Unexpected

“Uncle... are you really marrying Mai-noona for vengeance?” Minhwan, in the midst of the bachelor party he has thrown for his uncle, asked the groom when they were able to take a breather from the blaring sounds inside Teddy’s. The club had changed managements but retained its name because of its popularity.

Yu Seuk raised a brow “Why do you ask me this my good nephew?”

Surprised himself by the bold question he put to his uncle, Minhwan gulped and decided to pursue the topic. It had bothered him since his Uncle’s announcement. “I don’t remember much of MURD.O.C. uncle but what I do know was you really liked him… treated him like a son… and from what I remember, all you wanted then was to take Mai-noona to make her suffer for your loss of hyung… but that was too long ago. Do you still hold that grudge Uncle? Do you still have that anger?”

The older man smiled bitterly at the question and downed the glass of brandy he held. “You like the young girl they call Dara right?”

“Huh?”

“You like her right?”

Minhwan nodded “She caught my eye the first time I watched her perform.”

“And you have liked her eversince?”

“Yes… but -“

“I felt that way for a person once” Yu Seuk cut him off and poured another shot of brandy for himself “Years ago, when I was beginning in this business and I was dealing with those motherf*@#+%$ Americans, I got the chance to watch a rap battle in an underground club in L.A. You know that I’ve never liked that scene much but only tolerated it for the money it brings me here. However, there was one woman who had changed that for me. She’s younger than me by at at least fifteen years yet I didn’t see that. I was caught by her performance and l told myself I had to have her… by any means… by all means possible.”

“You mean Mai-noona?”

“I do” Yu Seuk answered “I talked with Brothers Entertainment and gave them money to try to get her to go to Korea but she was adamant. It was my bad luck that Yanggoon had gotten ahead of me in that field. He had come to her personally and was able to persuade her. However, I wasn’t about to give up. I decided that I should take down all the men around her.

I began with MURD.O.C. I never had any particular feelings for him. I made him and everybody believe that I looked upon him as a son but nothing is further from the truth. He was an easy pawn up until the stupid idiot died” a smile that would have scared any mortal painted itself on his face “However, I admired Mai more after that incident for her show of courage. No man had ever slipped away like that from me and here was a woman who had gone inside my premises, took hold of a man who had about four guards and was able to take him with her.”

“She almost died that night and to keep up with the pretense and make sure he doesn’t become a future prick in the neck, I took up Teddy with his deal and took hold of him because unlike MURD.O.C., he didn’t seem like a guy who was just going to become a pawn. Imortantly, he was becoming too close to Mai for my own comfort.”

Minhwan, upto that moment, had listened without any shadow of impression crossing his serious face. He had not - in any way at all - imagine that the truth of his Uncle’s actions would reveal to him an obsession… a very deadly obsession. As he was about to finally say something, his Uncle’s right hand man - Im Jung ran up to the both of them.

Composing himself, Im Jung took a breath before whispering something to Yu Seuk.

“What?!?”

“Ko Young sent one of his messengers with a tape of how he himself shot her” Im Jung answered in the affirmative regarding whatever it was he had told Yu Seuk.

“Ko Young?” Minhwan asked. Who had his uncle’s rival personally shot?

Im Jung looked down. He was not allowed to answer unless Yu Seuk himself gave permission.

“Ko Young shot Mai” his uncle finally said… his jaw set in anger… an anger that Minhwan had never seen before.