Hotel suite.
We had barely managed to return to the hotel while avoiding the eyes of the police.
Because of the explosion at the cathedral, the area around it was in utter chaos.
Police and ambulances were tangled together, and neither approaching nor getting out was easy.
Only after changing cars a couple of times were we finally able to get back to the hotel.
When we entered the hotel, Chen Zhihao was there to greet me.
“You worked hard.”
I really had worked hard today.
One wrong move and I could have been buried in that cathedral and died.
I had been lucky.
Suddenly, I thought of the detonator Sin Junggi had left behind.
Had he been trying not to cross that final line?
Or had there been some other reason? I didn’t know.
But one thing was certain.
If Sin Junggi had pressed that detonator,
today’s incident would not have ended at this level.
It really could have become a massive disaster.
It could also have become the day of my memorial rites.
I smiled and offered encouragement to Chen Zhihao, who had also worked hard.
I patted him on the shoulder.
“You went through a lot too. Thanks to you, I’m alive.”
“I’m glad.”
After a moment’s hesitation, I asked.
“Have we identified Sin Junggi’s location?”
“No. There’s still no signal.”
“The place we went to earlier was where Sin Junggi had been, right?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“There were traces left behind, but no signal?”
“Yes. It’s too clean.”
“Keep looking. You never know. Something else might turn up.”
“Understood.”
Chen Zhihao answered.
Today, I finally realized it.
That discomfort I had been feeling all along.
That irritation at a variable I couldn’t control.
It was Sin Junggi.
If we left Sin Junggi alone like this, there was no telling what kind of variable he might become.
There was no telling when or where he might strike.
Sin Junggi never exposed his location at all,
but that was also why we had to keep searching for him.
It wasn’t simply about finding a child who had run away from home.
It was about controlling a variable.
I felt that keenly this time.
Sin Junggi had the ability to change the entire board.
That was why we had to find him.
Even though there were no traces of him right now,
we still had to keep looking.
“And…”
Chen Zhihao cautiously spoke up.
“Is there something else?”
“Mateo is on the list of the dead.”
“What?”
“It was just uploaded to the police database.”
“Cause of death?”
“Carotid artery rupture. A shard of glass pierced his neck and killed him.”
I said nothing.
I looked out the window.
The city of Zurich was visible.
The sound of sirens was still continuing without end.
Now that I had actually heard the news of Mateo’s death, I felt conflicted.
Honestly, I hadn’t thought the situation would go this far.
I had wanted Mateo to lead Parallax well.
I had never wanted to kill him.
Even until the very end, I had wanted Mateo to move according to the guide we had given him.
I had given the disposal order, but I had hoped I would be able to rescind it.
But all of it had become nothing more than my futile greed.
I remembered the sight of Mateo touching the signet ring.
He had cherished it as if it were the One Ring.
Chen Zhihao continued.
“But there is something strange. The only casualty at the cathedral was Mateo.”
“The only person who died was Mateo? In that explosion?”
“Yes. There are quite a few injured, but no deaths. Only Mateo.”
“There’s a bit of a problem with seeing it as an accidental death, then.”
“There are many suspicious circumstances for it to be considered an accident. The wound on his neck runs horizontally, not vertically. If he had been pierced by a shard of glass falling from the ceiling, it should have been vertical. Someone slashed him directly.”
“There’s a high chance it was Rodrigo.”
“That’s what we expect as well.”
I closed my eyes for a moment and pictured it.
Mateo reading the eulogy.
Rodrigo approaching the fallen Mateo.
The sight of him holding a shard of glass instead of a gun and dragging it across his neck.
Rodrigo had made good use of the situation where the bomb went off.
He was meticulous.
“Rodrigo’s location?”
“As soon as the incident occurred, he moved to the airport.”
“Destination?”
“Tijuana, Mexico.”
I thought it over.
I had to make a decision.
We had to choose what we were going to do from now on.
Whether to leave Rodrigo, who had fled to South America, alone,
or chase him to the end and pull him up by the roots.
It would be best to simply leave him be,
but there would definitely be trouble later.
Parallax had not disappeared,
but signs of division were already showing.
Without a leader like Adrian, it was only a matter of time before it split into South America, Europe, and the Middle East.
Europe and the Middle East were weak.
The problem was South America.
Rodrigo, the remaining forces, and the cartel network were still intact.
If we left Rodrigo alone like this,
he would definitely build up his power in South America and come back.
He would swallow up the Middle East and Europe, then come for us again.
He had already lived for a long time under the shadow of an organization called Parallax.
Parallax had once commanded the world.
There was no way he would be satisfied with South America alone.
No matter how I thought about it, now seemed to be the only time.
If we couldn’t deal with Rodrigo now, he would definitely become a future threat someday.
If we dealt with only the South American forces,
only Rodrigo, then all the urgent problems could be resolved for the time being.
The problems visible to the eye would be cleaned up neatly.
I made my decision.
It did feel a little rushed.
But I wanted to settle things before their forces could be reorganized.
I wasn’t saying we would annihilate the South American forces.
We only had to strike Rodrigo.
“Let’s go.”
“Where? Mexico?”
“Yeah. Let’s go. This time, let’s really see it through to the end.”
“Understood. I’ll prepare.”
Chen Zhihao prepared for the move.
Allen mobilized the Obsidian Unit.
People began gathering from Unity Town.
*******
Tijuana, Mexico.
Tijuana, a city bordering the United States,
became prey for the cartels for that fact alone.
People and money,
drugs and weapons flowed endlessly through it.
The boundary between legal and illegal had long since collapsed.
People going missing or dying was no longer news.
It did not make the papers, nor did the police investigate.
This was one of the most dangerous cities on Earth.
And there was a man who held absolute influence over that dangerous city.
That man held everything in Tijuana in his hands.
If he said something, it became truth.
If he said it was not so, it became a lie.
He was the president and king of Tijuana.
That king’s name was Rodrigo.
Rodrigo’s expression changed from the moment he stepped off the plane.
Europe and Mexico were different.
In Europe, Rodrigo had always had to be mindful of his surroundings.
He had always been on edge,
had to be conscious of invisible laws,
and had to weigh the balance between the Middle Eastern bastards and the European bastards.
But not here.
This was Rodrigo’s land.
It was different from the airport onward.
There was no immigration inspection.
When he got off the plane, a vehicle was waiting for him.
It was a car without even a license plate.
No one asked anything,
and no one checked anything.
They merely escorted Rodrigo along his way.
The outskirts of Tijuana.
From the point where the noise of the city disappeared,
another world began to open up.
Old factory districts and buildings that looked like ruins stood in rows.
Collapsed signs, rusted iron doors, shattered windows.
It looked like an abandoned place.
But inside, it was entirely different.
From the point of entry onto the outer road, a surveillance network had been laid out.
There were people in places where they could not be seen.
Neither vehicles nor people
could pass through without inspection.
Cameras were craftily hidden everywhere.
They recorded everything that passed through that place.
Armed guards were stationed in layers.
Drones patrolled the sky.
Beneath the buildings, underground passages stretched out,
and some of them connected beyond the U.S. border.
The vehicle without license plates broke through the tight security
and entered the deepest part.
At its center stood Rodrigo’s mansion.
The windows were bulletproof glass,
and the underground bunker was connected to secret passages.
There was a helicopter pad on the roof.
Inside that mansion, Rodrigo sat quietly.
He picked up a cigar.
He brought it to the tip of his nose and slowly inhaled its scent.
A deep, heavy aroma.
He liked it.
Only now did he feel as if he could finally breathe.
He had not expected there to be an explosion at the cathedral.
Thanks to that, he had dealt with Mateo,
but not every problem had been solved.
Rodrigo’s goal had not been to kill Mateo.
He had simply wanted to possess Parallax.
In the process, Mateo had merely become an obstacle.
In the end, he had flown to Tijuana as if fleeing.
He had come to Tijuana, but not all of his problems were solved.
He had merely avoided them.
In order to take Parallax back into his hands, he needed preparation.
He had to reorganize, expand his forces, and gather the scattered factions.
And.
Alex Group.
That existence kept bothering him.
Alex Group had been watching this entire process.
It had been watching Parallax split apart in real time.
If Rodrigo were in their position, he would not miss this opportunity.
Now, while its strength was weakened.
It was without a doubt the best chance to swallow Parallax whole in one bite.
Naturally, Alex Group would think the same.
He even thought they might come all the way here.
Perhaps they had already made their move.
Because Rodrigo would have done so.
Rodrigo did not light the cigar in his hand.
Instead, he set it down and moved to the situation room.
In the situation room, dozens of monitors were showing Tijuana.
The roads, strongholds, and major buildings of Tijuana.
The entire city was visible.
Rodrigo sat in a chair and asked his subordinate.
“How’s Route Three?”
“The passage on the U.S. side has no issues.”
The subordinate answered immediately.
“The Border Patrol?”
“That side has been handled as well.”
Rodrigo gave a short nod.
The newly appointed Border Patrol chief had been trouble.
Pointlessly diligent and overflowing with a sense of justice.
He had a clear boundary between right and wrong.
Because of him, the drugs heading into the United States had stopped.
The losses had been enormous.
When Rodrigo left for Zurich, he had told them to take care of it,
and it seemed they had handled it well.
The patrol chief had changed.
Exports were returning to normal.
Everyone had moments when they were too eager.
Without knowing that it hastened their death.
“The weapons?”
“We’ve secured all of them. Including heavy weapons, we’ve prepared more than the level you requested.”
“Good. You did well.”
“Thank you.”
That one phrase was the end of it.
But the subordinate was moved as if he had received some great favor.
After staring at the monitors for a long while, Rodrigo slowly spoke.
“It seems we may have guests coming our way.”
“Guests, sir…?”
“Uninvited ones.”
Rodrigo spoke briefly.
The subordinate understood the meaning of those words at once.
“Understood. We will make sure the uninvited guests cannot even set foot in Tijuana.”
“No, don’t do that. Let’s prepare to receive our guests. They’re guests, after all. We should welcome them.”
Rodrigo smiled sinisterly.
Only then did the subordinate understand Rodrigo’s meaning.
He was telling them to lure them here.
He was telling them to set the board so they could be killed.
“I understand. I’ll prepare immediately.”
“Good. Excellent. Are all the members gathered here?”
“Yes. They are all gathered here.”
“Tell them I want to see their faces.”
The open lot outside the mansion.
All the organization members Eduardo had gathered in South America were assembled there.
When Rodrigo came out,
the space was packed full.
It was so crowded that the end could not be seen.
The organization members stood in neat rows and columns.
There was not a word.
Everyone was looking at Rodrigo.
At a glance, there seemed to be several thousand of them.
Rodrigo slowly walked in front of them.
It was reassuring.
In Europe, there had always been too little.
Too few people, too little trust, too few resources.
Tijuana was different.
Everyone gathered here was Rodrigo’s hands and feet.
They could act according to Rodrigo’s will.
Everything here belonged to him.
The people, the weapons, the city—all of it belonged to Rodrigo.
Rodrigo took the microphone.
“Thank you for believing in me and coming here.”
He gave a brief word of thanks.
“Perhaps guests we did not invite may come here.”
“Those bastards will try to take what we have built.”
“They will try to steal everything we have worked so hard to cultivate until now.”
“I have no intention of simply handing it over.”
“If someone covets what is ours, we will fight. We will protect it. We will overcome them.”
“Rather, we will take their lives and their assets.”
“That is how we will grow even stronger.”
At that moment, the open lot shook.
Applause and cheers rang out as if they would burst.
Low, heavy roars filled the open lot.
Rodrigo looked over the organization members once more.
They were dependable.
This was Rodrigo’s world.
******
St. Gallen–Altenrhein Airport, Switzerland.
It was a small, quiet airport near Lake Constance, serving only nearby European destinations.
Sin Junggi was sitting there.
With a slightly blank expression, he was looking at the planes outside.
He had not yet decided where to go.
He had merely left Zurich and fled to a safe place.
He had only come to this small airport to move somewhere else.
Unlike his dazed expression, his mind was complicated.
The scene from just before he pressed the button at the cathedral kept coming back to him.
The sight of people running away.
The sight of them bleeding, screaming, trying to escape.
It had been pandemonium.
He had said he would gift death to Parallax, who had killed Dennis.
But once he actually saw that scene with his own eyes, his heart was not at ease.
‘Is this right?’
Had Dennis truly wanted this?
The thought that perhaps he, Sin Junggi, might have been wrong only grew stronger.
By the time his 고민 stretched on, someone sat down beside him.
He naturally turned his head.
“It’s been a while, sir.”
A familiar voice.
“You… how?”
Sitting beside him was Toto.