The Untouchable Enemy

[A fire broke out in Changil-dong today. The flames, which started in the middle of the building, instantly engulfed the entire building.]

In the dark CEO’s office, with only one light on, the clear and distinct pronunciation of the announcer echoed smoothly from the large screen on the side.
Hyeon Yeongje, with his back to the splendid night view, looked at the screen with a bored expression.
Watching the news was his old habit, and he thought it was just another fire incident being reported as usual.

[Nevertheless, there were no casualties. It was thanks to the citizen heroes who rescued the children from the flames.]

Until a video, which seemed to have been taken from a distance and zoomed in, appeared on the screen.
The faces of the men who were carrying the children were not clearly visible, but their silhouettes were familiar.

[The police have announced that they will continue to investigate this case as an arson, not an accidental fire.]

At that moment, ‘K’s’ words flashed through his mind.
The words that had been making Hyeon Yeongje feel an inexplicable anxiety.

“If an intruder comes into your house, you should set a trap, not get angry.”

Hyeon Yeongje frowned and hurriedly opened the portal.

‘No way, he wouldn’t have been so blatant.’

[Changil-dong fire]

…Click.

After a few seconds of thought, Hyeon Yeongje pressed enter.

“12-7…”

With one enter, numerous articles poured out.
When he clicked on the top article, the address of the building where the fire had occurred immediately appeared.

[Let’s hear an interview from a citizen at the fire scene.]
[The — lawyer saved my child. The hospital said it would have been really dangerous if he had inhaled a little more smoke… I’m so grateful.]

The name was muted, but the shape of the mouth was recognizable.

‘Cha Yohan.’

Hyeon Yeongje pretended not to notice his badly contorted brow. No, he couldn’t straighten it.
In the meantime, the video on the monitor continued.

[This ‘lawyer’ who saved the children has recently taken on several public interest trials…]
[“The elevator was broken, the emergency exit wouldn’t open, and the smoke was gradually filling up, so I thought I was going to die, but they opened the emergency exit from the outside.”]
[“I never dreamed that the person who saved my child was a lawyer. Ah, and a detective too.”]
[Furthermore, it is said that there were no casualties in such a large fire because the detective from the relevant station had successfully handled the initial response to the fire.]

Hyeon Yeongje thought.

‘His methods have changed.’

That was no different from saying he was getting anxious.
When a person is psychologically cornered, the possibility of them impulsively or accidentally making a choice they wouldn’t have made normally increases.
They run towards their own downfall without even realizing that they have lost their reason.
From Hyeon Yeongje’s point of view, ‘K’ was losing his reason.

‘Until now, he never left a single trace, no matter what he did.’

K’s reputation stemmed from the quietness with which he handled any matter.
But from a while ago, he had been making choices that were noticeable to anyone.
The assault on Won Youngoh was also like that.

‘Now he’s more boisterous than anyone.’

Hyeon Yeongje was always quick to notice the point at which others lost their reason.
Because that was also the driving force that had brought him to this position.

‘When a tip is worn out, you have to break it.’

A blunted arrowhead cannot hit anything. No matter how hard you pull the bowstring, it will just bounce off the target.

Clack.

Hyeon Yeongje got up from his seat and opened the safe.
From the safe, which was divided into floors, he took out an old cell phone.

While Hyeon Yeongje was looking through the contacts of the old cell phone, the man was thinking of something else without moving.
The space where the man was was excessively quiet, and silent with stillness.
As if all noise had been removed, and time had stopped.

Tap, tap.

K sat on the reddish leather sofa and tapped the silence with his fingertips.
The only noise, created by his hand, flowed into the air.

Tap… tap.

After slowly tapping the wooden handle for a long time, he laughed lowly.

“Ha.”

After that, his beautiful face contorted mercilessly.

‘Who on earth is it?’

When he learned that he had failed to eliminate Cha Yohan again, he was annoyed.
But that was fine.
As long as Cha Yohan was alive, he had plenty of time and opportunities to kill him.
However, this time, an ‘error’ had appeared.
An error that had never appeared before.

‘It was a word I’d never seen before.’

At the same time as the fire occurred, he had calculated that the trap disguised as a fire shutter at each entrance would be activated.
So that everyone inside the building would be trapped, and it would look like an unfortunate accident due to a malfunction.
The reason he had chosen that building among the many hideouts in the first place was because of the single window.
He liked the small size and the small number characteristic of old commercial buildings.
If you want to see the outside from the inside, you can use a camera. Since it’s a country with CCTV cameras everywhere.
The small window basically prevented people from seeing the inside from the outside.

‘It wasn’t the only reason I chose that place.’

He had chosen it because even if someone tried to jump out of the window in a fire, an adult male could not pass through the width.
He replayed the videos that had been repeatedly appearing on portals and various video platforms for the past few hours in his head.

‘Whose doing is this…’

In any of the videos, there was no sign of the shutter having come down.
Neither in the videos taken by the people who were escaping, nor in the news videos that filmed the inside of the building that had been burned to the ground.
He picked up the phone he had placed next to him and swiped the screen a few times.

[Warning!]
[Duplicate access.]

Not an incorrect access, nor a notification that access was denied, but a notification of duplicate access appeared on the screen once again.
There was no way that this repeatedly appearing warning was an error.

[Please re-verify the route.]

This app was something he had specially made on the dark web to control the fire shutters.
Only he could control it, and only he had the decision-making power.
But ‘duplicate’?
It was a word that should not exist, and should not have appeared.

Ding.

[It seems to have been eaten.]

The message was automatically deleted 5 seconds after he checked it.
Eaten.
In other words, it meant that he had been hacked.
Who dared?
He gripped the handle he had been tapping until just now so hard that the veins on the back of his hand stood out.

‘There’s no one in the NIS who can do that.’

He knew that place like the back of his hand.

“Then…”

The echo was starting from a place he hadn’t expected.
He buried himself in the sofa again.
The leather sofa embraced him fittingly.
Silence returned again.
Even if he didn’t know who it was now, he just had to find out.

“Detective Choi, we’ll be going now.”
“Ah, Lawyer Cha. You haven’t left yet? …You look a little worn out all of a sudden. Did something happen?”

Like Choi Suhyeok, I slowly rubbed my now-gaunt cheeks.

“I was just refusing some interviews. I was caught for a long time after I got up. I barely managed to get out thanks to Mr. Lee Ilwoo. Haha.”

I laughed like a sigh and gestured to the reporters who were being controlled by the police.

“Lawyer Cha Yohan! Please give us an interview!”
“Lawyer Cha Yohan! How did you come to be at the fire scene!”

Perhaps because of the influence of the news, there were more of them than before. And a few videos had been taken of me without my knowledge.
I had asked Lee Ilwoo to take down the ones where my face was fully revealed.
If Baek Soeun had asked the same question in this place, I would have answered.
But being exposed without meaning didn’t seem to be advantageous in the current situation.

‘I have a feeling.’

Choi Suhyeok, who had checked the side following my gaze, made a fed-up expression and then shook his head.

“Ah… you did well. If you agree to one, you have to do them all. Go to the hospital first. I think I need to stay at the scene a little longer.”
“Yes, please contact me if anything comes up.”
“Yes, I’ll contact you tomorrow or the day after. I need to do a reference investigation.”

And so, after saying goodbye to Choi Suhyeok once more, Lee Ilwoo and I headed for the car parked behind the building.

“Ah, I’ll drive.”
“Yes.”

Click.

“Haa…”

I’m alive.
As soon as I sat in the driver’s seat, a deep sigh escaped me without me realizing it.
As soon as I entered the familiar space of my car, or rather, the office car… the tension that had been building up in my body was released in an instant.

“Ugh.”

And the pain I hadn’t been aware of also came all at once.

[What’s wrong? Are you hurt?]

Normally, I would have immediately denied it, but I couldn’t.
Just gripping the steering wheel made my arm burn.

‘But I can bear this much.’

[What kind of nonsense is that? Why are you bearing it when you’re hurt!]

Gram raised his voice, which was rare.

‘Ah, my head is already ringing. Don’t shout.’

[Do you think I’m in a situation where I shouldn’t be shouting! You really! Do you have a problem with your pain receptors?]

My face contorted at the scolding that flew straight into my ears along with the pain.

“Lawyer? What’s wrong?”

At my reaction, Lee Ilwoo, who was sitting in the passenger seat, asked hurriedly.

“Uh, it’s nothing… I think I got burned a little.”
“What? Where?”
“My arm is a little uncomfortable. I didn’t even know, but I guess it’s because the tension was released.”
“Could you show me?”

[Hurry up and take off your clothes!]

I had no choice but to hold out my arm to Lee Ilwoo.
As soon as he discovered the inside of the shirt, which had been crumpled by the heat, Lee Ilwoo stared at me.
Really stared.

‘…I feel like I’m being scolded with his eyes.’

[That’s right.]

I see…
But I really didn’t know.
I was also quite wronged.

“…But it doesn’t seem to be that severe of a burn. The fabric isn’t stuck to the skin either. That’s a relief.”
“It’s just a little stinging.”
“Why didn’t you tell the paramedics? You must have been in pain all this time.”

I smiled awkwardly and scratched the corner of my eye.

“There were a lot of children, and the other people seemed to be in a worse condition. And I really didn’t know until I got in the car. It wasn’t even uncomfortable.”
“…But you shouldn’t neglect a burn. It could get infected if you’re not careful. Let’s go to the hospital right away. I’ll drive.”

In the end, I got out of the car and obediently got into the passenger seat as Lee Ilwoo told me to.
Before Lee Ilwoo started the car, I hurriedly opened my mouth.

“But it’s late, so we’ll probably have to wait a long time at the emergency room. And it’s not that serious.”

Lee Ilwoo stared at me again.
And I felt another gaze from the side.
Oh, this is overwhelming.

“So what I mean is, I’m not saying I won’t go to the hospital…”
“…You’re not?”
“I meant let’s go to the surgeon in front of the office. I saw a sign that said they also have night clinic. Until nine o’clock.”
“…Yes. We have forty minutes.”

Lee Ilwoo’s usual driving habit was very smooth.

“Are you wearing your seatbelt?”
“Uh, yes.”
“I’m starting.”

Lee Ilwoo stepped on the accelerator.
I quietly held onto the seatbelt with both hands.