Mercenary Black Mamba

The corners of Mu Ssang's lips curved upwards from Samshik's audacity. 'Mother' isn't just a regular title. It's the master key towards empathy and others' hearts. Those who call their friend's mothers' mother' become a part of their family right then and there.

He visualized Samshik, a man with a face like a Jabberwocky's and built like a thumb, trying to charm his mother, a delicate flower-in-the-wind, by calling her mother, mother'. Mu Ssang would let him use that title if he found his mother.

Mu Ssang was not irked by Samshik's audacity. He may be money hungry, but he seemed trustworthy. Mu Ssang's master told him that relationships find their way back, yet he couldn't just sit idly by. Besides, he'd waited long enough.

"Godspeed."

Mu Ssang patted his new younger brother, old enough to be his uncle, on the back and left Samshik Services.

"Hyungnim, don't worry about a thing, and rest easy."

Samshik saw him out to the front of the building and bowed at a 90-degree angle. He would've considered it fortunate just to avoid catastrophe but now was celebrating the fact that he'd gained the approval and support from the same disasters. Mu Ssang didn't look back. Instead, he waved behind his back and a moment later disappeared with a roar from a giant motorcycle.

"Whew, he's gone!"

Samshik checked his watch with a long sigh. What felt like ten hours had just been one.

"Fuck, that was depressing. I should visit mom's with some beef or something tomorrow."

Samshik blew his nose and went back inside.

"Nupchi!"

"Samgeum! Did you call, sir?"

Tense with agitation, Nupchi strode into the office. He brought the nightmare with him without reporting first. He'd have nothing to say if the boss wanted to bash him half to death. His mended ribs suddenly started to ache.

"Ah, come over here, you precious little thing."

Samshik greeted him with a beaming smile.

'Fuck, I'm not falling for that. Not falling for it!'

Nupchi tensed up even more. He remembered the nightmare that broke his bones one by one with a smile. Samshik also ripped the teeth out of his victims while laughing. He tightened his stomach and waited for the incoming blow.

"Nupchi, you're promoted to the department chief from here on out. Miss Kim Malsoon's case is yours."

"Wha-?"

Nupchi's eyes grew as large as baubles. What was this warm wind in the season of fists!

"Why! Not satisfied?"

"It's just so out of the blue. What about Ssogari hyungnim?"

Nupchi muttered. It might be good news for him, but the Kim Malsoon case was chief Ssogari's.

"The organization is growing. We need more chiefs. Let's talk about the specifics at the management meeting tomorrow."

Samshik threw him an envelope he took out from the drawer.

"Take your goons and go out for drinks."

"Samgeum! Thank you, sir."

Nupchi caught the envelope. His face lit up like the Autumn sky after feeling its thickness. He finally realized that the nightmare was the one that brought about the warm winds. He received a swift promotion and an immediate bonus. He hit the jackpot. It was a lucky dream and not a nightmare indeed.

"Bah, get rid of samgeum starting today!"

"Sir?"

"Fufufu, Jigeum(Now) Hyungeum(Cash) Ipgeum(Pay up). No need for that anymore. Samshik doesn't bother with pocket change. Our slogan is 'lucky dream' from here on out. Understand?"

"Yes, I understand, sir."

Nupchi was confused but decided it was best to answer first.

"Have you seen Daebu? The movie 'The Godfather' I mean."

"Of course. 'Cause, a man who doesn't spend time with his family can never be a real man.' Man! What a line from Marlon Brando."

"Fufufu, you're right. Those who don't spend time with his family ain't no man. The nightmare is now our family. No, he's become our Godfather."

"Whoaaa! Really?"

Nupchi jumped up in surprise. So this was going to cause tidal movements in the criminal world. A tsunami.

"Fufufu, I brought him in as a hyungnim."

"Wow! Hyungnim, that's terrific. We'll take over Daegu first."

"No, dumbass. We've got tons of work to do. First, gather all the fuckers that are playin' around and have them all look for miss Kim Malsoon. Then, increase the number of people to at least 200."

"200 people, sir?"

Nupchi's eyes widened. It'd be nice to have more people, and the problem was the cost.

"Darn it, just go out, get drinks with your goons, and get ready to shit your pants running around trying to find her starting tomorrow."

Samshik chased Nupchi away and grabbed hold of his treasured bottle of Hennessy from the cabinet. It felt most appropriate today. The almighty nightmare promised to vouch for him. There was nothing to fear. This was the beginning of the golden age of Samshik.

You reap what you sow. The fate of these organizations that had been confronted with the nightmare had been divided by what relationships they'd built. The Sashimi Gang was forced to leave the stage, and Abe's crew was condemned to forced labor in Novatopia. The Samshik Gang had seized the chance of a lifetime. Lucky dreams and nightmares were up to the dreamers to interpret.

The rumbling of the 1,200CC double-acting engine shook the night road passages. Finally, the snakehead stopped at the field of reeds in Gugari, where the Nakdong river and the Gumho river met. The dark river, dimly lit shores, and the endless field of reeds blowing in the wind were all somehow repressed by a deafening silence.

"Kuaaaaa!"

A heart-wrenching cry echoed through the deserted field. All the pent-up rage, sorrow, pain, regret… all of the negative emotions mixed into the roar. The angel of death Black Mamba, the superhuman who awakened his Epidium genes, was still some woman's son when it came down to it.

His mind, numb from the battlefields and tempered with training, couldn't contain the crushing affection he had for his blood. Tears streamed down his eyes like a broken faucet.

A woman who was wrongfully widowed in her early thirties, a woman who lost her mind from being sexually assaulted by her kin, wandered from coast to coast for 16 years with no memory of her loving son. That woman was his mother.

What could she have owed the world at that age to be lost in such a state without knowing who she was? The father was poisoned with pesticides, the mother was wandering the earth with amnesia, and their son became a slaughterer. How could one typical family's fate fall so low?

His hanok and peach groves were awaiting him, yet his mother, who he could still picture smiling with the flowers blowing in the wind, was nowhere to be seen.

"O Heavens, heavens in slumber that forgot its duty to this world! You very heavens, if you've decided not to wake, I, Mu Ssang, will personally fulfill your duty."

The intense radiations of his booming voice swept through the fields and caused flocks of night birds to all fly away collectively.

"Oppa!"

Jinsoon greeted Mu Ssang, who walked through the front gates while wearing sunglasses at night.

"You haven't gone to bed yet."

A slightly raspy voice escaped Mu Ssang's lips. Jinsoon looked at him for a moment then pulled him into her embrace. Through mutual understanding, his simmering pain stabbed Jinsoon's heart like a knife.

"Oppa, does it hurt too much?"

"I'm alright. What about Mina?"

Misery loves company. At least he had hope that he'd find his mother one day, but the little one would never get that chance.

"Daddy!"

Mina jumped out from the main floor before he could finish his thought. She had a shoddy teddy bear in her arms. The same bear that he'd bought the day he left her at Muho's.

"Oh boy, our Mina's not asleep yet."

Mu Ssang promptly picked her up and rubbed his face against her.

"Ah! That stings. I go to sleep fast if I'm hugging the teddy bear you bought me. But daddy cried."

'Perceptive little thing.'

Mu Ssang tutted internally.

"Wha-? This daddy cry? No way."

"That's true. If my daddy cries, so would even a giant boulder. Hehehe!"

"Mina, say good night to daddy. But, you better get to bed."

Jinsoon pat Mina's head.

"Okay. Good night, daddy!"

Mina kissed Mu Ssang good night and ran up to her room at Jinsoon's words.

"She's all grown up."

"Because she knows she's loved."

Mina, who became emotionally stable, stopped throwing a tantrum to sleep with Mu Ssang. She started calling him daddy instead of papa and helped around the house. Mina had wholly become his daughter.

"Uhuh, that so."

Mu Ssang headed towards the main room leaving behind a choked-up voice. Jinsoon was left with heartache. The one and only Mu Ssang's strong back looked fragile like the Autumn leaves falling in the wind. She stopped herself from running over to give him a big hug. A man needed some personal space.

Slam- The study's door closed shut. Droplets of dew formed in Jinsoon's eyes. Only two things in this world would bring her oppa down: her lost aunt and Hyeyoung. It was infuriating, but she had no control over either one. It felt as if a large rock was weighing down her emotions.

The next day, there was a furor. Truckloads of materials and heavy machinery arrived, and sounds of workers yelling at each other filled the space. Then, they began working the spot where Mu Ssang's master marked with his staff to dig a pond and make an island in the middle.

Mu Ssang kept the pond in mind when building this house and redirected the stream to flow towards the building. The reason he postponed the construction was that the water levels were inconsistent.

If one fails to manage the correct amount of water to be procured or flooded, the pond becomes a spawning pool for algae and insects. Then, come, Summer, it would be a nest of mosquitos and mayflies.

His master took care of their worries. Then, as they drilled into the marked spot, a torrent of groundwater erupted. They no longer need to trouble themselves about keeping the water clean.

"Can you finish this in a week?"

"Ho, there's no way. It would take at least three full weeks."

The construction manager shook his head after taking a look at the blueprints.

"It's only 200 pyung." (Pyung: 3.3m2)

"It's a whole 200 pyung, you mean. The pond we can dig up with an excavator, sure. But we're going to have to line the walls with rocks, balance the amount of water that comes in and out, lay down patches of grass, and replant the trees. It'd be three weeks bare minimum if we were to line the island with rocks and put up a gazebo. This is going to cost you a fortune, though."

"Don't worry about the money and get the job done right. If there are no problems, I'll pay you extra if there are… it's not going to be pretty for your chief."

The manager, who was looking down on the young homeowner, flinched.

"Alright. I've been doing this for forty years, and I've never seen a bigger house. It's going to be a beautiful piece, so get off my case."

"Fine. Plant lotus flowers in the pond and peach trees on the outside."

"Ho, you trying to reach Shangri-la?"

"Perhaps....fufufu!"

Mu Ssang faintly smiled. He hurried the construction in hopes that his mother would return as soon as possible. He wanted to see her cooking rice in lotus leaves on the pavilion with the peach flower leaves blowing in the wind.

On the third day, the foreman gave a confident worker an earful for faltering while carrying rocks together with another worker. It was the same work that's been having trouble since day one. It was a huge safety risk if you weren't careful while carrying heavy loads with another person. This particular worker was exceedingly amateurish.

Mu Ssang looked at him quizzically. He was someone he remembered but couldn't quite pin a name to the face. The worker was puffing out clouds of smoke after the foreman left. It seemed this was eating away at him from the inside.

'I see!'

He peered at his right hand that was holding the cigarette. It was missing two-thirds of its forefinger and one-third of its thumb. He couldn't keep the weight because it slipped out of his soft fingers. That right hand holding the cigarette, he'd seen that hand somewhere before. It was on the tip of his tongue.

"Ah, owner Kim!"

Mu Ssang recalled perfectly. It was Sanghan's father's friend- the owner of Kisung Fabric. He was the person who went out of his way to try and hire him when Mu Ssang was released from the Daegu jail. He gave him some cash back then and was also kind enough to excuse that it was an advance payment for his new employee.

Mu Ssang may have only met him once, but he remembered him as a stocky person overflowing with warmth and kindness. However, he had difficulty recognizing him with all the weight gone and his frail body.

That evening, Mu Ssang visited owner Kim who was cleaning up.

"Owner Kim Gitaek."

"Ah!"

Kim Gitaek jumped up as something had burned him. His heart sank. The hounds had finally caught up to him. His mind turned white, and he plopped down. Mu Ssang was just as surprised by the adverse reaction.

"Why are you so surprised?"

With those words, Kim Gitaek finally looked up at Mu Ssang, very much confused. It was an excellent-looking, noble-like, well-built young man. A stud, as his daughters would say. Someone he had no memory of.

"Uh, who are you, sir?"

"Don't you remember? I'm Sanghan's friend from Gwanhori."

"Gwanhori?"

He remembered the slender young man next to Sanghan.

"You have a good memory. But, unfortunately, something came up back then, and I couldn't visit your company."

Something, supposedly. He was busy wiping out all those who had been involved in the event. Owner Kim's eyes scoured Mu Ssang up and down.

"You don't look like you're here for work. It's… It's hard for me to look at you like this."

Kim Gitaek voiced out with trembling temerity. The anguish of losing his company and being chased by loan sharks came rushing back.

Mina emerged from her room.

"Daddy, it's time for dinner."

"' Aight, tell your sister that there's going to be a guest."

"Okay, I'll tell her."

Mina returned with a bounce to her step.

'Fufufu, how cute!'

Mu Ssang smiled proudly at Mina. She talked to him informally when alone but switched to formal speech when someone else was with them. So mu Ssang turned into a babbling imp for his daughter.

"Haha, have some dinner with me."

"You, you!"

Owner Kim jolted up.

"Yes, I'm the homeowner."

"What in the world, how could...."

Kim Gitaek stared at Mu Ssang, bewildered.