TL: EKID
Two members of the Dandong Brown Bear Gang, who had investigated all the residents on the 2nd and 3rd floors of the commercial building, were now standing at the entrance to the staircase leading to the 4th floor.
“Now the only thing left is the 4th floor.”
“The 4th floor has a separate staircase for entry.”
“Let’s finish this quickly and head back.”
“Hyung, but who are we looking for? The people living here just seem like regular residents.”
“I don’t know either. Deputy bossis waiting in the car downstairs, so we have to investigate quickly and get going. He’s been blowing up my phone nonstop.”
Beep-beep-beep-beep
The phone rang.
“It’s deputy boss again. Ah, this is driving me crazy. He’s calling every ten minutes, what bullshit.”
“Hyung, answer quickly. Don’t get scolded again for picking up late.”
As soon as he picked up the phone, the Brown Bear Gang member pulled it away from his ear with a grimace.
He spoke into the phone’s speaker with only his mouth close to it.
“Yes, we’ve only got the 4th floor left. We’ll be done soon.”
As the deputy boss’s loud voice on the phone finally quieted down, the Brown Bear Gang member slightly held the phone to his ear.
“He hung up.”
“Let’s hurry and investigate the 4th floor, hyung.”
The two Dandong Brown Bear Gang members climbed the stairs to the 4th floor.
“Since the 2nd and 3rd floors were renters, the 4th floor must be the owner’s unit, right?”
“When we get up there, just say we’re the public security like we did earlier and tell them to open the door.”
They had pretended to be public security officers to investigate the tenants on the 2nd and 3rd floors. Since they said they were public security, everyone opened the door without much suspicion.
When they reached the 4th floor, the younger one of the two knocked on the door.
-Thump thump
“Hey, open the door. It’s public security.”
There was no response from inside.
“This is the public security. Open the door.”
They kept knocking, but there was no reaction from within.
“Seems like no one’s home. What should we do?”
“Didn’t you hear what the deputy boss said? We’re supposed to search every corner of this commercial-residential building today. If we don’t do it properly, both you and I are screwed.”
“Do you really think missing drugs will magically show up just by doing this?”
“Hey! Forget it. Looks like no one’s here, so force the door open.”
The one who seemed to be the elder of the two uninvited guests instructed the younger one to open the door.
“This one has a keypad, I can’t open it.”
“Then go to the car and bring the hammer. We have to inspect the entire building today. Even if we have to break the door down, we need to check inside.”
One of them went down the stairs to fetch the hammer.
***
Watching the two from the front door on CCTV, I stood up once only one was left and left the room with the camera and editing equipment. Then I went to the front door and opened it.
“Oh! There was someone here.”
The Brown Bear Gang member, who had been waiting for his junior to return with the hammer, was startled when the door suddenly opened.
-Whack
I raised my palm and struck his windpipe with a knifehand strike.
“Gack”
After getting hit in the throat, the man standing at the door collapsed. Just one strike and he passed out.
Who would expect that someone would suddenly open the door and immediately attack them?
The Brown Bear Gang member, caught off guard, was easily taken down with one knifehand strike.
I grabbed both of his legs and dragged him inside the front door.
Thud
As I crossed the doorstep, the back of his head hit the threshold.
“Sheesh~ That’s gotta hurt like hell.”
After dragging him to the entrance of the living room, I flipped him over and tied his hands and feet behind his back with a cable tie. The Brown Bear Gang member was still unconscious.
After subduing one of them, I opened the front door again and stepped outside. I hid my body on the stairs leading up to the rooftop.
After a short while, the other one came up to the 4th floor with the hammer.
“Huh? Where did hyung go?”
Not seeing the person who should’ve been there, the guy stuck the hammer between his legs and pulled out his phone.
-Whack
This time, it was the back of his head.
Having hidden on the stairs to the rooftop, I quietly descended and struck the back of his head with a knifehand strike. He also passed out with a single blow.
“Heave-ho”
I dragged him into the front door as well.
Thunk
“It’s the second attack from the doorstep, you bastard.”
I also laid this guy down next to the first one, face up, and tied his hands and feet with a cable tie.
Then I searched both of their pockets.
All they had on them were knives, phones, and wallets.
While I was searching their bodies, the one who had passed out first regained consciousness.
“Y-you, who are you?”
“You’re asking the question I wanted to ask.”
Once he realized his hands and feet were tied, the Brown Bear Gang member raised his voice.
“Let me go now! Do you think you can mess with the Dandong Brown Bear Gang and get away with it?”
“Dandong Brown Bear Gang? Weren’t you guys saying you were public security earlier?”
I thought they were members of the Black Dragon Society, but it turns out they weren’t. They’re probably a subordinate organization affiliated with the Black Dragon Society.
I stood up and stepped on the Achilles tendon behind his ankle.
“Aaaaaargh!”
A scream burst from the Brown Bear Gang member’s mouth.
“Hey. What are you Dandong Brown Bear guys doing here?”
“….”
“So you don’t want to talk?”
I stepped on his ankle again.
“Aaaaaargh!”
“Seems like you can handle it.”
I took the knife I had taken from their pocket and cut the cable tie binding his wrists.
I climbed onto his back, grabbed his wrist, and placed his hand on the floor. Then I placed the knife between his fingers.
“Spread them. If you move wrong, you’ll lose two fingers.”
“Hey, hey, what are you doing? Stop it now.”
Just then, the second guy woke up.
When he saw a hand and a knife right in front of his nose, he widened his eyes in shock.
“Gasp! What, what is this?”
“You’re next, so wait your turn.”
I asked the Brown Bear guy under me again.
“Alright, I’ll ask again. Last chance. Why did you come here?”
“T-the deputy boss told us to check if there was anyone suspicious, so w-we came here.”
He must have been scared now because he started to stutter. With the knife between his fingers, he finally decided to talk.
“Deputy boss? You mean the Brown Bear Gang deputy boss? Or the Black Dragon Society deputy boss?”
“The Brown Bear Gang deputy boss. Sob sob…”
Eventually, the Brown Bear Gang member burst into tears.
“Why did your deputy boss tell you to investigate this place?”
“The Black Dragon Society is sweeping all of Dandong. They’re trying to catch the guy who stole the drugs.”
“And?”
“I don’t know the details either. We were just told to search this building. That’s all. I swear. Sob sob…”
So it has begun. If they’ve been told to search this commercial building, then they’re combing the area around Old-man Choi.
Just then, the phone of the tied-up guy started to ring.
On the screen, the caller ID read: ‘Fucking Bastard’.
“Fucking Bastard?”
“It’s the deputy boss calling from the car. If I don’t answer, he’ll come up here.”
“Your deputy boss’s nickname is Fucking Bastard? Sounds like he’s got a nasty temper.”
I ignored the phone and re-tied the guy with a cable tie, then taped the mouths of both of them.
“Something’s still missing.”
I also taped their eyes.
“If you don’t stay quiet, your fingers will really fly off.”
“…”
Judging from the situation, the Black Dragon Society still doesn’t know I was at the gas station site. They’re using subordinate groups like the Brown Bear Gang to search all of Dandong. And it looks like they’ve also been told to investigate the surroundings of Old-man Choi, who died at the Suit Shop.
‘Now I know exactly who killed the Suit Shop owner and Old-man Choi.’
I took pictures of the two guys. Then I entered the editing room and logged into <Yellow Rudbeckia>.
-Base exposed, Black Dragon Society is investigating around Dove No. 2. Requesting base shutdown.
Dove No. 2 refers to Old-man Choi. I uploaded the pictures of the tied-up guys along with the message.
Since the Black Dragon Society is tracking the area around Old-man Choi who died at the Suit Shop, I now had justification to shut down the base.
Beep
A reply came immediately to my message box.
-Base shutdown not approved. Target No. 4 will cross the bridge within a few days. Must secure footage.
Base shutdown not approved… a disappointing response.
“Damn it.”
Of all times, the critical target is crossing the Yalu River bridge now?
Target No. 4 refers to the head of Office 39 of North Korea, a figure who has never appeared in public.
Beep
Another message came in.
-Falcon No. 9 will be dispatched for support.
The term “Falcon” refers to combat agents among the Black Agents responsible for VIP protection and assassinations. The Company said they would send support personnel instead of shutting down the base.
‘I guess I have no choice but to stay here no matter what.’
-Woof woof woof woof
As I logged out of the <Yellow Rudbeckia> site and exited the screen, I saw on the adjacent monitor’s CCTV feed that two more guys were coming up to the 4th floor.
It seemed to be the Dandong Brown Bear Gang deputy boss called ‘Fucking Bastard’, who was supposedly waiting in the car, along with his subordinate.
I opened the drawer. Inside was an Austrian-made semi-automatic pistol, the Glock 17.
I removed the magazine, checked that it was loaded, and then inserted the magazine again.
Clack.
As I left the editing room, the tied-up guys’ phones kept ringing.
-Thump thump
“Open up. We know everything going on inside.”
“Hey! Call all the guys together.”
The two men outside had heard the phone ringing from inside the house.
They banged on the door with their fists, shouting loudly for it to be opened.
-Bang bang
“Open up, now!”
I stood beside the door holding the Glock pistol. I stretched my hand out and unlocked the front door lock.
Beep beep beep.
As the lock disengaged, the two men hurriedly swung the door open and rushed inside.
As soon as they came in, they saw their fellow gang members tied up and lying face down on the living room floor and shouted in shock.
“What is this? What happened to you guys?”
“Who did this?”
Clack. The front door closed again.
“I did this, you bastards.”
Brown Bear Gang deputy boss Fan Jiandong flinched at the voice coming from behind him.
“Huh? Wh-who are you?”
“Both of you, lie face down.”
I gestured with the Glock pistol.
“W-what is this?”
Fan Jiandong was startled to see the gun pointed directly at him.
“I said lie down!”
When I shouted while pointing the gun, the two of them lay down on the living room floor.
“Hey, you. Tie him up.”
I threw a bag containing cable ties on the floor. I ordered one of them to tie up Fan Jiandong.
“If you don’t tie him properly, I’ll tape your eyes just like those guys.”
The two who came in earlier were squirming with tape over their mouths and eyes.
“Y-yes.”
One of them tied Fan Jiandong up with a cable tie.
“You, turn around too.”
I tied up the remaining guy myself.
After tying up the Brown Bear Gang deputy boss and his accompanying subordinate, I tore the tape off the eyes of the two who had come in earlier.
“Aaagh!”
“Oww!”
Damn! As I pulled off the tape, their eyebrows came off with it. The two of them groaned and thrashed their bound legs in pain.
Fan Jiandong looked at his subordinate who had just lost his eyebrows and slowly sank into terror.
‘What is happening? Who is this guy?’
The guy who came with Fan Jiandong also stared at his suffering, eyebrow-less, tearful comrade, realizing it was no longer someone else’s problem.
I searched the two who had come later. I found a knife, cell phone, wallet, and car key.
“Listen carefully. Coming here has probably ruined your lives, but try to hold on to a sliver of hope and do exactly what I say. Who knows? You might just stay alive.”
I said while tapping Fan Jiandong’s head with the cell phone.
“Please spare me.”
“Please just let us live.”
Fan Jiandong, as someone who had lived as a number two, was quick to read the room. He didn’t resist the unknown man and was obedient. It was only natural after seeing the gun.
There is a windowless room in my ops room.
“Go into this room and stay with your backs against the wall. Stay quiet.”
I nodded toward the open door, a signal to go in.
The four tied-up men crawled across the floor to move into the room. One of them, apparently struggling to crawl, rolled along the floor instead.
“If you take your back off the wall, you die.”
Two of them still had tape on their mouths. I removed the tape from the mouth of the one crawling in front of me.
“But you have to stay quiet.”
Once all four entered the room, I closed and locked the door.
These four who came today are probably just the beginning. How many more will come after this?
“What a pain in the ass.”
I turned off all the phones I had taken from them and placed them in a box along with the other confiscated items.