ᴇɴɪɢᴍᴀヾ⁠(⁠*⁠'⁠Ｏ⁠'⁠*⁠)⁠/

𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 ~ 03 ᯓ★

── .✦ ── .✦ ── .✦ ──

Despite the tension, there were moments of unexpected connection between the step-siblings.

It was late one evening, and they were all sitting together in the dining hall, the usual barriers between them lowered for once. Hyunsoo had been pestering Lily about her fighting skills, insisting that she teach him a few moves.

“I’ve seen you in the gym,” he said, leaning forward with a grin. “You’re insane. You could teach me a thing or two.”

Lily raised an eyebrow. “I don’t teach amateurs.”

Hyunsoo laughed, clearly unfazed. “Come on, I’m not that bad.”

The others watched with mild interest, though Hana smirked knowingly from her seat. Jisoo, as always, tried to lighten the mood, cracking jokes about how Hyunsoo would end up flat on his back in no time.

For a brief moment, it felt... normal. Like they weren’t all hiding dangerous secrets from one another. Like they weren’t mafia royalty, each of them with blood on their hands.

But the illusion shattered quickly when Minho’s phone buzzed, pulling them all back into reality. He glanced at the screen, his expression unreadable as he stood to leave.

“Business,” he muttered before walking away.

The others exchanged glances, the unspoken truth settling over them once more. They were bound by more than blood now—they were bound by lies, and it was only a matter of time before those lies unraveled.

But for now, they would play their parts, pretending to be a family, even as the shadows of their pasts loomed ever closer.

The rhythm of university life continued, punctuated by stolen moments of laughter and quiet tension among the Kims and Lily. But as each day passed, the dark shadows of their pasts loomed larger, intertwining their fates in ways none of them could have predicted.

As they settled into a routine, the looming deadline of a group project in their Business Management course began to tighten the bonds of necessity between them. Ironically, it was a project on “The Ethics of Business in the Underworld” that united their disparate paths—a topic neither Lily nor her step-siblings could afford to ignore.

In the cafeteria, they sat around a table littered with textbooks, takeout containers, and half-finished energy drinks. The atmosphere buzzed with low tension, the air thick with unspoken words and half-formed plans.

“Okay, let’s figure out how to tackle this,” Lily said, her voice steady despite the apprehensive glances exchanged among the siblings.

Hana tapped her pen on the table. “We all know we have to approach this delicately. If anyone finds out our true connections to the underworld...”

“Then we’ll be in deep trouble,” Minho finished, his expression serious.

Lily leaned back, crossing her arms. “I can handle this. I’m used to working under pressure. Just remember—no one can know what we really do.”

As they discussed their strategies, Lily felt a flicker of camaraderie with her step-siblings. It was a dangerous game they were playing, yet for a moment, the weight of their pasts felt lighter.

The day turned darker as they concluded their meeting, and Lily slipped away to her own world—the chaotic, adrenaline-fueled world of the mafia.

That night, she donned her black leather jacket, her signature attire that commanded respect and fear. The members of Black Mamba gathered at their usual spot, a nondescript warehouse just outside of town, hidden away from prying eyes.