By Zephyria 
“Pointlessly digging. Let’s go, Tae-hwon.”
Kwon Rae-i stepped over the fallen with Woo Tae-hwon. He didn’t forget to glance at Jeon Ho-chang as if to dismiss him, and nodded his head.
He understood his greed, but he wouldn’t give up Kwon Hyeon-oh.
That goddamn bastard was Kwon Rae-i’s prey. He couldn’t just kill him nicely without making him pay for tearing Woo Tae-hwon’s shoulder.
Kwon Rae-i, who had been watching Jeon Ho-chang until the end, walked with Woo Tae-hwon towards a blank wall. There was only a large painting hanging in front of it. However, as Kwon Rae-i stepped inside, a scanner hidden by the ceiling lights began to operate, flashing a small light.
And in front of it, Kwon Rae-i took off his helmet.
The black helmet was slowly removed.
His bare face, finally revealed, shone brightly in the light. The gang members who saw him gasped.
Those who knew Kwon Rae-i’s identity and those who didn’t, Jeun and Gyeongjeong, all widened their eyes with the same expression.
Of course, the reaction of those who didn’t know was much more intense.
‘Kwo, Kwon Rae-i?’
The illegitimate child of the Gyeongjeong Faction. The fourth son of Chairman Kwon Jung-il.
The youngest, who was said to be weak, Kwon Rae-i… how?
Even if they washed their eyes and looked again, there was no way they couldn’t recognize his striking albinism. Snow-white hair, skin so white that the blood vessels were transparently visible, and icy, cold blue-gray eyes were known to everyone.
Even a brief glimpse of him was enough to remember his appearance, which was so distinctive.
But, that Kwon Rae-i.
Kwon Rae-i, who had long since stepped down from the Gyeongjeong Faction’s succession race.
Suddenly appearing with Woo Tae-hwon in tow?
Beep, beep!
Just in time, the scanner read Kwon Rae-i’s face. This was because they had bypassed the system prior to the raid, manipulated the customer data, and pre-registered Kwon Rae-i’s face.
Once the verification was complete, the secret passage that had been blocked by the wall opened wide.
Kwon Rae-i threw the helmet he was wearing behind him and strode into the opened passage. Woo Tae-hwon did the same. Jeon Ho-chang, with distorted eyes, watched the two disappear into the darkness.
He stared at them for a long time before letting out a hollow, deflated laugh.
‘Ha! Kwon Rae-i. Yeah, that bastard Rae-i.’
He had known from the start that that bastard was something else.
That he would become the leader of the Jeun Faction in the future as President Hwang Jin-soo’s successor.
He was much younger, and his potential was so green it was almost white, but he knew that there was no one else to entrust the future of Jeun to. If not him, who else would succeed President Hwang? Jeon Ho-chang, or Kim Woo-shik?
‘Damn it, shit, neither of us is good enough for that.’
Jeon Ho-chang was impulsive and emotional. He was easily swayed. The subordinates who followed him were drawn to his human side and pledged their loyalty, but he didn’t have the qualities to be the head of a large organization. And Kim Woo-shik was the opposite. He did the work he was told diligently, but he didn’t have the drive to take the lead.
Neither of them had ambition, and they knew their place.
They weren’t the kind of people President Hwang Jin-soo would entrust the fate of the organization to.
‘Is there no other way…?’
Kwon Rae-i was always so distant.
Even though he was young, when he looked into his empty eyes, it felt like he was hollow inside. He smiled and treated him comfortably on the surface, and they had spent a long time together, but he couldn’t grasp Kwon Rae-i’s essence. He had worked with him on dozens of organization matters and crossed the line between life and death many times, but Kwon Rae-i was still a distant being.
Quick thinking and explosive drive, monstrous learning ability, and innate intimidation and charisma, even cold-blooded meticulousness. Those who looked down on him because he was young and charged at him, whether they were enemies or allies, were all brutally crushed. There was no chance of winning in a one-on-one fight, and even the bastards who ambushed him in a many-on-one situation were all defeated and left this world.
Kwon Rae-i was impartially ruthless, regardless of the opponent. The more he watched him, the more he had to admit that he was the perfect successor, but he was definitely lacking something.
Jeon Ho-chang always wanted to dig into the reason for that.
He felt like he would make a resolution if he knew.
It meant that he would be able to follow Kwon Rae-i with sincerity, not with this half-hearted feeling. He wanted to offer his sincere loyalty to him, the only successor to President Hwang. He believed that he would have that opportunity someday. That the day would come when Kwon Rae-i would open his heart and reveal his inner thoughts.
When that time came, Jeon Ho-chang would risk his life for Kwon Rae-i without complaint.
‘It was shocking that he abandoned us.’
That he would leave Jeun so suddenly, after so many years of sharing joys and sorrows.
In fact, that was the point.
No one in Jeun could hold Kwon Rae-i back. They couldn’t dig into him.
He hadn’t gained even a piece of the heart, a shred of affection, of the young, the guy he had crossed the line of death with since the distant past.
That’s why he was angry.
He was truly angry.
He was shocked to learn that Kwon Rae-i, whom he had recognized, the one he had recognized as President Hwang’s only successor, didn’t recognize them at all. He was dumbfounded, and his head was numb as if he had been hit in a vital spot. He didn’t know that Jeun was a place that Kwon Rae-i could abandon and leave so lightly.
‘From the beginning, the only one he had his eyes on was a black-haired man, which was also shocking.’
How on earth did Kwon Rae-i become so fascinated by Woo Tae-hwon?
The difference between the way he treated the Jeun Faction gang members and the way he treated Woo Tae-hwon was so great that he still couldn’t help but laugh. Was he that crazy about Woo Tae-hwon? Just how great of a guy was Woo Tae-hwon?
‘Shit….’
Well, even now, as he complained, the Jeun Faction was still being dragged around by Kwon Rae-i. Everyone in the Jeun Faction wanted Kwon Rae-i to look at them properly. And that was the same for Jeon Ho-chang. They were all waiting for Kwon Rae-i to recognize them, to acknowledge them.
Would it be possible if they destroyed the Gyeongjeong Faction?
When this fight was over?
While he felt a sense of rebellion against the shitty feeling of chasing after the back of that heartless and young successor, he was still determined to gain his recognition. He would prove that he was not incompetent and make Kwon Rae-i repent.
To that end, Jeun would rise to a higher place.
They would crush the Gyeongjeong Faction and eat them to the bone, building a huge organization. And even that wouldn’t be enough; they would rise above the sky. They would become uncontrollably large and strong. Not only Jeon Ho-chang, but all the other subordinates who followed him had the same resentment.
This desire was an ambition fueled by Kwon Rae-i.
It wouldn’t be possible without Kwon Rae-i.
The existence of Kwon Rae-i alone had made Jeun boil so explosively. Therefore, Kwon Rae-i was the de facto successor of Jeun.
* * *
The underground casino, where only VIPs gathered, had already become quiet after hearing the gunshots from above.
Those who had been immersed in gambling and entertainment stared at Kwon Rae-i, who was holding a gun, and Woo Tae-hwon, who was walking beside him, with terrified eyes.
They wondered if they were the target.
Like the private club upstairs, the casino customers in particular were people who wouldn’t be wronged even if they were stabbed in their sleep. They had all committed deeds that they shouldn’t have done as human beings in pursuit of great wealth and power.
So they couldn’t help but be afraid.
They wondered if the beautiful man with the gun was a grim reaper who had come to take their lives.
‘Wait. That face… is that the youngest of the Gyeongjeong Faction?’
Those who had only been sweating recognized Kwon Rae-i, who had revealed his distinctive white face. As they gradually adapted to the fear, they were also able to recognize Woo Tae-hwon, who was walking beside him. They also knew where they were headed.
The private room inside, hidden by a curtain.
Kwon Rae-i fired his gun at the closed door. Until all the remaining ammunition was exhausted. After using all the bullets, he replaced them with a spare magazine he had on his waist and gestured to Tae-hwon.
“I’m going in. Are you ready?”
“Yeah.”
“One, two.”
The moment he said three, he roughly kicked the tattered door.