The wind over Haneul felt different.
It was colder, sharper. As if the city itself sensed something shifting beneath its streets. Every night carried another rumor, another gunshot echoing in the distance, another whisper that the Gapyeong Tigers, who were once untouchable, were wobbling.
Tae-min, Sang-ho, and Soo-jin watched it all unfold like men studying cracks in a dam they themselves had weakened.
But they weren't celebrating.
Not yet.
Because now came the dangerous part: Phase Two.
The part where things could go wrong fast.
1. An Empty Restaurant, A Filled Plan
They met at an old jjigae restaurant two blocks away from the Lounge. A place no gang members bothered with anymore, because the owner had gone half-blind and the food tasted like wet cardboard. For them, that made it perfect.
The trio sat in a back booth. A flickering bulb above them buzzed softly, the only sound except for the dull scrape of chopsticks against metal bowls.
Tae-min leaned forward first, lowering his voice even though no one else was inside.
"It's time."
Soo-jin's fingers drummed lightly against the table. He wasn't nervous, more like restless. Like his body had learned to anticipate violence before it even arrived.
Sang-ho slurped the last of his bland soup and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
"So what's the move? The Tigers are already falling apart on their own. We just give them another push?"
Tae-min shook his head.
"A push isn't enough anymore. Chaos is spreading, but it's scattered. We need to guide it. Direct it."
Soo-jin leaned back, eyes narrowing.
"And that means…?"
"We hit their operations," Tae-min said. "Quietly. Not enough to expose us, but enough to make all the cracks widen at once."
Sang-ho grinned.
"So we're accelerating the collapse."
"Exactly," Tae-min replied.
2. Mapping the Battlefield
Tae-min unfolded a small notebook, the same one he'd used to track the Tigers' debts, movements, and habits for weeks. It was filled with tiny, precise handwriting.
He turned it toward them.
There were four circled points on the page.
The illegal betting houses in Namgye
The drug supply hub hidden behind a mechanic shop
A stash apartment used to launder money
Two small debt collection teams stationed in Haneul
"These are their pillars," Tae-min said. "Not the big places, they're too guarded. But these? These are the places they rely on quietly."
Soo-jin nodded slowly as he scanned the page.
"We hit them in a way that looks unrelated to each other."
"Right," Tae-min said. "We want confusion. We want suspicion inside their ranks, not out."
Sang-ho pointed at the betting houses.
"That's gonna be the easiest. Half those guys are already paranoid after the Namgye gang fired at them last week."
Tae-min nodded.
"We start there."
3. Taking the First Step
Night again.
Of course it was night. Plans like theirs never began in daylight.
The three of them and a couple of other men they recruited moved separately through the cramped alleys of Namgye until they regrouped near the first betting house, a two-story building with a busted neon sign and a rusted metal door.
They wore masks, not ski masks, nothing suspicious. Just black surgical masks. The same kind half the city wore every day. That was better camouflage than anything fancy.
Through the narrow window on the second floor, a man's silhouette paced back and forth. A lookout.
Tae-min counted the steps. One… two… turn. One… two… turn. Predictable. Perfect.
Sang-ho whispered:
"We're just scaring them, right? Not breaking in?"
Tae-min smiled faintly.
"We don't need to break in."
Soo-jin reached into his jacket and pulled out a brick wrapped in newspaper. It had been sitting in a cold puddle for an hour, soaking through the paper, making it heavy, and loud when thrown.
He looked at Tae-min.
"On your count."
Tae-min raised three fingers.
Three.
Two.
One.
Han Joon hurled the brick through the window.
Glass exploded outward. A man's startled yell echoed through the building.
"Shit!! What the fuck!?"
Immediately, other voices rose, shouting, commands, fear. Footsteps scrambled. Chairs fell over. A gunshot cracked, wild, panicked, firing at shadows.
All the trio needed to do was stand in the alley for three more seconds. Let the fear bloom. Let the rumors write themselves.
Then they ran.
Not far, just two blocks over, where a bus stop camera would catch them casually walking by minutes after the event.
An alibi built into the city itself.
Sang-ho let out a breath, exhilarated.
"That was fun."
Soo-jin smirked beneath his mask.
"That was risky."
Tae-min checked his watch.
"Next one."
4. The Mechanic Shop
The Tigers' drug supply hub was hidden behind Cho's Auto Repair. The kind of place where the lights were always on but the customers never came. Inside, a few of the Tigers' men would unload shipments, repackage them, and send them off in taxis and delivery bikes.
The trio didn't need to attack the place. They only needed to expose it.
The mechanic shop had a leaky gas line. Sang-ho had discovered it two weeks ago while pretending his car needed repairs. Tonight, he quietly loosened the line a bit more.
Just enough to fill the room with the faint smell of gas.
Soo-jin flicked a lit cigarette through a crack in the window. Not enough to ignite anything, Tae-min had made sure the room wasn't at ignition level, but enough to make the Tigers freak out when they smelled it.
Minutes later, shouting burst from the shop.
"Turn everything off!"
"Don't touch that switch!"
"Where's the leak coming from?!"
The three men were already gone, slipping into an alley where the sound couldn't follow.
Another seed planted.
5. Spreading Fear Without Leaving a Trace
The third hit was the stash apartment, one of the Tigers' quietest operations. They kept money there temporarily before moving it to the real safehouses.
All the trio did was leave the door slightly open.
Not break it. Not damage anything. Just open it enough for the wind to push it wider.
When the guards returned from a midnight smoke break, they panicked. Guns drawn, shouting, searching the whole building, convinced someone had slipped inside.
Nothing was stolen.
But doubt was planted. Suspicion grew.
Exactly what the trio needed.
6. Watching the Tigers Bleed
By the time dawn approached, Haneul was buzzing with tension.
Word spread fast:
The betting house was attacked.
Someone tried to gas the supply hub.
The stash apartment was almost breached.
Every event was small by itself.
But together?
Together they looked like the opening moves of war.
By morning, members of the Gapyeong Tigers were already pointing fingers at rival crews. Others whispered that someone inside the Tigers had betrayed them.
Arguments broke out. Fists flew. Guns were drawn but not fired, yet.
The trio spent the early morning smoking cigarettes outside a closed supermarket, listening to the city breathe in panic.
Soo-jin tilted his head back, eyes half-closed.
"They're breaking."
Sang-ho grinned, tapping his foot like he could feel the rhythm of violence moving through the streets.
"They're tearing themselves apart."
But Tae-min didn't smile.
He stared straight ahead, expression cold and calculating.
"This is only the beginning."
Because Phase Two wasn't about hurting the Tigers.
It was about making the Tigers hurt themselves.
And that part was just getting started.