“How you holding up?”

Minjoo just groans in response.

Yujin pats Minjoo on the back comfortingly and gives her a little smile. At least Minjoo was certainly better than how she was before. Their talk last time had given her some peace of mind--at least she sort of had an idea of what she wanted to do. Even so, this was hardly a simple problem to fix. First of all, how would she even find Chaewon? It was impossible to reach her, and unless she wanted to go hunting around the creepy alleyways at ungodly hours, the chances of running into her again were slim.

Yeah, she was holding up. Just barely.

“Hey, Yujin?”

“Yeah?”

Minjoo props herself up from her position on the couch and peers at Yujin. The sweatshirt she’s wearing--that blue one with the little bird on it--Yujin had been wearing that quite often. The only other time she had seen something like that was on the hoodie Chaewon had worn that one time. While it wasn’t the craziest thing for them to have clothing with similar designs, the handmade quality of it peaked her interest. Why would Yujin be wearing something that appeared to have a special connection with what Chaewon was wearing?

“Where did you get that sweatshirt?”

Yujin raises an eyebrow at her and pinches a bit of the cloth in her hand and tugs at it. This wasn’t even hers to begin with, actually, but with the length of time between when she first borrowed it and now, it might as well be hers. Besides, it’s not like the lender of the sweatshirt had said anything despite seeing Yujin wear it time and time again.

“It’s Wonyoung’s.”

… Wonyoung…?

Why would Wonyoung have that sweatshirt? There’s no way that that was a common design you could just buy in the store, she was sure of it. But why--

She said it held a special meaning for her and her sister.

“Yujin, I need to go see Wonyoung.”

“Huh? Wait--Minjoo!” Yujin exclaims in bewilderment as the other girl races out the door and leaves Yujin alone on the couch.

She wishes it would rain. Hard. Chaewon had never been one for cloudy weather, especially on days like these. Everything felt sort of blank today; when she looked at the sky, it seemed to mock her, all plainly grey, empty, blank. It was all a stark contrast to what today should signify--it was a big day, afterall. To the gang, at least.

Today, after so many years of blood and warfare, two of the biggest gangs were to meet to settle the territory disputes that had plagued both their people for years. Of course, neither of the two leaders were particularly happy, but this was long overdue, even for them. It took a shootout, killing four members on one side, seven on the other, to finally get them to this stage.

So perhaps, at least to her, it should be raining. Maybe for symbolism? Wash away the blood.

As soon as the clock hit midnight, the opposite gang’s leader appeared in front of them. Chaewon stood alongside her father; a terrifying duo the two made, indeed. The man in front of her had a daughter as well, she on his left, and a son on the right. Instead of feeling any sort of solidarity, she knew that the only thing they had in common was having a gang leader as a father. She knew these two; she knew they were nothing alike.

At least, she liked to think so.

These two chose this life, in the sense that they loved it, loved being ruthless, loved running their hands through the blood of others.

Again, she likes to believe she’s different, but in recent times, it’s been especially hard to believe so. It’s fine; it’s who she was meant to be. She knew that now.

Everything around them was silent. While strange to any observer, she knew that this was a moment to size each other up. They were quietly running their eyes over each other, the children, the gang members behind them. Today, as required for such a big occasion, all of the higher-ups were here as well, for both sides.

“Good to see you again,” her father finally says, his voice firm.

“Likewise,” the man in front of them responds somewhat lazily, as though this were no big deal.

However, before either of the two could continue, there’s rustling behind her. Commotion.

“Boss, we found some!”

All eyes turned towards the back, where a few of the lower ranked members stood proudly with grins on their faces.

Chaewon stares blankly at the shocked face looking straight at her.

“You tricked me,” Eunbi says in disbelief, not even having the energy to feel any anger.

Still, her gaze stays unwavering, just looking back at Eunbi without a single trace of care or guilt. Which was amazing, actually, because most people would feel something after leading someone they had worked closely with to their probable death. Chaewon had done exactly that. Eunbi had trusted her, had even trusted her with the lives of her men, and here she was suffering the consequences. Sure, she was genuine at first, but there was no way she could continue what she was doing without her father catching on.

It is what it is Chaewon muses.

Her father beside her laughs mockingly and takes slow strides towards the pile of officers being held at gunpoint. It was amusing to him how they had really thought he would allow his daughter to betray him, betray the gang. She was truly an idiot to believe that this was her big break. Oh, and he was certain to tell her as such.

“Officer Kwon, am I right? I recall hearing about you quite a few times. We’ve met before, no? All those times you failed to bring me in.”

He grins smugly and stops right in front of her, kneeling down to get on eye level with her.

She spits in his face.

He was a gentleman, so he calmly wiped his face and slapped her. Hard.

Worth it Eunbi thought bitterly. If she could, she’d do much worse than just spitting in his face.

“Forgive me, but I find it absolutely hilarious how you thought that my daughter would willingly betray the gang and actually lead you here. You really thought you could catch me? Us? And with so few men, by the way. I’m certain we caught all of them, and this really isn’t impressive, Officer.”

er. Eunbi wants to say it outloud, but she fears for the lives of her subordinates, her partner. She could feel the rage rolling off Yena beside her, and she knew she was no different.

He clicks his tongue in disapproval.

“Foolish. And now you and all of your men will die; how sad!”

Chaewon really can’t say anything. She just stands there, looking at the scene unfolding in front of her: Eunbi’s eyes filled with hatred (but also fear, because the last thing she wanted was for her men to get hurt), the girl next to her (her partner, maybe?) glaring at her father with just as much anger, the rival gang standing by idly as they too watched from afar, the group of roughly 20 officers silently threatening the gang members with their gazes.

Shaking his head, her father walks away from the sad little group, returning to Chaewon’s side again.

“Good job,” he says with a nod of his head, finally pleased with what his daughter has become.

Chaewon nods back while keeping her eyes trained on Eunbi.

“I’m debating on whether or not I want to kill you last so you can watch your men die, but I’m feeling a bit generous today. Instead, you get the first bullet.”

He pulls out a gun and aims it at her head, but she doesn't flinch one bit.

“Goodbye, Officer Kwon, it was nice meeting you.”