It just had started to rain when Moo Chi found the church his brother should be kept in. The neighbourhood had been deserted, having been cleared for rebuilding some months ago.
He knew he should have some better plan, but for now, he was just going to sneak in and shoot the bastards who dared to take his brother.
He had approached the church from the side alley, making sure to park his car some distance away and he to avoid all windows when he snuck closer.
He was just about to sneak through the back door in when he saw another car approaching, riding a bit further and then parking on the side of the road.
"What's this?" he questioned himself, thinking about the bad luck he was having, then he saw Ba Reum stepping out the car.
"Now what is he doing here?"
Ba Reum had quickly found the church. Normally he wouldn't have risked parking his car so near the church, but the rain was masking the sound of his car stopping.
He had seen Moo Chi standing in the half darkness of the alley. Ba Reum got out of the car and ran towards the alley, reaching the cover of the high walls and a nearby canopy that was holding back most of the rain.
Moo Chi was thinking if he should just ignore Ba Reum here or start a fight, but both options would cause a stir and then the people inside would know that he was there, and they might show their displeasure on his brother. So, he did the only thing he could do, he waved at Ba Reum.
"So, what brings you here?" he quips, hands in the pockets and leaning casually against the wall. Ba Reum raises his eyebrow, clearly not fooled at all about that fact.
"Well, I saw the movie on your computer. Thought you would appreciate some help." Ba Reum answered, voice casual as well.
"And what kind of help can you offer." Moo Chi had dropped all pretence of casualness and was now letting the annoyance show in his voice.
"You know, these people we are dealing with, they have been toying with us since the beginning. They are dangerous." Ba Reum said, his tone was serious now. Moo Chi had no idea how dangerous these people are.
"Tell me something I don't know." Moo Chi growled, getting angry and feeling like time was slipping away. The rain that kept on falling didn't make him feel any better. He let his anger grow, because it masked his feeling of worry and powerlessness.
Ba Reum narrowed his eyes at him.
"I'll tell you something. If you run in there screaming and shooting, you just might as well shoot your brother yourself." Ba Reum said, standing close to Moo Chi, so they were eye to eye.
"So, what do you want me to do? Just stand here and pretend nothing has happened. That all is just sunshine here." Moo Chi said, gesturing angrily at the rain.
"No, but we'll go in with a plan. First let's see how many are in, and perhaps if it's manageable, we can create a distraction."
"I already checked, there is two of them." Moo Chi said.
"You are sure? No one was temporarily away?" Ba Reum asked, trying to assert his dominance over the plan.
"Well, if you doubt my counting abilities, let's check it out again." Moo Chi said sarcastically, stalking away angrily and holding the backdoor open for Ba Reum, bowing slightly on holding out his hand in an universal sign of "you go first".
Ba Reum went inside, and snuck in through the hallway, Moo Chi right behind him. They reached the main part of the church, and they immediately heard some voices raised in argument. They looked past a corner and saw Father Ko tied up in a chair. He seemed to be awake behind the blindfold, his head moving a bit, but his mouth was gagged.
Two people were standing near him, a man and a woman.
"I'm just saying that's not what I signed up for." The woman said. "All the murders, and now kidnapping a cripple?" she waved at the father Ko.
"It's all for the cause. If we don't do it now, then we'll never get rid of that sort of people." The man tried to convince her, but he was met with a scoff.
"I don't care anymore. The way we are doing this, how are we any better than them. They say that if that woman wakes up, one of us must kill her before she can tell who tried to kill her. Do you want to kill an innocent?"
"If it's the only way, I will do it. Don't you see, it's just a sacrifice, one life for many." She crossed her arms and rolled her eyes at his argument, clearly not convinced.
"One life for many. Do you know these psycho's think that they improve the world as well with the people they kill?"
"Just a bit longer. Do you know how many we can safe?"
Ba Reum pulled Moo Chi back a bit, back out of the building. He didn't seem to want to go but followed none the less. Once they were outside, they could talk again, just to form a plan.
"They are fighting, that's good." Ba Reum said. "We can use that."
"But what the hell are they fighting about. If they want to stop the murders, why do they do this." Moo Chi wondered. Ba Reum bit his lip, wondering if he should include Moo Chi in his plan.
"You know something." Moo Chi said accusingly. Ba Reum sighed and nodded.
"I do, but now is not the time. We first have to get your brother out of here. These people are dangerous. Even if they are doubting their cause, they will act when they see you." Moo Chi agreed and they quickly worked out a plan to get his brother out of here as fast and safely as possible.
Moo Chi was hiding again in the corner of the church, waiting until Ba Reum would cause the distraction. Once they weren't paying attention, that would be the ideal moment to get his brother out of here.
Ba Reum opened the front door of the church, loudly talking in his phone.
"Yeah honey, my car broke down. No, it's fine, I got some shelter in a church. You know what they say, god will provide." he closed the door and turned around. His eyes immediately fell on the two people and the one tied to the chair, blindfolded and gagged. The two standing people looked at him, their eyes wide in shock.
"Oh My God." He yelled out loud, startled, putting his hand to his open mouth. He even dropped his phone in fear.
He quickly turned around and tried to open the door, but the man was faster than him, he grabbed Ba Reum's arm and pulled him back from the door.
Ba Reum fell to his knees.
"Please, don't hurt me." He begged when the guy pushed a gun against his head.
"What are you going to do?" the woman asked, facing the man and holding the arm with the gun.
"I'm going to make sure this one can't tell on us." He said, pushing the gun tighter against Ba Reum's head, who had started to cry.
"Please, I got a wife and a kid on the way." He begged, trying to seem as pathetic as possible.
"Come on, look at him, as if he can do anything to us? We have a face mask on, so he won't recognize us. We'll just let him get away and move. Who is going to believe this guy?" She tried to get him away from Ba Reum, who kept on crying and begging. The guy was wavering. Darn. Time to up his game.
"Oh, shit, he pissed himself." The man said, finally taking a step back in disgust.
"Whatever." He said, putting his gun back in his pocket, "Go now, before I change my mind."
"Thank you, thank you." Ba Reum said, bowing while making sure to get out as quickly as possible, even tripping over his own foot once and falling on the ground.
The man looked at him in disgust, muttering something about army duty.
The moment the door closed behind him, he ran towards the waiting car. The motor was already running, and Moo Chi was sitting at the steering wheel, his brother in the back seat.
Ba Reum went to sit as quickly as possible next to Moo Chi.
"I never expected you to be this good as an actor." Moo Chi said when he drove away, the tiers squealing. He saw in his rear-view mirror the door of the church bust open and the man rushing out.
"I can't believe you actually even pissed yourself." he said, looking at Ba Reum's wet crotch.
"He wasn't going to let me go otherwise. Somehow people are convinced that if you do something like this. People think this is the ultimate show of fear. If a grown man does this, it must mean he is pathetic and cowardly." He said, feeling a bit embarrassed even if he did that on purpose.
"Still, I admire your dedication to your role." Moo Chi joked, feeling better now that he had his brother back with him. Ba Reum grunted in reply.
"How is your brother doing?" he asked, looking back at the back seat.
"I'm fine. Thank you for saving me." The man said, looking a bit dazed, but all in all okay. Moo Chi looked at his brother in the rear-view mirror, the affection visible in his face.
"Still, it's better to get checked out by a doctor," Ba Reum said, "but perhaps it's better to avoid an hospital for now. Their security isn't that great."
"But where can we go then?" Moo Chi wondered, still worried a bit.
"Really, I'm fine, you don't have to bother." Father Ko tried to say, not wanting them to waste time on him.
"Nonsense, you will be checked out." Moo Chi override him. Father Ko looked at his brother, surprise in his face. Then he smiled gently.
"If that would make you happy, I won't protest." He said.
"Good. I know just the place with a great doctor." Ba Reum said.
Hong Ju was reading a book in the sofa. Yo Han had come home from work an hour earlier, looking a bit upset. She knew he had surgeries planned in today. Probably one that went wrong, she thought.
"What is wrong?" she had asked.
"Nothing, just people doing stupid things." He muttered a bit darkly. She had frowned at his tone, but he had assured her all was fine.
"I still have some work to do, I'll be upstairs in my office." Hong Ju had nodded and made herself comfortable. He knew she was there if he needed her.
She had just reached the middle of the book when she heard some hurried knocking on the door. She frowned and went to open it up, seeing that Yo Han was currently busy working.
She never expected to see Moo Chi, Ba Reum and an unconscious Father Ko hanging in between them on the porch.
Father Ko had been fine in the car, but then he had suddenly turned pale and lost consciousness.
Moo Chi had panicked so hard that he had nearly driven them into a wall, if not for Ba Reum reaching over to yank on the steering wheel.
"Wha?" she managed to eek out, but Ba Reum pushed past her, dragging the priest and Moo Chi with him.
"Sorry, too dangerous to stay out." He said when they were inside, "isn't Yo Han here?"
"He's in his office." She said surprised, pointing at the stairs.
Ba Reum and Moo Chi quickly laid Father Ko on the sofa and Ba Reum went up the stairs to get Yo Han.
"What happened?" Hong Ju asked Moo Chi, looking at him with surprise and shock.
"Well, let's just say, I found out some information and some people didn't want anyone finding out, so they tried to shut me up." He said, looking at his brother, brushing the hair from his eyes.
He didn't dare to admit it, but he was so scared when he thought that he might have lost his brother. All this time that he had been so angry at his brother, not only for forgiving the man who killed their parents, but for protecting him all those years ago and getting hurt in the process. It just hadn't been fair. And to think that now his life had been in danger because of Moo Chi, once again, it made him feel as if the ground had slid away under him.
He had been so sure that if he distanced himself from his brother that his enemies would never go after him.
"What people?" Hong Ju asked, her eyes wide.
"I think we can answer that." Yo Han said, coming from the stairs with Ba Reum, "I'll first check Father Ko, then we can talk. Can you get some clean clothes for Ba Reum as well?"
"Clean clothes?" she wondered out loud and then she saw the wet stain on the front of his pants. Ba Reum blushed in embarrassment and Moo Chi snorted.
"Don't worry he did it on purpose." Moo Chi said, earning a glare from Ba Reum. Hong Ju just looked at him in bewilderment, the statement not making any sense to her, but for now she was willing to go with the flow. She couldn't make head nor tales from this situation anyway.
"I'll take you to the bathroom." She said, gesturing Ba Reum to follow her.
It didn't take long to go over Father Ko's vital parameters, making sure that he wasn't in immediate danger, and he was just finished when Ba Reum came back down, all cleaned up and in a set off Yo Han's clothes.
They both went to sit at the table and gratefully accepted the cup of coffee Hong Ju had prepared.
"I think it was just the shock and exhaustion, probably combined with some kind of sedative that is still running it's course in his system. I can't know what without a tox screen, but I think it will wear off in a couple of hours. He'll probably be groggy when he wakes up."
Moo Chi nodded at the explanation, a bit more reassured. He looked back at the sofa where his brother was lying underneath a warm blanket. He could see his chest raising rhythmically with every breath.
"So, these people that kidnapped my brother, what can you tell me about them?" Moo Chi said, turning his attention at Yo Han and Ba Reum.
"It's a long, complicated story." Ba Reum said, "it actually begins when our mothers were pregnant with us."