Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at

http://download.archiveofourown.org/works/5713042.

Rating: General Audiences

Archive Warning: Major Character Death
Category: Gen
Fandom: | The Genius
Character: Oh Hyunmin, Jang Dongmin, Ha Yeonjoo, Choi Yeonseung, Kim
Kyungran, Hong Jinho, Lee Sangmin
Additional Tags: mafia au, Alternate Universe - Gangsters
Series: Part 7 of kings never die
Stats: Published: 2016-01-18 Words: 7662

as far as you've come can't be undone

by vaalbara

Summary

The Jang-Oh alliance in the darkest timeline: Hyunmin would always have challenged
Dongmin, and Dongmin would always have arrived to hold him in check.

Notes

A convenient playlist: as far as you've come can't be undone from vaalbara on 8tracks
Radio.

Title from Baranczak and Cavanagh's translation of Wislawa Szymborska's On death

without exaggeration, which can be read here.

(for jan, who set me down this path.)

i. Jongbum

Hyunmin has always made it a point to be respectful in front of Dongmin, but he always forgets
himself a little when he disagrees with his boss, standing that much straighter and bowing just a
little less low. Maybe its the way he stands his ground, unafraid to put his strategy across when he
believes his is the better way. Or maybe its how he weighs Dongmins plans carefully on their
own merits and comes up with complementary alternatives, instead of being cowed into
submission by the thought of Jang Dongmin.
Either way, Dongmin surprises himself by listening, leaning forward while seated behind his desk.
The kid makes good points, but Dongmin draws the line when when Hyunmin speaks up for
Jongbum Jongbum, who will haunt both of them until hes taken care of. For good.

No," says Dongmin, cutting him off. "You shouldnt have gone to him at all."

Hyunmin shifts uneasily at that and starts to pale, when his boss then lists what Jongbum has
them: files, security footage, and signed papers that would prove incriminating should
investigators or rival gangs get a hold of them.

It has to be you, Dongmin says, unwavering.

Why, of all the runners in the Black Garnets, does his protg have to be the merciful one?
(Because mercy can be the flip side of judiciousness, a cleverness about making enemies, and
because hes noticed just how much charm and seeming kindness Hyunmin radiates. People open
up around the kid, who coaxes when Dongmin menaces and instinctively transforms his threats
into a mutually beneficial deal. The combination of warmth and a silver tongue is exceedingly rare
around these parts, and Dongmin recognises this.)

What if he asks to be spared? says Hyunmin, quietly, not looking up, and Dongmin knows hes
almost won.

Say you'll let him go. Then dont, he replies without hesitation. He watches Hyunmin wrestle
with himself, doubt and discomfort replacing each other on his face, over and over.

Ill do it for you, he says finally, and Dongmin pretends not to hear the anguish in his words.

When you arrive, seal off all his exits, he says instead. Get rid of the last minute aces in his
sleeve. Check his flat thoroughly for anything he can use as a weapon. And you have to be more
disciplined than he's desperate a hunted man will always be able to surprise you.

Hyunmin nods once. As he heads for the door he draws his switchblade from his pocket, deftly
flipping it once, as if to reassure himself that he can.

Wait, says Dongmin.

Wordlessly, he draws his own handgun from its holster and crosses the room, offering the weapon
grip-first to Hyunmin. The muzzle points at his own body. Take this.

Hyunmin has to catch his breath at the carelessness and audacity of such a move, but he accepts
the gun with a low bow Jang Dongmins gun, his signet and his signature and the fleeting
thought passes through his mind of how Dongmins fingerprints must be all over it too. (He slips
on a pair of black leather gloves, once hes out of sight.)

When he steps silently back through the same door hours later, hair dishevelled and shirt
untucked, Dongmin meets his red eyes. Hyunmin accepts the weight of Dongmins arm around
his shoulders and allows himself to be steered straight to the armchair at the side of his office.

Hyung, he says slowly after awhile, testing the new honorific on his tongue as he pulls the
folder from his jacket and slides them, along with the gun now three bullets lighter, over to
Dongmin. You were right.

With his right hand, the same one that has drawn more blood than Hyunmin has yet seen,
Dongmin retrieves a handkerchief from the pocket of his waistcoat. He reaches out almost
tenderly to wipe a crimson smudge off the new underboss hand, hidden just under his sleeve.
Hyunmin looks up, his eyes bright again with unshed tears.

Dongmin respects Hyunmin enough not to ask how he did it, choosing instead to read about the
death in the news reports the next day. Sentence by sentence, he pieces together the scant details
in the report and reconstructs the scene. The hair on the back of his neck stands when he realises
that Jongbum was kneecapped before he was killed.

That didnt come from me.

ii. Yeonjoo and Yeonseung, part one

Neither of them hear Yeonjoo coming when she steps out from the shadows behind them.

But her silence fails for an instance, or maybe Hyunmin glimpses the shift in the streets shadows,
and he reacts first. He shoves his boss away, sidestepping with the grace of a dancer to put himself
in her way instead and freezes as the cold edge of her blade comes to rest against his throat.

Well, he says much too lightly over his shoulder to Dongmin. That's a relief. At least one of us
is safe.

Yeonjoo huffs, blowing the wisps of her fringe out of the way. Hyunmin, who is close enough to
feel her breath on the back of his neck, stays very, very still.

Yeonjoo, says Dongmin in surprise as he regains his footing.

She tilts her head just a little at him in acknowledgement, mildly perturbed as she regards the
situation. Sorry, Hyunmin. This really wasnt how it was supposed to go, she says, but the knife
in her hand never once wavers. Dongmin remembers that about her now, how she has never once
flinched in front of him.

I thought I should get rid of you before you got rid of me. Like you did Jongbum, she says,
glancing quickly at Hyunmin.

Ah, nuna, Hyunmin says immediately. He spreads his arms low and wide, well away from any
weapons he might conceivably have hidden on his person, and stops Dongmin with a look when
the older man takes a heavy step towards them.

We know it wasn't you. It would have been much better if we couldve continued working
together, but we werent going after you before anyway, and we wont come after you now if you
let us walk away from this. Dongmin-hyung is a man of his word, isn't he? Hyunmin continues
reasonably, all youth and honey. And I could never have agreed to harm nuna, whos treated me
so well.

Hyunmin says such sweet words, she says, smiling sadly at him. I wish they were true.

You can't take on both of us at once, Dongmin cuts in, ignoring the warning look that Hyunmin
shoots him.

I wont have to. You'd never bet his life, she points out, and flicks her wrist at the same time
Hyunmin brings his palm up to protect himself from her slim blade lightning-quick, but just a
moment too late.
Yeonjoo turns and flees as Hyunmin crumples to the pavement, blood pouring from his sliced
palm and, more alarmingly, from his neck.

Dongmin doesnt even think twice about letting her go. There will be time for revenge later if
Hyunmin can be saved now. His world narrows to the horror around him: Hyunmin, pale and the
life flowing out of him, as Dongmin reaches his side.

No, he remembers saying later. No, no, no.

He doesnt remember much about how he reaches the clinic of Choi Yeonseung, only that the
journey involved too many roads, too many red lights to speed past in a white-hot panic, Hyunmin
bleeding out on the backseat of his car. The back-alley doctor isnt always his ally, but hes the
one closest to the Black Garnets, and his only option right now. Hospitals have never been a
possibility for them.

The mild-mannered doctor looks up in alarm as Dongmin sweeps into his clinic. But Yeonseung
takes in the situation quickly too quickly? and leads them into an empty examination room.

I would like you to save Hyunmin, rasps the leader of the Black Garnets in a feat of extreme
self-restraint, his words polite only because he knows he needs the doctor on his side. His jaw is
hard but his words are the closest hes come to anguish in years.

Please. Hyunmin, of all people, isnt supposed to die for him.

Hyungnim, says Yeonseung, his face clouding in concern. You know Id prefer to, too. But
Im just one person and if word gets out that I helped you, Im afraid Ill be singled out.

Dongmin is about to argue desperately against this when Yeonseung cuts him off: Ill help him
anyway.

Ill owe you a favour, he replies, low and urgent and grateful, stepping back to give the doctor
space to work.

Yeonseung, secure in the promise freely given, bows his head and pretends to be grateful for the
largesse of the crime lord.

Hyunmin turns out to have managed to block most of the knifes damage, but the after-effects of
his blood loss and the time needed for his wounds to heal keep him in bed for days afterward.
Dongmin makes it a point to visit him daily, helping him change his dressings sometimes, and
Hyunmin in return doesnt mention overhearing his boss plead for his life in the clinic.

Hyunmin-ah, says Dongmin, once, as he wraps a fresh bandage around Hyunmins hand. You
absolute fucking idiot.

Hyunmin smiles weakly, a flicker of agreement passing over his face, and says nothing.

The underboss makes no attempt to hide the scar on the side of his neck, and the other across his
right palm. They flare an angry red in the first year after Yeonjoos attempt, stark, repeated
reminders to Dongmin of his failures and his debt to his underboss. Its almost more than he can
bear to look at, sometimes.
iii. Yeonjoo and Yeonseung, part two

The invitation is absurd, the event even more so. Lim Yohwan hosts a party and everyone is
invited.

(Yeah, everyone, Hong Jinho confirms irritably over the phone to Hyunmin. Even me. What the
fuck is he up to?)

Dongmin feels uneasy about the whole affair, but the chance is too good to pass up. It is, as
Hyunmin points out, a golden opportunity to strike deals and glean intel on his competition. Jinho
might be the best information broker theyve worked with, but hes a middleman when it comes
down to it and can be trusted to take a cut out of everything. Hyung, some trades are better made
in person, says Hyunmin, and Dongmin knows hes already working out the best way to
approach each individual. Hyunmin has always been good at figuring out what people want.

Dongmin is completely unsurprised when the night is hell.

Everything pisses him off. Lim Yohwans casino is neutral ground by tacit agreement, and even
the boss of the Black Garnets has to submit to the weapons check at the door. His wines gone
bad, Lee Sangmin smirks at him entirely too much, and everyone attempts to drive down the
prices of the black market goods under his control. When he tries to flirt with a pretty, poker-faced
dealer, she gives him a withering look and ignores him entirely. (In hindsight, his enthusiastic
declaration of friendship was a terrible pick up line.)

But Hyunmin, dressed as smartly and eyes glittering as sharply as the rest of them, is in his
element. He uses Dongmins reputation now intertwined with his own to his full advantage,
negotiating amiably with well-timed jokes, allowing himself to be pulled in close into whispered
conversations, and slipping into shadowy side-rooms. Dongmin watches him flipping a casino
chip casually between his fingers as he goes, and wonders just what deals are being struck in his
name.

He has other problems. That growing pain in his head, for one, as he turns to Hyunmin and asks
him what he needs every now and then, and that nagging feeling of vulnerability today. He cant
tell if its paranoia or caution when he enters rooms and is confronted by a sea of guilty faces, but
the last straw is when he fails to convince Jinho to throw one round of negotiations and realises
hes made a horrible mistake in overestimating the net worth of a consignment of counterfeit
goods. All the while, the casino gets hotter, its edges starting to blur.

My head is killing me, he tells Hyunmin offhandedly as he pinches the spot between his
eyebrows in an effort to stop the pain, but his second-in-command is too absorbed in his own
activities to catch the worry behind his words.

When at last he cant take it any more, he slips out of the casino, away from the crowd. He shrugs
his jacket off despite the cool air, leans against a wall in the alley and confronts the blackness
creeping into his vision. It's all he can do not to throw up.

Its the first time Dongmin-oppas looked this weak, comes a lilting voice and a light laugh from
behind.

Dongmin looks up and his heart plummets at the sight of Ha Yeonjoo walking towards him, the
same knife in her hand, cutting off his exit. All this time hed hunted her, and hed never
considered she might have been looking for him, too.

Didnt you think that wine tasted funny?

His insides twist painfully and his mind goes blank. Shes won, then, this woman who seems
surprised at her own success, who laid her traps for him without any real hope that he would fall.
This is how it ends for him.

And yet

It's not over, he thinks. In a desperate, sudden sweep he draws his handgun, draws from that well
of confidence in his own abilities. Yeonjoo stops, startled and uncertain. He sets his jaw and
smiles the cold smile shes seen many times before when part of the Black Garnets, when he was
in complete control of the situation. He releases the safety catch on the firearm and starts to point
its muzzle at her heart, looking at her straight in the eye. Daring her to move.

Its a dead end and the only thing he has in his hand is a bluff. The gun is empty. He retrieved it
on his way out from Yohwans casino, the bullets emptied from its chamber, and never had time
to reload.

Hyunmin is in the middle of closing the biggest deal hes ever arranged when he finally notices
Dongmins absence. He frowns, the indecision clear on his face. Both of them have the freedom
to make their own moves, their own decisions. That's how it goes. Two players on the same side
of the board, in the same colour. Each of them have complete confidence in the others abilities.

And yet

He asks Yohwan if hes seen Dongmin, and his heart drops when he sees the Emperor smile.

Yohwans smile only widens, and he gestures at Hyunmins neck. Yeah, yeah I have. He went
out that way. Followed by the nice girl who gave you that nice scar.

Hyunmin bolts.

He finds Dongmin leaning against a wall, gun gripped tightly in his hand, inexplicably alone.

Hyung, he says, desperately, taking hold of his wrist to draw Dongmins arm around his neck,
putting his own arm around his side. Hyunmin is lighter than he looks; Dongmin, leaning heavily
against him for support, is not.

Poisoned, Dongmin tells him, forming his words with difficulty. Wine. Yeonjoo.

Then he slumps against him and passes out.

Hyunmin staggers before he tightens his grip on his boss and straightens up. He is 21 and
unprepared for this, and he finds that he is actually afraid. He cant imagine Dongmin being killed,
doesnt want to. Not on his watch, and he faces the uncomfortable truth that it was his watch. If
hed been more alert, maybe this wouldnt have happened. If hed looked out more for the
possible dangers around them, if he hadnt led them straight to the lions den and spent his time
joining the lions as they hunted, maybe this wouldnt have happened.

(But would he really have done anything differently, he thinks later.)

Youre going to pull through, he says to Dongmins prone form as he looks around wildly for
the best way out, thinking of the help they need right now. As if his words will have any effect at
all.

Yeonseung appears then, as if on cue, and its only later that Hyunmin realises who he was
looking for, to confirm the completion of her job.

Yeonseung-ssi, he says, in relief to one of the few men in the underworld whom hes come to
think of as reliable. Please. Do you know about poisons, can you save him?

Id really rather not, says Yeonseung simply, and Hyunmin, heart pounding, feels the rug pulled
out from under him. He looks at the doctor in a new light, remembering how Dongmin has always
said: Trust no one but me.

Itd be better for me if Jang Dongmin were...out of the picture, Yeonseung continues, almost
apologetically, but theres now a cunning look on his face that looks so natural that Hyunmin,
mouth still open, wonders how hes never seen it before. He mustnt be the only one who hides
how deadly he can be, he realises.

Hyunmin crouches, lowering the unconscious Dongmin to the ground to hide the way hes
snaking his hand towards the gun he holstered only minutes ago. He draws the firearm and the
bullets hes felt in Dongmins back pocket, straightening up in one swift movement. Hes quick on
the draw, when he needs to be.

Youre alone, Hyunmin says and laughs, so casually its almost cruel. He chambers the rounds
slowly, then points the gun at Yeonseung, who regards it and the underboss with equanimity. No
ones coming for you, and no one would get between me and you even if they saw us here.

Theres some of Dongmin in his voice as he lays out, for Yeonseung, just why hes the latest
person to fail in taking them down: because, unique in all the underworld, they are king and
knight who trust each other to have their backs no matter what. Unbelievable loyalty, thinks
Yeonseung incredulously, if this were true.

But Hyunmins conclusion is entirely his own.

I know he made you a promise, for what you did for me. He keeps his word.

Hyunmin releases the safety catch in the same cold way he did just before murdering Jongbum
and his entire body hums with tension: But Im not him.

Now, Im going to ask nicely again, Yeonseung-ssi. Please make him better, or I cant say Ill do
the same for you.

What did you do? Dongmin asks when he wakes up.

I couldnt just leave you there. Not after all this time, Hyunmin chooses to say instead of the
other answers that run through his mind: I returned the favour; I did what you would have done.
You trusted me, so I had to do something. I had to shield you again. None of them sit well with
him.

Honestly, hyung, I cant leave you alone anywhere, he says suddenly, the tapping of his foot
against the floor betraying his nervous energy, and Dongmin is surprised to hear the strained anger
in his voice.

They scour the underworld and surface world for her, but Yeonjoo has hidden herself away too
cleverly and they never find her again. No one else comes close to sending Dongmin or Hyunmin
to the brink of defeat.

(No one except each other.)

Dongmin watches the scar tissue on Hyunmin fade over time into faint lines, even as he sees,
through the fabric of white shirts, the outlines of multiple dark tattoos spreading across the young
mans back. He hears of the tentative overtures Hyunmin makes to everyone, even Sangmin, and
fights the terrible knowledge that all good things come to an end.

iv. interlude

A few weeks shy of turning 24, Hyunmin leaves.

Of course Hyunmin leaves. Dongmin is circumspect where he is not, insisting on due diligence
and checks to be performed, while Hyunmin free-wheeling, young Hyunmin, who still
changes the colour of his hair every month and follows fashion trends and loves his leather jackets
dreams of bigger things and bolder moves. Maybe it rankles him to be taking orders from
someone hes long thought of as his equal, and maybe Dongmin could have insisted less on his
own way.

Or maybe their partnership has run its natural course and Dongmin could never have prevented
this, unless he had never made him that offer at all. Maybe nothing he could have offered would
have satisfied the avarice of Hyunmin, which means he was a fool to have tried.

When Dongmins feeling charitable, he thinks maybe Hyunmin wanted the freedom to fail, as he
would have. But that thought barely holds up to scrutiny, and the more he ignores the ache in his
chest, the worse it becomes.

For the first time in his life, Dongmin finds he has no appetite for retribution. It wouldnt be right
to strike down the former protg he thinks of as his brother, he thinks, and allows the whispers
that Jang Dongmin is turning soft to continue in lieu of breaking his own moral code. Oh
Hyunmin has done nothing but follow his own nature.

Dongmin throws himself into consolidating his empire, turns 40 alone, and wonders what it was
all for.

If you dont need me, I dont need you, he says angrily aloud sometimes when hes alone, and
pretends its true.

This is the meeting which Dongmin spends the next few months definitely not remembering:

Hyunmin carefully explains his reasons for leaving, and lets Dongmin know he would never
encroach onto his territory because he owes him that much. But Dongmin reads the younger
mans real words in his body language, from the tilt of his head to the incline of his shoulders to
the way his hands are clasped respectfully before him.

He knows better. Hes seen Hyunmin drop the act when he forgets himself and turn it up when he
needs to, an act which in another world would be called aegyo but in this one is simply a baring of
the vulnerable underbelly, the only way a young criminal survives in a world of older, more
cunning wolves. What Hyunmin really means is: Hyung, after some time, you were starting to
hold me back. He's seen it in the way Hyunmin has started to hold more of himself back from him,
too.

Dongmin, remarkably, only nods. The impassivity on his face is alarming.

I wont go easy on you if you challenge me after this, he says as he starts to adjust his plans to
without Hyunmin, and begins to consider this new formidable player in the crowded field.

I wouldnt expect you to, hyung, Hyunmin replies.

He thinks of how he had promised Dongmin his total allegiance without realising the worth of
what he was giving away. Loyalty only to me, he had asked of him. The truth was that Hyunmin
was only ever capable of undying loyalty to himself. And despite that, his trust in Dongmin had
grown and grown until it became too much for him to bear.

The reason I shielded you so willingly was because of the most useless thing in the underworld,
says Hyunmin flatly now, genuine displeasure in his voice as he traces the scar on his neck with
his fingertips. It was because of attachment. Neither of us should be held back by it.

There is nothing to say, thinks Dongmin, to the stranger before him who considers the bond at the
core of their relationship a weakness and a liability.

I could have given you all this, Dongmin says quietly anyway, just before Hyunmin takes a step
out the door.

Hyunmin stops and turns, caught off-guard by the sentimentality even though, of all the people in
the world, he should be the most inured to it by now. Dont make this harder for me, he tries to
say, but bows very, very low instead, the arch of his back blurring the lines between gratitude and
apology and farewell.

I wanted more.

v. Sangmin

Hyunmin tries his hand at everything. He goes wild plotting every supply route and distribution
chain for fake national identity cards, chasing down each fork of each branch of possibility with
surgical precision as it unfolds in his mind. No one tells him its a bad idea to flood the market
with these counterfeits that draw the authorities eye. He accounts for that possibility, just in case.

People seek him out now, even Lee Sangmin and Hong Jinho, and he doesnt pretend that it
doesnt feel good. But the way Jinho adheres to that incomprehensible moral code of his that
sense of responsibility for the consequences of his own strength, that strange tendency to pity
whichever convenient flunky Hyunmin tries to make the fall guy reminds him a little too much
of Dongmin. It's the second and final time Hyunmin allows himself to be disappointed by a god
who turns out only too human.

Its Sangmin whos the interesting one. The leader of the Breakers approaches him first, inviting
Hyunmin to a meal which he makes sure not to start tucking into until Sangmin is a few mouthfuls
into his own. They flatter each other outrageously throughout the night, Sangmin zeroing in on
Hyunmins cleverness (his favourite thing about himself, which he most likes to be praised for,
and Sangmin knows it) and Hyunmin in turn telling the crime boss how indispensable he is to his
underlings (two can play at the game). Only afterward does Hyunmin feel a pang of something
when he remembers how he would cheerfully insult Dongmin and get away with it.

What were you doing with a guy like him, Ill never understand, Sangmin says, a little too
gravely to be genuine. Hyunmin nods dutifully, waiting for him to get to his point.

Now, if we worked together on these ID cards, youd tell me how you want things to be done
and Id bring in the people to get it done. Aren't we the two most agile bosses in Seoul? Wed
shake up everything. Itll be fun, Sangmin continues and flashes him a grin.

Hyunmin cant deny that and doesnt bother to. As far as he can tell, using whatever intuition and
people-reading skills hes picked up by being around his former boss, Sangmin will not sell him
out for as long as he needs his brains. He judges that he'll be fine as long as he never leaves
himself unprotected. They shake on it, and Sangmin claps him on his back enthusiastically.

You know, I bet youd win if you take him on one of these days, he says in what Hyunmin
thinks of as an embarrassingly transparent attempt to trigger his competitiveness, and to crack open
a sliver of doubt that will widen into a schism.

Hyunmins expression shifts instantly into something flat and unreadable. I wouldnt know.
Betting isnt something that I enjoy.

Dongmin keeps well out of that scheme, and as far as Hyunmin can tell, only buys a small number
of IDs as an insurance policy.

When the plan goes up in smoke, set aflame by a spoiler he couldnt have predicted, Hyunmin is
glad that he and Sangmin arent the ones burned by it, at least. Theres a moment Sangmin could
have pulled back and saved the runners who entrusted their livelihoods to him by warning them of
the impending police raids. Hyunmins with him in those critical minutes.

Hyung, they'll all be convicted," he says, frowning.

Sangmin doesnt answer. Hyunmin turns away and finds that letting go comes easily.

vi. Hyunmin

Oh Hyunmin, unmoored from Jang Dongmin, becomes a force of nature. Unleashed to do

whatever he likes, he discovers that what he likes is exactly what he did under Dongmin, but to
greater extremes. It becomes second nature for him to openly make enemies, and word on the
street changes from do you know Oh Hyunmin to well, you know, it is Oh Hyunmin.
The freedom is intoxicating. He becomes a lone player, which is just as well, because Hyunmin
has realised he doesnt like being responsible for other people. Leaders cant lead if they dont
think of their own followers (one of Dongmins favourite maxims), so he makes sure he has none
to think about. After all, people who want to lead can't go after personal gain (another Jang
Dongmin favourite), and he much prefers it when his own interests are the only ones he needs to
think about.

The tattoos creep up to cover the back of his neck, past his collar, to partially obscure the scar left
by Yeonjoo. Theres no hiding what he is now in public, and passers-by give him a wide berth on
the street.

His hands stop trembling whenever he does what needs to be done.

When he turns 26, he asks to meet Dongmin for drinks. The longtime boss of the diminished but
still formidable Black Garnets obliges, for old times sake, and finds that Hyunmin still remembers
his favourite whiskey and the exact way he likes it. Dongmin holds off passing on the rumblings
hes heard and misgivings he has about his former underboss current activities, but wonders at the
scale of some of what Hyunmin is attempting.

When did you get so tall? Dongmin asks at one point, and its almost an accusation but for the
way the corners of his lips are quirking upwards. Hyunmin laughs a real, delighted laugh, the
sort neither of them has heard in years.

Later, Hyunmin says casually: I heard you worked with Choi Yeonseung to take down the
Emperor.

He asked for my help, and I owed him, Dongmin replies, and manages not to add: Or did you
forget? Dont underestimate that guy.

Hyunmin nods politely, but Dongmin can tell he isnt listening. He can also tell that Hyunmin
spends the whole night wanting to say something, but always pulls back just before the words are
actually out of his mouth. (Its this: Arent you proud of me?)

Be careful, Dongmin tells him just before they leave.

Hyunmin cant quite assess whether its genuine concern or a threat, and settles for a reply thats
neither arrogance nor a lie. Dont worry about me, hyung. Ill be fine.

vii. Yoonsun

Dongmin is awoken in the middle of the night by a call from Jinho.

What, he snarls into his phone, but the information brokers words stop him cold.

He did it, says Jinho, unhappily, and Dongmin can hear several phones buzzing in the
background. Lim Yoonsun is in the intensive care unit and the police are out for blood. Lie low
and watch your back.

Dongmin connects the dots. Its a bold move, even for Hyunmin. The criminal lawyer-turned-
prosecutor, even with her extensive knowledge of the way the underworld functioned and her
own team of investigators, was never a real threat to any of them. But he must have felt
vulnerable, maybe even threatened, given how badly his latest act of overreach fell through.
Which means he must have singled her out and hunted her down, and as formidable as she was,
she was no match for Oh Hyunmin.

Why are you telling me this? says Dongmin, even though he knows exactly why, and cuts the
call.

Its a phenomenally stupid move, the more Dongmin thinks about it. The brazen hit deeply
unsettles the surface world, and coming on the back of the substances Hyunmin has been bringing
in, destroys the uneasy compact they have with the police. He sees disaster unfolding for them all.

The worst thing is that hes not surprised. Hyunmins never really thought of the fallout of his
actions for the people around him, not when he was part of the Black Garnets, and certainly not
now.

It's been years since the brats asked my permission to do anything, he tells Jinho irately, when
he suggests that perhaps hyungnim could try to rein Hyunmin in. And its been ages since he
called me that.

He sets up a meeting with the 27-year-old anyway.

You overreached, he says, barely waiting til theyre seated.

If you mean Yoonsun-nuna, I had a perfectly good reason for that, replies Hyunmin. Dongmin
realises from the casual way he says her name that somewhere along the way, hed shed the
misgivings he had about what he termed an excessive use of force.

Or maybe Dongmin took them away from him, long ago, set him down this path when he sent
him after Jongbum. Maybe he chipped away at whatever conscience Hyunmin had, and replaced
his in-built sense of restraint with his own orders. All the things hes said and done found their
way home and honed Hyunmin into this unfettered, perfect mobster before him: fearless
Hyunmin, who has complete confidence in his own abilities, who no longer cares what his hyung
or anyone else thinks of him, whos sick of being the young prodigy and who just wants to be his
own genius.

What've you become? Dongmin asks, studying his face. The baby fat around Hyunmins
cheeks has almost entirely vanished, revealing a sharper chin, and even his smile is different,
somehow. Almost wicked.

Some things got easier to do, the more I did them, says Hyunmin, testing out this explanation.
Does that sound like something you hoped for, for me?

Thats as much on you as it is on me.

No, says Hyunmin, and actually looks offended. Dont flatter yourself, hyung, it was all me.
You always knew what I was capable of. Wasnt that why you chose me?

He sits back and watches his former boss watch him.

Im not stopping, you know. He smiles his new, crooked smile and looks Dongmin straight in
the eye, daring him to call his bluff or fold. You should probably stay out of the way.
Thats when Dongmin knows its only a matter of time before he finds himself in Hyunmins
cross hairs. Hyunmin, for whom equilibrium means being the last man standing, must already
have started thinking of how to take down his former boss. Nor will Kyungran of the Breakers,
and maybe even Hong Jinho, be left untouched.

"You'll bring the authorities down on us all," he says, a prediction and a warning, as he lets
Hyunmin take this round.

viii. Kyungran

Dongmin hears the click of a safety catch being released and is just quick enough to react. He
spins around, sees the telltale glint of black and metal in the distance, and has the presence of mind
to dodge in the correct direction. (He thinks fleetingly that at the age of 43 and with his hair
graying, he is almost too old for this. But no one has had his back in years.) The bullet grazes his
arm anyway and he hisses, a low, almost feral sound that would have sent any of his men fleeing.

So the rumours of your extraordinary senses are true, calls out the latest boss of the Breakers
Kim Kyungran herself, never one to delegate a confrontation to an underling. Dongmin suspects
that she feels she owes him, a fellow apex predator, the courtesy of a dignified showdown. He
also suspects that her shot was aimed to warn or wound, not kill.

Dongmin calculates the risks and decides hell just have to face her.

Someone stole something from me that I really needed, she continues, radiating righteous fury
as she advances on him. Every single sign pointed to your hand behind it. I thought I should give
you a chance to explain yourself before I declare war on your Black Garnets.

Dongmin shakes his head slowly as he clasps his wounded arm, speaking through gritted teeth.

Nunim. Not my hand, he says, as everything clicks and makes sense. Who else knows him that
well? Who else would lay a trap for him this bold? Who else can he read like this? Even
Kyunghoon is nowhere near this transparent, to him. My former right hand. Oh Hyunmin set us
up and wanted us to take each other out.

Kyungran narrows her eyes, but he can tell shes thinking this through. Hes glad shes taken over
from Sangmin, after Kyunghoon in a breathtaking show of unprecedented lunacy defied all
the odds and took him down. Kim Kyungran, who for all her fire and steel is much, much less
capricious than her predecessor, is one of the few people who would ask questions first and kill
later.

Trust me this once, says Dongmin. Im not your enemy. Im not the one whos been provoking
the police to anger lately. Im not why theyre taking it out on our men.

When she lowers her weapon, he proposes the truce hes been working out in his head. Shes a
reasonable person, one he can work with, and he isnt surprised when she accepts a few days
later. Unbidden, Kyungran states that she will stay out of the Jang-Oh confrontation even she can
see coming.

You should, Dongmin replies. He would annihilate you.

Oh Hyunmin is all he can think about now.

I created you, he thinks, over and over again as he throws all that he has into planning his next
move. I will undo you. But the weight of his burden bears heavily down on him and makes it hard
to breathe when he thinks of what has to be done. Dongmin thinks he understands now, why
Hyunmin pleaded for Jongbum so many years ago. But there will never be another struggle like
this one; Hyunmin will be the most capable person hell ever face. He knows better than to
underestimate his old protg.

Where would I go if I were Oh Hyunmin, he wonders, and finds he has a fairly good idea. Even
after all this time, Dongmin still knows the younger man inside and out. The neighbourhoods
Hyunmin prefers. The types of haunts he enjoys, and the things he looks out for when choosing
apartments and safe houses of his own. How Hyunmin will fight when confronted, run when
hunted, and turn his pursuer into his quarry.

Dongmin makes subtle enquiries and methodically prepares for every possibility. Every
eventuality. Hyunmin has never been able to beat Dongmin, when hes prepared.

And there's one thing he thinks Hyunmin doesnt quite grasp about him: that Dongmin is not, at
his very core, a friend or a boss or a brother. Jang Dongmin is first and foremost a killer.

ix. Dongmin

Dongmin is ready when his network of contacts tell him that Hyunmin made his latest kill less
than an hour ago, just before midnight. The word is that he lashed out and deftly knifed a young
officer whod tried to take him in for a round of questioning, and fled on foot immediately.

He must be desperate, thinks Dongmin. This is it.

Dongmin heads straight for the apartment block hes figured Hyunmin must be hiding in now,
where he must be making preparations to head to his next base. Hyunmin wouldnt stay in that
one place for long, not when the police will be swarming soon, and will get out as soon as he can.
He will leave under the cover of darkness. Dongmin knows the routes of that block, the paths he
can take.

He also knows Hyunmin hates being penned in, that it sometimes makes him hasty and
careless. And so Jang Dongmin makes a call to the police as he enters the building, leaving very
precise instructions on where they can find their fugitive and which exits to seal off. It gives him
half an hour, at most. He will use the overwhelming pressure on Hyunmin to his advantage before
then.

He slips past the buildings security guard and when the elevator doors slide open he comes face
to face with a startled Hyunmin, red-haired, aged 28, his face shadowed by the hood of his black
jacket.

You wont live to see the morning. The police are coming for you, says Dongmin as he takes a
step forward, and Hyunmin an uncertain step back. But I wanted it to be me.
You called them on me? asks Hyunmin, who has always understood everything Dongmin says,
and many of the things that he doesnt. His voice lifts in surprise, like hes 19 again and it hasnt
been years since hes called Dongmin hyungnim. Then his eyes harden. Lets go.

The storm breaks, at last. Both men lunge and knock away the gun in the others hand, sending
both their weapons clattering away in opposite directions on the empty corridor. The knives come
out, Dongmin's combat knife against the trusty switchblade he knows Hyunmin still carries
around. They feel for each others strength at first, testing the waters, before Hyunmin breaks the
rhythm and lashes out aggressively.

No, thinks Dongmin as he blocks each move. I wont let you.

The match will end in one of their deaths, he thinks as they try to kill each other, over and over
again. They cede and gain ground, moving up and down the corridor as they trade blows.
Hyunmin channels all his nervous energy into intense focus and once, almost manages to reach his
throat before Dongmin brings his knee up hard and breaks away, putting some distance between
them.

Was hyung always this good? Hyunmin calls out, breathing much harder now than when they
started. Hes used to being the younger, faster one, and hes rattled by how much Dongmin is
surprising him now.

Dongmin stays silent, thinking of how Hyunmin grew up sheltered and well taken care of.
Dongmin, on the other hand, spent his own youth on the streets, and long ago lost count of the
number of close quarter brawls he'd survived.

Hyunmin needs only a single opening but Dongmin doesnt give him one, reacts correctly to his
feints and denies his attempts to draw him in within striking distance, not without a way out.
Dongmin watches Hyunmin's frown deepen as he repeatedly tries to unnerve him instead, but
fails.

Hell go for knockout moves that can decide this, he thinks, and hes right. As their struggle wears
on Hyunmins movements get more erratic, more unconventional, as he stops playing it safe and
tries to escape being read by the older man. Hyunmin lashes out, scoring a deep cut along the line
of his jaw and coldly meets Dongmins eye before he springs away. But Dongmin closes in and
keeps up the pressure, calmly drawing blood with a series of shallow cuts that leave Hyunmin
bloody and shaken.

Dongmin never gives him a chance to go for his gun, closing off Hyunmins path with his own
knife time and time again. He falls back and Dongmin, moving the fastest he ever has in his
life, gets there first. He hefts Hyunmins revolver and judges from its weight that it has ten bullets
left in the clip. Hyunmin has no backup firearm, not from the way hes fighting to reach
Dongmins own gun on the floor.

Dongmin calmly discharges all ten bullets, one by one, forcing Hyunmin further away from his
gun.

All he has now is the switchblade in his hand, one final chance to turn the tables. It means betting
his life.

Hyunmin makes his decision in a split second and hurls the blade straight for Dongmins throat, a
ragged sob escaping his own.

Emotion never once crosses Dongmin's face as he deflects the knife, metal ringing against metal
for the last time. It leaves him free, finally, to draw the second gun that hes had at his back all
along.

Hyunmin winces when he sees it, and Dongmin watches the intense self-recrimination that passes
across his face. The younger man is cornered now, his shoulder blades pressing against the
concrete of the corridor. Blood runs from the cuts on his arms onto his own hands.

I promised to go to the end with you, Dongmin says, breaking his silence as he closes in.

Hyunmin thinks of everything he has yet to do and will never do now. He probes everything that
has compelled him here and finds that it still rings true: he would always have challenged
Dongmin, and Dongmin would always have arrived to hold him in check. It's just another form of
the relentless logic he's been familiar with all his life: if x, then y. Some bonds, like the ones
between cause and consequence, can't be escaped. Others like the one between Hyunmin and
Dongmin don't come undone. The choices that led him here had never really been choices to him
at all.

It's not over til it's over, Dongmin had once told him, but he knows that isn't true anymore. He
thinks of inevitability, and of the end.

In the distance, the sirens start to sound.

Yes, says Hyunmin, lifting his chin to look Dongmin in the eye as he accepts his final defeat.
He lights up the corridor with a small, brave smile. I have nowhere to go.

Dongmin nods once and takes aim.

Hyunmin holds his head high. He doesn't flinch.

You were incandescent, thinks Jang Dongmin in a final tribute, before he extinguishes the brilliant
light that is Oh Hyunmin with a single shot to the head.

x.

Hyunmin-ah.

Yes?

How far do you want to go?

In the underworld? I want to go to the end.

To the end?

Yes.

Will you face me one-on-one, one day?

Do you think you'll be able to win?

Will you be able to handle it?

I think I'm the best person to defeat hyungnim.

Then wed better go to the end together.

So hyungnim wants us to work together. Youre saying that, right?

Ill accept it, if you want to work with me.

Thats not bad at all. Sure. Lets go to the end.

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