Among the murmuring crowd, I pulled out my phone and jabbed the buttons with an irritable hand to call Gyeongjin. The line rang twice before the call screen changed.

“Track Han Geon-joo’s location.”

I got straight to the point the moment he answered.

• What, did that bastard run away again?

“No.”

• Then why?

“He was kidnapped.”

Even as I said it, it felt absurd. The back of my neck was tight. I kneaded it as I spoke, and Gyeongjin let out a dry laugh on the other end.

• That kid, seriously…

The man clicked his tongue and muttered as if in pity. The sound of a keyboard tapping mixed with his voice. A moment later, Gyeongjin told me Geon-joo’s location. It was a rather unexpected place.

“Adelia’s Tomb?”

I asked back, my voice uncertain, and glanced at my phone screen. It was definitely Gyeongjin’s number. And Gyeongjin, of all people, rarely made mistakes in matters like this.

• Yeah. His coordinates were tracked right up to the front of it before cutting off. Looks like he went inside the Gate.

“Are you sure?”

• If you’re not going to trust me, why did you put me in charge of the intel team?

He had a point.

I had only asked again because I didn’t want to believe it. But with Gyeongjin putting it that way, it was safe to assume it was certain. I gripped the back of my neck, tilted my head back, and stared at the sky. A corner of my mouth twisted into a crooked smirk. A breath that was somewhere between a sneer and a sigh escaped my parted lips.

So, right now.

Some kidnapper bastard with no professional ethics not only snatched Han Geon-joo from right under my nose, but also beat me to the punch and entered the very Gate I was supposed to clear.

It was a line of thinking I couldn’t comprehend without cutting open his head to see his brain. If you’re going to kidnap someone, at least have the decency to run far away. Why provoke me by messing with my Gate? It was like he was asking for a fight. I ordered Gyeongjin to investigate the kidnapper and hung up.

Until then, everyone had just been staring at me. The reporters were hiccupping nonstop. They probably never imagined that the head of the Swallow Guild, who the Association had painted as a generous, benevolent, modern-day saint in their media play, would have this kind of personality. I scoffed at their dumbstruck faces and turned towards the car. I placed a hand on the roof and leaned down. My eyes met with the Association employee sitting in the driver’s seat.

“Hic!”

As if hiccups were contagious, the driver started gasping for air just like the reporters. I didn’t waste words and just jerked my head.

“Out.”

“…Excuse me?”

“Get out. We have to go.”

I said, radiating a frosty aura. The employee trembled and got out of the car.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Taeseok grabbed my arm as I was about to act alone. He gestured with his chin towards the reporters. It was a signal to look at the reporters who, if they had eyes, could put out a breaking news story at any second.

Let the news break.

What do I care?

I shook off Taeseok’s arm with an annoyed expression and got into the car.

“I’m going to get Han Geon-joo.”

“Do you even know where he is?”

“Of course, I do.”

“You don’t need us to go with you?”

Despite the urgent situation, Mijeong’s voice was gentle. Maintaining one’s composure is a merchant’s virtue, too. It was one of the things a younger Mijeong had once explained to me. Remembering that, I briefly calmed down and looked around. The reporters were still staring at me with a mix of fear and curiosity, the Noah team members were frowning as if to see how I would act, and finally, Min-cheol was staring at me intently, his eyes firm.

He didn’t say anything, nor did he give any signal, but I knew he was uneasy with my actions.

If I go like this, I’ll have a tail on me and be questioned for at least a month.

I made a tired face. For the past four years, the Association had given up on monitoring me, and I had grown lax. The Korean Association might lack ability, but they were pointlessly persistent, making them a real pain to deal with. In the end, I decided on a compromise.

I had to go to Adelia’s Tomb anyway. What the Association President wanted was for the members of Noah to clear it. As long as I granted him that, he at least wouldn’t bother me.

If that’s the case, what can I do?

I’ll have to play along this one time.

“Hey.”

I rolled down the car window and stuck my head out. My black eyes, still faintly tinged with a blue aura from using my frost ability just before, looked at Dongju, Ho-cheol, Lee Han, Taeseok, and Mijeong.

“Get in.”

I said, glancing towards the back seats of the car. Mijeong let out a small laugh and got in.

“How do you know where we’re going?”

Taeseok, as expected, showed resistance first. At any other time, I would have played along, but right now, I didn’t have the time. I ignored him and shifted my gaze.

“Are we going to Adelia’s Tomb?”

Lee Han asked. I nodded, and he glanced once at the Association President. After exchanging a look with Min-cheol, the man got into the back seat. Ho-cheol became the third passenger, chuckling about how he’d lived to see the day Kwon Sa-yoon acted as a chauffeur.

Two were left. I stared at Bae Dongju, but the middle-aged man turned his head away. He stood there with his feet planted, muttering about shameless, beastly bastards. Seeing he had no intention of getting in, I started the engine.

“If you’re not getting in, you can come crawling or walking. Suit yourself.”

“…”

“We’re going to clear the Gate.”

I threw a headline to the reporters, who were struggling to keep up with the developing situation, and started the car.

“You’re leaving? Hey, hey!”

Kwon Sa-yoon!

Taeseok, who had missed the bus while nursing his pride, called after me belatedly, but it was too late. Without a shred of hesitation, I sped up and headed for Adelia’s Tomb.

“Are you sure your little boy is in the Gate?”

The question was probing. I met Mijeong’s eyes through the rearview mirror and let out a small laugh.

“Who do you think I am?”

I’d been operating solely as the head of the Swallow Guild lately, and now everyone and their mother wanted to test my abilities. No matter how hard everyone here tried, they would never match the information my Night Rat kids could dig up with a few clicks. Perhaps they looked down on it because of the word ‘crime’ attached to the name, but Night Rat was, in name and in reality, the largest information organization in the country.

If I couldn’t be sure, then who could possibly be sure of Han Geon-joo’s location?

At my almost arrogant reply, Mijeong let out a pleased hum.

“You’ve grown up well.”

The woman murmured about how times have changed and threw her gaze out the window. I silenced one, and now another one started talking.

“How did you find out that Han Geon-joo was in Adelia’s Tomb? Even Night Rat couldn’t have confirmed it that quickly.”

No matter how good your intelligence network is, it’s still run by people, so there are limits. Voicing his doubt about the excessive speed of discovery, I answered nonchalantly.

“I put a chip on him.”

“…”

The car went silent at my quiet reply.

“…You put a chip on him?”

Lee Han reacted after a considerable delay. He seemed to have spent some time wondering if what he had just heard was a joke or the truth. I nodded.

“Why?”

It was Mijeong who asked. I changed lanes and opened my mouth.

“Because he ran away before.”

An experience of losing someone helplessly right before my eyes and being unable to do anything was too much to bear twice. Once was enough, but I had lost someone like that twice now. I had to take precautions.

So, I had planted a trackable chip in the mask I gave to Han Geon-joo. I wanted to put it in his wrist, but Lee Jaehee would surely give me an earful, so this was my compromise.

I didn’t implant it in his body, so there was no need to hide it. I revealed it honestly, and the others looked at me with sour expressions. Mijeong needlessly checked her own wrist, turning it over and over.

“Oof, you didn’t plant something like that on me, did you?”

“Why would I plant one on you, noona?”

Even if Mijeong ran away, I wouldn’t suffer any losses. I looked at her as if she was talking nonsense, and the woman frowned before clicking her tongue.

“You say that so coldly. So you’re saying you don’t need me.”

“The pretty boy spot is already taken.”

Aren’t you a bit too old to get in, noona?

The thought just popped into my head, but Mijeong just laughed, saying there was nothing I wouldn’t say. She seemed to be in a better mood. I ignored the car’s navigation system announcing I was speeding and pushed the accelerator.

The location of Adelia’s Tomb was in Berlin, so we had to hurry to catch a plane.

If we miss it, I’ll just charter a private jet.

As I tapped the steering wheel with my fingers, planning ahead, a voice suddenly came from the back seat. Neither Ho-cheol nor Lee Han were particularly close with me, so this time, too, it was Mijeong who spoke.

“So is that why you were so angry then? Because the one who ran away had come back?”

I could guess which day she was talking about. I checked the rearview mirror and saw Ho-cheol and Lee Han pretending to look at the scenery while sneaking glances at me. It seemed they were just as curious.

“Well…”

I gave a vague affirmation, and Mijeong tilted her head.

“You were never the type to get so attached to people.”

That much was true.

Then and now, my desire to not get attached to connections remained unchanged. Taking my silence as an affirmation, the woman let out a curious sound.

“He didn’t look that special.”

What kind of relationship do you two have?

That question, for a moment, brought my mind, which had been solely focused on Adelia’s Tomb, to a complete stop. I could feel curious gazes piercing the back of my head. I took a breath and recalled the last image I had of Han Geon-joo. The man with wide eyes, trying to grab me before being sucked into Brit.

“Who knows…”

There was no term to define my relationship with him. Letting out a low hum, I stated the one thing that was certain. Mijeong’s expression turned surprised, and then she smiled faintly.

“You really have grown up a lot.”