TL | Chapter 34 | The Ambush

Seowon grabbed the shoulder of the staff approaching Iden, forcing him to turn around. The staff member looked back, seemingly bewildered. Because of the commotion in the middle of the auction, a few people at nearby tables turned to look at Seowon and the staff member.

“What’s…?”

Before the staff could ask, Seowon quickly lifted the cloth covering the tray he was holding. In that instant, the staff member twisted away from Seowon’s grasp, overturned the tray, and revealed a gun hidden beneath it, aiming it directly at Iden.

“Aaah!”

A scream erupted as the rapid turn of events unfolded. Liam, seated at the same table as Iden, widened his eyes in shock, as did his aides. The security guards watching immediately drew their guns and aimed at the staff member, but he pulled the trigger faster.

“Iden!”

The gunshot echoed throughout the auction hall, throwing everything into chaos. Security guards rushed forward to subdue the attacker, but he ducked under the table and emerged on the other side, grabbing a guest and pressing his gun to her head. The guards pointed their guns at him, but hesitated.

“P-please…save me!” The woman trembled, pleading for her life. Unluckily, she was the wife of the Minister of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, who was in charge of casino permits. Leo gave the guards a signal, warning them not to fire recklessly; if she got hurt, the casino project Luciano Company was pursuing in South Korea could be jeopardized.

“Step back, or…!”

Bang! As the staff member was about to issue another threat with the gun against her head, he suddenly collapsed. The minister’s wife screamed, falling to her knees, and Seowon stood behind the fallen staff member, holding his gun.

“Get him!”

At Seowon’s command, the security guards lunged forward and quickly subdued the attacker.

“Ha Seowon!”

Hearing his name called, Seowon lowered his gun and let out a long breath. Only then did he start to feel the throbbing pain in his back. In that split second when the gun was aimed at Iden, Seowon had instinctively stepped in front of him. The sound of the gunshot echoed, and for a moment, his vision went black. The screams of people sounded muffled, like they were underwater. Soon, the sounds returned clearly, and he saw the chaos in the auction hall, with the guards confronting the attacker holding a hostage. He knew that if he didn’t act, the culprit might escape.

Without hesitation, Seowon pulled the trigger. The bullet struck the attacker’s thigh, and as he stumbled, the guards seized the chance to apprehend him.

“Ha Seowon!”

The voice called his name once more, loud and clear. Iden approached him with a tense expression, turning Seowon around. The center of Seowon’s jacket was torn where the bullet had hit.

“I was wearing a bulletproof vest, so I’m fine—”

Before he could finish, Iden wrapped him tightly in an embrace. Ha… He could hear Iden’s deep breathing beside his ear. Seowon felt his arms around his shoulders tremble slightly.

“Director.”

He spoke softly, but Iden didn’t respond.

“…Iden.”

This time, he called him by name. He felt a faint flinch, but Iden neither answered nor loosened his hold on Seowon.

If you’re going to act like this, doesn’t that defeat the whole purpose of me hiding my face? Weren’t you the one who didn’t want to reveal me just yet?

Swallowing the urge to say those words, Seowon lightly patted his back.

“I’m okay.”

He murmured quietly, and though Iden’s chest heaved deeply, it seemed he heard him.

“I’d like to tell you I’m fine, but it actually hurts a little.”

When he sighed and spoke again, Iden released his hold on Seowon, looking him over anxiously.

“I think I may have a fractured rib…”

Seowon tried to smile, but Iden’s expression only grew darker.

**

“Really, why are you so reckless? What if something had gone wrong?”

After the Luciano Company’s private doctor, who had been on standby at the hotel in case of an emergency, came to treat Seowon and left, Min started bombarding him with scolding. Thankfully, it wasn’t life-threatening, but the impact of the bullet had caused a fracture in his back ribs.

“I was wearing a bulletproof vest.”

“And that means you should jump in front of a gun? Ha Seowon, you haven’t changed one bit…”

Min, agitated, suddenly closed his mouth, seemingly regretting what he was about to say. Seowon, lying in bed listening to him, let out a faint laugh. Though Min didn’t need to worry so much, he decided not to say anything that might interrupt the quiet moment of relief after Min’s tirade.

“What if you’d been hit somewhere unprotected?”

Min sighed, sounding resigned, and pulled a chair over to sit beside the bed.

“Arms and legs don’t kill you if you get shot, so I’d have managed somehow.”

“And your head?”

Seowon gave a bitter smile at Min’s blunt question about what he would’ve done if the bullet had hit his head.

“Well, that’d just be really unlucky.”

In truth, he hadn’t thought he’d be hit in the head. The target was Iden, who was seated, so the attacker’s aim was naturally lower. The chances of Seowon getting hit in the head were low.

“Even with a bulletproof vest, it could have been fatal.”

Min frowned, clearly disturbed by the thought.

“Doesn’t seem like the bulletproof vest works as well as I thought.”

When Seowon quipped back, Min glared, but seeing Seowon’s faint smile, he just sighed deeply, turning away.

“What about Iden… the Director?”

When the doctor checked Seowon’s condition, Iden looked furious, his face frozen in a cold expression that sent chills through anyone who approached him. He refused to leave Seowon’s side until the doctor assured him that Seowon would recover quickly with rest. Only then did he finally step back and leave the room.

“He went to handle the aftermath,” Min replied gruffly, still clearly upset that Seowon had stepped in front of the gun. Shouldn’t Iden be the one upset? Yet, he had left wordlessly, radiating nothing but cold fury.

“‘Aftermath’…”

He could guess what that meant. Even though it was a shooting incident in a local hotel, no one called the police. Since the auction involved illegal goods, it was obvious why. The apprehended assailant was taken by Iden’s security team, but would he survive? Likely not. They would keep him alive only long enough to extract the identity of the mastermind behind the attack.

“If you’re curious, you can go see for yourself.”

“No.”

Seowon refused Min’s suggestion firmly. He had no desire to witness what he already suspected. Imagining Iden’s actions and seeing them in person were two different things. For now, he wasn’t ready to shatter his image of “Iden hyung” by seeing him in such a ruthless light.

**

In an abandoned building near Incheon Port, the man disguised as a staff member to target Iden was tied to a chair. When Iden arrived, the guards stepped aside.

“Have you confirmed his identity?”

Sitting in the chair opposite the man, Iden asked, and Leo handed him a file. As Iden opened it and scanned the first page, his eyes narrowed. He glanced between the photo in the file and the man before him.

“So, this isn’t the guy?”

His face was different from when he had posed as a staff member.

“He altered his face with special makeup. The real staff member was found dead in the parking lot of a nearby building.”

Even though the hotel had checked the staff’s credentials, only ID cards and faces were verified at the auction’s entrance—a fatal flaw.

“Smart move.”

Iden clicked his tongue and handed the file back to Leo.

“So? How much were you paid to kill me?”

Knowing his target was a professional killer, Iden didn’t expect a straightforward answer. The man raised his head, looking at Iden, then gave a crooked smile.

“A Billion won. I’ve already received fifty percent upfront.”

Iden let out a derisive laugh. Only a billion won? That felt cheap for his life.

“I’ll double it if you kill the person who hired you instead.”

The man narrowed his eyes, unsure whether to believe him.

“Bullshit…”

As the man started to speak, the sound of a gunshot echoed. Iden had quickly drawn Leo’s gun and shot the man in the thigh. The man gritted his teeth, glaring at Iden as blood trickled down his leg.

“Oh, I forgot—you were already shot in the other leg earlier, right? Guess you won’t be standing anytime soon. I suppose that makes taking on new assignments difficult.”

Iden’s tone was light, but an unmistakable chill laced his words.

“Since your success rate just dropped, maybe twenty billion’s off the table. Let’s start back at ten. Prove you can still kill the one who hired you, and maybe I’ll let you live.”

“Damn…!”

As the man cursed, another gunshot rang out, this time striking his left arm, blood seeping out.

“You’re not left-handed, are you? You were aiming with your right hand earlier. Losing one arm shouldn’t make much difference.”

Iden’s expression was utterly blank. His stoic face made him appear even colder.