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“Their vehicle is still parked in Seongsu-dong,” Seong Hyeon announced.
Min Kyu nodded. “Okay. Send me the location, and I could have a team meet us there.” He turned to Seong Woo. “With your permission, sir?”
Seong Woo nodded. “Absolutely. Whatever it takes.”
Min Kyu nodded again, pulling out his phone as he turned away. “Everyone with me,” he called out as he jogged off and put his phone to his ear.
Seong Hyeon didn’t wait for Jason’s okay to go with Min Kyu.
“You heard the man,” Seong Woo said to Jason before following after them.
Jason hurried to catch up to Seong Woo. “How big is your security team, exactly?”
“That depends on what we need.”
Jason frowned. “How much security do you need?”
Seong Woo chuckled. “It’s not all for me. There’s Yoo Mi, of course. And we provide security for our clients, too. Like we did with you before you poached two of my best men.”
Min Kyu waited for everyone at the elevator to the underground parking garage. He hung up his phone just before the elevator opened, stepped inside, and held the doors for the other three.
“My primary team is headed out now, sir. And I have the secondary team on standby.”
Seong Woo nodded. “Perfect.” He turned to Jason. “Everything’s gonna be fine.”
Jason gritted his teeth as he nodded. He usually would’ve blown off that sort of bland reassurance. But things were different with Tae Hyun involved. Jason could think of a hundred different ways his lover might be in trouble. And the more Jason considered the possibilities, the more his worry turned to fear. “And if it’s not?”
Seong Hyeon angrily grunted. “Then I’ll raise hell on anyone who gets in my way.”
Jason snorted. If anything happened to Tae Hyun, it would be Jason who raised hell.
Because Seong Min had driven Tae Hyun in their truck, Jason and Seong Hyeon had ridden to the meeting with Seong Woo and Min Kyu in one of Seong Woo’s tanks. Jason and Seong Woo climbed into the back of the monstrous SUV while the two security men got in front, with Min Kyu at the wheel.
Once they were out of the garage and onto the streets of Yeouido Island, they were met with the sprawling mass of Seoul’s evening rush hour traffic. But Min Kyu drove the truck like a sports car, somehow finding open lanes and maneuvering into them with clearances that made even Jason turn away. But watching the road was the only thing distracting Jason from his anxiety, anger, and fear. So his mind filled with scenario after scenario, each more troubling than the last, of all the ways Tae Hyun could be in danger. And most of those scenarios featured a certain evil entertainment empire.
“It has to be KBR,” Jason suddenly announced.
Seong Woo shook his head. “We don’t even know what’s happened to them yet. Let’s not go assuming anything until–”
“They got to him once.” Jason’s sharp, firm tone surprised even him. “They could do it again.”
Seong Woo shook his head again. “We still don’t know if that was them.”
“Oh, come on.” Jason scoffed. “They’ve been waging a PR campaign against us since Tae Hyun came out. Who else could it be?”
“I know.” Seong Woo put a hand on Jason’s arm. “I do your PR, remember? And we still don’t know what’s happened. Until then, let’s not jump to any conclusions.”
Jason huffed and pressed himself into his seat, silently willing the traffic to disappear. Then, he caught a glimpse of Seong Hyeon’s reflection in the rearview mirror. Seong Hyeon made mirrored eye contact with Jason and offered him a single nod. He thought Jason was right. But Seong Woo was also right. They didn’t actually know if anything had happened yet, let alone what that might be. So there was nothing to do but wait. He couldn’t even call Naomi since it was probably the middle of the night in LA. Not that Naomi could do anything, either. Nobody could do anything other than what they were already doing. And Jason was stuck relying on a group of people who’d already let him down in the most spectacular ways to help him deal with the situation. He wanted to scream and pound his fists into the back of Min Kyu’s seat. But he settled for not quite watching as Min Kyu weaved the tank through impossibly small gaps in the traffic and listened to the muffled scream of the truck’s special tires on the pavement to drown out the voices in his head.
What would’ve probably been a twenty-minute drive with no traffic took a half-hour, even with Min Kyu’s racetrack driving. But they eventually found Jason’s rented SUV parked on the street. Another of Seong Woo’s tanks was parked beside it, blocking traffic with its hazard lights flashing. Since they were approaching from the opposite direction, Min Kyu made a quick U-turn, cutting off both lanes of traffic, and pulled to a stop behind the other tank. Four men dressed in variations of Min Kyu’s black suit, white shirt, and black tie stood guard around Jason’s SUV as they waited for their boss to arrive.
Min Kyu left his truck running but turned on the flashers before jumping out and approaching his team. Seong Hyeon was hot on his heels. But Jason climbed across the rear seats to use Seong Woo’s door so he didn’t have to step out into traffic. Jason and Seong Woo anxiously hung back while the two security chiefs conferred with Min Kyu’s team. Then Seong Hyeon produced a set of keys, unlocked Jason’s rented truck, and made a quick but thorough search for any clues to Tae Hyun’s whereabouts. Jason began to fidget when he found nothing.
“Just let them work,” Seong Woo said. “If there’s anything here to be found, they’ll find it.”
Jason huffed. “I know. I just feel so fucking useless right now.” Then he scanned the scene and noticed the coffee shop on the ground level of the designer’s building. “Let’s go ask in there.” He grabbed Seong Woo’s shoulder. “Maybe they saw something.”
Seong Woo nodded while Jason pulled out his phone. He scrolled through his pics of Tae Hyun, including one he’d recently taken of the angelic, sleeping idol until he found one he could share with strangers. But it was unnecessary.
