/
The group had already crossed the Hannam Bridge and eaten lunch, and Kang Chan had finished smoking his cigarette and drinking coffee as well. They were ten minutes away from their destination.
It was time to go.
However, when Lee Doo-Hee threw away Kang Chan’s empty coffee cup into the trash, Kang Chan’s heart suddenly started to thump faster.
Badump. Badump.
‘Damn it.’
They couldn’t have planted mines at the house, could they?
Kang Chan turned to look at the others.
“What is it?” Seok Kang-Ho asked. He covered his cigarette with a hand as he lit it.
“I have a bad feeling. It’s significant enough for me to stop an operation that’s already underway.”
“That bad?”
After Kang Chan nodded, Seok Kang-Ho glanced around.
“What is it, Mr. Kang Chan?”
The bad feelings he got were a pain in the ass to explain—no, it was virtually impossible to explain them.
“Mr. Kim Hyung-Jung, please just trust me on this. Let’s go over the conditions again. I’m getting the same bad feeling that I had back at the event.”
“Then let’s head to a quiet place for now.”
Having observed the entire situation during the day of the event, Kim Hyung-Jung didn’t raise any doubts and just followed Kang Chan’s wishes.
They all climbed into the car and entered an alley.
Badump. Badump.
It was ridiculous.
He had no means of being certain about the specifics every time this happened. Nevertheless, even though he didn’t have the slightest idea of what dangers they would face and when they would appear, his heart continued to beat faster.
Kang Chan glared outside through the windshield.
‘What is it? What did I leave out?’
He did say they should attack first, but before the mission even started, he suddenly got an ominous feeling.
It wasn’t as if they were here under someone’s orders. The people who were aware of this operation were all here.
“Mr. Kim Hyung-Jung, we’re the only ones who know about this mission, correct?”
“I’m certain of it.”
Choi Jong-Il, Woo Hee-Seung, and Lee Doo-Hee also had stiff expressions although they didn’t understand what was happening.
Kang Chan took a slow, deep breath.
Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.
At that moment, his phone rang. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and saw the name ‘Smithen’ displayed on the screen.
“Cut to the chase.”
At times like this, no other words were required.
-Captain, these people are trained. I closed the curtains and bolted through the door.
“How did you find them?”
-I was making love next to the window.
He was speaking rapid French.
Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.
Next to Kang Chan, Kim Hyung-Jung’s phone vibrated.
“Hold on for now. I’ll call you again once it’s been taken care of.”
-Yes, sir.
Smithen was under attack? Was this the reason he had a bad feeling?
Kang Chan turned around after dropping the call.
“All right. Hold on a minute.”
Kim Hyung-Jung looked frantic.
“I just got a report. People who seem to be enemy agents are currently in meetings with your father and mother.”
‘What?’
Kang Chan didn’t have time to think. He immediately put Kim Hyung-Jung’s phone against his ear.
“It’s Kang Chan. Explain the situation.”
-Two agents are speaking to your father regarding the mass purchase of his automobiles, and two more are discussing with your mother about making donations to the foundation. Our agents are behind them, but we have to be prepared for the worst-case scenario.
Those motherfuckers!
“Do our people have firearms?”
-The two team leaders do.
“If the situation deems it necessary, shoot to kill.”
-We need Manager Kim Hyung-Jung’s approval for opening fire.
Kang Chan handed the phone to Kim Hyung-Jung.
“He says they need your approval to open fire.”
The look in Kang Chan’s eyes was so vicious that Woo Hee-Seung, who had been looking back at them, quickly turned his gaze to Kim Hyung-Jung.
As soon as he got his phone back, Kim Hyung-Jung commanded, “Shoot if necessary.”
Seok Kang-Ho and the others grasped what was going on.
“Let’s head to Father’s office first.”
Kim Hyung-Jung nodded at what Kang Chan said.
“Did that son of a bitch Yang Jin-Woo make the first move?”
“Let me make a few more calls first before we talk.”
As the car’s engine started, Kang Chan pressed the call button and held his phone to his ear.
-Boss, I’m in the middle of a meeting. Can we talk later?
Even Michelle?
“Michelle, don’t talk and just listen. This is extremely important.”
Just in case, he spoke in French.
“If you’re with other people, say you like mountains. If you’re alone, say you like the beach. Don’t show anything on your face.”
-I prefer the beach.
Damn it!
“You’re at the office, right?”
-Yes, it’s official business.
“You could be in danger. Find a way to at least get a female employee to be with you. Leave if you can.”
-Got it, Boss.
“Explain to them that I’m not your boss.”
-I said I got it.
He hung up, feeling blindsided. He was a step too late.
The car had crossed over the Hannam Bridge and was waiting for the traffic signal.
Kang Chan made another call and looked at Kim Hyung-Jung.
“How many agents do you have that can be mobilized immediately?”
“Mobilizing them all will give away this operation.”
That was true.
As Kang Chan nodded, his call connected.
-What brings me the pleasure of your call at this time?
“Director, the entertainment company D.I., Smithen’s house, which you protected last time, and Seok Kang-Ho’s home are in danger. They could be agents from Japan’s Intelligence Bureau, and they could be carrying firearms. Can you dispatch some people?”
-We’ll cooperate with the police in those areas. Give me their addresses.
Kang Chan listed the locations and their phone numbers one by one. The call ended before he could say thanks.
“Manager, please oversee the situation from the car, and look into where Yang Jin-Woo is currently.”
He could now see Kang Dae-Kyung’s building from afar.
“Seok Kang-Ho, go with Woo Hee-Seung to my dad’s office.”
His eyes met with Seok Kang-Ho.
“If your gut tells you to, don’t hesitate to kill.”
“Got it. Leave it to me.”
The car rolled to a halt.
“Choi Jong-Il, do you know where my mother’s office is?”
“I do.”
The moment the van’s door slid open, Kang Chan immediately jumped out. There were quite a few people because it was an officetel.[1]
“Go up the stairs.”
Under Kang Chan’s command, Choi Jong-Il went through the entrance to the staircase, which was next to the elevator.
They ran up the flights by two or three stairs at a time.
Yoo Hye-Sook being surprised was a problem for later in the future. Saving her came first.
The knife at his ankle occasionally came into view, but Kang Chan didn’t hesitate. As they dashed up together in their suits, one woman they met on the way jumped in surprise and clung to the walls.
“Over here!”
Creak.
Choi Jong-Il opened the door, panting.
The moment they stepped into the hallway, a woman who appeared to be an agent quickly hastened over.
“They’re sitting facing each other on the office’s sofa. Two agents and the team leader are on standby behind Ms. Yoo.”
If not for the agents, Kang Dae-Kyung and Yoo Hye-Sook would’ve been dead already.
Kang Chan nodded and caught his breath in front of the office door.
Whew.
‘These motherfuckers dare target my mother?’
Choi Jong-Il followed right behind him.
Kang Chan flung open the door and went inside.
Three tense female agents were standing behind Yoo Hye-Sook, and sitting opposite them on the sofa were two men who had clearly received special training.
“Son!”
Yoo Hye-Sook looked both surprised and delighted, while the two men quickly moved their right hands behind them.
Kang Chan immediately threw himself at the man closest to him, elbowed his face, then kicked the other man’s shoulder.
Pow!
The fight transpired in a matter of moments.
However, the enemy blocked Kang Chan’s elbow and jabbed him in the side.
Crash!
As Kang Chan fell on the table, Choi Jong-Il and two female agents raced toward the guy that was further away.
Pow pow! Pow! Pow! Pow pow pow!
Kang Chan got up and threw a punch.
As soon as they made eye contact, Kang Chan felt that the bastard in front of him had a lot of combat experience!
Pow!
Choi Jong-Il gripped his enemy’s right wrist as he took a hit to his waist.
One female agent dragged Yoo Hye-Sook behind the desk.
Pow pow pow! Pow! Pow pow!
As Kang Chan consecutively traded punches and elbows in-between the table and sofa with the enemy, a female agent landed on the table, having been punched in the throat.
Pow!
The enemy struck aside Kang Chan’s outstretched hand. At the same time, Kang Chan pushed his opponent’s elbow away.
If given the chance, they would pull out their guns.
That was why Choi Jong-Il was tightly holding onto the right wrist of the man he was facing.
He didn’t expect them to be this strong. They had wasted too much time already.
Kang Chan parried yet another elbow. The guy’s left fist immediately followed, and Kang Chan voluntarily let the bastard hit him!
Pow!
‘Kegh!’
The moment the enemy’s left fist landed on Kang Chan’s solar plexus, his own right fist made contact with the man’s chin.
“Kegh!”
Shit!
The punch he took to the gut knocked the wind out of him.
A quick look at bit.ly/3iBfjkV will leave you more fulfilled.
Son of a bitch!
Kang Chan got the man in a chokehold and held it as tightly as he could.
Crack!
He had to move, but he couldn’t budge because he couldn’t breathe.
Thwack!
A female agent took a hit right on the face and fell back.
Kang Chan bit the inside of his cheek.
“Keghh!”
The horrific pain and metallic taste of blood instantly shot him back to reality. He could breathe again.
With Choi Jong-Il still holding onto the other guy’s right hand, Kang Chan was given the perfect opportunity to attack.
Pow!
“Cough!”
The man wobbled as Kang Chan struck his neck.
Pow! Pow! Pow!
Kang Chan struck him in the neck three more times. The moment the enemy bent over, Kang Chan jabbed him in the throat with the knuckle of his middle finger.
Kang Chan grabbed the enemy’s head. He had to finish the fight right here, right now.
Crack!
With the man’s head now facing the wrong direction, Kang Chan had eliminated both of the enemies. The man he was holding collapsed in front of the sofa as soon as he let go.
Choi Jong-Il sat on the ground grabbing his chest. One female agent’s face was covered in blood.
When Kang Chan turned around, he saw Yoo Hye-Sook’s petrified eyes. As he walked forward, the agent who fell on the sofa got up just as Yoo Hye-Sook shook her head in surprise.
He stopped.
It seemed like Yoo Hye-Sook was having a hard time accepting that Kang Chan was a murderer.
Not many people could easily accept killing others—especially women. Yoo Hye-Sook would make those eyes even if she knew Kang Chan wasn’t her real son.
“Father’s in danger too,” Kang Chan said, blood dripping out of his mouth. He had bit his cheek so hard that his mouth was filled with blood.
“These women are special agents sent from the National Intelligence Service. Please follow them.”
The agent next to Yoo Hye-Sook answered her phone and talked briefly before nodding at Kang Chan. It meant Kang Dae-Kyung was safe.
Yoo Hye-Sook began to tremble.
Choi Jong-Il barely managed to stand up behind Kang Chan.
“Escort her to a safe place.”
“Yes, sir.”
When he turned around, he saw a female agent covering her bleeding nose and their two opponents who had collapsed into strange positions.
Kang Chan wiped his mouth with his palm.
Gulp.
Blood continued to spill from his cheek.
“I’ll take care of Father.”
He forced a smile.
His voice was a little strange because of the blood he had swallowed, but Yoo Hye-Sook remained silent. Her eyes still showed the same emotion as before.
This was how it had to be. It was supposed to be like this from the beginning, but he had been deceiving her all this time.
Kang Chan took a deep breath, then headed to the door.
“Kang… Chan.”
Just then, Yoo Hye-Sook’s shaking voice made him stop in his tracks.
When he turned around, Yoo Hye-Sook was already standing.
“You’re… okay, right?”
Kang Chan couldn’t say a word to his mother, even though she was clearly trying to overcome her fear and horror.
“You’re okay, right, Son?”
Yoo Hye-Sook pushed herself to approach Kang Chan, then lifted her poor, trembling hands to touch his cheek.
“I’m… fine. So you can’t get hurt either, okay?”
“I won’t.”
“I… I was just so surprised. But I—”
Yoo Hye-Sook stretched out her shaking arms.
“I love you. I love you, my son.”
She was trying to overcome and accept it.
Yoo Hye-Sook’s warm embrace felt like a luxury he couldn’t afford.
“Mother, go home with Father.”
Kang Chan signaled with his eyes, and a female agent approached Yoo Hye-Sook and held her shoulders.
Yoo Hye-Sook nodded, seemingly trying to tell him not to worry.
Kang Chan nodded back, then immediately left the office.
As he headed down the stairs, three male agents on the way up bowed to Choi Jong-Il.
“Mr. Kang is also fine.”
“Was anyone injured?”
“Three agents were hurt, but it’s not life-threatening.”
“Clean up the rest and escort Mr. Kang Dae-Kyung and Mrs. Yoo Hye-Sook home.”
“Yes, sir.”
Kang Chan immediately headed to the Kang Yoo Motors office with Choi Jong-Il.
“Father.”
Although his face was as pale as a sheet, Kang Dae-Kyung seemed to be in better shape than his wife.
“Mother is safe, but she seemed a little taken aback.”
“I’ll comfort her. You’re not hurt, are you?”
“No.”
He swallowed the blood in his mouth so it wouldn’t spill out. When he looked around, he saw the table in splinters and the area around the two bastards covered in blood.
“Please take care of Mother.”
“I will.”
Kang Dae-Kyung gritted his teeth and patted Kang Chan’s shoulders.
“I’ll be back.”
Kang Dae-Kyung looked directly into Kang Chan’s eyes and nodded.
Kang Chan turned around as Seok Kang-Ho, Choi Jong-Il, and Woo Hee-Seung followed him.
It was a relief that there were quite a few agents at Kang Yoo Motors.
Leaving the building, Kang Chan immediately hopped in the car. Kim Hyung-Jung appeared to already have received reports about the situation.
Drrrrk.
The van’s door shut.
“Manager Kim, I’ll lead the mission today.”
“I started with that in mind. You do everything you want to do, Mr. Kang Chan. It has been confirmed that Yang Jin-woo is currently at his Pyeongchang-Dong home. It appears we were misinformed about how many agents entered from Japan. There were at least twenty more in Pyeongchang-Dong.”
Kang Chan nodded and lifted his phone. It was answered on the third ring.
-Yeah! It’s me.
“Oh Gwang-Taek, we found the punks related to the Bundang incident from last time.”
-What? Really? Wait! Where are you? Kang Chan! Don’t go alone!
Oh Gwang-Taek sounded frantic.
“The bastards might have guns, so be careful. There are two places to hit, so split your guys into teams. I also have a request.”
-What is it? If you want me to stand back and watch, I’ll throw hands with you too.
Kang Chan chuckled before continuing, “I won’t be going to any of the two locations. I have to go to a different place, so I was going to ask you to kill all the people that are at the two locations. That’s the request.”
-I will. Do you think you can block off the police? If not, I have to prepare to take the blame.
“Wait.”
Kang Chan momentarily put down his phone.
“Can you hold the police off?”
“Yes.”
Everyone in the car, including Kim Hyung-Jung, had heard the phone conversation, so the car was brimming with tension.
“Oh Gwang-Taek, we can keep the police away. Don’t be too loud, and try not to make gunshot noises if possible.”
-Leave it to me. Also, Kang Chan—
Oh Gwang-Taek continued without giving Kang Chan time to reply.
-Thank you.
“Enough with that bullshit. Let’s grab some drinks together if we get out of this alive.”
-Got it.
The call ended.
Kang Chan breathed in deeply.
Considering their enemies’ skills, their team of six fighting against twenty of those enemy agents would be a suicide mission.
“Please put in a call to Mr. Jeon Dae-Geuk for me.”
Kim Hyung-Jung had likely prepared himself for Kang Chan to lead the mission. As if he was Kang Chan’s subordinate, he obediently pressed the call button as ordered and immediately handed over the phone.
-Jeon Dae-Geuk speaking. What is it?
“This is Kang Chan.”
-Kang Chan? Oh! Kang Chan! To what do I owe this honor?
“Mr. Jeon Dae-Geuk, we’ll be launching an attack on the agents that came from Japan. As you might have already guessed, this is a covert operation. We need you and any subordinate you can trust.”
Was his explanation too short? Should he have said their opponent was a man about to carry out a terrorist attack or that the enemy was Yang Jin-Woo?
He heard Jeon Dae-Geuk breathe about two times before he replied.
-I and five others will go. How many are on their side?
“There are at least twenty. We will have twelve on our side if we include your people.”
-Where do we meet?
“Mr. Kim Hyung-Jung will tell you the location.”
Kang Chan handed the phone back to Kim Hyung-Jung. The latter answered a few questions and gave the name of a hotel as they made arrangements to meet in front of it.
Finally, Kang Chan called one last person.
-Hello? My people have all been dispatched, and the guys at D.I. were confirmed to be mere investors. Where are you?
Kang Chan thanked Kim Tae-Jin and gave him the same explanation that he had just given Jeon Dae-Geuk.
-Actually, I did think you and Kim Hyung-Jung seemed a bit strange these days. I’ll take Sang-Hyun as well. Will that be all right with you?
“Let’s do that. As for the meetup place…”
When Kang Chan glanced at Kim Hyung-Jung, Kim Hyung-Jung replied, “Oryun Hotel.”
“He says the meeting place is at Oryun Hotel.”
-I’ll leave immediately.
Kang Chan hung up and turned back. Kim Hyung-Jung smirked as he spoke up.
“Yang Jin-Woo, that son of a bitch! Let’s do whatever it takes to end him.”
Kang Chan and Seok Kang-Ho smirked, and Choi Jong-Il and Woo Hee-Seung quickly looked ahead.
1. An officetel (office+hotel) is very much like a studio in a multi-purpose building where there are both residential and commercial units. At times, the rent is paid by the employer and the person living in it just needs to pay utilities as the officetel could be considered as a work expense. ☜