Without Fail

“I am here to see Mai” Yu Seuk answered at the outraged Eun Ju. He

“Your presence here will make no difference to her whatsoever” Eun Ju told him most explicitly, her hands forming into fists by her sides “Leave us. I am sure that my cousin will want you to do the same.”

Yu Seuk stepped forward towards Eun Ju but Yanggoon blocked his way. “Yu Seuk” Yanggoon began, his teeth grinding in anger “Mai is here because of you.”

There was a collective gasp in the waiting room as no one else knew of this. “The police have reported to me that the motorcycle has been ID’d as that of Ko Young’s. He, it seems, shot Mai on his own” Yanggoon continued, his eyes ablaze wih so much rage “Your greatest rival Yu Seuk! Your greatest rival shot Mai in the middle of the street and none of the power you boast was able to protect her at that very moment!”

Yanggoon reached for Yu Seuk’s collar and was unstoppable as all the men inside the waiting room blocked the way of his big guards and Minhwan.

“Try to pull out your guns and we will break your hands” Ji warned the guards who poised to reach for their arms. He, T.O.P., Danny, Bi, Jinhwan, Jae Joong, Yoochun, and Young Bae had formed a circle as the others protected the women.

“When we made a pact” Yanggoon told Yu Seuk as he almost choked him to death “you promised that not a breath of Mai’s hair will be harmed yet here she is now… fighting for her life because one of the enemies you have created. YOU! You have broken that pact Yu Suek by your mere arrogance! By thinking that no one can touch you and what is your own! I feel stupid for being afraid of someone like you… but now, I have neither fear nor any other emotion towards you.”

Yu Seuk skidded as Yanggoon forcibly threw him on the floor “No one! Not EVEN you will ever be abe to touch my family again” the President announced “Leave us! We DO NOT ever want to see you again!”

Everyone in the waiting room converged to make a stand against Yu Seuk as he stood up assisted by his nephew and one of the guards.

“This will not be the last Yanggoon” Yu Seuk warned him.

“No Yu Seuk” Yanggoon answered him most confidently “this will be the end.”

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The True Definition of…

(Eight months ago…)

“This is far too dangerous Mai. I will not allow you to do this.”

“Papa” Mai implored “What I ask of you is difficult, I know… but this is the only way for all of this to end. I will free you, free Teddy, and free all of us from the bonds of fear that Yu Seuk has put on us since the day he began to pursue me with such deadly conviction.”

“But at what price is this? Have you forgotten? You’re life can very well be at stake here!”

“Mai… I’m not going to agree to this. You will not do this” Danny told her.

Breathing deeply, she shook her head and stood up from the dining table to look outside her apartment window. “I have had the misfortune of gaining the affections of a man who will stop at nothing to take me. It has caused me and all those close to me much heart ache…”

“You didn’t wish for any of it” Danny argued.

“Still… I cannot let it go on” she replied and for the first time ever… let her tears flow in the presence of others “Because of this, I have lost MURD.O.C., I have lost Teddy… and I might lose just about everbody else I ever cared for. Do you know how it feels to go to sleep at night thinking these things? Remembering how I was forced to watch MURD.O.C. self-destruct and not be able to do a thing? Reminded of Teddy’s face over and over again as he turned his back on me so I should live as I am? Fearing that at any moment the next person taken away from me could be you Papa or Danny or Eun Ju or Gummy or…”

“If this does not stop… either I will go crazy or I will end up being imprisoned in Song Yu Seuk’s company” she continued, her voice cracking now as emotion was overwhelming her “and since I don’t want to just sit around here and wait for either of those things to happen… I will go out and do what I must. And if what I do will also ensure that everyone around me will benefit, it’ll be so much better than feeling like a duck sitting in a pond of gold mines.”

“Can you not be content with being in the here and now? Can you not be content with this freedom?” the President asked her.

“Papa” she finally faced the two of them again “do you not fret whenever something bad happens to any of us? Do you not also suffer from loss of sleep when you are reminded of the hold that this man has on all of us? Do you not also regret having to cut off all ties with Teddy? Do you not grieve the loss of MURD.O.C. because of the blind and selfish actions of one man?!?”

“I do” Yanggoon answered in resignation “But -“

“And was it not you who taught all of us the definition of family? Is it not that one family member will always do what he or she has to do for those that he or she loves the most?”

The president clenched his fist at Mai’s obstinacy “That is the exact same reason why I cannot allow you to do as you plan!”

“Then it will also be the same exact reason why I will do as I plan with or without your consent.”

“Mai!” Danny exclaimed.

“I am tired already…” she replied to both men in a voice laced with wretchedness “tired of running away and hiding behind other people. Contrary to what you both believe… this so-called freedom I have now never really brought me any happiness. For so long in this pain, I have always thought of how I could get out of this and now that the answer is being offered to me… I will do everything to make sure that I see it to the end.”

“But what if this kills you?” Danny retorted.

“I fully expect it to” she answered without fear “for when I decided to do this, I knew that could very well happen. But that does not discourage me because, now, there is nothing else in the world that I would want to do… the assurance that we will all be truly free from Song Yu Seuk is enough for me.”

“What if Ko Young suspects and sees through your ploy? What if you have not even begun yet and you see the end?”

“I will find another man who may be able to face off Song Yu Seuk then” she answered firmly “Ko Young’s courtship came at an opportune time. When he finds out I betrayed him for Song Yu Seuk, it will deepen their ire against one another and I will force the both of them to declare a full-scale underground war. Sooner or later, Song Yu Seuk will meet his end by this. I know that he knows that for sure… what he will never know though or suspect is that it is I who has intentionally brought this to him.”

“What about Teddy?” the President asked her… a question she should have expected from him… after all, she didn’t call him father for nothing.

“Teddy would know and understand why I did what I had to do” she reached out for Danny’s hand “And I believe that whatever happens to me, you will all find a way for him to understand, wouldn’t you?”

“You are asking us to choose you or Teddy!”

“I’m not asking you to choose at all Danny. That is not even part of this and I don’t want to have to repeat myself again” she sat down beside the two of them with the benevolence of a General in battle doing his last call of duty - a look that Danny and President Yanggoon will always remember - a look that had transformed Mai from merely the pawn in her own life to the director of the whole picture “I will do what I need to do and I will do it with or without your help, if it comes to that. For Yu Seuk… this will be the end.”