he whipped his head into the mans face. A sickening wet crunch could be heard, leaning back and whipping his helmeted head smash into him. After the second blow, the man's legs gave out his hands fell limply and dangling, letting go of the man's collar, the unconscious thug whose eyes had rolled back fell to the ground motionless.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Standing in the empty, a mixture of unconscious and dead bodies lay motionless on the ground. The 'Hounds' behind Gyun were wiping their knives clean pointing at a camera on the wall that was looking at them. "looks like someone saw us"
Blood ran down from the top of Gyun's helmet and down the visor, his fingers tried to wipe off the blood but ended up just smearing the blood. Calming his breath his eyes darted from within the helmet as his view was tinted red.
"Since we're exposed we move loud, kill everybody who's not a civilian understand?" pacing forward, to a door that had the stairs sign on it.
"Hahaha....screw you, we don't work for you, we don't work for anybody" the smaller of three hounds spoke up as he twirled his machete.
Glancing between the three of them seeing that they seemed to be in agreement, "Tch...do what you want".
Opening the door, he stepped through and into the stairwell to head up to the VIP lounges and club manager's office. He heard shouts and rapid footsteps coming from the stairs above, counting the number of footsteps he guessed around 3 guards.
-Time to get to work-
As the guards swung a bat, he ducked under it grabbed the waistband of the man's ankle, and pulled him down the stairs behind him.
A dull thud echoed through the stairwell, as the pale lights and the white walls, accented the dark figure of Gyun, as he blocked a swing from a baton with his chained forearms. Wincing slightly he grabbed the man's arm pulling him close and elbowing the man's face.
Using the man to temporarily block the other guard from approaching him, after brutalizing the man, he tossed him down the stairs into the recovering guard.
Moving onto the last guard he allowed the guard's punch to land against his helmet, and a cry of pain rose from the man's mouth as he took a step back.
Calmly stepping forward he grabbed the man's hair smashing his head into the guardrail and letting him fall to the ground holding his face. He turned to the first guard whom he'd tossed initially, he was now a few stairs below Gyun.
Leaping down the stairs, he drove his knee into the man's body, though the guard had put up his arms. It didn't matter Gyun drove the back of the man's head into the white brick wall behind him.
All three guards were on the ground, one was still conscious but he was crying silently as his nose had been caved in from the metal guardrail.
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Opening the door to the VIP floor, he left the stairwell with a variety of unconscious and dead bodies. He peeked his head out looking left to right, down the VIP hallway, he saw nobody either way.
Stepping onto the VIP floor, which was different from the VIP lounge, he noticed that the decor had completely changed both the outside and the entrance of the club, were very much punk and more of a rave-esque style. But the floor was now an expensive-looking carpet, and the walls and lighting of the hall were completely different seeming like a high-class hotel.
There was an elevator at the end of the hallway, Gyun assumed that was the elevator to the top floor and where the leader would be.
Cautiously walking down the hallway there were a variety of closed rooms to his left and right. Knocking on each door, as he walked he heard no response from any of them however on the fifth door he paused as he heard a voice respond.
"What?!" The voice was slightly slurred and faint, music could be heard faintly from the room, and the room was most likely soundproofed to some extent. Leaving Gyun to believe it was most likely a random patron but the tone sounded annoyed and almost angry at him. It was the type of voice that grated on his nerves, stopping as he stared at the wooden ornate door for a moment, before shouting again to make sure the person inside could hear. "I brought more drinks, sir!" as he stood in front of the door, the door handle turned and as the door was cracked open he kicked it open.
"What the fuck?!" A yell could be heard as the door was kicked open, and a man stumbled back holding a hand to his forehead. Ignoring him stepping inside Gyun looked around, it was a large room with a karaoke machine in the corner with televisions on either side of the walls. Expensive sofas and a large table in the center of the room, with a full spread of bottles of alcohol Gyun guessed were expensive. But as Gyun glanced at the people he closed the door.
There were four younger men who looked to be in their late 20s, their attire was entirely designer clothing. As well as five women who were dressed in much less expensive clothing, all of them were in various states of undress, their stares were blank as they lay on the sofas, and one was on the table completely naked.
They hadn't reacted to Gyun breaking the door, nor the fact that the men were groping them as he had walked in.
That left only one conclusion in Gyun's mind, they were drugged, and the four men, hurriedly pulled up their pants as they turned to look at Gyun. Their cheeks flushed and reeked of alcohol, as they stepped right in front of him yelling.
Tuning them out, he tilted his head to the side as he was reminded of his former fellow Dreamwalker member who had been captured and tortured in unspeakable ways by the Aegians for weeks on end to the point when Gyun found her, all the light in her eyes had disappeared and she had pleaded for death to Gyun eventually he obliged sending her off peacefully.
Glancing to the corners of the room, he verified there were no cameras in the room. Taking off his helmet, he let it fall to the ground his typically emotionless expression was no longer calm, and his breathing elevated and became heavier.
He could hear her pleading cries in his head even now, the way they found her burned into his memory. His pupils shook with anger, as he looked at each and every one of the young men's faces.
No regret, no guilt, only annoyance at being disturbed the absurdity of their disgusting acts not affecting them in any way.
Checking his watch, he still had 13 minutes before he needed to be out of the building, he could afford these trash 3 minutes of his time. He muttered to himself under his breath, as he locked the door behind him.
"Hey speak up you bastard do you know who I am?" The one who Gyun had hit with the door shoved Gyun.
But he was sent a heavy punch from Gyun's chained fist plunged into his stomach, coughing the man threw up on the floor. The other three men's faces paled, though one stupidly, perhaps because he was drunk grabbed a bottle swinging wildly.
Grabbing his karambit from his back, he sliced the man's throat, severing the arteries cleanly in a smooth movement. Gyun grabbed the bottle as the man's grip loosened and his hands shot to his throat. Falling to his knees he grasped at his throat desperately, trying to stop the blood from pouring out.
"Damn...you got off easy, well take your time if you hold down hard enough you might live long enough to watch your friends die"
Shoving the dying man's head onto the floor, he moved to the kneeling man who stared terrified at his dying friend.
Brandishing the knife he squatted down, tracing the knife's edge with his gloved fingers accentuating the blood on the edge of the blade.
"I only got a few minutes so I won't be able to take my time but trust me it will be plenty for people like you" his voice was shaking from anger, his eyes had lost all humanity in them.
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Wiping the blood from his hands, he picked up the women who were unconscious and set them on the sofa covering them with the dead men's jackets. Checking his watch he noted that it had taken just under three minutes on the scumbags.
Resheathing his knife, he moved to the door putting back on his helmet, grabbing the bloody messes that were once men's legs he opened the door and dragged them outside the room, they weren't light but they weren't heavy for him. Being relatively close to the elevator he moved towards it dragging the the four bodies by their ankles.
He had only walked a few steps toward the elevator as it dinged, opening it revealed a man, he was a foreigner his blond hair shone in the white lights in the hall. Information Gyun had read on him beforehand flashed through his mind, 34 years old former army infantryman and later ranger who saw action in the Congo war. Later he spent a brief stint with the Triple Canopy Private Military Company where he would spend some time in the Middle East.
Cole Robeshaw and former manager for 'them' before defecting, his codename 'Lone Star', he was wearing a dress suit with no tie.
Dropping the bodies, Gyun put up his hands in preparation for a fight, Robeshaw smiled as he stepped off the elevator, "That's cute"
Reaching behind his back he grabbed something, Gyun's perception of time slowed as Robeshaw's hand began coming around from his back information passed through his mind. Robeshaw or 'Lone Star' made his name in America killing high profile targets with a gun, the report stated a chance of firearms. And while guns were banned in Korea, they weren't extremely hard to get a hold of, all this information culminated into one conclusion.
-Gun-
In an empty hallway with no cover, Gyun was left with one option to close the distance or die trying.
In the split second that Robeshaw drew the gun, a black pistol, and pulled back the slide to chamber a bullet. Gyun whipped the chain off his forearm as he darted forward, Robeshaw ducked under the chain, letting the chain snap loudly like a whip.
He extended his arm to shoot as Gyun pulled back on the chain, smacking him in the back of the head. Grabbing the gun, he pushed the muzzle up as they struggled for control, stepping his foot behind Robeshaws. He tried to trip him by hooking behind his leg but Robeshaw stepped out, punching with his hand into Gyun's side.
Close together, they struggled for control of the gun and for a dominant position, both with one hand on the gun and struggled for a position with the other hand in a clinch.
Chest to chest the size difference was made apparent as Robeshaw was almost a head taller than Gyun. Kneeing him in the stomach, and grunting as he shoved Robeshaw into the wall. Robeshaw tried resting his head on Gyun's helmet as he punched into his stomach.
Taking advantage Gyun jumped upward headbutting him in the chin while stepping his leg in front of Robeshaw's legs turning his back and tossing Robeshaw over his shoulder onto the ground. Holding the gun as he pointed it away from him, Robeshaw grunted as he was slammed into the wooden floors. Pulling his knife from its sheath he slashed the wrist of the army ranger.
A scream erupted from Robeshaw, as he turned trying to get to his feet, his grip loosened on the gun as he tried to stand up. Taking the opportunity Gyun twisted the gun out of his grip, as Robeshaw stood up. Gyun kicked him back as he fell back to the ground, he pulled the trigger firing 3 times into the man's chest.
The gunshots rang out through the empty hallway, though the sound was slightly muffled within the helmet.
Panting from the exertion he stumbled backward as he caught his breath, within the helmet, his eyes darted around looking through the blood-stained visor. The hall's lights reflected off his shiny helmet.
He whipped his head back around as he heard a wet cough, looking down Robeshaw's blond hair matted his face blood was seeping from his chest the wooden floors beneath him began to turn red as blood pooled beneath him.
Blinking he coughed out some blood as he raised his head to look at Gyun, "Jus-"
A shot rang out, echoing throughout the hallway as the gun's muzzle smoked, and a small hole appeared in Robeshaw's forehead he was now lying motionless, glancing around before approaching his body. Gyun squatted down, searching his body, he ignored the still-open eyes of Robeshaw.
Pulling out the holster for the pistol and an extra magazine, he attached the holster to his hip, stuffing the magazine in his holster. Standing up he spared no second glance at Robeshaw, walking to the elevator and stepping inside.
As the elevator doors closed, and the lights within the elevator were neon pink, holding the gun up he ejected the magazine, counting the rounds as the elevator doors closed.
Pressing the button, he stood in the center of the elevator, within his helmet his black hair stuck to his face from sweat, those bright violet eyes that were one in a million were unperturbed despite the fatigue beginning to set into his body.
The lights flashed across his face as he slid the magazine back in the pistol, pulling the slide back to chamber a bullet, he checked to make sure a bullet was ready to fire. Sliding it back into his holster, the elevator dinged as the doors began to open.