Vows and Bullets
Chapter 115: A Friend or a Foe?

Chapter 115: A Friend or a Foe?

My hands started to tremble as all kinds of speculation ran in my head.

’What if that Mr. Seo-Hyuk was a member of Kraken?’

’What if he was a part of that setup, and he’s only acting to be closer to Yoon-Ah, and gain her trust, but in the end, he was just gathering information, waiting for a moment to strike back?’

’Or what if he was a spy sent by them to observe Yoon-Ah and her family? And maybe, my mother, too!’

’Or if he’s not involved with Kraken, what if he’s a psycho who—I don’t know—somehow, Yoon-Ah might have attracted and is now following her?’

’What if he’s not innocent at all?’

’Or maybe... something else?’

’Yoon-Ah... she will be in danger again because of me! Noooo... not her! Not her family! Not my mother! No one from any people I love! Please! I can’t bear it if anything happens to them.’

Before I knew it, tears were already falling from my eyes. I only noticed it when Eun-Woo caressed my face and wiped my tears.

"Ye-Ji’ya," Eun-Woo called me gently and disturbed me from my thoughts. Holding my hand, he said, "Whatever you’re thinking, stop it and calm down for a moment."

I looked him in the eye, and he gestured his other hand to breathe in and breath out. I tried doing as he said. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.

"As agents, we are prone to think of all kinds of worst-case scenarios and be pessimistic," Eun-Woo continued, "but that isn’t always the case. First of all, I have my people guarding Yoon-Ah and her family, especially your mother. They are few of the best of the best amongst my people, so I can guarantee you that they will be safe."

"R-Right..."

"And if that’s not enough, remember that Mythos is also still watching that man—Mr. Seo-Hyuk since he could still be a possible accomplice or suspect. As part of Mythos protocols, anyone within the scene of a crime is a possible suspect and should be monitored until they are 100% clear of all possible charges. You know how they work—especially the Intelligence Department. They won’t stop monitoring someone even if there’s only 1% possibility of them being the culprit."

"Yeah," I replied, nodding my head. "That’s right... Mythos is still monitoring him."

"Uhm. And we haven’t received any bad news from them or any negative updates. My people report to me twice or thrice a day, and they haven’t reported anything amiss as well. So don’t worry too much. I believe they’re all doing fine."

"Y-Yes..."

Slowly, reason came back to me. Whenever it involves my loved ones, I truly just can’t... I lose it and fast. Eun-Woo was right. Maybe I was just being pessimistic about everything.

"That guy," Eun-Woo continued, "maybe he’s originally from a rich family, and he’s only trying to be independent by living on his own. This tea is a luxury tea and quite expensive, really, but it shouldn’t be that impossible for people to buy."

"Really?"

"Yeah, especially if he’s a tea lover," Eun-Woo added. "Remember Yoon-Ah’s drawing? He was drinking tea at that time. She drew the cup with a matcha tea beside him, and he was in a coffee shop."

"Now that you mention it, I do remember."

"Right? He could have ordered coffee, but he ordered tea instead, so that means that was his preference. If I remember correctly, Yoon-Ah’s neighborhood doesn’t have a tea shop within proximity, thus, probably why he comes to their store to buy tea. And since he’s a tea lover, he probably wouldn’t mind spending a lot on tea leaves, right? Or he could just be a rich but humble person."

At last, my breathing was back to normal, and reasoning was back in my head.

"Eun-Woo’ya, since Mythos is watching him, that means they already did a background check on him, right?"

"Yeah. You can check his files as well. We can request it with Mythos since she’s part of your important people list."

Just as he said, I quickly sent a request to our base using our highly secured "Pandora" app on our Mythos phones, asking for all the information they could give me about Mr. Seo-Hyuk. Just a few minutes after I sent the message, I already got a reply, and all the files I asked for were sent to me in a secured folder. I then mirrored the files to my tablet and checked them all one by one.

Eun-Woo sat on the desk beside me and checked the files with me. Soon enough, we were done checking, and we didn’t find anything suspicious about his documents.

Mr. Seo-Hyuk was a normal civilian, and just as Eun-Woo speculated—he was indeed from a well-off family, though not an Elite-level kind of richness. He did like tea since we also had records of places he went to, things he bought, hobbies, people he met on a daily basis, and even his past records.

There were also details about his family—they were from a long generation of tea entrepreneurs and owned one of the most renowned tea houses in Korea. However, Mr. Seo-Hyuk didn’t like the idea of taking over their business and would like to explore more in his life, thus the reason for his separation from home. Still, his family was looking forward for him to come back since he was the eldest child, and next to him was his sister, who was into arts instead of tea.

There were also other data about him but the more I read, the more I was convinced that he truly was just a normal person. But then again... it was TOO normal... wasn’t it? Or was my instinct wrong, and I’m just prejudiced against him?

After checking all the files, I stared at all the pictures of Mr. Seo-Hyuk. I wanted to familiarize myself with him so that, just in case anything happened, I knew who I would be chasing and what he looked like.

However, the more I stared at his picture, the more I wondered...

"Eun-Woo’ya, would you say Mr. Seo-Hyuk looks handsome?" I asked him, curious about something.

"HUH?!" Eun-Woo grimaced. "You just confessed that you liked me, and now you’re cheating on me? And you have the guts to tell that to my face!"

Pissed off, I hit his head with my fist.

"Be serious for a moment, please. I’m asking a serious question here."

Eun-Woo scowled at me.

"If you’re gonna ask me, NO! He’s NOT handsome. I’m the only handsome person in the world, you got that? And you’re all MINE! You’re not allowed to look at other men. Let’s stop checking this nonsense file and go to sleep. You, bad wife, needs to be punished."

"Ughhh..." I groaned and shook my head. "The reason I’m asking is because Yoon-Ah said Mr. Seo-Hyuk was a handsome man—too handsome that she decided to ask him if she could draw him, remember?"

Still scowling at me, Eun-Woo answered, "Yeah. So what?"

"What I mean is—these pictures of him—he doesn’t look THAT handsome to me. He’s a bit of a looker, yes, but not striking enough."

"Hah! Of course, he’s not. He’s just average looking," Eun-Woo replied, clicking his tongue and rolling his eyes.

Seriously, just a few more of this, and I’m gonna lash out at him.

"I know Yoon-Ah’s taste," I continued. "Her standard in men is really high, you know. Even some of the most famous celebrities and idols can’t easily meet her standard. So when she says someone is really handsome, that means that man is extremely handsome. For example... you. When she first met you, she told you how handsome you are, right?"

Haaaah... I had to say that last line for him to stop looking at me like an angry beast. If looks could kill, his gaze already killed me. Ugh. Such a headache.

As soon as I said those words, Eun-Woo’s face lit up.

"Ha-ha! Of course! I am that handsome," Eun-Woo finally smiled. "So what you mean is... this guy might not be the Mr. Seo-Hyuk she met?"

"Exactly! Now, you’re getting my point."

"I already got it since earlier. I’m just teasing you and waiting for you to say how handsome I am."

"What the—Are you really pissing me off? I’m very serious here, and all you do is—"

"Shhh..." Eun-Woo hushed my mouth with his forefinger.

He stared at the pictures again as if he was carefully observing or looking for something. I kept quiet as he wanted. I noticed he was indeed more observant than me and his memory is more flawless than mine, so maybe he remembered some details I missed out on.

Haaah... If only Yoon-Ah’s drawings weren’t as fictional or webtoonish, then I could easily tell if it was the same person or not. Alas, it wasn’t. And worse, that man values his privacy, so he wouldn’t agree to take a picture with her.

Given that fact, our last option was to show these pictures to Yoon-Ah and ask if he was the same person. But then, she might get worried unnecessarily. She would be curious why I was asking such things, and it could lead to a whole lot of scenarios. Plus, these were data from Mythos, and we’re not allowed to share them in public. I could try to ask permission, but it’s not a guarantee that I would be allowed to. There were a lot of things to consider when it came to these matters.

While I was busy thinking about all those things, at last, Eun-Woo finished observing and finally spoke.

"This man... is missing something."