Tales of Old

Yang Goon didn’t need to look out his car window to know that in less than ten minutes, he was going to step inside the plush office hidden inside an old derelict warehouse in Hongdae that only few dare enter.

The building itself stuck out like a sore thumb against the flashing lights and LEDs that have begun to illuminate the club strip but everyone in the area respected that building (Foreigners are immediately warned to be very cautious). Evil befell those who didn’t.

He was a witness to that particular brand of evil.

“Please… think this through again” he appealed to Mai just this morning as they sat together during breakfast. She had dropped by his apartment to cook for him as today is, she joked, “an important move for her career”.

“Papa” Mai answered in a stern tone “I thought you will not ask that again from me?”

Looking up the ceiling, he massaged his eyes as though he had tired them from editing voice recordings - that usual gesture that meant that he didn’t like what he was doing but had to push on because something good might come out of it.

“Mr. President” the woman called him, the first time in a long long time. YG looked at her strangely and saw something glinting in her eyes “Please do this for me. I ask nothing more.”

Those words brought back to him memories of the very first time he had met her. She was a discovery to him, a woman that Brothers Entertainment had been trying to woo for the longest time but had been as elusive as the Big Foot monster to them.

Her dream was to nurture the underground scene for Asian women in L.A. and took no hid of the offers to work abroad at the time. However, he had seen clips of her performances and knew he had to talk to her at least. As Mai had once reminded him, he believed that “Recognizing a star doesn’t take a long time” and it took him just one song from her to know that she wasn’t someone that anyone could just pass by.

She also paved the way for him to discover other talents. Danny, Teddy, and even her cousin Eun Ju from Swi.T., who was now a part of Moogadang – a woman who was special to him in more ways than one were people he had met because of her.

They had not immediately treated one another as father and daughter but she had always been respectful to him. When she had asked him to give Teddy and Danny a try, those were the same words she had told him… “Mr. President, please do this for me. I ask nothing more”.

Was she trying to evoke the memory of the results of that decision?

He had been immensely happy to have taken both men under his wing. There had been hardships, he knew – Teddy and he had a falling out but in general he was happy for how Teddy had grown into a man who could also discover and produce talents such as 2NE1 and Big Bang.

“Do you want to tell me that everything will be alright in the end?” he asked her.

Mai nodded “It almost always does end up alright Papa.”
He wanted to tell her that “almost” wasn’t enough for him but knew determination when he stared at it. There was nothing else he could do.

“We are here Mr. President” his driver announced. He took in a deep breath before going down the car.

“Mr. Yang Hyun Seok?” A guard in a black suit asked him.

“Yes.”

“Mr. Song has been waiting for you. Please follow me.”

He plastered on his dead-pan expression and took in everything that would show his apprehension and slight fear. He wasn’t a man who usually felt fear but he had not been able to sleep for the past month since Teddy had visited him.

Maybe it was meeting this man again under these conditions or maybe… it was the knowledge that he was going to lose something precious to him that had him on edge.

“It’s been a long time President Yang Goon” Yu Seuk greeted him “to what do I owe this pleasure?”

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You can run but you can never…

She had decided to visit Hyori – a close friend of hers – today to take her mind off things. Hyori always had a way to cheer her up and make sure that she had a good time.

“Mai-ah” Hyori had told her over the phone “Your maknae’s stealing the spotlight from me!”

She had laughed. “Are you talking about Daesung-ie?”

“Who else?!?” Hyori’s voice was hysterically loud and Mai knew that Dae must be somewhere near her.

“Am I on loud speaker?” she asked and heard laughter all around – loudest was Jae Seuk’s “And here I had bought food for everyone. Maybe I’ll keep this all to myself. Wait for me when I see you Jae!”

The laughter was louder and she joined in. Gad. When was the last time she had a laugh like this?

“Well, where are you now?” Hyori asked.

“I’m turning right on your parking lot.”

“Ow! You’ll get to see Daesung then. He has to leave early.”

“Ok” she answered “I’ll see you in a sec.”

She parked near the exit and looked around expectantly. Daesung would be in any minute and she wanted to tell the kid goodbye. She had been hearing positive reviews about him and was happy to also hear that he seemed to be having fun.

As she reached at the back of her car for the food she bought in, she heard a loud curse and scuffles. Her brow rising in surprise, she closed the door of her car and headed to where she heard the curse from.

“Who the-?!” she thought to herself and was suddenly knocked down the ground. Somebody had bumped into her and without looking back had gone running off.

“Come back here Gon!” he heard a girl whisper and immediately stood up.

“What are you doing?!?” she asked when she spotted a young girl a few cars away looking inside the hood of another car.

“Oh My God!” the girl exclaimed and immediately closed down the hood. She scrambled for a run but Mai had already recovered from her previous fall.

“Oh no you don’t!” she exclaimed as she ran after the young girl who was now speeding away.

“!” she heard the girl say again when the young woman had spotted her running a few yards away.

“Hey! Stop right there!” Mai shouted when she noticed that the young lady was heading for the highway. “You don’t want to go there”, she thought to herself – a warning to the young lady – as she pushed herself to run.

What was the girl thinking?!?! And what had she done to the other car??? She needed to catch the kid. It didn’t matter if she had to run in four-inch heels. After all, she didn’t run for five kilometers a day and exercised thrice a week in the gym for nothing.

She heard the girl curse again and almost smiled at the look of indreculous belief that she caught had pasted itself on the girl’s face.

“Didn’t think Unnie could run this fast in heels did you?” she thought to herself as she neared the lass. Only a few more yards… just a few more strides and she was sure she was going to reach her.

Unexpectedly, the girl fell down and mai almost ran past her.

“Don’t even touch me!” the girl screamed at her and Mai breathed in as deep as she could to stop herself from almost slapping the girl with her disrespect. It had been some time since she had experienced such display of insolence.

Indifferently, she took hold of the girl and hoisted her up. “What did you do with that car?” she asked in a hissy whisper… a whisper that enemies of hers from the days when she was underground in L.A. knew very well.

The young lady, who up until that moment seemed as defiant as a hell-cat, suddenly wavered. She must not have expected Mai’s reaction at all.

“I will not ask you again” Mai repeated in a lower tone “What have you done with that car?”

The girl’s eyes grew bigger as her body went limper under Mai’s hold. “I… ah… I –“

And before the girl could complete her answer, Mai’s eyes widened as she watched a black SUV swerve against the Guard Rails lining up the highway and totally lose control.
“Oh My God! Somebody’s going to die!” she thought in that split second before all hell broke loose.

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Are words everything?

“Hyung, let me get this straight” Seung-ri asked “You get Dara-noona all on your own at the rooftop and all you do is tell her…” the makne faced YB and re-enacted the scene with such drama “Believe me… I have never and I could never see you as a kid???”

T.O.P., who had no patience for theatrics, slapped a hand on Seung-ri’s forehead after heaving a sigh “Is that what they teach you for your stage play?”

Rubbing his forehead in pain, Seung-ri frowned and made a move to lurch at T.O.P. who held him in arms length with just his right hand.

“Seung-ri!” Ji warned “Stop being stupid ok?” He now faced YB and shrugged “I’m not sure if it’s really a good thing that you guys know.”

“Hey don’t say that” YB answered “Don’t mind Seung-ri. He just watches a lot of dramas and has all these ideas in his head about how things like this should be.”

“Hyung!!!” Seung-ri reacted, affronted at the accusation.

“Well, that’s true” T.O.P. added, challenging the maknae to contradict him.

Unable to say anything more, Seung-ri kept his mouth shut and sat, deflated, near Ji Yong. The hyungs had ganged up on him again.

“Not everything is solved by saying I love you Jerry” Ji told him “I just can’t tell Dara that, you know.”

“Of course, you’ve got a lot to think about” T.O.P. agreed “you might feel the same for one another but declaring it out in the open like that could snow ball… I mean… you do get what I mean right?”

Ji nodded. “I do hyung… however… “he ran his fingers through his hair “Well… it’s not only that I’m thinking about.”

“Another thing that’s bothering you bro?” YB asked curiously. more problems! The three guys’ faces seemed to say.

Ji had to gulp. How was he going to say this? He felt like he sounded lame just thinking about it now but it was what he was feeling… it had been gnawing on him since the day that Han had figuratively poured cold water on him about his feelings for Dara.

“Promise me you’re not going to tell the girls about this okay?” he asked and saw his brothers’ brows shot up higher.
“Well… ok bro” YB answered “This seems really important to you so we promise none of this comes out.”

Nodding, he his lips and took a deep breath “I… I feel like telling Dara that I love her isn’t enough… I mean… it feels incomplete somehow… like it wouldn’t be enough to really tell her that I’m crazy about her you know, that I worry everyday, that I always check how she is… has she eaten? Did she eat the right kind of food? Is she training like crazy again? I mean… she’s all I think about really. I practice a dance routine and then I’d remember how she would dance that routine. I’ll do something silly and then remember her doing the same thing. I get tired and then I’d think whether she’s tired too… would she be resting? Well… even now I’m thinking whether she has arrived with the girls already… had she called home already and talked with her Umma… do… do you guys get me?”

Like coming down from a cloud, it wasn’t upto that moment that Ji realized that the three others had their mouth gaping open as he talked.

“Woah Ji! I didn’t know that’s how strongly you really feel for her” T.O.P. was the first to recover “I mean… I could see it in you but I’d never thought it was actually this deep. You’ve hidden it so well that even though we all know about it… it’s only now that I realized that Dara’s really got you.”

Ji felt his face heating up at T.O.P.’s words but there was no use denying it now. He did feel that strongly for her. He, actually, couldn’t remember a time when he didn’t feel that way at all.

“I think you might be right bro” YB told him “Maybe just saying you love her wouldn’t be enough –“

Ji’s phone suddenly rang, cutting off what YB was saying. They all looked at it first before Ji realized that it was their Mai-sunbae who was calling.

“Noona?” Ji asked when he picked it up.

“Dae’s in the hospital. I need you guys to call his mother and then I need you guys to go here. Tell Teddy and tell the girls too. Let Teddy take them. You guys go here first.”