“Where there is pain, there are no words. Pain is all the same.” Toni Morrison

Youngbae groaned as he stepped out from the office elevator, a hand to the nape of his neck as he massaged the kinks in his neck. Last night’s sleep had been fitful as best, having to worry about the wellbeing of his best friend while he tossed and turn in bed. The fact that Jiyong hadn’t replied to any of his messages hadn’t helped matters as well.

Youngbae sighed. Seems to him that it was safe to assume Jiyong would be a no-show in the office for today; not that Youngbae blamed him. After what the man been through yesterday, taking a day off was the least Jiyong could do for himself.

Therefore, it was with utmost surprise that Youngbae saw Jiyong standing by the imposing glass walls as the man stared far ahead when he had opened the door to Jiyong’s office. And by the looks of the cup of coffee Jiyong had on his table, the man had been here for a while, and it wasn’t even 8:30am yet.

“Dude,” hissed Youngbae as he entered Jiyong’s office, “Some warning would have been nice. I’ve been worried sick!”

Jiyong didn’t respond, not even batting an eyelid to his old friend.

Youngbae frowned worryingly at the sight of Jiyong’s bloodshot eyes and the red, angry scratch on Jiyong’s cheek when the man had spun to face him; that wasn’t there yesterday.

Only to have his brows furrowed deeper in concern at the gaunt look of Jiyong’s face, his expression withdrawn and harsh. It was a look Youngbae hadn’t seen in a long time (slightly over seven years). It was a look befitting of a vengeful warlock.

“Two things.” said Jiyong monotonically, his eyes cold and flat, the note of steel in his voice impossible to miss.

“First, I need you to release a statement to the press. I want it clear that my engagement to Kiko Mizuhara will be irrevocably broken off as of today.”

Youngbae nodded. He would do so, gladly.

“Next, I need you to make use every connections you can think of to get the dirt on the Mizuhara’s family, particularly anything involving their company and or about Kiko Mizuhara herself.”

Jiyong merely chuckled, the sound of it dead and humourless, at the puzzled look on Youngbae’s face, “Two reasons.”

“One.” said Jiyong as he lifted an index finger, “The Mizuhara family won’t let me off so easily for breaking off the engagement. Knowing them, they would most probably find a way to make me pay for the humiliation that they would suffer before coercing me to accept the engagement plans once more. I’ll need every leverage I can get against them, it’s gonna be a bloody battle if things get ugly.”

Youngbae nodded gravely at the seriousness of things. Indeed, Jiyong was not one to leave things to chance. His strategist mind had brilliantly conjured all sorts of possible scenarios and had wasted no time to think of the respective back up plans.

“Two,” continued Jiyong, the fire in his eyes evident, “I want to raze the entire Mizuhara family to the ground for what Kiko had done to Yoona. I’ll take away everything that matters most to Kiko and I’ll make sure there is no way for her to recover from that.”

Youngbae gulped at his friend’s ruthlessness, knowing that Jiyong would see his words through. Despite knowing the man for years, Jiyong’s cruel tone coupled with his penchant for blood never fails to send a shiver down his spine, irregardless how justified Jiyong might be.

Jiyong smirked. Good, if Youngbae feared him, the Mizuhara family will too.

Jiyong gestured over the stack of files placed neatly on his desk, “The ones there are the ones I’ve managed to uncover on my own, they’re mostly small embezzlement of the company funds and petty corruption, nothing substantial. I’m hoping that one of them would lead the trail to the stash of back margin that I know Kiko’s father has.”

Youngbae nodded.

“The moment we have every piece of evidence we need, we’ll collate them all before sending it to the prosecutor’s office and the various media outlets. I don’t want to risk Mizuhara to be able to hush things up, I want to blow matters up as big as possible.”

Jiyong stared at Youngbae then in all seriousness, “I trust that you know to use discretion? We can’t risk being caught by that old fox before it’s all done and dusted. We only have one shot at it Youngbae, one.”

Youngbae snorted as he walked over to the stack of files, “I think I’m a little insulted. Don’t you know how I operate by now? Show me a little faith man, I know how to make myself inconspicuous and unseen by the enemy.”

At that, Jiyong smirked a little, trusting in Youngbae’s abilities as he took a sip of his black coffee.

Flipping through the first of many files, Youngbae frowned as he caught sight of the date of the first email correspondence Jiyong had with his mystery contact: 26 December 2017. It was now early February.

“What?” asked Jiyong when he saw Youngbae frowning questionably at him.

“The date.” said Youngbae, “How long have you been preparing for this?”

And when Jiyong averted his gaze, the pieces in Youngbae’s head clicked together instantly.

“You had plans to break off your engagement long before this, haven’t you?” whispered Youngbae.

Youngbae’s gaze returned to the date stamped on the printout of Jiyong’s email correspondence having come to an epiphany and Youngbae didn’t know if he wanted to shout for joy or weep in sorrow for his friend. Jiyong had made his decision a long time ago; he had chosen the girl. All these while, the man had plans to break free of the gilded cage and his captors, and knowing Jiyong, the man’s decision to do things quietly on this own probably stemmed for the wanting to minimise the risk of being suspected by the elders that he had wanted to revolt, he was doing this for the maximum chance of success. Even if the girl hadn’t known, Jiyong had been preparing to fight his way out of the arrangement, for her, to be with her but now...

“It doesn’t matter.” said Jiyong brusquely.

Youngbae looked at his friend pitifully. “Oh but it does matter, Jiyong”, he thought melancholy, “it does.”

“All that matters now is to see this whole thing through. We can’t afford any distractions, failure is not an option. Kiko has to pay.”

Youngbae nodded solemnly, “Yes boss.”

And it was then did Youngbae came to a decision on his own. Yes, he would focus his energy in carrying out Jiyong’s orders but when he was done for that assignment, he would make it his personal life mission to steer Jiyong back to the girl, if it was the last thing he’ll do.

“BREAKING: KWON JIYONG CALLS OFF WEDDING ENGAGEMENT WITH KIKO MIZUHARA!”

“KWON REVEALS ENGAGEMENT WAS A SHAM! COERCED BY ELDERS!”

“JIKO IS OVER FOR GOOD! KIKO MIZUHARA DUMPED BY KWON JIYONG!”

“THE FALL OF THE WOULD BE KWON-MIZUHARA EMPIRE.”

“10 SIGNS THAT YOUR RELATIONSHIP IS OVER.”

“Daebak, have you guys seen this?”

The news of Jiyong’s apparent wedding engagement dissolvement had only broke a mere hour ago but already the office was set alive with its incessant buzzing, the news of which spreading like an airborne virus; fast and deadly.

Yoona ignored the curious speculative looks shot in her direction as she made her way out of Peace Minus One with Daesung by her side as they went for lunch.

Phone in hand, Yoona was in the midst of replying Seunghyun’s text, her teeth chewing on her lower lip absentmindedly as she and Daesung waited for the elevator when she heard the distinct sound of a throat clearing.

Annoyed at the blatant attempt to get her attention, Yoona glanced up from her phone with a brow raised, looking very much so like a princess forced to give audience to undeserving peasants.

Suzy squirmed uncomfortably under Yoona’s look, “Hey Bella, have you seen the news yet?”

Yoona rolled her eyes at the obvious attempt to fish information from her. Why on earth does everyone in the bloody office thinks that they’re privy to a live update on hers and Jiyong’s state of things just because they were all geographically working on the same premises?

Daesung scoffed at where he stood before leaning over Yoona to address Suzy directly, “Seriously Suzy, mind your own business.”

Suzy flushed in embarrassment at being called out for her gossipy behaviour as Yoona shot an appreciative smile to Daesung who merely gave a playful wink in return.

The elevator announced its arrival with a metallic ping and with it came the arrival of a furious looking Kwon senior exiting the metal box as a scrawny bespectacled man chased after the silver haired man.

Instantly, a hushed murmur started at the newest turn of events. Barely anyone from the small crowd that awaited the elevator moved to fill the empty metal box, their eyes glued to the back of the fuming elderly Kwon who was storming into their office premises.

“Omo omo isn’t that Mr Kwon’s father.”

Yoona furrowed her brow worryingly, concerned over the trouble that Jiyong had gotten himself with his father. It shouldn’t have mattered to her, she shouldn’t cared but yet a part of her couldn’t help but to.

Daesung grabbed onto his boss’s elbow gently, steering the girl to the elevator, “Come on now, Miss Bella.”

Distractedly, Yoona shot Daesung a small smile, giving the office glass door one last worried look before making her way into the elevator.

“JUST WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS, BOY!”

Jiyong merely glanced up from his lunch box in disinterest when his father’s voice accompanied the loud bang of his heavy oak door being slammed open, having expected the latter’s appearance. Jiyong took a peek at his leather watch; 12:13pm, the man had arrived a good hour and a half earlier than expected.

Youngbae stood uneasily from where he sat across Jiyong, chewing on his piece of stir-fried pork hastily as he stood between the two Kwons, effectively blocking the older man’s sight of his best friend, “Mr Kwon--”

Kwon senior merely glared at Youngbae, dismissing the shorter man as he strode on forward, the end of his cane clicking against the floor.

“I ASKED YOU A QUESTION AND I EXPECT AN ANSWER JIYONG!”

Jiyong wiped the corner of his lips with his handkerchief, tossing the piece of fabric carelessly onto the table top.

“Leave us Youngbae and take my father’s secretary with you.”

Youngbae hesitated from where he stood, not wanting to leave Jiyong alone with his father, not when he knew Kwon senior’s perchan