New York. 01/02/2013. 10:50.
Na-Yung was walking in the street of New York, her bags in hands, in the direction of her home. The plane had just landed from their month training in Montana an hour ago and because of traffic jams, she was forced to leave the cab and walk the few blocks that were still separating her from home. Nathaniel had graciously offered to escort her home as she was carrying more bags than she had hands. He had given them the weekend off to rest before the joint training exercise started next monday.
While he was busy talking about university and law in general, she could not help but give him some looks from time to time. She has been amazed to see his transformation. He had swapped back from the ruthless and almost cruel training instructor the moment they had taken off and reverted back to the genius, funny and playful self that he was when they met for the first time. She could not find which one of those two personalities was the real one or maybe he was a mix of those two but if that was the case, it could lead to a huge number of questions and interrogations that she already had about him.
Still, as a training instructor he was even better than the ones that she had at the CIA. Rather than trying to force general knowledge and skills into them, he took into consideration who the person was and in what area she was gifted and then was building on that. Lina for example, took into consideration the fact that she was amazing in terms of sight and turned her into a sniper and put emphasis on teaching her a self defense type of hand combat that relies on using the other person's power against them.
On her, he keeps building on her Hapkido training and mixing it with other types of fighting styles, increasing her versatility and making her less predictable in combat. On Hans, he trained him on Tae kwon do as he had the habit of using his legs more than his hand, probably something to do with the fact that he was an engineer and had learned to take special care of his hands. On and on, he turns each of them into a different kind of soldier with their specialty and their setback. At the end of the training, she could win against every one but not every time.
She lost more than she won against Scott who also had his own style and was in a tie of sorts against Camilla. She even lost a couple of times against Lina, Lucie and Jon who managed to surprise her with an unexpected attack. Only Hans never managed to beat her but in his defense, he was the one who progressed the most in a month. Even if he was not on her level yet, he was competitive and had a will to learn that was impressive. That something that she noticed early in their training. They had each their own willingness to improve themselves and had a huge will to learn, even the older like Scott and Jon were eager to prove themselves against the rest of the younglings.
The only exception was Nathaniel of course. He was the youngest of the team and took upon himself to teach them everything, Scott helping sometimes when he was busy teaching something specific to someone. He seems to have known about the competitive streak of everyone on the team because he uses himself as a driving force for the entire group. Running faster and longer than everyone to force them to do the same forgetting their own limit in the hope of coming on top. He never even once yell at them to force them into an exercise. That was Lucie who realized what he was doing but it was too late by then. He had outsmarted and outmaneuver them fair and square and he earned their respect for it.
Finally inside her building, the two made their way to the elevator and she pressed her floor on it after swiping her pass on the reader.
"So, what are you going to do this weekend?" Nathaniel asked, curiously.
"Honestly? Sleep! Sleep and maybe go to the spa for some massages. I feel like every fiber of my body is injured right now." She answered with a laugh.
"Which is probably true." He laughed back.
"And you?" She asked.
"Me? Just going to pass times with my family I guess, if something doesn't pop up at the last second. Still, I miss a good hot shower and my own bed for a change." He said. The training facility was quite rough on the edge and had not been modernized for at least thirty years. They had a bed a little softer than the ground but not better than that and a shower with hot water some of the time. The door of the elevator opens at this moment.
"Don't tell me about it! I think I'm going to sleep for the next two days on…" Na-Yung started to say until her voice cut off mid sentence looking in front of her with a surprised expression on her face.
"What's going on?" Nathaniel asked, looking at the two korean who were manning her front door. He had already spotted them the second the doors open and had one of his knives on hand if something was not right.
"These two mens are not our security detail, they are my grandfather's." She said, troubled.
"I didn't know that your grandfather was the kind to pay a surprised visit." He said, keeping his voice neutral. He had some reservations about the men after everything that happened but he was not going to say it in front of her as it was her family business, not his.
"He isn't, if he's here, that means he wants something." She answers cooly.
"You want me to leave?" He asked, not wanting to intrude.
"No, I still need you to help me carry my bags in my room. Until then, your mine to use Nath." She said playfully but he could see that her heart was not into it, he still answers.
"Yes, Ma'am."
Walking to the front door, Na-Yung was surprised when she was stopped by one of the men guarding it.
"You can enter but the foreigner cannot. It's your grandfather's order" The man added quickly in Korean seeing the displeased look on her face.
"We are in the US, we are the foreigners here. Move away, now." She answers coldly.
Seeing that she was dead serious, the man nodded before getting out of her way. He knew he did not have the power or the authority to stop her.
"Is everything alright?" Nathaniel asked, acting like he did not understand their conversation as it was in Korean.
"Yeah. My grandfather is still trying to control my life and the people in it but it's over now. He lost that right and my respect for him when he chose to stay on the sidelines and watch us get murdered." She said coldly before pushing the door open.
Entering the penthouse and walking in the living room, Na-Yung did not have to walk for long before seeing her grandfather sitting at the head of the table, her father on the right and her mother standing to the side, taking care of not gathering attention and not disturbing them. Seeing that, Na-Yung had to bite the inside of her cheek to stop herself from speaking out. Her grandfather was very old school and her mother had been educated the same way but still, that kind of behavior was not okay. In the past, that kind of thing never bothered her but the more time that she spent with Nathaniel, the more she became aware of things like inequalities or biases. Without realizing it, she was starting to incorporate Nathaniel's moral code and making it her own.
Seeing his granddaughter entering the living room, the dignified old man's mouth turned upward for a second before vanishing when seeing that she was followed by some american kid. Until he realized that he knew that kid from some surveillance picture taken by his people. Even if he had chosen to let his sons to their own device concerning the company and who will inherit it ultimately, he kept a close eye on his granddaughter from far away. Even if he hid it, he always had a soft spot for her. She was brilliant and pretty which would be a nice asset to find a good marriage to make the family and the company prosper even more.
"Daughter, pay your respect to your grandfather." Her father said, getting to his feet.
"I would with pleasure if I were to still have one." She answers coldly, making her parents jump in surprise and shock. "Hello Mom and Dad, I missed you." She said, kissing them on the cheek.
"You dare!?" Her grandfather yelled, furious, slamming his hands on the table.
"Hello, Mister and Miss Kim." Nathaniel salutes, making a half bow in front of each of them. Taking his cue from Na-Yung and completely disregarding her grandfather like he wasn't even here.
Exchanging a look with his wife, In-Su did not know what to do anymore. He wanted to berate his daughter for her unrespectful behavior but with a guest in their home, it was not possible at the moment. The worth that after he greeted them with a bow like that and with everything Nathaniel did for them and for Na-Yung, if they were to bow back, it would even more infuriate his father. He knew why his daughter was mad at her grandfather and god knew that he shared some of her anger but he was taught since his youth that respecting his elder was the most important thing. That's why he chose to not return the bow and support his father.
"Why is he here? I gave specified instruction to my mens outside to prevent him from entering." The grandfather questioned in Korean, frowning in Nathaniel's direction who was busy putting the bags that he was carrying near the couch.
"Is here because I invite him in! This is not your home so stop acting like it is!" Na-Yung said defiantly.
"Silence child!" He yelled once again. "Remember that without me and all the sacrifice I make in my life, your father wouldn't be able to afford something like this! Don't forget it ungrateful girl!"
"And yet, now that my uncle is in jail, you are here to ask us to move back to Korea for the sake of the company and more importantly our image. I see the fact that your first son hired an assassin did not do well for our family and company standing in Korea." Na-Yung shout back, she was not stupid. If he was here, there was a reason for it and he was not the type to have feelings or remorse for that matter.
Her grandfather was about to retort when he noticed the young american passing near him and walking in the direction of his two bodyguards.
"What is he doing?" He asked but nobody answered him as they were too curious to see what he was going to do to speak.
Walking near the two of them, Nathaniel made a show of turning around the two bodyguards. They were massive to say the least. A little shy of seven foot tall and three hundred pound each, they were very intimidating and it was one of the reasons that Na-Yung's grandfather picked them for his security detail. Compared to them, Nathaniel looked tiny and thin and yet he did not look particularly affected by their presence. Stopping in front of the bigger one, Nathaniel raised his hand and tapped lightly on his forehead which did not faze the bodyguard.
"Wow! They are so lifelike!" He said in a voice full of wonder and childish joy, making Na-Yung laugh and even her father was fighting to hide an amused smile of his own. "Since when they are working for your grandfather?" He asked, looking at her.
"A year and a half I believe. Why?" She asked, she could tell that something was afoot here. Even if he had a silly smile on his face, his eyes were serious and grave which made her alert.
"Can you please come here Na-Yung?" He asked. Locking eyes with her, he made a show of looking to the ground for a second. That was at that moment that she realized that his right hand was making signs. While they were training, he had taught them sign language to communicate without making any noise in mission. He had created a variante of the one taught by the military, simplifying it and making it more versatile to be useful in more situations. She quickly noticed that he was repeating the same two signs over and over again.
It was "Extremely dangerous" and "Hit to kill".