Chapter 108
Chapter 108
108.
The Birth of the Second Nemesis
A few days later, at △△ Hotel in Itaewon, Seoul.
A man in a neat suit emerged from there. It was Wen Wei, one of Shinwoo's colleagues. With his tall height, muscular build, and clean-cut, handsome looks, he attracted the attention of people passing through the lobby.
"This should be enough, right?"
Wen Wei had mostly wrapped up his affairs in China and had secretly entered the country late last night to surprise his colleagues.
His boss, Baek Shin-woo, had told him he would have him report to the company, so he even had a suit tailored in advance. Perhaps that was why he kept adjusting his attire whenever he saw a mirror or glass reflecting his image as he walked down to the lobby.
"Indeed… my looks are the best."
With a touch of self-admiration, he exited the hotel's main entrance and headed towards the taxi stand. As he approached an incoming taxi and reached for the door, someone pushed Wei aside from behind.
Thwack!
"...Huh?"
"Sorry-imda!"
With clumsy Korean, a woman brushed past Wei, jumped into the taxi first, and sped off.
Pushed aside by her, Wei was left sitting dumbfounded on the ground. He was so taken aback that he couldn't say anything, only staring at the receding taxi.
"...Who was that woman?"
She had passed by so quickly that he couldn't even get a good look at her face. Meanwhile, Wei felt the gazes of others on him and quickly got up.
"Who is that woman?! Wait! But why couldn't I react?"
It wasn't as if he was on high alert, but if it had been an ordinary person, he would have been more than capable of responding to the collision.
However, the woman had pushed him aside and passed by without giving him any chance to react.
If that woman had been an Assassin, he would have been stabbed through the side.
"...Could it be, a killer?"
Then, Wei remembered the destination the woman had shouted just before the taxi door closed.
[MH Group headquarters, please!]
The fact that Shinwoo's mother had almost been assassinated before flashed through his mind. Becoming increasingly serious, Wei ignored the attention focused on him as he muttered to himself and got into a taxi.
"Please go to MH Group headquarters! As quickly as possible!"
Thanks to Shinwoo, Wei spoke fluent Korean. He thought he had to find the suspicious woman.
Since it was difficult to chase after the taxi that had already left, arriving first was key. However, instead of going fast, the taxi crawled forward like a snail due to the congested roads.
"Excuse me… driver? How long will it take?"
"If it's fast, 30 minutes, if it's slow, about 40 minutes."
"It takes that long?"
When he had checked in his hotel room last night, the closest distance was about 8.4km. At that time, it showed about 20 minutes.
At this, the taxi driver sighed.
"Hoo! I'm a taxi driver, but during rush hour, public transportation is faster than a taxi."
But now, taking public transportation seemed difficult as well.
Wei had no choice but to call Shinwoo on his cell phone to warn him of the danger.
"Ah……."
He rummaged through his pockets but only found his wallet. In his excitement to prepare for work, he had forgotten his cell phone plugged into the charger.
"...Driver! I left my cell phone at the hotel, so I'm sorry, but could I borrow your cell phone for a moment?"
"Young man, you're quite clumsy."
At the polite request, the taxi driver readily lent him his cell phone.
Wei tried to find Shinwoo's business card to call him right away, but he remembered that he had left that next to his charging cell phone as well.
Unable to do anything else, he accessed the internet on the cell phone and connected to WAVE CHAT, which Jang Man-soo had recently completed. Before logging in, a question for authentication popped up.
[1. What is MANDU's favorite color?]
"……."
Although Wei was relatively close to Jang Man-soo, he didn't know the answer to that question.
Blocked by the first question, Wei's stress soared, and he shouted in Chinese.
"Agh! Jang Man-soo! You son of a bitch!"
At the same time, the taxi driver, who had thought Wei was Korean, was startled by the Chinese exclamation.
.
.
.
MH Future Security office.
Everyone had just arrived at work and was working. A little later, Jang Man-soo began to frantically dig into both ears alternately.
Of course, Jang Man-soo's fashion today was also no less flamboyant. Strawberry pink… that color tie with a green jacket and pants.
"Agh! Who's been cursing me since earlier? Why is it so itchy?!"
From the opposite seat, Lillian let out a snicker.
"You have more than one or two people who would curse you?"
"Yeah~ Rainbow reflection~"
"How childish."
"You too~!"
"Want to die?"
As another fight was about to begin, Shinwoo sighed.
At that moment, the office door was knocked on. The person standing beyond the glass was Meian. He pressed the button to open it, and she came inside.
"Aren't you off today?"
Meian had become a member of the new special security team along with the team members who had transferred from FEROX. And today, the day and night security duty was for the four of them, excluding her.
"I was bored of just being at the hotel, so I came."
"...The company isn't a place to come when you're bored. So go back and rest."
"No way~! I'll just rest here!"
He thought she had become calmer than before, but that didn't last long either. Of course, she didn't act like a scatterbrain in official settings.
"Then go to the special team's office instead of here."
On the 4th basement floor where KITE was located, there was a separate office prepared for Shinwoo's special security team in addition to the training grounds.
"There are only old men there~! And there are too many guys who bother me."
"Who's bothering you?"
Come to think of it, Meian's hands held small, colorful shopping bags.
"They give me this kind of stuff every time we meet. Well, it tastes good, so I eat it, though."
"What is it?"
"Chocolates, cookies, candies, stuff like that. Well… it's because I'm pretty, though."
Meian only had a bad temper when she was angry, but if she kept her mouth shut and stayed still, she was like a young girl. Her appearance was incredibly youthful, and her round eyes and high nose were enough to make any beauty pale in comparison, so it was no wonder she was popular.
'Why are there so many people with bad eyesight in this company?'
With that, Shinwoo glanced at Lillian.
Her brow furrowed deeply as their eyes met.
"What? What is it?"
"Ah, nothing……."
He remembered Myung Woon-suk staring intently at Lillian. Of course, besides him, Lillian's popularity was considerable, so there were quite a few male employees in the company who admired her like Meian.
However, unlike Meian, Lillian exuded coldness while working, so no one approached her.
"Anyway, since you came to work on your day off without permission, there's no overtime pay or anything. There's nothing in particular to assign you to either."
"Then can I stay here?"
At Meian's question, filled with anticipation, Shinwoo said firmly.
"No. This is a place to work. So go down to KITE."
"Heeing……."
Beep-beep-beep—
At that moment, an internal call rang at Shinwoo's desk.
[CEO Baek Shin-woo. A Mr. Wen Wei is here to see you.]
"Yes? Ah, I'll be right down, so please tell him to wait a moment."
Because it was received on the speakerphone, others could hear it as well.
"Why is Wei already here?"
"Why is Wei already here?"
Jang Man-soo and Lillian, who had been fighting until just now, jumped up and said in unison, then glared at each other.
"I don't know. I didn't get any advance notice… I'll go down and bring him up for now. Just in case, Man-soo, set up Wei's seat."
"Ok—!"
As Shinwoo was about to head out, Meian followed him closely.
"Why are you?"
"I want to go too!"
"...Do as you please."
Soon, the two came out together and got on the elevator.
Meian asked with a curious expression.
"Who is Wen Wei?"
"At least use honorifics at the company. If you don't know, at least learn quickly."
Since her Korean skills were still clumsy, she mostly spoke informally.
"You can just speak in Chinese when other people are around."
"Sigh……."
"So! Who is Wen Wei? Judging by the name, is he Chinese like me? I saw Lillian unni and Man-soo oppa seemed to know him too."
Since when did they become unni and oppa… Shinwoo was too tired to argue now.
"He's a colleague who will be working with them."
"There was someone else we knew in China besides us?"
"People are getting on. Be quiet."
When the elevator stopped on another floor, the people who were about to get on recognized Shinwoo and quietly bowed their heads.
Arriving on the first floor, they could see Wen Wei, neatly dressed, standing in front of the information desk.
"Wei—!"
"Oh? Boss……."
Shinwoo anticipated what he was about to say, so he hurriedly approached and covered his mouth.
"I'd appreciate it if you didn't use the old titles when other people are around."
"Ah, sorry. More importantly, something big happened. It seems like an Assassin has entered here."
"Huh? Assassin? What do you mean?"
"I was trying to get a taxi at the hotel earlier, and a woman whose presence I didn't catch took a taxi and said she was going here."
Among the colleagues of Triad Eye, Wei was the best hand-to-hand combatant. Since it was Wei who was saying it, he couldn't just laugh it off.
"You? But a woman?"
"I didn't see her face, but she was wearing a black suit and had her hair in pigtails… Ah! She was wearing the exact same outfit and hairstyle! Ah, it's her!"
Wei's finger pointed towards Meian, who was approaching from behind Shinwoo. He hadn't seen her face, but her figure, clothing, and hairstyle matched perfectly.
At that moment, Meian frowned deeply with an unpleasant expression, having been pointed at.
"Did I f*** your mom? Who are you? Do you know me?" (What the fuck? Who are you? Do you know me?)"
At her words spoken in Chinese, Wen Wei wore a surprised expression.
"Why is that woman here? Do you know her?"
As the finger-pointing continued, Meian's brow and eyebrows rippled like waves.
"Why do you keep pointing? I'll break it off, you know?"
"Woah, woah. Calm down, both of you. This is Wen Wei, my colleague I mentioned earlier. This is Meian, my bodyguard. And Yakuza Weishuan's adopted daughter."
"Yakuza?! That Yakuza? Then is she that Yaksa?"
While working as Ghost, Wei had used the Yakuza's local organization as an agency. Naturally, he knew about the head of that organization, Yakuza Weishuan.
However, in the original future, Wei had entered the Seven Circle Society after the Yakuza's downfall, so it was difficult to know the details. He hadn't paid attention to anything other than work-related matters because he had to thoroughly hide his identity.
"Who are you calling a Yaksa? Ah, you're that guy. The one who sat down powerlessly after getting into a taxi at the hotel earlier. How can you do anything with such weak legs?"
Meian also remembered where she had seen Wei.
At this, Wei became even more enraged.
"My legs are weak? You little thing!"
"What?! Little?"
Compared to Meian, who was 162cm tall, Wen Wei was about 180cm. The two glared at each other as if they were about to grab each other by the collar.
At that moment, Shinwoo saw the figures of Jang Man-soo and Lillian in the two of them.
At the same time, the gazes of people passing through the lobby were drawn to the two people whose voices had grown louder. Of course, the KITE guards who were guarding the lobby tried to step in, but since Shinwoo, the CEO of KITE, was among them, they only watched the situation.
"Stop! This isn't the place to do this, so both of you come with me."
Despite Shinwoo's plea, the two walked quietly while growling at each other with their eyes.