Chapter 9 - Episode 7
summary: Once the three of you are back in Seoul, you, Gunwoo, and Woojin all work on trying to find reliable allies.
pairing: eventual gunwoo x fem!reader x woojin (slow slow burn tho)
genre: typical canon angst, fluff
word count: 4.5k
warnings: 18+, explicit language, lots of violence, fighting, vague description of injuries, blood, descriptions of death, inaccurate medical talk, depression
author's note: This may seem like its really long but there were just so many good dialogues from this episode that I felt I had to include. honestly idk if this is an unpopular opinion but I love Min-Beom. idk its just his vibes and also i feel bad for him. this might be my favorite episode tbh. its the good before the worse vibes though fr. I hope you all enjoy and are looking forward to the last episode of season 1!! :)
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When Mr. Oh finally gives his blessing, it’s an emotional conversation for all of you. He gives you the last of Mr. Choi’s emergency money and apologizes for holding you all back. You will miss him, and you truly understand where he’s coming from. This is a terrifying ordeal, and he’s lost a lot of people already. You hug him tightly and promise to return soon.
The next morning, the three of you are on a bus to Seoul and spend the whole day planning. There are a couple key people that you all think will make good allies who have been screwed over by the Smile Capital. Woojin is hopeful about CEO Im, but you aren’t so sure. From the sounds of it, their last meeting didn’t exactly end on good terms.
When you get to the apartment that Mr. Oh gave you the address for, you aren’t really sure what to expect. Yet, you are still surprised when a young woman answers the door. She invites the three of you in, but seems kind of annoyed. The apartment is cute and small, exactly what you would expect from a college-aged woman living alone.
“Now, if I come back and find the tape’s been torn or moved at all,” the woman says, pointing at her dressers that are completely taped off. “I’ll report you to the police.”
“Uh, why?” Gunwoo asks
“My underwear is in there,” she responds firmly.
“Oh, no, that’s not going to happen,” Gunwoo says at the same time as you say, “You definitely don’t need to worry about that.”
She barely reacts aside from glancing at you curiously and nodding along.
“There’s a couch down here and then there’s one bed here and another above,” she says. “Who wants the top one?”
“I’ll take the couch,” you offer shyly, raising your hand before either of the guys can protest. It’s the smallest spot to sleep by far, so it only makes sense that you take it.
“Oh uh,” Woojin says. “It doesn’t matter who sleeps up top.”
“Then you take the top bunk,” she says, looking at Gunwoo.
You laugh and move to set your stuff near the couch while Woojin tries to pester the woman into revealing why she came to that conclusion. When she doesn’t really give him an answer, the conversation dies. She hands over the key and a set of car keys before leaving. Gunwoo politely thanks her while Woojin and you are still processing all of the information.
“Ah, she’s Mr. Oh’s granddaughter?” you ask once the door closes behind her.
“Yeah,” Gunwoo says. “She said that he’s her grandfather.”
“Wow,” Woojin comments as they both put down all their belongings. “They do kind of look alike. They are small and wear glasses.”
“She was definitely forced to let us stay here,” you say, sitting at the desk. “We should get her a present before we leave.”
“Sunshine, you are thinking too far ahead,” Woojin says, ruffling your hair. “Let’s wash up and strategize.”
You and Gunwoo agree, and soon the three of you are fighting over the tiny bathroom and clumsily moving around each other in the tiny apartment. If there is ever a time when the three of you live together, you are going to insist on at least 2 bathrooms. But it works out, and it kind of feels nice to be back in a state where the three of you are working together again. And eventually, you are all showered, and the guys are wearing their obnoxious red shorts again.
Gunwoo lays out the cards with everyone’s names on them in order for you all to start strategizing. Yang Jae-Myeong, Mr. Moon, and CEO Im are all key players in your discussion. You all need to gather your allies before doing anything, and that includes the Lil group heir.
“How are we going to find the heir?” Gunwoo asks. “Mr. Choi said he’d be our greatest asset.”
“It won’t be easy,” Woojin says. “But we can come up with a plan.”
“Won’t be easy?” you ask. “Let me try? I’m sure I can get him to agree to meet us.”
Gunwoo and Woojin make eye contact and silently communicate something. Which is still something you aren’t used to. But they agree and let you brainstorm by yourself a bit. After the planning, the three of you decide to get lots of sleep in preparation for your long day tomorrow. As Mr. Oh’s granddaughter requested, Gunwoo sleeps up top, and Woojin sleeps in the other bed while you take the couch.
The next morning, the three of you set off to try to convince CEO Im to help you. You find the car Mr. Oh prepared for you all in the parking lot under the apartment, and it’s a convertible Mustang. It’s definitely overkill, but you are all pretty happy with it. Except for the fact that you have to squeeze in the back.
When you enter Mr. Im’s office, you let Woojin do all the talking per his request. And he’s doing a pretty good job of it, too. These loan sharks have lost a lot of money due to the scams that Smile Capital has been running. Still, Mr. Im is not convinced. He says that if the plan goes badly, he’ll end up dead, and the money is not worth his life. You can’t exactly argue with that. He values his life more than money, which is completely reasonable. When Woojin tries to push more, Gunwoo stops him. The three of you leave pretty quickly after that. Your next stop is Mr. Moon’s office. Another asset from Woojin, and one he feels pretty confident about.
Although all that confidence leaves when the three of you get to his office and find it completely trashed. Even the door is off its hinges, there was definitely a fight.
“Hey, you can’t be here,” A man says as he walks in the door. You imagine he must be the product of said fight. He has a cast on one arm and both of them in slings. He looks pretty beat, too, but is quickly upbeat once he recognizes the guys.
“Oh, my junior marines!” The man, Mr. Moon, you gather from context clues. “What are you doing here? And who are you?”
He directs that last part to you, and you awkwardly introduce yourself while the guys talk around you.
“Sir, what happened to you?” Woojin asks.
“Ah,” Mr. Moon says, almost embarrassed. He walks around you towards his desk. “A few days ago, a bunch of gangsters came in and took everything.”
When Woojin questions him further, he reluctantly tells the story. Apparently, he signed a bad loan because a very pretty woman wanted him to. The worst part is that he knew it sounded too good to be true, but he still fell for it regardless. The power of a beautiful woman, something you are quite familiar with. You won’t bring that up with Mr. Moon, though.
“It definitely sounds like the Smile Capital,” you say once Mr. Moon is done recounting his story.
“What’s that?” Mr. Moon asks
“Its CEO is Kim Myeong-gil,” Gunwoo answers
“Kim Myeong-gil, who worked for Mr. Choi?”
“Yes,” Woojin says softly.
“Where is that son of a bitch now, huh?” Mr.Moon asks very heatedly, suddenly.
“Did you hear about what happened to Mr. Choi, sir?” Woojin asks
Mr. Moon looks surprised, and it is apparent that he has no idea about any of it. You stand firmly next to the guys, but have to bite your cheek so you don’t start crying. It’s been months, but you can still hear Mr. Choi calling out to you in pain from the basement sometimes.
“Mr. Choi was killed by Kim Myeong-gil,” Gunwoo says sadly.
“What are you guys talking about?” Mr. Moom doesn’t believe him. You can’t blame him exactly. It seems so impossible still, and you were there to witness it.
“Kim Myeong-gil killed Mr. Choi, Mr. Hwang, and Mr. Lee,” Gunwoo continues. “He killed them all.”
You have to bow your head at the mention of Mr. Lee and Mr. Hwang, too. It’s impossible to even try to prevent the tears anymore.
“We’ve been lying low in the countryside with Mr. Oh until now,” Gunwoo says.
Mr. Moon continues to try to deny it. It takes him a minute to really believe it, and then he starts breaking down.
“How can Mr. Choi be dead?” Mr. Moon says. “Tell me how.”
Feeling your own breakdown coming, you quietly step out into the hallway. You force yourself to be out of view from the guys, just outside the door, before you start sobbing again. Selfishly, you haven’t thought about Mr. Lee and Mr. Hwang in a while. It was too hard and sad. Especially since Mr. Hwang had a family. You can hear Mr. Moon breaking down in his office, and you spend a quiet moment composing yourself outside. The guys will be out soon, and you need to continue being strong.
The next stop is Yang Jae-Myeong. Gunwoo and Woojin head in first, taking out the two other guys who were with Yang Jae-Myeong before tying him up and questioning him. They make you stand guard outside the door while you have to listen to their pathetic attempts to seem intimidating. Gunwoo calls him sir, which makes you laugh out loud before the two guys join you in the hallway.
“Can you try a tough guy act?” Woojin very nicely asks Gunwoo.
“How do I do that?” Gunwoo asks
“Don’t be so polite,” you respond. “Let me do it, I’m not afraid to rough him up a bit.”
“No,” Gunwoo says. “And that guy is clearly over 40. I don’t want to talk down to him.”
“Gunwoo, honey,” you say softly. “He’s a scumbag, you can talk down a bit, and if he’s disrespectful, just punch him a little.”
Woojin nods in agreement, and they both head back in. Yang Jae-Myeong caves immediately, and it becomes obvious that they won’t need to threaten him at all. You mostly tune him out, they won’t need you to threaten him anymore. But he does mention the fact that Kim Jun-min is alive. Which feels impossible, his throat was slashed. And he brings up the Lil group, further solidifying the fact that you need to become allies with the heir, and hopefully, before he signs this contract. It may just be your ego talking, but you think that you can get the heir to join your team. After a brief Google search, you’ve discovered that he has a public Instagram account, meaning you’ll be able to message him.
Once you all make it back to the apartment, you tell the guys about your idea to contact the Lil group heir through his Instagram. Woojin uses the computer to look up some information about him and the hotel he’s planning. You order food and continue the research on Hong Min-Beom.
“Why are you using my computer without asking?” the owner of the apartment says as she bursts into the room. “It’s logged into all of my messenger apps.”
“We are so sorry. We didn’t open any messenger apps.” Woojin defends quickly.
They go back and forth momentarily until the woman allows you to continue using the computer just this once. Surely it won’t be the last time, but you weren’t snooping, so you don’t feel bad. She leaves just as quickly as she came.
“Okay, enough research, let me message him on Instagram,” you say, leaning over Woojin to take control of the computer. You are currently sitting between Woojin and Gunwoo, but you are all squeezed in close together to see the screen.
When you pull up his Instagram, it’s pretty impressive. All of his posts feel like they’ve been professionally shot, and he has rich man activities on it like horseback riding and golfing. He also has over 500,000 followers.
“Damn, he has a lot of followers,” Woojin says, leaning over your shoulder. “Are you sure he’ll see your message?”
“Psssh,” you say, briefly tabbing into your profile and scrolling through it. “I have a formulated Instagram that gets guys like these to message me all the time.”
You scroll through your own posts to show off a bit. They are all a bit older, nothing from the last 2 years or so, but you are posed delicately and sensually in each photo. Sure, you don’t have as many followers, and your photos aren’t taken by professionals, but you have the advantage of being an attractive woman. Hong Min-Beom doesn’t stand a chance.
“Do you respond to those messages?” Gunwoo asks when you switch back to the DMs to message Min-beom.
“Of course not,” you scoff. “But hopeful that means Min-beom will respond to mine.”
You don’t spend very long formulating a message. It’s better to do something short and eye-catching rather than revealing all of your cards right off the bat. The guys disagree with you, wanting to be completely transparent. Eventually, you manage to find a common ground where you explain why you want to meet him, but don’t necessarily reveal who you are yet. It simply says, “Hey Min-beom, do you want to get rid of Kim Myeong-gil? We can help you.” You hit send. Woojin gets you to send a second message. Which is something you are usually very against doing, but you listen to him anyway. He writes it, and it says, “We know where the hard drive containing your footage is located.” Which is definitely a big selling point in his defence.
It’s only an hour later that you get a response, agreeing to a meet-up at a local bar. Gunwoo drives and lightly attempts to have you wait outside initially, but you flat-out ignore him and are the first one in the bar. Gunwoo and Woojin follow closely behind. The three of you politely greet the heir and the man he’s with.
“I’m Min-beom’s cousin,” the second man says.
The three of you introduce yourselves despite the cousin not giving you a name. Min-beom doesn’t say anything as the three of you find seats. You move to sit next to Min-beom, assuming he’s the one you have to convince for this allyship. Gunwoo sits on your left with Woojin sitting next to the cousin.
“Let’s talk over a few drinks if you all don’t mind,” Min-beon says, opening a bottle. There are at least 4 more bottles on the table. It’s going to be a long night.
“Uh, I’m really sorry,” Woojin says softly. “But I was attacked and stabbed by Kim Myeong-gil’s men, and they tore my liver, so I can’t drink.”
“If you don’t want to drink, just say so,” Min-beom says very cockily.
Woojin lifts up his shirt and shows his scars to prove it. You have to look away.
“Okay, okay,” The cousin says. “You sit this one out. Were you stabbed, too?”
The cousin aims the last part at Gunwoo, who very politely tells them that he just doesn’t drink. Which is the wrong thing to say, and the men start getting offended that both Gunwoo and Woojin refused them.
“What is the point of us meeting here then?” The cousin asks. “If we aren’t going to be open with each other. How are we supposed to trust each other?”
“I’m drinking,” you say, grabbing a glass and holding it out to Min-beom casually. “Come on, let’s drink.”
Min-beom doesn’t move and looks to his cousin for guidance, who laughs in a shocked asshole-y way.
“You are going to let a woman drink for both of you?” The cousin pushes. “Are you cowards?”
You are starting to get pissed off and sit up straighter to tell him off. But Gunwoo gently puts a hand on your knee and silently tells you to calm down.
“I’m sure I can have just one drink,” Woojin says
“No,” Gunwoo says, physically stopping Woojin from grabbing a glass. “I’ll be the one to have a couple of drinks with you.”
This seems to satisfy them enough, and they pour drinks for both you and Gunwoo. You cheers and down the drinks in one go. Gunwoo doesn’t even flinch, which surprises everyone at the table except you. You know that Gunwoo can drink, he just doesn’t. He’s actually pretty good at it; he’s big, so it takes a lot for him to get drunk, and even then, you don’t think you’ve ever seen him drunk. He just doesn’t drink, probably because of his dad, but you two haven’t really talked about it.
You, on the other hand, drink well but get drunk fast. You still last longer than Min-beom (barely), who is grabbing onto your arm and crying after a couple of glasses. But then again, after the first couple of bottles, Woojin has been replacing your drinks with water.
"Y/N," Min-beom slurs. "You are so beautiful."
"Psssssh," you respond. "You are pretty beautiful yourself."
“No,” Min-beom slurs. “Because of that stupid asshole, I’ve lost so much hair due to stress. I used to be a lot more handsome.”
“Min-beom,” you are barely hanging on at this point. You grab his shoulder to emphasize your point. “You are still handsome, and hair grows back.”
“Earlier, he punched me before I could speak,” Min-boem says, leaning even more into you.
“Don’t be scared, we are going to get him,” you say. “Trust us, we will stop him.”
Min-boem leans in to hug you when Gunwoo steps in and separates the two of you. You grab his arm and lean into him as he talks more with Min-boem. You would think that he was completely sober the way he’s handling himself. Woojin is chatting with the cousin, who is very loudly saying that the three of us can do whatever we want. When you meet Woojin’s eyes, he hands you a glass of water despite the fact that you have your whole face pressed against Gunwoo’s arm.
“Drink water, Sunshine,” Woojin says, leaving the cousin to loudly talk by himself.
“I’m not as drunk as them,” you feel like it’s important to note. You are a better drinker than the two guys who were set on trying to get you all drunk.
“I know,” Woojin laughs. “They should be drinking water too, but I don't care if they wake up with a hangover.”
You smile and peel away from Gunwoo in order to accept the glass. You make a big show of drinking all of it before you return the glass to Woojin.
“I don’t know how Gunwoo does it,” you whisper to Woojin. “He’s not drunk at all.”
“Y/N!” Min-beom yells over Gunwoo’s shoulder. “One more drink!”
You agree and share one more drink with the heir. One more turns into another bottle, and pretty soon, you are in just as much bad shape as the heir is. Feeling burdenless for the first time in a while, you plant yourself between Gunwoo and Woojin and spend the night latching on to them. The rest of it goes by in a foggy haze, but at some point, Min-beom suggests continuing the party at his place. You agree and then promptly fall asleep in the car.
The next morning, you wake up in a strange bed in the clothes you were wearing last night. You have a huge headache and no idea where your phone is. The second you start to panic, Woojin’s head pops into the doorway.
“Morning, Sunshine,” Woojin says cheerfully. “Come out and eat noodles, I’m gonna wake up Min-beom and Gang-yong.”
You hum in agreement and follow Woojin out to the kitchen.
“Where are we?” you ask as Gunwoo passes you a cup of coffee.
“Min-beom’s apartment,” Gunwoo responds. “He invited us here last night, but you fell asleep in the car, so he gave you the guest bedroom.”
You just nod and try to gain some composure when Min-beom wanders into the room. He’s just as confused as you are. You let Gunwoo and Woojin explain and sit at the table while they serve the noodles. Gunwoo explains the plan they all apparently came up with last night. You all will hack into Myeong-gil’s phone when he’s at the meeting on Friday and use it to burn everything in the safe. Sounds easy enough. The noodles Woojin made are delicious, and you all eat silently. After reconfirming the plan, you all agree to meet at Lil group’s company building later that night to get a team together. Which means you can head back to the apartment and sleep this hangover off.
When you meet at Min-beom’s office building, the three of you are quickly and quietly ushered into a dark room. There are two people sitting with Min-beom and Gang-yong. A detective named Yoon Han-gu and a cybercrimes expert named Kang Tae-yeong. Gang-yong reminds the group that this operation is going to be very secretive and that only the people in this room know about it. Tae-yeong describes the process of how you will hack into Myeong-gil’s phone, and you just nod along, not necessarily needing to know the whole process. She seems confident and has a backup plan, so you trust her. Min-beom isn’t exactly convinced.
“What if the bastard catches on?” Min-beom asks. “What’s our backup plan?”
“We are using both methods at once,” Gang-yong answers softly. “To avoid needing a backup plan.”
Min-beom freaks out and tries to convince everyone that simply taking the phone would be easier. He looks really rough and scared. Obviously, he’s been through a lot. You can sympathize with that, but this makes him an unknown variable. You don’t know if you can necessarily trust him to do this part in this plan. When Tae-yeong tries to ask what is on the hard drive, it only makes the situation worse. Gang-yong calmly asks Min-beom to walk outside with him. This basically ends the meeting, and you all assist Tae-yeong in setting up for the big day tomorrow.
Once you are done, there’s nothing left to do but to head back to the apartment and rest up before you have to be back in the morning. You don’t really discuss the plan again once you are back at the apartment. The three of you just eat some food, wash up, and head to bed.
The next morning comes too fast. There isn’t any time to mess around, and as soon as the three of you are up and ready, you are on your way to the office. Even though your task for today is relatively simple, you are just in the control room while everyone else is working. The QR code works, and Tae-yeong quickly looks into the phone. But the safe app isn’t there, and you all start to worry that he’s aware of what is going on.
“Was the information right?” Gang-yong asks.
“Yeah, the informant wasn’t in any position to lie,” Woojin responds.
It’s a tense couple of minutes until Han-gu makes his way back to the control room and confirms that Myeong-gil is using two different phones. This definitely complicates things, but that’s why we have the backup plan. The only problem is that you need to bait Myeong-gil into connecting to Wifi.
“What happened?” Min-beom storms into the control room.
“Myeong-gil has two phones,” Gang-yong responds. “The one we got into didn’t have the safe app.” Min-beom starts freaking out again until Woojin suggests that Han-gu and Tae-yeong leave the room so we can talk privately. Woojin is smart and asks about who filmed the video and if there’s a possibility that the video is on Myeong-gil’s phone.
“Before you sign the contract, instruct him to delete the video first,” Woojin says. “Then Myeong-gil has no choice but to take out his phone.”
Min-beom still isn’t convinced, but Gang-yong is able to talk him into it. It is very likely that he got sent the video because Myeong-gil doesn’t trust anyone. He would need the proof. Min-beom is still freaking out. He’s scared.
“I don’t think I can,” Min-beom says quietly. “I don’t think I have what it takes to stand up to him.”
“Min-beom,” you cut in softly. “It’s okay to be scared, but you are stronger. Look at all the support you have. Gang-yong has been with you from the beginning. And we will all barge in at the first sign of danger.”
Min-beom looks at you sadly and then pans around the room. Gunwoo and Woojin nod along to what you said while Gang-yong pats Min-beom’s shoulder. He takes one final deep breath and then heads back in. Min-beom does better than you are expecting. He’s firm and doesn’t back down. It’s pretty impressive. After a tiny bit of convincing, he’s able to get into Myeong-gil’s phone and connect to the WIFI. Tae-yeong doesn’t waste any time and hacks into Myeong-gil’s phone instantly. The safe app is pretty easy to find, and Tae-yeong is able to hack into the app in just a few seconds. And just like that, the incarceration mode is set off. You, Gunwoo, and Woojin hug in the back, secretly really relieved that everything went to plan. Gang-yong says he’ll gather the evidence, and pretty soon, Min-beom is walking the three of you out of the building. It almost feels too easy.
“Thanks for all your hard work,” Min-beom says once you reach the elevator. “And your words of encouragement, Y/N. We couldn’t have done it without you three.”
“Thank you,” You respond. “You did all of the hard work.”
Min-beom tries to respectfully ask to take care of Gunwoo’s scar. Which is really thoughtful, but not necessary. Gunwoo has changed so much from the person he was before that scar. So much has happened. He claims that it has given him community and strength. Min-beom doesn’t fight him on it, and you all say goodbye.
Heading back to the car, you, Gunwoo, and Woojin are all relieved that it was able to go smoothly.
“Do you both remember when Mr. Choi asked Im Jang-do about the gold bars?” Woojin asks suddenly.
“Yeah,” Gunwoo responds. “Only In-beom knows where they are.”
“How much do you think it’s worth?” Woojin asks.
“Probably tens of billions,” you say. Even thinking about that amount of money feels insane to you.
“That’s including money stolen from Mr. Choi,” Gunwoo says.
“If the cops let him slip away,” Woojin says. “He’s gonna take the money and leave the country.”
“We won’t let that happen, right?” you ask. “We’ll chase after him.”
“Yeah,” Woojin responds firmly. “Let’s chase him down to the end and maul him to death.”
“I’m in,” Gunwoo says. “This isn’t over until he’s paid for what he’s done.”
You all bump fists and nod. A silent agreement, you will all see this through until the end. Myeong-gil can’t win. You won’t allow it.