Choi San, a revered and feared mafia boss, reigns over Seoul's underworld with an iron fist, his influence extending seamlessly across both legal and illegal domains. But his empire is shaken to its core when his beloved daughter, Eun-ji, is kidnapp...
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The morning air was tense in San's vast conference room as everyone, including San and Seongjun, gathered around the large table. I stood by, observing Hongjoong as he worked fervently at his laptop. We were still trying to identify which of San's business partners was betraying him. The deeper we dug into the financial transactions, the more it appeared that someone named Lee Minho was involved.
Hongjoong's fingers flew over the keyboard, and soon, the screen was flooded with countless transactions and meeting points. His eyes widened in shock at the extent of the betrayal.
Just then, my phone vibrated, pulling my attention away from the screen. I glanced down, expecting another update from our IT team, but instead, a message popped up that sent a chill down my spine.
"Hey little brother—"
My heart skipped a beat. She was supposed to be dead. The confusion mounted as I read the message again, trying to make sense of it. Before I could process the first message, another notification appeared.
"I knew you were a rebel— but sleeping with my husband.."
The words hit me like a wave, cold and relentless. My hands trembled slightly as I held the phone, my mind racing to piece together the implications. San and Seongjun paused their discussion, turning their attention towards me, noting my sudden change in demeanor.
"Wooyoung, what's wrong?" San's voice was sharp, cutting through the tension.
I looked up from my phone, my hand tightening around it. The air was thick with tension, my own betrayal churning inside me as I faced San. He had demanded honesty, yet there were layers of his past with my sister he had never mentioned. That omission felt like a deliberate deception now, and it stung sharply.
Putting my phone away, I tried to focus on the task at hand, but the device vibrated relentlessly in my pocket, each buzz a piercing reminder of the unresolved chaos swirling around me.
"We got a name linked to the transactions—Lee Minho," I said, forcing myself to concentrate on the immediate threat. My voice was more controlled than I felt, a facade of calm over a roiling sea of emotions.
Hongjoong, absorbed in the data sprawling across his laptop, nodded. "Minho's been a ghost, but these transactions... they're substantial. If he's the link between Viper and Blaze, that could explain a lot about their recent moves."
I acknowledged his point with a nod, though part of me was elsewhere, lost in the implications of my sister's sudden reappearance in my life through cryptic, taunting messages. As another buzz from my phone echoed through my pocket, I resisted the urge to check it, knowing it would only drag me further down the rabbit hole of doubts and questions.
San was watching me, his eyes sharp and probing. "Wooyoung, if there's something you need to tell us, now's the time."
The words were reasonable, but they grated on me. How could I trust him with the truth when he hadn't trusted me with his? My hand itched to pull out the phone, to confront him with the messages, to demand answers. But I held back, focusing instead on the broader crisis at hand. "Our priority is to disrupt Minho's operations. We need to cut off Viper and Blaze's support before they consolidate any more power."
