“But she can’t open the phone for anyone else, right?”

This time, Kim looked puzzled again. Hyunkyung quickly explained.

“Don’t worry about that. Who am I? I’m Yuri’s best friend. Of course, I know her phone and home password.”

“Alright, I’ll instruct them to bring the phone immediately.”

Kim called the employee who was waiting at the congressman’s house. The employee found Yuri’s phone on the living room floor and brought it to the hospital.

“Here, the location information is displayed.”

Hyunkyung, who activated the location tracking app synced with the watch, handed the phone to Jeho and Kim. The address shown on the app was in the suburbs of Seoul.

“What’s this place?”

Jeho’s expression stiffened for a moment as he confirmed the precise location.

“Why? What’s this place?”
Hyunkyung and Chief Kim both asked with worried expressions simultaneously.

“This area has been purchased by the KG Group for a large discount mart business since the year before last. However, the business has been temporarily suspended since Minwoo was assigned to the Paris branch. Most of the outdated commercial buildings are currently vacant.”

“Why would a child who was in the hospital suddenly go to such a place? Something is definitely wrong.”

In response to Jeho’s explanation, Hyunkyung shouted in an excited voice.

“Minwoo must be behind this. What is it? Did he kidnap her?”

Jeho and Chief Kim exchanged glances, their expressions solidifying. In the past, Minwoo had kidnapped a woman trying to break up with him by abducting and confining her. Each time, Minwoo’s family had hushed up the victims with a large sum of money.

“Whether it’s a disappearance or kidnapping, let’s report it to the police first.”

Hyunkyung and Chief Kim nodded in agreement with Jeho’s opinion. Chief Kim, along with Hyunkyung, decided to take Director Kim’s car to the police station. They headed to the elevator to go down to the underground parking lot.

Jeho happened to receive a call from Woo-gyeol at that moment, so he took the next elevator.

“Jeho, I just got a call from Dr. Jin.”

As soon as he pressed the call button, an urgent voice from Woo-gyeol reached him.

“The authorities have received testimony from a witness. A request for cooperation in apprehending a murder suspect will be sent to the Korean side within a few hours.”

“Well, that’s a relief.”

Now, not only for the kidnapping case involving Yuri but also for the purpose of apprehending a murder suspect, the police force could be mobilized. It was crucial to extract Yuri from Minwoo’s hands as soon as possible, regardless of which side posed a more immediate danger.

Jeho’s steps quickened as he descended from the elevator, heading toward the car.

“And Dr. Jin obtained some information through the information network….”

Woo-gyeol continued speaking.

“President Park’s reason for helping Minwoo seems suspicious. It seems Minwoo has completely lost it. He decided to transfer all the stocks he owns to President Park. He said it’s unnecessary since he’s going to die anyway.”

“He’s going to die anyway?”

“Yeah. He said it as if he were going to commit suicide the day after tomorrow.”

Jeho frowned in disbelief.

“Mr. Kwon Jeho?”

Suddenly, a sturdy group of men appeared, blocking Jeho’s path. At a glance, they looked far from ordinary, leaving a rather ominous impression. One of them stepped forward and spoke.

“We need you to come with us.”

Jeho instinctively realized they were the men sent by Minwoo. While facing them head-on would have been enough to escape from their hands, Jeho willingly surrendered his body.

If it meant he could go to Minwoo by being kidnapped, it wouldn’t be too bad. The men quickly searched Jeho’s body, found his phone and wallet, dropped them on the floor, and stomped on them.
“Enough. This is it.”

At the same time as someone in the group spoke, someone struck Jeho’s head. Jeho immediately lost consciousness, accompanied by intense pain and flashes of light in his eyes.

When he opened his eyes again for a moment, Yuri was in front of him. Fortunately, she seemed unharmed.

Ah, what a relief.

Jeho inwardly sighed with relief without realizing it.

He didn’t know how much time had passed since he lost consciousness, but the police, already notified by Hyunkyung and Chief Kim, would have initiated an investigation.

Jeho turned his gaze to Yuri’s wrist. The watch was still on her wrist.

It seemed Minwoo hadn’t noticed that the wristwatch had a location tracking device. Judging by Minwoo’s crazed eyes, he appeared to be in a mentally unstable state, making it difficult to make a proper judgment.

“I’m sorry, let off some steam. After all, I invited my brother to our wedding because we’re family.”

“Huh, a wedding invitation.”

Jeho looked at Minwoo with a mocking smile.

Through the connected app, the police would be collecting real-time location data. They must be on their way here. They might have already arrived.

“Yeah. Yuri and I are going to have a soul marriage ceremony here.”

Minwoo, with a triumphant face, hugged Yuri in front of Jeho as if to show her off.

“Hyung is the sole guest at our wedding. How about that? Isn’t it very moving?”

“Ha.”

Jeho burst into laughter with an expression of disbelief.

Ideally, he wanted to cut the cable tie and separate Minwoo from Yuri right away. Looking at Minwoo forcibly kissing Yuri, Jeho had to resist the impulse to knock him down and endure it.

Now was not the time. Yuri was also holding on, and he couldn’t afford to escalate the situation due to his excitement. If anything went wrong, Yuri could end up in a dangerous situation. He needed to buy time until the police arrived.

Fortunately, not much time passed before Minwoo’s anger was directed at Jeho. Minwoo’s fist struck Jeho’s chest and face, but none of it hurt. It was much less painful to watch Yuri resist Minwoo than to endure Minwoo’s violence.

He hoped Minwoo would continue to unleash violence only on him until the police arrived.

Finally, with a loud noise, the tightly closed iron door opened.

“The police!”

“What? How did the police find this place?”

Taking advantage of Minwoo’s distraction, Jeho quickly raised the tied hands with the cable tie behind him and forcefully brought it down. Fortunately, the cable tie was not military-grade but regular, so it snapped at once.

He untied the cable tie around his legs by pressing the back hole of the connected loop. After putting the untied tie in his pocket, Jeho approached Yuri, who had collapsed on the floor.

But she shook her head, pointing with her hand to where Minwoo had gone. She seemed fine and was urging him to capture Minwoo first.

“Got it. Endure a little longer.”
Jeho, who went outside, quickly subdued Minwoo and used the cable tie that had bound his legs to tie Minwoo’s wrists. After a while, the police, who had entered the building, approached.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine.”

Handing Minwoo over to the police, Jeho quickly returned to Yuri. She was sitting against the wall with her eyes closed, looking weak.

“Yuri.”

At the soft voice that brushed her ear, Yuri slowly opened her eyes. The two exchanged silent glances in the air.

A brief, quiet silence settled between them.

Words were unnecessary. Through their gaze alone, they could feel each other’s hearts and emotions.

Fortunately.

Thank you.

Without needing to say who first, the two looked at each other and exchanged gentle smiles.

“…Ah.”

As the tension eased, Yuri lost consciousness right there. However, even as the black curtain descended, a sigh of relief naturally escaped her at the warm body temperature enveloping her entire being.