Prologue.

A secluded building of one of the most infamous organizations on the planet, always left untouched, was being used today.

It had nothing but a single hallway that extended to what seemed an endless path.

The only thing visible in the hall under the flickering light was the three people walking down the path. Their footsteps were the only things that could be heard in the eerily silent hall.

One of the three men was Kelvin, the vice president of the information branch of the same association this building belonged to.

//// KELVIN IS NOT THE MC! ////

His expression wasn't really good, though. His nose scrunched up and his brows creased, he kept staring ahead.

He had been to this area some times before but never felt like what he was feeling today—a strange feeling of impending doom.

It was as if there was something waiting for him—something he wouldn't want to see happening, but he couldn't quite put a finger on it.

His palm balled into a fist, clenching as hard as he could. Cold sweat trickled down his spine.

His dark blue hair, wet with sweat, was sticking close to his forehead, his black eyes quivering every once in a while. His eyes darted toward the two people walking beside him—both senior members of the organization, staring straight ahead with a hard expression, not sharing the tension he felt.

"Get yourself together…" he muttered lightly, forcing himself to move forward, yet with every step he took, his heart grew heavier.

"Ahhhh!"

But as they approached a heavy armored door, Kelvin froze. He heard a sound—a soft, broken sound that made his stomach twist.

A moan.

No, it couldn't be... His heart raced, his body trembled.

"What's with the hold-up?" One of the men walking with him growled, roughly grabbing his arm. The man had broad shoulders and a bald tattooed head.

"Move it!" He frowned, irritation clear in his voice.

"Argh! What's wrong with you?" Kelvin, who felt the sudden, tight grip of the other two, winced in pain before he snapped his arm away from them.

His mind, however, raced. Was it her voice...? No, he must be imagining things. What would she be doing here anyway?

He chuckled nervously, trying to get the uncertainty he felt out of the way, only to find it growing stronger.

*Knock**Knock*

The other man, taller than the other, knocked on the iron door, leaning against it with irritation clear on his face. "Come on, we don't have all day."

*Click**Clang*

The next second, Kelvin heard the sound of the heavy, metallic bolt being moved. The door creaked, opening in slow motion.

The creaking of the door urged Kelvin to just turn around and run away from here; it was as if they were telling him that there was something really bad on the inside, waiting for him. But he couldn't move; his feet froze for some reason.

He could feel the mocking gazes of the two guys who were responsible for escorting him here, and although he was used to that kind of look as he was always seen as a useless little brother of the boss of this organization, today, those eyes pierced deeper for some reason.

*Creak*

*Badump**Badump*...

The door, which always took around a second or two to slide open, seemed to be taking hours to open, increasing Kelvin's heart rate.

Soon, its heavy gate went ahead and crashed into the wall behind it. Completely open.

But Kelvin didn't move—he couldn't move.

An overwhelming scent—a choking mix of blood and rotting flesh—hit his nose. His stomach churned as he took it in, but that was just the start as he heard a voice.

*Whip*

"Arghhhh!"

A broken cry of a girl—one that he knew very well.

'N-No way…'

His eyes quivered violently as he stepped inside the room. He hesitantly stepped in, only to find himself a gruesome sight on display.

His breath caught up in his throat as his eyes locked into hers. 

He didn't want to believe it.

'No...'

But it was her, his girlfriend, broken and battered, lying slumped against a pole. Blood streaming down her wrist, tied cruelly above her head, her clothes off of her body, with every part of her body covered in fresh, red blood.

Her once vibrant black hair hung limply over her face, matted with blood. Her eyes, once filled with light and warmth, were now empty—devoid of hope.

What had they done to her...?

His girlfriend, who used to always have a smile on her face, was now broken like that.

He staggered, bile rising up his throat.

A man stood over her, placing a whip filled with fresh blood on the table next to him. He wiped his hand with a cloth, cleaning the blood on his hands before he slapped the girl's cheek lazily.

It was as if he had been doing this again and again, so much that he was now tired of it. Slap after slap kept ringing in the hall as pathetic whimpers left the girl's lips, enough to make the hardest of the man crumble, but that guy just went on with no change in his expression.

Kelvin, on the other hand, stood frozen for seconds, unable to believe what was happening; it was not until a drop of blood that the girl coughed out landed in front of him did he broke out of his disbelief.

His eyes widened and his fists clenched.

"STOP!!!" He roared, his voice cracking and his eyes desperate as he lunged forward. 

But before he could reach her—

*BAM!*

"Cough!"

The air was knocked out of his lungs, and his eyes bulged, almost popping out of the socket as a strong punch landed on his gut.

*Thud*

He fell to his knees, clutching his stomach, unable to even breathe, but his eyes never left her. The bald man, who had walked by his side, kicked him, sneering at him.

"You are here to watch, not interfere, so stay down."

Kelvin's eyes shook again, and his breath stuck in his chest as the pain was too much for him, so much so that he couldn't even hear anything other than his girlfriend's whimpers.

"Please... stop..."

He gritted his teeth as tears started to pool in his eyes. His girl's condition was a bit too much for him to take in.

He wanted to stand up and fight. He wanted to kill all of them, but he couldn't—not when he was having a hard time breathing.

His world was spinning and his vision was blurring. How did it come to this? What actually happened?

The next second, however, a new voice sounded.

"Do you see it now, little brother?"

A deep, masculine, cold, and commanding voice echoed through the room even after all the moans and smacking noises.

*Shiver*

Kelvin, on the other hand, trembled the moment he heard that voice.

It was again a voice he was much too familiar with, but the cold tone that sent a shiver down his spine was the first. 

His head moved toward the source of the voice in a creaking manner as if it were an old, rusty machine, and then he finally saw him...

The one who single-handedly built this organization, and the same person whose presence alone commanded obedience.

The boss of the Darkhand Association, Alex Matthew.

He was standing with his backlit by a dim LED light, his large yet streamlined body—a physique that could cause even the nest of the bodybuilder to envy him—getting highlighted by the dim, blue light.

His face was obstructed by his own shadow as he looked at the large, abstract painting at the end of the room.

That man wasn't even looking at Kelvin, yet the poor guy could feel his body stiffening.

"B-Big brother... why...?"

Kelvin couldn't control his tears as he questioned his big brother, the one whom he looked up to, his voice breaking. He wanted justice for all of this.

He wanted to at least know why this was happening.

Why him?!

What did he do?!

"Kelvin…"

Alex's voice, which sounded more like a growl, made its way into Kelvin's ears, causing the trembling of his body to intensify.

He had never seen this side of Alex—at least not for himself—but now he finally realizes why the enemies peed under Alex's questioning.

*Step**Step*

Alex finally turned toward Kelvin, his body moving into the light, and his strikingly handsome features finally came into view.

Silky, shoulder-length, silver-white hair that waved with every move he made, and piercing blue eyes that shone with an intense cold light.

"I just wanted you to know that you were played. Lied to. Betrayed by the one you loved."

A bone-chilling voice echoed in Kelvin's ears, causing his eyes to widen in shock.

"No... no, that's not true. She wouldn't—"

Kelvin, however, didn't accept it. He couldn't accept it. There was no way his girlfriend would betray him.

But his words were cut short, as Alex's expression turned hard.

"Look at her."

Kelvin hesitated, his body shaking, but looking at Alex's expression, he forced himself to look back.

And then he saw it—the twisted, euphoric smile on her face. Her body, broken as it was, trembled not with pain but with pleasure. 

She was laughing softly, her bloodied lips curling into a grotesque grin. The men surrounding her smirked, taking sick pleasure in her debasement. 

Kelvin's mind went blank. The woman he'd loved, who he thought had been tortured... was enjoying it. All of it.

All of the images from the time he had been living with her, all the promises they made, all the dates they went on, all of their time spent alone—everything flashed past his eyes.

The longer he saw the girl's face, the more those memories grew distorted.

Instead of her lovely smiles, he saw a sly grin; instead of her promises of always being together, he saw her holding a knife in her hand, hidden so well that he couldn't even see it.

The pain he felt slowly mellowed down as he grew numb, his body slumping, and his vision blurring.

He could feel a searing headache coming up; it was so hard that his vision kept blinking due to the throbbing of the veins in his head.

"You see it now..." Alex's voice sounded again, but Kelvin wasn't even listening to his words; he just kept staring at the girl, who wasn't even looking at him, rather enjoying the rough treatment she got.

Kelvin still couldn't believe it.

All of this was probably a nightmare—his mind playing a prank on him.

He might wake up again, his girlfriend in his arms, smiling at him just like she always does.

"Why bother wasting our time on a traitor, brother?"

It was then that another voice was heard, and Kelvin, who heard it, finally raised his head, his brows growing as he saw the man, standing at the corner of the room where no light could reach.

It was a man with light blonde hair and tanned skin, standing as tall as Alex, and the question he asked was for Alex; his face was plastered with an irritated look, and his hand was holding a pistol.

He was wearing dark green shorts and Hawaiian t-shirts along with slippers. A red goggle resting on the bridge of his nose that he kept pushing up.

His overall looks were that of a delinquent, as he stood with his body tilted to the side.

Those words caused Alex to turn to the guy, his expression still the same, only to see a pistol in the guy's hand, pointing at Kelvin, who wasn't even aware of it.

Alex knew that this was what he should do, as death and torture were the only luxuries they had for their enemies and their supporters, but still...

*Bang**Bang*

He stared at Kelvin as two shots were fired by the tanned guy, making two bloody holes appear on Kelvin's head before his body fell to the ground, his life leaving his body.

The tanned-skinned guy, after killing Kelvin, turned to look at Alex, but he was just staring at the corpse.

*Tch*

The guy clicked his tongue with a frown.

'You have always been like that—showing all your care on the younger one.'

He muttered inwardly, irritation clear on his face.

'You were the one who forced me...'

He added but didn't complete his words, turning toward the goons in the room.

He didn't know that it was never Alex showing favor; Alex just thought Kelvin needed to be looked after while the other brother didn't.

Who could tell him about it, though?

He just frowned as he glared at the guys, who were standing shocked in their spots as the gunshots came in as a surprise to them.

"What are you fucks gawking at?!

Just fuck that bitch up?!"

He roared at the guys, and they hurriedly focused back on the girl, who didn't even spare a glance at the body of her dead boyfriend.

"Yes~!"

She just moaned out loud and arched her back as she felt the guy whipping her ass with a lathered whip.

She moaned freely, not caring to suppress her pain anymore—finally revealing her true colors; it was as if Kelvin's presence was making it a bit hard for her to let herself go.

Alex, on the other hand, closed his eyes and turned around, staring back at the painting, trying to understand why he felt a strange weight pressing on his heart.

But just as things seemed to have ended…

*Tip**Tap**Tip**Tap*...

A series of hurried footsteps—heels hitting the ground—were heard before...

*Baam*

The door—which was closed by one of the men after Kelvin entered—was slammed open with a loud baam, causing all eyes to turn toward it.

"Alex! Kelvin wasn't the real traitor!"

The next instant, an enchanting voice was heard, but the panic and urgency in that voice were clear for everyone to hear.

It was a woman with long, blonde hair tied back in a loose, low ponytail, with a few strands framing her face, her royal blue eyes filled with worry and urgency.

It was Sophie, Alex's girlfriend, and the president of the information department.

Just a few minutes ago, they received a piece of news from an unknown source giving them proof of Kelvin's innocence and the real culprit's misdeeds.

They were never able to find it before, as if they were being obstructed by someone or something; now, however, they could easily verify the credibility of the proofs.

But the next second, Sophie's eyes widened in horror as she saw something.

Her voluptuous body with large assets jiggled as she tried to rush toward Alex.

"Noooo!!!!"

A shrill scream left her lips as her hand extended toward Alex trying to reach him, and Alex, who had his gaze fixed on the despair-filled royal blue eyes of his girlfriend, saw the reflection of the man who called him brother, pointing his gun at him.

'Ah…'

A glint of realization shone in his eyes as things finally made sense, but the next second...

*BANG*