f(x), "Boom Bang Boom", Red Light (2014)

The pounding on the door had droned on for a good 12 ½ minutes by the time that Nari decided to do something about it. Being an insanely light sleeper, Nari woke up as soon as the knocking started, and she’d been patient, as per usual, waiting for the person to give up.

But no.

The high-pitched girl, evidently desperate to talk to Bobby hadn’t stopped screaming and making violent threats at the door. Nari’s opinion of Bobby grew positive when he insisted on her sleeping in his bed whilst he took the couch – but just as quickly as it heightened, it dropped because of the fact he had such annoying neighbours.

“Why are people so damn persistent?” Nari groaned to herself as she dragged herself off of Bobby’s begrudgingly comfortable bed, before storming to the door to Bobby’s studio-block.

“Yah! If you don’t answer this door Kim Jiwon, then I swear to God I’ll-“

“You’ll do what?!” Nari demanded as she opened the door to face a girl, probably a little shorter than her, with a cute face a big eyes. She looked at Nari for a second, giving her a dirty look up and down as she processed the baggy shirt Nari borrowed from Bobby.

For the first time in a long time, Nari felt embarrassed. She realised how trashy she must’ve looked, especially seeing the state of her hair and running makeup she’d failed to remove after crying for an hour straight.

Forget about that.

But she didn’t let her doubts cloud her path, “Who are you?” She asked the disgusted girl at the door.

“Who are you?” She spat back with contempt.

Nari choked, “Don’t answer a question with another one!”

“Answer my question then!”

“Not until you answer mine first!”

“What is all the screaming out there?!” Bobby complained as he dragged his feet over to Nari at the door. Nari’s eyes froze as she looked at Bobby, wearing nothing but boxer shorts and a white bath robe. She gulped ever so slightly at the sight of his defined body, but even more so at how dodgy the scene must’ve looked.

“Lee Hi,” Bobby, smiled awkwardly as he stood next to Nari. Lee Hi looked as if she was prepared to shoot him.

Nari recognised the girl now; plucked from the top ranks of a street fighting competition to join YG, one of their solo members who handled their business in the entertainment and media industry. Nari scoffed at how insignificant this girl was, more so at how offended she seemed by her presence.

Lee Hi was beyond fuming, “You. The night Suhyun-sshi is unconscious in hospital, and you decide to bring some cheap girl back to your apartment with you?! Gee Jiwon, I can really see where your priorities are-“

“Don’t use that name,” Bobby cut her off, his offence evident in his tone, “And secondly, it’s really not what it looks like.”

“Sure seems that way,”

“I am not cheap!” Nari spat at the girl, fully holding herself back from throttling the little hobbit where she stood. But she let Bobby continue.

“I chased after a lead, and she got caught in the crossfire. I thought I’d be nice and bring her back here.” Bobby lied coolly, and Nari was impressed how at how well he constructed the falsity.

Lee Hi narrowed her eyes at him, “Whatever. I don’t need your reasons. I came to say that there’s briefing at midday at the building.” She explained, her eyes nervously glancing to Nari as she stood smirking. Nari knew very well what this girl’s problem was.

Bobby nodded with understanding, “I’ll see you then.” He said before shutting the door in the girl’s face unexpectedly.

Bobby grumbled under his breath and headed back to his makeshift bed on the sofa. Nari couldn’t deny he looked sort of cute with his squinty eyes and bed hair – but she was even more amused at Lee Hi’s irritation over her presence in Bobby’s apartment.

“That girl is so crushing on you,” Nari smirked as she perched on the armrest of the sofa.

“I know,” Bobby grumbled before turning back on his front and trying to get to sleep.

Nari titled her head as she watched how easily he slunk back into relaxation - unfortunately, it wasn’t the same case for her. Heading back into Bobby’s room and sliding a pair of oversized pants and jacket on, as well as popping her gun back into the inside of Bobby’s jacket, Nari tied her hair back up before splashing water on her face.

She sighed in relief as the cold water both hydrated and woke her up. Making a mental plan of what to do now, Nari walked into the other room to find Bobby wide-awake and staring at the ceiling.

“You leaving?” He asked, his eyes never moving to her once.

Nari nodded, then realised he couldn’t see her, “I need to make contact with the groups. If there was another attack and I didn’t know about it…”

“Seohyun-sshi got shot, and those girls under LOEN died.” Bobby sighed, “Hanbin called me when you were in the bathroom. You’ll probably have your own briefing to get to.”

Nari rubbed her hand down her face, trying to calm the oncoming tempest of stress headed her way. She inhaled deeply, the sighed aloud, “I’ll get going.” She opened the door, the stopped in her tracks and turned back to Bobby. He was sat up now, looking at her intensely, making her stomach drop, “Thanks for the hospitality, Kim Jiwon. I hope we don’t have to run into each other again.”

“Goodbye, Song Nari.” He nodded at her, before she left him in his apartment and walked down the hall.

Nari kept her head down and hidden beneath Bobby’s hat, but she couldn’t drop the feeling of dread that hung in her stomach like deadweight; no matter how badly she wanted her last words to Bobby to be true, Nari just couldn’t shake off the feeling that they’d be seeing each other a lot more after this.

~

A week later, and Nari got the very thing she was dreading. It all started on this city chase about three days later.

“You got eyes on them Unnie?”

“I see them bastards alright.” Nari confirmed to Irene through her headset as she trained her sniper scope on the black jeep that raged mercilessly through the busy streets of Seoul. From the top of the tower of the Olympic Bridge, Nari could see the entire city unfolding before her eyes, all the action, corruption and all the chaos just within reach. She’d missed the city so much in the time that she was gone. Sure Japan was beautiful, but nothing could compare to the city she’d grown up in.

She carefully followed the movements of the black van on the other end of the bridge, her eyes trained on the two masked targets inside the vehicle as Irene followed in their car, Seulgi and Wendy waiting on the other end of the bridge to spring a trap. Irene expertly swerved and maneuvered her way around the aftershocks of their targets’ driving, keeping her cool in the tense situation.

The mysterious black jeep rammed through clusters of cars and people alike, no concern as to the damage caused whatsoever as sheer panic amassed from crowds around them.

“Where does it look like they’re headed?” Seulgi asked over the line.

“Hopefully, right into the trap. We’ve been tracking these guys for three days now – it can’t be a dead end.”

Nari was determined to catch the perpetrators who’d shot her Dongsaeng, Joy. Because of them, Joy was unconscious, recovering from surgery to remove the bullets that had been speckled across her body. Yeri refused to leave Joy’s bedside, and the entire company were sent into overdrive with paranoia.

This wasn’t the Family I wanted.

Nari couldn’t let their only lead slip, not after she and that idiot from YG let Zelo and Tzuyu slip through their fingers. Nari would never mention that chance run-in with Bobby, and she hoped never to have to admit it. The shame would be unbearable. Almost as unbearable as the feeling that this was just the beginning of something much bigger than all of them.

And then the targets started firing shots back at Irene.

“!” Irene cursed as the bullets hit the windshield. The car was bulletproof, but there was nothing worse than panicked driving blocking Irene’s own view off.

Nari watched, powerless, as cars swarmed all sides of the street as the targets approached the bridge, people spilling off of the road in terror. Irene’s job was made all the more difficult as they edged closer towards the bridge.

They can’t get away. Not this time.

“Now or never,” Nari sighed down the line before she quickly pulled her gun away and slung it over her shoulder. As she made the long descent down the ladders of the tower, Nari asked the girls to detail the events as the unfolded.

“These people are going crazy!” Irene shouted down the line, “I can’t get around them all too well – they’re all over the place.”

“Should spring the trap early?” Seulgi asked concernedly down the line, evidently having angst over missing all the action.

“No.” Nari ordered, “I’m leaving the nest.” Nari looked down, deciding the hundreds of metres she was away from the ground needed to be covered faster, “How long to the reach me?”

“Twenty seconds. Max.” Irene responded.

Nari looked down, uncertain about the huge height she had to cover; for once, she let her desperation determination dominate her actions and slid down the ladder, her feet dangling as her body went under brief weightlessness. She heard the distant screeching of cars and popping of gunfire in the distance, which meant she didn’t have much time left.

“We’re on the bridge. You’d better hurry up Unnie.” Irene warned down the line.

Nari was so close to the bottom, the wind having a lesser impact and no longer whipping her hair harshly as it did all the way up top. The sound of tyres screeching against the ground, horns blaring and cars swerving dominated the bridge, Nari nearly couldn’t hear her own thoughts as she was within distance of the ground.

“We’ve reached the nest.” Irene’s voice pushed Nari onwards, and she jumped from her position on the ladder, the pain shooting up her legs as they connected with the ground. She ducked and rolled as Irene’s car whizzed past her in pursuit of her target, the gunfire blazing in all manner of direction as they passed by. Nari sprinted to her maroon bike parked by the tower, attaching her sniper rifle to the back before hopping onto the seat, the race-powered engine roaring to life as she started the ignition.

“I’m in pursuit. Thirty Seconds then spring the trap.” Nari ordered the girls down the line.

Nari lurched forwards on her bike and immediately joined in the chase. She closed in on the distance of the target, weaving her way in and out of the endless cluster of panicked cars and civilians that blurred behind her. The targets became visible eventually, and that’s when Nari began her counter-fire on them.

I sure hope they’ve got good insurance.

Using one hand to fire from one of her trusty guns, Nari expertly steered her bike with the other hand as Irene also began her assault from their car.

“We want them alive!” Nari reminded her team down the line as Seulgi and Wendy prepared to launch their trap on the targets. Nari exchanged bullets with the targets in the black jeep, their bullets whizzing past her without touching her once. She and Irene cunningly crossed over each other in their pursuit, providing both ample cover for one another, as well as disorientation for whoever was targeting them from the car.

“We’re going in!” Seulgi exclaimed down the line as the chase went on.

As they approached the end of the bridge, Wendy and Seulgi joined in on the action, ramming the car sideways and into the side of the bridge before opening fire on them as they drove side by side. Nari managed to connect a bullet to the tyre of the car, and for the moment, the battle was won.

Until another car appeared on the other side of Wendy and Seulgi’s, trapping their car in-between the two.

“Damn it!” Nari cursed as the second car began firing back at Nari, her and Irene’s manoeuvring tactics rendered useless.

“What do we do now?!” Wendy asked, panicked.

Nari quickly assessed the situation, briefly evaluating every possibility and opportunity, “Irene, ram them up the .”

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me. I hope you’ve got a good air-bag.”

Nari accelerated her motorcycle to the highest speed, her quick wits and reactions allowing her to effortlessly sweep past the crazed drivers as they reappeared on main roads. She opened fire on the second vehicle whilst Seulgi exchanged shots with the original targets, Wendy desperately trying to break the car out of the grip between the two.

“When are you docking these bastards?” Wendy asked impatiently down the line, “I don’t think I can tango with them much longer.”

“When I slow their car down.”

“Hurry up. I think we’ve got company. Three dirt-bikes, I can’t see their faces.”

“Damn it.” Nari cursed at the prospect of even more backup, but strengthened her resolve to shoot down these guys faster.

Nari focused in all her senses on taking shots at the drivers of the second car, anything to slow down their advance and release the girl’s car – but no matter how close each bullet seemed to get, the gunmen would rain down a dozen more on her. It was when a single bullet managed to burst a tyre that Nari’s own bike was shot down.

As her tyre burst under her control, Nari swerved uncontrollably across the street, the targets in the car now turning their gunfire to civilian vehicles around them. Cars and buses zoomed about uncontrollably as the targets mercilessly rained gunfire on them, civilians terrified by tenfold.

Nari’s bike quickly deaccelerated, and eventually its side, throwing Nari’s off and onto the ground. The connection with the ground was only slightly painful, the leather of her jacket preventing any real damage, her hand thrown out of her ponytail as her face received a slight graze.

“Unnie!” Irene exclaimed, evidently panicked, “Should I turn back-“

“Freaking dock them.” Nari groaned as she pressed herself up on one knee, “I’ll find a way to catch up.”

That was when the new bikes appeared on the scene. Nari sighed in dread as one of the bikes slowed down upon approaching her, the driver’s gun glinting in the night-time city lights. Preparing herself for a gunfight (and mourning the loss of her bike and rifle) Nari stood herself up, fully expecting a sequel to her duel with members from this group.

What she didn’t expect was for Bobby to lower his hood.

Why does this keep kid popping up everywhere I go?!

She scoffed, “What the hell are you doing here?”

Nari ignored the sudden pick-up in her already-racing pulse. She shut off her earpiece, the strange sense of shame from this associating overcoming her once more.

Bobby shrugged, “Chasing down my target.”

“Your target?”

“Yes, my target. And now, my target is getting away. Unless you want to hitch a ride, you better find another way to get on after them. Ciao!”

Nari watched as Bobby began to speed off, but she didn’t hesitate a second before sprinting onto the road and jumping on the back of a public bus. Climbing up the back and over the top, Nari chuckled slightly as the passengers observed her with a mix of confusion and horror, but as Nari stabilised herself on top of the bus and looked on in the distance, she stared in shock at the scene before her.

Bobby’s idiot-friends from YG engaged in fully-fledged gunfight with the both targets, just as Irene rammed her car behind them. This released Wendy and Seulgi’s car from the grip between the targets, only for their own tyres to be blown of and their car slow right down. One of Bobby’s friends managed to shoot the tyres from the second target, causing their car to crash into a lamppost. Irene was forced to slow her car down to pick up her allies, leaving a single motorcycle to chase the final target.

I’m not losing them this time.

Locking her eyes onto Bobby, Nari allowed her determination to carry her forth once more, sprinting along the top of the bus, before launching herself off mid-air, weightlessness embracing her once more, before she landed painfully on the back of Bobby’s bike.

“Gee, aren’t you heavy.” Bobby said sarcastically. Nari gulped at the proximity between them, and was determined not to touch him as they shared the ride.

“Shut up and drive.” Nari ordered him as she pulled her gun from her side pouch, “Get me behind that car.”

“Okay,” Bobby nodded before accelerating the bike with surpassingly impressive speed and dexterity, “Jinhwan,” Bobby said, apparently speaking down an earpiece similar to Nari’s, “Keep supressing fire on that car. I’ve got an idea.”

“You’ve got an idea?” Nari demanded as they swerved around a truck that had doubled over during the conflict, police sirens viciously blaring in the distance. Nari couldn’t bare the idea of Bobby claiming her plan for his own.

“Does it matter?” He complained as they closed in on the second jeep, Bobby’s friend Jinhwan cleverly concealing his covering fire by swerving behind and out of the car’s vision, “I was just about to say how badass that jump off of that bus was, but I guess I’m not in the mood for being nice now.”

This kid.

Nari grumbled as Bobby successfully shut her up. She clicked her magazine in and out as they finally closed in, despite knowing very well it was full. As they came up to the rear of the car, Jinhwan circled back out and continued his suppressing fire on the car, his gun loud and arrogant compared to the lithe, quiet pop of Nari’s own.

“Duck your head.” Nari warned Bobby as she prepared herself for her plan of action.

Bobby looked back at her incredulously, “What? Why-“

Before his questioned could be answered, Nari launched herself off of the back of the bike, momentarily using Bobby’s head as a springboard, and latching herself onto the back of the car, her legs swinging as she clung onto the bar at the top.

“!” She heard Bobby call out from behind her, and just as she caught herself up in laughing at her move, the car swerved right, cause Nari’s hand to slip until she was dangling with one hand. She could feel her shoulder just waiting to dislocate.

As Nari clung on for dear life, she could hear the swerving of the bikes behind her, and she wished she could call for her team, but she’d shut off her earpiece earlier.

Damn you Bobby…

Nari grunted as she attempted to swing her other arm back up onto the bar, but to no avail.

The obnoxious gunfire continued behind her, and Nari could only hope and wait for the moment that a single bullet connected with one of the targets so she could climb over.

But when Bobby sped up besides the car, opened the door up and hopped inside, Nari didn’t have much hope for anything. Knowing how imminent her death would be, Nari began to