Instinctively, Woo Bin pushed Ga Eul behind him, forming a solid wall between her and Park Yo Na. "What are you doing here?" he demanded, holding a hand up as if to ward the newcomer off.

"I need to- I'm here for a reason, okay?" In a more insistent tone Yo Na continued, "I'll explain everything. Please don't hurt me or t-throw me out, okay?"

With her messy, darker hair and atypically plain clothes, the usually immaculate Park daughter looked a far cry from influential, vivacious woman she once was - which was probably how she managed to come into his office without getting recognized by anyone.

Seemed like she could be more dangerous that she initially let on.

"You-" Woo Bin almost choked on his own words, angering him further. "You're really asking me that after what your family tried to do? After what you've done?" Absurdly enough, the healed wound he'd received from that fateful night almost started to throb.

"No!" Yo Na blurted out, eyes wide. "I told you I'll explain everything. I just-"

At that moment, Woo Bin's assistant came into the room, three security personnel right at his heels. "Take her away," he ordered sharply.

"Prince Song, please!" Yo Na dropped down to her knees - and then to all fours - in front of Woo Bin, surprising them all. "I just need to talk to you." Here she looked up at him - and to his disgust, he found her to be crying. "Please. Make them stop."

Woo Bin had half a mind to kick her away from him when Ga Eul touched his arm gently and said, "M-Maybe we should hear what she has to say?"

He looked at her incredulously and said, "Are you out of your mind? Have you forgotten what she's done? The sooner I get her away from you, the better for both of us." Woo Bin nodded at the security staff, who then took that as a direct order to pull Yo Na to her feet again - despite her continuous, helpless struggling.

"Chu Ga Eul!" Yo Na cried - as if realizing that she had someone in the room she could appeal to. "Chu Ga Eul, please! You have to- you have to help me! Or else they'll- they'll-"

The security staff began dragging her out of the office when Ga Eul said, "Wait. Please wait."

Oddly enough, they did.

"Sunbae," Ga Eul said, coming from behind him. He could see how conflicted she was about the situation, as perhaps seeing the other woman kneeling and openly weeping before them had some effect on her. "What's the harm in listening to her? We're in your office anyway; we're safe. She can't hurt us here."

Woo Bin shook his head. "Ga Eul, listen to me." Gripping her arms he said, "She's dangerous. Don't you see? I'm doing this to protect you. I told you-"

"She must have something important to tell you," she insisted. "Why else would Yo Na risk her life just to see you?"

"I don't care!" he snapped. "We're not discussing this further, do you understand?" Woo Bin held on to her tighter, as if willing her to see his point through his touch. "Believe me, this is for your sake."

He couldn't risk it, couldn't give any of the Parks another opportunity to hurt Ga Eul because what if... this time...?

"If you don't want to listen to her," she replied steadily as she looked him in the eye, "then I will."

He stepped away from her, feeling frustration and anger building up inside his chest without a proper channel to let them all out. Why wouldn't she listen to him, anyway? "Ga Eul-"

"I want to know why her family wanted me dead," she said, shooting a quick look Yo Na's way. "I want to know why they did what they did."

It was at the tip of Woo Bin's tongue to yell at her 'does it fucking matter?' - but something in her expression told him she wasn't going to let the matter drop as quickly as he'd wanted her to.

His hunch was proven correct when she added, "I'll talk to her alone, if I have to. If you don't want to."

Like fucking hell she would.

He exhaled sharply as he glared at her, trying to control his temper as best as he could, before looking at the security staff and telling them, "Release her and go."

"But Sir-"

"I said-" Woo Bin directed his order along with his foul mood at his assistant: "Release her." He pointed at the door. "Go!"

Quickly, the security staff freed Yo Na from their hold, while his assistant quietly led them out of Woo Bin's office before closing the door behind him.

Leaving the three of them alone.

Woo Bin watched Yo Na's actions like a hawk. Perhaps she could feel the severity and weight of his gaze, because she looked like she was folding into herself - as though to make herself seem smaller, somehow.

"Yo Na-" Ga Eul started - though even before she could approach the other woman, Woo Bin's arm was already up, stopping her in her tracks.

"I don't think you're aware of just how stupid you are for going here, of all places," he addressed the other woman, walking until he was blocking her view of Ga Eul. "Our families have been doing business together for... what, years?" He smiled at her. "By now you should know what we do to traitors."

"Obviously," Yo Na said, straightening a bit. "You have them murdered, don't you?" She openly glared at Woo Bin for a bold moment before she wiped at her cheeks without much care.

He scoffed at the word, even as Ga Eul faintly repeated, "-murdered?"

Ignoring that, Woo Bin continued, "You know, you should be thankful that your family's punishment was up to me. Otherwise-"

"Otherwise, what?" Yo Na demanded, her voice shaking. "Is there anything worse than having your family kidnapped and- and slaughtered?"

Woo Bin crossed his arms and glared right back at her. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Who else would've done it?" she cried at him. "Who else would've taken an interest in hurting us? If not for you-"

"Don't forget what you've done in the first place!" he bellowed, taking a step forward - causing her to shrink back. "I got hurt because of your family. Don't ever think anything you say now will change that."

Yo Na was shaking her head violently. "No, no. That was a mistake. I wasn't- I didn't think they'd go through with it. I was just-"

"The- the man was there for me that night... wasn't he?" Ga Eul piped up. She didn't go over the boundary Woo Bin had set with his body, but she did move to make herself seen by stepping sideways. "I was his target, not Woo Bin-Sunbae. Right?"

Here, Yo Na shot her a look of pure venom - before seemingly catching herself and looking away.

"Why?" Ga Eul asked in a low tone. "I don't know your family. I don't think I'm anyone important enough to have them angry at me, either. Why-"

"I didn't come here to explain anything to you!" Yo Na shrieked, stomping her foot. "God, why are you everywhere?"

Ga Eul bowed her head and hugged herself.

Woo Bin inhaled slowly. More and more he was starting to regret listening to Ga Eul's wishes as far as Yo Na was concerned. "You have a lot of nerve talking to her like that while I'm around," he told Yo Na. "Haven't you realized that this chance I'm giving you is because of her? If it wasn't for her-"

"If it wasn't for her, none of this would have happened!" Yo Na cried. "If you-" She rudely pointed at Ga Eul, "-hadn't provoked me, if you hadn't forced yourself to be someplace you shouldn't be in, I wouldn't have asked Daddy to dispose of you!"

And there the truth was, plain as day.

Godfuckingdamnit.

Belatedly, Yo Na covered her mouth with her hands - as if that could take back her words.

"So it's true," Ga Eul spoke before Woo Bin could. "You're the one-"

She'd looked so pale and ashen that moment that Woo Bin just had to go to her. But Ga Eul resisted his offers of comfort as she asked the other, "You really ordered someone to- kill me?"

Yo Na glanced at Woo Bin, then at Ga Eul, and said, "I told you, it was an accident! I didn't know Daddy would take it so seriously. I was just-"

Having heard enough, Woo Bin grabbed Yo Na by the arm without any care as to how rough he was being. "Seemed like you did, considering what had happened. Unfortunately for that man your father hired - and for you - he got me instead."

"I know. I know, okay? T-That's why-" Tears started flowing down her face again, "-that's why I'm here. I want to apologize, okay? I'm sorry for what I did. I'm sorry you got hurt. Really, I am." Wincing now, Yo Na tried to pull away from Woo Bin, but he held on to her without remorse. "I'll do anything you want. Anything! Just... leave my family alone. Please."

Looking at her now, at the myriad of emotions naked on her face, Woo Bin thought that something here wasn't making any sense. From the moment Yo Na brought up words like 'murdered' and 'slaughtered'... something wasn't adding up. "I told you, I don't know what you're talking about," he insisted, shaking her. "I haven't done anything to your family!"

Yo Na's face crumpled even further. "Then why... why are we being hunted down by the M-Mafia?"

Hunted down?

Mafia?

Woo Bin released her arm. He then glanced at Ga Eul - who looked as confused as he himself felt.

For a moment he thought about telling both of them that his revenge didn't involve any of the Parks getting physically hurt, just financially crippled at every conceivable sense of the word. He thought about revealing that he'd told his father he didn't want the Parks dead, as that punishment was too much considering he'd lived through the ordeal they subjected him to, anyway.

I'll be the one to decide on what to do to the Parks next,

he'd told the other members of F4, and by god he'd abided by it - despite every bit of the Mafia Prince in him telling him it wasn't enough.

So, why...?

"Yo Na," Ga Eul said, stepping closer. "W-Why are you asking Woo Bin-Sunbae that? I'm sure he doesn't have anything to do with- with your family-"

"Ga Eul!" he said, shaking his head sharply at her.

No! Don't talk.

Don't ask her anything.

"You don't know why?" Yo Na challenged Ga Eul, even as she'd wiped her tears away. "You've been hanging around Prince Song like a disgusting leech and still you don't know why he's the only person I can ask about this?"

"Shut up!" Woo Bin snapped, grabbing her arm again. But Yo Na was quicker than he gave her credit for; she'd sidestepped him as she all but lunged at Ga Eul.

"It's because he's the son of a Mafia Lord, you stupid-"

At that moment, the door to Woo Bin's office burst open again - except instead of his security personnel, the three men who came barging in weren't at all familiar to him.

And they all headed straight to grab Yo Na, who began crying nonstop soon as she caught sight of them.

"No, please!" she whimpered as she tried to struggle against their hold. "Prince Song-"

"Wait," Ga Eul said, looking alarmed at what was happening. "Wait, please-"

"Let her go," Woo Bin ordered, despite himself. The woman still had some use to him, after all; she could shed light on what the fuck she meant by the Mafia hunting her family down-

-but the men acted as though he hadn't spoken at all, and instead began forcefully dragging Yo Na out of the room.

"Help me!" she cried, looking behind her while trying to plant her feet down on the ground - to no avail. "Help me!"

At this point, one of the men used a gag, then a blindfold large enough to cover her entire head.

Shit.

This was-

Shit!

Woo Bin followed them outside his office, right to where the elevators were stationed. "Are you all deaf?" he bellowed. "I told you to release her. Which part of that didn't you understand?"

One of the men turned to face Woo Bin. "Apologies, Master Song," he said in a very unaffected tone. "We're only following your father's orders."

"My-" Woo Bin repeated, grimacing. "My father's orders?"

"Eliminate the Parks," the man told him simply. "No exceptions."

At that point the elevator doors opened, and without another word the men ushered Yo Na inside.

"Wait-" Woo Bin said, even as he's trying to piece everything together. "Goddamnit, I said wait-"

The elevator doors closed right in front of his face.

W-Why are we being hunted down?

We're only following your father's orders.

Could it be-

Did his father...?

Ga Eul spoke timidly from behind him, breaking into his thoughts: "W-Where are they taking Yo Na?"

Woo Bin glanced at her, realizing that of course she'd seen everything... and that he had no real answer to her question.

He couldn't even say he understood what the hell was happening, in the first place.

Just that, if his hunch was correct, that would be the last time either of them would see the Park daughter alive.

But he couldn't very well tell her that, could he?

Shaking his head, Woo Bin walked past her, heading instead to his assistant's desk. "Did my father send those men?" he asked. "How the hell did he know that Park Yo Na was here?"

He noticed that his assistant's hands were shaking, poised as they were on top of his keyboard. But he stood and met Woo Bin's eye without flinching. "It's the Chairman's orders, Sir, that we report to him the whereabouts of the Parks, should we spot them."

Eliminate the Parks.

No exceptions.

"You- you reported her?" Woo Bin clarified.

Bowing a bit, his assistant repeated, "Chairman's orders."

Which meant it was law, in this office.

In their world.

"Why the fuck wasn't I informed about this?" he demanded.

Bowing even lower, his assistant said, "I-I wouldn't presume to know, Sir, but I- I believe this is for your protection."

Bullshit!

Woo Bin pulled at his mouth.

More and more the pieces were starting to form an ugly picture: one of Song Senior overriding his son's desire for a deathless revenge, and implementing a gruesome punishment Woo Bin wouldn't want to wish on anyone.

And Ga Eul-

God.

Ga Eul.

Woo Bin turned again, in time to see the elevator doors close-

-with her inside it.

It's because he's the son of a Mafia Lord, you stupid-

He winced.

Looked like the cat's out of the bag now.