Meanwhile, in Sin City...
Nestled within skyscrapers and chaos was a secret slice of paradise: Sin Mille Estate. Think gated elite sanctuary meets luxury resort.
It had it all—heated pools, helicopter pads, botanical gardens, and four villas so extravagant even dreams would need a loan.
At the heart of this lush haven? A sparkling pond with gazebos and wooden bridges straight out of a romantic drama.
Saeki Jie, owner of one villa and CEO of SJ Entertainment—the nation's top talent agency—was strolling to the clubhouse. Rare day off. Rare chill time.
"You guys here on a Monday? Did someone die?" Saeki deadpanned.
Tristan Felan tossed him a pool stick. "Shut up and play."
The two were dangerously good-looking. If this wasn't a private clubhouse, paparazzi would be swinging from trees.
"I thought you invited some lingerie models," Saeki said, eyeing the room. Then he spotted Shin Keir sulking in a corner, still in his robe. "Whoa. Is my dear brother sick?"
Shin Keir, the human alarm clock, still in nightwear past noon? That was scarier than market crashes.
"Yup," Tristan replied. "Diagnosis: heartache."
Saeki snorted. "Sounds like a bad soap opera. What, he caught feelings?"
"Worse. He's no longer celibate." Tristan whispered it like a horror story.
Saeki burst out laughing. He didn't buy it. They'd all known Shin for years—even girls who threw themselves at him got frostbite from his cold shoulder.
If Shin Keir was dating someone? That meant hell had indeed frozen over.
While the two friends played pool, the door burst open.
Enter: Hadi Keir, late-twenties, loud shirt, louder attitude.
"Peacock alert," Tristan muttered.
Saeki gave him a look-over. "If you're thinking of switching careers, let me warn HR to blacklist you first."
Hadi's veins popped. He already came angry—now he was boiling.
"If it isn't the bastard duo of the Jie and Keir families! Oh wait, you don't even carry the Keir name," he sneered at Tristan. "Which sewer did 'Felan' come from?"
Tristan yawned. "Try harder, Hadi. That insult had no bite."
But Hadi wasn't here for banter. His eyes locked on Shin. "You! I agreed to the North Branch for two years! Now it's permanent?! You think being CEO means you can do whatever you want? Let's see how Grandma feels about this!"
Shin didn't even look up from his phone. Tap, tap, scroll.
Tristan sighed. "That decision came from the Board. Hadi, you've had years to clean up your mess. Sales are down. Complaints are up. Want someone else to sweep your trash again? Grow up."
Hadi turned beet-red. "They're just old geezers—I'm a Keir!"
"No one's saying you're not," Tristan replied coolly. "But that last name's not a magic wand for incompetence."
In Caelum Country, wealth wasn't just about numbers—it was a caste system. Third-tier elites. Mid-second. First-tier billionaires. And then... the Big Four dynasties: Jie, Neri, Song, and Keir.
Even being a side-branch Keir gave Hadi privileges most could only dream of.
But that didn't mean people had to respect him.
"You expect me to take advice from an outsider like you?" he growled. "You guys are just chilling here while I work my ass off!"
Tristan smirked. "And yet, here you are... yelling while we chill."
Hadi turned to Saeki. "What's your deal, huh? Say something if you've got the guts!"
Saeki grinned. "Sure. I'll say this: Where did you lose your brain? Want me to fetch it for you?"
Slacking?
They weren't regular office drones shackled to a 9-to-5. These men were the office. They had power over their schedules, their meetings, and—on good days—the fate of entire companies.
"You!" Hadi could only point a trembling finger, his expression resembling someone who just found a cockroach in their soup.
His mind wandered—not out of wisdom, but out of bitterness—to the past. Back when Shin Keir and Tristan Felan were the unwanted, parasite-class members of the Keir clan.
The old patriarch had three children: Ellis, Allister, and Mian Keir.
Everyone thought Ellis, the eldest, would naturally inherit the family mantle. But the old man shocked the entire Keir lineage by handing leadership over to his second son, Allister—the one everyone pitied for having a lunatic wife and no children.
But just when gossip had reached boiling point, Allister dropped a bomb: he did have a child—an illegitimate one.
As if that wasn't enough drama, the untamed daughter Mian strolled home with her own surprise: a child born out of wedlock.
Suddenly, two boys of the same age—one illegitimate, one ignoble—stood in the way of the legitimate, primped, and polished Hadi Keir.
It was a reality Hadi still couldn't digest. He, the legitimate son of Ellis Keir, had to bow to the bastard Shin Keir, now CEO of KV Global Group, and to the mongrel Tristan Felan, COO.
It was a daily insult to his very bloodline!
Whenever he saw them, it felt like his liver took a punch. One was a plague, the other a terminal disease infecting his pride.
"Hadi Keir."
The name, when said in that glacial tone, made the hair on Hadi's neck stand up. He stiffened instinctively.
That voice. That damn voice.
"I—You still know how to speak? I'm here because—"
"Get out," Shin said lazily, without even lifting his gaze.
"Shin Keir! You think you can boss everyone around? I'm still your cousin!" Hadi's voice cracked. "I don't want to work in the North anymore! If you won't fix it, I'll report your bullying to Grandma!"
Unbothered, Shin tapped a few times on his phone and calmly told Secretary Yun to transfer Hadi's file to HR.
Hadi's eyes lit up. He thought Shin was folding—caving under the pressure of the old matriarch.
Of course! Grandma did favor him.
Soon, a new email arrived. A transfer confirmation.
Without reading a single line of it, Hadi clicked "approve," grinning like a man who just pulled off a masterstroke.
Shin raised an eyebrow. "Still not leaving?"
Hadi flinched. The threat was only in Shin's tone, but it was enough. He turned, head high, swaggering like a strutting rooster who just won a farm fight.
As soon as he left, Tristan abandoned his pool stick and dropped into the lounge chair beside Shin.
"You actually approved his transfer?"
Shin smirked faintly. "Hmm. All unlocked."
Tristan erupted with laughter.
"All-unlocked" meant the transfer file included Hadi's full record: his performance, disciplinary notes, and a few... inconvenient truths.
Specifically, the harassment and embezzlement case from his time in the finance department. He wasn't slick enough to hide it. If it weren't for the Keir name propping him up like scaffolding on a condemned building, he'd be rotting in court.
Now, all of that was part of his new transfer file—approved by none other than himself.
"He's going to implode by lunchtime," Tristan snorted.
"Should've sent him to the war zone instead," Saeki commented, reappearing with a wine bottle. "Let's see how fast he straightens up under real bullets."
Shin didn't laugh, but his expression relaxed just enough to pass as amused.
Tristan turned serious for a moment. "So... what about her? The mystery girl. You figure out what to give her yet?"
Shin finally looked up from his phone, "It should be ready soon."
"You better take a selfie with her next time. Girls love that kind of thing. And don't forget to smile."
'Smile?' Shin remembered doing that quite a bit when talking to her... It had felt easy. Natural, even.
But now?
Now, the woman hadn't replied to a single call or message since that night. Either she gave him the wrong number, or she was ghosting him harder than an unpaid intern.
After they parted, he had Secretary Yun run a background check.
Yeri Zhi.
Only daughter of Klaus Zhi, CEO of Zhi Corporation, the coffeehouse chain behind Café Zhillion. A third-tier upper-class family, not bad. But the file had some bizarre highlights—like her medical history.
Apparently, she was diagnosed with a chronic, inexplicable illness that left her bedridden for weeks at a time. She'd even been hospitalized just the day before they met.
And yet... she was drinking like a parched ghost and partying until 3 a.m.?
Shin couldn't make sense of it.
Still, just in case, he sent a discreet inquiry to her dorm. The word was: she was healthy, busy with school, and frequented the campus café.
So why the radio silence?
"What are you two whispering about?" Saeki asked, confused. "Why do I feel like I just walked into the middle of a conspiracy?"
"How many times must I tell you?" Tristan said. "Shin has a woman."
Saeki stared at Shin as if he had just admitted he was dating a unicorn.
Shin ignored the attention and asked Tristan, "If someone doesn't respond to your messages for days, what does that usually mean?"
Tristan leaned back and smiled knowingly.
"Oho? Sounds like trouble. Is this person... male or female?"
"Just answer the question."
"Alright, alright. Two possibilities. Either she's mad and wants you to chase her... or she's regretting everything and plotting her escape."
Shin's face darkened.