“Some random spot at Gangnam huh?”

“Yeah dude! It’ll make us look so cool if we hit up one of those rich people stores there!”

Yerim was hesitant. Her friends looked at her with such gleaming eyes, eyes filed with childlike innocence for a far from innocent act.

“I’m sorry guys… not this time. I just… don’t have a good feeling about this.”

Yerim yelped as one of the boys in the group hit her across the head with an empty bottle. He shook his head, slicking back his gelled hair and taking the lollipop out his mouth.

“Coward. Loser. We’ll do it without you. Don’t bother coming with us again.”

The group of teens left Yerim behind, as she started down at her lunchbox, pouting.

Wendy sat by one of the benches in the HQ garden. She wasn’t doing much, just staring into the sky, waiting for the bright blue to slowly turn into a deep shade of black. The other women lingering around didn’t pay her much attention. Those that passed by either gave a quick glance or a curt nod.

“You seem lonely, mind if I join you?”

The redhead that Wendy met along with Rose.

“Jisoo, was it?”

“Correct!” Jisoo said, tossing a can of coffee to Wendy, a smile on her face. Wendy returned a smile, cracking open the drink that would help her with her endeavours later. She let out a cough when the drink went down .

“God, that’s bitter.”

“Not to your liking? There’s no milk in that thing. Pure, black, coffee.”

“Yeah… I prefer a little sweet in my drinks.”

“Wanna head to the bar then? There’s plenty of sweet drinks there.”

“No thanks.”

“Then you wanna go out and have a drink elsewhere?”

“…No thanks.”

Jisoo tilted her head.

“Then you’re just gonna sit here?”

“…Yeah, I think so.”

Jisoo scratched her head.

“You’re not an easy one to talk to, huh?”

“…Maybe not at the moment. There’s a lot on my mind right now.”

“I heard. You saw Rose going about collecting payment right? Can’t have been a good sight for someone as young as you.”

Wendy smirked. She glanced over at Jisoo, who didn’t look a day over 25 herself. Wendy set down her coffee and turned to face Jisoo, who gave a pleasant smile as a reply.

“Nice of you to turn and look at me, finally. Let’s have another formal introduction, shall we?”

Jisoo stuck out her hand. The feeling she gave was warm and friendly, less a meeting of a mafia member, but more a meeting of a new classmate or a transfer student. Wendy gripped that hand and shook it firmly.

“Wow, your skin is really nice,” Wendy said. Jisoo laughed.

“Thank you! I still take the time to take care of myself, which the others give me a lot of for,” Jisoo said, a little giggle escaping her lips. “I don’t care though, I want to look pretty, even if there isn’t a real need for it over here.”

“I’d say you’re doing just fine. You’re very pretty,” Wendy said, a little offhandedly. Her mind was still swirling with a bunch of her own thoughts, but the least her brain could determine was that this Jisoo girl was an attractive person.

“I appreciate that,” Jisoo said, smiling once again. She smiled a lot, Wendy noticed. Different from Rose, who kept a cool and almost ice-like expression on her face at all times. She usually had a poker face, as if she wanted to give nothing away about herself.

Sooyoung smiled quite a bit too, but her smiles were more devious and cunning. Jisoo’s smiles seemed cherry and bubbly, like a high school girl. It reminded Wendy ever so slightly of Yerim.

“Being pretty is important for my job here too, actually.”

Wendy raised an eyebrow. Why would looks have to play a part in the criminal underworld?

“In what way?”

“I’m a negotiator. I recruit businesses to come and work with the Kim Family. Everyone likes to look at a pretty face, especially the pretty face of a petite, young girl like me. It has those old men in those fancy stores drooling when they see me coming to talk to them.”

“I-I see…” Wendy said, her head tilting down a little. She was kind of uncomfortable with Jisoo’s job description, it made it sound like she was selling herself, in a way.

“Oh, but it never goes further than talking. If they try anything, I bring in the big guns, which is usually Lisa.”

“Why not just use Lisa to negotiate? Don’t mafia families usually use fear as negotiation?”

“That’s what the movies say, and also what the other families in our clan do, sadly. Here at the Kim Family, we always use violence as a last resort, never the first action.”

Wendy nodded. A smile grew on her face.

“I’m actually pretty relieved to hear that…”

“For Rose’s cases earlier, that guy was way overdue for several months at that point. It was time that he had to be dealt with a little harsher. We kind of need the money now.”

Wendy’s ears perked up. This was information that she needed to hear, it would be perfect to tell Seulgi tomorrow morning.

“Why is that?”

Jisoo shook her head, gently poking Wendy on the forehead.

“You’re a rookie, a greenhorn, haven’t even got your feet wet yet. You don’t get to know about what’s going on up top. Just focus on what you gotta do, which is beating the out of some lil teenagers later apparently?”

Wendy’s shoulders dropped.

“Ye-yeah…”

“Word of advice? Don’t actually go beat them up. Jessica was just chatting when she said that. Just send a message, give a warning. No point in beating up a bunch of kids.”

“How do you propose I do that?”

Jisoo looked left, then right, before sliding a pistol into the pocket inside Wendy’s blazer. The young adult nearly screamed.

“Relax, the safety is on. Just point it at them and that should do more than enough to freak some teens out. Okay? Remember, last resort, never the first action.”

Wendy could still feel her heart banging against her chest. Her breathing had definitely gotten quicker, that much was easy to tell. Jisoo noticed, letting out a little sigh.

“Here, take this.”

Jisoo passed a card over to Wendy. It had her number on it.

“A friend of Rose is a friend of mine. Lemme know if you need anything,” Jisoo said, shooting Wendy a wink before walking away. Wendy looked at the number and took her phone out, saving it immediately.

The room was quiet. Jessica sat in her office chair, feet up on her desk and head bopping up and down gently to some music that she was listening to on her AirPods.

A little knock punctured the little bubble of peace that Jessica found herself in. Slightly irritated, but not to the point of allowing no entry, Jessica threw one of her mini basketballs against the door, which was her universal welcome to come into the room.

Jennie saw herself into the room. Jessica raised an eyebrow, standing up at once and bowing down to the head of the family she served.

“Surprise to see you here, boss. Would ya like a drink?”

Jennie put a hand up. Jessica sat herself back down at her desk, not before pulling out a chair for Jennie to sit in.

“Jessica, I heard you asked one of my women to beat up a bunch of teenagers?” Jennie said, the words coming out with a calm, but serious tone. She sat herself in a very sophisticated way, her back perfectly straight like a ruler, legs crossed.

“Sure did. Thought it would be a good trial for the newbie,” Jessica replied, not fazed at all by the aura that Jennie was carrying along with her. She poured out a glass of whisky, offering a cup to Jennie, which was ignored.

“Jessica. What did I say about asking one of our own to initiate violence?”

The ‘Coach’ let out a sigh.

“This again? No disrespect, boss, but we need to toughen up a bit. That soft mindset is one of the main reasons we are the lowest ranked family in the clan, if not the main reason,” Jessica said, a hint of irritation in her voice.

Jennie raised her eyebrow at Jessica’s challenge of her ways of doing things in the clan.

“Jessica, I know that you aren’t afraid to speak your mind and as the longest tenured member of this family, I respect that. However, this is my family. I do things my way. I refuse to stoop to things like violence and exploitation to gain status within the family. I have my pride.”

“Whatever you say, boss,” Jessica said, losing interest in the conversation and starting to shoot her mini basketball into the mini hoops set up around her room.

“The girl. Wendy. Where is she?” Jennie asked.

“No clue, probably halfway to Gangnam now if I have to be honest,” Jessica said, not even looking at Jennie by this point.

“!” Jennie took out her phone and punched in a number.

“Hey, Jisoo? Can you head to Gangnam and make sure Wendy doesn’t do anything stupid? She’s headed to that store, the one Lim runs. You got it? Thanks.”

Jennie put down her phone and looked back at Jessica.

“I’m sorry you didn’t get to become head of the family, but that doesn’t mean that you get to force your vision of doing things onto others. These are MY women.”

With that, Jennie left the room, closing the door behind her. There were a few minutes of pure silence, as Jessica froze after hearing those words leave Jennie’s mouth. Her lower lip began to quiver.

“ you too!”

Jessica threw her mini basketball against the mini hoop, using so much force that it shattered and fell of the wall.

It was a quiet night in Seoul. Wendy was surprised, as she assumed that even at night, the streets of Gangnam would be busy and full of life still. However, the streets were empty today. Wendy chalked it up to everyone either being in the clubs partying, or staying at home because it was a work day tomorrow. Either way, it helped calm Wendy down a little bit knowing that there would be a lower chance of someone being a witness.

She pulled up in front of the store that Jessica had told her to go to. It was a liquor store, specifically wine, that sat right at the outskirts of the Gangnam area. The store itself, as well as all other stores around it, were closed, which had Gangnam look more like an abandoned street rather than one of the most luxurious areas in Korea.

The car engine was shut off. Wendy reclined her seat a little bit and closed her eyes, taking in deep breaths to help calm herself down. *Tik tik*, went her finger, as she gently tapped on the steering wheel of the car to create a soft melody that helped soothed her nerves as well.

5 seconds breathing in, 9 seconds breathing out. This technique never failed to soothe Wendy’s emotions before.

“Maybe I should sing a little…”

Wendy thought of one of her favourite songs, Mama Knows Best by Jessie J, and began softly singing to herself. It felt like she was in a recording booth almost, with the quiet and dark atmosphere around her while she was alone by herself in the car. Her mind was on the edge of being transported away to another place, a more peaceful place, before the scurrying of footsteps and soft clanging of metal interrupted her.

She looked out the window and sure enough, there was about 4 scummy teenagers briskly walking down the street, their heads swivelling left and right like a windshield wiper, clearly worried about someone potentially spotting them in the act. Wendy sunk into her seat to disappear from their potential line of sight, which was easy due to her small body frame. Her breathing was back to normal, all her exercises helping to calm her down for this moment.

The gun in her blazer pocket felt heavier by the second. It was starting to weigh on Wendy what she was about to do.

“If I just scare them with it… it should be fine, right?’

Wendy reached for the pistol, gripping the handle gently and pulling it out.

The kids had already taken out their spray cans and were shaking them. This was the perfect time to get them before they actually sprayed anything.

“Okay… 3, 2, 1… Go!”

Wendy opened the door and burst out the car, quickly walking towards the teenagers and pointing a gun at them.

“Eh, you ing brats! Get the away from there!”

The teenagers screamed when they saw the lethal weapon pointed at them, 2 members of the group just dropping everything and running from the scene, while the other 2 were frozen in shock, putting their arms up in surrender.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry! Don’t shoot us please, please don’t shoot us!”

“You ers listen up. Do not, I repeat, do not ever try to vandalize this place ever again, you hear me?!”

“Yes yes, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”

Wendy’s arm slowly raised down. She felt a little bad about how scared the teens were, but this had to be done for their sake. It could have been a lot worse if she had listened to Jessica and did what she asked her to do.

“Listen, why are you kids even here at this ti-“

“HEY!”

Wendy jolted hearing someone else shout loudly behind her, letting out a yelp and jerking her arm from the surprise.

There was a loud scream that punctuated the quiet streets of Gangnam.

There was the teenager that Wendy was just talking to a second ago, holding his abdomen in pain as blood began to flow out of it like a drink out of a can. The girl behind him was screaming her lungs out while smoke emerged from the end of the pistol Wendy was holding.

“Oh !”

Jisoo ran up behind Wendy and whisked her away, dragging her back into the car that Wendy drove to the area. The tires screeched along the road as the car just drove straight ahead, not turning to even look at what had just transpired behind it.

“Wendy! Wendy! Are you okay?!”

Nothing. There was nothing from Wendy. She was frozen still, her whole body quivering as the pistol hung loosely in her hands. Her eyes were bulging from her head, staring at the weapon that she had just shot someone with.

“I thought the safety was on… I thought the safety was on…”

“Ah !” Jisoo cursed at herself, taking the gun away from Wendy and actually putting the safety on this time. She tossed it to the backseat to make sure that Wendy couldn’t reach it.

“I am so sorry Wendy. Jennie called me up and asked me to check in on you at Gangnam. When I got here, I just saw someone in a suit pointing a gun at a bunch of kids and my reflexes just kicked in. I didn’t mean to-“

“I thought the safety was on…”

Jisoo banged her fist on the steering wheel, screaming out some of the frustration that was welling up within her head. She slammed on the brakes, pulling the car to a halt inside a parking lot. She reached over and pulled Wendy in for a hug, wincing with guilt when she felt how much the girl was shaking.

“It’s my fault Wendy. It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have gave you that gun, I shouldn’t have yelled like that and surprised you-“

All of a sudden, Wendy started bawling, her tears staining Jisoo’s dress shirt.

“Oh my god I shot someone! I shot a ing teenage kid! I saw all the blood coming out of him, I saw him in pain and it was MY FAULT. I PULLED THE ING TRIGGER! I SHOT SOMEONE JISOO I SHOT SOMEONE!!!”

Wendy continued to yell and scream, pounding on Jisoo’s back as her screams grew more and more raw, going hoarse from all the yelling she was doing. Jisoo clenched her fists, patting Wendy on the back.

“I’m sorry, Wendy. This was my fault.”

Jisoo didn’t want to tell Wendy that this was everyday life in the mafia. She didn’t want to tell Wendy to toughen up and get used to it, because no girl her age deserved that.

“I, of all people, should know that.”

So, Jisoo just continued to comfort her. Continued to comfort the poor, traumatised girl.

“SHE ING WHAT?!”

Sooyoung slammed her phone on the table, gaining the attention of Irene, who was reading a book and enjoying a glass of Pinot Noir.

“Trouble at the station?” Irene asked, taking a sip of her wine.

Sooyoung rubbed her hands across her head, sending her hair into a mess.

“It’s Wendy. She ing shot someone.”

Irene raised an eyebrow.

“Who gave her a gun?”

“I got no ing clue! Which would give that girl a goddamn gun?!”

Irene closed her eyes. This was a predicament that she did not see coming.

“Get down there and remove all the evidence you can from the scene. After that, find out who gave Wendy that gun and bring both of them to me.”

Sooyoung looked back at Irene, who had a grim expression on her face.

“Son of a . Here I was thinking that it would be an easy first job for her, then she goes and ing shoots someone on a scare job."

Irene watched Sooyoung pace back and forth around the room, her eyes following Sooyoung's frantic movement. 

"What did I say, Sooyoung? Go down and get rid of the evidence. I'll see you soon."

"How the are you still so calm about this?"

"It isn't the first time this has happened. We'll deal with it like every other time."

Sooyoung rubbed her forehead, letting out a sigh. 

"We dealing with those two like usual?"

Irene gave a curt nod. 

"Yes, we're doing the usual punishment."

Sooyoung let out a low whistle. 

"I don't know if she's capable of that."

"She better be, or she'll be dead."

***

Author Notes:

Uh oh. This is bad news for Wendy and Jisoo. 

The turning point has arrived.