Chapter 40 – The Hunt Begins

The morning after the fire, the city was different. Fear had settled into its bones. The Golden Serpent Syndicate was bleeding, and everyone knew it.

Joon sat in his private lounge, watching the news. Reporters spoke in hushed tones about the explosion, about the unknown group challenging the underworld's order.

Soo-ah stood by the window, phone in hand. "They're scrambling, Joon. Their leaders are meeting tonight. If we strike now—"

"We won't strike," Joon interrupted, his voice steady. "Not yet."

Hyun-soo frowned. "They'll come for us first."

Joon leaned forward, eyes sharp. "Then we make them come exactly where we want them."

---

Joon spent the day laying groundwork. Calls were made, deals struck. By nightfall, the entire underworld was buzzing with whispers of his next move.

He left nothing to chance. Surveillance on the syndicate's strongholds. Bribes to turn their allies against them. A carefully leaked piece of information: Joon would be at The Crescent Club that night—alone.

A blatant challenge.

Hyun-soo was the first to protest. "You're walking into a trap."

Joon smirked. "No. They are."

---

The Crescent Club was high-end, exclusive. The kind of place where deals were made over expensive drinks.

Joon arrived dressed sharply, confidence in every step. The moment he stepped inside, the air shifted. Eyes followed him. Shadows moved.

They had taken the bait.

Golden Serpent men surrounded him within minutes. One of them, a broad-shouldered enforcer, smirked. "Bold of you to show up alone."

Joon sipped his drink, unbothered. "Bold of you to think I'm alone."

A single tap on the table.

The club went dark.

Then—chaos.

Gunfire erupted, but Joon was already moving. Soo-ah and Hyun-soo emerged from the shadows, taking down the nearest threats. Explosions rocked the back entrance.

Joon lunged, his knife finding its mark in the enforcer's side. The man crumpled.

By the time the lights flickered back on, the club was a massacre. Joon stood in the center, untouched, surrounded by bodies.

The message was clear: He wasn't just a threat. He was their worst nightmare.

---

News spread like wildfire. Joon had slaughtered them on their own turf. The remaining leaders panicked, sending desperate orders to regroup.

But it was already too late.

That night, one of the biggest syndicate bosses—Choi Sang-woo—was found dead in his mansion. A single playing card left on his desk. Joon's calling card.

The empire he was building wasn't just growing—it was consuming everything in its path.

And the world was starting to realize.

Joon wasn't just another name in the underworld.

He was the storm.

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