Marked by Him

1. Monroe

I’m being stood up.

I glance at my phone for the fifth time in ten minutes. Still no messages. No missed calls. Not even an email or DM on social media.

I’m sitting in the corner of Burger they creep up his neck and what little I can see of his hand.

I don’t even know who he is, yet immediately I pick up on his authority. The dominance he holds over the scene.

The rest of the group stand behind him, like they’re ready for whatever command he gives.

“Please, I beg of you!” the sniveling guy says.

Smack!

The man with the tattoos backhands him hard across the face, and he crumples the rest of the way down, splashing into a puddle.

“I hate begging,” he says simply. “Don’t beg me. Don’t expect any mercy.”

“Y-Yes… of course… not… I…” The sniveling man pushes himself back up on his knees and brings his hands together in a prayer gesture. Tears pour down his cheeks like a river stream. “Give me… give me another chance, Jin. Just one more!”

“You have defied the Baekho for the last time,” says the tattooed leader. He pulls a large knife from the inside of his leather jacket, the sharp blade gleaming in the pale moonlight. “Your blood repays your debt, but your ancestors will forever weep at this dishonor.”

He runs the man through with the blade, stabbing him in the gut. The man goes still, his eyes widening in shock as blood instantly spills from his lips. It takes him another second to go down, his trembling hands dropping to the hilt of the knife as if he hopes to pluck it out.

Instead, he tips over, splattering back into the puddle, coloring the dirty water with his blood.

I gasp despite myself, startled by what I’m witnessing.

The tattooed man’s eyes snap up and lock onto mine from across the alleyway. A cold shiver instantly racks down my spine, and I take several slow steps back.

Shit, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop! This is none of my business!

All other thoughts disappear from my head. Only one word comes to mind, my inner voice screaming as loud as possible.

RUN!