Chapter 107: Kidnapping the Kidnappers

TL: LittlePeach

The timing couldn't have been better. I had been just about to leave.

First, there was one thing I wanted to know. Why was Crane No. 14 being kidnapped by these guys?

‘There are way too many possibilities.’

There were plenty of possibilities worth considering.

Maybe he'd simply been spectacularly unlucky and gotten caught by an organ-trafficking ring.

Maybe his identity as a black agent had been exposed.

Or maybe it had something to do with the side jobs he'd been doing lately.

It wouldn't be too late to figure out the exact reason after I rescued him.

Vroooom.

As the van's engine started and its high beams suddenly came on, I casually took a couple of steps and planted myself squarely in the middle of the alley.

The alley was narrow enough that if I blocked the way, a van that size had no way out except to run me over.

"You son of a...! What the...?"

"Just floor it..., get him out of...."

The guys inside started shouting when they spotted me, but I couldn't make out the words properly over the roar of the van's engine.

VROOOOM.

‘Knew it.’

In the end, they stepped on the gas and accelerated straight toward me.

They clearly didn't care whether I panicked and jumped aside or got hit and sent sprawling.

But I had absolutely no intention of moving.

"!"

"!!"

Maybe they panicked when I didn't budge an inch, because through the windshield I could clearly see their eyes bulging.

I timed it just right and lightly sprang off the ground.

Crash!

"Aaagh!"

"F-Fuck!"

My body slid across the hood, punched straight through the van's windshield, and plunged inside.

Clatter.

While the men flinched and recoiled from the shards of glass exploding everywhere, I calmly landed right between the driver's seat and the passenger seat.

It was only possible because the van had such a wide windshield.

Thud!

"Gurk."

First, I smashed the kidnapper in the passenger seat across the jaw and knocked him out instantly.

The guy behind the wheel merely stared at me like he was trapped in a dream, his lips trembling.

"Wha, wh-what, what the...."

A moment later, he seemed to take his foot off the accelerator, and the van gradually began to slow down.

I swung my elbow at just the right moment.

Whack!

"Nggh!"

The kidnapper in the driver's seat went limp as well, bringing the middle-of-the-night abduction to an end.

For now, I crammed the two kidnappers, who had departed for dreamland, together into the passenger seat.

"Up we go."

Vroom.

I drove the still-running van toward a quiet spot nearby.

I glanced at the back seat through the rearview mirror, but Crane No. 14 didn't move an inch.

"Crane No. 14, are you hurt anywhere?"

Flinch.

I knew he was awake.

Apparently not expecting to suddenly hear his codename, Crane No. 14's back twitched as he continued pretending to be unconscious.

I grinned and leisurely adjusted my grip on the steering wheel.

"Don't talk. Just listen. To give you a quick rundown, Agent-nim, you were almost kidnapped just now. I happened to be passing by, spotted the kidnapping in progress, and rescued you."

"...."

"My codename is Sparrow No. 7. Do you remember the Sinuiju operation?"

"Mmph?"

There must have been something stuffed in his mouth, because only then did something resembling a groan come from inside the burlap sack.

"Mmph! Mmph!"

He immediately began nodding furiously and wriggling as he tried to sit up.

I stopped him in a relaxed voice.

"I'm driving right now, so I can't do anything for you. I'll park nearby and untie you, so don't bother trying to move."

"Mmm."

Anyway.

We had both gotten lucky.

Though I couldn't say the same for the two unconscious kidnappers.

***

After parking the van beneath a suitable overpass, I immediately untied Crane No. 14.

"Pwah!"

He spat out something resembling a sock that had been crammed into his mouth.

Then he stared at me blankly for a long moment.

"I-It really is you? Sparrow No. 7...."

"That's right. Do you remember me?"

"To be honest, it's a little hazy.... But I think the atmosphere back then was kind of similar to this."

"What kind of atmosphere did I have?"

"I remember thinking your eyes looked just a little... unhinged."

"Ah."

"And it was kind of amazing how completely calm you were after bringing in the Minister of People's Armed Forces."

That was more or less how my reunion with Crane No. 14 went after all this time.

Still dumbfounded, he looked around at the wrecked van and once again seemed at a loss for words.

"But how the hell did you rescue me? And what happened to the van?"

"It was because of my mission."

"Y-Your mission?"

"I can't tell you the details of my assignment, but recently, a large number of local assets have been disappearing around Shenyang."

Separate from rescuing Crane No. 14, the fact that I was currently working as an Eagle agent had to remain strictly confidential.

At this point, I didn't even need to wet my lips before lying. Lies practically poured out automatically with every breath I took.

"R-Really?"

"Yes. I was looking into that when I happened to spot you."

Tremble.

Crane No. 14, who had been trembling with his body hunched over, suddenly went pale.

He glanced at me uneasily.

"Then, uh.... You weren't watching me from somewhere nearby, were you?"

I knew exactly why he was asking that now.

His face practically screamed that he'd realized all his illegal side jobs for extra cash might have been completely exposed.

But, well.

"Relax. I don't have any intention of reporting your side jobs to headquarters. Most black agents do that much on the side anyway."

"R-Really?"

"Yes. I've done worse myself recently."

Speaking of my most recent side job, that would be the one at New Bilibid Prison where I'd made 1.5 billion won in twenty minutes.

The memory of ripping power lines off utility poles and using them to fry those drug-dealing bastards suddenly came to mind.

"I'd rather not go into the details, but anyway, don't worry."

Compared to that, Crane No. 14's side jobs were positively tame.

"That's enough explanation for now. How about we figure out why you were kidnapped? That house you went into earlier belonged to your girlfriend, right?"

"Y-Yeah."

"Your girlfriend isn't involved with some underworld gang, is she?"

"Not at all. I thought she was just an ordinary restaurant worker...."

"Maybe she is an ordinary worker, but she could be doing side jobs just like you."

"Side jobs...."

"Kidnapping people for things like organ trafficking is hardly uncommon in China."

Crane No. 14's face, which had only just begun to regain some color, went pale again.

I didn't know how serious his relationship with his girlfriend had been, but being deceived and betrayed by someone he loved couldn't possibly feel pleasant.

More importantly, Crane No. 14's current situation was far too unusual to simply write this off as an ordinary kidnapping for organ trafficking.

"Mmph! Mmmph!"

"Mmmf! Mmmm!"

For now, a few words with the two kidnappers thrashing around like that should make things clear soon enough.

Having attempted a kidnapping only to get kidnapped themselves, the two men were now completely immobilized, socks stuffed into their mouths and their bodies tightly bound with rope.

"Hmph! Hmph!"

"Mmmm...."

They were some distance away, so they probably hadn't heard our entire conversation, but from here on out we needed to watch what we said.

I approached them and spoke in Chinese.

"I'm about to start the interrogation. Want to watch too, hyeong-nim? It might turn your stomach a little."

Glance.

I looked back at Crane No. 14, who stood behind me looking extremely tense.

Picking up on what I was doing, he answered in Chinese as well.

"N-No, little brother, wouldn't it be better to take those gags out first?"

"I usually stab first and ask questions later."

I smoothly drew the combat knife from my waist.

The tightly bound men freaked out and began flopping around.

"Mmph! Mmmph!"

"Mmmm!"

"It always gets tiring when I start without stabbing them first. 'Do you know who we are?' 'Do you know who our big brother is?' That kind of thing.... It wastes so much time every single time."

I slowly licked the razor-sharp edge of the combat knife.

At the sight of me looking as though I might slice my own tongue open, the two men recoiled in horror and frantically shook their heads.

"S-Still.... They look like they really want to answer something."

"Well, if you're going that far, hyeong-nim."

I yanked the sock out of one man's mouth.

His lips trembling violently, the man immediately blurted out everything he could.

"W-What would you like to know?! I-I'll tell you everything, sir!"

"Hmm? No, no. It's okay to put up a little more resistance."

"N-No! It's not okay with me! I-I'm Wu Ping of the Qingshe Gang, and this guy is Lang Sei! O-Our little big brother's name is Wang Chang, and our place of business is the Qingshe Logistics warehouse in Heping District, Shenyang!"

Good thing I'd deliberately laid a little groundwork first.

Low-level thugs like these frightened themselves without me even needing to stick a knife in them, which made it easy to move things along.

"Oh, really? This hyeong-nim here is someone I'm very close to. Why were you trying to kidnap him?"

"W-We don't really know why either! We were just ordered to quietly bring him in!"

"And what were you going to do after kidnapping him?"

"Well...."

There was really no need to ask.

I knew all too well how criminal organizations in China that didn't care about methods tended to finish this sort of business.

"Do you even know what kind of work this hyeong-nim does?"

"I-Isn't he someone who moves goods and transports people?"

Now the cause was becoming somewhat clear.

Apparently, this mess had come about because of Crane No. 14's side job transporting smuggled goods.

Assuming his identity as a black agent hadn't been exposed, there were still a few more things I needed to ask.

"How did you know where to find him?"

"W-We really don't know the details! Our boss writes down information from a list on a slip of paper and tosses it to us, then all we do is check the address and name and grab the person!"

"A list?"

"Y-Yes! There w-was a list!"

"What else is written on it?"

"Names, addresses, contact information...."

Even as he spoke, he suddenly looked like he had a lot on his mind.

"You're getting slow with your answers."

Lick.

I licked the blade still in my hand, and the man jumped in terror and shook his head violently.

"W-We really don't know anything more about the list! Th-That's honestly all we know!"

"Is the noodle shop employee one of your gang members too?"

"Well.... She seemed friendly enough with him, so we paid her under the table and told her to arrange a meeting...."

Since I couldn't think of anything else worth asking, I shoved the sock back into Wu Ping's mouth.

These two were just low-level grunts who did whatever they were told, so that was effectively all the information I could squeeze out of them.

The two men immediately began struggling again in terror.

"Mmph! Mmph!"

"Mmmmmph!"

I planned to leave the two of them here overnight.

At the latest, someone passing by would find them around morning and untie them.

"Damn, you're noisy. Can't you see I'm still holding the knife?"

"...."

"...."

Good. Finally quiet.

Anyway.

Leaving them where they were, I walked over to Crane No. 14, who had at some point moved well away from them.

He was crouched down, apparently shocked by what he'd heard about his girlfriend during the questioning.

‘This is what being a black agent is all about.’

We're black agents, after all.

Love and settling down are luxuries.

"Agent-nim, do you know what kind of organization the Qingshe Gang is?"

"Y-Yeah, I do. They're an underworld gang. A really vicious one. Fuck, I almost got seriously screwed...."

Crane No. 14's face had been white for some time now.

It had been that way ever since he heard the name Qingshe Gang.

"They've been around in Shenyang for ages. These days they mainly run a logistics business.... Except it isn't exactly ordinary logistics. They're notorious for human trafficking. Even now, whenever someone disappears from the rural parts of Liaoning Province, people immediately start whispering that the Qingshe Gang did it."

"Yikes. That was close."

In more ways than one, he'd been lucky.

If I hadn't happened to be watching him, this investigation might not have ended with me merely confirming that he'd been slacking off on the job. It might have ended with him being declared missing altogether.

‘That list bothers me.’

It left too much unresolved for me to simply wrap things up here.

I needed to find out exactly what that list they mentioned was.

"Agent-nim, do you live nearby?"

"Huh? Y-Yeah...."

"I've got somewhere I need to go. Could you get your car and follow me for now?"

"W-What are you planning to do?"

"I'm going to pay that warehouse they use as a base a visit myself."

Crane No. 14 looked dumbfounded by my calm answer.

I shrugged and glanced around the area once.

"After we stop by a gas station first."

Now that the target was set, it was time for a missile.

*****

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