The pursuit grew a little more intense.
A bullet fired from behind embedded itself into the glass, truly frightening me.
Brother Hanbin opened the window, aimed at the tires of the cars chasing us, and began to clear them out one by one.
What on earth was this madness in the middle of the night?
Firing guns like this in the middle of downtown Seoul is illegal, isn’t it?
Is it okay since it’s an emergency?
“How much longer do you think the car can hold out?”
Seeing the collisions and the gunfire, it seemed my brother intuitively sensed that Dad’s car wouldn’t last very long.
“I’ll hold out as long as possible. If we handle the cars trailing us first, we can throw them off somehow and figure out a plan afterward.”
Dad, whose expression was a stark contrast to when he first came to see us, answered through gritted teeth.
I felt like I should be doing something too, but I didn’t know what would be best.
It wasn’t like I could just hold out my hands to be captured and step out of the vehicle.
“Ah!”
As a car rammed us from the left, Hyunwook took a deep breath and aimed through a gap in the window at its tires.
Lacking the luxury of time to be meticulous, he just blindly fired a shot and hurriedly rolled the window back up.
“Nice shot, Hyung.”
Seojoo patted Hyunwook’s head, casting a warm gaze that felt entirely out of place given the situation.
Hyunwook’s face flushed red, and he used his arm to cover half his face as he sat on the opposite seat, keeping his eyes glued outside.
Right.
These two haven’t even had a proper chance to catch up yet, have they?
I felt incredibly sorry to both of them that the exact moment Seojoo’s memories returned had to be in a mess like this.
Thanks to the struggles of my brother and Hyunwook, we managed to throw off all the cars clinging to us after a short while.
However, the car was completely wrecked, and there was no telling how it would manage to keep moving.
I intensely racked my brain to find a solution.
Reaching a decision, I borrowed a cell phone from Seojoo and dialed a call somewhere.
I didn’t know if they would answer since the hour was so late, but at this point, this was the only person I could turn to for help.
We parked the car in a secluded spot on the outskirts of Seoul to catch our breath after losing our pursuers.
For the time being, we secured a bit of breathing room.
Dad and my brother were earnestly discussing the next step.
The next step… right.
That was the real issue.
What are we supposed to do?
We have to go somewhere, but we don’t have passports, identification cards, wallets, or anything at all.
And the biggest problem of all was Hyunwook and Seojoo.
The two of them currently have their own private lives and families.
No matter how precious our ties from a past life were, I couldn’t ask them to abandon their precious families here and come with me.
Yet, they had already been dragged into our mess, and if we were to just leave them behind, they would be forced to shoulder a terribly agonizing aftermath.
Finding no answer to any of this was truly driving me insane….
“Brother, a call is coming in from that number from earlier!”
At the sound of Seojoo calling me, I lifted myself from the seat to answer the phone.
I heard the welcoming voice I had been waiting for.
Soon after, the beams of car headlights flashed from behind us.
Instantly assuming a defensive posture, my brother checked me as I welcomed the vehicle.
“Brother, I’m the one who called them. It’s okay.”
“You called them? Who? Who could you possibly trust enough to call in a situation like this? We don’t even know who is pursuing you.”
My brother warned me in a low but firm tone.
Fully understanding his vigilance, I offered a faint smile and turned on the speakerphone.
- Your Highness! Your Highness! I’m here! Heesung is here! But it’s so dark that I can’t see anything!
“…Ah.”
A hollow laugh escaped Hyunwook’s mouth as he realized who had arrived.
Hyunwook turned on his cell phone flashlight, blinked it out the window a few times, and then stepped outside.
‘Found you! I’ll be right over!’
Seojoo, who had been quietly observing the behavior of Hyunwook and me, gave me a little nudge.
“Who is this person that you’re so soft with? Someone close?”
I stole a quick glance at Dad and my brother before whispering into Seojoo’s ear.
“Yeong Hwagung.”
“What? Wh-who?”
“It’s a long story. But for now, he’s absolutely on my side. He openly demanded that Joo Minhyuk hand me over to him.”
“Huh? Hand you over?”
Leaving behind a completely flabbergasted Seojoo, I stepped out of the car to greet Heesung.
The moment I got down, Dad, my brother, and Seojoo all stepped out with me.
As a massive car drew closer and closer to us, a familiar voice drifted over very quietly.
“Your Highness, it’s me.”
“I’m here. Thank you, Heesung.”
Given the gravity of the circumstances, we pushed our welcoming greetings aside and prepared to switch cars.
I called out to Dad, suggesting we gather only our necessary belongings and switch vehicles, and Dad, picking up on the situation, nodded his head.
Gratefully, without asking any other questions, he secured a few items from the car and immediately prepared for the vehicle swap.
“I don’t have my license yet, so my bodyguards drove me here. They are people you can trust. Since we brought a different car, Your Highness’s companions can take this vehicle, and these men can move over to that one.”
“…What do you mean by ‘these men’? Heesung, what about you?”
“I plan to follow Your Highness.”
Watching Han Heesung say so brightly that he would follow me, all of us were left utterly speechless.
I mean, it’s not like we’re going on a picnic right now.
Perhaps because he’s still young, he really doesn’t know how the world works.
“Uh? Get in! Hurry and get in!”
Suddenly, Han Heesung let out a frantic scream while shoving me into the car.
In the distance, several vehicles could be seen charging recklessly toward us as if threatening our safety.
“What is this! There’s no way we could have been tailed?”
“It’s not a tail; we’ve been discovered.”
Before we even had the chance to climb into the car, a pack of men ambushed us yet again.
Truly, the exact same exhausting situation was repeating itself. Looking at them, their numbers easily reached twenty.
I didn’t know who on earth had ordered my death, but I could tell for certain that whoever was pulling the strings possessed a vast amount of manpower and wealth.
That would explain how they could pull off such an audacious move.
“Take Han Heesung and get inside the car, Haejoo. You won’t be in danger.”
“What?”
“These people are brandishing weapons, but not a single one is attacking with a gun. Firing at the car earlier was solely to force it to stop.”
If it was a person trying to take me away without killing me, then as expected…
“Madness…. Surely it’s not actually His Majesty the Emperor, right?”
The very name I hadn’t dared to utter aloud spilled right out of Han Heesung’s mouth.
Had Joo Minhyuk really orchestrated this entire mess just to confine me?
If the target behind this had been my grandfather’s side, they wouldn’t have gone to such convoluted lengths; they would have just shot me dead on the spot.
Yet this attack was, by all accounts, far too tedious and required far too much manual effort.
Keep him alive, but it doesn’t matter if his body gets a little damaged.
In other words, live capture seemed to be the objective.
My brother offered no response to Heesung’s speculation.
He simply stared dead ahead, his face rendering it impossible to tell what he was thinking as he sharply monitored them.
“As I thought, His Majesty lacks the capacity to hold Your Highness. His vessel is far too small. If he hadn’t been so greedy and had just meekly handed you over when I asked for you, a situation like this would never have happened.”
Seojoo flinched in surprise at Heesung’s muttered monologue, delivered through gritted teeth.
Since Seojoo had read the entire novel, seeing the Yeong Hwagung—who had monopolized the Emperor’s favor—displaying this kind of side must have been quite a shock.
Just then, incomprehensible words spilled from my brother’s mouth.
His eyes remained narrowed, never losing sight of the enemies closing in on us from the front.
“That’s true too, but something is strange.”
The bastards advanced toward me and Brother Hanbin.
The exact moment Hyunwook, Seojoo, and Dad shoved Heesung and me into the vehicle and prepared to retaliate, a blindingly bright set of headlights flashed from behind the crowd.
Though it was too dark to see precisely, a substantial number of cars could be seen heading straight toward this location.
Damn it!
Again?
More of them have come?
What do we do? What should we do?
A terror so intense that my mind turned completely blank washed over me.
Being trapped in a helpless situation where I was forced to watch a swarming enemy without even knowing exactly who was targeting me felt utterly despairing.
“Cha Haejoo! Cha Haejoo!”
A familiar voice echoed from the very lead vehicle.
The voice calling out to me with such maddening desperation belonged to none other than Joo Minhyuk.
Huh?
“Cha Haejoo! Are you alright?”
Because the headlights were glaring so intensely, all of us turned our heads away.
The crowd surrounding us visibly panicked.
Stunned by the sight of Joo Minhyuk’s faction, they hesitated, and one bastard didn’t miss the opening to lunge at my brother.
While my brother certainly wasn’t one to be taken down, his vision seemed compromised by the glaring light, causing his body to stumble for a split second.
Seizing that exact moment, Han Heesung blindly hurled a rock right at the face of the man charging at my brother.
He immediately moved to steady my stumbling brother, but the blade the struck man had instinctively swung sliced right across Han Heesung’s cheek.
“Heesung!”
Witnessing that unfold right in front of me, I screamed in utter horror.
“Oh no, your face has been cut. There’s blood… we need to stop the bleeding quickly…!”
My brother was thrown into a complete panic.
Seeing an Omega shed blood while trying to help him caused his face to turn deathly pale.
He had maintained his absolute composure even when his own life hung in the balance, yet seeing a weaker existence get injured while assisting him seemed to terrify him completely.
“Ah, a little bit of blood like this is fine! It’s fine! Hurry up and get in the car! That’s not the issue right now! Uncle, if you’re going to drive, start the ignition quickly!”
Han Heesung frantically yanked my brother and Dad, shoving them into the car.
After striking the neck of the man who had slashed Heesung’s face to knock him unconscious, my brother pulled him into the car with them, while Seojoo climbed in alongside Hyunwook and me to shield us.
The faction Joo Minhyuk brought along launched an attack on the crowd surrounding us, and rather than fighting the Emperor’s men, the assailants chose to evade them and flee.
Yet Joo Minhyuk roared out an order to capture every single one of them without exception, sprinting toward our departing vehicle as he screamed.
Through the rear window of the car, I watched Joo Minhyuk as he chased after us.
“Haejoo! Don’t go! Cha Haejoo!”
What is this?
Joo Minhyuk is sprinting toward me with a face that looks as though he’s right on the verge of bursting into tears.
My heart feels so bizarre.
Why is it aching like this?
Joo Minhyuk grew more and more distant, and the space we left behind was absolute chaos.
Assailants resisting as they fled, and Joo Minhyuk’s armed soldiers attempting to apprehend them.
I have absolutely no idea what is going on or how things are turning out.
Yet even amidst the utter confusion, I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the fading silhouette of Joo Minhyuk.
