บท 3: Ji Hoon... A Mysterious Meeting
"I will get you this time... mysterious boss!"
A flash passed in the clear night sky of this cold eve. A young man darted with all his might.
He was dressed all in a shiny black outfit that was made from expensive leather. Jumping over the roofs of the closely packed three to five stories high houses wasn't an issue for him.
He was Ji Hoon, a twenty-nine years old underground hitman. Despite being called as such, he never killed a man in his life before.
He was slightly tall, one hundred and eighty-six centimeters. He had long silk hair, usually banded behind his head. His eyes were faint blue, and he looked quite handsome.
He worked everyday to make his shape look great, yet he didn't have those swelled muscles. He hated men with such disformed shape and always loved to beat them.
He was the best in his field. Not a single mission would be assigned to him and wouldn't get done. A legendary figure that kept terrorizing many underground organizations when his code name was ever mentioned by accident.
Laspada... it was a name he came up with when he studied spanish years ago.
It wasn't all thanks to his own effort, he was born with some blessings. His strength, speed, sight, and even hearing were considered above human abilities.
And the most fascinating thing he admired about himself was his ability to self heal in a short time, making him witness miracles happening to his own body.
But he didn't know why he had such gifts, and he always prayed for them to stick forever and never fade away.
Living in such a cruel underground world without getting his hands dirty with blood wasn't an easy feat. Yet he managed to accomplish that with his exceptional mastery of martial arts and many acrobatic moves, making advantage of his unique gifts.
Some called him a magician, and even some suspected he had superhuman powers; just like those in stories and comics.
However he was just a normal young man who was trying to live with his own codes.
"Sorry, I want to borrow that!"
Like thunder he landed from the top of a two storey building, aiming directly at a big man's shoulder.
And upon his fall, he could hear the popping sound of that man's shoulder getting dislocated.
Yet that man wasn't alone. He was standing in the middle of a group of six who looked very dangerous.
But not for Ji Hoon.
"How dare you?!"
"Get him!"
"Together!"
The six men didn't care about their colleague getting hurt and only wanted to teach Ji Hoon a lesson.
"Don't you know that arrogance is one of the great sins?" he lightly said as if he was standing among friends and not foes.
"We'll see after we wipe that irritating smile off your face."
"Humph, I wish to see you try," Ji Hoon shrugged his shoulders and a faint popping sound came from his muscles. He moved his neck right and left, preparing for a swift fight with those thugs.
They were overestimating themselves against him. This wasn't truly their fault either as no one of them ever laid an eye over Laspada.
His face was always kept hidden from everyone. He wore special glasses that could generate a black screen over his face like he was wearing a rider's helmet.
He could see perfectly clear through it, yet no one could see him.
They all jumped at him all at once, coming from all directions. Some used their fists while others used their legs.
Yet all he was able to do was to simply bend his knees and push hard. The next moment he flew a couple of meters in the air, rotated around himself for a full circle, before landing with his leg over the shoulder of one of them.
And he wasn't finished.
He bent the leg he just used, rotating himself around and sending kicks over faces. Like a bomb exploded in this place, everyone here went flying in air, before landing heavily on the ground.
Even two hit the wall of the nearby house and one of them ended up breaking one of the windows.
"I'm in a hurry," he went directly towards the first man he hit while he was whining over what happened to his arm.
In a flash Ji Hoon found the keys to the car he wanted, and simply intended to leave here via riding it.
But just before he could take a single step, something descended like a rocket from the dark sky and slammed heavily on his back.
"Cough!"
He couldn't help but feel immense pain all over his body before he hit the ground. This didn't end here as he twitched in deep pain for a long minute.
It felt like every single bit of his body ached and tortured at this moment. He couldn't even think about what hit him and all he could do was try to endure.
The pain didn't last over one minute but he felt it was like a day. Despite feeling no pain at all, he couldn't stand up at once.
He took in successive breaths while trying to gather up his strength.
"What the hell was that?" The moment he stood up he first tried to check his back while moving his arms around. And yet he found nothing at all. He turned to look at the devastated thugs on the ground before knowing it wasn't them.
"Who is there?" he shouted in rage, "show yourself!" however all he got was absolute silence. No matter how hard he searched using his eyes, he couldn't see anyone or anything suspicious at all.
"I can't believe it," he shook his head before throwing what happened behind his back for now. What hit him came from his back, so his screen covering his face couldn't catch its appearance.
"At least I'm fine," he moved his arms and legs, bent his body back and forth before he realized he had zero injury or discomfort anywhere.
"Time to go," he decided to forget about this embarrassing moment before taking the car keys he dropped and went to the car.
"It's easier than I thought," he muttered to himself while searching inside the car. He was looking for anything to help him locate the place of that important meeting.
Just as he searched the front seat, he found a small device with a screen that looked like a mobile.
With a simple touch it lit up, and there he found words of the location of such a meeting and the designated mission for these thugs.
Those thugs he just beat up were supposed to go there and help in securing the outer perimeter of that place. They had to prevent any car from trespassing as it seemed.
"It's a fancy hotel... I hope I'm not late for dinner," he smirked while throwing that device on the back seat and started to drive faster.
He knew the location of that seven star hotel, as he memorized every corner in this gigantic city.
"I hope this tip is real this time," he muttered to himself, "I'm getting tired of trying to catch that boss and failing each time."
Ji Hoon was a young man living with his own codes. All of them were absolute, with no room to break them.
No one forced these rules on himself but him. One of them was the no-killing rule. The other was to only accept missions that will serve good in this world.
He was a member of the underworld, yet he didn't select this life because he was a bad person. He tried to be a cop once, but it didn't go quite well for him.
Laws of this society seemed to be biased towards those breaking them. After his first task getting ruined by some filthy rich bastards, he handed out his resignation and took a vow that day.
He would go after those criminals on his own, enforcing the law of the world upon them. As for those cops and modern laws, they could simply be the last thing to use to put those criminals behind bars.
Just like he did with those thugs he just beat. They were wanted for many cases. However for some obscure reasons that involved money, they were never caught before.
Not until tonight. He left a small tip for the police to help them find those thugs in the place he just left.
"Watch out for me from up there... Mom."
He left the car near the hotel while saying his good luck words.
He knew he intercepted a few small groups of thugs, but that didn't mean more wouldn't be there blocking any uninvited car.
Ji Hoon' mother was someone he had few memories about. She left him when he was seven due to a car accident. As for his father, he left him even before he was born.
His mother kept telling him a bedtime story about his father. He loved to hear and repeat this story to himself when he was a kid. But as he grew up, he knew this story couldn't be real.
Without any problem, he managed to slip inside the hotel, jumping over its big wall like it was nothing.
And when he entered the hotel, he found many guests staying there, enjoying the warmth with their drinks and side chats.
The atmosphere looked really great while he liked it this way. He easily blent in, and then he looked for his target, the hall where the meeting was supposed to be.
"ID please."
As he searched the hotel lobby, he found tight security around one of the big halls at the lower level. He sat at one of the tables where he wouldn't be recorded by any camera, or noticed by any guard.
"It looks quite lively," he tried to peek when one member of this big organization entered the hall. He could see many heads but no faces from this far.
"I need to find myself an invitation then."
He took out his wallet and started searching for a suitable ID. He had a lot of fake IDs, yet none was able to get him past the security here.
"What do you think?" he said to the next seat as if someone was actually sitting there, "should I force myself in?"
He moved his legs in a nervous way, a habit he got from his master when thinking about tough decisions.
"Beep!"
Just as he waited in his place, thinking thoroughly about his options; his mobile gave him a message notification.
He knew he was supposed to be doing something else somewhere in this city. A mission he already did before coming here, an easy pick mission.
And this beep was just a reminder from the agency he worked for, to ask for updates about his mission.
"I have not much time to waste," he moved his hands over his hair and messed with it. Just before he could stand up, a loud ruckus came from the hotel entrance before he saw a large crowd coming towards his direction.
"Sh*t! Was I caught already?" he didn't need to wait for them to arrive to know who they were. From the serious look on their faces he could tell they were other thugs who just got a tip about what he did half an hour ago.
But he was wrong. They weren't thugs, and they weren't here for him.
"They are fast," he didn't wait any longer and went directly to a nearby corridor. He ran all the way to its far end before closing the door and blocking it using a small cart on the side.
Then he opened another door marked with the green sign of emergency exit and ran off towards the opposite side of the hall.
He planned to circle around those thugs in an attempt to buy himself some time. However, just as he took a turn, he found more thugs blocking this path.
"Dammit!" he cursed while hesitating about what he should do.
He wanted that boss, yet he had first to bypass all this tight security.
"This is like a warzone!" he cursed again for his bad luck. This wasn't the first time for him to come this close to the boss and fail to get even a glimpse of his face.
However he was running out of time. He worried these thugs would search around and eventually would find him.
"Forget it," he finally dropped his desire, turned around and started to walk like a normal guest towards one direction; the ladies room.
In any big hotel, the ladies room would usually be empty except at times of special occasions or parties. He was sure that all the gangsters here were males, and that meant this room would be empty.
But just as he was about to turn right to reach it, he met three men dressed in black suits, running with haste towards the direction he just came from.
All he did was to lower his head and avoid any eye contact. They simply passed him like he wasn't even there.
They didn't even notice that screen covering his face in their haste.
"Tsk... They even left a man at the door," he stole a peek towards the small corridor that led to the ladies room.
And there he found a man of the type he hated most. His muscles were bulging enough to make his suit about to tear into shreds.
"Don't they learn that wearing such tight suits will only limit their moves and not make them look cool?" he couldn't help but shake his head in disagreement before making up his mind.
He waited until that man turned his gaze and attention away from his direction before making his move.
He simply ran and covered the ten meters separating him from that man and hit him in the back.
One kick was enough to send the man flying and hit the wall of the hotel before bouncing on the ground.
Ji Hoon didn't hesitate to finish him with a swift hit on the back of his head, making him lose his consciousness for the time being.
"Time to run," he instantly entered the room and closed the door before standing there petrified for one moment.
In front of him stood an elegant lady who was adjusting her makeup in front of the mirror.
The mirror was so big, covering almost the entire wall. It was lined with golden decorations that matched the golden designs all over the place.
It was like entering a royal suit and not a ladies room in his opinion.
But that wasn't what kept his mind busy.
"Who are you?" the lady turned and gave him a deep glance. She looked a few years younger than him. Yet from her tone and domineer, Ji Hoon could tell she used to be served by many, and she had the right to be so.
She was shorter than him by almost ten centimeters even with the high heels she was wearing at the moment. Her purse was small, one of which could be held in one hand and cover most of it with her fingers.
Her dark blue dress was tight at her waist, wide at her knees before exposing her pair of small legs. She had a v-shaped opening at her chest, and her entire back was exposed with nothing but a semi-transparent dark blue scarf that she was hanging now around her wrist.
Her brown silk hair extended to cover almost her shoulders and part of her chest. It matched her faint brown, honey-like eyes, one Ji Hoon never saw before.
He stood there motionless while watching her, mesmerized for a brief moment by her beauty. Her presence was unplanned. This place should be empty.
As the two stood against each other in such a way, he couldn't help but feel a strange urge to make a strange decision.
"There is no time," he suddenly ran towards her, grabbed her from the arm and dragged her along with him.
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