House Of Cards || NCT Mafia

Chapter thirty-three : A lie leads to another one

Iseul woke up early. Even though her body was tired from her practice session with Jeno and her shift at the store the day before, her mind was wide awake.

As expected, Jaemin didn't show up to his shift last night, her boss told her he had called in sick. He seemed to be fine at lunch, though, she had thought with a bit of sarcasm. A part of her was still disappointed, he really was avoiding her. Iseul naively thought this was just a phase but Jaemin clearly had no intention to reach out to her.

With a sigh Iseul got out of bed. She was drained from all those mysteries surrounding her. If she couldn't do anything about Jaemin, she could at least try to question her parents about their fight the other night.

"Good morning," she greeted her mother. Her dad was nowhere to be seen, which wasn't surprising as he was rarely home.

"Good morning, sweetheart. You're early today," her mom noted.

Iseul got herself a cup of hot chocolate. She had always hated the taste of coffee, especially early in the morning.

"Mmm," she hummed. "My mind was preoccupied."

Her mother put her teacup back on the table, and put away the newspaper she was reading.

"Oh, is that so? Want to tell me what got you worked up?"

"Actually, yes," she answered, looking at her mother in the eye. "What's going on with you and dad? I know you're fighting a lot lately, but every time I try to understand, you find yet another excuse."

Her mom took a deep breath.

"And don't try to tell me it's none of my business or that it's something between dad and you, because I know it's about me. I heard you the other night, I still don't get what you were fighting over, but I'm sure you said my name. And what's with Park Min-Seok? Why is he on my campus, really? And who's Dream?"

Iseul had so many questions, she needed answers. And she would get them.

Her mother seemed surprised, but seriously looked at her.

"What exactly did you hear?"

Iseul shrugged. "Just you saying you didn't want this life for me, and dad saying it was what I was meant to become or something like that... You said it was too dangerous, and then dad got a call from Park Min-Seok, and asked him to keep an eye on me. Oh, and also to find out the "Dream kids" identities as well," she said, trying to remember the exact conversation.

"Well, so pretty much everything, then," her mother concluded. A part of her wanted to keep her daughter out of all of this, so she could stay the innocent little girl she saw her as. But another part of her wanted to finally tell Iseul the truth about the real family business. That lie was such a burden, getting heavier as years passed by.

"We should wait for your dad to come back before we tell you about it," she finally said.

As if on cue, the front door was slammed open, making Iseul and her mother jump.

"Dad...?" Iseul asked.

Kang Kyung-Ho looked at his daughter, his face unreadable.

"Honey, we need to talk."

"That we do, yes," she agreed, happy her father shared her opinion.

The three of them sat at the dining table, waiting for Kang Kyung-Ho to speak. "First of all, we want you to know that everything we did was for your best interest, alright?" he began.

Her mom nodded, scared of Iseul's reaction once she finds out about the entire thing. The girl just frowned, quite unsure as to why her parents seemed so serious. Her dad continued.

"Our family business, it's not what you think it is... Well, not what we made you believe it was, actually." He marked a pause.

"Before you say anything else," her mom spoke. "You need to know that Iseul heard our conversation a few nights ago."

The girl's dad seemed confused, but quickly let it slide, going back to his explanation.

"We actually have what you could call an underworld activity, one of which only certain people are aware of. These people, they're not good, they're the worst kind."

Iseul stayed silent despise her growing bewilderment.

"I'm talking about mafia people, gangs," he stated.

The girl's eyes widened. "Wait, hold up a second," she said. "Mafia? As in... the Godfather type of mafia?"

Her parents shared a look. "Yes."

"You're kidding. This has to be a joke, right? Is this a prank of some sort you're trying to pull on me? Because if so, that really isn't funny."

Her mother put a gentle hand on her arm, to calm her down. "Please, sweetheart, this is serious."

"And where exactly do you stand, in this...mess?" she scoffed.

Just when her mother was realizing Iseul would hate them is she found out the truth, her husband spoke.

"We're the good guys, honey. We're working with the police to try and stop those criminals. We're selling them weapons and information undercover," he lied.

Iseul seemed to calm down immediately, sitting back on her chair. Her mom looked at her dad, dazed. What was he doing?

"You're... working with the police...?" she repeated.

Her father nodded, a large smile on his face.

"That's why you heard me ask for Park Min-Seok's help the other night. I was making sure you'd be safe. He's our accomplice in this, and he took the job at your university to keep an eye on you. You know sweetheart, in this world, we also have quite a number of enemies, that's why we want to make sure you'll be okay."

"So that explains the self-defense classes you made me take since I was a child..." she murmured, putting the pieces together. "But what about Dream?" Iseul asked.

"Well, like I said, we have enemies. Do you remember about the fire that destroyed our building a few weeks ago?"

"Of course, I could I forget."

"It was a dangerous gang's doing. We also have proof that some of the members happen to be your age, and studying at your university... They go by the nickname "Dream", but we're still unsure as to who they are...," her dad explained.

Iseul's face went pale. Mafia members? In my school? She thought, horrified by the idea. What if I know them...?

"That's why we didn't want to tell you," her father sighed, noticing the girl's scared expression.

"Then why do it now?" Iseul asked.

"Because we don't have a choice anymore. I got a call a couple hours ago. A Dream member has been identified," he declared.

Iseul's heart was beating dangerously fast, her mind racing. Surely the nickname given to the most popular group of boys at university was just a coincidence, right? As she was busy trying to convince herself this was just her mind playing tricks on her, her dad spoke again,

"Iseul, do you happen to know a Lee Jeno?"