Kang Chan, Yoo Hun-Woo, Seok Kang-Ho, Choi Jong-Il, and Woo Hee-Seung approached the doctors.

“How is he?” Yoo Hun-Woo asked.

The doctor on the left took off his cap.

“The surgery went well. We still have to monitor his condition, though.”

Is he the Great Surgeon?

The doctor was down-to-earth and looked like someone who could hold his liquor. He turned to the other doctor beside him, who nodded in agreement. The second doctor looked sharp and precise but seemed to lack warmth.

“Can we see him now?” Kang Chan asked.

The doctor directed his gaze to Yoo Hun-Woo, seemingly deferring the decision to him.

“Let’s move him to the ICU and check his condition first,” Yoo Hun-Woo suggested.

Kang Chan thought it was best to leave these decisions to the doctors.

“Understood. Thank you for your hard work,” Kang Chan said briefly, then turned to leave.

Since there was nothing more to do here, he thought it best to check on Gérard.

As the three doctors had a discussion and the surgical staff began to disperse, Kang Chan walked toward the elevator.

***

Rattle.

The hospital room door opened, and Kang Chul-Gyu, Nam Il-Gyu, and Yang Dong-Sik entered.

“Huh?”

Clutching his chest, Oh Gwang-Taek got out of his bed, where he had been reclining.

“How are you feeling?” Kang Chul-Gyu asked.

“Lying around doing nothing is driving me insane.”

Oh Gwang-Taek turned off the TV with the remote. He then put it on the table.

“Lie back down.”

“I’m almost fully recovered, and I was planning to cross over next month anyway,” Oh Gwang-Taek said, puzzling the three men.

He opened the fridge between the nightstand and the wardrobe. He then took out four small cans of drinks and placed them on the table.

At the same time, Oh Gwang-Taek’s expression changed, becoming more serious. “What’s going on?”

“President Oh,” Kang Chul-Gyu called.

“Sir.”

Their brief exchange made the urgency and gravity of the situation clear.

“Dong-Sik’s daughter passed away from stomach cancer a little while ago.”

Oh Gwang-Taek quickly turned to Yang Dong-Sik.

If she died of stomach cancer, why are his eyes so full of anger? Did the doctor make a mistake? Do they want to sue the hospital?

“It seems her husband assaulted her, took the insurance money, and ran away. Dong-Sik managed to get her to the hospital, but she was already too weak for treatment by then.”

“That son of a bitch!” Oh Gwang-Taek cursed, twisting his head and gritting his teeth in fury.

Snap!

Oh Gwang-Taek suddenly raised his head. His face was red with anger, and his eyes gleamed dangerously.

“Where’s the bastard? I’ll handle him myself!” Oh Gwang-Taek growled in rage. “If a man takes someone’s daughter’s hand in marriage, they’re duty-bound to treat her right! That motherfucking insect’s lower than fucking scum!”

Oh Gwang-Taek had a daughter of his own. He had quit being a gangster for her sake, and he thought buying bananas for her was as important as dealing with his enemies. Perhaps that was why he felt so strongly about this.

“Her husband’s a gambler, so he’s probably hanging around gambling dens, wasting away the insurance money. I need your help finding him,” Kang Chul-Gyu explained.

Oh Gwang-Taek stared at Kang Chul-Gyu with a puzzled look.

“I know the Assistant Director can easily find him, but we plan to take full responsibility for this matter, so we’re trying not to rely on him.”

Oh Gwang-Taek slowly nodded.

“That bastard…” He glanced at Yang Dong-Sik. “Do you know his name, age, and phone number?”

“Choi Chun-Sik, thirty-two years old. Has a butterfly tattoo on his arm,” Yang Dong-Sik replied. “I don’t know his phone number. I’m sorry.”

“You know I’ve given up that life, right?” Oh Gwang-Taek said. Just as Kang Chul-Gyu was about to apologize, he added, “That’s why I can’t just call someone to bring him in. We’ll have to do it ourselves.”

With a groan, Oh Gwang-Taek clutched his chest and stood up.

Creak.

He opened the wardrobe and pulled out some clothes.

“President Oh,” Kang Chul-Gyu called, but Oh Gwang-Taek ignored him, quickly shedding his patient gown and putting on a T-shirt, pants, and a jacket.

“Let’s go,” Oh Gwang-Taek said firmly.

Kang Chul-Gyu looked worried about him.

“Director Kang! I’m Oh Gwang-Taek! Oh Gwang-Taek! Dong-Sik’s suffering, and you want me to just sit here? Let’s go deal with that fucking bastard.”

“This could go wrong.”

“Damn it! With you, Il-Gyu, and Dong-Sik going, what could possibly go wrong? Worse comes to worst, we cut his throat and go to prison together! Don’t tell me to stay out of this! I have a daughter too!” Oh Gwang-Taek insisted.

Kang Chul-Gyu took a deep breath and then stood up, ending the argument.

Creak.

The four men left the room, leaving behind cans of drinks in the now-silent hospital room.

***

When Kang Chan and Seok Kang-Ho entered the room, Michelle stood up from beside the bed. Michelle shook her head in response to Kang Chan’s questioning look, indicating that Gérard hadn’t woken up yet.

Kang Chan let out a quiet sigh and sat down at the table.

“We should get changed,” Seok Kang-Ho suggested.

“I’m fine. I’ll change when we head to the airport.”

Kang Chan was a mess, but he strangely didn’t feel like changing now. Instead, he leaned back in the chair and looked at Gérard, who was lying on the bed.

Why does this bastard have such long eyelashes? He’s like a camel.

Kang Chan smirked. Given the situation, it was an inappropriate reaction, so Seok Kang-Ho looked at him curiously.

Kang Chan gestured toward Gérard with his chin. “You used to fight with him all the time, didn’t you?”

“Ha! I was going easy on him! He was no match for me!” Seok Kang-Ho retorted.

Michelle tilted her head at Kang Chan, her expression seemingly asking, “.

Want me to pass a message?”

When Kang Chan briefly nodded, Michelle leaned over Gérard’s bed and whispered in his ear, relaying the conversation between Kang Chan and Seok Kang-Ho in French.

“See how he’s lying pretending to be all-important right now? Romain, Josh, Ethan, and Sherman will be touching down tomorrow at dawn. The captain still needs me by his side,” Seok Kang-Ho remarked.

Michelle's expression grew increasingly complex, caught between amusement and confusion. She was clearly struggling to determine what to believe and how to process everything.

She knew of Kang Chan’s capabilities, but it was still disconcerting to hear Seok Kang-Ho and Gérard calling him “captain” and speaking of things she couldn’t understand.

“Didn’t you send him elsewhere because you were worried about him being the weak link, captain?” Seok Kang-Ho asked.

Michelle, still perplexed, conveyed Seok Kang-Ho’s words to Gérard.

At that moment, Gérard’s eyebrows and the scar on his cheek twitched slightly.

Michelle turned back in surprise.

“Ha! Back then, that bastard needed help just to go to the bathroom. He’s been acting all tough, but look at him now…” Seok Kang-Ho clicked his tongue while glaring sharply at Gérard. He then shook his head.

***

Sergey Gee, Gérard’s adoptive father, had always wanted something from Gérard. Even as a child, Gérard could tell if someone’s emotions were love or hate.

Intimidation was terrifying. For one to depend on another who didn’t care about them for everything—food, sleep, and education—was truly cruel. Having to internalize the cold and harsh gaze and words of the person providing those necessities only made things worse.

Whenever Gérard regained consciousness, he kept feeling drowsy. Moreover, he thought of Kang Chan’s smirk each time.

“Chick! Stick close to me until the mission is over!”

It was the first time someone had ever protected him. Despite his mocking, almost condescending smile, Gérard could feel and understand the genuine emotion behind Kang Chan’s order.

Kang Chan was Asian, yet none of the Foreign Legion's special forces team members dared look down on him. His shooting skills, hand-to-hand combat prowess, leadership, and unwavering loyalty to his comrades made him formidable. If he had been a bit more detached, he could have easily been the commander of the special forces team.

However, the world was full of annoying bastards.

“

Haha

! you little chick!”

Gérard would never forget Daye’s expression, words, and laughter back then. Strangely, he never wanted to lose to Daye.

Stupid, big, dirty... He’s just a filthy bastard!

The confusion Gérard felt when he met Kang Chan during the operation in Afghanistan was indescribable. Still, he had been feeling as though life was meaningless and hoping that someone would slit his throat in some operation, so he had been hoping to see him.

That didn’t matter right now, though. As of this moment, sleep meant death. If he didn’t wake up here, he would die bleeding from his nose, ears, and eyes.

At that moment, he recalled the warning of the yellow-eyed man.

‘Even if your memory returns, you will die.’

It was clear now. He still couldn’t move, but he at least finally understood everything. An unknown force coiled around him like a snake, injecting a painless death into him bit by bit.

Once again, Kang Chan’s smirk appeared in his mind. That was when he heard Seok Kang-Ho’s words again.

“... because you were worried about him being the weak link, captain?”

It was Korean, yet Gérard could understand what Seok Kang-Ho was trying to say.

Twitch!

‘You damn brute!’

Gérard struggled desperately in an attempt to escape the death gripping him.

“Ha! Back then, that bastard needed help just to go to the bathroom. He’s been acting all tough, but look at him now…

Tsk, tsk, tsk!

”

Daye’s voice pierced through the haze that enveloped Gérard, pulling him back.

“What are you going to do when he wakes up?”

Kang Chan’s voice echoed next. Although they both spoke in Korean, Gérard understood every bit of it. They believed he wouldn’t die from such a trivial threat. Hence, they were waiting for him—his captain was waiting for him.

***

Seok Kang-Ho glanced at Gérard and chuckled.

“Why should I be worried? This man does nothing but faint. You know what? When he wakes up, we should just assign him to take satellite pictures. If he goes out on another mission and faints again, who’s going to clean up the mess? He’s just a burden!”

Michelle interpreted immediately.

“Channy!” she called out in a panic.

Blood began to flow out of Gérard’s eyes and nose.

“Gérard,” Kang Chan called with a surprisingly calm voice. Seok Kang-Ho and Michelle turned to him

In French, he said, "We'll take care of Romain and Josh at dawn, then immediately fly out to eliminate Jibril. After that, we'll head to the place in Luxembourg that you mentioned. We’ll beat up that yellow-eyed bastard if we find him there, so hurry up and wake up."

The scar on Gérard’s cheek twitched, seemingly in response. Even more blood flowed out of his nose and eyes.

“Gérard!”

“

Hah

!”

Gérard spat out the blood that had pooled in his throat.

“Gérard!”

Gérard’s eyes opened. “Oui! Capitaine! [1]?" Oh Gwang-Taek whispered, pulling his head back.

They were looking at a farmhouse in the middle of a field in Yangju. The red light from a roof-mounted lamp illuminated the building and its surroundings. Fields, a dirt road winding through them, a car, and the typical two-story farmhouse stood in the darkness.

Although it was already late at night, there was a "Munbang" sign positioned about twenty meters from the house, proving that the information Oh Gwang-Taek had obtained was almost certainly accurate. Kang Chul-Gyu’s group was twenty meters away from the sign.

“There’s probably a rabbit hole behind the house for escape,” Kang Chul-Gyu commented.

"Do you see anyone aside from the bastards by the sign?" Oh Gwang-Taek asked, scrutinizing the spot where the Munbang sign was. Despite the absurdity of the situation, he only saw one person there.

“

Phew

.”

Oh Gwang-Taek let out a silent sigh and lowered his head again. Although he had seen a lot of things in Mongolia and Libya, he momentarily forgot that the three men with him were monsters.

“If Choi Chun-Sik is here, then let’s get going,” Kang Chul-Gyu told Oh Gwang-Taek. Afterward, he turned to Nam Il-Gyu and Yang Dong-Sik.

“No need to kill those two,” he added.

“Yes, sir,” Nam Il-Gyu and Yang Dong-Sik quietly responded.

“Go clean it up.”

“Yes, sir.”

Oh Gwang-Taek shook his head in disbelief. Right after, the two men who had just been beside him instantly disappeared.

Oh Gwang-Taek and Kang Chul-Gyu watched on in silence.

A sound like a badger passing by reached them, and the Munbang guard they had seen collapsed gently to the ground.

Where is the other one?

At that moment, Oh Gwang-Taek noticed Nam Il-Gyu's arm moving behind the trunk of the parked car.

All three of them saw that guy crouching behind it?

“Time to go.”

Kang Chul-Gyu approached the house like a theatergoer with a ticket.

Swoosh.

Yang Dong-Sik, with gleaming eyes, slipped to Kang Chul-Gyu's left rear.

Swoosh.

A little further along, Nam Il-Gyu emerged from behind the car. Glancing back, Oh Gwang-Taek saw a man slumped against the car.

Not long after, he realized that he couldn’t hear the footsteps of the three men.

Bang! Bang!

Just then, doors on both the first and second floors burst open. There must have been CCTV. Three large men came out, wielding weapons that looked like iron pipes.

“Dong-Sik! Catch anyone trying to escape!”

“Yes, sir.”

Whoosh!

Yang Dong-Sik charged down the path.

“Who are you? What do you want?”

A panicked shout cut through the darkness.

Thud! Screech!

The three large men looked somewhat confident.

“What do you want?” one of them asked.

At that moment, Nam Il-Gyu darted forward.

Thud! Thud! Crack!

No one could even see what he did.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Clang! Clang!

“

Ugh

!”

Their opponents fell to the ground like scarecrows with their stuffing removed. Only one of them was still twitching.

Thud.

Nam Il-Gyu glanced at Kang Chul-Gyu. Upon getting his superior’s permission, he kicked the twitching man’s neck, abruptly cutting off the scream.

Meanwhile, Oh Gwang-Taek heard someone shouting even further into the house.

“Let go! Let go of me!”

“You bastard!” Yang Dong-Sik shouted.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

A seemingly endless brutal beating echoed across the darkness.

1. ’Yes, Captain’ in French[ref]!”

His eyes, nose, and the once-white pillow under his head were now stained with dark, dried blood. Michelle covered her mouth with her hands, looking back and forth between Kang Chan and Gérard.

With gleaming eyes, Seok Kang-Ho chuckled. “

Hahaahaha

!”

***

"Do you think the bastard is a munbang[ref]In gambling slang, "munbang" refers to a person responsible for scouting gambling sites and selecting locations to avoid police crackdowns. ?