“I apologize for the long wait. Since we ended up working on both vehicles at the sa ti, and the vehicle inspection schedule got delayed a bit, it took longer than expected. I’m sorry it ran late.”
Park Jaehyun, the head of the specialty vehicle company ADT Mobil, bowed his head politely.
But Junho waved it off.
“No, it’s fine. I figured that if it took longer, it ant you were making it that much more perfect.”
“Thank you for understanding.”
The armored-vehicle work, which had originally been expected to take sixteen weeks—four months—was completed only after more than five months.
So Park Jaehyun, the CEO himself, had felt responsible enough to co out in person with an employee to hand the vehicles over to Junho.
“Then shall we take a look at the vehicles first?”
“Yes. Let’s go, President Baek.”
“Huh? Ah, right.”
With a gesture, Park Jaehyun led an excited Junho and a slightly tense, stiff-backed Baek Hail forward.
Then the shutter slowly rose, revealing the two completed armored vehicles.
“...!”
A Santana finished in dark gray, and a Bionic5 in matte black.
At a glance, they did not look all that different from ordinary vehicles.
But anyone who knew even a little about cars would notice imdiately.
These vehicles were different. Special.
Park Jaehyun assigned one employee to explain things separately to Baek Hail, while he himself spoke to Junho in a voice full of pride.
“As requested, both vehicles were modified to NIJ Level 3 standards. We completed ballistic protection from the engine bay to the entire cabin, the door panels, and the windows as well. They can comfortably stop up to 7.62mm rounds.”
“Excellent.”
“Haha. It’s a little early to be impressed already. Both vehicles have integrated infrared thermal imaging caras and night-vision equipnt installed in roof mounts, and we set it up so everything can be controlled from the center display. And...”
Opening the Bionic5’s door, Park Jaehyun got into the driver’s seat, and Junho climbed into the passenger seat.
As the doors shut with a heavy thud on both sides, all outside noise was completely cut off.
Resting a hand on the wheel, Park Jaehyun continued.
“The base interface keeps the Bionic5’s original layout, but since the ballistic modules were added, we also installed a few separate security and special-purpose functions.”
He worked the sliding nu beside the display and tapped Protective Mode.
A ssage ca up on the screen: Electronic Window Control Activated.
“This is an electronically controlled window lock. Breaking the glass from outside is practically impossible anyway, but from inside, you can add an extra level of locking to maintain confidentiality in an ergency. If necessary, you can even set it to maintain cabin pressure. It’s not military-grade CBRN protection, but it’s more than enough to block toxic gas.”
He tapped another switch, bringing up the underbody cara and thermal imaging module on the display.
The ground and the front, rear, left, and right fields of view appeared in real ti, linked to the map.
“This is the night thermal cara and the ground-threat detection system. It can be activated with a single touch even while driving, and it also supports automatic switching. It’ll pick up heat sources hiding on the road.”
Park Jaehyun grinned at Junho.
“And there are a few options we added as a special service.”
“Special... service?”
“Yes. Since we delivered more than a month later than the date we promised.”
He went on.
“First, we added a heat shield under the vehicle for blast response. The weight went up a little, but we included ride-height adjustnt as well, so it can handle off-road conditions just fine. And we installed a small hot-and-cold storage box behind the driver’s seat. Enough to keep drinks or food stored simply.”
Then he turned his gaze to Junho, the smile on his face deepening.
“And one last thing. This wasn’t part of your request, President Lee, but considering that this is an electric vehicle, we added a multi-bulkhead structure and impact-absorption design to the entire battery module. Even in the event of external impact or fire, it suppresses cell-to-cell propagation as much as possible. Put simply, even if it gets hit, it’s hard to make it blow, and even if it does go up, it’s hard for it to spread.”
“Wow... I don’t know how to thank you for this.”
“No need. ADT Mobil’s motto is trust.”
Speaking with complete confidence, Park Jaehyun turned a small dial to the left of the steering wheel and switched the driving mode to Tactical Mode.
The dashboard imdiately changed to a red the.
“This is Tactical Mode. It’s optimized for pursuit or evasive maneuvers. Zero to sixty gets a little slower, but traction and stability are improved. A mode like this is essential for armored vehicles carrying extra weight. Overseas companies all use it too. And...”
The encrypted radio communication system, drone-operation integration, and infrared thermal imaging caras that Junho had requested from the beginning had all been perfectly implented in both vehicles.
In addition, they had ergency power, dual black-box storage, and EMP shielding technology for the batteries and major electronic equipnt.
Perfectly satisfied, Junho spent thirty minutes circling ADT Mobil’s test track and parking area, getting used to the functions.
At the end, Park Jaehyun handed him a USB containing the manuals for both vehicles and video explanations of each function.
Then Junho got into the Santana with the employee, while Baek Hail—who had been hearing explanations in parallel—took the other vehicle, and the two of them drove out of ADT Mobil.
***
“Damn, this is insane. The door inlays use a silicone sandwich structure with high-strength ceramic in them. The vibration absorption is fucking unreal.”
The mont the armored vehicles were brought into the shelter, Baek Hail could no longer contain his excitent and threw himself into it with full enthusiasm.
“First thing, I gotta get it up on the lift and scan the subfra. Need to take a look at the body connection points and the battery-cell cover structure. Goddamn, this is killer. Absolute killer.”
“Haha. Go right ahead. Then I’ll head out and et Lawyer Lee Dongcheol.”
“Yeah, go on.”
Leaving Baek Hail behind without a second glance as the man was already completely absorbed in examining the armored vehicles, Junho got into the electric car he had originally been driving and headed for Seoul.
The end-of-year Seoul night streets, rolling toward 2023, were badly congested, but Junho still managed to arrive at his destination sowhere in Jamsil without being late for the appointnt.
Usually, when he t Lee Dongcheol, they used the KH Hotel.
But today there was a different, “special” guest, so they had agreed to et at a café near an apartnt complex in Jamsil, where foot traffic was relatively light and there were fewer people around.
Jingle.
As Junho, having parked the electric car, opened the café door, a bell rang.
“Welco.”
Receiving the greeting from the employee standing behind the counter, Junho dipped his head lightly and went upstairs.
Even then, out of habit, Junho gave the café a quick scan, and soon noticed sothing strange.
No CCTV...?
Even neighborhood convenience stores usually had a couple of caras, but this café had none.
Junho imdiately understood why Lee Dongcheol had chosen this place as the eting spot.
No—not Lee Dongcheol. The “guest” who had co here with him had probably chosen it.
Junho headed toward the edge of the second floor, where there was not a single custor.
He had already been tipped off by Lee Dongcheol about the location of the eting room, so his steps were unhesitating.
And just as Junho rounded the corner—
a large hand suddenly shot out.
“Погоди. Это наше....”
(Wait. This is our...)
The incomprehensible Russian did not get to continue to the end.
Smack!
At the sa mont he slapped away the hairy hand, Junho grabbed the thick coat flap, yanked the other man in hard, hooked his leg, and dropped him.
It was a perfectly executed Krav Maga technique.
As the man who had tried to stop Junho by suddenly reaching out sprawled to the floor in a thoroughly pathetic heap, another man flinched in shock, then imdiately ca at Junho.
“Ты кто, сука!”
(Who the fuck are you, bitch!)
At the Russian—who, for a mafioso, was fairly average in both height and build—Junho threw a punch.
Junho’s hook, sharp enough to go full sparring rounds with professional MMA fighters, landed cleanly on the man’s jaw, and with his arms dropping crookedly, he fell flat with a heavy thud.
“W-what the hell?”
At the noise, Lee Dongcheol jerked the door open and ca out.
After spotting the two fallen Russians, he flinched in shock, and then his gaze swung to Junho.
“P-President Lee Junho...?”
Looking at the stunned, stamring Lee Dongcheol, Junho straightened his coat collar and said,
“Do you know these people, Counselor? They suddenly started speaking so weird foreign language and attacked .”
“Ah... then just now, you...”
“Yeah. I moved on reflex. What are these guys?”
Lee Dongcheol stared in horror at Junho, who had taken down two Volcano Group enforcers in what had quite literally been the blink of an eye.
He had realized long ago that Junho, unlike a typical mber of the wealthy uppermost class, had an exceptionally solid build and clearly worked out seriously.
But he had never imagined he was strong enough to turn rough mafia muscle into paste.
He had assud it was just fashion muscles—soone who exercised hard to keep up his physique.
Then soone slowly stepped out from the open door inside.
A man in his thirties, about the sa height as Junho, with a slim but tightly built fra.
His features were sowhat bold, but otherwise he had the typical appearance of an East Asian man. Yet beneath his carefully grood brows, those sapphire-blue eyes gave him an air of both peculiarity and mystery at once.
Viktor...!
Before the regression, the second-in-command of the Volcano Group’s Busan branch—the very man who had gifted Junho the Glock 17 he used to end his own life—stood there.
Viktor Volk Choi (волк).
***
“My employees were very rude, President Lee Junho.”
“Not at all. I got startled too, so I moved without thinking. I should apologize as well.”
The two Russian n, both looking around thirty, stood by the door and bowed their heads to Junho.
“Solly.”
“Mistake.”
At their words, Junho let out a short laugh.
“Your Korean’s pretty good. But then why were you doing that in Russian earlier? You scared the hell out of .”
But the two Russian mafiosi seed not to know any more Korean than that, because they just tilted their heads, and Viktor Volk Choi said sothing to them in Russian.
At once, the color drained from both their faces, and looking utterly deflated—like dogs who had caused trouble and been scolded by their owner—they opened the door and left.
“What did you say to them? They don’t look too happy.”
“It was nothing. Just that they should do better from now on, that we should all work hard together. I gave them a little encouragent.”
The sa words could an very different things depending on who said them, so if Junho had to guess, it was probably sothing closer to When we get back to Busan, I’m going to beat you half to death.
In any case, although his accent was a little unusual, Viktor Volk Choi’s Korean was extrely fluent.
From what Junho had heard from him before the regression, he had strictly spoken nothing but Korean whenever he was with his family from childhood on, and as soon as his assignnt to the Busan branch had been decided, he had worked hard to practice “Seoul speech” instead of the Korean used by Koryo-saram.
Junho knew a few other things about him too, but today he had to act as though he were seeing Viktor Volk Choi for the first ti.
Which ant that Junho had to treat him not as a Russian mafioso, but as a mixed-blood Russian businessman of Koryo-saram descent from the Far East who, due to the nature of that region, happened to be involved in a certain amount of illegal business.
“By the way, your skills were remarkable... if you don’t mind my asking, did you serve sowhere special in the military?”
Viktor Volk Choi’s face was smiling as he looked straight at Junho, but his eyes had gone flat and cold.
Which made sense.
He had co in person because the lawyer said this was soone who might beco a major client, only for that man to drop two ex-military enforcers in the blink of an eye.
It would have been stranger if he had not beco suspicious.
“I just served in the Army Recon unit.”
“You an... as a conscript? Strange. Your skills look like those of soone from a special operations unit.”
“Well, I do train MMA and Krav Maga as a hobby. But what is this? Why does it feel like I’m the one being interrogated here? Counselor, is this really how this is going?”
Speaking in a mildly displeased tone, Junho turned to Lee Dongcheol.
The reason Junho was not only roughing up the two mafiosi a little, but also deliberately taking a sowhat harder line with Lee Dongcheol, was simple.
As a mixed-blood Koryo-saram who had grown up suffering endless racial discrimination in that Russia, Viktor Volk Choi liked strong, manly n.
Junho needed to make a strong impression on Viktor Volk Choi from the very beginning, and that was why he had intentionally shown a sowhat aggressive side of himself.
“Ah, President Lee Junho, it’s just that...”
As the flustered Lee Dongcheol tried to explain on his behalf, Viktor Volk Choi cut in and stepped forward.
“This was very rude of us, President Lee Junho. Your skills were so impressive that I misspoke. I sincerely apologize.”
Junho studied Viktor Volk Choi for a mont as the man apologized politely, then lowered his own head as well.
“I overdid it a little too. Sorry, Director Choi.”
At that, Viktor Volk Choi—who, for a mafioso, and the strongest “enforcer” in the branch at that, wore a smile so gentle it was hard to believe—said,
“Please call Volk. It’s the nickna my family and friends have called since I was young, so that’s what feels comfortable. I have a feeling we’ll be seeing each other often, so please, call that.”
“All right. Volk... Director.”
At the smile of the man from Sakhalin who was known as the Wolf of Vladivostok, Junho smiled back.
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