Flashback.

  South Korea

  Jin is sitting alongside his friend Su-Ho on a weathered couch. Boxes of miscellaneous items, and stolen goods were scattered across his living room. Each box representing a previous hustle Jin’s farther attempted but Su-Ho and Jin didn’t mind the stuffiness of the room. Both of them were smoking cigarettes while watching an educational video about crabs. Su-Ho tapped his cigarette over the ashtray on the coffee table.

  “That’s sort of crazy, isn’t it?”

  “What’s that?” Jin asked.

  “They said sometimes crabs will cling to the other crabs or animals, which will cause them to either purposely or accidentally hindering the progression of said animal.” Su-Ho explained.

  “Isn’t there a term for that?” Jin asked.

  “I think so, but I can’t remember it. But doesn’t that sound like someone you know?” Su-Ho asked.

  Jin ponders this for so long that he forgot to ash his cigarette, allowing the ash to fall on the already dingy couch.

  “Nope. Not that I can think of.” Jin finally answered.

  Just like clockwork, Jin’s farther walks through the front door. (Seoyun, 37) Seoyun was a rugged and greasy looking man, it was like he didn’t shower for the past 2 days. He barely gave the two boys any attention at all, while he walked over to one of the many boxes in the corner of the room. Su-Ho and Jin didn’t even attempt to put the cigarette’s out and opted to keep smoking. Eventually Seoyun noticed his son and friend.

  “Hey boys. No school today?” Seoyun asked.

  “Nope.” Jin quickly answered.

  “Why not?” Seoyun persisted.

  “They pissed us off. Figured we could use our time more effectively.” Jin said.

  “Sure, whatever. You got anymore smokes?” Seoyun nonchalantly changed the subject.

  Su-Ho exhaustedly exhaled as he dug in his pocket for his pack of cigarettes. When Seoyun walked over to collect it he noticed that glare Su-ho was giving him. Seoyun didn’t pay this any mind and snatched the cigarette out of Su-ho’s hand.

  “Light” Seoyun demanded.

  Without delay, Jin handed his father a lighter. Seoyun lit his cigarette and instead of handing it back to his son, he placed the lighter in his pants pocket.

  “That’s mine.” Jin said.

  “I know. Thank you.” Seoyun said.

  “You just going to waltz in here, and immediately steal from your own son? Pathetic.” Su-Ho antagonized.

  “That’s rich coming from a delinquent that’s skipping class with my son, as you sit on my couch, inside my house. You kids nowadays have no respect.” Seoyun countered.

  Before Su-Ho could protest anymore, Jin placed his hand in front of him. Signaling this was something he wouldn’t win. After seeing this, Su-Ho held his tongue. Which made Seoyun smile. At this moment, Su-Ho and Jin received a text on both of their phones. They both analyzed the text message and quietly nodded to each other.

  “Jin, get up, I need your help with this box. It’s close to that time of year when a shit ton of tourists swarm the city, so I have to take inventory.” Seoyun demanded.

  “Can’t. Su-ho and I just got called in.” Jin said while grabbing his jacket off the couch.

  “Fine. In that case let me hold your phone for a few hours.” Seoyun said.

  “No can do.” Jin said, “I’m going to need it for work.”

  “Your farther asked you for your phone that I paid for – “

  “Except you didn’t pay for my phone. You couldn’t even buy yourself a new phone. Don bought me this phone, and right now he wants Su and I to do a job for him. If you don’t like it then you can talk to Don yourself.” Jin barked.

  This made Seoyun stand down and suck his teeth.

  “Thought so.” Jin said while closing the door behind Su-Ho and himself.

  **

  The sun was beating down on Su-ho and Jin, while they were sitting on a park bench. Su-Ho was smoking another cigarette while Jin was laying back on the park bench with his arms stretched out and his head bent backwards, staring at the sky. At this time of day, the only people at the park were someone doing calisthenics, and several kids playing basketball. Su-Ho was curious about the children not being in school, but thought it’d be too hypocritical to say anything about it. There’s a comfortable, and peaceful quiet moment between the two friends before –

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  “Why the gloomy expression?”

  A tall, handsome, and clean-shaven young man stood over Jin with his hands in his jacket pocket. The man had pink, dyed hair, and a neck tattoo of a spade. This is Don.

  “Just thinking.” Jin answered without moving.

  “His dad was being a dick.” Su-Ho added.

  “Oh?” Don expressed. “I thought your dad would’ve chilled out after you bailed him out of jail again. What does that make, three times now?”

  “Four actually, but this isn’t about him.” Jin admitted.

  “What is it then?” Don asked.

  “I’ve just been thinking about my mom lately and what she would say if she saw me now.” Jin said.

  “That’s deep. You never met your mom, correct?” Don said while he walked over to the front of the bench and sat next to Jin. Jin moved closer to Su-Ho in order to make space.

  “Yeah.” Jin answered.

  “Then there’s no real way of knowing. Your father isn’t a reliable source of information, and you don’t have any more family to ask about her. So, if you ask me, you shouldn’t worry about things you have no way of knowing. It’s only going to give you early grey hairs.” Don informed.

  “Yeah, maybe your right.” Jin agreed.

  “So, what was the emergency?” Su-Ho asked.

  “Great question. I need you two to go handle some Bleeding Hearts that are engrossing on our southernmost turf.” Don ordered.

  “B.H? I thought they were already delt with.” Jin exclaimed.

  “Same.” Su-Ho added.

  “I thought so too, but there seems to be a few eager hands left. One of the businesses that pay for protection called me yesterday. Apparently, they came by threatening the owner.” Don informed.

  “Why didn’t the owner tell them that he was under our protection.?” Jin asked.

  “He did.” Don said.

  “And?” Su-Ho asked.

  “They didn’t care. So, I need you to do two things. The owner is behind on payments. So, head over there, collect his backpay, and keep an eye out for any B. H’s.” Don ordered.

  “What if we catch em?” Jin asked.

  “Then take care of them. Any means necessary.” Don said. “I’m trusting you two to manage this for me.”

  “We won’t let you down.” Su-Ho reassured his leader.

  “Second that.” Jin agreed.

  Don smiled, stood up from the bench and placed his hands in his jacket again while he began to walk away.

  “I’ll text you the location.”

  **

  Su-Ho and Jin walked up to the entrance of a convenience store before they saw the hole in the front window.

  “I said get your fucking money out!”

  Su and Jin exchanged looks and nodded. When they walked through the front door, they saw three young men standing in front of the cashier and the register. Instantly everyone in the store turned their attention to the two young men that walked through the doors.

  “Sorry, kids. The store is closed. Leave.” One of the thugs said.

  “That’s too bad, we really wanted some candy. Didn’t we?” Su-Ho said to Jin.

  “To damn bad. Find another store.” The same thug demanded.

  “But this place has the best candy on this side of town.” Jin pleaded.

  Su-Ho and Jin kept nonchalantly walking toward the trio of people, which made one of them uneasy.

  “Stop right there! I don’t care what fucking candy this place has, can’t you read the room?!”

  “Of course we can. So let me guess, you collective waste are what’s left of the Bleeding Hearts gang?” Su-Ho asked.

  For a brief moment everyone in the store went silent. The owner looked painfully at the three thugs and then to Su-Ho and Jin.

  “Sir, my friend, and I are here to collect what you owe. Don sent us. So as long as you pay us, we will keep you safe from these light weights.” Jin addressed the owner.

  “Hey, twerp.” The last thug yelled while unsheathing his pistol from under his white buttoned shirt. “Who are you calling a light weight?”

  “I got him.” Jin said to Su-ho.

  “I got the loud one.” Su-ho said while sprinting toward the middle thug.

  “Hey!” the thug holding the gun begins to aim at Su-ho before Jin grabs the thugs pistol and maneuvers it to be facing the ground. Su- ho takes this opportunity to punch the thug nearest the register. As a small scuffle emerged, the thug Jin was struggling with pulled the trigger of his gun. The sound of the gun echoed throughout the entire store, which made the store owner cover his ears, and the third thug ran out of the store. Su-ho and Jin were already use to the sound of gun fire. Don conditioned them to be able to work under stressful circumstances, so even though their ears were ringing, they both kept their cool and continued their attack.

  The thug that Jin was wrestling used his open hand to punch Jin in the face. Jin took this punch in stride but saw he was reeling back for another. Jin used his right arm to block the next punch in order to grab the man’s hand. The he proceeded to headbutt the man square in his nose, instantly breaking it. The thug fell back on his butt, using both hands to cover his face but Jin could see the blood spilling from between his fingers.

  Su-ho was able to successfully punch the thug one more time before the thug could grab Su-ho and grapple him to the ground. Showing off some of his mixed martial arts training. Su-ho put up a guard while the thug began to wail on him. That is until he felt the warm barrel of a gun on the back of his head, which made the thug stop.

  “Put your hands up.” Jin ordered.

  The thug didn’t move.

  “Don’t be stupid, I said put your hands up!”

  “You ever shot someone before kid?” The thug asked.

  “Yeah.” Jin lied.

  “I don’t believe you.” The thug said. “I can feel the barrel shaking.”

  “Don’t fool yourself that’s the adrenaline.” Jin lied.

  “Tell you what, if I do move… you pull the trigger!”

  Everything had moved so quickly for Jin. Even though he disarmed the first thug, it never occurred to Jin that any of the other thugs were carrying a gun. In the blink of an eye, the thug pulled a small pocket pistol from under his pants leg and shot Su-ho. Jin’s eye met with Su-ho when the bullet had pierced his heart and lung. Su-ho gasped for air.

  “Oh my god!” the store owner shouted.

  Without any words, Jin tightened his grip on the gun and shot the thug in the back of the head. The sound rang in Jin’s ears although he didn’t react to it. Instead, he pushed the thug’s lifeless body to the side and looked at his friend’s eyes. They were no longer moving; in fact, they were completely still.

  “Su-ho?” Jin called out.

  The ringing in his ears made it hard to hear the store owner yelling to him that the last thug had gotten up and started running out of the front door. Blood still trickling from his nose. Jin’s mind became both cluttered and empty with thoughts of what just happened, what to do next, whether to chase the last thug, whether to stay or run, if the store owner ever paid him, if he should’ve just shot the thugs to begin with, were all racing through his mind. Although all of those thoughts would exit his consciousness and all that would remain was a single thought. ‘Was Su-ho going to die?’

  “Call an ambulance!” Jin demanded the store owner.

  The store owner complied and grabbed his store phone. Tears finally began to fall from Jin’s eyes and onto Su-ho’s face.

  “You’re okay. You’re okay, you’re okay, you’re okay, you’re okay.” Jin lied to himself. “Su-ho!”

  End of flashback:

  **

  Present day

  Jin was still holding his pistol to the back of a smiling Maximillion’s head.

  “You got me.” Max claimed.

  “I do.” Jin confirmed.

  “If you took the time, you could fire a charged shot, and I would be near death for sure.” Max said.

  “Good idea.” Jin said.

  “Except there’s one thing.” Max exclaimed.

  “Yeah? What’s that?” Jin asked.

  “It’s been three seconds.” Max declared.

  At this moment, Max fired a rail beam straight down onto the train floor. The beam pierced through the train floor and into the inner mechanics, causing a chain reaction. From a far we can see the train car exploding.