Code of Conduct

PART 1

Ever since you were young, you had always known that your family was different from that of others. You had your parents and older brother, yes, but that was about the only similarity that your family had with the rest. When your mother would take you and your brother out for a meal or to simply play in the playground with other kids, men in fine suits were always lurking. You lived in an estate that could very much be a town from how huge of a land it was, with security cameras and more men in suits lurking about that could. When you had gotten a little older, around the age of thirteen, whenever you would ask your mother permission to go to the mall or have a sleepover at a friend's house, her answer would always be, "I'll talk to your father about it" and sometimes, he would agree but the men in fine suits would watch you from afar and you never really got to enjoy that trip to the mall or that sleepover. Most of the time, he wouldn't.

It could just be a typical father being overprotective and strict but you knew better than that. Yes, he was being overprotective and strict but not because he was the typical father—he was Min Wangso, the Don of the Min family, one of the most powerful mafia families in Seoul.

You do not remember much about your old man. He was barely a part of your life growing up. He was always busy with the "family business" and you barely remember a time where he had spoken more than two sentences with you. He was much closer to your older brother Yoongi and you were closer to your mother. You do remember him having that aura that exuded leadership, respect and regard. He was always dressed impeccably, always calm and people either admired or envied him.

When you were fourteen, your mother passed away from colon cancer. It shattered you because you were so close to her and it was at her burial that your father had, for the first time since you could remember, pulled you into an embrace. Then, when you were fifteen, you were sent abroad to finish your studies there. You didn't want to go but the tension between the mafia families in Seoul was at an all time high and the Don sent you there for precaution while your brother remained in Seoul, where he was inducted into the family and became a made man and the successor of your father.

The tension eventually died with the families coming to a truce, at least for a while. You were sixteen then. You would fly home during Christmas—it being an important occasion for the family and during special occasions such as your mother's death anniversary, Yoongi's marriage to Lee Jieun, their son Minhyuck's christening where you were a godmother and now, your father's funeral.

If you were being completely honest, you weren't sure how to feel when your brother called you and told you the news of your father's passing. He had a heart attack and died peacefully in his sleep. As his daughter, you should have felt sad but you never really felt like his daughter. You didn't have a deep bond with him unlike Yoongi, whose tone when he called you was clearly broken, so when you learned about it—you simply booked a flight back home, helped Yoongi with the funeral and stayed by his side, paying your respects to the old man lying inside the white coffin. Even in death, he commanded the entire Church.

It was the final day of the funeral and more and more people came to pay their respects to the fallen Don. You didn't know most of them, some of them you were just familiar with. Yoongi seemed to know everyone, on the other hand. He would have conversations with them—conversations you knew were more than just the memories they had with your father. Lurking beside him every time was Kim Seokjin, your father's consigliere.

"You know, he always thought about you when you were abroad," A soft voice spoke behind you as you watched over your father's body. It looked like he was just sleeping. "Whenever I would come into his office and give him his medicines, he would think out loud and wonder if you were eating properly, if you were comfortable, if you were enjoying the life you made out there."