Chapter 24: The Cost of Restraint.

It was quite a long time ago now, but Seo Jin had been affiliated with the Allied Forces’ front-line combat unit for several years in the past. He had experienced many actual battles there, and unusual situations occasionally occurred.

For example, confronting not Encroachment species, but fellow humans.
That kind of thing also happened often.

The opponents were hostile forces of the Allied Forces.

In fact, since the Joint Government itself was an alliance that had been hastily formed around the major powers of the time, there were many forces that chose to survive alone rather than be incorporated into the system of their arch-enemies.

That was because the long-standing conflicts had been that deep.

Therefore, they hated their historical enemies as much as the monsters from another dimension, and some of the more radical factions engaged in hostile actions against the Allied Forces even during the war with the Encroachment.

Thanks to that, Seo Jin wasn’t too unfamiliar with it.
The situation where he might have to point a gun at a human, not an Encroachment species-

[“Target has entered the building. Sending photo.”]

The voice echoing in his ear woke Seo Jin up.

Soon, something was transmitted to the small PDA screen.

A middle-aged man captured from above. The man looked a little older than he did in the photo he had seen in the documents, but…. he was definitely the target he had been aiming for.

Jack Davidson.
A retired lieutenant colonel who had worked in the Allied Forces’ Operations Division.
A suspect who may have been involved in Arcel’s death.

He was entering this casino building.

It was Seo Jin’s time to move as well.

The elevator doors closed.
In the space where he was alone for a moment, Seo Jin needlessly straightened his clothes.
Because the suit he had worn for the first time in a long time felt awkward….

He had no choice but to dress according to the dress code. This casino was surprisingly quite a high-class facility, to the point where even a membership was required for entry.

Around that point, a slight question arose.

‘Does a retired soldier have enough money to frequent a place like this?’

He didn’t spend too much time pondering the answer.
He would be able to extract the truth somehow before long.

Ding-, the elevator stopped with a cheerful signal.

The doors slowly opened, and the scenery of the revealed main hall was an incredibly huge lobby.
Bright lights. Tables and roulette wheels stretched out endlessly. In a space filled with people immersed in their respective joys and sorrows, Seo Jin slowly moved his feet.

Additional guidance from Seril was transmitted from the communicator in his ear.

[“Looking at the external x-ray screen…. It seems like the target is sitting at a table somewhere on the north side of the 2nd floor. 9 o’clock in your direction. Yeah, you’ll see him if you go straight up that way.”]

Seo Jin moved according to her instructions.
The feel of the carpet under his shoes was quite luxurious.
He didn’t even have a clue how much money was being wagered per game that was taking place everywhere.

But that wasn’t what he needed to worry about now.

Seo Jin was only busy passing through each table, glancing at the faces of the people sitting around.

‘No, not here either….’

While wandering around the vast casino interior for a long time like that-,

he finally found him.
The familiar face of a middle-aged man sitting around a poker table at the end of the hallway. It was exactly as he had seen in the photo.

In an instant, a burning spark flared up in Seo Jin’s head.

Just the thought that he might be a human involved in Arcel’s death, just the fact that he had such a human in front of his eyes, instantly made his lips dry.

So, without realizing it, he almost reached out his hand first.

An urge swept over him to slam that face onto the pile of chips right away, put a gun to the back of his head, and demand that he tell him everything he knew.

But he barely endured it.

Even though his fingertips were trembling and his heart was pounding like crazy….

He just naturally passed by the seat next to where the target was sitting.

He barely… barely managed to pass by pretending not to know.

He felt all his energy drain away from just that.

Seo Jin collapsed and sat down at the nearby bar.

His breath was quite rough.
His tightly clenched fist trembled.

Perhaps he looked like someone who had lost a lot,
the bartender, who was wiping the glasses, didn’t say anything and only handed him a glass of cold water.

Thanks to that, Seo Jin was able to drink it and calm down a little.

He felt like the calmness he had maintained so far was evaporating in an instant.

Arcel was that kind of person to Seo Jin.

When it came to matters involving her, he could never control his own emotions. The most precious and most regrettable memory was like a reverse scale.

In the past, the two of them could do anything for each other.
It was the same now that one of them was gone.

Seo Jin had already prepared himself.
To endure any price in order to uncover the truth hidden in Arcel’s death. That’s why he had come to this place now.

“……Hoo.”

Only after taking a deep breath did Seo Jin regain his reason a little.
He couldn’t let himself be ruined by momentary emotions.
That’s why he forced himself to clench and unclench his trembling fist, and glanced at the target once more.
A middle-aged man wearing a gray suit.
It was definitely the ‘Jack Davidson’ he had confirmed in the photo before.

And the two guards who were accompanying him.
Both of them were quietly standing behind their employer, watching the betting.

They were probably ability users. Since they weren’t armed.

But it didn’t matter. He was confident that he could get rid of two mediocre ability users who couldn’t even belong to the management bureau in some way right away.

However, the location was the problem.

There were too many people’s attention here. To secure the target, he had to aim for a sparsely populated place, like a bathroom or parking lot, at least.
In fact, that was how it had been planned from the start.

But just now, Seo Jin had almost lost his reason momentarily.
When he faced the clue to the suspicions related to the death of the most precious person right in front of him…. he couldn’t be calm at all.

His heart was still racing.
It was an impatience that he couldn’t control with reason.
His trembling hand showed no signs of calming down at all.

So, Seo Jin ordered a drink from the bartender.

Because he wanted to somehow calm the heat of his swirling heart.

He casually chose a cocktail with an unfamiliar name and poured it straight down his throat. The bitter liquid flowed down his throat coldly.

Only then did his mind become a little more collected.

“Hooo…..”

Seo Jin organized his thoughts again.

The goal was clear.
When the target finished the game and moved, he would seize the opportunity to secure him.
Now it was his turn to wait and watch.

So Seo Jin raised his cocktail glass again.
It definitely helped.
Each time he swallowed the bitter alcohol, his emotions calmed down little by little.

But since he never intended to get drunk, he only wet his lips after drinking half of it.

From then on, it was a boring wait.

He didn’t know if it was because the target had a lot of money or if he was lucky, but… he didn’t leave his seat easily.

So, only aimless time continued to pass.

But at some point, he began to feel unfamiliar gazes.

The glances that were occasionally directed at him. Seo Jin tensed at that. Since his purpose here was his purpose, he quickly went back over the elements that could have gone wrong.

But no matter how he thought about it, there was no room for problems with him.
It was natural since he hadn’t done anything wrong yet.

The targeted man was still just focused on gambling.

‘Then what on earth-‘

What were these gazes?

Seo Jin lightly scanned his surroundings.

Even now, several gazes were reaching him.
Someone walking down the hallway slowed down and glanced at the bar he was sitting at. Or someone pretended to be watching the games nearby and naturally shifted their focus over.

“Are you here alone?”

It was a beautiful soprano tone.

Turning his head at the presence of someone sitting down next to him, a woman with her black hair elegantly tied up smiled with a twinkle in her eye.

She was probably in her mid-twenties. A beauty who looked good in a dress.

As Seo Jin remembered, she was one of the people who had been sending him glances from afar earlier.

She said.

“Is it okay if I sit next to you?”

“……What’s the matter?”

“You’ve been alone since a while ago, so I was wondering if you needed someone to talk to.”

The expression she made while staring at him was somehow familiar to Seo Jin.

After recalling the memories of the looks he had often received in the past, in the place where Arcel wasn’t, the women around him would needlessly start talking to him, or subtly make eye contact, Seo Jin belatedly realized.

That the gazes that had been directed at him had ‘that meaning’.

It was an unintended variable in many ways.

He should think that it was fortunate since things hadn’t gone wrong, for now?

Seo Jin just let out a deep sigh inwardly.

With her gaze still staring at him, the answer he had to give was decided anyway.

A polite rejection.
If he politely apologized first, most people would obediently give up around that point.

This woman was the same. She only stepped back while sending a few lingering glances as if she was disappointed.

But the real problem was that the following gazes weren’t just from her alone.

“I haven’t seen your face before, where are you from?”

“What are you thinking so hard about?”

“Oh my, you’re even more handsome up close.”

Was this the atmosphere here from the start? He thought it was a fairly strict membership facility, but he wasn’t sure. It was only perplexing to Seo Jin since he had come here for the first time as well.

It was still okay up to the point where he had to reject unnecessary attention several times.

But what was making Seo Jin the most troubled now was-

[“….Popular, huh?”]

It was the subtly cold voice flowing out from the communicator.

It was cold. He felt like he was getting the chills. To the point where he unconsciously rubbed the back of his neck….

What rescued him, who had frozen like ice, was the original target who stood up with good timing.

The man he had been monitoring until now finally stood up from the game table.

As soon as he spotted the back of him storming out of the place with a flushed face, perhaps because the results hadn’t been very good, Seo Jin also left that spot right away.

While chasing after the target, he just let out a sigh of relief without anyone knowing.

Seo Jin sat in the driver’s seat, closed the car door, and let out a low breath.

In the back seat, the middle-aged man who had been the target was lying unconscious.

The two guards were also in the trunk.
Each with a bullet hole in their forehead.

Handling things wasn’t as difficult as he had thought.
It was so easy that he even felt a little uneasy.

‘But….’

Either way, it was something he had already started.
Seo Jin was prepared to see it through to the end no matter what.

That’s why he turned on the car without delay.

Vroom-

Soon, the sedan, without even turning on the headlights, calmly left the night streets.