The first place they visited was a small construction site located in Dobong district, near Chang-dong Station, where a lot of urban development projects were underway. It was an ideal place for underground trades to take place, according to Yeri. Something along the lines of ‘having plenty of inconspicuous mountains with graves already present. A few more dead bodies won’t call for attention.’

Dobong was largely residential; Seulgi found it jarring to be driving through the district next to someone who had two guns stashed away on her person while innocent people milled about on the streets. The woman named Taeyeon was their designated driver of the day, although the soundproof barrier between the front and back seats was a clear indication of Irene’s cautiousness towards other members in her organization.

“The place we’ll be visiting was acquired to Kai’s jurisdiction under mutual agreement of all three parties two years ago. There are plans to expand the area available for commercial projects, so he took the reins for this district.”

Seulgi nodded, simply processing the data. It was odd finding herself becoming more and more involved with the network—mostly because she hadn’t expected to make it this far after being kidnapped—but she figured following Irene’s orders and surviving was priority to investigating, although she was finding out much more than she would have on her own either way. Perhaps there really was a silver lining to everything. All she needed now was to slowly show Irene that she was harmless, regardless of the accuracy of such sentiments.

“Because of an important transaction taking place with Wendy and Yeri at the forefront, it will be just us and Joy inspecting the three locations. It may take a few days if there are indeed any anomalies as Kai suspects.”

Seulgi picked at a loose thread on the black cap in her hands. “I know that I’m technically tied to you via blood contract, but you should just know that I’ll fully cooperate as long as you keep your end of protecting me.” She glanced at Irene, who was already looking at her. “And this relationship can’t be maintained without some level of trust.”

Irene raised an eyebrow ever so slightly. “You have trust in me?” she asked skeptically, almost mockingly. Seulgi could feel Irene trying to see through her.

“What is to say I don’t? You’re the only form of protection I have, and I need to stick with you regardless of my wishes. You know me. You’ve done your research. I’m smart. I do what it takes to stay alive.”

“To fully commit is different from giving in due to external pressures. A loyal dog will die for you, but you can’t be sure that one you beat into submission won’t bite you to escape.”

“Dogs are smart enough to know that even trust is a give-and-take relationship.”

Irene smirked. “And why should I think that you won’t betray me?”

“So long as I’m tied here, I believe that I credibly present myself as someone who can be trusted. My mouth remains closed. Nothing leaks out.”

“Is that so?” Irene knocked on the barrier to call Taeyeon, who rolled it down. “Taeyeon. Do you trust me?”

There wasn’t even a moment’s hesitation. “Yes, Boss.”

“Why is that?”

Taeyeon stopped at a red light. “You’ve proven yourself as someone I can rely on.”

“Thank you for your answer, Taeyeon. That’ll be all.” The barrier rolled back up and Irene faced Seulgi. “You said I should trust you. Because you have no means to betray me.”

“I merely implied that my circumstances allow it.”

“And yet you’ve seen just now that our family works differently.” The car started rolling forward again. “Trust is gained, Kang Seulgi. If trust were circumstantial, I would not be where I am today. There would be no bargains. No investments. You would be buried in a wasteland after having rotted in the back of Yeri’s trunk for six weeks.” A finger traced Seulgi’s jaw and lifted her chin. “You are only alive because I have looked favourably upon you and am waiting to see if you can prove yourself as someone I can depend on to carry out my needs. Don’t assume you are worth more than what I’ve assigned to you.”

Seulgi swallowed back the unidentifiable emotion pushing itself up her airway. She knew, already, that Irene was building expectations. The mafia boss herself may not have noticed it, but Seulgi was an expert at catching onto subconscious actions; from the assignment of Seulgi as a personal secretary under the guise of keeping watch to travelling with Seulgi without a bodyguard, Irene was slipping up in ways only Seulgi could understand. Whether it was intentional or not didn’t matter. The more she learned about this network, the greater her incentive to stay put and observe. She wasn’t going to be a puppet for long.

She lightly held onto Irene’s wrist with her fingers, unusually bold. “You say that, but you’ve already taken too risky of a gamble the moment you took an interest in me, Irene. The odds aren’t all in your favour like you think they are.”

§

“I don’t know what took you so long, but I’ve already scoped out the place,” Joy said, dusting off her hands when Irene and Seulgi approached. “You were right about the possibility of construction slowing down; I talked to some of the workers and it seems like they got an order to layoff a third of their workforce about three months back. Not sure who ordered it though.”

Irene nodded. “And the establishments involved?”

“Just three. Two of the clubs are in the Ssangmun neighbourhood—you know, the old place. And one of them borders Ssangmun and Banghak. I think we have a few people in one of the Ssangmun establishments, but I haven’t talked to them yet. They might have some information about internal movements.”

“We’ll move together. Kai has given us the okay to talk to his men, so it’ll be more helpful for you to keep our backs.”

“Sounds good. And the journalist? Are we taking her too?”

“She moves with me from now on. I’m sure you know what that means.”

Joy was emotionless for a second before sending a huge grin and salute Seulgi’s way. “Lucky girl.”

Seulgi furrowed her eyebrows in confusion at the silent conversation taking place between the lines but didn’t question it. She was more engaged with the continuation of her findings while working under Kai. Joy’s reaction probably indicated that there wasn’t much for her to worry about.

When they arrived at the club, which was a lot more rundown and had a vastly different demographic than the places in Gangnam, the three women split up: Joy headed straight to the bar, Seulgi was assigned to talk to an RV-affiliated security guard, and Irene went to the VIP rooms. Scanning the inside of the building, Seulgi leaned forward to talk to the guard.

“Seems like it’s mostly normal customers here. Not much activity in this area?”

The guard briefly glanced at her wristwatch before shrugging. “Normally, it’s just real estate, but it seems like some of pharma weaselled their way in. We hadn’t heard anything from the higher ups, so no one has really done anything.”

That was the extent of the information Seulgi was able to dig up, but it was still pretty significant. Upon talking to Irene and Joy, who had done a speedrun to the two other clubs in Dobong, Seulgi was able to piece together that there had been an unusual pattern of drug trade in the area. Of course, Irene never explicitly told her anything; it was through her previous investigations and Joy’s open conversation about how often Lucas was mentioned by staff coordinating private rooms that Seulgi realized this Lucas person was conducting unapproved dealings in sectors that were off-limits to him. And a trip to the sparsely inhabited southern part of Seocho district and socioeconomically segregated Seongbuk district only further affirmed her beliefs.

Southern Seocho was an odd place: void of bustling residencies despite there being a commercially successful district with a very wealthy neighbourhood in the form of Banpo in the eastern part of the district. Actually, it was the richest district in South Korea, period. Part of it may have had to do with the geography being mostly mountainous, but from what Seulgi could see of the place, it probably was tightly controlled by the mafia network. Why they would want to keep certain regions empty, she wasn’t sure, but Kai probably had good reason for leaving the land undeveloped even with the losses it would bring.

“As you probably know, Kai’s business is the least conspicuous of all our trades,” Irene mentioned. “It’s easy for him to cut ties with individual contractors and plead innocent to building less-than-legal infrastructure. Land is always bought and sold, so he’s in the clear so long as he doesn’t purposely try to jeopardize his dealings.”

Seulgi looked out at the containers in front of her. “And pharma is the most tricky one.”

“Correct.” Irene clicked her fingers and Joy walked off to get in position at a nearby building. “Because drugs leave traces, whether it be people or substances. And when it gets too noticeable, there isn’t much we can do to stop the backlash.”

Irene checked her ammunition then walked off to inspect the containers. While no one seemed to be around, they were dealing with unusual circumstances, so it wasn’t a bad idea to anticipate ambushes.

“Isn’t the Supreme Court also in this district?”

“Yes, it is.” Irene finished checking the containers. “Which is why we agreed it would be safest for Kai to take this area. Things are expensive here too, so it works well in terms of investment.”

“I’ve only ever been to Seorae Village to investigate a racially-fueled poisoning incident.”

Irene hummed uninterestedly. “Is that so?”

“Come to think of it, it wouldn’t at all be weird for your organization to recruit foreigners, would it? More connections, more power.”

A glance. “What are you trying to say?”

Seulgi shrugged innocently. “I’m not saying anything.”

“You should know by now that I don’t like to play games, Kang Seulgi.” Irene tapped her gun against her palm. “I think you’re unaware of how the rules work around here.”

“Oh, if it’s rules, I’ve had to memorize hundreds of them over these past few weeks. Tell me, is there something I’m missing?”