My computer hates me. I had this half-typed up and the screen froze. 

This .

"Wow! So this is Vietnam?" Kyung grinned and peered out at the blue sea. "Sure is pretty. And green."

"And, if what we heard is correct, totally corrupt in a few special places," Zico smirked. "Perfect for our line of work. We should be able to get the most out of piracy around here, right?"

"Great way to spread villainy," Taeil said with a shrug, searching through his pockets and pulling out a crumpled-up candy wrapper. His face fell. "Darn."

"Hey, wait a second!" A huge grin suddenly lit up U-Kwon's face like a christmas tree. "Didn't you say that old geezer who handled illegal weaponry lived somewhere in this city?"

"Yeah, he has some shipments for us, newly upgraded guns. Why?" Kyung stared at him.

"Can I go pick them up? Please please please please?" U-Kwon had a practically HUNGRY look on his face as he imagined holding the new guns in his hand.

"Yeah, whatever." Zico shrugged. U-Kwon was off, dashing away onto the main road without so much as a backward's glance."

"Well, I'm off, I want a massage," Zico said, stretching and yawning before walking away, hands in the pockets of his absurdly bright coat.

B-Bomb turned to P.O and jerked his thumb towards the buildings. "Got it. Later, hyungs." P.O pulled an eyepatch out of his pocket and slipped it over his right eye, and began to follow B-Bomb away from the docks.

"Y-yah! Where are YOU guys going?" Kyung called after them.

"Hyung and I are gonna go play some mahjong!" P.O said over his shoulder. "Gamble, lie, cheat, steal ... you know, the usual. We've been running low on money lately."

"Can I come?"

P.O turned to B-Bomb, who shook his head, stony-faced.

"Sorry, Kyungie hyung. You have the worst poker face." P.O waved goodbye and merrily whistled after B-Bomb.

Kyung turned expectantly to Taeil.

"Sorry, Kyung, I'm ... um ... going to buy candy, so ..." Taeil was running away before he could finish his half-assed excuse.

Kyung turned to the last pirate left from the Block B crew, Jaehyo. He was tying up his long dark hair into a messy ponytail, giving him a dashing, rogue look to his handsome features. "Hyung?" He asked hopefully.

"No way, man. I'm off to bar to pick up some chicks."

Kyung stood there in awkward silence as he was left alone by his 'friends'.

Pouting huffily, he crouched down and began to draw little imaginary figures onto the wooden dock with a stick. "Stupid hyungs, stupid P.O, stupid Zico ... leaving without me ... I want a massage too ... my hubby is so mean to me ..." He puffed out his cheeks in what he thought was a cute expression. What he THOUGHT.

Suddenly, he heard a strange sound, and looked up. His jaw dropped and his eyes widened.

He just saw the most beautiful creature he's ever laid eyes on in the Eastern seas.

A beautiful, plump, juicy, fat little chicken, wandering all on its lonesome across the docks.

Kyung slowly got to his feet. The chicken paused and stared at him.

"Just wait there, pretty thing ..." Kyung crooned, carefully backing away and trying not to make any suden noises, just in case he scared away his lunch. "Just let me go back to the ship to get a knife and a frying pan ... we're going to have so much fun together ... wait for me, gorgeous ..."

Then he turned around and made a mad dash for the ship.

The chicken stared some more, before clucking its way down the road.

 "SOMEBODY GET THAT GIRL!!!"

Mai heard the voices behind her but simply grinned. She quickly raced down a side alley, knowing that if she was fast and light on her feet, she would easily lose them. They didn't know the streets of Vietnam as well as she did. After all, Mai had grew up on these corrupt streets.

The two men came running after her, breathing a bit heavily from the exercise. They were used to pointing guns at people's terrified faces and intimidating them into submission, not chasing after a young, healthy nineteen-year-old girl who had just scammed them of nearly eight hundred dollars.

"YOU , COME BACK HERE!!!"

Mai twisted into another street, where several of her neighbours -- each as corrupt and tricky as herself -- sat on cracked plastic chairs, fanning themselves due to the heat, and watched with interest as Mai rushed away.

Mai ce more, nearly running into a sweet-looking old lady who was walking by.

Said old lady started shrieking and cursing like a sailor, pulling out a gun from her little pink purse. "Watch where ya goin', ya brat!"

"Sorry, Miss Chau!" Mai called after the old woman. "I'll be more careful!"

Old Miss Chau grumbled and waved the gun around for good measure, but in truth, the old woman had known Mai since she was first born on these back alleys, and often looked after her. She was the one who first taught Mai how to cheat in any sort of gambling game, after all.

The two men -- looking like the stereotypical bad guys with dark suits and shades -- were NOT so lucky, however. They too almost crashed into Miss Chau, and since they weren't as familiar with these streets and these people, they did NOT know who they were messing with when they snarled "Watch it, you old bat!"

Mai paused to snicker as she heard gunshots, Miss Chau shrieking "OLD BAT? I'LL GIVE YA OLD BAT!!! EVER HEARD OF RESPECTIN' YA ELDERS?!!" and the sounds of the two men yelling in pain as they got beaten to the ground by Miss Chau's purse.

Smirking, Mai slid through a small gap between two buildings and pushed her way through some big, green leaves, melting into the foliage that surrounded her corrupt, dirty little home.

After hiding her new cash and reminding herself to spend it on something nice later, Mai decided to go see her friends at the Kim Cuc Parlor. They always had customers, some interesting, some not, and it was always worth going there for a chat and some gossip.

If you could call Mai and Lien's chats 'gossip'.

"Lien!" Mai grinned at the pretty twenty-something girl who was her best friend and also the daughter of the Kim Cuc Parlor owners. "Any news?"

Lien looked around to see if anyone was listening. The parlor was small, and it was easy to be eavesdropped upon when 'gossiping'. "We heard Tuan is back in town. And he's got some goods back from his little expedition too."

"Goods? No way." Mai felt excitement course through her veins. Tuan was one of the top scammers in Vietnam, and also the head of their mafia gang. He was always disappearing and coming back with suitcases full of precious artifacts worth a fortune. If Mai could steal just one of the items he got, she could have a vacation for almost five years.

Unfortunately, Tuan was also smarter than the average conmen, and it was hard to bamboozle this guy, even IF his lackeys weren't as intelligent as he was. Mai had tried several times to steal something from him, without any luck (and almost losing her life several times), but to get her hands on some of those items was all worth it.

"Way. Two diamonds, bigger than your fist. I heard about if from mom, said two of his men were coming here now to see if they could make a transaction."

Oh, that's right. Besides being masseurs and beauty salon owners, Lien's family also dealt with back-door dealings. However, whether they staid FAITHFUL to the deal or not remained in question.

The door opened, and a boy that seemed to be around Mai's age walked in. "Hey, can I get a massage?" The boy said. "My back is killing me."

Mai frowned. She understood what he said, but it wasn't Vietnamese. It was Korean.

"Sure, no problem." Lien said, switching immediately to Korean. In their lines of work, knowing several languages was a good way to keep themselves alive. Mai could speak fluent Vietnamese, Korean, and Chinese, but that was nothing compared to Lien. She knew about six languages already, and was STILL learning.

Mai slowly slid to a corner of the small apartment space to scrutinize the boy without causing any suspicion. He was definitely not from here, she knew that for sure. There was something about him that made her want to look some more.

Maybe it was his handsome features, or the ridiculously odd clothes he was wearing. Maybe it was the fact his dirty blonde hair was in dreadlocks near the ends.

Or maybe it was because he looked very uncannily similar to one of the Wanted posters that dotted the room, featuring all sorts of criminals wanted by the government. He looked strikingly similar to the one labelled "ZICO", who was worth seventy-seven million dollars for sneaking into top-secret government buildings and stealing important information without getting captured. Six times.

Quite impressive. If that really was him, that is.

Then his eyes connected with hers in the mirror, and Mai realized with a jolt why he looked so intriguing.

His eyes were WHITE.

But, no, they must be contacts. There was no way anybody could have such piercing white eyes and claim they're real.

Mai hurriedly looked away and focused on her stringy sandals and dirty feet.

The door opened, and two men walked in carrying a briefcase. Mai's heart leapt into , but she quickly looked away. If she appeared too interested in the briefcase, they'll get suspicious.

Through the corner of her eyes, she noticed the white-eyed boy had heard the sounds of the two men coming in, although his eyes were covered by a cloth.

"Are you Miss Lien?" One of the men grunted.

"Yes, I am, sir." Lien said.

"We have some business with your family."

"Of course, sir, please wait a moment."

They nodded and sat down at the saggy couch. One of them clicked open the suitcase and opened it quickly to check the contents were safe. Mai felt her fingers start to twitch in excitement when she saw the flash of something sparkly inside.

The white-eyed boy must have heard it too. He gestured for Lien to take off the towel and sat back up. When she asked him if he needed anything else, he held up a ring-covered hand. "It's fine," he muttered. Mai saw him peering at the briefcase with interest through the mirror. But that was impossible, how would he know what's in it?

Lien nodded, bowed, and turned to the other two men. "I'll go get my parents," she said politely, turning and making eye contact with the Mai. "Please follow me."

Mai hid a smirk as the two men followed her through the door. Now, all she had to do was get the briefcase and run ...

She turned around and her smile fell right off her face. The boy was gone.

So was the briefcase.

Cackling to himself, Zico sped down the hallways, the briefcase clutched tightly in his hands.

It was easy. Way too easy. He had nothing to worry about. That short-haired Vietnamese chick had her back to him, and once those men were out of sight, he had jumped off the chair and disappeared.

He had no idea what was in it, of course. But who cares? The briefcase itself could pawn for something, if it was filled with useless crap.

He sprinted away, and found a very familiar person poring over a snack stand, a lollipop placed firmly in his mouth.

"Yo! Taeil hyung!"

Taeil looked up. "Zico? What is that?"

"Check it out, man!" Zico smirked, feeling immensely proud of himself. "Don't know what this is, but it might be valuable!"

"Awesome!" Taeil grinned, scratching at one tattooed arm. "Open it and see."

"Yeah, sure thing." Zico began to undo the latches, but one of them stuck. "What the ... ! I don't have time for this!"

He struggled to undo the latch, but it was firmly in place and refused to move. Zico tried dropping the suitcase onto the filthy ground. It didn't work.

"Hey, wait! Stop! What if you break whatever's inside?"

Zico huffed angrily. He was wasting time. But he refused to leave until he knew what was in there.

After several patient tries from Taeil (because Zico was way too impatient to try and deal with it) they finally managed to unclasp it.

They held their breath as they opened the briefcase ... and promptly gasped in shock.

Nestled in red velvet in the very center of the briefcase were two humongous diamonds. Zico's eyes widened and little dollar signs swam in his vision. "Hyung ... we're gonna be rich, baby!"

Taeil grinned. "Think of all the candy I can buy with that money!"

Zico gently picked one up. It shimmered in the summer light and cast little rainbows everywhere. He held it up in the light to see it better and admire its beauty -- and saw two men running towards them.

". Haul !"

Zico tossed the diamond back into the briefcase and clasped everything back together. He grabbed the suitcase and made a mad dash for the exit. Taeil followed -- but not before grabbing a handful of candy off the counter and shoving them into his pockets.

"Don't forget what I taught you," B-Bomb muttered out of the corner of his mouth to P.O.

"No worries, hyung, I got this!" He replied cheerfully.

They approached the men who were setting up a mahjong game. "May we join?" B-Bomb asked in Vietnamese.

One of the men looked up and smirked. "If you wanna go broke. You two Koreans? You look a bit young for a gamble. Aren't your mommies missing you somewhere?" He and his friend guffawed.

"We were passing by and found it odd that you can play mahjong with only two players," B-Bomb replied smoothly, not showing a hint of expression on his face. "Unless you Vietnamese play it differently than us?"

"You've got a point there, son," one of the men smirked. "How much are you willing to lose, then?"

B-Bomb and P.O took a seat. B-Bomb turned to the younger and nodded. P.O reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of cash, all hundred-dollar bills. "How's this? I'll throw in my watch too." He smirked and unclasped his watch, holding it up for everyone to see. "Pure gold, Rolex."

The men eyed both the cash and his watch greedily. "Fine with that. As for us ... let's up the stakes a little. We'll give you this."

They held up a briefcase and opened it. It was filled with wads of cash, almost a thousand dollars in total.

"Deal." B-Bomb announced, not even wondering why they were carrying a briefcase full of money. This kind of thing was normal where they came from. P.O put his watch back on and placed the money back into his pocket -- after all, he wasn't planning on giving it to them anyway.

"Shall we play, gentlemen?" One of the men sneered.

Almost twenty minutes later, a light gleam of sweat trickled down the two men's faces. They were losing. And they knew it.

"Pung," B-Bomb said smoothly, grabbing another three identical tiles.

"Why, you little Korean ers ..." one of the men hissed.

B-Bomb spared a glance in P.O's direction. He quickly nodded and went in for the kill.

"Oh, well what do you know?" P.O grinned innocently as he picked up a tile. "Looks like we win. We'll take that briefcase now."

Everyone stood up. The two Vietnamese men were breathing heavily.

"Why you -- you -- YOU LITTLE BRATS CHEATED!!!" They howled.

"Such a shame, old men like you can't even take a loss well," B-Bomb said, further provoking them.

"You think we're gonna just let you walk away, you cheating s?" One of them snarled, pulling out a gun and pointing it at P.O. "Yeah right! Get ready to kiss the ground!"

P.O sighed heavily and smoothed back his long blonde hair. In the next second, he punched the man right across the face, kicking the gun out of his hand.

Before the other could react, B-Bomb swiftly kicked him in the knees and shoved him aside. The man went crashing into the mahjong table. B-Bomb pulled the briefcase out of his grip.

"Let's go, P.O," B-Bomb said, a rare self-satisfied smile appearing on his face.

"Got it hyung!" P.O grinned. The two ran away.

Spitting out blood and grabbing the gun, the two mahjong players staggered after them. "YOU BRATS!!! JUST YOU WAIT!!!"

Zico and Taeil dashed down the hall. They quickly ducked as a gunshot echoed right above their heads.

"Damn, they have guns." Taeil gulped. "What should we do now, Zico?"

"Just keep running, we'll lose them eventually," Zico panted. "Damn, if only we had some guns right now, those ers will be dead and -- OH !!!"

They barrelled straight into two other boys. They jumped to their feet, expecting a fight ... then blinked.

"B-Bomb? P.O?" Taeil stared at them. "What have you guys been doing? And where did you get that briefcase?" He pointed at the one currently in P.O's hands.

"Long story, let's go!" He said urgently. As if on cue, a gunshot rang out from behind them.

"Where do we go?" Zico panicked.

B-Bomb turned and saw some stairs. "There!"

They quickly ran down, their four pursuers right behind them.

They dodged another bullet. "STOP YOU BRATS!"

Snickering, the four pirates ran off.

Yeah, so in case you haven't noticed, this is following the Nillili Mambo mv, with me adding a few twists. This is how they'll meet Mai, by the way. But that'll probably happen next chapter.