Night fell over Seoul with a heavy, suffocating stillness.
The neon lights painted restless reflections in rain puddles, and the buzz of distant traffic hummed through the empty backstreets. The world seemed unaware that monsters still moved in its shadows.
Arjun Mehra walked those streets like a ghost.
He'd marked them hours ago — the watchers.
Same men. New positions. No civilian watches with that much discipline.
He followed one as the man peeled off near a side alley behind a row of convenience stores. A cigarette lit his face for a moment — early thirties, hard jaw, dead eyes. Merc.
Arjun moved like liquid through the darkness.
A flicker of movement.
A hand over the man's mouth.
A quick drag into the alley.
The man barely had time to struggle before Arjun's blade pressed against his throat.
"Who sent you?" Arjun growled, his voice a low, lethal whisper.
The man snarled, trying to fight, but one sharp twist of Arjun's wrist and pain shot through his arm.
"Talk."
"It's… it's Boss Ji-Yeon," the man spat, teeth gritted. "We're protecting her… sister."
Arjun's pulse slowed.
Sister.
Hana.
A cold fury ignited in his chest. The enemy's bloodline had been beside him all this time.
"How many of you?" Arjun asked.
The man hesitated.
Another sharp twist — a muffled scream.
"Six… maybe seven… at the campus… others rotating at night."
Arjun's face hardened.
"And does she know?"
The man shook his head quickly, eyes wide. "No! The girl's clean. It's just orders. She doesn't know anything."
Arjun believed him.
But it didn't matter.
He couldn't leave loose ends.
With a swift, practiced motion, he drove the blade cleanly into the man's chest, silencing him before he could scream. The body slumped against the alley wall.
One down.
An hour later, another watcher met his end behind a parking garage, his last breath a whispered plea Arjun ignored.
By midnight, four were gone.
No witnesses.
No evidence.
No trace.
Arjun left the bodies where no one would find them until morning.
It wasn't personal — yet.
This was protection.
For Hana.
From her world.
From his.
And as he disappeared into the night, he knew one thing:
The storm was moving faster now.
And Ji-Yeon… would feel it soon.