“Welcome. It’s an honor to meet you. I’m Yang Deok-gwang, the CEO.”

“Nice to meet you, sir.”

“Please, come in. The wind’s cold.”

Yang Deok-gwang, CEO of KNB, bowed and scraped to the much younger Oh Dong-seong and gave him the royal welcome.

Oh Dong-seong accepted the fuss with a slight nod.

“I’d like to keep this quiet. Is this place all right for that?”

“Security’s airtight. The guards have the entrance locked down like a fortress. No CCTV, either. You can relax.”

“Is that right?”

Oh Dong-seong had never been inside the KNB building before, and he looked around with interest.

For a third-rate entertainment company in Gangnam, the building wasn’t bad.

He’d barely given Section Chief Cha Yeong-tae the order before the answer came back.

The section chief had promised them one commercial, and just like that, the meeting was set.

Oh Dong-seong was itching for it.

Orientation had worn him out, but he’d come running all the same.

Throwing one commercial their way was nothing.

Even after the contract was signed, he could always kill it later by saying it didn’t fit the storyboard.

His father had always been easygoing about women.

A real man had to know how to hustle broads—his father had said it so many times the kid was sick of hearing it. (TL Note: The Korean says he said it “until scabs formed on his ears”—a stock way of saying someone has heard a thing so many times he can’t stand to hear it again.)

Since the day he got into college, he’d been whoring around to blow off stress, and the family had never made an issue of it.

His father had even said to let him be—there was a season for everything, and once he was older he’d get bored of chasing tail.

His theory was that a man had to learn about women early if he wanted peace at home.

And there was a reason a mere student had a section chief for a secretary.

Of all the sons, he had the best schooling.

He’d been told not to bother passing the bar exam—just cultivate his friends and fellow alumni.

Those bastards had better not be planning to toss me one girl and walk off with a commercial.

Seo-ryeon was the one he wanted most, but Oh Dong-seong had his eye on the other members too.

Tonight, though, Seo-ryeon alone would do.

“After you.”

CEO Yang Deok-gwang pressed the button for the private elevator to the third-floor president’s office and waited, all deference.

He was smooth about it. This clearly wasn’t his first time, or his second.

“Nice company you’ve got.”

Oh Dong-seong stepped into the elevator, pleased with himself.

The sensual image of Seo-ryeon at orientation still hadn’t faded.

He knew full well it wouldn’t go away until he’d had her enough to get sick of her.

“We’ve still got a lot to learn. We hope you’ll take good care of us, young master.”

“Sure. You know, CEO Yang, you’re exactly my type. Let’s get along.”

“Why, thank you, young master! You’ll have my undying loyalty!”

Snot-nosed little bastard, rotten to the core already. You just walked into the tiger’s den, kid. Heh heh.

Yang Deok-gwang had no intention of letting tonight’s game end easily.

He knew perfectly well the Ana Group chairman had a vicious temper.

Even so, the man couldn’t just shrug off anything involving his son.

He’d agreed to the deal as a way of taking out one very big insurance policy.

Besides, Seo-ryeon needed her attitude adjusted, and for that, something had to happen to her anyway.

The stiff ones were hard to handle.

You had to break her mind and body first if you wanted to sell her dear to the men who were after her.

Oh Dong-seong was a perfect fit.

A Hanguk University law student, and one the Ana Group had big hopes for.

The son of a conglomerate, with a hell of a temper besides—even Seo-ryeon wouldn’t dare kick up a fuss afterward.

Ding!

The elevator arrived at the third floor.

“Well, well. Now this is a surprise.”

Oh Dong-seong looked pleased with the third floor, done up like a five-star hotel.

“Do you like it?”

“You’ve got taste, CEO Yang.”

“Thank you!”

He’d stretched his budget on the third floor to entertain VIPs.

He could only afford it because he’d grabbed the building for a steal at auction, with help from some gangsters he knew.

“So where’s the girl?”

“Waiting demurely in the room at the end.”

“Heh heh heh heh.”

The word demurely drew a knowing laugh from Oh Dong-seong.

He knew exactly what that meant.

Oh Dong-seong followed as CEO Yang led the way.

They went through the door into the third-floor president’s office.

By anyone’s standards, the room was lavish.

“This way.”

A small door opened off the side of the president’s office.

“Handy for catching some sleep when you’re worn out.”

Yang Deok-gwang gave him the signal with a lecherous grin.

“I see.”

The eyes of two wicked men met in midair.

“Go on in. And… enjoy yourself. I’ll be waiting outside.”

Yang Deok-gwang bowed his head and backed away.

“She’s clean, right?”

“Of course. Nobody’s laid so much as a fingertip on her. You’ll see for yourself.”

“President Yang, you’re going places. Heh heh heh.”

Satisfied, Oh Dong-seong took hold of the nap room’s doorknob and turned it.

And then…

“Oh!”

At the sight of Seo-ryeon sitting on the bed, Oh Dong-seong let out a gasp of pure satisfaction.

“I’ll kill them.”

When rage hits its peak, the heart goes cold instead.

When killing intent fills you, the heart doesn’t waver.

Vrrrrrrrooooom! Vrrrroooom!

I floored the accelerator like a madman.

It was past eight in the evening, and Seoul traffic still hadn’t cleared.

I drove like a maniac, racing for that place.

My date with Son Yu-ri had been blown to pieces.

Out of nowhere, Manager Hwang had called.

“Big trouble? Were the girls in a car accident or something?”

“No, not that—Seo-ryeon’s not at the dorm!”

“What? Seo-ryeon?”

She’d left the dorm, he said, after the president summoned her.

That morning, the minute Manager Hwang got to the office, he’d been ordered out to Gangwon Province to meet some promising new talent.

New talent usually came to the company, so being sent out on the road that day of all days had felt off, he said.

On the way, a nagging surely not got the better of him, and he had the stylist check on the dorm in a hurry.

That was how he found out Seo-ryeon had gone out on the CEO’s orders.

Something felt wrong, so he called the CEO—and found his number blocked.

When even the director didn’t pick up, Manager Hwang suddenly remembered the rumors about KNB.

The story that when a girl group flopped, they’d set the members up with sponsors and sold them off.

He’d begged me for help.

He had a bad feeling, he said. Please, find Seo-ryeon.

I was frantic.

But I had no way of knowing where she’d gone.

Then a building flashed into my mind.

I hadn’t liked the place from the first time I laid eyes on it.

Some super-hunch I didn’t even know I had kicked in.

I apologized to Son Yu-ri and took off in the car.

From Hongdae to Gangnam at dinnertime, the traffic was at its worst.

I drove hard and rough.

I had no time to care about running red lights, crossing the center line or cutting across lanes.

Whenever I thought of Seo-ryeon, something ominous kept surfacing.

It was like what practitioners of the art say they feel at certain moments: something answering in their sense for energy.

Screeeeeech!

I threw the car into park.

Before I knew it, I’d pulled up within sight of the building I had in mind.

It was a Gangnam back alley, and I didn’t see a single CCTV camera.

There weren’t many CCTV cameras around yet in 2008, as I remember it.

“Sons of bitches… She’s in there. I know it.”

Scandals I’d heard about countless times in my last life came back to me—stars handed over for sex, the stuff of gossip columns and tabloid rags.

The Yang brothers’ track record wasn’t just suspicious. It was a sure thing.

The building was as quiet as a dead mouse.

Not a soul was coming or going around it.

At the front entrance I could see four young men who looked like guards.

Security was heavier than usual tonight.

I had no intention of doing something as stupid as walking in the front door.

I took off my coat and left it in the car.

Tadak.

I moved to the back of the building, fast and precise.

Then I kicked off the second-floor wall once and landed lightly on the third-floor railing.

The last time I’d come here, Manager Hwang had told me something.

The third floor, he’d said, was a place even he couldn’t go in and out of freely.

Tonight a danker energy than ever hung around the building.

I quietly slid open the window by the railing and slipped inside.

Until I had hard proof, caught in the act, I needed to be careful.

I drew my internal energy up even higher.

Then I read the ripples of energy scattered through the space.

Sasasak.

Like a ninja, without a whisper of footsteps, I moved toward one spot.

Breath held, I’d made it into the wolves’ den.

“Heh heh heh. Hi there, Seo-ryeon~.”

Oh Dong-seong greeted her like an old friend, as if they’d ever met.

Seo-ryeon, sitting there like a doll, looked at him.

“Wh… who are you?”

She shook her head as she asked who he was.

“Who do you think? It’s oppa. The oppa who’s going to love you to death, Seo-ryeon~.”

“O-oppa?”

“Yeah~ oppa.”

“You’re not Tae-san oppa…”

“!!!”

At the name Tae-san, Oh Dong-seong’s face twisted.

Son of a bitch. Don’t tell me he’s already staked his claim on her?

It took Oh Dong-seong no time at all to figure out that Seo-ryeon liked Jang Tae-san, the guy she’d danced with.

He smiled sweetly and moved in on her.

His hand slid out and stroked her shoulder.

Ooh! The young ones really are different.

Oh Dong-seong didn’t bother hiding his lust.

The soft, hot skin of her shoulder had him aroused in no time.

Seo-ryeon took the hand on her shoulder and brought it to her mouth.

Her lips were just about to kiss it when—

“Get away from me!”

Suddenly she flung his hand away.

Seo-ryeon wanted no part of him.

“Heh heh heh. You fucking bitch!”

Smaaaaack!

Oh Dong-seong gave a nasty laugh and slapped her full across the face.

“Aaagh!”

Seo-ryeon screamed and crumpled onto the bed.

“I was going to keep this nice and quiet, and you mess with me? You… you’re dead tonight!”

The greasy lust in his bloodshot eyes turned into something else.

All worked up now, Oh Dong-seong yanked off his shirt.

“Sob… oppa… Tae-san oppa…”

Seo-ryeon’s pitiful crying from the bed only made the beast’s blood run hotter.

“Ohhh! Look at that bastard. Just like his old man.”

“Hyungnim, didn’t I tell you? That guy’s a psycho.”

“A dog would sooner lay off shit. He’s everything they say.” (TL Note: The Korean saying runs, “A dog would sooner hold off on shit”—said of someone who can’t help giving in to his worst habit, so what you’d expect from him happens every time.)

In a soundproofed room at the far end of the third floor, the brothers Yang Deok-gwang and Yang Deok-su were watching Oh Dong-seong’s performance on a CCTV camera installed in the bedroom. They were recording every second.

Having hit Seo-ryeon, Oh Dong-seong took off his clothes.

The main event was about to begin on the screen, and the two brothers were getting heated right along with it.

Voyeuristic lust turned out to be stronger than they’d thought.

Other girl groups had come apart in this building, and they’d all gone through the same thing.

The brothers had made a tidy profit off them, too.

But tonight was a bigger jackpot than anything before.

Footage of the Ana Group’s third son about to assault a girl was priceless.

Gulp.

The two brothers swallowed hard.

Their eyes were glued to the screen.

Neither of them had the faintest idea that the reaper was standing right behind them.

“Enjoying the show, you f***ing sons of bitches?”

(End of Chapter 101)