KILL'ER • BTS

1 . D A U G H T E R

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❝ ɴᴏᴛ ᴀʟʟ ᴍᴇɴ ᴀʀᴇ ᴛʜᴇ sᴀᴍᴇ ❞

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ＨＥＲ ＰＯＶ

ʏᴇᴀʀs ʟᴀᴛᴇʀ

"If we manage to have LIR.E under our control, we'll be able to consider ourselves the leading company for decades." Dad got up from his unusual chair to have a better perspective of the light brown doors, of the inspired employees and blank-faced secretaries.

I hadn't counted it yet, but I could bet around eleven bodies were sitting on the conference room chairs. Although it was big enough to have more than ninety free seats and four stairs leading to the same exit, dad didn't want too many ears listening to him at that time.

"DRIXX has been losing way too much against LIR.E. There has been a gradual financial decline, employees are leaving for their own will and the remaining ones keep on complaining too much. We are currently at risk of losing our usual victories in DRivESS Awards this year, and since LIR.E is our threat at the moment, we must shut it down as fast as possible." Silence followed his loud words, giving him time to observe each face in front of him, each reaction and expression. "We're in crisis and LIR.E is guilty of that. We've got no more options."

I gulped, quietly standing behind dad, firmly holding my own hands.

It was true. Everything dad was saying, everything dad was telling his workers, it was all true.

Dad used to lie during conferences as a way to better motivate his good professionals to work harder and better each day, he could control their thoughts and actions easier if he regulated what they knew as well.

But, at that time, he was being honest, with no filters, no omissions.

It was DRIXX's current reality: LIR.E's name was getting so big in the magazines that we barely had space left on the left corner.

Although shutting it down was not our only option, dad wouldn't have been loyal to himself if he hadn't chosen it.

I coughed once against my forearm, giving a smile to the ones who looked at me with a nod accompanied by a wink or just a serious concentrated gaze.

They all knew me: their future CEO, the young girl in dad's framed pictures, the child they used to photograph. Almost everybody in that conference room had already shared lunch with me, a packet of salty cookies or just a handshake.

They all knew me and so did I know them.

"And how are we supposed to make that come true?" A loud male voice was heard, its owner getting up from his seat to focus his eyes on the place we were standing.

Dad was never dumb, never too slow neither to reason nor to speak. Many doctors kept saying he would never come back to what he used to be after getting through his cancer, they said it was not because he had won a battle that he had won the war.

I must admit those scary words couldn't have scared me more until the very first moment I saw dad acting as if nothing had happened to him at all.

"LIR.E is expanding a lot, Sir." A man not far from the other male showed up, looking at me. "I've got serious doubts that shutting it down out of nowhere would be considered normal."

Then, a woman nodded.

"You're all right." Dad ran a hand through his shiny dark hair, slowly glancing at Jihan.