The Predator’s Claim

"Stay still."

The moment Kang's voice dropped, cold and commanding, Yeijin felt something inside her snap.

A chill ran down her spine.

The room was still filled with the scent of blood, metal, and death, but suddenly, all she could focus on was the sharp click of a pair of cuffs being unclipped from a belt.

No.

No, no, no—

Her body reacted before her mind could catch up. She lunged, twisting away from Kang's grip, bolting towards the door—

A strong arm caught her waist in an instant, yanking her back with brutal force.

A strangled gasp tore from her throat as she was slammed against a solid chest, the air knocked from her lungs.

"Where do you think you're going, sweetheart?" Kang murmured against her ear, his tone amused, unbothered, as if he had expected this.

Yeijin thrashed, kicking wildly, her nails raking against his wrist, but it was useless. He was stronger, faster, and far too entertained by her struggle to even try to subdue her properly.

"Fuck you!" she spat, panic lacing her voice.

Kang only chuckled.

"Feisty."he mused, not even flinching as she clawed at him. "I like that."

A second later, her arms were yanked behind her, the cold steel of the cuffs snapping around her wrists with an unforgiving clink.

Tight. Unyielding.

Yeijin let out a sharp cry, her body jerking forward, but Kang caught her with ease, one arm wrapping around her waist, the other gripping the chain between the cuffs, keeping her still.

"That's better" he murmured.

Yeijin panted, her chest heaving, every muscle in her body coiled tight with panic.

This was real.

She was bound. Helpless. His.

Kang exhaled, tilting his head as he examined her—how her shoulders trembled, how her fingers curled into fists.

He leaned in, voice low. "Scared yet?"

Yeijin clenched her teeth, forcing herself to glare up at him despite the fear twisting in her gut. "Go to hell."

Kang smirked.

"Been there, sweetheart."

His fingers traced the cuffs at her wrists, slow, deliberate.

"I don't think you understand what's happening yet."

Yeijin yanked at the restraints, her breath coming in sharp bursts. "Let me go!"

Kang sighed, as if she were being difficult on purpose.

Then—without warning—he pulled, forcing her body flush against his.

Yeijin gasped, her back pressing against his chest, her heartbeat hammering against his calm, steady one.

"Listen closely, Yeijin" Kang murmured against her ear.

"I own you now."

Her breath hitched.

"No one's coming to save you."

She squeezed her eyes shut, shaking her head, refusing to accept it.

"My father—"

"Your father?" Kang let out a dark chuckle, his fingers tightening around her cuffs. "Your father sold you out the second he realized he couldn't win."

Yeijin froze.

"Think about it." Kang's voice was almost gentle now, coaxing. "Did he beg for your life?"

She swallowed hard, her mind replaying the call in sharp, painful clarity.

No.

Her father hadn't begged for her.

He had only bargained for himself.

Tears burned at the corners of her eyes, her breath shuddering.

Kang felt it. He knew.

His grip on her cuffs loosened slightly, just enough for him to shift, to tilt his head so he could look at her face.

Yeijin felt his gaze, hot and heavy.

Then—

"Don't cry now, sweetheart" he murmured, his voice sickeningly soft. "We're just getting started."

And with that, he dragged her forward.

Yeijin stumbled, the cuffs biting into her wrists as Kang guided her through the bloodstained wreckage of the room, past the corpses, past the ruined furniture—past every sign of the massacre he had just committed.

She didn't know where he was taking her.

She didn't know what he was going to do to her.

But one thing was painfully, terrifyingly clear.

This wasn't a negotiation anymore.

This was a game.

And Kang Minjae?

He had already won.

༺♰༻

The cold bite of steel around her wrists sent a sharp jolt of reality through Yeijin's fragile frame. She had never been touched this way before. Never been handled like this—like she was something fragile but completely at someone else's mercy.

Her breath came in soft, broken gasps as Kang pulled her forward, his grip on the cuffs firm but controlled. He didn't need to be rough. The sheer difference in their strength, in their worlds, was enough.

She felt small.

She was small compared to him—compared to the blood-soaked ruin of a life she had been dragged into.

Mr.Kang wasn't just a man.

He was a storm. A force of nature.

And she was a delicate thing caught in his path, too fragile to fight, too innocent to know how to even try.

He dragged her through the wreckage of the massacre, past bodies that had once protected her, past the shattered remains of her father's pride.

She didn't look down. She couldn't.

If she saw their faces, she would break.

Kang must have noticed, because he let out a soft chuckle, slow and taunting. "Keep your head up, sweetheart" he murmured, his fingers tightening slightly around the chain of her cuffs. "Pretending this isn't happening won't make it go away."

Yeijin bit her lip, her nails digging into her palms as she tried—desperately—to keep herself together.

She wasn't built for this.

Not this. Not him.

Mr.Kang stopped walking.

Yeijin barely had time to react before he turned her to face him, his grip steady, controlled.

"Look at me."

She shook her head, her breath unsteady. "Please—"

His fingers caught her chin, forcing her gaze upwards.

It was like looking into the abyss.

Dark, unreadable eyes. A gaze that held no mercy, no softness, no familiarity with the kind of world she came from.

And yet—

There was something else.

Something that burned.

Something that wanted.

Kang smirked. "You really are something else, aren't you?"

Yeijin swallowed, her lips trembling. "P-please… just let me go."

Kang exhaled sharply through his nose, amused. "Let you go?"

He leaned in slightly, his scent—clean, sharp, tinged with something dark—filling the small space between them.

"No one ever taught you how this works, did they?"

Yeijin blinked up at him, her pulse hammering in her throat.

Kang tilted his head. "You still think there's a way out of this. That if you beg, if you plead just the right way, I'll suddenly decide to be a good man."

His thumb brushed over her lower lip, barely touching, as if testing the softness of something untouched.

"Problem is…" His voice dropped lower, quieter, more dangerous.

"I'm not a good man."

A shiver ran down her spine.

She had known that. She had seen it.

But hearing it from his lips made it worse.

"You don't belong here" Kang murmured, studying her.

Yeijin felt her throat tighten.

No. She didn't.

She didn't belong in this world, in this darkness, in his hands.

She belonged in warmth. In safety. In the arms of someone who wouldn't—

She sucked in a sharp breath as Kang's fingers traced the side of her face, brushing over her hair, his touch disturbingly gentle.

"Shame." he mused.

Yeijin's lips parted, a soft breath escaping.

Kang's fingers tightened in her hair, just slightly, just enough to make her gasp.

"Because you belong to me now."

A quiet, broken sound left her lips.

No.

No, no, no—

Kang pulled back slightly, his gaze dragging over her face, her trembling lips, the unshed tears clinging to her lashes.

He liked this.

Not in the cruel way she expected, but in a way that unsettled her even more.

Like he was curious.

Like she was something new.

Something untouched.

Something he had never had in his hands before.

His smirk softened into something unreadable.

"Are you afraid of me, Yeijin?"

Yeijin's breath hitched.

Yes.

Yes, she was.

More than anything.

But she couldn't say it.

She couldn't give him that.

So she clenched her jaw, forcing her voice into something steadier than she felt.

"No."

Mr.Kang stilled.

Then—

He laughed.

Low, slow, genuine.

Yeijin flinched at the sound, not because it was cruel, but because it wasn't.

Because it was real.

Kang let out a breath, shaking his head. "Liar."

Yeijin bit her lip, her pulse racing.

Kang leaned in again, just enough to murmur against her ear—

"I love liars."

Then, without warning—

He tugged the cuffs forward, forcing her to stumble against him, catching her wrists in his grip.

"We're leaving." he said, his voice light, as if this were all a game to him.

Yeijin's heart pounded. "W-where are you taking me?"

Kang smirked.

"Home."

Her breath caught.

His home?

His world?

And she knew—

Once she crossed that line, there would be no going back.

No more warm, sunlit mornings.

No more safety.

No more innocence.

Only Kang Minjae.

And whatever he decided to do with her.

The game had truly begun.