Author's POV

Hours had passed since the incident that happened in the morning. It was currently slightly late afternoon, around 3–4 PM. As a judge, Jin most definitely had a lot of work to do. He had his usual two case hearings and some interesting case studies for once this entire month. Today, he was given two cases. They were both violent criminal cases that Jin was quite excited about.

The first one involved a recently phenomenal serial killer who had killed more than 25 confirmed female victims and has raped all of their dead bodies. Indeed, a necrophiliac. In the media, he was known as the 'Night Predator' because he usually hunted at night and stuff. But his actual name was found to be Choi Youngai. His background file and comments from people who knew him were very interesting because, apparently, he was a figurative angel. He was a phenomenally friendly neighbour and an exceptionally hard-working co-worker. But, I suppose, never judge a book by its cover.

This was the same man who had raped and killed so many people that it's morbidly disgusting and disturbing, really. Nevertheless, this is what Jin liked about serial killers; they were the most unexpected of people. Everyone who only saw one side would think that they were bright, charming, beautiful people, or sometimes even pushovers. However, in reality, there was more sinister hidden behind their backs than people could imagine, because they were brutal, grotesque, remorseless, disgusting, more than powerful, and literal demons.

Nonetheless, this was also why Jin resented people who were naturally gleeful and joyous all the time; he knew that they were the polar opposite behind their pathetic masks. Some were bastards who loved causing fights, some were pathetic gold diggers, and some only kept an act of being nice so that everybody would like them and so they would get more attention and popularity, like Jin. He was not exactly a happy freak, but you get the idea.

The second one was a severe murder case involving a 10-year-old boy. But it was no ordinary one; the body of the murdered victim was mutilated nearly beyond recognizability, and the assailant in the case was a 12-year-old girl.

Yes, a case like this is most definitely supposed to be heard by a juvenile court. But because the offender's crimes were so serious—virtually adult-like—and because the Chief Justice mandated that the Supreme Court hear the case, it had to be moved there in response to repeated public demands.

It's obviously all very complicated, but Jin was beyond enthusiastic about both cases. Just the thought and imagination of him being in the same room as killers brought a thrill inside his body. Honestly, the girl from the juvenile case kind of reminded him of the day he saw the mountain of mutilated bodies; it just made him like the cases even more for some reason.

As mentioned before, it was late in the afternoon, and Jin was completely focused while studying the cases and marking important information. He was in his office, working on his desk. His round black, thin-rimmed glasses were slightly sliding off his nose bridge. His coat was hanging on the coat hanger, and his white shirt sleeves were rolled until his elbows.

He was just about to flip a page of his file when a knock echoed around the quiet room. A quiet "Come in" left Jin's mouth, making the person enter the room. Jin doesn't look up; he just keeps flipping through the pages of the file while keeping his ears ready to hear what the person has to say. He slightly glanced at the person, though, just before looking back at his paper. It was the receptionist who had entered.

She bowed before coming in front of Jin's table. "Sorry to disturb you, sir, but there were some urgent matters that I needed to notify you about."

Jin replied with a hum, still not gazing at the poor receptionist, who was once again nervous due to his usual icy cold silence.

"If you check the news, the new associate judge has been appointed by the Chief Justice, and he will be transferred to the Supreme Court this upcoming Monday. He will also be in the same office as you."

Jin's hand had already stopped making more marks on the paper when she finished her first sentence. He looked up at her with a raised brow. No, he didn't check the news today yet. And didn't the former justice just resign like 4 or 5 days ago? How did a new justice already get appointed? That's exactly what was going on in Jin's brain and his expressions only evidenced that.

"Already? This fast?" Jin questioned in his cold, hushed voice.

"Well, I believe the Chief already had a candidate in mind that he was prepared to name," She responded anxiously while still standing with something in her hands.

Jin glanced at her hands; he noticed that she was holding something that looked like a red envelope, but as usual, he just ignored it because he didn't care. A sigh left his mouth as he brought his eyes back to the files below him.

"What's his name?"

It's not that he really wanted to know his name; it's just that he had to know the name of the darn person who would be working with him in the same room and sometimes even in the same cases, for God knows until when. So, unwillingly, the sooner he got to know the unwanted being's name, the better.

"His name is Kim Namjoon, sir. I believe he's going to be your senior. According to sources, he has worked many more years in the field."

Jin's jaw immediately clenched tightly. He hated it when he had to work with someone who was either better than him or had a higher rank than him. He absolutely detested that fact. He wanted to be the one that would be above people; he wanted to be the one that had more power, and that is true in all circumstances.

Jin definitely hated Kim Namjoon already, without even seeing him or giving any concrete reasons. Even his name sounded pathetic to Jin. He didn't do much about it but just sighed again and nodded his head. He thought that the receptionist would finally leave the room at this point, but unfortunately, she had more to say.

"Also, this letter was sent to you by Park Gaeun, the Chairman of the Park and Jung Corporations. I am sure you have already heard of her. I believe she has decided to invite you to her grand party that is going to happen soon."

"Are you aware why the party is taking place?" Jin asked uninterestedly.

"As you might know, Mrs. Park's and her husband's group just got listed as one of the world's largest and most prestigious companies. So, supposedly, in celebration of that, they are arranging a huge party. It's going to be tomorrow, on Labour's Day."

Jin continued skimming through his file while not caring about what was being said.

"I've also heard that a lot of politicians, very famous businessmen from different countries, millionaires, and celebrities would be there. The Chief Justice himself is going to be there as well. And only people with very prestigious and powerful backgrounds are invited. So congratulations on getting the invitation!"

Jin's ears perked at what she said. Not the congratulations, but the part where she mentioned how many powerful figures would be present there.

He internally smirked a little at the thought. Because this was a perfect chance to hunt for a few prey that he could easily latch on to and use as if he were a parasite. Or, he could just easily note down some rumours that he could spread even more to ruin some people's images for the future. Any information that he could get hold of in this party could be useful in either destroying many people or just raising his ranks. Even a party can be to someone's evil advantage.

Jin looked up for a split second and, without thinking, took the letter that she was holding out for him. After that, the receptionist quickly scurried out of the room, closing the door behind her.

He analysed the entirety of the envelope while turning it around for a few seconds. It was a blood-red envelope with golden cursive writing on the plain back of it. The letter was closed with a black wax seal that had the symbol of the P&J Corporation. The writer read out the words.

'Invitation to the Black Mamba Ceremony. For Kim Seokjin'

Jin plainly opened the letter after ripping out the wax seal without bother. He quickly pulled out a white card and started soaking up the words that were written on it in elegant handwriting. It looked as if someone really took their time to write the letter as neatly as possible with their fancy ink pen.

Jin actually had his own vintage ink pen, which he would often use to write with, obviously, but also to think with as he rubbed and stabbed his thumb against the knife-like nib of it.

It clearly sounds very dangerous and a pretty dumb thing to do. But Jin's pen brought him the greatest comfort. It helped him think more clearly, and the pain—well, that just gave his dark soul a little bit of pleasure. It just added to everything. If the man didn't have his pen beside him to think, he would actually get pretty mad. He found his ink pen after one of the encounters with his doll, and he has had it for more than a decade. It was his way of remembering the doll, I suppose.

Anyway, this is what the letter said.

'Dear Mr Kim Seokjin, as I am sure that you are aware, our company, P&J Corporations, has just reached the list of one of the largest companies in the world. In celebration of it, I would like to personally invite you to our event, The Black Mamba. It would be an immense pleasure to have a person as honourable as you come to our party and accompany us to this great event. The party will be held tomorrow from 8pm until midnight. It will be at XXX Tower on the very top floor. I am sure I don't need to tell you the dress code because a person as fashionable as you is already aware of it. With all that said, I really hope to see you tomorrow!

sincerely, Park Gaeun'

One of the corners of Jin's lips rose lightly, giving out a slight smirk. It was quite obvious that the chairwoman needed Jin to her advantage, or perhaps something related to him. This was also probably due to how many companies and CEOs Jin has already brought down after 'shining a light on them'. As if he truly did it to finish the evil within the industry.

Well, since Jin was very sure that the woman was trying to make an association with him so that he wouldn't come after her in the future, he thought that he might use her a bit as not? Of course, after she became useless to him, he would simply throw her away and destroy both her and her husband again. Even if they had only met once, he had little to no sympathy for said women.

Now, Jin had loads of work to do tonight. Because the man obviously needed to know as much background information about his prey that will be present at the event. After all, he was a demon in disguise—a silent one, at that.

Well, hello there! So I wanted to say that chapters will always be extremely interesting because some scenes take multiple chapters to make and to really make a smooth transition into the scene's plot. So I hope you don't mind some chapters not being direct and to the point!

Thanks for reading! DON'T FORGET TO VOTE AND COMMENT >:))