Supreme Freedom

SK Cartel - The Haunting Past

After deciding to leave when the time was right, they each spent the days in their rooms, only coming out to eat together. Everyone had stress as several thoughts filled their heads. As each one sat up in bed or stood by the window, they thought back to their past.

{Flashback: Irene:
When Irene became a teenager, Hyungnim decided it was time to train her. Up until that point, she had been raised in solitude despite being able to go to school. She wasn't allowed to have a phone or hang out with anyone outside of school. That took a toll on her mentally and emotionally as she became an outcast at school. However, the Chairman had tried to compensate her by buying her clothes and gifts. But he never spent time with her and only ordered Hyungnim to look after her. Hyungnim of course was annoyed by this but took it all out on her once she was a teen. Under the excuse of training, he began to spar with her. Eventually Irene was able to teach herself how to fight and once she was about to give Hyungnim a beating, he stopped halfway and said she needed to learn to shoot. She was in high school by that point and full of rage. One day, a teen girl came to the mansion in tears, demanding to be taken in. Hyungnim instructed Irene to beat her up but as she was about to, the girl fell to her knees and begged. The Chairman came out to see what was happening and stopped in his tracks. He took her in and said she was their sister. At first, Irene ignored her but only because she was awkward. She had spent too much time alone but eventually they were able to get close. Just not too close; Irene always resented her for a petty reason. Somin actually knew her mother and had lived with her. No one ever said anything about Irene's mom but Irene always assumed that she had just been unwanted. During her last year of high school, she was asked to follow a target after school. It was her first mission so she was anxious and it likely contributed to the target noticing her. He waited for her to pass by his hiding spot, then attacked her. She was fighting him off when a stranger appeared and killed the target without hesitation. Being starved for any type of attention, Irene became infatuated with him. He had left just as suddenly as he had appeared but Irene had a feeling she'd see him again. She ended up receiving the credit for that murder and was given another mission a few weeks later. This time, she was determined to complete it herself. She had the target cornered and was fighting him impressively when the stranger suddenly appeared again. Without a word, he killed the target and was about to walk away when Irene stopped him.

Irene: "Wait! Who are you?"

The stranger turned around and looked at her with his head cocked.

Irene: "What's your name?"

Stranger: "What's yours?"

She pointed to her name tag and the stranger walked up to her and grabbed her shirt to take a closer look at it.

Stanger: "Irene?"

Irene nodded and fell even more infatuated with him. She liked the way he said her name. She waited for him to say his name as she stared at him without wavering.

Stranger: "Why were you fighting those men?"

Irene: "I answered your first question and you still haven't answered mine. What's your name?"

Stranger: "Yonghwa."

Irene: "It was my job."

The stranger cocked his head again as he stared at her.

Stranger: "Your job? To kill?"

Irene nodded and the stranger seemed to grow amused.

Yonghwa: "And here I've been doing it for free all this time. Take me to your boss. Where is he?"

Irene was stunned at first but soon grew excited to take the stranger home as she would be able to see him more often. She agreed to take him back to the mansion. In Irene's mind, they dated for two years until one day she overheard Hyungnim and Yonghwa talking outside the basement door.