Warning: Violence, gore?

Your eyebrows furrowed as you flipped through the files. The Emperor Dragon clan. They were one of the more prominent China gangs on this side of town. Dealing with arms and drug deals as well as seedier businesses such as human trafficking and ion. You chewed your bottom lip, trying to comprehend why in the world they were coming after you. The Chinese mafia rarely to ever frequented your club and when they did they were usually civil.  A part of you wanted to storm into their headquarters and demand to know why they were disturbing your semi-peaceful lifestyle. After all, you had to dish out a few thousand to give to Lu Feng just scraps of information. But you thought it best to not cause trouble. Yet. 

“Sorry, I’m a little busy right now…” You murmured at the sound of a barstool scraping against your tiled floor. 

“I can see that.” You jumped at the sound of a familiar voice, a calm, predatory sound. Your eyes trailed from your stack of files to the eyes of certain devilish man. A sly smirk on his lips, the glint of danger sparkling in his eyes.

“It’s nothing I can’t handle though.” You politely closed the files and flashed him a professional smile. You refused to be intimidated. To show even a small sign of weakness in front of this man. A small part of you knew that if you did, he would eat you alive. 

“I don’t doubt that…” A small chuckle escaped his lips as he leaned back into his seat. There was something about Jongup that made your nerves on high alert. It was like he had all the cards in his hands. That he knew exactly what to do or say to get under your skin. A puppet master and the rest of the world his puppet. He leaned in closer, his lips near your ears. “But, if you’re not careful, you might just get buried.” A sly smile spread across his lips as he saw your expression darken slightly.

“Are you threatening me? And I thought we were close.” A smirk appeared on your red-violet lips, the sarcasm dripping off your voice. 

“I’m just worried,” An amused and devious smile spreading across his lips. “You have some dangerous beast on your tail.” He eyed towards the back of the club. Your eyes following his line of sight to a  well-built asian man in the corner of the room, watching you with a hawk-like stare.  A yellow dragon tattoo peeking out of the edge of his sleeve. You felt the nerves in your body shoot up. A mixture of anger and frustration began to boil in your stomach. How dare they think they can disturb you on your turf? In your home?

“Worried? More like entertained.” You glared at Jongup who only returned your intimidation with a nonchalant smile. 

“A game of cat and mouse is very entertaining.” He chuckled, a toothy devilish grin never leaving his lips. 

“Well then I hope you enjoy me kicking this cat out of my home.” You flashed him a polite grin as you moved from around the bar counter to the man in the backroom. You were a business professional and most of the time would let these incidents sly, dealing with these ordeals on a later date. But not this time. They thought they could kidnap you then come into your home and intimidate you, make you squirm. That was a personal insult that you would not allow. 

“Ah,” Jongup cut off your movements, grabbing your wrist and pulling you back so that you fell into his lap. “Don’t end the chase before it even begins.” He smirked, placing his index finger against your lips. You searched his eyes, seeing if he was merely plotting a ploy. Setting up a trap for his own entertainment. But once again, as you’ve seen before, his eyes and expression was unreadable. He was a time bomb, but you didn’t know when it would go off or what kind of bomb it was. 

You kissed his finger, a devilish smirk on your lips as you stared into his eyes. “I like to douse the fire out before it starts.” 

“If you really wanted to end this game, why not kill the cat instead of kicking it out.” He removed his finger from your lips, leaning in close, flicking his tongue against your lips instead. You retracted away from him out of instinct causing Jongup to smile. He enjoyed watching you squirm. The feeling of goosebumps on your skin. Your tough exterior. Your cool demeanor. He wanted to break them all down. And the more you fought him on, the more he chased.

“I don’t play by those rules.” You tried to keep your composure, keeping your heartbeat steady. You’ve played mind games with men many times before. It was like playing a game of chess. But it was different with Jongup. The way his eyes seemed to see right through you. You felt and vulnerable under his stares, but you refused to let him see that. But no matter what you did, he always seemed to know how uncomfortable he made you. With him, it was like playing a game of Russian Roulette.

“Rules? Hah,” He scoffed, leaning back into his seat and resting his arms on the back of the chair. “Restrictions. Laws set by man. An attempt to bring order in a world filled with chaos. Merely being a puppet in society’s game. I thought you were more entertaining than that, marion.” He ran his fingers through your soft hair, tugging it a bit at his last words. 

“People are complicated,” You shrugged nonchalantly as you slid off his lap, grabbing his hand and linking your fingers with his so that he would release your soft locks. The two of you were in a stare down, waiting to see who would dare make the first move. It wasn’t until you noticed a book resting on the countertop. “Wahnsinn der Menschen,” that your attention strayed. You examined the simple grey green book cover, before glancing back at Jongup. “It suits you.” A smirk on your lips. 

“You have no idea, marion.” He unraveled his fingers from yours before flipping through the pages of the book, a bored expression on his face. 

“So what makes mad men like you?” You came behind Jongup, your hands trailing across his shoulder line. “What makes you…” You brought your lips close to his ear, making sure your voice was low and sultry. “Tick.”

Perhaps a clue. A piece of the puzzle. Something that would allow you to understand how this man worked. What he was hiding. What he was thinking. Unpredictability, lack of control. Those things gnawed at the back of your mind. 

“Who knows?” Jongup shrugged nonchalantly, flipping to a chapter titled “Kipppunkt.” “I had everything in the palm of my hand. Expendable funds. Status. Anything I wanted with a simple snap of a finger.” Jongup mimicked the motion, a sarcastic chuckle escaping his lips.

“Sounds like you were living the good life.” You listened to his story intently, clinging onto every word. You hadn’t expected him to open up, let alone tell you of all people. A part of your mind questioned whether you should have been a therapist rather than a bar owner.

“On the outside I suppose,” A devious grin spread on his face. “Daddy couldn’t keep it in his pants and hence a bastard child came to be,” He gave a bored, uncaring yawn. Your eyebrows furrowed, confused and awed at how he could simply brush off the fact he was a child of an affair. “Dad’s mistake. Mommy’s reminder of his affair. Hah, I wasn’t surprised that Mother dearest tried to off me a few times. She could never get it right though. Always managed to live.” He chuckled, a miniscule glint of sadness in his voice. But something else lurked within his laughter. Something far more sinister and dark.

Your eyes couldn’t help, but soften at his words. It was one thing to be rejected by your parents, but to be hated to the point you were a target of murder. You couldn’t even imagine what he had felt. You were fortunate enough to be raised by people who loved you. Cared for you. To be loved and love. But not Jongup. You wondered if he even understood the word since the people who should have loved him the most hated him the most.

“Don’t give me that look, marion,” He gripped your chin tightly in his grasp, tilting your face so that you were looking into his dark bottomless eyes. “I hate pity,” He grinned before releasing you, knowing that he left a few bruises. “Plus I took care of her. After the sixth attempt, a child can get a bit antsy you know. I can still imagine it now. Her warm blood slipping through my fingers,” He slowly folded his fingers, his eyes off in a daze. It as if he was reliving the very moment. “Her blank stare,” He glanced back you, a demented smirk on his lips as he leaned closer to you. “The fear painted on her face,” His voice was barely above a whisper as he stared into your eyes. Seeing. Waiting. Waiting for the seeds of fear to settle. “But Daddy dearest made sure to clean up my mess and get rid of me in one fell swoop.” He ran his fingers through his dark blue hair, psychotic, unstoppable laughter escaping his lips. As if the entire murder of his mother was merely a game to him. A comedic anecdote to tell around the campfire.

You didn’t know how to respond. Were you supposed to empathize with him? Fear him? He reminded you of your girls. Broken. Beaten. Abandoned. But you were able to save them, bring them out of the stewing darkness. No one was there for him though. He just stayed in the darkness, where it consumed him. Out of instinct, you reached out for him and pulled him into an embrace. His head resting above your chest as if you were cradling a child. For a brief second, you thought you saw his eyes go wide with surprise, only to find that it was quickly replaced with an amused expression.

“I’m sorry….” You didn’t know what to say or do. Perhaps that was why he always had this aura of death and danger about him. It was the only thing he knew. It was his defense mechanism. 

Jongup couldn’t help but burst out into borderline maniacal laughter. One hand covering his face and the other pushing you away slightly. During his fit of laughter, he glanced up at you, wiping away a tear of laughter. “Oh you are so sweet, marion,” He held both of your wrist in his grip, pulling you down so that the two of you were face to face. “Sweet and naive,” His warm breathe against the pulse of your neck sent a shiver up your spine. “A cute little thing like you shouldn’t be playing in this world of bad men,” Your eyes shot wide opened as you felt a nip at your neck, causing you to instinctively rip yourself away from him. You glared at the amused predator, hand firmly grasping the area he had marked. “Or you just might lose something you love.” He chuckled, removing himself from the bar and exiting the club as if nothing happened. 

Your brain was in a fog. A blur. You couldn’t comprehend the scene that had just occurred. He had played you. Like a predator playing with its prey before going in for the kill. But he wasn’t done. The game was still going whether you liked it or not. You wanted to believe his story. To find some humanity in him. But you knew better. Knew better to be on guard than trust. His ominous warning echoing in the back of your mind. Your eyes slowly glancing at the back corner of the club. Only to find that the Chinese gang member was gone. 

“Damn it.” You growled under your breathe. You balled your hands into fist, the white of your knuckles showing. You couldn’t allow it to end like this. Like he had won. Like he had out bested you. You refused to be the victim. To be prey. Not again. You ran out of the club, hoping to catch up to Jongup and demand answers. 

The cool evening breeze greeted you, causing your body to tremble from the sudden chill. You glanced around, hoping to maybe see the outline of Jongup’s figure. Or even a hint as to which direction he ventured. You jumped at the sound of a cat’s shriek in a the alley beside your club. The poor feline sprinting pass you as of the devil itself was chasing after it. You cautiously backtrack the cat’s path towards the alleyway when a familiar stench greeted you. Iron.

You quickly placed your hand over your mouth, muffling the gasp that threatened to escape. Your eyes wide. Pupils shaking. Jongup dropped the blood covered knife beside the nearly unrecognizable body, looking up to see your frozen figure. A smirk of delight on his face. You didn’t dare to move any further from your spot. 

It wasn’t the murder itself that spooked you. You had witnessed many deaths and corpses in your line of work. It with the cruel nature of the crime. Fresh blood masked the man’s slashed up face as several bullet holes filled his torso. You could tell from this disfigurement of some of his joints that his arm and some of his fingers had been broken. The only thing that you could make out was the yellow dragon tattoo decorating the man’s arm. This was more than simple overkill. This was torture. You couldn’t help but take a step back out of instinct.

Jongup stood up from his squatted position, wiping some blood and dust on the knees of his pants. Whistling a little tune as if he had just complete a mundane task. He wiped the specks of blood that decorated his well defined cheeks with the bottom of his palm, slowly approaching you. You wanted to move. Say something. Anything. But for the first time in quite a while you were scared. Terrified to even utter a sound. 

“Awww, are you scared?” Jongup chuckled at the sight. You took a long gulp, trying your best to compose yourself. You told yourself that you wouldn’t allow him to get you. To be strong. “Too bloody for my little puppet?” He gently caressed your cheek, causing you to growl and glare at him. 

You took a deep breathe, hiding the effect that the bloody massacre had on you. “More like too much of a mess. Now who’s going to clean this up?” You tilted your chin towards the mutilated body. You could feel the throw up that was crawling up your throat. 

“The rats and strays can take care of it.” He chuckled, amused at the strong front you refused to let fall. You were entertaining. Different. He had met many women in his line of work. But they would always run. They were predictable. Boring. But not you. You refused to surrender. You continued to play. Even when you knew you were on the losing end. 

“I don’t like the rules you play by.” You faced the murder in front of you, a glare plastered on your face. He scoffed, placing his bloody palm on your shoulder, squeezing it tightly. 

“I don’t play by any rules, marion.” He whispered in your ear, before releasing you. Disappearing into the darkness of the night.

Thanks for reading! 

Commenst, critiques, and questions are appreciated!!