Chapter 1- You Look Like Shit, Jin-woo

The usually busy streets of Itaewon were lacking in traffic due to the early morning. The sun was also nowhere in sight making the slightly deserted streets in this area of Seoul look eerily creepy.

Step… Step…

A woman who looked to be in her mid-thirties was seen walking along the sidewalks.

She paid no mind to the red stop lights and instead jaywalked across the streets in a hurry.

She wore a brown coat along with simple black work pants.

Her slightly labored breath came out in white puffs due to the cold season. However, the cold weather was lessening since it was ending around this time of the month.

The woman walked for a bit, maneuvering through the narrow streets before she turned onto a rather sketchy-looking alleyway.

She looked around at all the buildings, seeming to be searching for something. After a bit of looking, she saw a building with a tiger sign above its entrance.

She moved towards the two-story building and went around the back. There she came upon a small flight of stairs that led down to an underground area of the building.

After she reached the bottom of the steps, she took off the black leather glove on her right hand and knocked firmly on the door.

A latch on top of the door opened and a pair of eyes appeared there staring at the woman.

"It's me, Myung-hee," the woman said.

The eyes shifted for a moment and a few muffled voices could be heard before the latch was closed and the door was opened.

A burly man was revealed at the entrance of the doorway, who shifted to the side to let Myung-hee inside.

After stepping inside the building, Myung-hee started taking off her other glove. As she moved forward she looked around.

However, her actions paused for a second as she saw a few men with guns in their hands. They were examining them and talking among themselves in a foreign language she recognized to be English, though no one there looked to be from any overseas country.

Quite a peculiar sight, Myung-hee thought. Perhaps they found it more comfortable to speak a foreign language.

Myung-hee suddenly snapped out of her thoughts and looked up from the guns in their hands to their tattooed-covered faces to see that they had stopped talking to stare back at her.

Myung-hee became somewhat nervous, but a voice suddenly came from the middle of the room.

"Mrs. Lee, welcome!"

A desk was in the middle of the room with a twenty-something-year-old man in a chair behind it.

His torso was bare, and a tattoo of a tiger was displayed on his chest. His face had a few piercings as well. When he smiled while calling out to Myung-hee rather happily, the ones on his lips jiggled a bit.

Myung-hee slowly walked over to the desk while trying to ignore the gazes of the several dozen men in the room looking at her.

Looking down at the man at the desk, Myung-hee asked.

"Did you get what I asked for?"

The man smirked and answered in a high-pitched voice.

"Well of course!"

He then reached into a drawer next to him and took out a small brown envelope.

Seeing the envelope, Myung-hee's face showed joy and she grabbed for it, but the man suddenly pulled it just out of her reach.

"Do you have the money?"

Myung-hee was first upset but quickly unzipped her coat and took out a brown paper bag before placing it on the table.

The man held the envelope between his fingers as he picked up the brown bag and opened it. A good amount of cash was seen inside, and the man flipped through them with his finger while holding it next to his ears.

His expression showed concentration as if he was focused on counting the money.

With the last flap, his finger ran through everything, but his face fell before he looked at Myung-hee and said.

"This is short three million Won."

"What?! You said to bring two million, that's two million! What are you talking about that it's now short three million?!"

The man held up his hand to stop one of his men from approaching Myung-hee before he calmly said.

"Turns out the item you requested was a lot harder to get. Three million Won on top of this or you get nothing."

The man waved the envelope in front of Myung-hee in a teasing manner.

Myung-hee gritted her teeth upon, but after a moment of silence from her, she reached into the other inside pocket of her coat before taking out another brown bag.

"Ah! So you came prepared, how smart of you, Mrs. Lee."

Myung-hee slammed down the bag on the table hard, obviously annoyed by this man.

The man only smirked before he lifted his hand to give Myung-hee the small envelope.

Myung-hee went to take it, but the man once again pulled back his hand.

Seeing this, Myung-hee was about to fly into a rage despite where she was but the man suddenly spoke up.

"Relax."

He then stood up from his chair and walked to the back of the room. There on the wall, he opened a safe and took out another envelope.

He then returned and handed her that one.

Myung-hee slowly took it out of his hand but her eyes still wandered towards the one he was going to hand her previously.

The man smirked before he placed that envelope back into the drawer behind the table.

"No need to think too deeply about it."

Myung-hee frowned slightly but she immediately ignored it and instead focused on the envelope.

Her eager eyes trembled uncontrollably when she slowly pulled out the item to view it.

"We good?" the man asked.

Coming to, Myung-hee placed the item back inside the envelope before putting it in her coat. She then said with a nod.

"Yes."

With that, Myung-hee didn't waste time getting out of this sketchy place. She got what she wanted and due to her excitement and eagerness, she hurriedly rushed back home.

....

*Beep*

*Beep*

*Beep*

A typical scene one might find in Itaewon, this early in the morning, or all of Seoul for that matter, was someone sleepily rushing to turn off their annoying alarm.

One more minute they would tell themselves, only to have the backup alarm go off ten minutes later.

They would have no one to curse at but their past selves for their current situation.

After turning off his second alarm, Jin-woo pulled off the cover from over his head before slowly getting up.

His face looked sleep-deprived and faint dark bags could be seen under his eyes. It was evident something was keeping him awake last night.

A nightmare perhaps.

Scratching his disheveled hair, Jin-woo took up his glasses from his bedside table before he got up from his bed and went to his bathroom down the hall from his room.

Looking at himself in the bathroom mirror, Jin-woo squinted his eyes at himself before he murmured.

"You look like shit, Jin-woo."