CHAPTER THREE

2 Weeks Before Part 2

Seoul

“Jiho, what the hell are you thinking?”  Was the first thing out of Jaehyo’s mouth.

“Why would you want to go back to Vietnam?”  Was Kyung’s addition.

“No.” Was P.O’s concise response.

“What he said,” B-Bomb and U-Kwon agreed in unison. 

“For something like this to work, Ji, we’d have to take our game to the next level.”  The only non-negative response in the room came from Taeil; a surprising corner.  Everyone turned to stare at him. 

The members of Block B’s crew sat around the table in a small meeting room in the back of The Bar.  It was a bar/club that was run and operated by Block B.  Most nights members of the Block B crew could be found occupying their corner booth.  But on nights like this, where there was business to be done, the crew gathered here in the back room (though this normally didn’t include Zico).  It was small, the only lightening was the ceiling lamp above the table, and the hum of blaring music could be heard through the closed door, but no one would dare bother them while they were in there. 

“The job isn’t necessarily as big as the last one we pulled,” Taeil continued his explanation.  “But we left behind a mess three years ago.  The ramifications from that are going to be the trickiest part of this job.  Plus, there’s the fact that it’s been three years since we’ve all worked together as a team on a job.”

They looked around at each other and realized Taeil was right.  This was probably the first time in three years that all seven of them had gathered together in the same room at the same time.

“Taeil, why do I get the feeling you still think we should do this job?”  U-Kwon accused. 

Taeil shrugged.  “Why not?”

Everyone except Zico had something to say to that.  

“You just explained why we shouldn’t!”

“I’m all for taking risks, but this is just suicidal.”

“Do I need to remind you that we all have a price on our heads if we ever step foot back in Vietnam?”

“The diamonds so aren’t worth the price on our heads.”

“But you don’t think that’s all we’ll be leaving with, do you?” Zico asked, raising his voice to be heard above the chatter.  “There’s a lot more on the line than just a pair of diamonds.”

P.O rolled his eyes.  “Zico, if a pair of diamonds aren’t going to convince us to go, why do you think that anything else-“

“PD Tran is holding a Mahjong tournament next week,” Zico answered cutting him off.  P.O shut his mouth.  “The buy-in is half a mil.  For a pair, it’s one mil.”  Zico let that sink in.

“Who in Vietnam has that kind of money to throw away on a game?”  B-Bomb asked, his voice quiet in a now silent room. 

Zico shrugged a shoulder and leaned back in his chair.  “If I had to guess, I’d say anyone gunning for a shot at Tran’s throne.  Or if you look at it the other way, Tran’s going to feel threatened by anyone who has that kind of money.  Either way, everyone gambles away their reserves and suddenly the winner is the sole person Tran has to keep an eye on now.”

“Then why would they play?” U-Kwon asked.  “Wouldn’t it be smarter to just sit back and wait for your opponents to lose all their money?”

Zico shrugged.  “The way things work in Korea isn’t the way it works everywhere else.”  That was the only explanation he gave. 

“The winner could walk out of that game with over ten million,” Taeil informed them, doing the quick math in his head.  “That’s always a good incentive to play.”

“How do you figure that?” Jaehyo asked, leaning forward on the table.  “I only know of six major threats to PD Tran’s empire that would be able to lose that kind of money without falling apart.”

Taeil nodded, but Kyung answered.  “There’s a couple more that would be willing to lose everything for stakes like that.”

“And then Tran will be throwing in several of his own players to up the odds lower his own risks,” Zico added.

“But it’s more than that,” Taeil announced.  “There are several businessmen popping up in Vietnam.  Dirty guys that are running their empire a little too closely to the way PD Tran does his.  They’re eyeing the profit that Tran brings in and there’s rumors that Tran’s takeover may come from that direction.  I don’t think they’d sit on the sideline for this game.”  He looked at Jaehyo.  “And they’ve got plenty of millions to spare on a game like this.”

The room was silent for a moment. 

“That will be our in,” Zico said.  His mind worked fast to plan and detail every inch.  “P.O, you’ll go in as a businessman that’s looking to invest in Vietnam.  The game’s a chance for you to gain a little capital.  Pick someone to go in as your partner.”

“Zico, where do you think we’re going to get a million from for the buy-in?” P.O asked.  “You’ve been M.I.A. for a while so I don’t expect you to know this, but Block B doesn’t make that kind of money.  And that’s our only source of income since we haven’t been pulling any other jobs.”

Zico shook his head.  “I think you’re underestimating Block B’s chief financial officer.”  He turned to look at Taeil.  Everyone else turned to look at him, too.

“Taeil, does Block B seriously have that kind of money?” Kyung asked. 

Taeil shrugged.  “Give me a few days to pull the money together and we’ll definitely have enough.” 

“Hang on,” Jaehyo interrupted.  “I think we’re forgetting about the price on our heads.  No one in Tran’s crew is going to believe that P.O is a businessman.”

This opened up arguments from all sidelines once again. 

“And if we’ve got two men playing Mahjong, that means we’re down two men to go after the diamonds!”

“This is so not a good idea.”   

Zico slammed both his hands on the table and stood, his chair clattered to the floor behind him.

“Yes, this is a risky job,” Zico agreed.  “Yes, it’s dangerous.  No, it’s not smart of us to take it.  But when the hell has Block B ever taken the safe and boring path?  That’s just not who we are.  I know you guys have been itching for a job and a chance to have some fun.  This job is exactly what we need.”

He leaned forward.  “We go to Vietnam and show PD Tran that we still aren’t to be messed with.  We return to Korea and prove to the people here that we’re not just the new kids on the block.  We were raised and trained by the Boss but now it’s our turn in charge.  We are Block B and it’s time people started taking us seriously.  Taeil was right, to do this, we’re going to have to take our game to the next level.  I think it’s about time we did so.”

Kyung couldn’t hold back his grin.  Zico was finally back.  “When do we leave?” he asked.

“Tomorrow,” Zico answered.  “We’ll work out the logistics on the way there.”  He turned to Jaehyo.  Kyung and Taeil were behind him on this.  Jaehyo was now the only one he had left to convince because that’s whose decision P.O, U-Kwon, and B-Bomb would follow.  That’s the way their group had always worked.  They had been Jaehyo’s first and were now Zico’s only because Jaehyo had sworn him his allegiance. 

Jaehyo leaned back in his chair and stared up at Zico.  The two old rivals stared at each other for a long moment.  Jaehyo looked away first.  “How are we getting to Vietnam?” he asked.

Zico smiled.  He looked around the table at his crew who looked back at him.  They no longer argued, that would come again later, but waited to hear him out instead.  Zico picked up a dart off the table and turned to throw it at the map of Korea on the wall behind him.  “The fun starts there,” he announced.

Busan.