I was like the predator that stalked my prey. I paced the dark streets that were only illuminated by a few streets lamps. It was very calm. Too calm. The gentle summer breeze and the crickets chirping were the only things I could hear. I made sure that the area was deserted so no one would be here to see him die. I was supposed to negotiate with the leader of our rival mafia, but from past experiences, I knew that they never cooperated, so I brought my weapons. I waited.

Finally, from the corner of my eye, I saw the slightest movement. There was a shadow just around the corner of the nearest alley. Using my exceptional sense of hearing, I kept still as I listened for my prey. His breathing was getting faster, almost as if he was hyperventilating, and I felt the fear radiate from his body. Without a sound, I strode toward him as I grabbed the knife from my boot. He didn’t even have time to react as I speedily pinned him to the wall. It was undeniably dark, but I saw his face clearly. He had brown almond eyes with eye bags framing the bottom. Kind of looked like a panda.

“D-don’t k-kill me pl-please.” He managed to stutter. His eyes glinted with fear.

“Give me a good reason.” I hissed.

“I-I was only curious! I n-never meant for any of this to happen.” Oh. So he wasn’t the mafia boss? Hmph, I thought the descriptions didn’t match. This guy looked pretty young, about my age, and the target was described as a man in his mid-30s.  

“Haven’t you ever heard of ‘curiosity killed the cat’? Well in this case it would be ‘curiosity killed the panda’.” I mocked. “Anyway, what right do you have to be meddling in mafia business?”

“Um, I-I saw the man k-k…kill the other guy and then he left, so I-I followed h-him.” His shuddered as he recalled the memories.

“WHAT?!” I exploded in fury. There was only one person that would do that.

Just then, I saw a silhouette of someone at the entrance of the alley.

“Making out with your boyfriend instead of doing your job?” The shadow said. I looked back at the panda look alike for confirmation that it was this person. He nodded.

The shadow walked inaudibly towards us.

“Quick, stay behind me, and don’t make a sound,” I glared at the panda-guy, and let him go. He hastily slid into the shadows. I walked into the middle of the alley and faced the shadow.

“So you’re the leader of that group,” I sneered. “Here to face your doom?”

“I could say the same to you Eun-Mi,” He was the leader of the second most powerful mafia in town. I rolled my eyes.

“Let’s get this over with. Stay. Off. Our. Territory.”

“Ahh Eun-Mi, if only it were that easy. You’re still young and inexperienced in this world; of course you wouldn’t understand.” He said. That did it for me. I got angry. I held my knife up and dared him to come any closer.

It was like this dance with a very complicated choreography. A battle to the death.

I was best with knives so I had brought some, but he brought his weapons too. It was easy for me to dodge all of his offences because of my size and quick reflexes. He too, was fast, but not quite fast enough. Eventually, he got tired and I had him cornered. I held the sharpest knife I had to his neck, and glared at him. I applied a bit of pressure on the knife and watched as it carefully sliced his skin. He scrunched up his face in pain. I wondered what I should do with him. Kill him? Teach him a lesson? Then his eyes suddenly widened and focused on something behind me.

A rock came flying. It hit him on one arm but just narrowly missed me. I turned around and looked to see where the panda-guy was. Wrong move.

That offered a great opportunity for the leader to escape from my grasp and slash my arm while he was at it. I gasped in pain and I saw him advancing on the panda-guy. I swiftly blocked his path, and managed to get a cut on him and we continued the battle.

After what seemed like forever, I gave him a punch that he would remember for the rest of his life, and finally knocked him unconscious. I sighed. Then I dragged him to the corner of the alley where he would be covered by the garbage cans. I tried to clean my weapons as best as I could, and put them away. Then I remembered that the panda-guy was still there. I walked towards the exit of the alley.

“Great. If it wasn’t for you then I would have finished him off so much quicker, and I wouldn’t have gotten hurt.” I passed him and walked away. He followed closely behind me.

“I’m sorry…Eun-Mi ssi. Are you okay?”

“Don’t call me that. And of course I’m okay. What does it look like?” He eyed my injuries. I exhaled sharply.

“Do you need to go to the hospital? I’ll take you there.”

“Yeah sure let’s go,” I said sarcastically.

“I just want to make it up to you.” He said with sincerity in his voice. I sighed, stopped walking, and turned back to look at him.

“Reeeeaaaalllly.” I rolled my eyes. “Well you can do that by removing yourself from my sight first. Before I change my mind and kill you.”

“Oh come on Eun-Mi ssi. You got hurt because of me. I feel guilty…” He looked down.

I scoffed. “Fine whatever.” I was too tired to argue. I started walking again.

“So lunch tomorrow then? There’s a good restaurant near here. Meet me here at 12 tomorrow.”

“Whatever.”

“By the way, my name’s Seungri.” Seungri said almost happily.

I was going back to headquarters to report the incident when I noticed that Seungri was still following me. I walked up to the building and stopped in front of the doors.

“Seungri-ssi. This is private property.” I informed calmly.

“I just wanted to make sure you got here safely.” He bowed and then walked away. I rolled my eyes, and entered the building.