The first time they met, they played right into Fate's hands.

1.

Whatever file hits his desk, disappears within the week.

That’s Song Mino’s desk; J9’s elite assassin. Born and raised in J9, Song Mino is a lethal weapon, trained to kill whatever name turns up in the files that hit his desk. He never flinches, never hesitates and he never ever misses the target. His operations normally last a week, he gets the target’s profile, he goes after the profile and by the end of the week, and everything about the target is erased from the world’s database. It’s as if the target would have vanished into thin air, or simply in the first place never existed.

J9 was a top secret organization, flying under the radar of authorities but placed on a prestige throne where they are revered by the Underworld. Mafia gangs know enough never to agitate any of the 12 executive committee, should they want to keep their heads on their shoulders for the rest of their lives. What does J9 do? They help to get rid of the useless. Each of their specific targets met their end because of an action they did. Of course, each mission they take on promises results and in return, requires a huge obscene sum of money. Money makes the world go round, and it taints the hearts of the powerful and rich, making them a slave to the currency and the obsession of getting more power by eliminating their enemy.

Song Mino is the top of the top in J9. His handler, Jackson Wang, hands him a file.

“This one is urgent. The brass wants it gone in 3 days.”

No movement is seen from the stationary male, both his feet propped on his desk. Jackson whacks the file against his boot.

“Do you hear me?”

A snore escapes the book covering his face.

“SONG MINO!”

The book clatters onto the wood floor as Mino rubs his eyes.

“Jackson, it is 5am in the morning. No one is awake. Go back to sleep…”

“For your record, it’s 5pm and you better get going before Seulgi comes down to beat your .”

Mino jolts awake at the mention of Seulgi and pulls himself straight, snatching the file from Jackson’s grip and stomps out of the common room. Jackson looks at his friend’s retreating back and stifles a laugh. Till now, he can’t believe his girlfriend aka J9’s dragon lady has the ability to make the top assassin afraid of her.

--

She’s nameless in her profile.

He looks at the picture encased in the file, he wants to scoff. The picture reminds him of someone familiar. Who will pay 10 million to take out this angel? Her lips are cherry red. He looks at the statistics and muses to himself. She probably has the daintiest body and long brown hair. Mino didn’t need to look twice at her profile to know that unlike the others, he’s going to feel a small twinge of regret killing this one. The world needs more of her beauty and less of the ugly world.

--

17-40, 17-45, 17-50.

17-50.

He straps on his gloves and tests the door knob. The door swings open, like an invite. He steps inside, his senses on high alert. Something is off the bat. His targets normally know someone is going to come after their lives, choosing to hide in the most obscure places. Mino has scaled valleys and gone deep underground for some of his previous targets. He didn’t mind the extra work, he loved the chase. For Irene, something seemed too simple about her, her hideaway was in one of the abandoned hotels in the side of town that no one barely goes into. It was almost tempting, the way that everything was made so simple for Mino.

It meant that she was inviting him to play and there’s nothing Mino loves more than being in the dominant position. Like a predator ready for its prey, he walks around the once used to be executive suite. It is only when he stops in front of the sofa that he feels a flash of brown hair and he is tackled onto the cushions, with the intruder straddling on him.

He feels cold metal cocked on the side of his temple, and he laughs. Now he knows why she was so easy for him to locate. This is a trap, set by his own target. He lifts his hand and touches her brown hair. It was as soft as he imagined. Irene jerks away from him, giving him the chance to slam her backwards onto the coffee table. He traps both her wrists against the metal frame of the table.

“Not so comfortable now huh, princess?”

She gulps and he smirks.

“As much as I like you on my lap, I prefer being on top.”

As soon as he finished his sentence, Irene’s right arm is cuffed to the side of the table. He reaches out for her hair again, but this time his hand retracts back at the speed of light. A dangerous glint was peeking out of her left arm as she lunged at him, the dagger exposing itself.

“Nuh uh uh, this is not for kids.”

He gingerly removes the dagger from her sleeve, trapping her left hand in his bigger ones. He chucks the knife into one side of the corner before cuffing her left hand together with her right. Mino lifts her chin with his index finger as he looks into brown irises.

“What did you do to end up the target of J9?”

She spits.

“ing bastard, all I did was take 40 million. All these rich people, born with a silver spoon in their big mouths, they wouldn’t know about how much 40 million can do to help the kids at the orphanage. Heartless as .”

Mino knew the reason why she was in this position was because of stealing. He has her profile etched in his memory, she seduced a millionaire to become his trophy girlfriend before taking off with a huge sum of money just a few days shy of 1 year with the millionaire. What he didn’t know was that the cause of the money went to something he would have never expected in a billion years. For all his years at J9, the only thing he knew was ending lives. He didn’t know about nurturing young lives into adulthood, to see a whole new generation build itself from bottom up. He has always been privileged enough to earn enough to spend albeit it being dirty money. Money is money, no matter who it came from and how it came about.

that, that little twinge of regret, feels like a bigger twinge now. Her brown irises enchant him with the fierceness of a harsh childhood and he feels himself begin to soften. He backs away from her to the wall facing the table. No, Song Mino is a cold blooded killer. He doesn’t second guess the targets. He gets them, he kills them. That’s it. Why is he softening now, 25 years into his job?

“You should have never done that, I’d hate to kill a pretty face like yours.”

She looks at him incredulously, “Do you really expect me to believe that?”

Mino looks at her as Irene burst out into laughter. Her soft pelts of laughter attack his heart like a bout of hail.

“I don’t need you to kill me, I will die soon. So will you.”

He looks at her with laughter shining in her eyes, incredibly convinced the girl in front of him has gone nuts. She takes a deep breath and manages to still herself into a calm state.

“The sofa is poisoned with liquid mercury. When I was on top of you, I’m pretty sure that you have been exposed to the mercury. You will die in a few hours, if not earlier. I poisoned myself with the same thing. We’re both going to die.”

He slides down the wall into a squat, his shoulders shaking. Irene looks at him, his head is bowed low. Suddenly, barks of laughter erupts from the man sitting opposite her, his sitting posture mirroring hers.

“Thank god.”

“E-excuse me?”

Irene stares back at Mino, unconvinced. That’s hardly the actions of someone who has just been told that he’s going to die.

“Do you know for years and years, I’ve wanted release from the voices in my head? Everyday a brand new voice haunts my mental being, demanding for their lives back. THEY NEVER ING STOP. Sometimes, I jolt awake, my hands stained red and I look at my own reflection and I feel guilt. Have you heard of this joke? A top assassin from J9 feeling guilt?”

Mino laughs again.

He heaves in a breath and continues, “Ever since I was young, I’ve been picked up out of heaven to be placed in this position, trained with guns and punching bags. I’ve never been so ing relieved to hear what came out of your mouth 5 minutes ago. In my life, I’ve never regretted anything. Sometimes, I think of the girl I left behind at the orphanage I used to live in and I wished with my whole heart, I could go back to the times when I can pick wild flowers from the forest behind the orphanage and tell her how pretty I think she is EVERY DAMN ING DAY.”

“Minho?”

His head shoots up in shock. He has never told her his name. Even if anyone knows his name, it was tagged along with his reputation, but no one has known his real name is Minho.

“How do you know my name?”

“So much for wanting to tell me you think I’m pretty.”

He moves towards her with caution, examining her face. He gasps, his world tumbling down.

“Irene? Oh my god, is that you?”

He keeps his distance, but his eyes trained on his childhood love. Fate is a ing game, he spent 90% of his current life searching for her so that he can finally treat her right like he promised her when they were both young. Now she shows up, devastatingly beautiful, and falls into his lap like a long lost toy. She was everything he expected the young Irene to grow up to be. Beautiful in her own right and beliefs, shining brighter than the sun. Karma is truly a , for every life he's taken, it seems like it's coming back for him like a ing tsunami. Out of all the odds in the world, his childhood love has to be his target, not to mentioned she poisoned both of them to a slow imminent death. If he wasn't guilty of the lives he has taken, he would feel that God was simply taking him on a wild goose ride. Nothing makes sense, but everything makes sense. 

Mino tries to speak but nothing comes out. For the first time, fear is displayed all over his features. Irene watches him struggle, her own fear showing.

"Hey Minho, are you okay?"

Her hands cover as the realisation dawns on her.

He tries to move towards her but his muscles won’t listen.

“Oh my god, Minho, I’m so so so sorry. If I had known it’s you, none of this would have happened.”

Mino feels himself gradually weakening, but he keeps moving forward, inch by inch. The effects of mercury poisoning hit his senses like a freight train, he feels himself being taken further and further from consciousness.

Irene strains against the table, the cuffs restraining her. She fights and fights, but the metal digs into her wrist.

“I- I love y-you, I-Irene.”

Irene keeps shouting that she’s sorry but he hears nothing.

Mino’s fingers never reached further past the table’s legs, and Irene keeps crying.

--

The end is light, it all fades away. Two intertwining fates, locked in the last grasp of two cold hands.

--

Kim Jiwon. J9's top assassin. He's trained to kill, his speed unrivalled in combat. J9's latest weapon.

In this life, neither of them won.