"All clear now!" Orea's message read. "There was a guy snooping around the corner of big sis' house but I sent one of our men to knock him out for a couple of hours. The Choi's might find out but we'll have plenty of time to sneak Sunye out of the apartment. Use the fire escape instead of the elevator. Our men was waiting there. I've disabled the CCTV cameras in the area and the cameras inside the building had been tampered with this morning. It'll take a while. PS, I've hacked into Jonghyun's computer and spread a small virus there. It should keep him busy all day."
SD read her message and sighed. How the girl managed to do all that while in school was beyond him but he had stopped asking. Having a tech geek as a sidekick was quite useful.
He heard Sunye shuffling down the stairs. She was carrying only two suitcases. He immediately went over to carry them for her.
"I'll do it," he offered. She seemed too depressed to be leaving this house. She kept on glancing at the place which was still badly trashed and stained with blood. Just that morning, she was living her regular life and now…
"Life is unpredictable," she murmured. "From the palace to the streets and then to this place. And now, I'm homeless again. It's just so darn weird."
For once, SD did not make a snarky comment and let her rant to herself. He simply walked alongside her, not talking but listening. Sunye was holding back her emotions because she was unwilling to cry. If she cried, then it would hurt her pride. It was not to keep up her usual calmness but it felt that if she cried, the people who did this to her home would win. In professional life, she never held grudges. Not even against the fellow lawyers who went against her in a ruthless manner.
But this was personal. The Choi clan had invaded her home and was forcing her to leave it behind. It was something she could not forgive nor forget.
"Are you aching for revenge?" SD mused. "That's new."
"Revenge isn't on my list," she quietly said. "I want to bring them to my turf and beat them."
"Sulking around like this isn't gonna do you any good," he said as he opened the front door to let her out. They headed towards the fire escape. Sunye stepped on the stairs, both of the descending the steps. She did not talk but kept on walking while he lingered behind to make sure no one was following them.
Finally, they reached the parking lot where Sunye's car was parked. Putting the suitcases in the trunk, SD told her, "You should drive straight to my place. If I go with you now, it'll look too suspicious. Orea snuck out of school and is waiting for you there. Don't you dare go anywhere else."
Sunye was trembling a little. What if the person who destroyed her apartment was still around? With SD by her side, she felt a little safe but if she was alone, then they would surely capture her.
As if reading her fears, SD said, "Don't worry. My men are outside. They know your car. They'll follow you until you reach my place. This is for your safety. The less the Choi clan knows that you have protectors around you, the better."
She gulped and opened the car's door to get in. "I'll see you later then," she said before getting into the car.
SD watched as she drove off. He texted his men to follow her and let him know of her movements until she reached home. Afterwards, he stood there for a long time, wondering how Choi Taek was able to enter her apartment so easily. Even if he knew where she lived, Sunye's apartment could be opened only by a passcode known to Sunye herself and…
"Aren't you a little too daring, Ms. Caretaker?"
He turned around to find the middle aged woman emerging from behind a wall. The earlier fright and demureness was gone from her face. Instead, of it was a cold, calculating sneer.
"You knew that it was I who let the Choi clan in?" she asked in a cold tone. Her hands were in her pocket, fidgeting around. SD did not react but kept her engaged.
"Are you a hired assassin?" he asked. "Or a minion who's simply under their payroll? I suspected you when you readily agreed to stay quiet. I mean, under such circumstances, one would usually call the cops. But that's not all…"
He leaned against one of the parked cars. "When Sunye was in her bedroom, packing, I took the liberty of having your background checked. You see, I was quite bored so I thought I should look you up. Turns out, you were newly hired by the agency and begun to work for Sunye only two days after the trial ended. And in your previous employments…"
SD held up his phone to show her the articles he had gathered.
"The people you worked for ended up being killed by the Choi clan but their official deaths had been recorded as mysterious circumstances," he stated. "Thanks to your motherly looks and kind exterior, no one suspected you much. After all, how can a hired help be an expert in killing so methodically? But in reality, you're a hired hitman for the clan, aren't you?"
The woman was silent for a while, glaring at him. Suddenly, she lunged at SD with a knife. She brandished the knife to kill him but he was faster. Grabbing her wrist, he twisted it and expertly disarmed her. The woman hissed in pain and was about to hit him with her other hand but he grabbed her thigh and picked her up before slamming her on the ground.
"AGH!" The woman screamed in pain but before she could attack again, SD picked up the knife in a flash and drove it through her palm, pressing it hard. The woman was shrieking in agony but he only pressed it harder.
Blood flew out of her hand, staining the whole floor. The woman was pinned under his knee, the knife still sticking into her palm while she moaned in pain.
"Too bad I don't follow a 'no hitting woman' rule," he said in a frosty tone. "To me, an enemy is an enemy no matter what the gender."
He pressed the knife deeper into her. Her other hand was twisted and she could barely move it.
"The Choi clan are gonna come for her!" she spat. "She hurt the young master! They'll not spare her! You think you can protect her? Dream on!"
"Protect her?" he scoffed. "Aren't you underestimating Han Sunye a little too much? You really think she would have come this far if she needed protection?"
He pushed a handkerchief into her mouth to stop her screams. The woman beneath him was squirming, tortured by the knife which was plunged into her. He had hit a critical point in her hand, ensuring that she would never be able to use it again. Sweat dripped from her forehead, mixing into the blood splattered under her and she was gasping for breath. The man looked like an ordinary office goer but he was damn strong and fast enough to take out an expert assassin like her.
"Sir!"
A couple of SD's guards had scrambled into the parking lot to check on their boss. They heard screams and rushed in only to see their boss in a scuffle with a middle aged woman. The men were taken aback by the blood on SD's clothes and the knife plunged into the old woman's palm but they did not question him.
"Take her into custody," he ordered. "And make sure she spills the beans."
"Yes sir!" one of the guards exclaimed and they carried the half conscious woman away into their car. One of the guards handed him another handkerchief for him to wipe off the sweat from his face. Thankfully, the parking lot was underground and the woman's screams did not reach the people living upstairs.
"Get me a fresh pair of clothes and also hand me over your car keys," he told a guard. "Secure this area but in secret. We don't want the Choi's to find out their assassin has been captured."
The guard nodded and went on to do as he had been instructed. Taking the keys, SD got into the car and drove off.
If the Choi's were targeting Sunye, then it was going to be a big obstacle in his way. They would not rest until they find her and if they capture her, he would be forced to reveal himself. He would have to be careful from now on and also ensure Sunye's safety.
"There's no other way," he sighed. "I'll have to train her."
….
Orea opened the door to find Sunye outside. She looked upset and shaken by the experience but otherwise alright.
"Sis, how are you feeling now?" Orea asked, stepping aside to let her in.
"I-I'm fine I guess," Sunye stammered. "Thank you. And I'm sorry for barging in like this-"
"Oh please!" Orea scoffed. "I'd have whacked SD's head if he had left you alone after what happened!"
She led Sunye to the kitchen and sat her down. Pouring a glass of water, she handed it to Sunye, who took it with a small thanks. She was about to drink it when her phone rang up. Taking it out, she hoped it was SD but to her slight disappointment, it was Jonghyun.
"Aren't you going to answer the call?" Orea frowned when Sunye pushed the phone away.
"No," she replied. "I don't want to talk to him right now…"
Orea sighed and to Sunye's surprise, took her phone. "What are you doing?" she asked.
"Since you'll be living with us for a while," Orea began. "I'll have to modify your phone a little. Install some software to make sure it can't be traced by any company or apps. Possibly even remodify the system. Don't worry, your important information won't be altered. Just untraceable."
"Oh," was all Sunye could say. "How long will it take?"
"One day," Orea replied. "I'll be done by tomorrow morning."
Sunye was not wholly comfortable with handing her phone to Orea but they lived such a secretive life. She did not want SD to fall into trouble because of her so she let Orea do her way.
"And now that you're living here," Orea went on. "I think you should learn a few tricks to protect yourself. Don't you think so?"
Sunye quietly sipped the water, thinking about what Orea said. She had never felt the need to learn how to fight since she was not in any danger nor cared about it. But now that she was getting more and more involved with SD, it became a necessity.
"Luckily for you, SD is quite a good teacher," Orea claimed. "Once he's through with you, you'll be able to take down a person three times your size."
"S-SD will teach me?" Sunye stuttered. "Doesn't he have other work?"
"Trust me, he's the best teacher, even better than his own one," Orea assured him. "And surprisingly serious. I might not look like it, but I once took out six people all by myself in a street fight. All thanks to the training he gave me."
Eh? Sunye stared at the skinny and scrawny teenager. This tech geek took out six people all by herself?
Why do I have a feeling I just landed in the lion's den? She groaned.
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