Long Journey || ATEEZ

Jeon Yoona

Jeon Yoona.

That name would still send chills of guilt running up and down Seonghwa's back whenever he heard it.

Not that he'd hear about her, much. The rumours had died down years ago.

But sometimes, what little was left of his guilty conscience would drag him under a sea of horrible memories when the sun went down, and it wasn't unoften that's he'd wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, shivering from the vivid images of her terrified face as he shot her down.

It happened a couple of years ago.

Seonghwa was long gone; years had passed since he had been sucked into Big Grey's never-ending cycle of bloody murder and self-destuction. He was a mindless, disciplined monster, taught only to follow orders – and the sole thing he knew was to bring a clean, fast death upon his targets.

And Big Grey had wanted Yoona's father, Jeon Juman, dead.

* * *

Jeon Juman was a rich merchant – one of the richest, in fact. He was widely known in the business world, and, of course, there was a reason why he was overwhelmingly richer than anyone else in the industry – human trafficking.

That's right. He had made the decision to work closely with the heinous gangs that dominated the city of Taerrya – all to bloat his own income – and had found himself an excellent business partner in none other than the great boss of Cherries himself.

But Jeon Juman made a grave mistake one day. He instead accepted a hefty offer made by the High-End gang's rich and influential leader, Sebastian Yoo, and therefore betrayed his original investor.

Nobody betrayed Big Grey and got away with it alive.

So Seonghwa had been sent to capture the merchant. Capture, if he could, but if things got hairy – go in for the kill, Big Grey had said. At the very least, the notorious boss would have liked to torture the poor little snake for his perfidious deeds.

Seonghwa may have been a top-class assassin – the best of the best, in fact – but even that wasn't enough against a madman's desperate flailings to survive. After all, what was more pure than an animal's basic nature, to just survive?

But another variable nobody had considered had come into play that night; the merchant's young daughter, Jeon Yoona.

On the night of the party Juman held for his investors and benefactors to celebrate his wealth, he had died – and so had his daughter.

* * *

She had headed up to her father's office, perhaps hearing the vague bang of what sounded like a gun from upstairs of their prestigious estate. Of course, a muffler had been used, but even that couldn't completely nullify the sound.

Yoona had keen ears, and on the way from grabbing her dutchel bag of supplies she had intended to leave with, she heard a muffled shout, and the unmistakable sound of a gunshot. Spooked but slightly hopeful of her damned father's death, she headed to his office.

Yoona had accidentally found out the secret to her father's success long ago. The money she held, the house she lived in, the fortune she was privileged enough to hold, was tainted with the blood and suffering of others.

Since then, she had made the decision – with a steely resolve – to run away, away from the corruption of her family name, and start life anew.

The party was the perfect opportunity to do this. By the end of it – or even halfway through, if she was being honest – her father would be deep under the spell of alcohol, and the guests would be useful as a cover to make her getaway.