“Ah.”

“Uh…”

In an instant, the room fell silent.

Not only the trainees but also the active-duty bodyguards were too stunned to speak. Until now, not even the fittest trainee had managed a proper attack, let alone defeated a senior guard.

“Cough, cough.”

At that moment, the team leader was the first to snap out of it and rushed to the struggling bodyguard.

“Are you okay?”

“Haa, ha…”

He barely managed to sit up, waving his hand while his eyes and nose were running. It meant he was more embarrassed than in pain—asking them not to pay attention to him.

In the meantime, the referee approached, crossing his arms to form an X.

When Haru assumed her stance thinking she was facing the next opponent, the referee flinched and spoke.

“Warning, no elbows. How could you use one right after I just said it?”

Haru furrowed her delicate brows in confusion. Tilting her head, she extended one hand and perfectly imitated the stance the referee had shown before the sparring.

“You said, ‘No eye poking, no kicking the buttocks, no elbows. Everything else is allowed. Are you ready?’—didn’t you?”

She repeated the tone, emotion, and intonation exactly as it had been said. Some chuckled in amusement, others were astonished by this new talent of hers.

“Ah, that… I meant obviously don’t attack with the elbow…”

“I understood it as ‘Don’t poke eyes, don’t kick butts, don’t hit with elbows.’”

It was baffling how she understood it that way, but when taken literally, her interpretation made sense.

A bodyguard tapped the referee’s shoulder and said,

“You’re the one who messed up.”

“She’s not the one at fault! You should’ve explained it properly!”

“Right, you should’ve spoken clearly so our junior wouldn’t be confused.”

The atmosphere turned strange. The referee scratched his head and nodded.

“Okay, anyway, no attacking with elbows. This match is void.”

“I’m sorry. I’ll redo it.”

Haru approached the senior who was still gasping for breath. He recoiled in fear and scrambled backward. Other seniors hurriedly stopped her.

“Another, another senior, he’s injured.”

“Yes.”

The senior she had fought was crawling on the ground, but another senior quickly jumped forward as the next opponent. She wasn’t even officially hired yet, and she was already wildly popular.

He raised his guard from the start, eyeing Haru sharply.

‘She’s fast, but I won’t let my guard down.’

Though the match began, Haru again stood still, not attacking. Her face showed signs of tension. Her eyebrows were slightly lowered, as if she felt guilty for breaking the rules earlier.

‘Hmm…’

No matter how fast someone is, weak mental strength is a reason for disqualification. To ease her nerves, he threw a light jab.

Whoosh—

Almost simultaneously, she ducked and closed in on him.

‘Huh?’

A fresh scent rushed in. He was about to savor the pleasant surprise when—

Crack—

“Guh!”

She wasn’t hugging him—she had slipped in and landed a knee strike to his exposed side.

The senior collapsed and rolled on the ground. The cracking sound suggested his ribs were broken.

With her same dry eyes, Haru looked down at him and said,

“Next.”

“Hey, what do you mean ‘next’! Yongseok! You okay?”

“My ribs, I think they’re broken… ugh!”

“Call 119, call 119!!”

“Ah, y-yes!”

If a bone breaks, there’s a risk of further internal injury from bone fragments.

Paramedics arrived, and the senior was carried out on a stretcher.

Haru watched him being taken away and once again said “Next,” but no one stepped forward.

Top floor of Daeseong Entertainment Building, where Daeseong Guard is located.

Ahn Seo-eun sat with her legs crossed, reviewing documents.

Knock knock.

“Come in.”

Chief Secretary Kang entered, and Seo-eun turned away from her work.

“Haru was in a pending status but received full marks in sparring and got an A-grade overall.”

“That’s good. I was going to use my pull if she failed the interview… That Yang Team Leader guy really doesn’t know how to judge people. He tried to fail her over her looks? I wonder how many talents like her he’s let slip.”

Kang picked up on her underlying meaning and answered.

“I’ll make sure Yang Team Leader is no longer part of the interview panel from next time.”

“It’s not a demotion or anything, just do that. So, when does Haru become my bodyguard?”

“She’s now in formal training. She’ll be deployed in three months, but if you wish, she can start right away.”

“No. We should avoid stirring gossip as much as possible. Kim Chief, don’t go blabbing about Haru either. Got it?”

Kim, the bodyguard standing silently in the corner, flinched. He had been planning to go down and tell Haru to be careful right after finishing here.

He nodded vigorously.

“Y-yes, understood.”

Morning. Shin Haesu was getting ready for work when Haru stood before him, fidgeting.

“What.”

Haru flinched and showed him her phone.

“I passed the final selection.”

Haesu nodded as if it were obvious and poured himself a cup of water from the dispenser.

“Good for you.”

Haru looked disappointed at his dry reaction.

“I got an A-grade in the physical test. The starting salary is ten million won higher than F-grade.”

“Well done. Then you can start paying rent now.”

“Starting a week from now, I’ll be in training for three months. Two months are regular commuting, but the last month is live-in.”

Haesu’s hand froze mid-drink. He turned to look at her.

“Live-in?”

“Yes.”

Haesu’s brows furrowed.

“That’s worrying.”

Haru’s face flushed slightly at his words.

“Are you worried about me, landlord?”

“No, the other bodyguards.”

Haru pouted.

Being a bodyguard is a male-dominated job. Even in places full of women, Haru always stood out. Now she’d be surrounded by a bunch of men all day and night—some of them were bound to make a move.

In the past, Haesu worried about innocent Haru being led astray by weirdos. Lately, though, he found himself oddly worried for the other party.

Violent Crimes Special Investigation Unit, Gangjin Police Station Headquarters.

The team leader had his feet up on the desk, picking his ear with his pinky and mumbling,

“Man, it’s been ages since we had it this easy. No murders, no missing person cases—finally a break—mmph!”

Oh Gaeng rushed over and covered the team leader’s mouth.

“Why would a seasoned guy like you say that out loud? You know full well just mentioning it is a curse!”

Bzzzt Bzzzt

At that moment, Haesu’s phone rang. A sudden, suffocating silence fell over the headquarters. Even the youngest member froze in place, dumbbells raised, like a statue.

Bzzzt Bzzzt

Haesu swallowed hard and took out his phone. He checked the name on the screen and relaxed.

“Hello, Manager Gu.”

“Agh, what the—no! Let go! Ugh, your hands smell like crap.”

“…Phew.”

“Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. What a relief. No incident means there’s less misfortune in the world, right?”

“The kid has a monk-like vibe sometimes.”

Manager Gu said something, but Haesu couldn’t quite hear it, so he moved to a corner to take the call again.

“What did you say?”

—“The special stab-resistant suits have arrived! Shall I bring them over now?”

“Ah… yes, please do.”

Haesu clenched his fist in joy. It was music to his ears.

“Hey, Shin-dol, what is it? What’s got you grinning like that? It’s creepy.”

“The special stab-resistant suits are complete.”

“Stab-resistant suits? Oh, you mean the ones the tailor came for and measured every little detail?”

“That’s right.”

The team leader rubbed his protruding belly and muttered.

“I’ve gained three kilos since then. Will it still fit?”

At that, Haesu approached and grabbed the team leader’s shoulder, forcing him up.

“You’ll have to lose the weight to fit. Let’s start with squats.”

“That was… terrifying just now.”

While Haesu was forcing the team leader to work out, Manager Gu arrived in less than 30 minutes.

There were sixteen sets of stab-resistant suits—enough to distribute to the Violent Crimes Special Investigation Unit members and the detectives of Major Crimes Teams 1, 2, and 3 who worked in the field.

Creak

“What did we get this time that everyone’s being summoned over?”

“What’s the gift?”

“Isn’t it those suits they took measurements for last time?”

Detectives came rushing into the headquarters. Normally, they’d claim to be too busy to even drop off a document, but the moment a gift was involved, the place filled up in under five minutes.

Haesu and Manager Gu checked names and handed out the stab-resistant suits to the detectives.

When they received the black aluminum suit storage boxes, the detectives lit up like they’d received real presents.

Inside were outfits that looked like black mesh athletic wear.

“This is a stab-resistant suit? Looks like regular sportswear. Can it really stop a knife?”

As one detective tried to cut it with a box cutter, Manager Gu freaked out and stopped him.

“Whoa! This stuff is expensive! Please don’t mess with it unless absolutely necessary.”

“How much is it?”

Manager Gu turned to Haesu for permission. Haesu didn’t want the suits—custom made with great effort—to be misused and discarded without showing their full function, so he decided to reveal the price.

Haesu answered instead.

“Five thousand each.”

“Huh? Five thousand? Five thousand won? That’s dirt cheap.”

Manager Gu furrowed his brow and clarified.

“Just the custom order costs fifty million won. If these hit the market, they'd go for a hundred million. President Shin paid eight hundred million out of pocket to make them.”

At Manager Gu’s calm but slightly emotional words, the room instantly fell silent.

One second, two seconds...

“Huh?”

“How much?”

“Millions?”

The detectives suddenly held the stab-resistant suits with a lot more care.

Haesu chuckled and continued.

“In winter, I wear workout clothes underneath. In summer, I only wear it during operations. I can vouch for its effectiveness, so wear it during any dangerous deployments.”

“I—I don’t even have anything to help Detective Shin with…”

“You’re a blessing to our station, really. Thank you. I’ll take good care of it.”

“Don’t just take care of it—wear it every time.”

Moved by Haesu’s serious gaze, the detective nodded several times.

Once the chaos settled, the detectives and Manager Gu left, but one box remained.

“Wow, for a stab-resistant suit, this material feels amazing.”

Oh Gaeng was moving around in just the suit when he noticed the remaining box.

“Who didn’t take theirs? There’s no name on it.”

While Haesu was helping the team leader get dressed, Oh Gaeng opened the box. Inside was a small suit, the shape clearly hinting at the wearer's physique.

“W-What is this…”

“What the—look at that perfect fit! Shin-dol, what the hell is that?!”

“Ah…”

At that moment, Oh Gaeng carefully folded the suit and placed it back into the box.

“It’s hers… ahaha, wow, I’m sorry.”

Apparently embarrassed just by having touched the suit meant for Haru, Oh Gaeng turned red.

Contrary to Oh Gaeng’s worries, the rest of the day passed smoothly with just handling public intoxication cases.

It was finally time to go home. Haesu packed Haru’s stab-resistant suit into the saddlebag and got on his motorcycle.

Rumble rumble

He was keeping to the speed limit and driving slowly when suddenly, a van burst out from the right side, forcing him to slam the brakes.

Vrooom—

Clearly reckless, the van ignored the signal and made a sharp left turn. Two more vans followed close behind.

Honk honk—!!

As the other cars blared their horns, the last van’s window rolled down, and a man waved a hatchet.

“Shut your traps if you don’t wanna die!!”

At his threatening outburst, the honking quickly ceased.

In that split second, Haesu saw the man’s face. He was one of the criminals who had fled during a stabbing incident in the city center a few days ago.

The direction they were heading, the weapons, their aura—none of it boded well.

Haesu immediately turned his motorcycle around.

Gangjin Police Station, Dongbu Precinct.

Screech—!

Three vans skidded to a stop in front of the precinct’s main building. As the van doors slammed open, a man shouted,

“Kill them all!!”

“Yaaaah!!”

Dozens of men jumped out wielding iron pipes, hatchets, baseball bats, and sashimi knives. They charged straight into the main building, smashing everything in sight.

Crash!!

Glass doors shattered, and the startled officers were struck before they could even react.

Not even thirty seconds into the chaos, a man came tumbling out, having smashed through the battered front door.

Thud thud bang!

It was one of the gang members standing lookout outside—he’d been thrown. And behind him appeared Shin Haesu, muscles as solid as steel.

Haesu’s eyes blazed with more fury than ever. To attack a police station—a place perceived by citizens as the safest sanctuary—was something that would create massive shockwaves.

This was unacceptable.

Crack

Haesu took out a pair of handcuffs, looped the rings together, and slipped them over his right hand like brass knuckles.

“You guys… are only living for today, huh. Fine, I’ll let you live just for today.”