Chapter 3: Work, Work, Work

Sunny stared at the jobs section of the newspaper. Two weeks of trying to find a good enough job and nothing so far. Wherever she went it was the same thing, they weren't hiring. Some of the places that she went too were hiring but for whatever reason they didn't take her because she didn't have certain 'qualifications'. It was more like an excuse not to hire her. The last place that she went to said that they didn't want someone of her 'kind', Sunny remember's that snarky little creep My kind? What, Asians or a gang member trying to go straight? she wanted so badly to kick him in that certain area between his legs but it wasn't worth it. She did have a stint working in a massage parlor for a couple days, it didn't require any type of degrees so it was easy enough. That is until a customer decided to get frisky, the fat man tapped her behind and he tried to play his version of Truth or Dare. He laughed but he wasn't laughing when she kicked him in the face and smashed a bowl of hot wax on his head, causing him too bleed. The owner quickly booted her out. "That asshole should be arrested! I'm the victim here!" she yelled as the owner went back in the parlor. Sunny considered mopping the floors at Burger Shot but she quickly shot that idea down, not because it was embarrassing but just plain stupid. Uncle Kang offered her a position in the bakery but she politely turned it down as she didn't want to be a burden too him or the staff.

"Why can't this be easy?" she's been asking that for sometime now and she could never get a proper answer. Skimming through the paper all Sunny could find were jobs that paid crap and that weren't worth taking. Spraying for bugs, no thank you. Getting coffee for a bunch of CEO's, definitely not. Making sushi, what are you serious? Every part of the section and nothing good. "Maybe...no, no I can't" she told herself, calling Park was out of the question but than again she was in a rut; time was all she needed. Sunny get's up from the chair and goes to the bedroom, if she was going out she was going to need some descent clothes. Grabbing a simple green sleeveless shirt and khaki shorts she gets in front of the mirror as she puts on her shorts. As Sunny puts on her bra, she catches a glance of the tattoo on her back. Slowly she turns and see's it in it's full detail, the green dragon holding a giant pair of pearls in it's claws. It covered her whole back, every time she would see that thing on her it always her made feel uncomfortable. Any artist would be impressed with the detail of it but too her it made her feel cursed, unwanted by everyone. The price that she paid for it was too high, it was something that she wanted to forget but no matter what she did it was always there.

With one of her hands Sunny touches the dragon. A chill runs down her spine, she could feel that sting. Her stomach churns as the horror of that moment starts to creep back. The needle pokes her skin, the blood and ink mix as the dragon starts too take it's place on her back. The sound of the machine drowns out her whimpers, tears cover her face. The pain is unbearable as she squirms to make it stop. The shading of the design soon follows, that was more painful than the outlining. After an hour and a half it's all over, she finally cries, crying was all she could do. These weren't tears of joy, they were tears of shame.

Sunny snaps out of it, those memories are always going to be painful and it's always going to haunt her. She quickly puts her bra and shirt on, looking at her reflection her hair was messy "Can't have that" grabbing a brush, she brushes it slightly. Sunny had longer hair back then but she made it shorter so no one could grab it. After finishing she looks at her reflection one last time Still looking good she smiled and left. On the table stood the picture of her mother, Sunny stares. She closes her eyes and clasps her hands together "Naleul dolbwa...(Look after me..)", Sunny was never the religious type but she saw her mother as her guardian angel, someone to always watch over her.

She exits the apartment. The sun was shining, it's warmth made her feel alive. Her stomach start's to growl "Maybe I should get something to eat first", the bakery is going too be her first stop, tea and red bean pastries what a combination.

The apartment was a block away from the bakery so it would be easy to get from here to there. Entering the bakery Sunny asked for a table "What will you have today?" the waitress asked "Green tea and gyeongju bread" she writes everything down and goes to get her order. "Yo! Where's the old man?" Sunny turns around and see's a punk and another thug standing behind him. Kang comes to the front "What do you want?" he asked, the punk scoffed "What the fuck do you think we want, we want our fucking money", the waitress comes back back with the tea and pastries. "I don't have it right now, come back another time" Kang said as he leaves the front "Their's not going to be another fucking time, I want my fucking money!" he yell's as he pulls out a butterfly knife. "Excuse me, I think you guys need to leave" the punk turns to his left and see's Sunny approaching him "Who the fuck are you?" he scowled at her, Kang eyes Sunny as the thug reaches behind his waistband. "Look people are just trying to eat and drink their tea, okay?" "I don't give a shit what-!" his eyes turn to the black stars on her left arm. "What set do you belong to?" he asked as Sunny's heart start to race as she carefully tries to mend her words together.

"I fucking asked you a question, what set do you belong to?" the punk demanded "Five Stars out of Strawberry" he starts to chuckle "Five Stars!" he laughs rather hard "Man, Five Star fucking Dragons! Oh my god" he stops laughing "Five Stars are dead, they been dead for a long ass time. Guess that makes you an O.G. doesn't it?" Sunny puts up her hands "Look I don't want any trouble, just leave while you can" the punk starts to laugh again "Trouble? You think a skinny bitch like you can tell me what do?" he points the blade ready to attack "I'll show you what-!" he wasn't able too finish what he was saying as Sunny slams his face against the counter. He falls to the ground hard, the thug pulls out a .22 and points it at her. Sunny kick's it out of his hand, he tries to hit back but she throws him back first on the edge of the counter. The punk get's back up, the right side of his face bruised, with the knife in his hand he tries to cut her; Sunny quickly dodges the slashes. "You're dead!" he screamed, Sunny manages to block the knife and kicks him in the sternum; grabbing his arm she punches him in the right spot. "Aah! My fucking arm!" the punk howled, the thug is back up and the pistol is back in his hand; Sunny punches square in the face. Blood gushes from his nose, he falls back as the punk scrambles to his feet "M-Man, fuck this! Let's get out of here!" he yell's as they both run out the door "Don't come back here again!" Sunny turns around and saw the look on Uncle Kang's face.

His face bordered on complete shock and surprise. The staff and some customers just stare, they were wide-eyed Sunny could feel their glares. "I-I need to go, um, I'm sorry for any damage...I'll pay for it..." her voice was shaking, she slowly walk's towards the door and exits. She's half-way down the block when a voice call's her "Sun-Hi!" stopping Sunny turn's around as Kang run's to her; he finally catches up, she felt scared. "Uncle, I'm sorry...I shouldn't have done that" he puts both of his hands on her shoulders and much too her surprise hugs her, "It's okay, that wasn't your fault" she felt confused as to what was happening. "Why are you saying that? It was my fault, I-I-I shouldn't have done all of that" she stuttered a bit, he put both of his hands on her cheeks "The staff is rather grateful, those two were the one's harassing us" she looked into eyes. "I know you wouldn't put me or anybody else in danger" "But-But-" "Listen, you only did what was right, you shouldn't be ashamed of that" her heart returned to it's normal beat, Sunny felt reassured about everything "You haven't had your tea and bread" he chuckles "I'll come back for it later, listen I have to make an important call, I have to go" she didn't want to but she had too "I understand" he smiled and left.

As soon as Kang left, Sunny pull's out phone. At first she hesitated but their was really no other option. Slowly she scrolled through the contact listing, Park's name was highlighted. Sunny shakes, she swore that she would go straight and wanted to do better for herself but this, this was the last thing that she wanted to do. After what happened in the bakery Sunny felt something, a rush of sorts that made her feel good. It felt good beating those punks down. It had been years since she felt like that. She pushed the call button, the line rang and rang. "Hello?" Park answered "Park...it's me, I-I need some work, that is if you have any work for me..." their was a pause for a few seconds "Come by the office, I might have something for you" with that he hung up, Sunny just stares at her phone. He might have something for her, hopefully it wasn't something that would keep her up at night.

...

Sunny got off the elevator and entered the office, the secretary from before was still there. She looked up and saw Sunny. "I have an appointment with Park, is he in?" she asked "He stepped out but he'll be back in a few minutes" Sunny went to one of the seats and sat down. It was quiet for a minute or so, the secretary shot a glance at Sunny as she waited; Sunny could feel the glance. "Listen," her eyes shot up at the granite table "we didn't get a proper introduction, I'm Joo Kwan" she smiled, Sunny felt relief that she wasn't a cold hearted person. As she got up from to shake her hand a loud voice came bursting through the door "Grandfather! We need to talk!", he was a rather tall and lanky looking Korean in his mid 20's, he wore an all white suit with a black undershirt, his hair was cut neatly and it was gelled back giving it a thick slickness. Their was a rather strong but irritating smell coming from him, Sunny's nose started to act up. The cologne that he had on permeated the air, the way he smelled gave Sunny not only a headache but also made her want too throw up.

He looked at Sunny "Who the fuck are you?" the way he talked made her want to punch him in the mouth "Um, I'm Sunny, I know Park and you are?", he raised his eyebrow almost as if he was insulted "Who am I? I'm Jin Tae" "Jin Tae who?" she asked "Jin Tae Park!" he yelled "Oh, you're Park's grandson" she remembered suddenly. He felt annoyed by the way Sunny mentioned him "That's right! I'm his grandson and the rightful heir too this organization" she chuckled when he said that "He mentioned you" "Oh? What did he say?" Jin Tae asked as he leaned against the granite table "Yeah, he mentioned that you're a pain, that everything he's built is going down the toilet and that you have your head up your ass" Joo Kwan chuckles but Jin Tae's brow wrinkled as his temper began to flare "What did you just say too me?" "You heard me..." with that he raised his right hand and attempts to slap her; before the slap could happen, a hand grab's his arm. "What do you think you're doing?" Jin Tae turned his head too see his grandfather standing behind him. "Grandfather...!" he exclaimed as Park let's go of his arm "I asked you a question, what do you think you're doing?" Park stared at Jin Tae with an intense look, the arrogant grandson looked like he wanted to wet his pants.

He calmly postured himself "This-This woman...she insulted me, she doesn't know that I'm somebody", Park clenches his teeth "This girl has worked for me and she came here because she needed work, if she insulted you it's probably because you deserved it" Jin Tae felt like a child whenever his talked down to him, Sunny snickered as the boy was taken down a notch; he heard that snicker, he hated her already. "Girl, we have business to discuss" "Right" Sunny walked towards his office door and entered as Park follows her. "Wait, we need to talk" "It can wait" Park reiterated "But I...!" he complained, Park stopped halfway and turned slowly towards Jin Tae's direction; his glare made him feel small. "I said it can wait," he calmly restated "now get out..." he stood there for about a few seconds as his grandfather entered his office. The door shuts "He always does this to me" Jin Tae grumbles, his grandfather always treated him this way; he hated it. It's that girl he doesn't like. As Jin Tae exits the office the way that girl snickered made his blood boil "Bitch".

"So that was your grandson?" Sunny asked as she sat down in the seat "Unfortunately yes" he let out an annoyed sigh "He's...He's a fucking asshole, I know I shouldn't say that" Park gave Sunny a stern look "Oh, uh, I'm sorry" he frowned and shook his head, a small but visible grin appeared on face "That's okay, you're not the first one to call him that" he sat in his chair, Park reaches into a drawer and pull's out a set of car keys and put's them on his desk. "So you said that you needed some work, is that correct?" he asked "That's right but I have some...some conditions" Park raised his eyebrow "Oh?" Sunny tries to word everything correctly "It can't be anything too crazy and it can't involve police officers getting hurt" when he heard Sunny's conditions Park almost wanted to laugh but he didn't "Alright, I think I can oblige to those terms". They sat in silence for several seconds. "So do you have anything for me?" she wondered, Park sits there for a minute or so. "Their's a man, owns an electronics store, he gave some friends of mine flat-screen t.v.'s but their was some issues" "Issues?" Sunny asked "The t.v.'s didn't work; he claimed they were new but everything inside was shorted-out. My friends wanted their money back but he refused and threatened to call the cops if they came back. I need you to 'persuade' him to give my friends a refund" Park hands Sunny the car keys on his desk "There's a Tailgater parked outside the building, the store is on Power street in Pillbox Hill".

With that Sunny get's up and goes to the door "Can I tell you something?" Park asked, Sunny turns around "I know your sister is a police officer, I have kept tabs on her" he just stares at her "Don't worry...I won't harm her, it just something that I wanted to let you know". She stands there, her face frozen in both fear and concern "Like I said, I won't harm her..." Park repeated himself, Sunny didn't feel reassured from what he just told her; her blood turned to ice. She quickly exits the office, wanting to get the job over with as fast as possible.

...

It had been a long time since Sunny had ever driven a car let alone something anything really fancy. The white Tailgater sped down the streets, Sunny laughed as she ran a red light "Meosjin bil-eo meog-eul! (Fucking awesome!)" she screamed. The adrenaline rushes through her veins "Woo hoo!" the car turns and glides through the corner. It felt so good, she never wanted it to stop.

Arriving at the electronics store Sunny waits in the car, she sat there seeing customers entering and exiting. A customer get's into an argument with someone, she was a little far to hear them but it didn't sound good. Judging by the look of it, the older man must be the owner. A crusty old man who looked like he had been smoking one too many cigarettes and possibly drank too much, Sunny observed the grouchy looking man as he shove's the customer Guess he didn't like the merchandise the customer leaves angry and the owner heads back into the store. Sunny get's out of the car and walks across the street to the store; when getting involved in these type of situations it can always get really ugly fast. People can either do one of two things, comply or something bad would happen. Some do what they're told to do and everything goes fine but those who don't usually end up lying on the floor with their face busted open. Most people who saw their own blood would get the message quick and do what their told to do; that's the way thing's way worked and it's always going to work like that.

Sunny entered. Country music blares on the speakers, she never liked that type of music it always sounded sad and depressing. Their's a plain-clothes rent-a-cop standing guard in a seat, if everything goes well then she will get her money but if the old man want's to play hardball, well then someone better call an ambulance. Sunny approaches the counter "What can I do for you?" the old man asked, his smelled like cheap nicotine. "You sold some Korean guys that I know some cheap and crappy working flat-screens, you're going to give me a refund" she demanded, with a toothy grin the old man scoffs "I don't know what the fuck you're talking about" he quips "Look you can do this the easy way or hard way. Easy way, you give me a refund. Hard way, I beat your old crusty ass. Now what's it going to be?" Sunny gave the man a very mean look. The geezer starts to laugh "What? Are you fucking serious?" "Do I look like I'm joking?" he laughed harder, why do people always do thing's the hard way?

"Yeah, I sold them those t.v.'s but it's not my fault that those things crapped out on them" the old man scowled "So they want their money, huh? Well the answer is no and with that you can fuck off" the rent-a-cop grabs her right arm and tries to force her out, with her right foot Sunny stomps his left foot hard. He screams in pain; she gets free and smashes his face against the register; the old man backs away slowly. She hops the counter and begins walking towards him, he bolts like a rabbit, Sunny gives chase. The back door swings open; for an old man he's pretty fast. The storage area was is full of items from stereos to car speakers to the newest flat-screens. "Shit!" the old man curses, Sunny grabs a folding chair and with enough force hurls it at the man's legs. His face hits the floor. "Ah! You bitch!" he howled, she notices something out the corner of her eye. He curses at her as she approaches the work table and a soldering iron on top of it. "So, want to explain what I just found?" Sunny's turns her attention towards the old man "Get the fuck away from that!", she puts him in a headlock and drags him to the table. "So judging by that iron, I'm gonna guess that you burn out all the circuitry in those t.v.'s so that they don't work, am I right?" the old man struggled to get out of the hold "Which means you've been screwing people out of their money!" she growls, with her strength she throws him on top of the table. Sunny starts the iron, she grabs his left arm and holds it in place "Now this is going to sting a bit" she grabs the iron and puts it on top of his hand.

His skin starts to sizzle and burn, he screams and howls in pain; it echoes throughout the area. "Aaaaah! You fucking bitch!" he curses, Sunny puts the iron aside and turns him over "So are you going to those guy's a refund? Or do I have to burn something else?" he pants and whimpers "Alright...! I'll give them a refund..." with that she let's him go and he falls to the ground, he cries like a child, it's both pathetic and sad. As she heads for the door, Sunny turns and makes one more demand "Oh, I almost forgot, you're not going to just give them a refund but they're also going to get new and working flat-screens" the owner cries "Fine...! Fine...", she leaves the store. As she leaves her still beats with that intensity, it felt good. She grabs her phone and calls Park. "Park? It's done, tell your friends that not only are they going their money but they're also going to get some new t.v.'s" Park let out a small chuckle "I knew I could rely one you. Come by tomorrow, I'll give you your money" he hangs up. She puts on a wild smile, she never wanted this rush to stop.

...

She parks the car in front of the apartment complex, what a day this turned out too be. Sunny plans to walk back to the bakery, her bread and tea have probably gotten cold by now. Sunny opens the glove compartment, something heavy falls out. She reaches for the object. Her eyes widened; an M1911 .45 is in her hand. Most people use the Beretta or Glock, but the .45 was never too old to use. It has a lot stopping power, it's still popular with cops and soldiers too this day. After all it's considered a classic. "Shit..." she quickly puts it back in the compartment. Hopefully no saw that. Sunny exits the car and heads back to the bakery, just then the sound of sirens comes from behind her. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me..." she sighs.

Linda steps out of the squad car and approaches Sunny; she grabs her by the arm and puts her up against the wall. Her hands start patting Sunny's body "Hey! What the hell?" she complained, Linda turns her around "I thought you said you were going to stay out of trouble?!" she scowled "Yeah, nice seeing you too" Sunny sarcastically retorted "You didn't answer me!" "I don't know what you're talking about" Linda pulls out her phone and scrolls to the video app, what Sunny saw was something she didn't want to see again. The video showed what happened at the bakery earlier in the day, Linda looked at her with an angry look "I knew you would screw up", Sunny felt embarrassed that not only of what happened but the fact that someone had recorded the whole thing and posted it on the internet; she started shaking, trying to word an excuse. "Look," she sighed "that wasn't my fault, those assholes were shaking down Uncle and I did what I had to do" Sunny looked at Linda as she scoffs at her excuse "Even if that's true, they should have called 911" the way she talked made her blood boil "Oh? That's kind of funny because I talked to a staffer a couple days after I came back and he said that they tried that but the cops didn't show up after twenty minutes", Linda seemed unamused.

"Well maybe they were just busy" the way she answered made Sunny want to scream at her "Are you serious? He's our godfather, the man who always took care of us and the one who helped us when we were struggling" she just stares at her, Linda stands there with her arms crossed. "I don't know what you're talking, he's just another person who caught in a random act of violence", Sunny balls up her fist and clenches her teeth, "Besides, how do I you didn't have anything to do with this? Huh?" she gave Sunny a hard look. "You're nothing but a criminal, that's all you're going to be" she slowly walked towards Sunny "That's...all...you're...going...to...be" Linda repeated to her sister, they were now an inch apart from each other. Sunny stood there speechless; she looked down to avoid her big sisters gaze. "When you screw up, I'm going to be the one too put you away for good, do you understand?" she threatened, her voice sounded cold and bitter. The radio comes to life, an assault near Mission Row had just accrued and they need any officers in the area to respond; Linda backs away and head's back to the squad car. "Big sis...why are you doing this...?" she whispered to herself as the squad car speeds off until it vanishes. Linda was never like this, something else was wrong, it all had do with what happened on that night. She never forgot what happened on that insane night, it was the one thing that haunts her daily.

Sunny walks back to the bakery, she just wanted her tea and bread. Some people stared at her, they whispered and a few smiled at her; it was all very strange too her. It was all very awkward when those people looked at her, like a celebrity who did something very scandalous. Finally back at the bakery Sunny sits down at her spot from before, the waitress brings back her order. She eats her bread and drinks her tea, which has since gotten cold but it was still good to drink. Two young friends, both of them girls, approach her table "Sillyehabnida (Excuse me)" Sunny looks up and see's one girl with a big smile "Dangsin-ui ssainbad-eul se iss-eulkkyayo? (May I have your autograph?)" she politely asked, Sunny raised her eyebrow; the cute girl pulls a small notepad and a pen. The girl next too her shows Sunny the video of the fight I really hate the fucking internet she cursed in her mind, she took the pad and pen, signing her name. They both giggled and exclaimed that they just got their first autograph. The girls run out of the bakery, they run like they just won the lottery. Sunny felt like she was in one of those cheesy reality show, she was waiting too see if some kind of camera crew was going to pop out of nowhere and surprise her, but nothing happened. More and more people were staring at her, feeling uncomfortable, Sunny get's up and leaves the bakery.

Her phone vibrates, a text from Kenny. 'Just saw the video! Damn, you still got those moves! Wanna hang out? Maybe you can show me those moves?' Sunny chuckles. She was planning on going home and relaxing, but their's nothing wrong with staying out for an extra couple of hours. Her thumb hits the screen to text the message 'That's fine, get some beers out! Hope you're ready to get your ass kicked! =)'.

The sun is still out, people are still out doing their thing. The good thing is that she gonna get some money to stay afloat. The bad thing is that she broke a part of her promise of going straight. Sunny swore up and down that she wouldn't go that road but in times of desperation she was going to do whatever takes too survive, anybody who lived on these streets knew that. Sunny knew the score when she first got involved in that life; do whatever it takes to make it. She's done things that would often make it difficult to sleep at night, doing things that would give a person nightmares for years on end. She used to wonder what her life would be like if she was involved in this type of work.

Her mind wanders. She wanted to live in a big house, drive the fanciest cars, drink some fancy but expensive wine, wear an expensive dress and then complain that somebody else is blatantly copying her. But the one thing Sunny always wanted was someone too share that life with. That special somebody, the person she want's to start a life with. Somebody who would love her no matter what, someone who could hold and comfort her in her time of need. But sadly she doesn't have that right now.

She finally arrives at Kenny's house. Even if she didn't have that special somebody right now, Sunny always had her best friend. The one person who was there for her when she was growing up. Right now all she wanted to do was drink and clear her head. By tomorrow she'll get her money and regardless of the amount that Park is going to pay her, she was going to accept it.

Whatever the next day held for her, Sunny was going to embrace it and no matter what happened she wasn't going too back down. People would say that life is full of surprises; to Sunny this type of life was no surprise to her. In the end you either live or you die, those were the only choices that you were going to be offered. And it's those types of decisions were the ones that can easily destroy somebody if they're not careful. For Sunny she already paid that price years ago and it's that one price that she wishes she could take back.

Chapter 4 is coming soon. Rate and review.