Anya looked at Jungkook's smiling image on her laptop.
Then she gazed out at the glittering city skyline—somewhere within it, Zain Yan sat in the shadows of his empire, weaving a web far darker than she could imagine.Anya leaned closer to her laptop screen as she searched for ZY Empire and its enigmatic CEO. The results loaded—and her eyes widened.
Profiles. Business magazines. Award ceremonies. Headlines that sounded unreal.
Zain Yan: A Ruthless Prodigy
Name: Zain Yan
Age: 26
Milestone: Became CEO at just 21, shaking the corporate world with an aggressive expansion strategy.
"CEO at 21?!" Anya muttered, adjusting her glasses. "I'm almost 22 and I can't even land a receptionist job."
She opened a high-definition photograph.
For a moment, her heartbeat stuttered.
190 centimeters tall. A sharply sculpted face that looked carved from marble. Eyes cold enough to pierce through a screen.
This wasn't just charisma.
It was dominance.
The Comparison Game: Idol vs Predator
Anya quickly split her screen.
On one side: Jungkook and Byeon Woo-seok.
On the other: Zain Yan.
"Visually? Total K-drama villain energy," she murmured, scratching her shoulder-length hair.
"Jungkook has that soft, heart-melting smile. Byeon Woo-seok's eyes are so innocent… but this guy?"
She zoomed in again.
"His height matches Woo-seok. But that face… uff. It's like God didn't sculpt him with love—He took His time out of pure intensity. Ridiculously handsome. And equally terrifying."
She glanced at Jungkook's wallpaper and grinned.
"Sorry, Kookie. This guy is serious competition. If he wasn't such an arrogant ice block, I might've become his fan."
She had no idea that tomorrow, she wouldn't be comparing faces on a screen.
She would be standing in front of one.
Meanwhile — ZY Empire Headquarters
Inside the top-floor cabin of ZY Empire, silence hung like a coiled storm.
Through the floor-to-ceiling glass, Shenzhen glittered below like a chessboard. Pieces everywhere.
But the queen was missing.
Zain opened a drawer and pulled out an old, slightly creased photograph.
A five-year-old memory.
A girl with fearless eyes and unfiltered innocence.
The same girl who, on that horrific night, had shaken his stone-cold heart.
Fury and Loyalty
The cabin door opened quietly.
Qian—his right-hand commander—stepped inside.
He froze immediately.
Zain's eyes were burning.
"Sir… we've traced the Dragon syndicate's operatives. But the girl—"
"Silence."
The single word detonated across the room.
Zain hurled a crystal paperweight against the wall. It shattered.
"I gave you two tasks," he said, voice dangerously calm. "Find the man who slaughtered my family. And find the girl who risked her life to save my sister."
He stepped closer, holding the photograph between his fingers.
"Five years," he whispered coldly. "For five years, I see this face every time I close my eyes. Finding her isn't a mission. It's my purpose."
Qian lowered his head. "We're trying everything, sir. Just a little more time—"
"Time is over."
Zain pressed the photo against his chest.
"Find her. Before my past finds her."
Destiny's Irony
Zain did not know the truth.
The 17-year-old girl he searched for no longer existed.
She had grown.
Changed.
For him, she was his first love. His reason to breathe.
For Anya, he was nothing more than a dangerously handsome CEO she had just Googled.
That night, Zain placed two photographs side by side.
His sister Fengning.
And the girl from five years ago.
His jaw tightened.
"Tomorrow's sunrise," he murmured to himself, "will change everything."