Vows and Bullets-Chapter 69: To Our New Home

***

[By the end of two weeks...]

At last, the hellish honeymoon trip was done, and we were finally back in South Korea. I managed to survive Agent Helios’ persistent flirting unscathed. Hah! Take that! Anyway, since we’re back, it’s time to take care of our first target—Mr. Choi.

As we expected, Mr. Choi ordered his people to arrange a meeting with us. From business meetings to simple lunches or dinner, he made all kinds of excuses just to meet us. Agent Helios’ family’s prestige was a huge help in pressuring him. When Mr. Jeon, his father, learned of what happened during our honeymoon, he became furious and pressured him. Great job, father-in-law!

But just as we planned, we ignored all invitations from Mr. Choi. We also spread rumors about our plan to file a case against his daughter and destroy their businesses— though not publicly—only among his people and enough to reach his ears. We’re not going to do it, of course. It was only a little bit of push from us.

Because of all those things happening in the background while we were on our honeymoon trip, Mr. Choi’s desperation was at its peak by the time we returned.

Ignoring him once more, we went straight home first—to the huge mansion Agent Helios bought and prepared for our mission. It was located none other than at the heart of the wealthiest city where the most number of Elites in South Korea lived—Gangnam.

Perhaps influenced by his mother’s nationality, the mansion he built had a mixture of modern and royal design, making it look like a modern palace. There was lots of greenery around the whole mansion, carefully laid out. Fountains, mazes, flowerbeds, statues, ponds, swimming pools, pavilions, gazebos, and many more helped accentuate the mansion’s beauty.

If the outside was a feast in the eyes, the inside was as jaw-droppingly gorgeous and luxurious as ever—probably the most beautiful one I had seen so far. Every single piece of furniture, decorations, to the tiniest interior details were simply perfect and elegant. Seeing it up close tempted me to live there forever.

Aside from those, security around the whole mansion was Mythos-tight, and a bunch of servants could be seen everywhere.

"Welcome home, master and madam," the servants greeted us as soon as we stepped inside the front door of the house. Their heads and bodies bowed low.

"Lunch has been prepared for the both of you," the head maid said. "Would you like to dine first, or do you prefer to get some rest?"

Agent Helios smiled and passed the question to me.

"Would you like to eat first, my dear wife?"

"Oh, ahm..."

I thought for a moment, unable to respond quickly because I was planning on checking my laptop to see if there was any additional news or intel from Mythos.

"We prepared your favorite lobster, madam," the head maid added.

"Really?" my face lit up hearing those words. "In that case, let’s eat first. I’m starving."

Agent Helios snickered at my response. Between a possible vital intel and lobster, it seemed that I preferred the latter. And so, we headed to the dining area to eat.

While I enjoyed eating, Agent Helios received reports from his male secretary. He stood behind him, holding a tablet in his hand, scrolling, and tapping as he spoke.

"We received several invitations again today, master," the secretary informed him. "All of them are from Mr. Choi’s people. There’s a dinner request, lunch, breakfast, invitation to play golf, chess, and other sports, and business meetings. How would you like to respond?"

Wow. That really was a lot, but they were the same invites as usual. I’m not sure what Agent Helios was still waiting for, but since we’re back, shouldn’t we start accepting the invites now and talk to him so we can negotiate and extract information?

"Nothing new from the list?" Agent Helios asked.

The secretary tapped and scrolled again, then his face lit up.

"Ah, there is one that is indeed a little different," he said, raising his eyebrows. "It’s a request for a business meeting as well, but it mentions a good investment you wouldn’t want to miss. No specific details were shared, but he said it’s best to discuss in a private setting."

I see. So that’s what he was waiting for. It’s incredible how much of an expert he was in dealing with these rich people. To know when to push and to pull—what a complex game of real-life chess this was. Indeed, there was such a vast difference between the life of the ordinary people and the Elites.

Agent Helios’ lips curved into an evil grin.

"That last invitation you mentioned, go ahead and accept it," he said. "For the rest, reject them."

"Yes, master. I’ll add this to your schedule then."

After that, Agent Helios waved his hand, gesturing everyone to leave. The secretary and the other servants left in the dining room bowed down and went away as told.

He took a sip of the juice on his glass, wiped his mouth elegantly with the napkin on his lap, and turned to me.

"My dear wife, are you ready to catch the fish?"

I smirked at his question.

"Of course, I’m ready. I’ve been waiting for it."

"Good. In that case, I suggest you use the basement to do some light training and prepare before we meet with Mr. Choi. I secretly had it built there, and it should have everything you’ll need, just like Mythos’ training facilities. I also ordered all the necessary equipment we’ll need, and received permission, so you don’t need to worry about me breaking any protocol. Security is tight, too, so we’re the only ones who can access that. Just walk through the door, and it shall let you pass."

"Woah! For real? That’s great! I’ve been wanting to do some training. I feel like my body is losing touch because of all these lazy acts we’re doing."

"Yeah," he sighed. "I need it, too. We should spar later."

"Hah! Don’t cry if you lose."

"I should say that to you, though. And I want a kiss as a prize when I win," he smiled mischievously.

"As if you’ll win," I scoffed. "If I win, you’re not allowed to harass me for three months."

"That’s too long. If that’s how you want it, then I’ll have to change my terms. Instead of just a simple kiss..."

"Don’t think of anything funny, you pervert."

"Ha-ha-ha! Don’t worry. I was going to say... extend the kiss. I will get a kiss from you every day for three months."

I grimaced hearing those words. It seemed a little disadvantageous to me. Should I agree with that deal? Hmm....

"No. That’s unfair. Besides, you are physically stronger than me. Not only that, what are we competing on? Sparring? How long will the spar be? And who decides the winner? It’s too ambiguous. You’re probably planning something funny again."

"I promise it’s nothing like that. You can set the terms if you want."

"Hmm... Okay. In that case, instead of a contest in sparring, let’s do shooting instead. Whoever gets the highest point wins. That’s fairer than sparring without a referee or a judge."

"Sounds good to me."

And so, right after lunch, we headed down to the basement to do as we agreed. As he said, security was really tight and only the two of us could pass. The huge and thick metallic door at the entrance to the basement had a laser that scanned our whole body before opening. That meant it wasn’t only fingerprint, iris, or face recognition that it needed—it’s an entire person’s body that was required. What I’m wondering, though, was how did he manage to register my whole body biometric? Did he get it from Mythos’ Intelligence Department or the Security Department?

Once inside, battle suits, fire weapons of all kinds, knives, daggers, and so much more could be seen on the basement walls. He gave a short tour inside, and indeed, all the facilities we would need were there—whether it be combat training, shooting training, bombs, poison, terrain training, and so much more. To be able to prepare all these, he’s truly incredible. No wonder he’s the top agent. I guess I should learn from him if I ever want to beat him.

We changed into our battle suits and stepped into the combat training area first for some warm-up before our shooting match. Then, with all our might, we sparred for half an hour. Since it’s been a while, we shouldn’t push our bodies to the extreme by sparring for too long.

Punch, block, evade, jab, dodge, lunge, kick—on and on, our attacks came one after another. He really was the best training partner. I could quickly subdue other agents but not him.

"Fighting with you is really fun," he said.

"I could say the same, partner."

"I wasn’t done with my statement, though."

"Tsk. And what are you implying?"

"It’s fun because...," he smirked at me so confidently like the rude jerk he had always been.

"Just spill it!" I shouted as I threw a heavy punch toward his face.

He quickly evaded me and went to my back.

Alas, with his irritating tone, he continued.

"Because your movements are so easy to predict."