Lee Joon

The first person that I went to visit after leaving Cheundong’s place was the warehouse of a very crooked cop. For the past month, I had been using his warehouse to develop a new kind of bullet, a smart bullet.

This bullet let the shooter shot without a clear view of the target because this bullet curved. I had been designing it specifically for my own use, and it would be the first of its kind in modern warfare. And now, it was going to save my life.

However, this place no longer safe, and my bullet was nowhere near ready to be used. I packed all of my stuff, loaded it into my car in 8 minutes, and cleared out before anyone came to find me. I decided to take up on Mir’s offer, and set up shop in another abandoned warehouse to work on my designs. Three weeks passed before I thought I had successfully finished the new bullet.

I took it back to the scrap metal yard for a test run, planning on visiting Ailee and Cheundong before I left again, but Thunder’s trailer was locked, and his big dump truck was gone. Cheundong must have gone to deliver some scrap metal and he must have taken Ailee with him. I was glad that he had, because I didn’t want her left by herself. I knew that I could try him to take care of her.

I set up two bottles and placed them in a straight line on some tires. Picking up my smaller handgun and loading it up, I took a deep breath, and closed my eyes for a moment.

This was the moment of truth.

I opened my eyes again, and took aim before firing off the shot. The bullet curved neatly around the first bottle, and smashed the second one into a million pieces.

My heart jumped, and I was suddenly hopeful. I had just single-handed invented the world’s first smart bullet, and this smart bullet was going to be my way out of the mafia. 

Now, my plan was rather simple: scare G.O. less.

 --------------------------------------------------------------

The one advantage I had over G.O. was the fact that I knew the compound and I knew how the security there worked. I knew everything about him, but now that I had broken off, he knew next to nothing about my whereabouts.

With my knowledge after growing up there, I found the perfect vantage point to the room where I knew G.O. held his meetings every Friday afternoon, and sure enough, G.O. showed, flanked by 3 body guards and several other high ranking hyungs. Mir was nowhere to be seen, and I was secretly glad.

Taking out my phone, I turned it on for the first time since Mir’s phone call, and I speed dialed the number. 50 meters away, G.O.’s cellphone rang, and I saw him look at it. His eyebrows raised at the caller ID, and he said something to the others. Slowly, he brought the phone up to his ears.

“Joon.”

His one word monologues never failed to chill me to the bone.

“Hello, G.O.,” I replied, just as curtly.

“Well?” he asked, impatiently. “Are you calling to beg for forgiveness? After failing to follow my orders, openly defying me, and killing one of my men?”

“Far from it,” I replied, calmly. “I called to tell you that I’m out of the mafia business. I’m done with it all.”

G.O. let out a low chuckle. “Why, Joon? We are your only family. Uncle D took you in when you had no one, and this is how you repay him, repay us?”

He was right about everything. I owed a lot to his uncle and his family, but I was resolute.

“You are my family, but I can’t do this anymore. I can’t kill Ahn Ailee.”

“And what makes you think that you can just quit?” G.O. challenged. “What is stopping me from calling a hit on the both of you right now? I own this city, Joon. You can’t escape.”

“Maybe because I’ve got you in my crosshairs right as we speak.”

“Impossible,” G.O. snapped. “This house was specially built by my grandfather, and I know for a fact that there is no clear shot from anywhere, no matter how good of a sniper you are. I have my men all around me, and your empty threats do not scare me.”

G.O. had reacted just as I knew he would. I leveled my rifle, and took aim at an old Chinese Ming dynasty vase that was right next to him, twirling the degree dial to curve around a window pane.

“I hope you’re not too attached to your vase, G.O. hyung,” I muttered into the phone.

A moment later, my bullet curved smoothly around the wooden window pane, drove cleaning through the glass, and whizzed by G.O.’s face, exploding the vase with a cacophonous crash.  

Chaos.

The men around G.O. all started yelling, rushing to shield their boss and shuffling him behind a bookcase. G.O. threw them off with a shake of his arm.

“Well you never fail to surprise me, Joonie, ever since we were just little kids,” he said into  the phone evenly. I saw right through his façade, however, and knew that he was terrified inside.  “Okay, let’s talk this through. You know that I can’t allow you or the girl to stay around here, especially since you both know so much.”

“I don’t plan on staying around.”

“Leave the country within a week,” he commanded. “Go wherever you want, and I promise to leave you guys alone. From that moment on, we will not keep in contact in any way. Just know that there can be no changing of minds or second chances.”

I did not hesitate at all. “Deal”

“It’s too bad Joon,” G.O. sighed. “I really liked you, kid. I admire your bravery. Impulsive, foolish, and sometimes imprudent, but you have some serious guts.”

“Love changes a person, hyung,” I replied.

“Mir is going to miss you,” he added, almost as an afterthought.

“I’m going to miss him. I’m going to miss the both of you.” And that was the truth. No matter was, these people have been my family for so many years. Mir and G.O. were people who I had grown up with, people who I loved despite of their many faults.

“Good bye Changsun,” G.O.’s voice was back to being cold and emotionless.  “Remember…you have 7 days time. Leave the country, or I will take action against you and the girl.”

“Bye, hyung,” I replied, and hung up the phone.

I was out.

Pulling out the plane tickets from my pocket, a smile spread over my face for the first time in months. Two first class tickets to Tokyo, Japan, booked just the night before.

I imagined Ailee and me walking down the Tokyo streets hand in hand, losing ourselves in the big city, seeing the Japanese cherry blossoms in the spring, and finally just being able to be together. We could get a little apartment along the Sumida River, and eat breakfast together on the balcony on warm summer days.

Now that I was free from the business, anything was possible. 

[A/N]: Yikes. Poor Joonie, because you all know what he finds when he gets back  :(   This ended up with more dialogue than I had wanted, but oh well.

Next chapter will be the hardest for me to even write, because truthfully, I did not like the girl in the MV. I kind of wanted Joon to just shoot her and leave, although that was probably partly because I happen to be rather Joon biased, and was not amused when he died. Hopefully more emotion, and less dialogue next chapter which will be the . 2 more chapters left!