Chapter 39

“Did you want to say something?”

Morae, her face flushed red, looked back at Pado with dazed eyes. Pado pressed himself against the far end of the bath, covering the space between his legs.

“No.”

“If you’re not going to show me, then I’m heading out first. It’s too hot—I can’t stay in here any longer. I don’t know how you’re sitting in water this hot.”

“I’m not as weak as you.”

“I left some snacks in the changing room. Eat them later. After working out and taking a bath, your blood sugar drops like crazy.”

“Okay.”

“Not many bosses take care of their subordinates like I do, right?”

“Who says I’m your subordinate? If you can’t even handle this, then hurry up and get out.”

He splashed a wave of hot water at her.

“Eek!”

Laughing, Morae hurried out of the bath. She shot him a couple of reluctant glances, but she looked too overheated to stay in the water any longer.

After seeing her off, Pado let out a long sigh of relief.

Burying his face in his hands, he groaned.

He had fought Han Nokyeong to clear his head, but he had ended up right back where he started.

If anything, things had gotten worse.

Blood rushed downward, leaving him painfully tense, and yet another memory had been added to the list of moments he’d spend replaying over and over.

The worst part was that he couldn’t actually do anything about it.

It felt like torture.

“…Ugh. If she finds out, what kind of crap is she going to say?”

He’d arrogantly declared there was no way someone like her could ever turn him on, then ended up making a complete mess of everything.

Just imagining Morae finding out how strongly he reacted to her made his chest ache with dread.

After their first time together, he’d felt disappointed, like she’d treated him as nothing more than a dildo.

Looking back, though, even that had been wishful thinking.

If she’d slept with him once and then walked away, then he hadn’t even qualified as a proper dildo.

What else could it mean when she’d been so determined to keep him close, only to sleep with him once and then wash her hands of the matter completely?

When she was drunk, she’d been gentle.

The next morning, she hadn’t said a single word about what had happened.

That hurt even more.

Sometimes she’d suddenly act kind to him again, and that was the cruelest part.

As one person to another, she still treated him well.

But as a bed partner…

Nothing was more painful than an unspoken declaration that she had no intention of sleeping with him again.

The saying that giving in to desire would only bring suffering had proven painfully true.

If he’d just held out a little longer that night, he wouldn’t be in this miserable situation.

Pado sank into the water until it reached just beneath his nose, blowing out streams of bubbles.

The moment he remembered that Morae had been soaking in this same bath only moments ago, an ache pulsed between his legs.

Come to think of it…

The towel wrapped around his waist had belonged to Morae, too.

His waist tingled strangely, and a sharp sensation spread through his lower abdomen.

BOOM!!

A deafening explosion suddenly shook the building.

It sounded like artillery fire.

Or a collapsing building.

Or perhaps two five-ton trucks crashing head-on.

Something massive had slammed into the structure.

The entire bath vibrated, sending waves surging across the water.

Pado hurriedly threw on his clothes and rushed out of the bathhouse.

Even as he hurried, there wasn’t much urgency in his movements.

Incidents like this weren’t exactly rare.

Maybe something had exploded in one of the laboratories.

Maybe someone had lost their temper and smashed a hallway or a wall apart.

Violence like that was practically normal around here.

The only reason he left the bath was because he was curious what had happened.

Besides…

He was certain Morae would call for him anyway.

The explosion had happened only moments after she’d left the bath, so she was bound to be nearby.

If that was the case, she’d naturally end up coordinating the aftermath.

And she’d undoubtedly summon him and start ordering him around.

Annoying…

But that was practically his job now.

He’d simply come out before she had the chance to call him.

“What happened?”

“What was that?”

Following the growing crowd, he quickly reached the site of the accident.

The building’s outer wall had been completely blown apart, leaving a gaping hole.

People had already gathered around it.

“Something rammed into us from outside! Look! Those bastards smashed through the wall and took off! They’re running away, aren’t they?!”

A legion member who insisted he’d arrived first pointed outside.

A large helicopter was flying low over the water between the buildings.

One of the hunters with exceptional eyesight pushed through the crowd and stared intently after it.

“Who is it? Hold on… That’s the Shadow Knights! Those assholes—why the hell are they smashing holes in someone else’s house?!”

He kicked a pile of scattered rubble with a curse.

Others had already begun taking pictures of the scene or clearing away the broken chunks of wall.

“So it wasn’t an attack? They just crashed into the building? Then they should’ve at least apologized before leaving. What a bunch of useless idiots.”

“Maybe they got pissed off? Weren’t they coming here lately asking the Commander for something? I heard they got dragged halfway out of the lobby after being turned down.”

“And now they’re ramming buildings because they didn’t get their way? Morae’s going to chew them out. Figures—they’ve never known how to control their tempers.”

Amid the noisy chatter, Pado looked around.

Something important was missing.

“Where’s Morae?”

“Huh?”

Someone wiping dirt from their face looked over.

Pado continued scanning the area.

It was strange that he still couldn’t find her.

“Eun Morae was around here just a little while ago. We split up only a few minutes back.”

“Really? I was the first one here, and there wasn’t anyone around. Just the broken wall. I only saw that helicopter flying away. Didn’t see any sign of Morae. Are you sure you’re not mistaken?”

“No.”

“If Morae had been here, she’d have shown up immediately.”

“Exactly!”

It hadn’t even taken him two minutes to get here from the bath.

Since Morae had left several minutes before him, she should have been somewhere nearby.

There was no way she hadn’t heard that explosion.

And yet she wasn’t here.

That made no sense.

This was Morae’s home.

Her front yard.

If she’d been anywhere near here, she’d have rushed over and taken charge without hesitation.

So why wasn’t she here?

It didn’t add up.

Pado immediately raised his wristwatch to his mouth and activated the communicator.

“Where are you?”

No response.

He forcibly switched it to speaker mode.

“Where are you?!”

“…What’s this? Is this the communicator?”

An unfamiliar voice answered.

It belonged to a man—neither particularly young nor old.

A strange man’s voice was coming from the watch Morae always wore.

That wasn’t normal.

Pado’s expression darkened instantly.

“Eun Morae. Where are you?”

“Eun Morae is in our hands.”

His worst suspicion became reality.

Pado clenched the watch so tightly it looked as though he meant to crush it.

An ordinary watch would have shattered instantly.

But this one had been specially made.

It remained intact, faithfully transmitting both voices.

“You sons of—”

“We’ll contact you later.”

“—bitches!!”

The kidnapper ended the call before Pado could finish swearing.

No matter how many times he tried to reconnect afterward, there was nothing.

They had already disabled the communication function.

Suppressing the urge to throw the watch away, Pado picked up a massive chunk of broken concrete and slammed it into the ground.

The people standing beside him had heard the conversation as well.

“They kidnapped Morae! Hurry and notify the Commander! Inform the Elders too! We need to monitor the situation— Hey! Where are you going?! Wait for the Commander’s orders!”

A legion member shouted after Pado, who had already leapt through the hole in the shattered wall.

Dropping four stories without hesitation, Pado landed smoothly below before looking back up at them.

He shouted at the top of his lungs.

“There’s no time to stand around! Morae’s been kidnapped!”

“She gets kidnapped all the time, so calm down!”

“You think saying that is supposed to calm me down?!”

Being told to relax because she was “frequently kidnapped” wasn’t comforting in the slightest. All it did was confirm one horrifying fact.

Beads of water gathered around Pado, quickly forming a large sphere beside him.

The legion members rushed to stop him.

“Yu Pado! Wait!”

“The Commander knows what needs to be done! Let us brief him first—move carefully!”

“Yeah! We need to figure out what the Shadow Knights want. We don’t even know where they’re headed! Morae might not even be on that helicopter! We should wait until we get a reaction from her—”

“Wait for what?! I’m going after them. Do whatever the hell you want.”

Morae had been kidnapped, yet everyone around him was talking about taking things slowly.

Pado shouted at them before taking off after the helicopter, which had already shrunk to the size of a finger joint in the distance.

If she really had been taken by them, every second mattered.

How could he calmly wait for the Commander’s orders when he had no idea what they might be doing to the kidnapped Morae?

He wasn’t that patient.

Pado couldn’t hide his anxiety.

He had no certainty that he could actually catch them on foot, yet he was too restless to do anything except charge after them alone.

Maybe waiting for the Commander’s orders would have been the wiser choice.

After all, Eun Jisung was Morae’s father. Surely he cared even more deeply for his daughter than Pado did.

There was no way he’d simply leave her in danger.

But…

There was a spy among them.

In a situation where information could leak at any moment, Pado couldn’t trust anyone.

Without slowing down, he leaped out over the sea, chasing after the helicopter.

Consciousness gradually returned.

The moment Morae woke up, she immediately looked around.

The last thing she remembered was hearing something slam violently into the building behind her.

It was an ordinary indoor room, but the interior was unfamiliar.

Simple, unadorned furniture.

Old-fashioned weapons.

And seven armed men and women.

Most of them appeared older than Morae.

Each of the seven either glared at her or openly examined her with crooked, relaxed postures.

Morae quickly checked her own condition.

Her legs were free, but heavy handcuffs restrained her wrists.

She’d probably been thrown onto the floor—her knees stung slightly—but she didn’t seem to have suffered any serious injuries.

Judging by the fact that her hair had completely dried, at least thirty minutes must have passed.

Once she’d assessed the situation, there wasn’t much left to be surprised about.

Morae casually shook her head once, sweeping her long hair behind her shoulders.

“Where am I?”

“You’ve been kidnapped. This is our hideout.”

“Are you an idiot? I asked who you are. Don’t waste my time.”

She already knew she’d been kidnapped.

She knew they’d brought her to their base.

Asking where the hideout was located would obviously be pointless—they’d never tell her.

So naturally, introductions should come first.

Morae looked over the kidnappers with an annoyed expression.

What a bunch of amateurs.

They didn’t even know the basics of being kidnappers.

One of the women sneered at Morae’s boldness, as though she were sitting comfortably in her own living room.

A middle-aged woman with her hair tied high poked Morae in the forehead with a finger.

“So you’ve got plenty of experience with this sort of thing, huh? Well, you’d have to, being that man’s daughter. We’d expect at least this much backbone.”

“We’re the Shadow Knights.”

The Shadow Knights.

It was a name Morae knew well.

They were an underground organization whose philosophy was completely different from the West Sea Legion’s.

Far more aggressive.

And because of that…

The two organizations had never gotten along.