CHAPTER 31– ASHES AND BLOOD
Safehouse – 9:45 a.m.
Min-Jun
Min-Jun had always been a man who moved in silence. But today, his silence spoke louder than any gunshot.
His fingers flicked across the tablet screen, each file revealing a piece of Yeon-Hwa's world — the layers of secrecy she had wrapped herself in, the lies she'd told to the world, and the blood on her hands that still stained the most hidden corners of her empire.
Dong-Hwan stood across from him, eyes scanning the papers as well. "We have the addresses, the private airfields, the storage units. She's been planning something big."
Min-Jun leaned back in the chair, rubbing his temples. "She's always been good at playing the long game. But now... she's cornered."
Seo-Ah entered the room, the click of her heels sharp against the polished floor. "What's the plan?"
Min-Jun looked up. "We hit her fast, hit her hard. Every major asset she owns — gone in one night."
Dong-Hwan cleared his throat. "We'll start with the smaller sites. The warehouses. The black-market operations. I have teams ready for all of them."
Min-Jun stood, his gaze steady. "No. We hit her biggest weakness first."
Seo-Ah furrowed her brow. "Her biggest weakness?"
"Her brother."
Dong-Hwan's face tightened. "You're sure? Jin-Woo's the only thing she has left."
Min-Jun's expression hardened. "Then we make sure he's the last thing she has."
---
Yeon-Hwa's Fortress – 10:13 a.m.
Yeon-Hwa
Yeon-Hwa paced in front of her panoramic windows, her eyes fixed on the skyline of Seoul. The city she owned, the empire she'd built from the ashes of her father's legacy. It was hers — all hers.
Or at least, it had been.
She stared at the files in her hand. Her people had reported that Min-Jun had moved faster than expected. He was coming for her. The way he always had, with ice in his veins and rage in his heart.
But this time, she couldn't let him win.
Her phone buzzed.
A message from one of her trusted lieutenants.
"Min-Jun is on the move. He's targeting the warehouses."
She smiled coldly.
"Let him."
She didn't need warehouses. She didn't need assets. She needed one thing.
Her brother.
She reached for the gun on the table. Her hand shook ever so slightly, but she quickly steadied it.
Jin-Woo would die. And if Min-Jun tried to stop her this time, he would burn with everything she had left.
---
Min-Jun's First Strike – 11:01 a.m.
Min-Jun watched from the top floor of a nearby building, his gaze fixed on the storage facility below. He could already see the first of his men moving into position, guns in hand, setting explosives at the rear.
Dong-Hwan's voice came through the earpiece. "Teams in position. You ready, sir?"
Min-Jun gritted his teeth. "Let's do it."
Within moments, the first explosion tore through the night, sending a shockwave through the warehouse. The structure shook violently, debris flying into the air. Armed men scrambled, shouting orders, trying to assess the damage. But they were too late.
Min-Jun's team had already breached the front gate.
He turned to Seo-Ah, who stood by his side, watching with determination. She hadn't said much since the plan was laid out, but he could see it in her eyes — the same fire that had always been there.
"Stay here, I'll be right back," he said quietly.
Seo-Ah nodded, her fingers brushing against his arm as they moved down the hallway toward the building's core.
The explosions had created chaos, the perfect cover for what came next.
---
Yeon-Hwa's Counterattack – 12:25 p.m.
Yeon-Hwa
She was in the air by the time the first explosions went off.
Her personal jet cut through the clouds, its sleek black frame blending into the evening sky. Yeon-Hwa stared out the window, her lips curling into a smile.
Min-Jun thought he could burn down her empire with a few bombs. He thought he could take her brother and break her.
But she wasn't going to let him.
She had one card left to play. And this time, it wouldn't just be a strike against him. It would be personal.
Her phone buzzed.
The message was brief. "We've secured the target. Proceeding with Phase Two."
Her heart skipped a beat. She was one step ahead of him, always.
---
Min-Jun's Attack – 12:40 p.m.
The warehouse was falling apart around them. Explosions rattled the walls, and smoke filled the air. Min-Jun's team was making short work of the black-market operation that had been running under Yeon-Hwa's watch. But every moment felt like a race against time.
He felt it in his gut — something was wrong.
His phone buzzed. It was a message from Dong-Hwan. "We've lost contact with the safehouse. Something's wrong."
Min-Jun cursed under his breath. Seo-Ah.
"Stay here," he told his men. "I need to go."
---
Safehouse – 12:45 p.m.
Seo-Ah
By the time Min-Jun arrived at the safehouse, she was already gone.
The door had been forced open, and there was no sign of life. The small house was a wreck — the walls scorched, the windows shattered. Someone had been here. And they'd taken everything.
Min-Jun's heart pounded as he scanned the room. Then he saw it — a bloodstained note left on the desk. His hands trembled as he reached for it.
It was simple. Short.
"You took my brother. Now I take your world."
The handwriting was unmistakable.
Yeon-Hwa.
Min-Jun's pulse quickened. He turned to Dong-Hwan, who had followed him into the house. "She took her."
Dong-Hwan's voice was grim. "She's playing us."
"We move now," Min-Jun said, his eyes burning with fury. "We find her, and we end this."
---
Yeon-Hwa's Final Move – 1:05 p.m.
Yeon-Hwa's jet touched down at a private airstrip on the outskirts of Seoul. The moment she stepped off the plane, her mercenaries were waiting, eyes sharp, weapons ready.
"Where is she?" Yeon-Hwa asked.
One of the men gestured toward the black SUV parked at the end of the runway. "Inside."
She walked toward the vehicle with purposeful strides, her heels clicking sharply on the pavement. When she opened the door, there was Seo-Ah — bound and gagged, bruised but alive.
"Seo-Ah," Yeon-Hwa said, crouching down. "You never understood, did you? This is the cost of playing with fire."
Seo-Ah's eyes blazed with hatred as she tried to struggle against the restraints.
Yeon-Hwa smiled. "You'll be the perfect bait. Min-Jun will come for you. And when he does, we'll make sure he burns with you."
---
Min-Jun's Rage – 1:25 p.m.
Min-Jun was barely holding himself together when he and his team reached the airstrip.
He had to find her. He had to save her.
But as they approached the runway, the sight that greeted him froze his blood.
Seo-Ah.
Tied to a chair, eyes wide in panic.
And standing before her — Yeon-Hwa.
Min-Jun's vision turned red. His pulse was a roaring drum in his ears.
"Min-Jun," Yeon-Hwa called sweetly, her lips curling into a wicked smile. "You've been playing with fire too long. Now you're going to burn with it."
Without a word, Min-Jun surged forward, but Yeon-Hwa's men immediately opened fire. Min-Jun ducked, pulling Seo-Ah from the chair with one fluid motion, and the gunfire continued to rain down on them both.
"You won't get away," Yeon-Hwa shouted.
But she was wrong.
Min-Jun didn't need to get away.
This time, he was the fire.
---
1:31 p.m. – Yeon-Hwa's Airfield Fortress
Seo-Ah
Her wrists burned.
The ropes had been tight. Too tight. But now they were gone — cut by Min-Jun's blade in a split-second burst of chaos.
Gunfire screamed across the tarmac. Bullets tore through the air as Min-Jun shielded her body with his, dragging her behind the SUV that once carried her here.
"You're bleeding," she whispered, her hands shaking.
Min-Jun didn't flinch. "Later."
Dong-Hwan's voice buzzed in his earpiece. "Hostile count: fifteen. Backup is five minutes out."
"We don't have five minutes," Min-Jun said flatly.
He turned to Seo-Ah. "Stay behind me. Do not run. Do not look back."
Her voice cracked. "I'm not leaving you again."
He met her eyes, something fierce and protective burning in them. "Then stay alive."
---
1:36 p.m. – Chaos and Ash
They ran.
Through hailstorms of bullets. Through the scorching heat rising from the airstrip. Through blood.
Min-Jun took down two men with precise, brutal shots — one to the chest, one to the head. Dong-Hwan's team emerged from the south fence, returning fire with military precision.
But Yeon-Hwa's men were trained too. Her empire didn't employ cowards. They fought like zealots — people with nothing left to lose.
And Seo-Ah, ducking low behind Min-Jun's frame, realized…
This wasn't about business anymore.
This was personal. A war of hearts broken long ago.
---
1:45 p.m. – Inside the Hangar
Yeon-Hwa
She watched it unfold from the high catwalk of the hangar. The cameras broadcasted every move Min-Jun made — every bullet he dodged, every breath Seo-Ah gasped.
Her fingers clenched the railing.
They were supposed to be dead.
She had orchestrated this entire trap to end them. But they were still breathing. Still fighting.
And now, something deeper than fury boiled in her chest.
Fear.
Was it possible… she'd lost?
"You'll never have peace," she whispered into the void. "Not while I live."
---
1:53 p.m. – The Escape
Seo-Ah
Her legs ached. Her chest burned.
But still she ran.
They had reached the fence at the back of the airfield — Dong-Hwan and two agents provided cover, gunning down the last resistance while Min-Jun cut a hole through the chain link.
The moment they were through, a black SUV skidded to a halt beside them.
"Get in!" the driver shouted.
Min-Jun opened the door and pushed Seo-Ah inside first.
Then he climbed in after her, blood still dripping from his side.
As the vehicle roared to life and peeled away from the inferno, Seo-Ah clutched his arm, the wind tangling her hair.
They had survived again.
But she knew, just by the look in his eyes, that survival would not be enough anymore.
---
2:10 p.m. – Emergency Safehouse, Seoul Underground
Min-Jun
The sterile white light flickered above his head. His jacket was gone, his shirt soaked in blood. The medic had already stitched the graze on his ribs, but the pain wasn't physical anymore.
It was rooted deeper. In memory. In betrayal. In Yeon-Hwa.
Seo-Ah sat across from him, a cut on her cheek, her clothes torn, eyes hollow. But she didn't cry. She didn't break.
She just held his hand.
"We can't keep running," she said softly.
"I know."
Min-Jun inhaled slowly, then turned to Dong-Hwan.
"I want to speak to her."
Dong-Hwan blinked. "Sir?"
"I want to face Yeon-Hwa. Alone."
Seo-Ah flinched. "Are you insane?"
"She wants me. Not you. Not Jin-Woo. Me."
Dong-Hwan hesitated. "We've traced her last secure location to an underground estate in Busan. But it's fortified. Getting in is suicide."
Min-Jun stood, eyes cold. "Then let her open the door herself."
---
3:45 p.m. – Digital War Begins
Dong-Hwan's Operations Room
A single encrypted message left Min-Jun's hands and flew across the dark web.
To: Yeon-Hwa
"Let's end this. You and me. No more pawns. No more blood. Come to your father's shrine. Midnight."
"Alone. Or I burn your accounts to the ground."
"This ends where it began."
---
Yeon-Hwa's Private Bunker – 6:02 p.m.
She read the message.
Once. Twice.
Then threw the glass in her hand across the room.
Midnight. Her father's shrine — the one place she had never returned to since his death.
She knew Min-Jun was baiting her. He wanted the face-to-face. He wanted the final move to be personal.
But he didn't understand.
She wanted it personal too.
If she couldn't win his love, then she'd claim his ruin.
She pressed her fingers to the black velvet box in her coat pocket — the one holding the last syringe.
The last dose of her father's formula.
Poison refined. Slow. Beautiful. Deadly.
If she had to bleed out beside him, she would.
As long as she saw him fall first.
---
Seo-Ah – 9:15 p.m.
She watched Min-Jun pack the gun into his coat, her heart sinking with every movement.
"You're walking into a trap," she whispered.
He didn't argue.
"I should come with you."
He looked at her then — truly looked.
And in his silence, she heard everything he couldn't say.
That he loved her.
That he wouldn't risk her.
That he might not return.
Seo-Ah stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him tightly. "Promise me you'll come back."
Min-Jun rested his chin on her shoulder. "I can't promise survival."
She pulled back, cupping his face in her hands.
"Then promise you'll fight to live. Not just to win."
A beat of silence.
Then he nodded once.
"I promise."