Sleepless Night
Meanwhile, at the Crown Hotel headquarters in Seoul.
Ha Seongjun leaned against the backrest, staring up at the ceiling with a heavy sigh.
His personal secretary, Yoo Si-yeon, approached him, and the sharp click of her high heels filled the office.
Her hair was tied back, she wore a crisp white shirt paired with a black skirt and black stockings.
Ha Seongjun, still gazing at the ceiling, rolled his eyes toward Si-yeon and asked,
“How is Deputy Yoo Si-tae?”
“He’s not doing well. He lost his right eye, and his face is severely sunken, they say.”
Ha Seongjun covered both eyes with his right hand and let out another sigh.
“Damn it all to hell.”
“The new guy I personally recruited got ambushed by some low-level thugs,”
“Deputy Yoo went to support the A workshop and became a casualty…”
Si-yeon moved behind him and began massaging his shoulders.
“Still, even if Deputy Yoo only lost one eye,”
“As long as his face heals, he can still function just like before.”
“In this world, plenty of people operate fine even after losing an eye.”
“Deputy Yoo would handle his weakness perfectly.”
“That’s right. He’s my subordinate.”
Si-yeon stopped massaging and looked at him.
“Have you calmed down a little, Representative?”
“No. Not yet.”
Then Si-yeon sat on his lap, facing him with a seductive smile.
“Then, until I calm you down tonight… Shall I soothe you?”
Ha Seongjun gave a faint smile and answered,
“It might take a while tonight? My mood isn’t great.”
“Then that’s fine for me.”
With that, Si-yeon closed her eyes and pressed her lips to his.
After a moment, Si-yeon slowly pulled her lips away from his and opened her eyes.
Ha Seongjun smiled faintly and said to her,
“Let’s finish on the sofa. It’s uncomfortable here.”
“Yes, Representative.”
Ha Seongjun and Si-yeon moved to the sofa. When Si-yeon sat down, Ha Seongjun sat beside her and kissed her far more intensely than before.
Si-yeon accepted the kiss without hesitation and even seemed to enjoy the passionate moment with him.
At that exact moment, while Si-yeon was entangled in affection with Ha Seongjun on the sofa, her phone vibrated.
She pulled the phone from her skirt pocket, checked the caller, and Ha Seongjun asked,
“Who is it?”
She answered with a pouty expression, clearly annoyed that her good time had been interrupted.
“Deputy Ju Tae-yeol.”
Ha Seongjun sat up and told her,
“Take it on speakerphone.”
Si-yeon paused briefly to hide that she had been in the middle of an affair, then answered the call from Tae-yeol.
“This is Yoo Si-yeon from the Crown Hotel secretarial office.”
“Nice to meet you, Secretary Yoo. I have something important to report to Representative Ha Seongjun.”
“Go ahead.”
“I contacted you to report on the D workshop raid.”
Ha Seongjun then asked Tae-yeol,
“But shouldn’t that report go to your superior, Representative Choi Gyeong-su? Why to me?”
“Representative Choi is currently busy and cannot receive the report.”
“And since the incident occurred under Representative Ha Seongjun’s jurisdiction, the report should be made to that side.”
“Representative Choi is really too much.”
“After putting in so much effort to bring them, he doesn’t even look at them.”
“How about resigning from Crown Capital and coming to me? There’s a manager position open…”
“I will proceed with the report.”
Ha Seongjun answered with a regretful expression,
“Alright. Proceed.”
“After investigating the personnel captured from the D workshop, they were not affiliated with any small organization.”
“Then where are they affiliated?”
“They were police. And among them was Deputy Bae Myeong-hwan from the C workshop,”
“He was an undercover dispatched by NIS.”
Ha Seongjun’s expression hardened into something very serious, and he fell silent for a moment.
“Representative? Are you listening?”
To Tae-yeol’s question, Ha Seongjun answered with a deeply displeased look,
“…I’m listening. Continue.”
“Those police bastards, after contacting the undercover who had infiltrated Gangryonghoe,”
“Raided and destroyed the workshops in Suwon,”
“And planned to expose each workshop’s operations through massive media coverage.”
“Was there any other undercover who had infiltrated the organization?”
“I couldn’t ask that far.”
“My subordinate died because he misadjusted the voltage.”
“I see. You worked hard.”
“Yes.”
Ha Seongjun ended the call with Si-yeon and terminated the conversation with Tae-yeol.
Perhaps because he had received news of an undercover infiltration, he was furious.
After ending the call, Ha Seongjun’s expression was extremely grim and dangerous.
“An undercover…”
Ha Seongjun, still with a hardened expression, stood up and told Si-yeon,
“Let’s do the rest later.”
“I don’t feel like it tonight.”
Si-yeon quickly put her underwear back on, dressed herself, and asked Ha Seongjun,
“Is it because an undercover has infiltrated?”
“…I want to be alone for a while. Please leave.”
Ha Seongjun’s expression when saying this was one of intense anger, though it seemed mixed with other emotions.
“Understood.”
Si-yeon finished dressing and left the office.
Then Ha Seongjun took a cigarette case from his pocket, placed a cigarette between his lips, and lit it.
White smoke slowly filled the office, and Ha Seongjun exhaled a cloud of smoke toward the ceiling.
Meanwhile, at a luxury villa in Seoul.
Amelia Chase, Alina Kim’s bodyguard, walked down the corridor inside the villa.
Arriving in front of a door, Amelia lightly knocked and said in English,
“Miss. This is Chase. May I come in?”
“Come in.”
Amelia opened the door, and before her stood Alina sitting at a high-end computer, playing AI and online chess.
Alina wore pink silk pajamas and white slippers.
She moved a black bishop on the computer and asked Amelia,
“What was the favor I asked?”
“I heard from Lloyd Choi just now…”
Amelia hesitated, as if unsure whether to continue.
Alina ended the chess game and asked,
“What’s wrong? Did something happen to Jae-hyeok oppa?”
“Park Jae-hyeok was injured while performing a mission in Suwon.”
Alina was greatly startled and stood up from her seat.
“What?! Was he severely injured?!”
Her expression was filled with worry about Jae-hyeok being hurt.
“Fortunately, it wasn’t serious enough to affect his life, but his ribs were broken and there was some internal bleeding, so he has to be hospitalized for about a month.”
“He was severely injured!! Where is the hospital he was admitted to?”
“Are you going to visit him?”
“Of course not? So please tell the staff to cancel all related schedules for at least a week.”
Amelia said to her with concern,
“Miss. If Representative knew…”
“It doesn’t matter. I’ll take responsibility. Anyway, where is the hospital where Jae-hyeok oppa was admitted?”
“It’s LSH Hospital in Seoul.”
“I’ll go tomorrow morning, so remember that.”
Amelia answered as if she couldn’t stop Alina from saying more,
“Yes, Miss.”
After a while, Alina turned off the light and lay on the bed, lost in thought.
“Fortunately, Jae-hyeok oppa wasn’t severely injured… But can I guarantee that he won’t be more injured than now?”
“Is it right for me to get more involved in Jae-hyeok oppa’s mission?”
She couldn’t fall asleep easily due to worry about Jae-hyeok and continued tossing in bed.
At some mountain path, Ha Seongjun walked alone along the dark mountain road.
While walking the mountain path, Ha Seongjun slowly looked around.
The surroundings were so quiet that they felt eerie.
Then, white mist began to slowly gather around him.
“Mist? Suddenly…?”
And a voice calling Ha Seongjun from within the mist.
“It’s all because of you… Everything…”
Ha Seongjun, tense, looked around.
“What? Who is it?”
And other voices said with resentment,
“You’ve forgotten even our voices now…?”
“It’s all because of you… If it weren’t for you…”
“Due to your selfish actions, we died…”
And the owners of the voices appeared, all with faces that were indescribably horrific.
Seeing these, Ha Seongjun panicked and backed away.
“No… I had no choice… If you were in my position, you would have done the same…”
Then those existences said to Ha Seongjun,
“Shut up. You killed countless people to push them into the abyss of death for your own survival.”
“There was another way… Why did you make us die too? Was that the best…?”
“Traitor. You’re a traitor. Not only did you survive, but you drove your colleagues to death…”
Ha Seongjun shouted and swung his fist toward the surroundings.
“No!!! No, you bastards!!! Those bastards betrayed first!!! Those bastards first!!!!”
Then those existences disappeared from around Ha Seongjun, and Ha Seongjun muttered as if dazed.
“Those bastards betrayed first… It’s not me… Me too… I had no choice…”
At that moment, something like a noose wrapped around Ha Seongjun’s neck and choked him.
“Kuhuk…!! Gk…!! Kk…!!”
And the noose lifted him into the air while wrapping his neck.
At that moment, the face of a man appeared before Ha Seongjun’s eyes.
The man glared at Ha Seongjun and asked him,
“I trusted you… But you… Why did you do that…?”
“Aaaah!!!”
Ha Seongjun screamed, sat up abruptly, and breathed heavily.
“Hah… Hah… Hah…”
Ha Seongjun’s whole body was drenched in sweat from the nightmare.
“Such shitty news… I had a shitty dream.”
Ha Seongjun wiped the sweat from his forehead, got up from the bed, and went to the kitchen.
He took out Buffalo Trace Whiskey from the fridge and filled a cup.
Ha Seongjun downed the whiskey like cold water in one gulp and slammed the cup on the table.
“That’s right… It’s not my fault… Those bastards who betrayed us first… It’s their fault…”
Ha Seongjun, thinking as if rationalizing his own fault, put the whiskey back in the fridge.
“Don’t think about it anymore… I said I wouldn’t look back at the past… What good is regretting now when the dead won’t come back…”
Ha Seongjun calmed his rapidly beating heart, then shuffled into the bedroom and closed the door.