I. Whatever Happened to McCreepey
A silver convertible pulled up in front of a cafe. A pretty girl with bunny-rabbit eyes and long dark hair stepped out of the driver's seat.
"Hurry up, Yoon Sung-sshi," she urged the tall young man who was getting out of the passenger seat. He laughed as he came around to her side.
"Where's the fire, Na Na?" he teased, brushing his brown hair out of his almond-wrapped chocolate eyes.
She halfheartedly smacked him on the arm. "Anyway, let's just grab some coffee here. Let's not bother about breakfast. I want to get home before noon—and Ahjusshi will probably have a feast prepared."
"Alright," he agreed, easily. He swung an arm over her shoulder as they walked into the store.
The Ahjumma at the counter was on the phone, but she put her hand over the mouthpiece to cheerily say, "Anyeonghaseyo! How can I help you today?"
"We just want coffee," Na Na told her.
"Jae Hee yah!" the Ahjumma called. "Two orders of coffee!" Then she returned to her phone conversation, waving them away with a smile.
A teenage boy popped out of nowhere and gestured for them to follow. "I'm Jae Hee," he announced even more cheerily than the Ahjumma as he led them through the tables and booths of the crowded dining area to the coffee counter in the back. He ducked under this counter and jack-in-the-boxed up on the other side. "What can I get you two?" he asked with a grin that seemed threatening to crack his face open.
Na Na turned to share an "aw" smile with Yoon Sung before replying, "I'll have a regular black with cream and sugar,"
"Same for me," Yoon Sung added.
"How old are you," Na Na was asking the boy when they suddenly heard a loud crash behind them. "HOW DARE YOU TOUCH MY WIFE, YOU FILTHY ANIMAL!" A man's angry voice resounded throughout the café.
All three of them turned towards the source of the disturbance. It was at a table halfway across the room from them. The man who had shouted was standing angrily before a table where several thug-like men were seated. The woman cowering behind him, trying to tug him away, was most likely the wife. A toppled chair beside them was the source of the crash.
"HEY!" The boy behind the counter hollered at the group across the room. "There's NO FIGHTING allowed in here!"
They must not have heard him because the next thing that happened was that the largest of the thugs at the table got up and punched the angry husband in the jaw. He flew backwards and both he and his wife crashed to the floor.
The wife screamed.
"Don't worry, I'll take care of it" announced Jae Hee and dashed out from under the counter, but Yoon Sung grabbed him by the back of his shirt just as he was about to run towards the trouble table.
"Who did you think you were calling filthy, you useless punk! I could kill the both of you right now!" The big thug roared at the couple at his feet.
Yoon Sung and Na Na watched as the café Ahjumma hurried over to the thugs' table.
"Hey!" The Ahjumma interrupted. "Take this out of my shop. Now. Or else I'm calling the police."
The thug slapped her across the face. "Oh, shut up, bitch! Or do you want to die too?" He raised a hammy fist, and with an evil sneer, swung hard at her.
Yoon Sung caught the punch with his hands.
"Wha—" The thug spluttered in angry confusion. "Who do you think you are?!" He grabbed Yoon Sung by the collar. "It doesn't matter anyway because I'm going to kill you right now."
Yoon Sung freed himself and ducked the punch the man directed at him. He rolled underneath the thug's legs and appeared behind him. The thug spun around, bewildered to find Yoon Sung standing behind him. Yoon Sung smiled at him. the thug lunged again, but Yoon Sung swerved towards the table, grabbed a spoon, and proceeded to clobber him with it until he fell with a heavy thud to the ground.
The Ahjumma thanked them later after both the party of thugs and the couple had left the shop. Na Na and Yoon Sung got back in their car and drove off.
They never noticed the lone man who had been sitting in a corner booth by himself throughout the altercation, his eyes never leaving Yoon Sung's face. Right now, he stood at the spot where the convertible had been parked just a minute before, staring profoundly after the car until it disappeared on the freeway.
He was short and rather stocky with grayed black hair and stubbly chin. He wore what appeared to be an old, tattered Armani suit, the collar open at his hairy chest where a gold chain winked menacingly in all its 24-karat glory.
He fished into his pocket and produced a cell phone. Putting it to his ear, the person he was calling answered after two rings.
"Thank you for that performance," He said. "I've already wired the money to you-oh you've just received it? Well, I did it in advance because I trust you, Makamura. Anyway, it was definitely him. The City Hunter. We've got him." A wide grin seeped across his face as he said this. His eyes shimmered with a frantic intensity of feeling. "We'll talk more when I get there. Anyeong."
He shoved the phone back into his pocket distractedly, the grin on his face swelling wider every second with a hideous delight. "I've got him. I'VE got him. And I'm going to make sure he dies the slowest and most painful death imaginable for what he did to me."
The silver convertible pulled into the parking garage of a tall apartment complex in Kangnam. Na Na and Yoon Sung gathered their luggage out of the car.
"Na Na—the door," Yoon Sung said.
"Oh," Na Na hopped ahead of him to pull open the door. They walked down the short corridor that led from the garage to the house. Yoon Sung unceremoniously dumped their luggage in a heap onto the hallway floor.
"Ahh, it's great to be home!" Yoon Sung said happily, as he took the duffel bag Na Na was holding and swung it to land atop the pile he'd made with the rest of the stuff.
"I can't wait to see your mom's face when she sees what we got her!" Na Na enthused, as she skipped after him, her arms full of brightly colored gift bags. "Let's go find everybody." She led the way down the hall, past the kitchen, toward the livingroom.
Yoon Sung followed, chuckling at her enthusiasm. "Na Na, slow down," he was saying, when something in his peripheral vision made him come to a halt. He took a few steps backward until he stood before the opening to the kitchen.
He dropped his duffel bag in astonishment.
There was a man in the kitchen.
Yoon Sung's mouth dropped open as he took in the scene.
Seated at the kitchen island before a plate piled high with pancakes was Cheon Chae Mann's personal assassin!
The assassin's sallow, pointy-chinned face was staring back at him with an expression of horrified shock mirroring Yoon Sung's own, the fork in his hand suspended in the air.
Yoon Sung's eyebrows levitated into his hair and he squinted in disbelief—are those MY white leopard super junior pajamas he's wearing?!
"Yoon Sung-sshi," Na Na called to him from the other end of the corridor. "What are you doing?" When he didn't reply, she began walking back over to him.
"What's wrong, why are you just standing th—"
Na Na gasped when she reached his side.
And just when Yoon Sung felt he was getting over his shock he heard a very familiar voice shouting: "Jung Woo-ah! Bring your food into the livingroom; the half off sale is about to begin on the shopping channel! This time we'll get those ink-squids before they sell out. Then I'll cook you a truly delicious dinner tonight." The other door to the kitchen, which opened into the living room, swung open and Shik Jong Ahjusshi burst into the room with a huge, excited grin on his face.
But when he spotted Yoon Sung and Na Na staring back at him across the sunny kitchen, his smile disappeared and he froze where he stood.
He looked from Yoon Sung to the assassin who was apparently called Jung-Woo and suddenly fell to his knees and dissolved into tears. "Yoon Sung-ah!" he whimpered, please let me explain everything before you say something.
"Explain? Yes, do that" Yoon Sung replied, in that soft tone of voice he got when he was dangerously angry. "Please explain to me why the man who almost killed Na Na is eating pancakes in my kitchen and wearing my clothes.
A deathly silence followed Yoon Sung's words.
Jung Woo stood up at this point and joined Ahjusshi on the ground, kneeling before Yoon Sung. "I know I deserve to be killed for appearing before you after you so kindly let me go last time, but please don't be angry with Shik Jong. He was just trying to help me. "
"He's right, Yoon Sung-ah, it's all my fault!" Ahjusshi wailed. "I made him stay. I know you told him to go somewhere far away, but he had nowhere to go and if you only knew his story, you wouldn't be so cold. Chun Chae Mann had Jung Woo's sister murdered and then pinned it on him, making him go to jail! Then that bastard told him the only way he'd clear up the charge was for Jung Woo to become his assassin. And our Jungy was only 18 at the time!"
Yoon Sung could only continue to glare at the two men at his feet.
"Forgive him, Yoon Sung-ah," a familiar voice added. Yoon Sung turned to see his mother standing at the door, surveying the scene with concern. She walked up to stand beside her son. Putting a hand on his shoulder, she added, "Everybody deserves a second chance—and it seems to me this poor kid never even had a first chance."
His mother's gentle tones finally succeeded in wiping the glare completely off of Yoon Sung's face. He suddenly felt thoroughly weary, but he knew his mother's words held truth.
"I forgive you," Yoon Sung said to Jung Woo in a tired voice. Then he bent to retrieve Ahjusshi from the ground.
"Yoon Sung-ah…" he trembled.
"You didn't do anything wrong, Ahjusshi. Your nurturing nature is what makes you so dear to me."
Ahjusshi eneveloped him in a teary hug. Yoon Sung smiled.
Then he remembered Na Na.
She was still staring in frozen silence at Jung Woo. Jung Woo was looking warily back at her. He stood up and inclined his head before her.
"I'm sorry I tried to kill you." He said quietly. His remorse sounded very sincere.
Everybody waited for her response.
"Just don't try it again," Na Na said.
Jung Woo raised his head and met Na Na's eyes cautiously. "I won't. I swear." He looked immensely relieved.
Yoon Sung glanced up at her in surprise. She shrugged at him and Yoon Sung burst out laughing—at this strange situation—at Na Na's unexpected sense of humor.
Ahjusshi loudly clapped his hands together, his own wide grin returning. "In that case, you won't mind the fact that Jung Woo's living here with us—just until he can get back on his own feet?"
"Do I really have any say in the matter, seeing as how he's been living here all along anyway?" Yoon Sung asked, arching a brow at Ahjusshi.
"Well—no—actually, you don't, in that case. You'll just have to accept the situation." Ahjusshi said, but he was laughing again.
Yoon Sung reached for Na Na's hand and made towards the door. "We've brought gifts for everyone—well, except Jung Woo," he said as he walked out of the kitchen.