“Please, I’ll give you the rest of the money next month! With interest!” The man pleaded as one of the gang members held him up by his collar. He gasped as the men pulled him up higher, smirking at him. He tried to grab at the hands at his neck, but it was no use. He had no say in what would happen next.

 

Suddenly, he was dropped to the ground with a thud. He shielded his head but his stomach was open to the kick that landed against it. Groaning in pain, he curled up even more tightly, trying to protect himself.

 

“Pathetic. You owe us double the amount next time; that’s our final offer. Don’t push us any further than this,” the gang member spat out, kicking the man on the floor one last time.

 

“Let’s go,” a female voice sounded from behind the group of three burly men, throwing a lazy stare behind her shoulder before walking off. The three men followed, laughing about the weak man they had just scared half to death.

 

Chaewon rolled her eyes.

 

Pathetic?

 

These men were pathetic.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Chaewon pushed open the doors leading to the boss’s office, taking care to be very aggressive with her shove. She strutted in with confidence, her three underlings trailing behind her. As she stopped in front of his desk, she stuck her hands in her pockets and leaned on one leg, tilting her head and raising her eyebrow as she waited for the boss to look up at her.

 

Finally, he did, leaning back in his seat with his eyes locked on her own. He laced his fingers together on top the dark wooden desk, tapping his thumbs together.

 

“I assume the job went well?”

 

Chaewon shrugged.

 

“Got about 75% of the payment. Told us that he’d pay us the remainder next month--with interest, so we told him to pay double the next time. Dude almost his pants.”

 

He nodded, satisfied enough with the result assuming they received the payment next time (of course they will; they always do).

 

“And you’ll take care of the job tonight,” he said more as a statement than a question.

 

“Yeah, I got it,” she said as she turned around, preparing to leave.

 

As she started walking towards the exit, the boss cleared his throat behind her.

 

“What was that, Chaewon?”

 

Chaewon sighed and rolled her eyes, pausing her steps for a moment to respond.

 

“Yes, father, I got it.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Minjoo scanned the produce section for the items on her shopping list, humming happily as she dropped them into her basket. She wasn’t the best cook out there, but she could at least make something small.

 

Her boyfriend, Minhyun, had an important business meeting tomorrow, so she had told him that she’d prepare something for him before he left.

 

The two didn’t live together, but Minjoo frequently spent time at his apartment. After meeting each other a bit over a year ago, they had quickly acted on their mutual feelings a month in and have dated ever since. Minjoo, coming from a low middle class family, knows that her dad subtly pushed her to date him, as he came from a very wealthy background. While she knew her dad wouldn’t mind if she didn’t agree with his pushings, she was glad that she had his approval.

 

She jumped a bit as her phone suddenly went off, the screen showing Minhyun’s name.

 

“Hey!” She answered happily as she smiled into the phone.

 

“Hey, sweetie, I’m sorry for such short notice, but it looks like I’ll have to leave tonight rather than tomorrow--like right now, I mean.”

 

“What? Why?”

 

“It’s just that my boss thought it would be a good idea for me to settle in beforehand so that I can be ready for tomorrow’s meeting.”

 

Minjoo sighs, not too surprised. She was used to him leaving like that even though it didn’t seem to urgent at times.

 

“Okay, I’ll see you when you get back then,” she responds as she puts away the groceries that she had just picked up.

 

“I’ll see you soon. Love you!”

 

“Love you too,” she replies automatically.

 

She rolls her eyes as she finishes emptying her basket, slightly annoyed at her lover.

 

Can’t be helped.

 

She slides her hands into her pockets and heads outside. It’s cold; the wind is blowing quite harshly. Minjoo burrows her head deeper into her jacket and heads home, shivering.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

“Hey, old man, long time no see!” The gang member says mockingly as he takes slow strides towards the man cowering in the corner.

 

Chaewon exhales in irritation behind them, waiting for this to be over. Once she finished this job, she was done for the day. Her eyes flicker towards the man shaking in front of her.

 

She closes her eyes. When she opens them, she yells out at the gang member.

 

“Hey, hurry it up! We don’t have time for games,”

 

He jumps a little bit before nodding quickly.

 

“Yes, miss.”

 

He punches the man in the stomach, laughing as he falls to the ground in agony.

 

“Where’s the money?” He growls, adding another kick for good measure.

 

“I have it! Please, I’ll go get it now.”

 

“Hurry up,” he says, checking his fingernails as though he were bored, “I don’t have all day.”

 

The man rushes to find the envelope of cash, nearly tripping in the process. Once he finds it, he runs back and hands it over with shaking hands.

 

He gulps and stares at the ground while the man in front of him counts each bill.

 

“Hey!”

 

All three of them turn towards the voice at the entrance in surprise.

 

“Minjoo!” The man exclaims, throat going dry as he prays that Minjoo isn’t in any danger.

 

Minjoo shivers as she meets the gaze of the man in front of her father. The icy, menacing look is enough to make her want to run away. She’s scared, but she’s more scared for her father.

 

The man turns back towards the last of the bills, smiling happily after confirming the correct amount.

 

“Too bad, I was looking forward to kicking your into the ground. We have it all, miss,” he says as he turns toward the figure behind him.

 

For the first time, Minjoo notices the woman standing behind him. She was tall and fit, attire fitting the aura she was giving off: dangerous. She wore a leather jacket with a plain white shirt underneath, tight black jeans and boots completing the picture. It was simple, but it did its job. Even more intimidating was the slightly bored look that she wore despite the situation. Of course, it didn’t help that Minjoo noticed a knife in the woman’s belt.

 

“Okay, let’s get out of here then.”

 

Minjoo can only stare as the huge, muscular man trails behind the woman. They pass by Minjoo as they make their way out the door, causing her to flinch.

 

Before they disappear completely, the man calls out with a laugh, “See you soon, old man!”

 

Once their footsteps disappear completely, Minjoo realizes how badly she was shaking. She takes a deep breath and heads towards her father who was now leaning against the wall with a hand against his stomach.

 

“Dad! Are you okay?” She asks with worry evident in her voice.

 

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine, just a kick or two. It’s nothing your old man can’t handle,” he finishes with a grin.

 

Minjoo was well aware that her father had some debts to pay, but she had never seen the payments happen before. She hoped that they weren’t always like this.

 

She frowns as she looks at her father’s grinning face laced with a bit of pain.

 

“How much longer?”

 

His smile slowly settles into a flat line before he sighs and shrugs his shoulders.

 

“At this rate, maybe another four months and then it’ll be over. Hopefully.”

 

“Are they always aggressive like this?” She asks quietly, not sure if she wants to hear the answer.

 

He shakes his head.

 

“Not always, but the man you saw earlier has always been a little more crazy and violent than the others.”

 

She sighs again as she helps her father onto the couch.

 

As she goes to get ice for the bruises on his stomach, she thinks about the woman from earlier. As far as Minjoo knew, she just stood there leaning against the wall while that other man collected the payment. Seeing as to how he turned to her for confirmation and orders, she must be a very powerful, very dangerous woman.

 

Minjoo shivers thinking about her cold stare.

 

She hopes to never cross paths with her again.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The screaming patrons and loud music grate against Chaewon’s ears. Perhaps she could have found a different place to work, but this seemed to be most fitting for her. The daughter of a gang boss working at a bar? Sounds about right. Besides, the people she had to interact with here were pretty much always looking to drink and party; she didn’t have to deal with casual conversations with grocery shoppers or talking to little kids or anything like that. She could live with a few catcalls and dirty comments.

 

Anyways, it was a way for her to make clean (well, as clean as it can get) money even though she and her father were loaded--perks of heading a powerful gang. She liked buying snacks knowing that the money she was using wasn’t taken off the backs of hardworking families, men, women, children, etc.

 

Her shift was almost at its end, thankfully. The EDM blasting into her ears was beginning to drive her mad. Every time she saw a couple exchanging saliva on the dance floor, she cringed in disgust. She bets that 90% of the couples she saw had just met that night.

 

As she looks on, her eyes catch a stumbling figure walking towards the bar.

 

Wait, she looks familiar.

 

The woman nearly trips but manages to catch herself on the counter before plopped down on the seat. Her head drops down onto the counter as she groans softly with her hands on her head. Chaewon stares at her trying to determine where she had seen her, but it’s hard to tell when her head is buried into the counter.

 

Behind her, a man reaches forward and grasps her shoulder. Chaewon can hear the erted slurs he’s mumbling into the woman’s ear as he tightens his hold. The woman is clearly against his advancements, but she’s so out of it.

 

Chaewon sighs in resignation.

 

“Hey, dude, lay off,” she says with a glare after walking up to the two. She crosses her arms and motions for him to leave.

 

“ off, kid, I ju--”

 

“I said, lay off,” Chaewon growls, slamming a hand on the counter separating them.

 

He flinches slightly but tries to pretend that he isn’t affected.

 

“Whatever.”

 

Chaewon glares at him until his back disappears from her view.

 

“Hey,” she says loudly as she shakes the woman who had collapsed back onto the counter.

 

Jesus, she’s really out of it.

 

Clearly, the woman was alone and not safe here by herself. If left here, she’d probably become prey to any of the disgusting erts roaming around.

 

Fine.

 

Chaewon exhales through as she checks the clock.

 

1:01.

 

Her shift had just ended, nice. She sighs for the nth time as she struggles to drag the woman up so that she can drape one of her arms over her shoulders.

 

“Come on, help me out here,” she whines as the task is proven more difficult than she initially thought.

 

Finally, she’s able to drag the woman out with an arm around her waist as the woman leans on her using one weak arm.

 

Once they get out and away from the noise, Chaewon attempts to ask where the woman lives so that she can take her home.

 

“‘Dunno,” the woman slurs out, slumping even more against Chaewon.

 

For the love of God.

 

She decides that she’s had enough and instead hobbles towards her own apartment. This looked to be the only possible answer. Well, besides leaving the woman.

 

Some scary gang member she is.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Chaewon takes labored breaths as she lies the woman on her bed and pulls the covers over her. Sure, she was fit, but she could only take so much weight on her body for so long.

 

She stretches out her sore muscles and lets out a satisfied groan as her bones pop. She walks towards the dresser and pulls out a t-shirt and sweatpants for herself. She glances at the woman on her bed. Chaewon turns back towards the dresser and pulls out a similar pair of clothing and lies it on her nightstand. Just in case.

 

After changing, she makes her way into the living room along with a blanket. Chaewon sighs in content as her head hits the pillow, pulling the blanket up to her chin. Her legs stretch across the length of the couch, bringing relief to her sore muscles.

 

She’ll deal with the problem in her bed tomorrow.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

What the hell.

 

Minjoo groans softly as she wakes with a pounding headache. There wasn’t much light coming through the window, but it was enough to make her wince.

 

Where am I?

 

She squints as her eyes pan around the room. She notices a set of clothing laid out nearby.

 

Okay, this was weird.

 

Minjoo also notes a glass of water next to the set of clothing. She’s not sure if it’s poisoned or not, but her parched throat is enough to get her to gulp down the entire glass. The room she was in didn’t have any pictures or any signs of where she might be, so she decided to go and investigate.

 

She took a deep breath as she held a hand to her head, trying to ease her painful headache. Swinging one leg over the edge of the bed, she’s proud of the progress she’s making.

 

Of course, until she nearly falls flat on her face after failing to stand up properly.

 

Okay, slow, easy steps.

 

Minjoo opens the door and peers out into the apartment. It was a cute little apartment; it looked like it housed a single person. There were books and snacks scattered around the living room, and Minjoo could see that kitchen wasn’t much better. She took in some of the cute stuffed animals or decorations that were placed here and there, particularly a little stuffed monkey on the table in front of the couch.

 

Out of curiosity, she heads towards the little animal.

 

However, she’s not prepared for the sleeping face lying down on the couch in front of her.

 

So, she screams.

 

Loudly.

 

The yelp is definitely enough to wake the slumbering Chaewon from her rest. She bolts up in alarm as she looks around her to find the source of the noise. She lets out a relieved sigh once she sees that it was just the woman from the night before.

 

“Hey, I just--” she begins to explain.

 

Minjoo’s eyes widen in recognition as she takes in the woman’s face.

 

“It’s you!” She interrupts, ignoring the pain in her head caused by her screaming.

 

Huh? How does she know me?

 

“Oh God, did you kidnap me?” Minjoo continues, fear laced in her tone as she takes a few steps back.

 

“What? No, I didn’t kidnap you,” Chaewon begins before the realization hits her.

 

The woman in front of her--why she looked so familiar.

 

Oh. Dang.

 

Chaewon facepalms as she remembers the woman from one of her debt collections a month ago. Her hand slides down her face as she lets out an exasperated sigh. Well, she had to explain herself somehow.

 

“Listen, you were knocked the heck out last night, so I brought you here for safety. You wouldn’t tell me where you lived.”

 

Minjoo’s head was spinning and not just because of the hangover. Why would this gang member try and keep her safe? That just didn’t make any sense, even if she didn’t recognize her at first. What if this was all just an elaborate plan to catch Minjoo off guard?

 

Chaewon could see the gears turning in the woman’s head building up some sort of crazy scenario. Although, she can’t really blame her.

 

Oh well.

 

Chaewon gets up suddenly, startling Minjoo and leading her to almost fall backwards.

 

She walks to her room and disappears. Minjoo just stands there for a minute before cautiously following behind.

 

Once she gets to the room, she sees the bathroom door open with her captor finishing washing her face. After she brings the towel from her face, she turns towards Minjoo with an object in her hand. Minjoo flinches.

 

“Toothbrush. And there’s clothes on the nightstand for when you’re done. You’re a mess; no offense.”

 

Minjoo wordlessly takes the toothbrush and watches as the woman walks out of the room, leaving her to herself.

 

What the hell.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Against her better judgment, she uses the toothbrush given to her and changes into the purple t-shirt and black sweatpants given to her. So far, nothing bad had happened to her, so she comes to the conclusion that nothing was poisoned. Hopefully.

 

Minjoo walks out of the bedroom and sees the woman pouring cereal into two bowls placed on the small table in the kitchen area. She takes tentative steps towards her.

 

“You eat cereal?” She asks offhandedly, not even glancing at Minjoo.

 

“Yeah, I do.”

 

Minjoo watches as the woman nods and puts the cereal away (well, more like at a random place on the kitchen counter) before sitting down in front of one of the bowls. Finally, she looks up at Minjoo and motions for her to sit.

 

Minjoo hesitates before sitting down, noticing the glass of water that had been placed beside her bowl as well.

 

“I’m Minjoo, by the way.”

 

She doesn’t know why she says it, but it just came out. Perhaps she was letting her guard down a little.

 

Minjoo directs her gaze down to the cereal in front of her, spooning some into .

 

There’s a bit of a pause before the woman responds, although Minjoo wasn’t certain she would.

 

“Chaewon.”

 

Minjoo looks at the woman in front of her.

 

Chaewon.

 

She takes in the messy hair and groggily closed eyes, the wrinkled shirt and the slight tired pout. Was this the same intimidating woman from a month ago? The one that had scary men that followed her around like little puppies?

 

I’ve never been more confused in my entire life.

 

Even so, Minjoo’s stare leveled into a glare as she remembered what she and her men did to her father.

 

Disgusting.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Chaewon could feel the glare her, and it didn’t take a genius to figure out why. She didn’t say anything, though, and just continued eating. Goodness, she was tired. After she finishes today’s jobs, she’s going straight to bed. Although, Minjoo has to leave first. She bets the girl still had a massive hangover.

 

With that thought, she gets up and heads to the medicine cabinet. Chaewon rarely got drunk, but hangover medicine was nice to have. She takes out two pills and brings them back to Minjoo, dropping them in her hand without a word.

 

“It won’t kill you; it’s hangover medicine, relax,” she says since Minjoo is just staring at the pills in her hand.

 

Minjoo takes one last glance at Chaewon before plopping the pills into and downing them with water.

 

In the middle of their breakfast, Minjoo suddenly mumbles something.

 

Chaewon looks up with an eyebrow raised. The statement was barely audible, and Chaewon wasn’t sure she heard that correctly.

 

“Huh?” She asks, looking at Minjoo.

 

Minjoo’s tongue pokes at the inside of as she ponders over whether or not she wants to repeat her statement.

 

“Thank you.”

 

Chaewon’s eyebrows shoot through the roof with the confirmation that she wasn’t just hearing nonsense.

 

“I don’t like you, but thank you for this, at least,” Minjoo finishes with a quick glance into Chaewon’s eyes.

 

Silence envelops them both once more, but Chaewon is just sitting there, stunned.

 

When was the last time someone thanked me like that?

 

Never, probably.

 

She sighs sadly.

 

I wonder why.