Reunion (3)
We had seen the young lady use her body before, not long ago.
The young lady who liked to deliver fatal wounds with clean, precise movements.
Oh Tae-hyeon...
He was supposedly on the weaker side among the Tigers...
But the fact that the young lady had taken down Oh Tae-hyeon had been unbelievable.
She didn't seem to have the muscle for it, and even trying to imagine it, the image just kept overlapping with the young lady I knew in everyday life.
But now, Ji-hoon's offhand remark—that if he went barehanded and fought with the resolve to die, he would lose—
I can finally understand it.
Even watching from a third party's perspective, Han Su-ho's movements were invisible...
His speed was enough to convince anyone that even Kim Tae-oh and Park Ji-hoon—who are rated as true monsters among us—would lose to him.
Yet the young lady, even while seeing it with her own two eyes, had started to gradually adapt to that speed, unbelievably. And before long, she had begun planting counters on Han Su-ho.
Her hands were overwhelmingly faster than Tae-oh's, but noticeably slower than Han Su-ho's.
Still, her accuracy was enough to drop our jaws open.
Do you think you can have a hundred percent hit rate in boxing...
As if she knew exactly where he was going to dodge, she precisely planted every single shot into his face.
If striking doesn't work, couldn't you just go for ground techniques using pure strength?
But as if refuting that thought,
the moment the opponent lowered his head even slightly and the target dropped, the young lady's legs twitched immediately.
As if issuing a warning.
Still, at that level, if Park Ji-hoon pressed in, his chances looked real.
After all, weight classes aren't treated as crucial in combat sports for nothing.
But when she gouged the opponent's eyes without hesitation, with no mercy held back in either hand.
I understood what it meant to say that if you fought her with the resolve to die, you would lose.
Han Su-ho...
The current head of the Gwangsu Gang.
The female Tiger who was once the young lady's closest subordinate.
When we'd investigated the name Cho-a that came out of the young lady's mouth...
Her notoriety among the Tigers was rated as the worst.
A demon who skins humans and wears their hides inside out—records described her with such words, that brutally cruel.
And that same woman—no, he.
Was weeping sorrowfully in front of his boss. In front of the young lady.
'This... really makes me regret the sniping...'
If you were reincarnated and then greeted like that by someone you'd staked your life on serving in a past life...
That emotion must be beyond words...
But...
When I saw Han Su-ho wrapping his arms tightly around the young lady and burying his face in her chest...
My temple twitched for a moment, but I held it in.
Because I didn't want to spoil the touching reunion between two people meeting after so long...
But then, the hands that were tightly gripping the young lady's slender waist gradually started creeping downward.
Every member of Team 7 who watched that scene, as if actively endorsing my opinion, laid their hands on their holsters where their guns were secured.
With the thought that if those hands went down just a little... just a little further, I would personally put a bullet through that head.
Cho-a's car was wrecked and his face was an absolute mess, so I'd intended to reschedule the date, but Cho-a said he didn't want to be apart from me and climbed into my Spotted One.
To think I'd left Cho-a's face and his car in this state when he'd come to me because he liked me...
The more I think about it, the more my head hurts at the thought that the lunatic was me.
"Oh? It's a manual...?"
"You don't know how to drive manual?"
Cho-a nodded, so I naturally switched places.
When I pointed at the glove box, Cho-a opened it and pulled out a snack.
"Eat."
Cho-a tried to bring a mustache-shaped snack to his mouth, but his lips were so badly swollen that he couldn't manage the potato chip.
"Won't go in."
"....."
I could feel that Cho-a had deliberately only applied medicine and then settled in beside me just to deepen my guilt.
Yeah, if that was the aim, it succeeded.
"Chew it up and feed me."
"... Are you insane?"
"Hnnk... I'm hurting... but I still wanna eat it..."
"Even if you dropped dead right now, that's something I'm never doing, so be quiet..."
"Aww~"
We headed for the movie theater, which had been our original goal.
Sitting in the very back row watching the film, Cho-a kept fiddling with my hand.
When I yanked my hand away, his face instantly crumpled as if he were about to cry.
"....."
I gave my right arm back to Cho-a, figuring that was all I would surrender. Sniffing audibly, he pressed his nose to my hand and nearly licked it as he inhaled my scent.
'Oh my god...'
Had I ever said Dad was starved for affection...?
Compared to Cho-a, that's a drop in the bucket.
He suddenly stared at me so intently that I pretended not to notice, and then he blew a puff of air into my ear.
"Heeek!"
"Your earring is so pretty... can you give me one side?"
"My daughter will wear them."
"Daughter? What daughter? You were pregnant?"
"Amy."
"...Huh?"
It seems dropping that little hint about Mari was the right call.
Because for the rest of the movie, he didn't touch any part of my body except my hand...
Though he still kept gently playing with my fingers while leaning on my shoulder.
If there was one thing a little strange.
Maybe because I knew the person inside Su-ho was Cho-a, the skinship Cho-a initiated felt a lot less off-putting.
Almost at the level of my dad touching me...
After the movie ended, Cho-a, whose swelling had gone down just a tiny bit thanks to the thick layers of ointment, looked at me cautiously.
As if asking if I could explain what the talk about a daughter had meant earlier.
We sat down at a café and ordered coffee. As I swept my hair back with one hand and prepared to start the story, Cho-a smiled.
"You're all grown up into a woman~"
"....."
"Ah, that look was just a little fresh, so..."
I told Cho-a the story connected to Mari.
After hearing the whole story, Cho-a's eyes filled with tears.
Cho-a's mature image was so strongly fixed in my memory that you wouldn't expect him to cry, but thinking back, I remembered he'd always been a crybaby.
"Well, I'm fine now. I know it wasn't something I could do anything about..."
Cho-a mumbled through a mouthful of a chocolate cake that looked sickeningly sweet and asked,
"You're really fine?"
"Yeah."
To change the subject, we started talking about the twenty-first century.
"It feels like there's a ton of amazing, delicious stuff in the twenty-first century~"
"Weren't we supposed to drop the formal speech?"
"Mm, maybe because I just got beaten half to death... I'll drop it a little later..."
"Sorry..."
"Then call me Su-ho. Then I'll drop it."
"Alright, Su-ho."
"Kyaah~"
Su-ho looked at me with sparkling eyes, all worked up by himself.
Cho-a seemed to like his new name, just like the rest of us.
I called Tae-oh and told both of them to come here.
Suddenly, Su-ho glared at Tae-oh and Park Ji-hoon, his eyes filled with murderous intent.
At that familiar look, Tae-oh and Park Ji-hoon walked on eggshells.
That Park Ji-hoon walking on eggshells?
That sight alone seemed to show just how notorious Su-ho had been in the past.
"Boss is mine?"
"Take her..."
"Take her."
"Hey!"
Those bastards, I never knew they were the type to give up this fast.
To the point where I had to question whether they had any will to protect me at all...
Park Ji-hoon, who was at least a little less terrified of Su-ho, spoke up first.
"Can I... ask for a spar?"
"Without weapons? I don't like losing to anyone who isn't Boss, though~"
Since Su-ho said that with a body stronger than before...
It was a huge show of respect toward Park Ji-hoon, and Ji-hoon smiled.
"Kyahaha! Right, inside the cage, I am invincible."
From what I'd seen, if Park Ji-hoon and Su-ho fought barehanded, honestly, Park Ji-hoon seemed like he'd win.
His strength was one thing, but for someone that big, his stamina and durability were on another level.
Even if I hit Park Ji-hoon the way I hit Su-ho, he'd just pretend it hurt and stand there with his back perfectly straight.
Then I'd get pissed off at the sight and hit him more.
"Inside the protective shell called rules, well, I'll acknowledge it. I watched the videos, and he really has grown a ton."
I nodded at Su-ho's words.
If we set rules and fought inside a cage, I was certain that even I would definitely lose to Park Ji-hoon.
"Now you see why I raised them?"
"Yeah, Park Gi and Jae-hyeong... they're no longer unworthy of the name Tiger."
In the past, Su-ho, who hadn't acknowledged half the Tigers, used to try to swallow them up, saying they needed a purge.
For that Su-ho to acknowledge them—it seemed like it meant a great deal to those two, who had never once been acknowledged by anyone except me.
On top of that, it meant he now regarded them as his equals.
"Honestly, that middle kick... if I let it land even once, I think I'd go down too?"
"Park Gi... It looks like he learned really well from Boss... He moves on instinct like Boss. How do you even learn that? It's not something you can just be taught."
I smiled as I watched Su-ho praising the guys.
Seeing my smile, Su-ho averted his gaze, as if embarrassed.
"It's not Park Gi and Jae-hyeong, it's Tae-oh and Ji-hoon. And neither of them learned a thing from me in this life; they developed on their own."
"Really?!"
In the end, I sang my own praises.
"This right here is what they call having an eye for people~"
"As expected~ our Boss~"
Since Su-ho was here, when I launched into my usual self-aggrandizement, Park Ji-hoon narrowed his eyes.
"By the way, our Tae-oh is incredibly good-looking, huh~?"
Suddenly, as if goosebumps had broken out all over his body, Tae-oh lifted his butt and scooted just a tiny bit away from Su-ho.
"What about your parents?"
"Hmm? Oh, they're overseas right now with my sisters and little brother."
At Su-ho's words, a past detail that made my blood run cold suddenly surfaced in my mind.
In the past, when Oh Tae-hyeon had kidnapped me and Lee Gi-seok and Lee Jin-seok were choosing Da-yeon's groom, Han Su-ho had been in the mix...
And I'd ultimately chosen him after reading the line that said he had an affectionate, cute personality.
I had nearly done something utterly horrific to Da-yeon.
Su-ho's family background in my memory.
His grandfather had been the governor of Maryland and had married a Korean woman.
Their son—Su-ho's father—was mixed Korean and American and one of the world's most famous investors.
Come to think of it, he'd always looked like some pampered young master from a wealthy family who'd never known hardship...
In short, Su-ho was, like Da-yeon and me, the kind of diamond-spoon elite you could count on one hand.
"Then why are you in Korea right now? If your whole family is overseas."
Su-ho smiled as he ate his chocolate cake.
His father, who'd been obsessed with money back then, had gotten information from his grandfather.
During the IMF crisis, taking dollars with him, he'd supposedly devoured multiple Korean companies that showed promise for a bargain price.
His father liked experiencing things firsthand before investing. While drinking with an interpreter at a pojangmacha, he'd met Su-ho's mother and settled down in Korea.
After his two older sisters and then Su-ho were born in Korea,
his father, who had been hiding his true identity, returned to the United States with Su-ho's mother and told her the truth.
Later, after Su-ho's mother had a late-born son twelve years younger than Su-ho, the family returned to Korea. At Su-ho's strong insistence, though, Su-ho alone remained in Korea.
Su-ho wasn't staying in Korea because of some grand goal; he simply cared about the fact that Korea was his homeland.
Thankfully, Su-ho clearly cared about his family...
I'd thought he'd proudly tell them he went around taking people down, but apparently he hadn't gone that far.
I stared at Su-ho for a moment.
"You said you want to be with me. Wrap everything up and come to my side, Su-ho."
At my words, Su-ho's eyes sparkled and he smiled.
"Method? Whatever I want?"
"Yeah. You know the drill—call me if there's a problem."
"Kkuuuh... Boss~"
I shoved Su-ho's face away with one hand as he tried to cling to me.
As a later story, but if there was something I had overlooked.
Su-ho... was in a league of his own even among lunatics...