Seo Jung-woo spoke to the three thugs guarding the first floor of the Knife Gang.

“Do I really need to know some bastard like that?”

All three of them jumped up from their seats and shouted.

“What the hell did you just say about Boss Chang-soo?”

“Are you insane?”

“How swollen is your liver? Should we cut open your belly and check?”

Seo Jung-woo kindly explained, “I came here because I have something to ask Chang-soo. So, tell him to come down here quickly. If he doesn’t, I’ll go up. And if I go up, things will get ugly.”

Although Seo Jung-woo proposed a peaceful resolution, the three thugs didn’t take it that way.

One of them flipped the table.

“This bastard!”

At that moment, a man in a white suit burst out of the next room.

“Why the hell is it so noisy?!”

Seo Jung-woo asked the man in the white suit, “Are you Chang-soo?”

“What?”

The thug who had been guarding the first floor spoke up.

“Boss, this guy said he knows Chang-soo, then said he doesn’t, then demanded he come down.”

“Shut up, you idiot. I can’t understand a damn thing he’s saying!”

The man in the white suit frowned deeply and turned to Seo Jung-woo.

“So, where are you from?”

“Why do other bastards keep crawling out when I ask for Chang-soo? No, wait. You look like an executive, so maybe you know something.”

Seo Jung-woo baited him.

“I’ll give you exactly one chance. Think carefully before you answer. You kidnapped someone last night, didn’t you?”

The three thugs in front of the table looked confused, but the man in the white suit stiffened like a stone.

“Are you a cop?”

Seo Jung-woo smirked. The bait had been taken.

“Oh? Look at that reaction. So, you do know something?”

“What? Nah, man, shit. You scared me for a second. Thought you were a cop.”

The man in the white suit let out a deep sigh, raised both hands, and stepped aside from the entrance.

“It’s not a kidnapping. The person is here as a guest. See for yourself.”

Seo Jung-woo stepped into the room.

Inside, two men were standing. A white powder was spread across the table in front of them.

Seo Jung-woo remarked, “So, these bastards aren’t just into kidnapping, but drugs too? Real busy guys, huh.”

At that moment, his detection skill picked up a murderous intent. It was coming from directly behind him.

For a human’s killing intent to register on a skill meant it wasn’t just anger. They had to be truly intent on killing.

Seo Jung-woo had expected this situation ever since the man in the white suit stepped aside at the entrance.

He turned around and asked, “Hey. Shouldn’t you be asking questions first?”

The man in the white suit had his hand inside his jacket, gripping the handle of a knife as he frowned.

“What?”

“Don’t you have anything you want to ask me before you try to stab me?”

The man’s expression twisted for a moment, then smoothed over again.

“Ahh. I wasn’t really going to stab you. If you answer honestly about what you know, I’ll spare your life.”

“So, if I answer, you’ll just kill me quickly. If I don’t, you’ll torture me first?”

The man’s killing intent still registered on the detection skill. No matter what Seo Jung-woo said, he was planning to kill him.

The man’s face suddenly contorted. He pulled out the knife hidden in his jacket and said, “And you still walked in here knowing that?”

The two men inside the room also drew short knives from their pockets. The three thugs outside grabbed their knives and stepped in.

Seo Jung-woo positioned himself in a corner of the room. From here, no one could attack him from behind, but he also had no escape route.

The man in the white suit blocked the door and sneered.

“Dumbass. You backed yourself into a corner with no windows. Now you’ve got nowhere to run.”

Seo Jung-woo grinned. “Why would I run? I just wanted a quieter place for a conversation. Everyone, come in. Oh, and close the door. Don’t want any noise leaking out.”

The relaxed attitude made the man frown and turn on his radio.

“Is there anyone else outside?”

A response came immediately.

– No one.

“This bastard’s acting too calm. Check again. Any suspicious vans nearby?”

– We’ve been monitoring all nearby CCTVs since he opened the door. There’s not even a rat outside.

“Got it. Block all outgoing signals.”

– Yes, boss.

Soon, static crackled from the radio.

The man in the white suit smirked at Seo Jung-woo.

“So, you came alone?”

Seo Jung-woo shrugged. “Yeah, I came alone. I’ve got my reasons.”

He had used his Parallel Dimension Teleport skill to cross over to the other world, then teleported back into this world across the street.

The man in the white suit waved his radio, which was still hissing with static.

“Know what this means? The jammers are on. No phones, no bugs, no nothing. Top-tier tech.”

“Bragging about such basic interference?”

Signal jamming was common in the other world. Some monsters even naturally emitted electromagnetic disruptions. In places like the Adversity Gate in northern Gyeonggi Province, creatures that interfered with magic were frequent.

Even in this world, low-power jammers weren’t rare. With enough money, anyone could smuggle in foreign-made interference devices.

Seeing that Seo Jung-woo wasn’t impressed, the man scowled and threatened him.

“You’re dead, bastard!”

Seo Jung-woo asked, “You still haven’t answered my question. Don’t waste the one chance I’m giving you. Did you kidnap someone last night?”

The man exploded in anger.

“Not just last night! We did it before, and we’ll do it again tomorrow!”

Seo Jung-woo stated firmly, “There won’t be a tomorrow. That, I can guarantee.”

“You really are out of your damn mind.”

The man scrutinized Seo Jung-woo, trying to figure out his identity.

‘No way he’s a cop. No salaryman cop would come here alone.’

He ruled out the possibility that Seo Jung-woo was with the police.

‘But I have no idea where the hell he’s from.’

Knife Gang had its rivals, but none of them would send someone like this.

His mind raced.

‘If he was here to negotiate, he’d be more respectful. But this bastard only asked about last night’s kidnapping.’

At first, he suspected Seo Jung-woo was a detective.

‘No, if the cops had figured something out, they’d have brought a task force.’

That realization made him tense up.

‘If this gets out, we’re all dead. No matter who this guy is, we have to silence him. The boss said if we erase the evidence, we can cover it up.’

The man came to a decision. He brandished his knife and ordered his men.

“Grab him! Get a drum ready.”

The moment he mentioned the drum, Seo Jung-woo’s detection skill picked up six distinct killing intents.

‘Six of them are seriously trying to kill me.’

There were six men in the room.

Whether they planned to kill him immediately or torture him first was unclear.

There's no need to differentiate. Either way, they are trying to kill him.

'The fact that they reacted the moment they heard "drum barrel" means this isn’t their first time committing murder.'

Seo Jung-woo furrowed his brow slightly.

'Over there, many people shoot first if they think they’ve been caught, but reacting like this from the beginning in this world seems excessive.'

There was only one reason he could think of for such a reaction.

'They’re trying to kill Detective Kim Jung-ho as well. Or maybe they’ve already killed him. At the very least, that guy in the white suit knows about Detective Kim Jung-ho. If some gang like Knife Gang killed a detective and got caught, it would be over for them. That’s why they’re trying to kill me for asking so openly.'

The conclusion was clear.

"You guys sure like doing things the way they do over there. You know, I’m pretty used to that method too."

Over there, you have to kill first before you get killed. If you hesitate, you die.

That was the way of the other world.

No one understood what he meant by "over there."

One of the two guys doing drugs in the room twirled his knife in the air as he approached Seo Jung-woo. The other five behind him also started closing the distance, slowly swinging their knives.

The one in the lead, eyes slightly unfocused, grinned.

"Khehehe. If you think you can dodge my knife, go ahead and try."

"I’m not the one who needs to dodge. You are."

Seo Jung-woo reached into his coat and pulled out a pistol.

"Actually, you won’t be able to dodge."

The expressions of the six men stiffened.

"Huh?"

All six had knives, but Seo Jung-woo had a gun. The difference in power was clear.

But their expressions quickly relaxed.

The gun he had pulled out looked a little different from a normal firearm. A strange attachment was affixed to its side.

It was a heat dissipation structure used in the caseless guns from the other world, commonly referred to as a heat sink. Because of this, the pistol’s shape differed slightly from a typical gun.

To these gangsters who had seen real firearms before, it looked like a toy.

One of the thugs, half-drugged, sneered as he swung his knife.

"Damn, you scared me. Where’d you get a toy gu—"

Seo Jung-woo pulled the trigger without hesitation. A definite recoil traveled through his arm. There was no ejected shell casing.

With a suppressed yet distinct gunshot, the bullet embedded itself in the man's chest.

"Kuh!"

This was a silenced pistol from the other world. Instead of simply attaching a suppressor, the gun was manufactured in a way that completely sealed off any openings where sound might escape.

It also used subsonic ammunition. While subsonic rounds had a shorter range and lower power, they were ideal for reducing gunshot noise.

The gunshot was so quiet that the other gangsters didn’t immediately understand what had happened.

Seo Jung-woo pulled the trigger again. Another low gunshot, and a second thug collapsed.

"Gaaah!"

The third thug finally grasped the situation and stumbled backward.

"I-It’s a real gu—" He choked mid-sentence.

The fourth gangster, holding his knife in a sweaty grip, hurled it at Seo Jung-woo. It was slow.

Seo Jung-woo sidestepped effortlessly and fired.

The enemy's knife missed. His bullet did not.

"Ugh!"

The fifth gangster turned to flee, but a bullet found its mark in his back.

The white-suited man who had ordered the kill managed to escape through the door amidst the chaos.

He sprinted up the stairs, screaming.

"We're under attac—Gah!"

He never finished his sentence. A bullet struck his back, sending him tumbling down the stairs.

A crimson stain rapidly spread over his white suit.

Seo Jung-woo opened all the doors on the first floor to check inside. There was no one else there.

Just then, three gangsters armed with knives rushed down from the second floor.

"It’s that bastard!"

"Kill him!"

Their bloodlust was undeniable. These men were rushing in with the intent to kill.

Seo Jung-woo aimed up the stairs and pulled the trigger.

"Aagh!"

He didn’t fire just once. He continued pulling the trigger. The three gangsters, who had been charging down together, were struck and crumpled to the ground.

Another thug, coming down slightly later, panicked and scrambled back up, shouting.

"He’s got a gun! That bastard has a gun!"

The three wounded men groaned as they lay sprawled across the staircase.

Seo Jung-woo leaped up the stairs in a single bound.

Just before reaching the top, he sensed an intense killing intent from the right.

'One enemy.'

He reached the final step and extended only his gun around the corner before firing twice.

A man hiding behind the corner, gripping a katana high above his head, was struck in the chest and staggered backward.

"Kuh!"

The second-floor hallway was empty.

Seo Jung-woo approached the nearest door.

From inside, he sensed three hostile presences.

He raised his gun and aimed at the door. No matter how weak subsonic rounds were, they could still penetrate a flimsy wooden door.

He fired five shots. Holes punched cleanly through the plywood.

Screams erupted from inside.

"Aaagh!"

Seo Jung-woo fired another shot at the doorknob and then kicked the door open.

The door swung wide.

Inside, three men clutching katanas lay writhing on the floor, bleeding.

"Ughhh."

Seo Jung-woo fired three more rounds. The groans ceased.

By now, he had emptied his magazine. The slide on his gun locked back.

Seo Jung-woo ejected the empty magazine.

Suddenly, he sensed a presence behind him.

He dodged to the side, spinning his body. A katana swiped through the air where he had just been standing.

Seo Jung-woo jammed the muzzle of his empty pistol against his attacker's throat. A bullet wasn't necessary—guns were made of solid steel.

"Ghk!"

The man choked and staggered back.

Seo Jung-woo inserted a fresh magazine and slid the bolt forward, chambering a new round. He fired two shots while walking forward. This time, there was no scream.

That was when he noticed something unusual.

On the hallway wall, there was a door that hadn't been there before.

"A hidden door disguised as a fire hose cabinet."

Inside, he saw surveillance monitors and various devices.

"So this is where they controlled the CCTV feeds and radio interference."

There were no more enemies on the second floor.

Seo Jung-woo climbed the stairs.

But the moment he reached the third floor, he sensed new killing intent.

'Huh?'

The feeling was different from the men on the second floor. It was more like the ones on the first.

'These guys think they can kill me.'

The first-floor thugs hadn't known about his gun, so they were confident they could take him down. The second-floor men, aware of the gun, had been more hesitant.

But the men on the third floor exuded the same confidence as those on the first.

'They have guns.'

He realized they were also armed.

'There are a lot of guns on the third floor.'