The CIA was already aware of the remnants of the international industrial espionage organization.

This organization had targeted Dr. Jeong Ki-hoon, a Korean-American and one of the key researchers of the Atlas Project. They kidnapped Jessica Jeong and used her as a hostage to threaten Jeong Ki-hoon in an attempt to extract information about the project.

That incident was resolved by Seo Jung-woo.

However, what the espionage organization demanded from Jeong Ki-hoon was the design blueprint for the attitude control module of the Atlas Project. The fact that they asked for a specific technology meant that there was a buyer who had requested it.

The CIA wanted to know who that buyer was. So, they planned to surveil and wiretap the remnants inside the building to track down the buyer.

But on the very morning they were about to launch the operation, the entire target building burned to the ground.

Michael Curtin was troubled.

‘Everyone in that place is dead. Several pieces of scrap metal that appear to be handguns were found among the debris, and many witnesses said they heard the sound of a fierce gunfight just before the fire.’

Opinions within the CIA were divided. One side believed another industrial espionage group had taken the opportunity to wipe out their rival. The other side believed the buyer had cut off loose ends.

However, James Curtin, the agent in charge of Korea, suspected Seo Jung-woo.

‘Seo Jung-woo single-handedly wiped out the main body of the industrial espionage organization that infiltrated Seoul. With his abilities, eliminating a few remnants would be a simple task.’

Still, he couldn’t report this suspicion to his superiors. After all, James was the one who had handed over the address of the building.

James picked up his phone.

‘I need to verify where Seo Jung-woo was at that time.’

Seo Jung-woo was a very well-known police officer. Even for the CIA, directly mobilizing the police to investigate him was difficult. There were people within the police who could pass information to James, but if that ever leaked, it would become a serious issue.

So he activated a different line.

One hour later, a planted source at a telecom company sent James the location tracking data of Seo Jung-woo’s phone.

James reviewed the data.

‘Gangwon Province? Deep in the mountains with no signal? So I can’t account for his whereabouts for 24 hours?’

Suspicion turned into certainty.

‘Twenty-four hours is more than enough time to go to Japan, do the job, and return. So it was Seo Jung-woo after all...’

“Hm?”

There was something odd about the time Seo Jung-woo’s phone reconnected to the network after coming down from the mountains.

‘Ten minutes after the incident broke out in Japan?’

He was flustered. There was no way to get from Japan to Gangwon Province in ten minutes.

“No. That doesn’t make sense.”

There was one possible explanation.

‘Did someone else carry Seo Jung-woo’s phone around? That would mean he’s not working alone.’

James Curtin stood up. He decided this matter needed to be verified in person.

James Curtin drove alone to a hotel in Gangwon Province.

He secured the hotel’s cooperation through a government official he had previously cultivated. The head of hotel security showed him the CCTV footage.

“I’m not sure what you’re looking for, but take your time here. I was told to let you check quietly and alone, so I’ll leave you to it.”

James started watching from the moment Seo Jung-woo left the hotel.

‘He definitely left the hotel the day before the incident.’

Ten minutes after the incident occurred, Seo Jung-woo was seen reentering the hotel.

‘He really did return. He didn’t leave his phone with someone else — he actually appeared here at that time.’

He kept watching the footage. Seo Jung-woo was shown speaking with a hotel staff member.

‘Unless this footage was tampered with.’

James located the employee in the video and asked if she had met Seo Jung-woo.

The staff member looked at James with a suspicious expression and answered.

“Detective Seo Jung-woo? Of course I met him then. Plenty of other people saw him too.”

“How do you know that man was Detective Seo Jung-woo?”

“Because I checked his ID when he checked in. But who are you to be asking about Detective Seo? You’re not even Korean. Oh—are you?”

The man was white, but his Korean was so fluent it was hard to be sure.

“It’s nothing reall—”

Seo Jung-woo spoke from behind James.

“He’s someone I know.”

James turned around in surprise.

“Gah!”

The staff member smiled brightly.

“Oh, I see! I was wondering.”

Seo Jung-woo handed over his room key.

“Thanks for the stay.”

“Please visit us again.”

She handed him a personal business card.

“If you call me directly, I’ll personally assist you.”

“Ah. Sure.”

Seo Jung-woo took the card and turned away.

James followed him to the parking lot, making excuses.

“Detective Seo Jung-woo. I didn’t expect to meet you here. What a coincidence. Hahaha.”

“Are you suspecting me because of the incident in Japan?”

“No, that’s not it. Sigh... But you wouldn’t believe me if I denied it.”

James’s eyes grew sharp.

“But how did you even know about that incident? It happened in Japan, not Korea.”

Seo Jung-woo pulled out his smartphone and showed him a foreign news article.

“It was in the news.”

“Why were you looking at that article?”

“I was searching that address. The person who gave me that address was a CIA agent named James Curtin. I don’t know his code name, though.”

He knows. During their joint operations in that world, he had confirmed James’s code name.

James Curtin raised both hands, palms open, and said:

“Got it. You're telling me to shut up. I just wanted to double-check. Since I’m the one who gave you the address.”

“Do you still suspect me?”

“Honestly, yes. At first, I thought you had left your phone here and gone to Japan. Then I wondered if maybe you sent someone else to take care of it.”

“If that were the case, there’d be no reason to deliberately come deep into the mountains for the weekend. If I were going to have someone else do it, I could’ve done that from Seoul. No need to turn off the phone, either.”

“Haha. True. Even I know that doesn’t make sense.”

“I just came here to rest. Lately, too many people have been calling me. So I went somewhere without signal and took a day off.”

“Whew. I understand now. I was being overly sensitive. I’m sorry.”

Seo Jung-woo got in his car and left the hotel parking lot.

James stood there, watching the car leave, then shook his head.

“I’ve done all I can. I’ll wash my hands of this. The Japan office can handle their own mess.”

The massacre of the remnants of the international industrial espionage organization in Japan was barely mentioned in Korean news. This was because the Japanese police couldn’t even identify who the deceased were.

On the other hand, the incident caused by the same espionage group in Seoul made major headlines in Korea.

However, even though the incident occurred in Korea, all the perpetrators were foreigners, and the victim was an American.

Jeong Ki-hoon may be Korean-American, but his nationality is definitely American. The technology that organization targeted was also American. Not even the nature of the technology had been revealed.

Reporters were losing their minds due to the lack of information to write about. Jeong Ki-hoon had gone back to the U.S., and Seo Jung-woo was unreachable.

Then a conspiracy theory made its way into the news. It claimed the government had foreseen the incident and deployed Seo Jung-woo as Dr. Jeong Ki-hoon's bodyguard in advance.

That article was also posted on a message board frequented by the twins.

Comments quickly piled up.

- Then our government’s intelligence capabilities must be insane.

- That’s not what the article is saying. It’s criticizing the government for not preventing an incident they supposedly anticipated, even though civilians could’ve gotten hurt.

- The reporter just wanted an excuse to bash the government, that’s all.

- I actually agree with the reporter. Why would a detective suddenly become a bodyguard?

A rebuttal followed immediately.

- Guess you didn’t see the official statement. What do you mean you agree? The government said it was a courtesy for Dr. Jeong Ki-hoon’s contributions. He specifically requested Seo Jung-woo.

Then came a comment with some new information.

- I thought that too, but turns out it’s a bit different. Jessica from the U.S. gave an interview today where she said she was the one who requested Seo Jung-woo. If you watch the interview video, she even makes a heart gesture toward him—totally looked like a love confession.

After seeing that post, the twins spoke.

“Looks like Jessica’s totally fallen under Detective D’s spell.”

“All the good genes must’ve gone to Detective D.”

Seo Sora protested.

“What do you mean all the genes! Then what about me?”

Park Ha-yeon said,

“Unnie, um… hang on, let me see if you got anything at all.”

“You little—why you!”

“Your personality! The savage gene clearly went to you!”

“Shut up!”

Seo Sora grumbled,

“Now Oppa’s going international or something. He nearly got into a scandal with Lee Seon-hwa before, and now it’s Jessica? How did this guy suddenly get so popular… Nana? Nana, relax your eyes. You’re scaring me.”

Yoon Nana asked Seo Sora,

“Sora, was D Oppa always popular?”

“It’s not like he wasn’t. He was athletic, and he’s a civil servant cop. But as far as I know, he never dated anyone. He was always into weird stuff. Girls would throw themselves at him and then leave when they didn’t get a reaction.”

“Ah, so you just have to endure, huh?”

“Why would you interpret it like that?!”

Dr. Jeong Ki-hoon was troubled.

“How did Seo Jung-woo identify the flaw in that theory in such a short time?”

The Atlas Project still had numerous unresolved issues. Among them were problems considered major roadblocks.

“I still don’t understand how he did it. But if he really is a genius, he could be a huge help to the Atlas Project.”

He shook his head in frustration.

“But the U.S. government would never let a foreigner take part in the project—unless it were a true emergency.”

Lemon Flower’s Yoon Mi-so and Choi Soo-ah visited ES Entertainment.

Yoon Nana clapped her hands with joy.

“Oh my gosh, unnies! So you’re signing with our company? Wow! That’s great!”

Yoon Mi-so said,

“Wind Planning just used us. They made a ton of money thanks to us.”

Choi Soo-ah nodded.

“Yeah. There was a really great song for us before, but they gave it to another group instead.”

“We were treated so badly. As long as one condition is met, we’re moving to ES Entertainment.”

Choi Soo-ah wagged her finger.

“No, two conditions.”

“Ah, right. We also want a formal introduction to Detective Seo Jung-woo.”

Upon hearing that, Yoon Nana abruptly changed her tone.

‘Why is D Oppa coming up now?’

“Unnies, this company is actually really bad. It’s about to go under. The CEO’s awful too. You should go to a better agency.”

“But signing here is the only way we can meet Dimension.”

“Then definitely don’t sign!”

Wind Planning is a fairly well-known mid-tier entertainment agency. Its CEO, Choi Sun-myung, slammed his fist on the table.

“That bastard Oh Dong-cheol’s trying to pick a fight with me?”

There was less than a week left before Lemon Flower’s contract with Wind Planning would expire.

Though their popularity had declined and they weren’t getting any new endorsements, Lemon Flower was still doing well at local festivals. As long as they were still profitable, Choi Sun-myung had no intention of letting them go.

But Lemon Flower had no intention of renewing their contract either.

Choi Sun-myung had started by trying to persuade them, but later sent Director Jo Ki-hyeok and three thugs from the Dobujang faction to intimidate them. But they got caught by Seo Jung-woo, and only Jo Ki-hyeok ended up getting beaten and chased off.

Jo Ki-hyeok still doesn’t know the one who chased him off was Seo Jung-woo.

“Are you sure Lemon Flower’s been in contact with ES Entertainment?”

Jo Ki-hyeok reported,

“Yes. I had others probe them, and that’s what they said.”

“Why ES Entertainment, of all places? There are so many bigger ones.”

“Word is that ES’s CEO, Oh Dong-cheol, has a good reputation.”

“You punk! Then what, I’m the bad guy now?”

“That’s what Lemon Flower thinks. Of course, sir, you have charisma.”

“And? That’s not all, right?”

“They’re also hoping that if they join ES Entertainment, they’ll be able to get Dimension’s songs. They think their popularity declined because the songs weren’t good.”

Lemon Flower has the skills to do justice to a good song, but not enough to elevate it beyond what it already is. Yet the songs they’ve received over the past two years have been painfully average.

“Shit. That’s why I wanted to crush ES Entertainment. But now Dimension’s in the way. Why the hell does that bastard only give songs to ES?”

“It’s not just the songs. He’s practically outsourcing all his work to them.”

“Then if ES Entertainment goes under, Lemon Flower won’t have anywhere to go either, right?”

“Huh? Go under? But 4cats is blowing up, so I don’t think they will.”

Choi Sun-myung exploded with rage.

“Exactly! If 4cats goes down, ES Entertainment goes down, and so does Oh Dong-cheol!”

“Well, that’s true.”

“Let’s launch an attack.”

“Sir?”

“We need to engineer a scandal.”

“Should we spread a dating rumor?”

“Is this my first time in the business? They’re too popular—no one’s going to care if they’re dating. It has to be a scandal that completely destroys them socially. If 4cats collapses, ES Entertainment will have to shut down that very day.”