Though it had been dark by the time all of this started, the current darkness that enveloped you was of an entirely different kind, accompanied by the heavy stuffiness of dust, dirt and a slight metallic scent that settled at the back of your throat in a uniquely disgusting combination.
While you were by far no stranger to what a deal gone south could lead to, it was still the first time that you had been locked in the trunk of a car. They hadn't even bothered to bound your legs, as the space they had crammed you into wasn't big enough for you to move them anyway. You cursed under your breath when the damn raggedy car passed over another bump in the road, making your hip and shoulder slam into the bottom of the trunk repeatedly, not to mention the various undefinable objects that jostled around with you and dug into your body. By the end of the journey you were sure your legs would be numb and countless bruises would litter your skin.
Even though the part about being crammed into the trunk hadn't been part of your plan, everything else went quite smoothly, the added visual damage to your form would add nicely to what you had planned. Still, a small part of your mind resisted the confidence you felt, alerting you of the precarious circumstances you were subjected to.
Before you could suppress the nagging thought, the car came to a rapid halt, this time slamming you into the back of the trunk with such an impact that it forced the air from your lungs in a long curse.
The harsh light of your surroundings blinded you as the lid was ripped open and a maniacal laugh rang out at your sight.
In part, you were privy to the fact that something about the situation was off, the unique sense honed over the years that you had spent around all kinds of gangs. Final deals always involved the majority of Dongcheon's inner circle but meetings with potential buyers and dealers had become a specialty of yours. It had been something that your boss had observed from the beginning, the easiness with which you conducted interviews and meetings, a magnitude of different personalities in your arsenal. Though you weren't entirely sure where it came from except through natural affinity, you reveled in it, examining your opposite and switching according to them. It always worked, too - it threw them off, lured them in, made them hate you, love you, want you. You played them like the easiest instrument in the world with an air that left no room for objection.
The location was carefully selected, you never met potential new buyers twice in the same venue as through your methods and rising status within Dongcheon, you had almost as big a target on your back as your leader, Choi Mujin. So it may not have been clear to any bypassers looking into the small restaurant, but none of the patrons around your table were actually regular customers but equal parts of each party. The buyers and dealers usually brought some form of backup as well, being that they in turn were affiliated with smaller gangs to sell the product onwards.
Your eyes wandered over the opposing group slowly while you gently held the small paper cup of soju in between the fingers of your right hand, taking a small sip and deliberately exposing the signet ring on your smallest finger. The man directly across from you, a well known buyer from Japan that wanted in on the new product that Dongcheon had introduced to the market a few months back, followed your cue immediately. Like a trained dog abiding by its owner's command.
Clearly, he recognized you from the moment he and his party had been let into the restaurant, but the indication of your status brought a slight of fear into his otherwise nervous face. Not so much the other men in the room, and they were what had brought up your wariness, even though no one man stood out as particularly different visually, the one to the japanese's left seemed to consider himself the leader of the brawn as he sat back with crossed arms. Your eyes met his nonchalantly and while you instinctively gauged how you could break him in an interrogation - an air of cockiness around him that identified him as strongly opposed to a young woman in your position - he was not the focus of your meeting.
When your gaze had finished their round of the participants, you leant back slowly and took another sip from your cup before speaking, finally opening the meeting formally as the highest ranking.
"So, what can we do for you?" You kept everything open with intent, watching the clearly nervous man closely. There had to be a reason for his distressed state.
"I- uhm. We, I mean, would like to distribute your stock in Japan." He caught himself stammering. When you did not answer but only indicated for him to keep going, another wave of uncertainty passed over him briefly.
"With Japan, we mean the Hokkaido region in particular, it's..." The pause in his explanation spiked your interest even more, as a versed buyer he should be able to pitch with ease; except there wasn't a pitch to begin with. What morons.
"Hokkaido, huh?" you mused gently, soothing the man for a moment before you signalled to your right, making the man standing behind you step forward and bend down to your seated form. With your head tilted into him, you whispered something to him, though it had no meaning as it was just a means to rouse the other group further. If they wanted to play, you would play.
Your man nodded slowly and grimaced slightly as if he'd tried to keep it from slipping onto his features before slowly retreating again. Only when you had let the small knife slip from your sleeve and into your hand, flipping it playfully, did you turn your eyes back onto the men in front of you.
Beads of sweat had formed suddenly on the japanese man's forehead and he looked ready to burst while the other idiot's face had turned a slight shade of red - a clear indicator of anger. Interesting, it always amazed you how well this tactic you had picked up from Mujin worked on a multitude of different people. The nervous and anxious ones were easiest to crack.
And crack, he did.
"I didn't know it was going to be you, please." he tried to whisper quickly before the apparent leader of the other party slammed the older man's head on the table and stabbed his neck in a sudden fit of rage.
At that, your brow raised, unimpressed at the display - although not altogether surprised or shocked, it posed an inconvenience you hadn't planned on dealing with. The "leader" turned his furious gaze from the coughing man to his right onto you and in that moment you knew why you had been wary from the start - Do Gangjae might even be smug about the apparent smart plan he had come up with, choosing a group of men you had not personally been in contact with before. What he hadn't known was that you had seen the older man in front of you back when you had still been rolling with your old gang. Even then, the clear disdain of your person had been clear as your gang and his had clashed on occasion. So you knew that it was Gangjae that had spun up this plan to get to you and Dongcheon.
It was apparent that he had recognized you as well during your short interaction as another layer of contempt had been added to his grimace of anger. Again, you were glad for your extensive training, as the man suddenly lunged across the table with a long knife in his fist. You brought the paper cup up and threw the soju into his face, momentarily distracting him to allow you to duck underneath his wild swing.
The chair was knocked into the linoleum floor when you sprung back, immediately assuming your stance. As if the loud crack of plastic against plastic had been the universal signal everyone had been waiting on, the fight broke out with a roar from both sides. When the other leader had recovered and began coming back at you, you again crouched underneath his incoming attack and transitioned into an upper cut smoothly. As your fist clipped his jaw, the knife within left a cut across his brow when your hand swiped across.
Instantly, blood ran into one of his eyes but that did not deter him from coming at you full force, swinging wildly with both hands and crowding you backwards until your back hit another body. Luckily it was one of your own men and you tapped his leg quickly, a sign for him to brace against you as you threw yourself into his back and brought both legs up to kick the incoming man with all your strength. He crashed into the men fighting behind him while you came back to your feet with only a minor stumble. The man behind you switched positions with you quickly, taking on the next man and giving you a few moments to observe the situation and hopefully come up with something.
While you could have taken them on with a good chance of defeating all of them in the current brawl situation, one thing could lead to further complications, especially with the now dead Japanese buyer lying in the middle of all the fighting. At first you hadn't picked it up over the sound of the men around you, but it was so distinctive - approaching sirens. Apparently someone from around the restaurant had alerted the authorities when the fight broke out. And the police was stupid enough to come rushing in with sirens, warning you of their arrival.
Your mind rushed through a multitude of scenarios but what really mattered was not getting tied up in a police investigation as that could lead to a delay in everything if you were to be held at the station for hours upon hours. All that on top of the fact that none of the men fighting, including you, were particularly fond of the police and if you could avoid them at all, you would.
So you decide on a whim to get everyone out as quickly as possible to give your men the chance to escape. Fingers in your mouth, you whistled harshly, drawing all the attention to yourself.
"Listen. They're going to be here any moment and tear us all a new one. As much as I know some of you would like that, we have to get out. Now." you spoke in authority.
Whilst you had spoken and turned your eyes onto every man to get the point across, one of the opposing party had shuffled behind your form and suddenly grabbed you from behind. It was sloppy, really. You were inclined to just throw him off instantly but it actually played into the plan you had just come up with to get you all out as quickly as possible. Instead, you raised your hands slowly and handed your knife to the closest of your own men.
Another of your associates met your eyes and you nodded slightly when his eyebrow raised. He had seen that you were willingly letting the man behind you into your space and you hoped he also copped onto what you had planned. The quicker your men reconvened with the rest of the organization, the faster they could get you out. And as you wanted to avoid unnecessary bloodshed amongst your own, even if you were trained a lot better than the other gang, you would never get out of the fight as quickly as to escape the incoming police. So, you gave yourself up to get them out and running.
There was no fear within you at the prospect of going with the other gang willingly, you had immense faith in being the finest trained person in the room as well as in Mujin to come up with a plan to get you out as quickly as possible. They would potentially find you before the other gang had even had a chance to try and interrogate you. Even if not, you were secure in the lifestyle you had chosen and what risks it could entail, you would always fight, up until the bitter end. Not as if you feared something serious happening to you that night, Do Gangjae might be crazy and dangerous in his own way, but he had a massive bone to pick with Dongcheon and Mujin that would not encompass killing you just like that.
Thus, you behaved and let yourself be dragged away at the group leader's command but put more emphasis on pretending to be hurt worse than you actually were. While you could feel some dampness against your thigh where one of the wild swings had clipped you, you were otherwise relatively unharmed. Playing up the wound on your leg and grinding out a growl as the men gripped your arms, you really leant into them, making them snicker between them.
Only the sirens growing ever louder made them reconsider and hurry out of the small restaurant's front while your men scattered immediately, most dashing towards the back entrance.
Though they had to know you had played into their hands if they weren't complete idiots, the men were at least as smart as to bind your hands in front of your body before shoving you into the waiting car's trunk. You regarded them with a mocking smile that brought on the closure of the lid with more force than ever necessary, trapping you in the stuffy, small compartment engulfed by darkness.
The click of various pairs of shoes on the marble flooring alerted Choi Mujin to their arrival before the double doors to his large office had even been opened. His eyes scanned over the crowd intensely, some of the men were more severely hurt than others, blood staining their suits in diverse places. When he couldn't spot you amongst them, his mood immediately soured and he couldn't even wait for all of the men to come to a stand as he addressed them harshly.
"What happened?" he snapped.
"The buyer was a ploy but he slipped up, couldn't handle the pressure. He got killed by the other group, we don't exactly know who they were, but..." he clearly dreaded being the messenger. "They took her. I'm sure she has some kind of plan and went with them to get us all out quicker. The police arrived at the meeting spot seconds after we left."
Mujin hadn't listened to anything past the fact that some group of motherfuckers had taken you hostage and quickly reached for the glass resting on the table behind him. Before he could numb his anger with the burn of the liquor, it burst out of him in a fit of rage as he threw the crystal across the room with a roar. Surprisingly, only a few of the men even flinched, most of them had anticipated such a reaction, if not worse, at the announcement of you being hostage to another gang.
If he had been more rational in that moment, Mujin would have realized that you certainly had some form of a plan as you would never surrender without a fight or concrete reason. All he could think about, though, was the fact that he did not know where they had taken you and what was happening to you. The thought of you potentially getting killed brought on an immense sense of dread, he had grown to trust you so much in the time he had known you. To fare without your advice, trust and unshaken loyalty was a concept that had been slipping away from him further and further with each mission and deal you had supported him with.
The fact that you had acted the way you did in order to avoid the police getting hold of either of the groups struck him as odd even through his anger and heavy breathing. None of the men dared to speak while their leader returned to his seat and lit up a smoke with a light shake to his hand. He had to come up with a plan and fast, there was no way that he would allow anyone to lay even one finger on you.
Meanwhile, you were really questioning how Gangjae had managed to gather so many men under him and keep his gang intact with how negligent he was acting at the moment. When the trunk lid had opened into an abandoned warehouse, he had immediately shoved his laughing face into your personal space. As if you cared about his swollen pride and the even bigger push it got because he had gotten you into his fingers.
"Look what we have here." he drawled, elongating the statement unnecessarily.
Of course, he had to one up himself constantly, this time by letting his hands grab onto your body in the most inappropriate ways possible to haul you from the trunk. Where he read your gritted teeth as a sign that he was hurting you, you were mentally preparing for the right moment to kick his damn face. And finally, the moment came when he crouched down next to where you were seated on the floor as you had purposefully let your legs appear too weak to support you. Just as he opened his mouth to undoubtedly let out another diminishing comment, you leant back and brought your right leg up quickly, snapping his jaw up at impact.
You had to give it to his men, they had you turned around and on your knees before Gangjae had recovered and was seething at you through bloodied teeth.
"You fucking bitch. Go ahead, you're going to regret that so bad."
When you just grinned at him serenely, absolutely unimpressed by his outburst, he shot forward and gripped your jaw in a bruising grip. Not even the knife he had pulled from his oversized coat could break the stare you regarded him with. Even if he killed you on the spot, he'd have gained nothing except an even bigger target on his back and the wrath of Dongcheon and Choi Mujin personally.
The coolness of the blade against your cheekbone stood in stark contrast to the warm ooze of blood and sharp sting of pain shooting through your entire face. Gangjae seemed mesmerized by the action of marking your face so much that he let up his grip slightly, thus allowing you to twist your head out of it. Nonetheless more blood ran along your face when the blade slipped upwards and into your hairline in a shallow but long cut. The pain burned along your scalp and was only interrupted by Gangjae's grip returning to your jaw, angling your face up to his.
"Look what you've done to yourself, such a pretty face. Too bad you're Mujin's whore, you'd have made for a nice fuck." he trawled and pressed his cheek against yours, transferring some of the blood. That utter maniac.
When his eyes returned to yours, there was malice laced within the madness. "Maybe I should send you back to him all broken and used. You'll never feel the same to him when we're through with you, right?" Another mistake; he looked behind him in confirmation. The blood had gathered where he had his hand on you and made it easy to twist out of his hold again. You made sure to grit your teeth before snapping your head forwards, straight into his nose as he turned to look at you again.
"I will make you pay so bad, you fucking slut!" he seethed and didn't even bother to hold his nose that had begun leaking blood as well. Instead, he thrusted his arm into your abdomen in a fit of violence, thus embedding his knife into your side, twisting cruelly. The pain was real and while you usually tried to hold back on any signs of weakness, you let out a sharp cry. It was only in part to appear even more hurt but also due to the fact that it had been a while since you had been stabbed head on, that shit hurt more than you remembered.
With a triumphant smile stretching across his maniacal face, Gangjae ripped the knife from your body, eliciting another outcry from your lips as the now open wound immediately began soaking your side and lap in blood.
Looking behind you, the other gang leader brought you up with him, accompanied by another groan from you, to stretch your arms above your head suddenly. The thin rope around your wrists dug into the skin there painfully when you could feel the cool metal of a massive hook between your hands. The bastard had hung you up like a piece of meat to bleed you dry. Where you had anticipated a lot, this was not something you had even imagined coming onto you.
"Let's see how dear Mujin will fare when he finds you like this. Presented all nice and pretty for him, but it will be too late." he goaded you with a fake sweet tone, patting your bloody cheek before stepping back. Still, he did not watch you bleed out - apparently he had other things to do and was fairly confident that you would not make it until he found you. There was no denial that Mujin would find you, no matter where in the world you were and what had happened to you, the ruthless leader would find you, no effort spared. Though Gangjae had heard about your prior injuries from his men and was certain that there was no way you would make it.
That's what kept you focussed, even though you portrayed a groggy, hurt expression outwards. Your mind still paid attention to everything happening around you and Gangjae had underestimated you before, writing you off as too weak. You'd show him weakness when you got the fucker in between your fingers. There would be no mercy and you would make absolutely sure that you witnessed the light fading from his eyes.
The rage kept you occupied in your inner scheming and distracted you from the pain a little as the men piled into a waiting Range Rover. Gangjae could not resist patting your ass as he left you but you paid him no mind, focussing on your act and storing away that information as even more reason to retaliate viciously.
When you were sure that they had gone; you counted the drops of blood against the concrete floor; you carefully tested your range of motion. They had left your legs free and after a few tries you managed to swing your legs up high over your head and over the bar the hook was fastened to. There was no one to hear you moan in anguish at the pressure on your wound and strain on your battered shoulders and wrists.
With another pained cry, you hit the floor and immediately reached into your shoe for the small emergency knife you stored there at all times. Luckily the morons hadn't been smart enough to properly search you. Another testament of their stupidity was the car that still stood where they had hauled you out of its trunk. You wanted to laugh, but suddenly stumbled on your way over to the vehicle; so much so that you had to take a break, hunching over to clutch your wound tightly. The warehouse spun in tight circles around you and you just barely made your way to the side of the car, collapsing into the driver's seat. There was nothing to bandage your wound with, so you resorted to bunching up the cloth that had been pulled over the passenger seat and bandaging yourself as best as you could. It was dirty and old but had to do it for the moment.
The moment you had ripped open the hatch underneath the steering wheel, your hands reached for the cables dangling within. It took you a few tries to connect the wires successfully with your shaking and slippery hands. Elation flooded you when the old car sprung to life but you had to lean your head against the seat's rest for a moment as the spinning had returned suddenly as you leant back. With a few deep breaths that hurt like hell, you managed to fend off the sickness and dizziness long enough to carefully steer the car out the way you had seen Gangjae and his men leave.
In the end you sincerely could not remember how you had gotten back without crashing or passing out along the way. Once, you had to pull over for a moment to wind your bandage tighter, trying to reduce the blood loss while simultaneously waking yourself more through the pain. All you could think about was reaching the safety of the organisation's headquarters, that single focussed thought powering you as you left the car as close to the elevators as you could and made your way over to them.
The initial group as well as more men had been called back into the executive suite when Mujin had composed himself and begun to form a plan to get you back. All eyes were fixated on him where they looked over his shoulders to get a look at the map the leader had spread out on his massive desk.
To be fair, you had only realized in part that there should have been someone guarding the door but apparently they were all too invested in trying to find where you were held captive, speaking over another while pointing at the map. You had entered carefully and kept one hand on the wall as the other still held pressure against your wound. Resting your back against the wall, you knew Mujin had to interrupt them any second now.
With a smile on your face at the sight of all your men, you did not have to wait long at all. "If you want to contribute, do it one after the other!" Mujin snapped at them, their theories were making his head hurt by the sheer volume the voices had risen to.
"Planning a mission without me?" you mused into the sudden silence of the room, provoking an almost comical action as all the men turned quickly, some with their hands halfway to their weapons before they recognized you. Who could hold it against them, you were sure you looked a right mess, clearly wounded and bloodied all over, jacket and shirt torn and stained especially around your waist. The long laceration marking your face made a few of the men inhale sharply as their eyes settled on your face that was nonetheless painted with a small smile of relief.
It only took Mujin a few long strides to cross the room to where you were leaning; just in time to catch you as you finally fainted, the adrenaline dropping now that you had arrived. He ordered for all of Dongcheon's known doctors in a tone that left absolutely no room for arguing or hesitation - everyone in the room was suddenly reminded of his authority and reputation, scrambling as if their own life depended on it. Only Taeju remained waiting by the door, silently observing his boss taking over to exert pressure against your wound with a worried expression. Even through your unconsciousness you felt the renewed pressure as Mujin had taken off his own jacket to press it down firmly, switching out the soaked rag.
The stern man was barely able to give up control, even when the paramedic softly touched upon his shoulder. The collective of medical professionals was able to coax your body from his grasp after a few moments but resorted to treat you right there and then, only in part because they didn't know the severity of your stab wound, but also as not to irritate the pacing gang leader even further. He kept his eyes on you at all times while the team worked on you. Luckily none of your vitals had been affected by the stab wound, even though you had lost a good amount of blood. A nervous glance was passed between the medics as they moved to take off your jacket, shirt and pants to inspect the rest of your body. They wanted to guard your privacy but none of them dared to address the clearly agitated man, so they resorted to shielding you as best as they could.
Dryness along the inside of your throat was what woke you a few hours later and you had to swallow several times to rid yourself of the weird feeling. Only then did you dare to open your eyes and a soft sigh left you at the fact that you weren't in a hospital but safe within Liber's executive suite. Softness surrounded you from all sides as you were tucked into a heap of blankets on the large sofa settled to the side of the office as part of a seating arrangement that included another sofa and a low table in front of you.
Your eyes settled on the figure slouched at the large desk, a still lit cigarette between his fingers but he made no move to finish it, only focussed on a particular spot and looking absolutely wrecked.
"Why do you look like you've come back from hell? You know, you're not the one that got stabbed." you mused quietly while sitting up slowly with a pain in your abdomen, but nothing you couldn't handle. At your voice, his head shot up and he came to sit on the sofa across from yours.
"You've probably forgotten how it feels like. I almost did, too. Hurts like a bitch." A soft smile tugged at your lips as you tried to lighten the situation. Mujin looked as if he hardly recognized you and when he still did not respond in any way, you inquired more gently. "Mujin, are you okay?"
That roused him from his absent state and apparent reverie, eyes focussing on you this time. "You are asking me if I am okay?" he deadpanned and stood up again abruptly. You were almost thinking that he was mad at your question but he simply stepped around the low table separating you and sat in the space next to you carefully. While he did not want to hurt you further, he could not keep a lot of distance - he had to be sure you were really okay.
"You're really something. Coming back here like a phoenix rising all on her own. I knew you had planned something but this? You never fail to impress me." he spoke softly and his eyes roamed over your face as if gauging your reaction to his words. A soft smile was your only response before your eyes began to droop slightly, exhaustion coming back to you. Still, you reached for his hand gently and held it between yours for a moment, grounding yourself in the moment by feeling his strong presence. The warm and slightly rough feel of his skin felt nice as you squeezed it for a moment, content with being close to him if only for a short moment.
"Thank you." you smiled and as you began to fall asleep again, you only in part still witnessed the carefulness with which the otherwise merciless man laid you down again. He crouched next to your sleeping form for a moment and brushed a stray strand of hair from your relaxed face. His hand lingered on your cheek for a few breaths while he watched your peaceful expression that was only disrupted by the cut along your soft skin and slight bruising along your jaw. As his finger followed the bruise before pulling away with a sigh, he was reminded of the fact that this defined you - an exterior of cool beauty with a burning fire disrupting it from time to time.
He had accomplished what he had planned, forged you into hardened steel, a deadly precision to you that made you the perfect right hand woman. A personal dagger that lusted for blood when anyone close was threatened and that never caved under pressure. Loyal as if engraved with Dongcheon's own morals.