It wouldn’t be unusual for Ilay to refuse to do something he didn’t like. 

He was the type to fully commit to what he wanted to do. For Ilay, forcing him to do something was worthless. 

But he also had his own sense of responsibility. Being someone who did what he believed he had to do, if he decided he had a responsibility for a task after hearing about it, he would take it on.

Previously, it was Ilay who had voluntarily gone to the Hong Kong branch. Even though he showed reluctance and seemed unwilling to go, he was aware of the company’s work – the work that required his responsibility – so despite his apparent displeasure, he ultimately decided to go.

Then, just before the Hong Kong branch was officially established and operational, he spent a whole month in Hong Kong to participate in a joint training session with UNHRDO.

A man who always did what he thought he had to do was now desperately searching for someone. It was beyond imagination. Kyle had never seen his brother obsessed with something to this extent. Of course, Ilay was the type who would never let go of those who dared to provoke him, but he wasn’t the type to go so far as to chase down a fleeing person without showing any signs of anger… No, to be precise, those people would be caught before they even had a chance to run.

Perhaps the damn researcher’s luck, combined with Gilsangcheon’s help, facilitated his brother’s escape. Kyle was even surprised by that unprecedented ability. But that was not the issue now; there was another problem he needed to worry about more.

“Using Ilay is the simplest and easiest solution, but it also seems too excessive…., I need to think of another way, but what could it be?”

Kyle mumbled to himself and sank deep into thought. He had come up with a few methods, but none were particularly useful. It was frustrating. He couldn’t provide the weapons the criminals wanted as they demanded. It would have been easier if, before reaching this point, they had found a reliable intermediary and conducted the transaction, but those idiots had already done something stupid. If this happened, there would be no way to conduct a secret underground transaction. There were some tricks to trade these things, but those idiots didn’t know that.

Kyle also couldn’t pretend not to know his friends were in trouble (because of him) just because he couldn’t deliver the weapons to them. Although they were not people the criminals could kill or deal with, he couldn’t turn a blind eye. Personally, they were friends, but they were also valuable business partners he couldn’t sever ties with.

“What should I do….”

Kyle clicked his tongue. Throughout his life, he had never built a company as large as this, and while running it, many difficult problems had arisen. But each time, he managed to overcome everything. There had been times when serious life-threatening issues occurred, but he still managed to resolve them. So now, Kyle wasn’t overly serious about this problem. In time, this would also become “some troublesome things that happened in the past.”.

However, to be able to look back later and sigh like that, he first had to think of a way to solve the current issue.

“Well…..—”

A gentle whisper sounded, and Kyle looked up. On the other side, Maurer was resting his chin on his hands, eyes closed and contemplating something.

This friend of his was somewhat eccentric. Among the many people Kyle knew, a few could be called oddballs, and Maurer was one of them. But Maurer was a capable and intelligent person, no different from others. Even when he was working at Kyle’s company a few years ago, he had been outstanding.

After quitting, he joined UNHRDO, but he remained an interesting friend to keep in touch with. Unfortunately, most places with brilliant minds and deep knowledge were related to weapons. Even though he wasn’t very good at solving these kinds of problems, Maurer now seemed very dedicated to finding a solution for Kyle.

He mumbled to himself: “What’s the matter? What’s wrong?”, then bit his lip as if he were slowly reaching a conclusion.

Kyle felt a bit worried when Maurer’s eyes lit up, and he suddenly called out to him.

“Kyle.”

“Alright, tell me.”

“The prototype of the gun I saw a few days ago.”

Kyle gently raised an eyebrow. He was momentarily surprised by a story he hadn’t expected to come up suddenly.

Maurer was a weapons enthusiast, from the beginning, he had been a person who put weapons on a pedestal. Moreover, the prototype weapon still in development that Kyle had shown him yesterday seemed to align perfectly with his desires. His body trembled when he saw it, and he had clearly shown ambition to possess it.

Well, some time ago, someone had joked: “This is what you want most, so would you sell your soul to the devil in exchange for a 22mm short-barrel 1989 pistol that stopped production 100 years ago and can only be admired in museums?”

At that time, he hadn’t hesitated or doubted, giving a serious and resolute answer: “Yes”

He was that kind of person, so it wasn’t strange for him to bring up the gun again. Kyle nodded, confused.

“Yeah, what about the prototype?”

When Kyle asked, Maurer was silent for a moment. He seemed very pleased when thinking about the gun. Excited, he waved his hands with flushed cheeks, as if determined, then closed his eyes, blinked, and spoke.

“Give it to me, and I’ll help you talk to Riegrow to resolve this.”

“What…?”

Kyle opened his eyes wide, looking puzzled. Next to him, Jenkins had the same expression. Kyle turned to Jenkins. Unsure of how Maurer could persuade Ilay, Jenkins glanced at Kyle with a look as if he didn’t understand English.

Maurer and Ilay weren’t particularly friendly, but that didn’t mean their relationship was terrible. They were the type who knew the other existed but had never had proper contact or conversation with each other.

“Are you alright in the head?”

When Kyle questioned him, Maurer looked very confident, his eyes bright and silent. Kyle thought for a moment. His prototype couldn’t be handed over to someone else. He didn’t like experimental models being leaked before they were officially released in small quantities. And it was even more dangerous if the product wasn’t complete.

But in this situation….

Kyle glancedede til Maurer.

“I mean, it’s one way. But what if I don’t give it to you?”

“Then this matter will be difficult to resolve.”

Maurer coldly replied with a broad smile. Then what was bound to happen would happen. Kyle thought about it for a while. Finally, he nodded to Maurer.

“Alright. If Ilay can help me with this, I’ll give it to you. But even if you get it, you can only keep it to yourself and never use or give it to anyone else.”

“Absolutely.”

Maurer smiled. He fell into a moment of ecstatic happiness, staring at the ceiling until Kyle patted him on the shoulder, bringing him back to reality.

“Alright, so how will you do it?” – Kyle asked.

In fact, he had decided to accept Maurer’s offer even if it meant giving him the prototype because it was the best way to resolve this matter. But more than that, he was curious about how Maurer would change Ilay’s mind.

“Ah, just like that.”

Maurer mumbled softly.

“Make sure Taeui is among the hostages.”

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

The Birch Forest

Thinking back, this was the first time in his life that Jeong Taeui had been officially kidnapped (previously, because of his brother, there was only a risk of being kidnapped). He had been beaten a few times when he was young, but the truth was, he had never actually been kidnapped. If it were his brother, even if he got kidnapped, he would soon return. So, when he was young – when there was still a risk of being kidnapped – there were times he was terrified, thinking that: ‘If I get kidnapped, it would be so scary. The kidnappers will surely starve and beat me.’

But as he grew older and more independent, he no longer thought about it because he had grown too old to be kidnapped by another adult.

“So even adults can still get kidnapped…”

Jeong Taeui mumbled, bewildered.

When he was in middle school, he used to travel alone with a backpack. He had never been robbed on a bus, but he could fall into situations close to being taken away. But at that time, he could become a target not because he was Jeong Taeui. And now, he wasn’t particularly special or important, but those people still caught him.

Looking back, it seemed his life was just a dark patch, experiencing everything from robbery to kidnapping like that.

But after all, he was still fine. And he still lived somehow lucky.

Moreover, if he had to affirm that he was truly lucky, perhaps it was the fact that he was kidnapped for the first time in his life by these people.

They didn’t starve or beat Jeong Taeui as he had feared when he was young. Although he was confined, they fed him on time and didn’t behave too rudely. But they weren’t kidnappers to be easily fooled; if they felt the room was noisy, they would bang on the door and shout.

Jeong Taeui had fallen asleep due to a headache and dizziness. Not long after, he woke up, asked the others, and was told that he had slept for three to four hours.

Jeong Taeui didn’t have a watch, so he didn’t know the exact time, but he thought he had slept for about three hours. The thing was, he didn’t know when he first woke up, so he wasn’t clear about the time.

There was a window, but it had been nailed shut from the outside, making it impossible to see the view outside. However, at the top, there was a small gap of a few inches because the length of the nailed board wasn’t enough, allowing light to filter through that small crack.

“It’s around seven or eight o’clock… or maybe a bit later?”

Jeong Taeui tilted his head. The sky through the crack was a pale blue with faint streaks of red light. The sun was setting, leaving shadows gradually covering everything.

Jeong Taeui ate the bread that the kidnappers had thrown into the room while he was sleeping. He picked it up, chewed, and looked around. The others in the room were still talking about various topics without any apparent tension.

Jeong Taeui found it a bit strange. Usually, in kidnapping cases, those who play significant roles among the hostages are the ones who are kept alive the longest. Unfortunately, who dies first among these people doesn’t seem to matter, because in this case, the first to die could very well be Jeong Taeui… However, it was still strange that the tension seemed to have lessened significantly even though they could still very well lose their lives.

Jeong Taeui watched them for a while and then smiled. All in all, the atmosphere wasn’t too bad.

They seemed to know each other, and some didn’t.

“But is everyone okay? I’m a bit scared. We don’t know who those guys outside are and what will happen next. I wonder if something bad will happen…”

Then, the man sitting next to him thought for a moment and gently patted Jeong Taeui on the back to reassure him.

“Don’t worry too much. Everything will be fine. Kyle has dealt with things like this often. After all, he is a good negotiator.”

The elderly-looking man sitting under the window across from the man next to him nodded.

“That’s right. Well, this isn’t the first time I’ve encountered something like this, so just take it easy. Big problems become small, and small problems become nothing. If you’re in the arms trade world, you have to accept that one day, you might suddenly step out of the gate and get hit by a car.”

“Aha… is that so.”

Jeong Taeui chuckled. Alright, he could feel more at ease thinking like that. If you have the belief that no matter what, you won’t die, then even if you get shot, you can still optimistically think: ‘Even if I pass out like this, when I open my eyes, it’ll just be a hospital’, even if you can feel death really approaching.

When you actually feel death, not just as a concept on paper, but when it’s really in front of you, then death is truly right before our eyes.

Realizing that his life was near the boundary between life and death, Jeong Taeui didn’t know what fear and despair people would instinctively feel in this situation because he had never thought that his lifeline would be cut.

Though he had never felt that, he had seen the fear and despair when close to death. Jeong Taeui knew well the look in someone’s eyes when facing death. He didn’t have to go far; he had witnessed these things at UNHRDO. Thinking about that, Jeong Taeui shook his head. A memory he didn’t want to recall resurfaced in his mind.

“Well… but if we’re kidnapped, Kyle will be in trouble. If they demand something simple, it won’t be a problem, but if they want something special, it’ll be difficult… But if they wanted to make a reasonable demand, they wouldn’t have gone to the trouble of doing this from the start.”

Jeong Taeui shrugged and mumbled. He was really curious how Kyle could meet the tough demands from the other side. This hasn’t happened just once or twice, so there must be a way to solve it.

“He won’t negotiate with kidnappers holding hostages but will deal with them decisively, won’t he…?”

Jeong Taeui spoke to himself and then shook his head. Hopefully, those guys weren’t from America.

A black man sitting far away answered Taeui’s question vaguely.

“Come to think of it, I heard that T&R had a department specializing in dealing with things like this before. What was it? I heard about it once but forgot.”

Hearing that, Jeong Taeui nodded and sighed: “Aha.”

Although it sounded strange, it wasn’t hard to understand why a company always facing such risks would have a specialized team like that.

But to broaden Jeong Taeui’s limited knowledge, the man sitting opposite corrected him.

“No, that’s not quite right. I know what you’re talking about, but it wasn’t a department inside T&R, and it no longer exists. It didn’t operate long, just for a year or two.”

“Oh, right. A private task force supporting T&R, and it was a separate company.”

The man next to Taeui nodded as if he knew that. Then, the black man who was initially confused raised his hand.

“What kind of company was that?”

“No, it functioned more like a mercenary organization. The official name was different too. People I knew called it the Riot Squad. The organization was very small, just a few dozen people. But the members of that organization were special elite individuals from places like SWAT or Special Forces*, if you heard their names, everyone would know.”

(*S.W.A.T – Special Weapons And Tactics: An elite tactical unit. They are trained to handle high-risk operations beyond the capability of ordinary police forces, such as hostage rescues and counter-terrorism, serving high-risk arrest warrants, and engaging heavily armed criminals.)

(Special Forces: Elite tactical military units specially trained to carry out dangerous missions that regular units cannot perform.)

Listening to their conversation, he vaguely remembered a Jeong Taeui from before. When he was studying weapon engineering at the military academy not long ago, although he never paid much attention, he had heard stories about weapons manufacturers when some instructors took the lecture a bit too far. And T&R was one of the names he had heard at that time.

A mercenary company stemming from T&R’s main sponsorship. Although very small in scale, it was a place with stable and excellent internal power and enormous financial strength. Only the top talents could become members. However, not long after its establishment, the company had to dissolve due to public pressure. It was because having a company with actual warriors combined with a weapons manufacturing company was very unethical.

‘It shouldn’t exist because moral values would be broken.’

“But if it has disbanded like that, it will be very difficult to get help from that company.”

Jeong Taeui said, and the man next to him nodded. He didn’t know what he was thinking, but his face was slightly furrowed.

“Besides, I don’t really like them coming to the rescue. Everyone says they’re too violent. Well, but as a hostage, I can’t ask for anything luxurious.”

“Do you remember?”

“Yes. They were a bit aggressive. I met them before at Kyle’s house. And I have to say, they were extremely rude. There’s that side too.”

Hearing the man grumble bitterly, Jeong Taeui didn’t reply. And the man muttered to himself: “Really luxurious.”

Of course, their kidnapping wasn’t their fault, but this wasn’t a situation where they could decide who would come to their rescue.

“If someone could help me get out of here, I’d be relieved. Anyway, as long as we get out of here safely, it doesn’t matter who comes to rescue us.”

The man next to Taeui shrugged as if agreeing and mumbled something, while the other man shook his head, seemingly not liking the idea much. Then he furrowed his brow and added, as if to provide more evidence for his point.

“But that company was full of people like Kyle’s brother.”

For a second, Jeong Taeui was speechless. The man nodded dryly and furrowed his brow. It was as if they were close friends of Kyle. Their expressions twisted strangely as if they knew who ‘Kyle’s younger brother’ was. Sensing this, the man added.

“Not really, that comment was a bit harsh. After all, they weren’t just bloodthirsty. They were only half as bad as him. So sometimes, I wondered if I could stay alive around them.” 

This time, everyone nodded at the man, and Jeong Taeui was no exception. He lamented to himself as he looked at those people. Right, that made sense. Ilay had truly lost his heart. He was heartless. He wouldn’t care about that, and although it was his nature, it was still bitter.

“If Riegrow is the one coming to rescue me, that’s a bit worrying. I don’t even know if I can survive under his hand.”

When the man next to him muttered, Taeui laughed foolishly as if he had heard a funny story. He also laughed as if joking. But Jeong Taeui wasn’t in the mood to laugh longer. Just now, the man by the window had said – “Choosing the rescuer is really luxurious.” – and had beaten his chest and called himself foolish. Clearly, this wasn’t a situation where they could decide who would come to their rescue, but if given a choice, Jeong Taeui would rather stay here and live with the kidnappers than be rescued by the man named Ilay.

“…Hope…Ilay is coming to save us…”

When Jeong Taeui mumbled unconsciously, the man by the window and all the others stared at him in shock.

Feeling the intense gazes piercing him, Jeong Taeui looked up and met faces that seemed to have heard the most absurd sound in the world.

“….? Huh? Me?”

“You’re still a young man. So, don’t mention that name carelessly. You’re young, so you need to be more careful.”

“Among the people I know, the first time they met Rick, they didn’t know much about him, right? That person accidentally mentioned Rick’s name. As a result, it took him eight weeks to be able to step outside again.”

“You can’t mention that name. It’s a name that will bring great disaster to you.”

Everyone started whispering. Jeong Taeui quietly shut his mouth and lowered his head.

Ilay. He truly was a heartless being. It wasn’t easy to make everyone regard you with near absolute fear and respect, like having to face a demon.