MY PLEASURE

Night came without noise, the darkness sneaking in slowly. While the darkening sky wore a peaceful quietness, the world below buzzed with life, with people hurrying and shouting, with vehicles honking in traffic.

The Imperial City Entertainment Center sat on the top floor of a skyscraper in the HY Imperial City. From inside, a spiral of rowdy voices rose into the night. The place swirled with dreaminess in the colored lights of the bulbs.

The VIP room was more than a hundred square meters in area. And in its half darkness, about six people lazed on luxurious sofas. Looking at the physique of these men, anyone would easily guess the kind of people they were. The coldness in their bearing showed they were men who thrived in crime and dark acts.

Only one man lay sprawled on the sofa in the middle of the room. The other men sat in the sofas around, rather intentionally. The man in the middle was wearing an unbuttoned black shirt, brandishing his large chest. A colorful mask covered his face. It made him look beastly in the dimness of the room. His eyes sparked with a cold and aggressive glint.

His cold gaze sat on the crisp new bills piled up before him. His lips parted as he smiled. And even behind the mask, even in the darkness, the smile foamed with a hateful contempt that momentarily filled his eyes.

"Inside!"

The huge door growled as it opened. A woman was shoved into the dim room, and she fell flat and helpless before the mound of bills.

When she finally looked up, her face was pure and beautiful with no makeup. And sadness peeked from her lusciously dark eyes.

Looking up from the mound of bills, she settled her gaze on the masked man in front of her. A wave of panic rushed through her whole body at once.

Leaning forward on the sofa, the man took a bundle from the mound of bills. The bills rustled softly as he flipped through them. The sound unsettled the unnatural silence that had descended on the room.

When the sound ceased, the man's lips parted with a heinous smile, and suddenly he thrust the bundle at the woman's face.

The bills snapped on the woman's forehead and slipped down her head, scattering on the dark brown carpet.

The hit dazed the woman, her eyes glazing over. There was a small swell on her forehead. And blood trickled from the tiny cuts the crisp bills had left on her face.

The bright red blood sparkled on her fair face. And she looked mystically beautiful in the half darkness. Her skin shone fairer.

Biting her lips, the woman smiled weakly and bitterly. She struggled up to her feet and made for the door, her body throbbing with intense pain.

"Stop!"