Karina slowed down her speed as she drove past her old neighbourhood. She glanced at it before finally speeding up, driving away from the area. She stopped at an old building, parking her bike just in the empty hallway.

She made sure her bike is well hidden under the black waterproof canvas before going inside the building. She counted her steps and ears listening to all the sounds until she reached her room. She unlocked the door and opened the door before stopping, making sure no one's following her.

Once she's sure, she stepped in and locked her door. She took off her jacket and threw them on the coffee table before throwing herself down on the single couch, the only furniture she has for her to lay down.

She was about to close her eyes when her phone vibrated, indicating an incoming call. She took it out of her jeans pocket and answered it.

"Karina. How are you doing?" 

"Same old." 

"Okay, so, Mr Kim had contacted me." 

"Hm." 

"He said you haven't updated them about his new offer. Why didn't I hear about this from you? What offer did you get?" 

Mr Kim just had to contact Johnny to get an update from Karina as Karina never leaves any sort of information for anyone to be able to contact her unless if its through Johnny. 

"Winter Kim's personal bodyguard."

"Ah. Well the pay-" 

"I don't do a bodyguard, Johnny." 

"Um. Yeah, yeah of course. I know." 

"..." 

"But think about it, the pay is marvelous." 

"I've enough to live." 

"Right..." 

"..." 

"So, still a no?" 

"Never. Now, if you don't have anything else, I would love to have my rest." 

"Okay okay. A minute. I'm coming there, we'll be moving there for a while. I have some jobs ready for you." 

"As long as its not being a babysitter then I'm good. Just send me the details." 

Karina hung up without waiting for Johnny's response and just dropped her phone beside her before covering her eyes with her arm to finally get some sleep.

 

 

 

 

..... 

 

 

 

 

"Please, have mercy! I wasn't the one doing it. I just helped them to find where they live!"

A man in his 20's beg as he crawled away from Karina, trying to get out of his room to get some help.

"Y-You're a woman. Don't you have feelings? I have a family to feed!" He cried.

Karina didn't listen to him and reloaded her gun then putting on the silencer before shooting on the random place before pointing the gun at him.

"No! Please I-"

Bang! 

Straight to the head, he died on the spot. Karina lowered down the gun and stepped forward to take a closer look on him. She took a picture using her phone then put back her phone and her gun inside her jacket's inner pocket. 

She circled around his desk in the room and grabbed a brown envelope with a code on it. She slided opened the window before jumping down skillfully as its only level 1 and not that high since its just a small building. She left the place after sending a code to Johnny so he could send someone to clean up the scene.

Karina may work alone, but Johnny won't take a risk to expose her so all those years of hard work, Johnny managed to gather a great team to do the cleaning task every time Karina finished her job. A team that won't ask questions and just do what they're supposed to do, get payment and say nothing.

 

 

 

 

.....

 

 

 

 

"Where is she?"

"Give her some time. She'll come around."

"You know well that I don't like waiting, dad."

Mr Kim looked at his precious maknae. He laughed and got up from his chair to sit beside Winter who was sitting on the couch in his huge office room.

"She isn't just anyone. She's a top assassin from LA. We're even lucky that she agreed to come here to rescue you. She's hard to get, hard to reach and yes, her title says it all about her, she is untouchable." Mr Kim said.

"Amazing, doesn't she? For someone who's young, a woman at that, but she did great on her own. She's crushing the men's ego in the underworld because of her unwavering capability."

"Does she ever date someone?"

"I don't know. We don't know. No one has ever managed to dig into details about her. She's just Karina and she kills without fail."

"Yeah. Anyways, what happened to my kidnapper?" Winter asked.

"Hm. He's doing good in the dungeon." Mr Kim smiled, spreading his arms on the backrest of the couch.

"He's taking it well. He gotta be. It's not time for him to die yet. We don't kill unless we're satisfied. Remember that? We torture until they regret that they dares to mess with us." Mr Kim told her.

"Good to know. He got the nerve to provoke me when I was captured." Winter said.

"He will pay for that. How's your training going?"

"Painful. Wendy unnie is being hard than she was before on me."

"She has to. After all this kidnapping that had happened, we don't want the same thing to ever happen again."

"I know. But I can fight well."

"Not enough."

"Ugh." Winter rolled her eyes.

"It's for your own good and who knows, Karina might consider to date you if she knew that you have good combat skills." Mr Kim said, trying to make Winter want to learn more.

After all, out of all his kids, Winter is the most stubborn one. She doesn't like to fight physically but she sure does like to fight using , she can make someone cry just by saying mean things without caring about anyone's feelings if she wants to.

Out of all her siblings, she's still the weakest when it comes to combat skills, but she's not that far from them though. She was taught by her brother and sister. Her mother even personally taught her important skills that she needs to master. It's just, she needs to become accustomed with her skills and more practice to get used to it.

"Whatever. But I want Karina, dad."

"You know, daughter. You can get anyone you want."

"And I will. Karina will be mine." Winter said before standing up.

"I mean, there's alot of people out the-"

"I don't want anyone else. If you can't help me with this, then fine. I will do it with my own way. I'll get Karina myself." Winter then waved at her father and left.

"Tsk. Did we spoil her too much? Hmm. But I would like to see what she's going to do to get Karina. I'll just have to keep a watch out for her then." Mr Kim said.

"Goodluck, Karina. It's going to be hard to get rid of my stubborn maknae." Mr Kim laughed as he can feel that Winter will do anything for Karina.

 

 

 

 

..... 

 

 

 

 

Karina frowned when she reread the address that Johnny had sent to her. It was Aeri's nightclub, Naevis. She looked at the photo of a guy who she needs to kill. The guy had murdered her client's niece and her client wanted a revenge. A blood for a blood, a soul for a soul.

He will be there around 9. Make sure you do it away from the public eyes. We don't want to attract attention.     7:48pm.

Karina then quickly grabbed her things and prepared to leave. She thought it was better that she reaches the place first and waits for his arrival there. 

She reached Naevis at 8:30pm sharp, and she entered with her straight face as usual, going to the bar right away and ordered a single shot of drinks to avoid suspicion.

"Oh. You are boss' friend!"

Karina ignored the friendly barista, Yena, whom she met last time when she was looking for Aeri.

"Boss isn't here though."

Karina continued to ignore her and turned her body slightly to look at the entrance area to keep an eye if the guy have finally arrived.

When she finally saw him, she ordered another drink and finished it in one go. She then went to the toilet and counted a minute before she went out again. She took note of all the CCTV inside the club before she's back looking for the guy again.

Karina found the opportunity when she saw him going to the toilet this time. How unfortunate for him.

Karina waited and made sure no one's going inside before she entered the male toilet and put on her black gloves. She stood still when the guy noticed her. He was washing his hands when he stopped as Karina entered and showed up. 

He turned around slowly, knowing well that Karina did not get lost or entered a wrong toilet. He can feel it, Karina's dangerous aura. She's not there to talk. She's there to do her job, to kill. Karina's empty eyes gave the hint to him. 

"AARRGH!" He shouted as he sprinted towards her, trying to fight her before she started it first. 

Karina avoided his advances and dodged easily. She twisted his left arm and kicked his shin causing him to fall on his knees. She didn't let him recover as she took out a syringe contains a poison and jabbed him in his ribs. 

He yelled out in pain before trying to kick her. Karina took out the syringe as she stepped back to avoid his kicks. She put back the syringe inside a small zip plastic and put them in her jacket's inner pocket like always. 

Just when Karina was about to take out her knife, someone entered the toilet so Karina quickly looked down and pulled more of her cap to cover her face. 

The has already managed to stand up and ran outside. 

"What's happening?" the stranger asked but Karina took note of his face before going out to go after the guy. 

She followed him to the back door which led them to the back alley. 

"Don't move!" He shouted and held his gun in his shaky hand as his other hand pressing on the wound where the syringe was being jabbed at him earlier. 

Karina kept walking as he was limping away from her. 

"Who the hell sent you?!" 

"You- Argh!" He groaned when suddenly the he felt he was losing his grip and let go of the gun. 

"Wha- what's happening to me?" 

Karina bends down and took out her knife, she grabbed his palm and sliced on his palm calmly like she didn't just hear he was growling in pain and cried while begging her to stop. 

"L-Lee..." He stuttered weakly as his eyes looked at behind Karina. 

Karina stands up slowly and took out her gun that's been reloaded already and has a silencer on. She turned around and saw the other guy looked at her in fear. 

"P-Please..." He raised his hands up and backed away. 

Karina just shot his leg without thinking much, and he cried in pain too. 

"You can come out if you don't want to get shot." Karina suddenly speaks while her eyes still looking at the second guy she just shot. 

Then she heard playful giggles and finally another figure stepped out from the door. 

"Hello again, hottie." 

Karina ignored her and made a call to Johnny, she told Johnny to ask the cleaning team to come immediately. Then she shot both guys on their vital point and killed them in a second. 

"Wait, where are you going?" 

Karina continued walking until she reached her bike that she parked at the very back of the club. 

"You know, I've just witnessed you killed two men." 

Karina then turned around and in a flash, she pushed her back hard on the wall. 

"Ow! Yah! That hurts!" She hissed. 

"What are you doing here, Winter Kim?" Karina growled lowly, eyes glaring sharply into Winter's playful eyes. 

"Stalking you- Ow ow!" Winter hissed again when Karina pushed her more onto the wall. 

"I'm not going to ask you again." Karina said. 

"Then I won't tell you-" Winter stopped talking when Karina moved her hand to squeeze this time. She was having a hard time to breathe because of Karina's tight hold on . 

"You know what? I could've just killed you right here." Karina said and tilted her head. 

Winter tried to push her hand away but Karina is way too strong for her. 

"Gah! My brother- he said maybe I can find you here." Winter finally said breathlessly as Karina loosened up her hold a little.

"Your brother huh. If I find out that you're lying, I will kill you."

"Yeah, dear miss assassin. You won't kill me because I'm not lying."

Karina made a mental note to pay Winter's brother a visit as soon as possible. Karina glanced at the CCTV and send a short text which contains a code to Johnny. She informed him about a stranger who came into the toilet earlier and asked Johnny to make sure he won't say a word. 

She hopped on her bike and started the engine. She snapped her head towards Winter when she snatched the helmet from Karina.

"Be a gentlewoman, would you? Let me wear this for my safety." Winter said as she put on the helmet before hopping on behind Karina.

"And we need to talk." Winter said again.

Karina doesn't have time as the cleaning team would be there soon so she decided to handle Winter somewhere else. She didn't say anything and drove off.

 

 

 

 

.....

 

 

 

 

"Boss. Someone is here for-" The secretary gasped when the guest just pushed the door wide opened to step in.

Suho stopped his work when he saw Karina.

"It's okay, Yeri. You can leave us alone." Suho informed his secretary. She bowed and closed the door slowly.

"We meet again." Suho said, smiling at her.

Karina didn't greet him nor smiling back at him. She just stood there with her cold face. She then took out his business card that he handed in to her previously before ripping it into two and took out a tiny and thin round device in the middle of the card and throw it towards Suho.

"Oh, you found out about it."

"The next time you try to put a tracker on me, you won't be alive anymore. And I don't give a warning twice." Karina told him and turned around to leave.

The door suddenly burst opened revealing an angry Winter.

"Oppa! I need you to- oh, nevermind. Here she is." Winter puffed her cheeks in annoyance and slammed shut the door before locking it.

"I can't believe that you did that to me!" Winter exclaimed.

Karina brought her back to Kim's mansion last night. When Winter refused to let her go, Karina had no choice but to make her unconscious by striking her right in the head. She then carried Winter to the gate and the guards immediately took Winter from her.

Karina left successfully without the guards could even questions her but they let her go since they knew Karina was also the one who brought Winter back home when she got kidnapped last time.

"Move."

"No. I said we need to talk."

"I don't have a business with you."

"We do!"

"Unless if you have a killing mission for me then we will talk."

"I- What?"

"Move." Karina pushed her to the side and Winter yelled at her.

"Winter-" Suho was about to call for his younger sister but Winter ignored him and followed Karina out.

"Wait!"

Karina never bother to stop the elevator from closing but Winter still managed to get through. Karina ignored the glare from the younger, eyes looking straight on the elevator door.

"Fine. You don't want to talk? So be it. Let me the one who will talk. I want you to be my girlfriend." Winter said, head held up proudly.

"Yah. Do you hear me?" Winter asked again.

Ding! 

Karina walked out once the elevator reached the basement level 2.

"If I knew you would be like this, I shouldn't have saved you."

"What? Don't you know of how many people would want to date me?"

"I don't date."

"Great. I don't either. So we should date each other."

"You're not my type."

Winter gasped, touching her chest as she was offended with Karina's statement. She then ran in front of Karina and blocked her way. 

"What did you say?"

"I don't like to repeat myself."

"What? Your type is someone ugly then? Because I'm sure I am the most beautiful woman you've ever met!"

"I have good eyes. You don't."

"Look. I won't disturb your work. You can still be an assassin and whatsoever. I just want you to be mine." Winter said.

"I don't belong to anyone, especially you." Karina told her.

"You're going to regret this, Karina." Winter said without looking at Karina who already walked past her, but Karina doesn't care at all.

 

 

 

 

..... 

 

 

 

 

"Cool. I like your new place." Johnny said as he looked around at Karina's new apartment. She has decided to move out of the old building since Suho managed to locate her there.

Karina had just finished moving in to the new place when he asked to meet as he also had finally settled his stuff at his own place.

"How's thing going with Winter Kim?" Johnny asked, taking a seat in front of Karina in her kitchen.

"I've dealt enough. I don't want to get involved with any of them anymore."

"Hmm." Johnny intertwined his hand on top of Karina's dining table.

Karina then looked up at him, raising her eyebrows when she can sense that he was thinking about something really important. 

"What?" Johnny got startled and laughed nervously when Karina asked.

"Uh, well, I have a personal task for you." Johnny started.

"So, you see, the reason why I decided that we should stay here for a while is because I'm trying to gather as much information I can." Johnny continued when Karina showed no sign to comment on anything.

"As you already know, I am still searching for your family's murderer." Johnny said with a careful tone, afraid to trigger Karina.

"I've been hiring someone to find a lead. She said it's someone with a status, someone from a wealthy family who secretly joined the underworld. Your parents' enemies paid them to kill your family and Aeri's family as well."

Karina clenched her fist on her lap, trying not to let her emotion in as her mind drifted back to her old memories of her family and Aeri's. 

Johnny paused to take a deep breathe. He leaned his body on the table and looked at Karina properly. 

"Karina. We need as much information as we can get. In order to do that, we need someone with a high status as well. Therefore, we need to create a connection through the Kim." Johnny said in a serious manner.

"I hate this too but we have no choice. It is the safest option. Through Kim, we won't look suspicious especially they are the one who's fond of you and wanting you to be a part of them." Johnny added.

"Karina?"

"I will do it but-" Karina looked into Johnny's eyes sharply.

"The moment we found out every names of those who got involved in killing Aeri's and my family, I will kill them all. I won't waste any more time for them to live freely after what they put me through."

"Okay." Johnny agreed right away.

He knew that Karina had been trained for this, for revenge. She was hungry to kill. She's enraged and she had been trying to keep herself calm for all these years but hell will break loose once she has her hands on the murderers, they won't even got the chance to beg. Karina will kill them with no mercy. 

 

 

 

 

.....

 

 

 

 

Karina asked Aeri to meet her privately so Aeri asked her to come to her nightclub and they had a talk in one of the private rooms provided there, the same room that Karina went to meet her and Ning.

"Did you learn to fight?" Karina asked as soon as she came.

"Just a little. To protect myself. I- I am not as good as you though." Aeri answered, eyebrows furrowed.

"As long as you know a little. I'm afraid my presence now will bring danger to you, Aeri. It's why I never dare to try and find you after knowing you're still alive. They will do anything to find me, and I don't want them to find you just to get me." Karina said.

"I know. That's why I asked Ning and her family for help."

"Hm. I'm glad that you have them." Karina smiled.

"Does Ning knows?" Karina asked.

"About?"

"That my hands are dirty." Karina said sadly.

"She doesn't but, I think she got the hint." Aeri smiled weakly at her.

"But she still sees you as Jimin, our Jimin. The kindest Jimin." Aeri said again.

"It's better that she doesn't know much, Aeri." Karina told her.

"Yes. I know. I'll make sure she's out of this mess." Aeri said.

"Good."

"What do you need me to do now?" Aeri asked.

"You need to tighten your security here. I asked Johnny to make sure look after your place too. We can't be too relaxed. We'll never know what's going to happen."

"Okay, I got it."

"For now, just do as you usually do. Don't worry too much, okay? I promise, I won't let anything happen to you, Aeri." Karina said.

Aeri smiled at her best friend. Still the protective one.

"I know. You be careful too." 

"I will."

Karina then leaned forward from the backrest and looked at Aeri.

"Ning's parents." Karina stated.

"Are they having any sort of connection with the Kim?" Karina asked carefully.

"Kim? You mean, The Kim that owns Kim Empire?" Aeri asked for a confirmation.

"Yeah."

"Not that I know of. Why?" Aeri asked.

"Ah. I see." Karina nodded.

"Do you know them? The Kim?"

"Kind of." Karina mumbled.

"How-"

Knock knock.

Both Karina and Aeri looked at the door, they sat still when they heard nothing. Usually, Yena would say something if she's the one to come to inform Aeri about anything. Karina stands up and put her hand on her back, ready to grab her gun if there's someone dangerous out there.

"Jimin."

"Aeri, stay behind me."

Aeri quickly went to hide behind Jimin.

"Stay here. I'll check who's outside." Jimin said then walked slowly to the door and put her ear on it while holding the doorknob.

When she opened it, she almost sighed in relief seeing Winter Kim with her arms crossed, glaring at her.

"What? Surprise?" Winter asked when Karina said nothing upon seeing her.

"Figured you would be here again, I saw your bike."

"You checked the back alley?"

"I checked everywhere to find you, knocked every room and oh, who do we have here?" Winter then stepped in, pushing Karina using her forefinger as her eyes squinted at Aeri.

"Is she the reason why you rejected me?" Winter asked, eyes never leaving Aeri.

Karina sighed, then checked outside to make sure no one has seen them before she closed back the door and locked it.

"She's-" Karina paused to look at the confused Aeri while thinking of what she should introduce Aeri as.

"A partner, I'm trying to find a business partner." Karina lied.

"A business partner? I thought you were an assassin?" Winter looked at her this time.

"An assassin can have a business too." Karina looked back at her.

"Then let me be your partner instead." Winter offered.

Karina tried to hide her smirk. This will be a good opportunity.

However, she can't just agree right away, not after she kept rejecting the younger. Or else, she would look suspicious.

"What kind of partner would you be? I only want someone who can give me a big benefit." Karina said.

"I have money, I'm influential in the business world too. And..." Winter approached her. She dragged her forefinger from Karina's temple down to her chin.

"I can be a good girlfriend for you, babe." Winter whispered.

Aeri raised her eyebrows seeing the scene in front of her. Karina rolled her eyes up and let out another sigh.

"I don't need a girlfriend."

"Okay, a pretty business partner then." Winter tried her luck again.

"Give me a business proposal and make your presentation. Only then, I will consider if I would choose you or her. I need to open up a business for a cover anyways."

"How long will you give me to prepare those?" Winter asked.

"A day."

"What?"

"Meet me here again, tomorrow night." Karina said, then lifted up her hand to check the time on her wristwatch.

"Same time, here, in this room."

"A day? For real?" Winter asked in disbelief.

"I don't like to waste my time, Winter Kim. I have so much to do. So, yes. A day only." Karina replied.

"I'll be seeing you both again tomorrow." Karina said before leaving the room.

"And oh, she's married. Stop glaring at my potential business partner." Karina told Winter before she finally left the room.

"Pft. I am your potential business partner." Winter rolled her eyes.

"You." Winter pointed at Aeri who gulped and looked at her.

"I am a Kim, you know me right?" Winter asked and Aeri nodded her head.

"Good. Then, you should know not to interfere. Karina is mine, either in business partner term or a romantic relationship term. You got that?" And Aeri nodded again.

"Be good to your wife and let me have Karina, then we're good. Anyways, gotta to." Winter said and flipped her short hair saucily.

"Jimin, what did you get yourself into? Kim is not one for you to mess with." Aeri mumbled to herself, she's starting to feel worried for Karina as she can see that Karina is going all the way to get her revenge.

 

 

 

 

.....

 

 

 

 

Woah, I'm surprised that Us Against the World are very well received and your comments? They just motivate me more ^^

It's going to be slow for the time being, I'm trying to build up the plot with enough details. Stay tuned! and enjoy this update hehe.

 

xx