The blue and red lights of the police cruisers strobed against the Diamond Hall's shattered windows, but Min-jun knew better than to stay for the statement. In the world of corporate shadows, the police were just another layer of the "rinse cycle"—they'd ask questions he couldn't answer without revealing Old Man Kang's secrets.
"We have to go," Min-jun said, grabbing Elena's hand. Her fingers were cold, trembling slightly against his palm.
"Go where? Min-jun, the board, the police—they'll think I'm your accomplice!" Elena protested, though she didn't pull away.
"You are my accomplice," Min-jun smirked, pulling a hidden lever behind the podium that opened a service lift. "You threw a glass award at a professional assassin. That's at least a Class-B felony in this district."
They scrambled into the lift just as the heavy doors of the hall were breached by the SWAT team. Old Man Kang was already inside, casually checking his reflection in the brass paneling and picking a piece of shrimp cracker out of his teeth.
"Move it, Romeo," Kang grunted. "The Syndicate just put a 'Red Detergent' order on your head. Every bottom-feeder from here to Neo-Seoul is going to be looking for a guy in a tuxedo and a girl in a fancy dress."
The lift dropped into the basement, where the rusted 1990s black sedan was idling, its exhaust coughing silver smoke.
"Get in," Min-jun commanded.
Elena looked at the car. "This is your getaway vehicle? It looks like it was salvaged from a swamp."
"It has character," Min-jun countered, flooring the accelerator. The car roared with a sound that definitely didn't belong to a 90s sedan—a deep, predatory growl of a nitro-injected beast. They drifted out of the parking garage, tires screaming as they vanished into the neon-lit labyrinth of the city.