—Huh...

A strange reaction crackled through the earpiece. While everyone’s gaze remained fixed on the screen, a thick smog began to spread across the stage.

It resembled the dry ice effect used during a singer’s performance... The way it blended seamlessly with the video made the timing almost look intentional.

But—

The man pressed his in-ear mic.

“This is A-4. Was the smog part of the original plan?”

His heartbeat began to pick up, little by little. A strange sensation crept over him, and he clenched his fists tightly, then loosened them.

—No. That wasn’t in the brief.

The moment the reply came through, the Commander onstage suddenly stumbled. Then, covering his nose and mouth with his sleeve, he frantically waved both arms in the air.

“――!”

Sensing something was wrong, the security agents stationed nearby rushed onto the stage. The man’s bloodshot eyes and the drool spilling from his mouth made it clear—this was no ordinary incident. All of it happened in just a matter of seconds.

The young security agent’s knees instinctively twitched, but he remained in his designated position. His blood had run cold, but he still thought—maybe it was just a minor mishap.

That is, until the stinging hit his entire face.

“Urgh...!”

It felt like a knife stabbing into his eyes and nose. Just a breath of the smoke had seared his bronchial tubes like they were on fire.

This wasn’t just dry ice. It was a gas that burned like an ember at the slightest touch to the skin. The acrid hiss that accompanied it—there was no mistaking it.

The murmurs starting from the crowd soon exploded into chaos. People were coughing violently, and those with sharper instincts scrambled to cover their faces—specifically their eyes and noses.

The security agent’s eyes locked onto the dry ice machine placed beneath the stage. Cough, cough! He covered his nose with his palm and opened his mouth, but every breath scraped his throat raw. Anyone who’d served in the military would recognize that gas instantly.

As the dense gas spread quickly through the heaters, people finally began to scream. Under the protection of the guards, the Cyber Operations Commander grabbed the mic.

“Ghh...! It’s tear gas! Evacuate the premises—now!”

Chairs were kicked over with loud bangs as attendees jumped up and dashed for the exits. Everything happened at once—the hall descended into complete disorder.

—What the fuck—who the hell poured tear gas into the dry ice machine?!

A furious voice shouted through the earpiece. Judging by how hoarse it sounded, they’d been hit by the gas too.

—Seal off Final Hall and evacuate every single person inside!

Immediately, the other security agents flung open the doors and began escorting attendees out. Then riiiing—the blaring emergency manual alarm wrapped around the entire 5th floor like a whip.

The young security agent bit his tongue as he watched the crowd. He could barely keep his eyes open—his eyeballs stung so badly it was like they were being peeled—but even with tears streaming down his cheeks, he kept scanning the area.

Most of the guests were professors from the top universities in the country. Even the Deputy Director of the NIS was here.

They were fucked. Well and truly fucked. The emergency bell rattled through his skull and churned his insides.

“What are you waiting for?! Get the Commander out of here—now!”

That sharp, commanding voice rang out toward the stage. It was Ju Seolheon—the First Deputy Director. Her voice made the young security agent’s steps quicken.

“A-4, I’ll proceed with Alpha first as per protocol...!”

Alpha was the shorthand codename for the First Deputy Director. The Commander, meanwhile, was already being escorted down from the stage, completely surrounded by Blast Corp guards. The young agent headed toward the Deputy Director.

“Ma’am...! From here on out, I’ll be—”

Suddenly, his arm was grabbed roughly. Reflexively, he jerked away and raised a knife-hand strike, but whoever intercepted it did so effortlessly, speaking in an even, unshaken voice.

“I’ll escort the Deputy Director. You need to join the evacuation squad. We’re short on personnel.”

“......!”

...Why is someone from the Special Security Team here?

Even in the middle of a full-blown emergency, that thought flickered across his stunned mind.

The woman who had appeared out of nowhere was even wearing a disposable gas mask. It was a polyurethane hood—an emergency fire escape mask with a transparent field of vision.

Han Seoryeong quickly slipped the gas mask over the Deputy Director’s face, who was still coughing and had her eyes tightly shut.

“R-Right. Got it.”

The man nodded without thinking. She wasn’t just some random agent—within the company, Han Seoryeong was already well known.

Whether she was training in uniform, sweating through drills, with her hair down or tied up—there were always murmurs and gawking men who couldn’t take their eyes off her.

“Ma’am, this is one of our new hires. Please follow her. You’re in good hands!”

The gas thickened. Without turning back, the man rushed toward the remaining crowd. Those hit by the tear gas were pouring bottled water over their eyes and skin.

He hoisted older attendees over his back and carried them out of Final Hall. And the last thing he saw before disappearing into the smoke—

Was Recruit Han Seoryeong, disappearing into the distance with the Deputy Director in tow.

“...Why that way...”

He frowned, puzzled. But even the area outside Final Hall was now clouded in smoke of an unknown origin.

It wasn’t the same acrid sting of tear gas. Rather, it felt like—

Yes, it had the hazy, vision-blurring quality of a smoke grenade. Colorless. Odorless. Likely meant to obscure.

The hallways were filled with people slumped to the ground. Crowds had formed around the elevators, bodies pressing against one another in every direction.

Chaos.

Radio chatter buzzed continuously in the earpiece, but hardly anyone seemed to have a grasp of the situation. It was complete bedlam.

Was the Cyber Operations Commander really the intended target? Most of the security detail had swarmed around him—so if there was a threat to his life, it was probably averted for now.

Still, the shrill, pounding emergency bell and the smoke clouding his vision rattled his brain to the core.

As he ushered the remaining guests out, pale-faced, his eyes ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) kept darting around—searching for the woman who had vanished into the fog.

She’ll be fine... They say she’s surprisingly tough.

He exhaled a heavy breath.

***

Just stealing her away wasn’t enough. It was far too soon to feel at ease. Seoryeong’s pulse thundered in her ears, her mouth dry as if adrenaline had taken over.

Was it because she had finally made her wish a reality? Or because she had committed a crime? Probably both. The hope that she might now be getting closer to Kim Hyeon swelled sweetly in her chest.

Seoryeong supported the staggering Ju Seolheon and led her swiftly out of Final Hall.

She didn’t head toward the area where the other attendees were being gathered, but turned down a different corridor—toward the wedding hall located on the same floor. A route completely opposite the evacuation team.

“Ghh... Hahh...”

When the Deputy Director tried to remove her emergency gas mask, Seoryeong stopped her.

“Just keep it on, just in case.”

The older woman still couldn’t open her eyes. She wept silently, like a broken faucet.

Seoryeong kept her arm tightly around the woman’s shoulders, guiding her with care—but the tips of her fingernails were turning white from how tightly she gripped.

Beyond the bride’s waiting room—where there were no CCTVs—there was a set of emergency stairs leading directly to the basement.

“This must be the emergency stairwell?”

The raspy voice buzzed faintly beneath the mask. Seoryeong swung the door open with effort and responded.

“Yes. These lead straight down to the basement. It’s not open to regular guests. Even the facilities team only lets a few people know about it.”

“Then why the hell didn’t they evacuate everyone this way?”

“It would’ve been too chaotic.”

“......!”

“It’s fine. No one’s going to die. Most of the attendees are men—they’ve all inhaled worse during military service. And I didn’t mix the gas that strongly anyway.”

“......”

Their footsteps echoed in rhythm down the stairs.

The Deputy Director had fallen silent—but Seoryeong didn’t mind. This stairwell led exclusively to the second basement level. There were no exits along the way.

Glancing at her smartwatch to check the time, Seoryeong began to tug the increasingly sluggish woman along like an ox dragging a cart. Ju Seolheon ripped off her mask with a gasp.

“Haa... Haa...”

She looked a mess, but the deep breaths she drew seemed almost refreshing. And just as she managed to crack her eyelids open, Seoryeong suddenly leaned in.

“Do your eyes hurt a lot?”

“......!”

Ju Seolheon’s lips trembled—as if she had just come face to face with something unreal. Seoryeong, too, pulled off her gas mask and ran a hand through her sweat-dampened hair.

“I’m surprised. You’re smaller than I thought.”

That uncanny smile made the Deputy Director wipe her face with her palm.

Bang—!

A loud noise suddenly shook the stairwell handrail. Seoryeong narrowed her eyes and looked up toward the upper floor.

This wasn’t in the plan...

Someone was coming down—fast. Judging by the sound, it was just one person. Probably manageable. Seoryeong tightened her elbow around the Deputy Director’s neck and dragged her down with no mercy.

Thud, thud!

The approaching footsteps were rough and heavy, skipping two or three stairs at a time. The once-docile Ju Seolheon wiped her face again, and now—her voice, calm again, let out a faint, amused chuckle.

“I never trusted Blast Corp alone.”

And finally, the person came into view.

Wearing a baseball cap and a backpack, he looked like nothing more than a college student at a glance.

Seoryeong tapped her smartwatch, sending a coded signal—“delay arrival”—to Lee Wooshin, who was somewhere in the hotel.

If it hadn’t been for him infiltrating the site in advance and handling the prep, she never would have gotten this far.

Stepping on the swell of that emotion for now, she pulled out her collapsible baton and flicked it open toward the approaching figure. If this guy was working with Ju Seolheon...

“――.”

Her eyes twitched violently at the familiar face. Her brows lifted sharply, like she’d been punched in the skull.

“...Dong Jiwoo?”