CHOI

HYUN-KI

Born: 1927

Active in Yakuza: 1950 - 1968

Active in ATEEZ: 1968 - 2009

Children: Do-won (deceased), Hye-rin (deceased), Min-ji

Grandchildren: San, Yuna

Died: 2015 (aged 88)

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The proud possessor of a long and colourful “career” as an assassin, Hyun-ki was chief underboss and advisor to Bong-hwa during his time as leader of ATEEZ.

 

His story begins after his mother abandoned him, only a few days old, in front of the Church of His Holy Grace, in Falls Bay. Unbeknownst to her, and to most people, the church was a front for an illegal gambling ring, run by a handful of families in town. Instead of turning him away to an orphanage, however, they took him in, raised him as their own and, when he was old enough, inducted him into the fold.

 

They trained him in all manners of martial arts and fighting skills, and as he grew and acquired a multitude of techniques, he became indestructible.

 

So too did he become ambitious. The reserved and cautious state of the "church" infuriated him: he wanted more risk, more power. It was his encounter with a heavily-tatted man (in 1950) that drove him to take matters into his own hands. The 'Church' had given Hyun-ki the task of eliminating him, claiming that he had killed one of their own.

 

Hyun-ki had found him rather easily, Japanese and clearly overwhelmed by the foreign country he was in, the strange people surrounding him. Hyun-ki sensed that the killing may have occurred without ill intent, but he went through with the job anyway. Throughout the brutal altercation, he was enraptured by the man's boldness, by the ferocious brightness of the ink on his skin - and when the man was dead and the job was done, Hyun-ki found himself making his way to Japan.

 

At 23 years old, he joined the Yakuza - which he discovered was the man's affiliation - and remained there for 18 years, a cut-throat assassin, hired hand for the most sensitive of jobs. It was only after receiving news of the old 'Church' leader’s “unfortunate” demise (drowned when he was drunk), that he returned to Korea - with plans of taking over running of the crime ring.

Upon his arrival he was met with quite the rude surprise: Bong-hwa had taken over already and made the Church of His Holy Grace ATEEZ territory. Enraged, Hyun-ki was prepared to fight him for it - but then problems begun to ensue with KARD, a new, rival gang who was attempting to take over ATEEZ territory and make Falls Bay their own.

And it was then up to Hyun-ki to make a decision - fight (practically alone) or choose a side; and he, naturally, picked the winning one.

He offered his services to Bong-hwa who gave him a near impossible job to prove his loyalty. Not surprisingly, he managed to achieve it, becoming a prized member of ATEEZ and, quite quickly, Bong-hwa's most trusted advisor.

It was around this time (in 1969) that he met someone - fell in love, even - and after marrying, had three children: Do-won, Hye-rin and Min-ji. Hye-rin passed away when she was five after succumbing to a terrible infection, and though the guilt riddled him and the grief crushed what little affection he held in his heart, Hyun-ki still barely made time to see his children - claiming it was the nature of his 'job' that kept him away.

 

That didn't stop him from expecting the extreme of them, and the constant pressure to do better, to be better, to be a reflection of his father, forced his son, Do-won, down a spiral of depression and drug abuse.

 

The spiral persisted and eventually, he fathered a child, San, with his girlfriend, and died from an overdose when she left him with the boy and ran.

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The responsibility of caring for San fell to Hyun-ki, despite his son's girlfriend's family's protest. After continued threats, he put San in hiding and then eventually retired himself - no one knew where San had gone until he returned to Falls Bay after his grandfather’s death.

Hyun-ki continued to advise and oversee ATEEZ’s affairs (even after Bong-hwa died) until Ji-hun, in 2007 (with a vote of the Commission) removed him and instated Ki-young in his stead.