GCT 30

Yohan wondered if he was dreaming. Why Avon was here, why Avon was crushing Jun and attacking him like he was about to kill him that very instant. And what on earth was the sniper rifle strewn on the floor… Yohan could not understand any of the things unfolding before his eyes.

“Hi, Yohan? Fancy seeing you here.”

“…”

“Haha. Nice to see you.”

At the sight of Avon greeting him with a wide smile, Yohan blinked and then furrowed his brow. Avon then dropped his smile and continued speaking.

“I got your message. But I was a little busy. So I couldn’t get in touch. Ah, why are you wearing glasses? They really don’t suit you.”

As Avon spoke as if he were genuinely sorry while simultaneously cracking a joke, Yohan’s expression completely crumpled.

“You… what are you doing right now?”

Wasn’t he badly hurt? He’d been shot in the stomach and had bled a lot… Yohan wore a look of disbelief at everything happening before him. Seeing this, Avon now spoke to Yohan with a regretful face.

“Can’t you tell by looking? More importantly, Yohan, I didn’t know you’d brought a friend. When on earth did you bring the New Yorker? He’s Asian, so for a moment I mistook him for you. And he’s an Omega, to boot. Yohan, I was a little thrilled, thinking you might have presented as an Omega after hanging around with Alphas.”

Yohan clicked his tongue and said to Avon.

“Let Agent Harris go before I blow your head off.”

At Yohan’s words, Avon put on a regretful expression.

“Why should I, when I’m this fucked?”

“Avon!”

“I can’t just let him go when you’ve ruined everything. Don’t you agree?”

It was true; Avon had lost the guest from Paraguay right before his eyes. He thought he could have completed the entire operation smoothly if it weren’t for the Omega pinned beneath him. But everything had been exposed. And now, even Yohan was here. It was truly the worst.

“Shit, are you crazy? What is wrong with you? Huh? Get a grip, Avon.”

“I know, right. I wonder why. But it probably started going wrong back at the academy.”

Yohan looked confused. The academy? Had something happened to him back then? Was there something more I didn’t know, not just that Avon had simply changed his career path?

Yohan stared at Avon with a look of incomprehension. At that moment, Jun grimaced in pain, suppressed by Avon’s, an Alpha’s, pheromones. Yohan looked back and forth between Jun and Avon, at a loss for what to do. He couldn’t just blow Avon’s head off right here.

“You think I left that place just because it didn’t suit my aptitude?”

“What?”

“It’s a long story to explain here. You’ve probably figured it out by now from what I’ve said. Yohan.”

A double agent. Yohan gulped with a tense expression. If Avon was a double agent, then everything made sense. Thinking back now, even when he was interrogating Isabel Lazareff, he already knew a lot. It seemed it wasn’t just because he was CIA.

“Is your final target the Paraguayan Minister of National Defense?”

“Well, he’s not my final target. I’m not the only SVR agent in the U.S., you know?”

“…”

“But I know what they’re trying to do. That’s why I’m saying this situation is very troublesome for me right now.”

Perhaps even the incident at the safe deposit box was something Avon had staged. Yohan started to hate himself for having worried about Avon all this time.

“Are you okay? The blood… No, it looks like you need treatment, I should contact… I mean…”

“Yohan, I have an affiliation too. Besides, this is nothing. You should get going.”

“You crazy bastard, this is no time to be bluffing.”

“I told you I’m fine.”

Maybe he had waited for someone to crack the strong security on O’Connell’s laptop after retrieving it from Isabel, since it would be difficult to hack. It wouldn’t be easy to find a hacker as skilled as Earnest, who used to work for Shadow. On reflection, Avon had seemed overly interested in Lear’s abilities.

“Ha! Son of a bitch.”

The conversations he’d had with Avon flashed through his mind like a kaleidoscope, and every single moment became suspicious.

“Then… everything you did was…”

Seeing Yohan’s face colored with confusion, Avon sighed deeply and said.

“Yohan, how are you going to survive in this cruel world being so naive?”

He should have known from the moment the Kiev butcher shop was exposed. He should have suspected Avon, who had conspicuously left Declan’s mark behind and had been out of touch the whole time.

Yohan, far from naive, blamed his own stupid head and spoke irritably to Avon.

“You’re telling me. Fuck. I didn’t know I’d get caught up in a shitty situation like this either. I’m learning a lot, thanks to you. Avon.”

After sneering that there was truly no end to learning, Yohan looked at Avon askew. If he was that good at acting, he should be working in Hollywood, so why was he tiring people out by playing the traitor… Yohan clicked his tongue. He was trying to act as tough as possible, but honestly, he didn’t know what to do in this situation and couldn’t understand it. He even doubted whether he could pull the trigger on him.

His heart pounded like crazy and a cold sweat broke out. But Yohan gripped his gun tightly, pretending to be as calm as possible. At this rate, he felt like his hands would start to tremble.

“Still, Yohan, I was being sincere when I said I liked you.”

He’s spouting such bullshit in a situation like this. Yohan couldn’t understand why his life was filled with nothing but insane Alpha bastards. Was he really cursed? That psychic was really unsettling…

Seeing as one of them had lost all sense of fear and disappeared without a word amidst this chaos, and the other had suddenly appeared claiming to be a double agent or what have you, it seemed like, as someone had said, he was possessed by an evil spirit at the very least.

“Right now…”

If this situation were a movie, people would throw rotten tomatoes6) at the screenwriter, saying the setup was ridiculous.

Yohan suppressed the curse about to escape his lips and said to Avon.

“You’re saying that kind of crap now?”

At Yohan’s words, Avon gave a bitter smile.

“That’s because from now on, I’ll only get your resentment and you’ll be filled with ill will towards me. I’m telling you my sincere feelings now while I can, before that happens.”

“Then, while I still have a shred of pity left for you, why don’t you stop what you’re doing.”

“Sorry, I don’t think I can do that.”

Avon pressed the muzzle of his gun to the neck of Jun, whom he was holding down. Just then, Aisha was cautiously approaching from behind Avon. He had no idea when she had come down, or how a kid who only ever sat in front of a computer and had never properly used a gun in the field had fearlessly come to a place like this.

But sadly, in this situation, Aisha felt like a savior.

“What do you mean you can’t.”

Yohan scoffed to provoke Avon, lest he notice Aisha’s presence. Then he subtly met the eyes of Jun, who was pinned beneath Avon.

‘His injury from the safe deposit box probably wasn’t a lie. If so, even if it wasn’t a major injury, the wound wouldn’t have completely healed yet.’

Just as he was trying to rack his brain for a solution, the muzzle of the gun Aisha was holding finally touched the back of Avon’s head.

“Shit.”

Seeing Avon’s face harden as he spat out the curse, Yohan threw the words Avon had said to him earlier right back at him.

“You should have watched your surroundings properly. How are you going to manage, being so naive? To be a double agent, shouldn’t you have eyes on the back of your head?”

Only then did Avon’s eyes waver intensely. It was because the unexpected had happened. He hadn’t thought there would be anyone else besides the Omega agent pinned beneath him and Lear.

“Did you think I only brought friends from New York?”

“That’s right. I didn’t expect that, since you don’t have many friends, Yohan.”

“What did you say, you bastard! I’ll make you regret those words.”

Yohan thought that even to himself, he sounded like a villain. But he couldn’t just let the opportunity slip away. After speaking to Avon, Yohan immediately mouthed the word “stomach” to Jun, telling him to attack.

Jun seemed to be having a hard time because of Avon, but at Yohan’s single word, he gritted his teeth and struck Avon’s stomach with his elbow. In that moment, Avon was thrown off, and the instant Jun twisted Avon’s arm to gain the upper hand, Yohan moved closer to the tangled figures and shoved his gun muzzle against Avon’s face.

“Don’t you regret it?”

Avon, clutching his stomach in pain, still managed to smile at Yohan’s words. This bastard was definitely just as crazy. Yohan scowled deeply and seriously considered just knocking Avon out.

“You two, stop the chit-chat. More importantly, Yohan, didn’t you have something to do?”

Jun, whose complexion had improved somewhat, said to Yohan as he handcuffed Avon. It seemed Jun had also heard the conversation with Aisha through his in-ear receiver.

“Ah, right.”

Aisha put her gun away and said to Yohan as if she had just remembered.

“The situation was so urgent that I…”

“Ha, so you don’t know where Lear went?”

“That’s not it. Hey, you should let people finish.”

“…”

“Try the 15th floor. I tracked Mr. Crawford getting on the elevator and getting off on the 15th floor. After that, all communication and everything was cut off. There are two rooms on the 15th floor; one belongs to someone attending the conference, and the other had a name I’ve never heard before. Alejandro Gillick, I think it was.”

Yohan furrowed his brow at Aisha’s words. Alejandro Gillick? It was a very familiar name. Where had he heard it? Was there someone like that in the Vasquez cartel? Was it someone from a movie? Just as Yohan was about to take out his phone to search the name Aisha had mentioned, Avon, groaning in pain, chimed in.

“He’s a character from <Sicario>.”

“What?”

“A character whose identity is unclear, I should say? Telling you more would be a spoiler.”

He was sick and tired of everyone borrowing names of movie characters, as if to prove they were in California. Yohan’s annoyance flared up at Avon’s words, but he suppressed it and nodded at Jun. Jun then chopped Avon on the back of the neck, knocking him out.

“Hah, really. The things he pulls.”

Only then did Yohan pat Aisha on the shoulder and say.

“Anyway, Aisha. You’re useful after all.”

“What, you bastard?”

“Thank you.”

Yohan spoke lightly to Aisha and gripped her shoulder firmly as he continued.

“Please take care of that bastard with Jun. And…”

Biting his lower lip slightly, Yohan approached Jun. Then he checked the unconscious Avon’s wrist. There was no scorpion tattoo on his wrist.

“Yohan?”

“No, Mr. Jun. It’s just. A little something.”

Jun tilted his head. Then, as he grabbed the unconscious Avon by the scruff of his neck to pull him up, a scorpion tattoo, slightly different in shape from the one Isabel had, was visible on his collarbone.

‘So it was true.’

It was unsettling to confirm it like this, but he could no longer doubt what he had seen with his own eyes. Just then, from below the railing, Nasim’s voice could be heard asking if it was over. He seemed to be asking because it had suddenly gone quiet. Hearing Nasim’s voice, Yohan went to the railing, looked down at him, and said.

“Looks like the Deputy Assistant Director is still okay.”

“He is?”

At Yohan’s action, Aisha also glanced down below the railing.

“But there’s one more person over there in the corner.”

It was someone he had forgotten about. Yohan clicked his tongue, thinking that Philip was being a pain to the very end.

“He’s a wicked man. But he won’t try to die alone, so keep a good watch on him.”

Aisha nodded. Thinking he should take a picture of his fallen brother’s pathetic state, Yohan took out his phone, zoomed in, and snapped a photo, then spoke to Jun.

“And Jun.”

“Yes?”

“If I contact you, it might mean big trouble has broken out, so could you call in a tactical team or something?”

“That’s not difficult. The field office is a bit tricky… I’ll contact the Director directly.”

“So this is why people work so hard to build connections.”

Yohan grinned, thanked Jun, and immediately headed for the emergency stairs. He was running hard, but perhaps because his mind was so frantic, his feet felt heavy with every step he took down the stairs.

“Lear, this bastard… He really has a knack for making people suffer.”

Panting for breath, Yohan barely made it to the 15th floor. There really had to be nothing wrong. Please, let nothing have happened. Where on earth had that kid, who stands out even when he’s just standing still, recklessly run off to? Yohan’s lips felt parched.

“Damn it.”

The thought of what Shadow might have done to Lear with that perverted look on his face gave him goosebumps and made him flush with heat. He had been strangely obsessed with Lear… But he himself was the only person who could take in a crazy bastard like Lear. There was no way an old fossil like Shadow could handle the unhinged Lear.

‘No, wait… Can crazy people communicate with other crazy people?’

Yohan calmed himself down while entertaining all sorts of wild thoughts. He took a deep breath before scanning the 15th-floor hallway. With a deeply tense expression, he cautiously opened the emergency door.

The long hotel corridor was quieter than ever. Yohan pressed himself flat against the wall and carefully looked around. They said these were the best rooms in this hotel. Past the out-of-order elevator and around the corner, the suite came into view.

‘If it’s Shadow, he probably would have stayed in the best room here… And considering what that Lear punk said, this must be the bastard’s room.’

Yohan took a deep breath.

“…I wanted to get you a nice room… but given the circumstances. I’m trying not to do anything that stands out.”

Recalling what Lear had said, Yohan glanced towards the suite. Thankfully, there were only two guards in front of the door.

He didn’t know if Shadow was overconfident or if he had some other scheme, but Yohan considered it a relief. However, he didn’t have a surefire way to take care of the two of them.

He couldn’t use the gun in his hand. It could needlessly draw a crowd. He could see two people in front of him, but more could suddenly pour out from somewhere else. In that case, there was only one way.

Yohan tucked the gun into his waistband and hid it. The jacket was uncomfortable, but he tried his best to hide his expression and act natural.

‘The things I do. Really.’

Before approaching the front of the suite, Yohan clenched and unclenched his fists. After a sigh, he fiddled with his glasses and slowly revealed himself to the guards. And at their challenging voices, Yohan said with a brazen face.

“Oh, isn’t this the 14th floor? I must have taken a wrong turn… The elevator wasn’t working.”

As Yohan scratched his head and looked around with a naive demeanor, the guards approached him. Yohan tilted his head, and the moment they got close, he gritted his teeth, slammed his fist into one guy’s face, tripped the other, and struck his vital point to knock him out. Then, the one who’d been punched in the face cursed and punched Yohan in the face. His glasses went flying.

“Ugh!”

This was why he had to take them down in an instant. He’d managed to knock one out, but the other guy was insanely persistent. He didn’t have time for this, what an interruption. As soon as the thought that Lear might be in danger crossed his mind, Yohan snatched a fire extinguisher he saw in the corner and threw it at the man.

“Oof!”

The man, hit by the fire extinguisher Yohan threw, fell backward. Technically, it was self-defense, but now that he had actually knocked two people out, he was worried. Yohan stared blankly at the fire extinguisher rolling on the floor, then turned his gaze to check the vital signs of the men unconscious at his feet.

“They’re… alive.”

With a sigh of relief, Yohan searched the unconscious guard’s body and took out a key card. The inside of his mouth was throbbing from being busted open. Of all his assets, his face was the only decent one, and he thought he might get a bruise. Yohan endured the pain for now and opened the room to go inside.

“Ha, it’s spotless.”

Just as he was once again learning the lesson that you shouldn’t judge a person by their appearance, Yohan was once again impressed by the hotel in Chula Vista.

“Well, they wouldn’t have hosted a dignitary here for nothing, I suppose.”

Yohan scoffed and searched the splendid hotel room. Honestly, there was nothing useful. It seemed like it had already been cleaned once. With no idea where Lear could have gone, Yohan grew anxious.

‘He must have followed Shadow…’

Yohan gritted his teeth. He thought he should ask Aisha to check the cameras outside the hotel. It was at that moment.

“Tulum?”

He saw a travel brochure placed neatly on the desk. Tucked among the standard brochures provided by the hotel was one that was different. The rest of the brochures were the same as in his room, and the tourist guide was about Chula Vista.

“If it’s Tulum… is he trying to go to Mexico?”

It made sense. If things went wrong, the best thing for Shadow to do would be to hide for a while. After all, he had shown his face, which he had kept hidden all this time, and an intruder had appeared during the deal.

“Hmm.”

Yohan furrowed his brow. In the current situation, the worst possible intruder Shadow could imagine was Lear. But Shadow would know better than anyone that Lear wasn’t the type to use a sniper.

Amidst that, an unexpected gunshot had rung out, so hiding was probably the best option for him. A third party had appeared, but it wasn’t clear who they were, and moreover, he, an FBI agent, was by Lear’s side, so with his back against the wall, it was highly likely he would flee to a place he could easily control. And that place was Tulum, the resort town in the travel brochure.

“Lucky him. Someone’s busting their ass here, and he gets to go hang out at a resort.”

Yohan clicked his tongue, trying to ignore his throbbing headache. He had no way of knowing Shadow’s intentions—why he would needlessly post two guards when he had no intention of staying here any longer—but for Yohan, time was of the essence. Because Lear had gone after him.

“There should only be one fastest way to get to Tulum from here.”

If Shadow went to an airport or airfield, he would stand out. Bribing a public official would be nothing to him… but he wasn’t the type to take a harder path when an easier one was available. There must have been a reason for choosing Chula Vista out of so many cities.

The Chula Vista port was close to this hotel, and if he took a boat, he could easily cross the Mexican border and reach Tijuana. From there, he could fly to Tulum…

“The port?”

Yohan took out his phone. For some reason, Lear was starting to seem infuriating.

“Does this bastard think he’s something special…”

He’s not Captain America. No, if he actually were, he wouldn’t even be worried. Thinking what a troublesome guy he was, Yohan sent a text to Jun, then opened the Uber app with a tense face and muttered.

“Such a crazy bastard. Who else but me would save that psycho?”

---

Arriving at the Chula Vista port, Yohan got out of the car and took out his gun again. The magazine was full since he hadn’t used it, but he thought he might need a spare and took a deep breath. It felt like something big was about to happen, no matter what.

Just as Yohan, with a deeply tense expression, was about to move to find Lear, several large men in black suits blocked his path.

“Damn it.”

Where on earth did these bastards pop out from? Yohan gritted his teeth, thinking he’d been discovered far too quickly. He did not welcome this escort from the people who had come to greet him.

---

It was a little impulsive. He knew full well in his head that he shouldn’t act recklessly on his own, but his body moved first. However, anyone, not just him, would have had no choice but to do something crazy if they saw the person on the screen.

‘What rotten luck, fuck. Screwing with me like this?’

Lear gritted his teeth and arrived at the Chula Vista port. Taking out a Glock he had hidden in the car without Yohan knowing, Lear checked the magazine.

“Who do they take me for, an idiot…”

No sooner had he gotten out of the car and reached the vicinity of the docks than several cars, Declan’s syndicate members, and a yacht that didn’t belong in the modest port came into view.

For a moment, Lear bitterly regretted having sent his guards on vacation. But what was done was done, and regretting it now wouldn’t change anything. A few guards wouldn’t have been enough. Unless he hired a mercenary squad, they wouldn’t be of any help in a situation like this. He didn’t know who Shadow was, but he had a rough idea of the scale of the syndicate members attached to him.

“You’re going to have all the fun by yourself, is that it?”

The vessel before him, called a yacht, was large enough to be considered a cruise ship, more than sufficient for a getaway. Maybe it was an unavoidable choice, given the unstable situation in Mexico.

‘What an unlucky bastard.’

Lear glared at the man who appeared from among the syndicate members. The man who got out of the car was the same one from the monitor he had seen at the hotel.

“Are you saying it doesn’t matter if you run because you’re already dead on paper? Still, from what you’ve done so far, it looks like you have a lot to lose.”

At Lear’s words, the man laughed. It was truly an unforgettable face.

“…Shadow. No, Joel Declan.”

Lear clicked his tongue. It wasn’t that he hadn’t anticipated a situation like this, but actually being surrounded by people made him realize how incredibly reckless he had been. But, since he was already fucked, there was nothing he could do, and he knew well that as long as Shadow was Joel Declan, he wouldn’t just kill him like this.

Joel Declan needed a successor, and he was his only bloodline. That was why he had been obsessed with Lear for a long time.

On reflection, if Shadow was Joel Declan, then it made sense why he had ambiguously fed Lear the candy in the first place. Even back then, Joel had no intention of killing Lear. Perhaps he intended to advance his rut cycle and use him as a stud horse.

As his thoughts reached that point, Lear’s mood soured even further.

“Is there any son who calls his father that way?”

Scoffing at Joel’s words, Lear’s expression hardened as he stared at him. He didn’t know what it was, but it seemed like there was someone else in the car Joel Declan had been in. The windows were tinted so darkly that he couldn’t see who it was. At first, he wondered if it was the Paraguayan minister, but seeing Joel push someone who was trying to get out back into the car and close the door, it didn’t seem like it.

“For someone who stupidly ruined a deal, you’ve still got a sharp tongue.”

Lear looked at Joel and wondered how a person could be so consistently unlucky to be around.

“Well, there’s always a Plan B.”

“Acting so relaxed.”

He was an insufferable person, no matter when he saw him. Even if he were in his coffin, people would probably say it served him right rather than feel sorry for him.

“Still, it feels good to have my son see me off like this before I leave.”

“Don’t give me that ‘son’ crap. I think you lost the right to say that the moment you started this whole mess.”

When he was young, he didn’t have much, and he had no choice but to seek out Joel Declan, who had shared a part of his DNA with him, but the situation was different now. He was now capable of cleaning up his own messes, even if he caused big trouble, without anyone’s help. Whatever Joel had built up until now didn’t matter to him. It wasn’t like he lacked ability, and as for money, he could just earn it.

“Besides, fuck. Hah… You’re not a beggar, so why are you running your business so crudely? I wouldn’t be happy at all even if you handed something like that over. It’s actually embarrassing.”

At Lear’s comment that he probably couldn’t join any country clubs that way, Joel laughed. Then he gestured for his men to lower their guns and strode toward Lear.

At that moment, Lear defiantly raised his gun toward Joel. But Joel didn’t even blink. To make matters worse, his disgusting pheromones crept up Lear’s body, making him feel even filthier.

“Was it that embarrassing?”

“Don’t you have any illegitimate children? There must be others besides me.”

At Lear’s question, Joel spoke as if regretful.

“I’m more of a one-woman man than you’d think.”

“What a load of bullshit, really.”

He couldn’t help but curse. Had the dictionary definition of ‘one-woman man’ changed recently? Then again, he was a man who’d thrown away his conscience in the first place, so of course he would spew such nonsense.

Lear was incredibly annoyed by the fact that Joel hadn’t screwed around properly enough at his age to have any other children besides him.

“And I thought I’d cultivated it quite well. Hotels, casinos…”

“You call that a proper business?”

“Besides, wasn’t it fun? The deal with Paraguay fell through, but I got to confirm your abilities as my successor. Of course, I didn’t expect a third party to interfere.”

It was all a test? Lear stared at Joel with a look of disbelief.

“You have a nice way of sugarcoating your bullshit.”

Lear regretted his complacent actions. When the rumor spread that Joel had died from some stupid reason like death by misadventure during sex, he should have confirmed it properly.

Of course, it wasn’t that he hadn’t checked the death certificate and the official reports after Joel died. A funeral had been held, and on paper, he was perfectly buried in the ground.

‘Ha, I should have dug up the grave.’

For someone who was called a crazy bastard by Yohan every day, he seemed to have lived too much like a human being. Lear regretted it, again and again.

And now, at this moment, he missed Yohan like crazy. If he had known this would happen, he should have gone all the way last night… Lear thought that as soon as he dealt with the man in front of him, he had to drag Yohan off somewhere abroad and party hard.

“Son.”

Joel made a grating sound, as if to prevent Lear from even having such happy thoughts.

“How can you use such vulgar words in front of your father? You only want the pretty things I’ve made, but your mouth rolls around in the gutter. I guess blood really can’t be denied.”

At the sight of Joel spouting such disgusting words, Lear barely managed to suppress the curse about to burst out. As if he would kill him that very instant, Lear shoved the gun in his hand against Joel’s chest and tapped it twice. It was a position where, if he pulled the trigger, a bullet would immediately tear his heart to shreds, killing him instantly. But Joel smiled as if Lear’s action was cute and said.

“You can’t shoot me anyway.”

“…”

“When it comes to the critical moment, you’re soft-hearted, just like Patrick.”

Joel looked at Lear lovingly and tried to brush back his hair. Lear slapped Joel’s hand away with the back of his own.

“Disgusting. What do you think you’re doing?”

His stomach churned. It was infuriating that Joel would casually mention the name of the father who had given birth to and raised him, and his sanctimonious smile, as if he were someone important, was enraging. Was this drug peddler trying to play the part of a father now? There was definitely some other ulterior motive.

“You think… I can’t shoot?”

Lear, his hand tensed, put his finger on the trigger and stared into Joel’s eyes. His leisurely attitude was grating.

“Well, I’ve lived like trash, but my son has a surprising preference for the princess treatment, doesn’t he? You hate getting into needlessly difficult situations, don’t you? Especially since your boyfriend is FBI. You probably have even more things to worry about…”

The moment Yohan’s name came out of Joel’s mouth, Lear’s impulse to pull the trigger was checked.

Yohan, who had suddenly appeared in his dry life and presented him with unexpected events every time, loved his job more than anyone, even while hating it. That must be why he had trudged through an unwanted undercover investigation and jumped at his suggestion to take down the Declan syndicate.

It felt filthy, but one way or another, Joel was right. If he killed the man in front of him, Yohan might be in a difficult position in many ways. The path he had endured to build would crumble in an instant… At that moment, an image of Yohan resenting him flashed through Lear’s mind.

“And… no matter what crimes I’ve committed, I’m sure the jury would love it if a son killed his father in such a one-sided attack. Wouldn’t they?”

“What kind of bullshit is that?”

“Since you are my son, it’ll be hard to avoid an investigation, and since you were with an FBI agent the whole time, it’ll be difficult in many ways. Because he witnessed everything. Perhaps he might even be dragged to Washington and become the scapegoat for this whole affair.”

Startled by Joel’s words, Lear whipped his head around. He didn’t know when he had arrived, but Yohan was being held by syndicate members, forced to his knees on the ground. The moment Lear’s attention was diverted, Joel instantly snatched the gun from his hand and pressed it to Lear’s chest.

“You need to get a grip, son. Have you forgotten everything I’ve built up until now?”

Even at Joel’s words, Lear couldn’t take his eyes off Yohan. Yohan was a mess, his body bound and his mouth taped shut.

‘Fuck, if you’re going to bring him, bring him gently. You’ve beaten the kid to a pulp.’

The moment his eyes met Lear’s, he didn’t think about his own safety and tried to break free from the syndicate members, shouting something at Lear. But Lear couldn’t do anything. It was because he thought Joel might shoot Yohan if he made a wrong move.

The reason he had grown the organization named after him, Declan, to this point wasn’t just because he had great business sense. It was because of his cruelty in eliminating even the smallest thing if it got in his way.

‘Ha, Yohan! What on earth were you thinking, coming here alone…’

Lear knew Yohan would come looking for him, but he never imagined he would come alone and so recklessly. Lear didn’t want to be in sync with him on something like this, even if like attracts like. The only fortunate thing, perhaps, was that Yohan had received SERE training. Hoping Yohan would hold out as long as possible, Lear racked his brain.

There had to be a way out of the spiderweb Joel Declan had spun. But with not a single idea coming to mind, Lear was overcome with the feeling of being the most powerless person in the world.

“Fine. Okay. What is it you really want. I’ll grant it, so tell me.”

Seeing Lear’s anxious and helpless state as soon as Yohan appeared, Joel put on a sympathetic expression.

“Not really? Things went awry, but I’m trying to think positively. Even if it’s not Paraguay, there are plenty of other places to start a new business.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me. You think I don’t know you? I wasn’t staying quiet because I’m stupid.”

At Lear’s words, Joel clicked his tongue, then scratched his cheek and said.

“I’m embarrassed that my son knows me so well.”

“Cut the bullshit and hurry up and say it.”

“You couldn’t guess on your way here?”

Joel shifted the gun from Lear to Yohan and pulled the trigger. Joel, who had intentionally missed, said to Lear.

“There’s one thing left.”

Lear, who for a moment was startled thinking Yohan had been shot, spat out a curse and glared at Joel.

“Are you crazy?”

Despite Lear’s shout, Joel only said what he wanted to say.

“O’Connell’s laptop.”

“Ha, is that all?”

DNA provider or not, he wanted to smash his fist into that face, but Lear held back. He felt that next time, he wouldn’t miss, but would blow Yohan’s head off.

“Of course, there’s also the project of having the one who inherited my blood succeed me. In fact, if this deal had gone well, I was planning to hand everything over to you and go far away.”

At the sight of Joel sighing that he was past retirement age, Lear’s patience began to reach its limit.

“Fuck… what kind of…”

“You know it’s not a stretch. You must have realized a lot from this incident, haven’t you? Or am I wrong?”

“Oh, I realized a lot. That I despise dirty business. That I hate troublesome things. That this moment, facing you like this, is repulsive.”

At Lear’s words, Joel let out a short laugh.

“Still, son. It would be better for you to take my hand. Do you think the only work I did was to avoid going to prison?”

“You crazy bastard…”

“No need to make that face. Just because you have sex with an FBI agent doesn’t make you a champion of justice. No matter what anyone says, you are my son, and half of your blood was passed down from me. That is an undeniable fact. Isn’t it?”

“That’s ridiculous. In this day and age, what does that even matter? You might as well have named yourself Henry VIII.”

“You’re so funny.”

Joel laughed briefly, then his expression hardened as he said to Lear.

“As you know, the guy who wrote the code bolted, so it’s hard to find someone skilled enough to crack it.”

“What to do… You’re not the only bastard after it, you know. You should know, since you just got backstabbed. And there’s no guarantee it’s in my hands, is there? I might have sold it. Or maybe…”

At Lear’s words, Joel’s expression hardened.

“Is that so?”

Joel casually spun the gun he had been aiming at Lear and said.

“Well, it doesn’t matter what you say. O’Connell is dead. As for the information she gathered, I can just gather it again. There’s still plenty of time. However…”

Joel’s gaze, which had been fixed only on Lear, now landed on Yohan. Lear didn’t like the look in Joel’s eyes. He wanted to reach out and gouge his eyes out right then and there. He didn’t know if puberty had hit him at his old age, but he couldn’t understand why he was doing such pathetic things after living for so long.

‘If you’re going to die, die gracefully. What the hell…’

He wondered if Joel was forcing him to continue the family business because he was about to die and couldn’t bear to give the money he’d earned like a dog to someone else, but Lear didn’t want to live like Joel. He didn’t want to walk the path he had walked. And he wasn’t poor enough to cling to money.

“I don’t know what you’re thinking, but Yohan… leave him alone.”

“But, he’s FBI. And what’s more, he’s a man who isn’t even a speck of help.”

“I said stop.”

“Why is my son acting so stupid today?”

“…”

“You know better than anyone that I can’t just leave him be. He heard our entire conversation. And he’s found out Shadow’s identity.”

“I told you to stop.”

Joel sneered at the growling Lear and continued saying what he wanted.

“Besides, right now, you have a face that’s dripping with lingering attachment.”

Lear stared at Joel with a dumbfounded expression. Of course, it wasn’t just dripping, it was overflowing with attachment. He’d rather die of sexual misadventure while having sex with Yohan; if he died here, Yohan wouldn’t even be able to receive his inheritance.

‘So this is why people get married.’

The more he tried to hide his anxiety, the more it showed. And every time Lear failed to control his emotions, Joel’s thoughts diverged further from what Lear was thinking.

Until now, he had tolerated it because his only son was precious, and he had thought he was just keeping a stupid FBI agent by his side for amusement. But seeing him today, it didn’t seem so. A useless Beta who couldn’t even bear children, a dog of the government, was better off killed and buried in the desert.

Lear was similar to him. Joel knew that while his face resembled Patrick’s, his personality was just like his own. Therefore, once he fell for a half-baked human like that, he would remain crazy for him.

Moreover, Joel knew better than anyone that there was little Lear could do at this very moment. That’s why he thought now was the chance. There was no need to keep an annoying bug next to his successor for long.

Having made his decision, Joel aimed the gun at Yohan once more and pulled the trigger. In that instant, Lear grabbed Joel’s wrist and twisted it toward himself.

Bang—!

The sound of a gunshot echoed through the port. It wasn’t a sound he hadn’t heard once or twice before, but today it sounded particularly loud. In that moment, the surroundings fell silent, and only the sound of the waves filled the air.

Lear still gripped Joel’s arm tightly, as if to break it, and gritted his teeth. Veins stood out on Lear’s forehead as he endured the pain, and his eyes were bloodshot. A normal person would have fainted or screamed, but Lear, even as he felt like he was losing his mind from the hole in his stomach, stared intently at Joel, pretending to be fine.

“You…!”

“Who do you… take me for.”

Lear forced himself to endure. His torso was pierced and it hurt like hell, but he didn’t want to show an ugly side to Yohan, who liked handsome men, and he hated the idea of collapsing into Joel’s arms even more.

“Shit…”

Every time he blinked, a gush of blood poured out, and his vision went dark, making him feel like he was about to pass out. Even in this state, the thought that Yohan might find someone else if he died sparked a flame of jealousy in his mind, but even so, he couldn’t bear to see Yohan killed by a psycho like Joel Declan.

He would rather become a vengeful spirit and haunt Yohan’s side. Besides, seeing the crazed look in Joel’s eyes, he absolutely could not let him achieve what he wanted. Lear panted for breath and said to Joel.

“I hate to admit it, but I guess I do take after you. Seeing as how I can’t stand to see others succeed.”

He wanted to turn his head and see Yohan’s face one last time, but Lear held back and hurled curses at Joel. From the looks of it, it seemed someone else would deliver the curse even if he didn’t. And just like that, Lear collapsed into the arms of Joel, the man he despised so much.

Joel’s body staggered under Lear’s weight, flustered. In that moment, Yohan seized the opportunity as the syndicate members’ grip on him loosened and shot up from his spot.

“Ha!”

Seeing Yohan, Joel held Lear tightly. And remembering that Yohan was always there when his plans started to go awry, he raised the gun he held in one hand again.

His hand was trembling badly, but killing one stupid FBI agent wouldn’t be a problem.

“Everything has its limits.”

Just then, at the touch of a gun barrel to the back of his head, Joel looked confused and raised the hand holding the gun.

“Pa… Patrick?”

No, how could Patrick have gotten out of the car? Joel was bewildered. He had placed syndicate members around Patrick. As it was, his nerves were on edge because he hadn’t been able to board the boat due to Lear suddenly following him.

According to Joel’s original plan, he was supposed to sign the contract with Paraguay, pretend to be wary of the government for a bit, and then spend a vacation with Patrick in Tulum. For about six months.

But the Paraguayan Minister of National Defense had vanished from his sight, and his plans had been thwarted by Lear and those FBI bastards who still hadn’t come to their senses.

Even so, Joel wasn’t greatly disappointed. It had been a long time since he and Patrick were on the same page, so if they holed up in Tulum and enjoyed some leisure for a while, he would surely come up with other business ideas.

But, why, why? What went wrong? Lear was one thing, but Joel’s teeth ground in frustration at his stupid subordinates who couldn’t even keep a single civilian like Patrick properly confined in a car. A turning point in his life was right in front of him, and in an instant, everything was ruined.

“What is this…!”

“It’s nothing new. From the moment you turned your back on me, saying you were building all of this, I didn’t blindly trust you either.”

Patrick tightened his grip on the gun and pressed the muzzle firmly against Joel. Joel’s head shook slightly, and his neck stiffened.

“Paddy, don’t do something you’ll regret. Okay? Why are you doing this?”

“You’re the one who shouldn’t do something you’ll regret.”

“…”

“Do you really think all the men here are yours?”

Patrick smirked at Joel, then gave a slight nod as a signal. Immediately, those who were on Patrick’s side began to beat down those who weren’t. Joel was stunned by the scene unfolding before his eyes.

“Ho-how… since when…”

It was something he had never imagined. To Joel, Patrick was a delicate but proud Omega who had pride in his work, a lovely but fragile person who had given birth to his child. He had never dreamed that Patrick would be capable of bribing his subordinates and throwing punches.

Patrick couldn’t see Joel’s face, but he knew without looking that he must be utterly flustered. What a fool, trapped in prejudice and arrogance. Of course, until just a little while ago, Patrick too had intended to go to Tulum with Joel and live a quiet retired life. He had been a scoundrel in his youth, but he thought maybe he had improved a bit with age. However, he hadn’t changed at all, then or now.

“It was hard. Even with a nanny, a parent’s role is different. And on top of that, our Lear was so exceptionally difficult.”