Chapter 18 - Ramen

Kirishima was enjoying the pain he inflicted on the so-called Finance Minister. Seeing powerful men like Hyun suffer in his hands gave Kirishima a sense of great satisfaction. Hyun was struggling for breath, trying to break free.

"My…intel is correct…" Hyun managed to blurt. "The drugs will be taken through the northern route because the other dealers won't trust me! They refused the western route because they think the Yakuza is controlling it and also suspect I'll be stealing the goods!"​​

"Well, they're right, aren't they?" Kirishima smirked and let go of Hyun. The latter splattered and wheezed, trying to catch his breath.

"These drugs…" Kirishima began after a while. "How are you shipping them?"

"A private cruise hosted by the government as a fund raising ball will take off tomorrow evening," Hyun said. "As a politician and diplomat, I can take in any luggage completely undetected. The security will not even check me because I have immunity. They will have to go through the Prime Minister in order to check my luggage. So I can smuggle in those drugs. They'll be kept in a secret compartment on the third lower deck of the ship."

"My men will also be on that ship," Kirishima said.

"There's no need!" Hyun protested. "My men can take care of it-"

Kirishima pressed a gun to the Minister's temple, making the latter gulp.

"Listen to me, Minister!" he spat at Hyun. "I know you ver well. You people are scoundrels and cheats! The Yakuza don't play around. We mean our words. If anything happens to those goods, we'll kill you and your precious family."

Shin gulped but he had no intention of changing his plans. He wants the Yakuza and the other dealers to rip each other apart.

"And your lover…" Kirishima said. Hyun immediately froze. Lover? Did he mean Lim Byungsoo?

Seeing Hyun's face lost its color had confirmed Kirishima's guess. "The doctor who just killed himself," the Yakuza lord went on. "How much did he know about our little deal?"

"Nothing!" Hyun lied. "He didn't know anything! I swear! I didn't tell him!"

Kirishima narrowed his eyes. Hyun looked flabbergasted and it was clear that he must have told his lover something about the deal.

Hyun was visibly nervous. He had told Lim a lot about the deal and once the doctor was arrested, Hyun had broken off all contact. If the public found out about their affair then Hyun would have to step down from power. A self-claimed family man was his image and the public loved him for it. But if they found out that the Finance Minister was having an affair with a man, his image would be torn apart and he would never be able to enter another high position of power ever again.

But that was supposed to be a secret affair. How did Kirishima know about it?

As if reading his mind, Kirishima laughed. "I know a lot about you, Minister," he said. "Lim Byungsoo, wasn't it? The doctor who killed his patients. The families of those victims are still asking for justice. They would dig up the body of that doctor just to spit at him if they could. Imagine if the Finance Minister happens to be his…er…close acquaintance."

Kirishima's betel nut stained teeth flashed at Hyun, making the latter visibly nervous.

"I-I'll bot betray you!" Byungsoo claimed. "I'll keep my end of the bargain. I'll only take 30% of the goods while the rest 70% is yours!"

"Good, Kirishima commented. "You better keep your end of the deal, Minister."

With that he motioned his men to carry the Minister away. Two strong hands grabbed Hyun's arms and before the Minister could protest, he found himself being hurled out of the door. Hyun could only stare at the closed door. His mind was trying to figure out a way on how to get the good for himself. Mikhael's gang was on the lookout for possible skullduggery and so was Kirishima. How as he going to deal with both of them?

"Let's focus on getting the goods out of the villa in town H first," he muttered. "Then work on stealing them."

He kept on muttering to himself as he got into the car. Unbeknownst to him, the tracker placed in him via the drinks also had a tiny yet powerful voice recorder which captured every word of their conversation.

From miles away, SD had the recorder attached to his PC. He was in a room with the lights turned off. But the room was illuminated by the lights from the monitors which were hung on the wall. There were over fifty monitors on the wall, showing different images of the city. SD sat in the middle, his eyes fixed on the footage with Hyun outside the Yakuza's den while headphones were connected to his ears.

"Town H, huh?" he muttered, leaning back. "Bingo!"

He wore only a grey and white shirt which accentuated his muscles along with a white pajamas. Reaching out for a ramen box, he began to slurp on it while stalking Hyun. He would not call it stalking but merely observing his prey. It was his favorite hobby as an information broker. If Sunye ever found out, she would sue him for it.

Sunye…

"I'm bored," he yawned. "I need a new playmate."

He picked up the phone to dial Sunye's number. Since he used many numbers, he knew that she would pick up the call from an unknown number. She would never answer the call if she knew he was the caller.

"Hello?" Sunye's groggy voice came from the other end.

"Hey Sunny!" he greeted in a cheery voice. There was a short pause before she hung up on him.

"That was rude," he pouted. He picked up another phone and dialed her number again. As expected, she did not bother picking up.

"How sad…" he sighed.

….

Sunye was fast asleep on her bed. After working for two nights straight, she crashed at her place, completely exhausted. She did not even change her attire and just collapsed on the bed, ready for a long sleep.

Ding dong!

"Fucking shit!" she cursed and pulled the blanket over her head, drowning the noise. But the damn doorbell kept on ringing.

"What the hell?" she cried in anger. "Who the hell is it?"

She stormed off the bed and marched towards the door, ready to tell the person to buzz off. Opening the door, the familiar and yet, annoying sight of a blue eyed man met her eyes.

"Hi!" SD greeted. "Wanna have ramen?"

He held up a bag full of ramen bowls and looked at her expectantly, his eyes gleaming with hope.

Sunye did not bother to listen and shut the door on his face. SD stood there with the smile still etched on his face.

"I'm such an angel and yet she behaves like this," he sighed. "There's no place for kindness in this world."