Seongji recognized him at once.
Goo Kim stood in front of the wrecked black car with his hands in his pockets. His blond hair caught the light and his glasses had gone crooked from the crash. He looked like someone who had just wandered past and stopped out of curiosity.
"What are you doing here?" Seongji asked.
Goo glanced at the briefcase. "Honestly? I wanted nothing to do with this." He gestured at the smashed taxi, the unconscious driver. "But Gun's out there making a stupid move for a dead man, and someone has to make sure he comes back. You get that."
Seongji tightened his grip on the handle. "I'm not letting you through."
Goo smiled and shrugged. "Yeah, figured."
Seongji set the briefcase down behind him and turned back.
---
They stood across from each other on the cracked road. Goo kept his posture loose, like he hadn't fully decided to fight yet.
Seongji moved first.
The opening was quick and messy, both of them feeling each other out. Seongji caught his sleeve mid-exchange, yanked him forward, and drove an elbow into his ribs.
THUD!
Goo grunted and pushed free.
Seongji stayed on him. A feint, a low kick that buckled Goo's thigh, a grab at the collar and a knee into the gut. Goo bent forward and Seongji pulled his head down into a clinch. Goo fought for space and barely got it. Seongji drove him back until Goo's heel caught a broken chunk of asphalt and he stumbled, and Seongji took him straight down.
SLAM!
The road cracked under Goo's shoulder. He scrambled but Seongji caught him clean on the jaw on the way up.
CRACK!
Goo rolled clear and got back to his feet. He was breathing harder and his jacket was torn at the shoulder.
His eyes moved to the wrecked taxi. He reached into the debris and pulled out an antenna rod, about sixty centimeters, snapped clean off the back of the taxi, and the way he held it made Seongji stop walking.
He brought it to his right side with the tip angled low and forward, front foot turned inward, rear foot planted at the hip. His breathing slowed and his whole body went still.
Everything about him changed.
Seongji rushed in and Goo was already moving. A flurry of cuts came fast and kept switching angles and Seongji backed up across the road trying to keep up. A cut opened his cheek. Another caught his shoulder. He pushed inside to smother the rod and Goo put an elbow into his face.
CRACK!
Seongji's vision blurred. Goo stepped back and raised the rod level at his shoulder with the tip aimed straight at Seongji's throat.
"You need to be faster than this," Goo said, his voice calm and flat.
He thrust and Seongji slapped it wide, grabbed the shaft, and pulled. Goo stepped into it and drove the butt end into Seongji's stomach with his own momentum behind it.
THUD!
Seongji's eyes shifted to a faint green as he bent forward and the rod came down across the back of his shoulder and put him on one knee. The asphalt cracked under the impact and blood from his cheek dripped onto the road.
Goo stood back and watched him, one button undone on his shirt from the exchange.
Seongji stood back up.
He circled once, drew a cut onto his forearm, and the moment Goo's arm extended he closed the gap and locked both hands around his wrist. Goo tried to pull free and Seongji lifted him off the ground and drove him straight down.
BOOM!
A crater split open in the road. The rod skittered away and Goo's glasses twisted sideways on his face.
Seongji stood over him breathing hard, blood still falling from his cheek. Goo lay in the crater and looked up at the sky without moving.
"...Tch." He sat up slowly and straightened his glasses with one finger. "This isn't over."
---
Gun heard them before he saw them. Four sets of footsteps coming down the road and he turned around.
Daniel Park came around the corner of the overturned taxi and stopped. Zack, Hudson, and Vasco spread out behind him. Daniel looked at the wreckage, saw Nam on the ground, and found Gun standing in front of Kangmi Choi.
He went quiet for a moment. "...Hyung," he said carefully. "What are you doing here?"
Gun looked at him and let a smile settle on his face. "I should be asking you that, Daniel Park."