World Chapter 10.8 - Daybreak, 24 Hours of the Event

“I’m sorry. The truth is, I used you.”

“What kind of dogshit is that?”

As Boram leveled the gun, threatening to really shoot if he took even one more step, Hanse patted the air with his raised hands to calm him down.

“I’m sorry. I did it because I couldn’t do this without your help.”

“What are you even saying…?”

Boram was speaking with his brow heavily furrowed when his mouth fell open in horror at the sight of Hanse’s grimacing, smiling face.

He realized too late that the reason Hanse had scraped away at his pride and acted like an inhumane, cold-blooded man was all a scheme to bring things to this point. Boram gnashed his teeth. Hanse, who had closed the distance before he knew it, tapped Boram on the shoulder as he trembled with rage.

“I’m sorry, Shin Boram. You know how it is. We can’t find this place; you can.”

“You son of a bitch. You… you bastard…!”

“I had no choice. No matter how much of a son of a bitch Hong Mingu is, you wouldn’t have betrayed him, right? I know perfectly well you ate prison rice just to protect that bastard; even if I got on my knees and begged, you wouldn’t have listened. Am I wrong?”

“… .”

His words were the truth. Boram felt as if his entire body was turning crimson. Hanse soon wiped the smile from his face and made a serious, yet sorrowful plea.

“Hyunwoo… if our Hyunwoo gets hurt, I’m dead. I’m requesting a pincer attack. I’ll put only Hong Mingu away and let you and Cheongun slip away.”

“…You fucking bastard.”

“I’m asking you. Our Hyunwoo, Hyunwoo… please, just make sure our Hyunwoo doesn’t get hurt.”

It was unbelievable, but Hanse’s eyes grew moist. Seeing those desperate eyes, Boram felt the poisonous heart he had been harboring dissolve all at once.

However, he couldn’t answer easily. It was possible this guy was acting again and deceiving him.

“I’m sorry. I was wrong. Please help me. If you want me to get on my knees… I will.”

“… .”

“There’s no time. Decide quickly.”

“Decide what, after coming all this way. To think I’m doing a joint operation with the police.”

Boram couldn’t believe this situation. He lowered his gun and groaned, clutching his forehead.

He shouted at his subordinates, who were standing idly while surrounded by armed police.

“What are you staring at?! Search, quickly! We find him before the police do.”

The moment Boram finished speaking, Hanse shouted.

“We don’t have time. Be careful not to hurt the hostage, and radio in if you find him.”

About thirty men vanished one by one into the ruin-like skeletal structures.

Darkness settled heavily. Along with it, Hanse’s anxiety grew.

They had been wandering the apartment complex for over thirty minutes. A radio call came in saying they had found him. Hanse and Boram ran toward the location with agile speed.

Light was leaking from a solitary, isolated shipping container. A black sedan was parked in front of it. It took only an instant for them to surround the container.

Having completed the encirclement so tightly that there wasn’t a single hole to escape through, Boram and Hanse glared at the door while gripping their guns tightly. Hanse and Boram were watching each other’s movements as if competing over who would jump in first. When Hanse’s foot twitched, Boram simultaneously kicked the door and lunged in, refusing to be outdone.

“See? What did I tell you, hyung!”

Hyunwoo, who had been sitting at a table looking at something and pointing with his finger, saw Hanse burst in and pulled the documents on the table to his chest as if someone might snatch them away.

Kang Chulman, startled by the sudden appearance of the two men, soon realized they were Kim Hanse and Shin Boram. He looked desperately at Assemblyman Park Jungho, who was tied to a chair, before turning his gaze to Hyunwoo. It happened in the blink of an eye.

Inside the container, Assemblyman Park Jungho and his aide were held captive, and three of Kang Chulman’s lackeys were standing with both hands raised high.

“Hanse hyung, it’s this, this! I saw everything. Everything they did, this man and that mister, is all in here.”

Hyunwoo shouted, trembling as he clutched the file folder tightly to his chest for fear it might slip away. Kang Chulman’s eyes contorted in horror.

“Fuck!”

“Don’t move!”

“You dared to trick me!”

Kang Chulman lunged at Hyunwoo with the jackknife he had been using to threaten Assemblyman Park Jungho, and Hanse, despite holding a gun, threw his body forward. Hyunwoo stumbled backward while holding the file and collapsed to the floor along with Hanse, who was shielding him.

Bang, ! A sound like his eardrums were tearing shook the container. The gangsters and police waiting outside shouted and rushed in at the same time. Blood sprayed from Kang Chulman’s knee. The jackknife he was holding missed its mark and sliced Hanse’s arm.

“Aaaargh!”

Kang Chulman collapsed and screamed, clutching his leg where the bullet was lodged. Police and gangsters rushed in and seized Kang Chulman’s lackeys.

Hyunwoo pulled Hanse, who had collapsed on top of his chest, into an embrace. Even as blood poured down his arm, Hanse acted like someone who couldn’t feel pain, touching Hyunwoo’s face here and there with blood-soaked hands as he shouted.

“Are you hurt? Where are you hurt?! Where is the blood coming from!”

Not even realizing it was his own blood, Hanse shouted desperately. Hyunwoo burst into tears and wrapped his arms around Hanse’s neck.

“I’m not hurt. I’m not hurt. Hyuung, hyung, Hanse hyung.”

Only then did the stinging pain register. Hanse pulled Hyunwoo into a full-body embrace. Even so, he kept fumbling over Hyunwoo’s body to check if he was okay. He would look at his face once and embrace him again, look at his face once and embrace him again.

Realizing that Hyunwoo was safe, Hanse finally trembled with relief. Tears blurred his eyes.

“I’m okay. I’m not hurt at all.”

“Ah, Hyunwoo. Thank god. Thank god. Thank god, really.”

Desperately calling his name, Hanse locked Hyunwoo in his arms as if he had come back from the dead.

Boram looked blankly at the muzzle of the gun in his hand before handing it over to Lee Jaeho.

Lee Jaeho wiped the tip of his nose, which had grown tingly because of Hyunwoo and Hanse crying and holding each other, then took the gun and spoke.

“My marksmanship is killer, right?”

“… .”

Boram let out a short laugh and turned his gaze toward Hanse and Hyunwoo.

Hanse was holding Hyunwoo while his entire body shook.

Boram couldn’t believe that Hanse had been so cold-blooded when he was going to be like that, when he had been that worried.

It felt as if the image of him from a few hours ago was a lie.

An ambulance arrived. Lee Jaeho seized the ledgers and documents that were packed with the corruption of Assemblyman Park Jungho and Chairman Hong Mingu. It was evidence so perfect that a separate search wasn’t even necessary. They arrested Assemblyman Park Jungho and Kang Chulman on the spot.

Even while bleeding profusely, Hanse had no intention of letting go of Hyunwoo. Hyunwoo sat beside him as he received first aid, wiping his own tear-soaked face and Hanse’s face with his sleeve.

Fortunately, the wound was not deep.

Hanse leaned his forehead against Hyunwoo’s shoulder while leaving one arm to the paramedics. A pain that felt like his heart was literally tearing apart surged up at this point where everything had concluded fantastically. His mind felt faint, and he couldn’t think of anything.

Inside the ambulance, Hanse held Hyunwoo so tightly it was pitiful to behold. Hyunwoo was also buried deep in Hanse’s embrace as if he would die if they were separated.

Lee Jaeho clicked his tongue lowly at the sight of them. The face of Boram, who had ended up in the ambulance by chance, also hardened. It wasn’t just Boram; the expression of the paramedic riding with them wasn’t great either. They understood the two were reuniting after a brush with death, but it was because the degree of their behavior was excessive.

“Stop sticking together so much. The more I look at it, the more it’s becoming an eyesore.”

Regardless of Lee Jaeho’s words, Hanse and Hyunwoo clung to each other as if they were people who had fallen into a different world.

Hanse, who was stroking Hyunwoo as if he were a precious heirloom or a sacred vessel, didn’t seem to care at all about the pain in his sliced arm. Upon arriving at the hospital, Hanse had about ten stitches put into his torn arm.

Soon, Senior Inspector Lee’s excited voice, announcing they had captured Chairman Hong Mingu, came through the cell phone Hanse was holding.

Watching Hanse lying on the ER bed, Boram finally realized what he had done and grew somber. He had betrayed his boss and helped the prosecution throw him in jail.

It was then.

“Hyung-nim!”

Sangyeol, rushing in with his massive frame, flopped onto his knees at Boram’s feet and bowed his head.

“I have committed a sin deserving of death, hyung-nim. Instead of being able to help you…”

“That’s enough, stop it.”

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

Boram waved his hand at Sangyeol’s gaze, which was scanning his body thoroughly with worried eyes.

“I told you to get up.”

“Please kill me!”

At Sangyeol’s booming voice, the eyes of everyone in the ER swarmed toward them. Boram forced Sangyeol to his feet, pulled the curtain around the bed where Hanse was lying, and dragged him out.

“Where are the boys?”

“I was shocked because the police brought them along. I don’t know how that happened…”

“What happened?”

“Detective Lee Jaeho took them all out saying he’d buy them a meal.”

Boram was speechless. He let out a sigh, a “Ha,” and shook his head as he recalled the pincer attack he had carried out with the police today.

It was an unprecedented situation, the first of its kind since the organization was founded. Then, Boram felt he needed to get a final confirmation from Hanse; the confirmation of that promise to let Cheongun slip away.

Boram whipped open the curtain of the bed where Hanse was lying, only to whip it shut again immediately.

“Hyung-nim?”

Looking wonderingly at Boram, who was clutching the edge of the curtain with a look of utter shock, Sangyeol reached out his hand to pull back the curtain edge he was holding. In an urgent tone Sangyeol had never heard in his life, Boram shouted, “No!”

“Why are you doing that?”

“N-no. I mean, anyway, you can’t.”

Seeing Boram tightly gripping the seam of the curtain and blocking the way, Sangyeol’s eyes filled with even more suspicion.

Boram felt as if his heart had truly dropped at what he had seen. The thumping, trembling beat of his heart echoed in his ears. It was because Hanse and Hyunwoo were rubbing their lips together like crazy.

Rubbing lips. Rubbing lips? Lips…

“Oh my god.”

“Pardon?”

That means they’re kissing! Boram screamed to himself. The sound of heavy breathing through the rubbing of lips reached him from beyond the curtain. When a weak moan drifted over, Sangyeol’s brow furrowed instantly. Fearing Sangyeol might whip the curtain open, Boram shouted in a panic.

“Han Sangyeol!”

“Yes, hyung-nim.”

“…”

“Hyung-nim?”

“G-go quickly and buy some drinks.”

“Drinks? Are you thirsty? What kind should I buy?”

“Anything, just hurry!”

Sangyeol turned away quickly as if he had been given a vital mission.

Boram let out a sigh and sank into a chair. It was a mercy that the surrounding beds were empty, as the suggestive moans were becoming so graphic that Boram’s face was turning red.

“Keep it down, Kim Hanse.”

Unable to take it any longer, Boram shouted to the lovers behind the curtain.

Hanse glanced at the curtain where the light was blocked, emphasizing the shadows, and pulled his lips away from Hyunwoo’s.

Hyunwoo, clearly flushed and wet, looked up at him. At that look, Hanse let out a pained groan and buried himself into Hyunwoo’s disheveled chest. He began kissing and sucking everywhere on Hyunwoo’s body, loud enough to make smacking sounds.

“Hyuung… someone will see.”

“Let them look.”

“Stop it.”

Hyunwoo pushed Hanse’s shoulders fairly hard, signaling that he really should stop now. Hanse, raising his upper body, set his expression and panted slightly.

“You, really… Why are you so reckless? You should have just stayed quiet and kept your mouth shut. How much do you even know those guys to act like you know what you’re doing, to step forward like that!”

Hyunwoo sat up while fixing his clothes. Touching up his messy hair, he spoke with an aggrieved expression.

“I didn’t want you to lose the fish you’d already caught because of me. I hate that.”

“Is the work the problem! If you weren’t here… if you weren’t here… I really…”

When he faced Hanse, who was suddenly shedding tears, Hyunwoo began to cry as well.

Hanse had hoped Hyunwoo would show some wit, but that was purely out of hope that he would stay safe without getting hurt; catching those damn bastards, whether it was Hong Mingu or Assemblyman Park, was already secondary. An adventure always demands a price. He had never intended to sacrifice Hyunwoo to catch those guys.

Crying and facing each other like fools, Hanse couldn’t suppress the emotions surging like a passion and pulled Hyunwoo into an embrace again. The lips wet with salty tears were hot.

“If you aren’t here, I’ll die, Hyunwoo. Don’t ever do that again, ever. Don’t ever do something that dangerous again.”

“Yeah… I won’t do it again.”

“…I love you. Hmm? I love you.”

Hyunwoo replied while nodding his head at Hanse’s tearful confession.

“I love you too, hyung…”

In just one full day, Hyunwoo had returned to his arms.

It had been twenty-four hours that felt like a breathless hell.

∞ ∞ ∞

Hong Mingu, who had sought hundreds of billions in profits by changing the bidding system for government-contracted projects, and Assemblyman Park Jungho, who had received support from the slush funds, were indicted under detention. Kang Chulman was detained on charges including kidnapping and solicitation of murder.

As per Hanse’s plan, Boram, provoked by him, found Hyunwoo, and as per Hyunwoo’s intention, Kang Chulman had foolishly given all the evidence to Hyunwoo and was holding Assemblyman Park captive.

It was a perfect script where Hanse and Boram burst in just as Hyunwoo was racking his brain to figure out how they could escape the prosecution’s dragnet.

“Hyung-nim. You are truly cool. Where else in the whole world could there be someone as cool as you?”

Sangyeol was admiring the plaque of appreciation he had received from the Seocho Police Station, turning it this way and that. Ignoring Sangyeol, who said the same thing not just once or twice but every day, twelve times a day, Boram chewed and gnawed on the cap of his ballpoint pen.

“For your thorough sense of duty and spirit of sacrifice, you have not only contributed greatly to the safety of the citizens and regional development but are also recognized for taking the lead in eradicating crime, and thus we present this plaque.”

“Stop it.”

“You are truly cool, hyung-nim. This is probably the first time such a thing has happened in this world. This is an event of the century, an event!”

“Sangyeol, stop it.”

“Hahahaha.”

Regardless of Boram’s sharp gaze, Sangyeol wiped the plaque with his clothes and placed it in the display cabinet. Sangyeol would enter Boram’s office dozens of times a day and wipe the plaque frequently, looking at it as if he were proud, as if it were truly amazing. With a dissatisfied face, Boram furrowed his brow.

Hanse had kept his promise. Boram was not only excluded from the case but had also become a fine citizen who received a plaque of appreciation.

Boram wasn’t furrowing his brow because he had been manipulated by Hanse into this situation. It was because Hanse’s words, “I love you,” were ringing loudly in his ears.