Work Text:
'Cause sometimes you just feel tired, feel weak
And when you feel weak, you feel like you wanna just give up
His eyes flutter shut. Calms the nerves.
He has one bullet.
Time goes on, stretching like an elastic band.
But you got to search within you, and try to find that inner strength
And just pull that shit out of you
And get that motivation to not give up, and not be a quitter
No matter how bad you wanna just fall flat on your face and collapse
He feels a bullet in his body piercing the wound in his abdomen as he tries his best not to move.
He is The Tiger. A tiger knows how to attack at the right time. A tiger also knows how to remain still for hours.
His body feels heavy, just like his eyelids, but he knows he shouldn't lose himself.
There is one shadow remaining. He can't communicate through the comms or he's done. The shadow would find him.
Fuck that, he's getting out of this alive .
'Till I collapse I'm spilling these raps long as you feel 'em
'Till the day that I drop you'll never say that I'm not killing 'em
'Cause when I am not, then I'ma stop penning 'em
And I am not Hip-Hop and I'm just not Eminem
Subliminal thoughts, when I'ma stop sending 'em?
Women are caught in webs, spin 'em and hock venom
Adrenalin shots, the penicillin could not get the illing to stop
Amoxicillin's just not real enough
He ran away from his debtors like a coward, but this time he will not run away. His debt is there with him and he's going to fucking pay it.
He feels the shadow shuffle quietly in the room next door.
He silently prepares his gun.
One bullet.
One opportunity.
It's funny, if you had told young Hong-jin that he would be about to die because of the stupid Americans he would have laughed in your face, saying a simple "You should see Korean debtors, they are much worse."
I mean, he wouldn't be wrong. But this is a war. Not Korean debtors trying to scar his skin for every billion won he didn't pay.
These fuckers wanted his head.
The criminal cop-killing hip hop villain
A minimal swap to cop millions of Pac listeners
You're coming with me, feel it or not you're gonna fear it
Like I showed you the spirit of God lives in us
You hear it a lot, lyrics to shock
Is it a miracle or am I just product of pop fizzing up?
For shizzle my wizzle, this is the plot, listen up
You bizzles forgot, Slizzle does not give a fuck!
He always tried to keep a distance between himself and his younger self.
Horangi was not Hong-jin and the piece of shit who was Hong-jin was not Horangi. It was Horangi who broke the cycle of gambling, it was Horangi who earned this name, and it was Horangi who knew how not to feel emotions and kill senselessly.
Hong-jin would not have known how to survive. He was weak, a 'dogshit' gambler, susceptible to the lures of both men and women alike.
His feelings were a liability.
He was human, and being human was not required in the field manual.
Months of imprisonment and torture built Horangi. Stripes ran down his ribs and back, and before half of his face was blown off, leaving the muscle tissue and teeth on his left cheek to come out, his face was also lined with painful scars.
He still had his vision and hearing, fortunately.
The tension in the air is palpable.
The crack of wood.
Cold sweat.
Grip tightening.
Eyes open wide.
Silence.
The Shadow isn't moving.
Fear, he can smell it, taste it even.
Adrenaline runs through his veins.
The Shadow is scared of him, of course they are.
He's the predator.
Till the roof comes off, 'till the lights go out
'Till my legs give out, can't shut my mouth
'Till the smoke clears out, am I high? Perhaps
I'ma rip this shit, 'till my bone collapse
All it takes is a wrong move.
Just like when he lied to his debtors. One wrong move.
The Shadow's muzzle is now visible from the room he is in.
Count the seconds.
One.
The muzzle stays still.
Horangi, right around the corner, is waiting for the shadow to move. They have to check the room sooner or later. It is capture or kill after all.
Two.
No movement.
Silence stretches.
Three.
Four.
Five.
Six.
Seven.
Eight.
Nine.
Ten.
Hesitation.
He can see it in the movement of the muzzle.
'이동' he thinks. ('Move')
'비켜, 이 개자식아' he urges in his mind. ('Move, motherfucker')
The jaws of the Tiger are ready to attack, just one movement.
And so The Shadow, making its last mistake, moves into the room.
죽음 (death)
With a painful leap, Horangi catches his prey, and as soon as he blocks any movement of the shadow, the only bullet the Tiger had, breaches the enemy's skull, cracking it open to reveal the soft pink within.
His gloves, stained red.
Blood pools around The Shadow's head as their body goes limp.
Horangi forces himself to walk out of the room filled now with the unmistakable scent of blood, shit and piss, leaking from the now useless organs of the shadow.
Out of the room he has to sit down, his left leg and right shoulder are injured and his abdomen is pierced with a bullet.
The building is quiet.
He takes in a breath of the dusty air.
Music is like magic, there's a certain feeling you get
When you real and you spit and people are feeling your shit
This is your moment, and every single minute you spend
Tryna hold on to it 'cause you may never get it again
He discards the empty gun with his remaining good hand and he pushes the comms button.
"This is Alpha 1-4, does-"
A coughing fit interrupts his phrase.
Spitting out of his mask, on the ground, he sees it: blood.
His abdomen muscles hurt, still malleable under the burn of the bullet.
'Fuck' he thinks.
His body feels cold.
Freezing cold.
He opens the comms again.
So while you're in it, try to get as much shit as you can
And when your run is over just admit when it's at its end
Because I'm at the end of my wits with half the shit gets in
I got a list, here's the order of my list that it's in
"This is Alpha 1-4, does anyone copy?" He mumbles the sentence, straining.
His throat hurts and his wounds are letting his blood out quickly.
Consciousness starts slipping.
'나는 이걸 이겨낼 것이다' ('I will survive through this')
Just when he's about to try and get up, a doomed task, the comms crackle to life.
That's why you see me walking 'round like nothing's bothering me
Even though half you people got a fuckin' problem with me
You hate it but you know respect you got to give me
The press's wet dream like Bobby and Whitney, Nate, hit me
" Alpha 1-4, this is Gromsko, Horangi how copy? "
A smile appears on Horangi's cracked lips as the voice of his best friend comes through the comms.
Before he could reply, another coughing fit forces his body to fold in half on the ground he is sitting on.
'젠장, 운이 없는 것 같아요' ('Damn, I guess I'm out of luck.')
'언제부터 제가 운이 좋았나요?' He thinks while smirking bitterly. ('Since when have I been lucky?')
Laughing in the face of death has become a coping mechanism at this point.
Just like cats, the Tiger always seemed to have nine lives, since even in near-death experiences he always came out alive.
Maybe this was his last life.
Soon as a verse starts, I eat at an MC's heart
What is he thinking? How not to go against me, smart
And it's absurd, how people hang on every word
I'll probably never get the props I feel I ever deserve
The comms interrupt his train of thought again.
" Horangi? Horangi, how copy? "
With difficulty, Horangi replies "Solid"
" Thought you were done for, Tygrysie "
"Well I basically am"
" How bad? "
"I was shot in the abdomen and have two stab wounds, on my right shoulder and left leg. I am losing blood, too much blood."
As he speaks, he can feel the burn of the bullet in his muscle tissue.
Adrenaline fading away in his veins.
" Where are you now? "
"North building, I cleared it."
" Shit bracie, phenomenal. Little problem, I'm south ."
But I'll never be served, my spot is forever reserved
If I ever leave Earth, that would be the death of me first
'Cause in my heart of hearts I know nothing could ever be worse
That's why I'm clever when I put together every verse
Fuck.
Shit, that's too much time to wait.
" Alpha 1-4, this is Alpha 3-4, I'll get to you "
The rough voice comes through the comms.
Alpha 3-4.
König.
That fucking mountain of a man.
" I'll call for the exfil König, make sure Horangi stays alive ."
" Roger "
Embarrassing to say the least.
He is the lieutenant of this mission, and instead of taking care of those under his watch, he is the one who needs help.
Horangi lets his head fall back on the wall, beginning to feel numb, his nerves failing from the pain he is experiencing.
" Horangi, do you copy? "
The Korean struggles to keep his eyes open.
"Solid"
" Stay with me, Tiger "
His heart stutters weakly.
He always had a soft spot for that man and he still curses himself for that. He promised himself that after all the shit he had gone through, no one would ever take his heart again.
No attachments, no addiction problems.
No addiction problems, no debts.
He always tried his best to keep his teammates alive, of course, but he was detached.
No strings.
No sense of guilt.
A war machine.
' It's not over until I win '
But now his strength seems to be slipping from the grasp of his fingertips.
" Horangi "
That voice is going to be the death of him.
"Yes, I'm still alive"
" You'll have to last for 5 more minutes, I'm in front of the north building "
"Roger that"
Addictive.
That's the word he'd describe König with.
Dangerously addictive.
And he doesn't like it.
Every kind little touch.
The eye contact.
The crinkle of his grey eyes under the hood.
The grease paint.
The steady voice during the missions.
He knows addiction when he sees it and love is no different.
A drug that keeps you from having a clear mind.
A gambling game.
And he's not good with bets. At least he wasn't.
He doesn't have cards to play with, he doesn't have money to lose in this game.
No, this is way worse.
He could lose König.
" Tiger, talk to me, where are you? "
Horangi forces out a pained whine.
"Tenth floor, as soon as you arrive, go to your left at the end of the hallway"
My thoughts are sporadic, I act like I'm an addict
I rap like I'm addicted to smack like I'm Kim Mathers
But I don't want to go forth and back in constant battles
The fact is I would rather sit back and bomb some rappers
His mind races to remember all the little moments he has spent with König so far.
It's funny, the last thing he wants to think about before he dies is an Austrian man with social anxiety.
'당황스러운, 호랑이' ('Embarrassing, Tiger')
This is why he shouldn't have become attached.
"Horangi?"
There's that voice again.
It's not through the comms this time.
He tries to move his arm to reply but he fails miserably, dropping it almost instantly on the floor with a weak 'thump'.
"Tiger!"
There he is.
Beautiful, beautiful man.
He doesn't deserve this.
"Are you still with me?"
He nods.
König inspects his wounds.
Again, gentle touches.
Almost like butterflies.
How can such a giant creature be so kind?
It's unfair.
He feels a hand on his ruined cheek.
"Mein Liebster, du bist im Grunde tot" ("My Love, you're basically dead")
Horangi doesn't know German and with his feeble state of mind, he doesn't care now.
Just like a cat, he presses his cheek into the gentle giant's hand.
An alarming word appears in his mind.
'집' ('home')
He misses home.
And right now, his teammate's hands seem to be his home.
"나의사랑" He whispers. ('My Love')
'나의 공주님' his mind supplies unhelpfully, making him smile. ('My princess')
He always called him that since König’s name meant 'King' in English and the teammate always accepted the nickname with a smile in his eyes.
So this is like a full blown attack I'm launching at 'em
The track is on some battling raps who want some static?
'Cause I don't really think that the fact that I'm Slim matters
A plaque and platinum status is wack if I'm not the baddest, so...
"Please don't kill me for what I'm about to do, Lieutenant"
Horangi watches him confused until König lifts him up in his arms bridal style.
Oh fuck, oh shit.
"I'm sorry" The other man's voice grumbles.
'후회하게 될 것입니다' Horangi wants to say, but he is too tired, too drained to say anything, so he holds onto König's neck with his good arm, hoping for a swift escape from the area to the exfil point. ('You'll be sorry')
The man is a human heater which doesn't help Horangi's attempts to stay awake.
His eyelids feel heavy.
He wants to cut König open and crawl inside the man.
He wants this proximity every day.
But he can't.
He can't have this.
He… can't…
어둠 (Darkness)