Woo Bin entered the boardroom, followed by his men. This was not the usual boardroom of their Song Tower, where the regular board members of the Song Industries met to discuss the companies’ performance and future. This was the secret den of the Song family, frequented by his father and grandfather in the past for all the top-secret mafia dealings.

“What is the status with the Kim gang?” asked Woo Bin.

One of s handed him some photographs and documents, which he examined intently. A deep frown grew in his forehead, as he processed the gravity of the situation. In the last 3 years of his reign, when he finally took over the Song chaebol, he had actively worked on transforming their mafia undertakings into more legitimate branches of the business. It was not an easy task, first, facing the strong opposition from his father.

“It is not an easy job, my son. A small mistake may crumble the whole empire, which your grandpa and I took so much pain in building all these years,” warned his father, lying in the intensive care unit.

“Have faith in me, Abeoji. I will not let anything bad happen to the Song Industries. All I want is for it to be the most successful and revered business conglomerate among its peers. I will speak to all our associates and make this possible. Just have faith in me, please,” pleaded Woo Bin.

That day his father had given his consent somewhat unwillingly. But, after all these 3 years, he was proud to see Woo Bin’s relentless hard work and diligence in making his words come true. Truly, all the unlawful businesses were taken care of, one by one, by convincing the associates to transform their core values. It was not an easy task, as pointed out by the senior Song, but not impossible as well. Of all the their associated kkang-paes, only the Kim gang was in complete disagreement with Woo Bin’s proposal. Initially they had parted ways somewhat amicably and went below the radar. But in the recent times the Kim gang had resurfaced, with a new leadership of Kim Seok. And the only motive for this gang seemed to be bringing harm to the Song Industries, in which ever scale possible.

“This time they attacked our men at the shipyard, where our consignments were coming from Japan. They destroyed few of the containers as well, although our men managed to call for reinforcements to stop them,” stated his personal assistant Lee.

“It seems one last time I will have to take up the mafia way to tackle this problem,” muttered Woo Bin and all his men nodded in agreement.

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Ji Hoo and Ha Jin waited below a small shade, as the heavy downpour continued in the cold October night. Not long after their fun ride commenced, rain had started, forcing him to stop at a nearby makeshift shade.

“What is it with you and rain? This is the third time I am with you, stuck in the rain,” spoke Ji Hoo with a grin.

“I can say the same thing about you. Huh!” replied Ha Jin and made a face.

“Are you hungry?”

“Yes, I am. Someone had promised me food and soju, and all I got was this rain and cold wind.”

Ji Hoo pursed his lips to stop smiling and shook his head. Ha Jin seemed to be a very simple and straight forward girl. Unlike the awkwardness between them in their previous encounters, she seemed to be opening to him gradually. And to his own astonishment, he was unusually comfortable with her after their conversation at the joggers’ park.

Ji Hoo suddenly felt something in his jacket pocket. He put his hand in to find out a cereal bar.

“Here, take this. As soon as the rain stops, I will take you to the place where they serve the best Army stew,” said Ji Hoo and handed over the bar to Ha Jin.

A bright smile appeared on her face, seeing the bar. Ha Jin was starving, as she did not have a proper lunch that day and all they had at the movie was cola and popcorn. She opened the wrapper and took a bite, then offered it to Ji Hoo.

“No, you have it,” said Ji Hoo.

Ha Jin pushed the bar in his open mouth till he bit it.

“You can be really pushy, did you know?” asked Ji Hoo while wiping the crumbs of his lips.

Ha Jin grinned mischievously and turned to look at the rain again. The rain drops tricked down the shade and formed small pools at their feet. For the next few minutes they enjoyed the sound of the downpour in silence.

“Heartbeat heartbeat…Speeding Up…Heartbeat heartbeat…In My Mind…Heartbeat heartbeat…jogeumssik deo keojyeogane”

The sudden loud ringing of Ha Jin’s phone in her bag startled them, but soon Ji Hoo burst into a loud laughter. Ha Jin’s face became beetroot red, as she struggled to locate her phone in the numerous pockets of her bag. She glared at Ji Hoo as he held his stomach and continued guffawing.

Finally, she felt the phone and pulled it out to discover the call was from So Bin. She immediately stepped a little away from Ji Hoo and picked up the phone.

“Hello So Bin.”

Ji Hoo stilled hearing So Bin’s name and looked away from Ha Jin.

“Hey sweetheart, how are you? What are you doing now?” asked So Bin in a jolly tone.

“I am fine, thanks. How are you? How’s everything in New York?”

Their conversation lasted for another 5 minutes or so. So Bin asked about her parents and Ha Jin informed him that they were out of town. Just when their conversation was about to be finished, So Bin spoke.

“I called you to say that I missed you. Did you miss me too?”

When Ha Jin did not reply, he asked her