The view from the bar was sinister and only fading streetlights illuminated the small way up to the bar. Taeyeon looked outside and observed the emptied alley in front of her, secretly waiting for any go-between to show up although she knew the meeting was scheduled for the following morning. It was absurd actually but Taeyeon couldn’t cast off her premonition that she was now put on their radar as well. And she didn’t like it, not a bit.

While sipping on the beer she just ordered she flipped through her contacts again but none of the names she kept saved fit the suspicious number. It was a Korean number, it must have been sent from a Korean phone, from Korea supposedly.

Although she had already conducted various operations for Korean companies from time to time, usually they would forward any messages with Japanese devices. It was just their style and therefore she knew this time she had to deal with an entirely different authority. She sighed in a hint of frustration and let her look roam through the bar’s interior. It was a western styled bar, western equipment, over-priced western beer (which always tempted her), a few middle-aged business men obviously enjoying the foreign flair, and overall not exactly a place to enjoy a couple of sake shots.

Wondering what could attract such a young woman like Tiffany to a place like this, she turned to the remains of beer in her glass again and tried to calm her inner tumult. They would just enjoy a couple of shots, she set out in order to ease up her tenseness, Tiffany would get drunk, she would swiftly educe every information about her father she needed, they would part before dawn and get home. Easy as that. And tomorrow she would deliver her hopefully final report to her client, perform a deft moonlight lift and disappear before this undertaking could get even more out of hand.

Tiffany still hadn’t returned from the rest room, but Taeyeon wasn’t all to surprise about that. It was just one of the typical female manners she had been once instructed to discard a long time ago, as well as her past, her family, and yet even her memories. She had to erase it all for the sake of her future. Joining the So Nyeon Lee represented the only escape to her in a land that would always label her as an alien, no matter how well she would adapt herself.

A sharp memory flashed up briefly behind closed lids, planting a soft but stinging pain on her. Like in a treasured childhood cartoon clip she saw her father being forced to sell his business in order to pay off the bribe, eventually being killed by the So Nyeon Lee, her family torn apart, she herself taken as a refund for the loss of another revenue stream, ending up as a slicker as her talents were being recognized by some members of the mob, rescuing her from a life spent in ion. From then on her life had been dominated by work and occasional meet ups with her superiors, with which she had developed a good rapport. Friends, however, or any other kinds of close relationship had always been out of question, for she was almost as closely bound to her gang as one could be in her position. The few females she knew were all cut from the same rough cloth as her and thus she felt a wave of guilt hitting in for she wasn’t even trying to leave a mannerly impression on Tiffany.

At least she seems to like me in some way, she thought and gulped down the remaining beer in one go and for a brief moment she couldn’t tell if the contending, limb reviving warmth she felt thriving inside was a reaction to the alcohol, or something different, she refused to feel all long.
She likes me, she sighed under her breath and couldn’t restrain from smiling sincerely.

“Hey, what’s so funny?” Tiffany busted out as she made her way back from the lady’s room.

“Uhh, I was just wondering why such a place actually sells off sake. Isn’t it too western for such Japanese liquor?” Taeyeon replied putting on her mask of compose again.

“It’s a well-established bar. They simply have to. No excuses.” She smiled back and motioned to the barkeeper. “Sake for us, please!”

“But they don’t offer Soju, don’t they?” Taeyeon asked on but Tiffany only nodded her head in response. “No, unfortunately not.”

“’Unfortunately’ ?” Taeyeon mimicked her. “Don’t you tell me you missed that brew!” Tiffany laughed and Taeyeon couldn’t help but joining her. Her laugh was just too appealing.

The barkeeper swiftly placed too cups and a small bottle in front of them and even added a little plate with snacks to it. “On the house” he mumbled timidly almost as if Tiffany’s mesmerizing smile would struck him with awe.  

“Aw, actually I miss quite a lot Korean stuff.” She admitted while filling the petty cups with liquor.

“Is that why you’re leaving?”

“Not quite, actually.”

“Any annoying boyfriends?” Taeyeon inquired while accepting the shot Tiffany handed her with both hands. When Tiffany lifted her chin to drink Taeyeon tilted her head back in a smooth move, pretending to drink. Quite to her fortune the cups were small enough to just swipe the cheap liquor over the edge so that she turned to her again with an empty cup in her hand.

“I used to!” She went on. “The last one got me into a pretty nasty financial situation.”

“Is that why you’re working as a ticket conductor now?”

“Yes it is. Kind of”

“Kind of?” Taeyeon inquired.

“Well” Tiffany drew a deep breath before she continued “It was the best thing I could do. He, my boyfriend, once introduced me to his colleagues during a party and when he left me I asked them for help because I knew the Japanese National Railroad is always short on personnel. So I got a job there when he dumped me and left me in his depts.” She explained with a bitter tone underneath.

“Why didn’t you ask your relatives for help?”

“Admitting that I screwed up in Japan would be too much of a shame for my father. You ought to know, he’s running a large business over there.”

Of course Taeyeon knew. Pharmacy and all that stuff.

“So?”

“I just couldn’t. I mean, if I told him he would have surely pressured me into a marriage with a son of his business partners. I would lose all independence and I would end up scraping a living as a housewife, always submitted to her cheating, , drinking, abusive husband, staying at home all day, taking care of my kids, meeting up with other women sharing my fate and always playing the happy-marriage-card in public. No, this is surely the last thing I want.” Tiffany refilled the cups and downed another shot to sooth her temper.

“From what I’ve heard, Korean men aren’t that bad.”

“Yeah, this is what you’ve heard. From the outside perspective. Believe me, it’s a lot different when you’ve actually experienced it. Men are all the same. My dad for instance…”  Taeyeon could almost see how well the alcohol performed its work on Tiffany, for she went on with a loosened tongue. “You know, his company is producing all kinds of medicine and pharmacy products and he is in a constant competition with this other enterprise, which is run by a guy called Choi. He died recently and his son took over. He could be my age though. Anyway, they poisoned my mother.”

Taeyeon almost winced in shock at her words.

“They poisoned your mother?” She repeated in sheer disbelief. Flutters of excitement in her stomach called back the grief of losing a parent.

“Back when I was a kid and she died. My dad, of course, never related the whole story to me and I eventually found it out myself after a short investigation. And it wasn’t too tricky to do so. I just asked an aunt of mine and she told me. Was a huge shock. After that I went abroad. However someone seemed to have bribed all officials in office so that this story never made it to the public. Nevertheless she told me, told me…” She lost the train of her thoughts for a second.

“Told you what?”

“Told me, that the Choi clan was responsible for the poisoning and even left a note behind.”

“A note?” Perplexed, Taeyon could only echo her words to keep the conversation flowing.

“Yeah, it was all just an act to weaken my father. He’s the head of the company and you know about this hierarchy-thing they keep going on over there.”

“Yeah, hierarchy is vital.” Taeyeon consented, thinking about her own situation. An unpleasant premonition came to cripple her mind again. He wants her dead; she thought as realization struck her, that’s why he ed up the entire schedule.

She was used to a wide spectrum of violence and delinquency but poisoning a woman, a beloved one, a person who was never inflicted with any business affairs for the sole purpose of weakening a men’s strength was such an act of cowardice Taeyeon herself hadn’t seen during her career as a city slicker. Suddenly, she felt pure disdain for her client and for the whole operation mix with her blood and bump through her veins.

“Yeah, well, and my dad just went on, like nothing had happened, really. He pursued his business and I was taken care of by my aunts. Sometimes he came over but he could never pull himself over to the gap my mom’s death had slashed in our relationship. He always remained distant, like now. I always felt like being alien to him. But he always endowed me with everything I needed. It was just when I was getting older that I realized how much of a scum he actually is. Spending his nights with hostesses singing karaoke songs on his lap, or sponsoring young women on their way to stardom. You know, the usual.”

“I know.”

“The world has just proven to me how abominable the character of men truly is.”

Taeyeon added nothing to her grievance and just stared blankly down onto the counter and into the empty cups, which Tiffany refilled in a quick action. We could do it. We could protect her, the So Nyeon Lee. I could protect her. I would type a false report, deliver it, call my boss and both of us would be out of it. Easy as that.

This time Taeyeon gladly accepted the cup and downed the mere drop of sake that was left from the bottle but it failed to sooth her tumbled mind whereas Tiffany just mumbled on in her drunkenness, her mind gradually losing its grip on austerity.

 “Now, and now my dad’s having a nice life in Gangnam. You ought to know: my dad always refused to leave Gangnam, even though everyone with a few billions under their belt left the area when it became popular as the Beverly Hills of Korea. He said he built that up with the money he invested, he considered himself responsible for its advancement. Just like this other bunch of crapholes. The Chois. Just they’re having their apartment somewhere down at the Han river as far as I know.”

“And where exactly does he reside, I mean your father?” Taeyeon asked impatiently. She wanted to get out of the bar as promptly as possible, drag her home if Tiffany’s state of mind wouldn’t allow her to find her way back home alone, write the damn report and deliver it the next morning.

“Gangnam, uhm, just above a plastic surgery hospital called PK Hospital, I think. The front of the building is all pink like Hello Kitty pink, just it’s not Hello Kitty, I can tell that apart, Pink is my favorite color and that one isn’t the pink I like, because it’s badass surgery with knives and vaccines and and there are coffee shops located in the ground floor, lots of them. Pretty convenient, if you ask me. After you’re getting your eyelids or nose done you can effortlessly trot down and enjoy all the envious looks of the other guys, who hadn’t had so much money to undergo such procedures. Or maybe they pity you, because your face is all swollen up and you look just like a manatee. Oh, the humanity. I don’t know. At least you won’t look like a rhino anymore, or a hippo. Taeyeon, did you know, in Korea you can get your jaw reduced by letting doctors cut right through your jaw, remove bone pieces, push the jaw bone back and staple it all together again? Imagine that! And then you end up looking like a cute little hippo. I think I should do that too!”

 “No! Tiffany, you’re already cute enough and drunk, especially drunk…”

“Drunk? Who are you calling drunk, Taeyeon? I’m not drunk; it’s just my warm up.”

“Yes, I know. I know. And therefore we will leave now, immediately. Let’s continue at my place.” Taeyeon seized her by her slender shoulders. Before she grabbed her stuff in a smooth motion and headed for the exit, supporting Tiffany by her shoulders, she nodded the barkeeper goodbye and only earned a rather amused look in reply, his wrinkles stretching across his sunken cheeks.

Just as a cold night’s breeze hit Taeyeon and erased every bit of drunkenness from her mind Tiffany started to voice her scattered thoughts again.

“Is it far away where you’re living, Tae?” Tiffany interrupted the silence anew.

“Down the street, around the corner and there we are. It’s just a few steps away, hang on.”

“I will… hang onto your shoulders! Hang on, hang onto your love…” Effortlessly she threw the melody into the darkness and only faint echoes answered. Taeyeon was just about to admire her lavish voice anew when she heard a car approaching from behind. Instantly she caught the vicious vibration underneath the usual engine noises but it was too late.

The car pulled up beside her, a strong hand dragged her aside and a breathy voice whispered right into her ear “Don’t cause trouble, Tae. Get in the car.” And quickly added after she tried to slip through his firm grip: “Now!” Taeyeon could only oblige for she felt the metal muzzle of a gun pressed against her back.

Helplessly Taeyeon witnessed how another shady figure dragged Tiffany inside the limousine while she reluctantly moved towards the opened car door to join her. She could do nothing against it and with aching regret she noticed that Tiffany was too drunk to play any card of self-defense.

“It’s my fault.” An uppercut of guilt hit her as she was seated on a stretched couch next to a monster of a man with Tiffany at sitting at his other side, also held captive by a man with a similar beasty figure.

The door shut, the limousine drove off. There was no escape.

“” Taeyeon hissed under her breath.

“More like ‘Good Evening’, Tae.” A voice resonated from the back of the car, stretching each Korean syllable maliciously. The car’s interior was too weakly illuminated for Tae to properly perceive the outlines of the man who had just addressed her.

“It’s TAE-YEON, for ’s sake! TAE-YEON!” Taeyeon replied in rage. Her abductor only steadied his grip to her temper.

“Get your ing hands off, man!” Taeyeon slapped herself free before she turned to the voice.

“And who the are you, if I dare ask?”

“Na, Taeyeon, don’t be that angry. I am just doing you and your gang a little favor by shortening the duration of our little undertaking.”

“Now, that’s a fine idea you got there, Mister!”

The car took a sharp turn and pushed Taeyeon closer into the arms of her abductor.

“Listen, Mister…”

“Choi” A squeaky voice next to her complemented. Taeyeon had to pause for a second, wondering about the voice that simply wouldn’t match the chunk of meat next to her.

“Yes, Mr. Choi. This is not going according to our conditions.”

“So?”

“I never said I would deliver her like cargo!”

“I’ve altered my plans.”

“But you…”

“But what?” Mr. Choi cut right into her objection. “But what? Huh? Isn’t your gang controlling the local ion circle? So why the bother?”

“She isn’t a e!”

“…”

“You’re not making a e out of her! I dare you, you sleazy piece of a motherer! If you or one of your lovely ballerina boys dare to lay a ing finger on her I will personally come and break them for you, you bastard!”

“Dae, get rid of her, now!”

A car door flung open to her side and before she could grasp what was happening she felt how a pair of massive arms push her outside the speeding limousine, throwing her onto the cold asphalt.

Years of training paid off, for her austere body easily took a fair bit of the blow and she got herself off the ground as if nothing happened.

In the distance she saw the rear lights of the limousine shrunken and eventually disappear, carrying the woman inside she had grown more than fond of.

Rubbing her temples she slowly trotted down the street, her thoughts endlessly swirling around the events of the night. A few rays of sunlight already plunged the sky into a faint pink as she recalled what Tiffany had told her just a few hours before.

“Pink is my favorite color”

She would have admired that shade, she thought bitterly, it had nothing of the malicious brilliance of blood to it, but shimmered in a shine of innocence, welcoming the dawning day.

No, the time’s not right for sentiments, the game’s not over, she told herself as she pulled out her phone, hitting the speed-dial.

“Yuri?! I ed up!” She burst out uprightly.

“You did what?” A strong voice exclaimed in reply.

“The money. He’s gone with the girl, and the money. He has just pushed me out of his car and drove off into the night.”

She heard the woman on the other end hissing insults in fury all too clearly.

“Alright. We’re the So Nyeon Lee! Ain’t nobody with us! I meet you at the station. In 20 minutes!”

“Aye!” Taeyeon cut the line, swung around and head off towards to the station.