The night sky wept a light drizzle. The city that never slept began to reveal its darker side — narrow alleys full of secrets, old buildings whispering stories of the past, and people who lived between the lines of law and chaos.
Min stood in front of a small mirror in his dark room. His face was serious, calm — like the surface of a still lake. In front of him was a large corkboard filled with maps, familiar faces, and notes connected with red string.
He stared long at one particular photo — the face of an old man with a white beard and a deep scar on his cheek. Underneath it, the name read: Choi Dae-Gun.
Min took a deep breath and sat down. His hand reached under the dojo floorboards, retrieving an old file. Inside were handwritten notes, sketches of mysterious symbols, and black-and-white photos from the past.
"The game has begun again…" he whispered softly.
Elsewhere, Jung Kok stepped into his father's house. The building was silent. No guards. No voices. Only the echo of his footsteps down a long marble hallway.
He found Hwang in the backyard garden, sitting on a stone bench while gazing at a calm koi pond.
"You came with a burdened face," Hwang said quietly without turning.
Jung Kok was silent for a moment.
"I just want to ask… how did you know who our real enemies are in this world?"
Hwang chuckled lightly. "Enemies don't always strike. Sometimes, they sit right beside you, waiting for the right moment to push you into the abyss."
Jung Kok turned, eyes sharp. "My brother?"
Hwang looked at him for the first time. The old man's eyes no longer had their youthful sharpness, but they still held the power of a legend.
"Jung Joon is a test. But he's not the only enemy in this story."
Silence.
Hwang stood up and walked past his son, giving his shoulder a light pat.
"If you want to lead, don't just use your heart. Learn to see with the eyes of a king."
That night, in a building disguised as an abandoned warehouse, Rina met Jung Joon.
"That place isn't guarded properly. The neutral gang is just sitting on it. If we take control, we own the underground weapons route," Rina said confidently.
Jung Joon paused.
"You want me to invade a zone no one's touched for years?"
Rina gently touched his arm. "Do you want the throne or not? They all need to know who should be feared."
The next morning, the usually busy underground wholesale market turned into a battlefield.
A small explosion erupted, followed by screams from civilians. Several masked men entered and started wreaking havoc. Vendors fled for their lives, goods scattered across the floor. Within minutes, the place turned chaotic.
Jung Kok and Min arrived not long after.
"Make sure no civilians get killed," Jung Kok ordered, watching from the rooftop of a nearby building.
Min nodded, slipping into the shadows like a ghost.
The battle began. Jung Kok neutralized several attackers using precise martial arts — not killing, just enough to incapacitate.
Min, like a phantom, emerged behind two masked men and silently took them down.
Suddenly, Jung Kok spotted a familiar figure — Jung Joon, standing at the end of an alley, observing from afar.
They didn't speak.
Just stared — eye to eye, filled with fire.
Then Jung Joon turned and walked away, leaving the chaos behind.
After the dust settled, Min and Jung Kok scouted the area. In one crumbling corner, they found a symbol drawn in red paint — a circle with three horizontal lines through the center, resembling an open eye.
Min froze.
"This symbol…" he said softly.
Jung Kok looked at him. "You know something?"
Min shook his head. "Not sure. But I've seen it before. Long ago, in your father's old documents."
Jung Kok touched the symbol gently. "Something bigger is going on…"
Elsewhere, in a dark room filled with screens and wires, someone was watching CCTV footage from the market. Every move — Min, Jung Kok, even Jung Joon — was recorded and observed.
The man sat in the shadows, his face hidden. Only his deep voice could be heard.
"They've all begun to move. Time is almost up…"
One of the screens displayed the red eye symbol — the same one found on the market wall.