Sungmin's POV
Just as we all lost hope, Jiah appeared with force, tearing the air apart. She had howled alongside the other wolves. A small smile stuck on our lips, expanding into a wider smile. I rushed to her, pulled her in, and wrapped my arms around her. I heard my heart beat faster and louder. I also heard hers. Yula watched, feeling fulfilled.
"What do we do with this thing?" Yula asked, breaking the happy silence that sat in the air. She was talking about the wolf from Guyong's pack.
"She remains there until we decide what to do with her!" Jiah said, pulling away from me.
"My master will come for all of you and devour you all!"
"The master who sees you as a tool?" Yula said almost immediately.
I got home later that night. The look on Dad's face wasn't nice at all. There was a thin scratch on his neck—from beneath his ear down to his shoulder.
"What's wrong with you?" I asked him. I did not look happy either.
"Why have you been away from the company for two good days?" I started sniffing, perceiving an external body.
Nara appeared from one of the rooms, looking beautiful and calm.
"Dad, how did she get in here?" I asked with red eyes.
"Calm down…" Dad responded.
"Your father has asked me to be your assistant at the company so that we can get used to each other and get married soon."
"Over my fucking dead body will I get married to an enemy!"
"Come on, Sungmin," she said, looking straight into my face, and I observed her eyes. They were black.
"Oh, fuck!" I said, knocking over a chair behind me as I landed on the ground.
"What's the matter with you, Sungmin?" dad asked. Something played in my head—Guyong fucking a faceless woman aggressively. He chained her like a dog. I got confused, haven't I seen something like this before?
"I am not your slave," I managed to stand and say to my father. "Find a manager for your company."
"Son, you can't do this!"
"Dad, leave him alone. When he realizes what he is doing, he will come back to his senses," Nara said, laughing at what looks like my stupidity.
I ran out of the house, trembling with shock. What is Nara? Tears welled up in my eyes. I ran to Jiah and Yula.
"Nara is a hybrid!" I said with strong certainty. They didn't believe me. What was I supposed to do for them to believe me? Jump and hit my head on the roof?
"I saw it!" I added with strong conviction in my heart.
"I think you need some rest," Jiah said.
"We asked you to go to your father. Convince him to tell you the story of your mother, not to make up some cock-and-bull story and run up here to tell us!" Yula snapped, already tired of me. My spirit became weak.
"I would find out her roots as a hybrid," I said in my mind, and Yula got that.
"Hmm. You better not do something stupid." I was surprised she heard that.
Yula fell asleep reading a strange novel. I took it from her hand, and it read, "Tomorrow Is Not Yours." I threw the book to the corner of the room and went to meet Jiah in another room. As she saw me coming, she smiled at me.
"I… I… like…" I stammered.
"I know what you are about to say," she said, interrupting him.
"We can't do this yet."
"But I love you, and you know it. I am never going to leave you, Jiah," I try to sound romantic amidst frustrations.
"You?" she asked with doubt. "Not after what Yula saw in the future," she chuckled. "If you can take it, what about me?"
I knew there was nothing I could say to convince her. I left back to my father's house at my wolf's speed. I didn't care about my drivers or cars since I became part of Jiah's clan.
"Son," my father called. "Sit, it's high time you know the things you are supposed to know. Like I said before, Nara is the daughter of Guyong." I wanted to interrupt when I remembered something. "Guyong's wife is a slave. She betrayed him and got enslaved!" he continued.
"How was she enslaved?" I asked, losing my patience already. I perceived that he was a bloody liar!
"Do me one thing if you do not want me to die! Marry Nara and keep the company." I fumed where I sat, but I still tried to remain calm.
"Ask him who your mother is?" Jiah mind-linked me.
Yula's POV
Jiah and I came in to see Sungmin's hands stained with blood.
"What have you done?" Jiah asked. The wolf from Guyong's pack was lying dead on the ground. The knife in his hands dropped.
"She deserved to die!" he said, teary-eyed. "All members of Guyong's pack deserved to die." While he was still speaking, we heard the growl of wolves. And suddenly, they appeared around us in a flash, howling and growling. Guyong wasn't among them, but Hyejin was. Her eyes were brown.
"Run!" Jiah screamed at the top of her lungs. And we all fled. I struggled to race through, but I couldn't. I was only a step faster than humans, and soon I was caught. Jiah was so mad at Sungmin that she cut his throat.
"Ah…ah…ah," I woke up panting!
"Sungmin is about to put us in trouble!" I said to Jiah, who came rushing to me when she heard me panting.
"We have to stop him!" I said under pressure. "Where is he?" I asked, looking around.
We looked through the window when we felt uneasy. He was approaching us, lunging like lightning unleashed—his steps faster than a split second, and he was unstoppable. He moved towards us with lots of energy and agility like a predator fueled by a storm. Our eyes widened. Suddenly, a boy looking like a 12-year-old child appeared, surrounded by an energy shield—a glowing, round dome surrounded him. It was like a sparkling bubble. We were amazed. He cast a spell on the aggressive wolf that almost got to us, putting his movement in slow motion.
"The spell will break in 12 hours from now. To stop his destruction, get me out of here! I beg of you," he said and started to fade into the air, scattering like stardust.
Sungmin is here, his eyes burning red underneath. "My mother is the woman I saw earlier, the one who Guyong chained and fucked!" He sobbed. We sighed, not knowing how to make him feel better.
"I am sorry," Jiah whispered as she pulled him into a warm embrace. "Things will get better!"
"I thought she was dead. He made me believe she was dead and gone a long time ago. When I was three. I didn't know that he had been abusing her sexually every full moon, and sometimes before the full moon. This has been happening since I was 3, can you imagine?" He paused and cried harder. "My father is a coward!" he blurted out. I had never seen him cry so much before.
Kangdae POV
I grabbed a clean piece of cloth to wipe my tears. My face was all red. It dawned on me that Guyong had been using me up. Now my past is haunting me. I should make it up to my son. I called my driver to drive me down to the company. I went through some necessary documents to see how things were going at the company.
"Call me Secretary Soyoung," I told one of the ladies at the front desk. I noticed the way she looked at me. She was observing the long scratch on my neck.
"Is everything alright, sir?" she asked, and immediately I shunned her, threatening her with her job. As she left, Hyejin walked in. She frightened me with her sudden appearance, and I let out a sigh as I eased myself of the tension.
"You don't have to be afraid!" She said, placing her feet on my table and tapping her heels against the wooden surface. "Watch us slice your daughter's throat in your face!" she said, showing me a video of Hani on her phone. I saw Guyong threatening her with his deadly claws as she cried for help. She was roughly handled, tied mercilessly to a chair.
"What! You people cannot do this to me after twenty-two years of serving you all!" I complained, already broken. Secretary Soyoung soon came in with a large brown envelope in her hand.
"Excuse me, sir," she said, shutting the door behind her. Hyejin had put down her leg when she heard the door creak open, and I wiped my tears when I heard Soyoung's voice, pretending to be discussing work affairs with Hyejin.
"Okay, that's fine. Let the cleaners know," I said, dismissing her.
"Oh yes, let me have the documents," I said, reaching for the large brown envelope that Secretary Soyoung passed across to me. As I went through the file, I was busy drafting a letter for Guyong. The letter read:
Dear client,
I hope this letter finds you well. We kindly request a meeting at your place of work. It is urgent and pertains to our official agreement.
I look forward to your prompt response!
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Kangdae.