Dohyun couldn't risk bringing Soo-min and Seo-yeon back to the mountain bunker yet. The journey was too long, and he needed the vital intelligence the Scout held. Instead, he led the wounded, terrified women through the labyrinth of the high-rise commercial district, finding a secure, heavily-barricaded basement loading dock—a cold, damp, concrete cocoon far from the chaos.
Seo-yeon, her hand wrapped clumsily in Dohyun's handkerchief, was slumped against a stack of discarded pallets, glaring daggers. Soo-min, though still fearful, had recovered her medical composure.
"Soo-min, get the Medkit," Dohyun ordered, his voice echoing in the gloom. "That hand is shattered. Fix it. Now."
Soo-min stared at him. "Fix her? She—she tried to lure us into a collapse! She's a hostile!"
"She is an asset. And she's the only one who can tell me where Hyuk-jin is consolidating his power," Dohyun countered, his voice sharp. "Her mobility is critical. Her loyalty is irrelevant. Fix the asset."
The cold, clinical logic in his words chilled Soo-min more than the sight of the dead. She nodded stiffly, accepting the grim necessity, and opened the Grade A Medkit.
The Surgical Silence
The ensuing hour was an intense, bizarre spectacle of competence. Soo-min, despite her trembling hands, operated with quiet professionalism, using the advanced tools of the System-provided kit. She cleaned, set the bone fragments, and stitched the grievous wound with surgical precision.
Dohyun watched, not for moral reasons, but for tactical ones. Her skill was undeniable.
Seo-yeon, surprisingly, didn't scream. She bit down on a piece of packing tape, her eyes locked on Dohyun. The pain was immense, but she was a survivor.
As Soo-min finished applying a thick, stabilizing cast, Dohyun knelt, bringing his face close to Seo-yeon's. His Perception 17 was running a constant scan of her psychological state—fear, pain, and, most importantly, calculation.
"You're fixed," Dohyun said simply. "Now, the price. Hyuk-jin's HQ. Where is he?"
Seo-yeon hesitated, catching her breath. "Why should I tell you? You hate us all. You'll just kill him, then kill me."
"I saved you twice. Once from the infected, once from the fall," Dohyun reminded her, his voice low. "And you know I have the bunker. You have a choice: My fortress, or Hyuk-jin's firing squad. He won't forgive you for running. Tell me the HQ, and you get a temporary pardon and a bed."
Seo-yeon's survival instinct won. "The Aurora Club," she whispered, wincing. "It's an abandoned high-end nightclub downtown, near the river. Three levels of basement, reinforced concrete. Perfect for a siege. They've been stocking it for weeks."
Dohyun's mind immediately cross-referenced the information. The club card! The card he'd taken from the subdued thugs. The System had given him the confirmation, and Seo-yeon had given him the address.
"Major Intelligence Gained: Hostile Leader HQ Identified. Tactical Map updated. XP Reward: +300 XP. Current XP: 550/2000."
Planning the Blitz
The Aurora Club was a terrible target: multiple entry points, fortified, and likely swarming with Hyuk-jin's armed gang members. Dohyun knew a frontal assault was suicide.
He brought up the Tactical Map (visible only to him) and focused on the club. He needed a weakness.
"Soo-min, your medical gear. Seo-yeon, your eyes," Dohyun commanded, pointing his pistol to the main air duct above their heads. "Seo-yeon, describe the Club's ventilation and sewage. How would they secure it? Soo-min, how many hours until that cast is stable enough to allow travel?"
The two women, one a former professional, the other a former student, instantly fell into their roles. Seo-yeon, driven by the desire to earn her pardon, started meticulously describing the club's hidden entrances and maintenance tunnels—her skills as a scout proving immediately invaluable.
"There's an old liquor delivery tunnel under the floorboards of the main stage, access only through the basement boiler room," Seo-yeon rasped. "It's their main resupply line. Probably their weak point."
"The cast needs twelve hours to fully set," Soo-min declared, her voice clinical. "But with the medkit's painkillers, she can travel in six. That injury will compromise her agility severely."
Dohyun nodded, his plan forming. He didn't have twelve hours. The chaos would escalate, and Hyuk-jin would realize his men were missing.
"Six hours. We rest until then," Dohyun decided. "We hit the Aurora Club tonight."
He knew what he needed to do next. He had to hit Hyuk-jin where he was strongest, but he couldn't do it alone. He needed the brute strength of Jae-wan, the Tank. Jae-wan's sheer physical power was the only thing capable of clearing the armored resistance inside the Club's basement.
Dohyun looked at the sleeping pill bottle in the Medkit. He made a silent decision: Security before trust.
He poured three pills into his hand. "Take this, Seo-yeon. You need to sleep and let your bone set."
Seo-yeon swallowed the pills instantly, too exhausted to argue. Dohyun watched her eyes grow heavy. He then turned to Soo-min, offering her the remaining pill.
"You too," he ordered. "I need you fully rested for the final leg. I'll take the first watch."
As the women succumbed to the forced rest, Dohyun sat alone in the dim loading dock. He opened the System Store and searched for an item that would give him the necessary edge against a tank like Jae-wan.