APRIL 12, 2018 | THURSDAY

"Can someone explain to me just why I'm not allowed to go to this meeting? I believe I have every right to go to a meeting that is, in every aspect, about me."

It was a warm, Thursday afternoon, a normal work day like any other. Jungwoo had called his daughter into his office to instruct her to be in charge of the Alpha Corporation building for roughly two hours while he attended a meeting with Delta's Boss, along with the company of his sons. They were to finally confront Delta about their suspicions, since Jungwoo wanted to prevent a potential set up and Myungsoo wanted an explanation for all the "suspicious" behavior. 

"Frankly, Joohyun," Sunggyu sighed, "it's because your short temper would prevent us from conducting the meeting in a timely manner."

"Excuse me?" She quirked a brow and crossed her arms over her chest, "I know when to draw the line between my feelings and business. This meeting shouldn't be any different."

"You do know how to draw the line, but barely," Sungyeol shot her a look, "it's for the sake of getting the meeting done and over with smoothly, Joohyun. Just wait patiently and we'll be back before you know it."

"The amount of disrespect is unreal ..." Joohyun muttered under her breath.

"Joohyun, please respect my decision to have you overlook the company during our absence. I don't trust anyone else to do so if you came along with us. I'll brief you in after we come back to the building, so please understand," Jungwoo's voice overpowered the previous males' voices, immediately silencing everyone -- including Joohyun.

Joohyun, although still pouty, just kept quiet after her father spoke. 

"We'll be back by lunch," Jungwoo added, standing up along with his sons, "and we'll sit in my office and talk about what happened at the meeting, okay? I'll bring your favorite fried chicken." 

Joohyun glared up at her father, who had ruffled his hand through her hair affectionately. 

"See you in a few hours, little one. Hope the company isn't in flames when we come back," her father joked.

Over at the Delta Industries building, Jungwoo and his sons arrived punctually, being immediately escorted to Sungmin's office. After going up several floors until the elevator they were in had reached the top most floor, they were greeted by Sungmin himself along with his underboss and a couple of his other soldiers. 

"Good morning, Jungwoo," Sungmin smiled, bowing before the Alpha Boss. 

"Good morning," Jungwoo returned the gesture, his sons following as well. 

"I understand that we have some important matters to discuss," Sungmin spoke, "let's get to that right away."

Sungmin and his soldiers turned their back to their guests, walking towards large double doors that led to a spacious conference room. Everyone present promptly took their seats, with the members of Delta on one side and the members of Alpha on the other. 

"Two months ago," Jungwoo began the meeting as soon as everyone had settled down in their seats, "it had come to my attention that my daughter, Joohyun, was being followed everywhere she went. Not long after I had been notified of this, the attack on Jeonju Conference Hall had then taken place. While two of my sons attempted to take my daughter to safety, the attackers had warned them to give her over to them or they would open fire."

Jungwoo opened the manila folder that rested in front of him and passed out eight sheets of the same picture over to the Delta members.

"Now I'm not going to sit here and go into every detail of what happened in Jeonju because you were all present when it happened," Jungwoo continued, "but the matter of the fact is, is that ever since that day, there have been small signs that point to your Family for being involved in this. I'm not accusing my most reliable ally yet, although I'm presenting this evidence to you so that you can have a platform to defend yourselves. I, myself, don't believe that your Family would do something like this to my own, but other members of my Family think otherwise."

Jungwoo looked over at his underboss, nodding in his direction to give him the okay to speak.

"What you're looking at are two pictures," Sunggyu instructed, "the picture on the left are two vans that were parked across the street from the Alpha Corporation building that waited for Joohyun to leave for a meeting, which then proceeded to follow her to her meeting destination and back to our company building. The picture on the right shows the same two vans outside Jeonju Conference Hall on the day of the attack, which were also used as getaway vehicles when we tried to stop them from escaping."

Sunggyu gave a brief moment for the Delta members to observe the pictures for a bit before he proceeded.

"These vans are the ones your company uses to deliver packages ordered off of your online retailer, and were used for stalking and attempted kidnapping," Sunggyu explained further.

Sungmin looked at the pictures concisely, fully analyzing the pictures, before he reached over to his own manila folder and pulling out eight sheets of paper. He stood up, leaned over to hand the stack of papers over to Jungwoo, and sat back down.

"Earlier this year, we had ten of our company vehicles stolen from our warehouse," Sungmin began, "among the ten that were taken, two of them match the license plates of the vehicles in your pictures; which means that those vehicles were not in our posession whatsover when they were used to pursue Joohyun and attack us at the conference hall."

"What you're looking at is an official report of my missing vehicles," Sungmin went on while the Alpha members were comparing Sungmin's picture to theirs, "which was filed as soon as the news of the stolen vehicles reached me: January Fifth, Two-Thousand Eighteen."

There was a bit of silence from Alpha as they sifted through the papers before Jungwoo nodded in agreement.

"Valid," was all he said while he gestured Myungsoo to speak.

"Although there were almost no survivors from the assialants' side during the attack in Jeonju, we managed to take in one of them hostage to try and identify who was behind all of this," Myungsoo started, turning to one of the soldiers that had accompanied them, "show them the clip."

The soldier mutely obeyed, pulling up a video from the large iPad he was holding, displaying it in front of the Delta members on its stand. 

The room was quiet. The only sound came from the iPad, which showed the opposing members the interrogation of Shim Minwoo., which ended in his merciless death.

As the video ended with the hostage being shot dead by Jungwoo himself, there was a brief silence before Taehyung spoke up. 

"He worked for Delta," he said, looking up at the men across from him, "I remember him clearly. Our company was forced to let him go because he was too outspoken about the inner workings of our mafia and how our Family ran Delta Industries. After we booted him from the Family, we killed his brother as a warning for his big mouth. After that, he quickly became quiet. It seems he resents us for what we did and wanted to pin the blame on us."

"Is there proof he worked for your Family?" Myungsoo questioned.

"Yes," Taehyung replied, reaching over to the manila folder in front of his father to pull out another eight sheets of paper to pass out to the opposing Family, "this is his employee file."

"Shim Minwoo, aged thirty-two," Namjoon read aloud, "joined the mafia just earlier last year, starting off as an associate* and got bumped up to soldier within only six months because of his outstanding efforts. Husband to Shim Chaehee and father to Shim Miyoung."

"Does this information match that of the hostage you held?" Taehyung asked.

Myungsoo clenched his jaw from Delta fact checking everything he had laid down for them. 

"Valid," Jungwoo declared, ending Myungsoo's part of the discussion while he leaned over a bit to look at Howon and giving him the cue to speak.

"Our main warehouse was ambushed on March Thirtieth, Two-Thousand Eighteen," Howon announced, "one of our soldiers followed the escapees to what seemed to be a hideout near the Han River. He took these pictures and came back to us with them." 

Howon then proceeded to distribute multiple sheets of paper to the Delta members that displayed a series of pictures on each sheet. 

"Our main concern," Howon included, "is Delta's very own Boss being in the presence of the same criminals that raided our warehouse just a half hour beforehand."

"I had been reached out to by the leader of these group of kids, I call them, because they're nothing but wannabe thugs trying to play big kid games," Sungmin chuckled slightly, "I look angry in these photos because I thought I would be coming to do a decent trade with one of the city's local underground gangs, as other Families have done, but I've learned it's best to not stoop so low." 

"I'm assuming you have at least some sort of evidence that this is true?" Howon pressed, receiving a nod from Sungmin. 

"Show them the video," Sungmin instructed his soldier, who, like Alpha's soldier had done before, presented the opposing side with an iPad displaying what seemed to be bodycam footage. 

The video was in the perspective of Sungmin's driver, which showed the Delta Boss and a group of his men approaching a small crowd of men with one figure standing in the center of them. 

"The one standing in the middle is their leader, his name is Ten," Sungmin narrated, "he thanks me for taking the time to come out to do business with a small gang, but then proceeds to shortchange me on our deal. Normally I have one of my Capos deal with trades, but this trade was with someone brand new so I become in charge of the trade to establish my allies. I argue with him for a bit before I get too heated and end up backing out on the trade because he wouldn't hold up his end of the bargain."

The video depicted exactly what Sungmin had described, and ended as the driver got back into the vehicle with Sungmin and a couple of other soldiers.

"Is this valid?" Sungmin asked, looking in Jungwoo's direction.

The Alpha Boss had his chin in his hands, staring down at the tablet intently for a moment before he looked back up at Sungmin.

"Valid," Jungwoo replied.

"That concludes your investigation, does it not?" Sungmin inquired.

"Not exactly ... it disproved some of the members' suspicions on Delta's involvement with the recent incidents, but my stance on your Family being set up still stands," Jungwoo voiced his concerns.

"In my honest opinion, Jungwoo," Sungmin responded, "I've concluded that this small gang is like the younger child that wants to do the same things as their older sibling, which in this example, are us. Like I said, I think they just want to play with the big kids, not realizing that their actions could get them into trouble."

"But attempting to kidnap the Alpha Boss's daughter and placing the blame on your Family? Why would they ever come up with a plan that would only get them killed?" Myungsoo challenged.

"They're trying to be the next Gamma Family, from what Ten expresssed to me," Sungmin answered, a somber aura filling the room as soon as the word 'Gamma' slipped from his mouth, "he explicitly stated that his gang will continue to grow and resemble the Gamma Family, and that I would regret not doing business with him." 

Jungwoo's sons all looked in his direction, and all they saw was their father with the most stone cold look on his face.

"That's a bold move to say that they will become the next Gamma Family, considering what that Family has done to Alpha and Beta Family," Jungwoo muttered through clenched teeth.

"I couldn't agree more," Sungmin nodded.

"I think we should show them what they're getting themselves into," Jungwoo declared, "poking around in our business isn't free; it costs something. Whether it's an arm or a leg."

"A small gang of punks like them shouldn't be any of our concern, Jungwoo," Sungmin disagreed, "we're on completely different playing fields."

"However ..." Sungmin continued, "I understand that your Family has gone through a tremendous amount of stress and torment from these pests. The incidents that have been brought upon you don't affect me directly, but if you plan to show them what it's like to mess with the big kids ... then, well ... let's just say we never had this conversation and that I have no knowledge of your plots against them." 

Jungwoo smirked at the man's statement. As he stood up, so did the opposing Boss. Jungwoo held out his hand, as did the other, and they shook their grasped hands.

"Always a pleasure working with you, Sungmin. I'm glad that we have come to put the fire out on the accusations of your involvement with the past incidents," Jungwoo smiled.

"The pleasure is mine, good friend," Sungmin chuckled heartily, "I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors ... whether it be with or without revenge."

Joohyun tapped her fingers against the glossy oak desk she sat at that stretched far as the eye could see, her acrylic fingernails echoing a repetitive clacking into the room. Her eyes flickered upwards at the double doors leading to the inside of her father's office when they were suddenly opened without a warning. She remained silent as she watched her brothers file into the room along with her father, an assistant close behind them carrying what seemed to be take out food. 

"How was being the Boss for two hours?" Sungyeol asked as the assistant behind him set down a take out box in front of Joohyun.

Joohyun gave him a shrug, not bothering to even look up at him when he spoke to her. She quietly opened the takeout box to reveal just what her father had promised her, and she did everything in her willpower to not smile just from the delectable smell of the fried chicken alone. 

Sungyeol turned to look at Sungjong, who just raised an eyebrow in response as if to say "Come on, did you really expect her to cool off?"

"Just wait until she's done eating," Jungwoo chuckled, sitting down next to Joohyun to start eating his own lunch, "you know how cranky she gets when she's hungry and already mad about something else."

Soon enough, after a half hour passed by and Joohyun had finished eating, she ended her silent treatment. 

"So you're not going to tell me what happened at the meeting?" Joohyun asked, waving over at the assistant to clean up her tray. 

"We wanted to wait for you to finish eating," Woohyun replied meekly from seeing the scary look on his sister's face. 

"Well I'm done," she crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back onto the plush office chair, "can someone relay what happened now?"

Jungwoo took the reins in explaining what happened at the meeting from the beginning, and Sunggyu and Howon chimed in when they got the chance. 

Joohyun remained silent the entire time, giving each speaker her undivided attention. Everyone had a difficult time deciphering what she was feeling, as the stone cold look that she inherited from her father remained on her face for the duration of the conversation. 

"So, in conclusion," Sunggyu wrapped up the explanation, "Delta had no involvement whatsover in your attempted kidnapping and the raid at our warehouse, and never had the intention of  causing any harm to our Family."

This was news that Joohyun had wanted for so long, and now that she finally had it, she didn't know how to feel. 

"The people who did cause harm to us, are we going to do anything to reprimand them for their meddling?" Joohyun asked, looking over at her father, "I feel like it's only fair."

"Of course, Joohyun," Jungwoo agreed, "it's still in the works but we're definitely not letting them off the hook, trust me on that." 

Content with her father's words, she nodded mutely and looked down at the table, avoiding everyone's eyes.

"So ... that's it? No more questions?" Howon asked with a quirked brow, "I would have thought that you would want to know more."

"What more is there to ask," Joohyun looked up at her older brother with a blank stare, "you all have explained what happened at the meeting very thoroughly and that's all I wanted."

"Don't you have work to get back to?" Joohyun asked, breaking the silence of her brothers' curious stares in her direction. 

"Right you are, daughter of mine," Jungwoo declared, his voice diverting the attention from Joohyun to himself. "Sunggyu, Howon, I still need you two to check up on the warehouse on the east side of the city. Sungyeol and Dongwoo, you're on training duty with the new soldiers."

Sungyeol and Dongwoo groaned while the five of them stood up to leave the office for work while Sungjong and Myungsoo stayed put along with Joohyun. After the five men left the office, Joohyun had concluded that Sungjong and Myungsoo were clear of their duties for the day.

"Wanna come shopping with me?" Joohyun's earlier cold demeanor instantly turned into that of a preppy little girl, taking her brothers aback. 

"Are you celebrating the fact that you can be one-hundred percent open to your new boyfriend now or what?" Sungjong snickered, receiving a roll of the eyes from Joohyun.

"We're just dating, Oppa," Joohyun rebuttled, "not official yet, mostly because he was waiting for my decision."

"Might as well be official now," Sungjong shrugged.

"I thought you said you were just buying a watch for Taehyung's birthday ..." Sungjong grumbled from behind Joohyun while holding shopping bags from different high-end brand stores.

"Yeah but then I realized how long it had been since I last did some shopping for myself so I changed my mind," Joohyun laughed while the two guards in front of their estate opened the front doors for the trio.

 After Sungjong and Myungsoo followed Joohyun into her bedroom and unloaded all of her purchases from the day, Myungsoo left the room without a word while Sungjong stayed and helped Joohyun unpack everything and cut off all the tags from the things she had bought. 

Sungjong noticed that the first thing Joohyun had unbagged was the watch that she had bought for Taehyung's upcoming birthday in the next week or so. 

"I still can't believe you bought a Rolex for someone you're "just dating." You're in denial if you think this guy doesn't have you wrapped around his finger ..." Sungjong clicked his tongue as he shook his head while unpacking the first of many Louis Vuitton purses that Joohyun had bought. 

Joohyun chose to ignore her brother while she proceeded to wrap the box that the watch was in with cute wrapping paper, humming to herself.

There was nothing but the sounds of Joohyun wrapping up Taehyung's gift and Sungjong unpacking Joohyun's shopping bags until Sungjong sighed in frustration and stood up.

"Your scissor is too dull, I'm gonna get a new one," the older brother complained, "I'll be right back."

Joohyun nodded in response as she saw her brother leave the room from the corner of her eye. From the same viewpoint, however, she saw a figure come in to her room a couple of seconds after Sungjong and gotten up and left. 

The female looked up to see who had walked in to her room, and smiled when she saw that it was Myungsoo.

"Hey," she called, "what's up?"

She looked back down at what she was doing, focusing on tying the perfect bow onto her gift for Taehyung.

"I just want to say that," Myungsoo mumbled, leaning on the doorway, "I still think you should be cautious even though Delta Family's innocence was proven at today's meeting. Call me paranoid, but I still think Delta might be somewhat involved in the recent events and that they did a good job convincing Appa that they had nothing to do with it -- whether it was falsifying their evidence or --"

"Why would you think they would do that, Myungsoo?" Joohyun frowned slightly, looking up at her brother.

"To divert us," Myungsoo replied, "I'll be honest ... the evidence they provided seemed pretty valid, but I still have a bad feeling about them."

"Okay Myungsoo, I'll be careful," Joohyun sighed, mentally diregarding his paranoia-filled warnings.

"I mean it, Joohyun," Myungsoo said sternly, "especially that ... person you're dating."

"His name is Taehyung, I think you're fully aware that he has a name," Joohyun quirked a brow, "you need to learn to accept him, because he's going to be in my life whether you approve or not." 

"You're not even supposed to be dating other people ..." Myungsoo grunted lowly, barely loud enough for Joohyun to hear, although she did manage to make out what he had spat out.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Joohyun shot Myungsoo a look, watching him cower in regret as soon as she looked over at him.

Myungsoo didn't say anything, and even avoided eye contact from Joohyun.

"Myungsoo," Joohyun called, "are you gonna answer me?" 

"Ask Appa," Myungsoo replied, gaining the confidence to look up at her, "I'm not supposed to be talking to you about this."

Sungjong then arrived back from fetching a working scissor, catching Myungsoo in Joohyun's room.

"Oh hey, Hyung, did you want to --" Sungjong was about to ask if Myungsoo wanted to help Joohyun unpack all of her purchases, but was ignored by his older brother, who had turned away and walked off without acknowledging Sungjong.

"What's with him?" Sungjong asked curiously, diverting his attention to Joohyun.

Joohyun looked down at her desk, sighing as she shook her head. "I ... I don't know."

* associate: one who works with the mafia but hasn't been asked to take a vow to serve the Family eternally

hey all, sorry for the 4-month delayed update, I lost inspiration for this fic and didn't know what was gonna happen next but then ideas flowed out of nowhere and yeah I'm back for now :3 here's a longer than normal update as an apology for taking so fcking long to put up an update lmao thanks for supporting me even tho i take forever to post c': also, pardon the small grammatical errors, I pumped out this whole chapter during two separate writing sessions within two days so I'm too brain dead and lazy to go back and edit grammatical errors haha