Uninvited Guests
Kang In-hyuk finished the Cheolsan Capital bidding and, after wrapping up with his team, descended to the first-floor lobby.
“Everyone worked hard today.”
Team Leader Jeong Jong-hyun stood with the rest of the staff as he spoke.
“We only handled the procedural side of things. The truly important work was all done by you, Director.”
It wasn’t mere courtesy. The majority of profits generated within the M&A and PEF division—including Cheolsan Capital—came from In-hyuk’s project portfolio.
Of course, the employees weren’t slacking, but compared to the revenue In-hyuk had brought in so far, their contributions were negligible.
“Still, you all put in real effort. Head back safely.”
“Aren’t you coming with us, Director?”
The staff planned to take taxis to the airport just as they had upon arriving in Busan, then catch their flights.
Since In-hyuk had arrived separately, they had no idea how he’d gotten there.
“I drove here.”
“That’ll take forever.”
“I have a stop to make on the way. I’ll take my leave first.”
In-hyuk headed down to the underground parking lot with Van Hester, who had been standing beside him. The car Hong Yu-geon had brought forward was already waiting; they climbed in immediately.
“Straight to Seoul?”
Hong Yu-geon asked as he started the engine. From the back seat, In-hyuk handed him a note.
“Head here.”
“…Mungyeong? Why there?”
“I have my reasons. Drop me off there, then you two can finish the task I mentioned earlier.”
“You’re going alone? No tails today, but… still, you never know.”
“It’s important. Everything’s already prepared at the destination, so just drop me off.”
“What’s the job? Need any help?”
It was less worry and more curiosity driving the questions.
“Not really.”
The vehicle sped toward its target. A little over three hours later, they arrived at an abandoned construction site on the outskirts of Mungyeong-eup, near a rural road.
The site had been intended for a resort, but construction had been halted long ago.
Hong Yu-geon parked the car, his face full of suspicion.
“…This the right place?”
“It is. You two carry on as I said earlier.”
Thud—
In-hyuk got out immediately, watched the car drive off, then headed deeper inside.
Passing the bleak, ash-gray buildings, he found a van and a sedan that someone had prepared in advance. He rummaged familiarly beneath the van’s trunk, located the key, and opened the door.
Inside were black combat fatigues, a full-face skull mask, and a knife. He changed clothes first, then moved his original outfit and belongings into the sedan.
At that moment, In-hyuk suddenly froze. He reached behind his back and drew the knife he’d stashed there.
“If you don’t want to get stabbed for sneaking around, you’d better come out quietly.”
His voice was low, almost a mutter, yet perfectly clear.
From behind, inside a building whose frame was only half-finished, a man cautiously poked his head out. It was Hong Yu-geon—the same man who had dropped In-hyuk off at the construction site entrance moments ago.
“What the—? Boss… you knew it was me?”
“If you were really trying to follow me in secret, you wouldn’t have been broadcasting your presence like that.”
Hong Yu-geon grinned as he approached In-hyuk’s side.
“Still, I didn’t think you’d notice this fast.”
“Enough nonsense. Where’s Van?”
“He has work to do. So he left separately.”
“Call him back.”
“Dressed like that… where exactly are you going? To take care of someone?”
His tone was quite playful.
In-hyuk’s expression turned serious. He let out a long sigh through his nose.
“If necessary.”
“Whoa! Why are you saying something so terrifying like you’re just going to buy neighborhood fish-shaped bread?”
“If you’re thinking of following me, drop it.”
“What the hell is this about?”
“I’m moving separately precisely because I have no intention of telling you.”
When In-hyuk climbed into the van’s driver seat, Hong Yu-geon hurriedly ran over and slid into the passenger seat.
“Aww, come on! Why are you being so cold?”
“You might regret coming along.”
“You really won’t explain anything to the end?”
“I’ve clearly warned you. Whatever situation you end up in later, don’t blame anyone else.”
The van left the construction site as is. Silence stretched for over an hour afterward until Hong Yu-geon finally squirmed and stretched.
“Ughhh—! Where the hell are we going?”
The atmosphere had grown so heavy that even he seemed worried now.
Yet In-hyuk continued to offer no answer. Eventually the van carrying the two men crossed the border of Chungcheong Province and entered Yeoju-si in Gyeonggi-do.
After driving quite a while longer, they turned onto a forest road before the vehicle finally stopped.
“…What are we doing here? You’re not planning to bury me, right?”
In-hyuk picked up the mask he had placed on the dashboard.
“From here on, you might truly regret this. Whatever choice you make afterward, I won’t stop you. But if you interfere, I won’t stand by either.”
“…What have you been talking about this whole time? Can’t you just explain properly?”
“Even if I told you right now, it wouldn’t make any difference. By the way, don’t you have anything to cover your face?”
Hong Yu-geon’s gaze shifted to the skull mask In-hyuk had just picked up.
“Are we going to rob somewhere? Wait… the boss’s hobby isn’t breaking into empty houses in the countryside, is it?”
In-hyuk rummaged through the glove compartment and the pocket behind the passenger seat, then found a black plastic bag.
“Poke holes in this and use it.”
“…”
“If you don’t want to, just wait here.”
“Tsk! Is this really all there is? Ugh… what the hell was in this bag?”
The bag gave off a musty odor from having been left in the car for who knows how long.
“How would I know? And there’s nothing else.”
At In-hyuk’s firm reply, Hong Yu-geon grumbled but still poked holes in the bag and pulled it over his head.
“This is insane! Happy now? But seriously, what are we doing?”
“Just follow my orders quietly. No matter what you see, don’t interfere until the job is done.”
In-hyuk, who had gotten out of the car, also put on his mask.
They immediately entered the densely wooded forest and climbed the mountain path with familiar steps, not looking around at all.
Rustle— Rustle—
The two men pushed through the underbrush for about thirty minutes before stopping at a downward slope. Roughly four hundred meters below lay an old house.
Hong Yu-geon immediately noticed something strange.
“What’s with that place? The vibe is super creepy.”
It was an old two-story standalone house without a fence. From its dilapidated state, it looked completely uninhabited.
Yet in the clearing in front of the house, four black vehicles of various sizes were parked.
“What kind of place do you think it is?”
“Don’t tell me it’s some government safe house?”
“Correct. More precisely, it used to be used by special forces operatives under the Defense Intelligence Command.”
“How do you even know about a place like this? And why past tense? From the looks of it, it’s still in use.”
The UID under the Defense Intelligence Command had been disbanded two years ago after its operational period ended. Naturally, In-hyuk—who had been discharged in 2020 and left the unit—shouldn’t have known about it.
But in his previous life, he had heard about it by chance when he ran into someone else from the UID. As Hong Yu-geon said, this safe house shouldn’t have been in use at this time.
“I don’t know either. Anyway, from now on we’re going to raid this place. I’d prefer if no one was here, but with the cars outside, that’s probably too much to hope for.”
“What are we supposed to do?”
“I won’t kill anyone, so if you run into someone, just knock them out or incapacitate them enough that they can’t move for a while.”
“Boss! Have you actually lost your mind? Why are you doing this?”
Hong Yu-geon couldn’t understand In-hyuk’s actions at all.
“I’m not forcing you. So if you’re not coming with me, take the car we came in and go back quietly.”
“What are you going to do in there alone?”
“I have something to look into.”
“Sigh… I can’t understand why a company executive who just closed a major deal is doing this.”
“We don’t have time. Decide quickly.”
In-hyuk hadn’t expected Hong Yu-geon’s interference either. Since he couldn’t simply shake him off by force, he had pressed for a choice.
“Guess I have no choice.”
“Then I’ll take the front. You circle around from the east. Operation time starts now—thirty minutes. We hit and run within that window. When the timer ends, don’t go back to where we parked the car. Head to these coordinates instead: 37.132618, 127.676582, southeast.”
At that explanation, Hong Yu-geon stared at In-hyuk as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
In-hyuk held out his wristwatch. It meant to set the timer as he had said.
“…No. We move together. No matter what you’re thinking, as someone who gets paid, I have to protect my employer.”
A natural sigh escaped.
“Hoo… Fine, have it your way. Once we’re inside, collect every storage device you see. I’ll look for something else.”
“Ugh… This is crazy! Wouldn’t it be better to move after the sun goes down?”
It was only a little past three in the afternoon.
“If you’re going to keep complaining…”
“Okay, okay, I got it!”
In the end, Hong Yu-geon also set the timer on his wristwatch like In-hyuk, counted down, and pressed the start button.
30:00
Beep—
At the same time, the two men dashed toward the safe house below. As the distance closed, they slowed down and pressed themselves against the house wall as quietly as possible.
“I’d hoped there’d be no one… looks like about three?”
“How can you even tell that?”
Hong Yu-geon had caught their presence using his battlefield experience, but pinpointing the exact number of people was difficult.
“If you don’t want to believe me, don’t.”
They slowly approached the entrance. Before long, footsteps sounded and a man in casual clothes stepped outside with a cigarette in his mouth.
In that instant, Hong Yu-geon moved first, as if giving up.
But In-hyuk was faster. From the man’s right side, he twisted the wrist inward and clamped down on the neck with his other hand.
“Ugh—!”
With his arm locked and pressure applied perfectly, the man struggled briefly before going limp.
Hong Yu-geon, watching from the side, looked shocked. He wanted to ask about the skill he had just witnessed, but since they had to stay quiet, he kept his mouth shut.
In-hyuk carefully laid the unconscious man down and gestured inside with his eyes. Then he entered through the front door, pointed out directions for each of them with his fingers, and moved.
The living room was packed with desks, computer equipment, whiteboards, photographs whose contents were hard to decipher at a glance, documents, and more.
The earlier presences had come from a room on the first floor and from the second floor.
At that moment, another man came down from the second floor. This time Hong Yu-geon rushed forward first to subdue him.
Crash—
“Who the hell are you bastards?!”
A loud voice rang out, and the man who had been in the room came rushing out as well.
While the other two were engaged, In-hyuk moved in as if he had been waiting and attacked from the side.
But the man, who had come out tense and startled, dodged In-hyuk’s hand and counterattacked. He thrust his arm in a wrapping motion while aiming a strike at the head.
‘As expected of the UID?’
In a split second, In-hyuk folded the arm he had first extended, pretended to knock the hand away, then grabbed and twisted it.
Crack— Thud—
“What the…!”
The man staggered back in shock from the joint lock combined with strikes to his side and solar plexus.
In-hyuk didn’t miss the opening. He twisted the captured arm even harder, lifted the man’s body, and slammed him into the floor.
Boom—
The long table that had been in that spot collapsed to the floor along with the man’s body.
“Ughhh…”
However, the man seemed to have considerable endurance. Despite the heavy impact, he groaned and tried to get up.
Of course, In-hyuk wasn’t about to let him. He immediately kicked the man’s chin, knocking him out completely.
“Gah!”
Thud— Thump thump— Thud—
Meanwhile, the fight between Hong Yu-geon and his opponent had moved from the stairs to the kitchen area, where they were exchanging blows furiously.
“Still young, huh? Your skills aren’t what they used to be.”
In-hyuk looked around, then walked over to a cabinet standing in one corner of the living room. Without hesitation, he grabbed the handle and ripped the entire door off.
Crack—
Inside, an emergency stun gun was mounted. In-hyuk pulled one out and fired it at the back of the man fighting Hong Yu-geon.
Crackle—
“Aaaargh—!”
“Aaaargh!”
However, there were two screams instead of one.
It just so happened to be the exact moment Hong Yu-geon had wrapped his hand around the man’s neck and was about to deliver a knee strike.
“Ah…”