Wounded, scarred and tortured -I.

"I know just where he would be!" Na-Gil declared as he got out of the elevator in the seventh floor with Bae Jang-Mi following after him, he walked up to a certain door and knocked on it.

The door opened revealing Dan-Bi, she stood by the door with a surprised expression. "What are you doing here?" She asked. She looked to the side and when she saw Bae Jang-Mi, she rolled her eyes mentally and the shifted her focus to the hallway to search for the third member of the group. Since Yo-Han is not with them she felt that there is no way they would be looking for her. They must have missed the way. "I think you stopped at the wrong floor, this is the seventh floor, okay? You still need to go up." She pointed up and then tried to shut the door but Na-Gil immediately stopped her.

He cleared his throat and said, "I, Ehm, actually I am at the right place... By any chance, is Yo-Han here with you?, We are late for a meeting already."

Before Dan-bi reacted, Bae Jang-Mi called Na-Gil's attention, "Mr Sung, I think I should go ahead of you to the meeting then, we are really going to be late." Na-Gil thought for a split second that IHTC had really been patient with them enough to have given them a third chance, it might seem as though Yo-Han is taking IHTC for granted if only Ms Bae went ahead, but it was better than complete absence so he replied with a nod and the lady departed.

Na-Gil turned to Dan-Bi again and asked, "I am here for Yo-han, is he here with you? We checked the whole place but we couldn't find him so I guessed he would be here with..."

Na-Gil had a doubt that Yo-han had abandoned his mission in Country P in other to chase Dan-Bi again. If so, he would make sure to win her over therefore he would be around Dan-bi all the time. Na-Gil came here with this in mind, hoping he was right. Too bad that Dan-bi's reply shattered his hopes.

"NO!, Why do you think he has no other place to go but here?, Did he not mention it to you?, are you not his right hand man?, You should know that their is nothing going on between us anymore. There is no reason why he should be here!" Dan-Bi said angrily. If it wasn't Na-Gil, someone she respected because of his transition, she would slam the door on their face, but she didn't, instead she said, "If you need to find him, he probably spent the night with some bimbo, isn't that his new pursuit?, don't look to far, it would be easy to find him." She then gently closed the door.

Na-Gil was shocked when he saw a stream of tear roll down her face a second before she closed the door. He stood in front of the door with a frustrated look on his face. ' Did she not break his heart, did she not leave voluntarily, why is she tearing up over the fact that he might be with someone else?, Is she feeling guilty?' Na-Gil knocked on the door again and when there was no response he turned to leave.

He had only taken a step before he remembered something?, He walked back to the door and said out loud. "Choi Dan-Bi, you are really mistaking, Yo-han is not what you think he is, only if you trusted him, just a little bit of trust, that's all you had to give. He would probably kill me for saying this but I'll say this because of the happiness lost, you are both made for each other and one of you has to let go of their pride or put an end to the prejudice. You know what you want, why not take it." He said and finally he left.

Dan-Bi retreated back to her room once she noticed that Na-Gil had finally left. Her mood did not get any better rather it worsened. If Na-Gil had left without saying those words it would have been better. She became completely downcast and angry at the same time.

'Trust?, So the blame is now mine? Umph, how dare he mention prejudice when that's the reality? I have always been the one trying, what effort did he ever make, he only tried thrice and he gave up. At first I was angry at him because of the issue between him and my father, if he'd persistently tried to calm me while I only wanted to give him a taste of his medicine, I definitely would forgive him but instead, he betrayed me more. Where does trust come in here? I have no blame to take.'

"You know he's right don't you?" No-Eul said from the side. She had been listening to the conversation from inside and just by hearing the voice, she knew who Dan-bi was talking to. She followed Dan-Bi into the room and said. " He gave you the best advice, it's all left to you."

Dan-Bi did not reply at all, she just got into bed and buried herself under her blanket. Though she became angry because No-Eul sided with Na-Gil, She had too much going through her mind that she did not flare up nor react. ' I came here to forget the past but the past seem to be chasing me around. Why is it so difficult to find a peaceful love life?'

Having been ignored, No-Eul picked her bag and approached the door. "I am heading out to settle matters with the person who filed a lawsuit against you and do some other things, it might take me all day so pack your belongings before I return, we are leaving for Country S first thing tomorrow morning" No-Eul said to Dan-bi. She took one more glance at the figure on the bed and left.

Dan-Bi slowly peeked out of the blanket to see if No-Eul had left. When she confirmed this, she sat up and rested her back on the headboard. She picked up her phone from the bedside cabinet. She unlocked it and opened her file manager, navigated to the recycle bin and click it open. She scrolled over to a file and clicked on it revealing a picture she held unto for along time. Though she thought she let it go, she found it sometimes while rummaging through her recycle bin. Instead of permanently deleting it, she decided to let it remain there.

She zoomed in on Yo-Han's face in the picture and a bitter smile crept up her face upon seeing his frowning face. It was the picture they took at the auction back then. She sighed heavily and said, "I am here crying over you while you are probably out their with no care, living in pleasure Uh?." Hmph, she sighed again and rested her side on the bed after which she slept off.

_

In a slightly lit room with light coming from the hearth with red hot coal and iron in it and an almost exhausted candle as the only illumination, Yo-han hung on a rope with his toes barely touching the ground, his head hung low and his hands tied above his head to the rope hanging him to the ceiling.

Glistening sweats–due to the lights reflected in them, raced through his naked upper body that contained a few torture marks because Jin Beom-Seok didn't treat him well at all, it was as if he had passed his boundary with the old man in time past. They gave him the type of torture he gave to those who messed with him. Surely, Yo-Han had seen people get tortured in front of his eyes, in fact he had orchestrated and oversaw a lot of torture on traitors but this is the first time he'd be in there shoes.

A fat but tall man who sat in front of the hearth removed a piece of iron with the an red hot head walked towards Yo-Han. He glanced at Jin Beom-Seok who nodded for him to proceed. The fat man brought the iron to the right side of Yo-Han's chest, slightly above the nipples and placed the hot iron there as if stamping a document.

Yo-han cried out in pain the moment the iron came in contact with his skin, he opened his eyes immediately and he looked terrified ass he watched the iron leave a scar on his chest. After a short while the man removed the iron and dipped it in cold water.

The pain after the iron was removed seems to be more that when it was there, Yo-han started breathing heavily, his lungs started closing up and blocking air passage as he tried to handle the pain. One of Jin Beom-Seok's men walked over and fed him his inhaler which only restored his breathing. He groaned in pain as the pain kept tormenting him.

Jin Beom-Seok walked over and took a close scrutiny at the tiger head scar forming on Yo-Han's skin. After looking closely, an eerie laugh escaped his mouth. "Hahahahaha, now you are marked."