…

Choi Minseok, Jaein's father, and Im Sunghwan, Jaebum's father, were best friends. They met Kim Jitae and Kim Sangjun, Kim Woojin's father, who were also best friends, and the four of them became very close friends, almost inseparable.

They weren't always on the straight and narrow path, but they had each other while they worked in the underground. Eventually, Minseok started gaining power, and not everyone was happy about it. Sangjun, greedy for power, betrayed Minseok and convinced Jitae to do the same, but he couldn't deter Sunghwan. Sunghwan had warned Minseok of Sangjun and Jitae, but it still ended in a blood bath.

Minseok lost his wife, sister, and brother-in-law, and Sunghwan passed along with his wife leaving behind their son. We know the rest of this story.

However, they're not the only ones that suffered loss. Jitae lost his wife, and Sangjun and his wife passed leaving behind their son, Woojin. Jitae had no one left and took in Woojin to raised him as his own.

After this tragedy, Minseok got out of the underground as fast as he could, and with that Jitae ascended to power.

It would be nice if the story just stopped here with everyone living their separate lives, but life is just not that easy.

…

 "When I was in college, Jinyoung and I met Woojin," Jaebum explained to Jaein. "At the time, I had no idea who he was. He was just another first year student, and he became our friend."

Jaebum let out a deep sigh. "He and I were similar in a lot of ways. We both lost our parents when we were young. We had a lot of ambition. We got really close, but looking back now, we were very different."

Jaebum began pacing back and forth as he recalled his memories of Woojin.

"When I first mentioned Woojin to your father, your father became suspicious and told me the story I just told you. It may not have been the same Kim Woojin, but your father told me to have my guard up around him. Then there were these red flags that kept going off. He always asked too many questions about my life, and there were times he would get pretty violent: fist fights and things like that, plus he would say things that no person should ever say.

"Not long after, there was a female student that was found dead. It was this girl that Woojin used to mention to Jinyoung and me. He would go after her, but she always rejected him, so when I heard about her, I couldn't help but think that Woojin is the one that had done it.

"I had confronted him, and he admitted to everything. He knew who I was from the beginning and targeted me and even though he didn't explicitly say he did it, he might as well have said he killed that girl. I stopped all contact with him after that."

"What about the girl?" 

"People started pointing fingers at Woojin, but there was no proof. Eventually, he had dropped out of school, and I haven't seen him since."

"Until your birthday," Jaein finished his sentence. She thought back to Jaebum's birthday party when she first ran into Kim Woojin. He certainly didn't seem like a killer, but you can never judge a book by its cover.

"But that still doesn't explain why Kim Jitae showed up today?"

Jaebum let out another sigh leaning against his desk. "Kim Woojin is trying to usurp Kim Jitae's power in the underground, and Kim Jitae showing up today probably means Woojin's an actual threat. It would explain all those murders, too."

"Is it something we have to worry about? You guys aren't in any danger?"  To say Jaein was worried was an understatement. All this gang related activity was too close for comfort, but if her family and the company was detached from it all, they shouldn't have to worry, should they? 

Jaebum sat next to Jaein putting an arm around her. "If I said we don't have anything to worry about, I'd be lying." Jaebum was worried, too. Jaein could tell. "But, we should be fine."

Jaein took in his words of assurance and leaned against Jaebum's shoulder. "I sure hope so."

~~~

Jaebum couldn't imagine what would happen if Woojin took over the underground. At least Kim Jitae was smart and kept his distance from the surface, but Woojin would be a completely different story. Woojin was impulsive and violent, not a very good combination for someone leading the most dangerous people in Korea. Jaebum was going to have to tell the boys. He's told them to keep their distance from the underground after Mark got hurt, but now they should just cut all ties to ensure their safety.

 "Jaebum-ah," Jaein called out to him tiredly.

"Mmm?" Jaebum answered Jaein coming out of his thoughts.

"I'm going to go and change," she told him getting up and yawning. 

"Okay," he said reluctantly not wanting to let her go.

"Did you need anything?" she asked him before heading out the door, but Jaebum shook his head. "No, I'm good. I'm just going to finish up some work."

Jaein just smiled before she left,