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Chapter 37: Back to Dandong
TL: Enuma ID
The sun was beginning to set before the aftereffects of the Children's Day schedule had even worn off.
"It looks like I have to leave for China in a hurry. A Chinese client I was handling called me in a panic over a shipping problem."
I gave Deokun seunim a brief rundown of the situation I was in.
The excuses had all been prepared in advance.
Е n̊u m ȧ . і d̃
It was a perfectly natural pretext, like an ordinary trading-company employee heading off on a sudden business trip.
Perhaps because it was a field she knew little about, the seunim merely nodded.
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"Is it dangerous work?"
"Not at all. I just have to review some paperwork and check a few crates. But there's quite a lot of cargo, so I'll be back in a week at the soonest, a month at the latest. Can I impose on you again then?"
At that, Deokun seunim gave a curious smile.
"Of course. But next time, do be sure to bring along a prospective bride."
Е nu m а
"...Pardon?"
Where did a bride come from, all of a sudden?
When I could only blink at her, dumbfounded, Deokun seunim grew bolder still.
"If a great hulking man comes trudging in alone to see her memorial tablet every single time, don't you think your grandmother will grow weary of the same old face? She would welcome your future bride far more gladly than she'd welcome you."
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
"...Are you sure that isn't how you feel, seunim?"
"Well, naturally I feel the same as your grandmother. One of the kindergarten teachers who visited today thought very highly of you. Have you truly no interest in that sort of thing yet?"
Ẃе.b ǹ оvе l̊. Ӗ nũ m̀ä
In spite of myself, the corner of my mouth twitched sourly.
For a black agent like me, settling down and love were nothing but luxuries.
Whether or not she knew what was in my heart, the seunim laughed and waved a hand.
"Hoho. I'm only teasing. Fate has a way of falling into place when the time is right."
"Ah, haha...."
"For now, devote yourself to the work you want to do. Our temple always keeps its doors open, so come by whenever you like."
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"I will. Thank you, seunim."
"Hoho. No need for thanks."
Maybe this is why people say there's no place like home.
Just knowing I had somewhere to come back to put one corner of my heart at ease.
*****
The next morning, I headed straight for NIS headquarters.
Wе̇b̄n̊ o v̆ e̊ l̄ .Еnû m ӑ_
After passing through security screening and deep into the interior of the building, I found a single person waiting in an empty office to see me off.
"Sparrow No. 7, right? I gave a speech once during your probationary period, with all the Sparrows gathered together. Remember that?"
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
"Yes. I remember, Group Director."
Not First Deputy Director Kim Jin-taek, but Group Director Oh Dong-cheol of the Special Operations Group.
He had to be swamped over the missile provocation, and yet a man of his rank had come all the way out to see me off.
He might be an NIS group director, but that gleaming bald spot of his positively overflowed with humanity.
Ẃе́bn.ō v̄е̇l̄ Е̌ n̊u m̄ а̂
"Right. Sorry to suddenly put you back to work in the middle of your leave."
"I was just starting to get restless, sir. Frankly, I welcomed it."
"Is that so? Well, I'll be.... The Deputy Director said as much. It's been a long while since I've seen a black agent of your type."
My honest answer put a strange look on his face.
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Then he tapped lightly on the file folder lying on the table and looked me straight in the eye.
"The Deputy Director personally instructed me to accommodate you in every way possible. Is there anything you want to ask me before you go? Any requests?"
Е̊n̊ ü m̂ à
Deputy Director Kim Jin-taek apparently wanted to hand me the world on a plate.
Then again, I'd killed twelve members of a North Korean assassination squad. Naturally, the treatment ought to improve.
'Should I tell him someone from the domestic department came looking for me out of the blue?'
I mulled it over for a moment, then shook my head inwardly.
I'd realized something while ramming that burner car into the Gucheon Gang thugs' hideout.
As long as I was living in Korea, I might pull something just like it again at any time.
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But if I spilled about the domestic department here, I'd never get to cash in Team Leader Kim Do-hyeon's phone-a-friend lifeline again.
For now, I planned to sit back, keep watching, and decide later.
'Other than that, well....'
Anyway.
Other than that, nothing in particular came to mind...
"Ah."
W̆ e b n̊о v е̄_l Ѐ ṅu m̌ а̌
A thought suddenly flashed through my mind.
In that instant, my mouth ran off on its own without consulting my brain.
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"Sir, would it be possible to requisition a Claymore?"
"...A Claymore?"
Group Director Oh Dong-cheol had been blinking impassively; now his cheek gave the faintest twitch.
I nodded gravely, without a trace of mischief on my face.
Е n̈ ú m ӓ
"Yes, sir. I recall it proving extremely useful back when I infiltrated the State Security Department safe house. Nothing puts your mind at ease quite like one planted in a narrow chokepoint or along an escape route."
"...."
Faced with my look of utter conviction, even a man of Group Director Oh Dong-cheol's caliber couldn't quite hide his discomfiture.
Honestly, it was the natural reaction.
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The most a black agent slipping into the field might think to ask for was a gun, a cover identity, or operating funds.
'Is that a no?'
Ĕ ṅ ù mа̇
He deliberated for a long while, then nodded with an unreadable expression.
"...I'll put in a separate word with the man building the Rabbit Hole in Dandong to have the item ready. You'll be contacted once it is."
"Thank you, sir!"
"...."
At the sight of my sheer excitement, Group Director Oh Dong-cheol's expression turned unreadable all over again.
After finishing every last preparation, seen off by the Special Operations Group director himself...
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"La-di-da."
I boarded a plane bound for China once more.
I'd only closed my eyes for what felt like a moment, and the plane's wheels were already touching down on the runway.
[Our aircraft has now arrived at Dalian, Dalian International Airport. Passengers are kindly asked to....]
And so I arrived in China once again.
"Sss-hup. Puhah."
Ẃ ӗbn o vè l Еnum̂ а
The moment I stepped out of the airport, the familiar smell of exhaust and just the right hum of tension settled against my skin.
"That's the stuff."
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At last, it felt like I was back where I belonged.
*****
After arriving in Dalian, I flagged down whatever taxi came along and crossed over to downtown Yuanbao District in Dandong.
I spent the night in a shabby motel room nearby, and the next morning, I met Owl No. 5.
Ë n̄ ûm̆a . i d
"Welcome. Long trip, you must be beat."
It was the first time I'd seen his face since the Sinuiju operation, quite a long while indeed.
He flashed a bright smile as we shook hands.
"I heard the rumors. Word is you paid Crane No. 13 back good and proper?"
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"I wouldn't call it revenge. I was just blowing off some steam."
"Good grief. A few more rounds of blowing off steam and North Korea will run clean out of special forces. Clearly we'll have to keep you good and angry at all times."
Е ṅ um̌а̊
"Ahaha."
Apparently the rumors circulating at headquarters had already been re-exported all the way out here.
While I laughed it off awkwardly, a bitter shade crossed Owl No. 5's face.
"That man went through so much here in Dandong.... I still don't know how it all came to that."
"You said it. Honestly...."
"Anyway, follow me. Before we head into the hideout, let's do a few laps around the neighborhood together."
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"Sure."
From then on, I stuck close behind Owl No. 5 as he bustled about from early morning.
He stopped by the neighborhood market and bought an armload of food to snack on, and we split the bags between us.
"Brother Jang, who's your friend there?"
"A kid brother from back home. He's staying at my place for a while, so I'm teaching him the lay of the land."
"Ah. Always dashing around on your own, and now you've got yourself a little lackey?"
Е̊nŭm̄а̄_
"Heh heh. So it seems."
As we made our rounds, he casually introduced me to the shop owners he was friendly with.
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I could feel the veteran's touch in it, the kind of know-how that smooths a handover along.
"Jang-ssi, take a pancake. I'll give you a good price."
"Make it two, then. My kid brother here will be eating too."
"Oh my. Your real brother? He's so tall and handsome, nothing like you, Jang-ssi."
Еnú mа
"Good eye. Not my real brother, a kid brother from back home."
"Is he married?"
"Not yet. Why? Planning to set him up with someone?"
"Hoho. I know everybody around here, I've got a whole list ready. Well? Any interest, young man?"
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"Ahaha...."
Unlike the sharp first impression he'd left on me during the Sinuiju operation, Owl No. 5 was a man whose good nature showed through every time he laughed.
Е̃ ñû m а̌ .ǐ d́
We wove through every corner of the little neighborhood for a good while before heading to Owl No. 5's hideout.
"Come in. Shoes off inside."
A five-story building, the whole thing done up like a guesthouse.
Stepping into the rooftop room at the very top, I found a space that was cramped even for one man living alone.
A bed, a desk, a computer, a mini fridge, and a bathroom holding nothing but a lone toilet.
It was, quite literally, a place to sleep and nothing more.
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"The work itself is nothing difficult. I manage three cameras in total. You transmit the footage they record via satellite, run the diagnostic program once to make sure the server's clean, then format right away to clear space for new footage. That's it. Got it?"
"Yeah. Got it."
"You don't strictly have to do it every day, but leave it more than a week and you're in real trouble. Some bug in the program or whatever, the server just craps out."
"Headquarters doesn't push updates?"
"It's a slapdash program they farmed out to a subcontractor, so no such luck. You know how the headquarters crowd thinks. Why spend money on updates when you can just grind field agents into the problem instead?"
"Ah...."
Wе̌b n̊ оvеl Ѐ n̆ûm̂ а
The main duties themselves were fairly simple.
Film the key points around Dandong through the cameras installed on the rooftop, then transmit the footage to NIS headquarters via satellite.
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Agents assigned the Owl code mostly handled this sort of surveillance and reconnaissance work.
"This is the computer password. Write it down and keep it somewhere so you don't mix it up."
When the computer powered on, an utterly ordinary Windows desktop appeared.
Clicking the calculator icon brought up an ordinary calculator window.
Èń ŭmа́. іd́
"From here on, just copy exactly what I do. Nothing hard about it."
He punched a few numbers and symbols on the calculator, seemingly at random.
At that, another program, hidden until now, sprang to life.
Only after several more password prompts did the surveillance camera feed finally fill the monitor.
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"I'll show you the real things later, but the three cameras are camouflaged as bricks up on the rooftop. They point at the front gate of the Dandong Public Security Bureau building, the Yalu River Bridge, and the Hwanggumpyong area."
"Hwanggumpyong?"
Е̊.n̈ ù mа . i d
My eyes flew wide before I could stop them.
Don't tell me the camera had caught me and Ri Myong-hak yapping away on that rooftop too?
"Yeah. I'm the one who filmed that colossal explosion over there and sent it in. But the administration building shows up absolutely tiny on screen, so honestly there's not much to see. Kind of like watching a pimple pop?"
"Ah...."
"I heard you witnessed the whole thing in person. Am I wrong?"
"You heard right. It really was colossal."
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What a relief.
Then again, considering the distance from here to Hwanggumpyong, of course there'd be no way to tell whether anyone was even up on that roof.
I shook my head in needless amazement and relaxed.
"The picture quality's good."
"The recording's crisp, but it degrades a bit going out over the satellite."
Leaving me to watch from the side, he moved deftly on to the next task.
Е̇_ñu mа̇ ._іd
He connected a small satellite dish to the computer, then opened the window halfway and propped the dish at an angle in the gap.
He tweaked the antenna's direction bit by bit, checking the reception, and the moment the connection signal locked in, he hit the program's transmit button.
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While the data transfer ticked steadily along, he began stacking the groceries he'd bought at the market neatly into the mini fridge.
"Everything I'm stocking in here is emergency rations. Meals you usually take care of outside. Prices in China are dirt cheap, right? I'll point you to a few good restaurants around here too."
"How do you shower here?"
"There's only a toilet, so obviously you can't. There's a bathhouse close by. I'll show you that too."
Е ń u m а . і̃ d̈
Around then, the satellite-linked computer finished its transmission.
Out of idle curiosity, I happened to be staring at the feed from the camera trained on the Dandong Public Security Bureau building, when...
"...Huh?"
A face I somehow recognized was walking into the Dandong Public Security Bureau building.
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A woman in a black suit, trailing five or six bodyguards, Yang Mi-ryeong.
My eyes narrowed of their own accord.
Ѐ ńú.m̀а́
'Next time, do be sure to bring along a prospective bride.'
...Why Deokun seunim's parting request chose this exact moment to surface in my head, I couldn't begin to say.
But then, hold on.
"...."
It was probably my imagination, but somehow it felt as though the woman on the screen had met my eyes.
"...."
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And this was surely even more my imagination, but it felt as though the woman on the screen had thrown me a wink.
As if to say she knew exactly where every NIS camera was planted.
'...She doesn't know I'm here, does she?'
Shudder.
For some reason, a chill washed over me.
*****
Ё n ù m.а̇_. і̃ d
The office of the Dandong Public Security Bureau director.
The heavy oak door swung open, and Yang Mi-ryeong stepped into the room alone, entirely at her ease.
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"Welcome, Boss Yang Mi-ryeong."
"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Bureau Director Dong Weiding."
Dong Weiding, newly appointed after the death of his predecessor, Bureau Director Wang Xianqing, had been waiting for her.
His covetous eyes raked swiftly up and down Yang Mi-ryeong's bewitching figure.
Ẽ n ŭm а
"I've heard a great deal about you. A formidable woman with a firm grip on every key business in this city of Dandong.... I've only just taken up my post here, and I suspect I'll be needing Boss Yang's help often in the days to come."
"My. You flatter me. We only scrape by, Bureau Director, thanks to your generous care."
Yang Mi-ryeong's eyes crinkled in a sweet, honeyed smile.
Dong Weiding swallowed dryly in spite of himself.
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On the surface she was an endlessly alluring woman, but the venom that surely hid behind that smile was not to be taken lightly.
"As it happens, a senior figure from the MSS came to see me in person and dropped a quiet word before he left. Said you were someone never, ever to be handled carelessly."
Е̂ńu m ă .і̀ d̊
"Hoho."
MSS or no MSS, Yang Mi-ryeong merely covered her lips gracefully and laughed.
That unruffled expression told Dong Weiding all he needed to know.
Try to browbeat this woman into line, and he would only be making trouble for himself.
Better, then, to lower himself and build up a friendship instead.
"While I'm posted in Dandong, I've been considering starting a very interesting little venture here. If we happen to see eye to eye, I believe we could become a great source of strength to each other...."
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"What sort of venture would that be?"
"I only hope Boss Yang can keep her lips sealed."
"But of course. I would sooner die than betray the trust between people."
At her firm assurance, Dong Weiding smiled in satisfaction.
Then, though he knew perfectly well no one else was around, he dropped his voice as low as it would go.
"A business that launders the gold bullion and antiques North Korea's elite are trying to smuggle out, and gives it all a legal face."
W̃еb̆n̊оv̄ ē l̆ Еṅ umа
"Ah."
"And I rather think my venture will absolutely require your casino."
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At that, Yang Mi-ryeong's expression transformed.
That syrupy smile of hers seemed to serve as her answer.
*****
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