Chapter Text
Taeil awoke with a pained groan, blinking back to himself and realizing too late that he was bound to a kitchen chair.
His kitchen chair.
I'm— I'm home? I was at the club just now, wasn't I?
He did not have long to wonder— Dongsik greeted him with a smack across the face.
Taeil cursed.
Dongsik sucked his teeth, cocking his head. "You and I need to have a chat, Taeil," he flexed his fingers, making a show of stretching them.
Sora emerged into his line of sight now, with a cold look in her eye he'd never seen before.
"Baby, untie me, please—"
Another slap.
"Don't you ever call me baby again!" She warned, stepping back and resting a hand on her full belly. "Lee-sajangnim told me everything, you lying, slimy motherfuc—"
"Just Dongsik, please," Dongsik interjected with honey in his voice. He turned to her. "You're family, after all. Him, however, not so much now," he motioned with his chin toward Taeil, turning back to him. "I've told her everything, obviously. About how you really spend your nights. About Jisoo's abortion, too. It's all been laid on the table," he clicked his tongue. "I wouldn't press your luck."
Taeil's eyes shook. "You bastard— you said—" he clenched his fists against his bonds.
Dongsik laughed, though there was no mirth in it whatever. "And you swore a loyalty oath to me when I brought you in," he reminded him. "Apparently that never extended to Joowon. Did he tell you what he did, Sora-ya?" he asked, holding his chin roughly.
Sora winced. "I don't want to know," she shook her head. "I just want him out of my house," she gave him a look. "Is Joowon-ssi alright?" she asked after a beat, concerned. She always liked him.
"Well," Dongsik gave her a look. "He will be. But your husband here did such a number on him he'll have to be on bed rest for weeks," he smacked his cheeks menacingly. "You were very… thorough," he smacked him once more for good measure, turning to Sora again. "Do I have your blessing, then, Sora-ya? To dispose of him?" he asked, wanting to at least be a little delicate. You're a gangster's wife. You know what needs to happen next.
Sora nodded. "Shall I leave, then?" she asked, reaching for her purse perched on the table.
"Yes, that would be best," Dongsik agreed, reaching into his suit jacket for a folded parcel of bills and handing it to her with a kiss to her cheek. "Buy yourself and the girls something nice, maybe stay at a hotel for a few days while things get settled. Lucky they're away at university," he cocked his head, and lowered his voice to a warm honey lilt. "Don't worry about the baby, Sora. We'll take care of you."
Sora softened. "Thank you," she took the money and gave a last, ice-cold look at her husband. "Contact me when it's over," she decided.
Dongsik saw her off. "Will do," he shut the door behind him.
A beat before he turned back to face Taeil—
He cracked his knuckles.
"Now," he moved to him with all the charm of a shark circling his prey. "Where were we?"
As Sora made to turn the corner, she heard a gunshot ring out from somewhere above.
Fuck, it's colder than I thought it would be… Daeha upturned his coat collar against the evening chill as he made his way through the street, remarking to himself how strangely empty the area seemed for the time of night. As he paused to light a cigarette, he thought he heard faint footsteps coming up behind him—
Something hit him in the back of the neck, making him crumple rather like a ragdoll onto the pavement. "Ah…" he groaned, seeing stars from the hit. He tried to push off the ground to raise himself, but the heel of a boot pressed into his back, pinning him down. "What the fu—"
"Watch your mouth," a young woman's voice cautioned, pressing her heel further into the middle of his back as she bent down near him.
Daeha could not move— something sharp had been pressed to his neck.
A needle? What—
All went black.
"Tsch," Minjeong clicked her tongue. "You were always a lightweight."
She took out her gun.
"Holy shit, hyungnim, will you look at this—" the young officer tugged on his senior's shirtsleeve. "I think someone's— oh, my god…" he stilled, feet rooted to the spot. "I think— I think they're—"
His partner turned to look down into the alley to see what he'd seen. "Oh, fuck—" he reached for his walkie talkie, taking a step forward cautiously. "Is that his…" he blinked hard a few times before turning just away and retching into a pile of garbage.
The younger of the pair took the walkie talkie. "This is unit 202, um," he stammered. "We've got an unidentified male here, um. Deceased, I think— well. He's been shot twice. In the head. Forehead. His, um. Fuck—" he swallowed hard, trying not to vomit as his senior had done. "Genitalia's been severed and— oh, god. Um. Shoved down his throat."
The line was quiet for a beat.
Then—
"Sorry, what the fuck did you just say?"
Jaeyi leaned against the plush wall of the club. "Want to have some fun with me, oppa?" she asked, cocking her head cutely.
Kiho grinned, showing off one of his gold teeth. "Sure, baby," he slid an arm around her waist, already reeking of alcohol. "What did you have in mind?" his eyes flicked up and over to one of the private rooms. Kiho was a a usual client of hers, always one to get a little too handsy after a few drinks as if he owned her. She'd asked Dongsik to be allowed to take care of him personally —when they'd all sat down the night previous to divvy up the assignments, she'd practically insisted on it— and she was looking forward to being the one to silence the man's smarmy attitude forever.
"Mm, I don't know," she lied, pressing up against him and letting her eyes wander, too, toward one of the private rooms. Get the hint yet, moron?
Despite his less than stellar intelligence, Kiho did pick up what Jaeyi was putting down— he led her by a hand to the small of her back toward an empty private room, shutting the door and sitting on the plush booth, pulling her into his lap. "You're so cold to me usually, Jaeyi-ya," he pouted cutely. "Have you changed your mind?"
Jaeyi smirked, playfully undoing his shirtfront buttons and coyly tugging a little on the gold chain around his neck. "I suppose so," she lied prettily, one hand reaching into her purse.
In a blink, her knife was at his throat.
"Woah— woah, baby, what the hell is this?" Kiho stammered, the drink making him slow on the uptake. He daren't move; in fact, he retracted his hands from around Jaeyi's waist and raised them in surrender. "What—"
Jaeyi rolled her eyes. "Did you really think you could hurt Joowonie and it wouldn't get back to us?" she gave him an almost pitying look. "I'm going to enjoy this," she cocked her head and pressed the tip of the blade against his throat, a pinhead of claret blooming there.
Kiho began to sweat. "The brat— the brat had it coming," he tried to explain, whimpering himself silent as Jaeyi pressed the blade closer. "He—"
Jaeyi's hand remained poised, ready to slash his throat properly. "You're not even a little sorry, are you," she surmised. "You're proud of what you did. You and the rest of them."
Before Kiho could respond, she sighed. "Whatever," she shrugged, slashing his throat decisively, not even flinching when she struck an artery and painted herself and the room with blood.
Slipping off the dying man's lap, she wiped her blade against her hip and reached for her phone.
Oh, Minjeong's texted me.
KMJ: [photo]
KMJ: Dongsikie-oppa wants them all to end up like this, okay? ^_~
KMJ: 파이팅 ^^
Jaeyi zoomed in on the photo, at her girlfriend's handiwork.
So he wants us to send that kind of message, huh.
She put her phone down and turned back to Kiho.
I wonder how hard it'll be to cut off.
Seokjae turned onto his back with a satisfied sigh, patting the curve of Jisoo's waist over the hotel duvet. "You're so much better at that than my wife," he yawned, exhausted.
Jisoo hummed in mock-thought, about to say something when she saw her phone screen light up. She reached across to her bedside table and turned from him to read it.
Oh, I should get up. He's coming.
"I won't be a moment," she took her phone and kissed Seokjae's cheek and got up, pulling on her silk slip and retreating to the washroom, unlocking the door to their room as she went.
Seokjae thought he heard her lock the washroom door. "Baby?" he called, still blinking the stars from his eyes.
The sound of the hotel door bursting open—
Seokjae nearly fell out of bed for the shock, clamouring to hide his nakedness from whoever had just burst in—
"Boss!" he exclaimed, trying to piece together what was happening.
Dongsik pinned him to the headboard with an unyielding grip on his throat. "You're my last stop of the evening," he grinned mirthlessly. "Aren't you lucky," he cocked his head, clicking his tongue. "What have you been up to, spending the night with one of my girls off-book?" he pretended to be disappointed. "You're always taking what's not yours," he applied more pressure, to Seokjae's gasping protestations. He clocked Seokjae trying to reach for the gun on the bedside, but he took it instead and pressed the barrel against his temple. "Too slow," he sighed, pulling the trigger.
After a long stretch of quiet, the washroom door unlocked.
"Come out, Jisoo-ya, he's dead," Dongsik called, the honey returned to his voice.
She obeyed, methodically picking up her clothes. "It's all done now?" she asked. "I did good, didn't I," she smirked. "He was delirious by the time you got here."
Dongsik kissed her cheek. "You did good," he agreed, wiping off the gun. "Are you alright? I know you liked him," he considered.
Jisoo pinched his cheek back with a little scrunch of her nose and began to dress herself, looking over the body. "Not as much as I like you and Joowonie," she shrugged. "It's just a job, you know. Keeping them company," she went on.
"Speaking of jobs," Dongsik helped her button the back of her dress. "What will you do with your hefty bonus, buy something pretty?" he asked.
"Mm, I think I'll send the money to my mother," she considered. "She refuses to move in with me, she's still in that shack by the sea," she sighed.
Dongsik smiled. "You're a good daughter," he praised her. "Here, have a little extra since you're going to send it all on," he handed her a small wad of cash.
With another little kiss to her cheek, Dongsik sent her off.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, gruffly shoving Seokjae's leg to the side to give him more room, he pulled out his phone.
LDS: it's done, aegiya
LDS: I'll be home soon
A reply came quicker than Dongsik anticipated.
HJW: good, come home and rest with me
HJW: I miss you
Dongsik tucked his phone away before rising and reaching for the knife secreted in his suit jacket pocket. "Once more unto the breach, huh," he sighed as he pulled back the bed sheet.