The night was heavy with silence.
Seong Min's boots echoed against the cracked pavement, steady and unhurried. Behind him, the warehouse sagged like a gutted carcass. Its walls were splattered with grime, its air thick with blood and sweat. All that remained inside were broken bodies—Dog Pound, reduced to whimpers and shallow breathing.
Some clutched shattered ribs. Others coughed up blood through swollen lips. A few reached toward him feebly as he walked away, voices hoarse from begging.
He didn't look back.
Dog Pound.What was left of them.
They would not forget tonight. Neither would the city. Rumors would spread fast, carried by whispers and trembling lips: the mysterious boy who had walked into a den of rabid dogs… and left it in ruins.
Seong Min flexed his hand as he walked. His knuckles were raw, swollen, crusted with someone else's blood. The sting was sharp, but it wasn't pain that filled him.
It was liberation.
For once, he hadn't held back. No restraint. No careful mask. Just unfiltered violence, poured into every strike until the begging turned into silence. In that chaos, for the first time since waking in this world, he had felt something close to peace.
But peace never lasted.
He felt it then—soft footsteps trailing at a calculated distance. Too precise to be one of Dog Pound's rats crawling back for revenge. No, this was someone else. Someone watching.
He didn't bother turning around. His voice carried lazily into the night."Going to keep tailing me like a ghost?"
The shadows shifted. From the edge of the street, Crystal Choi stepped into view. Her long coat swayed with the breeze, her hair catching faint glimmers of neon. Even from here, her presence was heavy—quiet authority carved into every measured step.
"You could've walked away after beating them," she said evenly. "Instead, you… broke them." Her voice didn't rise, but the edge was there. "You made them beg."
Seong Min stopped under the streetlamp, letting its pale light spill over him. His violet eyes caught the glow, sharp and unnatural in the dark."So?" His tone was flat, almost bored.
"So," she pressed, her gaze hardening, "that wasn't strategy. That was indulgence. You weren't fighting to win. You were fighting because you wanted to."
Seong Min tilted his head, studying her like one might study a mirror. "And what if I was?"
Crystal's lips pressed into a thin line. She wasn't used to being challenged like this. Her world was order, hierarchy, strategy. Gun and Goo were weapons her father wielded—predictable in their violence. But this boy in front of her… he didn't fit. He wasn't a weapon.
He was a storm.
"You'll burn yourself out living like that," she said finally, though her voice wasn't as steady as she wanted it to be.
Seong Min stepped closer, the violet flicker in his gaze pulsing faintly, dangerous."No," he said quietly. "I'll burn the world before it burns me."
The words struck harder than she expected. For a heartbeat, she forgot to breathe. His presence pressed against her composure like a weight, testing for cracks.
He leaned closer, his words meant only for her."I'm done playing by anyone else's rules. I'm going to live true to myself. To my desires. No matter who tries to chain me."
Crystal's fingers twitched at her side, hidden by the folds of her coat. She had been trained to remain unreadable, untouchable. But something in her chest betrayed her, tightening in a way she hadn't felt in years.
Intrigue. Dangerous, magnetic intrigue.
"You talk like a villain," she said at last, her tone soft but cutting.
Seong Min smirked, sharp and unrepentant. "Villain, hero—labels don't matter. The only thing that matters is who's left standing."
The silence that followed wasn't empty. It was loaded. The hum of passing cars, the flicker of neon signs, the faint hiss of wind—all of it faded beneath the current between them.
Crystal's mind moved quickly, calculating. She should have felt disgust. Alarm. Even fear. Instead, she found herself replaying his words. True to himself. To his desires. Such reckless defiance should have been beneath her. Yet here she was—lingering, listening.
Her father's voice echoed faintly in her head: Uncontrolled pieces are discarded. Always.
And yet, the thought of discarding him felt… wrong.
For the first time in a long while, curiosity stirred. The kind that made her want to see what would happen if she didn't control the piece.
Seong Min's smirk widened, like he had read the hesitation flicker in her eyes."What's wrong, Crystal? Afraid I might not fit on your board?"
Her mask snapped back into place. She straightened her coat, smoothing her expression into one of cool indifference."Careful, Seong Min. Even pieces worth moving can be sacrificed if they grow too reckless."
He slid his hands into his pockets, turning away as if dismissing the entire exchange."Fragile pieces don't last long around me."
And with that, he walked past her, steps unhurried, leaving nothing but silence and the faint trace of blood on the air.
Crystal's eyes followed him until he disappeared into the dark. Her pulse, usually steady as ice, betrayed her with a subtle quickening.
Intrigue. Fascination. A whisper of something she couldn't name.
She drew in a breath, steadying herself. Her father would never approve of what she was thinking.
But as much as she tried to suppress it, the thought wouldn't leave her:
What would it feel like to stand beside him… instead of against him?
The night swallowed her as she turned back toward the waiting car. But the question lingered, sharp and unwelcome, refusing to fade.
And for the first time in years, Crystal Choi felt something dangerous—
Curiosity.
End of Chapter 13