Rookie Talent Agent Knows It All-Chapter 695: Eun-Gi (2)
The moment Kang Eun-Gi stepped out of the Southern Detention Center gates under the guards' protection, a released inmate wearing a black cap who was walking out with him pulled a knife from his bag and swung it toward Kang Eun-Gi's carotid artery.
At that moment, I shouted urgently, "Head down!!"
The instant Kang Eun-Gi heard my urgent voice, he reflexively ducked his head forward and rolled across the ground.
Whoosh~
Kang Eun-Gi barely avoided the knife swung by the man in the black cap, but there was still little distance between them.
As Kang Eun-Gi tried to get up from the ground, I ran toward him and shouted again. "Run!!"
Without looking back, Kang Eun-Gi started sprinting forward. Having missed his strike, The black-capped ex-conregained his balance and chased after Kang Eun-Gi. However, his fast footwork closed the gap between them little by little.
Since it all happened right after the guards went back inside the prison, I was the closest person to them. So I gritted my teeth and ran even harder toward Kang Eun-Gi.
At that moment, the black-capped man had caught up enough to be within striking distance.
In a split-second crisis, I shouted to Kang Eun-Gi again. "To the side!!"
Kang Eun-Gi started running diagonally. The man's face, hidden behind Kang Eun-Gi, was now in view. In that instant, I hurled the phone in my right hand straight at his face.
Smack!
My phone struck him squarely.
"Urgh."
The black-capped man faltered mid-swing, clutching the spot where the phone had hit. In that brief moment, I dashed past Kang Eun-Gi and got right in front of him. At the same time, I drove an uppercut into his jaw.
Thud.
His body, hit squarely on the chin, lifted into the air. As he flew backward, the knife slipped from his right hand.
Clang.
Only then could I stop running.
"Huff, huff, huff..."
I had burned through all my strength in those few seconds, and cold sweat ran down my back. However, without time to relax, I pulled off his black cap and checked his condition.
"He's alive..."
I had held back with superhuman restraint, but I was still worried I might have used more force than I intended. Fortunately, he was breathing fine. Letting out a sigh of relief, I collapsed onto the ground.
At that moment, Choi Yung-Ho and Lee Soo-Chan rushed over with eyes wide.
"Eun-Gi hyung-nim! Are you okay?" Lee Soo-Chan asked.
Kang Eun-Gi nodded. "Yeah. I'm fine. Just a small scrape."
Choi Yung-Ho first checked Kang Eun-Gi's condition. "That's a relief."
Kang Eun-Gi gave Choi Yung-Ho a silent bow of thanks. After dusting off his clothes, Kang Eun-Gi muttered to himself, "How is it I've faced more brushes with death after going straight than when I was in the gang?"
Once he was done dusting himself off, Kang Eun-Gi came over to me. But as soon as he got close, he suddenly burst out in anger. "Hey, Jung Yoon-Ho. What if you'd gotten hurt... huh? What then?!"
"I didn't get hurt, did I?"
"Still! Next time, just—!"
I understood Kang Eun-Gi's frustration, but if he were in the same situation, he would have done exactly what I did.
I smirked and asked back. "If I were in danger, would you just stand by and watch?"
"Are you crazy? I'd run in and save you right away—"
"See?"
Kang Eun-Gi pulled a conflicted expression as if he had nothing more to say. "Damn it... fine, I'll give you that. But that guy looks out of it now, so we can relax, right?"
"Yeah."
When Kang Eun-Gi held out his hand to me, I grabbed it and stood up.
"You okay?"
"I'm fine. You?"
Hiding his scraped hand behind his back, Kang Eun-Gi replied, "Me too."
After checking in with each other again, we turned our attention to the unconscious man. He looked to be in his mid-thirties with sharp features and a wiry, muscular build. Judging from his unhesitant knife work, he was a professional hitman. This type rarely gave up any information even if they spoke.
Still, I left him in the care of Choi Yung-Ho just in case. Only then did the prison guards come running out from inside and blew their whistles belatedly.
Fweeeeet!
***
When the guards restrained the man in the black cap, he finally came to his senses.
"Are you out of your mind? You just got released and this is what you do?! Who sent you?"
The guard barked at him, but the man stayed professional, keeping his mouth shut and even closing his eyes. Choi Yung-Ho tried persuasion and threats, but the man refused to say a single word.
Soon after, the vice president of Daheung Savings Bank, who handled Reverse Entertainment's legal affairs, arrived in the parking lot.
Choi Yung-Ho had told the vice president that Kang Eun-Gi was the representative of an important investment partner who would be responsible for the bank's future profits. This was to keep Kang Eun-Gi's identity as Choi Eun-Tae's son as hidden as possible.
Perhaps because of that, the vice president started protesting to the guards the moment he got out of the car. "How sloppy was the body search that you let someone walk out of here with a knife?!"
Choi Yung-Ho chimed in with a scowl. "At this point, it's obvious someone inside was working with him. I'll leak this to the news and have all of you here stripped of your positions!"
"N-no, it's not like that..."
"Uh... well..."
The guards were practically begging for leniency, promising full cooperation.
Watching the scene, Kang Eun-Gi asked me, "By the way, Yoon-Ho... how did everyone know to show up so fast when the release time suddenly changed?"
"I had a bad feeling last night. So I went to see Mr. Choi Eun-Tae and told him we should get there quickly. He hurriedly sent people over."
Unlike Choi Eun-Tae, Kang Eun-Gi believed me when I said I had a good sense for danger. After all, his mother had been a shaman.
"Damn... no wonder. If you hadn't come... I'd have been celebrating my release one second and dead the next."
"Exactly. So you should be nicer to Mr. Chairman."
Kang Eun-Gi didn't reply. Yet knowing his personality, if he disliked something, he would say so immediately. This was the first time he stayed silent, which meant he was grateful even if he didn't say it out loud.
Not wanting to show that, Kang Eun-Gi quickly changed the subject and pointed at my phone. "More importantly, Yoon-Ho, is your phone okay?"
"No. It's not okay."
When I had thrown it at the black-capped man earlier, most of the screen had shattered. Only the upper part still displayed anything. The rest was black and unresponsive to touch.
Kang Eun-Gi said, "I'll buy you the most expensive one. They fold now, right?"
"No. I like the one I had."
"Why? If you're replacing it, you might as well get the best."
"It's too heavy."
For a talent agent who had to run around 24/7, anything heavier than a Galactica Note 20 was cumbersome to carry.
"Alright. Then I'll get you that one."
Either way, having replaced my phone before, I knew Everyday would still work fine even if I switched devices. So I wasn't too worried.
Just then, Choi Yung-Ho came over after finishing his talk with the guards. The vice president stayed behind with a senior guard, while the rest led the man in the black cap back inside.
When Choi Yung-Ho reached us, he said, "Leave that man to us. We'll get to the bottom of it."
I answered in Kang Eun-Gi's place since he stayed silent. "Thank you."
Knowing Kang Eun-Gi's relationship with Choi Eun-Tae, Choi Yung-Ho didn't scold him. However, when he noticed the grim faces of the Reverse Entertainment people and his own men, he tried to lighten the mood with a joke aimed at me.
"By the way... Chief Jung, try not to throw punches around so easily."
"Sorry?"
"From what I saw, your fists are basically deadly weapons. How do you knock someone out like that in a single hit?"
"I hit him lightly... very lightly."
The guys around us started clicking their tongues in disbelief.
"Wow... he says that was light..."
"If he hit hard, the guy'd be dead..."
"He knocked a man into the air and called that light..."
Everyone joined in, saying, "That's Jung Yoon-Ho for you."
Then, my phone buzzed with notification.
Buzz~
Since the top four centimeters of my screen still worked, I could at least see the notification from Everyday.
[Alert: Fortune of the Day has been updated.]
'Updated?'
I opened the planner to check the fortune, but saw something unexpected.
[Everyday V12.2]
[Date: March 1, 2021]
[Fortune of the Day: A great danger ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■]
The most important part was right in the section of the display that was completely dead, so I couldn't read it.
'A great danger what? What about it?!'
I couldn't tell if it meant the danger had passed or if it was still ahead. I tried scrolling, rotating the display, anything—but there was no way to see the missing text. After a brief debate, I decided to bet on the danger still being ahead. It didn't seem likely that the attempt on Kang Eun-Gi's life would end with just this.
For a moment I considered borrowing a phone, installing Everyday, and checking. Yet transferring the data would take too long, so I dropped the idea. I accepted that the situation was still dangerous and decided to head straight to our first destination, which was Reverse Entertainment.
"Mr. Choi, let's get to Reverse Entertainment right away."
Choi Yung-Ho nodded. "Alright. Then from there, will we switch cars and head to Myeongdong?"
"No. Let's decide that once we arrive."
It felt like I couldn't make the next move until the fortune cleared.
"Alright, we'll do that," Choi Yung-Ho agreed. "But we'll take my car. It's the safest since it's bulletproof."
Choi Yung-Ho's car was a rear-wheel-drive Merciless S-Class with armored protection. There was an even higher-grade Pushman Guard, but he'd been in too much of a hurry to bring it. Though slightly less protective, this one had better mobility.
"Understood. But I'll be driving."
His secretary offered to drive, but it was better if I took the wheel in an emergency. I had been into speed racing before the regression, so my driving skills would be sharper than the secretary's in a situation like this.
Choi Yung-Ho looked at his secretary and nodded. The secretary handed me the keys. I slid into the driver's seat with Choi Yung-Ho in the passenger seat. The secretary and Kang Eun-Gi sat in the back. This was partly to give Kang Eun-Gi some space, and partly so the secretary could keep an eye out and relay instructions.
I warned, "Alright, seatbelts on. I'll be going as fast as I can."
The time was 4:44 a.m. We needed to get out of here as fast as possible.
***
As soon as we got away from the detention center, Kang Eun-Gi asked from the back seat, "Yoon-Ho, why are you in such a hurry?"
"I'm just feeling uneasy."
Choi Yung-Ho looked puzzled too. "What's there to be uneasy about? It's all over—"
But before Choi Yung-Ho could finish, something I had been worried about happened.
Screeeech!
The moment we left the detention center road, two cars pulled in behind us. Moments later, two more came out from the next side street and joined in. There were four in total following us..
So my instincts had been right—caution was necessary.
I immediately barked, "Mr. Choi, tell the security teams to gather at Sayuksin Park. We'll catch them all there and find out who's behind this."
The skinny pro-assassin type like the one who attacked Kang Eun-Gi earlier usually kept their mouth shut. However, the gangster-looking guys in the rearview mirror were more likely to talk.
Choi Yung-Ho quickly nodded and began calling around. Kang Eun-Gi also called Lee Soo-Chan. The Reverse Entertainment guys were already on their way toward the detention center to provide security. Through the speaker, we got confirmation that Choi Eun-Tae's security detail and the Reverse Entertainment crew would all meet at Sayuksin Park.
I pressed the accelerator again.
Vrooom~
The four cars behind matched my sudden speed burst and chased hard. They probably thought they were driving us into a trap, but they had it backward. We were the ones luring the fish into the net.
'I'll show you how real hunting is done.'
***
Screech.
I pulled sharply into the parking lot at Sayuksin Park in Noryangjin. It was 5:15 a.m., still dark and completely deserted.
Screeecchh!
The four black sedans tailing us boxed our car in. A moment later, their doors opened and masked men stepped out. Some were holding baseball bats, while others had sashimi knives. There were twelve of them in total.
Our guys and Choi Yung-Ho's people weren't here yet. Lee Soo-Chan had said he would wait with others at a nearby intersection before coming in.
'We need to hold out for just a little...'
Then I got an idea. "Mr. Choi. This car's rear-wheel drive, right?"
"Yes. Why?"
"Just a second, please."
With that, I used a skill called burnout. Burnout happened when engine power exceeded tire grip, making the wheels spin in place while spewing smoke. I pressed the brake and feathered the accelerator, which made the tires scream.
Screeeechhh!
The car shook as the wheels spun in place, thick white smoke with a pungent smell billowing from the rear tires. The aggressive scene made the armed thugs panic and step back.
"Back up!"
"This lunatic's gonna ram us?!"
"H-hey! Move! Move!"
They retreated toward their own cars, but then a hard-faced man in his mid-forties barked orders. "Everyone get in the car! We'll ram them and drag 'em out! Get moving!"
Just then, I heard another engine sound.
Vroooom!
Our reinforcements have finally arrived. Cars carrying our boys and Choi Yung-Hot's security detail came into view.
'We're good now.'
More cars came in one by one, eleven in total, sealing off every escape route.
'Yeah. This is how you hunt.'
Only then did I shut off the engine and stepped out. If they refused to name their backers, I was ready to bury them right next to the martyrs of Sayuksin. Still, I planned to try talking first.
I was a pacifist, after all.
