bloodied crown - hyungwonho

8: Bang.

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Quiet. It was honestly something Hyungwon quite enjoyed. He didn't mind the ringing in his ears that appeared occasionally when everything was dead silent, in fact, it brought some comfort to him. It signaled that he was still alive.

When he was younger, it was the opposite. Silence equaled something bad, especially at night. he used to sleep with music or something in the background and couldn't sleep well without it. If it got cut or disrupted during the night, he'd wake up. For better or for worse.

Not that being able to sleep mattered anymore. After a single incident, he had practically lost the capability to have a good rest unless it was helped with medicine or alcohol. If not both. If he managed to fall asleep, nightmares or night terrors were more common than not.

Navigating the basement of their HQ was something he didn't do often. Mostly because the air down there made him cough his lungs out, but this time it was necessary. Only he had access to the old files that had been put away so he couldn't put anyone up for the task to fetch them. It wasn't that he didn't trust his closest men to do a proper job of securing the confidential papers back up, he knew they could do that. But he wouldn't risk it, no matter what.

It was left in his father's will, for him to keep all those papers locked away. Clearly, whatever there was on the yellowed parchments must've been really controversial. Hyungwon only had a limited amount of papers his father had left in his office, but they were all important things he needed. From contact info to deals that were still held up to this date.

It was undeniable, that Hyungwon would have wanted to know more about the fishier business when he was just beginning his dive toward the throne event though his father hadn't been too keen on him becoming the next leader at the start of it all. He, all things considered, was a child compared to every other leader. He knew how to be cold and cruel, to protect himself. How to hold up the organization and power. He knew how to keep every opposing person at bay and how to twist officers around his bony finger.

He really wanted you to become a doctor, instead.

But he was still left on the surface when it came to the iceberg of his occupation. Even after seven years of being at the top of the food chain. He had never done under-the-table deals with anyone. All the strings he played with right now were given to him by his father but he had never learned how to build the puppets himself. Contracts were clear and showed what he needed to give and what he was going to gain.

The recent deal with Shin Wonho was the riskiest thing he had done in a while but it really was like child's play when it came to everything else.

Heaving out a deep sigh, Hyungwon stared at the thick metal door before him. He had never ventured further behind it, never seeing the point of looking into old papers. He was never a big reader nor one to recall the past. But now he needed to. He needed to know everything he could about Son Ilsang and what his father had to do with him in detail.

He raised one hand, placing it on the scanner on the wall and waiting a few seconds. A high-pitched beep rang from the scanner and he could hear the locks turning inside the door. He pulled the grey metal door open, walking in without further hesitation.

The door behind him fell shut and he heard the locks turn again, ensuring that he was secured there now. Somehow, it was even quieter on that side of the door than on the other.

He reached for the light switch on the wall, flipping it and waiting a moment, but nothing happened. Hyungwon chuckled a little bit. Changkyun had warned him that the electricity down there might've been busted due to some remodeling that had to be done a few years ago. The basement hadn't really been taken into accord in the plans.