The air in the VIP suite was thick with the scent of expensive whiskey and impending violence. Kang Raehyun didn't move from his sofa as the eight students circled him like vultures. His expression remained terrifyingly calm.
"Did you really think a bunch of losers like you could actually injure me?" Raehyun asked, a ghost of a smirk on his face. He nodded slowly as if pitying them.
"You're alone tonight, Raehyun," one of the boys spat, stepping forward. "Your friends aren't here to save you. There's no escape."
The lead student lunged, but Raehyun was faster. With a powerful kick, he sent the heavy mahogany table flying into the shins of the attackers. As they stumbled, he stood up, his movements fluid and dominant. He caught a fist mid-air, the sound of a bone snapping echoing through the room. He dodged a wild swing, countered with a brutal punch to the ribs, and swept another student's legs out from under him.
But suddenly, the world began to tilt.
His vision blurred, and his heart hammered against his ribs with an unnatural rhythm. The drink—the one the servant girl had brought—had been spiked with more than just alcohol. The drugs were taking hold. Raehyun shook his head, trying to clear the fog, but his focus was shattering.
Seeing him falter, one student grabbed a heavy glass bottle and smashed it over Raehyun's head. Blood erupted from his hairline, trailing down his face in jagged red lines. Gritting his teeth against the spinning room, Raehyun delivered one final, desperate punch that sent his attacker flying back. Realizing he couldn't win a fight in this state, he shoved his way through the remaining boys and bolted out of the bar into the night. The eight students roared in pursuit.
The Assassin's Trap
In the private room, the air was still filled with the sounds of Seojun and the servant girl. They were locked in a frantic embrace on the table, the girl sitting atop him, her moans echoing against the walls.
As she arched her back, her hand moved toward her discarded dress, searching for something hidden. Seojun's eyes snapped open. He wasn't in a trance; he was a predator. He grabbed her wrist, revealing a sharp, thin knife she had just pulled from the fabric.
"Looking for this?" Seojun whispered, his voice dangerously smooth.
He flipped their positions in a blur of motion, pinning her down and pressing his own blade against the hollow of her throat.
"When did you find out?" she hissed, her face twisting from passion to cold professionalism.
"The moment you handed me that drink," Seojun replied. "I've been to this bar a thousand times. I know every face in the VIP lounge. And everyone knows Raehyun doesn't care for girls, and I'm a playboy who can't resist a beautiful face in a dress like yours. You thought you could use that to kidnap me, right? Sorry, sweetheart. Never going to happen."
The girl didn't give up. She wrapped her legs around his neck, trying to throw him off, but they tumbled to the floor in a flurry of bare-handed combat. She was trained, but she couldn't touch him. Seojun fought with a cruel playfulness, touching her body even as he blocked her strikes. Finally, he trapped her against the door, locking her arms so she couldn't move.
"You didn't drink it," she realized, panting.
"I watched you mix it," Seojun laughed. He let her go, dressed himself with lightning speed, and sprinted toward the lounge. He found only a broken room, blood on the floor, and Raehyun's abandoned phone.
The Intersection of Fate
Raehyun ran through the dark streets of the district, his lungs burning and his head swimming. He turned a sharp corner, his vision failing him. At that exact moment, Han Eiryn was walking toward her new apartment, her mind on her studies.
They collided with a heavy thud, both tumbling to the cold pavement. Eiryn gasped, looking up to see a boy covered in blood, his eyes unfocused. Before she could speak, the eight students emerged from the shadows, panting and grinning.
"Nowhere left to run, Raehyun!"
Eiryn stood up, stepping in front of the bleeding boy. "Eight against one?" she said, her voice steady. "Don't you think that's a bit pathetic?"
Raehyun looked up. Through the haze of the drugs and the blood in his eyes, he saw her face clearly for the first time. She looked like an angel in the middle of a nightmare.
"Get out of here, girl," one of the students warned. "This doesn't involve you."
Eiryn saw the blood on Raehyun's face and assumed the worst. She pulled out her phone to call the police, but one student slapped it out of her hand. "Why do you have to involve yourself?" he snarled, swinging a fist at her.
He didn't know that Eiryn was a former regional martial arts champion.
She caught his hand, twisted his arm, and sent him crashing into the ground with a lightning-fast leg sweep. The other seven stood stunned. Raehyun, leaning against a wall, felt a strange smile touch his lips.
The students rushed her all at once. Eiryn moved like water, dodging every strike and delivering precise, bone-crushing blows. They couldn't even touch the hem of her clothes. She moved with a grace that turned the street into a stage. One boy tried to sneak up behind her, but Raehyun reached out with his last bit of strength, tripping him so Eiryn could finish him off with a kick.
Terrified and bruised, the group backed away. "Next time! You won't escape next time!" they yelled before disappearing into the darkness.
Eiryn turned to the boy on the ground. She reached out her hand to help him up. Raehyun stared at her small, pale hand for a long moment before taking it, feeling a jolt of electricity as she pulled him to his feet.
She pulled a clean handkerchief from her bag and pressed it into his hand. "Take care of the blood," she said softly. She checked the time on her watch; she needed to get home. "In the future, try to avoid people like that."
She turned to walk away.
"Wait," Raehyun called out, his voice raspy. "What's your name?"
Eiryn paused, looking back over her shoulder. "Giving you my name won't make us friends," she said simply, before disappearing around the corner.
A moment later, Seojun skidded to a halt beside Raehyun, seeing the blood and the bruised bodies on the ground. "Raehyun! What happened? Are you okay?"
Raehyun didn't answer. He didn't even look at his friend. He just looked down at the soft, white handkerchief in his hand, the scent of vanilla and cherry blossoms still clinging to the fabric.