The Edge Of Darkness

A Past Life

Suggested listening: ATEEZ - Guerrilla

The days were passing quite slowly but peacefully, with Hwoarang getting used to the crutches and only occasionally hitting Jin with them "to keep the fighting spirit alive", he said.

Everything was quite ordinary at house Kazama-Seong, until one day the bell rang with some insistence, after the noise of a dozen bikes in the yard.

-Don't bother, Hwoarang, I'll take it.

-Nah, I need to move, and you know that.

-Test passed.

-Moron.

But when the redhead opened the door, his smile vanished.

-It's nice to see you, seonbaenim.

A dozen bikers were behind him.

-I'm not your boss anymore, Chan-yeol.

-You'll always be my boss to me. I'm sentimental like that. Besides, we've come to talk right about that. You're a hard man to track, Hwoarang.

-There's a reason to that.

-What happened to you, man? You disappeared from Korea all of a sudden. You left us without a guide.

-I had to join to military, you know that.

-You still stayed with us from time to time afterwards, though. Then, poof. Nothing. Then I find you here, in Tokyo, in the middle of nowhere.

-There are plenty of you. Find another boss amongst the ranks. I'm done with that life.

-We tried Baek-hyun, then Dal. We had to kick them both out, they were more trouble than anything. We need you, boss. We never made as much money as when you were with us. You were invincible.

-And now I would be useless anyway, as you can well see. I have a broken foot and a long time of rehabilitation ahead to be able to maybe fight again. And, I repeat, I'm not the same man anymore.

Eun-Jung, preoccupied by the voices raising at the door, reached her father.

-Is everything okay?

-Now I recognise you, boss. You like them that young now? Not that I'm judging, you do you. But you always had good taste in chicks, look at that face and those tits. You could always get between a woman's legs as fast as I take a shit.

Hwoarang lost the crutches and held Chan-yeol by the neck, growling his words.

-Toejora, geseki. That's my daughter you're talking about. Say something like that about her again and I'll snap your neck, broken foot or not.

Chan-yeol coughed, laughing. -This is the Hwoarang I remember. But that, your daughter? No way, she's too old.

-She's adopted, idiot. Now, I think we have run out of thing to say to each other. Get outta here, you're not welcome, you never were.

-Hwoarang? Why am I hearing your voice so angry from here?

Jin had come to the door, and all Hell broke loose.

-What is Jin Kazama doing in your house? The guy who almost beat you? Your rival, your mortal enemy?

-...and now, my husband. Things have changed, as I have told you a hundred times already. Now, if you're smart, you'll take your sorry ass back to Korea and you leave me and my family alone. Understood?

-Husband? You must have hit your head pretty hard, Hwoarang. You fucked half of South Korea's pussy, the good half at least, and now you settle for a cock, a Japanese one too? You're right, you're not my boss anymore. But seeing as things ended up, you owe us. You left us, you dishonoured us with your filthy way of living. We will be around for a while, we came for a biker reunion in Tokyo as well. So, this is not the last you see of us. You will pay, Hwoarang. That's a promise. And you know...

-...a Rising Hawk always keep his word. I remember. I created it.

-And it's no longer yours to keep. You're officially out, forever. And that is only the beginning. C'mon guys, let's go. We have stuff to do.

The bikers left the yard, leaving the three at the front door.

-Hwoarang, what was that about? Who were those people?

-They were my old gang, Jin. They tracked me down and wanted me back in. That is, before knowing I liked your cock more than pussy, sorry about that, Eun-Jung. Then, they decided they despise me, and I have to pay for how I left them and apparently for how I live my life.

-All bark and no bite?

-Unfortunately, no. When the gang sets itself on something, it's war until they either succeed or they're dead. Chan-yeol is particularly vicious and sadistic. We have to watch our backs.

-Are you really scared of the guys?

-Yes, because I know them well. They don't have boundaries, there's nothing they wouldn't do to reach what they want.

-They're just... normal people.

-But they're almost fifteen, I cannot fight, and I'm not putting Eun-Jung anywhere near guys like that. Jin, you're strong, but you can't take on fifteen guys alone.

-Me? No. Devil Jin? In a heartbeat.

-Yes, if you plan to slaughter them all.

-It's you who said either they succeed or they're dead. I take your words for it. I defend my family, I don't care the cost. No one menaces you and Eun-Jung and lives to tell the tale.

-They're not worth the blood on your hands. You can beat down and humiliate Chan-yeol and hope that will be enough to make him give up.

-Or to make him even angrier. Maybe I should take his life only, as a symbol to the others: mess with us again, and this is what you'll find. Death.

-I don't know. I don't like this. Any of it. And I wonder why my past has decided to come and bite me in the ass right now, when I'm most useless.

-Because life is funny like this, love.

-All the wrong choices I made are coming back from a past I thought dead and buried. Shit. This is bad. And I'm sorry you two are in the middle of it as well. We have to protect Eun-Jung at all costs, I have the horrible feeling they will try to hit me through her.

-I would rather worry about her than the opposite if I were them, but of course, what do they know about Devils? But they will find out, if they attack us, Hwoarang. They motherfucking will.