Hyunjin
When I was twenty, I was a well-behaved son, who unconditionally respected and revered his elders. I had friends and a girlfriend. However, I couldn't stay that way forever — that kind of life wasn't meant for me. It wasn't my destiny. My father used to be an untouchable role model for me. Then, slowly and gradually, he began to introduce me to his dark business — a world so different from the one I had lived in until then. It was a harsh and ruthless world.
At that time, I realised that nothing in the world is as rosy as it seems, and that everything is just a facade for how things really are out there. The world is neither good nor fair. Everything we considered normal is just a thin veneer covering up a rotten reality. In the dirty city streets, it's all about money, guns, drugs and human trafficking. People die out there, and others come home every day with blood on their hands.
Their own and other people.
That world is riddled with powerful and ruthless Mobsters, who ordinary mortals fear. They terrorise people and haunt their nightmares, becoming living shadows.
After graduating, I devoted myself fully to my father's business empire, accompanying him to secret meetings with powerful magnates and ruthless gang leaders. I participated in their business dealings, and learned through research and observation. I absorbed their secret tactics. I discovered, that I was quite good at judging people, reading their body language and identifying their weaknesses. I can recognise hesitation, lies and fear. Weapons have become a natural extension of my hand. And the katana? I wield it with surgical precision. I learned martial arts, fell, got back up again, and climbed higher than I ever thought possible — all the way to the top.
Eleven years later, I am the powerful mafia boss, who strikes fear into people. I creep into their dreams and turn them into nightmares. The respect they show me is not based on admiration. It is pure, distilled fear. As long as they fear me, I control them. I have power over them.
Following my father's death, I took his place as head of NABI, the mafia empire and legacy that he built and which now spreads like a network of poisonous roots beneath the surface of Seoul. I also inherited his four elite bodyguards from his personal security detail — loyal shadows. That was five years ago.
Since then, my business has flourished like a poisonous flower, and we have just launched a new drug, that is breaking sales records among other drugs from other mafias and their drug cartels and crushing the competition.
I hope you didn't think, I was the only mobster in Seoul! Unfortunately for me, that's not the case — I'm second in command. The top spot is held by my archenemy and nemesis.
Mishimoto Yoshiaki.
He's a fucking Japanese drug dealer operating in Seoul and a member of the Yakuza. He has no business being in Korea, so naturally it pisses me off, when he tries to mess with my business. But I swear I'll take him down one day, even if it means killing him with my own hands and covering myself with his blood. I want to kill him, because he took someone, who was like a brother to me.
... ༺༻ ...
„Sir, it's time." Janil's quiet, respectful voice breaks my concentration. He stands in the doorway with his head bowed. It's time to leave for the meeting. In this world, only those, who inspire fear, or who have creatures at their side that inspire fear, will survive.
„Has anyone fed Gwon and Hyeok?" I ask casually, putting on my suit jacket and fastening the last button. Judging by the look on Janil's face, I can tell that nobody has dared to go near my darlings. Janil shakes his head apologetically. I sigh, but I don't judge him. For some reason, I'm the only person they tolerate. They're not ordinary dogs, they're like me. They hate weakness and won't forgive mistakes.
„Five minutes and we're leaving," I tell him, before heading outside.
I grip the cold metal handle and unlock the heavy, sturdy barred door. A muffled growl echoes immediately through the dark hallway behind it. They're awake. I hear quiet footsteps on the concrete, the rhythm of claws clicking like a clock counting down the last seconds of someone's life.
Gwon emerges from the shadows. His amber eyes shine in the light of the bulb. Hyeok remains in the shadows, head bowed, ears pricked and body tense. They are mirror images of each other, both as tense as a bow, yet neither moves without a command. I place a metal bowl on the floor. Raw meat. When I straighten up, I fix my gaze on Gwon and give the command.
„Go." Gwon steps forward and calmly and quietly begins to eat. Hyeok doesn't flinch, he waits. His gaze remains fixed on my face as though he is waiting for another verdict.
„You too," I tell him. Hyeok steps forward more quickly and violently, sinking his teeth into the flesh like a blade into soft soil. There is silence for a moment. Only the breathing of two beasts and the squelching of blood can be heard.
Leaning against the cool wall with my arms folded behind my back, I watch my two Dobermans. If anyone else opened the door right now, I am certain, that they would be torn to pieces before they could scream. But not me. I could stand between them with my bare hands and they would wait for my command. Obediently, as if they needed my permission to die.
And that's why I love them more than most people.
... ༺༻ ...
BLOOD DEBT (피의 빚)