Lee Young-jin tossed and turned in the cocoon-like comfort and darkness of his blankets, wandering through the fog of half-sleep. In that semi-conscious state, he pondered what he had and could have done. The painful end of that chase was Seo Seung-hyun. ‘No need for that.’ A voice as solid as rock, accompanied by an arrogantly confident smile.
‘No need for that.’
No one had ever said such a thing to Lee Young-jin.
There was always something he needed to do. For something unknown.
He felt as if he had become something very small and weak. Oddly, the feeling wasn’t entirely unpleasant.
Lee Young-jin wriggled within the blankets.
The feather blankets rustled around his limbs.
The peace and silence were short-lived.
At some point, he heard a bell or knock. It was alien in the solemn silence of this penthouse, like a vast temple. A white hand shot out from under the blankets. Fingers clutched the blankets, pushing them toward the edge of the bed. The feather blankets slid smoothly off onto the mattress below.
The slow knocking that repeated several times suddenly stopped. And at the same moment, a bang! shook the penthouse.
Lee Young-jin jerked his head up. The blankets fell away, revealing his head. His chest heaved, breaths rushing out.
‘What?’
The question swiftly morphed in his mind.
‘Who?’
He couldn’t delay any longer.
Lee Young-jin sprang out of bed. Too hasty, his feet tangled, and he staggered beneath the bed.
Thud!
A violent sound of a broken doorknob scraping came from the entrance.
Lee Young-jin thought of a petty thief who had cut through the window bars and intruded into his former rental room.
‘But this is high up; they can’t come through the window.’
He had read news articles about gangs breaking into homes and stealing by prying open the front doors with wrenches and steel crowbars. This was probably one of those rotten groups.
He had to block them somehow.
Perhaps this was why Seo Seung-hyun had left him in this penthouse.
It would have been good to have a weapon, but the situation did not allow it. If he had been a proper fighter, it might have been slightly better.
‘I need to inform the CEO….’
Lee Young-jin’s thoughts halted there.
Tap. Tap.
A clear knock struck the bedroom door. An overly polite and courteous knock for the situation.
Lee Young-jin froze, standing barely balanced next to the bed. His smartphone was on the nightstand, merely thirty centimeters from his fingertips.
Tap.
The knock on the door sounded again.
Tap.
The knocks continued at a very regular pace, persistently repeating.
The bedroom door wasn’t locked.
Lee Young-jin, without lowering his guard, glared towards the door and slowly reached out to grope atop the nightstand. His fingertips touched the smooth surface of a sophisticated device. He grasped the smartphone in one swift motion, pulling it towards him. His fingers automatically moved to unlock the screen, but those adept fingers suddenly halted. He was struck by the realization that, despite memorizing sequences of numbers that connect to hundreds of thousands of combinations, he did not know the mere eleven digits that would connect him to Seo Seung-hyun.
Tap.
That shock froze Lee Young-jin, but he was jolted out of it by the unflustered, calm knock.
His finger aimlessly wandered over the phone screen, stopping above the number 1. He had been about to input a three-digit number that summed to 4, but hesitated again.
Calling the police might just escalate the situation. Moreover, Seo Seung-hyun might not want that.
The first thing Teacher taught Lee Young-jin when he started this work was how to avoid law enforcement.
The knocking continued. The repetitive sound carried no sign of impatience or agitation, instead, it hinted at some kind of compulsive obsession. If only he had a little more time, he could find a way to contact Seo Seung-hyun. Lee Young-jin gripped the phone tightly in his hand, taking a slow step towards the bedroom door. And at that moment, as if hearing his footsteps, the knocking abruptly stopped.
The sudden silence was more jarring than a loud outcry, piercing deep into Lee Young-jin’s brain.
Lee Young-jin’s feet moved shakily towards the door.
His prefrontal cortex was fiercely debating between two options: to call the police or not, wondering which option would cause less harm to Seo Seung-hyun.
But the scale had already tipped to one side.
A burglar wouldn’t knock in such a manner.
A visitor with intentions that were not entirely friendly.
His heart rate, pounding at first, reached a peak before calming down and slowing.
Lee Young-jin quietly placed his hand on the doorknob.
Outside was silent.
Yet, Lee Young-jin heard a soft, calm breathing. If he had been a proper omega, he might have heard more: heart rate, body temperature, breathing, and even the faint sound of nails scraping against each other after being slightly frayed from forcefully prying open the steel front door.
Thud.
The doorknob turning sounded unusually loud.
The door opened.
Contrary to Lee Young-jin’s expectations, his heart did not stop.
Perhaps because what awaited him wasn’t the gleam of a gun barrel or the sharp end of a knife.
Instead, an alpha, impeccably dressed from head to toe, stood there with a calm and gentle smile.
He slightly lowered his eyes to meet Lee Young-jin’s gaze, his demeanor as natural as if he had been invited. Without realizing it, Lee Young-jin opened his mouth, looking up at him.
His hair was very dark, and his eyes matched in color. His irises were so dark that the pupils were barely discernible, carrying no emotion despite the smile. His sharp features seemed frozen in place as if molded by that smile. From the angles of his shirt and suit to the unornamented tie clip and the dust-free shoe tips. That’s where Lee Young-jin’s thoughts halted.
“Shoes…”
…worn inside someone’s home never belonged to an invited guest.
Lee Young-jin’s hand, clutching the phone, tensed up. Simultaneously, the mysterious visitor at the door curled his lips into a slightly too perfect and friendly smile, making the lack of emotion in his eyes even more apparent.
“Pleased to meet you.”
The intruder greeted him with a perfectly polite voice.
“My name is Kwon Shin-woo.”
Lee Young-jin felt no particular impression from this courteous introduction. What he sensed was a piercing gaze and a sharp hostility. The profound presence of this strange alpha was intensely different from Seo Seung-hyun, yet similarly compelling. Like his not-so-pleasant first encounter with Seo Seung-hyun, this alpha exuded a strange pressure and heaviness.
Lee Young-jin watched him intently, his body tense.
Kwon Shin-woo slowly tilted his head to the left.
Even that slight movement gravitationally pulled attention.
His calm lips moved slowly.
“Or should I introduce myself as the original owner of the item you’ve stolen?”
This time, Lee Young-jin’s heart skipped for a brief moment. For a few seconds. But fortunately, just before his brain began to suffocate from the lack of blood and oxygen, his heart began to pump vigorously again, sending blood coursing through his arteries. Along with the throbbing of his veins, sparks of thought flickered through his mind.
Lee Young-jin shook his head.
“I, I haven’t stolen anything from you.”
“I haven’t stolen,” Kwon Shin-woo’s expression remained unblemished. He continued to speak to Lee Young-jin with a smile.
“I didn’t come here to talk about Shanghai.”
Shanghai. The auction. The HSBC bank’s underground vault.
Lee Young-jin’s eyelids shot up, and his eyelashes fluttered rapidly. His pupils dilated, and his irises bulged.
“That’s.”
He stuttered.
“That’s the CEO’s thing….”
“Ah, I see. CEO Seo.”
The alpha, who smiled mechanically without emotion, nodded.
“I am the one who requested CEO Seo to retrieve the item. Now, with this explanation, does it make sense to you?”
Lee Young-jin took a step back.
His eyes, filled with strong wariness, stared at Kwon Shin-woo.
Why should he trust this intruder who had suddenly appeared?
However, the alpha in front of him seemed unconcerned with Lee Young-jin’s distrust and caution.
“As I mentioned.”
His voice was even and polite.
“I’m not here to talk about Shanghai or Bogota.”
“Then, what…”
Lee Young-jin couldn’t help but ask back. The response he received was a smile as steadfast as a rock, no different from before.
“I’m talking about something even earlier, Mr. Lee Young-jin.”
The voice, as precise and emotionless as a cutting-edge machine, smoothly pronounced Lee Young-jin’s name before detonating a time bomb that Lee Young-jin couldn’t even remember.
“November 27th last year, 6:18 AM. The moment you hacked into the intranet of Seoran Defense and disabled the highest level of security to open the single entrance to Code Zero laboratory.”
Then.
At that moment, it was uncertain how Lee Young-jin’s brain and heart reacted. He couldn’t tell himself. Those organs either stopped functioning or were in a state akin to coma.
“What deal did you make with CEO Seo?”
Those questions didn’t properly register in Lee Young-jin’s mind.
“And with Gyeongup Trading?”
The calm, level voice continued.
“How should I interpret the fact that CEO Seo is with the person who first hacked into our system and leaked top secrets?”
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