The building was crowded. There was no other way to describe it. The atmosphere was tense, but not the kind of tense the men who worked there were used to. It was unusual, to everyone.

A tall man in his thirties walked out of the elevator on the top floor. It was probably the most crowded floor of them all. Dozens of men were lining up against the walls and they all looked way too nervous. He passed by them and went straight to the end of the corridor, stopping in front of a white door.

He fixed his black tie before knocking twice.

“Come in.”

The man opened the door to a wide studio, richly decorated with several paintings locked in golden frames. The rest of the furniture was way less eccentric, almost minimal. The contrast was astounding, but also extremely peculiar. Whoever worked in that room must have been filthy rich and utterly unique.

The man looked at the swivel armchair behind the long desk. “Sir–”

A hand emerged from behind the chair, its index finger up in the air as a sign for the man to stay silent.

“No, I've already organized the security for the event,” the man behind the desk said. “Of course I want you there, father. It's my birthday after all.”

The chair swirled around and the man in suit straightened his back to show a certain composure.

Taehyun glared at him with very little interest, tapping his desk with a pen. The parted hair that had been his signature hairstyle for a long time was gone, replaced by a more sober and certainly more elegant mane that gave him an ice-prince kind of look.

“I'll call you back later, alright?” He looked out of the big window behind his desk. From there, it felt like one could held the whole of Seoul in the palm of one hand.

“...How is mom? Are you enjoying the beauty of Brazil?” He smiled into the receiver. “Tell her I miss her too. And no need to mention it, it was a pleasure for me. I bet you don't even remember the last time you went on holiday,” he listened to the answer and laughed. “Right? Who could've guessed it five years ago...” he dropped the pen in the gold-plated pencil holder. “Sure. See you.”

When he finally hung up, the man on the door stepped forward. “Sir?”

Taehyun looked at the closed door behind him before shifting his gaze into his eyes. “What's with all the buzz outside?”

“They're here, sir,” the man said. “The candidates.”

“How many?”

“At least a hundred people.”

Taehyun sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index. “Hopefully there will be someone decent among them. The last one was a total disaster.”

“I already made a selection, we received more than three hundred application forms.”

This made Taehyun laugh. “I didn't know there were so many people eager to die, in Seoul.”

The subordinate didn't know how to reply. It was expected that many people would apply for a place as head of the security team, especially if the protege was no other than Nam Taehyun, the head of the Nam family clan. He was a legendary figure, not only because he was the youngest boss in the whole of South Korea, had taken over the clan in only five years and was an extremely skillful strategist – he was also extremely good-looking and didn't make a secret of his preference for men over women.

There were a lot of people who would kill for that job.

Taehyun read the struggle on his subordinate's face and decided to drop the topic. He was well aware of the kind of fame he had among the people who worked in his field. He didn't dislike it, but he found it annoying at times. He was tired of men falling at his feet and then doing an awful job at what they were paid for. He wasn't looking for a lover, he just needed better security.

Taehyun leaned back against his comfortable armchair and sighed. “Alright, let the first one in.”

The man bowed and walked out of the door as silently as he had arrived.

Taehyun already knew he was going to face a very stressful morning, so he turned his armchair around and looked out of the window once more while he waited for the first candidate. The view from his window always managed to calm him down, that was why he had carefully picked the location for his personal studio. So many things had happened in the last five years and every time things got over the edge there were just a few things that managed to calm him down. That view was one of them.

Just then, the door clicked and Taehyun sighed again.

“First mistake: you should have knocked and asked for permission. You can't be my personal guard if you just break into my room whenever you feel like it,” he didn't even turn around and waved one hand at his back. “You can leave. Have a nice day.”

“I'm glad you haven't changed one bit.”

A laugh he had not forgotten in five years. Taehyun turned around slowly as his world seemed to slow down as well.