“I’m sorry. If she steps into my territory, I’m not giving her any welcome sign.” Kush warned to the board of clan leaders after Yubin left the meeting.

“C’mon, she’s not going to attack you, Kush.” Donggab said.

“She just gave us the I-AM-GOING-TO-KILL-YOU-ERS warning!” Kush reminded.

“Why are you so worked up? Did you have any part in her father’s death?” Dokki asked Kush.

“ you, Dokki! I am not worked up. I’m angry the just declared war on all of us!” Kush rebuked.

“She did not declare war on all of us. She declared war on the one who killed her father! I would do the same too!” Gill gave his thought. “The girl is going through grief. She may have sounded offensive when she said that because she’s angry! She’s angry her only living parent was killed, ok!”

“Gill’s right. Let’s not take her words seriously. I don’t think she would do anything drastic to us since she still doesn’t know who killed her father yet.” Donggab concurred.

“And what happens if she does do something drastic, Donggab? You gonna take that responsibility if me or any of my men gets hurt?” Kush challenged.

“All I want you all to do now is to stay calm and not act rashly. If she attacks you or your clan without any reason, I will take full responsibility in punishing her. But if I find out that any of you guys attack her without her doing anything, I’ll be stepping in her defence. I think that’s fair enough.” Donggab stated firmly.

“Fine.” Kush agreed and the other clan leaders nodded in agreement as well.

“Good. This meeting is over.” Donggab adjourned the meeting and took his leave. He needed a drive to relax now.

After Donggab left, the rest of the clan leaders also got ready to leave but Sim D had to clear a curiosity. 

“By the way, you knew she was King of K-town all this while?” Sim D had to ask Gill.

“Of course I knew since I’m close to Old Bang. It’s only you idiots keep thinking it was a young guy who’s the king!” Gill said as a matter of fact.

“You could have told us earlier, right?” Kush added.

“No…why should I? I wanted save it to see your reaction when you guys finally meet her. And I must say I really enjoyed the jaw-dropping reaction from you all.” Gill grinned in contentment.

====

Donggab drove aimlessly in his Sports Benz as he tried to calm his mind. Unfortunately, he could not stop thinking about Yubin. She was a potential threat now to the clans but that was not what he was most worried about. He knew that she was no damsel in distress and was a powerful person who had enough goons ready to die and kill for her yet he was still worried for her safety. As Donggab drove on, he found himself arriving at Old Bang’s bungalow. The bodyguards at the big gate stopped his car for security check.

“Oh, it’s Boss Donggab. We were not expecting you.” One of the guards recognized Donggab.

“I know. I’m sorry. Can you inform your boss of my visit? Just a friendly visit to make sure she’s doing fine.” Donggab explained.

“Sure.” The bodyguard then spoke into his radio to convey the message. After a couple of minutes, the bodyguard got the OK to open the gate and let Donggab drive through.

Donggab was greeted by Tattoo-Jay at the hall entrance.

“Hey man! It’s good to see you again, Donggab!” Jay greeted Donggab with a friendly homie-handshake and half hug.

Donggab wondered since when Jay and him became such close pals.

“Jay..” another young man’s voice rang out during the homie greeting and Donggab turned to see the mistaken King of K-town, Dean.

“Oh hey boss, this is Boss Donggab. The chairman of the Brothers-in-arms clans?” Jay did introductions. “Meet Dean. Godson of Old Bang.”

Donggab shook Dean’s hand and said. “We didn’t formally meet at the funeral. Nice to meet you, Dean. I didn’t know President Bang had a Godson.”

“I guess Godpa spoke to you more fondly of his only blood daughter.” Dean said.

“Dean…” Yubin’s voice cut through the conversation and the men all look up to see Yubin standing at the top of the stairway in a golden silk nightgown robe. “Can you usher our guest to the study room?”

Dean nodded and then led Donggab the way up the stairs. When Donggab reached the study room, Yubin was already inside pouring 2 glasses of brandy.

“You can leave us alone, Dean.” Yubin said to her god-brother.

“You sure?” Dean double-checked.

Yubin just gave him a look and he took that as a Yes and left the room. Donggab sat down and remembered being in this room before having occasional drinks with Old Bang. The memory hit him and he found himself close to tears suddenly. He missed the old man already and the fact that Old Bang’s death was unjustified made him more upset.

“Are you ok?” Yubin asked and Donggab realized she has been holding his drink in front of him for a while.

“Sorry.” Donggab took the drink. “Just missing the old man for a moment.”

He bottomed up on the drink unwittingly too.

“Woah…take it easy. I thought I was the who needed consolation.” Yubin half-teased and took his empty glass to refill it again.

Yeah, he remembered his purpose of visit. “Yes. I..ah..was wondering if you are ok. After what happened at the clan meeting today. You seemed….”

“Pissed?” Yubin asked as she handed Donggab another glass of brandy and took a seat on the sofa next to Donggab.

“It’s understandable.” Donggab added.

“Were they pissed too?” Yubin asked as she took a sip of her drink.

“Somewhat..”

“Good. I want them to be afraid.”

“Yubin.. Pissing them off will not help you find the killer.”

“Well, for a start, the one most pissed at my comment will logically be the first suspect for me to investigate. I believe Kush was the one who reacted the most pissed?” Yubin guessed.

Donggab just sighed and took a sip of his drink.

“I didn’t need to stay to know it. His face was full of anger when I gave my parting shot.” Yubin added.

“You need to be careful with Kush. He practically has an army.” Donggab warned.

“I know. I don’t play offense blindly. It’s not my style.”

“But you just basically played a direct verbal offense at the meeting already and that is enough to cause a war.” Donggab highlighted. “Look, Yubin. I want to find the killer as well. We could work together.”

Yubin turned to give Donggab a look of mild surprise. “Why? If I remember, you are a suspect too. Even Uncle Gill is a suspect too.”     

“If that’s the case, investigate me then. Why are you telling me that Kush is your first suspect now?” Donggab challenged.

Yubin was silent. She looked at Donggab and was tempted to look into his eyes again. Donggab caught the eye contact again and he could not help but looked back at her. But their moment was interrupted by the sound of a knock on the door.

Yubin broke the stare and asked. “What is it?”

“Ma’am.. ermm…” It was Jay’s voice behind the door. “Boss Dean asked me to check with you if he is really flying off tomorrow morning and if so, can he postpone it to a week or a month later?”

Yubin sighed and then gave her answer. “No he can’t postpone! K-town needs him!”

“But ah… he was suggesting I go back and take care of K-town instead. He said you would need his help here.” Jay added.

“What?!” Yubin exclaimed. She could not believe Dean would think Jay could take care of K-town. She wanted to storm out and give Dean a good lecture but remembered she had a guest now. A guest who was subtly snickering at her dealing with her immature fellows now.

“Tell Dean I’ll talk to him later on this. I’m busy now.” Yubin told Jay, calming her voice as much as possible.

“Ok, ma’am!” Jay responded and she could hear him leaving.

 She shook her head at Donggab who gave her an understanding smile.

“I honestly think it’s a bad idea too. Tattoo Jay might just turn your K-town into a messy month-long street party.” Donggab told Yubin.

“Even you can tell, eh?” Yubin chuckled lightly.

It was the first time Donggab saw Yubin laugh and he felt as if his heart skipped a beat. It was new to him and he quickly refocused and continued the conversation.

“So, how did tattoo Jay come to work for you?” Donggab asked.

“Well, he was causing some trouble at a tattoo salon in K-town by not paying up and they kicked him to me to deal with him. They told him that facing the King of K-town was going to be worse than the cops. I ended up paying his debt at the tattoo salon and in return he just needed to work for me.”

Donggab was surprised. “So you did not punish him but took him in instead?”

Yes. Because Jay’s eyes were blue with pink surround. He was someone who could be saved and become a better person. Punishing him and sending him out on the streets again was only going to have the pink slowly disappear and turn green soon. Of course Yubin was not going to share with Donggab this color theory of hers.

“Underneath all that tattoo, he’s actually a good person. He just needed some good guidance. Several months later, he managed to gain Dean’s favor and Dean made him his right hand man. But Jay’s still just a year working with us. He’s definitely not ready to be the person in charge of K-town, not even temporary.” She told Donggab.

“And how about your own right hand man? I don’t recall seeing one.” Donggab asked.

“My right hand will only arrive here once Dean’s back in K-town.” Yubin informed.

And then she directed the question back at Donggab. “I don’t recall seeing you with a right hand man too.”

“Oh, I do have. I just give him a lot of space. Actually it’s more like I want my space but he’s a trustworthy guy and just a phone call away.” Donggab shared about Zino.

Yubin chuckled again and Donggab wondered what was so funny.

“You sound like you were talking about a love relationship.” Yubin said.

“Aish.. it’s not that kind of relationship!” Donggab defended himself again.

“You know, as soon as I heard of my father’s death, Dean and I dug deep into all of you clan leaders, and we came upon a recent gay rumor...”

“Oh god!” Donggab covered his face in his palms and he could hear Yubin laughing again.

“I’m not gay!” he stated.

“I know..” Yubin stopped laughing.

Donggab looked up to see Yubin leaning at the side of her sofa arm rest, closer to where Donggab was, looking at him with those eyes again.

Donggab then leaned closer too. His face just inches away from her. “You know?” he asked her.

“I just know..” she smiled, staring into him again.

Then the urge he had not been feeling for a long long time rose up to a level he thought might not be able to control. He wanted to taste her sweet pink lips so badly.

“Donggab-sshi…” Yubin addressed him softly, looking at his lips as well. Then his heart almost stopped when she added. “I would like to go to another room. Will you come with me?”

A/note: This chapter got longer than it should but I love my cliff-hanger!!