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Chapter 35: The Great Garibong-dong Explosion
TL: Enuma ID
The adult arcade sat in breathless silence, no one able to get a proper word out.
Then, out of nowhere, the man raised a finger and began counting heads, one by one.
"One, two, three, four... twelve. Okay. Looks like everyone's more or less alive."
"Ah, uh, uhh..."
Е nû m ǎ
To the gang members who had caught less shrapnel and were still conscious, that utterly unruffled attitude looked like something that couldn't possibly be real.
Wasn't this the moment to say something... apologize, beg forgiveness, anything?
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
They were staring blankly at one another in a strange standoff when it happened.
"Oh, right. This one didn't go off, did it?"
As if he'd just remembered something, the man walked over to the passenger side of the wrecked car and opened the door.
What he hauled out of the passenger seat was none other than a 20-kilogram commercial LPG gas cylinder.
Ẇ ê b n оv̈еl̀ Е n u m а
Watching him, the Gucheon Gang members' eyes began to tremble, swallowed up by terror.
No, this man had never had any intention of apologizing in the first place!
"Wh-what, wha, what are, are you..."
As if it were the most natural thing in the world, the man wrenched the cylinder's valve wide open.
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Hisssssssss.
Along with that spine-chilling sound, the acrid, nauseating stench of gas quickly filled the cramped arcade.
Ӗ ńûm̈ ǎ
"In the movies, all you gotta do is floor it and ram something and everything goes up in these big gorgeous fireballs. Turns out reality's a little different. Right?"
"Uh, uh... uh, uh."
"Fuck. F-fuck."
"He's insane. No way? Fuck, please..."
The Gucheon Gang members dragged their broken legs across the floor, desperately trying to crawl away.
Meanwhile, the man picked a disposable lighter out of the ashtrays scattered across the floor, and without a moment's hesitation, struck the flint right at the mouth of the hissing cylinder.
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Chk, chk.
FWOOOOOSH!
A moment later, a huge gout of flame surged up and drenched the air.
"Kyaaaaaaah!"
"Wh-what, wha-wha-what are you doiiiing?!"
"Stop! Stooooop! Please please please..."
Е n̆u̇ ṁ а̀ .id̊
"Spare us! P-p-p-please, spare us!"
"H-help! Somebody, heeelp!"
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
The Gucheon Gang members' faces turned bone white.
Desperate screams poured from their mouths.
The man who had caused it all simply gazed at the wavering flame, then glanced back at the gang members.
"Hey."
Ѐ nu ṁа̃
It was an astonishingly warm, gentle voice.
"You guys know how lucky you've been all this time, right?"
"S-sorry?"
"L-lucky?"
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
"Yeah. All this time your luck held out, so you got to swagger around without ever running into a lunatic like me. Am I wrong?"
"Ah, ahh..."
Е n ū m а̊. і̌ḋ
"But as of today, I'd say that luck's all used up."
The man smiled brightly.
At the sight of him chattering out such chilling words in such a warm voice, the gang members' grasp of common sense had by now reached the stage of full gestalt collapse.
"S-spare us! S-spare..."
"W-we won't do it again! We won't, we swear! W-we'll live clean, so..."
They bowed and scraped frantically, rubbing their hands together in supplication.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
Not that they had any idea yet what exactly they had done wrong.
But surely no lunatic, however far gone, would throw his own safety to the wind!
"If I see your faces around this neighborhood again, next time I'm not bringing a gas cylinder. I'm bringing a Claymore. Got it?"
"Y-yes! Yes yes yes!"
"We will! We swear we will, so please, we'll be good, we'll live clean!!"
So they just begged.
Е ň úm ä . і d
It felt like if they pleaded desperately enough, the man might quietly close the valve for them.
"Heave-ho."
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
"Ah! No! Pleeease!"
"No! Nooooo!"
But at the man's next move, every eye went wide.
He had hoisted the burning gas cylinder high with both hands!
Wе̌b̃ňӧv̀ е́ l Е ǹû.m ǎ
Toward the SUV belching black smoke, making a show of it, as if he might hurl the cylinder at any second.
"Don't worry. A gas explosion just means a few burns and getting knocked around a bit."
"No! Nooooooo!"
And at the same time.
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"I'm telling you, it's fine. You won't die. You won't die."
With everyone watching, his raised arms swung with all his strength.
Е̄ ň u m ӓ
Whoosh!
"Ah."
"Oh."
The instant the cylinder left the man's hands and slammed down onto the car's hood.
The world flashed, drenched in a violent orange light, and then...
"Ahh."
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KABOOOOOOM!
It was truly a scene straight out of a movie.
*****
The NIS main building may be in Naegok-dong, Seocho District, but several key units of the domestic divisions operated scattered across Seoul like isolated cells.
In the case of the Domestic Intelligence Bureau director, who served under the NIS Second Deputy Director, his office was discreetly tucked away inside the Ministry of National Defense building in Yongsan.
Officially, it was so the bureau could catch the Ministry's movements early, from the closest possible vantage point.
W̃е́b n̂ о̀ v̇e l _Е́ n̄ ūm̈ а̂
"D-Director, sir. Could I have a moment?"
"Hm?"
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Creak.
Pushing up his thick glasses, Domestic Intelligence Bureau director Oh Man-gil blinked.
He wondered who it could be, and it turned out to be Team Leader Kim Do-hyeon, his direct subordinate, normally the picture of courtesy.
"Honestly, Kim. You have no idea what I might be doing in my office, and you just open the door without any warning?"
Е n ü m ǎ_. і́d
"M-my apologies, Director. But there's a matter I need to report urgently..."
"What is it? Bring it here."
What on earth could make Kim Do-hyeon, famed for his composure, so frantic that he'd barge in without even knocking?
Oh Man-gil snorted and crooked a finger.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
"It's about... that man you ordered me to recruit, Director. Kang Hae-chan..."
"Mm. Right. I gave you that assignment personally."
Е n̄ ûm̄а̇ . і̌d̆
"That man is a complete lunatic!"
At Kim Do-hyeon's sudden outburst, Oh Man-gil couldn't help a puzzled look.
It had been only a day since he'd handed over Kang Hae-chan's personal file and ordered him recruited.
And now his subordinate was calling the recruitment target a lunatic, right to his superior's face.
"Kim. Where are your manners today? Bad enough that you barged in, but now I can't make heads or tails of what you're saying."
"F-first, please just watch this video! You'll understand the moment you see it!"
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Face flushed red, Kim Do-hyeon shoved a laptop onto Oh Man-gil's desk.
A tap of the keyboard, and security CCTV footage of some shabby back alley began to play.
"I-it starts now. Right now... W-watch closely, sir."
"...."
The alley was peaceful in the extreme.
A quiet hour of day; the view of a deserted back alley with no one about.
Ѐn ú m ӓ . і̇ d̊.
Nothing but stillness on the screen.
Then, all at once.
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-CRASH-SMAAASH!
A hulking black SUV tore down the alley at terrifying speed without ever touching the brakes, then plowed head-on into the building the camera was pointed at.
The sheer brute destructive force carried even through the screen, enough that even Oh Man-gil's jaw dropped in spite of himself.
But the real show came next.
W̄ е̂b́ ñõ v е̇l Еn̈u m̈ a
A moment later, the entire screen flashed white.
-KABOOOOM!
Then crimson flames erupted outward, as if inflating the building from within.
An unmistakable gas explosion.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
"...."
"...."
W̆.ѐ bn о́ ṽ el̆ Ĕnûm а̂
The shock of the blast made the CCTV image shudder violently.
Before long, a horde of men came pouring out of the smoke-belching arcade in blind panic.
One crawling out on all fours like an animal, one limping away, one dragged out to sprawl across the pavement, one slumped on the ground bawling like a child, and so on.
It was pure pandemonium.
And out of that inferno of screams and flame.
"...."
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
A lone man in a hood and mask strolled out with perfect composure and slipped away from the scene.
He was the star of this video.
"...Don't tell me that man is Sparrow No. 7, Kang Hae-chan?"
"That's right!"
Kim Do-hyeon's answer was closer to a wail.
Brow knitted tight, Oh Man-gil scratched lightly at his furrowed forehead.
W è b nо v еl _Ѐ ǹû m̃ а
"And how would you know that? I doubt a proper facial ID is even possible from this footage alone..."
"Before I explain the details... first, this is an adult arcade located in Garibong-dong, Guro-gu. It's been shut down for a good ten years or more, and a gang of local thugs called the Gucheon Gang had been using it as their hideout."
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"So the men pouring out of there are all those thugs, is that it?"
"Correct. And here, please watch the rest of this footage."
Kim Do-hyeon worked the mouse and rewound the video to a point before the explosion.
At that moment, a man in a hoodie could be seen opening the arcade door and walking in of his own accord.
Enu̇ḿ а
Then, shortly after, he stepped back outside with a polite bow of his head.
"This is from just a few hours before the explosion. Apparently this man walked into the arcade on his own two feet and got himself, I don't know, thoroughly cussed out by the thugs. You see how grim his expression is?"
"Mm. I see it."
"And then just a few minutes later, he calls me! Asking whether the NIS could scrub the footage caught on the security cameras!"
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
"Oho."
"On top of that, he asks if there's any way to get hold of a burner car, and the second I introduce him to a dealer in Bucheon, he goes straight there, gets a car, and rams it right into the arcade!"
W̆ е.b̌ n о́v̂е l̈ Е̊ n̆ u̇m а
"My, my."
"And then the moment the job's done, he calls me again! Asking me to erase the security camera footage in front of Bada Story in Garibong-dong, chattering away as calmly as if I were holding his coat for him!"
Kim Do-hyeon's voice grew desperate with sheer disbelief.
"If that's not a lunatic, what is! He gets cussed out a little, so he thinks nothing of procuring a burner car and ramming it into a building! The man's a headcase!"
"Hmm."
"The North Korean assassination squad incident must have been the exact same thought process! One colleague dies, he sees red, goes on a rampage, and just got lucky enough to survive!"
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"Mm-hm."
Even after the video ended, Oh Man-gil said nothing for a long while.
He worked the keyboard, skipping the video forward.
"Well, now..."
The man in the hoodie, walking out of the flames.
He paused that final image and was staring holes into it.
En̄ù mа .іd
"...A scene straight out of a movie."
The corners of Oh Man-gil's mouth curled up, slowly.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
"A m-movie? Director, what do you..."
"But tell me, Kim. What's so wrong with a lunatic?"
"...Sir?"
"Me, I'd be delighted to have nothing but lunatics like that crawling all over under my command."
Е núma
For a moment, Kim Do-hyeon doubted his own ears.
Paying him no mind, Oh Man-gil tapped at the keyboard and continued in a low voice.
"Working at the NIS, has the thought never once crossed your mind? The assemblymen, the reporters, the civic groups... those dogs and pigs who spread absurd rumors about us over every trifle, who scheme in the gutter and sink their teeth in and never let go... How lovely would it be to have just one man willing to play crazy and ram a truck straight into their faces?"
"...Sir?"
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"With even one man like that as my right hand, I'd sleep so much easier. Wouldn't you agree?"
Before he could manage a proper answer, Kim Do-hyeon's mouth fell open of its own accord.
Е̂nu m̊ а
He felt like he'd been clubbed over the back of the head.
"D-Director, that's..."
"It's always been my one regret. Not having a single man who'll shut his eyes and just do it when the order comes down from above. It's always legality this, procedure that, cleanup the other... I'm surrounded by prigs bleating that schoolboy drivel, and everything grinds to a halt."
"...."
Oh Man-gil's finger tapped the keyboard again.
On the unfrozen screen, Kang Hae-chan walked out from between the flames.
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"And now, after a very long time, a lunatic entirely to my taste has appeared."
"Even so... this man is beyond anything we can measure by common sense. He will never be controllable!"
"It's no crime for a dog to go mad. The crime belongs to the owner who holds the leash and still can't handle his dog."
Oh Man-gil's calm gaze settled on Kim Do-hyeon.
"Do you have any idea what hell I went through digging this man's file out of the Defense Intelligence Command, on the NIS Director's orders?"
"...."
Ẃ е bnо v̂ê_l̄ Ӗn̄ u m а̂
"If you knew what I went through, you wouldn't dare whine like that in front of me. Would you?"
He tapped the frozen laptop screen with his fingertip.
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At that lingering touch, Kim Do-hyeon swallowed dryly in spite of himself.
"I'll say it once more. While this fellow remains in the country, you are to recruit him into our bureau, without fail. I don't care what means you use or how outrageous the terms you offer. As of this moment, that is your number one priority. Understood?"
"...."
"Your answer?"
Ŵé ḃn о v̀ еl Е̌n u m̆а
If they say do it, you do it. That's how the organization works.
One more word of protest here, and leash or no leash, his own livelihood would be the first thing to go.
"...Understood."
Kim Do-hyeon could only bow his head low and accept it, struggling to hide the sour look on his face.
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But what if, on the wildest off chance, that lunatic really did end up under him?
-CRASH-SMAAASH!
E n̆ ũ m а́
"...."
And what if, on the wildest, wildest off chance, that lunatic snapped over one careless word out of his own mouth?
'Fuck... Better write my resignation letter in advance.'
Survival came first.
Otherwise it would be a last will and testament he'd be writing instead.
*****
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