CHAPTER 2: NEW CHANCES

After hours and hours of tracking intruders in our gang’s area and then chasing them until they realized it would be best to just leave quickly, it felt heavenly to fall down to my bed. The adrenaline rush and tension of the mission had completely emptied my head of dark thoughts and stress, and so I was relieved as I noticed myself feeling sleepy the moment my body fell touched the mattress. I closed my eyes, completely ready to just fall asleep. It was no surprise I dozed off in no time.

Waking up in the morning wasn’t as pleasant, anyhow. The moment I heard Chanmi’s alarm clock go off my eyes were opened and I tried to move, letting out a frustrated groan as I realized my muscles were so sore I could barely move a finger without feeling a cramp coming my way. I felt almost embarrassed. I was my unit’s ace. Yet still I was this tense and sore just after one mission. I knew I could only blame the gang’s chief for this as she never sent me off to do anything – anyone would get sore after literally doing nothing for a long time. I yawned and stared at the room’s grey concrete walls. It looked so mirthless. That was the only accurate word that could describe the whole room as it was just concrete, from the floor to the ceiling. There were two beds, a desk and an old cabinet that looked like it would fall into pieces any second. This was how we lived, in underground tunnels, like rats. For some it might have been upsetting or disgusting, but this was how I had been born and raised and I knew the underground of Seoul better than anyone – that was something I was very proud of.

“Do we have anything to do today?” I heard Chanmi murmur from under her blanket.

“We will probably receive a mission later”, I said, sitting up and stretching my body.

My sister yawned again and buried herself deeper into the blanket. “Alright. I’ll sleep more, then.”

I rolled my eyes at her and got up from the bed. I winced at the feeling of ice cold concrete under my bare feet and quickly pulled socks and slippers into my feet before wrapping myself into a comfy cardigan and stepping out of the room.

The whole headquarters of our gang had been built inside the wide, abandoned underground tunnel network beneath Seoul’s busy streets. There were multiple main tunnels that we used as our transportation channels, then a few that lead into our training rooms and living spaces. Usually the members of our gang lived with their units in small communes that consisted of a kitchen-living room combination and washing facilities – and of course our bedrooms, each for two people.

I headed to the kitchen and ate my brief breakfast alone. Either everybody had already woken up or they were sleeping longer than usually. After eating, I returned to our room to tie my hair up into a ponytail and change into sportier clothes. If I had no official training to do, I’d go run a few laps in the tunnels.

I loved to run. It had so many benefits – of course, it made my stamina increase, but it also had many spiritual merits. If I was frustrated, I could spend the negative energy by running. If I felt tired or down, running would make me feel a bit better. If I was sad or hopeless, I got my thoughts off my worries. I wasn’t exactly the fastest runner you could find, but I didn’t run to win – but to simply run.

I had run for a few laps and decided to go for the final lap before returning to the commune to shower as someone appeared from behind a corner, moving towards from the opposite way and almost running me over. I managed to dodge the person and let out a quiet, surprised yelp. As I recognized the tall and slim, black haired figure I blew out a fake frustrated sigh and crossed my arms against my chest.

“Did I scare you?” Eunwoo asked, flashing me a wide smile.

“No”, I denied. “I just got surprised. But I know you don’t run laps for nothing. What are you doing here?”

He shrugged his shoulders, still smiling. “I came to look for you. Jinwoo hyung said he has someone to introduce for us so I thought I’d find you.”

I raised my eyebrows at his words. Someone to introduce? I could feel the familiar wrinkle forming between my brows as I frowned. Had the chief decided to add a new member to our unit? It wasn’t Chanmi, I knew that for certain. Why in the world did she have to bully us like this? She knew it was Chanmi’s only goal in life to finally become a unit member and actually be able to do missions like us. I sighed and looked at Eunwoo.

“Alright then”, I said. “Let’s go see the newbie.”

The atmosphere in the training room was noticeably tensed up. I could sense it the moment Jinwoo stepped in with the new boy walking behind him. I had a hunch it was because of me and Chanmi, who had decided to join our company today. She must’ve been curious of the new member too. Anyhow, I noticed both Eunwoo and Jinwoo glancing at me nervously from time to time. Was I going to hate the new boy just because he got in before Chanmi, that seemed to be what they were thinking. Of course that wasn’t the case. I couldn’t hate the boy; I’d hate the chief.

Jinwoo cleared his throat as he started to talk. “Well, this over here is our newbie. He’s pretty new to this and I think it’s more than obvious that we will help him a lot during the first missions we share.”

I looked at the boy who stood next to Jinwoo. He was tall and lanky, and he had a young, innocent face. His expression was very nervous and deep down I felt myself questioning if he had really completed the training successfully – or if the chief just added him to our unit just to bully me.

“I’m Yoon Sanha”, the boy introduced himself. “I hope we’ll get along.”

I couldn’t hold back a small smile. He was so innocent and new to this. He introduced himself like a transfer student meeting his new classmates, worrying about making new friends. I noticed myself chuckling silently. Here the problems were a little bit bigger. At worst, a failure during a mission could lead into one’s death. And that wasn’t even too rare to happen. It had been only a few weeks since the last funeral we’d had in the tunnels.

“I’m Cha Eunwoo”, I heard my friend introducing himself.

“Lim Aeri”, I said quickly. “And this is my sister Chanmi. She’s not a part of the unit but she lives with us.”

Chanmi and Sanha nodded at each other and I couldn’t help but to notice the jealousy and envy in my sister’s expression. It must’ve hurt. Someone younger and more inexperienced got to join us and she had to continue training, probably all for nothing.

“Alright”, Jinwoo said. “I think we’re done with the introductions. We have something to discuss.”

We all sat down onto the mattresses we had laying around the training room’s floor and listened to Jinwoo explaining the day’s problem. It concerned the yesterday’s intruders who apparently hadn’t understood to leave after all. They had been seen roaming around our area of the neighbourhoods and their behaviour was clearly to make us triggered and go after them – were they trying to trick us somehow, had they planned a trap for us, which gang did they belong to? There were many questions and even though we tried our best to come up with an explanation, we couldn’t get any answers. The only thing we knew for sure was that they were from a bigger, probably more influential gang since they had the time and resources to send their members teasing us like this.

“Since Yikyung hasn’t contacted me yet, I believe we’re going to be in charge of this until we get those bastards out of our area”, Jinwoo said. As the chief’s name left his lips I could feel my face immediately form a frown. Jinwoo seemed to notice that as he glanced at me, letting out an awkward cough, and quickly continued talking. Right then, anyhow, his phone started ringing. As he picked up the call, I turned to Eunwoo and hid a yawn behind my hands.

“Are you tired?” he asked, smiling.

I shook my head. “I just need some fresh air.”

“We can go out for coffee later”, he suggested.

I nodded and smiled back at him. The idea sounded great. I hadn’t been out of the tunnels properly in days, counting out the graveyard visit the day before. My attention set on Jinwoo as he put the phone down, eyeing me clearly looking a little uneasy. I tilted my head and raised my eyebrows at him. He motioned me to come closer to him with his hand. I got up from the mattress and walked up to him.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Yikyung wants to meet you”, he said quietly. “I said you’d go.”

I let out a sigh but nodded at him and walked to the room’s door. I glanced at Eunwoo once before exiting the training room. I hated visiting the chief’s office the most in the world. Mostly because it had been my father’s office before, and after his death Hwang Yikyung, the new chief, had just taken it over and made it her own, not leaving anything familiar behind. She had never shown any respect towards her predecessor which was not just upsetting but also rude, in my opinion.

I hesitated a little bit before knocking on the office’s door. A silent hum could be heard as the sign for me to enter, and I stepped into the room. A strong scent of perfume welcomed me – or tried to make me turn around and leave immediately – and I held my breath as I walked to the desk Yikyung was sitting behind.

“Lim Aeri”, she said my name like she was tasting the words in . “You came.”

“Naturally”, I said, shrugging my shoulders. “My chief called me.”

She chuckled and crossed her arms on her chest. “Witty as ever.”

“Annoying as ever”, I replied quickly, staring into her eyes without an expression. Her smile withered away and she took a sip of the coffee she had on the desk.

“I heard you haven’t been doing much lately”, she said, chancing the subject.

“Well, it’s you who hasn’t given me any missions”, I stated.

She snorted. “So it’s because of me.”

I didn’t bother answering, I just nodded and continued staring at her blankly. To be honest, she didn’t look like a gangster. She looked like one of those rich businesswomen you can see on TV shows. She was dressed in stylish clothes, her hair was never flat and she always had makeup on. And the worst part was that she wasn’t even that much older than me. She was probably in her late twenties. I had never understood why she was the one to replace our father as the chief. She was an experienced fighter and apparently a good spy, but she lacked in everything that a good chief needed – leadership skills, respect for others and sense of justice.

“Are you sure it’s just because of me?” she asked. “Or have you just become lazy?”

“I’m the best of my unit”, I stated, staring at the woman. My voice probably reached a higher pitch that it usually was since I could see an amused twinkle in her eyes – but I couldn’t show my embarrassment in front of her.

“Is that so?” she asked silently. “Then should I give a solo mission for you to prove your skills?”

I replied without any hesitation. “For sure. I’ll surprise you.”

The evil smirk on Yikyung’s face haunted me in my mind until I felt the fresh air welcoming me as I walked up the stairs of an abandoned subway tunnel and blended into the mass of people on the busy street. In my head, I kept repeating the words the chief had told me just before I had left.

Find the intruders. Give them a reason to stay out of our area and then make sure they’ll leave for good. Kill if needed. If you succeed, maybe I’ll see the potential in you. And maybe then your sister might get her chance to shine.

I felt my mind fill up with motivation and ambition. I needed to succeed. This was the only mission that had any value for me for now. I didn’t trust Yikyung but she had promised to give Chanmi a chance if I succeeded, and that was enough of a reason for me. I went through the information Jinwoo had given me before I had left – where the enemy was last seen and where they were headed to – and strolled the nearby area. My attention set on two figures walking out of a restaurant just a few feet ahead of me. The detail that caught my attention were the black leather jackets that looked infallibly identical to the ones I had seen the day before while chasing the intruders. Also, one of the men was wearing a mask that covered his face almost completely. The details triggered my interest and I followed them, trying to look as casual as possible.

Then the men turned right to a dark, empty alley. At that point I was sure they were the people I was looking for. After they disappeared behind the corner, I took a deep breath and wrapped my fingers around the pistol’s grip that I was holding beneath my jacket.

Showtime.