| Ex Gratia |
Maybe he should’ve seen this coming. Maybe screwing with the kid of a Fortune 500 CEO was not the best idea. It wasn’t his fault that people were corrupt. This was just a little self-manufactured karma on his part. Perhaps not done quite well enough. He had just been having a drink at a bar when he caught someone staring at him from across the room. It was disconcerting. So he had paid, gotten up, and left. Unfortunately he didn’t walk fast enough. The man yanked him into an alley, shoving him hard into the brick and knocking the breath out of him. He had a knife to his throat before Jaebum could even process it.
He hadn’t counted on the kid hiring a thug to do his dirty work, a severe oversight on his part. The sharp edge of the cold knife dug into his skin, and he knew if the man simply slid his hand to the side, Jaebum’s throat would open. But he knew the type of person the kid was, one to brag and boast. So he figures he has at least a minute while the man rattles on the message that was to be delivered before he could be killed.
Sure enough, the man started to speak, growling out the words. It was all terribly cliché, as though all the stupid bad guy reveals in movies had combined into one long speech. It was cringeworthy, a mixture of “too bad you’ll be dead by then”, “you can’t stop this”, and “that’ll teach all of you to look down on me”. Had he not been held with a knife at his throat, Jaebum might have rolled his eyes. He half wonders how much this man had been paid to agree to spout all this nonsense.
The end of the speech draws to a close, and Jaebum takes advantage of the fact that the man pauses a little while (presumably trying to remember all the words in this long-winded speech) to speak up. “How much are you getting paid for this?” he asks, trying not to accidentally cut himself on the sharp blade of the knife, though at this point, he doubts he’ll feel it cutting through skin; it’s pressed too hard against his windpipe. The man narrows his eyes at him, as though annoyed that his train of thought has been interrupted. “Why? You planning on paying me more?”
Jaebum holds back a grin successfully. Now there’s a good assassin. He supposes it’s a good thing this was a third-party with no loyalty to the brat. “Sure,” he mutters, “How does an extra two million won sound?” The man thinks this over for a moment, but from the man’s expression, it doesn’t seem as though this will turn out well for him.
@hyungsikmi
