Hwa-Min Park attended his cousin's wedding. He and Sean were close when they were children. They share the same birthday and shared a brotherly bond in their adolescent years. It all changed in their pubescent years when Sean broke away from the family and moved across seas to America. However, the family did get word of Seans whereabouts and dealings. Soon, his cousin was known as the family screw up and disowned him. It came as a shock when he and the rest of their family learned that he had become a multi-millionaire and was getting married.
Hwa-Min was nothing like his 130-year-old cousin. He was a cold and had a reputation for being a ruthless blood thirsty businessman. He grew up in luxury with his two older siblings. He, along with his other siblings, were spoiled by their parents. Even household staff waited on him and foot like he was a prince.
Unlike his cousin whom he shared with the same age; he excelled academically and studied abroad. At the age of 50, he graduated from Harvard at the top of his class with honors. After college, he did an apprenticeship at their grandfather's highly successful company. He worked closely with their grandfather and his paternal uncle throughout the years learning the company inside and out. He sat in meetings and traveled to the company branches outside the country on his grandfather's behalf. Unfortunately, his father died when he was 39 years old. Not that he had much of a relationship with his father to begin with, he however found a fatherly figure in his grandfather. The 500-year-old man would make time out of his busy schedule to take him fishing every now and then. The man didn't look a day over 50 and was very vibrant and full of life.
Hwa-min knew that when his grandfather eventually passed, he would be next in line to inherit the position as CEO of the company since he was the only grandchild that he trusted with the family business.
He sat at the table designated for the groom's family alongside his grandfather. His mother and siblings didn't attend so he had to represent his family and show face. Like his cousin, Hwa-Min was a very handsome man. He had a sharp jawline with high cheek bones and flawless skin. The only blemish on his porcelain face was the dark beauty mark that sat just below his right cheek. His jet-black hair was neatly cut into a short haircut that was styled effortlessly. He wore an extremely rare black Stuart Hughes Diamond Edition suit that easily cost $778,290. On his left wrist sat a highly expensive Audemars Piguet Jules Audemars Grand Complication Men's watch, which valued at an easy price of $782,100. Of course, his feet dawned nothing less extravagant than the Tom Ford Custom Oxfords at the set price of $12,000.
Not only was the Park family rich thanks to his grandfather, but they were also known as the top richest family in all Korea with the net worth of $40 billion USD. They held 65% of the shares in their family company collectively amongst Hwa-Min, Sean, their grandfather, and Hwa-Min's uncle/stepfather.
Because of their clan's wealth and high pedigree, they were seen as royalty. Everyone in Korea wanted to be born into the family or mated into the family. To the outside world, they live the dream. But inside their world there is nothing but backstabbing snakes who hid behind pretty faces and false facades. It was a dog-eat-dog world where you couldn't trust even family. And no one hesitated to strike the very moment they spotted weakness, and nothing was off limits whether it be kinsmen or friends.
Just recently they've received a new shareholder by the name Seo-Yin Choi. She was the second highest shareholder in the company. No one besides his grandfather has ever met this newcomer. Supposedly, she was the second richest person in South Korea. The odd thing about her was that no matter how hard he tried to investigate her, he always came up empty handed. The only thing he knew of the woman was that her family was of the western 9 tailed fox. Hwa-Min always preferred to know anything and everything about everyone his family does business with. In a way, he could appreciate her extreme desire for privacy. Given that his grandfather has met her in person, that would suffice for now.
The most annoying pressing matter that he was forced to deal with was finding a mate before he could even be eligible to run the company. Thanks to his grandfather, the old man made it a requirement for Hwa-Min to be mated for 2 years. The old man went on about him being too cruel and blood thirsty. He thought it was best for his favored grandson to take a mate. He believed his grandson needed a woman to keep him anchored in life. He wanted to see his favorite grandchild experience a life with love and a family he cared about and wanted to protect. Without it, he feared Hwa-Min would become too volatile and live a life of loneliness, bloodlust and darkness.
The family was the most ancient and wealthiest in the country, women weren't hard to come by. In fact, he was being bombarded with mothers and fathers alike trying to marry their daughters off to him. In a way, he couldn't fault them, after all their clan was the most superior of all demon clans in the east. His Great Grandfather the Dragon of the west mated his great grandmother who was the daughter of the Eastern dragon combining the two clans. His grandfather and grandmother were forced into marrying each other through an arranged marriage.
Neither having a say in their life. According to his grandfather, he hated his grandmother. He found the woman to be cold and insufferable were as he was the opposite. She was as beautiful of a woman as they came but her revolting personality overshadowed her physical beauty. The old man believed in love and compassion and didn't look down on others who had less. His grandfather's mate on the other hand viewed those who were weak as mere pests who need to be stepped on and snuffed out. She despised anyone who wasn't born into money and had low status. In her opinion they were only born to be servants to those in power. She mocked lesser demons and humans alike because of their "weakness" and saw to it that she rightfully "put them in their place". How his grandfather ever tolerated the woman enough to procreate with her was amazing.
After Hwa-Min's grandparents had 3 children, both his grandparents decided to part ways. They couldn't break their mated bond, so instead they settled for a separation in what human's call 'divorce'. Their three children lived with their mother and developed her cruel outlook on life and others. Hwa-Min's grandfather had tried countless times to teach his children compassion, but sadly their mother's teachings reined supreme. His only hope was that his children learned the value of life and happiness, however neither of them did. The old man could only hope for his future grandchildren to inherit his compassion for others.
The old man saw compassion in his youngest male grandson. He was delighted in the fact that his grandson didn't inherit the cruel nature of the bloodline. However, it was short lived when he knew about what the boy's parents did that one summer. He saw the change in Hwa-Min's personality and demeanor. The boy's hazel eyes that once held joy and love, now held nothing. His lifeless cold eyes were that of an aged man who had everything stripped away from him.
Hwa-Min wasn't a homosexual by far. Occasionally, he would send his driver to find women and to bring them back to his hotel room he visited every month. Of course, he made every woman he slept with sign an NDA confirming that the sex was consensual, and they were to never speak of the ordeal to any media. If they claimed to have been impregnated by him, they would be subject to take a blood pregnancy test by a doctor he appointed and would have to comply with DNA testing as early as seven weeks. Should they breach said contract, they would be sued for 67,961,500.00 won ($50,000).
No matter how many profiles of eligible women he glanced over, none seem to suited his taste. To Hwa-Min, all the women in his world were the same! All they wanted was to live in the lap of luxury he could provide. They all had straight hair, pale skin, false smiles, thin bodies with obvious breast augmentations. To him, any of the women that were commonly pranced in his face were nothing to be desired. After his first love, no other woman could compare in his eyes.
Eun-young was his high school sweetheart when he was a young 30-year-old boy. To the human eye he appeared to be 16 thanks to his demon blood that aged him slowly. He would sneak away from his home at night to meet Eun-young by the park closest to her home. They would go out to eat or go see the newest movies. Sometimes they would simply lay down on the grass and watch the stars while talking about their dreams. For her, he would leave all the wealth and family obligations behind. He'd silently dreamed awake every day about the possible life they planned together. Unfortunately, their relationship came to an end one painful summer.
As fate would have it, his father and mother unfortunately found at about their late-night escapades curtesy of his mother's friend. She had spotted the two of them leaving the theater one late afternoon. Of course, the old hag couldn't fathom seeing Park, heir to the wealthiest family who promised their son to her daughter. All it took was one simple phone call to his parents. To add even more insult to injury, she even ran a full background check on the girl and her family and provided it to his parents.
His mother and father were furious that he would embarrass the family by dating a girl who was of lesser demon class. It was true, Eun-young did come from a poor clan. Sadly, people knew that her father was an abusive man who pimped her mother out. According to what Eun-Young told Hwa-min back then; that was how her family was able to "afford" to send her to their school.
Being the snobbish people that they were, they demanded their son to stop seeing her. When he refused, his mother met with the superintendent of his school and forced them to expel her. Not easily deterred, Hwa-Min continued to see Eun-young even though she had been transferred to an all-girl school and an extremely dangerous district. Of course, his parents still found out when Hwa-Min's frustratingly bitter younger sister ratted him out. His parents did what they did best and paid the Eun-young's parents a nice amount of money to leave. Eun-young was forced with her parents to flee Korea the very next night. No word or letter telling him where he could find her. He never forgave his parents and wanted nothing to do with them from that moment on. He called his grandfather the very next day and planned to live the rest of his schooling years with him. He knew that his parents wouldn't protest or go against his grandfather. His grandfather served as the perfect escape from the hell he once called home.
His grandfather happily opened his home to his grandson. Hwa-Min showed a knack for understanding the family business. Their bond strengthened over the hours of them engaging in chess and mahjong. He learned far more by living with his grandfather than his parents that were leeching off his grandfather's success for the past 300 years.
Thanks to his grandfather, they were one of the richest families in all South Korea. His grandfather started the company in the late 1700's and cultivated it to what it is now, an international multi-billion-dollar company. His grandfather surpassed that of his great grandfather and his own siblings, placing him as head of the clan. Naturally the other clans tried to align themselves with any member of the family. They believed if they were close to the Dragon clan's head family, that it would be easy access to the money and power they desired.
Sadly, he was stuck in proximity with those very same vapid insufferable women who tried their damnedest to capture his attention all day and night. Hwa-Min naturally was a patient man who rarely showed his annoyance, but being in a room full of parasitic opportunists who're constantly in his face with their injected lips, fake breast, heavy perfume and annoying shrill voices; made him want to claw out their very throats leaving them to drown in a pool of their own blood.
Hwa-Min subtly glanced around the ballroom looking for any escape to rid himself of his deadly thoughts. He quickly spotted the bar area that held very few people. He decided that he needed a very strong drink. As he stood up not giving any of the surrounding women a spared glance, he made his way to the bar and came upon a woman who looked oddly familiar to him. He could tell that she was irritated by the drunk man who clearly had too much to drink hitting on her. By the smell of him, i
t was an obvious half breed mix between a wolf and tiger demon. Normally he wasn't the type to get involved, but he couldn't help but be intrigued by the black human woman. He couldn't deny that she was very attractive. Her skin looked soft and inviting to the touch and was the perfect shade between caramel and milk chocolate tone. The black dress she wore hugged her every curve and stopped just above her knees. Her breast he could tell were round and natural. He wasn't much of an ass man, but she did have a nice, proportioned ass that complimented her shape. She was significantly shorter than him even with her wedged heels. The scent of her subtle perfume wasn't suffocating; it was rather warming and familiar to him. She smelt of white citrus and another scent he couldn't quite place. He also realized that she was the only woman at this entire event that hadn't swooned over him.
As he made his way over to the presumed couple, he saw the woman throw her drink in the man's face and as she turned to leave the man grabbing her forcefully by the arm and raised his other hand ready to hit her. What shocked him was that the woman didn't even flinch. Hwa-Min was taken aback that his body reacted before his mind could grasp what was happening as he found himself grabbing the man's wrist and snapping it clean in half. The drunken idiot howled in pain and dropped to his knees. All the chatter in the room stopped as everyone turned to look at the cause of the scream.
Seeing the man in sheer pain, oddly didn't satisfy Hwa-Min enough. He found himself wanting to uncharacteristically break every bone in that man's body and rip out his throat.
Instead, he squeezed harder on the man's wrist and spoke in a calm voice, "Clearly the lady isn't interested. You would well to remember to keep your hands to yourself. Am I clear?"
The only thing the man could do was nod and tremble in fear.
Hwa-Min released his wrist, "Then get out of my sight." With out needing further instruction, the man quickly picked himself off the floor and ran out of the room.