Seo Jung-woo rented a cheap room. Even so, it still cost 200,000 won.

“It’s best if I can just rest without anything happening, even if it costs a bit of money.
I hope that's the case, but I need to prepare just in case.”

He took the hotel elevator and went up.

The floor where he got off wasn’t where the room he rented was. He had only rented that room to have a legitimate reason to stay at the hotel. His real target was the floor where Jeong Ki-hoon and his daughter’s room was located.

He went there first and checked the emergency exit layout.

“Wow. This is... If someone wanted to break in, it’d be pretty easy. I should use this route too if things get urgent.”

Seo Jung-woo continued investigating. He also noted the objects along the hallway and the structure of the walls along the route from the elevator.

'Once you turn one corner from Dr. Jeong’s room, it’s a straight line to the elevator.'

Jessica Jeong came out of her room after changing clothes. Seeing Seo Jung-woo in the hallway, she jumped in surprise.

“Oh my! I thought you left?”

Jeong Ki-hoon also opened his room door next to hers and showed a surprised expression.

“Is there something you wanted to say?”

The basic principle of bodyguard work is to stay close to the subject. To do that, he needed an excuse.

Seo Jung-woo improvised a reasonable one.

“I wanted to ask Dr. Jeong about the physics theory you presented at the seminar earlier.”

Jessica didn’t believe that for a second.

“Hmph.”

'A detective asking about that physics theory? It’s such an obvious excuse. He must be interested in me, right? Well, my beauty does work everywhere. I was disappointed, thinking it didn’t work this time, but it seems he’s actually pretty persistent, following me all the way here.'

She smiled brightly and made a suggestion.

“We’re heading to the bar. Would you like to join us for a drink?”

Jeong Ki-hoon also encouraged him.

“Let’s talk while we drink.”

This was exactly the situation Seo Jung-woo wanted. If they hadn’t bumped into each other, he would have called Jeong Ki-hoon to lure him out of the room anyway.

“Let’s go. It’s on me.”

4cats usually had a lot of spare time. Since today’s schedule only had this one event, they enjoyed the banquet to the fullest.

But they couldn’t stay there forever. Although food remained, the banquet eventually ended, and they stepped outside.

Seo Sora made a suggestion.

“Since it's a rare opportunity, let’s check out the hotel bar!”

The twins immediately agreed.

“Wow! Hotel bar!”

“I’m going to drink a martini, just like in the movies!”

Yoon Nana scolded them.

“You two are underage. No drinks for you.”

Park Da-yeon suddenly pointed toward the bar.

“Ah! There’s Detective Seo!”

“Trying to distract me won’t work. No drinks!”

“I’m serious! Oh! That foreign woman from earlier is there too!”

Yoon Nana quickly turned her head.

“Huh?”

They saw Seo Jung-woo entering the bar with Jessica. Although Jeong Ki-hoon was with them too, her eyes only caught Seo Jung-woo and Jessica together.

The twins spoke excitedly.

“Wow! Truly the irresistible Detective Seo!”

“Looks like they’re sticking together even at night!”

Yoon Nana’s voice sharpened.

“Maybe...?”

The quick-witted twins immediately changed their words.

“He must still be on duty protecting her!”

“Working hard to safeguard the nation!”

“More like protecting the Earth!”

“Love and peace! Ah, no, not love! Unnie, save me!”

At the bar, Jessica ordered a martini. But she was flustered. 'What is this?'

It wasn’t the alcohol that confused her.

Seo Jung-woo was genuinely discussing physics with Jeong Ki-hoon.

'Isn’t he supposed to be a detective?'

In his world, basic astrophysics was common knowledge, even on morning talk shows. Because gates opened and monsters invaded from other worlds, people had a keen interest in astrophysics to explain those phenomena.

While Seo Jung-woo didn’t have deep knowledge, he had picked up enough bits and pieces to hold a conversation.

However, some concepts he knew either didn’t exist in this world or were significantly different. After all, astrophysics had evolved into a new form after the gates opened.

Jeong Ki-hoon found Seo Jung-woo’s talk fascinating.

“Your theory is quite novel. It’s a bit different from existing models. Where did you learn this?”

It was a theory that didn’t exist at all in this world.

“Ah, well, I just studied a bit as a hobby.”

“As a hobby? It does seem like a hobby, given how random the concepts are. But do detectives in Korea study astrophysics too?”

Seo Jung-woo, sipping a non-alcoholic cocktail, replied:

“I just scribbled down whatever came to mind.”

“It seems quite systematic for mere scribbles though…”

Jessica, who barely knew any physics despite being the daughter of a famous physicist and mechanical engineer, couldn’t follow the conversation at all.

Moreover, she realized that Seo Jung-woo hadn’t followed her out of personal interest.

Feeling she would just look foolish if she stayed any longer, she stood up.

“I’ll go over there and have a drink by myself. You two can keep talking about boring physics.”

Seo Jung-woo didn’t mind. Jessica was good with a knife, but not with her head.

Seo Jung-woo spent another hour at the hotel bar with Jeong Ki-hoon.

'It’s getting harder to keep the conversation going.'

At first, it was easy using theories nonexistent in this world to prolong the conversation. By introducing concepts Jeong Ki-hoon had never heard of, he could keep him engaged.

However, after an hour, Jeong Ki-hoon understood the core concepts. From then on, he started asking more detailed and specific questions.

Seo Jung-woo didn’t know that deeply. What he had shared so far was only at the level of morning talk shows from his world.

So Seo Jung-woo made a suggestion.

“Shall we head back up?”

“Ah, shall we? You must be tired from protecting me all day. I talked too much. Your theories were a bit eccentric, but they sparked my interest.”

Seo Jung-woo and Jeong Ki-hoon took the elevator up together.

As Jeong Ki-hoon got off the elevator, Seo Jung-woo said:

“I’m also staying in this hotel, so if anything happens, contact me immediately.”

“Hahaha. I wouldn’t want to disturb your rest.”

Jeong Ki-hoon walked down the hallway and opened his room door.

He stepped inside a few steps—and stopped.

“Hmm?”

In the middle of the room, a man was sitting on a chair. Two more men were standing on either side of him.

At first, Jeong Ki-hoon thought he had entered the wrong room.

“Ah, sorry. I must have gotten the wrong...”

He immediately realized that couldn’t be the case. This was a hotel. If it were the wrong room, his key wouldn’t have opened the door. The fact that it opened meant that the people in front of him were intruders.

“Who are you...”

The man spoke while sitting in the chair.

“Dr. Jeong. You're later than I thought.”

“Do you know me?”

“Not personally. No need to.”

The man grinned.

“All I care about is the Atlas Project.”

Jeong Ki-hoon’s expression hardened.

“What?”

“I need the design blueprint for the Atlas attitude control module.”

“Who are you people?!”

“Just hand over the blueprint and we’ll transfer a million dollars immediately. To a secure Swiss secret account, of course.”

“I don't have the blueprint!”

“You designed the core of that module. There's no way you don't have it.”

“It's a classified document! It's not allowed to leave the lab! I don’t have it, so get lost right now!”

The man remained unhurried.

“I know that much. That's why you're going to fly back to the U.S. right now and steal the blueprint from the lab... Hmm? I thought the door was locked?”

Jeong Ki-hoon whipped around.

“Detective Seo?”

Seo Jung-woo had entered through the door.

The first thing that flashed through Jeong Ki-hoon’s mind was suspicion.

‘Is Detective Seo in league with these guys? Is that why he’s still at the hotel at this hour?’

It was a misunderstanding.

Seo Jung-woo had pressed the button for the floor above as soon as Jeong Ki-hoon got off the elevator. After getting off upstairs, he had come back down to the lower floor and approached the corner of the hallway before Jeong Ki-hoon opened the door.

He noticed another presence inside the room the moment Jeong Ki-hoon opened the door, having caught a faint sound. As soon as Jeong Ki-hoon entered the room, Seo Jung-woo moved and caught the door before it closed, listening to their conversation.

There were two reasons for his actions. First, he needed to understand the enemy’s objective. Second, he needed to verify whether Jeong Ki-hoon had already been bribed. In the other world, Jeong Ki-hoon would never betray them, but here, Seo Jung-woo didn’t know him well yet.

The conversation he overheard at the door was enough to grasp the situation.

Seo Jung-woo brushed past Jeong Ki-hoon and said,

“I don’t know what this Atlas Project is, but I get your objective.”

Just because the other world was at war didn’t mean there was no technological advancement. When researching weapons, derived technologies often emerged. Sometimes, researchers like Jeong Ki-hoon funneled weapon development funds into other projects.

And in that world too, there were those who targeted weapons manufacturing technology or its derivatives.

Seo Jung-woo said,

“Industrial spies, huh?”

The man sitting in the chair frowned.

“So the bodyguard is still hanging around. We purposely chose a time when there wouldn't be one to avoid noise. Tsk.”

The man snapped his fingers and pointed at Seo Jung-woo.

“Take care of him.”

“Yes, sir.”

The two men at his sides drew knives from their pockets and advanced toward Seo Jung-woo. Neither spoke another word. Since the door was already closed, they judged that Seo Jung-woo would have no time to escape.

They were wrong. Seo Jung-woo had trapped them inside this room.

The distance between them closed until their knives could almost reach him.

The man on the right slowly raised his knife. He didn’t intend to stab yet — killing someone in a hotel would be problematic. He meant to press the blade to Seo Jung-woo’s neck and threaten him.

“Freeze.”

Seo Jung-woo suddenly drove a hand strike into the man’s neck.

“Gurk!”

The man on the right collapsed, clutching his throat after a short gasp.

The man on the left was startled. He hadn’t even properly seen how Seo Jung-woo had subdued his partner. All he caught was a blur of movement — and his colleague went down without resistance.

“Shit!”

He instinctively swung his knife, thinking there must be an opening since Seo Jung-woo had just attacked someone else. The blade drew a sharp arc through the air.

But the knife didn’t even get halfway to its target. Seo Jung-woo grabbed the attacker’s wrist firmly.

When one awakens a shooting skill, strength and agility naturally improve. Though the enemy weighed more, Seo Jung-woo was far stronger.

Seo Jung-woo twisted the man’s wrist holding the knife.

There was a sharp crack as the wrist broke.

The man tried to scream, but before he could, Seo Jung-woo struck his neck.

“Gehk!”

The second man also crumpled to the floor.

The man who had been sitting rose with a frown.

“Who the hell are you?”

“Police.”

“What?”

Seo Jung-woo had been dispatched here as a police officer tasked with guarding Jeong Ki-hoon for the day.

“Police. Cops who catch bad guys like you.”

The man moved his hand behind his back and said,

“That’s not what I was asking. You’ve got some skills, but…”

Seo Jung-woo didn’t wait for him to finish speaking and dashed forward. The room was expensive and thus spacious, but still, it only took a big stride to close the distance.

The man was different from his subordinates. As soon as Seo Jung-woo moved, he drew a curved knife from behind his back and slashed at him. The crescent-shaped blade tore through the air menacingly.

Seo Jung-woo was faster. Before the blade was halfway through its arc, he grabbed the man’s arm.

At that moment, the man let go of the knife. The curved blade spun through the air toward Seo Jung-woo’s head.

The man was confident.

‘I got him!’

If Seo Jung-woo had stood still, his head would have been split open. But there was no way he would allow that.

Seo Jung-woo broke the man’s arm with a sharp snap and moved forward quickly.

The spinning blade missed him completely and embedded itself in the wall behind.

The man with the broken arm tried to scream.

It wasn’t just from the pain. He deliberately tried to shout loudly to draw Seo Jung-woo’s attention and use his good left hand to grab another knife from his waist during the distraction.

But no voice came out.

Seo Jung-woo was already gripping the man’s throat tightly. Only a short groan escaped from the man’s mouth.

“Gurk!”

Even then, the man didn’t give up. He hurriedly groped his waist with his left hand to find another knife.

Nothing was there.

‘My knife?’

Seo Jung-woo, holding the man up by the neck with one hand, brandished the knife in his other hand.

“Looking for this?”

The man’s eyes widened. The knife that had been on his waist just moments ago was now in Seo Jung-woo’s hand.

Seo Jung-woo lightly shoved the man away. He crashed into a table behind him and then dropped to the floor.

“Gehk!”

The man struggled to breathe. But he couldn’t catch his breath properly.

“Gehh, gahh!”

He couldn’t comprehend the situation. His knife skills weren’t ordinary — they were honed through real combat and killing.

Yet, those skills hadn’t worked at all on Seo Jung-woo.

Between fits of coughing, the man asked,

“You... just what the hell... cough... are you?”