<< FINAL >>

Give it to me Seulgi. I know you want it.

“That’ll be 10.47 please.”

What’s the use in avoiding me? I’ll always be here.

“Thanks. Enjoy your day.”

C’mon. Ditch this ing place. Let’s have some fun out the back like we always do.

I roll my eyes and sigh. Not this again. “Can you please be quiet? I’m trying to work.”

Irene scoffs and I can tell she’s low-key pissed at me. She finds the worst times to tease and embarrass me, especially when we’re in a public place just like this. And she chose my work, a coffee place no less, to be extra today.

.

“Now is not the time.”

Ugh, but these people are so boring, Seul. Those Wall Street pricks over there smell like . And we’ve seen that guy with the glasses come back 3 times already. I think he likes us. 

“Yeah? What are you gonna do about it?” I tease back.

Kill him and eat his pancreas.

“Um...I’m not in the mood for pancreas today, sorry.”

It’s one thing to have a conscience but unlike most people I don’t just have one of those things. I have two voices: one that’s undoubtedly mine and the other is a parasite living inside my body.

Some would say it’s a miracle I survived that lab explosion 5 years ago, back when I served as an assistant to the most wanted diabolical genius in Seoul Metropolis, who’s now currently serving jail time for his crimes of eco-terrorism. But I say it was a of luck. I met the test subject myself one day. They called it a symbiote—a living breathing organism that went by the code R8V-01. It had the ability to bond on organisms and use them as hosts to take on a more enhanced, biological form. According to Dr. Lyka, it was highly dangerous—venomous to anybody who would couldn’t match with it but impervious to any sort of damage. It was a shapeshifter, a slime, a thing that could somehow morph and manipulate others.

Yes, Irene was the most dangerous extra-terrestrial discovery on earth but I found her to be fascinating. At that time I was miserable, I could barely afford to pay off my student loans and I needed a way to make money fast. And it needed an escape. So we found each other, robbed some people and I was the one who named her Irene. She hated it for various reasons. It took some adjusting and I almost died trying to physically bond with her but she yielded and eventually accepted me as a host. Together, we made an unstoppable persona. A huge creature that the journalists call Venom. We are a living, breathing monster wreaking havoc over the people of Seoul Metropolis.

Reminiscing, Kang Seulgi?

I clear my throat. “No, just trying to drain the clock.”

You know, if that four eyes ever comes near us again I think I’ll personally bite his eyeballs off and use them as ping pong balls. Call it a gift.

“I’m sure you will, rene.” I say, with a slight smile.

C’mon, hurry up and clock out, Kang.

“Why?”

Because I got something planned tonight we DON’T wanna miss out.

***

“Really? A bank? We’re robbing a ing bank? How cliché can you be?”

The moon above us couldn’t be anymore daunting as I sat there in my oversized hoodie and sweat pants wondering how the I got dragged into this late night scheme by this crazy slime . I just woke up from my nap and I’m half awake but I can see that we’re outside a very fancy mansion somewhere miles away from our apartment in the city. We’re behind some neatly trimmed bushes and past the fountain, I can see a gate that’s obviously security protected, decorated by two stupid looking guards for extra precaution. How on Earth does she find these places all by herself? I can feel the headache coming already.

No stupid, it’s not a bank it’s JEWELS. We’re robbing a vault with the city’s most valuable jewels locked inside that mansion.

“I thought our thing was murdering cops and fighting Spidergirl on the weekends.”

Spidey can’t do weekends anymore. She has a physics test she needs to study for next week.

“Aw, our hardworking Wendy Shon.”

That’s why we’re robbing jewels tonight. Also because we watched Ocean’s 8 last night and I got inspired.

As soon as the conversation was over I knew there was nothing left to refuse so Irene took over. Literally. In an instant we morphed into Venom, a 12 ft monster with piercing white eyes and a mouth plastered with sharp fangs. It felt good having her around me because it meant keeping me warm from the cold air. My own personal heater. One of the advantages of having a bug inside you.

The guards were just up ahead, unknowing in the dim light, and slowly we began crawling on all fours towards them. Our vision is enhanced in pitch black and by the time the taller guard notices a black figure crawling towards him, it was too late. His hand darts to his pistol but we grab his head and slam it hard against the wall with a crack before he could fire. The other guard stared at the body beside him and I could tell Irene wanted to roar and relish the fear in his face. But I tell her no since it would attract too much attention so instead we stare him down, our tongue curling out of habit to show off our playful, carnivorous smile. Before he could scream, Irene darts out a tentacle to his throat. We leave him in the air for a minute until he passes out.

Seulgi, I think that guy pissed his pants.

I know. What a loser.

By the time we made it past the gate, all of the guards stationed at the courtyard were unconscious. Irene and I liked to get creative sometimes so we hurled them inside some bushes and left a few gurgling in the fountain outside the gate. I mean if you’re going to steal something, why not make it fun, right?

Getting inside the mansion was no problem, and being a huge black creature was easy enough to be mistaken as a dark shadow in security cameras. We stretched our limbs and clung to the wall like a spider, crawling our way up to the second floor window where we could get a better look of who was awake at this time. Stealth was never really our thing, I have to admit, but if it’s diamonds, Irene will find a way to get them as quickly and quietly as possible. And no she’s not human enough to indulge in wealth, but she does appreciate how diamonds look good around my neck.

Unlike the outside, the hallways are empty which means no guards on their posts outside the door to the vault. We slip inside the second floor and ease our way into the hallway to find the big door we were looking for. With one twist, the handle breaks. Child’s play. The room was stark white. On the far side was a heavily locked door and on the left, was a man slumped over by a desk.

Irene was ready to pounce and eat him alive but I stopped us and noticed that he was unconscious. A couple bottles of alcohol surrounded him and there was one photo frame which showed a picture of him and his wife and daughter. It hit me like a slap in the face.

You took us to The Kim’s Mansion? The second richest family in all of Seoul Met, are you kidding me?

What, like it’s hard?

I’m literally going to jail if they find these at the apartment.

Please, not like this family cares. Their daughter looks like a spoiled brat anyway.

Rene, these people own Cartier.

And I own you. What’s the difference?

You didn’t steal me.

No, but you stole me from that little psycho scientist. And I let you.

(God she is insufferable sometimes.)

So now what?

We get inside that vault.

The thing about Irene is that when I think she’s one thing, she turns out to be something else. In this case, she’s the shell that surrounds me, the suit that keeps me safe from flying bullets and falling debris. But she has this ability to transform into something else entirely, a brain and a body of different substance altogether. Right away, she oozes off my skin like ink and travels across the marble floor. Like a living parasite, she moves her way to the vault and sticks herself onto the keypad and buttons. The mechanism jolts and fizzes, opening the hatch to reveal the room full of shining diamonds and dazzling jewels.

“Must be nice being a pile of gunk huh?”

I reach my hand out to the puddle and she wraps around it like a glove until she slowly moulds into me aga