VIP Early Access
Eksklusif untuk member VIP
Password Protected
Chapter ini dikunci dengan kode khusus
Chapter 36: Missile Provocation
TL: Enuma ID
Who was it who said that stimulation only breeds greater stimulation?
They weren't wrong about a single thing.
After blowing one gas canister sky-high in the most satisfying way possible, my body, which had been itching all over like I was coming down with a fever, felt completely cured.
"Nnngh.... Ah! That hits the spot."
Ŵ ê bn̈ оv̇ е l Е̌n̈ u m ӓ
With every last one of the Gucheon Gang thugs flattened, there was no need to worry about the cleanup, either.
One phone call and it'd all be sorted, or so I'd been told.
Baca cerita ini hanya di situs resmi Enuma.id!
Brrring.
Click.
-Hello?
"Hello, Team Leader Kim Do-hyeon. It's me, Kang Hae-chan."
Е̄ǹ u_m а̂ . і d
-Ah, yes! Agent Kang! Have you finally made your decision...
"No, it's not that. I just need to ask you for a favor."
When I cut him off without missing a beat, a distinctly deflated response came right back.
-A favor.... Is this about that burner car from earlier?
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
"It's related to that, actually. Just now, over in Garibong-dong, Guro, I plowed the car into the wrong spot, and a building ended up exploding."
-...What?
Е̂n̊ ûma
"Thing is, there was a security camera out front. I had a cap on and a mask over my face, but there's a chance I got caught on it anyway. So, any chance you could wipe the footage for me?"
-....
The moment I finished my brief rundown of the situation, Team Leader Kim Do-hyeon's voice went dead on the other end.
No doubt he was racking his brain hard enough to blow a blood vessel right about now, trying to figure out what in the world was going on.
"If you really pull some strings for me this time, my heart might just be swayed...."
-....
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
"Anyway, I'll give the transfer to the domestic side some more thought. The perks you mentioned yesterday just didn't do much for me."
-....
"Hello? What, did the call drop? Well, in any case, I'm counting on you."
Hanging up on the unresponsive line, I felt oddly refreshed.
I cracked my stiff neck from side to side and stretched long and hard.
"Oh, right. I should let sunbae know too."
Е̇ nû m ä . i̇ d̈
I put a call through to Kite No. 3 right away.
It was about the time he'd have finished the dinner rush, so thankfully the call connected quickly.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
-Hello?
"Sunbae, it's me."
-Oh, hey. Good timing, I was just wondering. Did you dig anything up on those gangster punks?
"Yeah. Just finished wrecking them. I'm on my way out now."
Wѐb̆ n о̂ v е́ l Е̌ ń umа
-...Huh?
"I crushed them thoroughly enough that they'll never show their faces around this neighborhood again, so please tell the old gentleman he can rest easy."
-Huuuh?
Nothing but dumbfounded noises kept spilling out of the phone.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
Which was fair enough.
It hadn't even been a full day since he'd handed me the job.
Е̇ n ū m̆.ă
Truth be told, I hadn't planned on wrapping things up this fast either.
My body had just been itching so badly I couldn't stand it a second longer.
-...Wait, seriously?
"Yeah. It might even make the news soon. Something like, car with sudden unintended acceleration plows into Garibong-dong adult arcade and explodes."
-....
Leaving behind sunbae's dazed voice as he asked again in disbelief, I strolled across the night streets in a fine mood.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
A glance over my shoulder showed pitch-black smoke billowing up in thick clouds.
It was a real blessing there were no other commercial buildings around the shuttered adult arcade.
'So this is why they say you're in for it if you cross the wrong lunatic.'
Not that I'm in any position to talk, being said lunatic.
*****
It was the night of that same day, the job behind me and a weight off my shoulders.
Е n um̄ а̊ . іd
I was sprawled out on the temple's breezy wooden veranda, staring blankly at its one and only battered old television.
[Regarding North Korea's successful launch today of a submarine-launched ballistic missile, an SLBM, military officials assess that the North will field a new submarine armed with the missile within two years at the most....]
Baca cerita ini hanya di situs resmi Enuma.id!
The screen was in the middle of a news report on North Korea launching a missile.
It hadn't just happened, either; it was from a while back, right around when I was shoveling down a platter of sashimi with Team Leader Kim Do-hyeon and chasing it with a fish cake skewer.
[The international community continues to issue strong condemnations of North Korea's provocation. To raise the level of sanctions against North Korea another notch, the UN Security Council has placed a new resolution, including mandatory inspections of all import and export cargo moving in and out of the North, on the agenda for its June session. China and Russia have likewise responded to this latest North Korean missile provocation by....]
I'd been so busy running around that I hadn't even noticed any of this happening.
W ė.b́ṅо́ vе l̈ Еǹù_m̄ а̃
It was a full-scale provocation, with Chairman Kim Jong-un himself attending the launch on site.
'First they send a hit squad to Dandong, and now a missile provocation?'
Were they scrambling to smooth over the string of incidents in Sinuiju and Dandong this past month, both at home and abroad?
I found myself shaking my head in disbelief.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
'If I were still at Defense Intelligence Command, they'd be on emergency footing right now, arguing about inserting us into the North.'
Deokun-seunim must have been thinking along the same lines, because she asked me a question while watching the TV.
Е̃n ũ m̃ ӑ. і̃ d̄
"Hae-chan, if you were still a soldier, you'd have had to report straight back to your unit over that, wouldn't you?"
"...Probably, yeah."
Then a strange little question suddenly occurred to me.
It was the fact that my phone had sat there this whole time, blank, without so much as a peep.
'North Korea fires off a missile and the NIS doesn't even react?'
No way.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
It was puzzling enough that my head tilted to one side all on its own.
'Are they leaving me alone because I'm on paid leave?'
In any case, that was the situation, so all I did was crunch away at the sliced Korean melon.
Somehow all of it sounded far away, like news from somebody else's country.
"Hae-chan."
Then, out of the blue, Deokun-seunim looked at me and asked,
Е̂ n̂ u̇ m̊а̌
"Do you happen to have anywhere you need to be tomorrow?"
"No, nothing in particular. Is something going on?"
Baca cerita ini hanya di situs resmi Enuma.id!
"Is that so? Then could you help out with temple work tomorrow, on Children's Day? We're set to hold a children's dharma assembly for the little ones from the kindergarten nearby."
"What would I need to do?"
"Just play with the children during each of the breaks."
"Sure. I like playing with kids."
Е n ûm̄ а̇ . і̃ d́
Crunching on my melon, I nodded readily.
"Leave it to me."
*****
I never should have answered so breezily.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
Children's Day arrived, and I met it without a thought in my head, utterly defenseless.
"Big bro! Play train with me, play train!"
Е̌ num̌а
"Train? Sure. How do you play that?"
"You're my train, big bro! Get down on the ground!"
"...?"
"Chugga-chugga, choo-choo!"
"...."
I had become a plaything for the kindergarteners who'd come to the temple for Children's Day.
Baca cerita ini hanya di situs resmi Enuma.id!
The instant I offered up my back without thinking, five or six little kids clambered aboard as if they'd been waiting for exactly that.
While I crawled around the temple's front yard on my hands and knees, the kids shrieked with delighted laughter.
"My goodness. Isn't he sweet."
"His knees must be killing him...."
Such was the commentary from the kindergarten teachers huddled together, watching me.
The tidal wave of embarrassment was mine and mine alone.
Ẃ е̌ b n õv е̌ l Êǹ ů m̈ǎ
"Big bro! Play dinosaurs with me! You're really tall, so from now on you're a Brachiosaurus!"
"Dinosaurs?"
Baca cerita ini hanya di situs resmi Enuma.id!
"Dinosaurs go Rawrrr! Rawrrr!"
"...."
"Giddyup!"
I hadn't known this before, but apparently little boys have a special fondness for climbing onto or hanging off of somebody's back.
E n ù m à
After a while of crawling across the dirt with my neck stretched out long, there wasn't a single vacant spot left on my back, arms, or legs, what with all the children dangling off of them.
"Big brotherrr, won't you play house with us?"
This time it was a group of little girls making their way over.
Figuring I'd finally get a breather, I nodded readily.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
I never should have.
"What do I do? Should I be the dad?"
W е b̀ñо́ v̀ e ľ Én̈ ům a
"Nope. From now on, you're Poppy, our family dog."
"...Poppy?"
"Now, lie down and wait. I'll make you some yummy num-nums out of sand, okay?"
"...."
"Poppy, speak!"
"...."
Baca cerita ini hanya di situs resmi Enuma.id!
"Speak!"
"...Woof."
"Bite!"
"...."
I'm fairly sure my own childhood was never this spectacular.
Just like that, I found myself crawling across the dirt yet again, forced to bury my nose in a mystery dog bowl of sand tossed with leaves.
Е̃ n u m а̃. ï d̀
After playing with the kids until my soul left my body, snack time finally arrived like salvation itself.
"Children, everyone come over here and have some melon."
Baca cerita ini hanya di situs resmi Enuma.id!
"Yaaaaay!"
"But I don't liiike melon...."
"There's watermelon too, you know."
"Yaaaay!"
En ů m а
Once the kids had drained away like the ebbing tide, I curled up in a corner of the veranda and stared blankly into empty space.
An NIS black agent, in name at least, reduced to a hollow shell because he couldn't keep up with the stamina of a pack of kindergarteners.
'Honestly, I'd be way better off taking on a North Korean hit squad bare-handed.'
I found myself missing the field.
Baca cerita ini hanya di situs resmi Enuma.id!
As I lay there curled up for a while, one little kid came scampering out from inside the temple.
"Big bro, watermelon!"
Е̌ n ũ m̂ â .і d̊
"...Oh, thanks."
"Hehe!"
The kid shoved the watermelon into my mouth, beamed with pride, then went dashing back inside.
Right around the time I was blankly mumbling over the chunk of watermelon that had rolled into my mouth.
Brrring.
"Hm?"
Baca cerita ini hanya di situs resmi Enuma.id!
My phone rang out of nowhere.
I checked; it was an unknown number.
Here's one rule every black agent absolutely must remember.
I was taught that an unidentified call from an unknown number gets answered immediately.
"Hello?"
-Hey, Sparrow No. 7. It's me.
Е̇nüm̆ a
"And 'me' would be who?"
-Well, look at you. You can't even remember your own direct superior's voice?
Baca cerita ini hanya di situs resmi Enuma.id!
"Ah."
My direct superior.
Choi Min-sik, leader of Special Operations Group Team 3.
With an awkward laugh, I straightened my slouched back.
W̄ е̊b nо̄ v̇ ê l̂ En̄úm̀а̌
"My apologies, sir. The connection is terrible."
-No, no. I'm the one who should be sorry, bothering you on leave. Got a minute to talk?
"Yes. I was just getting some good, deep rest."
-Yeah? Nnngh....
Baca cerita ini hanya di situs resmi Enuma.id!
At my leisurely reply, a pained groan drifted through the phone.
I could plainly feel him agonizing over where on earth to even begin explaining this.
Е́numā
-I really do feel bad about this, but let me cut to the chase. We're going to need you back in Dandong for a while.
Despite myself, I blinked and looked up.
Speak of the devil.
Last night, chatting with Deokun-seunim about the missile provocation, I'd had a feeling things might turn out exactly like this.
"Is this because of the North's missile provocation?"
-Yeah. It's a bit complicated, but at its core, that's it.
Baca cerita ini hanya di situs resmi Enuma.id!
Team Leader Choi Min-sik trailed off sheepishly, then cleared his throat.
-The plan was to leave you alone to rest up for a good while, but things got tangled one way or another. Take today to finish resting, then report back to Dandong tomorrow, first thing, and start with the handover from Owl No. 5.
Owl No. 5.
A black agent I'd seen exactly once, during the Sinuiju operation.
Lanky build, careful expression.
I remembered him as a man whose high-strung eyes were anything but ordinary.
Wёb̆ ń оṽ е l Е̊ n̄umа̂
"If I'm taking the handover from Owl.... that means I'm going in as a surveillance operative?"
-Yeah. That's right.
Baca cerita ini hanya di situs resmi Enuma.id!
The Owl code was one assigned mostly to local surveillance operatives, whose main duty was operating cameras and remote telescopes to keep tabs on enemy movements.
-It's not just Owl, either; we're sending several of the agents currently in China over to the Russia side. Because of this missile provocation business, Russia Team 1 put in an urgent request for us to pull some personnel their way.
"The Russia team doesn't have enough people?"
-Well, something about a few of them going dark? I don't know the details on their end either. China's got no operations scheduled for the time being anyway, so pulling a few people out won't cause any problems.
Е n ů m а̃ ._і d̆
At such an abrupt order to return to Dandong, for some reason the words Yang Mi-ryeong had left me with a few days ago came to mind.
'Once you go back to headquarters this time, you probably won't be coming to Dandong for quite a while.'
Her prediction had missed the mark spectacularly.
I'd barely had a few days of breathing clean Korean air, and here I was, headed back to that rough town of Dandong all over again.
Baca cerita ini hanya di situs resmi Enuma.id!
Not that I had any complaints, of course.
If anything, I'd been dying to get back into the field.
W ёb́ ñ о̇ v̆ е̄ l Èñ ū m̌ а̄
Between crawling in the dirt playing Poppy and the bullet-swept streets of Dandong, Dandong won a hundred times over.
-Anyway, sorry about all this.
"It's fine. I was just missing the field anyway."
-Tch. Good of you to say so. That said, we won't be issuing you a formal new code; you'll be deployed temporarily under your Sparrow code as is. A week at the shortest, a month at the longest. Once Owl No. 5 finishes his assignment and returns to Dandong, I'll personally guarantee you leave so you can get some real rest.
"Understood."
-You're not somewhere far away, are you?
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
"No, sir. I'm in Seoul right now."
-Then come into headquarters by tomorrow morning. There's a lot to hand over.
"What time should I be there?"
-Be there by eight, no matter what.
If they say do it, you do it. That's our lot in life.
With a quick exchange of pleasantries and a promise to meet tomorrow, I ended the call.
Ӗnum а
"Chugga-chugga, choo-choo!"
"Stegosaurus!"
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
"Poppy!"
"Ah."
And with that, the brief snack time was already over.
The little ones came flooding back in like the rising tide.
Ё_n ùm̆ а́
My eyes squeezed shut all on their own.
'Should I have just told him I'd leave right away?'
Woof, woof.
It was summer.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
*****
For 20 advance chapters, you can check out my Patreon here --> https://patreon.com/enumaid
Еn̈ ŭ m ӑ
Konten Bab Belum Tersedia
Bab ini belum memiliki konten teks atau sedang dalam proses penyuntingan.
