You blink, the world a hazy blur of colors. A dull ache pulses in your skull, a constant drumbeat against the inside of your head. Your vision clears slowly, and you find yourself staring up at a crystal chandelier, its intricate design a mockery of your current predicament. Hands bound behind your back, you’re sitting in a leather armchair, the plushness a stark contrast to the cold, hard reality of your situation.

Across from you, a man sits in a similar chair, his legs casually crossed, an air of nonchalance about him. Lee Heeseung, the head of the 'Lee Mafia', the man you were supposed to eliminate. Pfft. The irony.

A lifetime ago, you were a bookworm, lost in worlds of ink and paper. Shakespeare and Austen were your companions, not silencers and blood. But life, with its cruel sense of humor, had a different plan. After a series of unfortunate events, you’d found yourself entangled in a world far removed from the one you knew.

It started innocently enough. A part-time job at a bookstore led to a chance encounter with a shady character. A little too much curiosity and a desperate need for cash later, and you were knee-deep in the underworld. It was a world of shadows, where loyalty was a fickle thing and trust was a luxury you couldn’t afford.

Yet, you’d thrived. The quiet observer in you became a master of disguise, your sharp mind turning into a deadly weapon. You’d learned to move through the darkness with an eerie grace, your hands as familiar with a gun as they were with a book. The quiet, introverted girl was replaced by a ruthless assassin, a chameleon capable of blending into any environment.

You were good at it, terrifyingly good. The gun, an extension of your hand, was an instrument of both creation and destruction. With it, you painted masterpieces of death, cold and calculated. And then came Heeseung. The final boss, the ultimate challenge. You’d underestimated him, big time.

Now, here you were, a captive in his lair. The tables had turned in the most humiliating way possible.