KILL AND CHILL 3 | JAYWON

INTRO

The body dropped without a noise. Everyone was watching it happen, it was like slow motion: the head snapping backwards, blood splattering, the knees giving out, the body falling forward. Finally, when the head hit the cold snow-covered ground, everything started to move at regular speed again. The man was long dead by then, tough, all help in vain.

The bodyguards started swarming around their so-called charge, too late to do their job, but they could at least keep the illusion of having everything under control. The panicked crowd was screaming, running around without thought or sense. The police tried desperately to contain the crazy mob. Seems like no matter where someone got killed, who got killed, how many people watched it happen and whether or not police were present or not, people would always behave the same way: scream, panic, lose their minds. It seemed like none of them were in their right mind to wonder where the shot had come from?! Not even the hired muscle would do. Was that not sad? No, that was the wrong word; pathetic perhaps? Whatever it was, they were weak, thus, they did not deserve anything but death. He looked through the sniperscope once more, he did not understand why he had to kill the man; he had been no threat, had no power.

Nothing… admittedly, it did not matter. 

The man looked towards the sky, checking the position of the sun – just past noon.

– Lunch time, he said, dropping to his knees to start dissembling his rifle. Within less than five minutes, he was gone, leaving only a bullet cartridge behind.

☆
Jungwon walked into his new office, with headphones on his head, listening to some Olivia Rodrigo, when he heard some voices, and lowered his volume.

– Oh, for fucks sake. One might think when you get a new corporate branding, they might come up with something cool. Not… this! Niki complained, throwing his jacket onto the chair with a deep distressed sigh.

– I mean, c’mon, man. Enhypen? really? What does it even mean?  Even game developers come up with better names for their agencies and departments than that! Heeseung said.

– What would you have called our department then, do tell? Jungwon replied pushing his glasses up a notch.

– Definitely not Enhypen, Niki said, making Heeseung laugh.

– I googled it to see if there was anything coming up. Did you know that the word ‘enhypen’ is inspired by the punctuation mark hyphen since it connects words, Heeseung asked.

– Awww, that means we are all connected, Jungwon said with a smile as Niki continued ranting and simply focussed on his task at hand: putting all his books and files back onto a shelf in their new office. He was humming in acknowledgement every now and then to show that he was still listening. 

Enhypen, the new name of their unit within their hitman company. Agreeably, the name was good for Jungwon, it was Jay who chose it, and Jungwon liked everything that Jay did.

When he turned around, he threw Niki one glare that spoke volumes.

– I suggest you start setting up your corner. If Jay sees that… he pointed at the untouched transport boxes, he will have your hide for it. Niki  looked at them and grunted.

– Yeah, good point. Well, at least we got a bigger office now! and he was beaming like the sun itself. How easy it was to make that man happy. 

The move to the new office building had been necessary. With all the broken pipes it was only a matter of time before the office became an obstacle to keeping its members alive. Their everyday job was not the safest by a long shot, but they should not have to worry about faulty plugs and damaged wiring as well. Since everyone seemed to agree with that notion, Jay had decided to action on this as quickly as possible – which meant for them: finding a new office, sorting out the contracts and moving all their stuff within just 1 month. The Enhypen were efficient, but even for them that had been a stretch; they were stationed in Daegu after all. Nevertheless, the relocation had also brought along the new name, a direct consequence of splitting away from Seoul, combining the best practices of it. They were still focussing on terrorism and profiling, yes, but with a more detailed focus on international assassinations, planned murder and unsolved crimes that showed the same MO, practically anything that screamed single assailant, strategic approach and efficient elimination.