Chapter 2: Bloodstains and Ghosts
Jinwoo rode through the neon-lit streets of Gangnam, his motorcycle roaring as he weaved between cars. The air was thick with the scent of rain, the first drops hitting his leather jacket as he sped towards Itaewon. He needed answers.
Someone had set him up. Dojin was a pawn—Jinwoo was sure of it. But the real mastermind? That was still a mystery.
His phone buzzed in his pocket. Pulling over near an abandoned lot, he answered.
"You're being watched," the familiar voice of Hana whispered through the receiver.
Jinwoo's eyes darted around the darkened street, searching. "Who?"
"The Hanseong Clan," she murmured. "They've been tailing you since you left the alley."
Jinwoo clenched his jaw. The Hanseong Clan was one of the oldest crime families in Seoul, their influence spanning decades. If they were watching him, it meant something bigger was at play.
"Meet me," he said. "We need to talk."
"Not now," she replied. "Too dangerous. But Jinwoo…" Her voice hesitated, a rare crack in her usual calm. "This isn't just about you. It's about the past."
Jinwoo's grip on the phone tightened. He knew what she meant.
And suddenly, he was back there—
---
FLASHBACK: Seven Years Ago
The night air was suffocating, thick with the smell of burning wood and gunpowder. Blood pooled beneath his feet as screams echoed in the distance. The Kang Family Estate—his childhood home—was in flames.
Jinwoo, barely eighteen, stood in the courtyard, his hands covered in his father's blood.
"Kang Taesung is dead!" a voice had shouted through the chaos.
His father—once the most powerful crime lord in Seoul—had been executed right in front of him. A bullet to the head. His mother was already dead, and his older brother was missing.
The Hanseong Clan had orchestrated it.
They had come in the dead of night, slaughtering his family, seizing their empire, and leaving Jinwoo with nothing but a name soaked in blood.
That night, he had sworn revenge.
And now, seven years later, it seemed the past was crawling back to finish what it started.
---
PRESENT
Jinwoo exhaled slowly, forcing the memories down.
He had buried that night deep inside him, using the pain to carve himself into the man he was now. But if the Hanseong Clan was moving against him again, it meant unfinished business.
And unfinished business meant war.
***
Jinwoo reached Itaewon twenty minutes later, parking his motorcycle outside an upscale bar hidden behind tinted windows. He stepped inside, scanning the dimly lit interior.
Hana sat in a corner booth, her long, wavy black hair falling over her shoulders. She looked up as he approached, her sharp eyes betraying concern.
"You took your time," she said, stirring her drink.
Jinwoo slid into the seat across from her. "Tell me everything."
She sighed, lowering her voice. "The Hanseong Clan never forgot what happened seven years ago. When you started rising in Gangnam, they saw you as a loose end—one they failed to cut."
Jinwoo leaned forward, his voice dangerously low. "And now they're trying again?"
Hana nodded. "But this time, it's not just about killing you. They want to erase the Kang name completely."
Jinwoo's fists clenched. "Who's leading them now?"
"Their new leader," she said, hesitation in her voice.
"Who?"
She looked him straight in the eyes. "Lee Kyung-ho."
Silence.
Jinwoo's breath hitched for just a second—a second too long.
Lee Kyung-ho.
His brother.
---
FLASHBACK: Seven Years Ago
Jinwoo had searched for Kyung-ho for months after the massacre, desperate for any sign that his older brother had survived. But there had been nothing.
The only thing he had found was a rumor—one that he refused to believe at the time.
That Kyung-ho hadn't died.
That he had joined the Hanseong Clan.
---
PRESENT
Jinwoo sat frozen, his mind racing.
For years, he had convinced himself that Kyung-ho was dead. That he had been another victim of that night.
But if he was alive—and leading the very people who had destroyed their family…
Jinwoo exhaled, his fingers tightening around the edge of the table.
This wasn't just war anymore.
This was personal.
---
End of Chapter 2