Sung-ryong hugs his winter coat closer to his body as drops of rain begins to fall from the sky. People around him start scattering around in a rush, clearly trying to run home before the rain becomes heavier. Sung-ryong maintains his own pace as he makes his way back home when his phone suddenly rings. Taking it out of his coat pocket, Sung-ryong sees its Manager Choo Nam Ho. “Oh, Hyung, are you heading home now?” he asked. Remembering he had left work slightly earlier than Nam Ho. “Yeh, I bought some tteobokki and I am just about to head to the mart to get some Soju, did you need anything from the Mart?” asked Nam Ho. Sung-ryong smiled at how considerate his Hyung was. “No its okay Hyung-nim, I’ll see you at home, remember to buy an umbrella at the mart if you don’t have one already”; Sung-ryong replied as he looks up the sky, the rain now beginning to get heavier as they both hung up the phone. Sung-run was about to put his phone back into his inside coat pocket when he feels a gust of win brush past his side, and his phone is ripped from his hand. “Ya, thief” he shouts out loud and begins to chase down the perpetrator with rain now bucketing down. With the visibility reduced from the rain, he can hardly make out the outline of the man in black. He could hear his own footsteps slapping and splashing against the rain soaked pavement as he follows the culprit into an alley. The failing street light flickers, providing moments of light and clarity and Sung-ryong can just see that the man who stole his phone turn right into another alley way. As he rounds the corner himself, Sung-ryong is taken aback as he slams into what seems to be another person. He then feels a sharp pain near his ride side against his ribs. ‘Did I run into a wall’ he thinks to himself.

Sung-ryong is so shocked, he struggles to breathe. His mind is confused and he starts to feel the energy suddenly drained from his body as he knees begin to buckle, still unsure as to why his body is suddenly failing on him. Until he feels the pain on his ride side intensify and something begins to be pulled from his body. “Ahrg” he says outloud. He feels a sharp object enter his right side again and starts to feel a warm liquid trickle down his shirt and sees it slowly dripping to the ground, disappearing into the darkness of the rain puddles that have now formed on the ground. He starts to breathe heavily as the realisation dawns on him. He has just been stabbed. With what he is now sure of, a knife stuck in his right side, he tries to make out who he has run into but struggled as the culprit was practically holding him. His head right next to Sungryong’s. Practically, the only thing stopping him from hitting the ground was the person that had stabbed him. Twice. He vision starts to blur and Sung-ryong as tries to continue to breathe. “This is a message to you, don’t mess with people who are more powerful than you”, the man said right into Sung-ryong’s right ear as he rips the knife out from his body. He throws Sung-ryong’s phone on the ground and disappears fast into the night. Somehow, Sungryong still finds himself standing, albeit barely. ‘The thief?’ he thinks to himself as he sees his phone through dark spots that’s begun to cloud his vision. He feels his body begin to sway and fall right into the corner wall. Sung-ryong’s legs give way as he uses the wall to help him down. Only the upper half of his back and head were now propped up against the wall as he begins to feel heavy, tired. He eyelids begin to hood over his eyes. Each time the light flickers and creates a moment of brightness against the surrounding darkness, he could make out the pool of blood that has now contaminated the rain water. His breathing now as heavy as the rain that was pouring down, he hears someone whistling “Show me the money” by Din Din.

** 5 minutes earlier**

Cho Nam can’t wait to get home and share some Soju and fresh Tteokboki with Sung-ryong. They’ve been working hard and the final pieces to take down Chairman Park Hyun Do were starting to fall into place. The man was sitting in prison awaiting his trial and the world had seemed to go back to normal. “Thank You, Take care” he says to the attendant at the cashier. Just as he was about to turn his back and walk out of the mart, he notices the pouring rain “remember to buy an umbrella at the mart if you don’t have one already“ Sung-ryong’s words from their phone call  echoes in his head and he smiles. The considerate thought reminded him of his daughters. “Chogiyo,” he says to the attendant, “Can I also please have an umbrella”. Nam Ho pays for the additional umbrella, pushes his shoulder at the door, the bells above the door making a sound notifying the store of his exit. His ears are met with the sound of rain against pavement. “Aishh, where did this rain even come from” he mutters to himself. Hugging the Tteokboki close in his jacket, Nam Ho opens the umbrella and begins to walk home quickly. The streets around his apartment had become deserted with most people having made it home before he did. He begins to whistle a song he heard Sung-ryong singing in the shower. With no one in sight, Nam Ho begins to walk with Sung-ryong’s signature swagger and confidence whilst whistling.  He begins to laugh at his own immaturity. Sung-ryong better not find out about this, he thought to himself. However, as he begins to round the last corner before his apartment, he hears laboured breathing. “Is it a abandoned dog?” he thought to himself. His eyes followed to where the sound was coming from. The singular flickering street light momentarily lights up his surroundings. Nam Ho squints his eyes in order to focus his eyesight on an object sticking from around the corner, which appeared to be a leg. “, it’s a person”, he thinks to himself. He slowly makes his way towards the leg, his mind somewhat mindful that he is in an alleyway and this could be a trap from a local gang or thief. As the light flickers again, he makes out blood swimming between the cracks of the bricked pavement. With this sight, Nam Ho realises this person must be really hurt and he walks quickly towards them. “Chogiyo” he says when he rounds the corner, sits the alcohol and tteoboki down, inwardly swearing at himself knowing his and Sung-ryong’s celebratory plans have been slightly ruined.

Nam Ho can not really make out the person’s face in the darkness. But, as a side thought, he did think the coat looked familiar. Nam Ho tries to find the source of the bleeding, but this was made difficult with the amount of rain and blood on the man’s jacket. “Chogiyo, where does it hurt?” he asked the person urgently. Then, his heart sinks, eyes widen as he hears the familiar voice without it’s usual bravado. No, it was weak and barely a whisper, “Hyung-Nim”. Nam Ho looked up at the man’s face, the flickering light stays on for a few seconds this time and Nam Ho’s eyes begin to well with tears. “Sung-ryong?!, Ya Sung-ryong, are you okay? What happened?”, a uncontrollable verbal mess escapes Nam Ho’s quivering lips as he finds the source of the bleeding on Sung-ryong’s right side. And he pressed hard, trying to will the blood back into his friend’s body.

Sungryong continues to slip against the wall as his breathing becomes even more laboured and the world continutes to blur. His head the only part of his body being propped up against it. As he hears the whistle approach, he tries to muster enough strength to try and call for help. But nothing comes out. However, he quickly hears quicker footsteps towards him followed by a not so graceful bang of soju bottles and plastic bag hitting the pavement. “Chogiyo” he hears. He feels the man patting his body, trying to find the source of bleeding. Again, Sung-ryong tries to will himself to tell the man in front of him that it was on his right side. With the dark alleyway and his blurred vision, Sung-ryong can’t make out the features of the man in front of him, but made a mental note to thank him later should he make it out of this. Sung-ryong finds that his eyelids are getting heavier again and he starts to succumb to the darkness. He was cold, barely able to breathe and everything hurt.  “Chogiyo, where are you hurt” the man asks him. Sung-ryong frowns, he was unsure if he was hallucinating the voice, with the little strength he had left, Sung-ryong tries to keep his eyes open and musters the energy “Hyung-nim?” he says out loud. He could immediately feel the fear from the man in front of him which confirmed to Sung-ryong that this was indeed his friend. Thank God, he thought to himself as he begins to drift in and out again. He could make out his friend asking what happened, calling the ambulance and telling him to stay awake. But the darkness was so welcoming compared to the cold wet pavement and the firing pain in his right side.

“The ambulance is on its way, just trying to keep your friend awake” says the emergency line operator. Nam Ho is holding his hand against Sung-ryong right side, but blood continues to seep through the cracks between his fingers. He takes his coat off and holds it against Sung-ryong’s wounds. Within seconds his once green jacket turns red. He looks back at a now unconscious Sung-ryong. Nam Ho slaps his hand against Sung-ryong’s cheek, begging his friend to wake up. The skin on skin contact makes him realise how cold Sung-ryong was. With one hand holding his blood in and the other lifting Sung-ryong up to a sitting position, Nam Ho positioned himself behind his friend, wrapped his hands around him so that now Sung-ryong laid his back on his. Nam Ho tried to give as much warmth to Sung-rong as possible. Reminding him of the times that they woke up next to each other, much to Sung-rong’s discomfort. This made him hold his friend closer, he rested his chin on Sung-rung’s shoulder, as they sat in the rain facing in the same direction. “sung-rung ah, hang in there, keep fighting”. Nam Ho can hear the ambulance sirens wailing in the distance. “Ya, you seki, stay alive the ambulance is nearly here, can you hear it, ya Sung Rung ah”. Nam Ho could feel his friend getting colder. “why is that damn ambulance taking so long’. Nam Ho thought to himself. “Hyung-nim” Sung-rung’s voice was weak but Nam Ho could see his friend was awake again and looked like he had something to say. “yes, Sung-rung” he replied. “Eye” Sung-rung said. Nam Ho was confused, eye? What is Sung-rung talking about. In that moment, Sung-rung starts coughing and Nam Ho holds him closer. A wet cough follows and Nam Ho sees that Sung-rung was coughing up blood, Nam Ho props Sung Rung up more so that he isn’t choking on his own blood.

Finally the ambulance arrives and the EMTs takes Sung-Rung away from Nam Ho as they begin working on Sung-Rung. They insert an IV and place an oxygen mask over his bloodied face.  The two EMTS shared a look and rushed him into the ambulance. Nam Ho naturally follows them and takes a seat next to Sung-ryong in the back of the ambulance. He holds his younger friend’s hand and and the EMT wraps a blanket around Nam Ho who was dripping puddles. This was going to be a long night.