Present
The cold touch of the marble sent a chill through Seungho's body, he jerked up to his feet. The scattered dishes sit on the kitchen counters and the rotten smell of puke almost sent Seungho back to sleep. The others were either in their room or in the bathroom, so Kang Seungho walked the path to the backyard lit by the sun that escaped through the curtains.
Seungho slides the door open, putting on his backyard shoes, when Minho pauses his muscle-ups to say, "Hey, you were out pretty hard, when's the last time you drank?"
"With my old man when I left Busan" Seungho sat on the reclined bench, he picked up an 85 pound dumbbell off the rubber floor and started to rep it behind his head, each hand at least a dozen times.
The backyard of the house was barren when they first moved in, the grass was overgrown and they found what seemed like new species of animals in that grass when they hand picked each one. Now, they installed a few rubber floor pads enough to fit dumbbell racks, benches and pull up bars because they had to train everyday or they risked falling behind Seungho and none of them wanted to be a burden.
"Hey, where did Taesik go? He hasn't cooked breakfast yet" Seungho drops his dumbbell after a couple sets, kicking up dust.
"He went for a run around the neighborhood" Munho said from atop his muscle up.
"You guys train too hard…" Seungho exclaimed, "I will be the one to fight Alex Lim anyways"
"I have to somehow make up for your 6 years in 6 months" Minho rested while catching his breath, leaning on the pullup bar. "I might as well put some sweat into it"
"Ho…Are you competing with me now?" Seungho turned to laugh in his face.
"Oh, do you want to fight right now? I can't wait to take you off your high horse" Minho swings from the bar, lets go to land in front of Seungho.
"Maybe if we did, you would get in the right mind because you can't defeat me" Seungho stands face to face with Minho.
"Hey, you guys better stop before you destroy the backyard" Dohyun slides open the door to the yard, and gestures his thumb towards the entrance, "Come inside, we gotta talk about something"
The wooden floor creaked as they walked to the extra room in the house, the door slid open and a pile of papers lay on the grand table in the center. A white board stretched from the farthest window to the door, words drawn overlapping each other and a chart drawn in the center.
Seungho and Minho sat on the grey couch across the white board, a strong whiff from the markers filled their nostrils and the high noon sunlight escaped through the blind dimly lighting the room. Seungho slouched stretches his arm over the backrest of the sofa as Taesik walks through the door with a towel over his shoulder, wiping his sweat as he says, "You guys aren't starting without me, are you?".
Taesik reclined in the office chair behind the pile of paper, barely looking over it. Dohyun stood by the board as he said, "Let's reiterate what we already know, first of all—" he points with his marker at the topmost box that branches into smaller boxes.
"Alex Lim is the CEO of the LIM Corporation, which is his legal front for whatever he has going on in the back; The LIM Corporation. is on the verge of ranking in the top 10 in the country and after getting many government contracts, he has created the fastest growing company in the history of Korea." Dohyun moves his hand down to the three boxes that branch from LIM Corporation, "Under the LIM Corporation, there are 3 main businesses that he operates—"
"LIM Hotels, LIM Logistics, LIM Industries" Dohyun points over each box before circling LIM Hotels.
"LIM Hotels has their main operations located in Seoul, and just last month, they got new contracts to build new resorts all over the country so now is the time to act for us" Dohyun spoke with conviction.
"You're saying to cut it in the bud…" Minho says.
"Exactly, we should destroy one of his pillars of support right now." Taesik agrees,
"How are we meant to do that if this is completely legal?" Minho shrugs.
"That's just on the surface—" Kang Seungho intervenes, "The drug epidemic in Seoul has exploded in the last few years, after looking into it, the timeline with LIM Hotels growth and increase in drug related arrests."
"Yes, the trends are real, all of the testimonies from the local gangs suggests that they are all now participating in drug dealing, which they were not doing a few years ago and to start up a drug empire like this—" Dohyun points at the topmost box, "the distributors of this drug must meet the demand, everything points at the LIM Corporations with the facilities to make it work."
"The violence between gangs is at an all time high, it was bound to happen when they all sling the same product" Dohyun continues, "All of them are trying to monopolize the supply chain"
"We can take out these small fries, torture them until they spill the beans" Minho suggested.
"That won't do, I looked into them already, and these guys only pick up anonymous drops" Dohyun shakes his head.
"So we just need to catch a big enough fish" Seungho initiates
"No, even if we could handle a thousand people between the 4 of us, it'll bring too much attention" Dohyun shakes his head, "Alex Lim might catch on before we even get started."
"So, what do you suggest?" Taesik stands leaning over the pile of paper.
"The Guardian Club" Dohyun says, "This is the most prestigious club in all of Seoul, where all the rich and powerful come to party, it's business under the Yongsan Crew, a notorious crew in Seoul."
"Okay, then it's settled, I'll go to the club" Seungho jumps to his feet.
"No, not you, I'll go" Dohyun interrupts, "You just got the job, you need to focus on that."
"Why not Taesik or Me?" Minho questions
"Taesik is a college professor, it'll stir rumors if he's there everyday" Dohyun says, Taesik nods in response "And Minho, you are too reckless"
"Alright, if we are done here, I'm gonna head out" Taesik walks out the door.
"Yeah, this room is too gloomy, I'm going too" Seungho follows suite
"Hey Do Hyun, How the hell am I reckless, you bastard, better explain yourself" Minho stands to face Dohyun.
"Nope, I got work to do, you figure that out yourself" Dohyun slips out the door as well.