Lee Kaeun. 26. Reaper. Former Head Enforcer.

 

 
 
Miyawaki Sakura. 21. Optimistic, For A Pessimist.

 

 

"Let me live in your arms, and spend every waking moment with you."
_______________________________________________________________________________

Don't Fear The Reaper.
Chapter 9: Till Death Do Us Part (Part 1).
With Fingers Crossed.

 

Rated M for mild ual content.

 

 

It was quiet.

 

The world, and everything within it.

 

Kaeun takes a long drag of the cigarette she had been cradling between her fingers, closes her eyes to savour the taste of nicotine before exhaling deep and slow. 

 

She was on the balcony of her girlfriend’s studio apartment, propped on a beanbag sofa that she had bought said girlfriend as a monthversary present (although she herself thinks the very notion of celebrating “monthversaries” to be dumb and redundant. She just saw Sakura eye-ing the sofa one day and needed a reason to buy it for her) looking out onto the world and just...absorbing the sounds around her.

 

It was noisy, but it was also quiet. Kaeun didn’t quite know how to describe the weird balance. The silence was coming from deep within her, and not as a reflection of the ambient noise surrounding her. It was a feeling of contentment. Completion. She was unfamiliar with such a joyful emotion, and wondered if it was common. Do other people feel this way as well? It was rare that she could find an emotion that cigarettes and liquor couldn’t ebb away, but maybe a part of her was ready to embrace this new feeling. To welcome the silence as a friend, and not as an enemy.

 

A shuffling sound came from inside the house, muted by the glass sliding door separating the balcony from the house interior but Kaeun’s highly sensitive ears picks it up over the sound of traffic and chirping birds. The soft pitter-patter of light footsteps followed before the sliding door was pulled open by her very dazed and probably still three-quarters-asleep girlfriend.

 

Sakura’s hair was a mess, sticking up at weird angles and she had a large blanket wrapped around her pajama-clad body. Her eyes where still closed, and opened wide in a yawn that was far south of being ladylike. There was still some drool on the side of her lips, indicating a good night’s sleep.

 

Sakura looked like the most beautiful thing Kaeun had ever seen in her life.

 

She watched, amused, as Sakura with her eyes still closed manages to find the empty space next to Kaeun on the sofa, flopping down onto the plush beanbag and tucking her legs under the blanket for warmth.

 

“Hey you.” Kaeun greets, soft smile stretching across her face as she feels her girlfriend curl up against her side like a cat. Sakura grumbles in reply, nuzzling Kaeun’s neck and burying her face deeper into that space where neck meets shoulder in an effort to shield her eyes from the sun’s light.

 

“Mmm. Don’t. You’ll smell like smoke.” 

 

Sakura shakes her head and whines adorably, indicating she didn’t care. Kaeun chuckles as her girlfriend cuddles against her on the sofa, and a few minutes later she hears Sakura’s breathing settle into a slow, rhythmic pace. Her girlfriend had fallen asleep again, clutching onto Kaeun’s shirt. Sighing, the latter didn’t have a choice but to put out her cigarette, not wanting to risk exposing Sakura to direct secondhand smoke.

 

Kaeun is finally able to put a name to the calm silence she has been feeling. 

 

It was peace.

 

This was what it was like to feel completely at peace.

 

Ironic, really. As the Reaper, peace wasn’t something that Kaeun ever thought she would have the luxury of experiencing. She didn’t deserve it, with all the killing she does. She was ruthless. Heartless. Raised to be a destroyer, Kaeun would take the lives of the elderly, the young, the innocent and the guilty without batting an eye. She never really had anything that she could call her own. Heck, even her life felt as if it belonged to someone else. She was a destroyer. Her hands were for killing, not protecting.

 

Yet now she’s finally discovered something that was truly hers. She’s found something that she wanted to protect with all her life without having it be out of her sense of duty. Her girlfriend. Her precious, beautiful girlfriend...Kaeun knew since the moment she met Sakura in that bakery all those nights ago that she wanted to protect Sakura from the world. She wanted to prevent all harm from befalling the small, almost fragile girl.

 

Sakura was the most important thing in her life. Her precious treasure. Her reason for breathing. Sakura made her want to be better. A better person. A person deserving of holding so much GOOD in her arms. Kaeun would cry at night in guilt because...because just the thought that her bloodstained hands were allowed to touch something as pure as Sakura’s skin...

 

No matter how hard she scrubbed, the blood wouldn’t wash away. It’s not visible, but it’s there. Tattooed onto her skin like invisible ink. She was tainted, and she will continue to be tainted as long as she wields Keres to battle. Her gun. Formerly one of the only things she could trust.

 

Now she has Sakura. 

 

Oh what a god damn PRIVILEGE it was to have Sakura.

 

“I think it’s stupid if you die from smoking.”

 

Kaeun looks down to see brilliant brown eyes looking back up at her, wide awake and full of life. Just how long has Sakura been awake? Or more rather, just how long has Kaeun been daydreaming?

 

“...Thanks for that input.” Kaeun replies curtly, not looking forward to yet another lecture about the dangers of smoking. She sees Sakura inhale deeply, and the Reaper sighs at the impending inevitability that is her girlfriend’s morning sermons.

 

“I’m serious unnie. They’re horrible for you. You’ve seen those infomercials where they show just what nicotine tar does to your lungs right? You survive getting shot at by thousands of people, it’ll be dumb if these stupid cancer-sticks are the ones that’ll do you in.”

 

“At least it will be on my own terms.” Kaeun replies, and she feels the deathglare her girlfriend was giving her burn a hole right through her skull. Sakura pointed a threatening finger at her; something very few in the world would ever dare to do.

 

“Don’t you die on me.”

 

Kaeun locks eyes with Sakura and she sees the threat in them intermingled with so much worry that the Reaper couldn’t help the warm and fuzzy feeling she felt as a result. It was nice. To have someone worry about her to this extent. Kaeun would dare say she liked it very much.

 

“Wasn’t planning on dying.”

 

“...If you die, I’ll kill you.”

 

Kaeun chuckled at the absurdity of the statement. “Yes ma’am.”

 

Satisfied with her work, Sakura lays back down onto Kaeun’s form, resting her face against the older woman’s chest as she snuggled closer. This was starting to become a routine. Kaeun was spending more time in Sakura’s apartment than in her own room back at the headquarters.

 

Unlike most routines though, this one was not tedious in the slightest. It was the most ideal routine Kaeun could ever think of.

 

She brings a hand up to gently Sakura’s cheek, brushing stray hairs aside with a thumb. If it was possible to do so, Sakura would probably be purring like a cat at this point based on how contented the younger girl looked.

 

“I’m going to talk to Eunbi today.” Kaeun informs as matter-of-factly as she could.

 

“About...?”

 

“...Leaving.”

 

Sakura’s entire body stiffens in response, but Kaeun never stopped her girlfriend’s cheek. She was fully expecting Sakura to react this way. She could physically feel the confliction radiating from the girl in her arms, probably juggling questions in her head and wondering which to ask first.

 

“What do you think she’ll say?” Sakura finally says as she settles on one. A wry smile makes it’s way onto Kaeun’s face. 

 

“...I don’t know.”

 

Sakura breathes in deep and sharp, very clearly unsettled by Kaeun’s reply. They knew what leaving meant. They knew it wouldn’t be easy. Sakura sits upright to look directly into Kaeun’s eyes and already the latter misses the warmth pressing against her body.

 

“Are you sure this is what you want, unnie?”

 

There was worry swimming and running rampant in Sakura’s brown eyes, but the younger girl showed no sign of wanting to stop Kaeun. It was a question with an easy answer, for the Reaper has never before felt more sure of a decision in her life.

 

“I want a shot at being normal.” Kaeun starts as she opens her arms to coax Sakura back into them. Every second spent not embracing her girlfriend was a second that is pointlessly wasted. Sakura relents, entering into the older woman’s arms and pressing her face into Kaeun’s bosom as the older woman continued. “Y’know baby, I look at you and...I’m ashamed that my life is all about killing and committing crimes. This has to end at some point.”

 

To her surprise she hears a soft chuckle come from her chest, and she looks down to see Sakura wearing an unamused, disbelieving expression on her face. “They probably won’t let you go just like that. There has to be a catch, since they would be losing their Head Enforcer.”

 

The statement causes Kaeun to raise her eyebrows, but she did not deny it. “It’s scary how familiar you are with the way we operate now, babe.” 

 

Silence befalls them again, and Sakura distracts herself by fiddling with a lock of Kaeun’s hair, twirling it around a lithe finger absentmindedly. Neither knew how to break the silence, but there was so much to be said. So much to be spoken.

 

“...Why do I feel like I’m already sending you off to war?”

 

The sadness in Sakura’s voice was akin to a widow grieving the loss of her husband. It was awful to hear, but unfortunately Kaeun for the life of her could not say that it was misplaced. Sakura had a right to worry. 

 

Kaeun had the right to alleviate said worry as best as she could.

 

“...You’re being dramatic.” A feeble attempt at reassurance but Sakura does not call her out on it. The Japanese girl instead releases a long sigh and positions herself to get off her girlfriend and the plush beanbag.

 

“Maybe I am.”

 

Sakura gets up and makes to walk back into the house but pauses at the glass sliding door, turning back to look at Kaeun with teary eyes.

 

“I love you.”

 

This wasn’t the first time.

 

Sakura has said those three words and made it publicly known just how she feels for her girlfriend, but Kaeun struggled to say those words back to her. She did not have the courage to. She was undeserving to love someone as pure as Sakura, but her younger girlfriend being wise and patient beyond her years has never once pushed Kaeun to reply.

 

She waits for Kaeun to be ready, and this meeting with Eunbi was just one of the many steps she must take for her to finally get to that point.

 

“I’ll come find you soon?” Kaeun says, and Sakura smiles warmly in reply. 

 

“Will be waiting.”

 

 

*********************************************

 

 

Kaeun arrives at the headquarters with a little more fanfare than usual. This was her first time returning to duty since the successful mission in Jeju and the juniors were fawning over the Head Enforcer a little too much. Kaeun played her role well, smiling politely to the future generation while making a beeline for Eunbi’s office. 

 

She has sent word ahead that she would be coming so the leader should be prepared for her arrival. A few courtesy knocks on the door was all that Kaeun bothered to provide before swinging Eunbi’s door open quite unceremoniously. She was used to barging in on her sister-figure, what with privacy not being a thing between them and that can sometimes result in her catching Eunbi in some rather compromising situations but the scene that greets her this time was peculiar to say the least.

 

Hitomi and Eunbi were the only two occupants of the room which in itself wasn’t that strange, but their reaction to Kaeun’s sudden arrival was. Strange, that is. The pair of them jumped apart the moment the door swung open, leaving Kaeun to assume that she must have accidentally interrupted something.

 

“A-As I live and breathe! Lee Kaeun, seeking ME out for a change? To what do I owe this visit?” Eunbi questions, probably trying to sound condescending but the stutter in her question threw a wrench in that plan.

 

Kaeun stayed mum, pulling out a chair to sit across the leader’s expensive desk. Eunbi raises an eyebrow at the action because Kaeun was rarely quiet. Not when she was with her, anyways. Silence usually meant something that could not be said freely, and knowing just how open they are with each other the very idea that Kaeun was hesitant to speak her mind was...foreboding.

 

“...Am I going to like this?”

 

Kaeun shrugged. “I don’t know. Probably not.”

 

Eunbi frowns, but settles back into her seat and takes up the posture of the no-nonsense leader she has the reputation of being.

 

“Hii-chan. Could you give us some time?”

 

Hitomi nods once before moving towards the exit, no sign of hesitance shown. Kaeun, in pure fascination, turns her head to watch as the doctor leaves the room. Wondering just how was someone as intelligent as Hitomi so...compliant and docile when it comes to Eunbi.

 

“That girl adores you too much Eunbi. Don’t keep her stringing along for longer than necessary.” Kaeun says as the door shuts closed behind the doctor.

 

“You didn’t come in here just to give me love advice did you? I’ll kick you right out if you did.” 

 

Kaeun chuckles lightly, knowing full well that Eunbi would make good on that threat. She shakes her head, and realises she’s already forgotten the speech she had prepared in her head. .

 

“I’ll get straight to the point then?”

 

“That would be appreciated, yes.”

 

She breathes in deep, trying to figure out where to begin with this but there really wasn’t a proper way to start something like this off, is there? It’s like trying to compose the perfect “Dear John” letter. Such a thing just doesn’t exist, so Kaeun decides to just wing it as best she can.

 

“I’ve...spent my entire life serving this family. I’ve killed probably more people than I could possibly count, without question and without hesitance.”

 

Eunbi nods apprehensively in agreement. “My father would always tell me that the bodies you piled on the ground eventually became the foundation that this organisation sits upon today. Where are you going with this?”

 

Kaeun takes a deep breath, and in turn causes Eunbi to take one as well. The Reaper was nervous and scared. NOTHING made the Reaper nervous or scared. Where on Earth was this leading to?

 

“...I would like to leave the organisation.”

 

There.

 

She said it.

 

And one could hear an ant’s footsteps with how quiet it was suddenly. Eerily silent. Not even the air conditioning seemed to make a sound, and Kaeun could hear her own heart beating in her ears as she waited for Eunbi to say something—anything—to break the horrible silence between them.

 

“You what?”

 

Eunbi sounded calm. Too calm. As if she had been expecting this to come from a mile away.

 

“I think it’s time the Reaper hung up her scythe. I’m...burnt out and exhausted.” Kaeun finds herself admitting for the first time in 26 years. She has never outright said that she was “too tired” to complete a mission. She was the perfect soldier, always ready to bear arms. Always ready to swing her scythe to reap souls.

 

Maybe if she had been a little less perfect, this process would be much easier.

 

“You want to leave NOW? When we’re at the precipice of war?” Eunbi asks, incredulousness present in her voice yet it was still a few measures calmer than one would expect given the situation. 

 

“We’re ALWAYS at the precipice of war! When are we ever NOT fighting for our lives?” Kaeun counters, to which Eunbi merely scoffs.

 

“And what makes you think that we would simply allow you to walk away from us?”

 

“Because you’ve been planning this all along.”

 

Eunbi raises an eyebrow at Kaeun, as the Reaper leans back in her chair to make herself more comfortable. It was time to test out the theory she’s developed over the past few months.

 

“Back when you asked Sakura to take me out all those months ago, forcing me to have a taste of normalcy. Exposing me to everything I’ve missed out on. You knew how I felt about her. You knew what would happen if I spent too much time with her, outside of this building. You knew it would get me to leave.”

 

There was a brief staredown between them, expressionless black eyes locked into expectant grey ones. A short eternity of tense silence passed, before the corners of Eunbi’s lips curved upwards into the ghost of a smile.

 

“I couldn’t have known anything, Kaeun. I had my hopes, but I never expected the plan to work as well as it did. Sakura did very well, despite knowing nothing.”

 

Kaeun scoffed, unsure if she should feel proud that her theory had proven to be correct, or annoyed that she had been playing right into her sister’s plans all the while.

 

“Don’t use my girlfriend like she’s your little plaything, Eunbi.”

 

“In my defense, she wasn’t your girlfriend at the time!” Eunbi countered, though Kaeun highly suspects that the status of her relationship with Sakura would do very little to deter the Kwons from getting what they want.

 

Kaeun has known the Kwon family for what she would describe as too long of a time. Throughout the months she’s dated Sakura, nobody from the head management outside of Eunbi herself has ever commented on her having a girlfriend. Kaeun wasn’t so naive to believe that the main branch hadn’t found out about Sakura, nor was she daft enough to assume they just didn’t care about the whole “Reaper’s girlfriend” thing.

 

There was no way the main branch would allow her to be this happy for this long. There was definitely a reason as to why they haven’t stepped in yet, but Kaeun hasn’t managed to deduce that reason.

 

A small part of her was honestly scared to know the answer, but they’re on the subject now.

 

“So tell me. I haven’t managed to figure out what the next step in your grand plan is. Get me to want to quit, and then what?”

 

Eunbi leaned forward, elbows on the desk as she cleared . The temperature in the surrounding air seemed to dip a few degrees, sending a chill up Kaeun’s spine that triggered her hypersensitive fight-or-flight response. They weren’t playing and dancing around with pleasantries anymore. Kaeun corrected her posture, sitting up in her chair to meet her leader dead in her eyes.

 

“The plan, Kaeun, is much simpler than you would expect. First I wanted you to have a reason to want to leave this place. Next...” Eunbi paused, making sure she had the Reaper’s full undivided attention before continuing. “...Next I wanted you to have a reason to survive.”

 

Kaeun frowned, not quite understanding where Eunbi was going with this. Thankfully the leader decided to help fill in the blanks herself instead of allowing Kaeun to draw her own conclusions.

 

“As you’re well aware, the tension between the families have been escalating to an all time high. What’s keeping the balance together are the Enforcers that each family keeps with them. You, Lee Kaeun, are the best of them all.”

 

The Reaper nods, acknowledging her position in the industry as something factual but not letting it get to her head. She has earned her title through various victories and by defeating all the other families’ Head Enforcers, but she knew that overconfidence would spell her downfall. 

 

She has defeated them all, but it only takes a single mistake for them to claim her head in a rematch. There have been several past skirmishes that had to end in a draw, with the most notable one being with the Enforcer of the Vermillion Orchid.

 

“You are our main line of defence, Lee Kaeun. To let you go would spell disaster for us.”

 

“...I’m sensing that there’s a ‘but’ coming up.”

 

Eunbi smiles, happy that her Reaper is keeping up.

 

“In exchange for your freedom, Reaper, the Red Roses family would like to make a proposal. It is entirely up to you to choose or decline it.”

 

Kaeun chuckles. A proposal. Of-ing-course they would have a proposal ready. The Red Roses were ready for this day, even before Kaeun herself. What a naive pawn she’s been.

 

“....Let’s hear it then.”

 

For a brief moment it appears as if Eunbi was hesitating. The leader paused for moment before her eyes grew unfocused, as if her thoughts had wandered to someplace else. Kaeun was about to ask her if she was okay, before the leader seemed to compose herself back together by way of a very long exhale.

 

“Your mission is to destroy the three remaining crime families. Eliminate every single threat to our organisation. An impossible task, but one only you can accomplish.”

 

Well...that wasn’t asking for too much was it? Why don’t they just ask her to take down the wHOLE BLOODY GOVERNMENT while she’s at it?! All three—there was a reason why she hasn’t done so before, and it was because of the delicate balance hanging between the various families.

 

Of course Kaeun suspected that one day the mad people in charge of the Red Roses would eventually toss the Reaper onto the battlefield to sweep the entire garden using her scythe, but it still sounded like a crazy plan even if she was prepared for it.

 

She could feel her heart sink into her stomach.

 

This wasn’t a mission. It was a death sentence.

 

“Why couldn’t you have just asked me for this sooner? Why wait until the war has escalated up to this point?” Kaeun asks, curiousity cutting through just how deflated she was currently feeling.

 

Eunbi didn’t even miss a beat before answering, undoubtedly already ready for that very question.

 

“Believe me they wanted me to send you on this mission MONTHS ago! I simply refused to do it because the "you" of the past would have thrown her entire body into this mission. You had nothing but the Red Roses to live for. You would have had zero problems dying for us. The heads of the family would have been completely fine with that, by the way.” 

 

Eunbi paused, voice sounding hoarse and Kaeun suspects that the leader was trying her best to fight back her tears. She allows Eunbi to take her time to compose herself while Kaeun herself digests the rest of what she had just been told.

 

“But you know what Kaeun?”

 

Kaeun looks into Eunbi’s eyes. Sees the fire burning in them despite how watery they are.

 

“What is it?”

 

“ them. All of them. All of the heads of my family. I love you like my own sister, Kaeun. I don’t want you to die. I want you to live, and in order for that to happen I needed YOU to WANT to live. Sakura coming into your life was a blessing. That was why I waited, I wanted you to find a reason to get out of this mission alive.”

 

Kaeun’s eyes grew slightly wider at the realisation of what Eunbi had been cooking up behind the scenes all the while. So that was how Sakura’s involvement factored into this entire thing. It was a of luck, that day Kaeun had shot herself in the leg and had taken cover in that bakery. What Eunbi said was true. Before she had met Sakura, her service to the organisation was the most important thing to Kaeun. 

 

Now...she has things to do. She has things to live for. Sakura has taught her that the world was not just a cold, dark, room. There was a door that Kaeun had missed all along, and through that door she now sees a world of inifinite possibility. A world beyond the world she knew.

 

“I have no intentions of dying, Eunbi.” Kaeun says finally, bringing about a wide smile on the leader’s face.

 

“That’s what I want to hear.”

 

Kaeun sighed as she took a moment to think. The more she thought about it, the more impossible this mission seemed to her. 3 entire organisations....the families that ruled over South Korea....

 

“So how many am I up against? 5, maybe 10 thousand?” Kaeun asks, and Eunbi laughs lightly:

 

“Doesn’t that sound do able enough for the Reaper?”

 

The leader’s smile spoke of a challenge, and despite the odds stacked up against her Kaeun couldn’t help but answer her sister’s taunts with one of her own. Siblings lived to compete, after all.

 

“Almost sounds too easy. Do I get to bring a team?”

 

Eunbi laughs. Loud and bright, as if wondering how bringing a team would be able to accomplish what the ENTIRE organisation has been unable to do for years. “You can bring an entire ARMY if you could find enough idiots willing to die for you.”

 

Eunbi then paused to scratch her chin, a contemplative look on her face as a smile creeps across her features. Kaeun shook her head and smiled as well, knowing exactly where the other girl’s head is at right now. 

 

...They were a family, after all.

 

“Fortunately enough, I think we have an entire building full of such idiots.”

 

 

 

*************************************

 

 

Kaeun exhales and she watches as the brisk air carries the smoke from her cigarette into the night. The view from the Enforcer’s living quarters has always been beautiful, but she doesn’t remember it ever being this cold out on the balcony. It was as if the chill was coming from deep within her bones.

 

It was a habit of hers, to take a smoke break on this very balcony before a difficult mission. The balcony wasn’t as private as the one attached to her room but the view from here was much, much better. All the city lights glowing and moving underneath her like fireflies, it was oddly humbling to be just one human amongst all this...vastness.

 

Approaching footsteps could be heard coming from the common room behind her and it wasn’t hard to pinpoint who the owner of said footsteps was. There were only 3 of them living on this floor after all. The glass door is slid open slowly and Kaeun suddenly has an odd sense of dejavu from earlier in the day. Hasn’t she seen this scene play out once before already?

 

“Hey.” Hyewon greets, leaning over the glass railings that made up the balcony as she stood next to Kaeun. 

 

Kaeun glances towards the younger girl, sees Hyewon look out into the night not bothering to even turn to face her. A thousand and one emotions were cautiously playing on Hyewon’s normally stoic face.

 

“Hey.” Kaeun replies, and she waits.

 

She waits for Hyewon to compose herself enough to voice out whatever turmoil she was currently facing internally. To put into words the typhoon of emotions that Kaeun knows her second in command is feeling.

 

“Y’know, it’s bull.”

 

Kaeun doesn’t take her eyes off of Hyewon. She hears the venom that comes out-of-character lacing the younger girl’s voice, but pretends as if she doesn’t. “What is?”

 

“You know what is.”

 

The Reaper tries her best to suppress a laugh. “Tell me anyway.”

 

Hyewon clicks her tongue upon realising that Kaeun was finding amusement in this situation. At least ONE of them is laughing.

 

“This. This whole setup. If you survive, you’ll leave. If you die, we’ll be left trying to complete the impossible task that managed to kill YOU! If it’s hard enough to kill you of all people, what makes them think WE can do it? What kind of bull is that?” Hyewon snapped, gesturing wildly in the air as she finally turns to glare at Kaeun. 

 

She looked so young. So indignant and so lost. Kaeun remembers the exact moment Hyewon had been welcomed into the family. The moment the latter became a protégé and the moment she grew to become one of the most feared women in the country alongside Kaeun herself. She remembers having to teach Hyewon how to throw a proper punch, and she remembers how a few years into being an Enforcer Hyewon had famously punched a man so hard he was dead before he even hit the floor.

 

Hyewon had grown into a fine woman.

 

Kaeun had forgotten that Hyewon’s age wasn’t much different from Sakura’s. Hyewon looked up to Kaeun, which explains why the younger girl was so angry at the prospect of her mentor being sent on this suicide mission. 

 

She would like to comfort the girl. To tell Hyewon not to worry, but that would involve making promises that Kaeun wasn’t completely sure she could keep. It wasn’t that kind of mission. The kind that one could easily sweep under the rug and brush off with words of reassurance.

 

No, this mission was very much as impossible as it seemed.

 

“I’ll be sure to weaken them for you before I croak.” Kaeun joked, trying to lighten the mood but Hyewon wasn’t having any of it. The frustrated glare didn’t seem to be leaving the girl’s face anytime soon.

 

“It’s not funny, unnie.” Hyewon stated flatly. 

 

Kaeun smiled lightly while shaking her head. She was fully aware that she was the only one who could see the amusement in the situation but in the face of such insurmountable odds, having a dark sense of humour was the only thing she had going for her to prevent depression from setting in.

 

“You’ll do fine. The other branches will pull through and help out.” Kaeun assures Hyewon although they both know that it wasn’t true.

 

“Are you sure about that?” A small voice comes out of nowhere, belonging to neither Kaeun nor Hyewon. “—Cause none of them seem to be rushing to assist you right now, unnie.”

 

Kaeun watches as the owner of the disembodied voice makes herself known by climbing up over the balcony from one floor below them. It would be almost unbelievable, if she wasn’t so accustomed to seeing such ridiculous antics here on the daily. The high winds from how high up they were would be enough to cause more than a slight challenge for anyone to maintain their grip. One had to be a lunatic to attempt climbing up the balcony when there was a fully functioning elevator nearby.

 

There was really only one person crazy enough to do something so reckless. Kaeun could only shake her head in disbelief as Nako’s head pops up over the railing, a wide grin across her face.

 

“This is the 36th floor you lunatic!” Hyewon shouts, but she might as well have done it to a wall as Nako nonchalantly flips her entire body over the railing to end up on the same floor as the rest of the Enforcers.

 

“They’re not coming to help you, unnie. You know that as well.” Nako said to Kaeun, ignoring Hyewon entirely and continuing where she left off without missing a beat.

 

Kaeun could only shrug in reply. “I guess they don’t really have a use for someone who wants to leave. Either allow me to take out as many as I can before I die, or have me kill everyone and only lose one person when I retire.”

 

“You’re worth at least a thousand men, unnie. We’ve seen you fight. We’ve fought alongside you.” Hyewon chimes in, scoffing at the Reaper’s reasoning although not denying the validity of it.

 

Nako approaches Kaeun and lifts a small hand to the latter’s shoulder, squeezing it gently while a fire kindles in her eyes. “We’ll continue to fight with you, unnie. We are not letting you do this alone.”

 

Hyewon nods in agreement, and Kaeun is at a loss. They were the three Enforcers responsible for the Gwangju branch. Kaeun herself was the highest ranking Enforcer in the entire organisation so it would make sense that these two brave women would stand to fight with her but...but it was a risk. She watched these two grow up. She’s personally trained them from when they were nothing to the proficient killers they have now become, and she just couldn’t involve them in her selfish quest for freedom.

 

Oh but what a joy it would be, to fight this war alongside her sisters-in-arms. What an absolute honour! Very rarely has there ever been a mission that required all three of them to participate, and never has there been a mission that they have lost while fighting alongside each other. Kaeun with her guns, Nako with her knives, Hyewon with her fists...unstoppable. They were unstoppable together.

 

Which was exactly the reason why Kaeun needed to put a stop to the idea right now.

 

“If any of you die, Gwangju will lose all means of protection. We can’t all go.”

 

Nako and Hyewon both looked as if they had a rebuttal ready on each of their tongues but one sharp look from Kaeun was enough to shut the both of them up. The Reaper was firm, and the air in the balcony seemed to still as Kaeun’s cold grey eyes swept over the two Enforcers.

 

The mood had turned serious, and the two girls waited for Kaeun’s next words to leave her lips.

 

“Hyewon.”

 

It was just one word. One name, but Hyewon herself seemed to react to it with agitation in her veins. Her eyes grew wide and she gritted her teeth, somehow already knowing what Kaeun was about to say.

 

“Don’t you ing say it—“ Hyewon began her threat but Kaeun was unfazed. This was something they have talked about on those celebratory nights with alcohol involved, when questions of “what if’s” were thrown about recklessly.

 

What if Kaeun were to die on the battlefield? Who would take her place?

 

The answer was easy and clear. There was only one person Kaeun would trust to lead her family anyways.

 

“Kang Hyewon, I hereby promote you to Head Enforcer of the Red Roses’ Gwangju branch.”

 

“ OFF unnie! I don’t want that kind of responsibility!” Hyewon snapped, looking as if she was about to punch Kaeun off the balcony in frustration.

 

The thought of it was actually quite scary. As lazy as Hyewon appeared to be, Kaeun would be the first to readily admit that if it came down to a pure fist fight between Hyewon and herself, the Reaper’s odds of winning were slim at best.

 

“I don’t think you even have that kind of authority, unnie.” Nako chimed in, addressing Kaeun while standing between the two Enforcers for fear of them killing each other before the war even started.

 

Hyewon took one long look at the smallest of the three before scoffing in frustration. Shoulders still shaking in anger, Hyewon folded her arms and turned her body away from her two teammates, as if physically turning away from the situation would change it.

 

Kaeun sighed. Killing machine or not, her teammates could be bratty as all hell at times. She shrugs in response to Nako’s statement after a beat.

 

“Of course I have the authority. Would anyone even dare speak up against it?”

 

“I’m not qualified.” Hyewon chimes in, not bothering to look at Kaeun. Even with her eyes set on the horizon, the eldest of the three could tell that her newly appointed Head Enforcer was sulking.

 

Sulking.

 

Like a child.

 

“Kang Hyewon, also known as the ‘Demon In The Garden’. Singlehandedly quelled the Tokyo Uprisings and defended the Red Roses’ Bongseong branch from enemy attack while on her off day. Lead a small team consisting of her newly appointed protégé and a bunch of greenhorns in raiding one of the largest government supply caches in the country, without losing a single person in the process.” Kaeun paused her listing down of Hyewon’s achievements to see if the younger Enforcer was even listening to her. Satisfied that she was, Kaeun laughed lightly. “...Shall I continue?”

 

Hyewon paused briefly before shaking her head. The younger girl still looked upset, but she knew there was nothing she could do to stop Kaeun at this point. The Reaper was as thickheaded as she was powerful.

 

Kaeun walks towards the newly appointed Head Enforcer, wrapping her arms around the younger girl and holding her close. Locked in Kaeun’s embrace, Hyewon has never felt so warm. It was the first time the Reaper has ever shown this much physical affection, and it was a perfect reminder of how Lee Kaeun was more than just a Head Enforcer for all of them there. She was a mentor. An example. 

 

The eldest sibling in the Gwangju branch. If not by age, then by action.

 

“Take care of the kids, won’t you?” Kaeun whispers softly. Light as air, but loud enough for Hyewon to catch it. Such simple words held such powerful implications, and Hyewon couldn’t help but hold onto her sister tighter as tears begin to cloud her vision.

 

“Why are you talking like someone who is going to die?! You’ll survive this and live a happy life with that fish-breeder and visit us from time to time, right?!”

 

Kaeun searched hard for the right reply. Hyewon’s hold on her only tightened as another, smaller pair of arms encircled around the Reaper’s waist from the back. She could feel Nako’s face pressing against the small of her back, the latter’s tears staining through Kaeun’s thin tshirt.

 

“I don’t care what nobody says, you can’t stop me from coming down there and fighting with you, unnie!” Nako managed to declare through her sobs, and Kaeun looked up at the sky because gosh was her vision getting watery as well. felt like sandpaper.

 

“You’re right. I can’t.”

 

Kaeun shifted so that she could hold both of her shorter teammates in her arms. Young girls who have seen enough to occupy several lifetimes, it’s easy to forget that Nako and Hyewon could appear this vulnerable. They hugged Kaeun tightly, as if this would be their last chance to do so.

 

“But the two of you have a responsibility towards this family. More so than the Red Roses in it’s entirety, every single one of you here in the Gwangju branch is important to me.” Kaeun continues and the two girls are openly bawling now. The Reaper is almost there herself, trying to be strong for these girls but the tears flowing freely down her cheek was awfully telling of how conflicted she feels leaving these two Enforcers and her family behind.

 

“I love you all very much. Please take care of the family, Nako. Hyewon.”

 

Her voice gave out towards the end of the request but Nako and Hyewon heard it all the same. They spent a few more precious moments on that balcony, wrapped in an embrace away from prying eyes. They weren’t the Enforcers of a crime organisation in that moment. 

 

Just for one night, they were sisters lamenting the departure of one of their own.

 

 

 

*****************************

 

 

There was a debate held on whether they should make Kaeun’s retirement plans known amongst the Red Roses. There was worry that the revelation would serve to decrease morale, what with their greatest form of military might putting herself at risk on the cusp of the greatest silent war the country has ever seen.

 

That is, if she fails.

 

If the Reaper finds success then she would have singlehandedly ended the war before it even began.

 

It was finally decided that Kaeun’s mission was far too important to be kept a secret. Eunbi would make an announcement in the coming days, and Kaeun made a mental note to inform Yunjin about it before her protégé had to hear it from someone else. Yunjin’s fate was currently undecided. With her Enforcer gone, the only logical choice would be to make the young girl an Enforcer herself to fill in the gap left by Kaeun. That brings up the question of whether she was ready for such a promotion. 

 

According to hierarchy, Minju as the Capo held the highest rank after the Enforcers but the girl had other duties to attend to. Capo’s don’t usually fight on the frontlines, as their main task is to provide guidance and support from the back. In addition to that, Minju really didn’t seem ambitious enough to take up the mantle of an Enforcer.

 

One thing was for sure; the face of the Red Roses would change after Kaeun leaves. The Reaper is kinda sad she won’t be there to see it.

 

It was a tiring day. Long, eventful and emotional. All Kaeun really wanted to do was retreat into her girlfriend’s arms and recharge her batteries. By the time she manages to arrive at Sakura’s front door, it was already 3 in the morning. Kaeun sighs and rings the doorbell, feeling guilty about waking her girlfriend up. She should really get an extra key made as she spends more time here than in her suite back at the headquarters (which in all honesty was larger than Sakura’s entire apartment INCLUDING the balcony).

 

The soft pitter patter of footsteps can be heard coming from behind the door and already that was enough to make a smile appear on Kaeun’s face. Her tiny girlfriend and her tiny feet and just—gosh Kaeun wants to wrap her arms around Sakura and forget about the world.

 

“Who is it?” The familiar voice sings from behind the wooden door, and the dumb smile Kaeun is very aware she’s still wearing stretches even wider at Sakura’s playfulness.

 

“Your girlfriend.” Kaeun responds, trying not to laugh when Sakura gasps dramatically in return.

 

“I have a girlfriend?!”

 

“Just open the door, you dork.”

 

Loud giggles come from the other side of the door. The kind of giggles that suggests the owner of said giggles was very proud of whatever giggle-inducing thing she had just done. The obstructing piece of plywood finally swings open to reveal Sakura’s beautiful, -eating grin aimed right at her and suddenly Kaeun’s heart was full again. She was home.

 

“Unnie!” Sakura jumped into Kaeun’s arms and the Reaper had to practically carry her girlfriend back into the house as she entered it, a problem that was admittedly very welcome.

 

Kaeun carries Sakura past the dining area and into the bedroom, where she then proceeds to gently place her girlfriend down onto the edge of the bed. Sakura looks up at Kaeun with shining eyes so full of life and love that the older woman couldn’t resist but to swoop down and capture her girlfriend’s full lips with her own.

 

It never gets old. Kissing Sakura was like falling asleep and dreaming the sweetest of dreams. Each dream was different, but it provided the Reaper with beautiful, happy visions that took her away from the blood and death that made up her life. She is woken up from the dream every time they separate and it never takes long until she’s chasing that high once again.

 

“Where’ve you been?” Sakura asks, slightly breathless.

 

Kaeun hesitates in answering. So much has happened in the past few hours that she didn’t even know where to begin. Earlier in the day she had been kicking back on Sakura’s balcony with barely a care in the world, and now less than 24 hours later she returns with news of war.

 

“...A lot of things have come up. It just took me awhile to get back here, that’s all.” Kaeun tries to play it down. To delay the inevitable but she sees Sakura’s face fall slightly upon hearing the reply.

 

“Why do I have a feeling that you won’t be staying for long?”

 

All traces of mirth and joy that was present earlier in Sakura’s face vanished into thin air, replaced by a sullen sadness. Kaeun ran a hand through her own hair in frustration, realising just how pointless it was to try hiding something of this gravity from her girlfriend. Sakura knows her too well.

 

“....I talked to Eunbi. About my retirement.”

 

Everything seemed to still. Sakura’s breathing, the air in the room, the wall clock hanging in the corner...everything. 

 

“And..?” 

 

There was a hint of fear in Sakura’s voice that did not go unnoticed. A slight tremble in the cadence. Kaeun looked away, towards the aforementioned clock on the wall, pretending to be more interested in the time than the situation at hand. 

 

She just didn’t know how to break the news to Sakura.

 

“They were ready for it. Of course they were. They already had a proposal waiting for me on the table.” There was a hint of dead laughter in the Reaper’s voice, and Sakura remained silent. 

 

Kaeun knew what that silence meant. Her girlfriend was waiting patiently for Kaeun to elaborate, and to be honest she kinda hoped that Sakura would throw up more of a fuss than this. This silence was deafening and made everything feel a thousand times heavier than it already was.

 

“They want me to complete an impossible task for them, in exchange for my freedom.”

 

More silence. Kaeun dares herself to look at Sakura and is taken aback by the tears already welling up within her girlfriend’s eyes, threatening to fall and stain porcelain-white cheeks.

 

It broke Kaeun. 

 

“How impossible will this impossible task be?” Sakura asks, voice cracking but collected enough to convince Kaeun that her girlfriend was trying to hold herself together. 

 

Kaeun hesitated for a moment, not knowing just how honestly she should answer that question. One look into Sakura’s eyes however, and Kaeun decides that her girlfriend deserves complete honesty and not sugar-coated lies. This was their story, and Kaeun sought freedom from the organization just so that she could continue this story of theirs. She had no intention of starting this new chapter with false hopes and promises.

 

She will lay all her cards on the table, just as she will lay her body on the line for her freedom.

 

“...I probably won’t be coming back in one piece, Sakura.”

 

Sakura’s beautiful eyes fill with fear and worry and Kaeun rushes to try to console the girl immediately because such beauty should not be tainted and marred by unnecessary worry.

 

“What? Unnie—“

 

“This needs to be done Sakura. I...I have to bury all this behind me. I can’t be your girlfriend and a killer at the same time. This needs to end. I need to buy my way out.”

 

Kaeun pauses to breathe, but the air gets caught in . She sees Sakura sitting on the edge of the bed, so small and vulnerable as she hangs onto every word Kaeun says and it hits the Reaper all at once. The feelings that she has been trying to keep tucked away in a safe place in a corner of her heart ever since her conversation with Eunbi earlier in the day. She realises as Sakura stares at her, looking like the most beautiful thing in the world, every little thing she will miss if it all goes wrong.

 

“...but I’m scared.” Kaeun’s confession came out choked and broken as she had started to cry for the second time that day. The Reaper knew no fear, but the very thought of not being able to see her girlfriend ever again was terrifying. Kaeun stammered and reached out to grasp Sakura’s hands in hers, to reassure herself through her fears that the worse has not yet happened. They were still together. Kaeun has not undertaken the mission, and she has not yet failed.

 

“I’m frightened! This...what if I never see you again?! I c-can’t just...” Kaeun sobs, and she buries her face into her girlfriend’s lap to hide her tears because it was shameful to be seen this way. She has never cried this hard for anything because she has never had anything worth crying over. She wasn’t afraid of losing anything. This mission was impossible. She knew it herself but she took it because she couldn’t turn down even the slightest opportunity to put this life behind her for good. Her hands grip Sakura’s so tight she was sure she was hurting her girlfriend but the demons in her head were cruel, playing tricks and games that gave her the illusion that if she were to let go now, she would lose everything and Sakura would—

 

“Promise me.” 

 

Kaeun looks up, eyes still cloudy and watery to see Sakura staring down at her with a mysterious determination on her face. The younger girl held her pinky finger out in front of Kaeun’s face, who just looked at the appendage with confusion.

 

“Promise me you won’t die. Then you can’t. It’s the rules.”

 

Was...was she for real?

 

Sakura began furiously waving her pinky in front of Kaeun’s eyes and the latter couldn’t help but laugh through her sobs. The sheer ridiculousness of a pinky promise in the face of such crisis...

 

Kaeun wipes her tears on the back of her right hand as she wraps her left pinky firmly around Sakura’s. 

 

“...I promise, Kkura.”

 

Sakura smiles brightly at that and really...Kaeun begins to wonder if there was anything to worry about at all. All her problems seems to have vanished with just one of Sakura’s smiles. Fragile little Sakura consoled a crying Kaeun...when did their roles get reversed? When did Sakura become the strong one? It made Kaeun feel ridiculous to cry in the first place.

 

Really.

 

Just one smile, and Kaeun felt as if she could take on the entire world.

 

“I love you.”

 

Sakura’s eyes widen as Kaeun finally says those three words she’s always been too afraid to say. She searches the older woman’s grey eyes for any sign of regret but she sees none. Kaeun meant every word, and it’s Sakura’s turn to start crying again. 

 

Kaeun was right there to kiss away the tears, repeating those three beautiful words again and again as she presses her lips against Sakura’s skin as if she was trying to tattoo them onto the porcelain surface. Sakura is left breathless and she is barely able to utter a quick “I love you too” before Kaeun captures her lips in a deep kiss.

 

One kiss turns into three, and then six, and the next thing Sakura realises Kaeun was already removing her own shirt as she presses heated kisses onto every inch of exposed skin Sakura was capable of providing. When that wasn’t enough, Sakura’s shirt was easily discarded along with every other piece of material that could obstruct Kaeun from feeling her girlfriend against her.

 

Kaeun’s lips reaches Sakura’s chest and they make the younger girl sing praises to everything good and holy, a harsh juxtaposition to the sinful things that mouth was currently doing. Sensitive flesh is rolled about and toyed with while the Reaper’s unoccupied hand reaches into her holster to withdraw her gun, placing it safely onto Sakura’s nightstand as her girlfriend sheds even more clothes so that she was as bare as the day she was born. Lying on the bed, waiting impatiently.

 

“This could be our last night together for a very long time, Kkura.”

 

Sakura looks up at Kaeun, eyes half-lidded and hungry. There was a fire in those brown eyes, and Kaeun begins to think that maybe she’s been affecting the younger girl a little too much.

 

“Then give me something to remember you by.” Sakura growled, sitting up to undo the button to Kaeun’s tight jeans. “In return unnie, I’ll give you something to make you look forward to returning to me.”

 

And with that, Sakura pulls Kaeun’s jeans down the rest of the way so that they pool at the Reaper’s feet. Sakura swings her legs around so that she is sitting on the edge of the bed again, facing a still standing Kaeun. The smouldering look her girlfriend was giving her was enough to set the Reaper on fire, but as Sakura urges Kaeun’s legs apart and lowers her head to the junction between Kaeun’s thighs, as the younger girl begins making good on her promise and making Kaeun’s hands shoot up to entangle themselves into her girlfriend’s hair, as Sakura’s tongue begins tracing random letters against soft wet flesh, as Kaeun’s legs start to quiver from the sweet ministrations, as Sakura’s fingers surround themselves in Kaeun’s warmth, as Kaeun’s head is involuntary thrown back as a hoarse cry is ripped from ....

 

....She knows that this was a flame she doesn’t mind getting consumed by.

 

---

 

Kaeun wakes up before Sakura does in the wee hours of the morning. She gently throws the covers off of herself, careful not to wake her girlfriend up and begins getting dressed in silence. She takes one look back at Sakura, the picture of perfection as the latter’s form lies tangled in the sheets from the previous night’s activities. Kaeun allows herself to drink the sight in, before grabbing her gun from the nightstand and placing it back into it’s holster.

 

As she exits the apartment, she makes a mental note to come back here again. To make sure that this isn’t the last time she visits this place. She has to return.

 

By any means necessary.

 

 

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Hello!

 

Well first of all, I’d like to apologize for the late chapter. I was planning on making it a double update, with this and Part 2 back to back but I haven’t had time to properly wrap up Part 2 yet, and I’m going on a decently long business trip to Melbourne in a few days so I decided to get this chapter up instead of keeping y’all waiting another week for an update of any kind.

 

Can I say, as I proofread this chapter, that this might actually be one of my favourite chapters I’ve ever written ever. That interaction between the Enforcers is one of my favourites things, and I kinda grinned throughout the whole thing. 

 

This was slow, and I know a lot of you were expecting the war to start in this chapter, and I apologize. I just really needed to drive home just how much is at stake in this war. I wanted to add a little more personality into the Enforcers, for this sequel that I might or might not be planning to write for this fic....

 

I hope this chapter made you feel...something. Sad, angry, I don’t know. Just some kind of emotion. The next chapter will be the war, and it is fun for sure! I’m enjoying reading some of y’all predictions for what the war will entail, and some of y’all have gotten real close aint gonna lie... 👀 

 

P/S: that bit of ual content in the end...It needed to happen. I could have gone full descriptive on it but I just figured that using certain words to describe specific body parts and ual actions is just...it’s kinda jarring in the context of the fic. It’s like you’re reading a nice fic about murder and then suddenly outta nowhere it’s like “!”....yeah that don’t really work.

 

A big thank you to euieA_ssi, zemogb, pandaeyes17, Lea_himemiyalee, kaeunigma and T3N305 for the upvotes! Your support means a lot. Really. I’m not gonna lie. This fic hasn’t been getting the views I wish it did, but that’s probably due to the obscure pairing I chose to write. I’m still really proud of this fic, and I promise I’ll see it through till the end.

 

I just have this weird dream of hitting 100 upvotes on a fic. I have one fic that’s close, but I guess this fic won’t get there. No matter. I’m sure I’ll write something else and get there eventually!

 

See you in a week (maybe)!

 

Oh also hit me up on twitter if you wanna talk about anything kpop related hahaha