P   R   O   L   O   G   U   E

Kai

The cold December wind brush through my skin as I make my way inside the place I used to call home. This was where I grew up, the place where my parents brought me up. Now that they are gone, I am left with this big house and the investment company I have to take over real soon. I look around and see the same furnitures and decorations, yet everything feels different.

"It is time for you to make your speech, sir." My executive secretary, Mr. Park, tells me for the third time. 

I sigh and whisper, "I know."

It's the company's anniversary and I have to make a speech in front of a crowd of elites I know I cannot fully trust. I wonder how many of them truly have sincere sentiments towards my parents. In a business as big as what my family have, it is just too hard to know. Nobody in this crowd knew I have privately hired for an investigation regarding my parents' death three years ago. My instincts tell me my father did not have a heart failure, and I am not stupid enough to believe that my mother overdosed with pills. I know someone has been playing with our family 

A soft squeeze on my arm broke me away from my thoughts. The most beautiful and comforting voice whispered to me, "You don't have to do it if you don't want to. You know that, right?" 

Krystal. Aside from the search for justice my parents deserve, she is the only one I live for. I often wonder what I could have possibly done to deserve her. To be honest, I am not even certain if I truly deserve her. My girl is too good to be true.

I pat her hand and gave her a kiss on her forehead. "I know that. But I have to do this." I put my game face one just like what I have been doing since I prepared to inherit the company. 

I walk through the long hall leading to the platform beside the staircase. I search for a clue in peoples' faces in the crowd, but found none. They are all good actors, my mother once told me.

"My good father one told me that life in general, not just business, is like a game of chess." I glance at the large chess painting my father situated on one of the walls. It showed a chess board laid with figures all put down except for the kings and queens of both the black and the white. He used to love looking at it, especially when things get rough at work. 

"It looks like an easy game to an outsider, but the competition is always tough," I continue. "It is a battle of the mind, yet it also involves so much action. Piece by piece, your rival destroys your combat, eyeing you as the king. Everyone protects the king by any means. Once he is destroyed, the game is over." I pause and envision my father. "My father always reminds me that an intelligent mind knows that even despite losing the king, there could always be a second game."

I look at the audiene and see my queen. She l