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“I already told you four no”
The four of them sat around the table, heads slightly bowed like scolded children with Mr Oh seated before them, eyes disappointed behind his wide rimmed glasses.
He had been adamant of them never returning to Seoul, to leave their vendetta and the dead at rest. But they couldn’t do that, not while Myeong-gil still paraded around the city, gloating and scheming as if he won. Nari and the rest would not allow the deaths of the others to be in vain. The dead would not rest until they brought Kim Myeong-gil’s empire to the ground. Mr Oh didn’t understand that, but they also didn’t understand that Mr Oh did not want to have to bury any of them next.
” If you go back there, you’ll die” he said, his tone soft yet stern.
“We understand why you’d be worried for us Mr Oh” Woo-jin sympathisd. “But we need to do this”
“Why won’t you listen” Mr Oh complained, his face twisting into exhaustion and Nari could see the toll the whole situation had taken on the man. He was trying to keep them alive, like Mr Choi had wanted and without Mr Choi, he had to do it alone and the group had not been making it easy. ” To be rebellious?”
”Mr Oh, if I may” Geon-woo interjected, his voice firm and ready. ” Let me tell you what I think. What we think. ” he said, glancing at his friends. ” After all we’ve experienced, I believe we can fight Kim Myeong-gil and win. ” The others nodded along eagerly.
“Mr Oh, I know you’re worried for us but you’ve seen us. How hard we’ve been training. Geon-woo’s right. We can do it this time” Nari said, her tone almost pleading.
Mr Oh glanced at the four of them, a deep sigh left his lips against his bowed head. The grief of all they had lost was evident on his face and in his tone as he said, more specifically to Nari when the words came out pained and raw. ” Yang-jung and Du-yeong are dead. How can you win?”
Nari’s shoulders sagged as the familiar demons creeped up behind her, digging its claws into her heart and her vision swam at his words. Every time they were mentioned the familiar grief would consume her again. But as quickly as it came it had disappeared as Geon-woo slipped his hand into hers under the table, grounding her back to reality as he kept his eyes trained on Mr Oh while his thumb gently ran across hers.
“We’ll follow the instructions that Mr Choi gave us” Geon-woo affirmed and Hyeon-ju held in her wince at her late grandfather’s name, ” Too many people have had their family and things they love taken away by Kim Myeong-gil. Mr Choi said that if we gather these people and combine our resources and strengths that we’d be sure to win”
“I trust my grandfather and so do you Mr Oh. You’ve been my grandfather’s closest companion and friend for so long. You’ve never doubted him. Don’t doubt us. Don’t start now. ” Hyeon-ju said, turning to Mr Oh pleadingly, her eyes bearing her despair for her grandfather, a pain deeply rooted in the elderly man.
” Everyone is in hiding because they know that they don’t stand a chance alone. ” Geon-woo continued and Mr Oh pulled his attention to him as he began sounding more hopeful. ” But if others like me, like Nari, Woo-jin and Hyeon-ju decide to show up, they won’t be alone, we won’t either. I’m sure they’ll want to help us”
Nair nodded, her eyes tearing from Geon-woo to Mr Oh to gage his reaction. His apprehension was still evident despite his cracking shell.
“What if…what if Kim Myeong-gil gets to you first?” Mr Oh tried, the last bit of fight in him, his final declaration to keep them from walking to their deaths were slipping between his fingers. He wasn’t sure he could keep them forever, not when they were this persistent.
“He won’t. Woo-jin and Nari are fully healed. I’ve gone up two weight classes, my punches are stronger. We’re all stronger” he defend, gesturing to them all.
“We’re fully prepared to take him and his minions down this time” Woo-jin said and Nari nodded. “For good” she said firmly and Geon-woo squeezed her hand in response.
“I can’t allow it. I won’t.” Mr Oh dismissed and their faces dropped into sullen despair. “You’re grandfather would never allow this why would I?”
” Because we’re doing this for them” Hyeon-ju urged. ” For months it’s all we could think about, all we worked for. We listened to you, and we remained here but Mr Oh, the longer we’re here the more time Kim Myeong-gil has to go on with his plans and ruin more people’s lives and no one will stop him. It will be over for everyone, and everything my grandfather worked for would have been for nothing. You owe this to him” she said.
“Mr Oh” Nari chimed, her eyes soft. ” Hyeon-ju is right. With all of them gone, we’re the only people who can stop him and his goons. We are ready and we know the risks. You need to believe in us”
“This shouldn’t be your burden” Mr Oh said dejectedly.
”It shouldn’t but it is” Nari said, reaching over to grasp at his hands. ” You watched all of us. You were there for us, and we will never stop thanking you for everything you did. But we cannot let them get away. We failed them once, we won’t fail them again. I promise you that. So please, let us do this. For everyone we lost. ”
Mr Oh merely stared into her teary eyes with his own. Years of pain flashed beneath his brown eyes and images of their broken and bruised bodies, the grief they’d endure, and the pain tore at his heart.
But as the four of them sat around him, eyes hopeful and hearts eager. Who was he to deny them their revenge. Not his fear, not his grief. He couldn’t do that to them.
Mr Oh inhaled sharply and stood up from the table, slow and careful as if being weighed down by the world. He needed to do some thinking, he needed guidance. He needed Mr Choi.
“Shit”
Woo-jin grunted as theย basketball crashed onto his abs again and again. His grunts were coming out strained, eyes fixated ahead as he tried to stifle his vision from blacking out as he tensed his abdomen at Geon-woo’s relentless attacks.
Nari and Hyeon-ju watched, faces twisted in discomfort at the veins that pulsed across Woo-jin as Geon-woo slammed the ball down again, this time harder.
“It hurts so much” Woo-jin gritted out, his voice strained as he laid against the mat, legs propped up and arms behind his head.
” What you’re feeling isn’t pain it’s the feeling of weakness leaving your body” Geon-woo said, pausing to give Woo-jin time to breathe.
“More like his soul” Nari muttered to Hyeon-ju who nodded.
“What does that mean?” Woo-jin panted, prepping himself to go again.
” It means you’re stronger today than yesterday” he said and then raised the basketball back over his head and Woo-jin took a deep breath and prepared for impact.
“Profound” Hyeon-ju muttered and Nari smacked her shoulder lightly. Woo-jin’s grunts were drowned out when she noticed Mr Oh standing idly by the entrance of the garage. He flagged them over and his face gave way to his confliction. Even now he was torn about his decision.
Woo-jin exhaled in relief when Geon-woo hoisted him to his feet as the four of them trailed after the elder.
Mr Oh gestured to the covered car, the two men making quick work to remove the dusty, dirtied protector. Mr Oh reluctantly reached into his pocket, unlocking the trunk and revealing two briefcases. He opened the one, moving for them to see and they couldn’t hold their gasps at the money staring back at them.
“This is the last of Mr Choi’s emergency funds. Take it and go” he said, his tone dismissive but Nari knew this decision had not been made lightly. ” I tried holding you back because of my worries and I’m sorry. I’ll book a room and car for you in Seoul. Just, don’t get hurt” he said and gratitude pooled in all of their eyes as they bowed deeply.
“Before you go” Mr Oh said as he lifted the other briefcase. His eyes were solely fixated on Nari. ” You should have this” he told her and then ushered her forward. Nari glanced at Geon-woo, her eyes hesitant but he merely nodded encouragingly. She took a sharp breath and with careful steps approached Mr Oh who moved to the side.
Her fingers glossed over the briefcase, her timid fingers nervously sliding around the two latches. She tried to hide her wince as it popped open. Her heart was racing and when she lifted the case. the air in her lungs vanished.
“He wanted you to have it” Mr Oh said softly and the tears she kept so hard at bay finally fell.
In the briefcase was envelopes. Envelopes with dates in her handwriting written on them. Envelopes of money she had been slowly giving to Mr Choi to pay him back for helping her out. Not a single envelope had been opened, not a single envelope was crinkled. Everything was there, pristine and untouched and beside it was money, the equivalent of what was in the envelope. As if Mr Choi had been matching it as she went.
“He understood that this was how you were showing your gratitude to him but Mr Choi couldn’t bare taking it from you. So every time you arrived, he placed it aside and then matched it in hopes that when this was all over he’d give it to you personally. To start a life, away from all of this. A life with your family. He told me to keep it safe, or in the event you need it. Or if the time came where he couldn’t give it to you. ”
A nasty sob left her lips as she lifted the envelope in her hand. Her tears dripping onto the white paper and she didn’t turn when a gentle hand rested on her shoulder.
” The money was always yours to keep Nari. So, take it and don’t look back. You fight for them, and you don’t forget what they’ve done.”
Nari nodded, her fingers clenching around the envelope and Mr Oh couldn’t bear to see them any longer, nor their saddened expressions as Geon-woo cradled Nari into him, the envelope was secured in her arms as she buried herself in his embrace. Hyeon-ju eyed the money sadly, blinking away her tears and Woo-jin noticed her crumbling facade and gently placed his hand on her shoulder.
They knew what they had to do. And this time, they were going to win. No matter what.ย
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