Chapter 223

Shinhae got off the kindergarten bus with a bright expression. She then looked around.

“Shinhae.”

When she heard a familiar voice, Shinhae ran toward the speaker.

“Unni!”

Jiyoon had her arms wide open, and Shinhae jumped into her arms. A warm sensation and the fragrant smell of Jiyoon greeted Shinhae.

“Where’s dad?”

Shinhae’s head swiveled to look for Sungyoon. Shinhae really liked Jiyoon, but Jiyoon couldn’t be compared to her father.

“Your dad had some work, and he won’t be able to look after you today.”

“Again?”

Recently, Sungyoon rarely picked up Shinhae. The little girl's cheeks puffed up with displeasure. Jiyoon let out a bitter laugh and stroked Shinhae’s head.

“You dad is really busy right now. You understand that, right?”

“Ooh.”

Even though Shinhae was in a very bad mood, Jiyoon had spoken in a gentle manner, so the little girl couldn’t refute her words.

Shinhae nodded with a pout.

“You're such a good girl. In return, let’s ask your dad to buy us something delicious!”

“Tonkatsu! I like tonkatsu with cheese in it!”

“Ok! Unni will make sure to call him!”

“Wah-ah!”

As if she had never been in a bad mood, Shinhae raised her hands into the air. Jiyoon laughed at the sight. Shinhae was always so cute, and Jiyoon thought that if she had a daughter in the future, she wanted one like Shinhae.

‘Daughter? What am I thinking?’

Jiyoon became embarrassed for no reason as she tightly held onto the small hand of Shinhae. They headed toward Sungyoon’s house.

“Hmm?”

Jiyoon came to a stop. She had just walked down this road to pick up Shinhae, and nothing had been there. However, a road-under-construction sign had appeared when she returned now.

“Unni! Construction!”

“Yes. I guess they are working on the road.”

Left with no other choice, Jiyoon decided to go the roundabout way. She turned away from the large road and chose a side street with low traffic.

Sssk!

Was it just her feeling? Jiyoon felt as if someone was following her. On the other hand, Shinhae was in a good mood as she hummed to herself.

At that moment, two men were tailing Jiyoon and Shinhae. Their heads were covered with hats, and they had worn sunglasses and masks to hide their faces. These two men quietly followed Shinhae and Jiyoon from the back. They kept checking their surroundings as they waited for people to clear out from the side street. When their targets were the only ones in the side street, the men moved into action. Circulating their magical energy, the men were about to increase their speed to catch up to their targets.

However, they weren’t the only ones waiting for the side street to clear out.

“What business do you have with my daughter and the temp worker of my company?”

Flinch!

The men reflexively turned around when they heard the voice. However, they didn’t even have the opportunity to do anything. Powerful hands gripped both of them and dragged them toward a nearby alleyway.

“Huh?”

Jiyoon turned her head around. She thought she had heard something.

“What’s wrong, Unni?”

“No. It’s nothing. Unni must have misheard.”

Jiyoon started walking down the street with Shinhae once again.

***

Tahk!

The vice grip on their necks was loosened, and the two men moved far away from their ambusher. Sungyoon appeared in their sights. He had his arms crossed, and his face held a harsh expression. The faces of the two men became distorted.

“You guys moved pretty quickly.”

Sungyoon opened his mouth, and the displeasure in his voice was apparent.

“Wh-what do you mean?”

One of the men asked in a trembling voice.

“Yo-you are Mr. Woo Sungyoon? You are the hero of London! The Knight. Why are you attacking us?”

“Do you plan on playing innocent until the end?”

“P-playing innocent? You must be mistaken. We were just walking down this road!”

The second man started coming up with an excuse too. The two made a desperate bid to convince Sungyoon that they were normal people being mistaken for attackers, and they did sound convincing.

However, Sungyoon didn’t budge an inch.

“Then why do you have Devices and Gems?”

The men's eyes headed toward their wrists. Their bracelet type Devices were peeking out of their sleeves. It seemed their sleeves were pulled up when Sungyoon had grabbed their necks.

Despair appeared on their faces. However, it only lasted for a moment, and their faces turned cold.

“Shit! I never expected to be caught so easily.”

“For real. It seems this bastard was waiting for us.”

“This might be preferable. I didn’t like the plan where we had to kidnap his kid to kill him.”

“I feel the same way.”

After a short amount of time, weapons appeared in their hands. Their activation speed was very quick, and it surprised Sungyoon.

“You might be the great Knight, but we're plenty strong.”

“This is a two-on-one fight. We don't need to call the others to handle him. Honestly, the client who hired us is being too cowardly.”

The two talked to each other to psych themselves up as Sungyoon concentrated on the words ‘others’ and ‘client'. The two of them had carelessly given away numerous information to him. He glared at them with a cold expression.

“Let me ask you this. Did Lee Jaeho send you guys?”

“Who knows? If you want answers...”

“Find it out through strength!”

Hoo-oong!

The two men moved like the wind as their swords were swung toward Sungyoon. These sharp sword strikes could cut through steel plates, and they were coming at Sungyoon’s neck.

Cheng! Cheng!

However, an ax and a hammer appeared in Sungyoon's hands and blocked the swords.

“I’ll give you a warning. I’m in a very bad mood.”

It felt as if magical energy would explode from Sungyoon's body. That very energy overflowed in his Devices and Gems. Sungyoon used his absurd strength to push back the swords.

The attackers' eyes turned round. They had held their swords with both hands, so they didn’t expect to be pushed back by Sungyoon, who was using one hand to push each of them.

“I’m just annoyed that you bastards dared to aim for my daughter.”

Ggee-gee-gee-geek!

With a clang, the ax and hammer ground against the edge of the swords.

“I did this for Shinhae, but you made me use my daughter as bait!”

Boom! Boom!

The swords were sent backward as the ax and hammer hit the ground. The cement road cracked, and rocks flew into the surrounding.

“Ooh-ook!”

“Koo-oohk!”

The two men barely avoided losing their grip on their swords. They slowly edged backward. The skin on their hands had split open, and blood dripped down the handle of their swords.

“Oooooooh!”

In just one clash, they had experienced the overwhelming power difference between Sungyoon and them; they could feel it in their bones.

They had been drunk on the power that they had acquired, so they had looked down on Sungyoon. They had even taunted him. However, they had soon realized that the Knight wasn’t someone they could deal with.

The understanding of why the client had said to kidnap the little girl hit them. However, it was too late as Sungyoon approached them like death incarnate.

“Shit! Run!”

The two of them quickly turned around and ran as Sungyoon chased after them like a starved beast.

***

Jaeho stood in an abandoned warehouse situated in a deserted location. The warehouse was dirty and smelly, and Jaeho felt as if he were seeing a representation of himself.

“I’m sure it went well, right?”

The person next to him answered the question. He was a striking individual with bulky muscles.

“They contacted me saying they are going to carry out the plan. If things went well, they should be coming back right now.”

“It went well. Of course, it went well.”

Jaeho bit his fingernail in anxiousness as he spoke. It was a habit that he had developed in his childhood. Hooyoung’s strict teachings had beaten that habit out of him, and it never bothered him when he was an a.d.u.l.t. However, the habit came back when he had lost everything.

“Why do we need to kidnap his daughter? There are five of us. We can take care of him.”

“You guys can defeat Woo Sungyoon?”

Jaeho suspiciously looked at the man. The muscular man pounded on his chest.

“I believe the five of us would have been enough! We are powerful!”

“… I guess so. You're powerful enough to activate your Gems on Earth.”

Jaeho didn’t know much about Connectors, so the man’s words sounded plausible to him. The hooded man had provided him with five talented Connectors, and it made Jaeho wonder the hooded man's identity. However, he pressed down on his curiosity.

‘There's nothing to be gained by having that knowledge.’

He just wanted his revenge.

“Shouldn’t they be here by now?”

A tall man leaning against the corner of the warehouse asked.

The muscular man also checked his watch.

“Yes. If they were successful, they should be arriving by now.”

It happened at that moment.

Clank!

The door to the warehouse violently opened.

“Leader!”

“Oh. You succee...”

The muscular man didn't finish his sentence.

The two men who had gone out to kidnap Woo Shinhae limped through the open door. Their bodies were a bloody mess.

“What! What the hell happened?”

The four in the warehouse, including Jaeho, were all stunned. It was clear something had gone really wrong. As if to prove that idea...

“B-behind us!”

It was like a horror movie where the main characters were being chased by a ghost. The injured men desperately spoke up.

“So this is where the rats were holed up.”

A newcomer entered the warehouse.

“Oooh-ahhhhhk!”

“Oooooh!”

The injured men quickly retreated. Forgetting about the injuries all over their body, the two scrambled across the ground to distance themselves from the newcomer. However, Sungyoon ignored them and looked around the warehouse. He saw three men that possessed items that looked like Devices, then he found another person.

“As expected, it was you.”

Sungyoon’s frigid gaze landed on him. Sungyoon regretted meeting this person the most in his lifetime. At one time, he had believed Jaeho to be his friend, but he was a sworn enemy now, and their relationship was irreparably damaged.

“Lee Jaeho.”

Sungyoon called out his detestable name.

“H-how!”

Jaeho had planned on calling Sungyoon here, but he was going to do it after the men had kidnapped Shinhae. He would have called Sungyoon after pulling out all of his teeth. The situation happening right now wasn't part of the plan.

“This bastard knew we were coming!”

One of the injured men shouted.

“I knew you would aim for Shinhae when cornered. It was easy to predict your move. Armstrong wanted me to come back quickly, but I ignored their requests. I stayed near Shinhae. If I'm being honest, I never wanted this day to come.”

Sungyoon’s eyes flashed in a terrifying manner.

“However, everything changed when you threatened Shinhae’s safety. If you had quietly let go of the technology and stayed in your home, I would have let you live. However, you went too far. Do you think I’ll let anyone threaten Shinhae!”

Sungyoon roared like a fierce beast announcing its presence.

Lee Jaeho had operated amongst experienced political and business figures, but he couldn’t withstand Sungyoon’s glare and shout. His life had never been threatened this way before.

“K-Kill him! Kill that bastard!”

He yelled out in panic. When the Connectors saw their client pointing at Sungyoon and yelling orders, they glanced at each other. The two who Sungyoon had injured had been healed by their comrades.

However, all five of them looked nervous now.

They had initially thought their combined power could easily defeat Sungyoon. However, the chance of Sungyoon being stronger than all of them became a possibility in their mind when they had seen their two comrades' pitiful state.

However, the milk had been spilled already. Even if they asked for forgiveness, Sungyoon would never forgive them. That was obvious.

“Tsk! Let’s do this! There are five of us! We’ll figure something out!”

The muscular Connector—who was the leader—spoke in a forceful manner. The other Connectors nodded.

“Oooohahhhhhh!”

The one to attack first was one of the two Connectors whom Sungyoon had beaten. He raised his sword and shouted to erase the fear he felt. The other four connectors fanned out. It seemed their boast of being able to kill Sungyoon wasn’t an idle boast. Their co-operation was impressive, as they used their numbers to their advantage.

“Hoo-ahhhhht!”

As if he was heartened by his trustworthy comrades, the man swung his sword with confidence. Sungyoon watched him with a deadpan expression.

Boom!

Puh-suhk!

A loud sound was followed by an explosion.

The four Connectors had moved to support the Connector who had decided to lead the attack, but they all came to a stop.

Poo-ook!

The sword went flying and pierced the ground. Cracks had appeared all over the sword, and the sword had become unusable. However, that didn’t matter. The owner of the sword would never be able to take up his sword again.

Tuhl-suhk!

The headless body of the Connector flopped to the ground.

Sungyoon shook the hammer coated with blood and flesh and mumbled.

“I don't need you to guide me anymore.”