Chapter 20 – Easygoing
KITE’s headquarters is a four-story building with a total area of approximately 500 pyeong. The basement and the 1st and 2nd floors of the building are various training facilities, while the offices for business operations are located on the 3rd and 4th floors.
While listening to the explanation about the place, Shin-woo slowly observed the interior.
“As a security company, it seems to have quite a large number of on-site personnel.”
This was because, based on the number of people visible from the training facility alone, there seemed to be dozens.
“As you know, this facility is being used together with MH Tech. At the same time, our KITE is responsible for all security duties for MH Tech, which means our stationed personnel are always on standby.”
Shin-woo had already known that fact, but he asked on purpose.
“It’s a very important role.”
“That’s right. Due to that purpose, MH Tech’s security forces are composed of personnel whose careers are comparable to those of special security team members.”
MH Tech is a company that deals with the defense industry. Since it is a place where cutting-edge technology projects linked to the Ministry of National Defense are concentrated, its importance is also high.
At that moment, a man in athletic wear noticed Yu Hyung-jin in the hallway and approached him.
“Director. A representative from an external company has arrived for the 15:30 meeting.”
“Got it. I’ll be right there. Also, this is our new CEO, so guide him as needed and show him around the office. I’ll excuse myself for a moment.”
“Of course.”
Yu Hyung-jin walked away along the hallway from where the man had come, after receiving a response from Shin-woo.
Meanwhile, the man stared at Shin-woo in surprise.
Shin-woo made eye contact with the man who was now in charge of guiding him instead of Yu Hyung-jin.
“I’m Baek Shin-woo, the new CEO of KITE. What’s your name?”
“Oh! I’m Jang Jin-ho, and I work at EST.”
EST (External Security Team) refers to the external security team. To be precise, it deals with private security operations based on the requests of other companies or individuals.
“How many years have you been here?”
“This is my third year.”
“I see.”
Listening to his answer, Shin-woo continued walking along the glass window overlooking the training facility.
Three men walking from the opposite direction discovered Jang Jin-ho standing behind Shin-woo and spoke up.
“Hey! Jang Jin-ho! What are you doing there? Who’s the guy next to you? A new recruit?”
They were Jang Jin-ho’s senior colleagues, Park Dae-sung, Go Jun-sun, and Lee Young-hoon.
“Well…”
At the same time, when Jang Jin-ho tried to say something, Shin-woo raised his hand to stop him and answered on his behalf.
“I just joined today.”
“A real newbie?”
Based on his appearance and his actual age, Shin-woo was still only in his early twenties.
It was difficult for others to perceive him as someone in a high-ranking position.
“Which team are you in?”
When the questioning continued, Shin-woo slightly smiled.
“…It hasn’t been decided yet.”
“Really? How long has it been since we’ve had a new recruit? But there wasn’t any notice about it, right?”
As the employees continued to boast and show off, only Jang Jin-ho, who was supposed to guide Shin-woo, looked increasingly uncomfortable.
In response, Shin-woo glanced back at him and spoke quietly.
“I’ll take responsibility, so just follow as you are doing now.”
Since it was an instruction from the CEO, Jang Jin-ho had no choice but to keep his mouth shut. Moreover, Shin-woo’s face was not known even within the MH Group.
It was a situation that could only happen because none of them recognized Shin-woo.
Meanwhile, Park Dae-sung smirked.
“What did you do before you came here?”
“…I was a non-commissioned officer.”
“Oh, military? This place is full of military veterans. How about showing us your skills? Consider it a test.”
Park Dae-sung pointed his thumb towards the sparring arena beyond the glass window.
“Do new recruits usually undergo such tests before they’re officially assigned?”
“Well, it’s kind of an unspoken rule.”
Following them into the sparring arena, Shin-woo stood in the center.
Next to him, Go Jun-sun tossed him an open-finger glove and a headgear.
However, Shin-woo casually threw them back and spoke indifferently.
“The headgear is uncomfortable, so I prefer not to use it.”
Standing across from him, Park Dae-sung was dumbfounded.
“You’ll regret it… Are you sure? No matter how experienced you are, training and real combat are entirely different.”
With that, Park Dae-sung began to warm up by swinging his fists in the air.
He thought of Shin-woo as a genuine newbie and wanted to intimidate him right from the start.
“If it’s real combat, I should treat it as such.”
After taking off his jacket and rolling up his shirt sleeves to his elbows, Shin-woo picked up only the gloves and put them on.
At that moment, Go Jun-sun and Lee Young-hoon, who were outside the ring, were startled when they saw the revealed scars on Shin-woo’s forearms.
“Hey! What’s with his arms?”
“Did he get stabbed or something? That hole… Don’t tell me it’s a gunshot wound?”
“No way, that’s not a gunshot wound.”
Shin-woo’s forearms were full of scars from the missions he carried out while serving in UAD.
“Looks like he did some serious work somewhere, huh?”
In response to Park Dae-sung’s sarcastic remark, Shin-woo glanced at his own scars nonchalantly and looked up at him.
“I used to do my job quite well.”
“Then, let’s see some of that shoveling skill!”
Standing on one side, Jang Jin-ho wore an awkward expression, perplexed by the sudden turn of events.
While Park Dae-sung’s character as a senior was certainly problematic, he was once ranked 10th in the WFC lightweight division in global mixed martial arts, making him one of the top fighters in the External Security Team (EST).
In the brief silence that followed, Park Dae-sung, who had already gotten into his stance, made the first move.
Swoosh— Swoosh—
A series of quick left-hand jabs flew toward Shin-woo.
‘Is his base boxing? But his footwork looks more like kickboxing or Muay Thai.’
Shin-woo only moved his waist and neck to dodge the punches while keeping his eyes on Park Dae-sung’s legs. At the same time, a right-hand straight punch came hurtling toward him with full force.
Once again, Shin-woo dodged by leaning his body to the side.
Having anticipated this, Park Dae-sung shifted his weight onto his back foot and, with a step forward, executed a powerful knee strike, drawing an arc in the air.
Swoosh—
Under normal circumstances, it would have been impossible to avoid that attack, given that Shin-woo’s center of gravity had already shifted. Frustrated by Shin-woo’s constant evasions, Park Dae-sung attempted to finish the fight with his signature move.
‘Is this a modified flying knee kick?’
With that thought, Shin-woo pushed off the ground and jumped, avoiding the attack despite his unbalanced posture.
As Park Dae-sung’s knee strike sliced through empty air, he quickly spun around and regained his stance.
“Your evasive maneuvers are quite impressive. You move like a slippery eel.”
“Your moves are too exaggerated.”
“What? Did you just say ‘your moves’?”
Provoked by the remark, Park Dae-sung launched another flurry of attacks.
This time, Shin-woo didn’t evade like before. Instead, he blocked Park Dae-sung’s punches and kicks with his gloves and forearms.
Smack— Smack— Smack— Smack-smack—
“You’re so focused on your outward form that your body is wide open.”
“What? You bastard—?!”
Not a single attack had landed properly so far.
Enraged, Park Dae-sung tried to take Shin-woo down by charging at him with a tackle.
Swoosh—
At that moment, Shin-woo grabbed Park Dae-sung’s shoulder and held his ground firmly.
Seeing this, Park Dae-sung adjusted his body and attempted to sweep Shin-woo’s leg.
However, Shin-woo had already predicted that move…
Crack— Thump—
He quickly twisted Park Dae-sung’s right arm, bending his elbow, and struck him in the neck before throwing him down.
Crash—
Park Dae-sung rolled across the floor and, gasping for breath, couldn’t get up.
The onlookers, who had been training nearby, were also taken aback by the scene and watched with wide eyes.
Momentarily stunned, Go Jun-sun and Lee Young-hoon stared at Shin-woo with sharp gazes.
“That bastard…! How dare you spar like that!”
They were about to charge at Shin-woo with their bare fists.
Jang Jin-ho, knowing Shin-woo’s true identity, grew increasingly nervous.
Fuming with anger, Go Jun-sun and Lee Young-hoon moved closer to Shin-woo.
“What on earth is going on here?!”
Executive Director Yu Hyung-jin, who had gone to the meeting earlier, entered the training ground and shouted.
With his sudden appearance, Go Jun-sun and Lee Young-hoon had no choice but to stop right in front of Shin-woo.
“D-Director!”
“How did you get here…?”
With Yu Hyung-jin’s arrival, the other team members grew curious about how the situation would unfold.
Yu Hyung-jin, who had walked from the entrance to the center of the training ground, looked at Shin-woo, who was still wearing gloves, and spoke.
“CEO! What are you doing here?”
As soon as they heard that, question marks appeared on everyone’s faces.
In particular, Go Jun-sun and Lee Young-hoon found it hard to understand.
Until just a moment ago, they had only thought of Shin-woo as a new recruit at KITE, which made the situation even more confusing.
“I was just checking the skills of KITE’s security team. However, it seems the problem is bigger than I expected.”
“No matter how much you are KITE’s new CEO, it’s hard to see such actions in a positive light before the official inauguration.”
“The inauguration announcement was made a week ago, so is there really a need for such formality now? Besides, there seems to be a lot of work to do,”
Shin-woo shifted his gaze to Go Jun-sun, Lee Young-hoon, and the people around them.
Everyone could figure out the situation after hearing the conversation between the two.
The new CEO of KITE, Baek Shin-woo, who had recently been announced through an official document.
At the same time, various rumors had spread from the headquarters.
The illegitimate grandson of Chairman Myung Joong-hwan of MH Group.
A non-commissioned officer with no experience in the corporate world—an unprecedented parachute entry.
Currently the Director of Strategic Investment Operations at headquarters, and rumored to have made tens of billions in net profit through insider trading…
Most of the rumors were so unbelievable that people found them hard to accept.
“…I understand what you’re saying. But sparring with your subordinates out of nowhere is another matter!”
“I was curious about what it’s like to protect MH Group with force, so I pretended to be a new recruit. Of course, I never claimed to be one myself.”
From being mistaken as a new recruit to the sparring match, everything started due to the misunderstanding of Park Dae-sung and the senior trio.
At that, Shin-woo looked at Park Dae-sung, who was lying on the floor, and spoke.
“Hey, over there. I know you’re awake, so get up. Don’t think you can get away with pretending to be unconscious now that you’ve grasped the situation.”
Unlike before, Shin-woo’s tone was sharp, and Park Dae-sung, who had been lying quietly, flinched and slowly got up.
“You’re too slow!”
“S-Sorry, sir!”
With the continued urging, Park Dae-sung immediately stood up and went over to stand beside Go Jun-sun and Lee Young-hoon.
After confirming this, Shin-woo turned his gaze to Yu Hyung-jin.
“If they’re part of the external security team, EST, isn’t it just as important to be vigilant of the opponent’s capabilities as it is to have individual skills?”
“…That’s correct.”
“Judging from the experience just now, not only did they try to haze me under the guise of sparring just because I’m a new recruit, but they even used techniques that should never be employed in real combat.”
With Shin-woo’s relentless criticism, Park Dae-sung couldn’t lift his head.
Of course, Yu Hyung-jin, as the Executive Director, had a decent understanding of the skills of the security and guard personnel he hired.
“Even the Chairman hasn’t interfered to such an extent. Also, the issues you mentioned fall under the responsibility of the training instructors, so let’s leave it at that.”
Hearing this, Shin-woo’s brow twitched.
“I’m sorry, but as the CEO now, I must get involved.”
“CEO… that’s…”
Tap, tap.
The training ground door opened, and a man entered, leaning on a cane and limping slightly.
“Director Yu, is something the matter?”
He was Jung Kang-ho, the tactical training instructor for KITE’s security and guard team, who had sensed something unusual while passing through the hallway outside the training ground.
“Ah, Instructor Jung.”
“This person… Huh?”
Shin-woo, who had begun rolling down his sleeves again, turned to meet eyes with Jung Kang-ho as he approached.
“Baek… Sergeant Baek Shin-woo?”
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