Sir, everyone is dead."
Every group came back reporting the same thing. They really had wiped out the entire building.
"Fine, let's go back," Kamman said, turning to leave. Before they exited the building, he turned and added, "Get the cleaning team; erase the crime scene."
"What?" The man beside him asked, not sure he'd heard the order correctly.
All these had nothing to do with Kamman, and the events wouldn't affect him in any way. He was known for minding his own business, so his decision to get involved was a bit confusing to his men.
Rei, however, understood his motive almost immediately. Even if Kamman was hiding it, his mind had already connected this case to Dian, especially after their initial conversation.
His instincts when it came to that name were always to protect, so naturally, he moved to clean up his assumed crime, then ask questions later.
Rei turned to the man and confirmed,
"Call the cleaning team. Get rid of all the bodies. Tell them not to leave a single trace behind."
"Yes, sir!" The man answered, bowed, then stepped away to make the call. The rest rushed to the cars, and in a moment, they were speeding away.
In the car, Kamman's mind raced. Rei was right; the moment he assumed that the case was too similar to Dian's, his brain started glitching, and he lost most of his reasoning.
Getting involved was not only a risk to him but to the organization as well, but he couldn't help it. If the man they saw was really Dian, and if he was really the culprit behind the killings, then Kamman would feel uncomfortable giving him up. He could have been wrong, but he still took the risk. He was going to avenge his father in his own way.
Rei and Liang seemed like they were literally standing on eggs, holding their breath and wishing they didn't break under their weight. Even his breathing spiked their anxiety. The appearance of Dian had clearly disoriented him, and he was quite unstable at the moment.
"I need to see him."
Finally, Kamman couldn't hold it in any longer, and he let out those words in a small, desperate voice. He was only speaking to himself, but Rei and Liang heard it, and they turned to look at each other.
"Uh...I don't think that's a good idea, Young Master."
Liang spoke his truth, but fear was evident in his words.
"Why?" Kamman stubbornly persisted. He knew why, but reason didn't make sense to him at the moment.
"The other night, he merely let us off. If we have another encounter, unprepared, he might not be so generous,"
Rei pushed on, both trying to talk him out of it. Kamman thought about it and saw that they were making sense, but he just didn't want to admit it.
"Let us strategize, find his weak point, and exploit it to our advantage," Rei advised.
Kamman didn't insist any further. He laid his head on the window and closed his eyes, his emotions causing a wreck internally.
To be honest, he rarely slept, as he had been on the move since he came to South Korea. His schedule was tightly packed, and his attention was needed at almost a hundred places at the same time. He was used to overworking, so as much as it was a problem, it never took a toll on him.
Tonight was different. For the first time in years, he fell asleep in the car, exhausted to the point of not being able to lift a finger. His tiredness stemmed more from his mental state than his physical. When they arrived at the mansion, Rei and Liang could not dare to wake him up, knowing how he struggled with falling asleep, so they kept guard in the car and let him sleep for over eight hours.
Kamman was startled from a nightmare, jolting awake. He had slept for hours, which was a good thing, but the nightmares never left his side, as usual. He looked at the time on his wrist and scolded,
"Why did you let me sleep this long?"
"Well, Young Master, you rarely fall asleep. Do you know how satisfactory it is to watch you sleep?" Liang said in a pouty voice, choking with emotion. Nobody knew whether he was joking or not.
Kamman rolled his eyes and walked inside. While he was asleep, his organization was working overtime, under Rei's orders. They had already found out who Asia Song was working for; they already had information on his adoptive family, where they stayed, and his sister's involvement with the Cheongyeon Gang.
Kamman's mind had also cleared, and he could perfectly strategize his next action. What was for sure was that butting heads with him head-on was the last of his options. Additionally, he needed to leave for Thailand soon, so he had a deadline to get to the bottom of everything.
"Make an appointment with Geumgang's boss." He finally gave an order.
Meanwhile, Asia walked into an apartment building, took a flight of stairs, and stopped before a door on the eighth floor. He rang a bell and waited, both of his hands pocketed in his dark sweatpants. A response came soon after. The door cracked open, and a small boy came crashing into him.
"Hyung! You're back!"
Asia smiled and rubbed his head, messing up the boy's hair in the process. "Where's Eomma?" he asked the boy, who pointed inside, smiling goofily.
"She's cooking your favorite! You've been gone for so long! What did you get me?" The chatty boy went on rambling, but Asia didn't seem to mind. He bent down, picked him up, and went inside, then locked the door behind him.
"Asia, you're back." His adoptive father looked up from the couch. The whole room reeked of liquor, and liquor bottles lay scattered on the floor, so Asia knew he had been drinking as he normally did.
Rather than answer his father's question, he directed a new one, his voice threatening
. "I told you not to leave these bottles lying around. What if they cut Yeonjun?"
"I was going to remove them later. I'll do it now," he answered, but he only managed to annoy Asia even further. Before he lost his already thin temper, he left for his room.
Once inside, he took out his laptop and went over the news. The gruesome death of the Cheongyeon gang should have been making headlines by now, but he found nothing. He went through a bulk of articles, but nothing related to a mass killing or the Cheongyeon gang came up.
He scrunched his eyebrows, confused. He wasn't doing so out of worry but rather curiosity and amusement, but for some reason, his amusement was being delayed. He closed his laptop and made a mental note to find out more tomorrow.
Just as he set it down, his phone went off.
"What is it?" He answered disinterestedly.
"Hyungnim, the boss asked me to tell you to come in tomorrow." A voice came through the other end.
"I won't; I'm busy," he replied.
"He said it's urgent. The Bronze Orchid is coming," the man said.
At the mention of Bronze Orchid, Asia, who had intended to decline everything from the start, no matter what, hesitated. He gave it a thought, then answered,
"Alright. I'll be there."
He hung up before the other man could say anything else.
He had already encountered its leader two times, and for some reason, he felt like something was deliberately pulling him towards him.