You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 304

Kang Min-jae scrutinized the meter reader, whose expression remained blank, lips tightly sealed. Aside from the handcuffs binding his wrists and ankles, he hardly resembled a kidnapping victim.

They claimed to have starved and sleep-deprived him to draw out their targets, but anyone seeing the meter reader’s condition might doubt their story. Perhaps they started feeding him the moment he agreed to talk.

“I recall reading in an old military strategy book that when outnumbered or defending, it’s wiser to engage in a localized battle within terrain like a canyon, rather than a full-scale war,” Kang Min-jae said, glancing at the private investigation firm employees waiting near the door.

“Bragging about your studies?” Tae-shik grunted.

“Not at all. Just curious about your thoughts, Tae-shik.”

Once they confirmed the men had entered Oseong Landscaping, Tae-shik led the employees into the room with the meter reader.

Initially, Kang Min-jae considered moving only himself and Tae-shik to stand ‘shoulder-to-shoulder’ with the hostage, but decided this approach was more efficient. Why scatter across Oseong Landscaping for a fight?

It was safer and easier to ‘deal with’ the men one by one as they attempted to enter the narrow room through the door or windows.

Even now, they could hear footsteps approaching.

The men were clearly searching Oseong Landscaping for the meter reader.

And that sound was undoubtedly audible to the meter reader as well.

“Hey,” Kang Min-jae addressed the meter reader.

The meter reader looked slightly improved.

The sudden influx of armed personnel, combined with the approaching footsteps, must have sparked a flicker of hope that Hallim Corporation had come to rescue him.

“One last time,” Kang Min-jae said.

“……”

“Are you truly going to remain silent? Confess now, and we can be lenient regarding your actions against us. Of course, you’ll bear full responsibility for Lee Jeong-chan’s death.”

But the meter reader remained unresponsive.

Kang Min-jae had anticipated this. He wouldn’t speak, especially with his colleagues seemingly arriving to save him.

Having confirmed his final stance, further conversation was pointless.

Kang Min-jae closed the veranda door and rejoined Tae-shik. When they decided to confront the men in this room, they moved the meter reader to the veranda at the far end.

It would be problematic if they snatched him during the chaos, so isolating him seemed best. It was a classic kidnapping tactic.

Didn’t princesses in old stories always get imprisoned in the deepest part of the enemy’s base? Like Princess Peach in 〈Super Mario〉, for example.

“Why even ask? That bastard won’t say a thing. I’m starting to wonder if he’s even Korean,” Tae-shik said, picking his ear, blowing on his finger, and sneering.

Clang, clang, clang…

Just as the footsteps seemed closer, they heard a grating sound.

“Looks like they brought a baseball bat. What’s this, Attorney Kang? I thought they’d have guns. Typical?”

“Not everyone will be armed. This isn’t a James Bond film. Even Bond’s henchmen probably don’t carry guns.”

“So, only the boss does?”

“Well, some might have extra guns. But wouldn’t they save them for emergencies? Would they start shooting right away in a brawl like this? Realistically?”

“Are you saying I lack common sense?”

“Not at all. Haha.”

In fact, Tae-shik’s initial plan was to ram the vehicle with a bulldozer as soon as the men arrived and exited. Since they were bulky, they likely didn’t enter the car with weapons, instead retrieving them from the trunk. He wanted to prevent that.

But Kang Min-jae, strongly advocating against attacking first, prevented them from stopping the men from grabbing their weapons.

“They brought some seriously nasty weapons,” Tae-shik muttered with a grimace, peering through the blinds.

Men with baseball bats and nail-studded planks were slowly gathering.

Some were panting, suggesting they had already searched the other rooms.

“You’ll make eye contact if you keep doing that,” Kang Min-jae warned, noticing Tae-shik’s fixation on the blinds.

Thump! Thump thump!

Then, with a deafening noise, the door began to shake violently.

They must have confirmed it was locked and were convinced the meter reader was inside.

The men also found the window and shook the locked frame.

“Don’t resist too much. Let it open naturally at the right moment,” Tae-shik said quietly, stopping an employee from chaining the doorknob.

Their goal was to secure the ‘shoulder-to-shoulder.’

If the door didn’t open relatively easily, it would only prolong the standoff unnecessarily.

They had already prepared, hadn’t they?

-It’s here!

A familiar voice called from outside.

“That bastard, I think he’s the guy we met at Hallim Corporation back then?” Tae-shik, who believed in returning every favor, reacted instinctively, grabbing a plank from the floor.

Of course, Tae-shik hadn’t suffered that day; those men had.

“They’re quiet for gangsters.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know how it is in movies. They usually make a fuss, yelling, ‘Open the door, you bastards!’ But they’re not doing that. They don’t seem like ordinary thugs, like Attorney Kang said.”

“It wasn’t my word, it was Attorney Cha’s. He said they wouldn’t be just ordinary thugs.”

As Kang Min-jae spoke, Tae-shik saw the door gradually splitting along the grain.

“Attorney Kang, stay with the meter reader on the veranda,” Tae-shik said amidst the increasing noise.

“But…”

“Damn it, what do you mean ‘but’? He’s telling you to get out of the way because you’re a hindrance!” Tae-shik forcibly dragged Kang Min-jae towards the veranda.

Caught off guard, Kang Min-jae was pulled away and trapped on the veranda.

He knocked on the veranda door, but Tae-shik had already locked it securely.

With the meter reader’s arms and legs tied, unable to rise from the chair, they would be safe together.

Besides, if Kang Min-jae was in the middle of a brawl, he could be in danger.

Kang Min-jae seemed to understand, ceasing his resistance and standing worriedly by the door.

“It’s dangerous, that idiot is really… He should have just left it to me,” Tae-shik muttered, approaching the door where the employees were confronting the men.

Thump! Thump!

Tudung, tudung, tudung!

As if the men had broken the doorknob, the inner knob fell to the floor with a thud.

The door was cracking more and more.

At this rate, they would break through.

-Move aside!

Someone shouted from outside.

Clang!

A chair shattered the glass window, sending shards flying inward.

Tae-shik gestured to the employees still blocking the door, signaling them to let it open.

“Find him!” As soon as the door opened, the men rushed inside.

“Ugh!” Sang-gil swung a baseball bat at the head of the first man through the door.

It was a solid hit.

The impact was greater than expected, and Sang-gil was surprised by the sensation.

“Ugh!” As the man fell backward, the others’ formation faltered.

He felt a surge of hope that they could easily secure the ‘shoulder-to-shoulder’ by dealing with the men trying to push through the entrance.

But it was fleeting.

The men rolled a heavy drum from an angle and threw it into the open doorway.

The cement-filled drum flew into the room.

The employees scattered to avoid it, creating a gap for the men to rush in.

“Ugh!”

“Ack!”

“Aaaagh!”

A dogfight erupted in the room.

Moans of pain filled the air, and blood splattered.

Weapons clashed, and some dropped their weapons, their hands slick with sweat or blood.

They fought with their bare hands.

Tae-shik was no exception.

“Get out of the way, you bastard!” He was searching for the ‘shoulder-to-shoulder.’

He kept taking down the men blocking his path, but there was no end.

There were about 20 men, but he felt like he had knocked down 30.

They seemed to rise like zombies and attack again.

Disgusting bastards.

‘Is that him?’

He spotted a familiar face among the fighting men.

The man from the picture.

The bastard who was shoulder-to-shoulder with the meter reader.

Tae-shik moved aggressively.

He cleared his path by swinging a nearby chair and ran towards the man.

“You bastard, just wait.”

Tae-shik ran, stepping on the sprawled men, and jumped towards his target.

“Ugh!” He tackled the man, both falling to the floor.

“Got you, you bastard.” Tae-shik punched the man’s jaw.

The man, unable to gain the upper hand, was pinned down and repeatedly struck.

His lips burst, and blood mixed with saliva splattered from his mouth.

He tried to break Tae-shik’s balance, but Tae-shik was not easily defeated.

“How dare you make an innocent person a murderer!” Tae-shik continued punching.

The men, realizing their target was under attack, rushed towards them, but the employees intercepted them.

The tenacious men and the tenacious employees continued their dogfight.

Worried about the Hongshinso employees, Tae-shik decided to end it quickly.

He planned to beat the ‘shoulder-to-shoulder’ until he was incapacitated and then tie him up.

Tae-shik raised his fist for the final blow.

“You’re, dead, you bas… Ugh!”

He felt a dull pain in his abdomen.

It felt like he had been struck with something incredibly hard.

The pain spread around his solar plexus.

“Ptoo. Hooo….”

Taking advantage of Tae-shik’s weakness, the man spat blood, pushed him aside, and stood up.

“You son of a bitch….”

“Ugh!” The man stomped on Tae-shik and walked towards the veranda where the meter reader and Kang Min-jae were.

He raised something in his hand and aimed it at the meter reader.

A gun.

Click, bang!

A flame burst from the muzzle.

The meter reader’s eyes widened.

But the man didn’t care.

Bang, bang, bang!

He fired several more shots.

He seemed intent on breaking the glass and piercing the meter reader’s skull.

Pik, pik, pik!

The glass cracked, but that was all.

The bullets couldn’t penetrate, getting stuck in the glass.

“Hehe, hehehe….”

Tae-shik, clutching his stomach, struggled to his feet, leaning on a chair.

He laughed and shouted.

“Hahaha, hahahaha! Hey, you bastard! That’s bulletproof glass, you bastard!”

“……”

“And this is a bulletproof vest, you son of a bitch!” Tae-shik kicked the man’s gun hand.

The gun flew and landed on the floor.

The man turned to retrieve it, but Sang-gil reached it first.

As Sang-gil picked up the gun, Tae-shik grabbed the man’s collar.

“You use a gun in a one-on-one fight? Damn, I would have been screwed without the vest. It hurts like hell even with it… It really feels like it would really hurt if I got hit. You bastard, you would have killed two people. You damn murderer. Ah, maybe you’ve killed more than that?”

Tae-shik laughed maniacally and punched the man’s solar plexus.

“Heok, keuek, heok, heok!” The man gasped, unable to close his mouth, drooling saliva mixed with blood.

He lost his balance and fell, clutching his stomach, slipping from Tae-shik’s grasp.

Tae-shik spread his blood-stained fist and rotated his wrist.

“Damn, it hurts to hit too.”

Should he consider himself lucky that it hurt less than the man?

“Sang-gil, bring something to tie him up!” Tae-shik squatted in front of the man, who was still gasping.

Hearing this, Sang-gil stepped over the bodies and approached the drawer where the rope was.

“Tae-shik!” Kang Min-jae screamed, and

“Ugh!” The man on the floor raised his upper body and stabbed Tae-shik’s stomach with a knife.