Uninvited Guests (2)
After Ashmoon Night 193 ended, the articles came pouring out. The one who drew the fiercest light of the press was, without question, Go Tae-min.
He was the first undefeated fighter ever promoted out of Japan's amateur league. In a survival match that doubled as his debut, he had put on a show — recording an Early Finish and walking out the only one left alive.
That performance made a star of the American pro league out of him overnight. What sealed it was bringing down Christopher, who had been gathering momentum by killing the league's heavyweights, Juggernaut and Joaquin, one after another.
And there was a man watching all of it, steeped in regret.
"......Damn it. He just had to cause a scene in his debut."
Oh Hyun-seok, branch director of Nova Arena Korea, let the sigh out low as he replayed the highlight reel of the fourth match.
Demon.
The man on the screen was the name itself. He had drifted through the jungle like a ghost, seeking out every remaining survivor and killing them, one by one.
"Where the hell did something like that crawl out of?"
In his heart, Oh Hyun-seok had hoped Demon would show his limits in this match. It wasn't simply that it stung to watch a warrior out of the league next door run the table. He had an extraordinary eye for taking a man's measure from a single movement, and to that eye Demon was the owner of a truly monstrous talent.
That animal sense, dropping a named fighter like Christopher even though nothing about him smelled of formal training. And that vicious tenacity on top of it — refusing to quit even at the brink of death, and finding, in the end, a way to win. You could not buy a thing like that, no matter how much money you offered.
Oh Hyun-seok clicked his tongue at the Demon on the screen, swinging a blade as if it meant nothing at all.
"He'll make the World League, at the very least."
As director of the Korean branch, it cut to the bone that a prospect like this was blooming, of all places, in someone else's league.
Knock, knock.
A quiet rap, and his secretary stepped into the office, a reporting tablet in hand.
"Director. The list of legions newly registered this month."
Oh Hyun-seok took the tablet and slowly swept the list downward. A faint smile caught at the corner of his mouth. More legions was good news. It meant the system was gradually taking hold in Korea as well.
"Will you be visiting all of them in person again this time?"
The secretary, checking the schedule at his side, asked. Oh Hyun-seok nodded as if it went without saying.
"A legion master's temperament becomes the color of that legion. See the color, and you see the vessel of the warriors who'll grow there. Numbers written on a scrap of paper like this will never tell you the things that actually matter."
Out of habit, he went through the registered legions' details one by one. Then his finger stopped over a single name. Oh Hyun-seok's brow drew tight.
"Huh?"
"......Is something the matter?"
"No. It's nothing. Anyway — mind pulling up the detailed file on this legion?"
The secretary brought up an additional file already prepared and answered.
"Here it is. On paper, there wasn't a single thing to fault."
The conditions for founding a legion were anything but lenient. A roster of at least five holders of a pro license, proof of training facilities, and above all the specialist staff to underpin a warrior's performance in the ring. A legion took a cut of a warrior's fight money and, in exchange, had to guarantee the best possible environment. The bar for founding one, and the review that followed, were strict by necessity.
Which was why, looking at one legion's name, Oh Hyun-seok felt a strange dissonance.
Veil...... Same name as the place Demon joined. Pure coincidence?
He sat with the thought a moment, then tapped the tablet as if he'd made up his mind.
"First visit ought to be here. Let's see...... address is in Jungnang District."
"That's correct. Shall I work out the schedule?"
"No point dragging it out. Tell them I'll be there tomorrow."
Even after the secretary bowed and left, Oh Hyun-seok did not set the tablet down. His eyes ran once more over the name written at the very top of the list.
No harm in checking.
Some unplaceable, uncanny premonition was needling his sharp nerves.
The noisy party had wound down. With practiced hands, Chae Geon-wook started clearing the scattered empty bottles and plates. Even in the middle of it, Go Tae-min could not tear his eyes from the Waldstein series. He was carrying on like a child with a new toy, and Chae Geon-wook let out a snort of a laugh.
Strange one. Always has been.
Ten years now, since he'd known the man. In the field he had been an agent of the 9th Operations Unit, crueler than anyone — and the moment he turned around, he'd be mumbling through a hamburger with a harmless face. That gap had not changed. Watching him now, studying the edge of a blade with eyes so pure he looked stupid, only made it sharper.
Chae Geon-wook finished the dishes with a soundless smile. Only after he set the last plate on the rack did the stillness of the empty living room reach him.
Come to think of it.
"Eun-jung and So-yeon are running a little late."
He dried his wet hands and checked the clock. More time had passed than he'd thought.
"It'll be chilly, this late."
It was June, but the night air was still fairly cold. Coat in hand, Chae Geon-wook left the break room. He started up the stairs toward the roof — and stopped.
Huh?
The workroom door, which ought to have been shut, stood open a crack.
The workshop Chae Geon-wook used, taking up the entire third floor of the building, was split into three zones: a reception room for clients, a workroom where information was gathered and worked into something usable, and the break room where they had just been grilling meat.
A faint smile spread across his mouth. So-yeon had always been full of curiosity about the work her dad did. Coming down from watching the stars on the roof, she must have slipped into the workroom the way a sparrow can't pass a mill. Putting on a deliberately stern voice, Chae Geon-wook pushed the door open and went in.
"So-yeon, how many times do I have to tell you to stay out of the workroom."
But what met him was not the innocent back of his daughter.
"......!"
A chill shot up his spine in an instant. Inside the dim workroom, someone sat in a chair with the cold blue glow of several monitors at their back.
"Well, well. President Chae. I wasn't particularly hoping to see you, too."
The man set down the tablet in his hand and smiled, thin and sour. Chae Geon-wook's gaze went past him, into a corner of the workroom.
"Mmph— mmph!"
"D-Dad......!"
His wife, Yoo Eun-jung, and his daughter, Chae So-yeon, slumped in the corner with their mouths stopped. Beside them, big men stood like shadows, holding knives with a vicious edge. The color left Chae Geon-wook's face in a heartbeat.
"What...... do you think you're doing?"
His voice shook, low. The middle-aged man rose slowly and straightened his tie.
"Information dealing's always been a bit like that, hasn't it. Paying a premium to buy the stuff doesn't pencil out as well as just stealing some. So I thought I'd get a little work done quietly. Bad luck, though. Of all times, your family had to come sightseeing."
At a flick of his hand, the bruisers holding the family pressed the blades in closer. The men in front of him were the kind who did not hesitate to stick a person. Provoke them for nothing, and there would be no taking it back. Chae Geon-wook slowly raised both hands.
"Is it information you want? Or money? I'll hand all of it over. So...... please. Put those knives away first."
His voice trembled low. Raised an orphan, his family was the whole of the world to him. For the two of them, he would have thrown away even his own life without a second thought.
But the middle-aged man strolled out at his ease and shook his head. Each time a heel struck the floor, a crisp click sounded in steady rhythm.
"Regrettably, I don't think so. Leaving witnesses alive isn't how this world does things."
He shrugged, and added, "You know it too, President Chae. Thoroughness is what keeps the aftermath from coming back."
"......!"
"Hands up. Come this way, slow. One wrong move and I'll burn them where they stand."
Chae Geon-wook swallowed a shaking breath and took a step. As he moved, the blade of the man holding the hostages pressed warning-tight against his daughter's nape.
Then Chae Geon-wook stopped dead. He turned his head a fraction and flicked his eyes toward the workroom entrance.
"......?"
It was only an instant, but the middle-aged man did not miss that strange shift of gaze. Had someone else come into the workroom? Instinct flared — and in the moment he turned his head toward the entrance, the window at his back—
Crash!
A rupture tore the silence, and the window behind him shattered. Through the spray of glass, a pitch-black shadow shot in like a flash.
Thud! Thmp! Crack!
"Ghk!"
It was over in a blink. The shadow that had come through the window smashed the face of the syndicate man holding a knife to Chae So-yeon's throat, caving it in where he stood. In the same instant the man — who had not even managed a scream — was driven into the floor, the shadow surged sideways.
Crunch!
"Aaaagh!"
This time the arm choking Yoo Eun-jung's neck bent at a grotesque angle. Go Tae-min drove his shoulder into the screaming man's chest and sent him flying, then used the recoil to slam a brutal strike up into the jaw of the middle-aged man behind him.
"Kgh!"
The middle-aged man toppled backward, and the distance between him and the hostages opened. A few seconds. That was all. The murderous air that had owned the workroom broke into ugly groans.
"......Hah. Hah."
With shaking hands, Chae Geon-wook pulled his daughter and his wife into his arms. Frozen in terror, the two of them buried themselves against him and let the tears they had been holding break free.
"Waaaaah! Daddyyyy, I was so scaaared......!"
Chae So-yeon buried her face in his chest and poured out heartbroken tears.
"I'm sorry. You told us not to just walk in, and we went and......"
Yoo Eun-jung, too, had gone deathly pale and could not get the rest out. Chae Geon-wook soothed them in a cracked voice.
"No. It's all right. Neither of you did a single thing wrong. I'm sorry. This is all on me."
Even after his trembling hand stroked his daughter's back and closed around his wife's shoulder, it was a long while before he could steady himself. At last he turned his head toward Go Tae-min.
"......Thank you. Really. For helping us, Tae-min."
"Thank me? A man's got to earn the Korean beef he ate."
"How'd you know?"
"You know how I am. Good instincts. Eun-jung and So-yeon were way later than when they said they'd be back, so just in case I took a look out the window. And there were these black sedans, lined up all pretty in front of the building."
He gave the syndicate man sprawled on the floor a light kick.
"So I came by, just in case, and sure enough. Quite the little reunion you've got going. Who are these guys?"
Chae Geon-wook looked down at the middle-aged man on the floor with cold eyes.
"Managing Director Jo. An executive at JH Capital. The one who bought the Guryong-dong redevelopment intel off me last time."
"Oh, I remember that guy. The mood was all warm and friendly back then. Why's he throwing a fit all of a sudden?"
"Looks like he made some money off the intel I handed over and got greedy. Figured that instead of paying through the nose for information every time, he'd just clean out my servers and monopolize the source. And then he ran into So-yeon and Eun-jung."
"Ah. So paying the asking price felt like a waste, and he figured he'd shove the owner out and ride for free?"
"Something like that."
Go Tae-min shook his head as if he could not believe the nerve. Wherever you went, there were people like this. The kind who mistook a favor for a right, who took an offered hand for weakness and stabbed you in the back of the head.
The smile slowly left his mouth. Where the playful air had been, a cold killing intent gathered instead.
"So what do these guys actually do?"
"Drugs, human trafficking, loan-sharking...... anything that makes money. Lately there's talk they're moving organs, too."
Words ugly enough to chill just from the hearing of them came out of Chae Geon-wook's mouth. Go Tae-min let out a short laugh.
"Sounds like a cleanup worth doing. Hyung, get me a few big sacks. And the address for JH Capital while you're at it."
At those words, Chae Geon-wook's eyes trembled. What the things Go Tae-min was asking for meant — he, who had crossed the line between life and death beside him, could not fail to know.
"......You're going to kill them all?"
A heavy silence settled over the workroom. Instead of answering, Go Tae-min adjusted his grip on the dagger worn at his chest. The blade, smoothly kept, drank the moonlight and threw a bluish gleam. He looked down at the middle-aged man and said it, cold.