Through the long-range scope, all sorts of things appeared. Countless images of people completely unaware that someone was observing them from afar.

A girl sitting by the office window, close to the partition, was picking her nose. An old man, browsing an illegal adult website, repeatedly opened and closed windows on his computer. A man sat on the landing of the fire escape, crying while tearing apart and eating bread.

Or the captain standing in the smoking area at the end of the hallway, puffing a cigarette, playing a game on his company-issued electronic notebook.

This last image didn’t seem particularly unusual. Except for the fact that it was currently working hours.

The chain-smoking captain had probably delegated his tasks to Jack, made up some excuse, and slipped out. The work wasn’t dangerous, and since today was the last day of the forum, he probably couldn’t stand going without a cigarette any longer.

“……“

Christoph glanced at his watch and noted the time. Who knew if it would be useful later.

Just a while ago, Walden had been spacing out at his post listening to his MP3 player, and now it was the captain’s turn. Christoph lowered the scope. Watching them sneakily slack off while he stared through the scope was tiring for his eyes…… In truth, he wasn’t particularly focused on his surveillance.

This morning, just before leaving the hotel, he’d received a notification of a change in his post. Since today was the final day of the forum, many people had left early, necessitating hasty reassignments. His colleague informed him of the new location: The rooftop garden in the most secluded part of the building opposite the forum hall, which offered a better view than his previous position. Though further from the forum hall, the vantage point was superior, allowing Christoph to observe a great deal. Mostly colleagues shirking their duties.

When on external surveillance duty, especially at such a distance, he frequently witnessed people slacking off. Rarely did people consider the possibility of someone watching them from afar at these times. (If they always thought that way, that would be a problem.)

——Someone is watching me from somewhere.

——Someone is thinking about me from somewhere.

“……“

Christoph was drinking water when he suddenly frowned. He thought of someone. And the very face that naturally surfaced when he thought of that sentence made him annoyed with himself. But that annoyance quickly dissipated, turning into a sigh.

His heart kept pounding. It was noisy, as if whispering to him. It had been like this since last night. Or perhaps even before that.

“……Stop it, Christoph.”

He muttered, frowning. He thumped his chest a few times. “Cough,” – He’d hit himself a little too hard. A sharp pain shot through his chest, and he started coughing, which was rather unpleasant. “Cough, cough,” – He coughed a few more times before rubbing the spot where he’d hit himself.

Christoph remained silent for a moment, then muttered again: “Stop it, Christoph.” It had no effect. Even if he called that name a hundred times, it wouldn’t matter. He’d heard that name tens of thousands of times already. It wasn’t anything unusual.

But still.

“……“

Christoph furrowed his brow. He felt annoyed with himself again, sighed, and looked back through the scope. He wanted to see how long the captain intended to shirk his duties.

The captain was still there. He had lit a new cigarette, one that looked even longer than the last. But that wasn’t important. Next to the captain, seemingly out of nowhere, was another person.

……Damn it.

He’d deliberately looked through the scope to avoid thinking, yet Richard appeared right in his line of sight. Standing right next to the captain.

It seemed he’d stepped out for some fresh air. Then, having run into each other by chance, they both exchanged polite smiles. Judging by the movement of their mouths, they weren’t discussing anything important.

Finally, the forum was over today. Thankfully, everything had gone smoothly, which was good. They were having a casual conversation.

“………….”

Yes, the forum was over today. After the forum concluded, Richard and his entourage planned to fly directly to Germany that evening. This meant saying goodbye to Christoph, as he would stay one more day before returning to Riyadh.

This morning, Richard had been quieter than usual. He wasn’t typically someone who slept much, but it seemed he’d hardly slept at all last night, and a hint of fatigue was visible on his face.

“Didn’t you sleep?”

“Um……a little.”

As Christoph asked the question while eating the breakfast brought to his room, Richard gave a nonchalant nod. He was the type who could usually handle a few hours of lost sleep without issue, yet his face clearly showed fatigue. He must have been awake all night.

“Even though today’s the last day, you said the work ahead will be even heavier, so why don’t you take better care of yourself?”

Christoph casually dropped the remark and popped a cherry tomato from his salad into his mouth. Despite saying that, Christoph himself hadn’t slept well either. All sorts of thoughts had swirled in his head throughout the night. ……Thoughts that, perhaps, the other man had also entertained.

“You said you were leaving right after the forum ended, right?”

Christoph hesitated slightly before asking, and Richard seemed to snap back to attention. He nodded: “Yes.”

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier? If I had known, I would have moved my things back to my old room.”

Al-Faisal would be leaving early the day after tomorrow. Christoph would return with him, so he had to stay in Vienna for two more nights. However, Richard calmly shook his head.

“No need. I’ve extended this room until the day after tomorrow. You can stay here.”

“In this room? ……Alone?”

Even if this room wasn’t as nice as his own back in Dresden, it wasn’t so shabby that a hired bodyguard like him should stay there alone without any reason.

“Then I’ll have someone stay with you……, ……You’re not a child, are you unable to sleep alone? Just stay by yourself.”

Richard spoke indifferently, but stopped mid-sentence, his tone becoming slightly sterner as he continued. Then, as if wanting to end the conversation, he continued eating without looking at Christoph. Christoph glared at him, then shrugged and picked up his fork again.

The meal continued in silence for a long while. As they neared the end of their plates, still sitting across from each other eating in silence, Richard softly spoke.

“Christoph.”

A low and gentle voice, as if the name had rolled around in the mouth before being softly spoken.

Christoph froze, the fingers holding his water glass trembling slightly. The water inside rippled, a few drops clinging to his lips. He slowly wiped them away with his thumb, then replied curtly: “What.”

Richard looked at Christoph, then shook his head and answered indifferently: “Nothing.” He wiped his mouth as if he’d finished eating, then picked up his water glass. Christoph placed his fork and knife parallel on his empty plate and checked his watch.

“I have to go out for a bit. I said I’d leave an hour early today.”

There was enough time to drink a cup of tea and brush his teeth. As Christoph poured tea into his empty cup, Richard said: “I’ll be back in a moment”, and walked into the bedroom. He was probably going to the bathroom. Thinking about how Richard always went to the bathroom regularly every morning and evening while they were here, and how he always stayed in there for quite a while each time, Christoph muttered: “Constipated?” His muttering voice was laced with irritation: “It wouldn’t be surprising if someone who economizes even bathroom breaks for work is constipated.”

However, Christoph didn’t have time to dawdle. He quickly got up, brushed his teeth, used the bathroom – even for a ‘larger task’, Christoph was efficient and finished in a few minutes – and put on his jacket to leave.

Richard still hadn’t come out of the bedroom. Christoph raised an eyebrow in surprise and walked towards the door. ‘It’s fine to just leave, but he should at least say something’, he thought to himself, uncharacteristically, as he reached the door. And then, he stopped dead in his tracks, seeing Richard through the slightly ajar doorway.

Richard had just stepped out of the bathroom and was walking towards the dressing table, picking something up. The ring—the one that resembled a tracking device. ‘Ah, right, I have to take that,’ – Christoph thought, then fell silent.

Richard fiddled with the ring in his hand, then lowered his gaze to it for a moment. After that, he gently pressed a kiss to it. To that smooth, unremarkable ring, he softly placed his lips and held that position for a long while.

“……―.”

Christoph watched him, motionless.

Perhaps it was like this every morning. Every morning, before giving this ring to Christoph, he kissed it like that. Secretly, tenderly.

Christoph’s feet were rooted to the spot, unable to move. He just stood there, silently watching Richard. And just like that, he stood frozen there until Richard finally walked to the door.

The door opened. Richard seemed surprised to see Christoph standing right in front of the door, his expression momentarily flustered. Perhaps he realized Christoph had witnessed the scene. Faced with a silent Christoph staring at him, Richard held out his palm with a frown.

“Give it here.”

“……”

Richard picked up the ring. And instead of placing it in Christoph’s palm as usual, he put it on Christoph’s finger. The index finger, that was the finger Christoph always wore the ring on.

Richard brushed past Christoph, who was frowning and staring at the ring, and walked out of the room. He glanced at his watch and muttered: “I should get ready too.” Then he turned back to look at Christoph.

“Don’t look at me like that. I hesitated for a moment about which finger to put it on before putting it there.”

“You――, ……―Never mind.”

Christoph was about to yell, but then clicked his tongue and fell silent. He turned his face away, his expression slightly sullen. It was happening again. His face was about to turn red.

While rubbing his face with his fist and walking towards the exit, Christoph heard Richard call from behind: “Christoph.” Christoph stopped and looked back at him.

“After the forum ends today, I have an appointment, so I’ll have to leave right away. I think I’ll fly directly to Dresden from there.”

So this was the last time. At least, this meeting in Vienna was the last one. After the forum ended, he would be busy with his scheduled itinerary and immediately return to his everyday life.

Christoph looked at Richard without saying a word. He seemed to be waiting for a response from Christoph. Some kind of answer. ――An answer to what. What kind of answer.

The two stared at each other for a long time like that, and in the end, Christoph couldn’t say anything. So, he just turned away without a word, not even a goodbye.

“……”

Christoph clicked his tongue and threw a water bottle aside forcefully. His heart suddenly ached for no reason.

An answer. What answer? ――Was he supposed to give him some kind of answer?

Actually, he wanted to answer. Looking at Richard standing there frozen, as if waiting for Christoph’s words, the words were right there, rising in his throat.

But even though the answer was on the tip of his tongue, Christoph couldn’t voice it. Because he himself didn’t know what it was.

He wanted to answer. He wanted to give him an answer. He wanted to respond to his earnest expectation.

Christoph sighed irritably.

Forget it. It was too late. The final moment of seeing Richard had already passed. At least they wouldn’t see each other again this year.

That was fine. That way, his heart, which felt chaotic and malfunctioning, would gradually calm down, and his chest, heavy to the point of making it hard to breathe, would feel lighter. Christoph knew very well that as long as he didn’t see Richard again, things would get better.

The reason why he was better off not seeing him, why he wasn’t okay when he saw him, he buried those thoughts deep in his mind. He felt he shouldn’t let them surface to his conscious awareness.

“……”

Christoph clicked his tongue. He stared at the scope for a moment, then looked up again. ……Whatever. It was just a quick peek.

Inside the scope, the captain and Richard were still amicably chatting. They were only talking about boring and trivial things, but it seemed they had become a bit closer. They happened to be facing this way, so he could clearly see the shapes their mouths made.

The captain noticed Richard looking at his hand curiously and asked: “What is it?” Richard smiled and shook his head.

“Nothing. It’s just, Christoph wears the same kind of ring.”

“Ah, a tracking device. My whole team wears them. It’s very convenient because you can immediately know everyone’s location.”

The captain laughed and took out his electronic notebook. He tapped the touchscreen a few times to open a new window.

“Current locations are linked directly to this. Very handy for seeing which of those guys are slacking off where. For example…… Aha, Walden, that guy, his location isn’t here.”

The captain laughed loudly. Richard also gave a polite laugh, “Is that so?” The captain, caught up in the moment, continued tapping the screen.

“This guy isn’t here either…… and this one too…… But it looks like they all don’t want to be found out, so they’re quickly returning to positions where they can pretend they never left.”

The captain chuckled as he scrolled through the screen. He winked at Richard and joked: “Being the captain has this advantage. Even if you slack off, you won’t get caught.”

“………….”

Christoph briefly thought: ‘I’m watching you, you know’…… But then he decided to leverage this information at an opportune moment later, merely checking the current time.

Just then. The captain’s expression, while checking his team’s locations on the electronic notebook, suddenly underwent a subtle, almost imperceptible change. His hand also stopped tapping the notebook. Richard, noticing the shift in the captain’s demeanor as he frowned and tilted his head, looked at him with a puzzled expression.

“This guy isn’t here…… No, wait, this isn’t even the designated location.”

The captain muttered to himself. At the same time, his expression grew serious, and he flipped on his communication device and pressed a specific number.

‘He’s probably going to talk to a teammate who left their position without permission,’ – Christoph thought, and then……

[“CHRISTOPH! WHERE ARE YOU?!”]

The captain’s voice boomed from the transceiver attached to Christoph’s ear.

Startled by the sudden shout, Christoph flinched reflexively. Through the scope, he saw the captain looking down at the electronic notebook, checking the location. And he saw Richard standing next to him, his face changing the instant he heard the name.

“Where am I……, I’m at my assigned position. Unlike you, slacking off.”

Christoph grumbled as he switched the transceiver to his other ear. The shout had been so loud it made his ear ring.

[“What the……, no, that’s not what I meant, don’t joke around! Assigned position my foot! Let’s see, where are you…… That building. What floor, 31st, or 32nd? What’s a guy who’s supposed to be on the 15th floor, west wing of the convention center doing there?!”]

“You’re talking nonsense. The work location was changed.”

[“You’re the one talking nonsense, I never said anything like that!”]

“This morning when we departed, Taher――.”

Christoph, in the midst of his grumpy reply, suddenly stopped. A thought flickered through his mind.

……Ah.

Simultaneously with Christoph, on the captain’s shouting face visible through the scope, and also on the cold and expressionless face of Richard standing beside him, a flicker of dawning realization passed.

And immediately after, Christoph saw through the scope the image of Richard, with a frighteningly serious expression, snatching the electronic notebook from the captain’s hand and dashing off.

The captain didn’t have time to react. Christoph hastily moved the scope to follow Richard. But he couldn’t track him for long. Not just because he had disappeared inside the building.

*Bang―――!*

Right in front of the spot where Christoph had just been standing to look through the scope, just a step away, a gaping crack split open the sunken concrete wall. Large fragments of broken stone crumbled and fell, revealing a bullet lodged inside the crack.

Christoph recoiled behind the staircase of the warehouse. He turned, using the gaps in the iron railing as cover. The expression on his face had vanished completely.

[“CHRISTOPH?! WHAT WAS THAT! CHRISTOPH!!”]

The captain’s shouts echoed from the transceiver in his ear. Christoph frowned. He was about to reply that his eardrum hurt, but just then, the door separating the interior and the garden burst open, and 4-5 rough-looking men walked out. Not in a hurry, nor hesitant. And just behind them, Christoph caught a glimpse of Taher hiding behind the door, furtively looking this way before ducking back.

……As expected.

Christoph directed his gaze towards the men who had just entered without showing any surprise. He didn’t need to take his eyes off the handgun he was holding to check the magazine. Just by the weight in his hand, he knew whether or not it was enough to deal with them. In his ear, the captain was still yelling, but he didn’t answer. Anyway, even without Christoph responding, the surrounding sounds were still transmitted through the signal transmitter. Like the sound of the captain’s panting breaths as he ran, which were currently reaching his ears.

“Christoph Tarten?”

The man at the front of the group smiled at Christoph. The corner of his mouth twisted up strangely, looking more like a grimace than a smile.

“You’re Christoph Tarten, that dog licking Al-Faisal’s heels, daring to fire recklessly, right?”

“Did you shoot?”

Christoph ignored his provocation, pointed at the wall, and asked directly. The man raised his thick eyebrows and sneered. He said something to the men behind him in a language Christoph didn’t understand, then laughed loudly.

“Yeah, I shot. Gotta give you a taste of suffering. Though, dying wouldn’t be so bad either.”

The man sneered as he raised his gun. But this time, he didn’t intend to hit, only to threaten. So he angled the muzzle slightly away from Christoph and pulled the trigger playfully. The small *Click* from the suppressed weapon was even quieter than the *Baam!!* when the wall behind shattered.

Christoph looked at them impassively. Then he slowly tilted his head.

“There are more, aren’t there? Come out, all of you.”

The first to respond to Christoph’s bored murmur was the captain on the other end of the line – whose side he was even on anymore, Christoph didn’t know – yelling: [“NO, DON’T COME OUT!”], but the man couldn’t possibly hear that, so he frowned in annoyance. He glared directly at Christoph with displeasure and tilted his head to the side.

“You, I heard you’re quite famous. For killing people indiscriminately. But if you act so thoughtlessly, you’ll get in trouble. I am――.”

“There are more. I said come out all at once.”

Christoph interrupted him irritably, causing the man to fall silent. His eyes widened as if they were about to pop out, and his mouth muttered: “This bastard……” as he raised his gun. This time the muzzle was aimed directly at Christoph. Aimed haphazardly at his lower body. As if as long as he didn’t die, it was fine. He cocked the gun. And as he squeezed the trigger, ――that was the moment.

Christoph’s hand moved slightly. It wasn’t a particularly fast or sharp movement, but leisurely, as if taking a practice shot at a target. Unhurried, neat, without a wasted motion.

And—.

One, two—each time the bullet left the emotionless muzzle, blood spurted from the men standing not far away. Blood sprayed from them, bright red like sparks flying from the gun barrel.

The first to fall was the man in the lead. His eyes widened as Christoph – who had just casually dropped his hand – in the next instant, shot through him, then aimed at the next, and then the next. By the time he stammered: “Huh……,,” it was too late. A thumb-sized hole had pierced through his left chest.

Not a single bullet missed, each one piercing a vital spot. Heart. Head. Heart. Head. Then heart again. Christoph pulled the trigger in that order, as if shooting at targets already designated beforehand.

A mere 3-4 seconds. No, not even that long.

“I don’t like wasting time on pointless things.”

Christoph looked at the last man clutching his pierced chest, eyes wide with disbelief before he breathed his last, and spoke coldly.

A brief silence.

Those present could no longer speak, and at that very moment, the radio that had been incessantly screaming in Christoph’s ear also fell silent for a moment.

But this silence didn’t last long. At that instant, the warehouse door next to Christoph exploded.

“……―!!”

A tremendous roar, as if tearing his eardrums apart.

It seemed explosives had been placed behind the door, causing the door and a part of the warehouse wall to be blown to pieces. And along with it, Christoph was thrown back and tumbled across the floor. White smoke billowed thickly.

“…….”

Christoph clicked his tongue. Although he stood up immediately after rolling on the floor, it seemed he’d slightly twisted his ankle when it caught on the staircase railing. Christoph frowned, inwardly berating himself for making a rookie mistake, when he heard a small buzzing sound next to his foot. The transceiver he wore on his ear had fallen off when he was thrown by the explosion.

“Too noisy, this is more like it.”

Christoph muttered unconsciously, and only then realized that the signal transmitter was still attached to him, so these words were transmitted directly to the captain’s ear. But he didn’t care. He didn’t have time to care about such things.

Before the dust and smoke had even cleared, bullets began to rain down. And along with them, the number of people increased.

One, two, three…… the number of people steadily increased until it stopped at seven. And those seven, having witnessed the sight of the first attackers’ downfall in an instant, didn’t hesitate for a second. Bullets began to fly from multiple directions, accompanied by small, hard-to-pinpoint sounds.

“……―.”

Christoph frowned slightly. But only for a moment, then his expression returned to its usual impassivity, and his body began to move. He glanced at his twisted ankle, which hindered his movement as he wished, and clicked his tongue.

If you said they had carefully planned to ambush and kill him, their skill fell short right from the start. But considering the guy who hired them is a spoiled, good-for-nothing royal who probably just throws money at problems, this crew is surprisingly decent. At least they weren’t boring or a waste of time…… especially considering this ankle.

The smoke quickly dissipated.

The figures flickering in the smoke fell one after another. By the time the smoke had completely cleared, revealing human forms, their numbers had dwindled to less than half.

Not just guns. While shooting one, he closed the distance and slit the throat of another with a knife.

Kill as many as possible in the shortest amount of time.

That was how Christoph Tarten survived on the battlefield. Until he earned the disgraceful moniker ‘Killing Field’, he had experienced that sensation at his fingertips countless times.

Perhaps these men – and whoever gathered them – knew about Christoph’s past. Despite that, they dared to attack him because they had never witnessed it firsthand. Impossible. With this number of people. They had been that confident in their abilities.

“……, ……―.”

Finally, when only one remained, that was the look in his eyes. Impossible. There’s no way it could be like this.