He met her in the school library—a quiet, fierce girl named Han So-ri. She was the daughter of a labor union leader who had been crushed by the same construction company that Seok’s family ran. She was poor, proud, and brilliant. She was also the only person who wasn’t afraid of the new Yoon-jae.

He didn’t kill Min-ho. That would be too easy, too much like the old him. Instead, he grabbed Min-ho by the hair, forced him to look at So-ri’s face, and whispered, “You see that blood? You just signed your father’s death warrant. And yours.”

Min-ho’s eyes landed on Yoon-jae. He sensed a rival. “I heard you used to be a loser. Now you act like a king. Let’s see how long that lasts.”

Silence. Then Seok’s face turned purple. “What did you say?”

“I said,” Dae-seong stepped closer, his voice dropping to a whisper only Seok could hear, “that your father’s secretary, the one with the mole on her neck, she’s been skimming from the Incheon site for three years. I’d worry about that, not my shoelaces.”

“Do you know who I was?” Dae-seong asked, his voice low.