The next few days proved to be a tense affair with Soojin being affected the most. The news of the mysterious packages sent to the houses of her friends. Deep inside, she blames herself for it but all of them made it clear to her that they would all stick together with her no matter what happens. This had comforted Soojin immensely but her nightly sleep always gets disturbed by nightmares and recurring thoughts. Thoughts of what would happen if she and Seon-jung meet, would he hurt her? Would he hurt her friends? Her family? Her mother? These were thoughts that kept Soojin up at the wee hours of the morning. One particular sleepless night made Soojin literally made her watch the sunrise from her window.

Soeun noticed Soojin’s lack of sleep and offered to stay with her to help her sleep. It worked somehow and Soojin was able to sleep soundly at around one in the morning. However, she’d wake up in a panic if she senses that she’s alone. Soeun felt bad for her girl, the situation was taking a toll on her.

Both Soojin and Soeun’s parents noticed this as well and asked for expedited efforts made by the people they tasked for locating Haseul’s ex husband. They wanted the situation resolved at the soonest possibility. Vivi tried to talk to Soojin to ease her mind, she also made a point to cook Soojin’s favorites for their meals. It could alleviate the stress on her mind if only a bit.

Soojin took a deep breath as she brushed her hair in front of the dresser’s mirror. Soeun was tying her shoelaces as she sat on her bed. Hearing the heavier exhalation, Soeun stood and hugged Soojin from behind, assuring her that everything would be okay. Today was their first day for the final exams and the couple had prepared as best they can. Haseul dropped by to wish them both good luck in their exams.

“No matter what happens, you did good okay? I love you Soojinnie.” Haseul whispered before kissing her daughter’s cheek. She knew that Soojin is pressured to meet her expectations, but she simply wants her daughter to be alright given the circumstances surrounding all of them.

After getting ready, the pair left the room and had a quick breakfast. Vivi had made blueberry pancakes which Soojin was quite fond of. She had noticed and thanked Vivi for the sweet gesture. Eating eased Soojin’s mind a bit and she was able to think a bit clearly and lighter.

Thanking her parents, Soojin and Soeun gave each of them a hug before leaving for their cars. Min-yeong would be coming with Soojin today thus, Soeun would be riding separately in her own Maybach. Getting in, they waited for a few minutes before going out the gates. Soojin waved to her parents as they waved back from the front steps.

“Good luck on your exams Soojin-ah.” Min-yeong said as she held out a clenched fist.

“Thank you eomma.” Soojin said as she placed an open palm below Min-yeong’s fist. She knew what this meant.

Min-yeong released her clenched fist which caused a couple gobstoppers to land gently on Soojin’s palm. She had always given Soojin her favorite candy on her exam days. The pair believed the candy to be a good luck charm. Soojin hugged Min-yeong as thanks for the gesture. Her personal assistant never failed to do this whenever she had exams coming up.

In the front security vehicle, a guard noticed a panel truck lingering around. The truck had been lingering around their convoy for quite some time now to the point that he even memorized the decals on the truck’s box van.

“Bok-soo’s moving service.” The decals read, showing a cartoon kid hefting a brown box.

“Lead two this is lead one. There’s this truck following us for about ten minutes now. Plate number 8141.” The bodyguard sitting on the front passenger seat radioed his comrade driving behind him.

“Copy lead one. We’ll go around circles to verify.” Lead two said and immediately radioed the convoy to inform them of the situation.

Min-yeong placed her hand above Soojin’s, gesturing her that it was alright. Dae-woo in Soeun’s car assured his boss that everything was under control. The guards also became more vigilant as they scanned the streets to see if the truck would still linger.

The convoy made two circles and alas, the truck was still lingering around them. This made the convoy go on alert and the guards drew weapons as they rushed to the central police station in Seoul. Lt. Colonel Shin told them that in case they were being chased, the central station would be available to serve as refuge and a safe point as it had SWAT Teams and HRT units on standby 24/7. The guards had radioed ahead to the station informing them of the situation.

“Brake brake! Lead two-” Lead one never finshed the sentence as a garbage truck drove straight for the vehicle at full speed.

The collision crumpled the front of the SUV killing the two guards sitting upfront. The four guards sitting at the back was knocked around but they were still in a condition to fight. They managed to get out and draw their weapons before two of them were gunned down by the garbage truck’s driver. The remaining pair of guards retreated to the second vehicle as they returned fire.

The guards began to perform an emergency egress, informing the police of the attack. There was another truck attempting to block them in. Dae-woo recognized this tactics and promptly issued orders that allowed a bulk of the security vehicles to escape. Lead two and Lead one would remain and hold off the attackers currently engaging them to establish a gap so that the two principles could get to safety.

“Jinsol-ssi! We are under attack! Retreating to central station!” Dae-woo called Jinsol in a calm and cool manner as he formulated a plan on how to protect both Soojin and Soeun. Jinsol told them to be careful and take her daughters to safety and that she would be sending help. For a moment, Dae-woo wondered why Jinsol said daughters when Soeun was the only one here. Until it dawned on him…

Soojin was family.

Drawing his assault rifle, Dae-woo racked the slide, chambering a round. He gave orders to eliminate anyone who’d dare harm the two principles. Soojin was his principle now as well. Looking back, Soeun was looking at the Maybach behind them. The Maybach carrying both Soojin and Min-yeong.

“Lead main this is lead three actual! We are under attack! Attempting to blockade!” Lead three’s leader radioed into his earpiece. There were two sedans with gunmen shooting out of the windows.

Lead three actual was his old army buddy and it stung Dae-woo when he heard that he would blockade the attackers. Blockading meant that the guards would delay the advance so that the main body could get farther away from danger. This maneuver had an almost certain fatality rate. As painful as it might, Dae-woo confirmed the order and gave him permission.

“Gomawo Hyung, hey my kids. You know what to do. Just in case.” Lead three said with a chuckle at the end.

“They’ll be fine brother. You have my word.” Dae-woo replied.

Lead three thanked him before swinging his Escalade to turn it into a blocking element. The lead enemy sedan crashed into the SUV. The armored plating helped contain the impact and the six guards climbed out on the opposite side. Getting out, Lead three got their weapons out and returned fire. The firefight wounded one guard but they successfully took out the eight gunmen previously riding in the two sedans.

“Boss! There’s more! I think they downed leads two and one!” A member told the squad leader as he gestured to the street to their left. It was the garbage truck, the front part was crumpled because of the impact it made earlier.

Cursing, he told his men to take positions on the corners of the streets and shoot at the driver. They followed the command and shot at the driver side window. But the glass proved too strong as it was armored, possibly bulletproof.

“Ssibal! Shoot the engine! The tires!” Lead Three shouted as he slammed a fresh magazine into his rifle.

The truck’s engine spewed black smoke and the passengers were forced to get out. Lead three managed to easily dispatch them, drilling holes into their foreheads with his rifle.

“We actually survived!” One of the squad members said while pumping a fist in the air.

“How do we ca-” The same member asked as he was intermittently shot in the head, causing him to fall dead on the streets.

Turning around the remaining squad members turned around to see an armored truck behind them. A tall man was holding a revolver with smoke still spewing out of its barrel. Lead three’s eyes grew wide. He recognized this man.

“Seon-jung!” He yelled as he raised his rifle, emptying his magazine.

Seon-jung was fast, ducking behind the armored truck’s door for cover. Returning fire, he killed two of his men. Cursing, Lead three reloaded. There were only two of them now and he was wounded. Looking up, he saw the wounded guard take out a grenade as he ran towards the truck. He was gunned down in the middle of the street with the grenade blowing up on him.

“No!” Lead three shouted as he traded pot shots with Seon-jung and his men.

“Hyung hyung! Lead main! It’s me! Seon-jung! HE IS HERE! BE ADVIDSED!” Lead three screamed into his earpiece to inform Dae-woo of the situation.

He managed to kill two of Seon-jung’s men but he was shot in the hand by the man himself. Falling on his back, he watched Seon-jung as he walked slowly towards him. Raising his rifle, Seon-jung easily shot it out of his hand, causing him to basically lose his right hand as it blew apart with the sheer punch the magnum round gave.

“Where are they?” Seon-jung asked, his voice throaty and gravelly.

“You won’t get anything out of me.” Lead three said as he coughed up blood, staring defiantly into the enemy.

“I know. But this might.” Seon-jung said as he got out his phon