A Well-Laid Snare
An hour earlier.
At the Twin Sisters Jazz Bar in Kobe’s Kitano Ijinkan district, a bald man in his fifties named Seto Masaki was drinking wine.
Seto Masaki was a private detective operating in Kobe, and ever since the twin sisters had opened their wine bar, he had come every single day. He always ordered the most expensive bottle to flaunt his money, and he loved to boast about how many women he had dated in his youth. Then, once he got drunk, his eyes would turn lecherous and he would start making passes at the sisters.
“I could keep two women, easy-”
His remarks hovered somewhere between flirtation and outright harassment, and every time the former killers heard them, they only smiled and traded comments in Chinese.
“Sister.”
“Yeah?”
“That pervert. Should we just kill him?”
“Want to?”
If they set their minds to it, taking Seto Masaki out would be no trouble at all. But the revenue he brought in was nothing to sneeze at, and thanks to that, Seto Masaki was allowed to keep breathing.
That day, too, Seto Masaki was drinking alone.
But unlike usual, he had company.
He was a middle-aged man who looked exactly like someone who worked in the shadows.
The man spoke to Seto Masaki in Korean, and the twin sisters ended up overhearing their conversation.
The man said, “Is everything ready?”
“Already finished.”
“Hey, Masaki. Are you really just going to sit here and drink so casually? You need to make sure this goes off clean.”
“Do I look like someone in Kobe who does things as thoroughly as I do?”
“Hmph... You didn’t, by any chance, hire yakuza, did you?”
“Yakuza aren’t suited for this job.”
“Then...”
“I hired the top host club players in Tokyo.”
“Host club players...?”
The man asked back with a doubtful expression, and the drunken Seto Masaki replied, “Yeah. That woman’s supposed to be the daughter of a chaebol family.”
“So?”
“If you want to disgrace her, there’s nothing more certain than a problem with men.”
Seto Masaki said it with a sly grin.
Across from him sat Kang Man-sik, the head of Hanjuk Construction, who fell silent and thought it over.
He was one of Seong Jae-hyeon’s men—Seong Jae-hyeon, the president of Ilseong Plant and Seong Ha-yeong’s uncle—and he had come under a secret order from him. The order was to disgrace Seong Ha-yeong, who had come to Japan on business.
But he couldn’t think of a proper way to do that.
That was why he had been introduced to Seto Masaki, who specialized in exactly this sort of thing, and why he had commissioned the job.
A problem with men...
Kang Man-sik kept thinking it over and eventually decided it wasn’t a bad idea.
A chaebol daughter’s scandalous private life was the kind of thing that sold itself, and above all, Seong Ha-yeong was in Japan on official duty. It seemed perfect for making trouble bigger than it needed to be.
“Still,” Seto Masaki said then, calling out to Kang Man-sik, “there’s something I’m wondering.”
“What is it?”
“That woman—you said she’s from a Korean chaebol family.”
“And?”
“I’m just wondering if there might be trouble later.”
“There’s nothing for you to worry about.”
“That’s what clients like you always say.”
“She’s a woman the chaebol family already abandoned. And right now, she’s a civil servant.”
As soon as the twin sisters overheard that conversation, they guessed the woman they were talking about was Seong Ha-yeong, and they informed Kang-hae.
Then, receiving the call in the taxi, Kang-hae immediately had the driver turn around.
Getting to Lee Jeong-tae could wait. Saving Seong Ha-yeong came first.
* * *
At that same time, Seong Ha-yeong had been about to go to the hotel café, but it had closed early, so she headed to the hotel lounge bar instead.
There, she ordered a non-alcoholic beer.
Gulp, gulp—
She drained it in one go.
She was thirsty, and she knew that thirst came from worry about Kang-hae. The crisp carbonation struck the back of her throat, but it did little to quench what she felt, so she ordered another bottle of non-alcoholic beer.
Then she waited for Kang-hae to come back safely.
By the time she had finished the new bottle, a man approached her and spoke.
“Hello.”
Seong Ha-yeong turned her head and found a man standing there with a smile—his face small, his features perfectly balanced, his proportions model-like.
He was so handsome he could easily have passed for a member of an idol group, and there was something in his eyes, along with dimples that made him seem even more attractive. Everyone around him kept sneaking glances his way.
“Nice to meet you.”
Smiling, the man sat down beside her as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Seong Ha-yeong simply looked at him without saying anything.
She had been through this countless times since her school days.
Of course, the man beside her was one of the most handsome men she had ever been approached by. If she had passed him on the street, she knew she would probably have glanced his way too, once without meaning to.
But she was in no mood to talk to a stranger.
She was waiting desperately for Kang-hae to come back.
“I’m sorry. I’m waiting for someone.”
“Oh, you speak Japanese!”
Despite her refusal, the man smoothly changed the subject and kept going.
“You’re Korean, right?”
“Yes.”
“I thought so. You have a different kind of vibe.”
“...”
“What brings you to Japan?”
“Business.”
“Then are you staying at this hotel?”
“Hey.”
“Yes?”
“I’m with someone.”
“Actually, I’ve been watching you for a while now. I couldn’t help myself.”
“...”
“I know you’re here alone.”
“...”
“If you’re waiting for someone, I’ll just sit here until they arrive.”
“I’m not really in the mood to talk to anyone right now.”
“Then I’ll just look at you quietly.”
The man propped his chin on his hand and stared at her.
Then, still smiling, he thought to himself, Damn, she’s hard to deal with.
The man’s name was Kamijo Rei.
Born in Osaka, he had been known for his striking looks since childhood, and he started working at a small host club there when he was eighteen. By twenty-one, he had moved on to one of the most upscale host clubs in Tokyo’s Kabukicho district, where he always ranked first in sales. Wives of chaebol families, athletes’ spouses, celebrities, models—countless women came to the club just to see him.
And a few days ago, Kamijo Rei had taken a commission from Seto Masaki.
He already knew plenty about Seong Ha-yeong.
He knew she had been born into a Korean chaebol family, and that she had come to Japan as a civil servant on official business.
Kamijo Rei’s goal was to catch her weak point, and his plan was to lure Seong Ha-yeong into a hotel room and sleep with her.
Tempting a woman and bringing her to a hotel room was hardly difficult for him.
He also had a tiny camera disguised to look like a lighter.
But the Seong Ha-yeong sitting across from him was colder than he had expected.
Of course—she’s one of those rich brats...
Kamijo Rei cursed inwardly and decided to switch to Plan B.
Plan B was to take Seong Ha-yeong outside.
He planned to go for a walk with her and then abduct her in a secluded spot.
Of course, he had already arranged the men who would handle the job.
Seong Ha-yeong was a little unsettled by how blatantly the man was staring at her, but she had dealt with this sort of thing before, too.
Without a word, she rose from her seat.
After leaving the lounge bar, she took the elevator.
But instead of pressing the floor number for her room, she hit 1F.
Worried about Kang-hae, she couldn’t shake the unease in her chest, and though she wanted to move her body a little—maybe with a light workout in the hotel gym or a swim—the gym and pool were both already closed.
So Seong Ha-yeong decided to walk around near the hotel.
And the moment Kamijo Rei got a call from the men waiting on the first floor, he cheered inwardly.
He had thought the operation was a failure, but once he learned Seong Ha-yeong had left the hotel, hope surged through him, and he began thinking he might still be able to collect twenty million yen from Seto Masaki.
Meanwhile, after stepping outside, Seong Ha-yeong headed for the park beside the hotel.
There, in a patch of overgrown grass, she came face-to-face with several men staring straight at her.
At a glance they looked like trouble, and rather than walk past them, Seong Ha-yeong turned back to head for the hotel.
Then she saw one of the men starting toward her.
On closer look, it was the same man who had spoken to her in the hotel lounge bar.
“Seriously, you should’ve just stayed in the hotel~.”
Kamijo Rei sneered as he said it.
Unlike his polished tone in the lounge, his voice was now vulgar to the bone.
And Seong Ha-yeong understood at once that something was wrong.
She was afraid.
Back in her ROTC days, during military training, she had learned a few basic restraint techniques, but that had been more of an experience than proper training. She had no confidence she could handle several men standing behind her.
Imagining what she was about to endure made her shudder, and she could feel the presence behind her drawing closer by the second.
She made up her mind to scream.
It was the only thing she could do—hope someone would hear and call the police.
And the moment the man behind her put a hand on her shoulder, Seong Ha-yeong froze.
She was terrified.
She had decided to scream, but the sound refused to come out.
“Let’s go quietly.”
“We’re not going to hurt you.”
“Heh heh heh.”
The men behind her said it in oily, disgusting voices.
And then, in that instant, Seong Ha-yeong thought of Kang-hae.
Then she caught sight of someone rushing up behind Kamijo Rei.
It was Kang-hae.
From the taxi on his way back to the hotel, Kang-hae had spotted Seong Ha-yeong heading toward the park. He had rolled down the window and called out to her several times.
But the noise of the city swallowed his voice, and she never heard him. So he had gotten out of the taxi and sprinted straight for the park.
But reaching it meant crossing the road several times, and it had cost him precious time.
Thud—
Kang-hae, running toward Seong Ha-yeong, slammed the back of Kamijo Rei with a jumping side kick.
“Gah—!”
Before Kamijo Rei’s scream could even finish, Kang-hae was already rushing toward Seong Ha-yeong—more precisely, toward the men standing behind her.
There were three of them.
They were huge, all over 180 centimeters tall and well over 100 kilos, but it took Kang-hae less than ten seconds to bring them down.
He drove kicks and punches into their groins, spleens, and temples, and the men folded to the ground without even managing a proper scream.
And the moment he had knocked them flat, Kang-hae turned back to Kamijo Rei, who was sprawled on the ground.
Kamijo Rei was petrified.
“Wh-what the hell...?”
He didn’t even get to finish the words before the sole of Kang-hae’s foot smashed into his face.
Thwack—
Kamijo Rei’s front teeth shattered in a clump, and blood streamed down from his nose.
“Aaaahhh!”
Kamijo Rei clutched his face in agony, and Kang-hae drove a kick straight between his legs.
Bang—
With the sound of Kamijo Rei’s testicles bursting,
“Aaaaaagh!”
his scream echoed through the park.
For now.
No—maybe he might never function as a man again for the rest of his life.
Then Kang-hae walked over to Seong Ha-yeong.
“Are you all right?”
“...”
Seong Ha-yeong looked at the man who had appeared to save her.
Then, all at once, she threw herself into his arms.
Kang-hae was a little startled, but he felt her body trembling and noticed the front of his shirt growing damp little by little.
Thinking she was about to suffer something horrible, Seong Ha-yeong could finally let go of herself, and she cried in his arms for a long time.
“I-I missed you...”
“...”
That was what Seong Ha-yeong said, and Kang-hae silently patted her shoulder.