Smoke still hung thick in the air around the harbor. Screams and distant sirens echoed faintly in the chaos, but amid all the confusion, only one thing echoed in Jung Kok's mind — his brother Jung Joon's face, filled with disappointment and rage.
Yong Jin pulled him out from beneath the wreckage of a collapsed container. His shoulder was injured, blood trickled down, but his face remained resolute.
"We can't stay here. This place is going to be crawling with cops any minute now."
Jung Kok looked around — bodies lay sprawled across the ground, weapons scattered, and the destruction made it painfully clear that his mission of peace had failed once again. He nodded slowly, saying nothing, gripping tightly a torn piece of cloth in his hand — the only proof that he had truly come face to face with his brother.
Elsewhere, hidden from the chaos, Jung Joon sat silently in a small room. His hand was bandaged, his face stained with dust. Kang Doo stood nearby, quiet and unmoving. Joon hadn't spoken a word since they fled the harbor.
"He had the chance to shoot me… but he didn't," Joon finally spoke, voice low.
Kang Doo nodded. "Because he still sees you as his brother."
"But I responded with bullets…" Jung Joon murmured, trying to suppress a sigh. "What's really going on, Kang Doo? I'm starting to feel like we're all being played."
"I feel the same," Kang Doo said. "And I think… we need to find out who's really pulling the strings."
Meanwhile, far from the turmoil, someone sat calmly in a tall glass room, overlooking the city from above. In his hand, a small control device — one that accessed various hidden camera feeds from across the city. Behind him, two masked men were rearranging their plan.
"The harbor's in chaos. Both sides lost nearly half their resources," one of them reported.
The one orchestrating the entire conflict gave a slow nod. "Not enough. I want them to reach the point where they trust no one — not even those closest to them."
He stood and walked toward a large map pinned on the wall. Red and blue markers crossed paths like a strategic war board.
"Next move… we disrupt their internal communications. Let misinformation become the sharpest weapon."
A few days later...
The city had become a stage for a silent theatre. No open attacks, but tension lingered in every alley and coffee shop. Whispers started among the lower ranks — about betrayal, about weak leaders, and about an unseen enemy.
At Jung Kok's temporary hideout, Yong Jin handed over another confidential file.
"We've found out that several neutral zone leaders are pulling back their support. They believe Jung Joon is stepping down… and that you're the one pushing this war."
Jung Kok turned sharply. "What?! That's ridiculous. I'm the one trying to prevent bloodshed!"
"Which is exactly why we know — there's a third party in play," Yong Jin replied. "And we need to find them before it's too late."
At the same time, Jung Joon received intel that one of Kang Doo's trusted men had disappeared — along with critical files related to their underground operations.
"There's a mole in our ranks," Joon stated firmly. "And if we don't clean this up now, we might be fighting a war over lies someone else created."
Time passed...
All of this was unfolding in the shadows.
And in silence, the true villain began approaching the outcasts within both factions — those who were disillusioned, dissatisfied, and seeking a way out. Slowly, he began to build his own force, an entity that held no loyalty to either of the Han brothers.
The chapter closes in a mysterious place.
(To be continued in Chapter 10...)