CHAPTER 11 – HOPE

Kwon Young Sool looked around at the opulent surroundings of Yoon Ji Hoo's sitting room, wondering again what on earth he was doing there. The Sunim had approached him a week ago, saying he felt that he was the right person to help out a young friend of his. Young Sool had been willing to listen, thinking perhaps it was some youngster who needed a little straightening out, a little fatherly mentoring perhaps. When the Sunim finished his story, Young Sool was seriously beginning to question his old friend's sanity.

"Do I look like Superman to you?!" he asked, astonished. "These are powerful and dangerous people to be involved with! How do you know you can trust this young man? What exactly is it you think I can do for him anyway? And why should I?" he demanded.

"Perhaps," Chung Ho replied slowly, "it is also a matter of what he can do for you. Woo Bin is not his father. He has a good heart. You do too. He needs a way of fighting against the evil of the world he is trapped in. I am sure the police also could use some assistance in their fight against the same evil."

Young Sool raised an eyebrow as he realized what the monk was suggesting. He sat back with a "humph" as he mulled the idea over. After some minutes he asked how he was supposed to get in touch with Woo Bin.

"We have a mutual acquaintance. Someone who is above suspicion and outside of his father's interests. He will arrange a time and place where the two of you can safely meet to talk."

The meeting was arranged with the Sunim as go-between, eliminating any phone records which could link the parties involved. And a week later, here he was, still wondering how on earth this could possibly work out.

Young Sool set his tea down as Ji Hoo rose to admit their visitors. All of F4 would be coming, under the guise of wedding preparations, and Jun Pyo's major domo would be on hand to occupy Woo Bin's new shadow, Chul Moo. Young Sool stood as well, as the F4 entered the room. While all four men were handsome and carried an air of sophistication and wealth more noticeable to others than to themselves, Young Sool was immediately able to recognize Woo Bin. Something about the wariness of his eyes, the tension of his posture – ready for fight or flight, and the slight lift to the chin that spoke of a pride that held back from either, was extremely familiar to Young Sool. He saw it often in the men he worked with. If he had looked in a mirror, he would have seen it in himself.

"The Sunim has explained your situation to me," he began. "I think we have an idea that will be beneficial to us both."

"You can get me out of the jopok?" Woo Bin asked, the disbelief in his voice still tinged with hope.

"Well, in a way. I'd like you to work for me. As an informant."

Woo Bin's hopes fell. "A snitch?!" he asked with disdain, as the twisted loyalties imbedded from infancy showed their hold.

"Think about it," Young Sool asked. "Leaving the jopok straight out would be incredibly difficult, if not impossible. What kind of future would you have if you did? As an informer, you'll be able to help us fight the kind of damage that your father's dealings inflict on others. You won't be free in the way you might have hoped for, but you'll be in a unique position to help others, to bring about justice, maybe even to save lives!"

Woo Bin sat back in silence as he considered the lives closer to home that could be affected. Chul Moo for one, and many of the men who worked under his father had been like uncles to him, had helped raise him as a child. They had certainly been there for him in ways his father never had. Could he live with himself if he was the one to bring down trouble on them? And his father…he couldn't truly say he had any love for the man, but was that any excuse for betraying him outright?

His grandfather had been the one to start the "enterprises" his fortune was built on almost 60 years ago. The war had brought devastation and loss for so many, but out of that chaos, a man canny enough -and unscrupulous enough- could thrive. His father had inherited his grandfather's seedy businesses and concealed them under a veneer of legality, skyrocketing their social standing along with their wealth. Woo Bin owed everything he had and everything he was to these men, no matter how he felt about what they did. And it was this thought that made up his mind. Perhaps he did owe everything he was to his father – and didn't he hate who he was now?

"All right. I'll do it. What exactly do you want me to do?"

Young Sool released his pent up breath. "We'll set up a way for you to contact me with information. When you have details of activity we can act on, you let me know."

"Any particular…activities?" Woo Bin asked, wondering if this man had any idea of the extent of his father's dealings.

"Any of it – the fraud and money laundering get washed through so many layers of paper work and legal loopholes it's been impossible for us to pin anything down. Any insider information that can connect the dots will help us get the proof we need to prosecute. The drug smuggling, well, we've been able to make some busts on the smaller deals, but the closer we can get to the major players, the more we can do."

"Right. Well, I'll do what I can. What about the pettier stuff – extortion, assault, kidnapping…"

"I'll take whatever you can give me. If we can use it, we will."

Woo Bin looked up and colored slightly as he realized the rest of F4 were staring at him. They weren't shocked exactly, but hearing him speak so plainly and with so much familiarity about such heinous crimes had brought home just how real this was.

Seeking to reassure him of their support, Yi Jung wrapped an arm around his shoulders and smiled. "Ya, you know we're here for you, no matter what! We'll do whatever we can to help you!"

"What you can do to help," Young Sool interrupted, "is stay as far out of this as you can. The less you know, the safer it will be for all of you, including Woo Bin."

Protests came from all three men at once until Woo Bin broke in. "Ya! He's right! Doing this will put my life on the line every day. But at least I'll be able to live with myself again. The last thing I need is to worry about what might happen to any of you if you come to know more than you should."

"We're not letting you shut us out again, Woo Bin!" Yi Jung insisted sternly.

"No. I'll never do that again, bro! I know I can't make it through this without my best friends! F4 is 'my truth' and 'my refuge.' You always will be."

While they may not have understood the significance of his reference*, his friends relaxed, knowing that whatever else may be in jeopardy, their friendship was not.

Young Sool looked on with respect and admiration for all of them. Working in Gangnam as long as he had, he had experienced his fair share of run-ins with spoiled, wealthy brats who felt they were above the law. He had had his doubts that "Prince Song" would be willing or able to be of any true assistance working against his father, but he was now filled with hope that the world might not be quite going to hell in a hand-basket, just yet.

(* - see the beginning of Chapter 6)