I crank open the metal door, shove my hands into my pockets, and make my way over to my room. I creak the door open and see my friend lying on the top bunk staring at his tablet, checking stocks. He eyed me as I walked in uncomfortably and I sit on my bed of the bottom bunk, ping my jacket, pulling my hood of my head, revealing a plain white tank top. Then he bursts out laughing and I slump over, exhaling.

“Ugh. What do you want Himchan?!” I asked frustrated. Then he hopped down and sat next to me and then I fall back slightly, eyeing him suspiciously. He’s still laughing. Sighing, I shake my head and change out of my baggy pants, into army green, knee length shorts. Then he falls back again, laughing. Shaking my head at him, I asked in exclamation,

“What’s wrong with you?” I gestured my hands in both directions with my arms extended and palms facing up. Steadying himself, he sits up and points at me.

“You should’ve seen your face when that girl in the streets tried to help you up! You looked like a complete idiot!” Mocking him, I say sarcastically,

“Ha. Ha.” Then I give him a disgusted face and throw my dirty pants at his chest. He catches it and lowers it to his lap.

“As shallow as always.” he says coughing and choking, trying to stop himself from laughing. “You’re so innocent and naive.” Eyeing him with disgust, I pointed him with warning,

“If this situation ends up in YoungGuk’s ears, the plan will be ruined, and we’ll be roasted. And it’ll be all your fault. I’ll murder you in our second life if I have to.”  He chuckles a little longer before getting up to take my pants to the wash. Saluting, he goes, “Aye, aye Daehyun.” and then blasts through the door, leaving the door wide open. We he gets back, he sits next to me, this time, thankfully, with a different topic.

“So, how did delivery go?” he asked.

“Oh, you know, same old same old. This witch still wouldn’t cough up the dough.” His eyes widened. “But she is such an idiot. She thinks that I’ll let her off the hook by doing some fortune-telling.” I shook my head in disappointment. Now, his eyes are lit up.

“Did you accept the offer?”

“Well, half yes, half no. Yes to the fortune thingy but I ended up giving her until the end of this year’s annual ball to cough them up or else we’ll steal her bank cards, crack all her passwords, transfer her money to our account and we’ll end up murdering her so that no one will notice that she’s gone.” Not interested in anything that I said in the second half, he asks,

“Well? What was your fortune?” Glancing at him in annoyance, I told him, being as unclear as possible, stuttering every 2 words, I said shaking my head,

“She said that I was supposed to be- the prince- of New Seoul- or something. Bull I say. Bull.” His eyes are sparkling now. Terrified, I sit back and lean as far away as possible until my back bumped into the pole of the bed frame. There was a really long awkward silence before he shouted,

“WHAT?!?!?!?!?!” I leaned in back to him and hushed him as much as I can.

“Would you learn to stay quiet?!” I whispered in frustration. Then I heaved a sigh and shook my head.

“The prince of New Seoul?” he whispered. “Well, if you think that it’s that bull, then you should go to the annual ball next month and clarify the fortune.” Then I looked to him in disgust.

“Really? Really? I’m not going to the stupid ball. I don’t want to be some crappy prince. OK?”

“Why not? If the old hag is right, then you can be prince! Prince means luxury, riches, and the beautiful princess of New Seoul. Who doesn’t want to be married to the most beautiful girl of Korea?”

“When did you become so nosey?” I countered. He shrugged and I continued. “Not me. Like you said, who doesn’t want to be with her? Everyone but me. The ball is only for crummy old dudes who thinks that they actually have a chance with her. Some of the guys that go are actual guys. Innocent, nice, kind, and caring. Unlike me, who is a ghetto boy that isn’t really noticed. I think our boss has a higher chance of being with her than me any day. If I give away my chance to someone who actually wants her, then, good luck to them. My job is to only take revenge, succeed, and gain forever freedom. Period.”

“You are so low! You actually have a legitimate chance. Opportunity is knocking at your door and you’re ignoring it as if you can’t hear it calling for your name. As arrogant and stubborn as always.” he says shaking his head.

“Well, I’m not going no matter what you say okay? My decision has been made and will be permanent. No take backs.”

“Awww….” he groaned in disappointment slumping his shoulders.

“Pushing that aside, where do you want to go for dinner tonight?”

“I’m feeling pizza today.”

“The old corner?”

“Yep! But, uh, I’ve got some last minute errands to do first.”

“Why must you always do this to me?” I complained. Then he shrugged and I heaved another sigh. “Fine. But those errands better be quick. I expect you there by 9:00.” Then he saluted to me.

“Thanks Daehyun!” and he rushed out the door. Then I looked at the time. 7:00. Well, might as well pass some time. So I put on a gray hoodie, zipped it up, grabbed my backpack and dumped a couple of spray cans in there. I know a good alleyway to do some graffiti in so I headed out the door, pocketing some cash for dinner on my way out. I pulled the hood over my head and I waltz down into the quietest part of town where we normally eat and turn left into a crumbling alley way. I drop my bag onto the ground as I find an empty spot to paint on. Then I grabbed my favourite black and gray spray cans and I start shaking them as I slowly make my way to the empty space. Then I started off with a black silhouette of a bunny head. Then, I took the gray paint can and lined out some swirly designs as a pattern for the bunny’s skin. Next, circled in two long eyes with some white paint and just under those eyes, I drew a gray face mask on it to cover it’s lower part of it’s face. Afterwards, I carefully lined out a zipper on it’s mouth and made some triangular noses as the final touch. I dumped the cans back into the bag and stepped back to admire my work.

“Perfect.” I whispered to myself with my arms crossed. Just then, a girlish scream startled me. I snapped my head into the direction of the screaming and left the alleyway into the open air. There I saw a girl being pressed against the wall by two bulky men.

“Hey hey beautiful.” one said.

“What’s your purpose?” the other asked, and all the girl can do was scream in terror.

“Shut Up!” the first one yelled. He slapped her across the face, sending her to the floor. The other came over and crouched on top of her as he forced her to face up.

“Awww… Such a bad thing done to such a pretty face.” he comforted sarcastically while he rubbed his thumb up and down her face.

“Get away. Get away!” she screamed, trying to struggle free.

“Why don’t we make it up to you?” he said with a seductive smile. The girl scream, slashed and kicked with all her might but I can see that she was slowly giving up, knowing that fighting against them would be hopeless as they picked her up off the floor and tossed her over one of their shoulders.. Feeling guilty, I stepped in.

“What are you guys doing?” I yelled. They paused and pivoted towards me.

“Well, well, well. If it ain’t a little boy trying to play hero. What business do you have in our neighborhood?” the one without the girl asked. He was wearing a black shirt and a pair of white skinny jeans. Both of them were.

“Bloods.” I muttered.

“Ah… so you’ve heard of us.” he smirked. “SungHoon. Watch after the girl. This is going to be quick.” He held up his hands and so did I. I waved my fingers back and forth to indicate that he can strike first. Without hesitation, he threw a punch at me and I dodged it flawlessly. Angrily, he threw another punch at me and this time, I countered it by grabbing his wrist and pulling it to the right side of my body while I used my other free hand to jab him right in the jaw. He flew backwards and landed hard on the ground. It didn’t take long for me to hear footsteps approaching behind me and I swiped left. He landed on his face from the false impact next to his buddy. The other got up, wiping the blood from the corner of his lips.

“Heh. You’re quite fast for a little boy.” he smirked.

“I’m not fast. You’re just slow and your moves are too predictable.” I rebounded. Now, his face has gone red. He threw a fake punch at me, tricking me to be jabbed in the stomach by his knee. I clenched my stomach and fall to the ground. Without giving myself time to breathe, I got up and held up my fists again. This time, I struck first. I threw a fake punch towards his stomach when really, I was reaching for the back of his head and jabbed my knee into his face numerous times before he fell unconscious onto the floor. The other one stared at his unconscious partner then pointed at me in anger,

“You’re gonna pay for this!” He threw his arm at my face and this time, I was ready. I took his arm, turned around, and threw his

whole body over my head and trashed onto the ground. Still clinging onto his wrist, I flipped him over and twisted his arm until he was smashing the ground, begging for mercy. I let him go, then jabbed my elbow into his neck so that he’ll fall unconscious. Breathing heavily, I took my hood off and wiped off the the sweat on my face. The girl. I turned around to look for the girl and I spotted her curled up in the shadows, crying. I walked over to her and helped her up.

“Are you okay?” I asked. But her hands are buried in her face as she sobbed. I can sense that she’s calming down but her whole body is shaking really hard like there’s no tomorrow. “Hey,” I say, trying to be helpful and comforting. “It’s okay.” She dared to look up and the first thing she saw were the unconscious bodies on the ground. Assuming that she thought they were dead, she freed of my grasp and crouched on the floor and cried harder. Then I crouched down next to her, rubbing her back. “It’s okay. They’re not dead. They’re unconscious. Big difference you know.” Then she looked up at me. “Hey, aren’t you the girl from the street earlier today?”

“First of all,” she said stifling her sobs, “I’m not an idiot. I know the difference between death and unconsciousness. Second of all, yes, I am the girl who you accidentally bumped into in the street today without saying ‘Sorry’ or ‘Thank You’. But,” she’s finally calmed down now, “I thought you were a cold and shallow person when I first met you. Turns out, you’re not that bad.” She says managing a relieved smile. I smiled back awkwardly.

“Glad to know you’re okay too.” I felt like an idiot saying that. Then she laughed.

“You’re really weird. You don’t know how to talk to girls do you?” I shook my head. She chuckled again. “Thanks for saving me. It’s getting late now, I should really be heading home.”

“Do I need to you or something, because I’ve never done anything like that before.” I admitted. Then she laughed again and shook her head.

“No. I’m fine. I’m going to call for a taxi.”

“I suggest you to go to a place where there’s more people before you go and catch yourself a taxi.” She laughed again.

“Thanks for the heads up. Um… I never got your name.”

“Oh… Uhh… Daehyun.” I said extending my hand awkwardly towards her.

“Nice to meet you Daehyun.” she smiled shaking my hand. “Thanks again.” Then she headed towards the city lights and disappeared into the night air. I watched her leave, mesmerized again. When she’s been gone for a while now, I realized that I’ve been staring off into the distance for way too long; so I shook it off and headed back into the alleyway, grabbed my backpack, and left for dinner with Himchan.