One [The Calculator]

A twenty-three-year-old young man is forced to kneel on the hospital’s rooftop and as the scorching cement burns his bare knees he tries not to upset the people around him by keeping quiet. To say that he’s scared is an understatement because he’s terrified. And for all the right reasons. 

After causing an accident earlier that morning, scraping a woman with his motorbike, he’s been held hostage by the handful of men and women, in black suits, who seem to be working for her. Unfortunately, none of them rubs him the right way with warm and friendly vibes so agreeing on an affordable settlement seems unrealistic at the moment. 

However, a settlement isn’t what he’s keen on. Precisely six hours ago, he was a normal college dropout living his normal mundane life until all of a sudden, after deciding to take the backroad for his regular pre-dawn delivery shifts, he’s been pulled into something big. As in dangerous, the black market kind of big. 

And with men and women surrounding him, wearing stoic expressions before turning their backs on him, he can’t help but wonder its mystery. Is the back-turned a sign of intimidation? A code of conduct that says they can’t witness what their leader is about to do to him? 

The man has never been in a life and death situation before but he has read enough mystery books and seen enough crime and thriller films to identify a dangerous situation. And this is a very deadly situation. 

“What is your name, boy?” asks the one and the only woman who doesn’t have her back facing him, though he wished she did because she unnerves him. And although he observes her to be naturally pretty with jet black hair pulled up into a tight ponytail, smooth milky skin, and graceful double eyelids, her appearance pales in comparison to her menacing ambiance. 

The one in the hot seat gulps, hoping his mind will work faster but instead, it fails him, “I-I’m Choi Bomin...Are you going to hurt me?” The woman says nothing for a second and it was a good enough answer for him to continue, “Please don’t hurt me. I have a little sister who still needs me. If she finds out something happened to her only family member left, she’ll be de-devasted.” He pleads in a low and rushed voice. 

The nameless woman, towering over him, flattens her eyes but remains silent. Almost as if she’s considering between sparing his life or coming up with ways to kill him. Maybe it’s the puppy look he was giving her but when her hard expression softens and her lips parted to explain, an incoming voice hastily cuts her off. 

“Except you’re an only child even before you became an orphan.” 

Spinning towards the single door that leads to the rooftop, they see a woman approaching in a patient’s gown with a long black coat to complement her dull attire. 

Unlike the first woman, the newcomer is tinier with wavier red hair and doesn’t seem as frightening. Though not completely approachable. 

“An orphan, taken in by your mother’s sister, someone you know as Aunty Sushi.” 

Her mentioning of his aunt irks him, not because he’s on bad terms with his aunt when they’re in fact best friends, but because it’s an intimate nickname. And it forces him to wonder how she knows so much about him when they’ve just met today. Did she run a background check on him in the eight hours that she was supposed to be resting and recovering? 

“Thank you, Hyewon. I’ll take it from here,” the redhead directs to the scary woman who’s been interrogating him. “You’re quite the actor, Choi Bomin,” the victim praises him sarcastically, a mockery he thought he deserved, “If I hadn’t overheard what you two were talking about, you may have convinced my second in command to set you free, then I would have had to waste resources tracking you down in a city as endless as Seoul.”

The man cowers slightly to avoid direct eye contact, then sheepishly asks, “Wh-what do you want from me? So-sorry I hit you—”

A sigh from her stops him mid-apology. Slowly, she squats down to meet his eye level and flashes him a small insane-kind-of smile, “Look here, young grasshopper, this morning I’ve lost a very important member of my...uh—” she pauses and waves small circles in the air with her hand as if the motion will help her find the word she’s looking for, “my uh, social group. So the plan was to replace her by this afternoon but your tunnel vision caused the hip-cup that altered today's agenda. So here’s what you're going to do. You're going to work for me and in exchange, I won’t send someone to the authority regarding your Aunty Sushi’s assault against the customer the other night at approximately 1 AM. An hour before you showed up to help her clean and close up the shop.” 

“Wh-what? Assault?” Bomin stutters and his breathing pick up as he sinks into denial. He wants to believe that his aunt didn't hurt anyone, “Th-that can’t be. She said he turned the place upside down since he was drunk so all she did was ask him to leave—” 

With a growing smile, the woman agrees, “Exactly. He was drunk.” A second later she then emphasizes the d-word, “Can’t expect and rely on drunks to be responsible for their actions now can you?” Despite what she said, her selfish smile betrays her along with her rhetorical question. She knew and saw more than what she’s willing to share and sadly his aunt’s secret is her trump card. 

The man now identifies as Bomin bites back the urge to question her and realizes he’s about to strike a deal with someone who hasn’t bothered to introduce herself, “Fine...I’ll work for you. But first I need to know who you are and what happened to that member you mentioned.” 

He’s an early bird and that’s what she liked about him. Grinning, the woman answers slowly, “The name is Kim Chaewon, leader of The Clan. All the people you see here work for me and this is only 2% of them. As for my dead member, I’ll gladly give you the details once we leave this depressing place.” 

Dead?!

“Wa-wait, de-dead?! Not lost as in fired but lost as in dead?!” 

Standing up she straightens her back then lends him her pale and small hand. “Here, I'll help you up.” 

He puts off the kind gesture, momentarily, to get a better study of her expression. However, when he got nothing, except that somehow he’s confident she won’t hurt him, he reaches up and locks hands with her. Then together, all twenty-three of them head down to a few lined up black Siennas. Where she reveals the full story of what happened to the member who betrayed her. 

- Earlier that day-

The time was 4 AM and in the pathetically tiny, hazy room lit only by the moon’s light streaming through the curtains-drawn-window, a petite but big-boned woman stood before Kim Chaewon. 

The woman was afraid but also aware of her future—or what’s left of it. 

Pryers like herself have never lived to tell the tales of what they discovered in the darkest, deepest shadows of The Clan’s main headquarters. A boring one-story building on the exterior with four stories underneath the earth. 

Clicking her tongue, Chaewon slurs her words as she’s only got 30 minutes of sleep and was fed up with anything spy-related for the century, “What were you looking for in my study room?” She paused for a moment and at that moment the spy thought it was to give her a chance to answer when in reality Chaewon was just dead- tired. It was too damn early in the day and she doesn’t have the patience to interrogate a traitor. “Forget I asked. You were clearly looking for a death wish. “Hyewon, take her away and feed her to whatever is in Han River then have 215162 close the case as suicide,” Chaewon said with a clearer voice this time. 

In the reflection of an 88-inch flat-screen, mounted on the wall behind Chaewon, two men entered and quickly but quietly dragged the woman out. Once they were gone, Hyewon stepped into the room and calmly asked, “Are you alright, Boss? You’ve been soft on spies lately.” 

An unwell Chaewon sporting a tight wife-beater, loose and black fleece jogger, her favorite pepper and salt stripped compressor socks, and heavy jet black boots occupied the leather brown armchair alone. And though she should be celebrating another spy caught, her migraine wouldn’t subside. 

“Drowning her then labeling it as suicide is going soft on her?” Chaewon rolled her eyes hard. 

She knew Hyewon is an expert killer and deaths are like food and water, a necessity, to Hyewon, but drowning was something Chaewon would never consider ‘soft’. 

“Well in the past you’d make examples of spies and now…” Hyewon trailed off as she saw that Chaewon had her arms sprawled out on top of the sofa, eyes shut, and her head was angled skyward against the furniture. 

Hyewon pursed her lips then moved closer to Chaewon. Shortly, she ran a hand through Chaewon’s sable hair with dark purple highlights. 

“Good night, Boss.” 

Leaning over, Hyewon planted a hard kiss on Chaewon’s forehead then walked over to the door and stand watch. 

- Present -

A coffee table and set of creamy white couches completed the tiny, bright room’s interior where Chaewon has brought Bomin to officialize their deal. Except for Hyewon, no one else is present and the nearest member is three rooms down the hall. 

As Bomin peeks into a gold bubble mailer, he wonders why there’s only a calculator and nothing else inside. 

“So, was the late traitor-spy your personal deliverer?” Bomin doesn’t mean to joke but he didn’t see the need to go from a delivery boy to another delivery boy. 

Chaewon grins, though not the kind where she thinks he’s cute, “When you run that for me, the girl who lives there is the girl you must befriend.” 

“You want me to become friends with some random girl?” 

“She is hardly some random girl,” this time Hyewon chimes in, though just as calm as Chaewon, something about her tone makes her harder to ignore. “Her name is Kim Yeonhee, a six-year student at Seoul Arts University.” 

When Bomin shifts his gaze over to Chaewon, she knew he’s silently asking her to save him from Hyewon’s strictness, “Moving on,” Chaewon smiles, “you have exactly an hour to run that packet in your hand. It must be delivered to Kim Yeonhee’s mailbox without being seen. If you succeed, come back and see me. I’ll turn you into a national star and ensure your poverty life is a thing of the past. Going forth, you’ll lead a luxurious life where money might as well grow on trees.” 

Bomin has no clue what Chaewon has in store for him but bringing a calculator to a University student is totally normal and harmless, right? Once Bomin leaves the room with a weak smile, Hyewon turns her attention to the leader of her gang, “Can I remind you that you have a beautiful mind, Boss?” 

Chaewon snorts then flashes the other a wide grin, “You know I live for compliments. Ah, and once my plan is in motion, remind the CEO of GoldMusic that he brought this upon himself. He should have signed the company over when he had the chance.” 

Hyewon nods, knowing the exact words her boss wants her to pass down to the said male. 

“My boss gave you a chance and you blew it by going against her. So now you and your daughter must pay.” 

It’s 8 PM and a short woman with long flowy black hair and a pear-shaped body is on the phone, and closing in on the apartment she’s living at. Giggling, she asks over the phone, “You’re not making scrambled eggs and bacon again and calling it a romantic dinner date, are you?” Her voice is sweet and her giggles sweeter. Stopping in front of the shared white P.O.box, she fishes for the key in her peach handbag then retrieves today’s mail. 

“Sure I am!” The voice, on the other end, shouts gleefully, “Long as the eggs and bacon are in the form of a heart, it can be called a romantic dinner date, can’t it?” 

The petite woman scoffs, satisfies with the question-answer, then she raises her brows slightly when she sees a gold mailer in her box. Surprise as she isn't expecting a package until next week. “You can’t call squirting heart shapes ketchup on the eggs romantic, Yunseong.” 

Sliding the handle of her bag to where her arm folds, she tucks the phone in the crook of her neck then she uses both hands to open up the package after seeing that it's made out to her: Kim Yeonhee. 

“Not even if the hearts are even?” 

Yeonhee smiles, though the other handler can’t see her, “Not even if the hearts are perfect. Charm me with something else. You’re much better at baking than gourmet cooking. And may I remind you that frosty cookies are more way romantic than dry chicken drumsticks.” 

The man laughs and agrees with her. Then he rambles on about what one of his students did in class. But she was too distracted by her findings in the package that she doesn't hear him. A calculator? She thought. The item isn’t packaged so it’s clearly not new. Also, she never lost a calculator so whose used calculator was it?  Briefly, she wonders if someone is playing a prank on her. Then she checks the name on the package again and sees that it’s handwritten and again for her. 

Frowning, she turns it on to check if it still works. 

A split second after she turns it on, she drops it onto the cement under her. Gasping and wide-eyed, she forgot she’s still on the phone with Yunseong. 

“What was that sound? You okay, Yeonhee?” 

The woman purses her lips and shakes her head, mostly to keep her whole body from shaking from the chilliness, “No-no, please save me, Yun-Yunseong,” she says with a shortage of breath, “I-I think, I think someone is going to-to kill me.”