The extremely long and busy day was ending.

After they had a light dinner, Kang Chul-Gyu and Nam Il-Gyu headed to the hospital. Meanwhile, Kang Chan and Seok Kang-Ho headed to the office.

When they arrived, they found Choi Jong-Il waiting for them. Choi Jong-Il quickly greeted Kang Chan.

“Great work today,” Kang Chan said.

“The manager helped us, so we didn’t really have to do too much.”

“Got any urgent matters for me? Otherwise, I’ll go and wash up.”

“Go ahead, sir.”

Kang Chan took off his jacket and headed to the bathroom.

Swish.

The cold water running down his skin refreshed his mind.

“

Phew

!”

Instead of immediately drying himself off, he looked into the mirror.

𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Kang Chan then thought about his duties, which included talking about the world as if he were simply turning a globe and discussing the possibility and dangers of World War III, fully aware that his decisions could dictate the dynamics of the world for the next five hundred years. At the end of the day, though, he was just like every other person out there. He, too, took a shower in the office and slept on a couch.

A powerful South Korea? Making a new world order?

Damn it! How am I supposed to make that happen when I didn’t even know that Yang Dong-Sik’s daughter was dying from stomach cancer?

Although he promised to protect the people he genuinely cared about, all he had done was act out and do whatever he pleased.

Drying his hair with a towel, Kang Chan thought of Kang Dae-Kyung and Yoo Hye-Sook, who were in Mongolia. He also thought of Kim Mi-Young, whom he hadn’t talked to today.

Kang Chan smirked. As always, instead of feeling frustrated and helpless, moments like this just made him determined to kill the people plotting behind his back.

When Kang Chan went out of the bathroom, Seok Kang-Ho placed a coffee on a table for him.

“Where’s Gérard?” Kang Chan asked.

“I haven't seen him,” Seok Kang-Ho replied.

As Kang Chan sat down, Choi Jong-Il went into one of the rooms. A moment later, he returned with the army interpreter.

“Gérard came in and then left right after checking the satellites,” the interpreter reported.

“Where did he go?”

“I think he went to meet a person named Michelle.”

Kang Chan smirked.

At the same time, Seok Kang-Ho looked displeasingly at the innocent army interpreter. “That fucking idiot.”

“Why are you mad?” Kang Chan asked.

Seok Kang-Ho turned to him. “Should we not be? This isn’t the time for him to be meeting girls. More importantly, you ordered him to find Jibril, but he sneaked out to meet a girl instead. Does that make sense?”

Holding up his mug, he grumblingly added, “That son of a bitch! He’s still doing stupid shit like this even after seeing what happened to Smithen!”

Still smirking, Kang Chan brought up his mug to his lips.

While watching Seok Kang-Ho kick a fuss, Kang Chan wondered,

‘Maybe I should meet Kim Mi-Young in secret?’

He also believed that Gérard wasn’t that stupid.

Even if Seok Kang-Ho was right, and Gérard had truly fallen for Michelle, it didn’t really matter. Rather than looking like a lovesick fool, it wasn’t a bad idea for him to have a quick meeting with her. That would allow him to focus on work once he was back.

“You should also go home and visit your family,” Kang Chan suggested to Seok Kang-Ho.

“Hey! I told you who I respect.”

“It doesn’t fucking matter! You should check in on your family and stay a day at your house, you stupid motherfucker. Why do you even sleep here when nothing’s going on?”

“Right now, you need me by your side. Let’s not say otherwise.”

When Kang Chan turned to look outside the window, Seok Kang-Ho headed to the bathroom, still grumbling.

***

Gérard huffed, his eyes bloodshot.

“Let’s stop here,” Michelle said.

“I’m fine. Let’s try again.” Ignoring Michelle’s worried expression, Gérard gritted his teeth. “I’ve almost got it, so I know this will work.”

“Why don’t we ask for help instead?”

“I said just do it!”

Gérard spitefully glared at Michelle. The look in his eyes was so intense that he looked as if he should be on a battlefield.

They were in a secluded place in Yangpyeong. Gérard and the chair he was sitting on was tied to a tree.

“The captain will never allow me to do this, so please! I don’t want to hurt him. If this works, then I might be able to identify the people targeting him!” Gérard exclaimed.

Although his eyes were filled with spite, he also looked quite desperate.

“I know you won’t understand this, Michelle, but if it weren’t for the captain, I would’ve either died already or become a crazy mercenary who enjoyed killing people.”

Michelle really couldn't understand what he was saying.

Is he mentally ill? Deranged? Maybe he has delusions of grandeur?

Michelle knew that Kang Chan was very competent, and she had seen him accomplish unimaginable things. Still, she couldn’t understand when and where Kang Chan had met Gérard and formed such a solid relationship with him.

“Michelle…”

Looking into Gérard’s eyes, she realized that he had the same look as when he had been about to cry in Apgujeong-dong sometime ago. Hence, she made up her mind.

“This is the last time I’m doing this.”

“Alright,” Gérard answered through gritted teeth.

Michelle dragged the scooter in front of Gérard and then down the hill. She hadn't realized it at first, but Gérard was calculating the distance between him and the scooter.

She stopped about twenty meters away from him. From this distance, the scooter's engine would still be fairly loud to him.

Michelle started the scooter, making its engine growl.

Vroom. Vrrooomm.

“I’m going!” she yelled.

Gérard relentlessly glared at the scooter. Everything started from the day he attacked the delivery driver on the scooter in Apgujeong-dong.

He initially thought he was just having nightmares. After all, his sister died when she was hit by a motorcycle. However, behind those nightmares were very faint memories, and he had started to remember them.

One of those memories vaguely reminded him of the place where he had spent the year in his life that he had no records or recollection of. That was why he devoted himself to the satellites and searched all over.

He couldn't even tell Kang Chan about that time in his life because he couldn't remember anything about that year. Still, the red jjampong broth that had spilled on the ground when the delivery guy had fallen continued to provoke him.

If I try a little bit more, if I can just glimpse through this damn fog, then…!

Vroooom!

The scooter’s engine let out a loud noise.

‘Urrgh!’

He stiffened as he endured the scooter's engine sound. Watching the scooter rushing toward him was frightening and arduous.

However, this was just the beginning.

As if it had been waiting for the perfect timing, his head began to ache. It was like someone was forcibly prodding and rummaging through his mind.

‘Gabriel.’

‘Yes, sir.’

Gérard grabbed at the memory, begging himself to remember where that was and what he was doing.

‘What color did I say it was?’

‘Red, sir.’

‘The person who killed your family will appear with that color.’

Gérard saw someone in his memory, looking at him. Although it was all a blur, he remembered their eye color frightening him.

‘What should you do to that person?’

‘Kill him, sir.’

Gérard’s blood boiled upon remembering some stranger telling him to kill someone. Only the captain could order him to do something like that.

“

Urgh

!”

The scooter was now only five meters away.

His face crumpled from the pain, yet he remained focused on the red scooter.

Captain! Help me endure this! You would’ve endured this!

Gérard glared as horrible pain pierced through his brain.

I just need to know the location or identify the person who issued that order!

Vrooommm.

While glaring at the red paint of the scooter, Gérard smelled burnt gasoline and heard rough engines.

“

Aaggghh

!”

Soon, the scooter went past Gérard.

“Let go! Let go of me! I’ll kill him, so let me go!” he yelled.

‘Gabriel, you remember where Gérard Gee hid the nuclear warhead, don’t you?’

‘I don’t! I didn’t even know that something like that existed.’

‘You’re going to remember if we search through your memories a bit more. If you remember where Gérard hid the nuclear warhead, you’ll become our amazing weapon. If you can’t, then you’ll have to live as a fool for your entire life, so don’t defy us.’

Unable to endure the pain anymore, Gérard’s head dropped to the side.

The outskirts of Yangpyeong were already very dark.

***

Weeeooo. Weeeooo. Weeeooo. Weeeooo.

With a police car escorting them, Kang Chan drove at a breakneck speed to get to Gérard.

When they reached the location that Michelle had sent to them, they found Gérad lying on the dirt floor.

“Channy…” Michelle trailed off.

Kang Chan immediately ran to Gérard. Blood was seeping out of his eyes, nose, and ears.

“Daye! Get this fucker on my back!” Kang Chan yelled.

“I’ll carry him!”

“Just do as I fucking say!”

Seok Kang-Ho and Choi Jong-Il rushed toward Kang Chan and lifted Gérard onto his back.

Kang Chan then ran back to the SUV.

You son of a bitch! You stupid motherfucker! I don't know what's going on, but how dare you suffer like this on your own, you stupid fucking son of a bitch! Do I fucking mean nothing to you, huh?

Kang Chan flew into a rage, making it difficult to hold back his anger.

A red scooter, a chair, and a rope.

Kang Chan wouldn’t have been this angry if they had caught Gérard while he was doing something risque with Michelle instead.

Kang Chan breathed heavily. “

Huff huff

!

Huff huff

!”

What were you thinking while you were coming up all the way here? Why did you endure something like this by yourself?

Running down the hill, he looked as if he could barely stop himself from falling forward.

Just as their SUV came into view, agents rushed toward him.

Whoosh! Swish!

He had built up so much momentum that if they didn't stop him, he would slam into the vehicle.

Bam. Crash.

Nevertheless, even though three agents caught him, Kang Chan still crashed into the SUV.

Two of the agents took Gérard from Kang Chan and put him in the SUV.

Seok Kang-Ho and Choi Jong-Il arrived soon after.

“

Huff huff

!

Huff huff

! Get in the car! We’re leaving!” Kang Chan ordered. He then jumped in.

Vroom!

The engine roared awake.

“I’m going with you guys!”

Michelle was running toward them. She was covered in dirt, perhaps because she fell.

When Kang Chan nodded, Michelle got in the SUV as well.

Slam.

Once all doors were closed, they immediately drove off.

“What happened?!” Kang Chan asked.

Kang Chan’s expression surprised Michelle. Nevertheless, she still explained the situation.

“Gérard visited me not too long ago and asked me to have dinner with him. While we were eating, he suddenly said that he would buy a scooter. That same day, we tried this for the first time.”

Kang Chan couldn’t understand

what

they tried since she didn’t explain that part.

Michelle continued, “Remember when Gérard hit a delivery guy in Apgujeong-dong? Since then, Gérard had been saying that thinking of the color red and the sound of the scooter engine made him feel like he was on the verge of remembering something. However, it put him in a lot of pain.”

“Why was he tied up?”

“Gérard said seeing the color red made him want to kill me.”

Kang Chan gritted his teeth, then looked at Gérard. They had reclined the chair so that he could lie down.

Seok Kang-Ho was wiping away the blood smeared all over Gérard’s face.

“Gérard said that if it wasn’t for you, he would’ve either died already or become a crazy mercenary who killed people for fun. He also said that if he didn’t do this, then he might end up hurting you, and that if this worked, then he might be able to identify the enemy…”

Kang Chan never thought he would ever see blood seeping out of Gérard’s ears, eyes, and nose.

Weeooo! Weeooo! Weeooo! Weeooo!

The siren of the patrol car escorting them blared. At the same time, its driver repeatedly asked people to move out of the way through the speaker.

Kang Chan wanted to tell the agents to drive a little faster.

They decided not to drop by the hospital in Yangpyeong. Rather than wasting time in a small hospital, he believed it would be better to go to the Bang Ji Hospital as quickly as possible.

Seok Kang-Ho continued to wipe the blood from Gérard’s eyes, nose, and ears. However, more blood kept seeping out.

“Captain!” Seok Kang-Ho yelled urgently.

Gérard's eyes had opened blearily. Kang Chan urgently rushed toward him.

“Captain…”

“Everything’s going to be fine. I’ll handle everything, so just rest. Don’t worry about anything,” Kang Chan said.

“Captain, it’s Luxembourg… in Garnich. I found a suspicious location in the satellite images…”

“Don’t talk!”

“A guy with yellow eyes is in charge of that place.”

Blood continued to seep out of Gérard’s bloodshot eyes.

Hearing Gérard’s voice suddenly becoming clear and watching blood seep out of his eyes like tears made Kang Chan fear death for the first time.

He wasn’t distressed or heartbroken—he was genuinely afraid.

“Captain! He started everything! The nuclear warhead! He knew me and my adoptive parents—”

“I got it, so stop talking!”

“That fucker is…!”

Gérard trailed off. His eyes widened enough to make Kang Chan even more afraid.

Blood transfusion! I need to give Gérard my blood!

Kang Chan held up his right hand and bit off the skin on his wrist. He gritted his teeth when he immediately felt a horrible pain.

He spat out his skin. At the same time, blood dripped out of his hand like a shower on a summer day.

“You son of a bitch! Don’t you dare die on me! Hold up this bastard’s head!” Kang Chan shouted.

Seok Kang-Ho placed Gérard’s upper body on his thighs.

With his left hand, Kang Chan pressed Gérard’s cheeks to part his lips. He then placed and clenched his right hand over his mouth, making his blood drip into Gérard’s mouth.

“Hey! Gérard!” Kang Chan yelled.

Vroom!

While Lee Doo-Hee drove like a madman, Kang Chan continued giving Gérard a blood transfusion.

Whenever the SUV shook, the blood aimed at Gérard’s mouth spattered all over his face instead, making him look like the main character of a horror movie.

“Lee Doo-Hee! Floor it! Please!” Kang Chan yelled.

Vroom! Screech! Screech!

Although it was frighteningly dangerous, they swerved in and out of the narrow gaps between vehicles.

***

Yang Dong-Sik stood in front of Yoo Hun-Woo looking as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“It looks like she was severely assaulted. Unfortunately, she’s so weak now that it’s impossible for her to receive surgery,” Yoo Hun-Woo said.

Yang Dong-Sik couldn’t look at her chest and the area below her stomach because she was his daughter. That was why he couldn’t believe what Yoo Hun-Woo was saying.

Yoo Hun-Woo continued, “You should go inside and say your final goodbyes. If she loses consciousness, she won’t be able to wake up again.”

He was saying something more cruel than a dagger to the heart, yet he looked surprisingly calm.

“All of our medical personnel are on standby since Mr. Kang Chan asked me to take care of her. We’ll do our best, but there’s really nothing more we can do.”

Yang Dong-Sik gritted his teeth. At the same time, Kang Chul-Gyu reached out and held Yang Dong-Sik’s shoulder.

“Go see your daughter first. We can find that motherfucker later,” Kang Chul-Gyu said.

Yang Dong-Sik turned to Kang Chul-Gyu, whose eyes looked as if he was about to go into the DMZ.

The murderous look in Yang Dong-Sik’s gaze slowly disappeared.

“I’m going in,” he said.

After taking a deep breath, he turned toward the door of her daughter’s room.

Rattle.

Yang So-Mi, who was lying in bed, turned her head with difficulty.

Two small yellow IV packs were attached to her, sending unknown medications into her body at different speeds.

“Dad,” Yang So-Mi called out weakly.

Walking toward the bed, Yang Dong-Sik forced himself to smile. “How are you feeling?”

“They said I can’t be treated anymore, didn’t they?” she asked.

“What are you saying? They said you’ll receive surgery as soon as you regain your strength.”

Yang So-Mi looked much better than when she was at Sohee’s Noodles. Yang Dong-Sik didn’t know how the nurses washed her, but her face and even her hair were clean.

“When I was in pain, you were the first person I thought of,” Yang So-Mi said.

Forcing a smile while crying made Yang Dong-Sik look stupid, but he couldn’t care less.

“Don’t cry.”

“I don’t cry.”

“You’re crying right now.”

Yang Dong-Sik couldn’t answer. Tears kept rolling down his face.

Yang So-Mi continued, “I forgive you for having me when you were in middle school.”

“I’m sorry…”

“I also forgive you for not being there for me when I was going through a difficult time.”

“Okay…”

“So I hope you forgive me for falling ill, and for having to leave you behind.”

“No… I can’t… I can’t handle that…”

Yang Dong-Sik couldn’t help but burst out crying. His lips parted and quivered as he sobbed.

“You look like an idiot…”

“I’m sorry, So-Mi.”

“Don’t cry, Dad… It doesn’t suit you...”

“

Sniff

…

Sniff

…

Urgh

…”

“I said… don’t cry…”

Yang So-Mi wiped Yang Dong-Sik’s tears away with her hand, which had an IV needle attached to it.

“Dad, I’m sleepy…”

“So-Mi, I’m scared.”

“You said… you’re not… afraid… anythi...”

“So-Mi, please…”

Yang So-Mi placed her hand on the bed as she slowly closed her eyes.

“So-Mi! So-Mi! So-Mi!”

Rattle!

The door opened, and Yoo Hun-Woo and the medical team ran inside.

Kang Chul-Gyu and Nam Il-Gyu held onto Yang Dong-Sik. He struggled in their arms as they dragged him away.

Meanwhile, Yoo Hun-Woo was putting so much medication into the IV pack that it looked as if he was pouring the entire thing into the pack.

“So-Mi! So-Mi!”

Yang So-Mi’s head dropped toward Yang Dong-Sik, and tears fell from her eyes.

At that moment, the heart monitor let out a sharp, unending beep.