the 7th sense | mark lee

chapter one

"Jungwoo, I really can't go out tonight." Mark protested over the phone as one of his university friends kept begging him to go out.

He was just about to enter the subway when someone pushed him. He looked at the woman with an irritated glare, but the black-haired girl only apologized before sprinting in the other direction.

Her eyes seem familiar.  Mark thought as he brushed his arm and averted his attention to the now deporting subway, sighing and listening to the older boy protest.

"You never have time to go out,"  Jungwoo sighed, "All you do is study. Live a little, man."

"I'd go out, but my mom came to New York to visit me and I have an assignment due tomorrow," Marl explained, "I can go out on the weekend."

"Fine. No takebacks though."  Jungwoo playfully countered.

"Right. I'll call you later, I got to go." Mark ended the call when he spotted the fancy restaurant his mother wanted to meet him in.

It didn't take long for him to get to the table that had already been reserved in advance for him and his mother, placing his school bag that contained his laptop and a few books in it on one of the chairs.

He had nothing to entertain himself with, so he decided to scroll over the news feed in hopes of finding something that would spike his interest.

The crime rate in New York had decreased over the last few years, but it was still concerning. As soon as he heard the faint voice of his mother talking to someone in the distance, Mark put his phone away, knowing she would comment on how he was rude to not greet her right away.

"How are you, Mark?" his mother questioned as she sat opposite him after they hugged.

"I'm alright. I have a lot of school work, but I'm managing," Mark smiled lightly at his mother, "How are you? How's dad?"

"I'm great, and your father is resigning from the CEO spot soon. Your older brother will be the new CEO of Lee Corporation." his mother informed.

"That's good," Mark said with a slight frown on his face which went unnoticed by the woman, "He wanted the spot for a while now. I remember he told me about it before I decided to go to university here."

"How are your studies? You aren't slacking off, are you?" his mother questioned.

"As I said, I've been getting a lot of assignments lately, but I'm passing software engineering with straight As, just as you asked." Mark sighed. His brother had set high standards, and he had no choice but to follow in his footsteps.

"That is good," his mother dismissed, but another thought plastered itself in her head, and she thought it was brilliant, "I would like you to take over the Korean branch. It has been growing rapidly, and your father and I need someone we can trust on top."

"But mother, I told you countless times that I don't want to be a CEO at your company." Mark protested.

"Then what do you want?" his mother asked rather harshly, "Do you want to be stuck as a manager of some no-name company, so no one knows who you are?" she continued, silencing Mark when he tried to speak, "You were destined to be known, Mark. It's in your blood."

Mark was at a loss for words. He knew that his mother wouldn't let the matter go, and he'd probably be hearing from his father about it as soon as she returned to Vancouver.

"You will be the CEO of the Korean branch, whether you like it or not," his mother abruptly stood up before taking her bag and continuing, "And since the Korean branch is growing as rapidly as it is, you will be moving to Seoul next year when you graduate with a masters degree." And with that, the woman left.

Mark knew that it would come to this, but he was trying to postpone the process for as long as he could, or at least until the crime rate in New York went low enough for his gut to believe that he could leave. His mother was persistent, and if she wanted him in Seoul next year, she'd have him there.

That presented a serious problem to Mark, because he was devoted to protecting New York, and he was the best man in the game.

But if he moved away, he'd leave the city in the hands of other people that were similar to him, and he knew that most of them couldn't be trusted because they were all in it for the money.

Mark could only trust one person with the number one spot, but they weren't exactly fit for it.

Because as much as Spiderman knew Nix was perfectly capable of keeping the crime rate to a minimum, they were a vigilante.

And as much as Spiderman trusted them, he knew that society wouldn't accept Nix at the number one spot, maybe not because they were a vigilante, but because the money they earned wasn't from helping people in most cases.

Most of the money Nix made from being a vigilante wasn't at all pure.

It was from assassinations they had completed.