“……. What are you doing?”

“Going to shower.”

Richard frowned, looking confused and said with a perplexed expression.

“The laundry will be taken care of, just leave it.”

This time it was Christoph’s turn to frown and look at Richard.

“I’m going to shower. I’m not talking about the bed sheets. I’m talking about me.”

“Then why are you taking the sheets off?”

“Because the bathrobe is too far away, so I’m using the sheets to cover myself.”

Richard glanced at the bathroom door. The distance was only a few steps.

“You can just walk straight there.”

“Do you expect me to walk naked in front of a rapist?”

Christoph looked at Richard with surprise and anger.

For a moment, Richard froze, clamping his mouth shut. He just quietly looked at Christoph.

Christoph grabbed the bed sheet and intended to do exactly as he said—wrap it around himself. But suddenly, he sat back down on the bed, seemingly deep in thought, and murmured to himself.

“Am I… am I really the kind of person who deserves this?”

Christoph spoke with genuine curiosity, and Richard frowned slightly as he looked at him.

“Born flawed… Perhaps this is what it was always going to come to. From the beginning, I was broken.”

He tilted his head, murmuring to himself. He didn’t feel anything in particular. Even though he had been so angry earlier that he felt like going mad, now, thinking back on it, he no longer felt angry or sad.

Instead, what puzzled him was why that man had that expression on his face at that moment. Why had he――.

When Christoph suddenly looked up at Richard, he noticed his own face felt emotionless. Richard was staring at him with a blank, frozen expression.

“I…―.”

Richard opened his mouth but couldn’t continue speaking.

He just stared at Christoph as if trying to bore through him with his gaze. His face was stiff with fear. That made Christoph stare back at him.

After a moment, Richard let out a groaning sigh and rubbed his forehead as if unsure of what to do. He tried to speak several times but closed his mouth each time, eventually sighing and uttering,

“I’ve never felt so humiliated as I do today.”

Christoph silently looked at Richard with a pained expression, then suddenly spoke.

“That’s right, raping too. You’ve gone to the very bottom with that.”

Christoph looked at Richard angrily, but Richard remained silent for a while. Eventually, he sighed lightly through clenched teeth and whispered:

“No, it’s not like that. I――.”

But again, he closed his mouth, unable to continue.

A sudden noise came from outside.

Instinctively, Richard turned his head toward the door, and Christoph followed suit.

There seemed to be a commotion outside. The hurried footsteps of several people could be heard passing by, and the murmur of panicked voices grew louder.

Soon, there was a knock at the door.

The forceful but determined knock made Christoph toss the sheet aside, quickly grabbing the bathrobe hanging in the closet and heading to open the door.

Standing outside was Jeong Changin.

Although it was late, he was dressed and ready to go out. Unlike his usual calm demeanor, there was a hint of worry on his face this time.

“There’s been a shooting outside the old Saudi Arabian embassy.”

Hearing Jeong Changin’s words, Christoph tilted his head in confusion.

“A shooting outside the old Saudi Arabian embassy…? Why?”

Although it was an event that could become the talk of the town, there didn’t seem to be a reason why Jeong Changin would inform Christoph with such a serious expression.

However, seeing Jeong Changin standing silently in front of him, Christoph’s expression gradually faded as he sensed something unusual.

Finally, Christoph asked in a low and emotionless voice:

“Where’s Taei?”

“He’s there… I just received a message: [‘We have Jeong Jaeui.’]”

****************

The first sense to return after being restrained was his hearing. There was an unfamiliar sound. In fact, all the sounds were strange.

The sound of a metal chair being dragged across the floor, the footsteps of someone occasionally walking back and forth, the echo of shoes, and faint murmurs coming from the other side of the door.

‘Speak in a language I can understand…’

Even though he wanted to grumble like that, he couldn’t utter a single word.

It wasn’t just because his body was still stiff from paralysis, but his tongue felt numb as well. A gag had been placed in his mouth, and a leather strap was fastened tightly over it, making it impossible for him to speak.

That’s why he couldn’t even scream for help, let alone talk! Of course, that’s precisely why they had done this.

Only after these thoughts became clear in Jeong Taeui’s mind did he open his eyes. The images before him spun dizzily. His vision blurred, shifting between distant and close. However, after blinking several times, his eyesight gradually improved. Given a bit more time, things would return to normal.

He realized he had been kidnapped just a few minutes after opening his eyes.

No one told him this. Even though he didn’t understand the language spoken, he could hear snippets of conversation from outside. Yet he recognized the language. It was one he had heard during his time imprisoned in Seringe years ago—the tone and rhythm were very similar.

‘The language of the Arabs…’

Jeong Taeui sighed.

There was no need to overthink; this was related to Saudi Arabia.

Taeui tried to wiggle his hands, which were tied behind his back. The knots binding his wrists were tight, and it seemed unlikely he could break free easily.

Fortunately, his legs were relatively free. Leather straps and steel cables bound his ankles, but they were tied far enough apart for him to take small, quick steps around the narrow room.

Where was this place?

While thinking about this, Taeui suddenly remembered the last man he saw before losing consciousness. It was a man wearing a UNHRDO uniform. No, in fact, he was merely pretending to be on guard duty while aiding in Taeui’s kidnapping.

‘Was he replaced or bribed?’

Most likely the latter. Replacing an external security officer would require significant effort.

If he was bribed, it wasn’t just one person… It would likely take many collaborators.

A joke from his uncle suddenly popped into Taeui’s head.

‘――Someone who has the guts to pull off something big and enough money to hire a large professional workforce to make it happen.’

Who could that be?

‘…Ilay?’

That name unexpectedly surfaced in his mind, making Taeui ponder for a moment, but then he shook his head.

Of course, the name had come to mind instantly, but Ilay had no reason to kidnap him. Unless he was trying to protect him by detaining him safely from some impending danger.

Taeui weighed the thought for a while before shaking his head again.

Now wasn’t the time to think about such things. Although he couldn’t do much in this situation, he needed to stay alert and analyze the situation.

The Arabic voices from outside echoed in his ears. The persistence to execute a large-scale plan. Paired with immense wealth and power.

It was easy to guess. Whether right or wrong, there was only one person who came to mind with certainty.

‘Raumaan Abid Al Saud.’

Moreover, because that name appeared in his thoughts, Taeui didn’t need to guess why he had been kidnapped. From the beginning, that man had always relentlessly sought to control him to manipulate his older brother.

Jeong Taeui sighed.

Although he had been cautious, he had ultimately ended up in this situation.

From the moment he had left Kyle’s house in Berlin, he had anticipated that someone would try to seize Jeong Jaeui for suspicious purposes. Even though it was unexpected, Raumaan had tried to kidnap him in Dresden not long ago.

No matter how much he hated him, Taeui had promised himself never to fall into that man’s hands.

But now… What could he do? Surely there had to be some way to escape.

After thinking for a while, a familiar sense of déjà vu surfaced in Taeui’s mind. Then, as he thought more carefully, he remembered – though the situation was slightly different – he had been in a similar predicament before.

The experience of being detained by Raumaan. And recalling how he had escaped that situation…

“……………………”

A man had fired a cannon into a nation’s capital, using an anti-tank gun to completely destroy the lavish, expensive prison where he was held.

No. That was absurd. He couldn’t do something like that again.

Jeong Taeui shook his head.

As much as he wanted to escape, he didn’t want to repeat that scenario.

“……”

So, should he obediently surrender himself to Raumaan, stand by and endure being used as bait to lure his brother in?

It wasn’t a pleasant thought, but it was an option. If that happened, he would hold on and beg his brother. Then, together, they could escape.

Taeui shifted uncomfortably and sat down on the edge of the bed. He glanced around, but there was nothing useful in sight.

It seemed he really didn’t have many options right now. If he waited, someone would surely come eventually.

Taeui sighed, listening to the occasional noises coming from the hallway outside, as if someone was watching.

But was it Raumaan?

He had heard that Raumaan would meet his brother tomorrow. If so, there would be an opportunity to directly persuade his brother tomorrow… so why involve him in this and use such methods today?

…Or maybe, because the meeting was tomorrow, they wanted to secure a trump card today.

Jeong Taeui leaned back and rested against the bed. Since his body was tied up, he lost his balance and hit his head hard against the wall.

“……!!!!”

He couldn’t scream, so he swallowed the pain with a silenth – “Ouch!” – in his mouth.

Unable to use his hands, Taeui could only rub his head against the mattress to ease the pain, which made him feel even more miserable.

But it seemed the numbness in his body was almost gone. His vision had cleared, and his senses had returned to normal. Although his head throbbed a little, it was probably from the impact just now.

Taeui looked around the room again.

A simple stone floor, plain plaster walls. In the corner was an old wooden table, as if it hadn’t been used in a while. And the simple wooden bed he was sitting on.

Aside from the bed, the whole room felt like a public facility or a school. No, it didn’t quite feel like a school; more like a government office or some kind of public building.

However, if this place was being used to hold people, it had to be an abandoned building or…

Taeui glanced at the clean window and the well-kept door frame—everything was too neat and tidy for an abandoned building. It seemed this building was still in use…

At that moment.

He heard voices outside. The room appeared to be somewhere in the middle of a hallway, as people occasionally passed by.

The reason the voices caught his attention was that they were speaking a language he understood.

“When will our master arrive here?”

“Well, since we’ve captured the person we needed, our job is pretty much done.”

They were speaking in German.

Judging by the way they referred to “the master” it was clear these people weren’t Raumaan’s direct subordinates but rather hired mercenaries.

Taeui remembered the last man he had seen before passing out.

It seemed he had been bribed, and in addition to that, they had hired mercenaries as well.

It looked like this kidnapping plot had been meticulously planned. In fact, the atmosphere during the Tarten succession ceremony had been similar.

Taeui silently scoffed.

What a persistent man. It had been years since he left Seringe.

In all those years, Raumaan could have given up, but even now, he stubbornly pursued him.

Whether his older brother Jeong Jaeui was truly as great as Taeui imagined or Raumaan was simply too obsessed with small things was unclear.

“It seems this time, he’s been thorough in his preparations.”

“Yeah… He probably thinks this is his last chance.”

“Of course… after all, he’s not getting any younger.”

The voices in the distant hallway grew closer. Now Taeui didn’t have to strain to hear them clearly.

But this talk about age. What about Jeong Taeui? Taeui tilted his head in confusion.

……Ah, perhaps the person targeting his brother wasn’t Raumaan, but the old man sitting opposite him? They seemed to call that old man Al Faisal. From what Taeui had heard, he held the title, but the real power lay in Raumaan’s hands.

But either way, in Jeong Taeui’s mind, they were all the same bunch.

“But honestly, I didn’t want to take this job at all.”

“Why?”

“Because someone I once knew told me this. The target our employer is after is not someone you want to mess with.”

“Hmm… but we just need to get paid.”

“Haha, exactly.” – Came the response that followed.

They continued to chat about mundane things, like wanting to wrap up this job quickly so they could go drinking or how they were craving women.

Jeong Taeui sighed and thought to himself. The target Raumaan is after… could it be Jaeui?

Well, if they were going after Jaeui, that wouldn’t end well. No matter what they do, if it’s not something he wants, they won’t gain anything from this situation. This was truly one of those rare cases where money, power, or violence wouldn’t work.

But there was something more complex, something unexpected…

Just as Taeui tilted his head and blinked, trying to figure out what felt off, he heard the men walking right past this room.

“But that guy inside, does he understand everything we’re saying?”

They said as they walked past the door, clearly referring to him.

“Oh, right… Asians usually only know a bit of English at best.”

“No, not this one. They say he’s a genius. Many places want to recruit him.”

“Hmm, so he probably speaks ten languages, huh? Haha. But even if he understands, so what? We’re not saying anything important. RIGHT, MR. GENIUS?”

One of them banged on the door and laughed as he shouted: “Right, Mr. Genius?” The laughter continued as they walked away.

Although they didn’t know much, from that conversation, Taeui could confirm one thing:

They had captured the wrong person.

………Turns out, they had mistaken him for his older brother. But what now? The ‘genius’ they were after was probably comfortably on a flight to get here.

Taeui suddenly felt all the strength drain from his body.

What is this? He hadn’t been kidnapped as a way to threaten his brother… but because they had mistaken him for his brother…

Regardless, the fact that he had been kidnapped didn’t change, but he couldn’t help but feel disheartened. All the plans he had been making to escape before being used as a hostage to threaten his brother now seemed pointless.

But…

Jeong Taeui suddenly frowned.

Wait a minute… So, does that mean it wasn’t Raumaan? Raumaan couldn’t have mistaken him for Jaeui… Or maybe he hadn’t encountered Raumaan yet, so there was still a chance that he had mistaken him for Jaeui.

Thinking about it more carefully, Raumaan had always wanted to kidnap Jaeui. If the person behind this ‘brother’ kidnapping was indeed Raumaan, it would all make sense.

“……”

Jeong Taeui tilted his head, still feeling like there was some miscalculation somewhere, but he couldn’t pinpoint it.

However, there wasn’t much time left for reflection and concern.

Less than 30 minutes after those men had spoken in German – or perhaps even less, since he had no watch and was just lying around – the sound of multiple footsteps began to echo from a distance.

Taeui instinctively sat up. He pushed himself upright from his lazy lying position on the bed and waited for the footsteps, which were surely heading for this room.

Something was different from the occasional footsteps that had passed by earlier. This time, at least 7 or 8 people were approaching.

They walked slowly with a sense of reverence, as if following someone. Finally, they stopped right outside the door. After a short phrase was spoken in a language Taeui didn’t understand, the door opened.

Jeong Taeui, who had been gagged with his hands tied behind his back and his legs bound tightly, was almost unable to move. A group of people stepped into the room in front of him.

From the footsteps, Taeui had already guessed that there would be a considerable number of people. But upon a quick glance, there had to be at least fifteen. However, only four or five seemed to be in a central role.

Standing at the center was a middle-aged man, who appeared to be of the highest status among them, surrounded by three or four subordinates who seemed to serve him. The rest looked like laborers who handled the heavy lifting.

As soon as the middle-aged man at the center entered the room, he looked at Taeui with cold eyes. His gaze swept over Jeong Taeui from head to toe, and his eyes were icy. While they weren’t hostile, they weren’t friendly either.

Jeong Taeui sighed.

Facing this many Arabs dressed in thobes and gutras made him feel gloomy. He had no fond memories of encounters with people like this – neither in Seringe nor in Dresden.

But who was this man?

He had expected Raumaan to show up, but this was someone completely unfamiliar. The man looked to be around the same age as the one who often accompanied Raumaan, but his face was different. He didn’t look like one of Raumaan’s subordinates… But the air around him didn’t fit a lowly position.

As Jeong Taeui tried to figure out the relationship between this man and Raumaan, the middle-aged man who had been observing him suddenly said something to the person next to him. The man standing behind him then stepped forward and removed the gag from Taeui’s mouth.

Once the gag and the tight strap were taken out of his mouth, Jeong Taeui exhaled deeply, taking in a long breath.

The middle-aged man looked at him and said something. Taeui tilted his head because he didn’t understand the language.

The man frowned and shook his head, clearly displeased. After a pause, he spoke again.

“Are you the genius weapons developer they’ve been talking about? You look too young. How long have you been doing this work?”

This time, he spoke in English.

Though relieved to understand him, Taeui still hesitated. Two questions came at once, leaving him momentarily confused. “Umm…” – After stammering for a moment, Taeui decided to tell the truth before the misunderstanding grew deeper.

“I’m not a genius weapons developer. I’ve never done that kind of work.”

As Taeui answered, the middle-aged man was about to speak again but suddenly stopped. His expression twisted in a strange way.

The man immediately launched into a rapid stream of words, speaking to the person beside him, and that man looked at Taeui with an irritated expression.

“YOU’RE NOT JEONG JAEUI?!”

“I’m not.”

“Then you’re not the one who registered today under the name Jeong Jaeui and was escorted by the UNHRDO?”

The man shouted at Taeui, as if to say ‘Don’t lie!’, but Taeui just shook his head again.

“I only registered on his behalf and happened to use the room, but I’m sorry to say that you’ve got the wrong person.”

When Jeong Taeui firmly answered, the man frowned, glaring at him.

“Then who are you?”

His question implied that Taeui must be someone close enough to register on Jaeui’s behalf and use the room, not just an unrelated person.

Taeui fell silent for a moment. He wasn’t sure whether revealing that he was Jeong Jaeui’s younger brother would be a wise decision.

More importantly, if he knew who this man was, he might be able to guess the direction of the conversation, but with no information, the only thing Jeong Taeui could be certain of was that this man was after Jeong Jaeui.

After some thought and finding no clear solution, Taeui decided to give the safest answer.

“The instructor at the UNHRDO asked me to register on behalf of Jeong Jaeui and stay in the room. I don’t know where Jeong Jaeui is.”

In situations lacking information, sometimes a half-truth is the best option.

When Jeong Taeui answered with a slightly indignant expression, the middle-aged man stared at him and then slowly asked again.

“So, you’re not the person Raumaan has been persistently searching for? Not the one Al Faisal persuaded to bring under his influence in the hope of becoming Ali’s ally?”

“Whoever that person is, I’m still not Jeong Jaeui.”

Taeui responded calmly and clearly. The middle-aged man squinted at him for a long moment before clicking his tongue.

“Ha. I thought I’d done them a favor by finding the right person… but it turns out those bastards have laid another trap.”

The man muttered, and Jeong Taeui – who had suddenly become bait – could only sigh in resignation, feeling like he had just hit a game of bingo.

A lightbulb went off in his head as he suddenly remembered the name he had heard a few times before. It was that man. The one who had lost in the power struggle with Prince Ali. Rashid.

Rashid glanced at Jeong Taeui once and then said something to the man beside him. Taeui could guess what the conversation was about, and the other man nodded while looking at him.

They were surely discussing investigating him.

Rashid turned to leave the room with an irritated expression. As he prepared to exit, he seemed to be harshly scolding someone. Suddenly, hurried footsteps approached, and a young man quickly entered.

“As you ordered, the message you sent has been answered. UNHRDO has responded.”

This young man seemed to be a mercenary or someone hired for a similar task.

When the smaller man beside Rashid mumbled something, Rashid raised an eyebrow. Then the young man’s words were repeated by the small man and conveyed to Rashid.

“What did they say?”

“Yes. Uh… Essentially, their response requests that you ensure his safety and provide exact conditions to inform the organization. That’s the main content.”

While the translator relayed the message, Taeui could only mutter to himself: “Ego…” It was clear that after kidnapping Jeong Jaeui, they had contacted the organization.

But the story didn’t end there.

“And it seems there’s another party cooperating with the organization, along with a message sent under someone else’s name. The content addresses the kidnapping, detention, and threatening of an international organization member for personal reasons, which could lead to an international issue. If the researcher Jeong Jaeui is not released immediately, punitive measures will be taken… I can’t read this signature. It seems like Arabic.”

As the young man looked at the printed document and mumbled, someone else standing next to him glanced at the paper and frowned.

“Raumaan Abid Al Saud…”

The moment that name was mentioned, the atmosphere in the room grew tense.

Jeong Taeui quietly observed, his eyes darting around.

The situation seemed tense… While Taeui was thinking about this, his eyes suddenly locked on the youngest man standing closest to him. More specifically, his gaze settled on the small knife tucked into the leather belt around the man’s waist.

‘That would be really useful…’

He thought for a moment and tried to wiggle his arms. His hands were tied too tightly, leaving him barely able to move. In this condition, quietly grabbing the knife would be nearly impossible.

As Jeong Taeui kept glancing at the young man, the rest of the men with tense expressions, began whispering and preparing to leave.

Taeui clicked his tongue in frustration. And just as the young man was about to follow them out of the room, Taeui lunged forward with swift steps, crashing into him. Taking advantage of the young man’s stumble, Taeui bent down and grabbed the knife from the man’s belt with his teeth.

The young man shouted in anger. A few of the men who were leaving the room turned back.

Taeui quickly spat out the knife, picked it up with his hands, and held on to it tightly. The young man yelled and tried to force Taeui’s hand open, but Taeui rolled onto the floor, hiding the knife in his hand.

4 or 5 other men approached, their faces showing irritation.

Rashid and a few of the men accompanying him, upon seeing the commotion, merely clicked their tongues and said a few words before leaving.

The remaining men, after unsuccessfully trying to retrieve the knife, began to angrily punch and kick Jeong Taeui.

“AH! THAT HURTS! STOP HITTING ME! ALL I DID WAS TAKE A KNIFE, WHY ARE YOU BEATING ME? GET AWAY! WHY DID YOU KIDNAP ME AND NOW TREAT ME LIKE THIS?”

Jeong Taeui shouted in Korean – of course, they didn’t understand him, but in this situation, the words of a kidnapped person weren’t anything new, and they probably didn’t care. Even so, he bit, kicked, and head-butted wildly, trying to cause as much chaos as possible.

A tied-up man against four or five strong, free men – the outcome was obvious from the start.

In the end, after being beaten to a pulp, Jeong Taeui – though scratched, punched, and kicked to the point of bruising – still managed to hold on to the knife. However, in their frustration, the men tied his mouth and hands even tighter than before, making it hard for him to breathe properly. After a while, he had to gasp for air, nearly suffocating.

After being thoroughly beaten, Taeui lay motionless on the floor for a long time, his body covered in bruises and small bleeding wounds. The only thing he had managed to acquire during the struggle was a lighter. In the scuffle of biting and pulling, he had grabbed the lighter from the man who smelled of cigarettes.

‘This lighter sure came at a high price… I hope I didn’t break any bones.’ – Jeong Taeui groaned in pain, lying still on the floor for a long time.