PM 11:45

“Haa… haaa…”

In the quiet interrogation room 4, a person was exhaling roughly.

It was Ho Il-kyung, whose face was wet with sweat.

His posture while sitting on the chair looked very uncomfortable.

His arms were drooping, but seeing his shoulders, it looked like they were dislocated.

‘Ugh, damn it! To dislocate bones every now and then!’

Ho Il-kyung swore.

It looked like only the shoulder blades were dislocated, but even the elbows were dislocated.

Even the slightest movement didn’t hurt.

‘How could I, the Deputy Director, end up like this?’

Across from him was Chun Yeowun, sitting in a chair with his eyes closed.

A peaceful face, as if he was meditating.

‘Damn you bastard. Are you saying that you're not the least bit concerned after taking me hostage?’

True.

He was the hostage of Chun Yeowun.

The Deputy Director of the bureau was being held hostage in the Public Security Bureau itself.

‘Shit!’

It was wrong of him to reveal his position.

He just revealed himself as the perfect hostage.

Chun Yeowun took one hostage, warned them not to bother him anymore, and drove the other two detectives and Song Wei-kang outside the room.

With the glass between the two rooms broken, it was like the interrogation room and observation room were one.

‘What the hell are they doing?’

Ho Il-kyung looked at the CCTV camera on the ceiling.

Since the observation room was a mess, the only working CCTV camera was in the interrogation room.

‘Are they not bothering to do their jobs? Why are the people who are supposed to rush in right away not arriving?’

His stomach swelled in anger.

From what he heard through Song Wei-kang, it was clear that the Special Mobile Strike Team, the 5th team, had completed their mission and were returning.

Even if they were on the outer wall of the northern side of the city, they should arrive in 40 minutes.

But there was no news of them.

It was painful yet numb because of the dislocated bones, but it was even more painful to see Chun Yeowun doing just fine.

‘Ugh, just let me be released from here, that Song, that bastard will be transferred to the outskirts’ police station near the gate.’

Song Wei-kang was the one who called the Deputy Director after work hours.

While waiting to be rescued, Ho Il-kyung looked at Chun Yeowun.

It was late at night, so he wondered if Chun Yeowun was asleep.

Chun Yeowun didn’t even move.

Watching that, the Deputy Director stood up very slowly.

Ssh!

“You take one step, and I’ll break your legs, making you unable to walk.”

‘Gasp!’

His heart dropped for a second.

He only got up, but Chun Yeowun spoke without even opening his eyes.

Srr!

The Deputy Director, who got up, immediately sat down.

Chun Yeowun had his eyes closed, but he could still tell the movements.

“I thought of breaking your legs right from the start.”

‘!!!’

At the voice of Chun Yeowun, who spoke like he was annoyed, Ho Il-kyung prayed that he would wake up.

The Deputy Director grumbled.

‘What the hell is that bastard doing with his eyes closed?’

He was about to go crazy.

There was a reason why Chun Yeowun meditated.

He spent time organizing and accepting the information which entered his head.

‘Such a strange and surprising world.’

The future world, which was reliant on electricity and energy, was a shock to Chun Yeowun.

Not just that, but everything from the culture to the society’s structure was completely different from the world he knew.

‘A world without the Imperial family…’

That was what shocked Chun Yeowun the most.

In his time, the existence of the Imperial family was an obvious reality.

It was said that the current time had some foreign countries where royal families existed, but it was just a symbolic existence with no power.

At all of those changes, even his cold heart was shocked.

‘Is this how the time changed? But.’

Just Nano was enough to know how tremendous the change was.

Chun Yeowun kept his cool despite the new information because of Nano, which is far superior to modern technology.

‘Well, the information that Nano just transferred to me is basic stuff, right?’

[The wireless internet was blocked when we entered the Public Security building, so this was all I could gather.]

This was all the information that Nano could collect.

Since the time was short to gather and organize the vast information of this era, Nano could only show some of it.

The highly confidential Public Security didn’t use wireless internet.

Moreover, there wasn’t enough time to gather information with all of the jammers and the bus ride to this place.

The information Nano gathered was in the brief moment of getting off the bus and into the building.

Chun Yeowun asked Nano to transfer the collected information to his brain.

‘Nano. I wanted to ask you this question a while back. I know that you were created several hundred years from now. If so, why couldn't you just pass on the information that you know without having to collect it?’

This was the question.

He felt that collecting information was unnecessary.

Originally, Chun Yeowun wouldn’t ask such questions, but as he accepted the information from the present age and became more aware of computers and the internet, he began to have such questions.

[There’s a significant difference from the saved data.]

‘What?’

[Society, culture, and technology all have differences from what is stored in the saved data, so I have to distinguish them.]

Chun Yeowun couldn’t understand it.

That means this is a different era from what Nano knew.

Chun Yeowun frowned.

‘How can that be?’

At that question, Nano gave the most accurate answer.

[There is a high possibility that this is another time axis.]

‘A different time axis…? Ah…!’

At those words, Chun Yeowun remembered the words of his descendant.

His descendant Chun Mu-seong explained that his existence didn’t disappear even though the past changed because of his connection with the time axis.

It was said that as actions and decisions occur differently, the dimension of the universe is divided, and the time axes are different.

‘Then this is a completely different world.’

The information stored in Nano was meaningless.

In terms of numbers, it meant that Chun Yeowun was starting from 0.

‘So, how do we get back to the original world?’

He had reasons to go back.

The cult he was leading, Mun Ku, and his unborn child.

He couldn’t stay in this era.

Chun Yeowun, who was worried, asked Nano.

‘Nano. Is there a time machine that I can use to travel… hm?’

Chun Yeowun, who was asking a question, stopped and opened his eyes.

He stared at the ceiling.

‘Huh? Why is he doing that?’

The Deputy Director, who was looking at Chun Yeowun, was puzzled.

The second floor of the Shenyang City Public Security Bureau.

The air of the team on the second floor was the worst.

The 3rd team, including the off-duty detectives, were all summoned.

The Deputy Director of Public Security was taken hostage.

But there was no good way to rescue him.

The female detective with short hair and a face full of bruises smiled when this was asked by the head of the violent crimes division.

“Any problems with the CCTV?”

“It was said that there is no movement at all. The Deputy Director is still unharmed.”

The female detective had gone to the CCTV room to see what was happening.

Bang!

Song Wei-kang smashed the desk with his fist.

“Are you smiling? Are you smiling at this?”

He saw how the Deputy Director was humiliated before their eyes.

The shoulders and elbows were dislocated, and the screams.

He even peed.

“… still, there are no further wounds on him.”

The female detective answered with a slightly dissatisfied voice.

Song Wei-kang didn’t want to make eye contact with the woman who wasn’t taking her task seriously.

It was because she was the only one who didn’t fight in the observation room.

He couldn’t blame her for being scared.

“Damn it! Where is the 5th team?”

Song Wei-kang asked another detective.

The detective who was in charge of gathering information spoke.

“There has been no response since the last radio message we got about an hour back.”

“Haaa…”

Song Wei-kang sighed.

Originally, the 5th team should have arrived at the office a long time ago.

Unfortunately, they had a problem.

It was said that they were attacked by Murim warriors who seemed to have a connection with those they arrested.

Thanks to that, they couldn’t arrive at the set time.

Song Wei-kang was nervous.

‘Not much time left.’

He never dreamed that such an ordeal would come about.

Since the Deputy Director was taken hostage right in front of him, there was a high probability that Song Wei-kang would be demoted if the situation wasn’t resolved.

“Damn it. What kind of things are happening because of the criminal with an unknown identity? This is a shame on our bureau.”

“That…”

A detective spoke.

Making Song Wei-kang ask.

“What?”

“How about contacting Shenyang’s Murim Association?”

Song Wei-kang frowned at those words.

The reason was well known to everyone.

The Murim Association, calling them would be horrible.

It would be a huge blow to the Bureau’s pride if they contacted them for being unable to solve their own problems.

Whoo!

Song Wei-kang grunted.

“Say worthwhile stuff. If the Public Security asks for their help…”

“No. At least we will be able to identify the person.”

“Person?”

“Isn’t it important that the Murim Association is trying to push for autonomy without interfering with our work?”

“… true.”

Sang Wei-kang, who dismissed the idea, was now showing interest.

There was no good answer.

“They always try to solve matters related to Murim by themselves, so wouldn’t they show interest in an unregistered one?”

“You want us to throw a bait?”

“Yes. Hopefully, we will know whether the person is registered in Murim or not and if they show interest…”

“They will come out without us asking for cooperation. Why are you saying such an idea only now? You should have spoken right away!”

At Song Wei-kang’s words, the detective frowned.

The compliment didn’t sound like a compliment.

Anyway, Song Wei-kang, who thought that the detective was right, searched for the Shenyang City’s Murim Association and pressed the call button.

Tring! Tring! Tring!

When he dialed the number, he heard a familiar connecting tone.

-We are the proud descendants of Murim. Inheriting the glory of our ancestors…

It was an old song with newer and more popular versions of it out.

Song Wei-kang grumbled.

“Aren’t they acting too sloppy? Isn’t this one from like 30 or 40 years back? This song isn’t even known to the public. And why use it for public institutions?”

Before he could nag anymore, he heard a voice.

-Yes. This is the Shenyang City’s Murim Association.

“Hello. This is Shenyang Public…”

-Since our business hours are closed now, we won’t be able to serve you. Our phone consultations start from 9am…

“Damn it!”

Bang!

Song Wei-kang was so furious that he threw the receiver on the desk.

The time is 11:55pm.

Of course, this wasn’t normal working hours.

It’s unnatural for the Public Security Bureau to work this late and even contact that Murim Association.

But when he contacted them, he only got disappointing results.

“Damn it! Ah, does that Murim Association not have a single person doing their jobs!”

He kept grunting.

Kiik!

The sound of tires stopping outside.

One of the detectives from the 3rd team looked outside and spoke with a bright face.

“Chief! The 5th team has arrived!”

Song Wei-kang jumped up from his seat.

The 5th Mobile Strike Team was the only team dedicated to special ability users.