While Hyuk and Yeo Ri were stuck in the middle of an ordeal, Gun was walking towards a cafe in Itaewon.
It was relatively far from home, but he had an objective.
Arriving at the cafe, Gun basked in the warmth of the indoor heating first before taking a seat in an empty booth. It had begun snowing midway and he wasn't dressed thickly enough for the cold weather.
The person he was meeting had yet to arrive, so he ordered a hot cup of coffee in advance while he waited.
"Sorry, did I make you wait?" A man's voice greeted him.
Gun raised his head to look at the man, "not really."
The man placed the bag he was holding onto the table and sat down in front of him, grunting. "It's so cold!" He remarked.
"It's been a while, Se Jin-ssi."
"Yes, it has been a while, hasn't it? Since we last talked face to face." The man, Hwang Se Jin, hollered for a waitress and ordered a hot chocolate.
"Is this it?" Gun questioned the man, staring at the bag.
"Yeah. Everything you asked for."
Gun turned the bag towards him and began rummaging its content.
"A taser, pepper spray, a bug, a lock-picking set, a bottle of sleeping pills, and a knife," the man listed off the items. "Wow, are you going to commit a crime or something?"
Gun glanced at the man with a withering glare. "Just in case," he simply replied.
"Just in case what?"
"Just in case... we become his next victims." Gun picked up the bottle of pills, "how strong are these?"
Hwang Se Jin stared at Gun with a complex gaze. After a while, he finally opened his mouth to answer the boy's question. "They're pretty strong. Zolpidem, the extended-release kind. I used to use them back when I had trouble falling asleep after... you know," the man absentmindedly toyed with his bracelet with an unfocused gaze.
He looked towards the windows, watching as the people passed by, thinking deeply. "Why do you need them anyways?"
Gun paused, tilting his head in thought. "Either I use it to kill that man myself, or use it on Yeo Ri so she wouldn't witness it."
"Wow, dark." Hwang Se Jin laughed, but his demeanour couldn't hide his nervousness. Years of communicating with each other, and he still couldn't shake off his anxiousness against the boy. Sometimes he wondered if blood was really thicker than water when it comes to that family.
"Is that what the knife is for, then?" He asked jokingly. In his mind, he hoped that Gun would say no. He didn't want to be scared of Gun or hate him. Gun was a good boy, for the most part.
"Maybe," Gun replied noncommittally. He took out the box which held the knife and opened it.
The knife was a beautifully crafted sleek piece of art. It was a pity he was going to use them for, quite possibly, the wrong reasons. The man in front of him was an avid knife collector, and Gun had asked him for a custom-made knife. It was pricey, but he was satisfied with it.
Gun took it out of its packaging and held it in his palm to get the feel of it. It was not too light nor too heavy, and just from a glance one could easily tell how sharp it was. The design was rather simple, but that was what he wanted. The overall colour scheme was dark which meant that it was perfect for hiding. It was also small enough to be concealed within his clothes.
Gun nodded in appreciation. "Your friend really did a good job. I can see why you adore these things so much."
"Thanks, I guess?" Se Jin chuckled. "You've always told me to bide our time, so what changed your mind?"
Gun paused.
"...I was wrong. We should have moved earlier. I'm sorry, for making you wait for so long." He bowed his head deeply towards the man. He had never felt so much empathy for him until he personally experienced the fear of almost losing his sister to that man.
"...It's fine. You said it yourself, didn't you? That if the police couldn't catch him ten years ago, they couldn't catch him now," the man smirked, a melancholic look in his eyes. "It's been six years since my sister went missing. You've waited longer than me, so who am I to complain?"
"...Thanks, for a lot of things."
Se Jin shook his head with a faint smile. "Ah, that's right." He took out a phone from his pockets. "Here, I installed the program for the bug on this phone. It's my old one, but it still works fine. I'll give it to you."
"Really...?" Gun looked at the man with surprise. He hadn't expected him to go above and beyond for him.
"Take it. I doubt the dinosaur you call a phone could run the program so I used mine instead. I bought a new phone recently so you can just take this." He sucked a breath, "Technology sure has come a long way, huh. We can even spy on people through our phones now."
"Thank you," Gun replied. He accepted the phone with a grateful look. "I'll make sure we won't fail."
"Mm." Hwang Se Jin smiled. Gun was really a nice guy; so different from his father. He felt bad for thinking that they were cut from the same cloth. "I have the same program installed on my PC, so if you ever get caught, just know that we've got a backup. Don't spill the secret, though."
"Of course." Gun nodded determinedly.
He took out all of the items and stuffed them inside his bag. Later, he had to find a safe place to hide them.
"I'll keep you updated," Gun told the man before parting ways.
"I'll be waiting for good news," he replied.
The two shook hands, bidding their farewells.