By Zephyria 
Meanwhile, at that very moment. On the opposite side of the city, another event was unfolding.
A modern building, towering high with glass and steel. In front of it, men in black suits were gathered in droves. The streetlights reflected off the high-rise building, shining coldly.
A quiet and dark night. Kwon Tae-oh narrowed the encirclement towards the lit-up building.
“Be quiet.”
He instructed in a low voice, controlling his men. His subordinates, following behind him, held their weapons in their hands, checking each other’s movements as they cautiously approached their destination.
The marble front entrance of the building was closed, and the revolving door wouldn’t even turn. One of the Gyeongjeong members stood in front of it, raising a hammer high and staring at Kwon Tae-oh. After a moment, he nodded, and the raid began.
Bang!
Smashing through the glass entrance, the members swarmed into the building. Each of them held the equipment they had brought, well-prepared.
However, contrary to their expectations, the inside of the building was unrealistically quiet.
There wasn’t a single person in the brightly lit front lobby. Only the reflections of the Gyeongjeong Faction members were visible on the marble floor and glass walls. The heating was off, and the air was cold. Filled with unease, they moved cautiously, on guard. No human sound could be heard anywhere. Only their footsteps.
“What’s going on? Why is it so quiet?”
Someone whispered.
“Maybe they’re all hiding? Holed up on the upper floors.”
The murmuring voices seemed particularly loud. Kwon Tae-oh warned again.
“Shut. Up.”
“Sorry, boss.”
Standing in the center of the lobby, he raised his head and looked up at the transparent glass elevator shaft that stretched to the upper floors. The stairwells were dark, the elevator doors were closed, and the ceiling lights were off. Everything was unnaturally quiet.
“We’re going up the stairs.”
Following Kwon Tae-oh’s instructions, everyone gripped their weapons and moved with heightened tension. They headed up, one floor after another, along the iron railing. They checked the interior as they ascended to the 2nd, 3rd floors, but the building still seemed lifeless.
‘Something’s fishy…’
The more they climbed the stairs, the more anxiety and inexplicable unease settled into the silence of the Gyeongjeong members.
It was supposed to be a perfect plan to raid the Jeun Faction, which had become an empty house while they were busy fighting Kwon Tae-oh, but now that they were here, it was too ominous. Even if all the main members were away, how could there be so few people?
‘Did they really all just hide?’
Well, even if it was a surprise attack, the opponent was the Jeun Faction. The experienced President Hwang would have eyes and ears around the building, and might have seen the Gyeongjeong Faction members arriving in droves, gathered on the upper floors of the building, and set up a defensive line. Kwon Tae-oh repeatedly urged.
“From here on, we’ll proceed even more carefully.”
“Yes.”
“Understood.”
Their steps up the stairs slowed even further. His mind was racing.
How long had he been looking forward to this day?
‘…Woo Tae-hwon.’
Kwon Tae-oh’s eyes flashed sharply.
President Hwang Jin-soo of the Jeun Faction and Kwon Rae-i were also important targets, enemies whose lives he had to end, but the biggest target Kwon Tae-oh was aiming for was Woo Tae-hwon. He was the top priority, above anyone else.
‘I must get rid of that bastard no matter what.’
The dead tell no tales.
Woo Tae-hwon knew a truth that no one should know, and that was why he had to find him and kill him.
The reason Kwon Tae-oh had been so desperately searching for Woo Tae-hwon was not simply to restore the fallen honor of the Gyeongjeong Faction. Nor was it to avenge his father. He had issued wanted orders everywhere, searched every corner of the country, and even put Kwon Hyeon-oh and Kwon Sang-oh, and even Kwon Rae-i, on the back burner, searching for Woo Tae-hwon as his top priority.
On the surface, he gave the plausible excuse that it was for the sake of restoring Gyeongjeong’s honor, but in reality, it was solely for Kwon Tae-oh’s personal gain.
‘Fortunately, it seems that bastard is still keeping his mouth shut…’
Well, it wouldn’t do any good to reveal the real culprit now.
The person who shot and killed Chairman Kwon Jung-il was actually Kwon Tae-oh, the Chairman’s trusted eldest son?
Who would believe that?
Woo Tae-hwon had already been branded as a traitor to Gyeongjeong. The whole world knew of his crime, knew of his betrayal. So, even if he protested now, it would be nothing more than nonsense. The more he struggled, the more he would only be seen as thrashing about.
From the beginning, Kwon Tae-oh had meticulously calculated and acted to make sure that Woo Tae-hwon was framed as a traitor.
He left no evidence, and there were no witnesses.
The only one who knew the truth was Woo Tae-hwon, and originally, he was supposed to have died that day.
‘Tch, that tenacious bastard. How did he survive and escape?’
If he had just killed Woo Tae-hwon safely that day, the perfect crime would have been complete. He couldn’t stop grinding his teeth, no matter how many times he thought about how he had missed him. He had clearly put together a dedicated pursuit team, and even sent them with a bag of money with a tracker attached.
‘Those fucking bastards, why can’t any of them do their jobs properly? Sons of bitches.’
Woo Tae-hwon, a variable.
The only one who knew the hidden truth of Gyeongjeong.
Kwon Tae-oh had been losing sleep because he hadn’t been able to get rid of that one. He would only be able to sleep soundly after removing that thorn in his side. That was why Kwon Tae-oh himself had come to the Jeun Faction today, with the intention of cutting off the bastard’s breath with his own hands. That was why Kwon Tae-oh, the strategist who didn’t cross dangerous bridges, had personally come to the Jeun Faction.
“Boss, this is the top floor.”
Before they knew it, the stairs had reached a dead end.
All the floors below were empty, leaving only the top floor.
Kwon Tae-oh carefully surveyed the surroundings.
“This is the floor with President Hwang’s private office. Yes, they’ll be gathered here. Prepare yourselves and go in.”
Kwon Tae-oh nodded. The Gyeongjeong Faction members, with the feeling that what they had been waiting for had finally come, readjusted their weapons. An eerily heavy silence flowed. Kwon Tae-oh’s subordinates exchanged glances and simultaneously shouted as they flung open the emergency exit.
“Yiaaaa!”
Bang!
The corridor outside the opened door was cold.
They expected to encounter the enemies waiting for them this time, but even the last remaining top floor was as quiet as ever, without a single sign of life.
Bright lights flickered faintly. Even when they opened each of the closed doors, everywhere they looked was clean. There were only desks and chairs.
‘What? This can’t be happening?’
Kwon Tae-oh’s brow furrowed, and his pace quickened.
Where the hell did they all go?
‘They said they were here.’
Woo Tae-hwon, that bastard, the information that he was in Jeun was supposed to be certain.
President Hwang Jin-soo, Kwon Rae-i’s biggest ally, should have been here too.
Denying the reality before him, Kwon Tae-oh searched for any sign of people. He slammed open the closed doors everywhere, and finally found the innermost private office through the maze-like corridor. It was the office used by President Hwang Jin-soo.
The city’s night view was displayed in the top floor, made entirely of glass, from wall to wall. An unnecessarily large space, with a round table in the center.
A glossy black marble top, and on top of it…
‘Broken pottery?’
Strangely, a piece of white pottery fragment was placed alone on top of it.
“B, boss… it looks like these bastards all ran away…”
“What should we do? It seems we were one step too late.”
His subordinates cautiously advised, watching Kwon Tae-oh’s expression. But Kwon Tae-oh didn’t hear their words. With a contorted expression and a stiff face, he approached the round table. He walked slowly, one step at a time. The members followed, glancing around.
A stark white porcelain shard was placed there, as if on display.
And beneath it,
Lay a square photograph.
Kwon Tae-oh slowly reached out, brushed aside the porcelain shard, and picked up the photo underneath. At that moment, the air in the room turned frigid.
In the sharply printed photo, Kwon Rae-i was grinning. He was cheek to cheek with the sleeping Woo Tae-hwon, one arm draped over his shoulder, even winking, in a way that perfectly mocked Kwon Tae-oh. What’s more, it was a selfie.
“…Ha!”
Kwon Tae-oh exclaimed, dumbfounded.
‘That crazy son of a bitch?’