#yejeno

But it wasn’t for Yeji, it was for her father. Mr. Liu was requesting another meeting despite how many times they have been turned down. A few weeks ago, Yeji turned him down only for her to turn down his son as well. She didn’t know why they were so adamant about selling their product, they weren’t prominent nor known whatsoever. In fact. Nobody knew who they were or where they came from.

“Well,” Yeji said as she slid the envelope back to her father’s hands, “Why should this concern me?”

Something about the silence irked Yeji, the silence contained unleft words from both Lord and Lady Hwang’s mouths. They were waiting for something, an answer, a follow up.

“Well,” Lord Hwang began, “I would greatly appreciate it if you were to go with me,” He finally said as he folded his arms against his chest.

“You’re not certainly making me go to this ball, right?” Yeji asked to confirm, eyes shifting to her father who had a serious expression on his aging face to her mother who looked like she wanted to end this conversation immediately.

“It’s always your choice, Yeji.” Her father said flatly. Something to know about Lord Hwang is that he never took no for an answer, especially when it came from a family member. Better yet, his own daughter. “But I prefer if you would.”

“Appa,” Yeji whined, “I did enough partying in America to last me the rest of eternity. Surely the Chinese could discuss and bargain all they want, but in the end we always know they will never have the final say in this country.”

“Yeji,” Lady Hwang scolded.

“What?” Yeji retorted, righteous.

“No, she has a point.” Her father said as he raised a hand to stop Lady Hwang, “They only wish to mingle and propose their products to me, I would let you go if it weren’t for a certain someone requesting your presence.”

Lord Hwang had his gaze pinpointed on her. Yeji however, remained silent. She blinked once, then twice. She already knew where this conversation was heading towards.

“I see,” Yeji decided to say plainly, she didn’t want to press on whoever requested her presence. Judging by the sent invitation from the Chinese, and a separate invitation from the Lius, it was already a dead giveaway.

Yangyang Liu.

“We need all the power we can get. We need the forces, the allies, the security and comfort knowing that we will continue our reign in this city. I need you to be my little translator when they mutter something in Mandarin, thinking I can not speak their mother tongue.”

Yeji made a disgruntled groan from her throat. “As you wish, appa.” She stood up and took the letter from her father’s hands once again. “I’ll go as you wish!” She exclaimed as she tried to walk outside Lord Hwang’s office. Just as she was about to reach for the doorknob, her mother suddenly spoke up. “Wait,”

So. Damn. Close.

Yeji turned around as she cocked a brow, “This….Yangyang,” Lady Hwang started “Why is he requesting you?”

Lady Hwang said his name as if it held meaning to her. Lady Hwang thought that it had some effect on her, she didn’t know that that effect would be her getting annoyed more than anything.

Yeji pursed her lips into a thin line, “He is Mr. Liu’s son, obviously.” she replied, apathetic. “I believe the main reason why they requested for another meeting is because they are still trying to sell their product to us.”

“Is he handsome?” Lady Hwang asked, curious for herself rather than her own daughter.

“My god, mama.” Yeji replied as she tried to stop herself rolling her eyes. She walked towards the door again, hopefully able to leave this time. “He is just using me, this is just business. If you would excuse me, I have to–what the hell are you doing?”

The latter part was directed to Hyunjin, who was standing right in front of her as she opened the door.

“Relax,” Hyunjin smiled a very much fake smile, “I was on my way to the balcony.”

They both knew it was a lie–Hyunjin not bothering to try and make a more believable expression. Yeji closed her father’s door with a loud thud. She waited for her cousin to say something, but he only stared back, his plastic smile not leaving his face.

“Well do you have anything to say to me, Hyunjin?” Yeji asked, crossing her arms. Hyunjin’s smile only grew wider.

“Only one,” He said as he eyed the door, knowing full well that Lord and Lady Hwang could hear their conversation, “I just can’t wait to go to this party, jiāchǒu bùkě wàiyáng.”

Yeji stiffened, satisfied with the reaction he had caused, he turned around merrily and left. He shoved his hands to his pockets as a whistle from a song left his lips.

The family’s shame shouldn’t be exposed.

“Méiyǒu shé me kě jiēlù de,” Yeji muttered. She stomped as she went down the stairs, glaring at the relatives who were still near the crime scene, happily going on with their latest gossip they just had to share. She made a beeline towards the kitchen to see Karina seated on the counter chomping down on an apple. She had no idea how Karina managed to find an appetite when she was seated right in front of a huge stain of blood.

“So?” Yeji asked as she tapped the counter beside her cousin.

“What? Oh, I gave up trying to remove the stains ten minutes ago.” Karina answered as she took another bite of her apple. After chewing for a while, she tilted her heads towards the side as she looked at the stain.

“It kinda looks like a dog, don’t you think?” She asked as she looked at Yeji who looked at her with a concerned look on her face.

Yeji only stared at her as she swallowed her bite. “Too soon?”

“Way too soon,” Yeji replied, shaking her head. “You busy? I need your Rover ties.”

“For the nth time–” Karina answered, rolling her eyes as she tossed remnants of her apple towards the trash bin, “I do not have Rover ties. What am I finding though?”

Yeji grinned, one thing she loved about her cousin was her eagerness to play spy and to go to unknown grounds. “Jinyoung Park’s address.”

Karina only needed to wrinkle her face, not quite surprised for the sudden request. Yeji could ask her to go get the weirdest most bizarre things, and she would still oblige. Yeji didn’t need to reason out her request as Karina leaped from the counter and feigned a salute to her cousin, her lips turning into a quick smirk. “Yes sir!”

…

“Lice?” Jeno echoed in disbelief

“Lice-like,” Kun corrected, head shaking in the process. He examined a strip of skin he collected from the corpse Jaemin and Haechan brought back to them. They could see the tiny bulges of pockets where the dead insects resided. Jaemin was turning pale while Haechan had his fingers placed on his mouth.

“They jump from one host to another like lice through the hair, I believe they only die when the host dies.” Kun went on as he further pressed onto the membrane, beside him was Doyoung audibly gagging from the sudden autopsy they had to perform. Nevertheless, the Neos had seen far stranger things.

“Oh good heavens,” Jaemin suddenly blurted, feeling dizzy as he gripped onto the table. “We could have been infected.”

Haechan made an exaggerated groan, “They’re dead already,” He said as he motioned towards the insects and the dead body.

“And yet you made me dissect that,” Jaemin retorted, recalling the previous scenes. He shuddered, suddenly remembering how disgusting it was. His body was on full vibrate mode, “How–”

“Gentlemen,” Jeno prompted, his fingers drumming the table he leaned on. He suddenly felt like all the oxygen from the lab was being sucked out, he couldn’t breathe. He had already woken up with a throbbing headache since he wasn’t able to get a good sleep. He tried to redirect Jaemin’s and Haechan’s attention back to Kun, but it didn’t work.

“I told you, my hands were full.”

“You were holding two knives, you could have easily slipped them in your goddamn pockets.”

Jeno gave an apologetic smile to Kun, there was no way he could get Jaemin and Haechan to stop. When the two weren’t busy discussing theories or other normal things, they would argue. Most of the time, it would be about nonsense things that shouldn’t be worth debating over. They would get so engaged in each other until you could see one of their faces going red, or vines starting to pop out from their necks.

“As I was saying,” Kun continued, realizing the two men infront of him had no signs of stopping anytime soon, “since we have much more advanced resources in our facilities than all of Seoul, I could try manufacturing a cure, if that sounds good to you.”

“The only thing that sounds good to me is when you finally shut the fuck up!” Jaemin suddenly exclaimed to Haechan, causing Kun and Jeno to turn their attention once again to them.

“Yes,” Jeno pleaded, making Kun smile a boring smile to him. “That would be great. Thank you, Kun–”

“Don’t thank me yet, Mr. Lee.” Kun tutted, “I can’t manufacture anything without you and your friends’ help.” Kun’s last statement effectively made Jaemin and Haechan to stop fighting. They exchanged glances and slowly turned towards Kun, who was serious as a priest giving a sermon.

“Anything,” Jeno promised, making Jaemin quirk a brow as Haechan nudged him to prevent hearing his whining. “I need to run live experiments,” Kun nodded to himself, “Yes, a live victim. You must find me a live victim.”

“A live–”

This time it was Jeno’s turn to nudge Jaemin’s side.

“Noted,” Jeno said quickly, hoping his two friends would stay silent, “we’re on it. Thank you, Kun. Truly.”

When Kun nodded to them, Jeno pushed himself off the table he was previously leaning on. He quickly dragged both his friend and cousin towards the exit. Jeno was rather quite impressed when Jaemin managed to stay silent the whole time they were making their way towards the doors, not hearing a single whine nor complaint leave his lips. It was only when they were under the dark sky clouding the city did Jaemin finally burst.

“Ya! What the hell?! How the hell are we supposed to find a live victim?! Who the hell would be our live victim?! You know what, don’t answer that. I volunteer in Haechan to be the experimental–Ow!” Jaemin’s rant came to a stop once he felt Haechan’s palm smack him on the head. Jeno sighed as he continued to walk, kicking a few pebbles blocking his way. Jaemin, full of energy as always, was bouncing.

“Careful,” his cousin warned. “Might trip on a pebble.”

“You’re giving me a headache.” Jeno replied as he turned around.

“How are we supposed to know a victim is a victim?” Jaemin went on as he ignored them both, “We only know they were infected once they have succumbed to it! Not to mention they only have a solid five minutes left before they die.”

Jeno shut his eyes momentarily, when he opened them again he felt like he could fall asleep that instant. “I don’t know.”

The walk home was just Jaemin and Haechan bickering once again. Jeno barely contributed to their usual debate for his headache only grew worse. Once they reached the entrance of the main mansion, Jeno could only muster a quiet farewell, leaving Jaemin and Haechan to stare at him. They understood him though, they knew Jeno always got silent when he had too many thoughts clouding his head.

Jeno meekly opened the heavy entrance doors. All he needed was a quick nap and maybe a few pills to ease his throbbing headache so that he could come up with a plan for Kun’s–

“Jeno,”

Jeno’s head jerked up to his father looking down on him from the top step of the staircase. His eyes narrowed at him per usual, his lips forming into a thin line.

“Yes?”

Without saying a word, he extended his hand to give Jeno a piece of paper. He thought that his father would come down to meet him midway, but Lord Lee only remained where he stood. This caused Jeno to hurriedly come up the stairs to keep his father from waiting. The piece of paper turned out to be an invitation with a name and address written in reflective silver ink.

“Find him,” Lord Lee sneered when Jeno looked up for an explanation. “I have heard from my advisors that the Rovers may be the center of all this madness.”

Jeno’s fingers tightened on the invitation he held, “What?” He asked, quite taken aback on the sudden request, “But the Rovers have been trying to be on our side for years–”

“Yet we push them away everytime,” Lord Lee refuted, not interested in what his son had to say, “Obviously they are changing strategies, trying to side with the Vipers seeing as we lost them. Before they could do anything we must counter them immediately. Stop them.”

Was it simply the Rovers’ strategy? Were they trying to kill all those in a gang or mafia so that the violence could finally stop? Were they trying to panic the crowd so that the crowd would listen to them? So they could rule over?

“How am I to stop a whole political party?” Jeno murmured quietly, “How am I to–”

Before Jeno continued, his father had slapped him on the head causing him to grip on the stair’s railing to prevent him from falling down the stairs. He moved away from his father, hoping he could avoid a second hit. He shouldn’t have countered his father vocally when he was an arm’s length away.

“I gave you a name and an address, did I not?” Lord Lee snapped, growing impatient with his own son. “Go. See how true the word on the street is.”

With that, his father returned to his own office, not even bothering to glance back at his son. He gripped the piece of paper tightly, his head throbbing worse than before, Jeno inhaled before muttering bitterly,

The son suddenly stopped in his tracks. He looked at his mother, fear replacing the jolly expression he had before. “Am I going to die, mama?” The boy asked.

“Of course not.” The mother said in a defensive tone. She quickly got the two bags filled with steaming buns in front of her and left, with her son still quite scared.

Who wouldn’t be in a time like this?

As they left, Yeji couldn’t help but stare at their disappearing figures. A child, no older than five, was already worrying about whether or not he would live another day. A child like him should be worrying about what flavor of ice cream he should get, or what he should play with his friends. He shouldn’t fear for his life. How much time did they have left until the city of Seoul became nothing but a mass graveyard?

“On us, miss.”

Yeji snapped out from her train of thought to see a bag already in front of her, filled to the brim with steaming hot buns.

“Everything for the princess of Seoul.” The old baker said with a smile. Yeji took a better look at the place, then at the old man in front of her. The bakery was very old, to the point where you could see loose wires everywhere. The man in front of her was also very old, it looked like the bakery was all he had. The only reason why Yeji was here in the first place was because Lia wouldn’t stop bugging her about trying the famous steam buns in Hongdae.

“You have a family, ahjussi?” Yeji asked as she took the bag, the man’s face lighting up immediately.

“I do! I have a lovely wife I come home to everyday and five children! Two girls and three boys!” The baker answered as he perched his elbows on the window.

“I see,” Yeji paused as she took something out from her pocket, it was a red envelope with gold lettering. The man’s face grew in shock. “No miss Hwang, it is in the house! We have been affiliated with the Vipers for a long time now and I owe everything to them. Please it is okay.” The man said as he pushed the envelope back.

“No, please do take it. You have worked hard enough.” Yeji said as she placed the envelope in the baker’s calloused hands. With a smile, Yeji left.

As she browsed the streets of Hongdae, she couldn’t help but let out a breath of relief. She was relieved she was able to have a few hours to herself. She had just finished visiting the drug den her father had sent her to, and it was more boring than she thought. She expected a top secret lab, like the ones she would always see in movies. Only for her to be greeted with a smelly and sketchy apartment. When she had collected the money, the man passed it to her half-asleep, he too looked high on whatever he was on that moment. She had only been there for a solid 30 seconds and her duty was done for the day. Hongdae was filled with lovers taking their strolls, family spending some quality time together, friends on dates, and native weirdos too.

“The end is near! The world is going to end! Jeremiah 11:11! There is only one cure!”

Yeji grimaced as she tried to quickly pass the man. She tried to cover her face in hopes of not getting seen by the shouting man, but to her misfortune, the man had locked his eyes on her. The man started to head her way as she quickened her pace. She thought he had lost the man following her, only for him to suddenly jump in front of her.

Does this man not know who I am?

“Salvation!” The man screeched, causing Yeji to freeze in her tracks. The man flailed his arms in the air, as if he was waiting for someone to pick him up. “Spread the word of salvation, miss!” He exclaimed as he took another step towards her.

Yeji was quick to back away, she was getting weirded out by the old man, “I’m not that religious, sorry.” She decided unsure on what to say, the man’s eyes suddenly grew wider until it could pop out from his socket anytime.

“The doctor can give us a cure.” He said. “I’m not quite sure a doctor has found a cure yet,” Yeji said carefully.

“The doctor saved me!” The man further added. This time, Yeji wasn’t sure if he was referring to doctors, or a particular doctor.

“Hey you know what, a doctor saved me too.” she said as she placed her hands on her hip. “I was like what, seven years old?” she continued, amusing herself now. “I bumped my head on my mother’s picture frame and let’s just say she was worried more about the picture frame.” She said, remembering it like it was yesterday. “Ever since then, I started eating apples.” Yeji said as she looked at the man, waiting for him to catch her joke.

“Because you know…” She trailed off, the man only looking at her in a blank manner. “An apple a day, keeps the doctor away!”

The old man only stared at her. He looked at her like she was speaking some sort of foreign language no an on earth had ever heard of.

“Corny joke?” Yeji asked, speaking Korean a bit more slowly for the man to understand. “Come on, an apple a day keeps the doctor away, right? Come on, I deserve a chuckle at least.”

The man groaned and stomped his foot, signaling for her to take him seriously.

“The doctor is only one person.” he hissed, his face contorting into a weird facial expression Yeji couldn’t quite figure out. “A person of great passion. He gave me the cure and I am now immune to this madness. An injection! I am supposed to be dead! When my friend had clawed himself and lay dead next to me, I should have been next! But I am here! Alive and well!”

Yeji took another step back, one she should have taken before the man had started talking.

“Good for you,” Yeji said, thinking of an escape plan. “But I, uh, have places to be.” Before she could turn around, the man had already grabbed her wrist.

“Salvation!” The man screamed, “Only the doctor could bring salvation!” She quickly jerked her hand back away from the man as she hurried off.

She took sharp turns every now and then, making her route in a dark alleyway. She passed by groups of men who seemed like they were all ready to kidnap the next person they see. She passed by men throwing knives at each other, she also passed by a group of women aiming their guns at each other, but she was not scared. She was in her territory, she was above all.

Just as she was in the middle of another alleyway, Yeji immediately stopped to the feeling of a cold metal pressed against her neck. She knew it wasn’t a threat of any Viper, no Viper dared. Her mind ran wild, thinking of all the possible people who would try such thing,

Until a familiar voice had said: “Don’t make a sound. Keep walking, and I won’t shoot.”

The feeling of uncertainty immediately was replaced by the feeling of rage. Did he really wait for Yeji to enter an isolated place? Until she was far from the crowd? Did he really think that would work on her?

“You don’t know me as much as I thought you would.” Yeji said quietly, maybe Jeno didn’t know her at all when they were still friends. Maybe he never really cared to know about her. Maybe he just agreed to be friends to get information from her, and he did.

“Walk,” Jeno demanded.

Yeji stood still. As she planned, Jeno thought she was scared and so he eased the press of his gun against her neck. She slowly brought her hand to trace Jeno’s gun, her sudden caress took him by surprise. From his gun, her hand trailed to his own. Touching his long fingers, to his prominent veins. Her touch was light and held no danger whatsoever,

Or so he thought.

She whirled around, faster than Jeno could even process. In a blink of an eye, she had already slapped the gun from his grip causing it to drop on the floor somewhere. She had bent his arm in a way no arm should be bent. She had him quickly pinned to floor, her legs on both sides of his hips with a knife pressed to his throat.

“Let’s try this again, shall we? Like normal civilized people.” She breathed. Jeno too was trying his hardest not to breathe too much, or else his throat would come in contact with the knife. His dilated eyes narrowed at her, as he took a breath.

“Normal civilized people?” He mocked her tone, his voice a bit raspy. “You have a knife pressed against my throat.”

“You had a gun pressed against my neck.”

“Does it look like I have a choice? I’m in your territory.”

Yeji glared at him as she pressed the knife further into his skin causing a drop of blood to appear.

“Stop! Stop!” Jeno flinched. “I’m sorry.”

With one quick motion, Yeji could have sliced his neck open. She had been dreaming of this for four years, she was almost tempted to give it a try. Although she was fighting all thoughts she had of killing him, one thought had crept up in her mind.

Jeno still smelled like he used too. He smelled like smoke and mint, with a hint of his perfume. Noticing this particular detail made Yeji think how possible it was for everything and nothing to change.

“Well go ahead then,” Yeji prompted, “Explain yourself.”

She could feel Jeno trying to fight, but with one press of her blade, he would stop. She could track his every movement just from the tip of her blade.

“I needed information,” Jeno managed.

“Surprisingly.”

His eyebrow arched, “If you let me go, I could explain.”

“Well let’s see…” Yeji said, pretending to think. “How about no? I prefer if you explained like this.”

“Oh, Yeji”

Click.

The sound of someone pressing the trigger echoed all throughout the alleyway. Yeji looked to her left to see the gun she had disabled a while go still in its position. She looked back on Jeno to see him smile, his smile was almost mocking.

“Did you really think I would only bring one?” He asked in a teasing manner. “You don’t know me as much as I thought you would.” He added, mocking her. Famous eye smile a contrast to his actions.

The feeling of cold hard metal suddenly touched her waist. It was as if the gun had started to burn through her clothes and made its imprint on her skin. With no choice, Yeji had to remove her knife against Jeno’s kneck. They both stood up and in unison, put their weapons away.

“The man who died in the Poculum,” Jeno began as he dusted his polo shirt. “Do you remember his mismatched shoes?”

Yeji rolled her eyes, she couldn’t believe she was actually having this conversation with the Jeno Lee, then nodded.

“I found the other shoe in the Han river the other day, the same spot where the first men had died,” He continued, “I think he was able to escape, only succumbing to the madness the next day, in your club.”

“Impossible!” Yeji denied, “What kind of science is–”

“This is no longer in the fields of science, Yeji.”

Her hands had quickly balled into fists, bunching up her blouse in the process. Jeno was really on a whole other level of stubbornness when he was focused on something. She let out a sigh as she closed her eyes,

“What do you want?” She asked, opening them again to see Jeno’s serious expression.

“I need to know whether or not if he is indeed the same man. I need to see his shoes, see if they match, if they do, this madness might be even contagious.”

Contagious,

Meaning to say that the man who had died in her club, his blood spraying in a room filled with her people, might be infectious. If that was the case, the Viper Gang is in huge trouble.

Yeji’s panic started to kick in.

“Maybe they were in some type of cult,” Yeji suggested without much persuasion. “Maybe he didn’t want to be apart of whatever they were doing, only for him to decide that he actually wanted to a day later.” But she had seen the terror of the man during his last few moments, he couldn’t speak but his eyes told everything Yeji needed to know.

Oh dear God she knelt beside the man, looked him in the eyes, and asked him what caused it. What were the chances of her getting infected?

“You and I both know that something’s not right here.” Jeno said, breaking Yeji’s small panic attack. “By the time this has alerted departments, many more innocent people will have died.”

Jeno accidentally realized what he had said, causing him to fall silent. Yeji stared at him for a while, her gaze blank, void with any emotion.

“As if you care,” She said quietly, almost inaudible. But he still heard her. “About innocent people dying.” She looked away from him in case he could see the slight water in her eyes.

Every muscle in his body tensed.

He inhaled sharply, “Fine,” he paused, “My people.”

Hearing it from him definitely felt worse. She let out her breath she didn’t know she was holding and turned around.

It revealed itself from the shadows, its thorns shining in the dark. It looked like someone had placed ten daggers all along its back. It raised its head to make eye contact with the poor dancer, a pair of opaque silver eyes stared back.

The dancer flees, panic overcoming her entire body. She ran as fast as she could in her heels, ultimately causing her to trip and stumble to a fisherman who wore the wrong colors.

The Neo caught sight of her and her purple ribbon tied to her wrist, he was ready to fight.

“You!” He bellows, “Are you lost?”

He mistook the dancer’s shocked silence as confusion, the dancer thought he would help her. As soon as he approached her, he whipped his gun out.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I wasn’t watching out on our boundaries,” the dancer explained as she reached for her gun strapped on her thigh, “Bloody Vipers,” he spat through grit teeth, “You think you can stroll here anytime you want, don’t you?”

He aims the pistol at her, the dancer shaking while holding her own gun. “Y-you don’t understand, something is back there and it’s coming–”

A sudden splash broke their tension. The dancer felt droplets of water hit her exposed leg and when she looked down, the water was tar black.

She sprints to her right, ducking at the alleyway. The fisherman mistook her fast pace as a sign of war and so gunshots were fired. When she had got away to shield herself from the Han river, her whole body was already shaking.

Then something erupted from the Han River

Soon enough, screams resonated all throughout the night.

The dancer had sat in her hiding place, muttering all the prayers she knew. Eyes closed tight as her knees were brought to her chest, whole body shaking. The only thing that had caused her to stop, was when she heard nothing at all. The screams were now dead silent, the only thing that could be heard was the constant buzzing of the electrical wires. The dancer willed herself to get up and go back to the scene, only for something horrible to unravel in front of her.

The fisherman, along with several other people, had dropped dead on the floor. Throats scratched until blood was seeping to the floors.

Along with that, she found several insects skittling and bumping towards each other before jumping to the Han river.

. . .

Yeji smoothed the fabric of her dress down, her chauffeur taking her to the address Karina provided her. She was on her way to Secretary-General Jinyoung Park’s office, hopefully able to find something before she would return home. She always wore a beaded flapper dress, similar to the ones Western girls wore when she was in America. In order to blend-in, she had to look like everyone else. She had to wear her roaring 20s hanbok and finger curl her hair.

Jinyoung Park was a very secretive person. He was the chief editor of a newspaper called The Korea Press, and their address was supposed to be public information. Yeji had expected a somewhat formal corporate office, people in suits and formal attire. She did not expect a bunch of workers running around the tight office with typewriters clutched in their hands as they frantically screamed and demanded about the latest update being pressed.

As she walked in the building, she held her chin high. Yeji couldn’t help wrinkle her nose as she eyed the mess that is this office. She didn’t bother stopping by the front desk, they were Rovers weren’t they? Surely they would let her wander around until she stumbles upon Jinyoung Park’s office right?

Yeji smiled to herself.

As she weaved through the chaotic establishment, she snagged a random notebook and pen in attempts of making herself look busy. She made her way to the basement, the sudden brightness suddenly starting to fade. The whole basement level was darker than the floors above it, they didn’t bother putting in more artificial illumination. The whole level was made out of solid cement, from the floors all the way to the ceiling. It wouldn’t surprise Yeji if she found out that this establishment was used as a prison before turning it into this.

She continued striding forward, her heels clacking loudly in the process. She examined and took a look at all the nooks and crannies of the prison-like office. Everyone and everything was so chaotic that they did not mind her presence at all, it was like she wasn’t there in the first place. All the workers were busy writing, making phone calls, or scribbling down notes. As Yeji scanned the desks she passed by, one desk caught her attention. There seemed to be one desk that was unoccupied, she was even more intrigued when she saw a note pasted on the clipboard: MEMO FOR JINYOUNG PARK

She quickly ducked under the desk, searching for all files she deemed useful. She found nothing but old newspapers and drafts for new ones. Why was this desk empty? Yeji thought. Surely this desk did not belong to Jinyoung Park who had his own space, she found her hands wandering to a certain opened drawer. She found drawings.

When she saw the first one, she broke out in a cold sweat. It was a drawing of wide, snake-like eyes. The other drawing was of claws and claw marks, impossible made by an animal on earth. She felt the tiny hairs on her neck spike up.

“Goemul,” Yeji breathed, a monster.

Before she could think over her actions, she quickly snatched one of the drawings, the one where it showed its enitery, and folded it as she tucked it in her pocket. It joined the masquerade invitation she had forgotten about, causing her to feel annoyed again. She stood up after glancing around the room, making sure no one was watching her. She wiped the sweat from her palms as she marched out the basement floor.

Yeji paused suddenly, hearing and seeing the door behind her shuddering.

Suddenly, all Yeji could think about was the drawing folded in her pocket. She reached for the doorknob hesitantly, fear almost clouding her vision. “Hello?” She said quite hoarsely, “Is someone–”

“Who are you? What are you doing here?”

She leaped away from the door, the door stopped shuddering. She quickly turned around.

“Oh, me?”

The man wore a strange hat, his suit being more Western than the rest of the people here. Judging by the way he carried himself, and his arrogant stare, he was of high ranks. Possibly along the ranks of Jinyoung Park, he was definitely not a mere assistant.

“I came to talk to your chief-editor,” Yeji continued, “I got a bit lost.”

“The exit is that way,” The man said, pointing to his left. It was something about the way he said it, he was treating Yeji like a lost child who got separated from her parents in a theme park. Yeji did not like anything about it.

Her blank face immediately morphed into a cold, wide smile.

“Official Viper business,” She said, chin held high. “My father, Lord Hwang, sent me here.”

There was a moment of silence, the man digesting her words. You could see the man’s expression suddenly turn into discomfort. Still, he smiled and gestured for her to follow him.

The man did not bother hiding his impatience, he ascended the staircase three steps at a time. Yeji, however, took her sweet time as she looked around the establishment. The contrast between the prison-like basement and the prestigious first floor levels was abrupt. The Rovers only cared what the common people saw, which were the first floor levels. They wanted to come across as established, known, accomplished.

Yeji eyed all the designer clothing that the workers on this floor adorned, they were much different than the workers who looked underpaid in the basement. When Yeji brought her attention back to the man, the man was already waving her impatiently towards him. With a huff, she followed suit.

The both took a turn around the corner as the man led her towards a spacious waiting room. The waiting room had two parallel rows of waiting chairs, placed directly on the opposite sides of the walls. Yeji finally understood his impatience, seeing as there was already another person there.

Jeno cocked his head forward.

“What are you doing here?!” They both demanded in unison.

As soon the man felt the tense air of the place, he removed himself from the situation quietly. As soon as the man was nowhere to be seen, Jeno jumped from his seat and grabbed Yeji’s arm. She was so offended that he even dared to touch her that she stood grounded to her place, rage bubbling in her stomach. Jeno had already moved them to the corner of the waiting room, making the cold wall hit Yeji’s back. Only then was Yeji able to react.

“Let. Go. Of. Me.” She hissed, trying to shake her arm away from his grip. Jeno must have heard the same things, causing him to gather information for himself as well.

Yeji bit back a curse. If the Neos found answers first, the whole of the Viper gang was doomed. If the Neos knew more than they did, people would start putting their trust more in them. People would start fleeing to their side, leaving the Neos to prosper while the Vipers to suffer.

“Listen,” Jeno snapped, “you have to leave.”

Yeji couldn’t believe what she was hearing, “I have to leave?”

“Yes,” Jeno muttered as he reached up to examine Yeji’s dangling pearl earring. He made eye contact with her fiery eyes, flicking the dangling pearl in the process. The pearl had hit her jaw, causing her to fight back the breath threatening to her throat, she wanted to scream at his face so hard right now, but she knew better.

“I was here first,” Jeno said as he placed his palm on the side of her head, “Go play dress-up somewhere else.”

Dress-up? Was this all Yeji was to him? When she wasn’t in her usual clothing? Just a dress-up? But she did not care.

“This is Viper territory.”

“These people are Rovers, you hold no bearing nor power over them whatsoever.”

Yeji grit her teeth hard, he was right. The only thing she found comforting was that Jeno didn’t look too confident either. If she had no bearing over them, that meant he didn’t either. The man Yeji met earlier immediately shut up as soon as he discovered Yeji’s identity, the neutrality was a good thing in this situation.

“Our relationship with the Rovers is, and will always be, none of your business.” Yeji refuted, “No if you would excuse me, please get out of my face.”

Jeno only narrowed his eyes at her, taking it as a threat.

“I am not going anywhere.”

God, the audacity of this man. Yeji straightened to her full height, holding her head up high. She was in heels, their height difference wasn't much. “I won’t say this again,” Yeji breathed, toxicity lacing her voice. “Get out of my face. Now.”

Jeno held her stare a second longer. Slowly, he backed away from her. As he stepped back, he scrubbed his hands to his eyes. Yeji glared at him while making the act, but she realized it was an act of exhaustion. The shadow underneath Jeno’s eyes a bit more prominent, eyes a little red.

“Have you not been getting sleep lately?” Yeji finds herself suddenly asking, her question startled both her and the man in front of her. With Jeno striding a few steps away, she found herself wanting to kill him less.

“I’ll have you know,” Jeno turned back to her, his hands finding its way to his pockets. “That I am very much well, thank you.”

“I wasn’t asking about your well-being.”

“Oh just give it a rest, Yeji.”

Yeji folded her arms, not quite believing his words. She had heard of the news last night of the dancer and the fishermen, a number of deaths on the side of the Neos suddenly spiking up. It meant that Jeno wasn’t gonna leave because Yeji had told him off, he needed an answer just as she did. Death was already on its way to his door.

“Is that his office?” Yeji asked as she nodded towards the door in front of them, she didn’t need to explain some more as she saw Jeno nod in the corner of her eyes. “Jinyoung Park is disciplined, he won’t take any line-jumpers. Don’t even try.”

Try what? She wanted to ask nastily, she couldn’t possibly engage in a gunfight with Jeno right now. She needed an answer so they really needed to be civil, at least for this time being.

Yeji hastily stomped down towards a chair and sat down. She lifted her gaze towards the ceiling, looking at the cracks and chipped paint of the poor paint job. She made sure to look at anything else. She dug her hand into her pockets, feeling the folded drawing crease in her hands. The drawing didn’t confirm what the role of the Rovers was, but it was something. From the drawing’s blurry and harsh lines, she knew it was near the docks of the Han river.

Meanwhile, Jeno returned to his seat opposite the row where Yeji sat. He kept her gaze pinpointed on her, focusing on her whole-being. Much to Yeji’s annoyance, she could feel his burning stare directed towards her. She felt like she was being inspected, each sweep of his eyes, she felt like being torn apart piece by piece. The longer he stared at her, the more Yeji could feel the sudden rush creeping up her neck, coloring her neck and ears with discomfort and rage.

She wanted to skin herself alive, anything to make his attention turn elsewhere. He was just looking for heaven’s sake, people look all the time. Yeji decided that she would just have to wait until Jinyoung Park could finally meet her and–

“What?” Yeji snapped, unable to take his stare any longer. He did not say anything, he just looked at her again. Finally, she tore her gaze away from him.

Jeno let out an amused noise, as he turned his attention towards the door. “What’s got you so worked up?”

“For the last time, it is, and alway will be, none of your business.”

“If it has something to do with the madness then–”

“Bold of you to assure that it had something to do with with the–”

Jeno roared, “Will you let me finish my goddamn sen–”

The door then slammed open, revealing a very stressed assistant as she gestured for Jeno to come inside. Before joining Jinyoung Park, he gave Yeji a huff. This isn’t over.

Yeji had to wait an antagonizing wait. She tapped her foot impatiently and aggressively, her fingers playing with each other. She cracked her knuckles every few minutes as she played with the hem of her skirt now and then. As she felt like a thousand years, the door cracked open.

It was clear, Jeno’s blue head of hair hung low as his shoulders slouched, that he wasn’t able to get the intel he needed. He was met with Yeji’s knowing stare. She mocked him, pitied him. Jeno’s ways of persuasion had no limits, he was a liar through and through. Stopping at nothing until he got what he wanted.

“Don’t look so smug,” Jeno hissed, causing Yeji to chuckle.

“That’s just my face.” She replied as she stood up, chin held high as she entered Jinyoung Park’s office.

“Well if it isn’t my lucky day.” Jinyoung Park said once Yeji sat in front of him. He quickly put aside his letter and pen as he eyed Yeji, and then the door. “First it was the prince of the Neos, now we have the proud heiress of the Vipers. What can I do for you, Miss Hwang?”

Yeji briefly took in his plain office. She saw a few framed pictures of him and guessing his wife on the shelves behind the Rover. The office didn’t look old, nor did it look new. It was just as plain as any regular office, nothing special. Yeji turned her gaze back to Jinyoung Park, letting out a relaxed smile.

“You know how rumors travel nowadays, right Mr. Park?” She asked as she squinted, looking at her fingernails. “You won’t ever guess what I heard the other day,”

Jinyoung Park leaned forward, mildly curious and entertained. “Do tell, Miss Hwang.”

“They say–” Yeji leaned forward as well, like a classmate telling another classmate a secret, “that you know what caused this madness.”

Jinyoung Park didn’t say anything, he remained silent after a beat had passed. He looked at Yeji, blinking rapidly this time. “I have no clue what you–they are talking about.”

Yeji raised her brows, an innocently shocked expression graced her features. “You don’t?” She asked lightly. “You didn’t come up with this madness to kill all the gangsters? So that no one would be left to rule the city? So that the people of Seoul would be under your control and command?”

She took in his astonishment, guessing that Jeno didn’t directly confront Jinyoung Park about the madness. He must have tiptoed on thin ice, not really bothering to press nor aggravate the man in question. That was very unlikely of him.

“Miss Hwang,” Jinyoung Park began, “that is–that is preposterous.”

Yeji wasn’t going anywhere at this rate, she straightened up in her seat as she crossed her legs. The typical meek flapper girl long gone, seated in front of him was the heiress of the most brutal gangs in all of Seoul.

“The truth will be revealed sooner or later,” Yeji said sternly, “I would save both of our time if you could just speak right now or else I will skin you using my–”

“Miss Hwang, it is safe to say that I could save both of our time right now,” Mr. Park interrupted, “I have no clue what you are talking about so please leave. I am working and I won’t allow your silly accusations to disturb my line of work.”

Yeji carefully thought about her next actions, it didn’t sound like Mr. Park was saying anything false, but he sounded uneasy. He kept glancing at the door as his foot tapped the floor repeatedly. Was it because of her presence? Or did he know something she did not? If he didn’t cause this madness, then what was his role?

Yeji relaxed as she leaned back in her seat, “What if I have questions regarding your political party?”

“You are welcome to stop by any of our meetings anytime, Miss Hwang.” He answered stiffly, “Otherwise, please leave.”

Yeji took her sweet time stretching and fixing the fabric of her expensive dress. With an exaggerated bow and smile, she fluttered her eyelashes at him. “Thank you for your patience and time.”

She left the office as she rolled her eyes, what now?

“Woah–” Yeji immediately staggered back as she collided with someone. The moment she looked up to see who the hell was in her way, the only thing she could see was red.

Jeno had caught her wrist before Yeji had the chance to slap him, he held her wrist as he bore into her eyes.

“Careful,” He said warningly, his tone too soft and feathery to be a threat. It was a trick, it was his way to lure Yeji’s attention to his lips in attempts of calming her down. It was working, Yeji wanted to strangle him alive for that.

“We wouldn’t want to cause a scene in a Rover establishment, right?” He asked as he gave a mocking smile.

Yeji tried to jerk her arm away from his grip, but he held her wrist in place. If Jeno did not let go in three seconds she was drawing her gun.

Jeno let go.

She quickly tugged her wrist back, smoothing the area of skin where Jeno had gripped. When Jeno still remained in his place, she demanded, “Why are you still standing in front of me?”

Innocently, Jeno pointed to the chairs. “I left my hat,”

“You weren’t even wearing a–” True enough, there indeed was a hat. He simply shrugged as he went to pick it up, tipping it to Yeji as he hid his blue hair. She hurriedly made her way to the exit as she was finally able to breathe the air of the outside. She tugged her coat closer to herself as her hands found warmth in her pockets, she froze.

“He better not have…” Yeji fished the paper from her pockets, she only had one paper left. To her fortune, she was greeted with a pair of monster eyes staring back at her, she let out a breath of relief.

Yeji scoffed, Jeno had gotten the masquerade ball invitation.