That night Hyun Joong could hardly sleep knowing that he had let down a bit of his walls and however hard he tried it just wouldn’t go back up. The warm feeling that he felt when she had smiled at him, the light conversation he had awkwardly contributed to while they sat in the cozy living room having a cup of tea; all of it had melted a small part of him that he had kept frozen for so long. But the tinge of happiness did nothing to reduce his fear. If he allowed himself to become attached it would only end in pain, just like the last time. Before his mind could wander off he quickly sat up, clearing his head of everything and pushing away the painful memories.

Ruffling his hair in frustration he lied down on the bed again and closed his eyes telling himself he’d try avoiding any meetings with Yejin in future so his thoughts wouldn’t be messed up like this. Slowly drifting to sleep he vaguely remembered that he had a meeting tomorrow afternoon.

The next morning found Yejin as cheerful as ever. Getting dressed quickly she went down the stairs taking a quick look at Hyun Joong’s door before having breakfast. Her grandmother walked in and she greeted her warmly, “Morning Halmeoni!”

Smiling at her granddaughter she set down a bunch of flowers.

“Good morning to you too. You never seem to be too tired to smile Yejin-ah, never lose that smile alright?”

“I’ll try my best halmeoni”, Yejin replied. She washed her dishes and got a vase for the flowers and they set to work arranging it. Checking the clock she pecked her grandmother on the cheek, “ I’ll  be leaving then. See you in the evening!”

“Alright. Have a good day Yejin-ah”

Crossing her fingers Yejin stepped out of the door hoping to meet Hyun Joong but it wasn’t her lucky day. A bit disappointed she blew a raspberry and walked off towards the café.

She might have not seen Hyun Joong but he had heard her energetic farewell and had watched amusedly as she pouted a bit as she came out of the house before going off. Turning away to wash up in the bathroom he thought his day had started off pretty well.

Soon it was time for his meeting with the boss, the person who had trained him and brought him into this life. He didn’t hate him for it though, without his help he wouldn’t have been able to survive in this cruel world where everyone only cared about themselves. Jang Hyunsik had helped him build a life even if it wasn’t one of the best, he was still grateful.

Hyun Joong stepped into a large room where a few people were seated around a large table. Taking a seat he looked at Hyunsik in silent greeting. He may have softened up but he wasn’t about to let his guard down around anyone.

Hyunsik gave him a smirk, “ Nice of you to join us Hyun Joong. As you know I don’t usually call out my best sources unless there’s a huge job to be done.”

Hyun Joong’s expression remained the same, he had been expecting this.

“There is going to be a huge fundraiser in two month and all the heads of Korea’s biggest companies are going to be there. Our target is to kill the head of Han industries, the main sponsor of the event, but there’s a catch. We need to get his phone as well. The place is going to be crawling with security and there are going to be surveillance camera’s everywhere not to mention all the media that’s going to be gathered as well. That is why all of you are here.” Hyunsik finished by looking at each person directly clearly conveying that they didn’t have the option of refusing.

Everyone there knew what the boss was capable of so they wisely chose to just wait for him to continue. Smiling to himself he took a pile of folders and passed them around.

“Everything you need to know is in there. I m still in the process of getting some access into the event because sneaking in is going to be difficult. The meeting today was just to inform all of you, I have another appointment now so let’s meet again soon to plan this out alright” and with another sinister grin he was out of the room.

“That guy’s smile is the creepiest thing on Earth!”, one of the men complained.

“I just hate how we don’t have a say in this whole thing. Honestly I don’t even want to do this.” another man said getting up.

“ Obviously, who would? With all the risks involved.” Another person stated.

Hyun Joong vaguely nodded at the men and left deciding that the conversation would just be a waste of time. He had to admit this was a pretty big task and he could only hope that the men in the room he just left were reliable enough. In the end they were entrusting their lives to each other.

Hyun Joong felt suffocated as he walked through the dimly lit corridors of the shady building. Meeting the boss had reminded him of just how much blood was spilt everyday because of people like him and the knowledge itself weighed down on him like a tonne of rocks. He drove away and winded through the streets without any fixed destination until he found himself in front of a familiar café.