9. Embraced

Two young, robust, well-dressed, but not well-mannered men stepped out from the dark they’ve been waiting in for quite a long time. The first time you’d see their faces, you would proclaim them as good looking creatures, but once you’d catch a glimpse of what was staying peacefully in their hands, your body would react automatically and by the time the stimulus was able to go through your brain, your feet would already have started moving away. These two guys were capable of doing stuff you’d only get to see in movies, and if you got stamped on their black list once, there was no way to come out of it. Better defined, get away from death, which they had planned for you. Through the day, they seem and act like any other human being. You will see and feel nothing that awakens suspicion when they walk around as humble and admired students, but once the sun sets, they will change completely. Attires, attitude, the whole act will be rough and dangerous, because that’s what they indeed are: Rough bastards and dangerous people whom you shouldn’t mess with.

“Eun Jo-ah,” One of them blocked the man called Eun Jo, while the other whistled and chuckled lightly afterwards. If you didn’t know them, which unfortunately Eun Jo did, you wouldn’t be able to recognize their faces that were covered with the shadows of their dirty and dark, yet expensive hats.

The lonesome man was startled as his eyes wandered from one face to the other. His legs were shivering and his arms trembling at the sight of these people, whom he wasn’t ready to meet yet. How stupid he must have been to believe they did business according to the customer’s interests and wishes. How stupid does he look now, standing in front of the cottage he calls home with two mobsters circling him in a frightening, yet relaxed manner?

“Eun Jo-ah,” The man repeated, which resulted in Eun Jo breaking out of his maze. “P-please!” He managed to stutter right before the mobster gripped him by the collar of his drenched sweater.

“Please what?!” He spat and landed a punch across Eun Jo’s face.

“I am sorry!” He cried in vain and tried his best to look pitiful, but little did he know, that the guys in front of him, showed no pity nor compassion for anyone. Ever.

“Sorry for not paying back or sorry for sending your amateurs to backstab an East Coaster?!” The up- until now silent guy barked and yanked Eun Jo by his untidy hair, which resulted in him screaming out loudly. He was unfortunate to have built his home in this strange, faraway place, where no one would be able to hear his pleas. He wished so dearly that someone, like the lady a few weeks ago, would interrupt and save him more time, but he knew that this time, there was no such lady around.

"I will pay you back, please!"

“Why waste time on waiting, when we can just kill you and sell your organs?” They laughed in unison, clearly satisfied with their plan. They needed the payment no matter what, and they’d usually, just like now, do anything just to receive it. The fact that Eun Jo had damaged one of them, didn't make the situation any better either. 

“Please, I have a family, a little son, he needs me!”

“And you think that is a reason enough?!” He was shot in the foot and fell onto the ground! His screams were now deliberately filling the air.

“Not like you care about him anyway, or else his mother wouldn’t have fled away with him,” The culprit smirked, since he knew the whole background story. They don’t do business without checking the situation of their customers. Information reveals weaknesses, but Eun Jo’s weakness was not his kid, nor his wife. They couldn’t be used against him, because they hadn’t been in contact ever since he beat both of them few years back and his wife no longer wished to deal with his habit of drugging himself.

“P-please, I’ll give you his organs!” The ruthless, selfish father, more like a bastard, started suggesting, but his suggestion has no value in the eyes of the perpetrators.

“Let’s finish him.” They are not people who like wasting time, nor energy, so they work fast. Really fast.

The victimized bastard was pushed down onto his knees, and the two criminals stepped back, before lifting their guns and pointing it to his head.

"P-Ple---" His plea was cut short when two bullets, one from each gun, pierced right through his disgusting and troublesome mind! Blood spouted everywhere when his head blasted, and his tiny body fell to the ground. They then called for backup who would clean the mess and bring the dead body to one of their contracted hospitals where his organs would be taken out and then smuggled away. 

One of the two phones beeped, so the owner looked at it and a satisfied smile broke out on his delicate face after reading the message he had received.

“Why are you smiling?” His companion questioned curiously. 

“I just got the information I needed,” He explained to his partner in crime and walked to their car. “I’ll treat you coffee today.”

“Eww, you sound like a teenager, let’s have soju as usual.”

“No,” he answered sternly “Coffee today.”

* * * * *

“Wow, those two are here!” Young Saeng exclaimed excitedly after a waitress had served him and his friend, Hyun Joong, their coffee, an actual treat from Hyun Joong himself. He tilted his head to the side in order to catch a glimpse of his love- interest, who was standing all the way back on the counter. A smirk was planted on his face as he took one slurp of his drink and brushed away the warm liquid left on his lips with his thumb afterwards.

“I know,” the reply came out lazily, in a hushed manner and to that, Young Saeng raised his eyebrow.

“You seeked information about them from Hyung Jun earlier?”

Hyun Joong rolled his eyes and nodded, as if that was the most natural thing to do in the world. Why was there a point in asking something so obvious? Of course he had used Hyung Jun, the expert in digging out information, to know more about Somin and the people surrounding her. Right now, Somin’s entire identity is laying in his hands, and it might be scary to know that he even has a copy of her passport, printed right from one of the embassies. He was interested in everything about her, even the date she immigrated to this country.  

“Poor girl, this must be the biggest challenge of her life.”

“You make me sound like a monster.” Hyun Joong grunted in a disgusted manner.

“That’s because you are a monster.”

“And you are not?”

“Not really.” The reply came right away, without a hint of doubt. 

Hyun Joong chuckled aloud, this dude sure was funny! The biggest joke of the year award should go to his buddy right there!

“If she hadn’t helped you that night, she would probably not have been in this situation right now.”

He shrugged, because he knew that night stirred something inside of him, although he could still not name what was stirring. Her care for a stranger, a stranger she disliked, did some short cuts in his mind, but he was not aware of what changes it brought just yet. 

“It’ll be fun to see her run away if she ever gets to know about our business,” Young Saeng mocked and could already imagine what kind of funny face that girl would make and how her breath will get caught in if Hyun Joong ever told her the truth about his life. Unknown to him, she already and perfectly knew that piece of information.

“She knows already.” He shrugged again, as if that was the most suitable gesture at this moment, but Young Saeng was flabbergasted and beyond shocked. They both knew what damage sharing information about East Coast could cause, yet he decided to reveal it all!

“Are you ing crazy?! Why would you do that!”

“She saw me with a gun twice. Do you think she is a kid who can be fooled?”

“Still, you freaking retard!” This was actually the first time in their careers that the younger one was scolding the older one. This was the first time Hyun Joong was making a mistake in Young Saeng’s eyes. He had never behaved so carefree and carelessly before!

“Do not ing speak to me like that.” Anger and coldness was hiddden in his voice. He hates it when people speak to him in such a manner. He hates it because it reminds him of how people on the streets treated him while he lived there.  If they hadn't been friends, Hyun Joong would have cut off his tongue already, for talking to him in this disrespectful way. 

Young Saeng calmed down before speaking. He didn't want to break out in a fight with his best friend and coworker. “You do not understand what kind of risk you’ve brought upon us Hyun Joong- ah. What if she shares with others?”

“Trust me, she knows nobody, besides from those two retarded girls,” He smiled cleverly, referring to the girl he remembered as quiet and boring, and the other who was stupid and childish “And she has no proof to go forward with.”

“In addition, I’ll just kill her if she tries to make a move.”

Young’s eyes turned round and big “You are one hell of a mastermind!”

“I wouldn’t be so successful if I wasn’t.” 

“By the way, why am I here?”

“Simple, you like that bunny girl” He pointed to Haera who was wearing something similar to a bunny headband, before continuing “And I need you to accompany her, so that I and Somin won’t be disturbed.”

“That would be my pleasure,” Young Saeng shot him a tooth grin “But have you realized, those two are always together?”

“Yes.”

“How can they share the same dorm, study in the same university and work at the same place?” He grunted, that must be really boring. He can't imagine seeing one person's face for twentyfour hours straight, not even his companions'! 

“Go ask them.” Hyun Joong replied sarcastically, to which his friend rolled his eyes and continued drinking his coffee.

* * * * * 

Haera and Somin had left for their shift at Café Bueno together, even though Haera’s shift was later than Somin’s. While Somin started working, Haera had pulled out her laptop and books and settled them on the table in front of her. She had no plan of wasting two hours on sitting there and waiting like a lost soul, and decided therefore to work with the assignment one of her professors had handed out. The girl had angrily typed away and at the same time cursed the cafe owner for not giving them the same working time, because now both of them had to waste two hours each while waiting for the other.

“Yah! Leave that, your shift is over.” Haera commanded when her friend passed by the counter with a pinkish kitchen cloth in her hand to clean a table nearby the one she was settled around earlier. She had seen her friend struggle from one customer to the other ever since they stepped in, almost four hours ago, and was worried, since she looked exhausted and tired, and why shouldn’t she be? Somin hadn’t taken a break at all, and neither had she bothered with having something to eat. She had skipped dinner, like she does most of the time, and was therefore feeling very low at the moment. The meal was replaced by a cup of coffee, and it had soothed her tummy for a while, but the calming sensation was long gone, so she filled another plastic cup with coffee and started sipping on it after returning to the counter.

“Yeah, I know.”

Haera helped Somin get out of her apron and then brushed the locks away from her face. Since Somin was the youngest and most sensitive out of the three friends, she was used to being treated like a child, especially from Haera, who had such a pure and friendly soul. Haera was used to acting as the motherly figure, since she had taken care of her own little brothers her whole life, whereas Mira was more like a sister, who loved her dongsaengs and wanted to experience trouble and hence have fun. Their friendship had grown so much, in so many ways, that they’ve already started feeling like triplets. The bond between them was possibly as strong as the bond between real siblings.

“Go home, eat something and go to sleep, arasso?”

“No Eommaaa!” Somin whined playfully “I’ll wait for Eomma,”

“Jasmine,” Haera remained passive and serious. “You look exhausted, just go.”

The workers around were looking weirdly at the two girls, they did indeed look like mommy and her little princess!

“Araa, but first I have to ask you something.”

Haera lifted one eyebrow “What is it?”

“What’s with you and that Young Saeng guy?”

She sighed, and remembered how he had approached her earlier. She didn’t like him. Not one bit. He had this scary aura around him, and she feared being dragged into his black hole. She wondered why he was bothering her so much, and wished nothing but for him to stop lurking around her.

“Nothing, he is weird and scary…..”

Somin threw her arm over the counter and used the other to hold her hip. Her feet were hurting badly, but she ignored the pain and continued chatting until her sight randomly landed on two specific faces. Her eyes were suddenly glued to one pair of brown orbs and she gulped nervously several times before blinking rapidly in confusion.

What is he doing here!

How long have they been here?

“Hee” She whispered in distress “They are here!”

Haeras mouth fell apart when she caught a glimpse of whomever Somin was referring to. Seriously, she screamed in her head. How much more of a stalker can you become?! She had a really, really bad feeling about this. These guys were wooing their life to following them around!

“Go to them, before they come here!” Haera pushed Somin forwards, to which Somin shot her a deathly