Chapter 26: What Cohort Are You?

TL: LittlePeach

"Hahh, hah."

I burst up through the surface of the Yalu River, thrashing wildly.

I kicked hard for the riverbank, and the moment I crawled out, I collapsed right where I was.

"Haah. Whew. Whewww..."

The explosion had hurled me a considerable distance.

Far off, I could dimly make out the government building engulfed in flames, and below it, the Public Security counterterrorism unit scrambling around in a screaming panic.

Sitting there in a daze, I slowly came back to my senses.

"Honestly... I thought I might actually die this time."

What came to mind first was a metaphysical experience beyond anything words could capture.

A shock like gravity itself had vanished; a vacuum that felt like my whole body was being sucked away.

Maybe it was thanks to that experience that the pandemonium unfolding in the distance felt unreal, like watching someone else's house burn down.

'We'll be seeing each other in the afterlife soon enough. Let's talk more there.'

Unbidden, I recalled the last words of Ri Myong-hak, who, unlike me, the survivor, must have been vaporized at the very heart of the blast.

He'd probably meant it as a solemn dying declaration, but it looked like I wouldn't be joining him for quite a while yet.

A dry laugh escaped me before I knew it.

'Sorry, Ri Myong-hak-ssi. Wait for me till I hit a hundred, would you?'

Like I said, my grandmother's fortune-telling had an uncanny way of coming true.

"Whew. Let's get moving."

I looked down at my body, blasted back to its primordial state by the explosion.

My clothes and phone, obviously, and even the pistol I'd gone to all that trouble to borrow had evaporated without me pulling the trigger even once.

Thank God I'd left the key in the motorcycle, just in case.

"There's bound to be something in the Rabbit Hole."

After sitting on the ground a while longer, gulping down air, I trudged off along the riverbank.

I'd been walking for quite some time when it hit me.

"Ah."

My feet stopped on their own.

I raised my head, and my eyes found a cluster of stars glittering high in the sky.

Among them, a single Nameless Star was watching me intently.

In that moment, Crane No. 13's lament flashed through my mind.

'I promised my daughter a new phone for Children's Day this year...'

I nodded, as if answering that glittering star.

The next time I got leave, there was one more thing I'd have to do.

*****

North Korean assassination-squad special forces infiltrating Dandong.

And on top of that, the unprecedented calamity of Crane No. 13's death.

Choi Min-sik had made it through his suffocating watch shift in one piece, but he was immediately summoned by NIS First Deputy Director Kim Jin-taek to deliver a face-to-face report.

"Have we confirmed what exactly that explosion at Hwanggumpyong yesterday was?"

"The, ah, analysis concluded it was a deliberate suicide bombing the North carried out as a protest against Chinese Public Security. Several members of the Liaoning Province counterterrorism unit were carried off by the shock of the blast, and China has issued no official statement."

"Meaning they've taken too much from the North to feel comfortable pressing the matter directly."

Deputy Director Kim Jin-taek flipped briskly through the documents.

Meanwhile, Choi Min-sik swallowed dryly without realizing it.

The Kim Jin-taek in front of him was a former field agent with long years in the dirt; no ordinary scheme could hope to stay hidden from that man.

"How's our Public Security line?"

"All communications have been cut. It doesn't look like we can use the same channel any longer."

"Then we got fine value out of nearly a year's special-activity funds. We secured Hyon Yong-chol, Ri Chol-jun, and even So Se-hyok, did we not?"

"Ha, haha. Th-that's right, sir."

Choi Min-sik busied himself nervously reading Deputy Director Kim's face as the pages turned.

"Crane No. 13... A truly regrettable man to lose."

"It truly is, sir. He held his post in Dandong longer than anyone, a real veteran... We still haven't confirmed where his location information was leaked from."

Deputy Director Kim leafed through the papers in silence, then shook his head.

"There must have been a slip while laundering his movement routes. Have Crane No. 12, stationed in Shenyang, take over the gap left by Crane No. 13's death."

"Understood, sir."

Then at some point, Deputy Director Kim lifted his eyes from the documents and glanced at Choi Min-sik.

"The North Korean assassination squad was killed to the last man. That's the story?"

"Y-yes, sir."

"Sparrow No. 7. This fellow killed all fourteen members of the squad by himself?"

Under the interrogation of those sharp eyes, Choi Min-sik gulped and nodded.

He had been waiting for exactly this question, his answer memorized almost like a script.

"That's correct."

"Confirmed from his own mouth?"

"When I took his report from the field... that's what I was told."

"Is that so? Hmm..."

A duty report, at the end of the day, was only meant to record the situation as it was reported at the time.

Frankly, whether Sparrow No. 7 had really killed all fourteen men, or the Chongqing Society and the assassination squad had simply wiped each other out.

Frankly, even if the facts turned out differently later, it wouldn't be much of a problem.

Short of recalling Sparrow No. 7 himself to Korea for questioning, there was no way to verify the truth, and by the time that happened, the rumor already in circulation would have hardened into accepted fact.

"Where did you say this fellow is staying now?"

"Ah, the last report we received was only that he's lodging at a motel in Dalian."

"Is that right? Then have him return to Korea."

"S-sir?"

At the wholly unexpected order, Choi Min-sik's eyes flew wide.

For a moment his heart slammed against his ribs, wondering if his scheme had somehow been found out.

"Honestly, I find myself wanting to ask the man directly whether any of this is actually true. Defense Intelligence Command Special Task Force pedigree or not."

"W-well... that may be so, sir, but..."

Never in his wildest dreams had Choi Min-sik imagined Deputy Director Kim would take an interest in this, and his lips trembled before he could stop them.

"B-but, sir... with Crane No. 13 dead, at a time like this, wouldn't pulling him out leave a hole in our already thin Dandong manpower?"

"If the Dandong network would collapse from losing one Sparrow, it should have collapsed the moment the assassination squad came knocking, don't you think?"

"That's..."

Deputy Director Kim waved a hand, as if to say enough of the hemming and hawing.

His mind was in such a tangle that Choi Min-sik didn't even feel the cold sweat trickling down his spine.

Watching him quietly, Deputy Director Kim wore a faint smile.

"Isn't he a romantic, that fellow?"

"S-sir?"

"Avenging a fallen comrade and all that. A rare thing in this day and age... a very romantic black agent. That's how I saw it. Did you see it differently, Team Leader Choi?"

"Sir? Ah! Not at all, sir! It's, it's exactly so. A truly... romantic fellow, y-yes, I believe that's right."

"Isn't he? Which is why I'll have to see for myself just what kind of man this is."

"Ha, haha..."

At Deputy Director Kim's murmured words, all Choi Min-sik could do was drag the corners of his mouth into an awkward smile.

'Fuck. I'm screwed.'

*****

West of Dandong lies Donggang, and about three hours' drive past that, Dalian.

The very place from which I'd once shipped out So Se-hyok, captured alive, aboard an illegal fishing boat.

"Nothing like a long-distance run on a motorcycle after so long."

With all that blood-soaked business wrapped up, I had crossed over to Dalian.

I grabbed a motel room right away, and then I slept like the dead.

I guess the long night of slaughter, spent rushing from one thing to the next, had worn me down mentally more than I'd realized.

When my eyes blinked open, it was already three in the afternoon.

"Huuuam. What time did the boat to Korea leave again?"

The return order had just come down, so I'd decided to take a ferry out of Dalian Port.

Checking the international passenger schedule, I was in luck; there was one boat leaving for Incheon at five today.

I hurriedly bought a ticket, then found a nearby Cantonese congee place to quiet my growling stomach.

I was shoveling spoonfuls into my mouth, practically burying my nose in the scalding-hot bowl.

Munch, munch.

"Fancy meeting you in a place like this."

"...?"

"Were you planning to heartlessly stand me up again?"

With plenty of empty seats to choose from, someone had plopped down directly across from me, and I looked up, bewildered.

And then. Cough.

"Gurk."

I sprayed congee out of my mouth before I could stop myself.

Yang Mi-ryeong watched me, congee dribbling white down my chin, with frost in her eyes.

"Hngh? H-how are you here?"

A strange flicker of hurt crossed her sharp eyes.

Only then did it hit me.

In the chaos of getting off-site, it hadn't even occurred to me to contact Yang Mi-ryeong.

Was it because last night, with everything finished, I'd been wrapped in that weightless, unburdened afterglow?

"You know what? When the explosion went off at Hwanggumpyong, I thought you were dead."

Far too late for regrets now, though.

"I regretted it so much. I thought, I handed over information I never should have, and got a good man killed."

"Ah. I, I see..."

"I was worried sick about you. No matter how many times I called, nothing; no matter how much I asked around, nothing came up. All I could do was imagine the worst."

"Ah..."

"And then I remembered. There's a small GPS tracker on the motorcycle I lent you."

"...What?"

Right when I should have been hitting peak apology, she dropped something chilling instead.

Despite myself, I gave her a distinctly queasy look.

"I originally installed it as an anti-theft measure, but while I was waiting and waiting for a call from you that might never come, it suddenly popped into my head."

Undaunted by my narrowed eyes, Yang Mi-ryeong puffed out her chest as if she had nothing whatsoever to be ashamed of.

"And what do you know? For some mysterious reason, the tracker on that motorcycle started moving toward Dalian all on its own."

"Ah..."

"If it really had been stolen, I was going to hunt the thief down and take my frustrations out on him, at the very least... My, my. And here's the culprit, right in front of me."

Now she was outright glaring at me, utterly shameless about it.

"I thought we'd built up a fairly trustworthy relationship. Apparently you didn't see it that way."

"...."

"Why didn't you call? Was I really that hard to trust?"

Pressed under the force of her interrogation, I found my gaze sliding away on its own.

Her stinging stare landed on my cheek, prickling.

"I really didn't want to have to say this, but I can't hold it in anymore."

Yang Mi-ryeong huffed through her nose, as if she'd reached the end of her patience.

What on earth was she about to say?

"What cohort are you?"

"...."

Tremble, tremble.

"I'm NIS, 72nd cohort. I asked what cohort you are."

"No, I mean... should someone who turned Crow really be pulling cohort rank..."

"What cohort."

"I did a long stretch in the military, you know? If you count my service years, that little cohort gap..."

"Answer."

"...78th, ma'am."

The stare against my cheek grew fiercer still.

72nd and 78th.

Six years apart by the calendar; long enough, as they say, for the whole landscape to half change.

Even accounting for the fact that I carry a Sparrow code, was that gap even remotely reasonable?

"B-but you look younger than me. How is the gap six whole years..."

"I was the youngest hire ever. Elite of the elite; no one my age had ever joined younger. Though my records were expunged along with the rest of my file, so I suppose there's no proof anymore."

"...."

"From now on, when your senior speaks, you listen. Understood?"

"...Yes'm."

I straightened my spine, snapping to attention without meaning to.

Only then did Yang Mi-ryeong's face soften, like a cat after a full meal.

"Well, anyway... So. Where were you off to in such a hurry, without so much as a phone call?"

"It's nothing like that... The truth is, HQ issued a return order, so I was planning to leave today on a ferry from Dalian Port."

I carefully produced the ferry ticket I'd booked and set it on the table.

The boat was due to depart in just two hours.

"I was going to give you your reward for bringing in Jin Hao. You were planning to skip out on that too?"

"All I can say is it completely slipped my mind..."

At that, Yang Mi-ryeong mulled something over at length, then nodded firmly.

"Fine. Then here's what we'll do. Throw away that cheap ferry ticket, and I'll book you a first-class plane ticket to Korea instead."

"...."

The ferry from Dalian to Incheon takes a full seventeen hours.

The plane, on the other hand, is done in one, and first class on top of that?

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't tempted.

"And I'll add one proposal. Within a few days, someone from HQ is coming to escort Crane No. 13's remains home. Why not stay comfortably at my hotel until then, and return together with them instead?"

"Hmm."

By this point, my heart had already half turned.

HQ had only said to return; they hadn't specified by when.

'Still...'

But if I snatched at the offer too eagerly, wouldn't I come off a little cheap?

For no particular reason, I glanced down at the pale congee in front of me.

"Then let me just finish this first..."

"I'm a very busy woman. Up you get."

"It only just came out..."

"I'll take you somewhere and feed you something better, so hurry."

"...."

"What cohort were you, again? Keep playing hard to get and it won't be fun for you."

In the end, the answer had been decided from the start.

And so, with Kowloon Society men who'd been waiting outside gripping me by both arms, I was hauled off to the hotel.

Reward, my ass.

Drag, drag.

'This is an arrest.'

That's the mainland for you.

My heart swelled at the sheer grandeur of it all.

*****

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