█ chapter o6; [mister] █

"Solgit solgit gwitgaman jakku jakku nol hyanghe bang bang gut bang gut misoman usum kkute nalligo ijen ijen yogilbwa HEY."

"Slowly, my ears are towards you. I send away small smiles towards you."

-

2:25pm.

Yang Auto Garage

Seoul, Korea

Running her fingers through her dark hair, Kumi walked into the auto shop so discreetly that no one knew of her arrival. It smelled just like home, well to her anyway. The scent of gasoline wafted in the air while it mixed with the stench of stale oil and perspiration. Two cars were currently raised up on the jacks while their owners worked away on them with their metal tools. They were still oblivious to Kumi’s presence, so she cleared loudly, startling one of them and merely distracting the other one. The first guy showed no sign of surprise and kept right on working on his car. The other one wasn’t so collected, however. He dropped his wrench, which clattered to the floor with a clang. Peeking out from under the car with an annoyed expression, Kumi couldn’t help but give him a condescending smirk. As soon as the guy took a look at Kumi, his expression changed to interest.

“Well, hello there. Need help changing a tire or something, babe?” he asked, his eyebrows slightly raised.

Kumi’s eyes narrowed at the question. “You don’t make very good first impressions, do you? Shame, to think that I actually came here to ask you for what I needed. Never mind, then. I’ll be leaving.”

As she turned her heel to leave, the boy’s eyes widened in confusion. Clumsily tripping over his feet in his haste to run after her, he stumbled before laying a greasy hand on her bare shoulder. Kumi pulled away with her eyes widened, staring at the oily handprint on her shoulder. Appalled, she took another step back while glaring at him.

“What the hell was that for?” she demanded.

“Don’t go! I’m sorry!” the boy apologized. “I-I just wasn’t thinking when I said all that, okay? Let’s start over. Hello, I’m Lee Joon and welcome to Yang Auto Garage. May I help you?”

The corners of Kumi’s mouth turned up a little. “Now THAT’S more like it. And yes, yes you may, Mr. Lee Joon. You see, my car isn’t really…er, living up to my expectations and I need you to change that. Can you do that for me?”

A puppy-like look filled Joon’s face as his smile noticeably got bigger. He rubbed the back of his head, forgetting about the oil on his hand. His umber-colored hair now had a dark smudge across the back of his head. Noticing this, he wiped his hand on the white wifebeater he was wearing. Kumi almost felt sorry for him. This was way too easy to do. Ever since Hyun Ae had told her to go to this place due to the fact that the girls were currently unable to acquire the nitrous, she was hesitant about infiltrating the enemy’s auto garage in fear of having a hard time. She didn’t want to hurt anybody, at least not yet. Thankfully, she never did get the chance to hurt anyone because Joon was like putty in her hands now. The male brain was such a simple contraption. All she had to do was bat her eyes a few times and it was subject to fall into her hands.

“Of course,” Joon answered back almost immediately. “What do you need? I’m one hundred percent I can do it!”

“You seem confident,” chuckled Kumi. “Anyway, my car is my life. It’s durable and it runs exceptionally well, but…I just need a little boost of speed, if you know what I mean.”

Joon looked at her for a while, then this eyebrows rose in surprise. “Are you trying to tell me that you want nitrous for your car?”

“That’s exactly what I mean,” she said. “After all, you said that you’re a hundred percent sure you can do it…right?”

Kumi bit her lip and looked up at him hopefully. Come on, she thought. This has to work, this has to work, this has to work! Joon’s eyebrows furrowed closer together as he contemplated something in his head. Finally, he let out a breath.

“S-sure,” he agreed apprehensively. “But what do you need it for?”

“Like I said, I just need a boost of speed sometimes. Please, you’re the only one I know that can do this…” she said, slightly jutting out her lower lip.

In addition to the whole helpless act, she reached into her front pocket to extract a wad of cash. Five hundred thousand won was in the palm of her hand. She slipped the money into Joon’s shaking hands as she replaced the pout with another smirk.

“There’s more where that came from if you pull through,” she told him.

“O-of course! Yes! Let me just go and talk it over with my lead—ah, I mean my boss,”

With that, Joon scurried over to the other guy working on his car. “Hyung, there’s something I need to talk to you about.”

The hyung wheeled out from underneath the car, his face sweaty due to working on his car for so long. His weary face looked even more exhausted and his eyes seemed to scowl at everything in sight. He let out a breath before glancing from Joon, to Kumi, then back to Joon.

“Alright, let’s go into the back room,” he said, then turned to Kumi. “You, stay here.”

Kumi watched the two of them go into the back room. A large, Plexiglass window provided her the ability to view them, although she couldn’t hear a word they were saying. Joon looked to be confused while his “boss” was explaining something to him. Kumi wasn’t stupid; she knew that this was the headquarters of MBLAQ, but since Hyun Ae couldn’t store the nitrous tanks in her uncle’s garage, she had no choice. She felt proud that she had come here without Min Ah’s help. Later on, she’d impress her team with her new nitrous tank.

Minutes passed and finally, the two emerged from the back room. The leader, whose name still escaped her, gave her a lingering look before returning to work on his car. Joon made her way towards Kumi, a hurried gait in his step. He still wore a grin on his face, but he watched her face more closely this time.

“Alright, then. Let’s head on over to your car and do this thing then. Wouldn’t wanna keep a lady like you waiting, now, would I?” Joon said, walking out of the auto shop with Kumi on his heels.

Leading him to her Infiniti G35, she stood beside it. His eyes assessed the car as he nodded in approval. Extracting her car keys from her pocket, she dangled it in the air and handed them to him. Joon willingly took the car keys and drove the car into the shop. Rolling down the mirror, he looked at her.

“It’ll be done in a few hours. You might wanna come back for it later, if that’s okay with you,” he told her. “Nitrous oxide doesn’t exactly take two minutes to install, you know.”

“Yes, I know. I’m not completely clueless here. I’ll be back at say…seven PM. Will that be enough time for you to install the kit?” she asked him.

“It’s perfect.”

With that, Kumi took out her cell phone and dialed Hyun Ae’s number, ready to leave the garage. The last thing that she saw before driving away was Joon twirling a wrench around in his hands, only to drop it on the floor by accident inches away from her car.

At seven PM sharp, Kumi came back with Hyun Ae. She walked into the auto garage to find him wiping sweat off his forehead with the white wifebeater he was wearing earlier, showing off his chocolate abs. Kumi averted her eyes from his body and pushed her auburn hair away from her face as she approached him..

“So, are we all set or do you need more time?” she asked, putting her hands on her hips.

“Nope, everything’s ready to go,” he said, patting the hood of her car. “The trigger is the cigarette lighter. Just push it and you’re off.”

“Good boy. Here’s your reward,” she said, pulling out two money clips totaling to 1,300,000 won. “I hope this doesn’t disappoint. Or else…”

Breaking eye contact with him, she stepped into her car and looked at the back seats, which were stripped away to make room for nitrous oxide tanks. They looked just like plain, grey twin oxygen tanks with a white stripe running along the side of them, but they hooked up to the car’s system. Kumi noticed that the button for the cigarette lighter had been replaced with a red button to signify that it was the button to press if she wanted to use the nitrous.

Giving the still-shirtless Joon a lingering glance, she slowly backed the car out of the auto shop to follow Hyun Ae’s 350z back to her team’s own garage. To her surprise, she heard Joon call out her name.

“Yah!” he shouted. “Yah, wait!”

Thankfully, her window was open, so she had heard him. “Did you just address me as ‘yah’?”

“Yeah, I did,” Joon answered back, but before Kumi could say something, he quickly added, “You forgot something.”

“Oh really? Did I now?” Kumi sounded genuinely surprised. “What is it?”

He broke out into a cocky grin. “You forgot to give me your number. You and me, we’re going to go out sometime.”

Before rolling up her window and speeding off, Kumi replied with, “It’s 1-800--OFF. Nice try, Joonie, better luck next time.”

As he watched her drive away, Joon had a satisfied smirk on his face instead of a frown. “Next time, huh? So there WILL be a next time.”

-

Three hours later, Saerok pulled up to the racing headquarters in her 350z with a harried-looking Min Ah in the front seat. Min Ah had a very busy day at the coffee shop and was prone to be irritable due to slight fatigue. The nightly ritual of waiting for DBSK was still going on, so the two girls made their way to their usual hangout— the bar. Luckily for Saerok, the bartender for the night, a chatty man named Eunhyuk, had kept her company so Min Ah had time to alleviate her weariness by downing an apple soju cocktail.

She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but this Eunhyuk seemed pretty familiar. Even though it was her first drink, he was already flirting a lot with her. Not that she minded, though. He made her laugh and when she finished off her first drink, he offered to buy her a new one, on the house. After all, what was wrong with a little harmless flirting? Boys WERE her favorite hobby after all. It wasn’t long before she found out that he was from Super Junior, the largest race crew here tonight. The two were getting into quite an interesting conversation when another guy sat next to Saerok at the bar. Upon seeing her, he scowled.

“Women like you shouldn’t even be here,” he sneered. “You should just leave racing to men. We’re more capable.”

“Excuse me?” Saerok couldn’t believe what she was hearing. The nerve of this guy. Didn’t he know he was sitting next to Her Saerok? She could practically shoot his face off from 100 meters away. What kind of a says something as stupid as that in front of her?

“You’re excused,” he challenged, giving her a patronizing smile.

Big mistake. This guy was really asking to die. She looked up and upon closer inspection, Saerok noticed that it was the guy that had given a black eye to the day before, Riseung or Seunghee or something. Before she could give him a snarky retort and perhaps another black eye, Eunhyuk stepped in.

“Yo, Seungri, wanna shut up? The girl wasn’t doing anything to you; lay off her,” he snapped protectively.

For some reason, that annoyed the crap out of Saerok. Sure, Eunhyuk was doing the right thing by telling him off, but she could take care of herself. It wasn’t like she was a ten year old. It was situations like this that she lived for. She enjoyed owning douchebags like Seungri.

“Aww, are you that lame that you have to have your precious Eunhyukkie stand up for you?” Seungri taunted.

“I can handle this, thank you,” she told Eunhyuk, then turned to Seungri. "Do you want a repeat of what happened yesterday ? My fist can send you back to the you were ing yesterday. Oh wait, wasn't that your sister?"

"You better watch your mouth, because the next thing you'll know, you could be down on your knees giving me head,"he snarled.

“Saerok!” Eunhyuk faced her. “Just stop. He’s not going to give up, I know him. Just ignore him.”

“I don’t have to take orders from you,” countered Saerok. “Who are you? God? Wait. Don't answer that. Obviously you're not. Whatever. Ugh, I’m out of here.”

Leaving Min Ah at the bar, Saerok stomped away angrily, heading towards her car to blast her music. Seungri now wore a triumphant look on her face. Giving him a death glare, Eunhyuk’s grip closed around the glass that Saerok drank from. Seungri was lucky that Eunhyuk wasn’t in the mood to start a fight right now. They might have been on different race crews, but Super Junior didn’t want to start anything with Big Bang. Eunhyuk knew that Big Bang could and would sabotage their chances of winning this tournament at any given moment.

At that moment, Ha-Neul and Soo Jin pulled up to the headquarters. Ha-Neul practically flew out of the passenger seat as she went to greet a couple guys that were leaning up against the wall. Soo Jin stayed behind in her car to fumble with her new phone. Blasted technology. Why the hell did the damn phone have so many buttons? She just wanted to send a text message to Kumi and Hyun Ae asking them where the they were. As she finally located the ‘Create Message’ icon, she noticed the door to her car open.

Soo Jin’s brown eyes stared into the eyes of a puppy. Or, that’s what he looked like to her anyway. The boy had expertly styled dirty blonde hair, a smiling mouth and those puppy eyes. A dark grey long sleeved shirt covered his body, a black, button-up vest layered right over it. He wore dark, black pants and midnight colored sneakers. She stared up at him as he found the nerve to hold out his hand to her. What the hell was this?

The two kept staring at each other until the guy finally spoke up. “Well, are you going to get out of the car or not?”

Soo Jin just kept staring at his hand. Who the hell was he and why did he just touch her car? What was she even supposed to do? Raising her eyebrow at him, she kept looking from his hand, then back to his face until he finally dropped it. Soo Jin stepped out of the car on her own accord.

“I can get out of the car by myself, you know,” she told him, then assessed the boy once more. “Who are you, anyway?”

“I’m Nichkhun. You might know my crew, 2PM? I know for a fact that your friend Ha-Neul sure does,” he said, indicating the younger girl, who was currently pushing a buff-looking guy away playfully. “We met her after she played beer pong with Chansung yesterday. In fa—”

“Sorry, never heard of you,” she replied coolly, and with that, she stalked off towards the back, leaving Nichkhun hanging mid-sentence.

Feeling slightly dejected, Nichkhun headed back towards his team members. What did he do wrong? He was pretty sure that he didn’t say anything to offend her…did he? Puffing out his cheeks, he only managed to say hello when the familiar rev of engines sounded from the entrance. Dong Bang Shin Ki had finally made their appearance.

After the usual introductions, Max stepped to the center of the circle along with Hero. The randomization began. Five long seconds passed before the names were finally put up. Chansung let out a loud whoop while Ha-Neul punched his shoulder in excitement. Ignoring the urge to rub his throbbing shoulder, Chansung saw the giant ‘2PM vs. Teriyaki Boyz’ on the big screen.

Ha-Neul snorted. “Teriayki Boyz? What kind of a name is that?”

Chansung shrugged. “I don’t know, but I’m hungry now.”

The rest of 2PM, each member more muscular than the last started to whoop loudly until the entire headquarters were engulfed in their premature celebration. The noise died down as Max asked for the members who wished to race. A guy with a green and yellow hat, red shirt and white pants stepped forward.

“Hey, Taec, this guy has worse style than you,” Ha-Neul blurted out without thinking. “I mean, he looks like a freaking traffic light.”

The guy named Taec started laughing, then caught himself. “Hey, I wore something like that once!”

“Then you should go! Battle of the fashion terrorists!” joked Ha-Neul.

“Hey, shut up! I don’t wanna race tonight; I got a hot date tonight and I need to look presentable. What about you, Wooyoung?” Taec asked, turning to the guy next to him.

Wooyoung’s babyish face paled a little when he saw Hero standing in the middle of the circle staring right at him. “I-I’d rather not. Not today.”

“You ,” Chansung boomed. “I’ll go.”

Spontaneously, Ha-Neul’s foot collided with his lightly as he stepped forward to join Traffic Light guy. Confused, Chansung turned around to look at her. Ha-Neul just stuck her tongue out and grinned.

“Go get ‘em!” she yelled out.

Chansung grinned stupidly back at her until he ran into Hero, who was now glaring from him to Ha-Neul. Rolling his eyes, he stepped aside to let Max explain the race rules.

“Alright, this race is between Verbal of the Teriyaki Boyz and Chansung of 2PM. Get to your cars. Micky will give you your locators.” Max said, a bored tone coating his voice.

Striding confidently to his green Nissan R32, he readjusted his rearview and side mirrors accordingly before pulling up next to Verbal’s Toyota Supra. There was a paper bag full of food in his passenger seat. Selecting a ripe banana, he pulled it out, unpeeled it and stuck it in his mouth.

“Hey, when I kick your , you’re paying for my dinner tonight. Okay?” he said, then without waiting for a response, drove over to the starting line.

Slipping past the two cars was Hyun Ae’s 350z. Parking sloppily next to Soo Jin’s 300zx, they tried to blend in unnoticed, but nothing escaped Soo Jin’s watchful eye. Walking towards the two of them, she looked the same, emotionless and unfeeling, but both girls knew that their leader was pissed.

“Care to explain?” she asked them.

“We lost track of time…” Hyun Ae started off, then started looking at random people in order to avoid eye contact with Soo Jin.

Soo Jin continued to stare the two of them down until they gave in. This was her signature way of finding things out. Nothing escaped their leader. Nothing. She was bound to figure out why two of her team mates were late. Kumi bit her lips and started to examine the fingernails of her right hand. Finally, the stare was so intense that Hyun Ae had to speak up.

“We met up with a guy,” she announced, but Soo Jin kept looking at her and pressed on. “He wanted to race me. So I did.”

The leader stared at her as she processed this information. Finally, she spoke up one last time. “Did you win?”

A grin now took over Hyun Ae’s face. “Of course I did. He was a fool to even test me.”

Giving Hyun Ae a nod of approval, she her heel and walked away. Although she wondered who Hyun Ae raced against, she wouldn’t press her anymore. If she had stuck around a little longer, however, Soo Jin would have noticed another car pull into the headquarters. Hyun Ae looked at the owner of the RX-8 and the two made eye contact. Winking teasingly at him, Hyun Ae ushered Kumi towards the crowd that had formed at the entrance of the headquarters. The leader of Super Junior, Leeteuk, made his way towards his teammates, his wallet slightly lighter than it had been earlier today.

-

5:42pm.

Bongcheon Street.

Seoul, Korea.

It was the day after 2PM’s victory over the Teriyaki Boys and Soo Jin had decided to take a detour to her house after a long day at work. Today was her payday and she was glad that it was; that meant that she had something to give to her younger brother and sister. Although working at Kenji’s weapon shop wasn’t exactly the nicest job out there, he gave her just enough money to get by and pay for the rent and groceries. Street racing added to the family’s funds, but the money she won paid for her car’s expenses.

Bongcheon Street was familiar to her, but it was because she had driven past it so many times. Her usual route was blocked due to construction, so she decided that she would cut across this street to get home before she started dinner. Soo Jin never did like making her siblings wait; they were only in the second grade. Apparently, there was a reason as to why not many people liked to walk through Bongcheon Street.

Men leered at her from the entrances of each run down shops. A few had the nerve to call out to her and a couple even invited her in. Ignoring the snide remarks, she increased her pace and walked towards the street corner. It was getting dark soon and she wasn’t even halfway home. Soo Jin saw a wide alleyway that headed towards the direction of her neighborhood. Debating on whether she should take it or not, she threw all caution to the wind as she stepped into the alley.

She turned her back to the cars that were on the main street and put her hands in her pockets, trying to be as invisible as possible. The sun was setting over the horizon, turning the sky a lavender color as nighttime drew near. Soo Jin was so caught up in her thoughts to get home that she never noticed a dark figure jump out at her from behind an old, beat up car.

It was too late. He clamped his hand over and twisted both hands behind her back so fast, she barely had time to register what was happening to her. Wriggling with all her might, she tried to get her hands free so she could teach this er a lesson. A second guy emerged from behind the car and grinned at her sickeningly. Both men looked to be not much older than her, but wore large, oversized jackets that hung right above their ankles.

“Stop squirming, , or we’ll have to make you stop,” the first guy said, trying to keep his grip on Soo Jin.

Obviously not heeding to them, Soo Jin tried harder than ever to worm her way out of this situation. Just when she thought all hope was lost however, a gun shot rang out in the distance. Both men stopped what they were doing and looked around for the source of the noise. Their eyes narrowed when they saw a figure standing in the doorway adjacent from them.

“Let go of the girl,” he said in a low, gruff voice. “Now. Or else…”

Soo Jin heard the click of the gun as he cocked it back once again. Her two assailants froze in fear. Once again, the guy spoke up. “I’ll give you three seconds. Three…”

They froze in fear and their grips on Soo Jin loosened. Seeing an opening, she freed her left arm, she slammed her elbow into the poor man's crotch followed by a round house kick that forced the man's face onto the concrete ground. Screw cheap shots; what comes around goes around. If he thought he was going to get one over on her, obviously he was wrong. Despite her joy at beating the man, her pride was short-lived when her savior tackled the other guy to the ground.

Straddling the man's waist, her savior held the man's throat. He brought his fist up; every single one of his fingers except his index and middle finger pressed against his palm tightly as the two fingers stiffened. They pressed tightly against each other as he slammed the two fingers between the juncture of the man’s throat. Gasping for air, the man struggled to breathe as he squirmed in anguish.

Soo Jin’s savior then locked eyes with her. “You, come with me. There’s no way in hell you’re going to walk through here by yourself again.”

As stubborn as she may be, Soo Jin was not going to pass up an opportunity like this. Stunned, she followed the guy to the main street, where a Silvia S13 was parked on the curb. He motioned for her to get inside the car. Wordlessly, she entered the car and waited for him to enter the car.

“Jun Hyung,” he stated as he started the car.

“What?” she asked him as she stared at a chain wrapped around his rearview mirror.

“The name’s Jun Hyung. Don’t wear it out,” he said, pulling away from the curb.

“Right. I assume you want to know the directions to my place, then?” she asked him.

“That, and your name,” he said, a small smile playing across his face.

“It’s Soo Jin,” she muttered softly, staring at the clock.

It was 6:03 PM. Her siblings must have been worried about her. A feeling of dread washed over her as she told Jun Hyung directions to her house. The drive was silent for the most part, but Soo Jin had made a comment that sparked his interest.

“So, a Mamba Pistol 9x19mm Parabellum automatic pistol, huh?” she asked. “Pretty common gun.”

“You know about guns? Well, here’s a girl you don’t come by everyday,” he said, chuckling slightly. “Should you be someone I should watch out for?”

“I work at a weapons store; I’d be worried if I didn’t know what kind of gun that was,” she replied. “Make a left here. You can just drop me off at this corner. My house is just ahead.”

“You sure? Alright then. Try not to get ambushed on your way home, alright?” he said, giving her a small smile.

“Yeah,” she emerged from the car, then before walking towards her house, she turned around. “Thanks.”

Nodding his head, he lingered for a while watching her make her way towards her house. Once he was sure she was going to be safe, he zoomed back in the opposite direction, leaving behind a cloud of dust in his wake. Soo Jin sighed in relief. She was finally home, safe. Bursting out of her front doors were the twins.

“Soo Jin!” Hyun Sook squealed, beaming at her older sister.

“You’re home!” Hyunji piped, standing beside his twin and a smile stretching across his face.

Walking towards her younger siblings, she broke out in a grin. Once she walked past the tall oak tree in her yard, however, the familiar click of the gun resounded again. The kids froze as they stared at the figure stepping out behind the tree. Once Soo Jin turned around, she faced a barrel of a gun pointed straight at her face.

 █ author's note;

Hey! We're sorry for the long wait! xaznbaybay was in Florida and MusicChibi had school! We made up for it though. Hope you enjoyed the longer then normal chapter! Don't forget to comment and subscribe! :D

hi guys, cali here! i am so sorry for the long wait, but here it is! the chapter is pretty long. 4, 639 words. that's like, twice as long as our previous chapters. i think writing grim goodbye has had its effects. anyway, if you wanna keep updated on our fanfictions, we have a twitter! so go follow it and stuff. don't worry, we aren't tweetwhores. that's what we have personal twitters for. ;D

http://www.twitter.com/xaznmusicchibi

go stalk us. please(:

█ ending crap;
→ xaznbaybay & MusicChibi
→ 9:30PM
→ listening to: Ya' Stereo - MBLAQ