*An Hour Ago*

The portyard was buzzed with workers who were waiting for the arrival of a highly important shipment from Country R. Workers ran around, shouting orders at each other as the ship neared the dock.

A group of workers were atop a lighthouse, looking through the binoculars for any signs of the ship. The light rotated above their heads, searching for the vehicle which had already crossed the border of their sea hours ago.

The sky was clear that night albeit a little foggy. But the ship was expected to make a smooth sail and arrive safely as per their predictions. The fog was beginning to swirl in the south. One of the men zoomed his binoculars.

"I see it!" he shouted and rang a siren. The siren's loud roar pierced through the busy port and all the workers looked up in the direction the light was now pointing at.

The fog slowly lifted to reveal a gigantic triangular deck which was slowly coming to view. A large ship was anchoring up at the designated dock. Sailors threw anchors from all the sides of the ship, securing it to its spot. The giant ship was disrupting the waves which moved dangerously around it, making it sway slightly in the water. Loud horns were being honked by the ship, announcing its arrival.

Sailors struggled to keep the ship locked. It was too heavy for them but they threw in more anchors to finally bring the metallic beast under their control. After half an hour of struggle, the ship had finally anchored at the shores of Country K.

A long slide slid from the side of the door, forming a pathway for the cargo to be unloaded. Workers loaded the boxes in the trucks, allowing them to be sent off. Everyone was dashing here and there, engrossed in carrying out the tasks in their hands.

The ship's captain, Hwang Youngjae, climbed down the ship. He was a portly man in his forties who had been sailing this particular ship for the past six years. The man was well aware of the goods which were inside the vehicle and it was his responsibility to keep the shipment safe until it reached the storage before being sent to the buyers.

"Careful with that!" he barked at one team of workers who nearly toppled one of the giant boxes. "The boss will have our heads if anything happens to it!"

He was sweating a lot in nervousness. The boxes were precious and worth a lot of money. The goods in them were one of the most valuable businesses for the Company. Loss of even one box was worth millions of dollars and if they failed, Mikhael would destroy them. Moreover, Choi Taek was involved in the trade. Everyone knew the man was as dangerous as the Company itself. Crossing him would mean instant death.

The workers carefully unloaded the boxes and were putting them on large cranes to be taken away. The cranes stood in a line on the dockyard, waiting to be dispatched as soon as all the boxes were loaded onto them.

"Where the hell is the security team?" Youngjae asked one of the dockyard workers.

"They were supposed to arrive an hour ago but they're not here yet!" the worker exclaimed. "We've been calling them for a long time but no one has picked up."

"The fuck?"

Youngjae was now a little worried. He was just a mere captain, not a security force. Mikhael was supposed to send armed guards who would ensure the shipment was safely delivered to the safehouse. If the guards did not arrive, then how the hell were they supposed to send off the shipment?

"Let's wait for them then," Youngjae decided. He picked up his phone to call the Ambassador but there was no signal at the port. Cursing out loud, he returned to the loading of the goods onto the cranes.

The captain was barking orders when he heard the sirens of a van approaching their way.

"That must be the security team!" he exclaimed. They turned around and were startled to see a bunch of police cars approaching their way. He was slightly panicking but assured himself that there was nothing to worry about. The ship belonged to the Ambassador of Country R and he was under diplomatic immunity. The police of Country K could not do anything at all.

He puffed out his chest and put his hands on his wide hips as the police cars stopped in front of him. There was also a Special Forces team which arrived with their vans, making the situation even more suspicious to Youngjae.

One police car stopped in front of him and a slim lady in her early thirties came out of it. She wore a black suit and her hair was tied into a neat bun. From the looks of it, she was a lawyer because her badge hung from her chest pocket. She was followed by a bunch of other police officers.

"What is it, Officers?" Youngjae asked with a wide smile. "Is there anything wrong?"

"We have a search warrant for this ship," a burly looking cop informed him. Sunye stood with her hands crossed on her chest. The captain merely smiled.

"This ship belongs to the Ambassador of Country R!" he scoffed. "You cannot check the goods of someone with diplomatic immunity! I can't allow that."

"The search warrant wasn't issued against him," Sunye merely remarked. "It was issued against…"

She took out a piece of paper and began to read the contents out loud.

"It has come to our attention that Hwang Youngjae, Captain of ship number 018653 arriving on the 20th of June 20XX, has violated the Maritime Law of Article 18, section 5, clause 8. As per the aforementioned clause, the ship number 018653 has been overloaded thrice the permitted amount of weight. The final order was signed by the Captain of the ship and hence, under the legal jurisdiction of Country K."

The smirk was wiped off of Youngjae's face. He glanced at the gates, hoping for the security team to arrive. Sunye read his mind.

"The security team won't come," she informed him. "You see, we have already stopped them on our way. They did not dare to mess with the police in public and had to back out."

"I-I…" Youngjae stammered.

There were screeches of cars, making Youngjae hope that the backup team was there but to his horror, cameras were flashing at him. Reporters had arrived to cover the story and swarmed around the area. The police immediately began to back them off but the reporters wanted the scoop.

"What's going on here?" one reporter demanded.

"Is it true that there's illegal trade going on in this port?"

"What's inside the boxes? Why are they so large?"

"The public wants the truth!"

"BACK OFF!" One of the cops yelled but they were pushing the policemen, clicking pictures at the boxes which were being unloaded on the trucks.

"Open the boxes!" Sunye demanded but Youngjae stood his ground.

"These are baseless accusations!" he claimed. "These boxes carry medicines and supplies from Country R-"

"Three times the permitted weight?" Sunye shot back.

"Almost all ships carry a little extra weight!" Youngjae pointed out. "Why don't you question them? Why am I being targeted?"

"Coz you were caught," Sunye stated in a cool tone. "Open them otherwise we'll force you to do so. Don't make us wait."

She looked at him with a threatening glare. Her iciness was making the Captain nervous and he was trapped. If he did not comply, the police would arrest him and if he did comply, they would still arrest him. He was trapped from both sides.

"Maybe I should talk to the Police Commissioner and ask him to talk to you," Sunye remarked but Youngjae surrendered.

"I'll open the boxes!" he squeaked. He motioned at his workers to carry out the orders. His heart thumped hard against his chest as Sunye stepped forward with the cops. The workers were worried but they had little choice. They grabbed the handles and slowly began to open the boxes.

Sunye and the cops stood while reporters gathered behind them to see what the boxes held. They had been tipped off by an anonymous source that there would be a scoop related to the Ambassador of Country R and they were curious to see what it was.

In slow motion, the doors of the boxes opened and everyone froze on the spot.

"What…" one of the police officers trailed off, shocked by what they were seeing. Sunye was not surprised but her blood went cold.

Inside the boxes were humans! They were skin and bones but alive. There were people belonging to different races and countries who were kept locked in those boxes for god knew how long. Men, women and children of all ages were smuggled into the country in these boxes!

They huddled around in a group, scared of the sudden attention and the crowd which had gathered around them. Sunye's lips quivered in anger.

"This...this is their gold?" she muttered.

….

Minwoo was in his makeup room when he saw the first article appear on the slave trade. He smirked and shared the piece of news to his millions of followers.

"Slave trade in this day and age?" he wrote in the caption. "Which monster would do this? Can someone verify if this is true or not?"

He pressed the share button and leaned back against his chair. His phone was buzzing with constant notifications but he did not reply to them.

"The show has begun," he said in a singsong tone.