Yu-jin tumbled into the sand trap. Dogs barked in the distance, and blue lights flashed through the pines halfway down the mountain. ***<\/p>\n Kwang-ho had always been wayward, even as a kid, chafing constantly against authority and fighting over nothing. He dropped out of school after his parents died and loafed around the village, and then signed up for compulsory military service as soon as he was eligible. Everyone in Boar Hollow said it would straighten him out. They were wrong. If anything, he was worse when he came back. ***<\/p>\n Yu-jin stood up and shouldered the bag, then scanned the golf course, making out its undulations in the moonlight. The Evercrest resort loomed to her left, the black towers punctuated by a few lights. There would be guards over there. Best to head right. ***<\/p>\n The Go-stop game was an open secret in her corner of the country. Even the police were said to turn a blind eye for a slice of the profits. The gangsters who ran the game circled through different lodges, often remote ones where the owners were away. ***<\/p>\n Yu-jin made it to the edge of the resort, where a steep slope dropped to a back road. The dogs were definitely closer now, and she could hear people shouting to each other. ***<\/p>\n Everything was still after the shot, except the gunsmoke curling in the silent room. Then the panic started, the screaming, the running. Dong-chae had run out the front door with everyone else, shoving the elderly gamblers aside in his effort to escape. Yu-jin hoped he\u2019d got away. Deep down though, she knew he\u2019d probably been caught, either by the police or the gangsters. ***<\/p>\n The smell of sand on her fingers triggered a memory, one long buried. It was of her and Kwang-ho playing on Gwangali beach in Busan. He\u2019d been about ten then, and she\u2019d been six or seven. His parents had still been alive, and her parents had still been together. They\u2019d all been happy on that trip, even her father, like he was before her mother left them and the booze hollowed him out. ***<\/p>\n She waited by the driver\u2019s area of the rest-stop food hall, looking through the glass for a face she could trust. She found it at the back of the hall. It belonged to a small guy with a perm, who was slurping noodles from his bowl with an air of satisfaction. \u00a0<\/p>\n [Image Credit : Photo by Junseo Jang<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a>]<\/p>\n Gavin Kent is a writer of crime and thriller fiction. His work has appeared in Guilty, Pulp Noir<\/i> and Shotgun Honey<\/i>. Originally from the UK, he has spent much of his adult life in East Asia, where he\u2019s taught English at universities and tutored everyone from bank managers to Buddhist nuns. He currently lives in South Korea with his wife and son, and is seeking representation for his debut novel.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
+++++<\/span>She pulled the duffel bag closer, feeling the weight of the money inside.
+++++<\/span>It didn\u2019t feel like enough. Not for her cousin\u2019s life.
+++++<\/span>She screwed her eyes shut, trying to banish the image of Kwang-ho\u2019s body. Half of his face had been taken off by the shotgun blast, splattered over the faded Buddhist calendar on the wall.
+++++<\/span>She opened her eyes and gulped air. She smelled sand on her fingers when she wiped away her tears.<\/p>\n
+++++<\/span>Yu-jin had visited him a couple of days after he returned. He\u2019d been drunk, and she could feel his frustration filling the shabby one-room apartment. Military service, however grueling, had offered an escape from Boar Hollow. Now he was trapped there once more.
+++++<\/span>Yu-jin understood his frustration \u2013 all the young people in the village did \u2013 but the intensity of Kwang-ho\u2019s surprised her.
+++++<\/span>One humid afternoon in July, at the start of the summer vacation, she went to visit him again. His apartment door stood open to admit a cross-breeze. Through it she heard Kwang-ho talking to someone, and stopped outside to listen.
+++++<\/span>It was Dong-chae. He was her senior in high school, though mentally he hadn\u2019t progressed much beyond the eighth grade. The three of them had been inseparable as children. The villagers had always got a laugh out of seeing the wiry Kwang-ho being trailed by the bulky form of Dong-chae, while the tiny Yu-jin scampered after them.
+++++<\/span>She was about to go in, but something about Kwang-ho\u2019s voice stopped her. Instead she stayed in the corridor and listened some more.
+++++<\/span>\u201cIt\u2019s as easy as eating cold porridge,\u201d Kwang-ho was saying. \u201cThe lookouts are all down the mountain. There\u2019s only three men in the room. I\u2019ll take care of the leader, and you tie up the others.\u201d
+++++<\/span>\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d
+++++<\/span>\u201cDon\u2019t you want to get out of here, Dong-chae? You can come with me to Seoul if you want. Imagine it, living it up in the big city with all that lovely money in your hand.\u201d
+++++<\/span>Dong-chae giggled.
+++++<\/span>\u201cThe ajumma<\/i> next door told her friend she was taking three million won. If twenty people turn up with the same amount there\u2019ll be at least 60 million won laying on the floor for us. That\u2019s thirty each, Dong-chae.\u201d
+++++<\/span>\u201cThirty million won?\u201d
+++++<\/span>\u201cThat\u2019s right.\u201d
+++++<\/span>\u201cI could get a car?\u201d
+++++<\/span>\u201cSure.\u201d
+++++<\/span>\u201cMaybe a Ferrari?\u201d
+++++<\/span>\u201cDon\u2019t be stupid. You could probably get a Hyundai.\u201d
+++++<\/span>\u201cA Santa Fe?\u201d
+++++<\/span>\u201cSure.\u201d
+++++<\/span>Yu-jin didn\u2019t wait to hear anymore. She marched straight into the one room and told them she wanted in.
+++++<\/span>\u201cIn on what?\u201d Kwang-ho said, reaching for his cigarettes with feigned nonchalance.
+++++<\/span>He was sitting on the mattress, the only furnishing in the otherwise bare room. Dong-chae was sitting cross legged on the floor, like an over-sized statue of the baby Buddha.
+++++<\/span>\u201cYou\u2019re going to rob the Go-stop game. I want in.\u201d
+++++<\/span>\u201cI don\u2019t know what you\u2019re talking about,\u201d Kwang-ho said, but his voice betrayed him.<\/p>\n
+++++<\/span>She ran over the fairway, head down. She reached a tree line and crouched there, listening. The barking sounded closer. She heard engines too, the sound of cars prowling the countryside.
+++++<\/span>She backed into the forest, letting the trees envelop her.<\/p>\n
+++++<\/span>The lodge in Boar Hollow was owned by Grandpa Im, a prickly ex-soldier in his eighties. He\u2019d served in Vietnam, and was said to have left whatever human warmth he\u2019d once possessed in the jungle there. Few tourists visited the lodge. Renting it out for illegal card games was sometimes his only source of income.
+++++<\/span>On Saturday night, Yu-jin met the others at Kwang-ho\u2019s apartment. They went over the plan once more, then set out around eleven, walking single file up the woodcutter\u2019s track into the mountains. Kwang-ho led the way, with Dong-chae in the middle. Yu-jin brought up the rear, the empty duffel bag slung over her shoulder. A full moon shone overhead, painting the tree tops a ghostly white. Cicadas whirred in the humid night, covering their footfalls.
+++++<\/span>They walked for an hour, avoiding the main roads where the lookouts were posted, and eventually came up behind the lodge. They could hear the raucous voices of the gamblers before they could see the building. It sounded like a big crowd, maybe even bigger than the twenty people Kwang-ho had predicted.
+++++<\/span>All the lights in the lodge were on, making the darkness they crept out of seem even deeper.
+++++<\/span>Kwang-ho went to the corner of the lodge and looked around to the front door.
+++++<\/span>\u201cNo one there,\u201d he whispered.
+++++<\/span>He pointed to the rear. They nodded, and crept around to the back, and then pulled ski masks from their pockets and put them on.
Kwang-ho put his hand on the sliding door and paused. \u201cYou ready?\u201d he said, glancing between Yu-jin and Dong-chae.
+++++<\/span>Dong-chae held up a roll of duct tape and grinned.
+++++<\/span>Yu-jin grasped the bag\u2019s strap and nodded.
+++++<\/span>\u201cOK,\u201d Kwang-ho said, drawing a serrated hunting knife out the sheath attached to his belt. \u201cLet\u2019s go.\u201d
+++++<\/span>He slid the door open. They entered into a small kitchen, moving carefully around a table in the middle of the room. Then they huddled in the doorway and looked out.
+++++<\/span>The rest of the lodge was one long hall. A line of green felt mats ran down the middle, with two rows of people sitting either side, facing each other. Not one of them was under fifty. They slapped the black and red cards down on the mats, shouting in hoarse voices. Yu-jin saw the piles of cash beside them.
+++++<\/span>A bald man sat at the end of the row of mats with his back to them. He was the boss of the operation. Two younger men strode up and down behind the gamblers like prison guards, checking for any cheats.
+++++<\/span>\u201cNow,\u201d Kwang-ho whispered, and burst from the doorway. He made it to the boss within a few paces and crouched down behind him, the knife to his throat.
+++++<\/span>\u201cNo one move,\u201d he said.
+++++<\/span>The gamblers all looked up in surprise.
+++++<\/span>\u201cAny noise and I start stabbing.\u201d
+++++<\/span>Dong-chae grabbed one of the younger men around the middle in a bear hug and lifted him easily off the floor. He slammed him down on the wax paper floor and quickly taped his wrists together.
+++++<\/span>The other young man made a move to stop him. \u201cHold it,\u201d Kwang-ho said, digging the teeth of the knife deeper into the boss\u2019 neck.
+++++<\/span>Dong-chae stepped over the mat and taped the other man\u2019s wrists together, then pushed him down until he was sitting on the floor.
Kwang-ho looked over his shoulder at Yu-jin and nodded. She stepped out from behind him and started collecting the money on the mats, stuffing it into the duffel bag as quickly as she could. She felt the eyes of the gamblers on her. The men were all frowning, while the women muttered complaints. She was sweating inside her ski mask, adrenaline making her hands tremble.
+++++<\/span>One woman grabbed her stack of cash before Yu-jin could reach it. She clutched it to her chest, shaking her head, her eyes filled with tears. \u201cNo, please.\u201d
+++++<\/span>Yu-jin glanced back at Kwang-ho. He nodded to Dong-chae, who stepped forward and grabbed the woman by the neck from behind and started lifting her up.
+++++<\/span>\u201cHand it over, bitch,\u201d Kwang-ho said. \u201cYou were going to lose it anyway.\u201d
+++++<\/span>The woman carried on shaking her head. Dong-chae tightened his grip on her neck and the woman gasped and thrust the money forward for Yu-jin to take. Dong-chae let go and the woman dropped to the floor and started sobbing.
+++++<\/span>\u201cNo more hold outs,\u201d Kwang-ho said.
+++++<\/span>Yu-jin collected the rest of the money, moving quickly down the row of mats in a crouch, like someone planting rice. She reached the end of the row and nodded back to Kwang-ho. He stood up and dealt the boss a vicious blow to the side of the head with the butt of the knife. The boss collapsed on the floor, one hand to his head, blood seeping through his fingers.
+++++<\/span>A door near the back of the lodge opened. Grandpa Im stepped out, an ancient shotgun clasped in his arthritic hands.
+++++<\/span>It boomed once.<\/p>\n
+++++<\/span>She slid on her butt down the slope, branches whipping her face. Finally her feet hit concrete, and she straightened up. She rested for a moment, until an engine growled to her right, getting louder.
+++++<\/span>She ran across the road and dove behind a bush. Headlights sliced around the corner a second later.
+++++<\/span>The car crawled past. Someone in the passenger seat had a powerful flashlight, and was shining it into the undergrowth. They were smoking too, blowing out white plumes that writhed in the flashlight\u2019s beam. Yu-jin huddled tight to the earth. The beam of light swept by inches above her head, and then the car was gone, leaving behind the smell of cigarettes and gasoline.
+++++<\/span>Yu-jin stood up and pushed into the undergrowth, heading away from the road. After a while she came to a track and followed it downhill. The roar of the freeway in the distance grew louder, still busy even at that hour of the morning. She shifted the bag on her shoulder and hurried towards it.<\/p>\n
+++++<\/span>Yu-jin had been frozen to the spot, her eyes locked on Kwang-ho\u2019s body. In her peripheral vision she saw Grandpa Im pushing himself up from where the shotgun\u2019s recoil had slammed him against the wall. She tore her eyes from Kwang-ho and ran to the back door.
+++++<\/span> She veered left once outside and ran in blind panic through the undergrowth, stumbling over branches and getting a face full of leaves. She kept running until an almost vertical slope stopped her. There was nowhere else to go, so she scampered up the slope, grabbing at tree roots and saplings for purchase. She made it to the top, and emerged onto the golf course.
+++++<\/span>Apart from the workers who tended the course, she was almost certainly the first villager to ever set foot in Evercrest since it opened five years before. People had hoped the resort would bring more business to the village, but no one from Evercrest had ever set foot in Boar Hollow either.
+++++<\/span>She sprinted for the sand trap with the last of her strength and slumped into it.<\/p>\n
+++++<\/span>When she thought about it, that trip might have been the last time any of them were happy.<\/p>\n
+++++<\/span>She went outside and waited, standing with her back against a pillar, senses alert. The people following her would check the rest stop eventually.
+++++<\/span>Ten minutes later, the driver came out and went over to his truck. Yu-jin followed him.
+++++<\/span>\u201cExcuse me, mister,\u201d she said to his back as he was opening the door to the cab.
+++++<\/span>He looked round, one eyebrow raised in query.
+++++<\/span>\u201cCould you give me a ride, please?\u201d
+++++<\/span>He looked her over, taking in the bag.
+++++<\/span>\u201cRunning away from home, huh?\u201d he said.
+++++<\/span>She nodded.
+++++<\/span>\u201cSorry,\u201d the driver said. \u201cYour parents will be worried. I can\u2019t help you.\u201d
+++++<\/span>She shook her head. \u201cIt\u2019s just my father. He won\u2019t care.\u201d
+++++<\/span>She remembered when she said goodbye to her father before going to join Kwang-ho. He hadn\u2019t even looked up for his soju glass.
+++++<\/span>Tears came to her eyes. \u201cPlease, mister. I can\u2019t stay here anymore.\u201d
+++++<\/span>Through the tears she saw the driver\u2019s expression soften.
+++++<\/span>He sighed. \u201cOK,\u201d he said. \u201cClimb in.\u201d
+++++<\/span>She climbed into the cab beside him, putting the bag between her feet and looking in the side mirror. The sun was just starting to come up over the mountains, a splash of red on the deep indigo sky. She had no idea how long she had before someone caught up with her, or what would happen when they did. One thing she knew for certain: she would never see Boar Hollow again.
+++++<\/span>\u201cWhere you heading?\u201d the driver asked.
+++++<\/span>She thought for a moment. Her only plan had been to get away from Boar Hollow, either to Seoul, or somewhere else.
+++++<\/span>She smelled sand again, saw Kwang-ho playing in the waves.
+++++<\/span>\u201cBusan,\u201d she said. \u201cI want to go to Busan.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Facebook\"](\"https:\/\/www.close2thebone.co.uk\/wp\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-feather\/synved-social\/image\/social\/regular\/48x48\/facebook.png\"\/ "\\"Share")
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