Chapter 10

Jongin was surprisingly compliant until he got into Jongdae’s car and Yena had disappeared. He started talking, then, and Jongdae was tempting to turn on the radio (though he never did that) to the loudest just to shut the other up. He was already regretting the decision, at any rate, and really, no one would know if he put a bullet through Jongin just that minute.

“You know,” Jongin started, “if the Sicari know that you’re housing me, we’re both dead meat. I might even say you’re more dead than I am.”

His grip tightened on the steering wheel as he backed out of his parking spot. “I can’t die.”

“I can assure you that one hundred percent I will not be the only one who’s screwed.”

“Yeah, I’d probably be worse off than you.” His knuckles had turned white “I could’ve killed you already. You’ve already lived…” He glanced at the clock on the car. “Approximately forty minutes longer than you should’ve.”

“So what are you going to do now? Lie to my cousin and kill me right afterwards? Great.”

“I told Kang Yena I was going to house you in my apartment, so that’s what I’m going to do.” He swerved into another lane, keeping an eye on Jongin in his peripheral vision as he weaved his way through the traffic. “On the basis that you have information on the Sicari, and because I promised her.”

The fell into silence for a while. Jongdae tried to keep his concentration on the roads, though it was hard, because there was, admittedly, a lot that he wanted to ask Jongin. At the same time, it was probably the first time he’d driven with someone in the passenger seat for years (or perhaps just the first time), and it felt odd, the car strangely crowded even though there were only two of them there. The presence of another person in the car was so foreign that it was uncomfortable and invasive.

After a little while, Jongin managed, “How do you know Yena? Why do you know her? I dug up the Sicari’s files on you too. You live in solitary in some suite and have been like that for ninety six years. I don’t get why you would be on good terms with anyone.” Jongin paused, then shrunk a little bit back on his seat. “I also heard that you have the touch of death.”

Jongdae glanced over at him and raised an eyebrow. “You’re taking this awfully calmly.”

“Oh, am I?” Jongin snorted. “If you’ve seen the amount of the Sicari’s done in just the past two decades, you wouldn’t even find anything surprising anymore. Immortal assassin with the touch of death? Sure, why not?”

“Most people don’t take it very well,” Jongdae replied drily. “I mean, they usually aren’t long enough to really tell me how they’re feeling, but I’d say most of them are mostly horrified.”

“Been there, done that. We’re chill as long as you don’t touch me.” Jongin had started to adjust his chair, until he finally seemed to find a comfortable enough position by reclining the seat until he was half lying down. “You’re avoiding my question.”

“And I’m supposed to kill you. I could put a bullet through you right now or even brush your hand, and you’ll be dead in thirty minutes maximum. I’m not obliged to answer your question, and we’ve both established that me doing this could get both of us killed—one of us deserves it much more than the other—so I don’t have to answer anything you’ve asked me.”

“She’s my cousin,” Jongin persisted. “I would be grateful for whatever you’re doing if I knew your reason behind it. If you’re going to let a girl you shouldn’t even know influence the fact that this is an important hit that you’re perfectly capable of carrying through, then she must mean something. What? She doesn’t know what either of us do. You can’t even make physical contact with anyone, so how on earth do you even know her?”

He could see the apartment complexes coming into view in the distance. Jongdae turned down a road, silent, and after a while, Jongin seemed to realize that he wasn’t going to get a response out of him anytime soon. “Fine,” he said. “Okay, you won’t tell me. When did you meet Kang Yena?”

He pulled the car up to the underground parking. “Not long ago. I’m not doing this because of her, though.”

“Oh?”

“You have information.” He pushed the gear back to parking as he pulled into the spot with his apartment number labelled. It had been at least two months since he’d last visited, two months that the spot had been vacant. Jongdae hadn’t really done much every time he did drop by—clean the apartment, dust it, stay a night or two before leaving. It wasn’t located at the most convenient place, at least—relatively far from the Sicari’s headquarters, and the area was rather secluded—but if Jongin was going to stay there for an unknown amount of time, then perhaps someplace that was less busy would help the both of them.

“And?” Jongin asked. “What’s after that?”

“Information on the Sicari,” Jongdae corrected. “Information that I need. I’m going to guess that the primary reason you left and they’re after you right now is because you dug up some files you weren’t supposed to?”

The backpack which Jongin had been clutching seemed to be hugged tighter to his chest. “I just think they’re too uptight.”

“No, you found something extremely important. Something you’re not supposed to know.”

The automatic light, which had when Jongdae had driven the car inside, flickered out, leaving them in darkness. The engine had stopped running, following by dead silence. He wasn’t sure what Jongin was thinking and whether or not he was going to reply, but for the longest time, he squinted in the blackness towards his direction, waiting for some sort of response.

Jongin broke first. “You got me,” he said. “Yeah, I was digging through their files and I probably found some things I wasn’t supposed to. It wasn’t a lot and it doesn’t make much sense to me, but apparently it was enough to piss the Sicari off. They already sent two people after me, you know.”

“What did you find?” he asked again.

“Here’s the deal.” Light flooded into the car again as Jongin reached up and switched on the interior light. “You tell me why the hell you know my cousin and what your relationship with her is, and I’ll tell you what you’ll want to know about the Sicari.”

“What’s stopping me from killing you right now and taking those files?”

“Kang Yena,” Jongin replied steadily, almost immediately. “Sure, you can do that. You might not understand the files I have, or you might—I don’t know—but you’re lying to me and yourself if you’re going to say she doesn’t have to anything to do with this decision. The Sicari’s best assassin who physically can’t even touch other people—the fact that you’re even interacting with someone else is… let’s put it this way: it’s not in your file.”

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