Jisoo's POV

When I came to, my head felt heavy. My eyes fluttered but I couldn't quite open them yet.

"Wake up lazy bones."

My eye snapped open, the sudden movement jarring.

Jin was sitting next to me on a back-to-front chair, in a room so white it was hurting my eyes even more.

"What the--" I muttered when I made to get up and my body didn't budge.

Looking down, I found that my arms and legs were strapped down securely. My arms were secured above my head. I was splayed like a starfish on some kind of dissecting table and things were definitely not looking good, especially when Jin's displeased face loomed into view.

"How are you feeling?"

"Screw that Jin, what the hell is going on here?" I demanded, wriggling against my bonds. I grew aware of monitors and screens scattered around the lab. There was also a dazzling bright light shining directly in my face.

I felt the table beneath me vibrate as it tilted into a sitting position.

"Hmm..what's going on is that you found my little...ah...project...." he finished, "and I hadn't intended for people like you to know about it. So, that's a bit of a dilemma for me."

"So you're going to what? Kill me?" I sneered. He shrugged.

"Isn't this the part where I tell you all about the diabolical grand scheme which you've unwittingly discovered?" He asked mildly.

He was relishing the whole act, the little snake.

"Entertain me" I said sarcastically, "but I would appreciate if I can put my hands down."

"Say the magic word then."

I swallowed. "Please."

He kept firm hold of hands when he undid my bonds and then strapped them to my sides. But he needn't have feared, I was still weak from the dart.

"Well then, I'll tell you all you about it huh? But you must not interrupt too much otherwise...it will only lengthen your suffering I guess. No toilet breaks either I'm afraid, sweetheart, I'm a busy man as you know."

I clenched my teeth. "Just start already, what a drama-queen..."

He sat back in his chair. "Let's start with a fun fact: did you know you're in the same room that Chaeyoung died in?"

Chaeyoung-ah.

"And the same place Penelope Wires, and Hana Sakamoto, and Jessi Scott were as well?" He smiled, "you should be honoured."

Those were some of the biggest rising models that had disappeared without a trace over the years, I had their case files.

"Do the names of these women sound familiar to you?" Jin rattled off a list of asian names but amongst them 'Park Sooyoung' and 'Hirai Momo' caught my attention.

Those were the names of two girls registered with Jin's agency, and they had also gone missing in the previous years...along with others...

My gut gurgled uneasily. Or it could be because I was hungry.

"What did you do to them?"

He smirked. "It's more of what I did with them, rather than to them."

"But let me start from the beginning cos' we're rushing ahead." He said smoothly over my angry growls, "so, last time I told you I had gotten cancer. The next part is how I found the cure...

"So there I was. Body falling apart, life falling apart after we had just got the company up and running properly. I lost all hope. But Namjoon, he didn't give up. One day, he came to me. He told me about these writings he found in scientific journals, talking about a mysterious shrub located in the Amazon jungle.

According to some of the jungle tribes interviewed, they believed this rare plant to have incredible medicinal properties. One particular secretive tribe, the Impimami, were rumoured to be able to extract and make an elixir that could, literally, rejuvenate your health, even on the brink of death itself. Their name for this shrub translated in English means 'Everlasting Youth.'

So technically if you could keep on drinking it...you'd be immune to any disease...you could cheat death itself! But it seems these jungle savages didn't see it like that--they still believed death was part of the cycle of life and should thus not be disrupted or whatever they said.

I scoffed at first. It sounded preposterous. Plants? Jungle people? Elixirs? Miracle medicine? I told Namjoon to pull the other one. The Yeti was a more believable myth than than what he told me. But as time wore on, I was clutching at straws until one day, I decided: I would head out and somehow find that stupid plant then make the elixir and everything would be right as rain.

Namjoon wouldn't hear about letting me go alone, he said it was madness. But see, I knew that if I made it seem like I would actually head out there by myself, the others would follow as well. And it worked: the boys all came. I heard Jimin fought with Chaeyoung when he wouldn't tell her the reason for the trip. But eh, couple fight...not my problem....

And so, we did go. We trekked for months in the jungle following what bare indications we had of the Impimami's whereabouts. And then finally by some miracle, we did find them and somehow we managed to communicate with them too. Although wary, they showed us their elixir. I think they took pity on me, seeing me all frail and quite frankly, dying--the jungle's hot and humid climate had not been kind with anyone of us.

I had a taste of it and...I know this is going to sound fantastical but it cured me. It really was the real deal."

"No way" I croaked. Jin's story was straight out of sci-fi.

"Yes way....It tasted so bad and I thought they had fed me poison, I started writhing and convulsing that first time. But then my vision started clearing and I could stand properly on my own two feet. The blotches and dead skin on my arms and legs had vanished. Even my hair and fingernails were growing back, right in front of my eyes.

I remember that old crazy tree chief said that the elixir's effects weren't permanent. You needed to drink it regularly.

They were very stubborn and refused to give us more of the elixir. Taehyung however managed to procure the secret recipe for the elixir and the rest of the boys managed to pilfer more gourds with the precious stuff. Namjoon was also wise enough to preserve some shoots of the shrub before we made our getaway....."

Jin trailed off and stood up stretching his arms and legs, mocking me. "I wish I could tell you that the next thing that happened was the boys bravely fighting off the army of angry tree people chasing us. That they laid down their lives for me so I could escape. But really what happened was me.

See, I was thinking very very hard. Now that I have the elixir, what if the other boys suddenly decided they were entitled to it? What if they me? What if they talked to their partners or they spilled out the secret when they were drunk? It had to stay between us. And to make sure it does, I had to--"

"Kill them" I whispered.

He shrugged. "It wasn't easy, but it had to be done. I just regret ending our friendship like that so abruptly. I killed them while in the jungle, shot them clean. I promise they suffered no pain. I shot them while they were sleeping, after I drugged them. Then I dumped their bodies in the river...there were plenty of crocodiles and anacondas to feast on them."

I sat frozen in my chair, chilled to the bone. Who was this monster grinning down at me?

"So I came back" he continued conversationally, as if he had just remarked about the weather, "and of course, everyone had questions. The police pestered me. There were accusations, hysterical allegations of foul play and murder....but nobody could prove anything. Jennie resigned from the company. Lalisa and Chaeyoung stayed on, because they had no other means to sustain themselves. Seems they were attached to their jobs as well.

Meanwhile, I still had to take care of my fledgling company. And despite the negative cloud surrounding my image, it actually provided good publicity for my company. Once we showed people our philanthropic credits and proved we were a hard-working, honest company, more people started to trust us.

Things were starting to look up but I had one niggling problem: the elixir.

It wouldn't last me forever--I had already lost a great supply on my way out of the rain forest. So I started thinking on producing this elixir. But I was no chemist. I needed external help on this.

Also, since I obviously couldn't just walk down to nearest vegan shop and ask for some of that shrub, I wondered if we perhaps could extract the medicinal stimulant that triggers the healing and replicate that using something else.

This is where Dr Bang came in."

I straightened in my seat. He noticed me, his gaze never leaving my face.

"Bang had just been relieved of his prestigious posts just because those hypocrites couldn't handle his vision. He is a man who is not afraid to resort to unorthodox practices for his experiments, and I admire that. So I contacted him and explained my situation. He is perhaps the only person to know all of my secrets.

The task I set Dr Bang was two-fold: producing the elixir according to the ancient recipe Taehyung had gotten and replicating the shrub's healing properties using something else.

Dr Bang is a molecular biologist: stripping down a substance to its basic components is what he does for a living.

I lost track of time. Time is irrelevant now--main thing is that he succeeded to indeed find something that shared a very similar genetic code to the shrub's healing factor, which Dr Bang very humorously nicknamed 'Vanity code' since it keeps you looking young or how he put it. I'm sorry, he's not very good at jokes.

He managed to do this just before the last of the elixir was used up. I was practically at my wits' end because I could sense my body weakening, and the tell-tale signs of the cancer resurfacing. As long as I had my elixir, it would push back the cancer and suppress its growth. But without it, the cancer cells thrived.

Dr Bang found that human skin shared a very distinct DNA compatibility with this plant. At first he used skin from corpses, but the results were mixed and disheartening. Then one day, he made a breakthrough--the human skin from a young, beautiful woman who had recently died in a car crash, produced the most potent serum to date.

And so thus began my other job as a...collector you could call it I guess...." Jin bared his teeth, "I learned very quickly that it was a bad idea to go after high profile models so after catching several I decided to target lower ranked models, girls who wouldn't raise so much of a ruckus as say, Kate Upton or Kylie Jenner.

I could source the women through my own company and cover up their disappearance as a matter of losing contact with one's relatives. Also, I got into contact with human traffickers to source me pretty, healthy young women, no matter the ethnicity...."

"For what, Jin?" I rasped, dreading what was coming next.

"Skinning them of course," he said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world,"harvesting their skin. The younger they are, the better. Although you have to find a balance between 20 and 30 year-old's. And yeah, skinning them is quite messy really, they usually scream their hearts out and there's blood everywhere, but that's good.

Dr Bang says that under duress, the body releases some hormone which makes the skin supple for longer afterwards. I think it helps his lab people to dissolve it and extract the DNA they need better. Afterwards, it's in their hands to produce the magic potion."

"But...what about them? What happens to the girls after they're skinned?" I whispered.

He chuckled, shaking his head. "Silly Chu. What happens when you strip a tree of its bark? They die, Chu. But we're all about being eco friendly so we cremate the bodies and use them in the soil for the apple trees. You must have seen the trees back there? It works wonders. Oh and we use all that heat generated by the ovens to heat up the water in the mansion. Pretty neat huh?"

I was feeling sick to the pit of my stomach but there were still some things to clear up.

"The apples..?" I asked. My voice was just above a whisper. I was so dry, I could feel my throat parched and cracking.

"Another brilliant suggestion by Dr Bang. He thought that incorporating the serum with the plant's DNA would make it absorbing it into the body to target the cancer cells ten times more effective. And it did. The problem was finding the right type of apple, and manipulating its code to be able to amalgamate it with the human DNA in the serum. We' re constantly trying to find the longest lasting formula. Currently, the apple's effect lasts for 24 hours, which is why you unfortunately look like some kind of panda right now."

He walked in front of me, arms spread wide to gesture around him.

"When I first had gotten this mansion, this place had been a warehouse with this basement used for storage. I knocked it down and built up my residence, adding this whole underground lab later. The entrance from where the workers come in is actually near the docks, a little way down from here. A transport cart takes them to and fro. It's all really well thought out don't you think?" he finished proudly, like a kid showing off his toys.

"What about Chaey and Lalisa? Jin how could you?" I couldn't stop the tears from falling this time.

"Out of all people, I though you'd understand," he said, dropping his smile.

He reached forward to touch my face and I struggled out of his reach. "You're beautiful like me. People like us...we're different from those peasants. We have to fight to keep our beauty by any needs necessary. Chu, do you want to grow old and ugly? Don't you remember my grandfather?"

He actually looked sad. "I'm disappointed in you, jagiya."

"Not in a million years" I snarled, "I'm not your girlfriend. You're a monster!"

"You didn't seem to think so last night."

"I was a fool," I shouted, "yes I admit that! I was a fool for ever thinking of giving you a second chance to love me but you're just in love with yourself! Admit it Jin. As soon as you're done playing with me, I'll just end up a bag of nutrients for your precious apples. I hope you choke on them!" I spat, wriggling and bucking in my seat. The straps were too tight, there was no room to move.

"You're just like the other girls huh?" he sighed, wandering behind me. I heard the whirring of my chair start up and then I was being tilted backward. It reminded me of my last dentist appointment when I removed my love tooth, a few years back.

"I don't know how Chaeyoung-ah started suspecting me," Jin mused, "but one day she straight up confronted me about the whole operation. Of course I couldn't have her ratting me out. So I decided to show her everything. And then I skinned her too."

His smile was painful to look at, he looked giddy with glee. "I remember it like yesterday. She sat there, screaming as the scalpel peeled back her skin. It was a beautiful sound. I kept telling her to scream all she wanted and let it all out, because the walls are sound proof so nobody's gonna hear us.

What I didn't expect was for that stupid Lisa rushing over and interrupting our session. I had to deal with her as well in the quickest way possible. So when the guards caught her down here, I just stabbed her with the scalpel I was using and then went back to Chaey. Unfortunately, the human body hardens pretty quickly making it more difficult to get the skin off so Lisa's body was wasted...."

"And what was the idea of leaving their bodies in the river then?"

I wondered what time it was. Surely, Jennie must have noticed something was amiss. Maybe there was still hope I can escape from the clutches of this butcher, if I keep him occupied.

"A streak of pride I guess. A middle finger to the authorities. They can't do anything to touch me. They can suspect me all they like, but I'm too smart for them..."

His smile quickly transformed into a sly expression. "You even almost had me, Chu, but thank goodness I went through your clutch after we caught you snooping around here."

I almost cried out in dismay when he produced my police badge from his pocket. He twirled it round his fingers.

"It was a good thing I froze your visa all those years ago," he said quietly," otherwise, I would have had a harder time hanging on to my beauty. You just don't know when to stop pestering someone do you?"

"You...you..did that?" I could barely comprehend anything anymore. "But...how?"

"Talking to the right people and paying them back over the years. Worth it while it lasted. Now, playtime's over."

He walked over to me, a scalpel in hand.

"I'm going to give you a choice, so listen carefully. Either you agree to give yourself up for your skin to be harvested or you join me. Pretty fair huh?"

I couldn't stand him towering over me, hands on either side of the chair, locking me in with that smouldering gaze.

"Chu, we can still be together," he said softly, "you and me, we can take over the world if we want to. We're the ultimate power couple. And I'll promise to love you forever. What do you say?"

"Hmm, let me think--NO. To both . So you can just go ahead and kill me. Jennie will know something's wrong she's watching us at this very moment." I spat, hoping he'd buy it.

"No she's not," he laughed but for the first time I thought I heard a tone of uncertainty.

"Just you wait. It'll be over for you soon--nothing lasts for ever." I retaliated, hoping it was true.

He shook his head, his smugness returning. "Well, in case Jennie does try to raise the alarm, I think I can change her mind..."

"Yeah like she'd listen to you," I sneered and coughed. My parched throat was killing me. "Jin--"

"I think she'd listen....if I, say....had something of hers?" He clapped his hands. I heard doors opening behind me and the high-pitched sound of a toddler crying.

My breath hitched in my throat. "You didn't...."

A guard dragged in a screaming, struggling Joohyun to Jin, her wails bouncing off the walls.

"I did," he said calmly over her pitiful cries. He glanced down at the red-faced girl, his lip curling in distaste. "So...this is Joon's offspring? She's certainly loud, like him. Hey, come on now, shut up, little girl. SHUT UP I SAID!"

She snapped shut in shock, snorting and hiccuping, nose running. Her eyes screwed up again. As she was about to tip her head back, I noticed Jin raise his hand.

"Jin NO! I'll join you, you can skin me, you can do whatever the hell you want, just for the love of God don't hurt that child!" I shouted, madly struggling against my bonds.

Joohyun turned her face to me when she heard my voice and I tried smiling at her.

"It's okay sweetie, auntie Jisoo's here," I crooned softly, "come here, do you want a hug? You must miss your eomma huh?"

She glanced uncertainly between me and Jin, whose face was breaking into a smile.

"My, my Chu, you really know how to handle babies," he commented, taking out his phone and dialling a number, "let's tell Jennie about her kid eh? She must be worried sick about her. Just tell her she safe and sound with you cos' you'll absolutely look after her, right?"

I could only bow my head in defeat. "Yes..."

"Say that you picked her up from school yourself" he whispered as put the phone on speaker.

"Hello?"

"Jen, it's me." I began but she immediately cut me off.

"Oh my god, Chu, Joohyun's missing! I'm losing my mind, I went to get her after school but she wasn't there I waited for hours and I searched everywhere I don't know what to do anymore, Chu I need your help, you gotta--"

"Jen she's...she's with me so calm down. I picked her up myself." I swallowed,"I...I...we went to get ice cream and I lost track of time. I wanted to spend some quality time with my niece and then we...we were going to surprise you, yeah. I'm sorry I made you worry."

"Oh..." she said. "Can I talk with her please?"

"She's very busy eating her ice cream," I invented, "takes after her mother I can see that heheh."

In reality, Jin was covering Joohyun's mouth with a cloth to keep her from interrupting. He nodded at me approvingly.

"We'll see you later ok? " I said thickly. She said okay and the line went dead.

"Well now, where were we? Oh, yes, you were begging me to spare this little brat's life." he said, taking his phone back.

"Don't hurt her. Take her back to Jennie, "I mumbled, "you have nothing to fear: she can't talk."

"And what's in it for me if I do go through with the hassle of taking her back?"

"I'm all yours to play with" I said bitterly, "but just so you know, the FBI knows I'm following you. They'll suspect you."

"Without the evidence, nothing happened Chu..." he said quietly. "I already have back up plans if I have to blow up this place."

"Fine then. Go ahead and do what you want, but I'm not working with you" I said dully. He nodded, moving forward with the blade in hand after pulling on surgical gloves.

"You're going to make her watch?" I said apprehensively. "Joohyun, turn away."

She didn't seem to be listening, her fearful eyes on Jin's movements as he sidled up closer next to me, brushing my hair aside.

"She won't speak," he said, shrugging as if that justified her being traumatised.

He cupped my face. "My Snow White, purple hair really suited you but this purple eye here is marring the whole picture."

"Just get on with it, jerk," I said, my voice quaking. Jin shrugged.

"As you wish." He plunged the blade into my forearm.

Joohyun wasn't the only one to scream.