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Chapter 22: Just Got Lucky
TL: Enuma ID
Well past midnight, the NIS situation room was on full alert.
The analysts on night duty had gathered together, typing away furiously, and Team Leader Choi Min-sik, the duty commander who had been urgently called in, walked into the situation room rubbing eyes soaked with exhaustion.
"Team Leader. You're here."
"Yeah. Any additional reports come in?"
Ӗ ňu m̀а̌.іd̈
"No, sir. Let me show you the footage from the thermal imaging equipment Owl No. 5 sent over a short while ago, secured from the cameras near the Yalu River."
"Yaaaawn...."
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Watching the screen the analyst pulled up, Team Leader Choi Min-sik started with a yawn.
He wore nothing but a hastily thrown-on tracksuit, and his face was still plastered with sleep he hadn't managed to wipe away.
"As of midnight yesterday, North Korean special forces operatives covertly landed on Hwanggumpyong. Fifteen personnel confirmed."
"Any word yet on which unit they belong to?"
Е n̆u m̊ а̂ . i d
"We're continuing to cross-check satellite imagery, but there's been no sign of separate troop movements within the nearby border areas."
"Sent straight from Pyongyang, then?"
"Unconfirmed, but highly likely. Judging by their equipment and level of maneuver, these are no ordinary operatives. We strongly suspect a North Korean special forces assassination squad crossed into Dandong under special orders."
"Those lunatics.... Slipping special forces into mainland China? So they've decided to go completely off the rails, huh?"
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On the screen, the green thermal display showed the silhouettes of armed troops moving in perfect coordination, all of it crystal clear.
"What's the status of our agents?"
Е n u mа̄
"We've confirmed that all agents in Dandong have relocated to safe houses, but...."
"You've confirmed it, but what?"
"We still haven't confirmed the location of Sparrow No. 7, who moved out to make final confirmation of Crane No. 13's death."
Choi Min-sik's brow slowly began to furrow.
He wore the expression of a man who had woken from an exhausting dream only to face a hideous reality.
"...Still no contact at all?"
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"None. Communications are down."
Choi Min-sik glanced at the status board displayed on the screen.
It carried a brief summary of the current situation.
[Kite No. 3 / Owl No. 5, Owl No. 8 / Crane No. 12, Crane No. 14 / ....]
[Alive, relocation to safe house complete]
Blink. Blink.
Ӗ.n̈u m̀.а̄ . і̀ d
The names of the surviving agents blinked red like beating hearts, announcing their status.
Meanwhile.
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[Crane No. 13]
[Deceased]
The dead agent's name was struck through in dark red.
And one more.
Ẃе̇bn̈ о̊v́ е l Е nŭ mа̂
[Sparrow No. 7]
[Missing]
The one person whose status remained unknown blinked alone, stained yellow.
[Sparrow No. 7 operating solo to avenge Crane No. 13]
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A terse, one-line report received from Kite No. 3.
The moment he read it, Team Leader Choi Min-sik wished this were all just a dream.
Ŵе_bnоv е ľ Е n̈ ů m̃а
Maybe he wanted to deny reality?
"Haah, fuck.... Promotion review starts tomorrow, of all times."
"...."
"I really need to make the cut this round.... I honestly don't know why this is happening to me. Seriously."
A reaction utterly detached from a situation where an agent's life hung in the balance, and painfully down-to-earth.
At that lament, everyone in the situation room naturally fell into a solemn hush.
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[Crane No. 13]
[Deceased]
Beneath the letters dried dark red.
Blink. Blink.
[Sparrow No. 7]
[Missing]
Е̄ n ũ m ã
Only those letters, glowing vivid yellow, shone on indifferently, as if standing alone, cut off from everything else in the situation room.
*****
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"Ngh-huk!"
A grenade, cooking off out of nowhere.
Shrapnel from the blast tore the staircase steps to shreds.
Tumble, tumble.
Е́ ǹ um̂а
Knocked back by the blast, my body went rolling down the stairs and out of their line of sight.
The sudden grenade explosion made the assassination squad hold their fire.
"What was that? Did a grenade misfire?"
"A miserably unlucky wench, that one."
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But unfortunately for them, amid the billowing dust, I had just drawn my second grenade.
This time, all I could hope was that it wasn't a dud.
Е ńú m̀ а̃ . i d
Whoosh!
KA-BOOM!
"Graaaagh!"
"Gwuuurk!"
Thankfully, the grenade landed exactly where I wanted it.
The cramped landing filled with the roar of the blast, flying shrapnel, and the thick stench of gunpowder.
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The two assassination squad members caught inside the blast radius were slammed into the wall as one, limbs torn apart, and left sprawling across the floor.
When I climbed the stairs, one of them was crawling along the floor, drenched in blood.
Shrugging off what was left of my tattered shirt, I leveled the Glock at his head.
Click, click.
"Ah, shit. It's jammed."
At least I'd had the sense to bring the bayonet.
E num ǎ
I finished him by driving the still-keen blade through his heart, then climbed the rest of the stairs to the third floor.
Two more men who needed to die were still left.
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"...What?"
But the remaining two were nowhere to be seen.
Something felt off, so I looked out of the building, and there, a figure in black was vanishing between the narrow back alleys without so much as a backward glance.
"Ah, damn."
Е̊n̆ ūm̀ а̃
Looked like they'd escaped down the exterior fire stairs.
Already far too much distance to give chase.
Then, from the landing, I heard a faint crackle of static.
I looked, and there was a radio pinned beneath one of the sprawled assassination squad corpses.
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The radio I'd brought along must have been caught in the grenade blast; it was already smashed to pieces.
- Comrade Squad Leader, there is no response on the radio. It seems they are all dead....
Ӗ n̂ŭ m а̀
- It cannot be helped. I shall withdraw from the site and carry out the next plan. You proceed according to the original plan.
- Understood.
The ability to abandon the scene without a shred of hesitation the moment he realized things had gone sideways.
Such swift judgment and execution truly befitted one of North Korea's most elite black agents.
'I meant to settle this here.'
With him fleeing like that without a backward glance, there was no catching his tail now.
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While I stared blankly out of the building, smacking my lips, an odd sight suddenly caught my eye.
A single black sedan parked in a corner of the parking lot.
"...What's this?"
It looked like a vehicle staged for their escape, and the driver's door was hanging half open.
Seemed like I could take it and go after them.
By now I'd gotten a rough feel for how to fall from this height and stick the landing.
Ẇ еb n о̃ v_еl Ӗn ům ȧ
With a light hop, I threw myself out of the building.
Crash-thud!
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"...I need more landing practice."
The embarrassment lasted only a moment.
First, I stripped a jacket off one of the corpses sprawled nearby and changed clothes.
When I opened the driver's door and climbed in, the key was conveniently still in the ignition.
E̊nu m а̀
I was just about to start the engine when...
"G-go, go go go, go, drive! Move the car, now!"
"Huh?"
Someone who had been curled up tight on the floor of the back seat shot upright.
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I turned around to see the boyish face of some man, slick with cold sweat and tears.
He looked every bit as flustered as I was, his expression turning to shock as he registered my face.
Ӗ ñ ũ mа̃.іd̈
His own face gone white as a sheet.
"Y-you're not my driver.... W-who the hell are you!"
Just as I was about to ask who he was instead.
RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
"Aaaaaargh!"
A sudden hail of deafening gunfire hammered down over the rear of the parked car.
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Beyond the shattered window, one of the two assassination squad members I'd assumed had fled was spraying bullets at us with a machine gun.
So this was the "original plan" they'd been chattering about over the radio?
"D-do something, a-anything, damn it!"
The man hiding in the back seat shrieked and flung himself toward the passenger seat.
Leaving him curled up there, wailing his frail little screams, I gripped the bayonet hard.
The moment I stepped out of the driver's door, a bullet buried itself in my side, as if it had been waiting for me.
Еǹum а̀ . id̈
Yet as I kept walking, utterly unruffled, the shooter's eyes slowly widened.
The distance wasn't far. I began my windup.
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Whip!
"Gurk!"
The flying bayonet churned the guts inside his belly, and he crumpled.
As I closed in, he fumbled through his clothes with trembling hands and pulled something out.
Е̌ñ û m̀ а̃ . і̀ d̆
"Going to radio it in?"
Before he could pass along anything unnecessary, I stepped in close and gave a light tap to the bayonet buried deep in his belly.
"Ngh-gkk...."
He clenched his teeth so hard that blood seeped from his mouth.
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I plucked the radio from his strengthless grip.
I pressed the transmit button and opened with a greeting.
W̃ e bn o̊v е́l. Е n u m̀ а̀
"Hey there. Comrade Squad Leader. Leaving all your men to die while you run off alone?"
Crackle.
For a while, nothing but noisy static came from the radio.
Before long, a growling voice came through from the other side.
- ...Who are you?
"The guy who abducted So Se-hyok."
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Maybe it was because the answer was so completely unexpected?
For a while, only faint static came from the other end of the radio.
Just as the assassination squad member sprawled before me wore a look of utter disbelief, the squad leader on the other end of the radio had to be wearing much the same expression.
"Don't run off to your hideout. Come here and face me."
- ...Bastard. Does this look like a game to you?
Instead of answering, I gave the bayonet lodged in his belly a half twist.
Е́ṅ üm̂ а
"GYAAAAAARGH!"
The hideous scream carried through the radio, every last bit of it.
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When I let go of the bayonet, he gave up all pretense and began moaning and sobbing.
"Do I look like I'm playing games?"
- ....
"Let's settle this here, just the two of us. What do you say?"
Еńu ḿа̄
But regrettably, it seemed he had no intention of taking my bait.
After a long silence hanging over the radio.
- I shall remember you well.
After that one line, nothing but static followed.
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I tossed aside the radio, now good for nothing, and pulled the bayonet back out.
"Hnngh!"
Еñ ům а̃.і́_ḋ
I'm not a psychopath; I had no particular intention of prolonging his pain.
Shunk.
After running the bayonet through his heart once, I wiped it roughly on my pant leg and walked back to the sedan, hideously shredded by machine-gun fire.
It was riddled with holes like rotting cheese, but thankfully the tires, at least, were intact.
Creak.
"E-eeeek!"
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When I got back into the driver's seat, the man flattened against the passenger seat screamed.
He warily lifted his eyes, and the instant he recognized me, relief finally began to spread across his face.
Honestly, it's absurd.
Since when did he know me well enough to look this relieved?
"D-drive, quick! Anywhere, just hurry!"
"I don't get why you keep barking orders at me. Who do you think you are?"
Ê ñ um̈ а́ . і̂d̃
"W-what? You don't know me? I-I'm Jin Hao. Jin Hao!"
"...Jin Hao? The Chongqing Society's Dandong branch chief?"
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"Yes! You know your stuff!"
Oh, so you do know me!
At the sight of Jin Hao lighting up with such delight, I let out a hollow laugh in spite of myself.
Ten assassination squad members had stormed a safe house to kill this one guy, only to die to the last man at my hands, while their actual target had survived, hiding out here and blinking cluelessly.
Еň u̇ m̌а . і̂ d̊
"D-drive, quickly. To Dalian Port, now! If I can just get back to Taiwan somehow, you, you of all people, I'll make sure you rise high in the world!"
And then, out of nowhere, I remembered a job Yang Mi-ryeong had once asked of me.
Bring Jin Hao, the Chongqing Society's Dandong branch chief, in alive.
"Just got lucky."
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"L-lucky? What luck? Me?"
"No, not you. Me."
Е n̊ u̇ m̂ а .і́ d
"...What?"
"Forget Taiwan. First, you're coming somewhere with me."
Thwack!
"Gurk."
My fist spun Jin Hao's jaw around.
His head whipped sideways, his eyes rolled straight back, and then all the strength drained from his stiffened body.
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Leaving Jin Hao slumped limp in his seat, I stepped on the accelerator.
The black sedan glided quietly forward.
When I rolled down the side window, the stench of blood swirled on the wind, whipping inside and out.
"...What now?"
As I made my quick exit from the scene, somewhere past the far end of the highway, a riot of blazing lights flashed and slowly drew closer.
An uneasy premonition made me reflexively wrench the wheel toward the edge of the road.
E ňů ḿ а́. id̆
I killed the engine and quietly held my breath, and before long, blaring sirens streaked past before my eyes, one after another.
[Liaoning Provincial Public Security Department]
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The white lettering stenciled along the sides of the black armored vehicles, the massive transport bus, and dozens of police cars gleamed sharply in the streetlights.
Armed counterterror forces dispatched by the provincial-level public security police.
"...Really did just get lucky."
If I had goaded the assassination squad leader into fighting on, I might not have gotten away in time and ended up in public security custody.
Е n̈.u m а̊
Only after watching them recede toward the horizon of the opposite highway, destined to arrive a step too late, did I start the engine again.
As I crossed the dark, silent highway without a single headlight on, it finally felt like the long, long night had come to an end.
'There's still one of them left, though.'
I had no intention of letting my guard down just yet.
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*****
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Еn̆ü m̌ӓ . і̂d́
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