2 The Mark

"AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! WHAT THE F*CK IS GOING ON!!??"

Byung screamed in frustration as he returned to the mirror to check out his tattoo but it was still there! This was not his mind playing tricks on him.

"Kwan! Cho! Get your asses in here right now!" Byung barked, and Kwan seemed to be the only one to respond to his dilemma, rushing to the scene to be the hero but all he met was a half-naked Byung, who seemed to be fondling his own chest. Kwan said wearing a deadpan expression

"If you don't do it, who will, am I right?" Kwan teased but couldn't maintain this façade as he put his hands over his mouth to contain the laughter that was brewing. Byung was too pissed to even react to what he said but after a second or two of fondling himself, he realized what it looked like but it was too late. Kwan had already taken a picture.

"You little sh*t! Give me that phone!" Byung cursed, as he chased after him but Kwan was way more athletic and easily outpaced him, running to show Cho with Byung lagging well behind.

Barging into Cho's room, but Cho was sleeping with his mouth wide open and saliva drooling down the sides of his face. Kwan burst out laughing in response to this, bringing Cho back to reality but what Cho first saw was a bright flash. Kwan had taken a picture of him too and immediately, Cho gave chase.

Kwan was simply too fast for both men but as he was about to leave Cho's room, the exit was blocked by the out of breath Byung.

"Y-Y-You ba-bastard! Quit the sh*t and look at this tattoo!" he shouted, pointing at the mark but for some reason, Cho and Kwan could not see it, he had disobeyed the first instruction given by the homeless guy in the message.

"What tattoo?" Asked Cho, clearly confused with what was going on but this confusion could be attributed to just waking up.

"I knew you'd eventually turn to drugs but do you look that sexy to yourself when high? I really need to try that stuff." Kwan said, clearly joking as he laughed. Byung looked puzzled, it was right there...

A red pentagram depicting a bleeding eye at the center was clearly on the left side of his chest but why couldn't anyone see it? What exactly was going on? This was strange and while Byung was lost in thought, both his and Cho's phone buzzed at almost the exact same time. Upon seeing the contents of the ringing, Cho and Byung looked furious and disgusted. Both gnashing their teeth in absolute fury but just before the cap could be blown off. A click was heard.

The sound came from the direction of Kwan's room, imitating a locked door, and when Cho and Byung looked up. They couldn't spot him. He used their distracted state to slip past them as both shouted in unison.

"KWAN! YOU F*CKING BASTAARRDDD!"

Kwan had uploaded both their pictures on Istagram, going as far as tagging both of them.

This wasn't the first time but Byung felt a sort of comfort that Kwan wasn't ashamed to show him off on his socials despite his obvious unattractive nature and thought to himself.

"How? How does Cho still look so damn good! It's like he was made in a lab."

Returning to his room, he prepared for bed, lying down but couldn't fall asleep.

He had a couple of likes from Kwan's upload and multiple comments but none were cruel, each seeing the humor in it, this showed just what kind of people Kwan surrounded himself with but a comment caught his eyes and it was written in acrylic font to stand out. "This guy has a pretty nice body!".

"A compliment?" Byung's face contorted into one of the creepiest grins that could startle even the grim reaper. At last, the universe was smiling on him. No one needed to tell him twice as he instantly checked her profile. Her name was A-Yeong, she was a model that worked at the same agency as Kwan. YK Agency was just starting up and had gained a fair share of popularity over the years.

She possessed unrivaled beauty, with a curvy physique and a well-proportioned body. A fair-skinned lady with deep crimson red round eyes, with short black hair, which is parted on the left side.

Judging from her height in the pictures, it could be safe to assume she was rather short, approximately 5'3-5'5.

SFX: Ping!

"Huh? Another message?" But what came to mind immediately was Bo*tyeater69, cringing in response with this thought. But he did not have anything to lose and decided to open it...

"I-it can't be!?" it was a message from A-Yeong! but the contents of the message left him speechless.

"You need to delete that picture." tears immediately escaped the eyes of Byung in a comedic fashion but soon, another message entered and it read. "OH MY GOD! That came out wrong! I just thought you'd want to hide your tattoo, that's all. ^_^"

Byung's tears quickly turned to astonishment as he replied. "You can see it!?" but A-Yeong did not reply, no matter how long he waited.

"Damn it, she aired me." Byung mumbled, pissed he took the bait.

Eventually, he drifted to sleep.

Next Day.

Each had gotten dressed for their various jobs, but Cho headed out earlier than the rest due to the distance of his own modeling agency, Kang Model Management, this agency was much smaller than YK Agency in terms of popularity and public opinion. Rumour has been going around that the President's daughter has a thing for Cho but due to the hassle of a relationship, he has blown her off each time. Of course, these were just rumors and Cho was too lazy to either confirm or deny them, and over time, it became a hot topic of gossip among his peers in the agency despite none knowing what she looked like, as she had never stepped foot in the agency.

Kwan and Byung ate their breakfast, the breakfast includes a vegetable omelet, tofu with seasoned soy sauce, rice cooked with red and black beans, radish kimchi. This meal was prepared by Cho before he left, Cho always made breakfast as he believed this to be the most important meal of the day and this was the only time he cooked.

But there was an awkward silence but this was mostly due to Byung's fidgeting nervously as he swallowed each bite, Kwan would eventually notice

"Um, you have something to say, buddy?" Asked Kwan but Byung said in a barely inaudible timid-sounding tone "D-dew yew know A-Yeong?" And this brought out a surprised look from Kwan. "How did Byung know this name?" he thought, "It must have been the comment she dropped." and proceeded to say with a dead ass expression.

"A-Yeong? Who doesn't? it is hard not to notice a guy that had a sex change and became a lady, after all." This caused Byung to nearly choke on the piece of meal within his throat but just as he was on the brink of regurgitating the little breakfast he had had. Kwan giggled, this gave away his story as yet another joke.

"Y-YOU PLAY TOO F*CKING DAMN MUCH!" Byung shouted but boy, was he relieved.

"On a serious note though, A-Yeong is.... strange. That is pretty much the best way to describe her." Kwan said as he got up and began walking out the door but not before looking Byung dead in the eye. For the first time in a really long time, Kwan had his serious face on.

"Stay away from her." This was the warning he gave Byung before walking out.

"What's up with that…" He thought to himself but upon checking his watch, he was already 3 minutes late.

"F*ck!" He cursed out.

Location: Unknown.

The two black-cloaked figures were seen in an abandoned warehouse with about a dozen dismembered bodies littered in such a gruesome manner, it would make even the vilest of killers heart skip a beat in awe to this form of cruelty.

The floor, now dyed in red as the liquid, which was revealed to be blood, had seeped into the ground as the outer layer of the entire floor was now of this color. A huge man was pinned to the wall in a crucifix, barely clinging on to life. This man was a merchant, renowned as the "Black Jack" in the underworld, he has cheek length green hair that is very close to his chubby face and it is held in a pony-tail with a tannish-colored wrap. He has thick brows, grey eyes, and well-trimmed full black beards. He is a very large man both with regards to his height and girth-6'6 in height-easily towering over the two cloaked individuals.

"D-Do you punks have any ide-... YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHO YOU ARE DEALING WITH?!" The overweight man barked but one of the figures slowly removed the hoodie hiding their identity and this struck terror in the heart of the barking merchant, who instantly became docile, his face creasing into a nervous smile.

"You are a religious man, yes?" Asked the hoarse voice man, whose face was no longer hidden.

He is of average height (5'9), handsome adult with long jet-black wavy hair, red eyes, and pale skin. He has a sharp jaw but his most striking feature was the roman numerical number IX right where his temporalis was located, he was in his mid-thirties. "Y-Y-Yes, I a-am." Said the frightened man.

"Do you have a god to put your last prayer to?" The red-eye man asked, but the continuous begging of the man gave him the answer he needed.

"Very well then." Said the figure. The merchant's begging immediately turned to silence. He looked to be in trance of some sort and what followed was him coughing up an insurmountable amount of blood, as the rupturing of his organs and bones echoed in the room. The pain in these few seconds superseded any pain he had undergone in his life as the life slowly slipped away from his eyes.

"Jin-Hyuk, why did you kill him?" Asked the figure still shrouded in complete mystery but Jin-Hyuk was unresponsive. Turning around, he exited the warehouse with his partner following closely behind. Snapping her fingers, it engulfed itself in searing flames as the building collapses behind them upon their exit. Jin-Hyuk's phone buzzed a few minutes after and whatever it was made the edges of his mouth arc up into a sadistic smile.

"I see, so this is the person that holds the stamp."