Just as Chae Min turned away from the shattered spy camera, a sharp voice echoed behind him.
"Don't move!"
He spun around—standing at the office doorway was Detective Do Hyun, gun half-raised, eyes locked onto him.
For a second, both men just stared at each other. Recognition flickered in their eyes.
"You…" Chae Min muttered, his pulse quickening.
Do Hyun's voice was calm but firm. "Put your hands where I can see them."
But Chae Min's survival instincts kicked in. He bolted for the stairwell.
"Stop or I'll shoot!" Do Hyun yelled, chasing after him.
Chae Min sprinted down the dimly lit emergency stairs, heart thudding, blood roaring in his ears. His breath was heavy, desperate but focused. Every step brought him closer to escape.
Down in the parking lot, Detective Min Seok stood on alert near their unmarked car. Hearing the commotion, he raised his weapon. The exit door burst open—Chae Min dashed through.
Bang!
The bullet grazed his left arm. He stumbled forward, blood soaking through his sleeve, but kept moving.
Do Hyun emerged seconds later. "Min Seok, he's armed,watch it!"Chae Min turned a corner, but his body was slowing down. Pain was catching up. He tried to leap behind a pillar for cover but Do Hyun was faster. He tackled him to the ground.
They struggled. Chae Min, using his legs, struck Do Hyun hard in the face sending the detective rolling back with a groan.
Chae Min staggered up, clutching his bleeding arm. He looked at Do Hyun who was already recovering and then at the garage exit.
Sirens were wailing in the distance. More backup was arriving.
He had seconds to decide.Chae Min's breaths were ragged, his vision blurring from the pain in his arm, but his instincts didn't fail him. As Do Hyun tried to rise, Chae Min spun around a parked car, threw a wrench he'd spotted earlier to cause a loud clang in another direction and used the moment of confusion.
"Damn it!" Do Hyun shouted, scrambling up with Min Seok.
But Chae Min had already squeezed through a side gate—he'd mapped the lot in his head earlier. With gritted teeth and his bleeding arm pressed tightly to his side, he disappeared into the narrow alley behind the building, blending into the dark streets of Busan.
By the time Do Hyun and his team reached the exit, Chae Min was gone.
Chae Min arrived at his apartment at late night, holding your left hand that is bleeding from the shot.
The door slammed shut behind him. Chae Min locked it, collapsed against it for a moment, then dragged himself into the bathroom.
Blood dripped steadily from the bullet wound.
He stripped off his black clothes, tossing them into a small metal drum in his laundry space. With shaking hands, he poured alcohol over the wound, biting down on a towel to muffle his groan.
His eyes were wild, but focused. Slowly he removed the bullet in his hand, clean the wounds and dress it while swallowing up his pain.After cleaning up, he limped to his desk. The burnt ledger pages were still there. He picked them up and muttered, "They're one step ahead… but I'll catch up."
Chae Min sat down, reopened his laptop, and searched for the next name tied to Keunsa Financial Group. Blood was smeared across his keyboard, but he didn't care.
A twisted smile formed on his lips. "You tried to stop me… but this is only the beginning."
In Tae Won's Office at Midnight
The large office was dimly lit, the glow from multiple monitors casting eerie reflections on the glass walls. Kim Tae Won sat behind his massive desk, swirling a glass of red wine. One screen showed CCTV footage from the Jungwon Enterprises building ,the camera feed that had captured everything before Chae Min smashed it.
He watched the scene replay.
Chae Min standing over the dead director, breathing heavily... then spotting the spy camera.
The camera shook violently before going black.
Tae Won smirked.
"Smart little rat… but not smart enough."
He leaned back in his chair, eyes sharp as a predator. "You got lucky this time, boy. You might not have not a chance next time"
A man in black standing nearby bowed slightly.
"Should we trace his location?"
Tae Won waved a hand. "No… let the blood spill a bit more. We'll know where he's heading next. Besides…" He took a sip, "he's entertaining."
Back to Jungwon Enterprises,Do Hyun stood silently beside the bloodied office chair. The director's lifeless body still sat slumped, eyes staring at the ceiling, two bullets between them.
The forensic team snapped photos. Police cordoned off the area. A cold wind blew through the shattered glass window.Soo Hyuk walked in, holding his coat closed. "This is brutal…"
Do Hyun didn't reply at first.
Soo Hyuk looked at him. "How did you know he'd be here?"
Do Hyun replied quietly, "Xiu Min spoke to this man before his death. It's in the report Min Seok gave me. Something told me the killer would come here to find a lead."
Soo Hyuk raised a brow. "And did he find it?"
Do Hyun's eyes darkened. "No,i don't think he did judging how I met him here. But someone made sure he didn't."
He turned to the blood stains leading toward the broken cabinet.
"Someone's cleaning up the mess... faster than we are. He or she doesn't want this person to know something."
Back in the station after they had round up the scene,Detective Park Tae Yang walked in briskly, holding a flash drive.
"Found something," he said, plugging it into the main screen in front of Soo Hyuk and Do Hyun.
The CCTV footage began to play. It showed two men in dark clothes rushing out of Jungwon Enterprises moments before Chae Min arrived. The footage paused on a clear frame, both faces partially covered, but visible enough to tell they weren't Chae Min.
Soo Hyuk leaned forward. "These two… they left right before Chae Min showed up?"
Tae Yang nodded. "No sir. But they seem like someone was chasing them,time stamp confirms it. We pulled it from the traffic cam facing the entrance."
Soo Hyuk scratched his chin. "Then that means…"
Do Hyun cut in, eyes still on the screen.
"Bingo."
Soo Hyuk turned to him.
"It wasn't Xiu Min killer who killed the director," Do Hyun continued. "He was chasing the actual killers."
Silence fell in the room.
Soo Hyuk exhaled, a slight grin tugging at his lips. "Then we just got ourselves a third player in this bloody game."
Do Hyun nodded. "And that changes everything. This case is getting bigger than I expected."