"Yoona beg for forgiveness and they'll spare you," pleaded Seunghyun, "they'll forgive, you won't have to die."

Yoona looked up at the clock hanging in her prison cell, only half an hour before her execution. She had been found guilty of adultry for her illegal love affair with Seung-gi and sentenced to death.

"Yoona," begged Seunghyun, "if you renounce what you've done and beg for forgiveness to the court, they won't kill you."

Yoona remained silently stubborn.

"Yoona, do you realise what they want to do to you," continued Seunghyun, "they're going to impale you. If you ask for forgiveness now to the court, you can be spared. Stop acing like a ing martyr and wake up."

"And what about Seung-gi? If I live, they'll still kill him. Do you think I could live with myself if that happened?"

"No they won't, I'll make sure of that."

"We both know there's nothing you can do to save him Seunghyun."

"I've lost too much," said Seunghyun, "I can't lose you too."

"Forgive me Seunghyun."

"No," he took both of her hands in his and crouched in front of her as she sat, "forgive me. I wasn't a good husband to you, I should have been better and kinder. I'm sorry, I feel like I drove you to this."

Yoona placed a palm on his cheek, "You didn't drive me to do anything, I didn't fall for Seung-gi because you didn't love me, I fell for his because it was meant to happen. Just like you and Soojung. I'm leaving this place Seunghyun, with Seung-gi because I love him. Maybe we couldn't be together now, but maybe in the next life we can," she took off her wedding ring, "I finally understand what it means to love someone."

"You have your whole life ahead of you," whispered Seunghyun.

"Maybe another one, where we can both be with the one we love," Yoona took a deep breath before continuing, "there's something you need to know about Soojung, and Jiyong and your father."

But a guard had entered her prison cell followed by Choi Sungha and Yoona's own father, the former president, "It's time," Sungha said emotionlessly.

As the guard clasped Yoona's wrists in chains, she turned to her husband and quoted a line from Chritopher Marlowe's Dr. Faustus, the story in which an ambitious man made a pact with Lucifer himself for twenty four years of absolute power, "This is hell, nor am I out of it."

That was the last time Seunghyun ever saw Yoona.

*****

The sound of kicking resonated throughout the bathroom as Jiyong frantically thought of a way he could escape.

A police officer's dead body leant against the bathtub, his broken neck obtusely resting on his chest.

The body slid to the floor as Jiyong took his gun from him, he didn't have very long before the remaining police officers would kick the door down.

The gun was a powerful one, and felt weighty in his hands. Jiyong sat facing the door, waiting for the door to be kicked down, gun in hand. Once the remaining police officers were simply lifeless corpses, he picked up his strength to find Taeyeon.

When he bust open the door to their shared bedroom, he was horrified by the sight of Taeyeon with a gun to her temple, held by the man who held her against his chest and still haunted Jiyong dreams at night; Hitman. The immediate memories of Jiyong's time in prison sprinted through his mind like a flipbook.

"Taeyeon," whispered Jiyong, looking over how dazed she seemed. Her lips were bruised and swollen, her hair ruffled and her white blouse torn. Her eyes that told a thousand stories seemed breakable in that moment, much like Jiyong's heart.

"Just who we were waiting for," sneered Hitman, "I have to say Jiyong, your girlfriend is wonderful company to keep."

Jiyong pointed his gun towards Hitman, his stomach curling in disgust, "Let her go."

Hitman cocked his gun against Taeyeon's temple, "Put the gun down. Tell me, would you prefer I call you Jiyong or G-Dragon? We've been searching everywhere for you, wondering where you could have possibly escaped to, but your good friend Tiffany gave us all the details and made it very simple for us? Now we can do this the easy way or the hard way, you can either willingly come with me and tell me about the LFA and Taeyang's whereabouts, and this young missy wont get hurt," his lips were close to Taeyeon's ear as he said this, causing her to whimper in disgust, "or I can make you watch as I torture her until you're forced to come with me."

"Jiyong," he had never been so terrified of Taeyeon saying his name, "please don't go with him. You can't tell them anything."

"I can't let him hurt you."

Taeyeon smiled, "he won't, I promise. I won't let him, you have to protect what you know, no matter the cost," then she paused, looking straight into his teary eyes, "I love you Jiyong."

"I love you too," he replied, finally realising what she was about to do.

Before she pulled Hitman's own trigger through her own skull, Taeyeon screamed the words:

Long Live the LFA.