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Ja-kyung, who had been waiting near the kitchen, seized the opportunity when a man in a chef's uniform went to the bathroom. He knocked him unconscious, stripped him of his clothes, bound his hands and feet, and left him in the bathroom storage. After changing into the chef's uniform, he headed to the kitchen.
It was dinner time, and everyone was frantically busy preparing food, so no one noticed a stranger had infiltrated. Avoiding people's eyes, Ja-kyung entered the ingredient storage and found the box Wang Lun had marked.
When he opened it, it was full of green leeks. Reaching inside and rummaging, he felt hard plastic. Ja-kyung closed the lid and then lifted it up. Just as he was coming out, unfortunately, he ran into a staff member. The man looked at Ja-kyung with an annoyed expression.
"New guy?"
"Yes..."
"Who told you to just come in here?"
Ja-kyung racked his brain.
"Chef Kim sent me..."
"Kim Young-woo?"
As expected, they said Kim is the most common surname in Korea.
"Yes... Chef Kim Young-woo..."
"What did he tell you to bring?"
The man approached, and Ja-kyung slightly opened the box lid to show him the contents.
"Leeks."
"Kid, take some out and carry it, doing it so crudely..."
Sorry. As Ja-kyung bowed, the man gestured with an annoyed face for him to go. Relieved, Ja-kyung turned around. Keeping his head down to avoid attention, he walked and moved the box to a storage room where trash was collected.
When he opened the door and entered, a foul smell permeated the air. After closing the door and taking off the chef's uniform, he changed back into his clothes. He took out a gun, knife, and smoke grenades from the box and hid them in various places on his body before going outside. As he came out, he saw Choi Ki-tae walking from afar and quickly hid behind a wall.
Waiting for him to disappear into the distance, he went up the stairs. As he walked down the second-floor corridor, a violin, cello, and piano appeared on the banquet hall stage, and the performance began. People's gazes turned there. Everyone was dressed to the nines, reminiscent of a ballroom scene from a fairy tale.
Walking while looking down, Ja-kyung suddenly stopped in surprise. Thinking he might have seen wrong, he frowned and checked again. Why is that person...
Kang Il-hyun, who had been holding a champagne glass and watching the performance, turned his head. Ja-kyung immediately crouched down below the railing and hid his body. Fuck...!
A staff member who had spotted Ja-kyung quickly approached.
"Guest, are you alright?"
Ja-kyung nodded.
[I'm fine. I just felt dizzy for a moment.]
When he spoke in Chinese, the man asked in Chinese if he should escort him to his room. Ja-kyung shook his head and slowly stood up with his back to Kang Il-hyun. Glancing back slightly, he saw that he was focused on the stage. A woman in a dress was beside him as well. He didn't know who she was, but she seemed quite intimate with Kang Il-hyun.
Ja-kyung thanked the staff member and walked close to the wall to be as inconspicuous as possible. When he entered the room, Wang Lun, who had been lying down, sat up. He had been staring blankly without even a phone, perhaps bored, with a rather dull expression on his face.
"You're back? The gun?"
Ja-kyung opened his jacket to show him the gun. Seeing his darkened face, Wang Lun asked with a worried expression.
"Are you okay? You don't look good."
"He's out there."
"Who?"
"Kang Il-hyun."
Wang Lun's mouth fell open.
"Why?"
"I don't know. I thought he was arriving in Hong Kong tomorrow morning, so why is he here..."
Wang Lun sprang up from his seat, put his hands on his hips, and paced back and forth in the narrow room. Ja-kyung, with a troubled face, took out the gun and inspected it. He didn't know why he was here at this time, but as long as he wasn't noticed, it didn't matter. He just needed to finish the job within the time limit and move to the boat Wang Lun's subordinates had anchored nearby, then disappear without a trace.
"Will it be okay?"
"It doesn't matter. He didn't see me."
Ja-kyung checked the time. Faint moaning could be heard from the next room. Occasionally banging against the wall, thump thump, and languid moans. Wang Lun put a cigarette in his mouth and frowned.
"Going at it hot since early evening?"
He quietly pressed his ear against the wall and perked it up. At the sounds of "Oppa, it's so good" and such, Wang Lun's eyes gradually narrowed. Just as the cigarette in his mouth was about to fall, someone knocked on the bedroom door, and Wang Lun, startled, quickly pulled away from the wall.
Ja-kyung signaled him to go check, then turned toward the window so his face wouldn't be seen. The person who knocked was a staff member with neatly tied hair. She handed over a tablet and left. Wang Lun checked it.
There were photos of men and women, along with their body measurements, height, weight, and such. People who had already been selected were marked with a lock symbol.
"If you're interested, call them."
He handed the tablet to Ja-kyung and climbed onto the bed. Wang Lun had a long-time lover, and he would never cheat on him. Though he acted tough in words, if his lover said just one word, he would immediately lower his tail and transform into a gentle puppy.
Ja-kyung pushed the tablet to one side. Neither do I. The two spent time in the room. They also requested dinner to be delivered to the room. With about 3 hours left until the operation, they had to remain as inconspicuous as possible until then.
Ja-kyung lay on the bed and recalled Kang Il-hyun, whom he had seen outside. Why on earth did he come here? Of course, he might have invested in Choi Ki-tae's family like Kang Seok-joo did. But saying he was going to Hong Kong and then appearing in an unexpected place gave him a strange sense of betrayal.
Then he felt flustered by his own feelings and sat up. When Wang Lun asked from across why he was doing that, he shook his head. Lying on the bed, he erased thoughts about him and focused only on the plan to safely complete the job.
***
After midnight passed, the number of people noticeably decreased as most had gone into their bedrooms. Ja-kyung came out wearing sunglasses and walked down the corridor. Moaning and commotion could be heard from inside various doors. Probably by now, they were enjoying pleasures with the drugs provided as service.
Choi Ki-tae's guards were conducting strict surveillance with guns in various places. Looking down, he saw people still remaining gathered and talking. Fortunately, Kang Il-hyun was not in sight. Ja-kyung approached a guard with a gun, held out a bundle of 50,000 won notes, and whispered secretly.
"Um... I'd like to get more drugs. Price doesn't matter. The strongest one."
The guard checked Ja-kyung's status and radioed somewhere. Soon after, a man wearing glasses and dressed in a suit came up from below. The neat-looking man greeted Ja-kyung politely and checked the invitation and room key.
The man's nametag bore the title of Manager, and Ja-kyung remembered seeing him with Chairman Choi at the banquet hall.
"If you return to your room and wait, I will bring it to you."
The man smiled kindly, and Ja-kyung nodded. Just as the man called Manager turned his body, suddenly all the lights in the ship went out with a thud. When darkness like black ink fell on all sides, murmuring sounds could be heard here and there. The flustered manager tried to find someone via radio. It would have been nice to have a lantern, but even the staff had turned in their phones, so nothing existed that could light up the place.
Staff members came out from the lower floors with lanterns and shone them, but that was nowhere near enough to illuminate the large ship. However, Ja-kyung was wearing sunglasses equipped with infrared functions, so people's movements were easily captured.
Ja-kyung walked forward briskly and collided hard with the man called Manager. From the sudden impact, he staggered, dropped his radio, and grabbed the railing.
"Ah!"
"Oh my. I'm sorry. I can't see in front of me."
"It's alright, guest. Could you please return to your room for now. I'll bring what you need as soon as power is restored."
Even in that situation, he remained calm and even kind. Ja-kyung picked up the radio and in-ear monitor the man had dropped and walked backward, heading not to the bedroom but to the opposite corridor. Along the way, doors opened here and there and people murmured.
The staff were distracted trying to calm the flustered guests. Wang Lun had gone to the basement and cut the electricity, but restoring it wouldn't take long. Since even the emergency power had been tampered with, there was a high probability of drawing suspicion as soon as it was discovered.
Restoration would take 30 minutes at most. Within that time, he had to find and eliminate Choi Moon-sung. His walking pace quickened. He wove through the people wandering in the darkness. A few staff members had flashlights and were lighting up, and people inside were moving to their rooms following the lights.
Amidst the chaos on the ship, Ja-kyung put on the in-ear monitor. He could hear the radio exchanges. Multiple voices were mixed together.
[Emergency power lines have been cut.]
[Control entrances and strengthen security.]
[Time until restoration?]
[Estimated about 30 minutes.]
[Fuck. Restore it somehow quickly. And release the guys and make sure to catch whoever did this. Security team, check the CCTV first when the power comes back on.]
It was Choi Ki-tae's angry voice.
[Yes.]
[And deploy additional personnel to the VIP massage room.]
[How many?]
[You're asking because you don't know, you bastard! Send as many personnel as possible to that side. My father is there right now.]
Ja-kyung unfolded the map of the cruise ship in his head. The VIP massage room was located at the innermost part of the first floor. He didn't know if they were really giving massages or doing something else there, but it had been under heavy guard even before the lights went out.
Checking the time, he quickly moved to the lower floor. As expected, staff members who heard the radio were stationed in front of it. Moreover, they had emergency lanterns. Some were even lighting lighters.
Ja-kyung, who had been holding his breath behind the wall, took out smoke grenades from inside his clothes. After pressing the button and throwing them toward that direction with all his might, two smoke grenades fell to the floor and smoke rose fiercely. At the acrid smoke, the gathered people panicked and scrambled.
What's going on! Get the fire extinguisher! Is it fire? Hey, don't light the lighter! Shouts and coughing sounds mixed together could be heard from various places. Ja-kyung pulled up his balaclava to cover half his face, held his breath, and slipped among them. In the situation where he couldn't see properly due to the smoke, he felt his way along the wall and entered inside.
The staff members inside were also terrified when the smoke came in. Ja-kyung shouted at them pretending to be a staff member.
"There's a fire outside! Everyone get out. Quickly! You need to evacuate quickly!"
When the staff members screamed and ran out, the guards guarding the inside also seemed flustered. As Ja-kyung tried to go further inside, one guard shone a light on his face to check. Who are you? Ja-kyung took off his sunglasses and asked. Don't you recognize me?
The man approached closer, and Ja-kyung swung his fist. With a thud sound, as the man staggered backward, he flew and kicked him in the chest. Just as he drew his knife to finish him off, suddenly the lights flashed on and the room brightened.