↳ Union Square

@§ Kwon Hyuk It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Hyuk was already an essential part of Gain’s reign as an Elite, as if an extended part of who she was as a new leader, with almost every move subject to his supervision. She’s noticed it when she caught herself glancing at him every now and then, either in questioning looks of assurance or empty ones just to see he was there. It was already a habit and to say that she hasn’t grown dependent on him would be a complete lie. Dependency’s word poison in the world they live in. But for a woman of emotion such as herself spend her days with the company of the Sylver, it was inevitable. There was something about him; she would often think to herself and wonder. Although Hyuk never seemed to give Gain an ounce of compassion aside from the premise of him having to keep his word, the new leader wasn’t too blind to notice that bit of warmth amidst his stone cold demeanour. Or perhaps it was just her delusional self, trying to read way beyond the obvious, as always. Nevertheless, the woman has already wholly entrusted herself to the man of mystery.

How Gain followed the agent around only added merit to her reliance towards the latter. Hyuk led her through the crowd with no problem, taking her small hand into his every once in a while just to not let her disappear amongst the crowd. She was, after all, a tiny woman and in comparison to the majority of the population which comprises of towering westerners, it wouldn’t be too hard to lose her in a sea of busy people. Eventually they find themselves in the building, her eyes quick to roam around the decors. She takes a moment to appreciate the nicely adorned interior at the same time creating a foundation of awareness, noting each detail in their line of sight out of habit, cut off by the male letting her know she’ll be escorted to her uncle’s office in which she nodded to in acknowledgement.

She uses the elevator ride to compose herself, setting aside her usually dainty demeanour into that of confidence and feigned bravery. After all, she was still a little too quick to get nervous. This uncle of hers may be her late father’s brother, yes, but in the world they live in, it doesn’t even matter. There’s just something about him that puts her off, how she sensed the emptiness of his tears when he stood before her father’s wake. It was too sinister, moreover knowing how he harbours more power than her father did. She feels the slight fear surge within her again and subconsciously, her chestnut orbs searches for Hyuk’s only to find him already looking at hers. He’d then make sure if she still remembers what she’s supposed to do should something arise. Raising up her hand to show him the diamond-studded ring, Gain’s crimson-tainted lips curls up into an amused smile; as if she would ever forget, “Press the button, and you’ll be there.”

The elevator opens to the top floor, welcoming them to a hallway with the marbled floor buried underneath rich red wool leading to a lone ebony door. The Elite proceeded towards it, leaving the Sylver behind. One knock, two knocks— she walks in, meeting the expectant eyes of her uncle. With a deep bow in respect, she continuous on to discuss things with him.

Barely a minute in and Gain has already sensed something didn’t seem right. As her eyes roamed onto the expanse of the view on the window behind the male, she saw something glimmer from the distance, her mind worked the quirk but it was too late. In a blink of an eye, the window shatters and a bullet courses through her uncle’s head, missing her by the ear by barely half an inch. In reflex, she cowers behind the table to hide from the sniper’s line of sight, quick to point a gun to a presence she’s felt from the start. She was right when she’s felt someone was hidden from the side and by then both of them are at each other’s gunpoint. Gunfires starts from the floors beneath her and a state of panic ensues but she keeps it all in. She clenches her teeth to hold her composure, eyes staring right through the enemy’s to daunt, her other hand hidden behind her back as she presses on a diamond stud over and over again.

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@Son Gain As he was passing by the throngs of people storming through the opposite path with phones most likely glued to their ears, screams leaving their lips trying to overshout the crowd, Hyuk's eyes were flowing from the way he was heading to Gain stepping beside him. The fragile silhouette of hers virtually drowned in the deep of stranger figures around them and his first impulse - like through the past weeks or months - was to grab her palm and pull her closer to himself, preventing the eventual loss in the middle of the street. On the other hand experience has already taught him about the recurrent actuality, where a couple of glimpses in her direction would be enough for him to keep track of her well-being, not being forced to interfere. He wasn't the overprotective kind of guard, who interposed in whatever motion their guarded made and he was certain that moment would never come; the people he had to protect were human-beings, adults with a mind of their own and a great common sense after all, by whom babysitting was entirely out of place.
Admitting, he has already let his guard drop low enough if it came to Gain - he caught himself several times calling her by her name, not the formalised expressions he had no trouble in using while still being in contact with her father - and he couldn't allow himself for it to decrease any lower, for the sake of their safeness. Besides, the unprofessional maintenance of his own vexed him to the core, yet he also couldn't prevent it completely as the two of them spent most of their time together, the only intervals being most likely the nighttime - he still hasn't given up on his work, despite the fact that he probably wouldn't need to work ever again, taking all the sums he has earned in consideration; and the deep, gloomy hours of the dark were ideal for him as the female could be guarded by the handful of people who were always around her penthouse.
"We'll be there in a few seconds" he stated, turning his head to Gain and before he knew a light smirk enlightened his face just to stow behind the neutral expression a couple of miliseconds later. Hyuk's eyes verted to the way in front of him again, his eyebrows knitted together as he scolded himself in his mind - 'stay focused, keep your guard up'. And then, just as he has foreseen, the building they were heading to appeared on their right and the male had to grab the just lightly older female by her arm, so she wouldn't get carried away by the stream of people.
"I'll you upstairs, yet I won't go inside later on." he muttered as his steps resounded in the richly ornated interior of the building, the marble underneath his feet making his shoes create squeaky sounds - he's never enjoyed staying in rooms like this one, as there was too much space that had to be kept an eye on, too much unknown terrain if it came to a fight. Once the two reached the elevator, he pressed the button and made the door open, letting the female through first. "You know what you have to do if something happens, right?" he added once the entrance closed and the calm, cliched elevator music resounded in the hidden speakers as he glanced at her, seeking for her optics.

@§ Kwon Hyuk She was never on to assume, but Gain was almost certain there was a surge of emotion building up within the man before him. For even though Hyuk’s eyes settled elsewhere, she bore into those orbs and felt as if she herself has seen red. It only justified her assumptions when it took him a moment to return his attention to their predicament. For half a second she saw him dazed, but knowing what he was, she’s already expected of him to rid himself of any sort of visible emotion. His distant facade didn’t faze her, not until their eyes met, wherein she’s immediately overly conscious of own self. The realisation of her touches hit her, and knowing she’s crossed a boundary, at least that of her own, she retreated her arms.

Crimson coloured tiers pursed tightly for even though she knew his gazes were empty, inevitably, those hazel pair has made her find discomfit in herself. Her tiny fists clench and unclench in order to stand taller amidst the fact she’s felt a hundred times smaller in his line of sight, not wanting to appear any less capable than she already was in the proviso of continuing on her father’s footsteps.

Her own gaze fell into his lips for a moment as he spoke, finding how soft they seemed such an irony to the rugged and stone-cold emotionless canvass that he was. And even though her thoughts has been racing on trying to reciprocate every detail of him she could, she’s still always managed to hear on to everything he had to say, pointing out a fact so obvious; the very reason why there he was, standing before her. He protected her father, and it seemed like he did so very well.

“— and he never did”, she continued on from his words, her lips trembled a bit as she stopped herself from letting out a taunting appreciative smile. One of the things that’s been keeping her strong on continuing on to this path was how the past leader never fell. And yes, he may have gone but his doing so was only a proof of how one can start living and still leave life peacefully no matter how bloodied the things in between were. He, after all, passed over while fighting his strength, and not his power and one of the biggest grounds on how he was able to do so was the young man that’s graced her with his presence. She puts two in two together, a realization that she need not to always face battles on her own. Perhaps, even for a little bit, she could live under the latter’s protection.

It may be a big mistake, but Gain puts down one of the many walls that surrounded her, and it was obvious how the way she casts him her eyes has seemed to soften, “I obviously will not be able to survive this alone—“, she heaves out with a soft sight, a small, rather sheepish chuckle escaping between her shapely lips, “— so if you may, I’d like for you to keep that word for me too.”

@Son Gain Even if it was the first time the petite female has heard his name, or had a handful of information about the former lieutenant and the meaning behind his appearance in the secure four walls of her home, there was no sign of astonishment, whether negative or positive, painting in her optics. The beauteous, slim face of hers remained serenem her expression changing only at the moment when her gaze turned to meet Hyuk's eyes. Once she recapped most of the reality he lived in, day in, day out, the male nodded his head in an approving manner, a light, almost invisible smile curved his full lips as the innocence of her aura was simply comical for him. The almost child-like naivete of hers was plainly the complete opposite of what he knew from her father, a man greatly experienced with life, fierce, yet the cunning of his character well hidden behind the gentleman-like habits of his.
Hyuk's lips parted for a few seconds, a slight sigh leaving them as he eased his tensed up muscles, moving his shoulders in a tiny circle motion. The disbelief visible in her eyes made him turn his own ones to a spot undefined as his gaze met the view expanding behind the wall-high windows, or maybe the entrance to the terrace. It has been far too long from the last time someone acted with such empathy that was directed to no one else, but his persona. The unknown and truthfully unwanted gloom of her being influenced him more than he wished - it wasn't as if he began to pity himself, once he spotted that he might be a person worthy of some kind of compassion. He was aware of the fact that it was him and not anyone else who chose the path he was stepping on for a couple of years and probably for the rest of his existence. Truth was, he never expected himself to be able to do anything else than what he did nowadays and the whole time before - as he thought, he wasn't made for a life easier than his current one, tranquil and serene, with the only risk being a high mortgage and not the suffocating sensation of the possibility, that the breath that he was taking in that exact moment could be his last; not after what happened in Europe, and certainly not after everything he has done under the "secure wings" of the Sylvers. The faces of his victims convulted in terror still haunted him in his nightmares, their dramatic begs resounded in his ears once the buzz of stillness began to ring in his head. And besides all of those quite miserable views he had seen with his own eyes, there was one sight that would cause the same horror in his heart as his appearance in front of his "preys" - two hands clutching around his neck and the nauseating sensation of the gradual disability to breath, the panic creating in his mind that it was the moment he had to farewell his life and a sick smile that terrified him until this day, even though he knew that those lips would never move again, at least not independently.
Then, his consciousness has been dragged back to reality, the imaginary blood he seemed to have on his hands disappearing from his vision, evaporating and being replaced by the fragile silhouette of Gain, who was now standing one arm length away from him, her hands placed on his shoulders, unwillingly creating the suffocating sensation he has feared for many years. Hyuk cleared his throat as he rested his optics on her ones, his expression changing to the usual, cold and rough state he commonly wore.
"I gave him my word", he stated quietly, verting his gaze to the svelte hands and arms of hers, before going back to her features again. "Your father helped me out when I was at my lowest and I swore that he'd never have to hit the ground, at least not as long as I am in charge of his security."

@§ Kwon Hyuk Kwon Hyuk.

It was a name very familiar. Most probably it was during those many car rides when her parents thought she’s asleep and would proceed to converse in whispers. It could also be from those moments when she managed to eavesdrop when his father made calls. Gain has always had a wonderment in whose face the name belonged to, and why does he harbour such attention from the head of the household. Now everything was being laid out to her bit by bit, easing the curiosity with answers she has already assumed a long time ago.

Perhaps that explains why when the agent started explaining who he was, there was barely an ounce of surprise visible on her face, pale alabaster canvass housing a focused expression instead. No words were spoken from her. She intended to listen to the towering male all throughout as he exposed what he was to the Sons. When Gain found out what he serviced as, her thoughts raced back to the feel of his palm against hers. So that’s what it was; the roughness of his calloused hands —it was experience. But it’s not like she ever thought of him otherwise.

Distracted by the sound they made against the surface of where they stood, her dark brown orbs fell on his feet. It may not be for the most practical of things, but there are times she’s somehow had an eye for details. Her eyes studied every mark, every crevice on the wrinkled leather, as if trying to decipher or even come up of the many fights he has fought, the many missions he accomplished, or how many lives he may have took. But then she would look back into his eyes and then realize she didn’t want to find out.

She felt as if there was some sort of underlying uncertainty between them. Curiously, it was as if the male was slightly edgy in her presence was rather offbeat. So was she in his and was way more than she was willing to admit. The look on her face may been speaking of composure, but the way her irises shook spoke even louder.

But Gain could only keep a facade to an extent. He was not a mere partner. There was no shock from when he explained himself to be their family’s shield —and now just her own. She’s expected the predicament to be like that anyways. She grew up with the idea trying to be shoved down . But she has always been a person of empathy and it was something she could never bring herself to stomach.

“So it’s my life over your own,” she asked, almost whisper-like. The look in her eyes screamed worry and melancholic disbelief. It bore into his, her neatly shaped eyebrows furrowed in concern.

She never understood why people agree to these type of things. Why would people shield someone else aside of their own? Of course, she would understand if there’s something they want to protect. She’s put her life on the line to protect a legacy herself —could it be that the legacy was much of an importance to him as it was to her?

“What is this promise holding on to?” she asks as her lithe fingers creep up from her side, finding themselves lingering against his arm as she reaches out. If she was conscious of what she was doing, she would’ve immediately thought of how her father would scold her. It was often about something like that; how she was too compassionate. The late leader would then go on and on about how it was okay to have a heart, but to act upon it would mean her death —never connect to people. The petite woman was born with too much empathy and was never, not once, fazed. But the more her eyes got open to the reality of it all, she realised her father was right and started to attempt to distance her heart and emotions to herself.

@Son Gain Once the glance of the female's chocolate brown orbs landed onto his own ones, everything except her petite silhouette seemed to be extracted from a past occurance, dragged out of the serie of recallections he had preserved somewhere in the back of his mind. He was still able to remind himself of the first time he has ever stood in this penthouse - the mud on his boots splattered over the parquet, his military jacket soaked from the downpour that was raging outside the building, the sick anticipation that had overwhelmed his senses and the light chuckle of Mr. Son after the sight of the persistance in the former soldiers eyes. He could remember the elder male's calmness as he proposed him to take a seat by the desk right in front of him, requesting one of his men to bring them two cups of tea and the words he mouthed with a light smile curving his thin lips - 'Someone with a persistance like yours has to have a damn good reason to show up in a place and at a time like this'.
Up until now, Hyuk has never thought of his bygone doings, commonly tending to skip parts of his memories - even though they might have been of grant importance - for his own consciousness' sake.
Yet in this exact moment few of the supposedly long-gone views of the past came back to him like a boomerang. Truthfully speaking Hyuk has never known whether the male who got him into the Sylvers and made him someone along the lines of an undercover bodyguard doubted in his credibility - the former soldier has been to a few representatives of that sphere and none of the elite's community had the guts to face him, at least not after he confessed that for some people he was already dead for a good year. Mr. Son on the other hand was the only one to think of this as of an advantage.
The female finessed towards him, every step of hers resounding with a clicking sound that filled the stillness around them. Hyuk lightly shook her hand, that in comparison to his own rough-skinned one appeared as if it was one of a child and introduced himself shortly - "Kwon Hyuk". His glance wouldn't leave the fragile posture of hers even when her eyes verted to somewhere undefined. Silence encircled them once again as he moved his gaze and started into the wall somewhere behind Gain, biting his lower lip, choosing the right words to start the explaination he had to give her, not sure whether her father enlightened her of their resolve in any kind of way.
"I was one of your father's bodyguards, the one in charge in the most hazardous places and runs. Also the one who did a big part of the rather dirtier work that had to be done." he glanced back at the female as he tried to adjust the mildest words to the meaning he intended to transmit, hoping she wouldn't react in too much of a poor surprise. "He was the one who got me into the Sylvers, provided that I would do whatever he wanted me to, whenever he wanted me to. And we had a deal... regarding you, ma'am."
Hyuk stepped from one foot to the other one, as his optics moved down to his combat boots, the restlessness of his own vexing him. He could hear the guards of hers roam through the penthouse, even though he couldn't see them - in fact he never did; he was aware they were always around, yet their existance wasn't of much difference of that of a shadow.
"I was and am supposed to stay loyal to your family until the last member dies and besides, I've promised to be your guard, protect you no matter the cost." he added, glancing at the female again, waiting for their optics to meet, to retake any kind of reaction.

@§ Kwon Hyuk @§ Kwon Hyuk You'd think she's used to it by then. But already a year in, she still felt the same apprehension she had the first time she placed herself on that chair --the chair she's always considered her father's until a year before. Gain reminiscence the week after her father's passing, when the man whose she's witnessed her whole life serve her father led her to his office. The woman’s never been there before and the fact the she was there then was a herald of a new chapter in her life. Gain was a special case; the leather fixture was both a crown and a responsibility passed on to her and on it still lingered the powerful aura of his father's, the achievements and wins he has made and most importantly the impactful man he's always been. It made her even more anxious to be seated there.

She found it rather funny whenever she heard people say 'it runs in the blood'. She didn't harbour the same wit and power her father carried, but perhaps the very fact she still hasn't failed too badly, indicated her possible knack in the business. Pride however was one thing the descendant’s surely gotten from the former. Their butler, Massimo, has always pushed for her to keep the right hand her father has assigned for her before he passed over. She constantly refused so. There’s already 15 men to guard her, why would she need one more? But the days got darker and it wasn't too long before it's realized that hiding behind the same shield his father had wouldn't cut it. The awful scar on her side justified so. Massimo took it into his own hands to bring forth the Sylver at some point and it was due to her mother’s pleads that she finally agreed.

Eventually, she has herself waiting for him within the four corners of those marooned walls. The agitation rises, and she’s stood up to try and ease it up a bit. It was during those moments that she wished the room housed windows. It's too constricting in there. She turned to that couple hundred million’s worth of a painting instead to get her mind off things but the sound of unfamiliar footsteps soon cut her back to reality. It was a mere notification than a warning, he’s been expected after all.

She faced back just in time to see him walk in the door and the silence and rather tensed atmosphere the ensued wasn’t one to be missed. The petite woman didn’t know what to say herself. All she did was cast him her eyes. Perhaps because she didn’t anticipate the Sylver to be as young as he was. But the still suffocated her and there escaped an inaudible sigh of relief when the man has finally broken the silence with a greeting in which she greeted back with a slight nod of her own. It still took her a couple of seconds to say anything, quite unsure what to take of the situation and even so what to talk to him about. Gain didn’t know much after all aside from the fact that he’s there to look after her.

She inches closer to him, extending her small delicate-looking hand, “I’m Son Gain. I guess I’ll see you quite often from now on.” To her, it was nothing but senseless words to fill in the tension she felt in his presence in which the room felt much more heavier than it already did.

“Father said you can help me out”, she glances away as she spoke, avoiding to look even an ounce bit vulnerable. There always exists a prejudice against women in this field, and the fact that she’s soft-spoken and petite adds fuel to the fire. And it was a no brainer that she couldn’t afford to do so.

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@Son Gain As he was standing by the finely ornated entrance to the penthouse, waiting for someone to open the door from the other side of the wall his thoughts were wandering through the memories he had linked to this place. His eyes were glued to his own hands as he was cracking his fingers, one after one, as if it was a part of some kind of ritual that would decide whether he could get inside of the grant apartment or not. As a few seconds passed the sound of opening locks resounded in the still air - exactly three of those were ensuring the entrance, just like the ex-soldier had in rememberance. 'Maybe not everything has changed' was the notion that swirled in his mind as the door opened, exhibiting the narrow, yet still quite broad hall leading to the centre of the penthouse and a pair of steel gray eyes that were piercing through his. Hyuk lightly nodded his head in a greeting manner at the owner of the grave optics, observing as the glance he has been under mellowed, the lips of the other man even curving in something that might have been a smile.
As he entered the closed space the familiar scent, somehow reminding him of light sophistication that encircled the name of the Son family hit his senses and the male had to let out a slight sigh, silent, yet sorrowed. It wasn't as if he was griefing for the head of the family - the man he was bound to serve with his help had his years and the former soldier had a first-hand experience if it came to losing people that seemed to be immortal, just like any other human-being. The thing was that the representative of the elite was the only person who trusted him back when he returned to his fatherland, presumably dead for almost half a year.
The doorman finessed towards him and indicated the way with a light hand gesture before smiling lightly once again. Hyuk moved forward, his heavy steps resounding on the wooden parquet with tranquil clicks of his combat boots and falling silent once he reached the area of the penthouse he was so used to be in. The ambient was just as he remembered, with the light alteration of the person he was expecting to catch a glimpse of. Once he spotted the female he was supposed to meet, he involuntarily stood still as if he was back in his army days again, his feet touching and his torso tensed up. The male parted his lips, before closing them again, not sure what words to use. A few seconds passed before he noticed the female's gaze on him and his own unprofessional behaviour vexed him.
"Ma'am" he nodded his head lightly, suffocating the irritation that grew inside of him, waiting for the female to say anything.