Chapter 89.2 - 90.1

Chapter 89.2

“What’s that supposed to—”

“Try removing the magazine.”

Seoryeong, tense, fumbled awkwardly. He just watched her quietly until, suddenly, a target appeared in her blind spot. In an instant, he overlapped his hand with hers.

With a swift movement, he inserted the magazine, pushed the bolt forward, chambering a round. He then aimed at the approaching target and shot it down. The recoil was so strong that their bodies shook together.

“You should never shoot at something you can’t take responsibility for.”

“…!”

His voice suddenly murmured past her ringing ears.

“Either kill them for sure or take care of them until the end. It’s always one or the other.”

The steady rhythm of his heartbeat resonated through their touching backs.

“That’s the rule for people like us.”

Once the warmth from his arms and shoulders faded, she felt as if she could breathe again, like someone emerging from underwater. She glanced at Lee Wooshin, who was now giving feedback to the other team members, then shook her head sharply.

Focus!

The more she thought about it, the more she clenched her teeth over the deputy manager’s kidnapping case. That was the only thing keeping her mind sharp, driving her forward.

No matter what Lee Wooshin did, Kim Hyun was hers. The one thing she could never let go.

***
“What’s up with your lips? Did you eat something bad?”

After the two-hour training session, the team members were drenched in sweat. Each had a sports towel draped around their necks as they left the training ground. Ki Taemin broke the awkward silence with his blunt question.

“Allergic reaction?”

The other shooters exchanged glances and shot disapproving looks in Seoryeong’s direction, which she noticed clearly.

“Your lips are really swollen…”

“Ah—this neat freak is really showing his lack of skills, isn’t he…?”

Ki Taemin bent over as if truly concerned, inspecting the new comer’s lips, while Jin Hojae, grabbing his friend’s head, slumped his shoulders for some reason. He muttered something like, “Damn… hands are super fast…” while tossing a towel over his wet face.

Whenever their eyes briefly met, there was a gloomy look, but Seoryeong decided to ignore it. She would rather die than get sucked into a conversation trying to offer some half-baked excuse.

Besides, she couldn’t think of any reasonable explanation.

‘I had a weapon in my hand but couldn’t push him away. Maybe I was worried the gun would go off accidentally. I guess I’m kinder than I thought.’

Forget it. Seoryeong bit down harder on her swollen lips. If she couldn’t even convince herself, she wouldn’t call it an excuse. At this point, she’d rather be like Yoo Dawit, who bit a hair tie between his teeth and whistled nonchalantly.

As they moved toward the shower room, a group of people suddenly emerged from the long hallway. A door opened from what had seemed like a plain wall, and a bunch of refreshed-looking team members came flooding out.

Seoryeong blinked rapidly and stared at the sliding door as it silently closed again.

“What’s that place?” she asked.

Ki Taemin, who was standing nearby, hesitated for a moment, clearly reluctant to answer.

“Senior?”

“That’s just the injection room. It’s not something you need to worry about, Han Seoryeong.”

“Injection room?” she cut him off, eyes wide.

“Is that where they give out the drugs?”

She suddenly remembered something Lee Wooshin had mentioned before. He had talked about a coach in the company who prepared various substances, and from the tone of his voice, it didn’t seem like he was referring to legal medication.

Her suspicion was confirmed when she noticed the discomfort on Ki Taemin’s face.

“Some of the guys wear out easily, get irritable, or have trouble sleeping. That much is fine. But a lot of them start going in there for ‘milk injections’ as a substitute for sleeping pills. Don’t get involved. The ones who go there often don’t last long around here.”

“Milk injections?”

“Propofol. It’s a type of anesthetic. It makes them feel like they’ve had a deep, refreshing sleep, and they get addicted to it.”

She was well aware of propofol. One shot and you’d pass out in 5 to 10 seconds, and wake up in about 10 minutes.

“Just put some ice on your swollen lips. And don’t even think about going there.”

“Yeah, I’ll stay away,” she replied.

But no matter what, I’m definitely checking it out.

Seoryeong nodded obediently, but she continued to stare at the section of the wall she never would have guessed was a door, if not for the small crack.

―Do you want to lose your sight again?

The chilling voice from her past, and the National Intelligence Service officer who knew everything about Kim Hyun. His threatening tone had made it seem like he knew everything that had happened to her.

It wouldn’t be long until she met that woman face-to-face.

Chapter 90.1

“Just support me—I want to capture the deputy chief myself.”

After returning home from training, Seoryeong sat Lee Wooshin down and declared her intentions.

She pulled out a long sheet of paper, already worn and covered with fluorescent pen marks and scribbled notes. It was the draft plan she had been secretly working on, as well as the layout of the event hall she had mentally rehearsed hundreds of times.

Lee Wooshin, who had come home first, had once again prepared tasteless combat rations in a frying pan.

The two of them now sat across from each other, the hotel blueprint and the yellow-tinted rice laid out side by side. Turning her head away from the rice—which looked like it would still crunch in her mouth just from sight alone—she spoke.

“The Quantum-Resistant Cryptography Conference will be held in the Grand Hotel’s fifth-floor hall. Channa already shook down the subcontractor and got the hotel’s blueprints. This is the route I’ve mapped out—”

Suddenly, a spoon entered her line of sight, scooping up a big portion of the combat rations she hadn’t touched. As she frowned and looked up, Lee Wooshin tapped his lips, urging her to eat.

“It’s mealtime.”

“…”

“As you can see, I’m supporting you.”

To proceed according to her plan, they needed to do some preliminary work inside the event hall, and she intended to leave that entirely in Lee Wooshin’s hands.

Seoryeong hesitated for a moment before reluctantly opening her mouth. The spoon scraped against the inside of her teeth as it was pulled out, as if he had been waiting for her to eat.

“We’re doing all this to stay alive, so you should eat properly.”

“Instructor, I’m being serious right now.”

She retorted as she chewed, her voice rising slightly. The food, which had initially tasted like straw, no longer made her grimace—maybe her tongue had finally gotten used to it after a few bites.

“You certainly seem serious.”

Lee Wooshin casually propped his chin in his hand, looking down at the blueprint. Unlike at work, he wasn’t dressed in his muscle-fit training clothes or a suit.

He wore loose-fitting sweatpants and a plain oversized T-shirt, probably a 3XL. His relaxed attire, which comfortably enveloped his large frame, gave off a natural vibe, something she’d only ever seen at home.

With his damp hair hanging neatly just above his eyebrows, he looked different somehow. If that was a skill, it certainly was an impressive one.

Though he seemed to be scanning the blueprint lazily, his eyes never left the lines she’d marked in fluorescent pen. At the same time, he scooped another spoonful of rice and held it out to her.

“Ugh!”

Not wanting to interrupt his concentration, she quietly opened her mouth.

The experience, strategic wisdom, physical capabilities, and combat skills Lee Wooshin possessed were resources she could never hope to gather on her own.

As she mechanically chewed the dry rice, she gazed at him. At that moment, he tapped his finger on the paper with an indifferent flick.

“You really know how to work me hard, Han Seoryeong.”

“We had a deal, didn’t we?”

Lee Wooshin leaned back into his chair, crossing his arms. “Do you want my opinion?”

“I’d appreciate some advice. Anything I might have missed.”

“For now, I have my doubts.”

“…!”

His blunt, negative feedback made her face stiffen for a moment. But this was the cleanest version of the plan she had simulated in her mind. Was there a better way?

“How did you end up tangled with that pathetic Kim Hyun anyway?”

“What?”

“After everything, the best thing you can say to me is this? You let me kiss you, and that’s all you’ve got? Hasn’t marriage made you a bit too dull?”

He flicked the paper again, this time hard enough to puncture it.

“Is kidnapping really the only thing you want to do with me?”

“…!”

“After we kissed that night, do we really need to be talking about whether to stuff someone in a trunk or a sack?”

“You’re the one feeding me combat rations, Instructor, so you’re not exactly innocent either.”

“…”

“…”

They fell silent, their gazes locking in a wordless clash. Lee Wooshin frowned and lowered his head, examining the tiny handwriting on the paper. His eyes narrowed.

“This plan… You’ve got potential kidnapping, blackmail, torture, and even attempted murder here. And what’s this? Where did you get propofol from?”

His stern face turned sharply toward her. Seoryeong quickly darted her eyes around.

The illegal clinic Taemin had warned her to avoid. She went there and asked for propofol.

How many times did she stroke his thigh when the doctor handed her the vial and syringe? Once? Twice? No, maybe three times?

Stealing the syringe was easy. She had learned all the tricks from the man in front of her. When he killed someone, he looked like a harmless old man. When he ran off with the money from a savings pool, he was the friendly neighbor. And when he seduced an old bachelor, he did it through sexual appeal.

“I managed to get it just fine.”