Chapter 49
Chapter 49
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 49
Chapter Title: Equipment Repair
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By the time Cha Eun-seo finished tidying up the empty seats at the PC bang and returned, Scarlett had finished her meal.
Scarlett had cleaned her plate spotless and stood up from her seat.
"Ah. That was delicious."
Na Gang-in said,
"That's 15,000 won."
She showed him her left arm.
"I only have one working hand right now, so it's hard to get my wallet out."
"You managed to get here with just that one hand, huh."
"I took a car. It's waiting outside."
"And the money?"
"Give me your phone number. I'll send it via KakaoTalk."
Na Gang-in asked, surprised,
"You know how to use that, being American?"
Scarlett boasted,
"My grandma's Korean, remember? I know a lot of people here."
Na Gang-in gave her his number.
Scarlett confirmed it and said,
"I'm flying out today."
"Safe travels."
"I'll be back in Korea soon, though. Can you work as a part-time chef then? We're having a yacht party at sea."
"I'm busy."
Scarlett glanced at the PC bang kitchen.
"You sure look busy?"
"I've got a lot going on besides this place."
"Got it. Got it. I'll contact you on this number. You have to come."
After she left the PC bang, Cha Eun-seo made a huge fuss.
"Gang-in oppa. Did that foreign girl just get your number?"
"She's just gonna send the meal payment. And she said she'd hire me for part-time cooking through this number."
"No way. She totally just wanted your number... Who even is she?"
"Beats me. I don't even know her name."
Na Gang-in truly had no idea who she was.
He had rescued her from the seventh floor of that building, but no one had properly told him her identity.
Shin Eun-ha knew. She'd heard who she was from THO Entertainment President Lee Tae-ho while at the restaurant in that building.
Shin Eun-ha answered for him.
"She's the president of an American company."
Cha Eun-seo sounded envious.
"Whoa. And she's that young? Must be rich."
"Not sure about that, but she's a former engineer who became president. Apparently, she developed some tech herself."
"Rich, pretty, and smart too? Wow. Makes me feel inferior. Right?"
Shin Eun-ha flicked her hair back with her left hand.
"I've got some money too, and I'm prettier, so I don't feel that inferior..."
"This unnie's unbelievable. Want me to go around spilling your dark history?"
Shin Eun-ha immediately backed down.
"Eun-seo, hold up. I'm an idol, remember."
Scarlett Kelly got into the car waiting in the parking lot and headed to the airport.
Her friend and secretary Jessica asked from the passenger seat,
"How'd the talk go?"
"About as expected."
"Didn't go well, huh?"
"But I got some new info."
Jessica's eyes widened.
"You found out which special forces unit he's from! As expected of Scarlett!"
"He cooks really well."
"Huh?"
Scarlett smiled brightly.
"His cooking was so good, it really surprised me."
"What does that...?"
THO Entertainment President Lee Tae-ho's father was the president of Ironman Engineering, a company that made equipment for the military and police.
Lee Tae-ho's older brother, Ironman Engineering's division head Lee Tae-seong, was using Incheon Airport for an overseas business trip.
But in the airport lobby, he ran into someone unexpected.
"Huh? Scarlett Kelly?"
Scarlett tilted her head at Lee Tae-seong.
"Who?"
"I'm Lee Tae-seong, division head at Ironman Engineering."
"Ah, Ironman Engineering. Nice to meet you."
Lee Tae-seong glanced at her arm brace and offered a greeting.
"I heard you went through a lot. Glad you're not hurt worse."
Scarlett's expression hardened. Jessica stepped forward.
"What are you talking about? Our president just sprained her arm."
"Ah, you're the one who was with her at the restaurant. I can tell from the bandage on your head."
He knew why Jessica had a wound patch on her head. At this point, denying it was pointless.
Secretary Jessica snapped fiercely,
"How do you know? Our president's presence at the incident site is confidential. But you know about her and me? Ironman Engineering's intel is impressive. Connections in the police? Did you run a background check on us?"
Lee Tae-seong smiled awkwardly and waved his hands.
"No, no. My little brother went there to eat and got caught up in it. I heard from him."
"What?"
"No background check. Ha, haha."
Scarlett asked,
"Little brother?"
"You saw him. He was guarding the stairs between the fifth and sixth floors."
Scarlett's expression softened. She knew exactly who he meant. They even looked a bit alike.
"Ah, that was your brother."
Lee Tae-seong was slightly flustered by how sharp Scarlett and her secretary's reactions were—sharper than expected.
Lee Tae-ho had gone to that restaurant at Lee Tae-seong's request.
Lee Tae-seong had planned to join his brother for a meal and casually approach Scarlett as if by chance.
But when the incident happened, Lee Tae-seong hadn't been there.
There was a big difference between hearing about it secondhand and experiencing it firsthand.
Lee Tae-seong regretted it.
'I was gonna start with that and steer into business talk, but this might just put her on guard.'
Lee Tae-seong subtly shifted the conversation to his brother.
"My brother's the president of a film and performance entertainment company. The chef at that restaurant appears on TV sometimes. They already knew each other. That's why he was there that day."
"Ah, I see."
The response was lukewarm. Lee Tae-seong tried another topic—one that usually worked domestically.
"My brother produced that blockbuster hit movie recently. 'Sunny Day.' Have you seen it?"
"No. I spent the last two days in the hospital, so I..."
She paused.
The Jackal had tried to kidnap her and a pretty woman at the end. That woman was an actress. And today, Na Gang-in had met that actress at the PC bang where he worked.
Jessica said from the side,
"Plane time's almost up."
Lee Tae-seong quickly offered his business card.
"I see. Hope we meet again."
Scarlett told Jessica,
"Give him my card. I can't use my card holder with only one good hand."
Lee Tae-seong's face lit up.
"No need. I'll call you. Hahaha!"
After parting with Lee Tae-seong, Scarlett said to Jessica,
"Show me photos of Korean actresses. Twenties, or looking twenties. And... pretty."
Jessica pulled out her tablet PC, searched, and showed her photos.
"Here."
"My hand's like this right now. Flip through them."
A few photos passed. A familiar face appeared.
Scarlett said,
"That's her. This woman."
"Who?"
"You passed out then, so you didn't see. The woman who almost got kidnapped with me by the Jackal."
"Ah..."
"Let's see what she's about."
Jessica tapped the photo. Shin Eun-ha's profile came up.
Jessica read from the screen.
"Name's Shin Eun-ha. She's done supporting roles in movies and dramas. Her latest was..."
"'Sunny Day.' She was in that."
"Supporting there too, but apparently her screen time was almost lead-level."
Scarlett had been busy even in the hospital. She'd had to handle suddenly upping the security level on the confidential server and keeping the company researchers calm.
Too busy with that to search online for the people she'd met. This was her first time hearing Shin Eun-ha's name.
Scarlett said,
"She was at that PC bang today."
"Huh? Why would an actress be there...?"
Scarlett recalled the seafood stir-fry from there. It had been delicious.
And those ingredients for the stir-fry? Shin Eun-ha had bought them at the department store and brought them to the PC bang.
"She bought ingredients and asked Na Gang-in to cook for her. Must be close enough to make that request."
"Yeah, makes sense."
"The president of the company that made that movie must be close to Na Gang-in too, right? That's why he trusted him to hold the stairs."
"Probably...?"
Scarlett spun Lee Tae-seong's business card on one finger.
"That movie, 'Sunny Day.' What's it about?"
"Romantic comedy with action. Lots of praise for the action scenes."
"Action? Hmm... Got time before the flight?"
Jessica had just told Lee Tae-seong the plane time was almost up.
"Most of our Korea schedule got canceled, so yeah, plenty of time. Enough to watch a movie before boarding. There's a theater here at the airport. Wanna go now?"
Scarlett started to step away, then looked at Jessica.
"We're watching for intel gathering."
Jessica, who'd been her friend since high school, snorted.
"Sure you are."
The next day, Na Gang-in headed to the production outpost he'd set up on the outskirts of Seoul. It wasn't far from the apartment he'd secured as his residential base.
This production outpost had originally been a metalworking shop. Hardly anything inside had been touched yet.
He looked around the shop interior and said,
"Ji-in. Check the condition of all the equipment here."
Combat Support AI Jeon Ji-in displayed the process via the AR lens.
First, faint rectangular lines traced around all the equipment in the shop.
The rectangles quickly shrank to outline the equipment precisely.
The outline of the most expensive CNC machine inside turned red.
Other equipment outlines turned red one by one. Eventually, everything was marked red.
The tools were the same. Some briefly flashed yellow, but turned red when he approached.
"Why the color change?"
There were a few yellow tools at best. No blues.
"What's wrong with all this stuff? You sure?"
"They all look wrecked even to the naked eye, but I didn't think it'd be this bad."
"No wonder it was cheap to rent. Said use whatever, even if it breaks—nothing left to break."
"Ji-in, you suggested renting this place. You found it online. Said it was the best for production."
"True. Fixed that junkyard car with it not long ago."
A few days prior, he'd stopped by the used car market and bought a car headed for scrap due to some mystery breakdown.
Towed it here, tinkered with the electricals as Jeon Ji-in guided, and it ran fine.
Na Gang-in instructed,
"Let's go buy the tools and materials we need. While we're at it, fix this place up. Building's too rundown."
At the general hospital, Surgery Department Head Lee Jeong-ho closely examined two photos.
One was Scarlett Kelly's arm gunshot wound; the other, a patient with an abdominal impalement from a crosswalk accident.
"From the photos, the technique looks definitely similar."
He asked surgeon Kim Jung-seok,
"You saw both cases firsthand, so you know better. What do you think?"
Kim Jung-seok declared,
"Same doctor stitched both. Stitch spacing matches, knot style identical."
"The gunshot one didn't even need more than a few stitches for hemostasis. Could be coincidence?"
"Suturing with button thread? That's no coincidence."
"Fair point."
Lee Jeong-ho tapped the table with his finger.
Kim Jung-seok asked,
"Department head, you took vacation and went to America to find a surgeon with this precise, fast suturing skill. You found him—why the long face?"
"Not sure if we can call it found... Don't even know the doctor's name."
"What?"
"Checked with police. Can't disclose."
"A doctor's asking another doctor's name—why not tell?"
"No idea. Frustrating."
"You're not giving up, right? We need this doctor for Yeon-ji's surgery."
Lee Jeong-ho slammed his palm on the desk.
"What father gives up on his daughter? We'll save her, no matter what."
"That's our department head!"
"First, tap my network for domestic docs. You know anyone? Police, prosecutors, reporters."
"Me? Nah..."
Surgery Department Head Lee Jeong-ho sighed.
"Sigh. Where the hell is that doctor now, and what're they doing?"
"Saving lives at some hospital, probably."
Shin Eun-ha stopped by the production outpost and was stunned.
"Gang-in oppa. What are you doing?"
"Reviving this machine. It was busted."
Na Gang-in had fully disassembled the CNC machine and was reassembling it.
"What's this?"
"Cuts and shapes metal. Gotta fix this first to make parts for the others."
Shin Eun-ha didn't know machines well. But even she could tell from a glance.
"Looks totally ancient. It work?"
After finishing assembly of the key drive components, Na Gang-in said,
"Trust me. I'm good at fixing these. Watch. Flip the power switch, and this part'll whir to life."
Na Gang-in flipped the switch.
Sparks immediately erupted right next to the part he'd mentioned.
Shin Eun-ha jumped back in fright.
"That's fine?!"
"It's fine. Just a little spark."
"Ah! Smoke!"
Not just sparks—the freshly repaired machine was now billowing smoke.
Na Gang-in quickly shut off the switch.
"Whew. Almost caught fire. Ji-in. Can you really save this?"
Equipment has completely died.
"Huh?"