Police swarmed outside the building. If they went out now, bullets from the police might come flying.

Seo Jung-woo pulled out his phone and called Jeong Gi-hoon.

Jeong Gi-hoon screamed his name as if shouting in panic.

- D-Detective Seo! I heard gunshots! My daughter!

“She’s been rescued. She’s safe.”

After a brief silence, Jeong Gi-hoon let out a sigh of relief.

- Haah. Thank goodness. Thank you so much!

Seo Jung-woo grumbled.

“But what’s with all these loud sirens? I told you to come quietly with the sirens off.”

- Ah. It seems those officers aren’t the ones I requested for backup.

“What?”

- I just got off the phone with the government, and right after that, those officers showed up. It’s too fast.

“Ahh.”

It had only taken about a minute for him to storm in and defeat the enemies to rescue Jessica.

“The police headed to the hotel must’ve heard the gunshots and changed direction immediately.”

Seo Jung-woo looked out the window.

Some of the police were armed with pistols. Their barrels were pointed at the building.

Korean police were known not to shoot, but that only applied when facing someone with a knife. With loud gunfire already ringing out, there was no way they would hesitate to shoot.

“If we go out wrong now, we’ll really get shot.”

Seo Jung-woo spoke to Jeong Gi-hoon.

“Dr. Jeong, since the situation’s under control, tell them to lower their guns. It’d be useless if I tried, so please contact that government official you were speaking with.”

- I’ll contact them right away!

After hanging up, he spoke to Jessica.

“If this guy tries anything suspicious, shoot him.”

“Yes!”

The only one still conscious raised his hands even higher in tension.

Seo Jung-woo checked the faces of the unconscious ones. The five small fry outside the room were faces he hadn’t seen before.

He unlocked one of the back window locks, then went into the room where Jessica had been held.

Wang Yuan was slumped against the wall, unconscious.

Looking at him, Seo Jung-woo thought,

‘Over there, he belonged to the Chinese government, but here, he’s working for an industrial espionage organization. He's living a completely different life in this world too.’

Among the people he had met so far, the only one living a similar dual life was Lee Seon-hwa.

Seo Jung-woo properly checked the face of the white man who had tried to kill Jessica.

“Hm?”

His face was among the photos of industrial spies collected from the other world.

‘Wang Yuan is Chinese. This guy’s Russian. The others don’t seem to have a single nationality either. It’s probably a multinational industrial spy organization. If their base were here domestically, the police could wipe them out easily. This complicates things.’

Today, he had captured fourteen members of that organization. Some of the ones caught at the hotel were also foreigners. Now that he thought about it, he even doubted if any of them were Korean.

‘Maybe I need to push a little further.’

A call came in. Seo Jung-woo answered.

It was Jeong Gi-hoon.

- I’ve finished talking with the government side and the police here. You can come out now.

Seo Jung-woo exited the room. He removed all the sensors around the front door and unlocked the door latch.

Then he said to Jessica,

“Let’s go. Ah, put the gun down. If you walk out holding it, you’ll get shot.”

“Huh?”

Jessica hesitated, pointing at the man she had captured and asking,

“But without the gun, what about him…”

“Him? If he wants to die, he’ll try to run.”

Seo Jung-woo opened the door and pushed the criminal out first. That way, if the police accidentally fired, he would be hit first.

The criminal had no thoughts of running. With more than ten guns from the SWAT team pointed at him, he raised his hands high and walked out slowly.

No bullets flew. After confirming it was safe, Jessica and Seo Jung-woo also exited the building.

The SWAT team, guns still raised, quickly approached. They slammed the criminal onto the ground roughly and handcuffed him. Other members moved into the building.

One officer who entered came rushing back out, urgently reporting to the commander.

“There are many injured! Gunshot victims! We need a lot of ambulances!”

Seo Jung-woo explained,

“There are six left inside, and they’re all dangerous criminals. Make sure to handcuff them before treating them. Also, stay alert in case any are hiding somewhere.”

The SWAT team already knew that Seo Jung-woo and Jessica were allies, so they asked him,

“Which among them are the criminals?”

“Everyone inside is a criminal.”

Detectives also came running. One of them spoke,

“Jessica-ssi?”

“Yes!”

“Please come this way. You’re safe now. We’ll take you to the hospital once the ambulance arrives.”

Jessica looked back at Seo Jung-woo.

“Just, just me?”

Seo Jung-woo said,

“I don’t have a single scratch, so don’t worry and go.”

“B-but…”

Seo Jung-woo gestured with his hand. Jessica reluctantly followed the detective.

Another detective asked Seo Jung-woo,

“I heard you’re a government security agent. Which agency are you with? The Presidential Security Service?”

“No, I’m with the police.”

The detectives’ faces brightened.

“Ahh. The security division.”

“No, the detective division.”

“Huh? Detective? A detective…”

The detective glanced inside the building. They had heard that a gunfight had taken place.

Nearby, a SWAT officer was calling for ambulances for the six wounded criminals. The one uninjured had already been arrested and was being dragged away.

“You took down all seven? By yourself? As a detective? No, but I heard you were a government security agent.”

“I was just temporarily assigned to a security mission for today. Ah, I should also report to my team leader. May I make a call?”

“Ah, yes, go ahead.”

Seo Jung-woo called Violent Crimes Team Leader Kwon Byeong-cheol.

- Why are you calling at this hour?

“You sent me on a security mission today, right, Team Leader?”

- Yeah. Are you calling to report it’s over? Just do that tomorrow. Why are you calling now?

“There was a bit of an issue.”

Rustling sounds could be heard.

- Huh? An issue? Should I send someone to help?

“No, it’s all resolved now. But I thought I should report it anyway.”

Kwon Byeong-cheol relaxed.

- Geez. Don’t scare me over nothing. But what happened?

“An international industrial espionage organization kidnapped Dr. Jeong Gi-hoon’s daughter and tried to force him to steal technology from a U.S. research institute.”

After a brief silence, Team Leader Kwon Byeong-cheol asked urgently in a flustered voice.

- Huh? What? What? You said it was resolved!

"It's resolved because we caught all of them. Oh, and we rescued his daughter too."

- No, what are you talking about...

Kwon Byeong-cheol eventually shouted.

- Where are you right now!

"You sent me here, and you're asking that? Of course, I'm right in front of the hotel."

- It's not serious, right? Right? Tell me it's not serious!

"It's not serious at all."

'Since no one's dead.'

- I'll come there right now, so wait!

"Oh, but I think I'll have to move soon. There are a lot of people waiting for me here."

- Then call me right away when you decide where to go!

"Yes."

Seo Jung-woo hung up the call.

A detective asked with a bewildered face.

"If you're in the Criminal Division and your rank is lower than the team leader, then your rank is?"

"Police officer."

The detective looked again toward the inside of the building. The suspect who had been shot was being carried out.

"A police officer doing something like this..."

That detective suddenly remembered someone. He had heard that person was also a police officer.

"What's your name?"

"Seo Jung-woo."

"Ah! That Seo Jung-woo! No, even if it's that Seo Jung-woo, this situation is just..."

The crime scene was quickly secured. Entry to the building was restricted, and the forensic team began an investigation inside.

All the suspects were sent to the hospital. Armed SWAT officers were dispatched to the hospital to guard them.

The same measures were taken at the hotel. Seo Jung-woo had first taken down seven of them there before moving to this place to rescue Jessica.

An entire floor of the hotel was locked down, and the forensic team began their investigation.

Gunshots had been heard multiple times as the hotel was sealed off in the middle of downtown. The incident was reported not only to the police but also flooded the hotlines of news agencies.

Reporters rushed in from all directions. Even broadcasting vans arrived.

Although Team Leader Kwon Byeong-cheol said he'd come immediately, the first to arrive was Detective Baek Sung-min from the same team.

Seo Jung-woo asked Baek Sung-min.

"Hyung, did you have a blind date around here or something? How did you get here so fast?"

"It wasn't a blind date. I was just trying to make something happen on my own, but it got ruined again. Why is it that every time I try to do something with a lady, the team leader calls and tells me to check on you? At this rate, will I ever get married?"

"I heard giving up makes it easier."

"Hey. That's not it."

Baek Sung-min looked around and asked.

"But seriously, what the hell happened?"

Seo Jung-woo briefly summarized.

"An international industrial espionage organization targeted Dr. Jung Ki-hoon, kidnapped his daughter to threaten him, and I just happened to be in charge of security. That's about it."

"Judging by this mess, I knew it wasn’t an ordinary case, but wow. Something huge must have gone down."

"It's not that big of a deal."

"Sending you today was a divine move by the team leader. So, how many spies were there? Judging by the chaos, it can't be just one."

"Fourteen."

Baek Sung-min didn't quite grasp it.

"Huh? How many?"

"Fourteen."

Baek Sung-min jumped up in shock.

"F-fourteen? Hey, you’re not hurt, right?"

"Nah. I'm fine. Less than half of them even pulled guns."

Only six of them had guns.

"G-guns too? Six of them? You didn’t even have a gun yourself!"

"It’s okay. I just took the guns from them and used those."

"No way. Wow. I'm feeling dizzy all of a sudden."

As the reporters swarmed, breaking news reports poured in. The broadcasters even parked their vans and aired live updates.

The police controlled the scene. It was such a major case that no officers dared casually leak information. A single wrong word could lead to disciplinary action if the report went sideways.

But they couldn’t completely shut out the information either.

A police official was cornered by reporters and released only the bare minimum of information before escaping.

"They say there were a lot of gunshots!"

"It was an incident where the police captured suspects armed with guns and knives all at once. No casualties."

"But several ambulances came and went!"

"All the injured are suspects. Now, please let me through!"

At first, it was reported that the SWAT team had handled the incident. Since information was scarce, and many armed SWAT officers were visible on the scene, that was the assumption.

4cats gave up on the hotel bar because of the underage twins. They soothed their disappointment with drinks at a café near the hotel and were heading home when they heard the news in the car.

The four immediately checked the breaking news on their smartphones.

Seo Sora sighed in relief.

"Whew. That’s the hotel we were just at. We almost got caught up in something huge."

Park Ha-yeon, one of the twins, said,

"Ah! I think I just saw Detective D!"

Yoon Nana quickly asked,

"Really? Where?"

"I think he walked behind the reporter just now!"

Park Da-yeon immediately chimed in,

"Right! I saw him too."

Yoon Nana asked,

"Are you sure you didn’t mistake him for someone else?"

"Definitely not. He was with that detective who said he was our fan back at the police station."

Seo Sora thought casually,

"Our oppa went there today to guard some doctor, remember? I guess when the incident broke out nearby, he went to take a look."

It was impossible for the police to keep controlling the information for long.

Speculative news came out, suggesting it had been an act of international terrorists. If a terrorist attack had actually occurred at a downtown hotel, it would have been a massive incident.

The police were still assessing the situation and had little information to release, but they shared some details with the reporters.

That information was posted on a community board the twins frequently visited.

- Turns out it wasn't terrorism but a complete takedown of an international industrial espionage group.

- Wow. At first, I seriously thought it was a terror attack. Scared me to death.

- But do industrial spies normally shoot guns and stuff?

- Probably because they were international-level industrial spies.

- I doubt they came here planning to shoot from the start. They probably fired back to avoid getting caught.

- Since they even fired guns, those guys are finished now.

Then a new post appeared.

- I was at that hotel. Ask me anything.

Immediately, questions poured in.

- Why did the industrial spies go to that hotel?

- There was an international academic conference held there today. Famous scientists attended too. I think they tried to make contact with one of them.

- Do you know who?

- I don't know that far, but it’s probably someone among the scientists who isn’t answering their phone. They're probably with the police right now.