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Chapter 3: Civilian Abduction
TL: Enuma ID
Wang Chunsam's Eatery was set up with the restaurant on the first floor and the living quarters on the second.
Buildings of a similar type were crammed side by side in a row, so the house itself was quite cramped.
The only usable room was the master bedroom, and even the bathroom was attached to the restaurant downstairs, so using it meant a trip down the stairs.
A quick scan of the room turned up a laptop bag wedged into the corner of the nightstand.
Е̄nüm̆а̌
"I'm going to borrow the laptop for a minute."
"Ah! There is a password on it, so you will not be able to use it...."
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
"I have a pretty good idea what it is."
I pulled the laptop out of the bag.
It was an NIS-issue laptop fitted with a special incineration device for destroying classified data.
Tap-tap-tap.
Е̃nu_m̈ ã
Ding.
'I knew it.'
Just as I'd expected, the password was '1q2w3e4r!@'.
A soldier's worn-in habits never change, no matter where he goes.
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To check whether new orders had come down, I first logged on to the secure webpage reserved for NIS black agents.
[Specialty Online Store for Industrial Rubber Gaskets]
Е̌ n̂ùm̂ а
[Bulk orders only. Custom orders subject to a 30% production surcharge]
[EPDM-32A High-Heat-Resistant Type / NBR High-Pressure Sealing 45mm / ...]
It looked like any ordinary small-business shopping site, but following the custom-order link brought up a login page.
I plugged in the USB certificate I always carried and entered the ID and password assigned to me.
[URGENT]
Thankfully, a message was waiting.
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I could only hope I wasn't the only one alive to read it.
[Effective immediately, all agents in Dandong are to remain in hiding at their current positions]
That was the whole message.
What had happened to the operation, how many had survived, how many were dead.
Not that I'd expected a kindly explanation, but it was deflating all the same.
It was one of the rotten-ass ways the NIS brass liked to run things.
W̊.é b̃n о̇_v̊ е l E ṅŭ m а̌
'Where the hell did things go wrong?'
Maybe Hyon Yong-chol's defection had been a North Korean trap from the start.
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Or maybe the NIS operation had leaked in advance.
There was plenty to wonder about, but no matter how hard I racked my brain, there was nothing I could figure out from where I sat.
In the end, the operation had failed.
I'd just have to chalk today up as stepping in shit.
Е̊ṅ ũ m̃a
When the next order came down, I'd throw myself right back into the meat grinder like it was nothing.
Filling in one freshly dug grave and digging another right beside it was pretty much the whole of our job.
'What a headache.'
With orders handed down like this, it would be a while before the next ones arrived.
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So for the time being, I planned to stay close to Kite No. 3 until he recovered.
[REPORT]
Е ň u m̂ȧ
[Sparrow No. 7, all clear. Fit to continue operations. Killed some ten North Korean soldiers in Sinuiju before exfiltrating the operational area]
[Kite No. 3, wounded in engagement. Used Dandong 3-2 Rabbit Hole. Bleeding controlled, evacuation to safe house complete. Assessed unfit for deployment. Sparrow No. 7 to remain hidden nearby and maintain protective watch until his condition stabilizes]
I sent the message and powered off the laptop.
Only then did a sigh of relief escape me.
"I need to keep an eye on sunbae's condition for a while, so if it's all right with you, hyeongsu-nim, I'll impose on a corner of the hallway for the time being."
"Of course. Stay as long as you like. It's fine."
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"I know it's an inconvenience. Please bear with me for a few days."
And so, taking a spare blanket from hyeongsu-nim, I finally managed to park my backside in a corner of the floor.
Of course, my body was in peak condition, hardly in need of rest at all.
My head was sharp, and my body felt uncannily fresh.
Taken together with the miracle I'd just lived through, something impossible was clearly happening to this body of mine, inside and out.
'Since when?'
Е̂ n̊ ū m̂ à
I'd never really been injured, even as a kid.
Falls never left so much as a scratch, and I rarely did anything to earn a beating.
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It was the same after I grew up.
I handled whatever was thrown at me with ease; even life in the Defense Intelligence Command's Special Task Force, which everyone else found grueling, was never particularly hard for me.
People often told me I was built tough.
But I'd never once imagined that "tough" stretched all the way to bouncing bullets.
W е b̃ nо v е̂ ľ _Е̇ n̂ ům̈ а̌
Deflecting bullets with bare skin, like some protagonist out of a novel.
Wasn't it utterly absurd?
"...I'll sleep on it and see."
For all I knew, this could all be a dream.
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Things might look different in the morning.
Sleep first.
Е̇nù m á
Zzz.
*****
My eyes snapped open.
Just as the savory smell of hot oil brushed my nose, I heard someone bustling around the restaurant downstairs.
"Fwaaah."
Glancing toward the end of the hallway, I could see the master bedroom's bed through the open door.
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I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me, but there was Kite No. 3, half propped up against the bed.
"Huh?"
Our eyes met.
I gathered up my blanket and went into the bedroom.
"Sunbae, you're awake?"
"Yeah. You saved my life. Thanks."
Ẅе̌b̊ ǹ о̌v̀ ё l̆ Ė n̊ um̆á
"How are you feeling?"
"One whole side of me is numb. No strength at all. Feels like the worst flu of my life. Don't you ever get shot, kid. I may sound fine, but I'm going through absolute hell right now."
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"Well, your mouth's in perfect working order. You'll be back on your feet in no time."
Judging by the way he talked, he seemed all right for now.
Though his face was pale, probably from the blood loss.
"Is there a hospital around here? You should get to one first."
Е̊ n üḿ а̊
"It's a gunshot wound. If I walk into a hospital and it ends up on a record somewhere, we're in serious trouble."
"Then what are you supposed to do?"
"I called a back-alley doctor I know. He'll come by the house before dawn."
"Can he be trusted?"
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"His skills are better than a real doctor's. This kind of work is his specialty in the first place."
"That's a relief. Oh, right. The bullet was sitting right there while I was stopping the bleeding, so I pulled it out."
E̊nu̇ m̈ а
"Thorough as ever. You're not hurt anywhere?"
"Not a scratch. Fresh as a daisy."
"...Incredible. Honestly."
As he answered slowly, Kite No. 3's eyes flicked toward the laptop sitting beside the bed.
I caught on right away to what that look was asking for.
"I already messaged HQ. I'm all clear, you're unfit for deployment. A notice came down, too. Effective immediately, all agents in China are to remain in hiding at their current positions."
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"Nothing else?"
"You know better, don't you? Never expect anything more from them."
"Fair enough."
Kite No. 3 let out a dry laugh.
Only then did I roughly fold the blanket in my arms and set it down in a corner.
"By the way, that was my first time meeting hyeongsu-nim. I never heard you'd gotten married."
Е̂nüm̊ а́ ._і ḋ
"Married? Who?"
"The woman living with you."
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"Hyeongsu-nim, my ass.... We're just helping each other out, that's all."
Kite No. 3 looked away, sheepish.
"We met by chance back when I was with the Defense Intelligence Command. These days it's just a personal arrangement, trading favors."
It was only then that I got a brief rundown of the identity Kite No. 3 had built for himself since putting down roots in China.
E n̄ ů mа
Hyeongsu-nim's name was Chae A-ra. Twenty-two years old.
As her accent suggested, she was a North Korean defector who had crossed the Yalu River.
She'd crossed the border through a broker, but the deal had gone sour and she'd nearly been sold off by human traffickers; Kite No. 3, then with the Defense Intelligence Command's Special Task Force, had rescued her and settled her here.
After he transferred to the NIS, he'd gone so far as to register their marriage, and they'd been living as a sham married couple ever since.
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"And what's the deal with this restaurant?"
"It's my place. Opened it with my Defense Intelligence Command severance pay."
Е̄n u̇m̈à
"Seriously? You're not planning to go back to Korea?"
"A-ra ssi's family is still in the North. We've been waiting here for years for the brokers to make contact."
The 'Wang Chunsam' in the restaurant's name, Wang Chunsam's Eatery, was Kite No. 3's Chinese cover identity.
Holding down a plausible local job was one of the standard moves for black agents on long-term postings.
But sinking his entire severance into the place?
Maybe he'd made up his mind to build a second life here with Chae A-ra.
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"Anyway, I'm glad you made it."
"Yeah. Really, thank you. When I came to partway through, I thought I was dreaming. Turns out I really had come back from the dead."
"It was nothing."
"But how did you get out? Sinuiju to here isn't a distance you can walk carrying me on your back."
"I stole a North Korean army truck and crossed the Yalu River Bridge. Then I redid the bleeding control more thoroughly at the Rabbit Hole, called a taxi, and came the rest of the way here."
"You didn't get dropped off in front of the restaurant, did you?"
Enuṁ â . і́.ḋ
"Obviously I got out a long way off. I carried you on my back and walked here all the way from Donggang."
"...That must have been brutal. Thank you, again."
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"Don't mention it."
With Kite No. 3 conscious again, there was nothing left to worry about.
As we chatted on, I sensed someone outside the door.
I glanced back to see Chae A-ra carefully climbing the stairs, a tray in her hands.
W̌е b nо̃ vẽ l̀ Е num ӓ
"I have made some porridge, so the two of you should eat first."
She must have already spoken with Kite No. 3 after he woke, because her face looked far more at ease.
Watching her sit close at Kite No. 3's side, blowing on each spoonful of porridge before feeding it to him, I silently picked up my own spoon.
I felt like I'd barged in on a pair of lovestruck newlyweds without an ounce of tact.
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'I meant to stick around a few days, but maybe I should just leave today. All this is making me feel painfully single.'
So I shoveled down the milky-white meatball porridge without much thought.
Ẁ ē b̃_n̈_о vèl Е́ ñ ū m̂ а́
I was digging in absently when Chae A-ra, who'd been watching from the side, blinked in surprise.
"Goodness, Young Master. Does it not burn you?"
"Huh? Ah, yes. The porridge is delicious, hyeongsu-nim."
"It should be scalding hot. Do eat slowly."
I'd always handled hot food well.
Thinking about it now, that took on a whole new meaning too.
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On a whim, I stuck my pinky deep into what was left of the porridge.
My finger tingled faintly, and that was all.
At this point, even I didn't know anymore.
'Whether I was born this way, or awakened a superpower somewhere along the way.'
With a hollow laugh, I shoveled the rest of the porridge into my mouth.
Then, on a sudden thought, I turned on the laptop.
Е n̆ u̇m а
I meant to check whether HQ had replied to my survival report.
[URGENT]
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[SOLO ORDER ISSUED]
[Operation No. 827B112]
Sure enough, another message had arrived.
A solo order.
Ẇ_ѐḃṅ ȯ v е̄ ľ_ Ѐ nũm а
Meaning an order issued to me, and me alone.
The message took a good while to load, and something about that felt off.
[Objective: Rescue of civilians]
[Ri Chol-jun, the official responsible for the North Korean military casualties in Sinuiju, has made an emergency entry into the State Security Department safe house in Dandong. Mass abduction of South Korean tourists currently under way within Dandong]
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[20 North Korean State Security Department troops deployed across downtown Dandong]
[Ri Chol-jun, External Intelligence Bureau director, State Security Department]
Ėn û m a
[...]
Attached to the message was a physical description of the key figure in this order, Ri Chol-jun, External Intelligence Bureau director of North Korea's State Security Department.
I started by closely studying his photo, his clothing, his height and build.
'He's lost his mind. Abducting tourists? Public Security isn't going to just stand by and watch.'
It seemed that to dodge responsibility for the deaths of dozens of North Korean soldiers in Sinuiju, someone as senior as the External Intelligence Bureau director had crossed over to Dandong to run the operation himself.
Still, issuing a solo order for me to take on twenty North Korean troops all by myself?
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'Don't tell me I'm the only agent left in Dandong who's still operational.'
An uneasy thought flickered through my mind.
The faces of the agents who'd infiltrated the North with me hovered before my eyes.
Had he noticed something off in my expression?
Kite No. 3, who'd been eating the porridge as it was spoon-fed to him, kept glancing my way.
"Orders?"
W̃ ӗ b n o ṽ_е̌l̀ Е ňù m а̂
"Yeah. Came down to me alone. State Security's External Intelligence Bureau director Ri Chol-jun has come all the way to Dandong and is abducting innocent South Korean tourists, so they want me to infiltrate the State Security Department safe house and get them out."
"Are they insane.... That's just telling you to go die in their place!"
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The moment he heard the briefing, Kite No. 3's glazed eyes flew wide open.
Hearing it out loud from someone else's mouth, I had to agree.
"Right? It basically means becoming a hostage in the tourists' place, doesn't it?"
"Kid, just go dark. Tell them your mission capability is restricted because of me. Nobody can say a word. You're a Sparrow right now. A Sparrow."
Ė nu m̂ а. іd̂
"Come on. I've got Defense Intelligence Command years under my belt. I should be able to handle this much."
Even back in my Defense Intelligence Command days, people called me a lunatic for always picking the deadliest jobs to dive into.
I made a point of grinning at him.
"When the job's done, I'll come back for a free bowl of mala xiang guo."
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"...God. You crazy bastard."
Kite No. 3, who knew me well enough by now, couldn't manage another word and just let out a deep sigh.
Е̇nu̇ṁ ӑ
"You make sure you come back alive and in one piece."
"I will. Don't worry."
"And don't bring a tail with you on the way back."
"Obviously."
Besides, there was one thing I absolutely had to find out for myself on this operation.
'Somehow, my body's itching for this.'
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Just how far could I go with this body that bullets couldn't touch? I'd been dying to know anyway.
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