FIVE

With moderate speed Aiden ran his car through the quiet streets of Seoul. After cruising about thirty minutes from his secluded house, he finally arrived in downtown Seoul to meet president Moon. He had to immediately ask the man's next plan after he managed to save Calistha from the masked people who broke into her house last night. But if he think about it, last night was a pretty gruesome assault. Before accepting this mission he never thought that he would infiltrate the middle of a war that was going on at Jacob's house. Moreover, last night he really did not use any weapons. He was only limited to watching Calistha from a distance, and after seeing Calistha began to tremble with fear, he immediately dragged the woman out of her chaotic house after he managed to sedate Calistha with his concoction drugs. It was a great first experience. His adrenaline pumped fast to carry out the next task from President Moon.

Arriving at President Moon's private house, Aiden immediately took out his identification card to show the two doormen. It seemed really troublesome because he had to deal with two chatty people who seemed to have been suspicious of him ever since.

“I am the current captain of the presidential guard force.”

"Is that true? Has president Moon fired Kang JinHyung?”

Aiden didn't want to be in front of the security post any longer. As soon as the black door opened, Aiden stomped on the gas pedal hard enough to produce a thin smoke that managed to make the two guards cough. Seeing that, Aiden smiled with satisfaction from his rearview mirror and immediately took his car to the parking lot that had been provided.

"You have been awaited by Mr. Moon in his study."

Aiden nodded slightly at the middle-aged man, and immediately followed his broad steps that would lead him to President Moon's room.

“Hello Aiden, how are you feeling right now?”

“You seem to have guessed that I would come soon after what happened yesterday. Was that one of your plans? Killing Jacob and his men?” guessed Aiden with a grin on his face. President Moon seemed to smile calmly in front of him while shaking his head slowly.

"No. You're wrong if you think it's me. I don't want his death at all because Jacob is one of my business colleagues. Family business, you must know that I'm not just president. But before this Jacob told me that one day there will definitely be people who mess in his house. So I deliberately hired you to protect his daughter. Is his daughter safe with you?”

"Yes, she is safe. Without the slightest injury or defect. Since she woke up from her stupor she kept crying while calling her father's name. Has Jacob really never told his daughter about his black life?”

President Moon shook his head slowly in response. He then signaled Aiden to sit on one of the cream colored sofas in his room because he was going to tell Aiden a short story.

“Even though he is a mafia, he loves his daughter very much. He didn't want his daughter to know about his black life and all the cruel things that happened in that world. For years he hid it from Calistha and he tried to set up his legal business so that one day he can live a normal life with his daughter in peace. But you know if the black world is cruel, it won't let anyone out of there that easily.”

Seeing Aiden listening intently to his story, he then continued, “That's what Jacob's been going through lately. When he wanted to leave the black world, many people opposed him. Moreover, he holds many dirty secrets belonging to important people. If Jacob came out, then they would all be in danger.

"Two months ago he started receiving terrible terrors from his rivals or from people who wanted to bring him down, I don't know either. Many things happened to him until he had serious injuries to his legs due to a car accident that occurred beyond reason. But he never told his daughter. He deliberately kept Calistha away from Seoul so that his daughter could live in peace abroad.

“But in the end he gave up and chose to bring Calistha here. He wanted to tell his daughter all the secrets he had been keeping. But from what you've said, it looks like Jacob hasn't managed to do that yet. It was likely that there were insiders working for Jacob's enemies, so he took action before all the secrets were exposed. Will you be able to protect his daughter properly and search for the precious treasure that Jacob left for his daughter? Here, everything you need is right here.”

Suddenly President Moon gave Aiden a black box full of strange engravings. With a furrowed brow the man stroked the rough surface of the black box while swaying the black box for a moment before finally giving it to Aiden.

"Give this to Calistha, Jacob told me to give this to Calistha after he died."

"What's in it?" asked Aiden curiously. He doesn't want to take dangerous risks with things that President Moon ordered without clarity like yesterday.

"I don’t know. Jacob didn't tell me. But if he were to prepare this box for his daughter, there must be something valuable in it. If you want to know, then you should give it to his daughter immediately.” President Moon replied calmly.

Aiden frowned in surprise at the black box, but in the end he took the box with him, staring intently at President Moon's face.

"What should I do after this?"

“Look for treasures that have been the target of greedy people out there. Moments ago his lawyer had just been killed by people who were suspected to be the same attacker that happened at Jacob's house, but they did not get anything from the lawyer. Currently the mastermind behind the attack is looking for his daughter to find the assets that have been owned by Jacob so far."

"What about the house?" asked Aiden as he fiddled with the black box in his hand. He twirled it once with his hand while guessing the contents of the mysterious black box in his hand.

“There's nothing in there, just a little money and useless items that have been damaged by last night's raid. You should immediately give the box to Calistha and look for all of Jacob's possessions that were bequeathed to Calistha. That woman is the key to all of Seulong's inheritance, so you really have to protect her so she doesn't become the target of people who want her father's treasure.”

"Hmm, I know. I will finish this mission as soon as possible.”

After that Aiden immediately left without paying attention to President Moon who was staring at him full of cunning. Don't know what the man was hiding, but the look in his eyes slowly began to show a hint of cunning that was so thick with various plans that began to be arranged neatly in his head.

“Luca… you need to get everything ready, he's starting to move, and there's likely to be a lot of gravel blocking our path.”

-00-

Aiden entered his quiet home and immediately placed the black box President Moon gave him on the table. Two hours ago he had left the woman alone in his house with all the doors he had locked so she wouldn't run away to see her father. So if she wasn't desperate, she would still be in her room right now.

Brughh

Suddenly Aiden heard the sound of something falling from behind his house. With a swift movement, Aiden immediately ran to his backyard to check what was going on. His guess was that the woman was probably trying to escape by jumping from the window of her room on the second floor.

"Calistha!"

"Aaakkhh..." Calistha screamed in panic and immediately ran aimlessly to avoid Aiden. She had barely managed to get down from the window of Aiden's room which was very high on the second floor. But unfortunately Aiden actually caught her fast escape, so now she had to run away from the crazy man to quickly escape from this strange house.

"Stop! I said stop Calistha!”

“No, I want to see my father. You're a crazy psychopath, I know who you are."

"Then you should be afraid of me because I won't hesitate to hurt you," threatened Aiden furiously. He started to pull something out of his pocket and growled a little annoyed that he really had no other choice but to do this.

Srett

"Ahh...." Calistha suddenly fell to the ground holding her warm calves. Blood suddenly seeped from her leg, causing Calistha to wince in pain as she tried to pull out the small knife that had just stuck in her leg.

"I told you to stop Calistha, are you deliberately challenging me?"

"You crazy insane man, I want to get out of here!" shouted Calistha in frustration as she squeezed the wound that was bleeding down her leg. It felt like having survived the attack that took place at her house would be useless if she actually met a mentally ill man like Aiden who had a large collection of weapons in his closet. If she hadn't taken the initiative to look for a blanket in Aiden's closet, she wouldn't have known that the man had all kinds of weapons hidden behind his brown wooden cupboard.

“I am a mentally ill man because I am a sniper. If I was a normal guy, I wouldn't be able to become a sniper. Now wake up."

Roughly Aiden immediately grabbed Calistha's hand and dragged Calistha's limping steps towards his house. If he hadn't been paid to protect Calistha, he might have killed her right now, just like Hannah had died on the battlefield.

“What are you going to do to me? Why did you lock me here?”

"Sit down, you'll find out later."

“I wouldn't know if you never told me anything. You didn't even tell me your name either," said Calistha slowly at the end of her words.

All of her strength seemed to have been drained to hold back the pain that spread in her legs until now it had spread throughout her body. The man was truly indiscriminate in treating her victims. Once she fights him, then Aiden will not hesitate to use his cruelty to tame her. Even though Calistha was the one he was supposed to protect, he didn’t care.

"Bite this." Suddenly Aiden stuffed a cloth towards Calistha’s mouth which made the woman whimper, trying to get the cloth out of her mouth. But in the end, Calistha was forced to bite the white cloth because Aiden continued to force her and made her almost choke for continuing to fight.

"Bite and don't spat it out."

“Aaammppffff....”

Aiden roughly pulled his small knife from Calistha's calf, and immediately flushed the wound with a bottle of alcohol. Calistha who saw that was only able to bite the white cloth tightly while closing her eyes which were starting to water.

"Hold this, I'll stitch up your wound."

“Ammpff… you're not a doctor!” shouted Calistha as Aiden started taking his medical kit from the first aid kit. But the man didn't seem to care and still brought his sewing equipment in front of Calistha.

“You will bleed out if you wait for me to take you to the doctor. It's going to hurt since I'm not taking the anesthetic, so bite the cloth again."

Aiden again stuffed the white cloth into Calistha's mouth and began to prepare his special needle for sewing human skin. His experience as a sniper forced him to be able to sew up his own wounds, whatever the conditions. When on the battlefield, of course, he could not rely on doctors, or medical volunteers to help him because there were too many soldiers who needed help. Inevitably he must be able to stitch up his own wound with tools that can be found around him. In fact, he once stitched up his wound using a needle without sterilizing it with alcohol, and only burned the needle as it was because of his position in the middle of the forest, without any tools that he could use to treat the wound. Fortunately, until this moment he is still fine with all the limitations that have surrounded him.

Takk

The sound of scissors being placed roughly on the table became a sign for Calistha that her ordeal was over. At least Aiden had completed a series of processes of piercing her skin using a tiny twelve millimeter needle that felt truly hell to her. She had never before resorted to a treatment so careless, risky, and so unsterile as this. Even when she suffered abrasions from falling from her bicycle, she received very sterile treatment from her personal doctor. So if after this she experiences bad things because of being contaminated with bacteria, that damn man must be held responsible.

"It’s hurt!" said Calistha emphatically while looking at the terrible sight at her feet. The blood splatter, the rest of the alcohol spilled on the floor, and the shape of her calves that are not beautiful because of the stitches done by Aiden made Calistha suddenly become horror. She was afraid that after this she would not be able to walk smoothly because of the wounds lodged in her legs.

"You'll be fine in two to three days."

"I am not sure. So what's your name?"

"Aiden," replied the man briefly while tidying up his scattered medical equipment. After that he left Calistha alone in the living room by first locking the main door in his house so that Calistha would not try to run away from him again.

"Aiden..."

Aiden paused for a moment while waiting for Calistha to continue her words. He knew it wasn't for nothing that she called him. There must be an important matter that she wanted to tell him.

"Thank you."

Aiden just responded with a straight face as he walked away leaving Calistha without a word. The woman was probably too early to thank him when she didn't know what her fate would be after this. In the future, it is possible that Calistha will turn to hate him and give harsh swear words.