Operation Sojung started the next day at work.

Johnny threw himself into work so that he could observe Sojung and if he was ever caught, he could say he was trying to get work done and wanted to ask her about stuff.

It was foolproof.

But he forgot two things.

One: in the office, there is tons of work to be done. The more you do, the more they pile up.

Two: she's Oh Sojung, for God's sake.

 

Sojung smirked when she saw him staring and studying her again for the 5th time that morning. She didn't want to stop him because he was being more productive than usual.

"Young Miss, why is Mr Seo staring at you?" Mingyu leaned in, making sure he wasn't startling Johnny. "Should I stop him?"

She shook her head, "It's fine. He's doing a lot more work today than any other day."

Mingyu nodded and moved away but leaned back in almost immediately.

"Why is he staring at you though?"

Sojung side-eyed him, "Aren't you a curious little one? Since when were you this nosy? Get back to work."

Mingyu chuckled sheepishly, "Yes, Young Miss!"

He then saluted her before marching out of her office. 

Johnny looked up at the tall male, watching him being playful as he left the office.

That's a side you don't see every day.

"So," Sojung's voice shook him from his thoughts. "What have you done today?"

"Uh," his heart started pounding at her close proximity. "I finished up Mr Yoo's report and contract; Miss Kwon's proposal and vetted through the marketing proposal."

"All in 4 hours?"

He nodded dumbly.

"Good, maybe you should come to my office every day to get work done," she smiled. "Good job."

She patted his shoulder and returned to her desk. His eyes followed her, not sure if he should be concerned she was pretending nothing had happened, or happy she was calm.

"Sojung," he cleared his throat.

"Hmm?"

"You okay?"

She glanced up, "Yeah. Why?"

"I mean your father… and you came straight after spending a night at the hospital."

She stopped him from continuing.

"I'm fine."

Rapid knocks sounded at her door and Wonho burst in without waiting for Sojung's approval.

"Hoseok, what--"

“Young Miss, Young Master is here.”

Sehun strolled into the office on cue, with his arms folded. Johnny noted the faint dark circles under his eyes, he must have stayed up all night. 

Sehun cast him a wary glance. Johnny got up and greeted him but the older male just turned to his sister, communicating with his eyes.

“Youngho,” she called him. “Could you get us coffee?”

“But--”

Sojung pinched her nose bridge, “Please?”

Johnny sighed and left the room wordlessly. He could tell she wasn’t in the mood to argue and he didn’t want to agitate her any further. Wonho decided to leave the siblings and left with Johnny.

 

“What brings you here?” Sojung sat down, rubbing her temples. “How is Father? I’ll head down to the hospital during lunch.”

“He’s doing fine,” he sat down opposite her. “Jongin gave him a check before I came over, but, I’m here to talk to you about the shooting.”

“Is there news?”

“Nope,” Sehun sighed. “I got Lucas and Kun to check things out. I even got them to work with Shownu hyung to see if they could find anything, but there’s nothing.”

“What about the car Shownu mentioned? The one that was in the rundown town?”

“Hyung saw it was a standard-issue vehicle. It could belong to anyone.”

“What about the number plate? Run it yet?”

Sehun rubbed his face, “I’ve done everything I could on that car. Even the original driver, he wasn’t driving it at the time of the shooting. CCTVs show the vehicle still in the parking garage when Father was out. Someone must have made a fake to cover up their own plate.”

“This guy…”

“This person is adamant on hurting us, So.” Sehun pointed out. “He will stop at nothing until the Oh Clan is down.”

Sojung clasped her hands together.

“I’ll take the necessary measures, as Oh Hyun-Oh’s daughter and the Clan leader.”

Sehun nodded, his phone ringing. He answered it briefly before hanging up.

“It’s Hyundai, I have to head back now. I’ll update you if I have anything, see you at the hospital tonight?”

“Okay, be safe,” she nodded. “Woo-ya!”

The doors opened, “Yeah?”

“Sehun’s leaving, send him.”

“Yes, Young Miss.”

Sojung went to the door and saw Sehun exchange greetings with Wonho, she waved him over.

“Close the door behind you,” she ordered when they entered the office.

“Young Miss?”

She walked straight to her desk and slammed her hand down on the table. She spun around, anger in her eyes as she gathered her thoughts. Wonho straightened his back, recognising that look in her eyes.

“Is this about Elder Oh’s shooting?”

Sojung nodded.

 

*

 

Johnny came out of the pantry and caught sight of Sehun leaving with Wonho. He tilted his head to the side, looking at the coffee in his hands. He shook his head and walked back to Sojung’s office.

“If he won’t drink it, I will.”

He turned the corner and saw Wonho entering Sojung’s office behind her.

Now, he was curious.

“Why are these 4 people acting so weirdly?”

He padded over outside Sojung’s door quietly, this could be his chance to eavesdrop on whatever the pair was talking about in the office.

If he couldn’t gather the courage to ask her face-to-face, he could get information another way.

He stopped and pressed his ear lightly against the wooden door.

 

*

 

“This is a direct attack on the Oh Clan,” Sojung announced. “I want everyone to be on high alert and get any available man that we trust, to be on guard outside my dad’s ward on rotation. No one is to go near my father apart from selected doctors and nurses.”

“Yes, Young Miss. What about the other Young Masters?”

“No one is to get near my father,” she huffed. “Only when Sehun and I are there.”

Wonho took a mental note. Sojung walked around her desk and sat down.

“Get Mingyu to head to Samsung, get the 2nd quarter reports. Tell Wonwoo to do a background check on each of our men, make sure it’s none of us. Hoseok-ah, you keep an eye on the Im and Kim Clans for me.”

“Why? Do you suspect them?”

“I have no choice, I have to be prepared. The only reason the person could shoot my father would be him knowing the person personally. I have a bad feeling about his shooter being someone close to us.”

“But Young Miss,” he paused. “All of us would be out of the office. You’d be alone.”

“I’ll be okay.”

“No,” Wonho shook his head. “We made a pact to never leave you. Young Master will kill us if he ever finds out we left you alone. Ever since that incident--”

 

Johnny’s brows rose at the new information.

Sojung only told him about her kidnapping, he didn’t know about the incident Wonho was speaking about.

Were they the same thing? What are you hiding from me?

 

Sojung held her palm out. 

“That was 4 years ago. Changkyun’s gone and I’ll never let myself fall again. If anyone dares to hurt me again, I’ll shoot him where he stands. Don’t--”

 

Johnny stepped back at her words, his tray accidentally knocking against the door and creating a thud.

.

 

Sojung shot to her feet as Wonho whipped his pistol out, pointing at the source of the sound.

“Who’s there?”

He inched towards the door and pulled it open, revealing a stunned Johnny. His eyes widened at the sight of a pistol in his face and carefully shuffled his feet into the office, eyes trained on the gun and avoiding it as well as he could.

Wonho sighed and lowered his gun. He tucked it back into his pants and bowed - reluctantly - at the husband. He then turned to Sojung.

Johnny noticed the bulge at the back of Wonho’s pants and chided himself for not noticing this bump last time.

Things were getting weirder.

“I’ll take my leave.” Wonwoo walked towards the door but purposely stood beside Johnny. “Take good care of her, Mr Seo.”

“Wonwoo.”

“Okay, okay, I’m leaving, Sojung-ah.”

 

Johnny waited till Wonwoo was out of earshot and glanced at Sojung, slowly backing up towards the wall as she walked towards him.

“What are you doing outside my office?” She asked. “Hiding behind the door? Did you plan to eavesdrop on me? Why?”

Johnny straightened his back, “No. I did not eavesdrop on you. You told me to get coffee and I have them, I wanted to knock but you are too engaged in your… talk with Mr Jeon.”

She gave him a wary glance, noticing the tray of coffee and went back to her desk. Johnny stood there, staring at her, contemplating if he should ask her what was on his mind.

“What is it?”

“Sojung-ah,” he went to her desk, putting her mug in front of her. “Who are you and what exactly do you do?”

She looked up at him, bored.

“I’m Oh Sojung, your wife. I’m the daughter of Hyundai and Samsung, now I’m here as your supervisor, appointed by your father, Mr Seo.” She repeated her textbook answer to him. “Is that what you want to know?”

 

This attitude was a stark difference from how she was before meeting Sehun.

What the happened while he was gone?

 

Johnny pushed his confusion aside.

“I heard about clans and guns and you even want to shoot someone where they stand?” He recalled. “Why are you speaking like this?”

Sojung stopped whatever she was doing and gave him a pointed glare.

“I’ve told you before. If I ever tell you the truth, you would have to give your life up.” She started typing on her computer. “Is your life worth your curiosity?”

Johnny froze.

The way she was talking sounded like the matter was a life-or-death situation. It scared him. He shook his head and stepped back, deciding against getting an answer from Sojung.

“I’ll go back to work.”

She jutted her chin to the coffee table and he scurried off. She settled back on her seat and closed her eyes, buried her face in her hands.

He’s getting close.

 

***

 

Sojung disappeared from her office immediately during lunch, leaving Johnny behind in his office. He only found out about her not being around when he popped by her room to ask her out for dinner. He sighed and reached for his phone.

“Sojung? Where are you?” He asked the moment she picked up.

“I’m at the hospital. I won’t be back for lunch.”

“I’ll go over to the hospital too,” he went back to his office to grab his keys. “Give me--”

“No need, Youngho-ah. I have something else to do after visiting my father.”

“But--”

“I have to go, I’ll talk to you later.”

She hung up hurriedly, leaving Johnny stunned. He chucked his phone at his sofa, the device bounced and landed on the floor. He ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. He decided to go visit his father-in-law anyway, it was his duty as a son-in-law.

 

***

 

The Clan Home was in a mess when Sojung arrived. She ended the call just before she stepped in. The elders sounded like they were arguing amongst themselves. Their guards were all on their feet, ready to break people apart if a fight broke out.

Mingyu and Wonho stepped into the front yard and knocked roughly on the door to get their attention. The people in the building immediately quietened down and turned to face the front door as Sojung sauntered in.

“Sojung!”

Elder Woon rushed towards the woman. Mingyu blocked him from reaching her. The other elders started to crowd around Sojung and her team while the second generation were on their feet, far away from her, giving her space.

Sehun was staring at her, guessing her next move.

The difference between the older and younger generations, huh.

“Stand down,” Sojung ordered.

Mingyu stepped away, Wonho and Wonwoo made a path for her to walk towards the table. She sat down, crossing her legs to show her dominance over the people in the room. She kept silent, a cue for the Elders and Second-Gen to settle down.

“I believe all of you have been informed of the news of my father’s shooting,” she started. “He is currently under hospital care. Hospitalisation is a definite need, but he is alright, the bullets almost hit his heart but he managed to pull through.”

A collective of sighs and breaths of relief sounded.

Sehun got to his feet and walked over to his sister, standing behind him. He wasn’t saying anything but his eyes were scanning the room. The intensity of his gaze made some of the Elders avert their eyes.

“Thank you for being so concerned over my father’s incident,” Sehun spoke up. “However, his ward is off-bounds, only made available for family visitation.”

“What? We have to go visit hyung-nim! That’s respect!”

One of the younger heads of a sub-Clan spoke up.

Sojung scoffed, “If your so-called respect comes only when my father’s in the hospital, you can shove it up your .”

Sehun patted his sister’s shoulder as the youngster looked away, prompting Elder Min to speak up.

“What about his shooter? Any news yet?

“We have uncovered a lead on my father’s shooter,” Sehun revealed. “We will--”

Sojung grabbed his arm, giving him a pointed look.

Don’t reveal it.

He tilted his head.

Why?

She just looked away and faced the Elders, “I will send my father your regards, but as of this moment until further notice, no one is to head to the hospital without our permission. If you want to visit, you can, but only when we are around.”

“Why can’t we go?”