Chapter 198 - Revelations

The silence was interrupted by an ear piercing shatter. 

"What did you say?" Ziko asked in a quiet tone. He seemed calm but behind the tranquility was impending danger. 

The thin, balding man in front of him cowered. 

"T-Teppei had been caught by Abyss," he trembled. "He was caught by Abyss and Kwon Jiwon at Sunny Daze-" 

Ziko threw another vase towards him. The poor man dodged it by an inch but a stray piece of ceramic cut his forehead. 

"And how did he get caught?" Ziko demanded quietly. 

"That J-Junhyung lured him into a trap," the man said. He was sweating now. "Under the guise of killing Kwon Jiwon. But Abyss was prepared. They cornered Teppei but in the process, Ash Park was revealed as a member of the Cartel-" 

Ziko lunged at him, holding him against the wall. "Ash Park?" he questioned, throttling the man. "The member of EXOTIC? Wasn't he a mere escort for Madam Lim?"

"N-no, sire!" the man choked. "He turned out to be a leader at the Cartel! And if I'm not wrong, he's being considered as one of the successors…" 

Ziko let go of him and reflected on those words. Ash Park was also on the succession game? Ziko kicked over a coffee table in frustration. First it was Shun Oguri standing in his way and now...now some mere idol was blocking his path to the top! 

Was this planned by the President? And why was that Junhyung supporting Ash Park? 

Ziko needed answers. He was not going to let his hard work go in vain. If needed, he would kill the President himself and get the top position. But for that, he needed to get a hold of that man. 

"Songil, get my car ready," he ordered. "There's someone I need to meet…" 

The man named Songil immediately scurried up and obeyed. He glanced back and shuddered. The look on Ziko's face was monstrous. He was about to annihilate everything in his way. Starting from Abyss. 

…. 

After an hour, he pulled up in front of a secluded building outside of Seoul. He marched out of the car and headed towards the entrance. 

The building was isolated away from the busy city. It was located far into the highway's forest, surrounded by tall trees and bushes. It looked like a rundown haunted house but was secured by hundreds of guards. No one could get in and no one would be able to get out. 

The guards immediately sprang up in salute as Ziko made his way to the building. He stomped on until he reached the top floor. 

The building housed only one prisoner. Someone whom Ziko kept as a bargaining chip. Someone who was supposed to be dead. 

Ziko stopped in front of a heavily padded door. 

"Open it," he ordered the guard at the entrance. The guard obliged and unlocked the door using a code. The heavy metal clanked open. 

Ziko pushed the door. Inside it, was a thin, scraggly looking man covered in a blanket. The man wore nothing beneath it. His white hair was torn out in many places and his limbs were laying uselessly beside him. The room smelt of piss and feces as if it had not been cleaned for decades. 

The man looked up only to be wide eyed in shock. He backed off to a corner, screaming madly. 

"No!" he cried. "Spare me! NO!" 

He shouted like a psycho as Ziko rounded on him. Ignoring the pleas of the man, Ziko held him by his remaining hairs and dragged him on his foot before slamming him on the floor. 

"You know who the head of the Cartel is!" Ziko yelled at him. He grabbed the man by his shoulders and shook him violently. A manic look was present on his face which craved for blood. 

"Who is he?" Ziko demanded. "Who is the President of the Cartel?" 

"I d-don't k-know," the man stammered. A hard blow rattled his stomach. 

Ziko took out his belt and began to whip the old man mercilessly. 

"Who is it?" he roared. 

"I… don't….know…" the man sobbed. "Please l-let me g-go…"

But Ziko kept on beating him. The old man begged for mercy but received none. Finally, Ziko grabbed his throat. 

"Your daughter still lives there, doesn't she?" he reminded the man viciously. 

The mention of his daughter made the man look up. 

"P-please…" 

But Ziko took out his phone and dialed a number. 

"Marco," he spoke into the phone in a threatening tone. "Why don't you pick up our lovely friend and bring her to me for some fun?" 

"Sir…" came Marc's voice from the other end. "It seems like our little friend…is gone." 

"Gone?" Ziko asked sharply. 

"She was taken away by some people and her current whereabouts are unknown. We suspect that men from Abyss picked her up to question her about her father-" 

Ziko smashed the phone in anger. He was gone for a business trip and so many things had gone wrong! 

The man, who was sobbing on the floor, listened to everything. His daughter was safe! There was no need to be scared anymore! 

"Seems like you're losing, Ziko!" he spluttered with a grin. The fear he held earlier had abated. 

Ziko punched him on the face. 

"This isn't over," he threatened as he exited the cell. "Goo Soo Bin." 

….. 

Mirae and KJ stared at the contents of the box. It contained a single photograph. 

It was a picture of a girl in her early twenties. Her wavy hair reached up to her shoulder while her almond like brown eyes were blank and lost despite the smile carved on her face. She was standing next to a man but his face was torn out. 

It was difficult to tell what he looked like. But he had a distinct tattoo of a golden crown tangled in thorns on his right hand, which was wrapped around the girl's waist. 

"Who are they?" Mirae wondered. 

But KJ was frozen to his spot. He stared at the woman's picture in shock, trying to deny that it was her. Mirae noticed his shock stricken expression. 

"What is it, KJ?" she asked. "Do you know this woman?" 

KJ did not reply but looked at her. He was terrified and could not express his emotions in words. How could he? 

"KJ, what is it?" Mirae demanded. "Do you know her?" 

KJ slowly nodded his head, unable to speak. 

"This…" he finally spoke up. "This is Song Sia. My mother." 

Mirae held her breath. Song Sia? 

She studied the picture carefully. Quickly, she stood up and rummaged through her bag until she took out a notebook. She traced back to the points she suspected for a while. 

"I was right…" she whispered. 

"What is it?" KJ demanded. 

"While I was at the hospital," she said. "I changed my course of thought. What if the enmity with the Cartel was not because of rivalry with your grandfather but actually started due to your parents? Goo Soo Bin gave us this box because it held a vital clue to your mother's past! And after seeing this picture… "

She took a deep breath before saying, "KJ, what if your mother was part of the Cartel?"