The real-world experience of the man threatening Jeong Ki-hoon didn’t amount to even a hundredth of Seo Jung-woo’s.

Seo Jung-woo had accumulated real combat experience by fighting monsters over and over again. Numerous monsters attacked him in ways far more lethal and vicious than this man could ever manage. He usually shot monsters dead, but when pressed, he had used a dagger as well.

The man asked his identity, but Seo Jung-woo didn’t answer. Instead, he first checked on the two he had just taken down.

‘Caucasians. Looks like they're from Northern Europe or Russia.’

While appearance could suggest ancestral origins, it couldn’t confirm nationality. In America alone, there were immigrants from all over the world.

Still, he gleaned one piece of information.

‘At least Wang Yuan hasn’t joined the Chinese intelligence agency here.’

In the other world, Wang Yuan was an elite of China’s awakened espionage unit. If he had followed the same path here, he should have been in Chinese intelligence.

‘There’s no way the Chinese intelligence agency would include Caucasians of Northern European descent. Even if they did, they wouldn’t dispatch a white agent for operations in Korea.’

But the last guy he had captured was Asian.

Seo Jung-woo asked him,

“Hey. If the doctor said he wasn’t selling the blueprints, you should have backed off. Who do you think you are, trying to pull a threat?”

The man, clutching his throat where Seo Jung-woo had grabbed him, replied,

“I thought it would be an easy operation, but I didn’t expect such a variable.”

“This guy’s oddly composed, huh? Hey, what else are you hiding…”

Seo Jung-woo’s expression hardened.

He knew these three weren’t all of the enemy forces. Wang Yuan wasn’t among them.

Seo Jung-woo spoke to Jeong Ki-hoon.

“Doctor. Call Jessica.”

Jeong Ki-hoon had been so shocked watching Seo Jung-woo fight that he was just standing there, mouth agape. Hearing his daughter’s name snapped him back to his senses.

“Jessica! Is something wrong with Jessica?”

The man laughed.

“Heh heh heh. Doctor Jeong. If you don’t want the money, how about your daughter’s life? If you want to see her again, hand over the blueprints…”

Seo Jung-woo grabbed and snapped the man’s left arm. A loud crack echoed.

“Guh…”

Before the man could even scream, Seo Jung-woo gripped his throat.

“Kuh!”

While holding him like that, Seo Jung-woo checked the man’s left hand. Near the wrist, there was a small switch.

If it were a self-detonation device, his detection skill would have picked up a surge of murderous intent before he could press it. When someone was about to commit a suicide attack, their killing intent was as intense as a monster’s.

But just now, the murderous intent detected was weak. It confirmed he intended harm, but not a suicide attack.

“You called for reinforcements, didn’t you?”

“Kuhk.”

“Good job. You probably won’t talk anyway, but maybe the newcomers will know something.”

Seo Jung-woo tightened his grip.

A sickening sound of joints twisting came from the man’s neck. Both arms were broken, and he couldn’t resist; only his legs flailed weakly.

Seo Jung-woo didn’t kill him. With a witness like Jeong Ki-hoon present and evidence hard to erase in a hotel, it wasn’t worth it.

Instead, he loosened his grip after making it feel like death was imminent.

As soon as he was released, the man frantically begged,

“Kuhh… I-I’ll talk!”

Seo Jung-woo knew money-driven industrial spies always spilled everything when facing death. It was the same here and in the other world.

“Where’s Jessica? You get one chance to answer.”

“Kuhk. She’s supposed to be somewhere in this hotel. I don’t know which room. I wasn’t in charge of the kidnapping, just the threats and negotiations!”

It didn’t seem like a lie. And there was no time to verify it.

Seo Jung-woo knocked the man out with a kick to the head.

Then he spoke to Jeong Ki-hoon.

“How’s the call going?”

Jeong Ki-hoon’s face had already gone pale.

“Jessica’s not answering! She’s not picking up the phone!”

“Doctor, you should report this to the police… Ah. Right. I am the police.”

“Oh! Police! I have to report it!”

“Make the report here. I’ll check on things separately.”

“Separately? What do you mean by that…?”

Seo Jung-woo exited to the hallway and turned the corner.

“Someone’s coming who’ll tell us.”

As soon as the elevator doors opened, four people charged towards Seo Jung-woo.

Seo Jung-woo also ran toward them.

The enemies, seeing him, drew knives—military-grade combat knives.

The one in front thrust his knife straight at Seo Jung-woo, with no hesitation.

Seo Jung-woo swiftly jumped to the side, kicked off the wall, and sprang upward. His body touched the ceiling.

The attackers, bewildered, craned their heads to look up.

Seo Jung-woo pushed off the ceiling with his foot, as if running upside down.

In an instant, he brushed over the enemies’ heads. He passed over them faster than they could turn their heads to follow.

Gravity meant he couldn’t stay on the ceiling forever. His feet eventually lost contact. The one at the very back looked up just in time for Seo Jung-woo to kick him in the head.

“Kek!”

One enemy went down.

The remaining three turned around in panic.

Seo Jung-woo threw the knife he had taken from the room—the one originally held by the man sitting in the chair.

The enemy on the right was hit and collapsed.

“Aagh!”

On the floor was another knife, dropped by the man he had kicked. Seo Jung-woo lightly kicked it into the air.

The enemy on the left was just turning to swing his knife at Seo Jung-woo.

Seo Jung-woo was faster. He caught the airborne knife and slashed it through the left enemy’s body as he passed by.

After he passed, the enemy let out a scream and collapsed.

“Uwaaagh!”

Three down in an instant.

Only one enemy remained.

That last one first looked horrified, then immediately terrified.

“Wh-what are you?!”

“Police.”

Jeong Ki-hoon ran out of the room, a stunned look on his face and a phone still clutched in his hand.

“Who screamed?!”

The last enemy glanced at Jeong Ki-hoon and thought,

‘I’ll take a hostage!’

The glance lasted only a moment. But when he turned back, Seo Jung-woo was already right in front of him.

“You turn your back on me? Are you crazy?”

The panicked enemy swung his knife at Seo Jung-woo.

But there was no way that would work now. Seo Jung-woo grabbed the enemy’s hand in one move.

“Your judgment sucks, too.”

Seo Jung-woo snapped the enemy’s arm with a loud crack.

“Aaargh!”

He took the knife from the now powerless hand and pressed it against the enemy’s neck, asking,

“I’m only asking once. Where’s Jessica?”

The subdued enemy rolled his eyes frantically.

Four of them got off the elevator, but before they could even reach the end of the hallway, they were all subdued. One was kicked in the head, and two others were stabbed. Especially the ones who were stabbed — just by looking, it was impossible to tell whether they were alive or dead.

Fear gripped him. He didn’t want to die. After all, the only reason he was involved in this kind of work was money. And money could only be used if you were alive.

“A, another floor…”

“Which floor?”

“Th-that’s not our area… we don’t really know. P-please spare us!”

The guy they caught in the room gave the same answer.

Seo Jung-woo clicked his tongue inwardly.

‘Tsk. As expected of Wang Yuan. Even if the world is different, he's still meticulous.’

Jeong Ki-hoon shouted into his phone.

“My daughter is trapped in this hotel! Yes! Two of them confessed to that!”

Seo Jung-woo threw the enemy to the floor and kicked him in the head. The last enemy passed out.

Seo Jung-woo asked Jeong Ki-hoon,

“Did you call the police?”

“No. I was worried they wouldn't believe me properly, so I contacted the government directly. They said they would immediately seal off the hotel.”

“Good work.”

“But where is my daughter?”

“If she's somewhere in this hotel, we'll find her. There’s no place to escape from here… Hm?”

Seo Jung-woo slightly furrowed his brow. Something felt off.

‘Wang Yuan didn’t even tell his own men which floor Jessica was on. He was preparing for the possibility of failure. But Dr. Jeong directly contacted the government and managed to have the hotel sealed. Could Wang Yuan not have known that? Even knowing that, he chose to stay in this hotel?’

If it was the Wang Yuan from the other world, he wouldn’t have handled things so sloppily.

‘Even if Wang Yuan hasn’t awakened any skills in this world, his tactical planning ability shouldn’t have deteriorated.’

He reached a conclusion.

‘Leave the hotel to the police.’

Seo Jung-woo said to Jeong Ki-hoon,

“Once the hotel is sealed, the police will search every room and find Jessica.”

Jeong Ki-hoon’s voice trembled with anxiety.

“Y-yes, right?”

“So leave this place to the other officers, and I’ll check outside the hotel.”

“O-outside? But those guys clearly said Jessica is inside this hotel!”

Seo Jung-woo pointed at the men lying on the ground.

“How can we trust anything those guys say? We have to prepare for the possibility that they're lying even to each other.”

Seo Jung-woo went down to the first-floor lobby.

The hotel guards and staff were already blocking the entrances. A few guests tried to leave but were stopped and protested.

The hotel staff explained with flustered faces.

“The police contacted us, so we have no choice. It will be resolved soon, so please wait a moment.”

Seo Jung-woo showed his police ID to the people blocking the exit. The staff member who saw his ID brightened up.

“Ah, you’re already here?”

“No. I'm leaving. Other officers will be here soon.”

“Pardon?”

“Also close the parking lot.”

“Yes, of course, we’ve lowered the barriers.”

“Not just the kind of barrier that gets knocked down if someone rams it with a car. Bring an actual car and block the exit.”

“What? Ah, yes!”

“And even if someone shows a police ID to leave, hold them for a moment. The ID might be fake.”

“Huh? Then even your ID…”

Without answering further, Seo Jung-woo slipped out of the hotel before the staff could grab him.

‘If Wang Yuan is still inside the hotel with Jessica, it’ll be difficult for him to escape quietly now.’

If Wang Yuan tried to force his way out, the police would immediately pursue. If he was still in the hotel, the police would search every room and find him.

‘If they're trapped inside, they won’t be able to kill Jessica easily.’

The real problem was if Jessica was already taken outside the hotel.

‘If Wang Yuan has grasped the situation, he would be preparing to escape. I have to find them before they flee.’

If he cast too wide a search net, it would take too long. This wasn’t like the serial killer case where he had 24 hours.

‘Now I don't even have an hour, not even thirty minutes.’

But it wasn’t just Seo Jung-woo who was running out of time. So was the enemy.

‘Unless they’ve already left the area.’

If Wang Yuan took Jessica far away right after kidnapping her, there would be no immediate way to track them. In that case, he’d have to squeeze the remaining gang members for information.

Still, in that scenario, Jessica’s survival time would be a bit longer — at most a few hours. But if they were still near the hotel, her survival time would shrink from hours to mere minutes.

‘Most likely, they’re very close. Which means Jessica is in immediate danger.’

Seo Jung-woo considered using his detection skill in focused mode.

Instead of his usual passive mode, if he switched to active mode, he could accurately detect even weak killing intent in a specific area.

‘Focus on places that aren’t open for business, where the doors are closed.’

The problem was that using active detection would trigger a cooldown period, during which even his passive detection ability would be disabled.

‘Still, that’s the only way…’

Seo Jung-woo paused.

‘Damn it.’

From the first floor of an old nearby building, he sensed killing intent. And he hadn’t even switched to active mode yet.

‘They’re planning to kill Jessica and flee.’

If he had more time, he could wait for the SWAT team and let them handle the rescue. But with killing intent already detected, there was no time. If he delayed, Jessica would be dead before the SWAT team arrived.

Seo Jung-woo started moving swiftly toward the building, but he suddenly stopped and turned around.

“Dr. Jeong?”

Jeong Ki-hoon was following him, panting heavily.

“You found something, didn’t you? Right?”

“Why do you think that?”

“Jessica showed me an article about Detective Seo Jung-woo. She said your ability to find criminals is incredible! You found our Jessica, didn’t you?”

“I found her.”

Jeong Ki-hoon’s face lit up brightly.

“Then let’s hurry and rescue her!”

Seo Jung-woo understood the kind of man Jeong Ki-hoon was.

In the other world, Jeong Ki-hoon had also entered a monster-occupied area to save his daughter. It wasn’t because he had the ability to do so; it was because he believed the government would send the best rescue team to save the famous weapon developer — himself.

That time, his judgment had been correct. Seo Jung-woo had entered the area, found Jeong Ki-hoon, and at Jeong’s request, rescued Jessica too.

Seo Jung-woo knew Jeong Ki-hoon was someone who would risk his life for his daughter. But this time, he couldn’t let him come along.

“I’ll do the rescuing. Dr. Jeong, you can’t come with me.”

“She’s my daughter!”

“No matter how much you want to, what you can’t do, you simply can’t. Stay here. That’s the only way to save her.”

“Still, I—”

Seo Jung-woo was firm.

“You’ll only be a hindrance.”