POV: Kang Tae Oh
Song Yerin recoils like she had been electrocuted. Her pretty face looks aghast. "This-this is a joke right?"
"Stop stop stop! Kang Tae Oh, don't be like this!" Director Seo stands in front of Yerin. "Alright, you hate this. She will apologise. I will never bring her here again–you will never see her again."
Tae Oh ignores him and takes his seat on a single couch near the door. It will give him the best view. Gunwoo stands by the door too, calm and bored.
They are already exchanging glances, plotting, planning. The women in lingeries, the idol boys. Discussions have started. Yerin notices and hides further behind Director Seo.
Tae Oh stretches his neck. "Ah, I forgot to say. Only women are allowed to take part."
The men look disappointed.
"Director Seo, let's go!" Yerin grabs his arm. Gunwoo moves to stand in front of the door. Dohyun follows.
"Do you want to give up your finger instead?" Tae Oh asks Director Seo as he opens his mouth to say something.
He shuts up and jerks away from Yerin.
He knows Tae Oh enough.
Yerin is panting, panicking, staring at the two lingerie women getting up. She is already a sinking ship. Director Seo is wasting his time on her now.
Finally two lingerie women take the knife and pounce on Yerin.
It's not entertaining.
What is he even doing here? So much blood, he's sick of the smell. And women scream in an incredibly irritating manner.
The show goes on for a while. At some point he tunes it out.
★★★
POV: Kang Tae Oh
Three women. Three women have died after ending up in his arms.
The first one was an older woman. He was 17 and easy. The age when you get attached. She joined his father in his bed three days later. Tae Oh killed her a week after that, when his father got bored of her and she failed to become his stepmother.
His father was proud of him.
The second one was sent to specifically win him over, seduce him and trick him into dropping his guards. He fucked her, let her think she had him. Before throwing her to the sharks in the sea.
The third one drugged him. Him, Tae Oh, who has never taken drugs. She had the audacity to drug him. Something to make him lose it, to turn him on. She thought he would not find out. Needless to say, she is also dead.
Death or not, it has never ended well for any woman who got involved with him.
So any woman who knows even a little bit about his reputation, doesn't dare approach him. They recoil whenever he walks past them. They cover their exposed cleavage and nude legs as if afraid they might catch his attention.
Dohyun tells him about all sorts of rumours related to him. Some true, some exaggerated. But once in a while, there are stupid bitches who think they are special.
From somewhere inside, a bitter voice sneaks up on him:
Or maybe Song Yerin didn't really want this. She was so desperate she had to bet on someone like me.
"Stop…" He stands, suddenly agitated.
The women slowly separate from Yerin, panting.
Her arms and legs have thin gashes, accidentally–or maybe intentionally–sliced in the struggle. She falls from the couch, crawls as far away from Tae Oh as she can. She can only try to bury herself in a wall.
They have failed to cut the finger off.
Cutting off a finger, it's not as easy as people assume.
Tae Oh slowly walks over and holds out his hand like a gentleman helping a lady up. She looks up at him, terrified. That boldness when she had laid her hand on him, it's gone now. It's almost comical.
He snatches her arm.
A crack echoes in the room, followed by another irritating scream.
Examples, he must set examples.
He leaves her wailing, holding her twisted, broken arm. Moves to grab the knife. It slides smoothly on his middle finger. Its ring was custom designed for him by a Karswellian master in Russia. He adjusts the knife under his palm, aware of every uneven breath and terrified gaze in the room.
Director Seo is sitting right behind him.
He calculates the strike.
He had been practicing this on mannequins.
Only a second. That's the amount of time he can take.
Swiftly, he spins on his heels, grabs Director Seo's index finger. Like pulling a lever, his hand slices in the air, towards himself. Warm blood spatters on his face.
Director Seo's finger separates with a crunch.
All the screams and movements dissolve into the background. Tae Oh's focus is on the crisp, clean cut. Fuck! The technique worked! It was easier than the mannequin.
"...you fucking psycho, you will pay for this!" The bloody moron is shouting, rolling over on the floor. Sounds like his throat has been cut open.
He should be grateful it isn't.
Tae Oh crouches on the ground, his hand clenched in a fist, blood dripping from the tiny dagger's sharp and curved tip. In his other hand, the finger is still there, also dripping blood.
"What did you say?" Tae Oh whispers.
Suddenly all the curses quiet down. The man with nine fingers is shaking worse than Hyunsook.
"This was for not teaching your bitch well," he says. "I was already pissed off today and you had to come and make it worse."
Director Seo is useful, yes. But in the end, he is Kang Tae Oh, the King of Wolya. While the man before him is just a junkie with two kids who work for the government, Tae Oh's got nearly half of the government working for him.
Behind him, he hears Dohyun release a sigh. He knows it's him without looking.
He gets up, turns and throws aside the finger. "Dohyun'ah, take care of the mess."
★☆★☆★☆
POV: Hae Na Ri
I am sulking as I shower and get dressed up in another pastel coloured skirt and sweater. All these long skirts and long sleeves were not Mrs. Kang catering to my dressing style–how would she when doesn't even know it?
It was her making sure I was as covered up as possible.
She thinks so highly of me!
I don't have some background experience of charming powerful men and getting pregnant to marry them–unlike what Mrs. Kang believes–but her high expectations are tempting me to try my hand. Who knows? Maybe I do have some hidden talents.
I am amusing myself with these ridiculous ideas as I get out of my room. The gleaming brown palace walls with lavish golden lamps remind me of something.
The Supreme Military Commander.
Aish, that man can command an army! Even nuclear weapons can be released upon his orders. I should better worry about the disheveled condition of my life. Rather than dying while wooing a man just to vex Mrs. Kang.