Before he could say another word, the call disconnected. U-Kwon slid down the wall. He went to bang his head in frustration when the weight of the gun caused him to pause and stare at the weapon for just a moment. All he’d wanted to do was dance, and now his life, and the life of the girl he liked, was in danger. What kind of psycho did this?

“What am I supposed to do? I can’t shoot anyone, let alone Min, but if I don’t then I’m going to die…”  U-Kwon thought aloud.

The phone rang again and he answered it quickly.“The music is about to start. You’ll have until the end of it to make your decision. Choose carefully.”

So whoever this was was close enough to watch him without being visible. U-Kwon began speaking, his mouth speaking before his thoughts fully formed. Maybe he could reason his way out of this.

“What if I just give up the shoes? If you want them, you can have them and everyone gets to keep their life.”

“Do you think I’m an idiot?” the voice raged. “If it were that easy I wouldn’t have gone through all this.”

“Is this really necessary?” U-Kwon put his hands to his head in frustration, then stopped when he again became aware of the weight of the gun in his hand. “Why don’t you just kill me and get it over with?” he screamed.

“Well my little Kitty, every dancer wants a last performance, right?” Music began playing softly, presumably from the hidden speaker’s hiding place. “It’s showtime.”

U-Kwon put the gun down and began to dance. At this point, there was nothing else he could do. Letting the music guide him, he moved his body. He closed his eyes and his hand slid down his body. If he didn’t think too much about it, it was easy to forget that he was literally dancing for his life.

The music ended quickly, more quickly than U-Kwon would have liked. It was less than thirty seconds…what was the meaning of this? Couldn’t he have more time? He quite liked living and if the last thing he was going to do was dance, he would have liked to have at least a full song and not a snippet.

Seconds turned to minutes and nothing happened. Maybe he’d convinced the voice that he should live. Just as U-Kwon let out a sigh of relief, the echo of footsteps became louder. He thought he was going to have to face Min and see how hurt she was over all this, when he instead his tormentor revealed himself as…

“You!” U-Kwon accused.

“Yes. Me.”

“But we’re friends!”

“There are no friends when it comes to getting what I want,” SeungRi said. “You’re in my way Kitty and now I’m getting rid of you, taking those shoes, and making a name for myself.”

“But what about…?”

“Who? Min? Your life is on the line and you’re worried about her?” SeungRi laughed. “She doesn’t even know what’s going on right now. I’ll be sure to console her when she learns of your passing.” He shook his head, clicking his tongue. “You should have stayed focused.”

“I was focused.” Maybe if I keep him talking I’ll figure out a way to stay alive, U-Kwon thought.

“Not focused enough to notice your best friend picking off the competition one by one.”

“What did happen to the others? How could you do that?”

“It was easy,” SeungRi gloated.  “Hoya passed me in a dark alley that night. Dongwoo…let’s just say he took a walk into the river with heavy stones in his pocket. Taemin was definitely the easiest. All I had to do was double back and catch him from behind. I was planning on taking Jongup out before doing you, but I can handle a little bit of a schedule change.”

“But why? You’re good Seunghyun, one of the best.”

“One of, but not the best. There’s a difference.”

“That still doesn’t explain why you had to hurt or kill people. There are hundreds of companies. You could have started your own…anything but this.”

“That would have taken too long. Besides, if I hadn’t done this I never would have been able to find my competition and eliminate them.”

“How have you kept from getting caught all this time?”

As SeungRi went off on a typical villain rant, U-Kwon wracked his brain for ways out. The only thing he could think of was to shoot SeungRi. The weapon was just a few feet away from him. The only question was: could he really shoot his friend? I don’t have to kill him, U-Kwon reasoned to himself. All I have to do is get away.

Moving slowly as to not alert SeungRi to his actions, U-Kwon quietly retrieved the gun and began to aim at his friend’s kneecap. Just as he was about to pull the trigger, SeungRi called him out.

“Now, now Kitty. Would you really shoot me?” SeungRi sighed. “I guess I am the bad guy here. Okay then. I’ll give you a shot for free. Make sure you kill me though. If not, I’m going to be very angry.”

Spurned by SeungRi’s taunting, U-Kwon said a quick prayer, aimed, and closed his eyes. SeungRi’s calm face was the last thing he saw before pulling the trigger.

Click.

Click.

Click.

What?

U-Kwon opened his eyes. He’d been expecting a different sound, a groan of pain, the smell of gunpowder-something, anything. SeungRi was still standing as calmly and unharmed as before. Um…what the actual hell?

“Surprise,” SeungRi intoned. “You didn’t really think it would end like this, did you? No Kitty, your nine lives are up tonight.” SeungRi reached behind him and withdrew a small handgun from the waistband of his jeans.

U-Kwon closed his eyes and prayed again, waiting for the pain that would soon come. Would SeungRi be merciful and at least shoot him somewhere that would make him die instantly? Would he be able to dance in heaven?

There was a noticeable bang and U-Kwon flinched. He smelled something akin to hot metal and heard a thud. Opening his eyes a bit, U-Kwon was shocked to see SeungRi on the ground. Opening his eyes fully, he saw B-Bomb standing over the body.

“Minhyuk! Oh thank God! Seunghyun…he was going to kill me.” U-Kwon sobbed in relief against his friend. He was safe.

“It’s okay Kwonnie,” B-Bomb soothed. “It’s over now.”

“Thank you for saving me.”

“Don’t thank me too quickly.”

“What do you-”

U-Kwon’s words were cut off by the blade stuck in his spine. The last image he viewed was B-Bomb’s triumphant gaze coupled with a calm smile. His last thought was ‘why?’ but he couldn’t form the words.

“They told us on the first day the hardest thing was to keep the shoes. I guess they were right.”

B-Bomb walked over to his dead friend’s forgotten bag and dug around them until he found the red shoes. Holding them up in the light, he smiled slightly to himself. There were still a few loose ends to tie up before he revealed his true talents. He looked at U-Kwon’s lifeless body one last time before preparing to leave.

“I told you to be more careful.”