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Jin-Ah crept closer between the buildings. The man’s yelling was only growing louder, and Kang Min-Seo’s voice was trembling and faint in her responses. The waves crashing into the nearby docks faded in light of the confrontation. While shadows obscured the scene, Jin-Ah could just barely make out the knife glinting in the man’s hand and Kang Min-Seo’s figure huddled back against the brick wall.
Jin-Ah’s breathing was growing unsteady. She had to do something, or else her subordinate was—according to the man’s increasingly irate yelling—going to die. But, both she and Kang Min-Seo were unarmed and inexperienced in combat. This was only supposed to be a quick check-in with Kang Min-Seo, not a rescue mission.
The man made an especially erratic movement with his knife, and Jin-Ah felt her heart nearly beat out of her chest.
Fuck.
Her eyes darted around the brick walls and overflowing dumpsters. There had to be something, anything, she could use. The walls felt like they were closing in around her, her breath was growing increasingly harsh and her eyes struggled to focus.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
What was seconds felt like minutes, but, finally, piled haphazardly next to the dumpster closest to her was a partially torn apart wooden pallet. There. She quietly hurried over and picked up a loose board.
As she moved towards the confrontation with quick steps, Kang Min-Seo caught her eye.
“What are you looking at?!” the man screamed, holding the knife closer to her face.
“N-Nothing! I—”
The man cut her off as he continued his rant, completely oblivious to everything around him. If Jin-Ah cared to listen closer she might have been able to gather some information about who he was and why he was here, threatening a member of her gang; but, in her current state, she doubted she’d retain much. She could always ask Kang Min-Seo—if they both survived.
Right.
Jin-Ah made it the last few steps, heart pounding, and held the wooden plank up like a baseball bat. With a breath out, she swung with all her might, hitting the side of the man’s head with a hollow thunk.
The man crumpled, the plank falling with him as Jin-Ah’s hands lost their grip. She was trembling, she noticed. She tried to steady her hands to no avail.
“B-Boss-nim!” Kang Min-Seo gasped, falling to the ground against the building behind her. “You, you saved me!”
Jin-Ah’s gaze remained locked on the man as he laid unmoving. Even his chest was still, no breath in his lungs. A puddle began to form underneath him, difficult to distinguish in the dim light. The sound of the wooden board hitting his head kept playing on repeat within her mind. Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.
Detachedly, she found herself saying, “He’s dead.”
She… killed him. She had just killed someone.
When she’d swung the plank she somehow hadn’t anticipated this. She thought he’d be knocked out, disoriented, and it would give them time to escape. But… that wasn’t what happened. He was dead.
She knelt down and went to pick up the plank, but it wasn’t loose anymore—it was attached to the man’s head. Jin-Ah swallowed down the vomit that threatened to rise in her throat.
There had been a nail, or maybe a few nails, in the board. She’d lodged them in his skull.
Thunk.
Min-Seo stood shakily, holding the wall to help keep her balance. It was over. Her boss had rescued her. She was alive. Her mouth twitched into a smile.
She was alive!
Still trembling, she walked over to Boss Sung-nim and her attacker’s body.
“Can I help move him?” she asked.
After a moment, Boss-nim responded, not looking up from the body, “Yes.”
Her voice was cold, like Min-Seo had always imagined the ruthless crime bosses of the underworld sounded. And to think that this very crime boss was her saviour! Her, little ol’ Kang Min-Seo, personally rescued by her boss!
Boss-nim continued, “Grab his legs.”
“Yes, Boss-nim!”
Min-Seo hurried to obey, newfound purpose strengthening her limbs despite the adrenaline crash. The two of them lifted the body, the plank still hanging from his head. Min-Seo felt the urge to laugh hysterically, but pushed it down. Boss Sung-nim must have killed him instantly. She was so cool.
Min-Seo’s hands kept slipping from sweat as they carried the body towards the docks, and she could feel her strength flagging in the wake of, well, everything that had happened. Her boss, even as she remained cold, cool, and collected, was understanding of her poor performance.
Wow. Min-Seo couldn’t help but have the childish wish to one day become as cool as her boss.
After a miserable hour of cleaning up the scene of the crime and preparing the body to be thrown into the ocean, Jin-Ah was just about ready to collapse where she stood. It was one thing to research how to cover up crimes and dispose of bodies—it was an entirely different situation when it came to following through.
And actually killing someone in the first place.
Ever since, Jin-Ah had been trying to keep her mind focused on contingency plans and next steps, since, whenever she didn’t, the moment of his death—the moment she killed him—would replay in her head. The sound of wood hitting his skull echoed, and her throat constricted. She thought back to her driving goal.
When her family was finally reunited, she hoped she’d be able to face them after everything she’d done.
For now, she’d stop by a convenience store on the way home for a tub of ice cream and bawl her eyes out in her room.