As a child, the man whose employees call Boss, was quite well off. Born in America, Liam Dankworth had loving parents, a family who thought well of him, yet that was not enough for him. What he wanted was not the thing called love.
He wanted money and control. When he entered high school, he became out of control of his parents, and was sent to a therapist. As a result, he became more violent.
When he graduated, he came upon his father and mother talking about their testament. Hearing that they had a large inheritance, he became greedy and instantly plotted their deaths.
Barely a month later, he got them killed. His family were suspicious, but he fled the country to South Korea, where he became part of the underworld.
He joined their gangs, killed for pleasure, smuggled drugs, and sex trafficking. He enjoyed it immensely. Because of one of the captives he encountered, his goal became immortality.
"Look at that. Isn't that person a bit strange?" One of his colleagues, Man-Shik pointed out. Liam peeked. "I don't see anything," he said. Man-Shik motioned at the captive. "Look closer, man. Her ears, aren't they a bit pointy?"
"Maybe she has some defect. Listen, don't fuss so much. The boat will be here any second, then we'll get paid."
"I'm going for a closer look." Unwilling to let it go, the other man marched to their odd captive.
"Suit yourself, dimwit," Liam muttered.
A shriek filled the air, causing Liam and the others to jump up, alarmed. "What's going on?"
"Who screamed?"
"Is there an attack?"
"Everyone, sound off!"
One by one, four men and one woman called out. "Wait, where's Man-Shik?" The woman, Kyung, asked. They looked at each other, shaking heads.
"He said he wanted to check on a captive. Maybe something went wrong?" Liam offered. "Which one? We can't have trouble now that the boat is coming," their leader, Bong, grimaced.
Liam pointed. Bong strode to the pointy-eared girl and ripped off the tape. "Where is he?"
She grinned, showing pointy teeth and they all recoiled. "He took a trip to the afterlife.
Why? Want to join him?" she taunted.
"Damn. What is that thing?" Kyung was shaken. She pointed a gun towards the girl.
"Hey, guys. Can anyone remember when she was captured? I can't recall her at all." A man panicked. That made everyone hysterical. The girl sneered as she broke her restraints.
They backed away in fear, and started shooting, accidentally hitting the other detainees, killing them. Liam, the coward he was, hid behind some containers.
He peeked cautiously as his co-conspirators were killed mercilessly by a young girl. His heart pounded as she ripped them apart bare-handed. Such strength!
When it became silent, he sat on his hunches, trying to remain calm as he waited for her to withdraw. So he peeked again, only to stare into two dark blue eyes. He let out a yell and fell backward.
"Don't kill me. I'll do anything, just don't kill me!" He pleaded as she neared menacingly. She stopped as he begged, and sneered. "Anything?" His head bobbed, and he grovelled.
"As long as I can live." Her smile turned nasty as she answered, "Then let's make a contract. Between you and me."
He paused, and glanced up cautiously. Her appearance had changed. Her skin had turned from pale, to a light blue with scales. In addition, her eyes and hair were sapphire, and she had small horns on her arms and face. Her nails were black and sharp, and she sported fangs.
"What, what are you?" Liam couldn't help but ask.
"Me? The name is Edrys. I'm what you call a Hellcniht, from the Draconian race. I have a proposal, and if you accept, you will be rewarded." Liam licked his lips. "Will it make me powerful?"
She laughed. "If you succeed, you will become the most powerful being in your world," she promised. "Then it's a deal. What do I have to do?" he implored without hesitation.
It has been over a decade since their meeting, but Boss Dankworth had done most of what was required to get his reward. He was tasked for the destruction of something called The Veil, and for that he required what she called a sacrifice of annihilation as well as a healing potion.
Two keys, which are the destruction sword, and the blood of a Sith. He still had to figure out how to get the latter. In return, he was promised immortality. To create the potion, he deceived his employees into thinking that they were creating a miracle drug, but they were only hired to fulfil his purpose.
Only YunHee knew the truth. He had confessed to her out of spite. Yet, instead of running away or fearing death, she wanted to stay and continue the research. She was truly dedicated to her work.
Edrys only contacted him whenever she wanted something from him or helped him search for clues. He already sent the katana over to her.
He pressed a white button on his desk. "Yes, sir?" His secretary replied. "Bring in the new hire, Kang Haneul. I want to speak to him," he instructed. "Right away, sir."
A few moments later, there was a knock on the door. "Come in," he called.
A messy-haired man followed his secretary into his office. She bowed respectfully and departed.
Kang surveyed the office with great interest.
"Like what you see?" Liam asked, curiously. Kang flushed. "It's very big, and modern. I can fit my whole kitchen in here." They laughed and Liam motioned to a chair. "Sit down. I'm only going to ask some informal questions. Nothing to be nervous about." Kang plopped onto the seat.
"I hear you have a sister. How is she?"
"She's doing good. A bit lonely now that I'm working on site all the time," Kang replied awkwardly.
"That's a shame. But you must tell her that this is important work. You can't indulge her all the time." Liam said gently. The man quivered. He didn't know why, but his boss gave him an off feeling. He wasn't threatening, or even cold. But his eyes were so empty.
Kang rubbed his hair. "Sorry about that. I'll let her know. Is there something else?"
"Yes." For the next hour, he interrogated Kang about his time at the Research Centre.
Were everyone cooperating? Was he dissatisfied with anything? Should there be any changes? Eventually, the young man left in confusion. This seemed to be a waste of time. What was his boss up to?
Liam, on the other hand, was satisfied. He dialled a number on his Apple phone. Edrys picked up the phone. "Speaking."
"I've found a young man, called Haneul Kang, that might help you out."
"Oh? What makes you think so?" Edrys asked lazily.
"He's very smart. I could see that he was suspicious of me. You wanted someone pure-hearted who could help you, right?"
"You remembered," she said playfully. "Indeed. I was informed that only the pure can bring out the sword's true power. Thanks. I'll call you when I need him. Until then, keep him busy." She clicked off. Liam replaced his phone in his desk drawer. 'It'll be easy to keep a nuisance busy,' he thought.
*
Kang marched straight to his new desk. It was already piled up with tubes, papers, and stationary. He had a team of six people under him, yet they caused so much paperwork. He knew the pay wasn't worth being a team leader.
"Are you all right?"
"Did he go easy on you?"
"You weren't demoted already, were you?"
His team members questioned him in worry. He assured them, saying the boss wanted to get to know him. Feeling comforted, they returned to work.
Kang was supposed to evaluate their progress, but he just wasn't in the mood. He didn't like Dankworth. He was sure there was something behind all of this, and he will find out no matter what.