Been watching Show Me the Money. Any rap fans in the house?
I listened to these two songs on repeat while editing this chapter.

"Bankroll"- Diplo, Rich Chigga, Rich the Kid, Young Thug
"SEARCH"- Young B, Hangzoo

Soo sat with So's head on her thighs, holding him after he collapsed against her after a long day at work. Her fiance dozed off on her lap and she combed through his thick hair, listening to him breathe. Soo looked down at So, gazing at the fine lines on his face. "You know, I think we should start going furniture shopping if we're going to move into our house after the wedding," Soo said quietly. "Maybe your brothers will want to buy us a sofa or a fridge."

So smirked and nodded, his eyes remaining shut. His lashes fluttered as he spoke and Soo felt herself smile at her lover's calm expression. "Eun's rich, ask him for a fridge. And Baek Ah will most certainly want to furnish his room in the most traditional way possible."

"I forgot we invited him to live with us," Soo noted. She smiled and leaned down to examine a silver hair amidst black. "It'll be nice to have more people in the house."

"The more children we have the more people'll be," So mumbled. He opened his eyes when Soo laughed. Turning over, So faced Soo and looked up at her as she carded through his hair. They met eyes and Soo leaned down to peck So on the forehead, placing a quick kiss between his brows. "Is that it?" he whined, jutting his bottom lip out. "More, Hae Soo, I want more."

Before Soo could kiss her fiance again, she looked up to see Eun collapsing onto the floor in front of them, his bright outfit flattening against his skinny body. "Hello, Eun," Soo called as So wrinkled his nose and turned over to face his little brother. "How was your day?"

"The fuck is wrong with you?" So asked. He flinched when Soo smacked his arm. Sighing, So nodded, his cheek still pressed to her thigh. "Apologies. I meant to say: 'Are you alright?'"

Shaking his head, Eun held a sheet of paper up, grumbling and whining. One of the maids passed by him with a bewildered expression. "It came," he muttered. "It came."

Frowning, Soo squinted her eyes and tried to read the title on the document, but So seemed to immediately know what it was. She felt him turn over again, his nose dipping into her stomach. "Congratulations," So yawned, blowing hot air against Soo's abdomen. "You're a man now."

Looking down, Soo frowned and leaned close to him. "What is it?" she whispered. Her fiance hummed against her shirt.

"Hm… Eun got the notice that his military application has been accepted. He enlisted last year and finally got in," he explained. Soo continued to card her hands through So's hair. "Congrats, little brother," So repeated himself with a smirk. "You're going to the military. Hope you join the Navy like I did."

"Air Force is the place to be!" Wook called from his office. Soo chuckled as Wook shouted at Eun through the doorway. "Eun, uphold the Hwang Bo family and go to the Air Force!"

So was quick to reply to his twin, removing his head from Soo's lap just to call, "Shut up, Wook! Eun is a Wang- he belongs in the Navy!" He laid back down against her once his tirade was complete.

Soo sighed as she shook her head. "It's not like he even has a choice on where he goes," she said with a roll of her eyes. "Eun, when will you be going?"

The pop star rolled onto his side to stare at Soo and wrinkle his nose at So's backside. "After the Olympics," he replied, bemoaning the inevitability of his conscription. "I wanted to spend time with Soon Deok- hey, maybe I'll pull my conscription and join next summer so I don't have to shovel snow in the winter."

So barked a laugh. "Learned from Baek Ah's mistake, did you?" He opened his eyes toward Soo before grinning at her. "Baek Ah enlisted as soon as he dropped out of college and spent a miserable first winter just shoveling snow off of farm terrain."

Soo pressed a hand to her mouth as she laughed, imagining the model knee deep in slush, silently swearing his head off and shoveling snow away from frozen trees.

While Soo stifled her laughter for a melancholy Eun, So made no effort to ease his brother's burdens. "Feel better, Eun," Soo called to her friend. The man on the floor barely managed to stare at her.

So shook his head at Soo before quietly saying he would take care of Eun. "Oi, Eun," he called to his brother. "I know you're feeling down, but know that this is just a rite of passage all Korean men have to go through, so just grit your teeth and bear through it. You'll come out alive."

The younger man showed some recognition of So's words and he nodded slowly. "Ok… yeah… whatever," he murmured.

Nodding, So smiled at his little brother. "And if you don't mind, Soo and I would like a large, stainless-steel, LG fridge with an ice mak- Hae Soo!" The back of So's head collided with the sofa as Soo stood and walked away from him. She stuck her tongue out at him before crouching beside Eun and patting his shoulder.

"Don't listen to your idiot brother, Eun," she sighed, ignoring So's indignant 'Hey!' "He can buy his own damn fridge. It's alright, you'll be fine. The military isn't that bad."

Moaning, Eun curled away from Soo. "I don't care about the military- I just... " he gave a dramatic sigh. "What if I miss Soon Deok? What if she misses me? Argh!" Eun hoisted himself off of the floor, determined.

"Where are you going?" So asked as his brother stomped toward the foyer.

"To see my girlfriend!" Eun shouted back at him.

"You look like shit," Woo Hee patted her lips with the napkin in her lap and smirked at the poet that addressed her with eyes heavy with dark circles. They sat in a sunlit cafe with cups of coffee after having eaten brunch.

She pursed her lips at the tired man in front of her as he examined the little pot of flowers on the table. Spindly fingers sifted through peonies and daisies, ruffling the white flowers and agitating the water inside the container.

His long hair was tied into a messy bun and he wore a gray tank top and black jeans. He was skinnier than her, prettier than her, and taller than her. Woo Hee sighed internally as she compared herself to the model/poet/author/whatever/whatever Wang Baek Ah was.

"I feel like shit," was Baek Ah's response. "I drank with pop stars yesterday. Those idiots can really hold their liquor. Too bad I had to haul one to the emergency room."

Snorting, Woo Hee sipped her latte. "You drink too much."

"You don't drink enough," was Baek Ah's immediate response.

"I drink responsibly," Woo Hee corrected him. She raised an eyebrows as the younger man nodded and leaned back in his seat.

They had met by chance. That or Baek Ah was stalking her- Woo Hee bet on the latter of the two. There was no reason for Baek Ah to be in the line of her book signing, holding his own copy of her book. He could have pulled strings and had his assistant get her signature but no, the idiot had stood in line for two hours in a black hoodie, hat, mask, and sunglasses. Completely incognito, he had approached her, set his copy of her book onto her table, and asked for her autograph. Woo Hee remembered removing a slip of paper from the book and reading it as Baek Ah tipped his sunglasses to her.

It's Wang Baek Ah. Meet me at this cafe and I'll buy you lunch.

The hungover poet had then collected his book and left without another word.

So Woo Hee sat with her new… friend? She had no idea what to call him. She did not even know why she had agreed to meet him for brunch. Perhaps it was because he owed her money.

Plus, he was handsome. She had no trouble admitting that the annoying man in front of her was very easy on the eyes.

"Do you want to collaborate on something?" Baek Ah asked. He took a long gulp of his black coffee before chasing it with a sip of mimosa. "A book, a song, or something."

Woo Hee assumed that Baek Ah was still drunk, but she had no idea of knowing if he was serious or not. Of course, she did admire his work ethic, but there was the dinner incident to consider. "Tell your assistant to shoot it by mine. I'll consider your offer," was her response.

They sat back in their chairs and Woo Hee chuckled before glancing at the TV behind Baek Ah. It was set to the news and featured a breaking news statement about the Jong Group. "Hey, turn around," she said, slowly frowning. "Baek Ah, your father's company is on TV."

"What?" The model turned and stood when he saw the headline.

"WANG MU UNFIT TO BE CHAIRMAN" 宗 GROUP IN TURMOIL

"What the fuck?" he whispered with wide eyes. His chair clattered to the floor and a few customers looked in their direction as the model kept his eyes glued to the screen. An old video clip of Mu and his father stepping out of a conference played as the headline blared its statement.

Baek Ah's mouth fell open as a panel of analysts began to discuss a document sent forth from the upper echelons of his father's company.

"Let's take a look at this document. Signed anonymously, it comes from the financial offices of the company- branches run formerly by Wang Yo and currently by Wang So, the respective second and third sons of Wang Taejo," said an analyst, motioning to two documents pinned onto a board. She began to read: "It has come to the attention of those who work beneath the new chairman that Wang Mu is unfit to be in his position. Through the following listed causations, we petition the board of directors to address the new chairman and reassess their decisions… etc." The analyst looked around the panel. "Shall we begin, then? Why is this statement coming out two months after Wang Mu has been approved by the board?"

Baek Ah gnawed on his bottom lip as answers abounded. His teeth tore at the skin of his lips and drew blood. A chart was brought up of the list of actions Mu had committed that had brought stocks down.

"Judging by the listed causes for their dissent, his subordinates are unhappy with his performance-"

"It's too early to judge the new chairman! It's been two months!"

"But the evidence is clear that a business degree and immersion isn't enough to learn how to manage thousands of employees! If you look at trends, whenever Jong had a change in power or a switch in angles, it's stocks rose precipitously, but look- with the ascent of Wang Mu? Down ninety-eight points the next month with no steady incline!"

"I think this is a coup- a coup staged by a jealous brother!"

"Which one?"

"Who else but Wang Yo? He's only a few years younger than Wang Mu and has worked hard his entire life. He has much better maternal connections than Wang Mu and is also married into a very politically powerful family! Former chairman Taejo's insistence that Mu become his heir had sidelined Wang Yo his entire life!"

"What about the other brothers? Taejo has so many sons that it might be impossible to see who actually wrote the letter."

"What about them? Wang So is engaged and Wang Wook is expecting children. No matter how qualified they are, they come after Wang Yo and are both too preoccupied to care about staging a coup. Wang Won works beneath his brothers and has no solid standing from his mother's family either. And the others? Wang Baek Ah, Wang Eun, and Wang Jung are celebrities. They are neither educated nor prepared to run a company- no one would take them seriously no matter how much money their mothers have."

"Ouch," Baek Ah heard Woo Hee whisper. He made no move to explain himself to her. Too shocked at the news, Baek Ah could only bring his cellphone to his ear and call for his manager.

"Baek Ah! Have you seen the news?! What's going o-"

"Bring the car and take me to Wang Wook's house," he muttered. Baek Ah pulled his sunglasses on and quickly looked around to make sure no one had seen him. Breathing deeply, he ended the call before looking at Woo Hee. She looked worried. "I'm sorry, I have to go," he stated.

Woo Hee nodded. "I think you do," she said, standing with him.

They exited the restaurant together and Woo Hee watched as Baek Ah hailed his driver down. He jumped into the backseat of the black car and it sped off, leaving her behind.

When Baek Ah walked into Wook's house, the large house was eerily quiet. He had expected shouting and secretaries running about. Baek Ah had come prepared to extinguish whatever fight So and Wook would have inevitably gotten into, and he had come prepared to pull Eun away from the negativity that would have abounded.

Removing his shoes, he stepped into the apartment, greeted the maid that set slippers before his feet, and walked around the seemingly desolate house in search of two brothers who were bound to be arguing. When Baek Ah found his older brothers, it almost seemed as if nothing was wrong. Eun was not even home.

Wook sat in his office with a cold compress over his eyes and his hands on Myung Hee's wide belly. "You can't meet our babies if you go to jail, dear," Myung Hee said quietly.

"If I murder my brothers and don't get caught, we can flee to America and live there," Wook sighed. Baek Ah met eyes with Myung Hee who shook her head and motioned for him not to approach. Slowly, he backed away.

Baek Ah found So laying on the sofa with his head in Soo's lap. Nonchalantly, his older brother held his fiance's hand and spoke about interior decoration. "I mean, blue sounds nice, but imagine having green drapes. Then we could get yellow and white bedsheets and match them up." He looked up and raised his eyebrows. "Hello, Baek Ah," the older man said.

"Have you seen the news?" Baek Ah seemed too out of breath for the gentle ambiance that surrounded his older brothers. So raised an eyebrow and laid his head back against Soo's lap. She did not meet Baek Ah's eyes and in that moment, he knew.

"I assume Yo's gone and done something stupid?" So asked.

"Brother, you can't- you knew about this?" Baek Ah asked. Bewildered, he froze where he stood. "Why didn't you stop him?"

So heaved a sigh and sat up. Before he could speak, there came a shout from Wook's office. "I'm calling a family meeting! Everyone in here- now!"

So sucked on his teeth and Baek Ah frowned. Hae Soo was the first to make her way to Wook's office, shaking her head as she entered the sunlit room. Soo and Myung Hee stood across from each other and Baek Ah and So followed close behind.

Wook peeled the compress off of his eyes and tossed the wet rag down onto his desk. The white cloth hit the wood with a slap and Wook rubbed his temples as he glared at his problematic brother. "I'm going to assume you've already weighed the pros and cons of what will happen if you support Yo," he said to So. The most careful and well-planned of the Wang brothers nodded to the most level-headed. It was a small tip of his head but So knew Wook saw it.

"You know I wouldn't have made the choice to support Yo if it wasn't the best for the compan-"

"I'm not talking about the company," Wook snapped. He huffed and sat back in his seat, looking over to the young woman in sweatpants and a hoodie. "I'm talking about your family- the one you plan to make with Hae Soo. If Yo goes against Father and loses, you had better be able to jump ship before you sink with him because Father will destroy Yo."

Baek Ah looked between his older brothers and quietly took a step back, placing himself beside Soo. They watched as So nodded and Wook spoke back and forth. "Father knows Yo is a harsh contender… and you know I'd never let any harm come to Soo."

There was a moment of silence and Myung Hee rested her hand against Wook's shoulder, rubbing small circles into his shirt with her thumb. "Husband, maybe it's for the best," she murmured. Wook sighed and rubbed his forehead. Gray hairs. That was all So was bringing him at the moment. Wook could already count on both hands the amount of silver on his head.

"If you want to support Yo then do it," he sighed. "I'm not going to kick you out or anything... but know that I'm not going to lift a finger for him." Wook narrowed his eyes at So who casually leaned against a bookshelf with crossed his arms. "If I do support anyone, it will be Mu."

So nodded to his twin and uncrossed his arms. "It's more prudent for you to be on Father's good side," he said, agreeing with Wook. "You have children on the way and it'd just be stressful for you to jump into family politics."

They stared at each other and Wook sighed. "I really hope you know what you're doing."

Finally, So smirked and uncrossed his arms. "I always know what I'm doing, little brother," he chuckled. "Besides, what can go wrong when I have Hae Soo on my side?"

Wook gave So a tired glare before rubbing his eyes with the palms of his hands. "I can't meet my children if I murder my brothers," he murmured. "I can't meet my children if I murder my brothers."

So scoffed, crossing his arms. "Like you'd ever be able to beat me in a fight." He winked at Soo as she sent him an exasperated look.

Had some awesome pizza today. Thought about killing a little character in "Shards of Us." Imagined Krysyuy would flay me if I did. Stopped thinking about killing a little character in "Shards of Us."

T-9 days till Chapter 1 of "Shards of Us" drops! It's been a year since our MLSHR pain began. How is that even possible?