Target | Minsung

Chapter 3

Later that night, I received a message from a faithful client. They didn't pay nearly as much money as our other top customers but it was enough to help us get by.

    Unknown: I apologize for the late notice. Here's your target. Eliminate him before midnight

    I rubbed my temples as I read the target's information. What the hell were they thinking, setting the deadline so soon? "Hyunjin, get ready. We have an assassination tonight."

    Hyunjin shot up in his chair, which hit the wall with a bang. He unlocked the chain fence gate that kept our weapons protected and loaded a rifle and pistol. He handed me the pistol and tied his hair back in a ponytail before throwing on his beanie again. I put on a black mask and baseball hat so that only my eyes were visible. If there wasn't a 100 percent chance of killing the target on the first try, we had to keep covered. If we didn't there was a high chance that we would get caught as we fled.

    "Ready?" I asked. Hyunjin nodded in response and walked down the staircase of the apartment building to the parking lot. I followed him and sat in the passenger's seat as we drove to the target's house.

The target was a man in his late forties who also happened to be a popular political candidate. It wasn't uncommon for us to get political figures as our targets, however, we usually charged more for them since they were a real pain in the ass to go through with. Luckily for us, the target's house was only a five-minute drive from our apartment.

Hyunjin parked the car in front of the target's house, making sure that the license plate of the car was blocked before we went around the back of the house. I took a paper clip out of my pocket and picked the lock of the back door, hoping that the target was inside. I slowly opened the door. The kitchen was pitch black so we were able to get through the first floor without having to put too much effort into being stealthy. There was a light on at the top of the stairs so the target must have had to be on the second floor somewhere. We slowly climbed the staircase, flinching as one of the stairs creaked. If he was farther down the hall, I doubt he heard it. Hyunjin nodded at me, signaling that we split up.

I broke off to the left, a little overwhelmed at the number of doors that were in such a small place. I decided to ignore them and go straight to the door at the end of the hallway. As I approached, I knew I had made the right choice. The nameplate by the door read "Seo In Woo" the target's name.

I slowly opened the door to avoid alerting anyone else that might be in the house and aimed my gun directly at the desk in the center of the room. The man sitting at the desk raised his hands over his head in surrender, his eyes darted around the room looking for anything that could save him.

"What do you want?" In Woo demanded. "If you want money, I have lots of it! Just please don't shoot me!" I rolled my eyes. It seemed to me that all my targets were the same in some way. They all believed that they could get anything they desire with enough money. Even their own lives.

"I want money but I don't want it from you," I said. My vague answer startled him.

"I-I can give you my assistant's money! What do you want from me?" In Woo cried. I saw him reach for his phone at the end of his desk.

"Bad choice," I said as I shot him square in the forehead. I knelt by In Woo's body which had slumped out of his chair. I took a picture of his face and sent it to the client before looking for Hyunjin.

"Are we ready to go?" Hyunjin asked, peeking his head into the room. I flinched.

"You scared me!" I cried in a hushed whisper. "I sent the photo. Let's get out of here."

Hyunjin and I climbed down from In Woo's office window and went back to our car. We placed our guns in their cases so if we were pulled over for any reason, they wouldn't draw much suspicion. On the way back to our apartment, I transferred Jisung's number over to my work phone so that I could message him anonymously if needed.

~~~~

Jisung POV

    "Guess what?" I said, throwing myself down on the couch.

    "What?" Felix asked, sitting on the floor and leaning forward with curiosity. When I got out of college, I had been lucky enough to be able to get an apartment with my high school friends.

"I think I made two new friends today," I said excitedly. Seungmin raised an eyebrow at me, Felix's smile faded slightly, and Jeongin looked downright upset.

"What do you mean by that?" Jeongin asked, not bothering to keep the jealousy out of his voice.

"Don't worry. They'll never replace you," I said, quickly defending myself. "They offered to help me clean up the cafe and I even got their numbers!"

Felix thought it over. "They seem like nice people," He said, still looking apprehensive about my abrupt announcement.

"They are! Maybe we can meet up tomorrow!" I proposed, sitting bolt upright at the thought.

"If they're going to be friends with our Sungie then they'll have to pass our inspection," Seungmin said, crossing his arms. "Call them."

"Isn't it a bit late for that?" I asked. I didn't want to call them and possibly wake them up the day I met them.

"I don't care. Call them now," Seungmin pressed. I sighed and took out my phone debating who I should call. My finger rested on Minho's name so I pressed the call button. Minho picked up after the fourth ring.

"What?" He asked, sounding slightly annoyed. I could hear other cars in the background. He might have been driving.

"Ummm..Do you mind if I put you on speaker?" I asked. "Some of my friends want to talk to you." Minho went silent for a moment, only the sound of his car hitting a small pothole breaking the silence.

"I don't mind," He said finally. With his permission, I pressed the speaker button so that Felix, Jeongin, and Seungmin could now hear him and speak to him.

"Who are you?" Jeongin demanded, sounding less than threatening.

"My name is Minho," He said in a monotone voice. It didn't take much effort to know that he would rather be doing anything else than dealing with my friends at this time of night.

"Is Hyunjin hyung with you?" I asked, knowing they would want to know about him next.

"Yes," Minho said simply. Hyunjin, hearing his name, chimed into the conversation.

"What's up, Jisung?" He asked.

"Okay, Minho and Hyunjin. I want to see your faces," Seungmin said calmly.

"We're in the car right now. How about we meet tomorrow?" Hyunjin proposed, slightly taken aback by my friends behind so demanding.

"Sure," Felix said, finally chiming into the conversation. "How about at the park near the Stardust Cafe?" Hyunjin and Minho spoke to each other in hushed whispers so that we couldn't make out what they were saying.

"Deal. See you tomorrow," Minho said before hanging up. Jeongin stared at my phone and blinked a few times, taken aback by the abrupt hangup.

"I wasn't done talking to them," Jeongin said softly, his shoulders slumping forward.

"They seem like troublemakers. I don't trust them," Seungmin said, glaring at me. "I don't want you making friends with sketchy people okay?"

"They're not sketchy! They were really nice to me!" I protested. Why did they have to be so suspicious over two people who were trying to be genuinely nice?

"Who goes out of their way to help someone clean up a cafe after closing time? Most people would think that it's the worker's job right?" Felix butted it. He did raise a fair point but I believed with all my heart that Hyunjin and Minho were nice people. My current friends would find that out soon enough.