It had been a week.
Ha-Joon stood at the edge of the Incheon outskirts, the wind brushing against his coat as he gazed out toward the smoking horizon.
Incheon had truly lived up to its name. Known to many as the land of internal conflict, some even called it the land of war, it had become a boiling pot of fractured power.
The air was filled with tension. Every day, he had watched the city from a distance, waiting for the internal chaos to end, hoping for the right time to meet the man ruling half of this tasteless city, half assed king, Jaegyeon Na.
But that time never came.
The war inside Incheon wasn't winding down but was escalating even further. Every faction within the city had sunk their teeth into the turf like wild dogs, unwilling to let go.
The war led by the two kings of different side had turned the city into complete chaos, making the city unable to live for its ordinary people..
Two half-assed kings stood at the center of it all: Jaegyeon Na, who fought to protect what was left of Incheon, and Yujae Seon, who claimed he wanted to unify the region. But in truth, both had only managed to keep the chaos alive, each clinging to their own version of order.
Of course, Ha-Joon had assumed Incheon was ruled by a single king. But who would've thought the city had been trapped in internal conflict since the very beginning, ever since the first generation laid its foundations.
Jinyong had once told him that Incheon wasn't worth the trouble, that the chaos inside would only drag him down. Still, Ha-Joon had insisted on seeing it for himself, wanting to judge whether the city held any value for what was to come.
But instead of the promising place he had imagined, reality greeted him with a slap on the face.
Ha-Joon exhaled a slow breath and stepped back into the SUV, where Minjae was chewing on dried squid in the passenger seat, and Hyun-Woo sat behind the wheel, eyes scanning a map of faction routes.
"Still no contact from Jaegyeon?" Ha-Joon asked.
Hyun-Woo shook his head. "Same silence. The lines are closed tight. It's chaos inside. Even his people haven't shown themselves in days."
Ha-Joon tapped his finger against the glass. His patience was starting to crack.
"Damn it," he muttered. "I should've gone in days ago."
One the side, Minjae hesitated before speaking, his voice cautious. "Maybe that's a sign to stay out. You've seen what's happening in there. It's suicide walking into a war zone without knowing who's who."
"You sure about this, boss?" Hyun-Woo added, his voice tense. "This ain't like Suwon or Pyeongtaek. Incheon's a fully lawless zone. Even other Kings dare not enter here."
Ha-Joon slowly cracked his neck before speaking. "I've waited long enough."
"You're seriously going in?" Minjae asked, looking alarmed.
"I didn't come this far just to wait on the sidelines." Ha-Joon's voice was calm, but the irritation in his eyes told the full story. "If Jaegyeon won't pick up the phone, I'll knock on his front door myself."
Hyun-Woo let out a breath and nodded before heading towards the inner circle
The deeper they drove into Incheon, the sheer amount of destruction left them speechless. The crumbled infrastructure and barricaded districts gave the entire region the feel of an open-air warzone.
Soon, they spotted a group of thugs loitering near the corner of a broken wall, all wearing green armbands. Hyun-Woo slowed the SUV and pulled up beside them. Rolling down the window, he leaned out slightly and called out,
"Hey, you guys, where can we find Jaegyeon Na?"
The group of thugs, all rough-faced men in dusty jackets and worn sneakers, turned toward the SUV. For a moment, none of them spoke. One guy with a thick scar running from his lip to his jaw took a step forward, cracking his neck lazily.
"Why are you looking for the him?" he asked, eyes narrowing. "You lot don't look like you're from around here."
Before Hyun-Woo could reply, Ha-Joon pushed the car door open and stepped out, calmly adjusting his coat as if the battlefield atmosphere didn't faze him.
"I asked him to stop the car," Ha-Joon said flatly. "So I could talk.. right?"
The thug stiffened slightly from Ha-Joon's presence.
"We're looking for Jaegyeon Na," Ha-Joon said, walking forward with slow, deliberate steps. "I've been waiting a week. He won't answer his line. And now that I'm here, I find this city choking on its own war."
Scar-face swallowed and took a step back. "Jaegyeon's base is past the highway split. Near the old shipyard."
Ha-Joon nodded and got back to SUV. "Move on."
.....
Hyun-Woo sat at the wheel, tension building in his shoulders. "I swear we were on the right path… but this isn't the area that guy warned us about, is it?"
Minjae frowned, checking the map on his phone. "No signal. Nothing's loading."
Ha-Joon sat in the back, arms folded, gaze fixed outside the tinted window.
As they turned down a narrow street, the low rumble of yelling and gunfire hit them like a wave.
Minjae slammed the brakes.
Right in front of them, barely a block away, two factions clashed. One group wore green armbands with Na's insignia, while the other, ragged but more numerous, bore Yujae's red. Smoke curled into the sky from a burning truck.
It was war.
Hyun-Woo reached for the glove box. "We gotta back up, fast."
But before they could shift gears, the rear door clicked open. Ha-Joon stepped out of the SUV.
Minjae turned in his seat, panic on his face. "Boss—!"
Ha-Joon's boots step echoed throughout the battlefield. He looked around the battlefield, then let out a breath.
"My, my…" he muttered, voice calm but loud enough to carry. "How chaotic."
The moment his voice fell, all the combatant paused their action and turned towards the coming figure.
Someone muttered his name.
"Ha… Ha-Joon…?"
The name spread like ripples across the battlefield. From both factions, the fighters slowly began to surround him with a hint of caution in their eyes.
In minutes, over a hundred men stood in a wide circle around Ha-Joon.
Hyun-Woo and Minjae stayed in the SUV, watching from behind the windshield, tense.
"Are they surrounding him?" Minjae asked, fingers tightening on the door handle.
Hyun-Woo was equally tense after watching Ha-Joon get surrounded.
Back in the center, he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a cigarette. He lit it, took a long drag, then exhaled slowly. He stood in silence, calmly eyeing the mass of fighters.
"Is this how Incheon welcomes its guests?" Ha-Joon said.
One of the men finally stepped forward, puffing his chest with forced bravery. His voice cracked slightly, but he managed to speak loud enough for everyone to hear.
"We don't welcome guests who might threaten our boss."
He pointed at Ha-Joon, trying to steady the shake in his hand.
"Attack."
All the forces attacked Ha-Joon at the same time. But Ha-Joon? He merely smiled and shook his head.
"Fight is it? So be it."