Chapter 92
Chapter 92
92.
A Welcome Uninvited Guest
Shinwoo watched the approaching masked figure with a hardened expression. Though the face and body were covered in black, it was clear that it was a man.
At the same time, the techniques the masked man had used earlier were all too familiar.
"Wen... Wen Wei?"
At that murmur, the man removed his mask. A refreshing, neat, and handsome face was revealed. Of course, it was ten years younger than the face he originally knew.
"Long time no see, Boss. I was worried you wouldn't recognize me, but I guess not."
"You son of a...!"
Shinwoo immediately rushed over and gave Wen Wei a hearty hug. After Jang Man-soo and Lillian, he had now found Wen Wei, another of his Triad Eye colleagues whom he considered family.
"I saw information about someone with the same name and appearance as Boss in a request that came in for me, so I came to check it out, just in case. And it really was you."
Shinwoo tilted his head, finding the explanation difficult to understand due to the overwhelming emotions.
"...A request?"
"Im Hee-yeon, she's your birth mother, right?"
As soon as that name was mentioned, he knew the situation immediately.
"Don't tell me... you're the assassin called Ghost? The one who said you wouldn't take the request? No, more importantly, we should say hello first."
Shinwoo tossed him a spare earphone from his pocket.
Wen Wei, wondering what it was, put it in his ear and heard a familiar voice.
[Wei! Long time no see!]
[Wei~ Didn't you miss your sister?]
It was Jang Man-soo and Lillian.
Wen Wei was startled to hear that.
"What? You guys already met the Boss?"
[I was the first.]
[Like that's something to brag about. It was only possible because we were in the same country, Korea.]
Shinwoo smiled at the sight of him starting to chat. Now, all that was left were Rick and Hector.
"Let's save the catching up for later. We need to deal with the situation here first."
Go Sam-woo and Gye Jong-wi were still lying on the floor of the passage. Wen Wei's attacks had inflicted so much damage that they couldn't even move.
[Wen Wei, put the mask back on. I'll tamper with the CCTV in that area.]
"After that?"
Shinwoo answered this time.
"Take those two and go to this point. It's a temporary hideout."
Shinwoo wrote the address on the blank space of his business card and handed it over.
"I never thought I'd receive a business card from you, Boss."
"Just hurry up and go. You have to take those guys with you. You have a Cannon Car, right?"
Lim Do-hwa had already shown others that she fought with Lillian, so there was no helping it.
But Go Sam-woo and Gye Jong-wi were different. They had to keep the fact that Shinwoo had stepped in a secret as much as possible. Fortunately, Wen Wei's sudden appearance had solved the problem.
"I parked the Cannon Car in the underground parking lot... Can we get out of here in this situation?"
The hotel was under tight security with security personnel. With the assassination attempt on Im Hee-yeon, it was bound to be even tighter.
But the president of the company in charge of that security was Shinwoo.
"Don't worry about that. There's someone who can take care of it."
[Don't tell me... that someone isn't me, is it?]
Shinwoo smiled again at Jang Man-soo's question.
"Why wouldn't it be? Replace the CCTV with the ones from the other passage. And use that to move the security personnel in the underground parking lot."
[What if they make an issue of it later?]
"Just say we were hacked."
In a situation where an assassination attempt had taken place, no less. The culprit was a famous assassin from China known as one of the Three Fiends. As it could become an international issue, a hole in the hotel's security system would be an easy reason to accept.
With that said, Shinwoo approached the place where the two men had fallen.
"Just in case."
Crack— Crack—
"Kuaaak—!"
"Aaaagh!"
Since there were no tools for restraint, Shinwoo twisted their shoulders out of their sockets.
Then, Wen Wei came to his side and took out thick cable ties and a vial of medicine.
"I have these."
From the start, he had come to prevent the assassination, so he had come thoroughly prepared.
"...You should have said so sooner."
"You didn't ask."
"Ah... I had some too, I guess."
Come to think of it, Shinwoo also had the 8-Sided Dice with wires embedded in them.
After a brief silence, Shinwoo and Wen Wei each slung one of the two men over their shoulders and ran towards the parking lot.
.
.
.
Meanwhile, Im Hee-yeon was lying on the hotel bed to calm her nerves. Then, Myung Joong-hwan, having heard the news from the bathroom, came in with Gu Sang-ho.
"What happened? An assassination?!"
He had heard the situation through Gu Sang-ho, but he was too agitated to remember it properly.
At that, Im Hee-yeon took a deep breath.
"A woman tried to kill me. The Foster Director discovered it and stopped her."
Myung Joong-hwan could easily recall Lillian Foster, whom he had greeted at the party earlier.
"The one who works with Shinwoo?"
"The Foster Director caught the person who tried to kill me. She's holding her to hand her over to the police."
Of course, Myung Joong-hwan received regular reports on the situation at MH Future Security. He had heard that Lillian Foster occasionally went to KITE, which had moved its company to the basement of the headquarters, to spar with the bodyguards.
But he never dreamed that she would be skilled enough to catch an assassin.
"Hmph... What on earth is the security team doing..."
Song Tae-hoon and the bodyguards standing around couldn't lift their heads, meeting Myung Joong-hwan's sharp gaze.
This was because they had failed to properly protect Im Hee-yeon, both in China and this time.
Im Hee-yeon had no choice but to step in.
"Director Song did his best. Besides, that woman wasn't an ordinary person either."
"Not an ordinary person?"
"I was looking in the mirror and saw that woman passing behind me, but I didn't realize it at all until the Foster Director stopped her. If it hadn't been for the Foster Director, I would have died on the spot."
It was a truly fleeting moment. Song Tae-hoon, who was waiting outside, couldn't have known that, so it was difficult to blame him.
"What happened to the female bodyguard? Didn't you have someone you were taking around?"
They had assigned one person because of what happened in China. Of course, she was originally supposed to be here at the party today as a bodyguard.
"Bodyguard Bae Yun-hee suddenly suffered an injury in an accident yesterday... Ah...!"
She thought it was too perfect timing.
Of course, they could immediately supplement with another bodyguard, but given Im Hee-yeon's personality, it would be difficult to cope with unconfirmed personnel. She almost died in China because she wasn't careful...
Song Tae-hoon also seemed to have noticed that from the side.
"I will check the circumstances immediately."
"Please do."
Myung Joong-hwan could also guess the situation.
"Did you call the police?"
"I called them. However, I'm thinking of handling it after the party is over. If something happens in the middle, it will only ruin the atmosphere."
It was a celebration of the MH Group's 40th anniversary. If an unfortunate incident occurred in such a situation, it could damage the company's image.
"Ahem—!"
A bitter atmosphere flowed as they had to think about the company's image before their child's life being threatened.
"I'm fine. It's a familiar thing."
That was also the case when she almost died in the cafe before. Of course, there had been many similar incidents before, but none of them had ever been reported in the media.
That's how much Myung Joong-hwan cared about the image of the MH Group.
"Not once, but twice... Even so, I can't stay quiet."
"There may be damage."
"We have to accept what we have to accept."
From the last time, Im Hee-yeon had doubts about Myung Joong-hwan's occasional actions. Even coming as soon as he received the news of the accident, like now...
"I understand."
"But didn't the Foster Director or Shinwoo come?"
"I received a call saying that they were going to check if there was a hole in the security system because of the situation just now."
Myung Joong-hwan shook his head.
"That guy too... His mother almost died, but he couldn't even show his face for a moment."
"It's enough that she's alive. And Shinwoo is the president of KITE. If he doesn't check properly, something like this could happen again. A hole in security could also be a big problem for KITE."
"Anyway, both mother and son only think about work... Tsk."
Im Hee-yeon was just as bitter. However, since she hadn't done anything for Shinwoo, it was difficult to show such feelings.
"Chairman, you should go down too. As this is a formal occasion, it wouldn't be good if you were away for too long."
"Hoo. Are you really sure you don't need to go to the hospital?"
"I'm not hurt anywhere. I'm just a little surprised. I'll recover quickly and go down too."
"Okay, I understand for now. Director Song, pay a little more attention to Hee-yeon."
At that scolding, Song Tae-hoon lowered his head with a serious expression.
"...I will keep that in mind."
.
.
.
Shinwoo had come down to the security office. Jang Man-soo, who had cleaned up the place, and Ahn Seung-ho, the head of the facility security department, were there with him.
"Are you saying that the security system was hacked by the assassin?"
At Ahn Seung-ho's question, Shinwoo shamelessly acted.
"That's what it says when I check the system. The CCTV in the bathroom where the incident occurred and some other areas have been manipulated."
"Are you saying there was more than one person?"
"We managed to salvage one thing, though..."
At Shinwoo's signal, Jang Man-soo showed the CCTV footage he had prepared.
The screen showed Wen Wei, wearing a mask, fighting Go Sam-woo and Gye Jong-wi. The two men were falling from Wen Wei's attacks.
But soon after, noise appeared, and the two men were slung over the shoulders and disappeared by another masked man who appeared.
Originally, the other person was Shinwoo. Jang Man-soo had manipulated it with a handmade deepfake program.
"If those in waiter uniforms and suits are colleagues of the captured assassin, who are the other two?"
Shinwoo continued to act as planned.
"I don't know either. I was chasing the man in the waiter uniform, but after I missed him and checked the CCTV, this situation had occurred. The situation was over before I arrived."
At the same time, Ahn Seung-ho's brow furrowed. This meant that at least three assassins had infiltrated the banquet hall to kill Im Hee-yeon.
"It's quite complicated. For now, I'll explain it when the police arrive with the current situation."
"The CCTV is a bit damaged, but I think it would be helpful for the investigation if you hand it over together."
"I will do that."
Woo-oong— Woo-oong—
Just then, Ahn Seung-ho's cell phone rang. He had received news that the police had arrived on the first floor.
"I'll be going now."
"Thank you for your hard work."
Shinwoo watched him leave and quietly bumped fists with Jang Man-soo. For now, they had succeeded in hiding the tracks of the two members of the Three Fiends and Wen Wei as planned.
Of course, there would be a problem if someone discovered traces of manipulation, but it wouldn't be discovered because they had damaged it almost perfectly.
"Good job."
"You too. More than that, to meet Wei here like this."
Thump—
At that moment, the security office door opened roughly, and Lillian, with a very annoyed face, came in.
"Damn bastards! I can't even smash their balls."
Shinwoo and Jang Man-soo flinched for a moment at the brutal shout that suddenly pierced their ears.
"What's wrong?"
"There are bastards who are hitting on me while I'm coming here in this state."
Right now, Lillian was barefoot and had tied the hem of her torn mermaid dress, which had been raised to her thighs. Because of that appearance, some men who looked down on Lillian had approached her with dirty fantasies.
"You should have just killed them."
"I have thoughts too, you know? Hey, Jang Man-doo! Find the guys who were hitting on me in the hallway in front of the party hall with the CCTV and identify them."
He didn't know what she was thinking.
At the same time, Jang Man-soo frowned and complained.
"Am I a search engine?"
"Shut up. Do it when I'm saying it nicely."
Lillian raised her tightly clenched fist.
"Tch! Always threatening me..."