For the First Time in This Life
Countless monitors lined the room, each replaying a live feed from a different camera.
Yeon-woo sat before them, tracking the operation's progress in real time.
"Get ready. Target is passing Point D."
At Yeon-woo's words, Han Hae-un nodded and keyed the radio to the operatives.
"Stand by. Target has just passed Point D."
"Sixth floor, standby."
"Confirm target movement."
Lee Gyu-jin and Park Jung-hyeon, holding positions along the sixth-floor corridor and stairwell of Kim Ju-seong's luxury villa, drew their bodies tight and waited.
Then the car carrying Kim Ju-seong rolled into the underground parking garage — and at the same moment, a transmission came in from Kim Su-hyeok, who had been tailing Hwang-geum.
"Target DM. Do I follow?"
DM — Dismounted Movement — meant that Hwang-geum, the man Kim Su-hyeok had been tracking, had left his vehicle and entered the building on foot.
With Lee Gyu-jin and Park Jung-hyeon already waiting inside, it was better for Kim Su-hyeok to hold the parking entrance against any unexpected developments.
"Negative. Hold current position."
Yeon-woo gave the order, and Han Hae-un relayed it without missing a beat.
At that same moment, Kim Ju-seong pressed a hand to his throbbing temples as he climbed out of the car.
"Thank you for your work. You may clock out for the day."
"Yes, sir."
Kim Ju-seong managed a bitter smile at his driver's reply.
Click.
He shut the door, turned away, and muttered under his breath.
"I'm not the CEO anymore, either."
He trudged forward, unlocked the door with his security key, and stepped into the elevator.
Ding.
The elevator Kim Ju-seong had boarded from the basement arrived at the first floor and the doors slid open.
Three burly men he had never seen in this building stood waiting right outside.
Contractors Hwang-geum had sent ahead.
"…"
Sensing something off in an instant, Kim Ju-seong canceled the sixth-floor button he had already pressed and hit three instead — just before the men stepped inside.
They boarded. Kim Ju-seong stood near the doors; the men settled behind him, pressed four, and went still.
He had lived here long enough to know who belonged on his line.
Nobody like that lives on the fourth floor. And there's no reason a bunch of rough-looking young men would be visiting anyone there.
Ding.
The moment the doors opened on the third floor, Kim Ju-seong bolted out of the elevator.
"Grab him!"
They had planned to ambush him from behind once he reached his floor — but when he suddenly sprinted out, the men in the elevator shouted and gave chase.
Hearing them, Kim Ju-seong yanked open the emergency stairwell door and scrambled downward.
On the sixth floor, Lee Gyu-jin caught the noise rising through the stairwell, instantly knew something had gone sideways, and sprinted for the elevators.
"Elevator stopped on three!"
"Go down!"
On Han Hae-un's order, Lee Gyu-jin and Park Jung-hyeon flew down the stairs at full speed.
"Kim Su-hyeok — move in."
"Copy. Entering now."
Kim Su-hyeok, who had been waiting outside, left his vehicle and slipped in through a side gate of the villa complex.
Meanwhile Kim Ju-seong reached the first floor and ran for the rear gate where the security booth stood — with Hwang-geum's hired contractors hard on his heels.
Kim Su-hyeok spotted them and keyed his radio.
"Target acquired. Running for the rear gate of the complex. Pursuing."
Then a private channel from Han Hae-un reached Yeon-woo's ear.
"Team Leader. Target never made it to six — he broke off mid-route. We're in pursuit."
Yeon-woo nodded.
"I saw it on the feeds. It's fine. Pursue at a measured pace. Their primary objective isn't to harm Kim Ju-seong."
This was Plan B.
The contingency they had prepared for when things couldn't be handled inside the building — or when the unexpected struck.
Kim Ju-seong would suffer for it, but the outcome could actually turn out better.
Hang in there, sir. It'll be frightening for a moment — but endure it.
Those men had no intention of killing Kim Ju-seong. There was nothing to gain from it. All they wanted was to scare him enough to force a sale of the shares he still held.
But knowing Kim Ju-seong's temperament, he would never fold under threats — he would fight back hard.
Which meant that protecting him and dealing Baeksol a blow would require a certain amount of staging from everyone involved.
And to advance to the next stage of the blueprint they had already drawn.
Kim Ju-seong raced for the rear gate — only to find the security booth empty.
And behind him, the men were closing fast.
With trembling hands he fumbled for the phone in his pocket as he ran.
Damn it! It must have fallen when I came down the stairs!
He had meant to call the police, but with his phone gone he had no choice. He plunged into the residential alleys behind the villa complex.
In the fading dusk of the neighborhood streets, a chase unfolded — Kim Ju-seong running, the contractors on his heels, and the operatives hunting them all from behind.
"Hae-un. Launch the drone."
"Understood."
Han Hae-un sent up a drone fitted with electro-optical gear and switched it immediately to infrared mode.
While checking the body-cam feeds from the operatives racing through the alleys, Yeon-woo watched the drone's feed on his monitor. Then he activated the voice-modulation program and gave the order.
"I'll take direct command. Open the channel."
"Understood."
Static—
From this moment, all units will follow the orders of Agent Omega.
At Han Hae-un's voice, the operatives — none of whom knew Omega's true identity — tilted their heads in confusion. But chain of command was absolute. They nodded.
"Understood."
And Yeon-woo's modulated voice rode the airwaves, taking command of the field.
"Lee Gyu-jin and Park Jung-hyeon — take the next corner right. Kim Su-hyeok, continue straight."
"Target is heading for the open lot in front of the wooded hill behind the two-story house past the stone wall. Right turn there — now."
Kim Ju-seong's breath burned all the way to the top of his throat.
He didn't think he could run any farther.
These were the alleys right behind the house he had lived in for years — but a man who only ever came and went by chauffeured car had no reason to know the neighborhood's layout.
"Hah— hah—"
As he gasped for air, the contractors caught up behind him.
"How's an old man this fast? If you'd just taken the deal, you never would've had to meet us. Right?"
Still heaving, Kim Ju-seong glared at them.
"…The deal?"
"You already heard it in the company parking garage. Hand over the shares."
"So they did send you. You think you can pull this kind of thing in Korea and walk away clean?"
The contractors snorted.
"'They'? You know just enough to be dangerous. Our employer sits a long way above the law."
Kim Ju-seong set his feet, clearly with no intention of folding to the threat — ready to fight however he could.
The contractors sneered at the sight and closed in.
"Looks like this old bastard needs a beating before he gets his head on straight."
That was when a massive figure and a lean, wiry man appeared at the entrance to the lot.
"Yo — you punks shaking down that old man right now?"
Lee Gyu-jin and Park Jung-hyeon had caught up.
The contractors tensed at first, mistaking them for police — then snorted with laughter.
"Kids. Mind your own business and get lost."
"Yeah. Or you'll really get hurt. Looking at those faces, you've done some time. Which crew you with?"
Kim Ju-seong shouted toward the operatives.
"Call the police right now!"
"Hey now, Mr. Kim Ju-seong. You keep this up and we're gonna have to get rough."
Listening to the exchange, Lee Gyu-jin shrugged and smirked.
"We're not big fans of the cops. We'll just handle this ourselves."
One of the contractors pulled a knife from his coat, looking thoroughly unimpressed.
"You must be some local tough guys. Flash a little backing and you'll get yourselves killed for real. Whose kids are you? Chungjang Crew? Daerim Association?"
As one of them stepped forward, Park Jung-hyeon scratched his head and answered.
"Daerim Association? Never heard of it. Let's just say we're from the Green Mothers' Association."
"What?"
And then Park Jung-hyeon lunged — knocking the knife clean out of the contractor's hand and driving fists into his jaw and gut in a single blur.
The speed was staggering for a fist the size of a cast-iron pot lid.
Thud—
Guh—
The man coming at him went down cold under that lightning strike.
The remaining contractors drew knives and edged forward, rattled — and Lee Gyu-jin grinned.
"Green Mothers' Association — isn't that the ladies who wave flags outside schools telling cars to stop?"
"Pretty much. This guy just blew through a stop line."
With that, Lee Gyu-jin and Park Jung-hyeon charged in and dismantled the contractors in seconds, beating them like punching bags.
Lee Gyu-jin closed the gap in a flash, kicked the knife-hand clean, then spun into a reverse roundhouse that cracked the man's jaw. While the others' eyes were still locked on that dazzling footwork, Park Jung-hyeon — moving with a speed that defied his bulk — slammed into the last man, seized him by the collar, body-slammed him to the ground, and mounted him, raining down pot-lid fists without mercy.
The sight of Park Jung-hyeon hammering away was less a man than a wild bear — the kind famous for tearing people apart.
"Are these guys even pros? Why is their durability this trash?"
"Guhhk—"
"Hey. These types only know how to flash a blade and talk big. Pros, my ass."
"Gghhk—"
Then a man appeared behind them.
"Hey, you little rats. Freeze."
Click.
Lee Gyu-jin and Park Jung-hyeon tossed aside the contractors they'd been thrashing and turned. Codename Hwang-geum stood there with a pistol leveled.
"I came to check when I didn't get the all-clear. Turns out a bunch of rats were crashing the party."
Lee Gyu-jin snorted and jerked a thumb at Park Jung-hyeon beside him.
"Whoa. Ever seen a rat this big?"
Hwang-geum's brow twitched.
"That calm with a gun pointed at you? Don't tell me you think this is a pepper spray pistol."
Then something cold and pointed pressed into the small of Hwang-geum's back.
"Drop it."
Hwang-geum slowly looked over his shoulder. A man was aiming a submachine gun at him.
Kim Su-hyeok.
From the other side, Lee Gyu-jin's voice floated over.
"Our guns look a little bigger than that tiny pistol of yours. What do you think?"
"…So you weren't just neighborhood punks."
Hwang-geum dropped the pistol. Kim Su-hyeok kicked it away.
"Don't move."
Hwang-geum raised both hands and opened his mouth.
"Listen. I don't know where you people came from, but there's been a misunderstanding. I'm with the Nat—"
Kim Su-hyeok jammed the muzzle against Hwang-geum's head and barked.
"Shut up!"
Meanwhile Park Jung-hyeon approached Kim Ju-seong.
"Come with me, sir. I'll take you somewhere safe."
With the situation spinning out of control, Kim Ju-seong had no choice but to follow. For now, these were the people opposing the ones who had chased him — so they didn't seem like the bad guys.
Once Park Jung-hyeon and Kim Ju-seong had left the lot, Kim Su-hyeok stared at Hwang-geum in silence.
Hwang-geum tried again.
"Listen. This is only going to make trouble for you. I don't know whose side you're on, but I—"
Pfft.
A round cracked from the suppressed submachine gun in Kim Su-hyeok's hands.
The muffled report was almost comical. The damage was not.
"Guh— gyaaah!"
Shot through the knee, Hwang-geum collapsed screaming.
Lee Gyu-jin's face went wide with alarm — but the words that came out of his mouth were Chinese.
"What the hell are you doing?! This isn't somewhere Caihong's reach extends! You can't just fire a gun like that!"
"Doesn't matter. You saw this bangzi with a pistol. He's dirty — guaranteed."
Lee Gyu-jin grabbed Kim Su-hyeok's arm and pulled.
"We need to go! Before the Korean police show up!"
"But we should finish this one for sure—"
"Now!"
Kim Su-hyeok and Lee Gyu-jin sprinted out of the lot.
Startled by the sudden gunshot, the contractors who had been playing dead cracked their eyes open, then scrambled up. They found Hwang-geum down with a bullet in his knee and ran over.
"Call 119 — now!"
Hearing them, Hwang-geum rolled onto his back and roared.
"Stop! No regular hospital!"
He pulled a phone from his coat.
They said Caihong. Rainbow. So the Chinese black societies are involved?
Caihong — rainbow, in Chinese. Anyone else might have missed it, but Codename Hwang-geum, who had once run operations in the Uyghur region, knew exactly which organization they meant.
Damn it! Why the hell would the black societies stick their noses in? What's there to eat in a Korean entertainment company?
They absolutely could not afford a conflict between Baeksol and the black societies. Antagonizing them would disrupt the supply lines Baeksol used for its drugs.
Meanwhile, clear of the lot, Kim Su-hyeok and Lee Gyu-jin reported over the radio.
"Bait planted as planned."
"Good work. You two rally at Point A. Park Jung-hyeon — put Kim Ju-seong on the line."
All three operatives nodded at Han Hae-un's words. Park Jung-hyeon pulled a phone from his coat and held it out to Kim Ju-seong.
"Take the call, sir."
Kim Ju-seong accepted the phone Park Jung-hyeon handed him — and a voice-modulated Yeon-woo came on the line.
Yeon-woo spoke.
It was a line he had delivered countless times in his life. But in this life, it was the first.
The modulated voice carried through the receiver.