Chapter 19

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"You said your name was Gun Park, right?"

You were putting on your best oblivious voice, trying to act naive. Anyone who already knew that name would have not even dared to speak a word to him, but you, a seemingly normal citizen who happened to need help, obviously wouldn't know anything about that.

You were hesitant to tell him your name, so you just said your first name and avoided saying your family name. You would have made something up if not for the fact that you two would meet again, and if he found out you told him a false name, then it would just make you suspicious.

"Yes."

His answers were normally short and simple, but you couldn't help but feel how he watched you, like he was observing you.

"Are you not from here?" Gun looked at you momentarily before looking back at the road.

It was subtle, but your mannerisms and the way you talked hinted at it. He could tell that you were well versed in not drawing attention to it, but it slips from time to time.

"I'm not..." You were trying to plan out your words well. You didn't want to come off as annoying or too chatty, but you really wanted to keep him talking.

"I moved here from overseas quite a while ago."

You wanted to be as vague as possible while also trying to come off as normal.

He let it sit for a while before pushing further. He flicked his cigarette ashes out the window as he came to a stop at a red light.

"What for?"

You hummed a bit, giving it some thought and smiled while replying to him.

"School, it's great to gain experience and travel while learning."

You were trying to watch his expressions each time you responded, and he answered. But it was hard to see his boundaries. His face always held this Stoic look and it made him hard to read, there would only be a few times where he'd break, but it was so small it couldn't even be considered a crack.

But you wanted to get something, at least before it was time for you to leave. What a waste it would be to do otherwise. So you decided to go on.

"Those tattoos on your arms, what do they mean?"

You chose to play the clueless foreigner, an easy character to play so long as you kept up the naive facade.

His tattoos were just barely peaking out of his suit, but they were so noticeable that it was hard to miss.

Anyone with basic knowledge would be able to tell what those tattoos meant, and of course, you could too. You were curious to see what he'd say to a stranger about them and was convinced he wouldn't be fazed. It wasn't like every sheltered rich kid, as he thought you were, would be able to recognize Yakuza tattoos just by that much showing.

"They're for work. Why are you asking?"

You were wondering how far you could take this as time was running out.

"They look amazing, but what kind of work do you do?"

He didn't even need to think about it. It was like he had a response already and was smiling to himself.

"I handle money."

You laughed a bit, he thought you were just being lighthearted but really you found his whitey response very amusing. It almost surprised you how proud of it he was. But technically, he did handle money, so it wasn't like he lied.

You frowned a little as the car came to a stop at and the doors unlocked as he lined up with the sidewalk.

"This is it."

He didn't openly say anything, but you figured from his lingering stare that he was waiting for some kind of compensation.

You pulled out some money from your pockets. It wasn't much because of how much you spent for Mira at the Café earlier that day, but at least it wasn't nothing.

"Here you go, Mr. Money Handler.."

You smiled and waved as he took what money you gave him. You almost broke character as you tried not to laugh at his visible disappointment in the amount of bills.

He expected more.

You saw him look at you one last time before taking off. Little did he know you'd be seeing each other again very soon. But for now, you planned out what to do once you got home other than take a long-awaited nap.

Even so, as you walked through the more populated area of the city to your apartment, your mind couldn't help but linger.

Eugene had you on a tight leash, and it didn't seem that he was willing to even just loosen it, not even for a moment.

You thought you were a team when you first made the agreement. But now you know you're nothing but a pawn in his big game. It made you wonder where your loyalties should really be. Would Chairman Choi be any better, or maybe even Chairman Hong. You weren't sure at this point. And your doubts would only grow from here on.

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Started: September 5th, 2023
Finished: September 5th, 2023

Where should your loyalties be?

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