TL: EKID
From the car that arrived at the two-story mansion at the edge of the hill, Black Dragon Society members poured out. In their hands were pistols and Type 81 automatic rifles.
Two North Korean agents guarding the outskirts of the safehouse drew their pistols and shouted.
“Stop. Who are you?”
Bang bang bang bang
“Urgh”
“Aaagh”
Wu Shi, the deputy branch chief of the Black Dragon Society who had gotten out of the car, shot the North Korean agent blocking the front gate.
“Climb over the wall. Open the gate.”
After eliminating the two North Korean agents, Wu Shi ordered his subordinate.
One of the Black Dragon Society members, who appeared nimble, leapt over the wall and entered the safehouse.
-Clunk
The gate of the North Korean safehouse opened.
“Let’s go. These are the bastards who stole from our Black Dragon Society. If they resist, shoot without hesitation.”
When Wang Yudong shouted after getting out of the Benz, the Black Dragon Society members stormed through the gate in an instant.
Bang bang bang
Rat-a-tat-tat
As the Black Dragon Society entered the mansion, the sound of gunfire echoed across the night sky of the residential area.
“What the hell is going on.”
I jumped up from my seat. Meanwhile, the old woman, startled by the gunshots, held the dachshund in her arms and curled up on the shelter floor, trembling.
“Is this Peace Gas Station part two or what? Have those Black Dragon Society bastards lost their minds?”
It was only this afternoon that the Black Dragon Society and Office 39 were meeting at a hotel to trade drugs. And now, the Black Dragon Society was attacking a North Korean safehouse, something completely unexpected had happened.
At that moment, my phone rang. It was an unknown number.
I answered the call.
-I’ve arrived at the entrance of the neighborhood. But I hear gunfire- what’s going on?
It was F9 hyung’s voice.
“It’s chaos. The Black Dragon Society has stormed the Office 39 safehouse. There’s a gunfight going on inside the mansion.”
“Target No. 4 is in the mansion, right?”
“I believe so.”
“Got it for now.”
The call ended.
“Damn it, at least say what I’m supposed to do before hanging up. Everyone just says their piece and hangs up.”
I called Dove No. 1. The line was busy.
Inside the mansion, the gunfight continued.
Crash
Glass shattered, and I saw someone, who appeared to be from the Black Dragon Society, fall out the second-floor window.
“This is a complete mess. A total mess.”
Looking back, the old woman was still lying flat, holding the dachshund tightly.
“Ma’am, please stay right here. It’s dangerous if you come out.”
I climbed down from the shelter and moved toward the front gate of the house.
There was only one guy guarding the Black Dragon Society vehicle parked in front of the gate. He was carrying a Type 81 automatic rifle.
That guy was completely focused on watching the mansion. I quietly crept up behind him and struck him on the neck.
Crack
Thud
He was knocked out cold and collapsed to the ground.
I picked up the pistol from the dead North Korean agent outside the gate. The pistol was a Baekdusan, an illegal North Korean copy of the Czech CZ75. I removed the magazine from another fallen North Korean agent’s pistol and stuffed it into my pocket.
I searched the bodies of the North Korean agents. I found wallets, phones, and another magazine. I stuffed everything into the pockets of my field jacket.
Then I pressed myself against the gate and observed the inside of the house.
Rat-a-tat Rat-a-tat
The sound of gunfire continued.
“Should I go in or not.”
From outside the gate, I couldn’t tell what was going on inside the house.
I was curious about the fate of Target No. 4.
After a moment of hesitation, I slipped inside the gate and hid under the front steps.
I had to check the situation inside the mansion.
Moving quietly in a crouch along the railing that connected the stairs to the living room, I poked my head out slightly. Through the shattered glass wall, I could see the living room.
There were four bodies lying on the floor, and Wang Yudong was standing in the middle of the living room.
“There’s a door here that leads to the basement.”
“Find the goods quickly. We don’t have time.”
It seemed that the Black Dragon Society had completely subdued the North Korean agents inside the mansion. The gunfire had stopped, and the Black Dragon Society members were searching every room for drugs.
“The drugs are in the basement.”
“Get them out quickly.”
Two Black Dragon Society members who had gone down to the basement came back up carrying crates filled with drugs. There were two wooden crates containing drugs.
Wang Yudong opened the lids to check the drugs inside.
He took out a knife and lightly pierced the bag. Then he touched the drug on the tip of the knife to his tongue to taste it.
It was indeed North Korean-made drugs with 98% purity.
“Load it into the car.”
The member holding the drug crate carried it outside to where the car was.
Meanwhile, Wu Shi came down from the second floor.
“There’s a safe on the second floor, but it’s locked.”
“Forget the safe. We’re only taking the drugs and leaving. Because of the gunfire, the Public Security will be here soon.”
“Four of the Office 39 guys are dead, and we lost two of our own.”
“Move our men’s bodies to the car. We’re pulling out right now.”
The Black Dragon Society members collected the bodies of their fallen comrades and withdrew from the mansion like an ebbing tide.
Once the Black Dragon Society had withdrawn, I entered the house through the living room and headed straight up to the second floor.
Through the badge body cam attached to my field jacket, everything I passed was being recorded. I checked each room with the purpose of filming the interior of the North Korean safehouse before leaving.
On the second floor, there were sleeping quarters and an office. Behind the desk in the office, I saw a safe. A corpse was lying on the floor. It wasn’t the middle-aged man I had seen at the hotel.
I went back down to the first floor. The largest master bedroom was used as an office. There were several desks and monitors. I opened the cover of a desktop tower under one of the desks and removed the hard drive. I also took two laptops from on top of the desk.
I recorded the faces of the three corpses in the living room with the body cam. The middle-aged man wasn’t there either.
I went down to the basement. The basement served as living quarters, and one room was a storage area.
As I came out of the basement, I heard sirens from outside.
A call came through. Through my wireless earpiece, I heard the voice of Cardigan Man No. 1.
“Hey! Get out of there now. Public Security is on their way. If you get caught, we’re in trouble.”
“The recording came out okay, right?”
“You really are a dumbass. The mission is canceled. Don’t go down the alley, go up the hill.”
I quickly exited the mansion and ran toward the shelter. With so much stuff in my field jacket pockets, they clinked every time I ran. I held the laptops tightly against my chest as I ran.
If we analyzed the hard drive and laptops taken from the North Korean safehouse, we could obtain a lot of valuable information.
When I arrived at the hilltop shelter, the old woman and the dachshund were gone. Looks like they ran off once the gunfire stopped.
As I sat down on the ground to catch my breath, I saw a car carrying Chinese Public Security arriving at the mansion entrance.
The Public Security officers got out of the car and entered the mansion.
If I had come out just three minutes later, I would have run into them.
“That was close.”
As I exhaled deeply and brushed my chest in relief, someone placed a hand on my shoulder.
“Huh. Who is it?”
“Calm down. It’s me.”
I turned my head and saw F9 hyung. He had come to pick me up.
“Jeez~ You scared me. I just lost ten years off my life.”
“Let’s go. The mission’s off.”
“There were no middle-aged man or woman’s bodies inside the mansion.”
“You went in there?”
“Yeah.”
“You’re out of your mind.”
“I think those two slipped out the back door when the Black Dragon Society stormed in.”
“Follow me.”
“I guess I can’t take my motorcycle?”
“Leave it hidden. We have to go on foot.”
F9 hyung and I walked down the hill.
As we reached the road, a car with Sunglasses Man inside was waiting for us.
“Hey, Dove No. 5, long time no see.”
Sunglasses Man from the Dalian safehouse was in the driver’s seat, waving at me.
***
On the opposite side of the hill, in the forest, Director Choi Young-gil and Lee Song-kyung were looking toward the mansion. They had escaped through a secret passage to the hill when the Black Dragon Society broke into the mansion.
“The Black Dragon Society has gone completely mad. What are they planning to do about the aftermath of this…”
“Let’s get to safety first.”
The two of them walked over the hill.
***
A van stopped in front of <Along the Forest Path Bar>.
I got out of the car along with Falcon No. 5, No. 8, and No. 9.
A wave of relief washed over me, knowing we had returned safely.
I naturally took out a cigarette and put it in my mouth. Looking beside me, Falcon No. 5 and No. 8 were also smoking. Only F9 hyung was a non-smoker.
“Thanks to the mess the Black Dragon Society caused, we got to come back early. Otherwise, we’d still be out on stakeout.”
“With the target on the run, who knows when we’ll have to be dispatched again.”
To Sunglasses Man’s comment, F9 hyung responded.
“Anyway, we made it through today safely, didn’t we? Let’s go in.”
Everyone stubbed out their cigarette butts with their feet and entered the bar.
Inside the bar, Cardigan Man greeted us.
More precisely, he greeted me.
“Hahaha, welcome. I’ve never seen a crazy bastard like you before. Well done.”
Cardigan Man put his arm around my shoulder and led me to the bar counter.
“No. 1 hyung-nim, What’s there to be so happy about when operation failed?”
Two men who called Cardigan Man “No. 1 hyung-nim” were drinking beer at the bar counter. They were agents who had arrived late from Shenyang.
“Failed? I said it was canceled. Operation canceled.”
“An operation is either a success or a failure. There’s no in-between.”
“Latecomers sure talk a lot. If it weren’t for this guy, The Company’s face would’ve been badly damaged.”
Cardigan Man said with a grin as he patted the back of my head.
I placed the laptops, hard drive, wallet, and phone taken from the dead North Korean agent at the Office 39 safehouse on the bar counter.
A young woman I hadn’t seen before gathered the items I had brought and disappeared through a door further inside the hallway.
“You’re a lucky charm. A real lucky charm.”
Cardigan Man looked at me with honey dripping from his eyes.
Everyone from The Company who had participated in this mission had gathered at <Along the Forest Path Bar>.
No. 1 hyung, also known as Dove No. 1, was the first to speak.
“Today’s operation was canceled, but we gained a lot. First, we filmed the target who was in the Volvo. We also identified the Office 39’s safehouse in Dandong. On top of that, we confirmed that the target escaped alive and we managed to retrieve laptops and a hard drive from the Office 39 safehouse. If we analyze those, we can gain more information about Office 39.”
“Dove No. 5 did a hell of a job.”
Sunglasses Man slapped my back.
“He did indeed. No. 5, the head office was watching your body cam live. The decision to cancel the operation came directly from them.”
Cardigan Man continued.
“The head office suspects the man in the Volvo is the Director in charge of drugs. One of the five directors in Office 39. From this moment on, we’re going to track him. Keep that in mind and stand by.”
“Do we know where he’s hiding in Dandong to be able to track him?”
“Leave that to our Samsun.”
Cardigan Man said as he looked at the only female staff at <Along the Forest Path Bar>.
Samsun, also known as Dove No. 3, is a hacking specialist.
“Since the Black Dragon Society stole the drugs, there’s a high chance Office 39 will retaliate against their base. While Samsun looks for the target, the rest of us will keep watch on the Black Dragon Society’s base.”
“No. 1 hyung-nim, since all the members are here, let’s grill some pork belly first. I’m starving to death.”
“Hahaha, alright. After such a big job, pork belly is a must. Just give me a moment.”
Cardigan Man was about to head into the kitchen when I spoke up.
“Um… would it be okay if I stopped by the Ops Room for a bit?”
“The Ops Room? For what?”
“The Brown Bear Gang guys probably haven’t even had water all day.”
“?”
Everyone looked at me with a bewildered expression.
“You’re leaving in the middle of an operation?”
One of the agents who had arrived late from Shenyang said in a displeased tone.
What do you want me to do?
I can’t just starve fifteen guys to death, can I?
With that kind of look, I stared back at the man from Shenyang.
“Make it quick.”
Cardigan Man, known as No. 1 hyung, said to me.