TL: EKID
It was 1 a.m. when Falcon No. 9, who was mentioned by the headquarters, arrived at the ops room where I was.
Falcon No. 9, who looked to be in his mid-thirties, entered the ops room carrying a long gun bag on his back and a Boston bag in his hand.
It was my first encounter with Falcon No. 9. As he set down the gun bag, he asked me,
“Are the ones threatening this place the Black Dragon Society?”
“Yes, they’re the ones who killed Dove No. 2.”
Falcon is the codename given to combat agents among NIS agents.
I had expected a visitor with a strong impression and a well-built physique, but Falcon No. 9 had an appearance that completely defied that expectation.
He had a gentle impression like a neighborhood hyung and a chubby figure with a protruding belly. He wasn’t even taller than about 170 cm.
“Where are the guys in the photo?”
“I locked them up in the storage room.”
I opened the storage room door.
Falcon No. 9 peeked his head in and looked around the room.
“Huh. There were two of them in the photo, but now there are four.”
“Two more came.”
I had told them to stick to the wall, but the four of them were lying on the floor.
As the door opened, the Brown Bear Gang guys pleaded,
“Please let us go to the bathroom. We’re going crazy.”
“I’m thirsty. Please let me drink some water.”
Falcon No. 9, after checking the storage room, ignored the Brown Bear Gang member’s requests and shut the door. Then he thoroughly inspected every corner of the ops room.
“Is the window the only way out?”
“If you go through the rooftop, you can reach the building next door.”
Falcon No. 9 saw the hook-type climbing rope placed on the window shelf and nodded in satisfaction.
“You’re former military, right?”
“I’m from the Special Warfare Command.”
“I thought so. Now do your part. From now on, I’ll be responsible for the safety of this place.”
Falcon No. 9, who seemed like a neighborhood hyung, took a sniper rifle out of the long rectangular gun bag and began assembling it.
***
At night, the nightclub <Aladdin> was bustling with customers.
Wang Chuqin, boss of the Dandong Brown Bear Gang, was sitting in the office. It was past 1 a.m., but since Fan Jiandong hadn’t returned and wasn’t answering his phone, he called in Ma Long, the operations leader.
“Fan Jiandong hasn’t come back yet, right?”
“No.”
“How many guys did he take with him?”
“He took three.”
“Call the guys who went with Fan Jiandong. See if they answer.”
Ma Long picked up his phone and made a call.
-The mobile phone is turned off.
He tried another guy’s number.
-The mobile phone is turned off.
Same again. The phone was turned off.
“All of them have their phones off.”
“Ma Long, gather the boys. I’ll go to the commercial building myself.”
“Yes, hyung.”
As Ma Long left the office, Wang Chuqin took a pistol out of the desk drawer.
After checking the magazine, Wang Chuqin strapped on a shoulder holster and inserted the pistol. Then he put on a jacket and stood by the window. Through the window, he could see nightclub patrons dancing.
“I don’t know who it is, but I’ll show them clearly what happens when you mess with the Brown Bear Gang.”
Wang Chuqin, boss of the Brown Bear Gang, walked out of the office with a confident stride.
***
“Hyung, I feel like I’m going to pee my pants.”
“Me too.”
Fan Jiandong also had to pee just as badly.
“How did you guys get caught?”
“That guy opened the door and came out, and at that moment there was a flash before my eyes. When I woke up, I was tied up like this.”
“I even brought a hammer to bust the door, but there was a bang on the back of my head, and then I ended up like this.”
“That bastard is not an ordinary guy.”
“Hyung, they speak Korean. I think they’re the suspicious guys the boss told us to look for.”
“Feels like a cursed day. If we don’t return, big hyung will send other members. Just hold on until then.”
At that moment, the door opened.
***
I brought water to the guys in the storage room.
Gulp gulp
“Ahh, I feel alive now. Thank you.”
“Ba-bathroom too, please.”
“Me too, it’s urgent.”
All of them were twisting their bodies, it was obvious they were in a hurry. Well, it had been quite a while since they were locked up, so it made sense that they needed to pee.
“Wait.”
I brought an empty paint can into the room and told them to use it as a chamber pot.
All of them had their hands tied behind their backs, so when they saw the empty paint can, they looked at me with wide eyes.
“Damn, what a hassle. I’ll untie each of you one at a time so you can do your business.”
I brought out a pair of pliers and cut the cable tie of the guy standing in the front of the line.
Fan Jiandong was the first to do his business.
“Hey, are you the leader here?”
I asked Fan Jiandong, who was kneeling while relieving himself.
“How did you know?”
“It’s obvious just by looking.”
Stupid bastard. Of course I know, it’s always by rank when it comes to going first, even for taking a piss.
“What happens if you guys don’t return?”
“Our big boss will probably send people to find us.”
“What a nuisance.”
“If you just let us go, we won’t say a word about this place. I promise. Please believe me.”
The bastard who was pissing into a paint can was talking nonsense. It pissed me off that he seemed to be underestimating me.
Once Fan Jiandong finished his business, I tied his hands again with a cable tie. Then I untied the next Brown Bear Gang guy.
“I really mean it. I can promise.”
I might’ve let it slide once, but he just kept running his mouth.
“But this son of a bitch just keeps saying crap.”
I grabbed Fan Jiandong by the hair and dragged him to a corner of the room.
“Next one, do your business.”
I told the second guy whose hands I had untied.
The other three looked at me and Fan Jiandong with worried eyes.
Whether they did or not, the beating began.
-Thud thud
“Argh, argh, wait, wait!”
“This bastard’s even talking down to me now.”
-Thud thud thud
“Argh, agh, keuk keuk, please, spare me!”
Fan Jiandong had great reactions when hit. He wailed every time he got struck.
“Well, look at this, this bastard didn’t even zip up his pants.”
Fan Jiandong, who hadn’t even zipped up his pants after pissing, was getting the beating of his life.
“Pl… please, spare me.”
Fan Jiandong, his lips split and twin streams of blood flowing from his nose, begged for mercy.
-Thump
I finished with a knee kick to Fan Jiandong’s ribs.
“Keuk.”
Fan Jiandong collapsed to the floor and passed out. I zipped up his pants while he lay unconscious.
The remaining three, seeing their deputy boss get beaten mercilessly while taking a piss, were terrified and completely intimidated.
“Next one, come forward.”
The three lined up with perfect discipline and took turns relieving themselves.
Once the last guy finished, I spoke up.
“When the time comes, I’ll let you go naturally, so until then don’t make a peep and stay quiet.”
I slammed the door shut and came out.
Then I went to Falcon No. 9, who was watching outside by the window.
“I think the Brown Bear Gang guys will come again.”
“Not the Black Dragon Society?”
“The Brown Bear Gang is a subordinate group of the Black Dragon Society.”
“Don’t worry. By the way, when does your project end?”
“I don’t know. They just told me within a few days.”
“Mind if I ask what your mission is?”
Falcon No. 9 didn’t even know what mission I was on. He came here just because he was told to.
It wasn’t some grand task anyway, so I didn’t see the point in hiding it. Didn’t the sunglasses man at the Dalian safehouse say outright that my task was trivial?
“I’m photographing a vehicle crossing the Yalu River bridge.”
Falcon No. 9 nodded.
“But why is the Black Dragon Society chasing you?”
“You heard about the shooting at the Dandong Suit Shop a few days ago, right?”
“Of course. It happened at The Company branch.”
“My superior contact was there and got killed.”
“You mean Dove No. 2? I’ve seen that old man two or three times. It’s a shame he’s dead. Same goes for the suit shop hyung.”
“The perpetrators were Black Dragon Society bastards.”
“Now I see why the Black Dragon Society is looking into this building.”
Falcon No. 9 knew Old-man Choi and the suit shop owner. That meant he was a seasoned agent.
“If those bastards come, there’s going to be a commotion. Will that be okay?”
“You just focus on completing your mission. Leave the security of this place to me.”
F9 Hyung spoke as he attached a suppressor to his pistol.
F9 Hyung was the shortened nickname for Falcon No. 9 hyung.
Just a few days ago, my days were dull and uneventful, but now I can’t tell what’s ahead.
‘This is all because of that part-time job Old-man Choi gave me.’
Leaving F9 Hyung in the living room, I entered the editing room.
***
Around 2 a.m., a van and a sedan came to a stop in front of the commercial building.
Nine Brown Bear Gang members got out of the vehicles. Each of them was holding either a hatchet, an iron club, or a kitchen knife.
The back door of the sedan opened, and boss Wang Chuqin and operations leader Ma Long got out.
“Search this entire building. Our boys are here.”
“Yes, boss.”
Following Wang Chuqin’s order, the nine Brown Bear Gang members went up into the commercial building.
Wang Chuqin stood in the alley, staring up at the building.
“What is so special about this place that the Black Dragon Society asked us to investigate it?”
“Beats me. This is a poor neighborhood on the outskirts of Dandong.”
Ma Long, standing next to Wang Chuqin, replied.
The second and third floors of the commercial building, where the Brown Bear Gang members had gone up, became noisy. Lights came on in the homes of residents who had been startled awake, and shouting was heard.
It was only natural for the neighborhood to get noisy when people came knocking at doors at 2 in the morning.
A short while later, the members who had searched the second and third floors returned to Wang Chuqin.
“There are only residents on the second floor. Nothing suspicious.”
“Same on the third floor.”
“What about the fourth floor?”
“…”
“The ones who went to the fourth floor haven’t come back yet?”
The Brown Bear Gang members just looked at each other blankly.
The three who had gone to the fourth floor hadn’t returned.
“It’s the fourth floor. Everyone, to the fourth floor.”
“I’ll take the lead.”
Wang Chuqin and Ma Long headed up to the fourth floor with the remaining six Brown Bear Gang members.
They climbed to the fourth floor using the staircase at the back of the building.
“It’s already suspicious that the stairs are at the back of the building.”
When they reached the fourth floor, there was a unit with its door open.
The inside of the apartment was dark.
“Go in.”
At Wang Chuqin’s command, the Brown Bear Gang members stepped inside.
“Damn, it’s pitch dark.”
“Look for the light switch.”
One of the members in the back turned on the flashlight on his phone and lit up the interior.
Six out of the eight entered the apartment, while Wang Chuqin and Ma Long remained at the doorway.
Even pressing the light switch near the door didn’t turn the light on.
The gang members inside started scanning the place with the flashlight.
“Is there no power in this place?”
“Whoa, what is that?”
“What is it, what?!”
The flashlight beam landed on the kitchen floor near the sink, where F9 Hyung was lying in prone position with a sniper rifle aimed.
“Everyone quietly drop what you’re holding and get on your knees. Hands on your heads.”
F9 Hyung ordered the Brown Bear Gang members.
Seeing the sniper rifle, the gang members froze like statues.
“You two, get in there too.”
Bang!
I, who had been hiding in the rooftop stairwell, came down and kicked Wang Chuqin in the butt from behind.
As Wang Chuqin fell forward, Ma Long, who was in front of him, also stumbled and tumbled into the apartment.
Startled, Wang Chuqin, still on the floor, reached inside his jacket for his pistol.
“Don’t move! You make one wrong move, and I’ll put a hole in your forehead.”
I drew my Glock and aimed it at Wang Chuqin’s forehead.
“Didn’t you hear me? All of you, get on your knees and put your hands on your heads!”
As I shouted with a gun to their boss’s forehead, the Brown Bear Gang members dropped their weapons and knelt down.
With the pistol still pressed to Wang Chuqin’s forehead, I reached into the holster on his chest and took his half-drawn pistol. I tucked the confiscated weapon into the back of my waistband.
Then I punched Wang Chuqin in the face twice, as he glared at me with fierce eyes.
-Thud thud
“Argh, argh!”
“Who the fuck do you think you are carrying a gun? And what are you staring at, you fucking bastard.”
“Gggrrk-”
After taking two solid hits to the jaw, Wang Chuqin passed out, letting out strange sounds from his mouth.
“Everyone keep your hands in the air. Anyone who lowers their hands dies.”
I placed a chair down, climbed up, and reconnected the fluorescent light fixture. Power flowed, and the apartment lit up brightly.
“Now stick your hands behind your backs one at a time.”
I tied each of their hands and feet with cable ties. With their boss knocked out and lying on the floor, the air had turned grim, and no one dared to protest as they obediently stuck out their arms.
Thus, eight more Brown Bear Gang members became additions to the storage room group. The three who had arrived earlier were already inside.