Hoseok

I'm going to kill him one day.

My thoughts were raging towards murder right now. Despite that, I never once faltered in my smile.

"You see.." I humbly placated the man before me, my fingers itching to claw his eyes out. "..if Kim Corp doesn't flourish right now, numerous assets are about to dwindle into dust with no reason whatsoever. I assure you this project is worthwhile the time and money it is about. We just need the green signal from you."

Hearing this, the fat bastard, Lee Hyun, started to chuckle. It was full of mirth. "You see.." he mimicked my tone and I mustered every ounce of strength in my body to not nail his head to the window behind him. "...I don't understand why it is you slaving off for the likes of Kim Seokjin."

He leaned forward on the desk and intertwined his fingers in front of him. His eyes were a dull brown and alcohol dazed.

Couldn't wait to cure his hangover. His bitch must have given him a tough time.

Fucker. She was barely 24.

"Are you listening?" His voice made me come out of my daydream and I looked at him clearly.

"I don't understand. What's the connection between your approval and my relationship with Seokjin?" I was calm but was brimming with rage inside.

Why do they have to bring him everywhere?

"Hoseok." He turned serious now. "I know you're a dedicated, loyal and a respectful man. It hurts me seeing you waste your capabilities on someone who is not even worthy of the title bestowed upon him. Kim Seokjin was gifted this position to him. It was never about his abilities. You, on the other hand, are equally, or maybe more deserving."

I looked at him for a few seconds and completely dumbfounded. He was stating the same thing I heard from the likes of him for the past few years.

It was no secret that the board hated Seokjin. After being hailed the CEO after being unanimously voted by them, he did the exact things which were beneficial to the company. But those things, weren't necessarily of benefit to the board. Their individual shares got jeopardized, market value was solely distributed and the publicity campaigns varied, giving each and every person associated with it a different market value which depended on their work. This was met with harsh criticism from their side and everyone planned to veto him out of it.

But Seokjin was two steps ahead of them. The first thing he did was acquire the power of attorney to himself and then transferred the maximum shares to his name. This made him the sole owner of Kim Corp and the largest stakeholder as well. If Seokjin wants, these men would be jobless by now.

They tried every trick in the book. Hiring his only confidante as a means to sabotage him was not used yet. But that was done now.

I smirked at the fat burly man in front of me.

Seokjin fucking predicted this.

Mistaking my smirk as a sign of comradeship, Lee Hyun gave me a full blown smile and stood up to walk towards me.

He rounded the desk and stood before me but I didn't get up.

He awkwardly stood there and I pay no heed to him. I just looked and looked.

He cleared his throat, visibly embarrassed and forwarded his hand to shake with mine.

At that instant, the door to his office slammed open and in came Seokjin, decked out in a black and grey suit. Looking as confident as always.

He simply strode towards the place I was seated, paying no attention to Lee and his awkward posture and stood in front of me.

I got up then and smiled at him.

"I've been calling you for hours. Why the hell is your phone switched off?"

I fumbled for my phone in my pocket and found it dead. I shook my head and showed it to him. He looked and understood.

"Well. Let's go then. We have stuff to do." He still didn't acknowledge the bastard in whose office we were standing.

If he didn't, why should I?

Okay. Let's go." I said and walked alongside him, leaving a visibly appalled Lee Hyun behind, speechless and humiliated.

_____________________

"You should have seen the fucker's face! He was about to shit himself so bad." I laughed out so loud, my voice mirroring that of the booming red noise coming from the car's bluetooth speakers.

"Serves him right. That bastard." Seokjin said quietly, blowing out smoke from his mouth.

I laughed again. My friend really knows how to remind men of their small penises.

"Anything new?" He lowered the volume of the music and looked at me, before turning the steering wheel left. His other hand held a newly lit cigarette.

"Nah man. You were right. He tried rigging me in too. Just like you said."

He clicked his tongue and inhaled a large puff and blew out billows of smoke from his nose.

The guy makes smoking look cool too.

"So?" I asked. "What now?"

"I'm going to have a talk with Bae Pilsoo. About this stupid alliance."

I whipped my head towards him. "What?"

"Yeah." He smoked again and flicked the ash on the portable ashtray beside him.

"But you don't want to." I looked ahead, seeing the street lights passing by in a blur.

"Oh I want to." He scoffed and spared me an amusing glance.

I narrowed my eyes at him.

Wait. Does he mean–

"I'm going to marry his youngest daughter. And by the time it happens, she won't even know what hit her." He said it so casually, as if it doesn't make a difference.

"That's crazy. Pilsoo would never be okay with that. Compared to Bae Areum, Bae Joohyun doesn't stand a chance in terms of market and face value. And don't forget, she hates you, bro."

Seokjin became quiet all of a sudden. That didn't mean he stopped thinking. The bastard probably has twenty other possibilities running in his brain now.

That was my cue to stop talking.

"She doesn't hate me, Hoseok." He said after a few minutes. He was done with his cigarette and crushed it on the console.

Okay.

I stayed quiet. It was a shared consolation between us. He says, I would listen. I say, he would jump to action.

That was part of the reason I couldn't over share with him. If it concerned the people close to him, he had the habit of taking things in his own hands. Irrespective of their wishes.

"On the contrary, she..." he trailed off. "..She is dying to know me. I can sense it from her eyes."

He looked at me and took a right turn, keeping his eyes on me.

"And I'd be lying if I said I didn't want that."

There.

"May the gods be with you, Bae Joohyun." I murmured. He must have listened to that. He chuckled and bumped his fist on my arm in a playful manner.

"It's not easy." I said in a serious tone, my voice not betraying the fact that what we are about to tread on is delicate and if not handled properly, it could lead us to irreparable damage.

"I know." He must have thought that out all along. "I just have a good feeling about this. After everything that happened, I need some closure. And her too. She deserves that atleast."

I nodded. I understood him to some extent and tried to fully comprehend his way of thinking. But he always beat me to it.

Seokjin was complicated but not complicated enough for me to not handle him. After all, I was the only one who knew everything about him.

His fears, his past, his deep dark secrets...

To the outside, I'm his best friend, his closest ally. But to him, I'm his best version. Albeit in a twisted way.

If  not understandable, I was his hand which he used to mete out his chaos. And for that, I'm strangely proud, grateful and thankful of him.