“Is this dangerous?”

Taeui looked at himself in the mirror as he washed his hands in the bathroom.

All he saw was his own reflection and the entire bathroom behind him.

Occasionally, one or two other guests would enter or leave, going about their business, but no one paid him any attention. Taeui silently dried his hands. Just as he was about to turn around and leave……

A man who had just finished using the restroom walked out, and another person entering the bathroom quickly approached Taeui without drawing any attention.

“……!”

The moment they rushed toward him, the gleam of metal flashed near Taeui’s stomach.

They were practically a perfect team when it came to suddenly attacking someone. However, what they hadn’t accounted for was Taeui’s heightened instincts – sharper than the average person’s – and the fact that he had grown accustomed to living with someone who had little humanity left in him – someone who excelled in unexpected brawls like this.

Instead of dodging, Taeui charged toward the man holding the weapon. He immediately grabbed the man’s arm, spinning him around and using that same arm to strike the other person approaching from behind, without even needing to look.

“Ugh.” – A small groan, barely audible, escaped the man who was struck.

Despite it being a surprise attack, almost no noise was made.

After gripping the man’s arm tightly, Taeui realized the weapon wasn’t a knife but a small electric baton. There was a faint electric shock – a tool designed to temporarily paralyze and easily subdue the opponent.

The moment the attacker lost focus, Taeui swiftly bent the man’s elbow and rushed toward the door the other attacker was blocking.

They tried to grab Taeui’s shoulder from behind, but half of him was already out the door. As long as they didn’t pull him back inside, he’d be safe.

At that instant, Taeui grabbed the decorative bouquet sitting in a large vase near the door and swung it behind him. The dry branches obscured their vision just long enough for Taeui to dash forward.

Someone was walking down the narrow hallway, and Taeui quickly slipped past them into the restaurant. Only then did he feel like he had escaped the minor danger.

A disturbing thought crossed his mind.

When enemies start attacking in crowded places, it means the situation has escalated. Moreover, these attackers must have underestimated him, thinking he wouldn’t be on guard, which is why he had been able to escape so easily.

Judging by how they moved, Taeui could tell they had been well-trained. Completely different from the clumsy ones he had first encountered when arriving in Frankfurt.

“Why do you look like you’ve swallowed something unpleasant?”

Taeui’s uncle sat in front of him, his dessert plate clean, looking at him curiously. Taeui shook his head and returned to the present moment.

“Ah…… I’m just worried about going back to the room. They’re even attacking in bathrooms now……”

“Aha.” – His uncle nodded and smiled lightly as if he understood

.”Don’t worry. On our hotel floor, UNHRDO members are stationed everywhere, so it’ll be safe.”

“But in these situations, sometimes those close to you are more dangerous than strangers.”

“Aha. So, is that why you didn’t eat the vegetables I gave you?”

“How can you say that when you’re the one who put the boiled carrots on my plate because you didn’t want to eat them? You’re getting old!”
Taeui frowned as his uncle pretended to turn away, ignoring him.

His uncle’s gaze shifted to the person who had been sitting quietly the entire time – Christoph.

“Are you tired?” – Taeui’s uncle asked, and Christoph only glanced up, answering briefly: “A little.” before falling silent again.

From the moment they arrived at the hotel and even before dinner, Christoph had barely spoken. Richard left the table without saying a word, and what was surprising was that Richard hadn’t initiated any conversation either.

They said nothing at all. As Richard had mentioned, they were now truly strangers – worse than mere acquaintances – no longer exchanging anything between them. Taeui had no reason to interfere either.

Even though Richard didn’t say a word, he constantly gazed at Christoph with cold eyes, as if trying to pierce through him. Only when Richard said he had an appointment and left right before dinner did Christoph finally start speaking a few words.

But even then, Christoph remained quiet, as though he was still unsettled. Taeui scratched his neck, gazing up at the ceiling for a moment, wondering whether he should say something. In the end, he decided to let things play out naturally. This wasn’t the right time to start a conversation, and it was probably best to let Christoph work through his emotions on his own.

“There are UNHRDO members stationed on every corner of the hotel floor…… But can they handle people who can break someone’s neck with their bare hands?”

Instead of drinking the tea that had been served at the end of the meal, Taeui took a sip of the beer he had ordered separately and questioned with doubt.

“Hmm.” – His uncle pondered for a moment.

Usually, his uncle would have casually said: ‘No, of course, they wouldn’t stand a chance.’ But this time, his uncle seemed to be calculating the actual possibilities, not theoretical figures, but the real probabilities.

“When Ilay said he was going to kill my brother.” – Taeui mentioned this during dinner, causing his uncle to nearly drop his fork. Just as the fork slipped from his hand, he caught it in time and looked up in surprise, asking: “Why?”

As Taeui recounted his conversation with Ilay, he remembered feeling similarly shocked at the time. As if sharing the same mood, Taeui continued to relay what Ilay had said.

But as he spoke, Taeui suddenly began to feel suspicious. Something was off and difficult to understand.

The first goal was to kill Jaeui—a task that even Taeui found to be almost impossible. Next, they planned to pull Raumaan into the situation and eliminate him as the second target.
As Taeui recounted the details, it all seemed a bit absurd. Yet, when hearing it directly from Ilay, it somehow felt plausible.

Perhaps because Ilay was the type of person who could make the impossible possible……
While Taeui was deep in thought, his uncle sipped his tea, considered the situation carefully, and shook his head slightly.

“Rick won’t act the same way he did in Riyadh this time.”

Taeui glanced at his uncle while sipping his beer. He recalled the knife he saw at Alain’s house. It clearly wasn’t a weapon for grand-scale attacks or destructive acts.

Based on what Alain said and the type of weapon, this time, only Ilay would be involved. He wouldn’t cause a terrorist attack or a large-scale incident like before with his allies.

“I don’t know…… His personality is unpredictable. He’s not afraid of retaliation or the consequences afterward.”

Even knowing that possibility, Taeui spoke, and his uncle set his teacup down, frowning.

“Exactly! He’s not the type to back down out of fear of retaliation, but it’s hard to believe that such a reckless person is so incredibly intelligent. He’ll never do anything that causes more trouble than he can handle.”

“But if he causes trouble and attacks Jaeui or Raumaan this time, especially after what happened in Riyadh, it’ll be very difficult for him to manage the aftermath.” – His uncle added.

“At least, if I were him, I’d act alone. That way, the benefit would far outweigh the effort.”

His uncle concluded simply, and Taeui agreed with the assessment.

“But what about Raumaan? Hmm……”

His uncle frowned and nodded as if he were doing some neck exercises. Meanwhile, the sounds of his neck joints cracking echoed in the room. He looked up at the ceiling for a moment before mumbling: “Tomorrow, 40 minutes before the forum begins, Jaeui has an appointment with Raumaan Abid Al Saud, right?”

Hearing his uncle’s words made Taeui pause mid-drink as he tilted the beer can.

There couldn’t be a better time for the two to meet. If the goal was to take out both of them at once, this would undoubtedly be the best opportunity.

“Where are they meeting?” Taeui asked.

“40 minutes before the forum starts, in the lounge area of the exhibition hall.”

“……That’s simple and discreet.”

“Those with power have been doing their best to prevent Jaeui and Raumaan from meeting,” his uncle said with a slight smile. The way he spoke made it clear to Taeui that they had probably tried to cancel the appointment, but ultimately couldn’t avoid arranging it.

“At least while inside the headquarters, it’s easier to find an excuse to prevent them from meeting. But out here, it’s hard to know how they even got a hold of the schedule, so there’s no way to stop this meeting now.”

Hearing his uncle say that all of Jaeui’s communications were pre-screened, and that nearly half of them were blocked without Jaeui ever knowing, Taeui muttered in exasperation.

“……Why is he hated so much? Why does the organization go to such lengths to prevent him from meeting others?”

“That person has been trying to lure away the organization’s key personnel, even those from the headquarters. How could anyone feel comfortable with that?”

His uncle’s concise explanation made Taeui nod in understanding.
Indeed, although it seemed like a small, trivial action, the reality was that it touched on much deeper interests, which made Taeui sigh in mild relief.

“40 minutes before the forum starts tomorrow……”

“Yeah, from 40 minutes before until 20 minutes before. They’ll only have 20 minutes to meet.”

“……This organization is really petty. What harm is there in their meeting? My brother isn’t the type to throw everything away and follow someone else.”

“That’s not true. They’ve made offers so incredibly tempting that even I was taken aback. It’s no wonder the headquarters feels uneasy.”

Taeui laughed, remembering that neither his uncle nor Jaeui cared much for material wealth, while his uncle muttered that he would’ve accepted if he were in their position. Then Taeui continued pondering.

“Meeting for 20 minutes in the exhibition hall lounge…… That would be the best opportunity for someone to quickly eliminate both of them……”

But no matter how he thought about it, it seemed too difficult.

Unless they did something like the bombing in Riyadh, it would be impossible to carry out an assassination just 20 minutes before an international forum, with countless people moving around. Furthermore, the lounge of the exhibition hall – where Raumaan and Jaeui would meet – would undoubtedly have a swarm of security personnel around it. It wasn’t the kind of location suitable for a long-range sniper attack.

Taeui frowned, wondering how Ilay would act. At that moment, Christoph, who had remained silent until now, suddenly spoke up:

“Sorry, but if you’ve finished eating, I’d like to go up to the room and rest. I’m not feeling well.”

“Oh, alright, let’s go.”

Taeui checked his watch and stood up after noticing Christoph’s pale face.

Christoph, who already had a very pale complexion, now looked even worse than usual.

Even though he had been fine in the morning, after encountering “that person,” Christoph had become noticeably quiet, and his face had grown visibly paler.
Taeui felt a pang of guilt but said nothing.

As they left the restaurant and headed toward the elevator, Taeui noticed a few people exchanging glances with his uncle as they greeted him. It seemed that even within the hotel, security personnel from the organization had blended in with the regular guests.

Taeui chuckled softly, causing his uncle to turn back and look at him in surprise.

“Nothing…… I just thought that UNHRDO would really tighten up security, and they certainly have.”

“Hm? Oh, it’s not that tight,” his uncle responded casually, but his words – coming from someone in a high-ranking position within the organization – surprised Taeui.

“If someone as daring as Rick had enough financial resources to hire a large team of experts, this so-called iron wall would be easily breached.”

“With the conditions you just mentioned, no defense would be impossible to break,” Taeui mumbled, shaking his head, and his uncle chuckled quietly.

Before long, the elevator, which had been reserved for them, arrived. The three of them entered, and it began moving swiftly.

Taeui glanced at the small, dome-shaped camera attached to one corner of the elevator ceiling and gave it a light wave. Suddenly, his uncle spoke.

“Oh, right. I should tell you, since you’re a younger brother worried about your older sibling, you should know this: Jaeui has already entered Germany.”

His uncle’s overly casual tone made Taeui think he was joking, but then he froze. Taeui stared at his uncle, who gazed back with a completely nonchalant expression.

“Otherwise, how could he have registered for the forum? Even with you here, how could someone who hasn’t entered Germany register for the event?”

“No…… It sounds even more absurd to say that someone who hasn’t entered Germany managed to register for the forum……”

Taeui muttered, knowing full well that his response wouldn’t make any difference.

“This isn’t something that should be public knowledge. Even within UNHRDO, only a select few people know that Jaeui hasn’t physically arrived in Germany yet.”

His uncle smiled fondly at Taeui.

“So, if Rick is targeting Jaeui, at least tonight, he won’t be able to do anything. Even if he searches everywhere, he won’t find Jaeui in Frankfurt until tomorrow morning. So, you can rest easy tonight.”

“Ah, yes.” – Taeui nodded and sighed.

Hearing those words, Taeui felt as though tomorrow was fast approaching, filling him with unease. As he muttered weakly, his uncle laughed in amusement. Just as Taeui began to mumble that this wasn’t something to joke about, the elevator arrived at their floor.

Sure enough, just as his uncle had said, there were a few people in uniform scattered randomly at various corners of the hallway. Although there were some blind spots they couldn’t fully cover, it seemed there wasn’t much to worry about.

“Your rooms, mine, and Christoph’s are all next to each other, so if you get bored in the middle of the night, feel free to drop by.”

“Structurally, the rooms may be adjacent, but they’re still quite far apart.”

As they approached their rooms, Christoph finally muttered something, his mood seeming to improve as he anticipated some rest. His uncle frowned at Christoph’s comment.

“You’re not planning to rest comfortably? Instead, you’re observing things like that? That’s what we call a professional habit.”

“I’m just stating facts. And even if I did drop by, I’d go to Taeui’s room, not yours.”

Christoph replied as though it were the most obvious thing, then added: “Well, I’m heading to bed now.” before stepping into his assigned room.

“Why does it feel like he holds a grudge against me? Every word that comes out of his mouth is so sharp……”

His uncle mumbled as Christoph closed his door. Taeui made his way toward his room and turned back to bid his uncle farewell.

“There’s a reason for that. Don’t you wonder why Christoph has been so upset all evening?”

“Oh, if I had known your friend was Christoph, I wouldn’t have invited Richard to meet us.”

His uncle shrugged and shook his head. He sighed a bit exaggeratedly and said his affectionate goodbye: “If you’re scared to sleep alone at night, just come over anytime.”

Taeui smiled and muttered that it probably wouldn’t happen, then stepped into his room. He glanced at the uniformed man standing near his door.

Taeui had seen him exchange looks with his uncle earlier, so there was no doubt that he was a member of UNHRDO. The man stood just a few steps from the door. Given his position, even in the worst-case scenario, if something happened when the door opened, the man would be able to respond……

Taeui instinctively calculated the timing in his head, then realized it and chuckled bitterly.

“Even though I’ve been living peacefully in Berlin for a few years, old habits die hard……”

Just being in an environment that required constant vigilance caused Taeui to unconsciously calculate things in his mind without even noticing.

But that was the only way to survive in such a harsh world. Comforting himself with that thought, Taeui opened the door to his room and spoke to the man.

“Thank you for your hard work.”

“No problem. Please rest easy.”

After noting the man’s polite tone and friendly smile, Taeui finally stepped into his room.

“Haaa……” – The sigh that was meant to be light and fleeting had become long and heavy.

After all, staying tense all day was bound to lead to a result like this. Once the tension was released, fatigue would come crashing down unexpectedly.

“Tomorrow is going to feel like a million years……” – Jeong Taeui muttered while massaging his neck.

Suddenly, he tilted his head in surprise: “Huh?”

When the door closed, there should have been a *Click* sound from the automatic lock, but that sound was absent.

Out of curiosity, he turned back to look. To his confusion, he noticed something had fallen under the door, preventing it from fully closing. As he approached, he saw that the friendly-looking agent from earlier also noticed the door hadn’t closed entirely and was approaching.

“……”

The guard in front of him bent down to pick up the item that had fallen while Taeui instinctively checked the objects within his reach. The young man smiled and handed it to Taeui.

“I thought it was strange the door didn’t close, so it looks like you dropped this.”

“Ah, thank you.”

Taeui smiled and accepted the item the soldier handed over. As he held it, he realized it was the key holder. It was indeed his.

It seemed the stress of the past few days had made him more sensitive. Taeui shook his head, clearing his mind, as he watched the figure of the man walk away.

But then, just as Jeong Taeui was about to close the door—

The man who had just walked out suddenly stopped.

“……?”

Jeong Taeui tilted his head in confusion, and the next thing he knew, the man’s figure began to shrink.

No, not shrink. Gradually, the young man leaned against the wall and then collapsed.

“……!”

Jeong Taeui reflexively tried to slam the door shut.

But he wasn’t able to close it. Just before the door could close, a baton was wedged into the gap, quietly prying the door open again.

Standing there was a man dressed in an organization uniform. He seemed to be the one who had been stationed in the corner of the hallway, out of sight.

The man slowly lifted the cap of his uniform, which had been pulled down over his face. A strange face smiled at him.

“Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Jeong Jaeil. I apologize for this sudden intrusion.”

At the same time, the man sprayed something in Jeong Taeui’s face.

Before he could react, a stinging mist enveloped him, blurring his vision. And as his sight dimmed, so too did his consciousness.