Memories: Ryu Kang-Joo
The group began leaving the school, only to attract the eyes of the staff and the students. It was hard not to attract attention to this group. They were too beautiful, too handsome. The most normal of the group was Kang-Joo's mother, even then she was still prettier than most supermodels.
The group was abnormal. Leading the group was Taka accompanied by Snow and So-Hyun's father at his sides; chatting and laughing. Behind them were Kang-Joo's mother, Secretary Kim, and So-Hyun's mother; talking and gossiping about what had just taken place. Following at the back were Kang-Joo and So-Hyun who had fallen into a daze watching Taka's back as he was walking away. The back that always gave them warmth and a sense of security no matter the situation. ever since they'd first met.
Still, in a daze, their memories flowed, they couldn't help thinking back to when they'd first met Taka.
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Flashback
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3 Years ago.
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A teenager could be seen running in desperation down an alleyway; constantly changing direction, constantly switching alleys, leaping over, through and under obstacles and across rooftops, always increasing his speed with no signs of slowing down. Sweat dripped from his brow, panic, and fear, projecting from his eyes. This kept up for a full 15 minutes. The youth had managed to travel almost 4 miles, finally stopping in front of an abandoned warehouse. The warehouse was old and dilapidated; panels falling off, bolts rusting. The warehouse screamed ominous, but the youth had no choice but to go inside.
The youth... Ryu Kang-Joo.
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A year before
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Kang-Joo had returned home after school to find his mother crying into the arms of a man he didn't know. The man was a foreigner from what he could tell, though he couldn't be sure if the man was American or European. The man was huge standing at 6-foot 8 inches or about 195 centimeters, dark black hair and bright blue eyes. He wanted to know who this man was but for the time being, he was more worried about his mother. Asking his mother what was wrong, he soon got his answer.
His father was dead.
Killed in action saving the life of a fellow soldier.
The life of the man that was now standing before him.
His father was a hero but Kang-Joo couldn't help but curse at his father for dying, leaving his mother all on her own.
His emotions became uncontrollable, as tears leaked down his face.
Anger at his father for dying.
Rage at the person who had killed him.
Sadness because his father had died.
Shame, that he was so weak and couldn't do anything to help his mother.
All of Kang-Joo's emotions swirled into a tornado that was threatening to consume him. That was until a hand was placed on his shoulder. Looking up he saw bright blue eyes staring down at him, though the man said nothing. He managed to pull himself together. Just as the man was leaving he turned to Kang-Joo and passed him a card, telling him to call if he ever needed anything.
Kang-Joo looked down at the card where a single word was written accompanied by a number.
The word read.
Snow.
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The day before Kang-Joo arrived at the warehouse
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Returning home from the nearby convenience store, Kang-Joo stumbled upon a scene that made him freeze. His mother was being dragged by her hair by a small group of thugs. Thugs who appeared to be part of some kind of gang or group.
His mind blanked, the next thing he knew he was running toward the thugs to save his mother, only it didn't go how he expected it to. When he was nearing the thugs a reverse hook kick hit him out of nowhere, clean in the chest. The force of the kick sending him flying backward across the floor. His back scrapping across the rough ground causing his back to be torn open.
Blood dripped from his back, still dazed from the kick he stumbled to his feet. Eyes unfocused as another kick was aimed at him. By some miracle he dodged it, catching the kicker off guard and pushing him, hard, to the floor. Unfortunately, the attacker wasn't alone, as Kang-Joo pushed the kicker to the floor, the kicker's partner cracked a metal pole against the top of Kang-Joo's back, almost hitting his neck.
Once again Kang-Joo was knocked to the floor and once again he rose. His sense escaping him, his hands now bloodied. His eyes clouded. One thought, repeating in his mind.
'Must save mom. Must save mom.'
Over and over, his mind repeated it. By now his conscious mind was no longer running his body. The damage that had already been inflicted on him was something he'd never experienced before. His body throbbed with pain.
He continued to move toward the kidnappers. Slowly he stumbled. Once again the metal pole was swung at him but this time he caught it, his head snapped to the attacker.
'Thwack!'
Kang-Joo punched the attacker in the jaw, a crunch was heard. Kang-Joo had broken the jaw of his attacker and had knocked him spark out.
His unfocused eyes gazed down at his fist and the metal pole now in the other. Again he continued moving forward but this time he wasn't as lucky.
'Whack!'
A kick had hit him clean to the side of the head. His consciousness fading, as he saw his mother crying, screaming, trying to get to him. A man walked toward him and stopped next to his body, he bent down and slipped something into Kang-Joo's shirt pocket; following it up with a right hook to Kang-Joo's jaw knocking him out. The last thing he remembered was his mother being dragged away.
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A few hours later
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Waking up Kang-Joo was sore. His back was smarting. His hands were stinging and his head ached. Finding himself in his room, he was confused. How had he gotten here, but soon shoved it to the back of his mind as he remembered the situation. Remembering the paper the man had pushed into his pocket, he pulled it out to read it. It read.
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Your mother owes us $500,000 because of debt your father owed.
We want the money by 6pm tomorrow.
If we don't get our money by then, well, there are many other ways we can get our value's worth.
Don't be late or call the cops because you'll regret it.
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The note continued on giving him an address and instructions on how to proceed. He looked at the clock and it read 4pm. There was no way he'd be able to get the money in time. His only bet was trying to fight his way in, despite how well it went the last time, and that this time he was injured.
He headed into his parent's room to find his father's old weapons. He began arming himself in the hopes it would help him save his mom.
Returning to his own room, he picked up the photo of him and his father. Smiling at it he thought.
'I promise to protect her Dad, I'll make you proud.'
He said his goodbyes just in case something happens, but as he placed it down something dropped from it. A small white card with a name and number on it.
The memory of a man comforting his mom popped into his head, as did the last thing the man said to him.
'Call me if you need anything.'
The memory repeated in his head.
'Did he mean, anything?' He thought.
'What am I even thinking?'
Picking his phone up he called the number. The phone rung twice before someone picked up. The voice spoke.
"What is it?"
Before Kang-Joo's mind and mouth could sync up, his mouth started to move on its own.
"I need your help."
There was a pause before the voice answered.
"Understood." The phone was hung up. Kang-Joo's jaw dropped as he stared at his phone.
'Well, that was helpful...Not' he thought.
Finished arming himself, he rushed out of the door. Heading toward the warehouse.
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Outside the warehouse
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Kang-Joo summoned all of his courage and pulled open the warehouse door, walking inside. He found it dimly lite but the further in he walked, the brighter the light became. Ducking under a rogue pipe, he turned a corner only to be met by the scene of his mother tied to a chair. He stopped to take stock of the situation he was in. 10 men surrounded his mother, either sitting or standing and a possible 20 more were spaced out around the warehouse.
While he took stock of the situation, the man who Kang-Joo believed to be the boss spoke up.
"So you're finally here..." He turned to Kang-Joo's mother.
"...Look woman your son came to get you hahahahaha." The man couldn't seem to hold his laughter. She just glared back at him.
"So brat where's my money?" The boss asked wonderingly.
"We both know I don't have it." Kang-Joo said pointedly.
"Then, why the hell did you even bother coming?" He fumed.
"Why? Why!? Did you honestly expect me to just leave her with you?" Kang-Joo said, a maniacal gleam appearing in his eyes.
"Even if it costs me my life, I'll keep my promise to my father." He said more to himself than to anyone else.
The boss laughed.
"You think you can save her all on your own. You couldn't even fight against a few of my weaker guys."
The air suddenly became cold and the lights began to flicker when a hollowed voice was heard.
"Who said he's alone."
Out of the shadows appeared a hooded figure and with him, the temperature dropped further and the air grew heavy. So heavy in fact that the men scattered throughout the room began to drop one by one. The hooded figure spoke.
"Now you either let the woman go or.." He paused, his hollowed voice growing into a growl.
"...I kill you all with the help of my friend here." His head turned to Kang-Joo and nodded. Seeing the nod he pulled his father's handgun from its holster and aimed it at the boss, a smirk now plastered on his face at how the tables had turned. The boss laughed before ordering his goons to attack, however, he wasn't laughing for long.
The hooded figure shook his head.
"Don't say I didn't warn you."
The hooded figure looked at Kang-Joo's mother.
"Mrs.Ryu please shut your eyes, you don't need to see what happens next." She nodded and shut them tightly.
"Kang-Joo?" The figure spoke.
"Sir?" He asked.
"As soon as I move, run to your mother, release her and get out of here, understood? Go straight to your house."
"But sir?" Kang-Joo tried to protest but the figure wouldn't have any of it.
"Understood?" He demanded ignoring everyone else in the room. Kang-Joo nodded.
"Well then, let's get this show on the road."
A flash erupted in the warehouse and with that flash, every single one of the men surrounding Kang-Joo's mother dropped to the floor dead. Kang-Joo made a break for it. He reached his mother, pulled his knife from his pocket and cut her ropes releasing her. He put her on his back and made a break for it, telling her not to open her eyes.
He quickly ran toward the exit but as he did, goons came at him, however, as they were about to reach him, they dropped dead. Ignoring the bodies dropping he pushed forward bursting out of the warehouse and sprinting home as quickly as he could. Hearing that Kang-Joo had finally left, the figure let out a sigh.
"He made it out. Good, finally I can take this sweaty hood off." Having said that the figure pulled back his hood revealing, Taka who was smirking.
"Time for the real fun to begin now gentlemen." Taka laughed sending shivers down the spine of everyone who was in the warehouse.
Soon screams could be heard coming from the abandoned warehouse and from that day forward it was known by the locals to be haunted.
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Kang-Joo rushed home following the orders of the figure who had helped save his mother but he was conflicted. He was happy that his mother was safe but the fact he'd left the figure to take on all of those men left a bad taste in his mouth.
Reaching his home he walked in placing his mother down, only to hear a familiar voice from behind him.
"Well damn that took you long enough, just how slow do you run."
He turned to see a young man relaxing on his sofa with a cup of coffee in hand. He soon realized why he recognized the voice.
"The names Taka and I just saved your ass hahahaha. You wanna be friends?"
Kang-Joo didn't know what to say and ended up just laughing along.
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Back to the present.
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Staring at Taka's back, Kang-Joo couldn't help but chuckle to himself at his memories before catching up to his best friend.