A man ran inside a room, trembling in fear from head to toe. His eyes hastily scanned the room, looking for a place to hide. Noticing a giant wardrobe in the corner of the room, he quickly dashed inside, curling behind a line of long furry coats.

 

Vaguely, he could hear the sound of gun blasting from the first floor, followed by a scream.

 

They got him, was his first panicked thought, and then he thought again, more panickedly, and now they are coming after me!

 

He curled himself tighter, trying to make himself as unnoticeable as possible, praying with all his might not to be found. Please, please just let them miss this wardrobe for once, he begged silently. There are still many things I need to do, I’m still young and I don’t want to die y…

 

His train of thoughts was stopped for once as the wardrobe door flew wide open. His eyes widened as he noticed the man standing in front of the door. The man’s appearance wasn’t that intimidating, instead he looked rather soft and diva-ish with dyed blonde hair, porcelain skin, and slightly feminine facial features. But the thoughts were wiped out immediately at the sight of the small tattoo on his wrist, picturing a knife piercing the skin…and then, as the hiding man’s eyes traveled upwards once more, the cocky smirk on the blonde’s lips and the look inside his feline eyes.

 

The look was so cold, so merciless…exactly the eyes of a murderer.

 

The feline man smirked, though his lips barely moved, as he noticed the man hiding inside the wardrobe. “So, here’s our rat. Not a very good hiding place, I should say.”

 

The hiding man frantically looked around for some kind of escape – the feline man was rather thin, and he was sure he could push him if he had the chance – but then two bodyguards entered and stood by the sides of the feline man, completely blocking his way out. The bodyguards were tall with darker skin and a passive look inside their dark eyes.

 

The feline man flicked an invisible dust off his nails. “Any last wish, hmm?”

 

“Please,” the hiding man pleaded. “I-I’m innocent. I didn’t d-do anything wrong!”

 

“Sure,” the feline man replied easily. “If you call taking in and giving shelter to our fugitive isn’t a crime, then you’re completely innocent, of course.”

 

“I-I couldn’t do anything. H-he threatened me and I…”

 

The feline man’s eyes went darker. “Liar,” he said. “Do you know that your friend confessed everything to us, trying to save his sorry ? He didn’t only reveal that he’d been friends and partners with you for years, but also that you both had smuggled some of the money you should’ve paid to us, sending it to overseas accounts, for three goddamn years?! All this time pretending to us that business hadn’t been going too well and pleading to reduce your homage?!”

 

Sweat started to line the hiding man’s forehead.

 

“Truthfully, I admire you and your friend’s gut for lying to us.” The feline man smirked again, but there was no happiness inside his eyes. “Sadly, he has to die. And so does you…Kim Joonmyun.”
 

“No… No… Please… Don’t…”

 

The feline man shook his head rather sadly and nodded to the bodyguard standing on his right. The bodyguard raised a gun, fully loaded with bullets, and shot.

 

Once again, the sound of gun blasting, followed by the deafening scream of Kim Joonmyun, pierced the silence of the night.

 

-

 

The feline man scowled as he stared at the mess inside the wardrobe. The now dead Joonmyun was now lying inside, eyes staring into nothing, blood splattering to the wardrobe wall and even some of the coats.

 

“He should’ve picked another place to hide,” he muttered, eyeing the blood-stained coats wistfully. “One coat could cost fifty thousand dollars. And this wardrobe is antique, too.”

 

“I know right,” the bodyguard on the left spoke up, sadness evident in his voice. “And I didn’t get much action in this mission, too.”

 

The other bodyguard rolled his eyes and slipped his gun back inside his jacket. “Save the action for another time, Tao. We need a quick, painless death for this one and your wushu, despite useful, wouldn’t do the ‘quick and painless’ part.”

 

Tao pouted but said nothing.

 

The feline man stared again at Joonmyun in disgust before turning away, nose wrinkled at the pungent smell of blood. “Clean this up and dispose his body somewhere, Kai,” he commanded. “I have to meet the boss before this day ends.”

 

“Yes, Key-hyung,” Kai quietly muttered as the feline man, now known as Key, walked towards the door and closed it, Tao trailing behind him.

 

-

 

The banner on the top of the building said “SHARP Pencil Factory”. Almost all the lights inside the building were and from the windows you could vaguely see people pacing around. There was also a rectangular hole on the side of the building where boxes and boxes of pencils kept coming out. However, few people knew that the building wasn’t your typical factory.

 

Key walked inside casually, glancing around from the corner of his eyes. They had a new receptionist, he noted, a rather tall girl wth wavy hair and round cheekbones. The nametag on her sleek blue uniform said SOOYOUNG. Key felt a smirk creeping up his face, as he knew he was in the mood to play with this Sooyoung girl.

 

“Hi,” Key said, leaning towards the receptionist desk. “I’m here to see someone.”

 

“And who is he, if I may know, Sir?” Sooyoung asked back in a formal tone.

 

Certainly, this new receptionist hadn’t known about him and his reputation. The old ones would scamper away immediately at the sight of him to inform their boss about his arrival, but it seemed like this girl hadn’t been acquainted with every single employee in this company. And Key would use that for his own amusement. “I’m here to meet the president of this company, Choi Minho if I’m not mistaken?”

 

As he had predicted, the girl’s smile dropped slightly into some kind of disdainful look. “I’m afraid President Choi has more important matters aside from meeting you, Mr...?”

 

“Kim Kibum.”

 

“Right, Mr. Kim, right now President Choi is so busy and won’t attend such impromptu meeting, so if you have something to tell him you may leave message here...”

 

“What if you try to contact him first and say that I’m waiting for him,” Key lightly suggested.

 

The receptionist stared at him skeptically, but she picked the phone anyway and pressed the number of her boss. “Good evening, President Choi... Yes, I know I’ve been told not to call you except for emergency, but there’s someone here who asks to meet you.” There was a pause, and she continued, “I know, I’ve told him too that you have more important matters in hand but he won’t leave...”

 

“Name,” Key whispered.

 

“Oh...he said his name’s Kim Kibum.”

 

There was even a longer pause, and a panicked look suddenly swept Sooyoung’s face. “I...how could I know, Sir?! I just entered this company yesterday... No, no one told me about him... Yes, I understand, Sir, I will send him to your room right away!”

 

As she placed the phone back, the receptionist glared at Key. “You should’ve told me you’re an important asset to President Choi or something.”

 

Key smirked as he walked past Sooyoung. “And take away all the fun from teasing a new employee? Besides, you should’ve known now that you have to watch that mouth of yours in front of me. I may not be the strongest man in the universe but I still know a hundred different ways to shut it.”

 

The receptionist gulped and nodded mutely. Key walked leisurely past her to the elevator and pulled out a card. Once the elevator door was closed, he bent down and placed the card on a panel, along with his right hand.

 

“Minho’s office, top floor,” Key said, loudly and clearly.

 

The elevator, recognizing his voice and fingerprints, immediately shot upwards. Key shut his eyes tightly and pressed his body to the corner. Though he had been using this elevator for the umpteenth time, he never got used to the sensation. And his phobia of height – despite of his best efforts to eliminate it – only made things worse.

 

Finally the elevator slowed down and a faint ding sound was heard. Key opened his eyes slowly to meet a tall man with big, frog-like eyes, wearing a pair of formal grey suit, slightly cocky smirk on his face.

 

“Is the elevator fast enough for you now?” he asked.

 

Key scowled  and walked outside the glass capsule. “No, it’s so slow I even made a tea party for myself.”

 

Minho raised an eyebrow. “Sorry for making you wait then.”

 

Key only rolled his eyes as he followed Minho to his desk. Minho was on the same age as him, probably even a few months younger. On the eyes of the world, the frog-eyed man was a young, successful businessman, singlehandedly managing SHARP Pencil Factory from the scratch and yadda yadda yadda. They had no idea that SHARP was actually an acronym of Society for the Homicide, Annihilation, and Re-education Purposes, the biggest mafia gang in South Korea, and that Minho was the leader.

 

“So, what do we have today?” Minho inquired, leaning to his chair.

 

Key pulled out a plastic folder from his bag and tossed it to Minho. “I have every single evidence of Joonmyun’s betrayal there. The papers from his other bank accounts. Financial reports from his company. And if they’re not enough, I’ve recorded Yifan’s confession. Now you see, I’ve been right from the very beginning.”

 

Minho stared at Key with a mixture of interest and respect. The feline man had a point. He had suspected Joonmyun since two years ago. But Minho, seeing nothing wrong in Joonmyun’s reports, dismissed the suspicion. It’s not until Wu Yifan, Joonmyun’s second-in-command, accidentally spilled it out in a meeting that Minho finally sent Key to investigate him.

 

“How could you find these documents?” Minho asked.

 

“The idiot should have known better than to keep a safe deposit box in his fancy house. It wasn’t that hard to find.”

 

“Where’s Joonmyun and Yifan now?”

 

“Dead.”

 

Minho let out a low chuckle. “Guess they didn’t call you Almighty Key for nothing.”

 

“Actually, I’ll give the credit of their deaths to Kai.”

 

“I figured. You’re afraid of blood.”

 

“I’m not!” Key protested. “Blood is disgusting, but that doesn’t mean I’m afraid of it! It’s just the yucky color and the metallic smell...”

 

Minho raised his hand, trying to keep his straight face though he was shaking with laughter inside. “I’ve heard enough about that, Key.”

 

The feline man scowled again. “Are we done now? I need to get home.”

 

Minho waved his hand. “You have my permission to leave. And thank you for your hard work. I’ll pay more attention to your suspicions from now on.”

 

Key nodded curtly and started for the elevator.

 

“Oh, and Key?”

 

“Yeah?” Key looked around again.

 

“Please refrain from scaring my new employees ever again.”

 

-

 

It was past midnight when Key drove through the Seoul streets on his motorcycle in a speed that should’ve gotten him arrested if only he didn’t know all the shortcuts and the exact points where cops usually roamed around by heart. It was clear on first look that the extent of his job had finally taken its toll on him – his eyes were bloodshot, his shoulders were rigid, and his face was painted with exhaustion.

 

However, as the motorcycle slowed down and entered an apartment complex, Key’s tensed shoulders gradually relaxed, a small smile even slipped onto his lips. Because he knew, he finally had reached home, where he could leave the identity of the Almighty Key behind and just became an ordinary man Kim Kibum.

 

Parking the motorcycle, he fiddled through his jacket pocket for his access card before entering the building. The security guards, already acquainted with him coming home in late hours, nodded to him and muttered “Good evening, Sir” as he walked past them. He nodded back at them before taking the elevator to his floor.

 

It was usually dark and quiet when Key entered his apartment, and then Key would make his way to his bedroom and fall asleep immediately. Yet today was slightly different. As the door swung open, the feline man blinked at the bright light encapsulating the room as if it hadn’t been turned off for hours.

 

Then he heard breaths and a soft voice muttering sleepily, “Oh, Kibum-hyung… You came back…”

 

Key sighed and turned to his side to face a boy probably two or three years younger than him, with messy dark brown hair framing his face and luscious lips.

 

Key’s biological father died of cancer when he was three, and two years later, his mother got remarried with a businessman named Lee Jinki. His stepfather brought along his son from his previous marriage, a shy but cheerful boy named Lee Taemin. Though he detested the idea of having a stepbrother at first, Key immediately fell for Taemin’s innocent charms, and they quickly got along. Even from the first day of their meeting, Key had vowed to always stay on Taemin’s side and protect him at all cost. So, despite not having any relation by blood, they were really close and loved each other, sometimes even more than biological siblings.

 

“You should’ve slept, Taeminnie,” Key said and ruffled his brother’s hair.

 

Taemin shook his head. “I wanted to wait for you.”

 

“Don’t you have class tomorrow?”

 

“I do, but I miss you.”

 

Key sighed again, but couldn’t help a smile crawling up his lips. Taemin was always so sweet. Even as a little kid, he insisted to wait until Key finished school so that they could play together. And now he waited for Key, despite not knowing what time his hyung would come home.

 

“Have you eaten?” Key asked.

 

Taemin nodded. “I ordered pizza earlier. I left some for you in the fridge.”

 

“You should stop eating take-outs all the time,” Key scolded lightly as he found the pizza and put it inside the microwave. “It’s unhealthy.”

 

Taemin pouted. “I might as well burn the apartment down every time I tried to, and you always come home late so you can’t cook for me, so I don’t have much option.”

 

It was a trivial truth, and there’s no hatred nor spite in Taemin’s voice, yet Key still felt his heart clench. If he were to choose, then he’d rather stay at home and cook for his brother. But he couldn’t. He had to work, and though he hated his job, it provided money, food, and shelter for them.

 

When their parents were still alive, Key never thought he would live like this.

 

He was in his third year of university, taking double degree in Business Administration and Fashion Design, as he’d wanted to build his own fashion company. Taemin had just entered a dance academy. Both of them were happy and optimistic about their future, believing nothing would come on their way to reach their dreams. Their parents supported them both financially and morally. Life went really well.

 

But everything changed with the news of their parents’ death.

 

It was an accident, they said. Your father’s car slipped and ran into the guard rails on Dongho Bridge, where it exploded right away. I’m sorry, we couldn’t save them.

 

They didn’t even let Key and Taemin to see their parents’ bodies, claiming that it was too devastating to see. A big funeral was held, and CEOs of various companies came to express their grief and send flowers. It wasn’t until the end of the funeral that the lawyers suddenly came with shocking news – Lee Jinki owed the bank money in the amount that left Key unable to sleep that night. In just a few days, Key and Taemin’s life was turned upside down. They lost everything, including their house.

 

Using the little amount of money he had saved, Key rented a small apartment a little outskirts of Seoul, but later they had to think how to feed themselves. At first Taemin offered to drop out of academy to work, but Key declined it at once. As much as he knew he wanted to be a fashion designer, dancing was Taemin’s life and Key would never take it from him, besides I’m the older so I’m the one responsible for our family finances, you stay back and keep on being a good student, you understand, Taeminnie?

 

Those words had Taemin gulped and nodded, and they spent the rest of the night crying in each other’s arms.

 

But it was easier said than done. Key tried to take several part-time jobs, working as a supermarket cashier or coffee shop waiter, but he barely made ends meet. Moreover, he still had to pay for his father’s debts. A few weeks passed and Key almost drowned in depression.

 

One day, Minho, Key’s old friend from high school, visited the coffee shop where Key worked at. As it was midnight shift, there were only few people and all of them were busy with their own business. So Key didn’t resist when Minho invited him to sit together and talk, and over two cups of caramel macchiato, Key poured all his problems out.

 

Key hadn’t thought Minho would help him at first – despite being old friends, they weren’t always on good terms as they had had a few confrontations in the past, besides Minho wasn’t known to be the most generous person in the world. But Minho stared at him in the eyes for a while, then offered Key a job in his “company”.

 

And before he knew it, Key found himself falling in the dark world of lies, betrayals, violence, drugs, corruption, conspiracy, et cetera et cetera. Kim Kibum was quickly shredded away, replaced by his “Almighty Key” persona. The boy who had wanted to be a fashion designer was gone, and a ruthless certified killer and interrogator took his place.

 

The hardest part was to hide the truth from Taemin. Key told his younger brother that he was accepted to work at SHARP Pencil Factory, which was technically true, and Taemin was really happy about that. Yet the kid had no idea what Key actually did at his job, and the feline man always felt a knot on his stomach every time he’s reminded about that.

 

But as a child he had promised to protect Taemin at all cost. And now he would make sure his brother reaches his dreams and gets a good life, even if it meant destroying other people’s lives instead.

 

“…yung? Kibum-hyung?”

 

Key blinked as Taemin’s soft voice pulled him back to reality. He turned around to find his brother holding his arms, worry shining inside his chocolate eyes.

 

“Are you okay?” Taemin asked, concerned.

 

“Yeah, I’m perfectly okay,” Key assured him, smiling.

 

Taemin bit his lower lip. “But you seem dazed, and you haven’t warmed the pizza up though it’s been inside the microwave for probably five minutes.”

 

Key looked at the microwave, and Taemin’s right, he hadn’t set it to warm the pizza up.

 

Taemin tugged softly at Key’s sleeves. “If you have any problems, you can always tell me, right, hyung? We’re brothers. We have no one but each other.”

 

That’s right, I only have you. But I can’t tell you, Taeminnie. Not yet. “I’m perfectly fine, Taeminnie. I only miss our parents, that’s all.”

 

A sad smile crossed Taemin’s features. “I understand. I miss them too. I wish they’re still able to see my performance at the dance competition next month.”

 

Again, Key felt his heart clench. Since a few weeks ago, Taemin had been talking about a dance competition his academy would be hosting, and that he was one of the students chosen to participate. Key remembered clearly how his brother had jumped up and down excitedly at the announcement, only to be saddened by the fact that their parents wouldn’t be there to support him. And Taemin always said he would invite his whole family to his first official dance show.

 

Key pulled Taemin into his embrace and patted his back. “Don’t be sad,” he said. “I will be there, I have promised you, right? And though they won’t be there physically, I’m sure Umma and Appa will watch over you in heaven. And then they will smile and boast to God how proud they are of you.”

 

And a million megawatt smile breaking through Taemin’s face was enough of a reassurance for Key that he was doing the right thing.

 

~~~

 

 

 

 

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