I was betrayed.

. . .

“This place is their territory,” Jihyun’s finger hit the map again and again, while Dasom only nodded, concentrated. “No one goes there unless they’re in good relationship with them.”

“So? What do you want me to do about it?” I put my feet on the table, cocking an eyebrow at Jihyun. She was known for being an impulsive prick and yet no one dared challenge her directly since she was so good with her guns. That until Bora and Hyolyn disappeared suddenly, breaking her gang.

Her chuckle was sinister when she turned to me. “I want you to do what you’re best at: bring me their leader’s head.”

“That’s gonna cost you five,” I rubbed my fingers together, already feeling the cash in my hands. Only her frown made me concentrate on what was in front of me. “If you don’t have that amount of cash, I should go,” I stood up, straightening my leather jacket while secretly following her through my helmet. I could see the wheels turning in her head.

“No, it’s fine, doesn’t matter anyway. Five!” She reached out her hand to seal the deal.

“Consider it done,” I squeezed her hand with my gloved one before walking out and getting on my motorbike.

. . .

The entire gang was staring at me in disbelief, Hyunseong still rubbing a very clean plate.

“… And this is how we’re going to do it,” I continued, ignoring their disbelief, “there’s going to a street fighting competition on their turf and there’s probably going to be a lot of smuggling, drug dealing. You have to get me that far only and I’ll take over.”

“You’re crazy!” Jeongmin was the first to snap. “No one goes around them with murderous intentions. No one! They always find out.”

“Does any of you plan to betray me?”

“Obviously not! What’s with the question?!”

“Then how are they going to find out? The client definitely won’t talk since they’re paying. Look, we always said we’d get out of this business, why not do it with style and take them down, make some people happy?”

They weren’t convinced. “Donghyun, tell her this is not a good idea,” Jeongmin turned to the man who hadn’t said a thing the entire evening. And as if provoked, he stared at me a full minute.

“Are you confident about this?”

“Have I ever failed?”

“Then consider it done,” he said standing up. “We’ll get you in, kiddo,” he turned to me just for a second, “but if you get caught we’re not going down with you.”

“So I take that I get sixty per cent then? Very well,” I too stood up from my place, the other members of the gang following our movements as if they were watching a tennis match. “I’ll text you the details as soon I have everything planned out.”

. . .

There was no light on when I got to the apartment. Only Jooyoung’s cigarette was pointing out to his presence in all the silence. So I quickly discarded of my helmet and jacket and jumped on the bed next to him, allowing his arm to come around me.

“Donghyun is still acting up,” I sighed, drawing circles on his skin with my fingertips. “Why can’t he woman up?”

“Because you dumped him?” Jooyoung’s laughter was dark, intoxicated. “So, did he agree to help you?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you want me to help you as well?” His lips were on my wrist, giving me goosebumps. “I’ll put my best men to join you in case something goes wrong.”

“Shush,” I rolled over him and taking his cigarette, I smirked before putting it out in the ashtray by the bed, “you’re not y when you’re so protective. I’m not yours,” I reminded him, fanning my fingers over his bare chest, “and I’m not one of your men either.”

“Then what are you?” He laughed, rolling over so he could be on top.

“A nameless assassin.”

That night we went to bed together, something I never did before. At least not with him. Jooyoung was a skilled lover, not really caring for my feelings like Donghyun did. And he was helpful in some ways. But that was all. So when I woke up drenched in sweat his arms didn’t go around me to comfort me, to drive away the nightmare still lurking around in the darkness.

“What? What’s wrong?” He just jolted scared.

“Nothing, go back to sleep,” I pushed away the covers and headed out of the bedroom, into the cosy kitchen for a cup of strong tea with lots of sugar. I had the same nightmare a couple of nights in a row, same masked man chasing me, same chains tying down my ankles making me fall. And the flash of a knife… But I had to get my together if I wanted to take down the leader of the most notorious gang. My last job and then retirement. Sounded good. So I got my laptop up and started digging into the locations frequently visited by the members of their gang.

. . .                    

“What do you have for me?” I pulled my hair up in a bun while approaching the monitors where Hyunseong was frowning through his glasses.

“It’s swarming with gangs. They’ve got the yakuza joining in as well. It’s no joke this year! Hey, Kwangmin, Youngmin, I can’t see well, can you move a bit to the right?” He spoke through his hands-free, frowning at one of the monitors were I could see all that the twins were seeing. “Isn’t that your new toy boy?” He pointed out at a tall figure getting into a black sedan.

“Could be, he’s pretty important in the city, isn’t he?” I shrugged. “He wants them down just as much as I do since he’s always been second place.”

“He’s been second for a reason, y’know?”

“Let’s leave it, ok? Where’s Donghyun?”

“In the back. Just… never mind! He’s checking the weapons for the nth time.”

I pursed my lips displeased. I should’ve known Donghyun was going to take it personally and get involved more than he should! So I barged into the room, decided to talk him out of whatever he had set his mind on doing. But instead of him polishing the barrel of a gun, I found him sitting down at the only table inside there, staring at his glass of gin.

“Look, I don’t know what your plan is, but I’m going in alone. This is my job! I’m the one no one knows and can get away with it. And even if I’m not getting away, there’s no one depending on me,” I started, slamming my hands against the table. His eyes turned to me lazily and unimpressed. “You have Boyfriend, Donghyun. You’ve always said they’re like family to you. So –”

“So what?” His voice was dangerously low and calm.

“So you can’t go on doing whatever you plan on doing and leave them to deal with the aftermath! You’re their leader. They need you.”

“And I you.”

“Sorry?!”

“I need you alive. Can’t have you dead. You might not love me –”

“Donghyun…”

“You listen good to me,” he shook his head, playing with his glass, “you’re my family just as much as the guys are. We’ve been through hell and back and even if you don’t care for me anymore, I still love you. And I won’t have you die while taking down Wonho even if that means my own death! Do you hear me?”

He was dead serious. And as my mind worked fast, I decided that there was an only option to keep him away. “I’m sorry to hear you say that, Donghyun, it’s really disappointing,” I spoke in the end, straightening myself to a stiff position. “If that’s indeed how you feel, then I’m afraid we can’t continue this partnership. I’m calling off on our collab.”

Before he got to chase me down, I was already on my bike, racing away and cutting all contact. I was supposed to go in during the third day of the tournament, but Donghyun made me storm in during the first day, when gangs were still gathering. But I was lucky and still managed to sneak among them, my face half hidden by the biker mask I was wearing.

. . .

But I was betrayed.

. . .

Darkness. A pinch in my arm and more darkness. And whenever I’d open my eyes, the same pinch would sting my arm before darkness would cave in on me.

“No… more…” I begged weakly.

“Oh, but we can’t have you plotting another assassinate now, can’t we… Code,” someone whispered to me before drugging me again.

I was drugged to the point that even when I was awake I was still out, completely unaware of the surrounding. Other than the fact that someone was passing through the room, changing my clothes to something itchy, my mind didn’t register anything else but a need, a terrible need for something, which they often satisfied so I wouldn’t cause them any issues. What they were unaware was that even of though my body was needy and caved in almost instantly, my mind was working through the darkness, registering what was happening. I had been betrayed and captured. Now they were selling me off.

“This one has all sorts of scars, won’t come at a good price.”

“Oh, but look at that toned bod! She’ll sell sweet to the right customer.”

“If she’s indeed that Code, wouldn’t it be better if we’d end her?”

“She has a lot of enemies,” a finger went under my chin and forcefully lifted my head, “they’ll have to pay to see her dead, that’s for sure. Prepare for departure!”

I had sworn to never let myself get caught and yet there I was just because I had trusted the wrong people. But who…

“You’ll be a nice girl, won’t you?” A guy I never met before forced me on my feet, while holding a syringe away from my reach. “Be a nice girl and wear your clothes nicely, put on some make-up and I’ll give you what you want,” he smiled almost nicely while shoving me on a chair in front of a vanity mirror.

Wow, I looked like crap! Someone had taken off my wig and my natural hair was all messy. So under strict supervision and with shaky hands I had to make myself presentable, from make-up to clothes till I was dead tired.

“Hey, hey, you can’t sleep now! We have a show to put on,” the same dude forced me up from the chair and led me through a narrow corridor and into a dark room. I sighed relieved when I was pushed down on a comfortable chair. “Now be a nice girl and try not to fall sleep. A nice treat awaits for you,” the same syringe was used as bait before the dude walked out.

So I was really being sold off. God have mercy on me, was all I could think of before I nodded off…

. . .

Now here I am, curled up on this couch, my shaky hands around me to keep them from reaching out for what was placed on the table for me: food and water, some aspirin as well. But no drugs. The person who bought me apparently didn’t like the fact that I was drugged, so they were trying to get it out of my system before… what? Most probably they want me to be lucid when the real deal comes up. But I ain’t going down without a fight so I too take my time to look around the room and there it is, the CCTV watching me. So I smirk and flip them the bird before gulping down the water and aspirin, a sudden idea which occurred to me, that I should be strong as well. That if I want to actually get out alive.

So a day passes and then another one, someone always leaving food and water on the table while I’m asleep. Eventually the drugs wash out of my system into the small bathroom I discovered I had access to while looking for a way out, although it was clear as day they weren’t going to let me out. And it got boring: me on the couch watching the CCTV watching me; so I washed my face took a sit on the couch and said out loud:

“Stop being a coward.” And that opened doors for me much faster than I would’ve ever thought.

“Come on and no funny moves,” a young guy motioned towards me with his gun from the doorstep after heavy locks fell off my door. “I have orders to shoot you if you try something,” his gun nudged my side while he showed me the staircase to go up.

“Who?”

“You’ll see,” it’s all he says as we climb the stairs.

The smell is somehow familiar: hot rust, something burning, sweat, but I do not expect to see an atelier when we finally reach the first floor, my calves burning in pain. Everyone’s working, welding things together, putting things into ovens and taking them out – strange things to do if you’re a well respected gang. But somehow I find myself drawn to watching their hands welding the hot metal into shape, with no care whatsoever that one of them could actually be after my throat.

“I heard you were looking for me,” the guy I was watching closely said all of a sudden, startling me. “I’m listening.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Didn’t you ask me to stop being a coward?” I can’t see his face as he’s wearing a protection mask. “I got you here to listen to whatever you have to say. No one’s going to hurt you here.”

“Ha, and I’m supposed to just believe that?!”

“Suit yourself, but I don’t lie… unlike you, Code.”

“Who are you and why are you doing this?” I get impatient, an unusual fear tickling me down my spine.

“Doing what?  Welding? Or talking to you?”

I blink, confused. “Both!”

“I like metal,” he confesses, minding his business and moving around between the two ends of the table, “we think of it as impenetrable, indestructible and yet, with just the right amount of heat it turns and twists so easily under the right hand.”

“And?”

“You’re just like metal, Code: cold, hard to handle. But I believe that with the right amount of heat –”

“What?” I start laughing without even realizing. “You think I’m going to be all obedient and cute?! Ha! Give me a knife and I’ll slice open everyone here in five minutes. So don’t you think you can change me by showing me whatever this is!”

“Later, Code, we’ll talk again later,” was all he says before the young dude walks me back to my cell.

 At least the CCTV wasn’t preaching.

. . .

But I was forced out once again when a pipe burst inside the underground room I was held. So now the same young dude from before forces me up the same stairs, his gun nudging my ribs through my blouse.

“What, we’re not going to the atelier?” I an eyebrow when he motions me to continue climbing the stairs.

“Nah, today’s gonna be special.” And I just feel the smirk in the tone of his voice. So I twist and turn my fingers to warm them up, prepared for anything. For the worse. “We’re here!” The guy motions me inside a dim lit room which turns out to be an old training facility for boxing. “Have fun!” He smiles before walking away just like that, turning his back on me with no fear.

“I know what you’re thinking and I wouldn’t do it if I were you,” a voice startles me, chasing away my wild thoughts. “Come, let’s warm up!”

“You’re the guy from before, the metal lover!” I squint my eyes, trying to see his face this time. But he’s pretty far and the light isn’t the best. “What? You want to train with me now?!” I chuck