Whispers of the Underworld (SunSun)

chapter 14

The days bled into nights as my search for Kim Jinyun spiraled deeper into an abyss. Every lead was a dead end, every whisper a lie. He was a ghost, slipping through my fingers just as I thought I had him.

I stared at the map sprawled across my desk, red strings crisscrossing like veins, connecting photos, notes, and reports. My chest heaved as frustration boiled over, and with a snarl, I swept everything onto the floor. Papers fluttered, pins scattered, and the map lay crumpled at my feet, mocking me.
My apartment was now filled with the documents of tens if not hundreds of my failed attempts. It's making me go crazy.

Jinyun was playing me. No, they all were. The Kims, the other families, even my own men. My chest ached with the weight of it, the gnawing sense that I was running out of time. That no matter how much power I amassed, it would never be enough.

And then there was him.

Park Sunghoon.

His voice echoed in my mind, taunting me with his smug smile and piercing gaze.

"They’re playing you like a doll."

"You can’t win this alone."

I clenched my fists, the memory of his words burning like acid. He had no right to be in my head. No right to haunt me like this. Yet, he was everywhere. His presence loomed like a shadow, always there, always watching.

I couldn’t even step out of my house without running into him. At first, it was coincidence—finding him leaning against his car outside my business meetings or at restaurants I frequented. Then it became blatant. He showed up unannounced, his excuses as thin as his patience for my anger.

“You’re always so tense, darling,” he’d say with that infuriating smirk, brushing nonexistent dust off his sleeve. “You should relax. Let me handle things for you.”

I hated him. I hated his arrogance, his cryptic words, and the way he always seemed one step ahead. But most of all, I hated how much he unsettled me.

Because he wasn’t like the stories.

Sunghoon was supposed to be a monster. A man who clawed his way to the top of the Park family by tearing down everyone in his path. They whispered about his cruelty, about the blood on his hands and the bodies he left behind. A man who cared for nothing and no one but his own ambitions.

Yet, he wasn’t any of that with me.

He was cruel, yes—sharp-tongued and manipulative, always ready with a backhanded compliment or a veiled threat. He had venom coming out of his mouth with every word. But there was something else beneath the surface. Something that didn’t fit. Something dark that made me want to shrink the moment his eyes met mine.

I shook my head, forcing myself back to the task at hand. Jinyun. I needed to focus on him, not Sunghoon.

I grabbed my phone and scrolled through the latest reports. More failures. More excuses. My men had combed through every lead, yet Jinyun remained untouchable.

I slammed the phone down, the screen cracking under the force.

“Damn it!”

A knock at the door startled me, and I turned to find Heeseung standing there, arms crossed, his expression a mix of concern and irritation.

“You’re spiraling,” he said bluntly, stepping inside. “This isn’t like you, Sunoo.”

I scoffed, running a hand through my hair. “What isn’t like me? Being angry? Frustrated? Because I can’t seem to—” My voice broke, and I clenched my jaw, refusing to let the weakness show.