The crowd was moving quickly as a woman called all passengers aboard through the intercom. Chaerin walked in her usual pace, moving her hips as her stilettos made a nice sound as she walked. Besides her was Onew, dark shades covering his small eyes as a scarf hid his neck, it was a cold day. She knew Jonghyun and Taemin where somewhere around them, but as every mission; none of them could be seen together. Chaerin had a serious face hidden under thick sunglasses, the words Ray-Ban shining at the sides of the glasses, a glitter golden under her newly dyed dark mahogany hair. It had taken a lot of self-determination to die her long, golden hair into a darker shade, it made her almost unrecognizable, thing she thought, was exactly what she needed, since she was, after all, going back there, towards a place she knew her heart would recognize her… and would go back to her.

“We separate here, good luck.” Onew murmured as he walked to the right, leaving her alone. She continued walking, her gaze steady to the front, towards the tunnel that led to the airplane. She stopped next to the attendant, who cheerfully greeted her and check her papers, then let her enter the plane. Chaerin, with her purse in hand, entered the plane, where a tall man with a black suit stood beside her and led her towards her seat, sitting next to her. He carefully slid a piece of paper on her hands as he did, and she, being as quiet and cautious as she was, opened it and read it with the corner on her eye. ‘I’ll be your until we reach South Korea, after that, you’ll be meeting someone else.’ The note said and she cursed in her mind, being followed or watched was not on her list of favorite things.

The flight was particularly quiet, the usual flight attendant would go and ask her if she wanted something, and Chaerin would refuse. After almost a whole day, she finally arrived at South Korea, and the feeling on her stomach worsened. Everything she looked at reminded her of something, and for a moment, she felt as if this was a bad idea. After everyone grabbed their belongings, Chaerin stood up, followed by the suited man, who, after she allowed him to pass, he disappeared into the crowd of people exiting the plane. She let out a sigh and grabbed her bag, slowly walking towards the exit.

As she walked out of the plane, she could spot Onew’s blonde hair walking towards the luggage station. Not far from him, she spotted Taemin, his dark shades covering half his face while his scarf covered his mouth; after all, it was snowing on Korea. Chaerin quickly grabbed her luggage and exited the airport, only to find two suited man standing next to a black Escalade. She cursed again, but this time, she walked without complaints towards them. They opened the door to the car and led her in.

They drove her towards the city, towards Seoul, the lights of the streets illuminating the city, giving it the feeling of nightlife, of clubbing and fun. She let out a breath and rested her head on the chair, she was exhausted, but more than that, being finally here, in Seoul, was like being pulled with strings from inside out, leaving her exposed.

“We’re here.” The man said as he pulled to a stop in front of a tall building in the middle of Seoul. She looked up, her neck almost breaking as she tried to see the upper part of the building. One of the men opened her door while the other took out her luggage. Both of them her towards the main lobby, which was decorated with gold and red and black, Asian dragons and lamps were all around. She couldn’t help but remember the time Jiyong took her to the luxurious restaurant, it had the same decoration, it was probably from the same owners, she thought. One of the men, the one who had her luggage, handed her a key that had a tag on it.

“This will be your new apartment. It’s already furnished and ready for you to live in. That’s all we got for you.” He said and left. She moved the keys impatiently on her hands as she walked towards the elevator, bowing every now and then at every passerby. The elevator’s bell rang, indicating the elevator had arrived, and the golden doors opened, revealing a luxurious elevator. She stepped in and hit the button to the 10^th floor, which, she assumed was her floor, since the apartment number was 1001. When she reached her floor, she stepped out into a white hallway. She glanced sideways; there was only one door there. She raised an eyebrow and looked back, towards the elevator; it said she was in the 10^th floor. She shrugged and walked towards the door. There on the door was a golden plate with the numbers 1001 carved on it.

She unlocked the door and stepped in. She widened her eyes as she saw the spacious, two story apartment in front of her. The living room was styled as some sort of lounge, with a sectional beige sofa on it and a peach color rug decorated the wooden floor under the sofa. The walls were white, to her left, the walls were full panel crystal clear windows, which had a perfect view of Seoul. To her right where the stairs to the second floors, which she could see at the far end a balcony that led towards, what she assumed, where the bedrooms. She took a few steps inside, under the stairs there was a long antique mahogany chair that looked like a small table. The sofa was made of velvet, and at the far end of the first floor she could see a dark mahogany dining table with six chairs, all made of chocolate velvet. Behind it there was a table with flowers on top of it and a golden mirror hanging on the wall. On the right, next to the dining table, was a large white counter, shining with the lights of the kitchen that was decorated with stainless steel stove and refrigerator and white cabinets. What separated the kitchen to the dining table was a hallway that led towards a few doors, which she didn’t even mind opening, she could explore later, for now, she just went up the stairs that were closed to the wall, hoping to reach a bedroom.

As she reached the second floor, she entered a hallway that, unlike the rest of the apartment, the walls were painted in orange, it wasn’t particularly long, but it had three fake windows with the images of bamboos and a river, a Chinese wood. There were two long chairs, and in the far end of it, there was a door. She opened it and widened her eyes at the huge bedroom inside of it. She had found the master bedroom. She wasn’t sure what she had hoped, or imagined to find, but all she could imagine was so far from reality as she stared at the King sized bed in front of her, covered in white sheets and two king size pillows and a body pillow laid in front of them. She felt herself kneeling and saying grace as she so desperately threw herself on bed, hugging the body pillow.

As she was lying on bed, she looked around the room. Next to the bed, there was a mahogany nightstand, about 2 feet long, with three drawers. The handles of the drawers were made of titanium. Two of the walls were made of crystal windows, so she had a complete view of Seoul night, at the end of the windows, there were curtains shrugged and styled neatly. The two remaining walls had doors, one was the one she just walked in, the other wall had two doors, and she assumed those led where the bathroom and walking-closet were. There was a lounge chair at a corner of the room, a corner that united the window wall and the wall with the two doors. In the other corner of the room there was a full size mirror, and next to it there was a mahogany vanity table. She inhaled deeply and closed her eyes, feeling, for the first time in a long time, a strange sense of happiness and calm, one, she knew, wouldn’t last too long.

And she was certain of it, since the ringing of her phone woke her up from sleep. This night, she wasn’t dreaming of anything at all. As she opened her eyes, the bright lights of morning blinded her for a moment. She put an arm over her eyes, mumbling curses as she looked at the curtains that were so perfectly put to the side. She sat up, her phone ringing furiously next to her luggage. She scratched her head as she slowly dragged her body out of bed, dragging her foot as she walked towards her luggage to answer her phone. As she took the phone, she frowned at the unknown number, slowly dragged the answer button and put the phone next to her ear.

“Hello?” She said, her voice still hoarse.

“Good morning, Lee Chaerin. I hope you found comfort in your new apartment.” A man said, Woochoong. She her front lips and nodded, involuntarily looking at herself on the full panel mirror. She was a mess, her makeup was smudged over her face and her dark hair looked tangled. She scratched her head again and sat on a chair that was in front of the window.

“It’s alright.” She said and heard him chuckled.

“Good, there should be a package already waiting for you on your living room, make sure you check it before heading out.” He said and hung up. She raised an eyebrow and threw the phone to her bed as she stood up. She walked towards her luggage and threw it on the floor, opening wide and scattering all her clothes around. She found her bathroom toiletries and opened the first door she saw, it was the wrong one, this one led towards an empty walk-in closet. She cursed and opened the next one, her eyes widened again as she saw the luxurious bathroom. It had a big tube made of marble, right next to it a shower with crystal doors, and at the wall was a wooden counter, the top was made of marble, matching the tube, the sink was white and there was a mirror that took the whole wall. A flat T.V screen was hanging on the wall next to the tube, and a few aroma therapy candles were scattered all around it. On the wall of the tube there was a window that showed the high buildings of Seoul. She opened the faucet on the shower, letting the hot water run as she stripped from her clothes. When the steamed blurred the windows, the mirror and the doors, she stepped in. The shower was big, it could comfortably fit 5 people in it, and there was a small wooden chair on it and the faucet was big, located in the center of the ceiling of the shower. It let out a rain-like stream, which was comfortable and soothing.

 After she finished taking her morning shower, she walked out, towel firmly placed around her petite body as her wet hair flowed free on her back. She scatter the clothes even more, searching for something to wear, she desperately needed to go shopping. She grabbed a pair of dark skinny jeans and a black loose blouse. After she was done dressing up, she walked out of the bedroom, barefooted. She walked into the living room and saw, in fact, a manila envelope on top of the dining table. She took it and opened it, inside there were the same profiles Jonghyun and his crew gave her. As she eyed the papers, she saw there was another profile she had not seen before.

Name: Kwon Younghwan
Age: 52

She shook her head at the lack of information and threw the envelope on the table and walked towards the fridge and opened it. To her surprised it was already filled with food, but the only thing she craved for was orange juice, so she grabbed the bottle and opened one random cabinet, fortunately, she found the glasses, grabbed one and poured the juice on it.

As she was drinking the juice, her phone, that was inside her back pocket, vibrated, and she quickly took it out of her pocket and looked at it, it was Jonghyun. She quickly answered it as she gulped down her juice.

“Hello?” She said, almost chocking on the juice.

“Hey there, did my father already gave you your mission?” He asked, and she nodded while taking another sip of her juice.

“Yeah, same people, one month, nothing out of the ordinary, although, there was one new person on it.” She said.

“That’s weird, I’ll check that up for you. For now, just play along, let’s meet at Rousseau & Rousseau’s and have breakfast.” He said, and she found herself nodding and smiling.

“Sure, I’ll be there in a few minutes.” She said, almost chocking on her own words. She heard him chuckled.

“I’ll be waiting.” He said and hung up. She shook her head again and put the phone back on her back pocket and went to her room to grab her shoes.

After 15 minutes, she found herself walking down the streets of Seoul. After a few minutes, she found herself walking through the Samcheong-Dong Street, on which the café was located. She finally reached the café, which was ridiculously close to her new apartment, and entered. As she did, a lady greeted her, and Chaerin smiled out of politeness.

“Good Morning! May I take you to a table?” She asked and Chaerin nodded.

“I’m actually meeting with someone, Kim Jonghyun.” She said and the lady nodded smiling.

“Right, follow me please.” She said and Chaerin did. She led her towards the back of the café, where Jonghyun was waiting, a mug of coffee already in hand. Chaerin bowed at the lady and sat down, looking at Jonghyun.

“I order you breakfast, if you don’t mind.” Jonghyun said as he looked at the papers in front of him. Chaerin, who was starving at this moment, nodded in agreement.

“No problem,” She said as she looked over at the papers Jonghyun was reading. “Was that?”

“This?” Jonghyun said as he set down the papers. “Just some work I have to do. Besides being a gangster leader, I’m also a businessman.”

“You’re a gangster leader?” She said, a mixture of sarcasm and disbelieve clear on her voice. Jonghyun chuckled as he took a sip of his steaming coffee.

“No, but I thought it sounded nice.” He told her and she smiled while shaking her head no.

“It doesn’t.”

“So what would you call me? A mafia leader? An underworld leader?” He said with mockery on his voice.

“I would call you a mothering bastard on my own language, but you might find it unappropriated.” She said and Jonghyun laughed.

“Indeed, it’s inappropriate.” He said. “Talking about more important things, there’s something off with the new target Woochoong gave you.” He said, looking at his papers again. There was something off at the way he said the name of his father, as if he was a total stranger. It was a bizarre feeling for her, since all she ever cared and loved was her own father, which she couldn’t see that much because of her job, but she swore she would protect him with her life, and now, she gave all she thought was important to save him. But he, he would give everything he had to kill the man who gave him life, he would do anything on his power to see him fall and bleed in front of him, his eyes gave her that feeling, his determination told her. She looked over his papers and realized he had the profile she had received that morning.

“What’s off?” She asked, looking at the papers he had. Jonghyun looked at her, papers in hand, and then put them in front of her.

“Maybe the name’s wrong, or maybe I’m wrong.” Jonghyun murmured. She took the papers and looked at the picture of the target. His face seemed familiar, his eyes, his lips, everything about him screamed familiarity to her, but she just couldn’t point a finger to it.

“What’s wrong with it?” She asked, and Jonghyun shook his head and shrugged.

“If I’m correct, that man died 13 years ago.” Jonghyun said and Chaerin furrowed her eyebrows as she looked at the papers. There was no date of deceased, only date of birth, age and name. Not even a proper address, only a postal address.

“Korea is famous for their lack of imagination as to names is concerned.” She said, and Jonghyun shrugged.

“I don’t know, we’ll have to find out I guess.” He said, and Chaerin looked at the picture again, and that feeling of familiarity came back. If she could only point a finger at to what it was, but she wasn’t sure herself, only that she felt she had seen him before, or known about him before, she wasn’t sure.