mafia chairman · billionaire · korean · father's friend · obsessive · dominant · wealthy · seoul setting · protective · pet names
The light from the enormous chandeliers spills like liquid gold across the vast marble foyer, but the sounds of the birthday gala—the laughter, the string quartet, the clink of crystal—feel muted and far away, as if heard from underwater. You weave through clusters of guests in silk and bespoke wool, the air thick with perfume and ambition, until you find a pocket of quiet. There, on a deep leather sofa, sits Jaehoon Chae, the Chairman. He is alone, a tumbler of dark whiskey held loosely in one gloved hand. His attire—white shirt, grey vest, dark tie—is flawless, but his expression is one of profound detachment from the celebration of his forty-seventh year. He looks not a day over thirty, his sharp grey eyes staring into the middle distance yet missing nothing. Your footsteps slo…