iris . vkook

thirty two

삼십이

Jeongguk's PoV;

"You're really pushing my fucking buttons, kid." Boss sighed.

JinJin looked on with a concerned face. Boss had power over JinJin, which fucking sucked because I loved JinJin and how flexible he was with the rules.

"I'm not going to kill him." I replied, noticing his face when I propped my muddy combat boots up onto his metal desk, "I've made myself clear more than enough times."

"Do you want another beating, boy?" He snarled.

"Do you want me to carry on working for you?" I replied, "you can beat me all you want, I refuse to do this mission. I've done more than enough for you, you should appreciate the fact that this is the only mission I have and only ever will turned down."

"Why won't you do it?" He asked, clenching his hands into fists.

"He's done nothing wrong against you. He's a broke college kid with a love for art and dogs. How the fuck is he a threat?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at him, "plus, it says in my contract - which is approved by every single one of my bosses that I've had in the past - that I refuse to assassinate friends or my soulmate. This mission goes against my contract. Therefore, even if I wanted to, you can't make me do it."

"It's a shitty piece of paper, Jeon. Plus, you went against the contract when you killed Jay, did you not?"

That struck a nerve.

I stood up, enraged.

I walked closer to him, grabbing the collar of his shirt and bringing his face up so my snarl was met with his worried face.

"How fucking dare you?" I seethed, "Jay was my best friend - I would do anything for him."

"You kille-" 

"Boss, if I may. Jeongguk didn't kill him. It's genuinely impossible. He'd moved to Seoul at that point and was enrolling in college. Lee Taeyong visited him and there was a report saying that he was out for a dinner with his sister, Noh Jiwook which is her soulmate and Kim Taehyung on the day of Jay's death. You know that Jeongguk works alone, meaning that he didn't even get someone else to kill Jay." JinJin said, recalling information like a robot.

"Hmph. Fine. I'll believe you." Boss said, squirming under my tight grip, "Kim is your soulmate, did you say?"

"Yes."

"I'll let you off. I know how it feels to be without your soulmate and as much as you piss me off, kid, I have a soft spot for you and I don't want you to go through that pain."

My hands slackened on his collar, slowly retracting my hands in minor shock at Boss' words.

"What?" I said in disbelief, JinJin pulling a surprised face.

"You remind me of my son, so much. He was hotheaded, just like you and loyal." He smiled, "he looked up to you, you know. He'd watch you in training, and he'd try and reproduce your Taekwondo kicks. He'd often finish with a lot of bruises and the occasional bust lip or not. He desperately wanted to be your friend because he found you cool, but you were too intimidating and he was too shy."

"What happened to him?" I asked, bringing myself up to sit criss-cross on his desk.

"Nothing drastic. My ex-wife, my soulmate, we got in a huge argument once over me wanting to make you and my son friends or allies, and then she took him and moved somewhere abroad. Last I heard, they were in China."

"I'm sorry to hear that. Here, pass me some paper, I'll write a note for him incase you ever manage to get in touch again. What was his name?" I said, gesturing for the notepad beside him.

He ripped me a piece of paper out, "Kim Woosung."

I grabbed a pen, writing his name and scribbling something along the lines of me being 'absolutely delighted to train with him' and to maybe teach him some Taekwondo. I signed it with my name and a tiny sketch of a rose.

"Here you go. I hope you get in touch with him." I passed him the paper.

"Me too." He smiled softly, folding up the paper and slipping it into his wallet, allowing me to catch a glimpse of a woman in the pocket.

"Woah, was that your wife?" I asked, "she was pretty."

"Yeah, she was beautiful. Sometimes soulmates aren't meant to be forever, I suppose." His smile turned sad, "anyway, how's your soulmate?"

"He hates me. We got into an argument before I came back down here and we haven't talked since." I sighed, "and that was a month ago."

"Aww, kid. I hope you two get along better soon. And if not, you know that we're all here for you." Boss smiled, looking like a fatherly figure with his greying hair and wrinkling face.

I smiled in return, looking at him like he was my dad, though he literally gave me a black eye. I forgave him. We'd been in fights before, and he hit me for going against his gang order.

"Thanks, Boss." I said, checking the clock, "I need to go, I'm on a run with Rocky."

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"Jesus, that was a long shift." I groaned, cracking my neck as Rocky stuffed the last few baggies of unsold drugs.

"Yeah, I know." He replied, stretching, "what shall we do?"

"I don't know. I need to pick up some art materials, do you wanna come with?"

"Ooh, little Jeonggukie likes to dra- ouch!" He whined when I slapped him on the arm, "damn I was joking. I'll come with you, I have an eye for detail, you know."

"Rocky, you thought that Van Gogh was someone from a film."

"Dude," He groaned, "I sell drugs, I don't paint stuff."

"My bad."

We started walking to the city centre, where my favourite craft shop was and where I got all my paper, pencils and pens from.

"But, to be fair, he does sound like a superhero." He said, causing me to laugh and smack him on the arm.

"Shut the fuck up." I smiled.