By Zephyria 
The chase grew more intense. I was absolutely terrified when a bullet fired from behind embedded itself in the glass. Han-bin hyung opened the window and began aiming his gun at the tires of the cars pursuing us, taking them out one by one. What on earth is all this chaos in the middle of the night? Firing guns like this in downtown Seoul is illegal. Is it okay just because it’s an emergency?
“How much longer can the car hold out?”
Between the collisions and the gunfire, hyung seemed to instinctively feel that Dad’s car wouldn’t last much longer.
“I’ll hold out as long as I can. Once we deal with the cars following us, I’ll shake them off somehow and then we can think of a plan.”
Dad answered through gritted teeth, his expression vastly different from when he first came to see us. I felt like I should be doing something too, but I didn’t know what would be best. It wasn’t as if I could just stick my hand out and get out of the car to tell them to take me.
“Ah!”
A car slammed into us from the left, causing Hyun-wook to take a sharp breath and aim at the tires through the gap in the window. With no time for caution, he fired blindly and quickly closed the window.
“Good job, hyung.”
Seo-joo stroked Hyun-wook’s head, giving him a warm look that felt out of place given the situation. Hyun-wook’s face turned red, and he covered half his face with his arm as he sat in the other seat, keeping watch outside. Right. These two haven’t had a chance to catch up yet, have they? I felt sorry for them since Seo-joo’s memories returned under such circumstances. Thanks to the struggles of hyung and Hyun-wook, we were able to shake off all the pursuing cars after a while.
However, the car was a wreck, and I didn’t know how much longer it could last. I racked my brain to find a solution, and after making a decision, I borrowed Seo-joo’s phone and made a call. It was so late that I didn’t know if they would answer, but right now, this person was the only one I could ask for help.
∗ ∗ ∗
We pulled over in a quiet spot on the outskirts of Seoul to catch our breath after losing our pursuers. For a while, we had a moment of respite. Dad and hyung were seriously discussing the next step. The “next step”—that was the problem. What do we really do? We have to go somewhere, but we have no passports, no IDs, no wallets—nothing. And the biggest problem was Hyun-wook and Seo-joo.
Both of them currently have their own private lives and families. Regardless of their ties from a past life, they have precious family here; I couldn’t just ask them to come with me. But they were already entangled in our business, and if we left them behind, they would be left to deal with a very grueling aftermath. There’s no answer to this; it’s enough to drive me crazy…
“Hyung, there’s a call from that number from earlier!”
At the sound of Seo-joo calling me, I stood up from the seat and answered the phone. I heard the welcome voice I had been waiting for. Soon after, car headlights flashed behind us. Instinctively, hyung took a defensive stance and stopped me as I welcomed the car.
“Hyung. I called them. It’s okay.”
“You called someone? Who? Who do you trust enough to call in this situation? We don’t even know who is chasing you.”
Hyung warned me in a low but firm tone. Fully understanding hyung’s vigilance, I smiled faintly and turned on the speakerphone.
-User! User! I’m here! Hee-sung is here! But it’s so dark I can’t see anything!
“…Ah.”
A hollow laugh escaped Hyun-wook’s lips once he confirmed who had arrived. Hyun-wook turned on his phone’s flashlight, blinked it out the window for a few minutes, and then stepped outside.
-Found you! I’ll be right there!
Seo-joo, who had been quietly observing the attitudes of me and Hyun-wook, nudged me.
“Who is this person that you’re so relaxed? Are you close?”
I glanced at Dad and hyung and whispered into Seo-joo’s ear.
“The Movie Palace.”
“What? Wh-who?”
“It’s a long story. But for now, he’s definitely on my side. He openly told Joo Min-hyeok to give me to him.”
“Huh? He asked for you?”
Leaving a bewildered Seo-joo behind, I got out of the car to meet Hee-sung. As soon as I stepped out, Dad, hyung, and Seo-joo followed. A large car drew closer to us, and a familiar voice could be heard very softly.
“User, it’s me.”
“I’m here. Thank you, Hee-sung.”
Given the situation, we pushed back the warm greetings and prepared to switch cars. I told Dad to grab only the necessary items and switch vehicles, and Dad nodded once he grasped the situation. Thankfully, he didn’t ask anything else and immediately prepared to switch cars after packing a few things from the vehicle.
“I don’t have a license yet, so my bodyguards brought me. They are people you can trust. I brought another car, so the User’s party can take this one, and these gentlemen can move to that one.”
“…‘These gentlemen’? What about you, Hee-sung?”
“I’m going to follow the User.”
Looking at Han Hee-sung, who said he was following me with such brightness, we were speechless. I mean, are we going on a picnic? Perhaps because he’s still young, he’s too naive about how the world works.
“Huh? Get in! Get in quickly!”
Suddenly, Han Hee-sung pushed me into the car and let out an urgent scream. In the distance, I could see several cars rushing toward us relentlessly, as if threatening us.
“What is this! There’s no way we were tailed?”
“It’s not that we were tailed; we were discovered.”
Before we even had time to get in the car, another group of men swarmed us. The same situation was repeating itself, and it was truly exhausting. Looking at them, there were about twenty people. I don’t know who ordered me to be killed, but I can tell the person in charge has many subordinates and considerable wealth. That’s why they’re acting so boldly.
“Hae-joo, take Han Hee-sung and get in the car. You won’t be in danger.”
“What?”
“These people are wielding weapons, but none of them are attacking with guns. The shots fired at the car earlier were just to stop the vehicle.”
If it’s someone who wants to take me without killing me, then as expected…
“Crazy… Surely His Majesty the Emperor isn’t doing this, right?”
The person I couldn’t bring myself to mention was spoken by Han Hee-sung. Did Joo Min-hyeok really plot this to imprison me? If it had been my grandfather’s side targeting me, they wouldn’t have bothered with all this; they would have just shot me on the spot. But this is, by all accounts, too cumbersome and labor-intensive of an attack.
Not to kill, but not minding if the body is slightly injured. In other words, it seems the goal was capture. Hyung didn’t answer Hee-sung’s speculation. He simply stared straight ahead with an unreadable expression, keenly observing them.
“As expected, His Majesty is not qualified to possess the User. His vessel is too small. If he hadn’t been greedy and just handed the User over when I asked, this wouldn’t have happened.”
Seo-joo flinched in surprise at Hee-sung’s muttered words. Since Seo-joo had read the entire novel, it must have been shocking to see the Movie Palace, who received the Emperor’s undivided favor, acting like this. Then, something incomprehensible came out of hyung’s mouth. Hyung still had his eyes narrowed, not missing the enemies closing in on us.
“That’s true, but something is strange.”
The men approached me and Han-bin hyung. The moment Hyun-wook, Seo-joo, and Dad put Hee-sung and me in the car and prepared to respond, a very bright light appeared from behind the group, and although it was too dark to see clearly, I could see a significant number of cars coming this way.
Damn it! Again? They’re here again? What do I do? What now? Fear rushed over me, enough to make my mind go blank. It was despairing to be in a helpless situation where I had to watch enemies swarm in without knowing exactly who was targeting me.
“Cha Hae-joo! Cha Hae-joo!”
From the car at the very front, a familiar voice was heard. The voice calling me with such maddening desperation was none other than Joo Min-hyeok. Huh?
“Cha Hae-joo! Are you okay?”
The lights were so bright that we all turned our heads. I could see the group surrounding us becoming visibly flustered. They hesitated in surprise upon seeing Joo Min-hyeok’s group, and one man took advantage of the gap to lung at hyung. Of course, hyung wasn’t one to be easily defeated, but he stumbled for a brief moment, perhaps because the light was bothering his eyes.
Not missing that moment, Han Hee-sung threw a stone straight at the face of the man rushing toward hyung. He immediately caught the stumbling hyung, but the man hit by the stone instinctively swung his knife, which grazed Han Hee-sung’s cheek.
“Hee-sung!”
Seeing that right in front of me, I screamed in shock.
“Oh no, there’s a wound on your face. Blood… quickly, stop the bleeding…!”
Hyung was extremely flustered. He turned pale seeing the Omega who had helped him bleeding. He had maintained his composure even when his own life was at risk, but he seemed shocked to see a being weaker than himself get hurt while helping him.
“Ah, this bit of blood is fine! It’s okay! Get in the car quickly! That’s not the problem right now! Uncle, if you’re going to drive, start the engine now!”
Han Hee-sung urgently pulled hyung and Dad into the car. After hyung struck the man who had slashed Hee-sung’s face in the neck to knock him unconscious, he got in the car, and Seo-joo entered while shielding me and Hyun-wook. The group Joo Min-hyeok brought attacked the group surrounding us, and they chose to flee rather than fight the Emperor’s men.
However, Joo Min-hyeok ordered them to capture every last one of them, and he shouted as he ran toward us as we escaped in the opposite direction. Through the rear window of the car, I saw Joo Min-hyeok running toward the departing vehicle.
“Hae-joo! Don’t go! Cha Hae-joo!”
What is this? Joo Min-hyeok is running toward me with a face that looks like he’s about to burst into tears. My heart feels so strange. Why is it throbbing like this? Joo Min-hyeok grew more distant, and the place we left behind was a shambles.
Those resisting while fleeing, and Joo Min-hyeok’s armed soldiers trying to catch them. I have no idea what on earth is going on. Even amidst the confusion, I couldn’t take my eyes off the receding figure of Joo Min-hyeok.