Chapter 8 : Seoul Sea Of Fire (1)

Cheol-woo was flustered.

When he saw his sister crying her eyes out, he thought something terrible must’ve happened, so he asked.

But hearing her just go on and on—“Taser, taser”—over and over again, he figured it wasn’t anything too serious and felt relieved.

He tossed Yuri into the passenger seat of the truck, quickly retrieved only the dashcam from the patrol car, then started the engine.

He figured he’d have to change the exposed license plate later with a spare.

“Hey, hey… Seriously. Hah… My heart, it’s… it’s pounding like crazy, what do I do? What even just happened? What happened, huh?”

“The company stabbed me in the back. The agency and the entire Geummyeong Group—they’re in it together. They tried to kidnap you to keep me in line.”

“What the hell… What the actual…”

Yuri was gasping for breath, unable to form a proper sentence.

The fear of just being tailed, the shock of watching people drop like flies, the pain of getting shocked over and over again, and the bloody scene from earlier—all of it hit her at once.

Her adrenaline still hadn’t come down.

But how was Cheol-woo so damn calm…?

Watching him drive away from the scene like it was no big deal, she felt her own breathing begin to stabilize.

“Let’s go home first. I’m sweating like crazy—I need a shower.”

“We can’t go home.”

“Why not?”

“Here. Hold this up to your body.”

“Aaack! No! Nooo!”

“It’s not a taser, calm down. Please. It’s a metal detector. You might still have a bug or tracker on you.”

“I already told you—I changed all my clothes!”

Beep-beep-beep!

The detector made a sound near her chest, and Cheol-woo’s eyes turned grim.

She’d changed her clothes and ditched her bag, so there shouldn’t have been anywhere left for a tracker to cling to.

“Take off your underwear.”

“What?!”

“Quick.”

“I can’t—I’m handcuffed!”

“Turn your back this way.”

“Ugh, goddammit…”

Click—

Cheol-woo felt around the pad of her bra, then ripped it open with a knife.

A tiny chip with a red light blinking inside fell out, and Yuri’s mouth dropped open.

Underwear?

Not even outerwear, but underwear?

That wasn’t something someone could just stick on while tailing her.

Yuri shuddered, goosebumps spreading across her skin.

“You still wanna go home?”

“…No.”

Yuri had quieted down a bit.

No stupid questions this time like, “Did you really have to shoot them? Couldn’t you have just fired a warning shot?”

She understood now—just like that—the situation she and Cheol-woo were in.

“You feeling any calmer now?”

“…Yeah.”

“You’re not hurt, right?”

“…Yeah.”

“And how are you feeling?”

“…Like shit.”

“Good. Totally normal.”

Cheol-woo glanced at Yuri, who was now responding meekly beside him, and finally felt reassured.

Aside from seeming a little more drained than usual, she seemed fine.

If only she were always this compliant and soft-spoken.

Would’ve been even better if she were his younger sister instead.

With that thought, Cheol-woo spoke again:

“Keep your phone off unless you absolutely have to use it. And if you do, turn off GPS, Wi-Fi, data—everything. Don’t post anything on messenger or social media that could give away our location. If someone calls asking where you are, ignore it. They might’ve been forced to ask under threat or blackmail.”

“I know, damn it. What, you think I’m stupid?”

“Ow! Don’t poke me in the side—it hurts!”

“Your side? Why? Oh… oh right! Your stomach! You got shot! Are you okay?!”

“I look okay, don’t I?”

He wasn’t okay.

That quack of a doctor, whether he messed up the anesthesia or couldn’t control the dosage, I ended up experiencing a living hell because the anesthesia wore off halfway through.

I avoided hitting the major organs, but what’s the point of stitching up torn blood vessels?

The anesthesia and painkillers didn’t work, so the pain was so bad I could barely walk.

I made it this far by gritting my teeth, but what about when I sleep? I started to worry if I’d even be able to sleep at all.

“It was a shallow gunshot wound, so you can stop worrying.”

“Really?”

“Ugh, ah!

“You’re screaming like a little girl, and you’re saying you’re fine? Make sure to take the painkillers and antibiotics regularly. I don’t have any antibiotics, but I’ve got painkillers with me.”

“Painkillers don’t work on me.”

“These ones are pretty strong. I get pretty bad menstrual cramps.”

“I was given morphine and had local anesthetics injected into my stomach four or five times, but it wore off immediately.”

“…Why’s that?”

How the hell should I know? Cheol-woo answered with just a look.

If a regular person had two doses of morphine and anesthesia, they’d be dead.

Even if it was a special case, they should’ve passed out by now.

But here Cheol-woo was, wide-eyed and frowning, driving like nothing was wrong.

He wasn’t someone who had built up a tolerance to morphine.

Something was definitely wrong with his body, but he didn’t know what it was, and right now, he didn’t have the time or means to check.

“So, what’s the plan?”

“Plan? I need to think about it now.”

“…”

An awkward silence followed.

“Hey?!”

“Well, I ran out as soon as I heard you were being kidnapped, so of course I didn’t have a plan.”

“I guess that’s true, but… sigh…”

“We need to leave Korea as soon as possible. The police have clearly been infiltrated by Geummyeong Group.”

Yuri nodded vigorously, having just experienced firsthand the corruption of the police.

She glanced at the driver’s seat, trying to calm herself.

She was impressed—after all that chaos, how was he still so calm? But if he hadn’t been calm, he wouldn’t have been alive by now.

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

“I told you, it was because of the wiretaps…”

“No, I mean before that. You must’ve felt something was off as soon as you joined. You probably debated whether to tell me or not, and then eventually ran out today. Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

Cheol-woo stayed silent again, and the quiet settled in once more.

He felt guilty for dragging his sister into all of this.

In the end, it was because he’d gone and tried to become a pro gamer, got mixed up with weird people, and ruined his sister’s career.

He wasn’t sure if Yuri had truly considered modeling as her career, but…

Yuri had felt guilty toward her brother her entire life.

She had been completely indifferent to him for so long.

Even when she heard about his gaming talent, she didn’t believe it until just before his contract.

When he had gotten involved with a strange girlfriend, she just let him figure it out himself, and things went wrong.

Even after she knew he had joined a strange company, she never thought to ask him how work was going, and now it was too late.

She felt like this situation was all her fault and couldn’t help but resent her past self.

They both had so much to say to each other, but neither one was willing to speak up first.

With their heads turned, only the occasional sound of swallowing broke the silence.

It didn’t seem like either of them would say “sorry” anytime soon.

This was just how normal siblings communicated.

“I’m hungry. Let’s stop at a kimbap shop or a drive-thru.”

“We don’t have time for that right now. We need to get out of Seoul first, then we can eat.”

“Is this really the right thing to do for a patient? If you keep this up, you’ll make things worse.”

“When did I ever say I was fine?”

“…”

Cheol-woo, who had completely lost his appetite, felt irritated.

He had never complained about being hungry in his life.

But now, when his stomach felt like it was about to eat through his back, Yuri was saying something so trivial.

“By the way, your clothes seem a bit see-through?”

“Ugh. Damn it. Pull over. Let’s buy some underwear.”

“You said every second counts, didn’t you?”

“NO! If you hadn’t cut them with a knife, it wouldn’t have been necessary! Was there really no option to just tear them a little? You did that on purpose, didn’t you!?”

“I’ll only stop for 30 minutes. In that time, you buy some underwear, spare clothes, and essentials for us. I’ll go get something to eat. How does that sound?”

“Okay. Sounds good.”

Yuri nodded casually, and the negotiation was settled.

The truck slowly entered the underground parking lot of a department store.

As soon as the truck stopped, Cheol-woo took a cutter from the back and cut off the handcuffs.

Yuri immediately rushed toward the lingerie section, covering her chest, and Cheol-woo headed straight for the food court.

He grabbed every sample dish he could find and shoved them into his mouth, before moving around to place his orders.

He was starving.

His stomach was painfully empty.

Burgers, king-sized dumplings, tteokbokki, fried chicken…

This wasn’t the amount of food he’d normally eat in a day, but it was the amount he needed to devour right now.

Had he always eaten this much?

Ever since he picked up a gun, his appetite had been growing, and today, it seemed to peak.

Something feels off…

Cheol-woo, after placing his food orders, briefly glanced at his sister, who was drooling in front of a display of blades, before checking his surroundings.

There were a lot of bodyguards with pistols.

It wasn’t a bank, so most of them would be carrying gas guns, but a quick glance at the engravings on the pistols revealed they were real firearms.

He briefly wondered if they were from Geummyeong Security, but they seemed to be from the department store.

What was the name of this place again?

Dongyang Department Store? Why did it feel so tense here?

Something felt ominous, and Cheol-woo felt an urgent need to leave.

People?

Carrying an armful of food, Cheol-woo’s eyes narrowed.

The pain that had subsided from the smell of the food came rushing back.

There were four people crowded around the truck.

They didn’t look like regular bystanders; they were all burly men with hoods pulled over their heads.

Cheol-woo took a wide loop around the parking lot, checking for any other accomplices or cameras before approaching them.

“Eh?”

“Grenade!?”

A grenade pin rolled out from under the truck, causing the men to scramble, diving for cover.

Then, they waited for the expected explosion… but it didn’t go off.

Confused, they slowly lifted their heads.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

The silenced pistols spat subsonic rounds, and the men collapsed, one by one.

Shaking, the last man remained, and Cheol-woo, after picking up the fake grenade, approached him.

“Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot! Please! Agh!”

“Shh. Quiet.”

Bang!

“Min Cheol-woo?”

“Not an enemy, I’m an ally, so please stop shooting…! You bastard! You didn’t even check who I was before shooting!”

An ally? Cheol-woo suddenly found himself with an unexpected ally.

“What are you guys? Who do you work for?”

“We’re Team 2! Geummyeong Security!”

“Team 2? How the hell did you know I was here?”

“…”

When they failed to answer right away, Cheol-woo fired a shot.

He had removed all tracking devices and lost the pursuit of Team 1, so how had Team 2 tracked him down?

Considering Manager Jeong’s pride, he never would’ve asked Team 2 for help.

They shouldn’t even know what was going on.

But now, somehow, Team 2 had arrived before Team 1.

This is insane.

Cheol-woo quickly opened the truck’s cargo hold and dove inside.

He grabbed a random gun locker, tore off the shock-absorbing packaging, and found a familiar-looking tracking chip.

Was this the only one?

After setting off a small EMP to disable all devices, he let out a sigh of relief.

But something still felt wrong.

“Team 1 is supplying equipment and planting tracking devices?

Wait, this tracking device was Team 2’s gear.”

Did teams usually plant tracking devices on each other?

He had heard rumors of a rivalry between Team 1 and Team 2, but he never expected it to be this severe.

Caught in the middle of internal conflict between teams, Cheol-woo realized the situation was far worse than it appeared.

Clearly, these four men weren’t here to hunt him down.

The one who had pleaded for his life earlier confirmed it.

They must’ve thought Cheol-woo was carrying gear to transport, and had come to confront him.

But now that the tracking signal was cut off, and the bodies of the four men were discovered, it wouldn’t be long before Team 2 realized the situation.

Damn.

This is bad.

Now, Cheol-woo had to deal with not just Manager Jeong, but also Team 2.

And that wasn’t all.

There was no guarantee that Geummyeong Security was the only company handling shady work under

Geummyeong Group.

Were hired thugs starting to converge too?

The mere thought made him feel dizzy.

What the hell is going on here?

The twisted face of Manager Jeong wouldn’t go away from his mind.

He had thought that the third squad had been wiped out by machine gun-wielding rookies, but the corpses they found all had single shots to the chest.

And from the angle of the sniper’s point, the kill had been made nearly a kilometer away.

Could someone really do that with two gunshot wounds?

If he hadn’t been injured, Cheol-woo suspected he might have already decapitated Manager Jeong by now.

“Well, they can’t make too much noise.”

Despite the heavy equipment he carried, it was surprisingly quiet.

He’d prepared for any potential situation, but there was no way he’d escalate things to the point of bomb explosions or machine gun fire in the middle of Seoul, right?

Cleaning up the bodies without a sound was tedious, but far better than turning downtown Seoul into a war zone.

That was the rational thing to do.

No sane person would want to make Seoul burn in the daytime.

[Gunfire reported on the Seobu Expressway.]

“What?! Which squad is in combat?”

[It’s not Team 1. Looks like Team 2 is in a one-sided fight… Ah, Team 2 is getting hit by a rocket. This place is almost a battlefield.]

What the hell…