Shinhae got off the kindergarten bus with a bright expression . She then looked around .

  “Shinhae . ”


  When she heard a familiar voice, Shinhae ran toward the speaker .

  “Unni!”


  Jiyoon had her arms wide open, and Shinhae jumped into her arms . A warm sensation and the fragrant smell of Jiyoon greeted Shinhae .

  “Where’s dad?”


  Shinhae’s head swiveled to look for Sungyoon . Shinhae really liked Jiyoon, but Jiyoon couldn’t be compared to her father .

  “Your dad had some work, and he won’t be able to look after you today . ”


  “Again?”


  Recently, Sungyoon rarely picked up Shinhae . The little girl’s cheeks puffed up with displeasure . Jiyoon let out a bitter laugh and stroked Shinhae’s head .

  “You dad is really busy right now . You understand that, right?”


  “Ooh . ”


  Even though Shinhae was in a very bad mood, Jiyoon had spoken in a gentle manner, so the little girl couldn’t refute her words .

  Shinhae nodded with a pout .

  “You’re such a good girl . In return, let’s ask your dad to buy us something delicious!”


  “Tonkatsu! I like tonkatsu with cheese in it!”


  “Ok! Unni will make sure to call him!”


  “Wah-ah!”


  As if she had never been in a bad mood, Shinhae raised her hands into the air . Jiyoon laughed at the sight . Shinhae was always so cute, and Jiyoon thought that if she had a daughter in the future, she wanted one like Shinhae .

  ‘Daughter? What am I thinking?’


  Jiyoon became embarrassed for no reason as she tightly held onto the small hand of Shinhae . They headed toward Sungyoon’s house .

  “Hmm?”


  Jiyoon came to a stop . She had just walked down this road to pick up Shinhae, and nothing had been there . However, a road-under-construction sign had appeared when she returned now .

  “Unni! Construction!”


  “Yes . I guess they are working on the road . ”


  Left with no other choice, Jiyoon decided to go the roundabout way . She turned away from the large road and chose a side street with low traffic .

  Sssk!

  Was it just her feeling? Jiyoon felt as if someone was following her . On the other hand, Shinhae was in a good mood as she hummed to herself .

  At that moment, two men were tailing Jiyoon and Shinhae . Their heads were covered with hats, and they had worn sunglasses and masks to hide their faces . These two men quietly followed Shinhae and Jiyoon from the back . They kept checking their surroundings as they waited for people to clear out from the side street . When their targets were the only ones in the side street, the men moved into action . Circulating their magical energy, the men were about to increase their speed to catch up to their targets .

  However, they weren’t the only ones waiting for the side street to clear out .

  “What business do you have with my daughter and the temp worker of my company?”


  Flinch!

  The men reflexively turned around when they heard the voice . However, they didn’t even have the opportunity to do anything . Powerful hands gripped both of them and dragged them toward a nearby alleyway .

  “Huh?”


  Jiyoon turned her head around . She thought she had heard something .

  “What’s wrong, Unni?”


  “No . It’s nothing . Unni must have misheard . ”


  Jiyoon started walking down the street with Shinhae once again .

  ***

  Tahk!

  The vice grip on their necks was loosened, and the two men moved far away from their ambusher . Sungyoon appeared in their sights . He had his arms crossed, and his face held a harsh expression . The faces of the two men became distorted .

  “You guys moved pretty quickly . ”


  Sungyoon opened his mouth, and the displeasure in his voice was apparent .

  “Wh-what do you mean?”


  One of the men asked in a trembling voice .

  “Yo-you are Mr . Woo Sungyoon? You are the hero of London! The Knight . Why are you attacking us?”


  “Do you plan on playing innocent until the end?”


  “P-playing innocent? You must be mistaken . We were just walking down this road!”


  The second man started coming up with an excuse too . The two made a desperate bid to convince Sungyoon that they were normal people being mistaken for attackers, and they did sound convincing .

  However, Sungyoon didn’t budge an inch .

  “Then why do you have Devices and Gems?”


  The men’s eyes headed toward their wrists . Their bracelet type Devices were peeking out of their sleeves . It seemed their sleeves were pulled up when Sungyoon had grabbed their necks .

  Despair appeared on their faces . However, it only lasted for a moment, and their faces turned cold .

  “Shit! I never expected to be caught so easily . ”


  “For real . It seems this bastard was waiting for us . ”


  “This might be preferable . I didn’t like the plan where we had to kidnap his kid to kill him . ”


  “I feel the same way . ”


  After a short amount of time, weapons appeared in their hands . Their activation speed was very quick, and it surprised Sungyoon .

  “You might be the great Knight, but we’re plenty strong . ”


  “This is a two-on-one fight . We don’t need to call the others to handle him . Honestly, the client who hired us is being too cowardly . ”


  The two talked to each other to psych themselves up as Sungyoon concentrated on the words ‘others’ and ‘client’ . The two of them had carelessly given away numerous information to him . He glared at them with a cold expression .

  “Let me ask you this . Did Lee Jaeho send you guys?”


  “Who knows? If you want answers . . . ”


  “Find it out through strength!”


  Hoo-oong!

  The two men moved like the wind as their swords were swung toward Sungyoon . These sharp sword strikes could cut through steel plates, and they were coming at Sungyoon’s neck .

  Cheng! Cheng!

  However, an ax and a hammer appeared in Sungyoon’s hands and blocked the swords .

  “I’ll give you a warning . I’m in a very bad mood . ”


  It felt as if magical energy would explode from Sungyoon’s body . That very energy overflowed in his Devices and Gems . Sungyoon used his absurd strength to push back the swords .

  The attackers’ eyes turned round . They had held their swords with both hands, so they didn’t expect to be pushed back by Sungyoon, who was using one hand to push each of them .

  “I’m just annoyed that you bastards dared to aim for my daughter . ”


  Ggee-gee-gee-geek!

  With a clang, the ax and hammer ground against the edge of the swords .

  “I did this for Shinhae, but you made me use my daughter as bait!”


  Boom! Boom!

  The swords were sent backward as the ax and hammer hit the ground . The cement road cracked, and rocks flew into the surrounding .

  “Ooh-ook!”


  “Koo-oohk!”


  The two men barely avoided losing their grip on their swords . They slowly edged backward . The skin on their hands had split open, and blood dripped down the handle of their swords .

  “Oooooooh!”


  In just one clash, they had experienced the overwhelming power difference between Sungyoon and them; they could feel it in their bones .

  They had been drunk on the power that they had acquired, so they had looked down on Sungyoon . They had even taunted him . However, they had soon realized that the Knight wasn’t someone they could deal with .

  The understanding of why the client had said to kidnap the little girl hit them . However, it was too late as Sungyoon approached them like death incarnate .

  “Shit! Run!”


  The two of them quickly turned around and ran as Sungyoon chased after them like a starved beast .

  ***

  Jaeho stood in an abandoned warehouse situated in a deserted location . The warehouse was dirty and smelly, and Jaeho felt as if he were seeing a representation of himself .

  “I’m sure it went well, right?”


  The person next to him answered the question . He was a striking individual with bulky muscles .

  “They contacted me saying they are going to carry out the plan . If things went well, they should be coming back right now . ”


  “It went well . Of course, it went well . ”


  Jaeho bit his fingernail in anxiousness as he spoke . It was a habit that he had developed in his childhood . Hooyoung’s strict teachings had beaten that habit out of him, and it never bothered him when he was an adult . However, the habit came back when he had lost everything .

  “Why do we need to kidnap his daughter? There are five of us . We can take care of him . ”


  “You guys can defeat Woo Sungyoon?”


  Jaeho suspiciously looked at the man . The muscular man pounded on his chest .

  “I believe the five of us would have been enough! We are powerful!”


  “.…… I guess so . You’re powerful enough to activate your Gems on Earth . ”


  Jaeho didn’t know much about Connectors, so the man’s words sounded plausible to him . The hooded man had provided him with five talented Connectors, and it made Jaeho wonder the hooded man’s identity . However, he pressed down on his curiosity .

  ‘There’s nothing to be gained by having that knowledge . ’


  He just wanted his revenge .

  “Shouldn’t they be here by now?”


  A tall man leaning against the corner of the warehouse asked .

  The muscular man also checked his watch .

  “Yes . If they were successful, they should be arriving by now . ”


  It happened at that moment .

  Clank!

  The door to the warehouse violently opened .

  “Leader!”


  “Oh . You succee . . . ”


  The muscular man didn’t finish his sentence .

  The two men who had gone out to kidnap Woo Shinhae limped through the open door . Their bodies were a bloody mess .

  “What! What the hell happened?”


  The four in the warehouse, including Jaeho, were all stunned . It was clear something had gone really wrong . As if to prove that idea . . .

  “B-behind us!”


  It was like a horror movie where the main characters were being chased by a ghost . The injured men desperately spoke up .

  “So this is where the rats were holed up . ”


  A newcomer entered the warehouse .

  “Oooh-ahhhhhk!”


  “Oooooh!”


  The injured men quickly retreated . Forgetting about the injuries all over their body, the two scrambled across the ground to distance themselves from the newcomer . However, Sungyoon ignored them and looked around the warehouse . He saw three men that possessed items that looked like Devices, then he found another person .

  “As expected, it was you . ”


  Sungyoon’s frigid gaze landed on him . Sungyoon regretted meeting this person the most in his lifetime . At one time, he had believed Jaeho to be his friend, but he was a sworn enemy now, and their relationship was irreparably damaged .

  “Lee Jaeho . ”


  Sungyoon called out his detestable name .

  “H-how!”


  Jaeho had planned on calling Sungyoon here, but he was going to do it after the men had kidnapped Shinhae . He would have called Sungyoon after pulling out all of his teeth . The situation happening right now wasn’t part of the plan .

  “This bastard knew we were coming!”


  One of the injured men shouted .

  “I knew you would aim for Shinhae when cornered . It was easy to predict your move . Armstrong wanted me to come back quickly, but I ignored their requests . I stayed near Shinhae . If I’m being honest, I never wanted this day to come . ”


  Sungyoon’s eyes flashed in a terrifying manner .

  “However, everything changed when you threatened Shinhae’s safety . If you had quietly let go of the technology and stayed in your home, I would have let you live . However, you went too far . Do you think I’ll let anyone threaten Shinhae!”


  Sungyoon roared like a fierce beast announcing its presence .

  Lee Jaeho had operated amongst experienced political and business figures, but he couldn’t withstand Sungyoon’s glare and shout . His life had never been threatened this way before .

  “K-Kill him! Kill that bastard!”


  He yelled out in panic . When the Connectors saw their client pointing at Sungyoon and yelling orders, they glanced at each other . The two who Sungyoon had injured had been healed by their comrades .

  However, all five of them looked nervous now .

  They had initially thought their combined power could easily defeat Sungyoon . However, the chance of Sungyoon being stronger than all of them became a possibility in their mind when they had seen their two comrades’ pitiful state .

  However, the milk had been spilled already . Even if they asked for forgiveness, Sungyoon would never forgive them . That was obvious .

  “Tsk! Let’s do this! There are five of us! We’ll figure something out!”


  The muscular Connector—who was the leader—spoke in a forceful manner . The other Connectors nodded .

  “Oooohahhhhhh!”


  The one to attack first was one of the two Connectors whom Sungyoon had beaten . He raised his sword and shouted to erase the fear he felt . The other four connectors fanned out . It seemed their boast of being able to kill Sungyoon wasn’t an idle boast . Their co-operation was impressive, as they used their numbers to their advantage .

  “Hoo-ahhhhht!”


  As if he was heartened by his trustworthy comrades, the man swung his sword with confidence . Sungyoon watched him with a deadpan expression .

  Boom!

  Puh-suhk!

  A loud sound was followed by an explosion .

  The four Connectors had moved to support the Connector who had decided to lead the attack, but they all came to a stop .

  Poo-ook!

  The sword went flying and pierced the ground . Cracks had appeared all over the sword, and the sword had become unusable . However, that didn’t matter . The owner of the sword would never be able to take up his sword again .

  Tuhl-suhk!

  The headless body of the Connector flopped to the ground .

  Sungyoon shook the hammer coated with blood and flesh and mumbled .

  “I don’t need you to guide me anymore . ”