Life has always been hard on her. It almost seems like life hates her and it is willing to do everything to ruin her; to torture her. The torment that life has thrown in her way has hurt her. The pain still lingers in her heart and she can’t do a thing to remove it so she lets it be. What can she do, anyway?

Maybe it has been written in the stars. Maybe it’s her destiny that she turns out this way. Maybe it’s just her unlucky fate that she has been leading such a bad life.

However, life is not always cruel. There are times when life will let her smile and laugh and simply be happy. But of course, those moments do not last. It is kind of sad, really. Whenever she is happy there will always be something that happens that makes her lose her smile.

Despite all of that, it would be a lie if she says that she hates her past because she doesn’t exactly hate it. Without it, she won’t be the person who she is right now. But that does not mean she likes her past either. It just means that she feels neutral about her past. Sure, she has done some things that she is ashamed of but then, she has turned over a new leaf and has been living peacefully with Kim Heechul, the man who has freed her from the mess she used to be stuck in.

But then, here she is, right in front of Black Iris Club, wearing a pair of tight black jeans and a low-cut white blouse with thick make-up plastered on her face. She has entered nightclubs like this more than once. In fact, she has entered it more than her two hands could count.

This time, though, it is for Heechul, her saviour, rather than for herself to do her job in such places. Heechul needs her to be a spy for the police to catch a very notorious gang as she has some experience in this area. She knows that if possible, Heechul does not want her to get involved as he is afraid that she might go back to her old ways but since she has volunteered to be a spy for the police, there is nothing the man could do about it.

To say that she isn’t scared would be a lie. In fact, she’s very petrified at the idea of getting caught but the police assured her that there would be another spy inside the gang so she does not have to worry much. That piece of information makes her feel a little bit relieved but it does nothing to calm her wildly beating heart.

Deciding that it won’t do her any good if she keeps on standing in front of the club without doing anything, she takes in a deep breath and flashes her ID at the bouncer. The bouncer lets her in without a second glance and the young woman is not surprised by it.

She studies the inside of the club carefully. It is filled with people dancing everywhere. There are so many men with lustful eyes but more women who are wearing skimpy clothes, attracting the men’s attention. The seats are worse, in her opinion. There, she spots some couples who have their tongues deep inside each other’s throats. Their hair is a mess and their clothes are rumpled.

She tears her eyes away from the immoral sight and begins to walk deeper into the club. Heechul has told her that the gang she will be spying on is called Bloody Phoenix. She has heard of them before as she, after all, used to belong in this underworld. The gang is one of the most powerful gangs in Seoul and small gangs like the one she used to belong to try their hardest to avoid them.

Bloody Phoenix is made up of hundreds of people and most of them are unknown to the police. The ones that the police know about are the ones who do the dirty jobs and most of them are youngsters. The police want to catch the leader of the gang and destroy the gang that has been causing a lot of trouble in Seoul. The thing about Bloody Phoenix is, nobody really knows about the number of people in it except for the ones inside the gang especially those who have high positions in it. Bloody Phoenix is divided into many groups and Yoona is told to invade one of the groups to find out more information about the gang. Everyone in the underworld knows that Bloody Phoenix is not a gang to mess with and Yoona holds firmly to that belief. She has always avoided dealing with Bloody Phoenix.

But then, here she is, going against everything that has been taught to her since she was young. Here she is, on a mission that could get her killed. Here she is, trying to get close with Bloody Phoenix’s members so that she is able to get them arrested.

Apparently, she has a suicide wish.

Her steps soon come to a halt as soon as she spots one of the gang members. From what she remembers from the profiles that were sent to her a week ago, the guy’s name is Kim Jongdae but he is also known as Chen. Well, almost everybody in the underworld does not use their real names so it is not exactly a surprise for her.

She heads towards the bar stool and the bartender immediately tends to her. She tells him that she wants coke for she does not want to get drunk while she is on a mission. The bartender goes away to prepare her drink and she sees more Bloody Phoenix’s members now but she does not really remember their names.

The bartender returns with her drink and she thanks him with a small smile before he goes and entertains other customers. The young woman wonders whether she should just observe the gang from this distance tonight and approach them some other time or she should just go over there and introduce herself.

Her dilemma soon disappears as soon as one of the Bloody Phoenix’s members sees her and whistles at her. The young woman flashes the guy a flirtatious smile and takes a sip of her coke. His friends begin to look at who the guy is whistling at and snickers could be heard although the music is pounding loudly throughout the nightclub.

She expects the guy who whistled at her to come over but instead, one of his friends stands up and heads towards her. She acts like she is busy messaging someone using her phone as the guy sits next to her and orders a glass of whiskey.

When she decides to drop the act and keeps her phone in her purse, the guy next to her greets her, “Hey there, gorgeous.” The young woman snorts at the way he greets her. Her eyes meet with his and she doesn’t say anything yet. She just continues to stare at him for a moment before she looks away, still not saying anything.

The guy opens his mouth to say something again but the young woman quickly interrupts him, “If you’re looking for a one-night stand, I’m not interested so you may leave and find another prey.”

The guy laughs at her statement, not at all offended by it. In fact, he seems to be amused. He leans closer to her and the alcohol in his breath could be smelt. The young woman does not feel uncomfortable with it as alcohol used to be a part of her life, after all, but she feels like her personal space has been invaded. “I just want to know your name, gorgeous,” he says, enunciating each word carefully with a twinkle in his eyes. “And maybe, if I’m lucky, your phone number too.”

The young woman downs the remaining of her coke and the bartender comes back with a glass of whiskey in his hand. He places it right in front of the guy who is obviously flirting with her and looks at her. She pushes her empty glass to the bartender, indicating that she wants a refill and the bartender nods before going away with her glass. The music continues to blare loudly but she does not mind. It used to be a part of her life, after all.

“What can you give me if I tell you my name and phone number?” she asks challengingly with a small smirk on her lips. She tilts her head to the side slightly while raising her eyebrow to show that she really means it and she is not just teasing.

The guy’s cocky demeanour falters a little bit before he regains it. He leans even closer to her and whispers almost seductively, “I can make you feel good. Like, very good, if you’ll only allow me.”

The young woman scowls at him and looks at the bartender to see if he is done making her drink. The bartender is heading towards them and he places the drink right in front of her. She nods at him and the bartender goes back to serving others. She turns to the guy next to her and she is a little bit taken aback on how good-looking he is.

He is wearing a simple white button-down T-shirt and a pair of jeans but he still looks good. His hair is a little bit mussed and he has a pair of doe eyes, just like her. From the way he carries himself, the young woman knows that he is very confident of himself and that makes her feel like she should reject his advances just to bruise his ego. “I’m not here for ,” she tells him bluntly.

The guy then shrugs nonchalantly as though her rejection means nothing to him. “Then, what do you want?” he inquires curiously. “I can offer some medication that will make you feel like you’re on top of the world but you don’t seem like the type.” The guy moves slightly away from her and gulps down his whiskey.

The young woman chuckles humourlessly at his statement, remembering that she has heard that somewhere before. “Has anyone told you not to judge a book by its cover?” she returns, hinting at something that only she knows with a mysterious smile on her lips.

The guy’s eyebrows immediately shoot up at her sentence. “Ah, so you’re one of them, after all,” he snickers. “So which pill do you want in exchange for your name and phone number, gorgeous?”

She laughs at his quick assumption before taking a sip of her drink. “I don’t do drugs,” she interjects. Well, not anymore, she thinks to herself. An almost sad smile touches her lips and she says, “But you can do something for me if you want to know my name and phone number.”

“What is it?” he asks.

The young woman smiles maliciously as she already knows what she has in mind. She hopes that the guy next to her will agree to it. This time, it is her who leans closer to him. “I want you to,” she pauses dramatically, “introduce me to your friends.” She holds herself back from laughing at his confused face. “You’re in Bloody Phoenix, aren’t you? I want in.”

The guy looks at her with what seems like awe but at the same time his eyes tell her that he thinks she’s a fool. “You wouldn’t want to get involved, gorgeous. Do you even know what Bloody Phoenix is about?” he replies almost scornfully.

She chortles at his response and leans even closer to him. “Of course, I do,” she answers. She pulls at her blouse, revealing the tattoo that has been instilled in the skin of her shoulder more than a decade ago. The tattoo is just a small rose with thorns in black ink. She feels his eyes admire the tattoo like it is a piece of art. He reaches out to touch the tattoo but she immediately covers it again.

The guy retracts his hand and a small smile graces his lips. “Okay, fine, I’ll let you in,” he agrees at last.

The young woman grins at him. “Yoona,” she tells him, beaming at him like a small child who has gotten her favourite candy. “Im Yoona. That’s my name.”

The guy grins back at her and says, “I’m Luhan. It’s nice to meet you, Yoona. And yeah, welcome to Bloody Phoenix. I’ll introduce you to the others. Just know that if you end up being an alcoholic or a drug addict or anything else, it’s all your own choice. We’re not to blame for anything that happens to you.”

“Of course I won’t blame any of you,” she responds confidently. Im Yoona takes her first step into the world that she has left behind, three years ago.

Author's Note: Hello everybody! I'm glad that you all give this story a chance. The first chapter is kind of the introduction of how Yoona manipulates Luhan into letting her join the gang. Well, I can't guarantee that you will love any of the characters here because tbh, I, myself, have mixed emotions for my characters in this story. They're all not particularly good but they're not really as bad as what people think they are. Okay, I should stop giving spoilers on how the characters will turn out to be.

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