Save Me || Book 1 ✅

What Is In The Past...

"This isn't acceptable, Jung!" Taemin shouted, voice loud enough to raise the dead for miles. "I'm nice enough to let you stay at that hospital, a few miles out from me, when I could have just as easily have killed you... And yet, you repay my kindness by stealing from me?" 

"Please!" Dawon begged, tears slipping from her eyes as she timidly looked around the small parking lot, hoping the man's shouting hadn't lured any unwanted attention their way. If they knew one thing about the creatures that had started to plague the country two weeks ago, it was that they were highly sensitive to sound. "You have to understand I had no choice..."

"No choice?" Taemin scoffed, not believing the woman had the nerve to lie to him when he had very clearly caught her friends red-handed. Her group members stole from him, from his group, and now she had to pay the price. "You had a lot of fucking choices, Dawon, but the theft wasn't one of them!"  

"You don't get it! You don't know the people we've got there," Dawon protested but her voice was growing smaller and smaller, the more the man stared her down. "There are some really young people back at the hospital now..."

"You don't even know them, darling. Who do you think you're fooling here?" Taemin cut her off, sneering at the fact she thought she knew these strangers. "How long have you been running things? How long has it been since you were in charge? A fucking week, Dawon! You've been in charge for a week, so you really don't know anything."

"And you do?" The woman snapped back, locking eyes with the man, not ready to listen to him lecture her when he was in the same position. "Who made you fucking president? Don't act like you know any more than me because you didn't do shit for anyone before all this started, don't be a hypoc..."

The man stopped her rant with a simple flick of his wrist, the back of his hand hitting the side of her face. Rage flooded his veins as she called him out so bluntly. Knocking the young woman off her feet, he couldn't stop the small smug smirk that formed on his lips as he crouched down to her. 

"I think I have made it very obvious who has the power here or have you already forgotten who helped you get this far?" Taemin asked, his voice dangerously hushed as his eyes burned into the woman who was crying in front of him. "Have you forgotten who single-handedly cleared the Hwaesa? Or who dragged your pathetic arse in from the outside when you were starting to think death was easier? Have you forgotten the fact that I could still leave you here, where no one would know to save you? You may have your own building, group, rules, now but I will always have power over you, Dawonssi... Make sure you don't forget that." 

Dawon stayed quiet, knowing she had pushed her luck too far. She should have known Taemin would have snapped if she went back at him. She should have braced herself more, past experience reminding her of the man's violent side. 

"Going back to the more pressing matter," Taemin shrugged, holding no shame over what he had done, his tone harsh and cold as he played with the woman's hair. He wasn't doing it mindlessly, though, nor out of boredom - he knew it would make Dawon uncomfortable, he wasn't oblivious to the way she was grimacing and shivering every time he got closer - and he liked the fact he held that much power over her, he was relishing it. "You will spend the next few months working off the food you stole. A lot of hard work went into planting those crops, my people didn't do all of it just for your people to help themselves... It's not free, I know you know that. You're a smart, girl."

The man was right about that, Dawon was smart. In fact, the woman was extremely clever and was already one step ahead of the sociopath sitting next to her. He was sitting so close to her that she could feel his breath on her skin, making her insides twist as she cringed. But she didn't let herself be too overcome by the disgust filling her body, mentally focusing on what she held in her coat pocket.