Omo! I haven't thanked properly some of you who upvoted this story. sapphireblue940421, catwilled, MerbinWilk, kang2noh, riiesantii, edel16, PalletteRed, bernie20, Reckiv, Moon-Walker, solchi_7, dokiiedokiie, xailamarie and koolangelz . . . Thank you for upvoting guys!!! Keep safe always! 

I just realized that I began writing this story in 2017. Donghae oppa hasn't been released from his military duties. Then, he came back mid 2017. I lost the drive to write this after he came back. A lot of good and bad stuff happened in the world. And now 2021, I'm writing darahae fics again. Some AFF chingus I used to have conversation with are also gone here. *sniff sniff*

AT WALA PA DING UMAAMIN SA DALAWA?!

I'm fine.

He and Dara drove further from the mansion that morning. He guessed it was a 10-minute drive, making him wonder how big The Lair really is. As they got down the car, a small wooden bungalow house welcomed him. It was an 8 x 7 property. It was a regular house with the cozy kitchen, and small living room. Dara opened the door to her left. He thought it was the bedroom. Are they visiting someone? Donghae watched Dara peeked at the peephole of the door. He heard a click, and Dara opened the door.

He creased his brows when it wasn’t a bed and a lamp that welcomed him, but an elevator. What? Dara pressed some code on the side and put her palm on the screen on top of it. Clear. The elevator’s door opened and Dara went inside with that deadpan face. She stared at Donghae who was in an utmost surprise at how there was an elevator inside. Where will it go? He wondered as he knew it was a bungalow house from the outside.

“Get in.” He heard her say.

Donghae knew running away from there wouldn’t work. There were blackbloods outside, waiting for them. He took a deep breath and went in. The elevator’s door closed. There were no buttons inside the elevator that indicates which floor you’re getting off. He was about to ask that to Dara, but shut it when the door opened.

“Let’s go.” She said without looking at him.

Donghae followed her like a lost puppy who needed his master. The old bungalow house was a façade. It was Lost Anima’s drug lab. Donghae felt something tightened around his stomach. People in white coats stopped whatever it was they were doing and stared as they passed by. Some were pushing carts with huge boxes. Some were behind the glasses and working on huge machines that produced different types of drugs. He saw tablets and powdery stuff in one of the rooms. In another room, he saw a woman in a cage who looked so high, laughing and clapping, while there were people in lab coats who seemed to be busy in some chemical injections being studied. His eyes fell on the woman in the cage. She might looked ecstatic over something, but he knew better. She was on drugs. “She needs help.” Donghae stopped walking.

“She’s paid.” Dara paused too.

“But-” He was damn sure his conscience wouldn’t let him sleep tonight after seeing somebody held like that. Even if there was consent by her . . . “This is wrong.” He whispered, feeling something that is crushing his stomach if he would not do a thing.

“Forget it.” Dara started to walk again, but stopped when Donghae entered the room.

“Let her go.”

As if the people in white were struck by lightning at his presence. They were frozen, confused and elated to see him. It was a mixture of confusion and high ecstasy in their faces. He is their savior. One by one, they bowed to him. Dongahe heard people calling him ‘leader’ too.

“What’s going on here?”

Donghae looked to his right and saw a woman in red lipstick and red high heels, wearing a white coat and her hair tied up. “Lideo.” She bowed politely.

He remembered her name. She’s Kiko. “The woman in the cage.” He pointed at woman who looked so crazed while holding a canned beer and watching a movie in a television inside her prison. “Set her free.”

The people inside the room just looked at each other, asking silently whether they heard him correctly or not.

“Leader.” Kiko began to say. “This woman is paid by Lost Anima. She is fully aware of-”

Donghae shook his head, not wanting to hear anymore of it. It was just wrong. Inhumane. “Set her free.” He repeated.

“Leader.” From his back, Dara called his name to get his attention and clear his mind, but as he looked back and she saw those eyes of his, she knew already. He had made up his mind. He would not just let this go. “You heard him.”

“Dara.” Kiko took a step forward as a sign of protest. The other blackbloods in the room were all the more confused of their new leader. She knew this act of mercy from him would ignite the hearsays even more in The Lair. That their leader is not the leader they are expecting to have.

“You heard him.” Dara said firmly, as much as she hated it.

Donghae looked back at the prison as some people helped the woman to stand and assisted her out of the room.

“Let’s go, leader.” Dara told him again, as she led the way out. There was only one thing that runs in her mind. He’s not ready for this.

They arrived in front of a red door. Donghae had a lot of questions ready to explode but these were forgotten as they entered the room and were welcomed with piles and sacks of different narcotics. It was no ordinary room. It was another underground warehouse where all finished illegal substances were waiting to be delivered across the world. There are , ecstasy, hallucinogens, heroin, ketamine and even . “This is so wrong.” He felt his insides turning upside down.

“You really need to stop saying that.” Dara stopped walking and faced him.

“What . . .” Cold beads were beginning to form in his face, even his hands were cold too. He thought this whole mafia thing was just about fighting and guns. He had yet to digest and accept that and now this. “What exactly is my family?” He asked her. “What is Lost Anima?” His chest was heaving. There was this smell that lingers in the air. It was dry and pure sin. “What am I?”

Dara saw it again in his eyes. He saw those when they were inside the hall of tombs. Fear and confusion. “I think we told you before. Lost Anima is the biggest drug syndicate in Asia. That makes you-”

“No.” He shook his head. “No.” Donghae spun around, still looking at the mountain of drugs neatly piled up. “We’ll go to prison for this.” He said, feeling helpless as of the moment.

“If that is your problem, you should not worry at all.” Dara told him. “Your grandfather basically holds the justice system in Korea in his palms. You will too, if you succeeded in being our leader.”

Donghae did not listen to that. “How can you be okay with this?” He pointed at the white powdery substance on his right. “How can I be okay with this?”

She did not reply and just stared at him.

“All these destroy countless people’s lives. Families.” It wasn’t anger that he was feeling anymore but rather despair, for he knew that as long as his blood is bound by his family’s sins, he was meant to be swallowed whole by this corrupted world of theirs. “Why must . . .” He looked away from her. He just wanted to get out of there. Why must my family choose to live this kind of life?