S E O U L    C Y B E R C I T Y

CHAPTER 7:

KIM JONGIN

KAI'S POINT OF VIEW

“Dead. That’s what she is—She’s dead and soon enough you’d end up like her—You and your criminal friend.” My jaw clenched involuntarily as I felt Kyungsoo’s words cut deep through me. The sting from his backhand slap was no match for what he just said. 

It’s been a solid 2 years since Krystal died. People think that I keep burying her at the back of my memory—but ever since that day, I haven’t had a decent sleep. Because every single time I try to get some, her death keeps flashing back over and over again. 

“That’s enough, both of you” Baekhyun hyung decided to finally speak up. I exhaled sharply at Kyungsoo hyung who was still inches away from me. Kyungsoo’s jaw hardens as he backed up slowly without averting his gaze. 

“We actually thought that you’ve become better than us, that you’re finally living the small amount of freedom the UNDRGRND granted—and yet here you are, proving us all wrong. You’re still the same tool you once were—you were a tool for the UNDRGRND, a tool for the Cyber Police, and most especially, a tool for femmes fatales disguising themselves as damsel’s in distress.” My hand started to form into fists as Kyungsoo’s gaze on me hardens. Every word that he spits out is just plain venom. My sight began to dim as I pushed the tip of my tongue at the roof inside my mouth. 

“Do Kyungsoo, I said that’s enough!” This time Baekhyun hyung’s voice roared across the 3rd level’s hallway. Both Kyungsoo hyung and I was taken aback. 

“Party time’s over Kim Jongin” I swallowed a cold lump in my throat upon hearing my name on Kyungsoo’s lips. It’s the price I had to pay when I joined the UNDRGRND a few years back. 

When you’re a 15-year-old teenager who also happens to be an orphan, you don’t really have much choice. It’s either you let the government use you at their disposal or go rouge. In my case, I chose the latter— I didn’t want to be drafted into the government’s program for the orphan kids, so I dropped out and left the housing facility. 

I started working at the local gym nearby in exchange for their spare room. I mopped the floors clean and maintained the equipment’s—but that alone isn’t enough, I needed something to fill in my stomach. I just can’t keep relying on my friends… 

So I started doing different part-time jobs here and there while studying. It was hard—but I needed to keep on pushing, I’d rather work for my wages than become one of the government’s puppets. But hard work alone wasn’t enough—I was barely scraping by, and there were even days that I’d get into bed with an empty stomach. 

Though everything changed when I met Baekhyun hyung— he almost killed me. Because he mistook me for the Gym owner’s son, who at that time happens to be a rising drug lord on the underground scenes of Seoul Cybercity. According to Baekhyun hyung, his target was listed on an assassination pool and killing him would be easy money. 

After my near-death encounter because of Baekhyun hyung, he somehow felt indebted to me. He then started bringing me on his gigs—but not a band gigs—It was more of an errand type of gig, sometimes it’d be as simple as delivering something to someone, and sometimes it involves a whole lot of physical things to do— you know the usual, killing people, strangling them to death, putting a bullet hole through their heads and decapitating them. 

Baekhyun hyung began giving me a portion of his earnings—which made my life a whole lot easier. Though I still stayed at the local gym to not raise any suspicion, I still managed to go to school as per the usual and see them, as if I didn’t have any secret up my sleeve. I knew they won’t approve of this—Even I don’t like what I’m doing, but I needed to do it anyway. The urgency to survive surpassed my mor