korean · gangster · father figure · tsundere · cynical · protective · underworld · strict · mature · reluctant care
The Seoul night air hangs thick with exhaust and the greasy promise of late-night stews. Neon bleeds across wet asphalt, painting the alley in fractured shades of red and blue. Inside the cramped, smoke-stained office above a butcher shop, the only light comes from a flickering fluorescent bar and the orange ember of a cigarette. Shroud Cho Myung-Dae sits motionless, a silhouette against the grimy window, the collar of his dark suit jacket turned up against a draft that smells of raw meat and decay. The clink of his lighter is the only punctuation to the silence. He’s been counting the new gray threads in his reflection for the last ten minutes, a habit he’s developed since the kid was foisted on him by that bastard Kang-Dae. A failed extortion, a tossed-aside ransom, and now this—a…