The Mafia's Dove (Hyunjin centric)

Practice

I felt conflicted. While I cared little about what they decided to do with me, the idea of helping them in such a way was . . . shady, at best. I understood they only hurt the most twisted of people, but they were still criminals.

Criminals who now expected me to help sharpen their skills.

Honestly, I was flattered. A group of professionals asking me to help them train? That was a huge compliment. And it wasn't exactly like I sympathized with the people they supposedly went after. But still, I knew very little about the work they did. I might not care about what they did to me, but if they were lying about the not hurting innocents thing, then we would have a problem. My willingness to help also depended on what they deemed to be not innocent.

How could I be expected to help them become better at something harmful if I didn't know how they were going to use the skill or why? I pieced together that they were some kind of vigilante group, but what they actually did was all just speculation. I was expected to help train Felix and Changbin in less than an hour, but before I would enter the training room, I needed to be certain.

I stopped outside of the dark oak door, hand raised to knock. This room was supposedly Chan's office, and according to Felix, Chan was actually the leader. At first I thought it was Seungmin based on how he took charge of the meeting the other day, but I guess some people just had that effect.

Chan seemed like the type of leader that allowed others to take the reins when he deemed fit, but the way he responded to the van story was a clear sign he was capable of taking the reins back just as quickly.

My knuckles connected with the wooden surface much louder than I thought they would, and I blinked. Did my knock sound rude? Too eager? Did I sound insane for debating the meaning behind a simple knock?

"Come in." Chan's voice sounded much happier than I was used to, and it was only then that I realized I've only ever heard him talk when he was mad or upset.

My hand closed around the handle before pushing the door open, and Chan smiled as he looked up from the papers he was reading. He placed his mug back on the desk before gesturing for me to step into the room all the way, and I eventually left the safe confines of the doorway.

"What can I help you with?" His smile remained kind, and my shoulders relaxed as his voice and posture matched his expression.

"I have some questions. I thought you would be the best person to answer me." He nodded, practically staring into my soul as he waited for me to continue. "What exactly do you guys do?" My expression became more serious as my anxiety melted away, and I closed the gap in order to sit down in one of the chairs placed on the opposite side of his desk.

"It's a little difficult to explain without giving away details you aren't at liberty to know, but in simple terms, we're a government condoned group called SKZ. We take care of matters that the more public forms of authority can't be trusted with, and in return, we're granted moderate invulnerability in regard to common laws that allow us to complete our less legal activities. We also do odd jobs here and there; security, assassination, investigation, etcetera." He explained all this like it was a completely normal thing, and despite my desire to remain unfazed, I couldn't help the way my eyes widened as the information sunk in.

"What makes your group qualified for that level of leniency and trust? Why would the government give that responsibility to your group specifically?"

His smile became detached, cold even, as his eyes turned to crescents. "You don't need to know. Any more questions?"

I blinked at how quickly he went back to a warm smile, and I decided to move on despite the nagging curiosity.

"Your illegal businesses. What are they?"