The darkness of that fateful night still clings to my memories like the acrid scent of smoke lingering in the air long after the flames have been extinguished. Shadows danced across the walls of our opulent villa, and the echoes of gunfire rang in my ears, a haunting symphony that plays on repeat, robbing me of peace. But it was not the chaos of that night that I remember most; it was the night that preceded it, a night when my life was forever altered, a night when I was taken, drugged, and used against my will. The Lee heir, the one I would later seek to seduce, was my captor, and I was his pawn. The memory of that violation haunts me still, a constant reminder of the depths to which they would stoop to maintain their power.
I am Taerin Yang, 20 years old and a phantom in the world of the living, a survivor of a massacre that shattered my once-idyllic life. The day everything changed, I was just a girl with dreams, unaware of the treacherous dance my father had been entangled in—the dangerous waltz with the Lee family, the aristocracy of the South Korean underworld. In the shadows of their power, I now see the fragility of trust we had placed in them, a darkness cloaked in respectability that devoured us.
My father had once been close to them, his laughter mingling with their whispers of power and ambitions. I can still picture him, a proud man, his dreams twinkling like stars in his eyes. Yet that world was filled with treason, and when he had the courage to break away, it invoked their wrath. The next day, my sanctuary was engulfed in chaos. I remember the staccato rhythm of bullets, each one a piercing reminder of the betrayal that ran deeper than blood. When the chaos erupted, I ran—heart pounding like a tribal drum—leaving behind a life of luxury, now reduced to a smattering of ashy memories.
But I was not just a survivor; I was a prisoner of my body, carrying the weight of a secret, and with the chaos of the massacre, I was also pregnant with their heir's child. The knowledge of it had been locked away, hidden from me, even as I was forced to navigate the treacherous landscape of our new reality. It was a burden I would carry for years, a constant reminder of the Lee family's power and my own helplessness. When I finally gave birth in the shadows of my new life, she was a girl—a spark of light in my otherwise dark existence. I named her Yuna, after the hope that one day, I would lay bare the truth of our past and reclaim our future.
I escaped, only to emerge as one of South Korea’s most skilled hackers, a specter haunting the dark underbelly of society. Every keystroke I tapped echoed with the sound of my family's demise, each hack a step closer to unearthing the truth behind the murderers. The chill of betrayal seeped into my veins, and I vowed to extract justice with my own hands.
It was not long before the tangled threads of my life led me to the Lee family. They towered over the criminal landscape like a colossus, revered and feared, a gilded cage hiding razor-sharp teeth. My plan is deceptively simple: to infiltrate their world, to slip under their skin while keeping my own secrets sewn tightly in the fabric of my being. But I know I must go deeper. He is the heir—a silk-threaded serpent nestled in the lap of luxury, charismatic, and utterly inaccessible. But for me, he is more than just a pawn; he is the reason for my existence, the father of my child, and I will stop at nothing to claim back what is rightfully mine. And the family they took from me.
With each passing day, I must tread the fine line between the girl I once was—naive and unsullied—and the woman I have become, forged in the fires of loss and revenge. No longer shall I wallow in the sorrow of my shattered past; instead, I will mold it into a weapon of my choosing. The Lee family may think they have buried the ghosts of their past, but I am rising from the ashes, ready to reclaim my family's honor, ready to extract the pain they have inflicted.
I remember the pain of that long-forgotten night, the pain of being used, and the pain of being betrayed again when I discovered I was pregnant. They betrayed me once; they will not do so again. I have a mission, and I will find the killer—even if it means dancing with the demons of my nightmares. Justice is a storm brewing on the horizon, and when it strikes, it will consume everything in its path.
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