Seri knew it. This wasn't how Junho would want his secret dragged into the open.
Seri's brow furrowed as she looked at the man. "Well… he's standing here looking like a man who can't even fix a microwave." She folded her arms and tilted her head. "So tell me… who the hell are you?"
The hoodie man smiled faintly. "My name is Dr. Riku Hanazawa," he said, taking a step closer.
Seri's eyes narrowed further.
"I'm a neuro-cognitive scientist," Riku continued, "specializing in kinetic memory transfer. I study how memory works… especially when someone else can steal it."
Junho's face paled. Riku's eyes glinted. "And your Mr. Kang here is our most important key."
In her heart, Seri's thoughts sharpened. Hanazawa? That sounds Japanese. Are they Uncle's people? No… this isn't how he works. He never interrupts someone else's mission, especially not mine. Something's wrong. This wasn't part of the plan.
"This is wrong," she said firmly. "You're not supposed to do this. You're off-script."
A man in a black suit grinned darkly. "And yet, here we are. Orders are orders. Maybe they want to see what your Mr. Kang can really do. Even if it takes a little… blood."
Junho leaned closer to Seri, his voice low. "Blood? What are they talking about?"
Her eyes blazed as she turned to him. He could see anger there… but also fear. For him.
"He should choose to use his power," she told them, almost growling. "Not be forced into it like a weapon."
The suited man chuckled without warmth. "Choice? Since when do people like us get to choose?"
Junho stared at Seri, realizing she wasn't backing down. And now… she knew. Not just about the danger circling them, but about him…what he could do, what it might cost.
The hoodie man lifted his hands slowly. "I don't want tension. I was only assigned to observe and evaluate… the power in his eyes." His gaze shifted gently to Junho, then back to Seri. "I'm not here to fight. Just trying to understand."
Seri's voice stayed firm but respectful. "I'm sorry. But you'll need to step back. Right now."
The hoodie man hesitated before lowering his head and retreating. But the man in the black suit smirked coldly. "Always dragging it out. No more drama. Let's just get it done."
He raised his hand toward his men. "Do it. Get him."
Three suits rushed forward.
Seri's eyes narrowed, her stance lowering into position. "Wrong choice," she said under her breath. Rain poured down in relentless sheets, soaking them both as she moved instantly. Junho stepped back as she launched into action… fluid, precise, and fierce.
One strike dropped the first man, a sweeping kick took down the second, and the third lunged only to be caught by her ducking blow to the ribs before she flipped him to the ground.
Junho's eyes widened, a half-joking murmur slipping out. "Remind me never to argue with her…"
The fourth man tried to sneak behind her, but she sensed him. She spun, grabbed his collar, drove her knee into his stomach, and slammed him into the sedan.
The black suit leader faltered, stunned, while the hoodie man watched with quiet admiration.
Another suit lunged from the side, and Seri was mid-hold, unable to react…
"Not this time," Junho muttered through gritted teeth.
He stepped forward, a swift, precise kick to the man's chest knocking him cold.
"No need to thank me," he said calmly.
"Noted," Seri replied with the faintest smirk.
She grabbed a metal baton from one of the men sprawled on the ground and spun it once in her grip before striking the next attacker with brutal precision. She finished the rest with the same ruthless elegance. When it was over, the ground was slick with light rain and littered with groaning bodies.
Seri stood at the center, her breath calm, sleeves slightly wrinkled. She straightened them, unfazed. Her eyes scanned the mess she had just made as if it were just another Tuesday. Without flinching, she smoothed her sleeves and said, her tone dry, "I told you… I can't see blood. Or I'll faint… and start making more people bleed."
She stepped over the fallen men, unfazed by the groans beneath her feet, her boots landing heavy on the pavement as she approached the hoodie man now sitting calmly on the front bumper of the car, arms resting on his knees, watching like it was a casual street show.
She stopped right in front of him, tilting her head slightly and smirking as her arms crossed. "Was it entertaining? Did I look like a sugar-rushed cartoon heroine to you?"
He let out a soft, impressed chuckle but did not move. As she neared, he spoke first, calm and sure, a trace of amusement in his voice. "I know you."
Seri stopped in her tracks, her expression wary. "…Do you?" she asked.
He smiled softly, his gaze lingering on her with an unsettling calm. "I've heard stories. Thought you were just a rumor."
Seri's brows knit, her weight shifting slightly onto one leg. She studied him in silence for a beat, as if measuring whether he was mocking her or speaking the truth, the rain between them amplifying the tension.
She folded her arms tighter, her gaze sharp. "Who sent you?"
The man's brows rose. "Sent me? I can't tell you that." Her voice cooled instantly. "
"Was it Iwao? Did Uncle send you to chase after him?"
At the back, Kang Junho watched but could not hear them. He tilted his head, curious and uneasy. The hoodie man let out a short laugh, then shuddered dramatically. "Master Iwao? The King of Koyama-gumi? Please… even hearing his name gives me frostbite." Seri narrowed her eyes. If it was not Uncle, then who?
The hoodie man stood slowly, brushing off his pants. "I'm just one of the smart guys trying to avoid trouble. My job is observing, analyzing, keeping tabs on special cases." He nodded subtly toward Kang Junho in the distance. "They want his power badly. And whether you like it or not, more people already know what he can do. He's being hunted, Miss Hooded Storm."
Seri thought to herself, so now he's trying to give me a nickname. What is she now? His puppy?
Seri's lips pressed tightly together. She did not answer. The man's grin returned, teasing. "And hey… if you do have something with him, you might want to seal that deal fast. Things are about to get messier."
He walked toward his car, throwing one last look over his shoulder with a playful warning. "Don't make me run into you guys again, huh? I kinda like my bones unbroken." Then he drove off, leaving only the sound of the rain against the cracked pavement.
Seri stood still, eyes sharp, heart unsettled, mind racing. If it was not Iwao, then who sent him? Light rain still clung to the air, though the drizzle was beginning to fade.
She walked over to the man in the black suit who had been shouting orders earlier. He was sprawled on the ground, unconscious, bruised, but his phone was still blinking beside his limp hand. She crouched down without hesitation and unlocked it like a pro.
Kang Junho blinked, still panting from the chaos. "Is she stealing his phone now?" The screen lit up, and Seri's eyes narrowed at the message from BOSURO_T
GET HIM BEFORE MIDNIGHT. WHATEVER IT COST.
Her lips tightened. She lifted the phone, snapping several photos from its camera, the sprawled bodies, and the rain-slick pavement scattered with unconscious men in suits.
Junho stepped closer. "What… are you doing?"
Seri's fingers moved quickly, typing a reply to the boss,
More coming. Face the cost. Stop whatever you're doing.
Then she tossed the phone back onto the man's chest. "It's cute, though," she said with deadpan calm. "Might even win them Best Group Performance in a Street Fight." Junho stared at her, lost for words.
"You. Drive," she ordered. "Drive? Now? After the car looks like it just lost a boxing match?" he gestured toward the scratched bumper and the faint smoke curling from the hood. "What do you want me to drive, the tire?"
"Well, if you steer hard enough… maybe," she replied with a straight face. Junho muttered under his breath as he walked to the driver's side, "This is how CEOs end up in therapy."
The Jaguar XF 300 Sport limped along in traffic, a faint rattle under the hood, scratches running down the side, and the smell of overheated metal clinging stubbornly. Light rain still beaded across the windshield, though the downpour had begun to ease. Seri sat in the passenger seat with her arms crossed, eyes locked on the side mirror. Her face was calm but clouded, her thoughts sharp and restless. The hoodie man's words wouldn't stop echoing. More people already know about him. He's being hunted. Her jaw tightened.
Junho kept glancing sideways at her, the silence between them pressing heavier than the damaged car.
"Are you okay? Should I take you to the hospital?" His voice was soft, careful, almost hesitant.
Her head turned slightly. "Why would you take me there?" Her tone was clipped, curious but not exactly warm.
"You're holding yourself like you're in pain. I just thought… maybe you were hurt." He gave a small shrug, trying to make it light, but his voice trailed as if instantly regretting it.
She turned fully toward him with a sharp glare. "Maybe your car needs a checkup first. I think it's the one in pain."
He let out a short breath through his nose, eyes back on the road. "Fair enough."
The quiet returned, thick and stubborn. Junho's fingers tapped lightly against the wheel before he tried again, his tone quieter this time. "Seri, shi… actually…"
A sound cut through the stillness. Low at first… then clearer. It wasn't the engine. And it was coming from inside the car.