By Zephyria 
“Don’t tell me you’re actually committing a pheromone special assault right now?”
“What the….”
Kwon Ki-hyuk recoiled, a look of bewilderment on his face.
He couldn’t comprehend any of it at once—the mention of a live broadcast, how they knew what was happening inside a closed training room, or where these bastards had suddenly popped up from.
“We’ve used the Blue Wolves training room for years, so we know every single piece of equipment here inside out.”
It was Yuk Du-min who answered Ki-hyuk’s unspoken question.
“You probably didn’t know, but these aren’t actually mirrors; they’re magic mirrors.”
As he spoke, Du-min pointed toward the massive full-length mirror on one wall. The corner of Kwon Ki-hyuk’s mouth twitched. Ji Min-chul picked up the conversation.
“We don’t know why it’s set up this way. It was like this since we joined. We just figured it was for the coaches to use.”
“I never imagined it would actually come in handy like this.”
“Oh, just in case you’re wondering, the room next door is a normal training room. We were just working out there when we noticed something unusual happening.”
“I was so shocked that I turned on the camera first, and without realizing it, I hit the live broadcast button.”
“To be precise, it started right when the Vice President kicked our Ho Jae-shin in the shoulder.”
“Ah, the comments are hilarious. Want to see?”
Giggling, Du-min turned his phone around to show the screen. The display, switched to selfie mode, was filled with Kwon Ki-hyuk’s face. Hundreds of comments were scrolling rapidly over his image.
◉ LIVE
00:49:54
Real-time viewers: 34,000
└ This is legendary lololol
└ Ugh, please get that rubber-burning face out of here
└ Rubbㅋㅋㅋburnㅋㅋㅋsmellㅋㅋㅋ
└ Wow, I can’t believe I’m seeing this live. It’s a family honor.
└ How could a man who is the owner treat a national treasure like Shin Ho-jae…
└ I seriously hope he dies. How dare he touch Shin Ho-jae…
└ Just the fact that he laid a hand on Shin Ho-jae means this bastard is permanently cancelled.
└ Just die already.
└ But did he really bury Kim In-jung in the waters off Incheon…? Shouldn’t that be investigated?
└ Ah ㅠ I keep thinking about the face of the victim’s mother I saw on the news ㅠ
└ Mr. Kwon Ki-hyuk, how does it feel to be on a live broadcast? lol
└ I’m a Blue Wolves fan… I’m going to keep punching the Myeong-jeong regime until the Blue Wolves dump Myeong-jeong and stand on their own…
└ What are the police doing? YouTubers are the ones catching criminals in this world.
└ Someone said they reported it earlier lolol to the Suwon Ice Arena lolol └ I just filed a civil complaint too — what the hell are the police doing…
└ Didn’t Myeong-jeong lobby them hard? lol
└ So what? He’s a red-handed criminal now lol
└ Is anyone recording this?
└ Probably tons of people lol screenshots are circulating everywhere right now.
└ Oh fuck, my entire life savings are tied up in Myeong-jeong stocks…
└ I came here because the link popped up in the group chat, what’s going on?
└ Myeong-jeong is going down the drain.
“Fuck! Get that thing away from me!”
Kwon Ki-hyuk swung his arm, striking Yuk Du-min’s phone. As the phone tumbled to the floor, Ki-hyuk crushed it under the heel of his dress shoe. He could see the chat window, now moving even faster, covered in ‘lol’s.
Only after the screen cracked one more time did it finally go black. Ki-hyuk recklessly shoved aside Ji Min-chul and Yuk Du-min, who tried to block him, and flung open the door to the training room.
Sprinting down the hallway, Ki-hyuk pulled out his phone and made a call, breathing heavily.
However, the dial tone just rang endlessly. Swallowing hard, Ki-hyuk hung up and pressed the call button repeatedly. Only then did he realize his fingers were trembling violently.
“Father, please pick up the phone….”
Someone blocked Ki-hyuk’s path. They were middle-aged men with sharp, piercing gazes. As Ki-hyuk frowned, one of them, wearing a khaki blouson, pulled an old leather wallet from his pocket.
Kwon Ki-hyuk’s eyes landed on the ID inside the wallet. A police officer’s ID. Violent Crimes Unit detective…
Fuck, why is a violent crimes detective after me…
“Are you Mr. Kwon Ki-hyuk? You are under emergency arrest on charges of pheromone special assault and attempted murder.”
Swallowing a curse, Kwon Ki-hyuk tried to flee in the opposite direction, but he didn’t get far before he was tackled, his face pressed hard against the floor. A chilling metallic clink sounded, and he felt cold steel tighten around his wrists.
* * *
The following morning, Myeong-jeong held an emergency press conference. It came after criticisms that the response was too late, as the video of Kwon Ki-hyuk assaulting the player had already set the internet ablaze.
The President of Myeong-jeong, looking haggard, bowed deeply, apologizing for Kwon Ki-hyuk’s actions in the live broadcast and stating that they would provide every possible support for the treatment of the victim, Shin Ho-jae. A barrage of flashes exploded over his thinning crown.
—It’s reported that Vice President Kwon Ki-hyuk has finished his interrogation. What will be the internal disciplinary action against him within Myeong-jeong?!
—Vice President Kwon Ki-hyuk continues to deny the charges. Do you have anything to say about this?
—Do you plan to continue operating the MJ sports team?
—Will former representative Kwon Jung-hyun take over the team again?
Questions poured in from the reporters. Kwon Myung-chul, the President of Myeong-jeong, wiped his forehead several times with a handkerchief before speaking with difficulty.
—We have decided to remove former Vice President Kwon Ki-hyuk from all executive positions as of today. Furthermore, separately from this, we will cooperate sincerely with the investigation regarding all charges.
“Who would believe that?”
In the middle of a hospital hallway, an elderly man watching the breaking news on the TV clicked his tongue.
“Even if he goes to prison, he’ll probably just spend a year or two comfortably in a solitary cell and then get released. This isn’t the first or second time something like this has happened.”
“Oh, but someone died. Shouldn’t there be a proper investigation?”
“They couldn’t even find the body, so how can they investigate? Do you think those people are fools? Would they leave evidence of a murder behind?”
Tsk tsk. The elderly woman sitting in a wheelchair, knitting, shook her head.
“…….”
Watching this scene, Shin Ho-jae pulled his black cap down low over his nose and walked past them.
He had come to the hospital for physical therapy on his shoulder. Fortunately, the shoulder he had been hit by Kwon Ki-hyuk didn’t have any major issues. It just slightly extended the number of days he needed for rehabilitation.
The reason Shin Ho-jae had intentionally appeared on Ace Detective’s broadcast was for this. To become Kwon Ki-hyuk’s target.
‘Ho-jae, Ho-jae, you’re incredibly good at pissing people off!’
‘Is that a compliment…?’
‘Right now, it is. Provoke him gently and make him completely lose his reason! Then, it would be best if he spills everything about Kim In-jung, but even if he doesn’t, getting him to lay a hand on you so he gets thrown into a detention center as an assailant would be great.’
The vague plan Shin Ho-jae had envisioned was quickly fleshed out by Du-min and Park Ha-na.
‘The most important thing is that, no matter what happens, Shin Ho-jae must absolutely not lay a hand on Kwon Ki-hyuk first.’
‘Seriously, if you mess up even a little, you could take the fall for everything and even face a suspension from playing. You know that, right?’
When the phone was smashed, Shin Ho-jae had felt a moment of panic. He had planned to record the conversation just in case, and for a second, he thought Ki-hyuk had smashed the phone knowing that plan.
The hardest part was not swinging a fist at Kwon Ki-hyuk.
‘It’s a simple story. I hired someone to fuck my little brother’s ass.’
He hadn’t expected Ki-hyuk to provoke him by talking about Kwon Jung-hyun. At words that far exceeded the limit of tolerance, Ho-jae felt his mind boil over until his vision turned red.
He felt a surge of murderous intent, wanting to crush Kwon Ki-hyuk’s face and snap his neck right then and there. It was the first time he had ever thought of a person this way, and the first time he had used pheromones in such a manner.
That was why he had snapped back to his senses at Ki-hyuk’s words.
‘Look here… Player Shin. Are you planning to kill someone?’
A human like Kwon Ki-hyuk was a breed that should not exist in this world. Therefore, he shouldn’t punish him too easily. He had to make sure Ki-hyuk suffered enough pain and paid a proper price proportional to what he had committed.
He was lucky that, contrary to his expectation that only a few police officers would show up due to Du-min’s report, the detectives who had been investigating Kwon Ki-hyuk’s crimes arrested him on the spot. It was the result of the detectives, who had been monitoring him since Ace Detective’s broadcast, not overlooking the mention of ‘Incheon’ during the live stream.
Of course, Kwon Ki-hyuk was no pushover. He immediately hired four expensive lawyers and was released within a few hours due to insufficient evidence. But this was only the beginning.
‘All that’s left is to ensure that public interest in this case continues. And that’s my job as a reporter.’
Park Ha-na had said so, mentioning that she was serving as a consultant for an episode of
Separately, the Blue Wolves officially announced that they would not renew their contract with the MJ sports team. Several companies were showing interest in the Blue Wolves now that they were on the FA market, and one fan was even organizing a fundraiser so the Blue Wolves could become a community-owned club.
Whether they were acquired by another company or stood on their own as a community club, they would be able to bring Peter back as the manager, as the players and fans wished.
It felt as if everything was finally falling into place. Except for Shin Ho-jae.
126 – PUCK DROP