Hawaii Pistol (1896 - 1933) was a Korean contract killer and the partner of "The Buddy". In 1933, the two men were killed by the Imperial Japanese Army for assisting the Korean independence movement with the killings of General Kawaguchi Mamoru and businessman Kang In-guk.
Biography[]
"Hawaii Pistol" was involved with the Korean independence movement as a young man, and he was a member of the "Patricide Club", a group of eight Korean resistance teenagers that was ordered to kill their fathers for being Japanese collaborators. Hawaii Pistol shot his father dead, and he then fled to Shanghai to become a contract killer; he later said that he was a coward, and that many other members of the "club" either killed themselves or also became hired guns. Hawaii Pistol became close friends with "The Buddy", whom Hawaii Pistol's mother entrusted with protecting Hawaii Pistol as her last wish. The two men became drifters and contract killers, and Hawaii Pistol was known to kill people for just $300. His face was never seen, with Buddy claiming to be Hawaii Pistol while negotiating hit contracts.
In 1933, while Hawaii Pistol was in Shanghai to kill a Japanese Yakuza boss, he met Korean woman Ahn Okyun, who was in the city to be debriefed on a mission to kill General Kawaguchi Mamoru and Korean businessman Kang In-guk in Seoul. The two both drank coffee at the Hotel Mirabeau, and Ahn - who had never had coffee before - imitated Hawaii Pistol's drinking habits, catching his eye when she imitated his non-typical action of keeping the spoon in her mouth. When Japanese soldiers entered the hotel and demanded to see the identification papers of everyone in the café, Hawaii Pistol sat next to her, pretended to be her husband, and told the soldiers that they left their papers in the room. Hawaii Pistol then gave Ahn his scarf, and she then left, not telling Hawaii Pistol her name.
Hawaii Pistol and Buddy killed the Yakuza boss in a shootout outside the hotel that night, and they were then contacted by Japanese double agent Yem Sek-jin. Yem wanted them to kill Korean resistance fighters Ahn Okyun, Chu Sang-ok, and Hwang Duk-sam, claiming that they were Japanese spies; he offered both of them a large sum of money. Hawaii Pistol and Buddy followed them to Seoul, Korea, and the two men wore Japanese officers' uniforms to blend in. On the train to Seoul, they met Lieutenant Kawaguchi. Hawaii Pistol spoke fluent Japanese, and he passed himself off as "Lieutenant Tanaka"; Buddy, who spoke no Japanese, put a rag in his mouth and pretended to be a wounded soldier.
In Seoul, Hawaii Pistol succeeded in shooting Chu, who fell through some boards and into a river, believed to be dead. Before the killers could kill Hwang, however, the Koreans carried out their assassination attempt on Kawaguchi and Kang at a gas station, and Hawaii Pistol spotted Ahn during the shootout. He hesitated to shoot her, however, as he noticed that she was wearing the yellow scarf that he had given her in Shanghai. The two of them were captured by the Japanese before either could kill the other, and they were kept on the same transport truck. Hawaii Pistol arranged for them to escape by having a reluctant Ahn (who believed that Hawaii Pistol had killed Chu) kiss him, leading to a guard entering their cage. The two Koreans proceeded to kill the guards on the truck and hijack the vehicle, and Buddy - riding a motorcycle - killed the guards in the two other cars in the convoy. The trio then escaped to a hospital, where Buddy asked Hawaii Pistol to kill Ahn. However, Hawaii Pistol bonded with Ahn, with Ahn telling him about her quest to kill the two men to grant Korea independence, and Hawaii Pistol sharing an incomplete version of the story surrounding the Patricide Club after expressing his scepticism about Korea getting its independence after the two men's deaths. Ahn later left the hospital at Hawaii's request, and he planned to return to Shanghai.
However, Hawaii Pistol and Buddy crossed paths with Lieutenant Kawaguchi as they left the hospital, and Kawaguchi invited "Tanaka" to be a special guard at his wedding to Kang's daughter, Mitsuko. The two Koreans then watched in disgust as Kawaguchi brutally shot a young flower girl for bumping into him and stepping out of the processed line of Korean civilians. Hawaii Pistol decided to attend the wedding, planning to kill Kawaguchi, who had bragged about killing 300 Koreans.
Ahn (who assumed her dead sister Mitsuko's identity) met Hawaii Pistol again at her mansion when Kawaguchi introduced "Tanaka" to her, telling him that he was a friend from Shanghai who would be a guard at the wedding. Ahn secretly identified told Hawaii Pistol that she was not Mitsuko by telling him that she heard that they had good coffee in Shanghai, especially at the Mirabeau Hotel (where the two met over coffee, an obvious hint). Conversing in Korean so that Kawaguchi would not understand, Ahn told Hawaii Pistol to not go to the wedding, and he reluctantly agreed. However, on the wedding day, Hawaii Pistol showed up and sat at a table. It was then that Yem - now the Kempeitai director in Korea - recognized Hawaii Pistol and had him taken to the main office. When Chu (who survived Hawaii Pistol shooting him) ambushed the wedding, Hawaii Pistol escaped from his guards and helped Ahn and Chu in killing the targets, with Hawaii Pistol killing Kang after Ahn hesitated. Hawaii Pistol told her that she did not want to have to kill her father as Hawaii Pistol did. They escaped with Lt. Kawaguchi as a hostage, while Chu died of his wounds. Buddy drove them to a cafe with a hidden sewer exit, and Hawaii Pistol agreed to release Ahn (still believed to be the hostage Mitsuko) to the Japanese before releasing Kawaguchi later. However, Hawaii Pistol shot Kawaguchi with a silenced pistol for annoying him, and he then kissed Ahn on the cheek after she finally told Hawaii Pistol her full name. Buddy told "Money Girl", as he called her, "Don't forget us," and she then sadly left the two.
Death[]
Hawaii Pistol after being shot
Hawaii Pistol and Buddy broke down the wall in the back room, and they managed to escape into the sewer. They talked about moving to Hawaii when their business in Seoul was done, longing to be with the naked women there. Unfortunately for them, the Japanese had discovered where the tunnel led, and they waited near the manhole. After Buddy and Hawaii Pistol left the manhole, they noticed a Japanese vehicle, and they then ran for cover as the ambush was sprung. The two killed several Japanese soldiers before Yem mortally wounded both men. Hawaii Pistol, in his last breaths, ran up to Yem and stabbed him with his knife, but he then fell to Yem's knees and slumped over, dead. In 1949, Ahn would avenge their deaths by killing Yem.