"And so the prodigal son returns," Lee, my best friend crowed as I stormed into our flat, "where the hell were you, Zelo? Command has been calling non-stop about a new mission. You wanna get thrown out on the streets?"

I snorted as I kicked off my shoes caked with mud and slung my dusty jacket onto the hardwood floor, "They're not going to throw out their best weapon, Lee. I can do whatever the hell I want."

"Yeah, and when Command finally fires you, you're gonna be begging me for help," Lee retorted as I walked past where he was lounging on the soft, egyptian cotton sofa. Our place wasn't some cheap middle-class condo in the suburbs. We were currently staying at the penthouse suite of the Four Seasons Hotel in Egypt, and it was completely decked out with all the latest technology to suit our needs. Seven flatscreen TVs for surveillence, four computer monitors, and sixteen cameras to keep track of our target. Now that we finished our mission involving some cheap slave traders causing trouble for the government, we would pack up and head out tomorrow.

I just snorted again and went to the washroom to shower. I needed to get all the grime off me from the past few days. Waiting in an old, abandoned warehouse for slave traders to show up at any time isn't exactly the cleanest thing to do. Standing under the hot rushing water, I thought about what my father had said not even twenty minutes ago. After I left him, I just sprinted back here at full speed. Running 13 kilometers through the desert is harder than it sounds, and I was tired, achey, and grouchy.

The nerve of that old man, coming to ask me for money, I grumbled to myself as I grabbed the lemon-smelling soap bar and fiercely scrubbed off what felt like layers of grime and sweat that had built up over the past few days. What is he even doing in Egypt?! I hate him, but if it weren't for him, I wouldn't have become what I am today. I guess he did one thing good in his worthless life-

While thinking these things through, my stomach growled so loud I could hear it over the stream of water. Sighing, I got out, dried off, and pulled on a clean pair of shorts.

"You need a haircut, Zelo," Lee commented when I exited the bathroom, "it's beginning to look like nasty ramen again."

I glanced at the mirror in the hallway and was shocked at my appearence. Lee was right; my curly hair looked exactly like ramen for the millionth time and the blond hair dye had faded significantly, making the dark drown roots stand out. Moving closer, I peered at the dark circles under my eyes before slowly turning and angling my body in different poses made sure I had no fat buildup anywhere.

Lee coughed as I continued to examine myself in the mirror and punched my shoulder as he walked past me. "Stop oogling yourself and call Command. They'll be on my until you do."

Ignoring him, I walked to the huge metal fridge in our kitchen and examined my options. A bag of apples, leftover rice, and some fruit cups. I grabbed all of it and tossed it on the table before beginning to wolf it all down. Lee looked on with a look of disgust and I heard the phone ring shrilly as I took an enormous bite out of two apples. Knowing I had no intention of stopping my eating binge to answer it, he sighed and picked it up.

"Hello?" Lee switched from Egyptian to Korean easily, almost in a lazy manner, and he tossed the phone in my direction, "It's for you."

I plucked it out of the air and, with my mouth still full of the sweet green apple, "Hroo ris rish?" Even to me, it was the worst English sentence I had ever spoken. I heard a man on the other end chuckle.

"Zelo, when your commanding officer calls you, at least speak to him with your mouth empy, neh?" I easily recognized the deep yet squeaky voice of Tao, my commanding officer and my only other friend besides Lee, while chuckling at the thought of the twenty year old Chinese male sitting in his office, pushing his glasses farther up on his nose.

I swallowed before responding, "It's not my fault. I hadn't eaten in three days and I was starving, so stuff it." But I laughed along with him. When Tao spoke again, I could tell he was serious, so I slowed my eating and payed attention.

"We need you back in South Korea, Zelo," He spoke quickly, assuming a tone of business, "normally I wouldn't send you on an A-rank mission like this right after finishing a C-rank, but there's no one else who can do it."

"Just tell me what, when, and where, Tao." I said simply. If this was for an A-rank, I would gladly forget that I haven't slept in almost four days and immediately take the jet back to South Korea.

"A few months ago, a gang called Best Absolute Perfect, BAP for short, showed up out of the blue and took over the entire Korean underworld," Tao briefed, "they're controlling everything: the drug trade, trafficking, anything and everything that makes money."

"So what do you need me to do?" I questioned him, shrugging my shoulders at Lee's questioning look.

"What we don't understand is how they did it. Our intelligence agents have sent numerous reports about the members of BAP, but many of them haven't returned," Tao paused for a few moments before continuing, "Zelo, there are only five of them."

My jaw dropped. Only five?! Who the hell are these people? If five people could take over all of the Korean underworld in a few months, they would have to be seriously skilled at what they were doing.

"Are you sure-" I started but Tao cut me off.

"We had the reports triple checked, Zelo. There really are only five of them, but that's not the complicated part," Tao sighed and I could almost see him pinching the bridge of his nose, "they're only teenagers."

I stopped breathing when I heard those words, and Lee looked at me with concern when I dropped my food.

"This is why we need you for the job," Tao continued, "you're sixteen, so you're the right age. You're a level one agent, so it's not like you're inexperienced, and let's face it: you're the best of the best, Zelo. Will you accept this mission?"

I thought about it for a few moments. I had been on A-rank missions before, but not all of them were pieces of cake. I knew that there wasn't any better agent than me, that there were no other agents more capable than I was.

So why am I so freaked out about this mission? I silently wondered, and after a moment, I had my answer.

It was because I would probably have to kill them.

I had killed plenty of times. More than enough for one teenager. Enough to have nightmares for weeks afterward. Yet I had never killed a kid. It's always been some old crackpot, a crazy- drug dealer, and once even a freaking dog trainer, but never someone below the age of twenty. It was practically my only rule in life, and yet...

"I'll do it," I spole flatly into the phone, throwing away the apple and wiping my hands clean, "I'll be on the next flight back."

Shutting the phone, I flashed back to the day my mother was murdered by a gang. A stupid, good-for-nothing, gang full of lowlife thugs and murderers. Because of a gang, my mother, siblings, and best friend had been killed.

I despised gangs more than anything.

And if I don't take this one down, people will die.

"Lee!" I ran to my room and began shoving all of my things into my worn duffel bag, "We're leaving!"