Outside, faint voices of men could be heard—talking, laughing, perhaps even playing cards. But they never entered the room. Not once.
Lucia’s thoughts spiraled.
Was this the work of KGG? Did Shin Keir find out everything? Was this some kind of twisted punishment?
Just last night, she had been so smug. So full of confidence. She truly believed that if she stirred up enough drama, Shin Keir would personally come to deal with her. Even if he hated her, hate was still a feeling, wasn’t it?
And eventually, Shin Keir would be forced to look her way.
He didn’t have to like her. Obsession was a slow-cooked meal. Hate, infatuation, and misunderstanding, they all blurred with enough proximity.
Moreover, she had been aware of the café surveillance footage. But her plan was already set in motion.
With today’s AI technology, she could simply claim the video was fake, fabricated to ruin her image. Frame it as a smear campaign orchestrated by Zhi Corporation.
If she prolonged the case, surely a corporation that size would settle quietly to protect its reputation.
All while her followers surged.
Once she hit a certain number, she’d rebrand herself from part-time streamer to full-blown socialite influencer.
But now... none of that mattered.
She couldn’t recall how she ended up here. She remembered going to bed in her room. Then nothing.
Had she been drugged?
Time passed without measure. At some point, she must have dozed off again.
Lucia woke groggy and parched, lips cracked. Her stomach churned with hunger. Her throat was sore from shouting. But no one responded. No one fed her. Not even a glass of water.
Was she going to die here?
Was this... punishment?
Terror gnawed at her resolve. She refused to believe this was the end. She was only in her twenties. She still had plans. Dreams to chase and a good life to enjoy.
She was not going to be forgotten in a place .
Just as the edges of her mind began fraying toward a full-blown breakdown—
The door creaked open.
Slow. Heavy. Deliberate.
Lucia flinched, blinking rapidly as the hallway light poured into the dim room.
Then came the distinct click of stiletto heels.
Each step echoed, sharp and certain, across the concrete.
Then it stopped. Right in front of her.
Lucia hesitantly looked up, heartbeat thudding painfully in her chest.
Standing before her was a woman—tall, poised, and terrifyingly elegant. She wore a wide-brimmed hat, black sunglasses, and a sleek mask that obscured the lower half of her face. Despite her stylish attire, her aura was anything but comforting.
Something about her screamed danger.
The kind of danger that smiled while cutting your throat.
Lucia’s voice trembled as she tried to sound composed. "W-Who are you?" she asked cautiously. "I don’t think we’ve ever met. What do you want from me?"
The woman tilted her head slightly, like a cat deciding whether to play or strike.
Her gloved fingers reached up and slowly removed the sunglasses...revealing cold, sharp eyes.
She spoke, voice low and refined.
"But you’ve been clawing at something that doesn’t belong to you."
Lucia’s breath hitched. "I... I don’t understand—"
The woman chuckled, a dark, humorless sound.
"Of course you don’t. A dumb, filthy whore like you who only knows how to rely on men, how could you possibly understand anything beyond spreading your legs for opportunity?" The woman sneered, her voice dripping with venom.
"Lucia Hera, right? The information I got was truly laughable. Just a pathetic social climber who dug her way into KGG through men. No wonder you got fired. And yet, you still have the audacity to create chaos, smear the company’s name, and play victim? Shameless."
Lucia’s heart thudded faster, an erratic rhythm pounding behind her ribs.
"What? Scared? Cat got your tongue?" the woman continued, eyes glinting with amusement. "You planned this little stunt from the beginning. But now? Now you’re going to learn what it means to trespass into someone else’s territory."
Lucia blinked. Her lips parted slightly, confusion dulling the fear for a brief second. She didn’t understand.
And more importantly, why did this woman somehow care about KGG?
"Did Shin Keir send you?" Lucia asked, breathless.
A sharp slap cracked across her cheek before the sentence even ended. Pain bloomed, stinging and hot. She gasped, recoiling.
The woman leaned in, her voice dropping into a dangerous whisper, lips brushing the air between them. "Bitch, who gave you the right to utter his name? You wanted attention, didn’t you? Well, congratulations. You’ve got mine."
She straightened and turned away, calm as if she hadn’t just struck someone. Pulling out her phone, she tapped quickly, then murmured, "Give her some water. Not too much. I want her lucid for the next part."
As she reached the doorway, she paused and turned back, scrolling through her phone. She stopped at a photo and held it up.
"The server you had a fight with... Is it her?"
Lucia squinted at the screen. Despite the pounding in her head, she recognized the face. Without thinking, she nodded.
"You know her?" she asked weakly.
"Shut up, bitch! You have no right to ask anything." The woman snapped, her voice rising. With that, she spun on her heels and vanished from the room.
Lucia was left frozen, knees trembling, a cold sweat trickling down her temple. She didn’t know who that woman was or what game she had stepped into but it was clear now: she had offended someone with her scheme.
She had thought her plan was flawless. A fabricated accusation, and she’d gain Shin Keir’s attention while painting herself as the victim. She imagined money, sympathy, maybe even a hand to pull her out of her dwindling career.
But she hadn’t considered the predators lurking in the shadows, and by doing so, she lured out a vicious and venomous snake.
Judging from the woman’s words and reaction, the most likely reason she was in that predicament had something to do with Shin Keir.
Outside, the woman climbed into a sleek black car. As the door shut, she removed her mask, revealing a delicate, beautiful face but one that twisted into a look of pure scorn.
"Just a parasitic worm," she muttered. "Begging for Shin Keir’s attention. Is she even worthy?"
Moreover, she dared to slander KGG?
The two families had been friends for years and marriage was the only logical conclusion. KGG was part of the Keir legacy, and by extension, it would someday be hers too.
How could she let people like Lucia Hera, run their mouths without knowing the consequences?
There was a tap on the tinted window. A man leaned in as she cracked it open.
"What do you want to do now?" he asked.
She waved her manicured hand dismissively. "Leave her there for a couple of days. I still need something from her. Don’t touch her unless I say so."
The man bowed his head. "Understood, Miss."
As the car began to pull away from the alley, silence settled within. But it didn’t last long.
The phone on the woman’s lap buzzed. She answered without checking the caller ID.
"Hello?" she said coolly.
"Calin, what did you use my people for again?" a sharp male voice snapped from the other end.
The woman, Calin Ricci, smiled faintly, a slow, poisonous curl of her lips. "What I used them for? Oh, come now. Don’t tell me you have no idea?"
"You better not be doing anything reckless," the voice growled. "Don’t leave any traces. Calin, I’m telling you, if you caused another trouble deal with it yourself."
"I’m not committing a crime, brother," she replied sweetly. "Just teaching some worm a lesson."
Click. The line went dead.
Calin tossed the phone onto the seat beside her and turned to stare out the window. The world blurred past in muted colors, but her reflection in the glass was sharp, calm expression and cold eyes.
Anyone who dared compete for Shin Keir would face her wrath.
When she had seen the viral news that morning and Zhi Corporation’s official statement, she’d felt something boiling inside her.
The moment she saw the surveillance footage, she knew that Lucia wasn’t just scheming. She had been baiting.
Still, Calin didn’t care about Lucia. Not really.
What truly caught her attention... was the server in that video.
She had her suspicions. Too many coincidences.
What was Shin Keir doing at Café Zhillion of all places? That area was saturated with high-end cafés, so why that one?
This wasn’t the first time. It was already the third time Shin Keir had appeared at the same place, same time with that girl.
Even if Yeri Zhi wasn’t exactly what she feared... it didn’t change the fact that she had dared to orbit around her man.
Whether she was a harmless barista or a conniving vixen, it didn’t matter.
Yeri Zhi had already crossed a line.
Calin tapped her nails against the phone for a moment before dialing again.
"Find a way to obtain the full surveillance footage from Café Zhillion," she ordered.
The person on the other end hesitated. "The full footage? It might take some time. Zhi Corporation’s security system is tight. It’s not like they just hand out internal videos."
Calin’s lips pursed. "Then pry it from them. I don’t care how much it costs or how many strings you have to pull. I want the entire recording."
"With all due respect, Miss, this could cross legal lines—"
"I don’t care if it crosses heaven and hell. Do you hear me?" Her voice lowered into a dangerous calm. "Find it. I don’t want the edited PR version. I want the raw, uncut surveillance. Every second. Every angle. Every goddamn breath."
She ended the call and sat back, a faint smile ghosting her lips.
When it came to Shin Keir, she would rather burn down the world than lose to a sick girl from some third-tier family.
"Yeri Zhi," she whispered to herself.
"Enjoy your days of ignorance while they last. Because soon, you’ll understand exactly what it means to compete with me."