"What about we go to Gwangju and rob some other places too," Hyungwon suggested, having already started to like the concept.
"There's this one Maserati store in Jangseong," Hoseok said, already feeling excited. The store had been his goal for a long time but it was hard to do it alone.
"I have always wanted a Maserati," Hyunwon smiled and followed as Hoseok took one last drag from the cigarette before throwing it to the ground and jumping to his car without even opening the door. Hyungwon got on too and Hoseok reversed out of the parking lot. He pulled back to the highway and there were already sounds of police sirens coming from the distance.
The engine roared as Hoseok pressed the gas pedal hard, letting the laps go up all the way 'til five thousand before switching the gear to the highest. The sirens quickly disappeared from their ears, meaning that they weren't being chased - the cops had went to the gas station to check out the situation first. Both of the guys were laughing for no reason.
"Have you done something like this before?" Hyungwon asked, referring to the robbing.
"A few times. Sometimes just for fun and sometimes just because I was asked to. But only small things, never nothing as big as what we're about to do right now," Hoseok told, not wanting to make a big thing out of him so Hyungwon wouldn't think badly of him.
"Do we need to like, hide our faces or something," Hyungwon continued asking questions.
"Preferably. I don't want them to see your beautiful face," Hoseok extended his arm to run his fingers along Hyungwon's cheekbone. Hyungwon didn't react. "I'm not sure how well secured the place is. Should we just walk in normally like we were actually buying something, get in a car and drive out. Or come in with guns and shit and test if we get shot while doing it."
"Well, we have plenty of time to come up with a master plan," Hyungwon leaned his head back and hung his arm out of the window again.
"While we're still far away, can I ask you a few questions?" Hoseok asked, taking his thoughts away from the future.
"I won't answer nothing personal," Hyungwon replied. He felt like Hoseok was telling all about his personal life - or at least would tell if asked - so he felt a bit wrong.
"I'm not curious about anything like that. Just something funny that came to mind," Hoseok said, even though he did have some more personal questions he wanted to ask but decided to ditch them for now. "Why do you hitchhike? Don't you have a house or...? Was that personal?"
"I already told you. It's for the cars. Sometimes I just want a ride. I do have an apartment back in Ulsan," Hyungwon answered simply. He took his hand back in the car as it was getting cold by the wind.
"So, what if someone picked you up who had like a fucking ugly ass minivan or something?"
"Then I will just quietly get off somewhere," Hyungwon laughed at the thought of getting picked by someone with an ugly car, which honestly was more possible than a fancy one.
"Do you ever change your mind while you're at it?" Hoseok asked, quickly glancing at Hyungwon before focusing on the road. "Sometimes when I'm listening to the stories of the people I pick up, I decide they deserve better than to get robbed or killed."
"I guess you're a better person than I am."
"So, you wouldn't change your mind about the car you want?"
"I think I wouldn't. I'll end up in jail if I let someone walk away alive. My face is too recognizable," Hyungwon said.
"That's true," Hoseok nodded and continued driving, thinking about the situation. For some reason the subject they were talking about didn't even seem weird at all. "How many people have you killed, then?"
"Isn't that a personal question already?"
"Is it? I don't think so."
"Probably not as many as you think. But more than you at least, 'cause I know you're a softie. That's all I'm gonna say," Hyungwon told and Hoseok realized that maybe it was too early to be talking about something like that.
"Alright, alright. Enough with me being soft tho'. You're the one who just robbed a store for the first time in his life," he laughed and then stayed quiet. They continued the ride in silence again as Hoseok's mind drifted to thinking about the Maserati store since they were getting closer to their destination. Hoseok stopped the car on the side of the road and pressed the button that closed the roof. They needed to go over the plan.
"I think we need to take the plates off. I don't want to abandon this car," Hoseok started talking.
"Won't people suspect that too much?" Hyungwon seemed doubtful about it. He felt like they couldn't even get close without getting stopped by cops or someone. Hoseok didn't knew there could be a better plan. "A guy I know will fake-register our cars and give us new plates. That's what I do with every car I steal."
"You know a guy like that?" Hoseok sounded surprised, though he should have guessed Hyungwon had someone like that behind him instead just living on with the stolen cars.
"He modifies the mileage and serial number, basically everything you could recognize the car with. Sometimes we even paint or vinyl wrap them," Hyungwon told. The roof of the car closed on top of them.
"Okay, so... All we need to do is hide our faces," Hoseok reached to the backseat to take out two ski masks. Hyungwon had a questioning look as he saw them, wondering why Hoseok happened to have multiple of them with him. "You can never know when you'll need a couple of masks."
"I won't question anything," Hyungwon said and put the mask in his head, covering his face so only his eyes were shown.
"You still look handsome like that," Hoseok took the opportunity to flirt with Hyungwon. He saw the guy roll his eyes.
"I'm always handsome, you don't have to mention it," Hyungwon forced the other mask in Hoseok's head to prevent him from saying anything more. Hoseok lifted his hands to adjust the mask better so he could see something.
"So arrogant," Hoseok muttered and started the car again so they could continue their way to Jangseong. He was getting nervous as they got closer and kept glancing over to Hyungwon, trying to get some reassurance by knowing he wasn't the only one who was feeling anxious. "I'll park this car next to the entrance so you drive the Maserati and I drive my own car."
"Where shall we meet?" Hyungwon asked.
"Do you have any license plates with you? Or what were you planning to do with my car once you kill me?"
"I have plates for one car."
"We gotta drive to different directions. How about we meet where we tried to kill each other? It's a remote place and far enough from Gwangju for anyone to look for us," Hoseok suggested, quickly looking at Hyungwon.
"You're putting a lot of trust on me for thinking I will show up there," Hyungwon said.
"How about you give those license plates to me and you'll have no chance but to come? I'm sacrificing my car for this after all."
"Then you can run away," Hyungwon spent a moment wondering what they should do. He took out one plate from the bag he had been carrying with him. "I'm giving you one and keeping one myself so neither of us can bail out."
"Fair enough," Hoseok put the plate inside his jacket. He couldn't leave it in the car, fearing something would happen that would force him to leave his car behind.
They drove through the city for a few minutes until arriving to their destination. They both looked at the store and started to feel more and more nervous, getting second thoughts about whether this would end well or if they would be heading to jail or hospital soon. They turned to each other.
"Pick a nice one, baby," Hoseok smiled widely at him. He took out his gun and checked how many bullets he had left.
"I might as well if you call me baby one more time," Hyungwon did the same.
"Alright, baby," Hoseok stepped out the car and walked around it as Hyungwon got off too. Their hearts were already beating loud and their muscles became tense as they busted in from the doors, pointing out their guns.
Given the time of the day, there were no customers in the store. Hyungwon scanned the few sportscars there were as Hoseok walked a step in front of him, pointing at the two workers behind the desk. He noticed one of them searching for something on the table and realized she had called for security.
"No need to panic. We're here for just one car," Hoseok told to the workers, approaching them. "Give us some keys."
"All the keys are locked in a safe in the backroom and we can't open it," the woman worker explained, her voice shaking. Hoseok looked at her up and down, knowing she was lying. He saw a badge hanging around her neck and pulled it off harshly. He threw it to Hyungwon.
"Hurry up and take a car. I'll deal with things here," Hoseok hissed at him to get him to move. He didn't know if the security guard was in the same building or if they had a little more time. He stepped closer to the desk, still pointing out his gun to keep the people standing still. Hyungwon rushed through the door that was next to the front desk. "What's the passcode? 0000?"
The woman and man both stayed quiet. Hoseok loaded his gun and turned it towards the man instead.
"Will you tell us?" he asked again with a nice voice, tilting his head. Then he saw Hyungwon come from the door and throwing the badge back to Hoseok. The man standing in front of him cursed under his breath upon noticing that Hyungwon had a key in his hand. "What? No passcode? Or was it really 0000?" he set the badge on the counter in front of him. He was too focused on keeping an eye on the workers to check out which one Hyungwon picked. He heard an engine start and it echoed in the large room.
Hoseok quickly glanced over his shoulder to see the lights of the white car in the middle turning on. When he turned his head back, the woman's hands were going through something under the desk and the next thing he knew he had a gun pointed at him too.
A loud crash interrupted the tension as Hyungwon drove the car out through the class wall in the front.
"Look, dear, I'm not the one stealing a car here. Why are you pointing the gun at me when you should have shot before he drove out?" Hoseok said, wanting to annoy the workers even though it definitely wasn't smart in that position.
To his surprise, the woman fired the gun and the bullet went past Hoseok's shoulder. His eyes widened.
"Oh shit," he let out, not because the woman had just shot a bullet at him but because through the reflection on the store window, he saw a security guard behind him. He started running towards the hole Hyungwon had made on the store window but couldn't get all the way there before being tackled by the heavily built guy. His gun dropped to the ground as he fell and slid far away from him.