Chapitre 11: Climax

"I hope you do know this is not a f*cking date, right?" He said in an acerbic tone and this did more than enough to break the awkward atmosphere as the Gyeong would giggle.

Byung would place an order for a burger with fries and a Cola. For Gyeong, ice cream to cool her off. He knew his order will take some time to arrive despite Gyeong being served almost instantly, and thus, would do his best to find out more about the man named Jin.

"What did you mean by the oldest member?" Byung would ask, watching the kid take her ice cream with so much happiness that she seemed lost in her little world as she responded.

"Master Jin was the last of the previous generation." With a smile and her face, she acted more like a child now with ice cream before her.

"Last generation?" Byung asked with a raised brow.

"Yes, the last generation was the previous bearer of the stamps. each has found a successor and long passed on their marks before their deaths. But Master Jin was reluctant, he rejected the candidates fit to receive his stamp handpicked by the Guild Master, Master Ki-tae." She responded, taking a spoon of ice cream into her mouth.

"I see, to think I was chosen a day before he died. It makes me wonder if he knew...." Byung would stop himself from completing this sentence, this was not the place nor time to say his thoughts out loud.

At last, his burger had arrived with a plastic cup that contained 32 ounces of cold liquid cola.

"Alright, let us head out once we are done here," Byung said, taking a mouthful of the junk food before him.

A-Yeong was still retreating when she heard uncomfortable grunts from Kwan in which she stopped abruptly, placing both him and Cho on the ground for neither could know that she had carried them.

"Yawns… What the heck just happened." Kwan asked, finally waking up but looking to his left, he saw Cho sleeping comfortably. Just then, he realized exactly where they were but was in no hurry to get up. How could he have fallen asleep in the middle of the road? But before he could dive too deep into his thoughts.

"Hey, you finally awake, huh?" A-Yeong's voice would penetrate the auditory senses of Kwan, who jerked his head immediately in her direction but from this angle, he could see just under her breast but unlike Byung, such things did not move him.

"Sometimes I wonder, are those real?" Kwan would comment, pointing right under her shirt from below.

"Kyyaaa!" She would scream. Instantly, A-Yeong would clutch her chest and run a couple of paces backward and away from him, hiding from his supposed leering gaze.

"It is funny how you act like a lady on a whim. Just what the hell happened?" Kwan asked, getting up to his feet, and dusting himself off. A-Yeong, however, maintained her so-called vulnerable stance.

"What are you doing? Cut that stuff out" Kwan said with a tired sigh accompanying it, this attitude showed her he was in no mood to play.

"You guys were hit in the head and passed out; we were about to be robbed but Dohyun drove them off. He brought you both here before heading somewhere, no idea where so do not bother asking." A-Yeong ran her mouth, it was obvious she had thought of this excuse long before they awoke.

"I have something to ask you." He said as he began walking towards her.

"What is it…?" A-Yeong would ask, a bit nervous about what he wanted to ask. Perhaps he knew more than he should but it was not related to what occurred today because he had wanted to talk to her a day before, at least according to Eunsuh.

"Just what did you say to Byung. I will not take it lightly if you are messing with him." Kwan would warn and A-Yeong was taken aback. Did Byung tell him everything they had discussed? No, that couldn't be right.

"I do not understand what you are saying, Kwan. I am surprised you are speaking to me, to be honest. This has to be our first 'real' conversation." A-Yeong would attempt to take control of the conversation but it was not happening as Kwan was now mere inches from her face, moving his head to align his thick lips to her ear.

"H-hey, w-what are you doing…!?" She asked, clearly flustered by the proximity but what came out of his mouth was something she couldn't have predicted, not in a million years.

"If you hurt Byung in any way, I will f*cking kill you, b*tch…" He whispered in her ear but it felt like his words had momentarily stopped her heart from beating, it scared her. This behavior was foreign to Kwan and having seen this side, she was nothing but stunned.

But just before things could take a turn for the worse, Cho would grunt in discomfort. He was finally awake. as he raised his head with his back still firmly planted on the floor.

"Huh? What is going on... Kwan, where are you?" Cho would say in a very disoriented tone before falling back to sleep immediately he completed this sentence.

"How can you fall back to sleep in the middle of the road!?" He shouted at Cho. He would run from A-Yeong and towards Cho, but turn back and say with a broad smile more fitting of his personality.

"Well, this only applies if you have any ulterior motives that would harm him in any way. Thank Dohyun for me." Now, he stood over Cho who was sleeping like a newborn baby.

"Now then…." He muttered as he cocked his right elbow, before falling to one side and striking the chest of Cho.

"AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH! THAT HUUUURRTTTSS!"

Geun and Dohyun were still running. The path they had taken was secluded so no surprise attack could be sprung on them but they noticed they were not being followed as well. But you know the saying, it was better being safe than sorry. They could talk after all while running.

"Hey, just what the hell was that?" Dohyun would question Geun, from his perspective, he had Jin-Hyuk cornered and demanded to know why he ordered the sudden retreat.

"It was simple, that bastard was toying with us. He could have killed me with his first strike. That man named Jin-Hyuk is dangerous and if we engaged him, we would have most certainly been dead by now." Geun would say as he clenched his fist in disgust, Dohyun noticed this and remained silent. He knew it must have been hard for Geun to leave things unsettled. The fact that he could maintain his cool despite being so angry was commendable.

"So, tell me, why didn't Woojin come along. If he was here…..." Dohyun would inquire but Geun would stop immediately with Dohyun stopping a couple of meters in front of him. Geun's upper lip curled, as he narrowed his eyes. This was a look of complete repulsion as he spat on the floor.

"Do not ever mention that piece of sh*t's name in my presence. As far as I am concerned, I do not recognize him as one of us. Not now, not ever." Geun said in a firm tone as he continued moving but at a much slower pace. Attempting to move past Dohyun but a firm grip on his shoulder would halt the younger man from moving.

"I know how you feel about Woojin, I really do. But regardless, he is one of us." Dohyun would say but Geun would slap his hand off his shoulder.

"Speak for yourself, Big Bro." as he walked off with Dohyun standing still. The white cloud grew darker, it was about to rain. Both were within close proximity to the Guild, Dohyun was relieved they would make it without getting wet.

A few minutes had gone by and rain droplets began falling. It started softly but the intensity increased like the volume of a radio set.

"You are a decent guy. I like men like you." A female voice would say.

It was Chaewon, she was covered in blood but had absolutely no wounds on her. The blood that dripped down her bosom wasn't hers, it belonged to Jinwoo.

A badly beaten Jinwoo laid near death with his right eye gouged out and multiple smaller holes every inch of his body that resulted in huge blood loss. Whatever occurred here was a one-sided fight but Chaewon did not want to finish off such an interesting man, she had other plans for. Her phone would soon ring.

"Hey? No, they got away but I have found a rather interesting one. I am at location XXXX" She would say to Jin-Hyuk, who was at the other end of the phone call before hanging up. It was time to regroup and things were looking hopeless for Jinwoo.

Chaewon glanced over at Jinwoo would a perverse look and say,

"I hope you do survive this; I would love to re-enact our romantic day. But I am afraid my partner might not be as understanding as I am." turning her back on him, she walked away. the rain washed away the blood that doused her with her clothes becoming even more smudged in red.

"P-Please s-s-save me, M-Mang-…." A tearful Jinwoo would mutter to himself as he knew he was close to taking his final breath.