Bullets & Promises ✔️

7. People Shaped Voids

Soomin sniffles, "But..." she juts out her lips, a pout taking over. "Also ice cweam...?"

Haneul nods, grinning at his daughter's expression. "Yes, I promise." He holds his pinky out.

"Yay!" Soomin beams, climbing onto Haneul's lap. "Appa, I wuv you."

The father breaks out into a hearty laugh. "Appa loves you too, angel."

One thing easy about kids is distracting them from their initial goal by offering an even better incentive. And Haneul easily finds baits Soomin would willingly take. He'd do anything as long as she forgot about her mother. It's selfish but he couldn't watch his child cry for something and not be able to bring it to her.

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29 April, 12:41 A.M.

Shadow enters the hotel room, a briefcase in his hand. The fingers in his blazer pocket switch on the recorder disguised as a pen. A woman sits on the bed with two men at her side. She gestures one of them towards ChangMin, the dark-skinned man approaching for a body check.

Shadow raises his arms when the man brings his hands to pat over his body, bunching his baggy clothes and searching for any weapon. The hotel room is bright, the curtains pulled over the windows. He hears the smart lock beep behind him when the door shuts close.

"Let's get this over with." The pale man plops himself on the sofa opposite to the woman and places the briefcase on the coffee table. He leans against the backrest to show his confidence, throwing one leg over the other. "I brought the cash, show me the drugs."

The bald man brings a similar briefcase and opens it after the woman gestures for him to do so. "Here it is, but I'm not dealing it with you." They pull back the case and place it on the bed behind them.

"What do you mean?" Shadow tilts his head, eyes sharp. "We already had an agreement."

"Bring me Bullet, your boss, I'll only deal with him, not some measly side-kick."

ChangMin scoffs, "Jiyeon-ssi, take the cash, and let's get over with it."

"I don't think so," the woman doesn't concede. "We're doing it on my terms. Bullet may have been dealing through you till now but I will not allow that anymore. I want to see who he is, what's so special about him that he never leaves his den?"

"You aren't the head of your gang too, what makes you think Bullet will come and meet you?"

"Oh, I don't know," the woman shrugs and cards her fingers through her honey-blonde hair. "With how your dealers were arrested by the police, I think you're on the short end of the stick here." She chuckles slapping her thighs, her red-painted nails scraping against her satin dress.

"Alright, the deal is off. I'm leaving." Shadow picks his case up and starts leaving but stops in his tracks when a gun presses at the back of his head.

"You're not leaving till you call Bullet here. He would not want his right-hand man dead, now would he?"

"You're stupid if you think he'll come because I'm at stake here. And do you think no one at the hotel will hear your gunshot?" He turns to the side, taking in his surroundings. Jiyeon has her arms crossed over her chest but the men point their guns at him.