There was a woman screaming when he was just about to take the first bite of his American style breakfast. It sounded as though it was coming from their street, so SeungHyun ran outside with his brother and two of their companions. It turned out to be one of the homeless guys that were usually hanging out on the street, threatening her with a smashed bottle.

‘Hey!’ Seunghyun yelled, and it had immediate effect. The middle-aged man, obviously suffering from a hangover again, looked up and when he saw the Choi brothers, he dropped the bottle piece and tried to make a stumbling run for it. Seunghyun had caught up with him in a split second, and grabbed him by his neck.
‘That is enough for today,’ he said. ‘Why don’t you stop drinking, grandpa?’
The bum struggled, but he had no chance of escaping as Seunghyun pulled him by his arm and led him towards the Choi home. Together with two of his friends, he threw the guy in one of the cells his father had built behind their enormous kitchens.
‘Sober up, and we’ll talk tomorrow.’
When he returned to see if the girl was okay, he found she was already being taken care of by Dae-hyun.
‘Do you go clubbing often?’ he heard his brother say, and, deciding not to break his flow, he left the scene inconspicuously. He returned to his sandwich and bowl of chocolate cereal. The code book was lying right next to his plate, but every time he laid eyes on it, he lost the will to open it. Not only did he not want to spend hours and hours on dry, boring text; he was also afraid it would change him into everything he didn’t want to be, in other words, his dad. It wasn’t impossible that the book contained some thoughts he might agree on, and he was somehow revolted by the very idea. But if he carried it around a bit maybe someone would tell his dad he was reading it. He finished his breakfast and took the book with him to his rooms, where he sat down on his bed and sent a few messages around to get the kids ready for their assignments. He sent one group to repair a few fences that separated the neighborhood from another area, and another group to the small supermarket to help with deliveries. As soon as they’d get to know the shop owners, pension owners and average families, they would understand why the Choi family went to such lengths to protect them. And a large network would be extremely useful to everyone involved, like a tree with a thousand branches, all leading back to Seunghyun.

His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on his door.
‘Dae-hyun, what’s up? How’s it going with the girl?’
Dea-hyun grinned and looked the other way. ‘Pretty good. But there’s some guys outside asking for you.’
‘Just guys?’
‘Yes. I checked. Just guys.’
Seunghyun pulled himself off of the bed and walked downstairs. ‘Do we know them?’
Dae-hyun shrugged. ‘I don’t think I know them. But they didn’t look threatening at all.’
‘How can you be sure?’
Dae-hyun laughed out loud. ‘Wait til you see them.’
Seunghyun opened the door that Dae-hyun hadn’t even bothered to lock properly, and found three boys on the doorstep, looking at him with their mouths hanging open. Seung-hyun immediately understood Dae-hyun’s words. They looked like middle school boys. They had pretty white shoes that kind of resembled his own, but were obviously not the real thing; and he could tell they had paid attention to their hair before coming here.
‘Mister Choi,’ the tallest one they had put in the front addressed him with a bow. ‘Thank you so much for your time. We would like to join you.’
Seunghyun had almost started laughing out loud and had wanted to begin his usual speech, but he was distracted by the boy standing in the back. There was something about his face that reminded him of his childhood, and he suddenly remembered tree climbing and throwing stones at windows at night and playing around with a ball after school. He didn’t even notice everyone’s eyes were on him as he was in deep thought.

‘Ji Yong?’ he said. ‘Kwon Ji Yong?’
The boy in the back moved slightly to the right so he could see him properly. ‘Um, yes, hi, Seunghyun.’
His friends turned around and looked at him as if they didn’t believe what was happening.
‘I didn’t recognize you. Wasn’t your hair red before?’
Ji Yong smiled. ‘Yes, it was, but that was years ago.’
‘Did you move to here? When?’
‘About half a year ago.’ Ji Yong took a shy look to his friends on his sides. ‘I’m by the river.’
‘Right,’ Seunghyun continued after a few seconds, still thinking of the time he had known this boy, so many years ago. ‘Where were we, gentlemen?’

He explained the family’s policies for what must have been about the hundredth time, but not in great detail. It worked. He kept their interest. He could tell by the way they were all staring at him.

‘We need your contact data, so we can stay in touch. If you don’t mind?’ he asked casually, flipping his phone around in his right hand. The boys took a few hesitant steps in his direction, and gave Seunghyun their numbers one by one. It was strange. Everything was like before, but Seunghyun felt different. He saw their hopeful eyes, and he felt a little bad about what he was doing, for the first time. They were handing their data, and consequently their lives, over to the Choi syndicate. They know what it means, he thought. They are aware that they are signing a contract for life. They are doing this because they have no one to turn to. It’s not my fault.
‘Good, thank you for your time. I will contact you when we need you.’
Their eyes didn’t leave him as they kept on standing where they were.
‘We’re done,’ Seunghyun explained with a smile. ‘I hereby close this meeting.’
Suddenly realizing what they had done wrong, they bowed as deeply as physically possibly. Once, twice, and a few more times, mumbling polite greetings. Then, they turned around and walked away, obviously too nervous to find their normal pace and too intimidated to look back. Except for Ji Yong. He looked over his shoulder before he followed the others around a corner.

He sat on his bed that night, feeling indecisive. His father’s book was next to his pillow, in hand’s reach, if he would feel the urge. He didn’t. He was going through the numbers on his phone, but his eyes couldn’t focus on the small screen. He looked up at the window, disturbed by the sound of raindrops against the glass.

He did what he had to do. He called each and every one of them. He wasn’t that good with remembering names, especially when there were so many new candidates in such a short time, so he had created folders, grouping the guys according to the date they had come to the house. He realized he was putting it off, but he only called Ji Yong after he had spoken to all the others. He smiled as he dialed the number. He couldn’t help it. The moment he had recognized him, he had been reminded of when he had been younger, when they had been in school. There was so much that he hadn’t given a single thought for years. He had almost forgotten what their classroom had looked like, or what games they had played outside with the other boys. He remembered now. Pretending the sticks they found on the ground were guns. Throwing stones and acorns in the river. Talking about the TV shows they had watched before going to school that morning. It had been fun, hadn’t it? Seunghyun sighed quietly. Things had been different when he had been too young to understand what kind of a job his father had.

‘Kwon Ji Yong.’
‘Hey, it’s Seunghyun.’
‘Hey,’ Ji Yong answered, a hint of stress in his voice upon hearing his name.
‘I’m just calling to tell you our schedule. If it’s at all convenient, we would like you to come here again next Tuesday, the 21^st, at noon.’
‘It’s convenient,’ Ji Yong mumbled. ‘The other guys already told me.’
‘Well, that’s very good,’ Seunghyun chuckled. ‘You guys stick together, don’t you?’
‘Well, yeah, I’ve known them since I was thirteen.’
‘Oh, were they at the public school?’
‘Yeah.’

Seunghyun knew he was waiting for him to end the conversation, just like he had done earlier that day. But he didn’t want to. There was so much that he wanted to know now. He had wanted to go to that school, too, when he was thirteen. But of course, a Choi stopped hanging out with the normal crowd at that age, and he stayed at home from that time. Sure, he had learned a lot. Maybe not all of it was useful, but he believed he had studied about as much as any kid going to public school. It was just that he felt he had missed out on everything else.

‘So, why did you decide to come back?’ Seunghyun asked. The silence on the other end of the line told him he was surprised by his question, but he didn’t need much time to think.
‘Living was too expensive, after all,’ he said.
‘That’s too bad.’
‘I really wanted to move away when I left,’ Ji Yong continued. ‘I told you the last time I saw you, remember? I’m sorry about that time, by the way. I had packed everything and was just about to go, so I didn’t have time to talk more.’
Seunghyun smiled. He remembered he had been disappointed back then, but now he didn’t have to worry about it anymore. ‘It that you had to go back. But I’m actually happy about it. You have to tell me everything that happened on that school!’
‘Why? It was just a normal school…’ Ji Yong mumbled. ‘We had homework, that’s it.’
‘But you probably know everything about everyone. I haven’t seen anyone since I started being homeschooled.’
‘I’m serious, it really isn’t that interesting,’ Ji Yong said. ‘You’re the one that’s different. What did you do all this time? Except for, well, you know, recruiting hopeless cases like us.’
Seunghyun puffed through his nose. ‘Learning ancient Korean.’
‘What, are you for real?’
‘Do you think that’s funny?’
Trying to sound sincere, Ji Yong answered ‘no’.
‘Because I can tell you from first-hand experience that there’s nothing funny about classical grammar, especially when it’s explained exclusively in Korean, in textbooks that are at least fifty years old.’
‘No, that sounds… incredibly boring.’
Seunghyun snickered. ‘Don’t pity me, Kwon. I can read all sorts of useful texts now. Instruction manuals for farming equipment and poems written by old guys are just a selection.’
Ji Yong snorted. ‘Amazing. I couldn’t even concentrate on English.’
‘You’d better work on your focus, then. I might test you guys on your Korean.’
‘No way.’
‘Um, actually, it’s part of the program. Many retired people around here only know Korean.’
‘No way, Choi.’
‘It’s mandatory if you want to be part of us.’
Ji Yong sighed on the other end of the line. Seunghyun heard unclear noises, as if he was putting books on a table. ‘I guess I have no choice, then.’
‘It’s our language. It would be good for you to speak it.’
‘Hm… okay,’ Ji Yong answered, sounding distracted. ‘I’m looking up some stuff I learned ages ago.’

They were silent for a moment.

‘Hey, do you remember when we were playing outside?’
‘Of course.’
‘We wanted to learn a dance,’ Seunghyun recalled. ‘It was on TV all the time and we wanted to learn it.’
‘Did we?’ Ji Yong asked. ‘Wait, yes, you’re right! We did!’
‘I think I forgot the steps, though.’
‘Man, I even forgot the name of the song. Didn’t it go like…’ He hummed a melody, trying to find it.
‘Yeah, that one!’
‘I have no idea how it went after that.’
‘You remembered more than I did.’
‘We were pretty good back then, weren’t we?’
Seunghyun sat up on his bed. ‘Dude, we were the best in town.’
Ji Yong laughed out loud. ‘Would’ve been nice if we could have followed through on it. Maybe we really could’ve been dancers.’
Seunghyun shook his head, amused. ‘Maybe it’s not too late. Let’s practice next Tuesday.’
‘Pff. As if I don’t have enough to study for. Your family sure is demanding, Choi.’
‘You know, Kwon, if you were anyone else, I would have denied you access to our premises right now. For life.’
‘Heh,’ Ji Yong grinned. ‘I know.’
The old clock downstairs started to chime, informing the house it was midnight.
‘Hey, I gotta go,’ Seunghyun said.
‘Is it past your bedtime?’
‘Actually, it is. I usually go to sleep quite early.’
‘You have more discipline than me.’
‘You should go to bed, too, Kwon. No use in reviewing your Korean at this time of night.’
‘I’m used to staying up late. I’m not tired.’
‘Well, whatever suits you. I have to go.’
‘Goodnight.’
‘See you on Tuesday.’

Seunghyun tried his best to sleep. He was tired, and he had another busy day tomorrow. But it was hard. Somehow he couldn’t get himself to relax and let himself fall out of consciousness. He was looking forward to Tuesday, when he would see him again. He had never had such a long conversation on the phone with recruits. He had the feeling they still had so much to talk about.