Chapter 339 - Clash of the Idols (5)

"These are the areas where the President had planted explosives," Ash said, pointing at the bas.e.m.e.nt and boiler room of the mansion. He had made a secret blueprint of the President's mansion with all the hidden passages marked. Mirae, Hyun Jung, Riggs and the others were huddled around it while Song Tamlin sat in the corner, listening intently.

"Now this point," he said, indicating at a cellar below the kitchen. "It is the only point where there aren't any explosives placed. Since the kitchen is the most active part of the mansion, they could not place any there. The cellar beneath the kitchen also doesn't contain any bombs. So it's our only way to enter."

"But the kitchen will be full of chefs and it is also heavily guarded," he went on. "So we have to infiltrate the kitchen first and take down the guards."

"One of my men will infiltrate the kitchen through this passage," Mirae stated. "And he'll mix this into the food and drinks of the guards."

She took out a vial of clear liquid. "It's an odorless sleeping medicine," she informed them. "One dose of this is enough to knock out a man for hours. All they gotta do is to put it in the food and make the guards unconscious. Once they're out, our team will enter through the cellar's route. Upon entering the mansion, we'll break up into two teams. 

"I'll be leading Team A," she went on. "And we'll head for the main hallway to save KJ. As for the explosives…"

She turned back to the map. "There must be a control room. The President must have set them in a chain motion. All of them will explode at once once the trigger is pushed. We gotta find that trigger. Hyun Jung's team will set off to diffuse the bombs."

"Where's the control room?" Hyun Jung asked.

"It should be in the study," Ash stated. "It's upstairs and conjoined with the President's bedroom. There will be guards there but if the President is busy with KJ, then that area will be relatively easier to enter."

"We'll need someone to keep the President distracted," Hyun Jung noted. "So that he can't harm KJ until we manage to rescue him."

Mirae turned to Ash and added, "You'll be in the front too but you won't enter with us. You'll enter the mansion through the front door and engage the President in a conversation. Anything would do. Just keep him busy enough so that he can't kill KJ. Once we're inside, we'll take him down."

"I'll enter with him," Song Tamlin offered. "My men will accompany us and once we're inside the mansion, they'll proceed to eliminate the guards at the entrance."

Mirae nodded and turned to her team. "We'll have to use our combat skills as much as possible," she told them. "Gunshots can alert them so make sure that all your guns have silencers attached. Also, remember to follow the routes. Memorize them so that you don't end up in the way of a bomb."

The men saluted her in understanding and she motioned them to head for the vans with Hyun Jung, Riggs and Tamlin in the lead. Turning to Ash, Mirae handed him a bulletproof jacket.

"Put this on and hide it beneath your clothes," she said shortly. She was about to turn away when he spoke up.

"Do you…" he began. "Do you have to go as well? I'm sure your men can handle this mission on their own."

Mirae turned to face him, her expression cold. "My husband is in danger," she gritted. "And I'm not going to stay back and let him die. I'm not a coward like you!"

It did not matter to her that he was raised by her parents. She did not care about his mission nor was she concerned about the allegedly soft spot he had for her. The only thing she remembered is the pain head inflicted on all of them.

"Did you even care for them?" she demanded. "EXOTIC? Did you even give a damn to your friends who thought of you as a brother? Did you even shed a tear when the band disbanded? Or when the boy all of you had raised and protected, died a gruesome death?"

Her lips quivered in disgust. Ash did not avert his eyes but looked straight into hers. His grey eyes looked tormented by her words but rightfully so. She was not the one who ran away.

"I know you never loved me," she whispered. "But EXOTIC? The members considered you to be part of their family. Was there ever a time when you really thought of them the same way?"

Ash was silent for a while before finally replying, "I don't know."

Mirae let out a soft snort. "You know," she said. "This is probably the only time you are being truthful to me. If you were honest from the very beginning, maybe we could have forgiven you."

She spun around to leave. It was hard to imagine that there was a time she was in love with that man. His sweetness, his love and care. Everything was a lie. 

She was almost at the door when he said, "But I did love you. Being with you made me realize that I must take up this path to destroy the Cartel. Even when I had to leave behind everything, I couldn't let you go."

Mirae turned back to face him, unaffected by his words. "If you truly cared for me, then you'd have trusted me enough to reveal your secrets. Your past wouldn't have affected us but your choices did. You made yours by betraying us and as a result, you're all alone. I made mine by choosing to be happy and I found it with Jiwon. With all the mistakes he made, he didn't let his past define his life. He chose to let go of all the regrets and truly live. And that is what's gonna save him today."

With that, she left the room, leaving him behind. There was not an ounce of feeling left for that man. Not even their past relationship affected her anymore. He made his choice and was living in regret. She made her choice and was going to spend her life in peace with a wholesome family.

And that was her victory.