Chein-ming

Chein-ming is a character from Won: Darkness Within (2019), a short story set in the Elsaverse. He is Michelle Won's childhood friend, and the current leader of the resistance group that her father founded back in their home country to fight against an authoritarian regime. Chein-ming has no unnatural abilities.

Character Overview
Born and raised in an unnamed Asian country ruled by a cruel dictatorship, Chein-ming's childhood was marked by the murder of his parents at the hands of their government military forces, in a brutal operation in which Michelle Won's mother was also killed. After that tragic event, Won's father took him under his protection and Michelle considered him almost like an older brother. As her father founded and organized a resistance group to fight against their country's rulers, Michelle and Chein-ming grew up in a very hostile environment, learning how to use heavy guns and other street war tactics, while being labeled as targets by their government, that considered the resistance to be a terrorist group. Chein-ming kept Michelle from being captured twice and even saved her life once, and they shared many moments together, with Chein-ming telling her fantasy stories about dragons and princesses to keep her distracted and entertained while on their night watch duty. As he was a boy and a couple of years older than her, Michelle's father picked Chein-ming as his natural successor as the resistance leader, training him but also making it clear that there were some red lines that they should never cross to fund their fight, despite Chein-ming's suggestions. As years passed, Michelle's father started to realize he was hurting her daughter with his fight and, eventually, when he was dying after getting shot, ordered her to flee the country and start a new life somewhere else, where she could live in peace; unaware of Mr. Won's decision about Michelle, Chein-ming stayed and become the next resistance leader.

Some years later, Chein-ming is still fighting against his government, but he's losing the war. In order to keep funding the resistance, he has resorted to several criminal activities, including human trafficking, which was the big red line that Michelle's father explicitly told him to never cross. After sending a group of fellow countrywomen crammed in a shipping container to Sangrive, Chein-ming has flown to the city with four other men in order to close the deal with a local gang and sell the women as sex slaves. However, his group made a fatal mistake: their representative wore the wrong colors when he was going to negotiate with the Rats, and he was killed, mistaken as a rival gang-banger. Detectives Nathanial Blake and Michelle Won are quickly assigned to investigate the murder; upon seeing her at the crime scene, Chein-ming contacts her and, in a tense meeting, arrogantly tells her to leave the investigation, saying that she is a disgrace for her father's legacy. But Michelle doesn't bend to his threats and works with her partner to uncover the real reason behind Chein-ming's presence in Sangrive. Eventually, a SWAT team bursts into the warehouse where Chein-ming and his group are holding the women captive; outnumbered and caught by surprise, he surrenders. When Michelle arrests him, a cocky and infuriated Chein-ming tries once again to make her feel bad about her actions, saying she has become what her father always fought against; however, Michelle is sure she's on the right side of the story, as her father always told them not to hurt their own people. Which is what Chein-ming has actually done.

Miscellaneous

 * In their exchanges, Chein-ming and Won talk in Chinese, making it impossible for Won's partner to understand their exact words. Although their home country is not given an actual name, it's said to be located on the southern border of China.